No. 501.-The Earl of Clarendon to Lord Howden. MY LORD, Foreign Office, February 7, 1857. WITH reference to your Lordship's despatch of the 14th December last, I have to instruct you to inform the Marquis de Pidal that Her Majesty's Government have attentively considered the observations contained in his Excellency's letter to you of the 12th December, explaining the motives which led Señor Pastor Diaz to authorize Spanish Consuls to issue the certificates which are required by the 6th clause of Article X of the Treaty between Great Britain and Spain of the 28th June, 1835.

It appears that the authority in question was given by a circular of the 28th September, 1856, which was published in the official Gazette of Madrid, stating that it was not convenient upon all occasions, for Spanish merchant-vessels trading to the coast of Africa for palm oil to comply with the provisions of Article X of the said Treaty, one of the clauses of which Article obliges the master of a vessel carrying an extra number of casks to provide himself with a certificate from the Custom-House of the port from whence he clears out, showing that a sufficient security has been given by the owners of such vessels that such extra quantity of casks should only be used to hold palm oil, or for other purposes of lawful commerce.

And in order to prevent this alleged inconvenience, the Spanish Consuls at foreign ports have been authorized to issue the certificate in question, and to take security from the masters or from the consignees of Spanish vessels wanting to take in casks at a foreign port.

The Spanish Government have thus made, without consulting Her Majesty's Government, the other Contracting Party to the Treaty of the 28th June, 1835, three material alterations in a very important Article of that Treaty. The first alteration consists in conceding to Spanish vessels liberty to take in extra casks, and to obtain certificates accordingly, at foreign ports, and not at the port of clearance only, as stipulated in the Treaty; the second alteration substitutes Consular for Custom-House certificates; and the third fixes the amount of security at three times the value of the empty casks, and allows that security to be given by the master of the vessel, or by her consignee, instead of by the owner, as provided in the Treaty.

With regard to the permission given to the masters of Spanish vessels bound to Africa to provide themselves with casks in foreign ports, you will observe that this course of proceeding is not permitted by the Treaty, and could not be granted to British vessels by Her Majesty's Government without a violation of the British Law which was passed in 1836, embodying all the provisions of the Treaty of 1835.

Moreover, the Marquis of Pidal must be aware that all the maritime Powers of Europe have entered into Treaties with Great Britain similar to the said Treaty of June, 1835, between Great Britain and Spain, and consequently, that Spanish vessels trading to the coast of Africa are only subject to the same restrictions in regard to the shipment of extra casks as the vessels of Great Britain and those of other European Powers.

With regard to the employment of Consuls instead of the Custom-House authorities in the duty of issuing certificates and taking bail, it appears to Her Majesty's Government that it might become easy for the slave-dealers to evade the Treaty if the authority given thereby to the Department of the Customs in both countries were to be superseded, and if that authority were to be transferred to the British and Spanish Consuls, because Consuls are, generally speaking, mercantile or commercial men, and may have an interest in conniving at the illicit transactions which the certificates are intended to prevent.

The new arrangement made by the Spanish Government, whereby the masters or consignees of vessels are designated as the parties who are to give bail for the legal employment of the casks, instead of the owners of the vessels, as provided by the Treaty, also appears to Her Majesty's Government to be open to serious objection.

The 6th clause of Article X of the Treaty specifically directs that the bail is to be given by the owner, and in British ports it is invariably given in the sum of 5007., whilst it is now proposed by the Spanish Government that this security should only be to the amount of three times the value of the casks, which is a mere trifle, and can be no guarantee to guard against a breach of the Treaty being committed.

In communicating the above remarks to the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, your Lordship will state to his Excellency that Her Majesty's Government are convinced that they would be throwing open a door to an extensive revival of the African Slave Trade, if they were to consent to alter the stipulations of the Treaty of 1835 between Great Britain and Spain, either by devolving upon Consuls the responsible duty of issuing certificates and taking bail, or by adopting any of the other alterations of that Treaty which are contained in the Spanish circular of the 28th September, 1856; because, as Great Britain has concluded, with fifteen other Powers, Anti-Slave-Trade Treaties, containing the same Equipment Article as that now under consideration, Her Majesty's Government must be prepared to grant to those Powers, as well as to British subjects, the same relaxation of that Article which it is now proposed that they should concede to Spain.

And you will, in conclusion, state that Her Majesty's Govern

ment still consider the relaxation in question to be entirely at variance with the spirit and intentions of the Treaty between Great Britain and Spain of June 28, 1835, and Her Majesty's Government are therefore unable to comply with the proposal of the Spanish Government. I am, &c.

Lord Howden.

CLARENDON.

SIR,

SPAIN (HAVANA).

CONSULAR.

No. 562.-The Earl of Clarendon to Consul-General Crawford. Foreign Office, March 10, 1857. WITH reference to that part of the despatch from Her Majesty's Commissioners dated the 31st of January, which relates to the manner in which cedulas, or tickets of registration, have been fraudulently obtained by the slave-traders, and have been used by them to prevent the detection of their newly-imported African slaves, I have to instruct you to bring the whole subject of these cedulas under the serious consideration of the Captain-General of Cuba.

You will state to his Excellency, that it is quite clear that however good may have been the intentions with which the system of registration of slaves was established, it now operates as an effectual disguise of the newly-imported negro, and consequently it is a direct encouragement given to the slave-dealers by the authorities of the Government.

You will add, that Her Majesty's Government therefore trust that General Concha will take measures immediately for the enforcement of a bona fide registration of the slaves in Cuba.

You will make the above representation to the Captain-General verbally, offering to address a note to him on the subject if his Excellency should desire it.

J. T. Crawford, Esq.

I

am,

&c.

CLARENDON.

TRIPOLI.

No. 579.-Consul-General Herman to the Earl of Clarendon.

MY LORD,

(Received June 30.)

Tripoli, June 20, 1856.

In my despatch of the 28th April I had the honour to report to

your Lordship that the exportation of negro slaves had been prohibited from all the ports of this regency.

Some days after the promulgation of this order, I discovered that 95 slaves had been embarked by the principal municipal authority of the town during the night, and dispatched at daybreak

to the Levant.

I immediately informed the Governor-General that I should be compelled to report to your Lordship and to Her Majesty's Ambassador at the Porte, this flagrant infraction of the order in question by a public authority, and that too at a time when it is particularly incumbent on all persons of rank and station in the land to set an example of devotion to their country by actively co-operating in the application of those measures of reform which it is the enlightened solicitude of the Government to introduce into the Ottoman Empire.

This morning I received a reply to my communication, the substance of which I can only to-day convey to your Lordship, as there is no time for a translation.

His Excellency states that at the period when he received orders from the Porte to prohibit the further exportation of slaves, from the recent arrivals of several large caravans from different parts of the interior, there were upwards of 6,000 in the regency; that from the difficulty of subsisting these unfortunates, exhausted as the country is by the triple calamity of civil war, pestilence, and famine, he had, by the advice of the Municipal Council, taken upon himself to extend the period of exportation to the 15th of the Ramadan (19th May), during which interval he admits that, in addition to the 95 mentioned by me, 40 or 50 more were embarked in two other ships; and concludes by assuring me that henceforward the prohibition will be rigorously enforced.

But so closely interwoven into all the habits and traditions of Turkish life is domestic slavery, and so powerfully arrayed is the whole body of the ancient prejudice with all the inert resistance of ancient habits against the measure of prohibition, that for some time to come I fear it will be impossible to prevent a contraband trade in slaves from this regency. I have, &c. The Earl of Clarendon.

G. F. HERMAN.

(Inclosure.)-Consul-General Herman to the Governor-General of

EXCELLENCY,

Tripoli.

Tripoli, June 10, 1856. I HAD the honour of receiving from your Excellency on the 26th April last, a despatch conveying the gratifying intelligence that by an imperial firman the exportation of negro slaves from all ports of this regency was henceforward prohibited, and, moreover, that the

most precise instructions had been issued to all the public employés to rigorously enforce the execution of the measure.

It is with the most poignant regret that I have now to report to your Excellency that on the 13th night of the month of Ramadan, only 23 days after the promulgation of the order in question, the Sheik El Bled, by a base prostitution of the power and authority with which he is invested, under cover of the darkness, embarked 95 slaves on board his own vessel the Eftichia, Captain Rais Mohamed, and dispatched her at daybreak in the morning to Smyrna, by a flagrant evasion of the usual Custom-House regulations of the port.

This grave and outrageous violation by a public authority of the enlightened measure of humanity so recently promulgated by His Highness the Sultan, it becomes my imperative duty to report to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and to Her Majesty's Ambassador at the Porte.

To your Excellency I must unequivocally express the opinion that in the present instance the offence is intensely aggravated by the status of the delinquent, the highest municipal authority of the town, and committed as it was at a moment when it is particularly incumbent on all persons of rank and station in the land to set an example of devotion to their country, by actively co-operating in the application of those great and salutary measures of reform which it is the enlightened solicitude of the Government to introduce in the various branches of the administration of the Ottoman Empire. I have, &c.

The Governor-General of Tripoli.

G. F. HERMAN.

No. 580.-The Earl of Clarendon to Consul-General Herman. SIR, Foreign Office, July 5, 1856. I HAVE received your despatch of the 20th ultimo, reporting that the principal municipal authority of the town of Tripoli secretly shipped off 95 slaves to Smyrna, after the promulgation of the Decree prohibiting the exportation of slaves from all the ports of the Regency of Tripoli.

I have, in reply, to inform you that I approve your proceedings in this matter; and I have to instruct you in future to keep the strictest watch upon the proceedings of the parties interested in the Slave Trade, and to denounce to the Government of Tripoli any attempt which may be made to continue that trade.

G. F. Herman, Esq.

I am, &c.

CLARENDON.