dreamed of seeing them again, have had the pleasure of meeting their lost children once more in the land of the living. All these had taken place, and still going on, during the reign of Her Most Gracious Sovereign Queen Victoria: May it please God to bestow his choicest blessing upon Her Majesty, and to bless the Prince Albert, Albert Prince of Wales, and all the Royal Family. The Alake, or the King of Egba, and the Basherun, beg to suggest to the Queen and her Government, that they Egbas were agricultural race; their forefathers were not slave-dealers, but always paid attention to their farms, which occupation they, their children, were following, till the Ijebus, Iffeh, and other surrounding tribes, combined together and brought a large force or army, and captured most of them in their farms, sold some, and reserved others for men-servants and maidens. Through the combination of other Powers, the Egbas' towns and territories have all been broken up, and they were made slaves under their conquerors, who taught them to war; but soon as they began to understand the art of war themselves, their conquerors, fearing lest they would rebel against them, killed the Egbas' war-chief, whose name is Lah-mud-dee. When they saw this they fled away from them, and came to Abbeokuta for refuge, where they are inhabiting now. And when they were here for some while, their former enemies, who had taken them for clients before, collected another large army against them at a place called Okay-owi-wi, or Oke-owi-wi, which war lasted for three months, ere they were enabled, by God's help, to defeat their enemies. When few years elapsed, they were attacked again by another army, a very great force, from their common enemy. It was a bloody war indeed, but they gained a complete victory over their antagonist. The last attack was that of the King of Dahomey, which was fought on Monday, A.M., 3rd of March, 1850; although it was of short duration, yet it was the hottest they ever fought. And now they heard and saw that the King of Dahomey is sending presents to all other Powers to unite him to destroy their town, and introduce that abominable traffic, the Slave Trade, which God and the British nation abhorred. They beg to add, that were it only the King of Dahomey's power alone, they would not send to molest their greatest benefactor and the greatest friend they have under heaven. They therefore entreat Her Most Excellent Majesty earnestly to assist them against those who mean to come and annihilate them and their children, and even those whom the Queen and her Government had set free from Sierra Leone and other places. They have nothing to send to Her Majesty, for the frequent wars, which not only have destroyed their country, but all their property and wealth also, and they know that Her Majesty did not require anything from them. However, the Basherun sent one gong-gong, or war-drum, two cushions, and a cloth, as a specimen of some of the production of their country, to Her Majesty, scarcely worth anything, and he begs Her Majesty will please to accept the offer. Wishing Her Majesty long life, a good health, peace and happiness, and a long and prosperous reign, with these few lines your humble servants beg to conclude, We beg, &c. THE ALAKE, OR KING OF ABBEOKUTA. THE BASHERUN. P.S.-In care of the British Consul of Lagos, B. Campbell, Esq. AFRICA (BIGHT OF BIAFRA). CONSULAR. No. 61.-Consul Hutchinson to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. July 5.) MY LORD, Fernando Po, May 24, 1856. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Lordship's despatch of March 29, referring to the Treaty signed on the 21st January last* by me and the Chiefs of Old Town, Old Calabar, and requesting an explanation of two points in Article II of that Treaty, With reference to the first, I beg leave to inform your Lordship that the Chiefs of Old Town and Duke Town could not be persuaded to sign an unconditional Treaty, but King Eyo, of Creek Town, who has abolished this practice in his territory, and who is the most influential man in Old Calabar, gave me to understand that he would never allow it to be done elsewhere with his sanction. As to the second, touching the protest of the Rev. Mr. Anderson of the 18th January, 1856, against Acting-Consul Lynslager's Treaty of 18th January, 1855,† I cannot see why such a protest was made, unless because, to use the Rev. Mr. Anderson's own words, "it was done without their concurrence." All the missionary body were present at the ratification of my Treaty, and it was with their united assent the second part was added to the Article in question. I trust this explanation will be satisfactory to your Lordship, + Page 544. * Page 555. and I have to return my thanks for your Lordship's conveying to me the satisfaction of Her Majesty's Government with reference to the other Articles of the Treaty. The Earl of Clarendon. SIR, I have, &c. THIOS. J. HUTCHINSON. No. 65.-The Earl of Clarendon to Consul Hutchinson. Foreign Office, July 7, 1856. I HAVE received your despatch of the 30th of April last, inclosing copies of 12 Additional Articles to the Bonny Commercial Treaties of the 3rd of October, 1850, and 3rd of January, 1854, which have been sanctioned by you at the request of the supercargoes in the Bonny river; and I have to acquaint you that I approve your proceedings in this matter, and I also approve the manner in which it is proposed to dispose of the fines that may be levied under the provisions of the Articles in question. I am, &c. CLARENDON. T. J. Hutchinson, Esq. SIR, No. 69.-The Earl of Clarendon to Consul Hutchinson. Foreign Office, July 15, 1856. I HAVE received your despatch of the 24th of May, and I have in reply to inform you that Her Majesty's Government are satisfied with your explanation respecting the two points in Article II of the Treaty which you concluded on the 21st of January last, with the Chiefs of Old Calabar, which formed the subject of my despatch to you of the 29th of March. T. J. Hutchinson, Esq. I am, &c. CLARENDON. No. 77.-The Earl of Clarendon to Consul Hutchinson. (Extract.) Foreign Office, August 13, 1856. I APPROVE the Agreement signed by you and Commodore Adams with the King and Chiefs of Old Calabar on the 17th June, 1856, with the view to prevent the molestation of British subjects. T. J. Hutchinson, Esq. I am, &c. CLARENDON. No. 87.-The Earl of Clarendon to Consul Hutchinson. SIR, Foreign Office, October 19, 1856. I HAVE received your despatch of the 24th of June, inclosing a memorial from nine liberated Africans who have returned to their own country from Sierra Leone, and who have settled at Duke Town in the Old Calabar river, representing that they live in fear of being persecuted by the native Chiefs, at the instigation of certain British traders in the river, whose displeasure it appears they have incurred in consequence of some of the Africans in question having engaged in the palm-oil trade; and you request to be informed whether, if these Africans are allowed to remain at Duke Town they are to be subject to the existing laws of Old Calabar, or whether they are entitled to claim protection as British subjects. I have to state to you in reply that Her Majesty's Government have previously had under their consideration the question as to the right of liberated Africans to be considered as British subjects, and that it has been decided that in the absence of any special legislation to that effect, they cannot be so considered even in the Queen's dominions; and under these circumstances they cannot, of course, be entitled to expect, as a matter of right, that they shall be treated as British subjects when they voluntarily return to, and become residents in, the territory of the native Chief whose subjects they were by birth. Nevertheless, Her Majesty's Government can never cease to take a warm interest in the welfare and safety of those Africans who owe their liberty to British intervention, and who have lived for some years under the protection of the British Government, and under the instruction of Christian pastors in a British colony. Her Majesty's Government have accordingly learnt with much gratification that the men referred to in your despatch are engaging in lawful and profitable pursuits in their own country; and I have to instruct you to make a formal visit to the Chiefs of Old Calabar and of Duke Town, for the purpose of informing them that the Africans in question are entitled to the sympathy and good offices of the British Government, who will not tolerate the persecution with which those persons appear to be threatened, and will not fail to resent, as an insult to this country, any ill-usage to which they may be exposed. You will, however, state that Her Majesty's Government, being desirous to avoid any misunderstanding or interruption of friendly relations with the Chiefs of the Old Calabar river, have instructed you to propose to them the conclusion of a Treaty, by which, for the satisfaction and security of the liberated Africans, their right to enjoy British protection shall be duly recognized. In proceeding to settle this affair with the Old Calabar Chiefs, you will take care to warn the liberated Africans that they should be careful, in all their dealings with the British supercargoes, not to give just cause of offence, but you will report in detail to Her Majesty's Government any illegal or arbitrary acts which may be committed against the Africans by the supercargoes, and you will let it be known among them that you have been instructed to do so. I am, &c. T. J. Hutchinson, Esq. CLARENDON. No. 89.-Consul Hutchinson to the Earl of Clarendon.-(Rec. Nov. 8.) I HAVE the honour to transmit herewith a Code of Bye-laws for the regulation of trading matters between the British supercargoes and the native traders at Old Calabar, which I deemed it expedient to sanction during my recent visit to that river, in Her Majesty's steam-ship Myrmidon. With this I also inclose to your Lordship a document, granting a piece of ground which was made over to me by King Duke Ephraim, without any purchase, or solicitation, or threat, on my part, to obtain it from him, for the purpose of building an Equity Court. I deemed it expedient to accept of it, as well because a house, which was purchased from a Chief, named Egbo Jack, by British supercargoes, formerly stood on that spot of land, and was used as a place of meeting for evenings' recreations, as because I deemed his offering it to me to be in the light of my sanctioning a security that white and black men might meet there, without danger of the latter being arrested by the former. The natives of Old Calabar are not a race of people who can be expected to jump at once to the bestowal of their confidence in the executive authority of any class of men who have so long treated them as I regret to say the former class of supercargoes at Old Calabar have done; and although I assured the Kings that the bye-laws I had just sanctioned were to do away with the iniquitous code of making one man accountable for debts contracted by another, I deemed it judicious not to refuse the grant, as I thought all the Chiefs would have more faith in a Court there than on board a merchantship. I must beg of your Lordship, in analysing the 25 Articles of this Code, to bear in mind the peculiar condition of commerce in this river, and to believe that there are some of them that I would not have sanctioned, were it not my determination to watch over their administration with attention. In the first place, there is now an immense amount of goods out on trust: the practice of giving it indiscriminately for the future-and one which I believe to have been very much fostered by the former objectionable Codeit is intended to try to limit by Article XIX. Article XII has been inserted chiefly to prevent the Sierra Leone men resident on the Mission premises from shipping oil to England, as they sometimes do, and which oil is virtually the property of the British supercargoes, who bring out vessels and cargoes at great expense. Goods are paid for this oil in trust, before it is delivered to the supercargoes contracting with the natives. Article XVIII was agreed to unanimously by the Kings and Chiefs, after I had read it over to them more than once; and though |