The Officer commanding the Boats, following Captain Clavering's instructions, ascended the stream of the Rio Nunez as far as it was practicable for his Boats, being considerably above 100 miles, without finding a Vessel of any description engaged in the Slave Trade. We are sorry, however, to have to state, that Captain Clavering obtained intelligence of the sailing of a Vessel, named the Apollo, from Cacheo or Bissao with a Cargo of Slaves, which were in train of collection for her, when the Conde de Villa Flor was brought off from Bissao by the Boats of the Iphigenia. This fact, together with the antecedent proof of the abuses practised in those Places, as disclosed in the mass of Papers found on board of the Conde de Villa Flor, will be sufficient to show to the Portuguese Government the necessity of a total reformation of the Settlements of Bissao and Cacheo. In connexion with the general subject and view of this Communication, it seems proper to notice the termination of a petty warfare between Two Chiefs, named Sanassee and Almami Amarath, residing on the Coast between the Rio Pongos and the Rio Nunez. This petty warfare had lasted for some years, without much bloodshed, but with considerable vexation, by the stoppage of the usual intercourse between the Interior of the Country and the Commercial Towns on the Seaside. The Solima Nation consequently interfered, and a Force of near 10,000 Men, under the command of a Chief named Yarradi, Brother of The King of the Solimas, came down at the instance of one of the Contending Parties, Almami Amurath; but as the result would appear to indicate, influenced by the spirit of impartial pacification. Although this Chief dictated his Terms with the absolute authority of an unresisted Conqueror, he used his power with rare moderation and disinterestedness. The point which we have to notice more particularly is, that he did not exact or carry off any considerable number of Slaves; for, notwithstanding his general moderation and forbearance, we conceive that he would scarcely have abstained from following the usage of the Country in this respect, if the temptation of an active Slave Trade, and a ready Market upon the adjacent Coast, presented the inducements of former times, to levy contributions in that form. In laying these facts before Your Lordship, we are not so much influenced by the desire of maintaining any opinion previously advanced by us, nor of offering any present opinion, as we are by the wish of affording, in existing matters of fact, grounds to ascertain, jointly with the actual extent of Foreign co-operation, whether any progress has been made through the system of the Treaties of Mixed Commis sion towards the repression of the Slave Trade. While the Foreign Colonies afford profitable Markets for the Sale of Slaves, the attainment of that object will necessarily be in a great measure local in its commencement, and gradual in its advances; and if it has not made some advance in the Country adjacent to this Colony, and under the immediate operation of the various interests of trade and policy, by which the Native Chiefs and their People are connected with the Colonial Government and the Colonial Merchants and Inhabitants generally, it cannot be supposed to be in a better train in Places less favourably circumstanced. We will not disclaim a disposition to hail with alacrity any approach towards the termination or material diminution of the crimes and horrors connected with the Slave Trade, upon any part of the Coast of Africa, however limited; but in proportion as we value that reformation, we would be unwilling to assume it to ourselves on insufficient grounds, and the prior caution which we would be induced to exercise in that respect, must necessarily be strengthened by the duty of carefully weighing what we communicate to Your Lordship, as the result of our settled observations upon the matters of fact brought under our view, in the discharge of our official duties, and collected in the range of our immediate researches and enquiries. We have the honour to be, &c. The Marquess of Londonderry, K. G. E. GREGORY. EDWARD FITZGERALD. No. 2.-The Marquess of Londonderry to the British Commissioners at I FURNISH you herewith, for your information, and that of the other Gentlemen of the Commission of which you are Members, with the Copy of a Letter, dated the 2d of April, 1822, from the Secretary to the Admiralty, to One of the Under Secretaries for this Department, by which you will perceive that there will be in future only Two Signatures of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, to the Instructions issued in conformity to the Treaties for preventing the illegal Traffick in Slaves. I am, &c. His Majesty's Commissioners. LONDONDERRY. No. 3.-Mr. Secretary Canning to the British Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, November 26, 1822. In reference to your Despatch of the 7th of June, 1821, stating the departure of M. Le Fer from Sierra Leone, whereby the Commission, of which you are Members, was left without a Representative on the part of Spain,-I have to send to you for your guidance,-1. The Copy of a Despatch, addressed, on the 22d February, 1822, by the. King's command, to His Majesty's Ambassador at The Hague, Minister at Madrid, and Chargé d'Affaires at Lisbon, proposing that the Provisions of the Slave Trade Treaty, for the case of the death of one or more of the Commissioners, shall extend to the case of Vacancies occurring in the Commissions from illness, or absence on leave. 2dly, I send to you the Copy of a Despatch, dated the 17th of June, 1822, from His Majesty's Minister at Madrid, expressive of the willingness of that Court to adopt the proposed extension of the Provisions of the Treaty. 3dly, The Extract of a Despatch, dated the 27th of June, 1822, likewise from His Majesty's Minister at Madrid, stating that the Spanish Minister had promised that Orders to the effect above mentioned should be sent out without delay to the Commissioners of His Catholick Majesty. 4thly, The Copy of a Despatch, dated the 6th of April, 1822, from His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Lisbon, together with its Inclosure, signifying the readiness of the Portuguese Government to sign an Article to the effect suggested. 5thly, The Copy of a Despatch, dated the 10th of May, 1822, from His Majesty's Minister at The Hague, and of its Inclosure, stating the acquiescence of The King of The Netherlands in this Proposition. And, 6thly, I furnish you with the Copy of an Instruction which I addressed, on the 25th September, 1822, by the King's command, tó His Majesty's Envoy at Madrid, and Ministers at Lisbon and at The Hague, inclosing a Project of an Additional Article for sanctioning, in a formal manner, the details of the arrangement in question. So soon as any more specifick Arrangement is agreed upon between the Parties, I shall lose no time in taking His Majesty's pleasure for forwarding the same to you for your guidance. In the mean time you will endeavour to come to an agreement with your Fellow Commissioners, to act in the spirit of the intended arrangement. His Majesty's Commissioners. I am, &c. No. 4.-Messrs. Gregory and Fitzgerald to The Marquess of Londonderry.-(Rec. Feb. 14, 1823.) MY LORD, Sierra Leone, September 10, 1822. We have had the honour to receive Your Lordship's Despatch, dated the 17th of May last, inclosing the Copy of a Letter addressed, under date of the 2d of April, by the Secretary to the Admiralty to one of His Majesty's Under Secretaries for the Foreign Department, by which we perceive that there will be in future only Two Signatures of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to the Instructions to be issued in conformity to the Treaties for preventing the illegal Traffick in Slaves. We shall inform the Foreign Members of the Commissions of this change regarding the authentication of the Instructions to British Cruizers under the Treaties. And we have the honour to be, &c. The Marquess of Londonderry, K.G. E. GREGORY. EDWARD FITZGERALD. No. 5.-Messrs. Gregory and Fitzgerald to the Marquess of Londonderry.-(Rec. Feb. 14, 1823.) MY LORD, Sierra Leone, September 20, 1822. IN obedience to the Instructions conveyed in your Lordship's Letter, dated March the 10th, that we should continue to transmit to Your Lordship, from time to time, Reports of the state of the Slave Trade, founded upon the most authentick intelligence that our situation enables us to collect; we have the honour to submit the substance of the information obtained by us on that subject, subsequent to our Despatch of the 30th of April. Considering the Coast in three divisions, as before, we have no information of any Slave Trade in the division to the northward of this Colony, further than that we understand that Lieutenant Hagan, in a visit to Bissao and Cacheo, about the middle of September, was informed that the Apollo, already noticed in our Communications, and especially in our Report of the 30th of April, carried off a full cargo of Slaves as then mentioned; and that another Vessel carried off a full cargo since that. From the Rio Pongos our information is positive and certain. No Slave Ship has been in that River since the capture of the Rosalia, on the 11th of January last, by His Majesty's Brig Thistle, Lieutenant Hagan. Francisco Freire, the Pilot of that Vessel, to whom the command of the Vessel and the management of the Trade, devolved on the death of the original Master, is still in the River, residing at the Factory of John Ormond, of Bangalan, not having yet found an opportunity to depart. If the opportunity of a Slave-trading Vessel should present itself, there cannot be a doubt that the Slaves retained of those collected for the Rosalia would be shipped off on board of her, for only a certain number of these Slaves (60,) and these of inferior class, were delivered up to Lieutenant Hagan. There is as little doubt that Ormond would readily supply as many others as might be wanted to complete a cargo; for he avows his present abstinence from the Trade to be the consequence merely of want of opportunity to dispose of Slaves. The other chief Traders on the River, more particularly William Lawrence and Lightburn, are strong in professions of having altogether abandoned the Trade, with a determination not to return to it under any circumstances, but to pursue the fair course of legitimate industry and commerce as planters and general merchants. They declare further, that they find their profits in this course satisfactory and encouraging; and they speak in high terms of the tranquillity that they enjoy in being released from apprehension of the Cruizers, and in the consideration of being assured of the protection of the British Arms. These Converts from the Slave Trade are, however, but newly entered on this virtuous course, and no secure reliance can be placed on their professions, unless they are guarded from relapse, and from the temptations of opportunity for Slave Trade, by frequent returns of British Cruizers to the River. William Lawrence, who resides at Dominge, at the entrance of the River, has been recently at Sierra Leone. The objects of William Lawrence's visit to Sierra Leone were to recommend himself to British protection, and to make arrangements for a regular commercial intercourse with the Colony. He succeeded in both objects, which necessarily implies a full assurance of his abandonment of the Slave Trade. William Lawrence left Sierra Leone to return to his residence at Dominge towards the end of August; he carried with him a large stock of coffee plants supplied from the Chief Justice's farm, near Free Town, at the request of Mr. Macaulay. These plants were intended, not for the use of Lawrence alone, but also for distribution to Lightburn and others, among whom Irving and Sterne, of the Kissing Branch of the River, were particularly named. We have been induced to be minute and particular in our account of the circumstances connected with the Trade of the Rio Pongos, because the vicinity of that River to the Colony of Sierra Leone, and the commercial intercourse already established, give fair hopes of the speedy and complete eradication of the Slave Trade from its Banks. A commencement would thus be made in the abolition of the Slave Trade in the Countries of the native Africans, which we regard as the only perfect Abolition. We have been favoured with some Notes concerning the Rio Pongos, by ............, who, being recently stationed on medical duty at the Isles de Los, availed himself of an opportunity to visit the River, and passed some days among the principal Traders. These Notes are worthy of attention as being collected from personal observation. The Rio Pongos is in reality an estuary from which many Creeks branch out, some of them communicating with the Sea, others uniting with other Creeks, others penetrating further into the Country, not, however, beyond sixty miles, at the utmost, when they terminate, receiving small Streams or Rivers. Upon these Creeks the Traders have their Factories; and as these Traders are already numerous, and the Places suitable for other Trading Establishments almost innumerable, the opportunities for good and for evil commerce cannot easily be equalled. In the Country between Sierra Leone and the Rio Pongos, dissentions and disturbances have arisen from opposite pretensions to the succession to the late King Mungo Demba. The Chief of Foricaria has extended the confusion, by insisting that all Trade from the Foulah Country shall pass through that Place. The People of this Chief hold one of the principal towns on the path of Port Logo, by which a direct |