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Majesty, and communicated by Lord Aberdeen to the Undersigned for the information of his Government.

The Undersigned, &c.

The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T.

EDWARD EVERETT.

No. 78.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Mr. Everett.

Foreign Office, October 21, 1844. The Undersigned, &c. has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note addressed to him on the 1st instant by Mr. Everett, &c. inclosing further documents in support of certain items of the claims made by the owners of The United States vessels Tigris and Seamew, and requesting that directions may be given for the further examination of those claims, either by Mr. Rothery, or some other person, in conjunction with Mr. Andrew Maris, with the assistance of the additional evidence contained in those documents.

The Undersigned has the honour to acquaint Mr. Everett, that a communication having been made by his direction to the proper Department of Her Majesty's Government on this subject, Mr. Rothery has been directed to put himself into communication, without delay, with Mr. Maris, with the view of coming, if possible, to an understanding with that gentleman as to the amount of compensation, in all particulars, which they may jointly recommend to Her Majesty's Government to pay, on the one hand, and to The United States Government to accept, on the other. And Mr. Rothery has been further instructed, in the event of there being any items of these claims on which he and Mr .Maris are unable to agree, to report, 1st, the several points on which he and Mr. Maris may have agreed; and, 2ndly, those on which they have been unable to do so; and to add his reasons for differing in opinion with Mr. Maris on such points. The Undersigned, &c. E Everett, Esq.

ABERDEEN.

No. 79.-Mr. Everett to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. October 26.) Grosvenor Place, October 26, 1844.

THE Undersigned, &c. has had the honour to receive a note of the 21st instant from the Earl of Aberdeen, &c. acquainting him that Mr. Rothery has been directed to put himself in communication, without delay, with Mr. Maris, with the view of coming, if possible, to an understanding with that gentleman as to the amount of compensation, in all particulars, which they may jointly recommend to Her Majesty's Government to pay, on the one hand, and to The United States Government to accept, on the other, as an indemnification to the owners of the Tigris and Seamew; and that Mr. Rothery has been further instructed, in the event of there being any items of these claims on which he and Mr. Maris are unable to agree, to

report, 1st, the several points on which he and Mr. Maris may have agreed; and, 2ndly, those on which they have been unable to do so; and to add his reasons for differing in opinion with Mr. Maris on such points.

The Undersigned has directed Mr. Maris to engage assiduously in the examination of the claims in conjunction with Mr. Rothery, and to make a report on the result, corresponding with that which is to be made by Mr. Rothery. And the Undersigned would propose, in case the 2 gentlemen should be unable to agree as to any items of the claims, that their respective reports should be communicated to each other by the Earl of Aberdeen and the Undersigned, to the end that the 2 Governments may be acquainted with the grounds of the difference. The Undersigned, &c.

The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T.

EDWARD EVERETT.

No. 80.-Mr. Everett to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. November 5.)
Grosvenor Place, November 1, 1844.

THE Undersigned, &c. has been instructed to acquaint the Earl of Aberdeen, &c. that the attention of the President has been called to the provisions of an Act of Parliament, purporting to be the 98th chapter of the Statutes of the 6th and 7th years of Her Majesty's reign, and entitled "An Act for the more effectual suppression of the Slave Trade."

Although the Government of The United States has no official knowledge of the existence of the Act in question, the Undersigned supposes that its authenticity, as contained in the printed copy accompanying the present note, may be taken for granted.

On this supposition, he has been directed to apply to the Earl of Aberdeen for those explanations of its objects, and the means of carrying them into effect, as far as The United States are concerned, which are rendered desirable by the apparent character of its provisions.

The Act in question seems to be designed to extend the criminal jurisdiction of Great Britain, in all cases embraced within its provisions, to British subjects in foreign countries.

It is well known that there are, in almost every part of The United States, many natives of Great Britain, some of them temporarily resident, and others permanently established as naturalized

citizens.

As the provisions of the Act referred to are without qualification, they would seem, of course, to extend to British subjects in The United States.

This supposition is confirmed by some facts of public notoriety.
It is stated, in a letter of Mr. Ogilby, the British Consul at
Charleston, dated October 23, 1843, and found in the volume con-

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taining the correspondence with Foreign Powers relative to the suppression of the Slave Trade (Class D p. 129), that great anxiety exists among the British subjects resident in The United States to become acquainted with the provisions of the law in question; and Mr. Ogilby adds, "I feel well assured that I shall very frequently be applied to by subjects of Her Majesty residing in this part of the world for an opinion as to the legality or illegality of certain acts connected with the subject to which the law refers, if done, or participated in, by them."

For this reason Her Majesty's Consul at Charleston requests to be furnished with a copy of the law, and of any opinions which may have been given by the law officers of the Crown upon its enactments, and asks permission to publish the law in some of the newspapers of Charleston, for the information and guidance of all British subjects resident within his Consular district.

A letter has appeared in some of the public journals of The United States, purporting to be a circular letter of Instructions to Her Majesty's Consuls, signed by Lord Aberdeen, dated at the Foreign Office, December 31, 1843, and containing directions relative to the promulgation and contravention of the Act 6 and 7 Vict., cap. 98.

The precise objects of this law, taken in connection with the 5 George IV, cap. 113, are, as the inquiry of Her Majesty's Consul at Charleston shows, not fully apparent, at least as far as The United

States are concerned.

The object of both, as declared in their respective titles is "The Suppression of the Slave Trade," by which designation the African Slave Trade is usually understood.

Such unquestionably was the design of the original Act of 5 George IV, cap. 113. The 6 and 7 Vict., cap. 98, appears to go further. As far as can be judged from the reported debates on its passage through Parliament, it would seem to be the design in which this Act was framed, indirectly to suppress the Slave Trade, by prohibiting British subjects and British capital from being engaged in the purchase and employment of slaves in countries where the African Slave Trade is pursued; and thus to deprive that trade of a part of the stimulus under which it is now carried on.

If such be the object of the law, it must of course fail of application within The United States, where the African Slave Trade, under the influence of a unanimous public sentiment, and of the severest penal statutes, has long since ceased to exist. Notwithstanding this circumstance, however, the impression evidently prevails, as the Undersigned has shown, on the part of the individuals in The United States most concerned, that the Act is designed to have a further operation. To remove all doubts on the subject, he is accordingly directed to

ascertain, through the proper department of Her Majesty's Government, whether British subjects in The United States are intended to be embraced within the provisions of the Act; and if so, whether it is to be restricted to those who may be temporarily sojourning in The United States, without intending to become naturalized citizens; or whether it will be extended to all persons in the Union born within the limits of Her Majesty's dominions, including as well those who have become naturalized citizens as those who have not. If such an extension be given to the statute, the Undersigned is also directed to ascertain whether any, and if any, what measures have been adopted or are proposed, to carry the provisions of the law into effect, as far as concerns The United States; and particularly what instructions, if any, have been given to Her Majesty's Consuls in The United States concerning the Acts of 5 George IV, cap. 113, and 6 and 7 Vict., cap. 98.

The Earl of Aberdeen will not be surprised that the information now asked for is desired by The United States. An honourable member of the House of Commons is reported to have said on the passage of the law in question, through that body, that "No man could enter into trade with any country between Virginia and Brazil, who did not run the risk of falling under the penalties of the Bill."

The Undersigned is not advised whether this remark was made in reference to the provisions of the Bill as it passed, or to other pro. visions, which he understands were removed by way of amendment.

Could such an effect be regarded as the designed or necessary consequence of the Law in question, it would constitute a most serious and alarming departure from the rule of policy announced by Lord Aberdeen in his despatch to Mr. Pakenham of the 26th December, 1843, as the principle of Her Majesty's Government in reference to the slave-holding States; in virtue of which his Lordship remarks, that "we have never, in our treatment of them, made any difference between the slave-holding and the ree States of the Union."

Higher considerations than those of commercial interest make it the right and duty of The United States to be informed on a subject of this character. The Undersigned perceives, from a circular letter of Instructions addressed by his Lordship to the British Consuls in all the American States, entitled "Queries on the state of slavery and the Slave Trade," that information of the minutest description has been sought by Her Majesty's Government as to the coloured population of The United States of all descriptions, and the laws which apply to that part of their inhabitants.

If the laws of a friendly Government in reference to its own citizens and subjects, over which Great Britain claims to have, and can have, no jurisdictional or legal rights, are deemed a legitimate subject of inquiry by Her Majesty's Government, it will not be

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denied to be the right and duty of The United States to be promptly informed as to the nature and objects of foreign enactments, purporting to extend to large numbers of persons residing in the American Union, owing obedience to its laws, and entitled to its protection.

The great principle of non-intervention in the concerns of other independent States has received the most efficient support in England. It has, in fact, been made, in no small degree through the influence of Her Majesty's Government, to decide the condition of Europe for the last quarter of a century, Experience has proved that all infringements of this principle are fraught with hazard to the good understanding of nations and the peace of the world; and Lord Aberdeen will not be surprised that the Government of The United States, who, more than any other Power, have made it the basis of their foreign policy, should look with some jealousy on anything which wears the appearance of a departure from it, as far as they are themselves concerned. The Undersigned, &c.

The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T.

EDWARD EVERETT.

No. 81.-Mr. Pakenham to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. Nov. 15.) MY LORD, Washington, October 29, 1844. YOUR Lordship will read with interest the inclosed report (taken from a Boston newspaper,) of a decision lately pronounced by Chief Justice Shaw, of the State of Massachusetts, by which a slave was discharged from service on board of a ship of war of The United States, and declared to be a freeman, on the ground that the right of the commander to his services as a slave could not extend beyond the territorial limits of slavery, and was at an end whenever the services to be performed took him out of those limits.

Certain points are touched on in this decision which have more than once formed a subject of earnest discussion between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of The United States; and the inference to be drawn from the Judge's observations on these points is, that if cases of a similar nature were to occur within the limits of Massachusetts, they would end in the manner in which they were disposed of in British jurisdiction, that is to say, in the liberation of the slaves. I have, &c. R. PAKENHAM.

The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T.

(Inclosure.)-Decision of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts in the case of a Slave who had arrived in that State.

THE "Boston Post" contains the following particulars of an important slave-case, which lately came before the Supreme Court of Massachusetts:

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