Ratifications 1827. [Forms 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, apply to this Convention.] 4.-BRAZIL. Instructions for Commanders of Her Majesty's Ships authorized By the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High By the Convention of the 23rd November, 1826, between exchanged Great Britain and Brazil, Article I, it was declared that, at the March 13, expiration of three years from the exchange of the ratifications Convention; of that Convention, the carrying on of Slave Trade by Brazilian subjects, in any manner whatever, should be unlawful, and should be deemed and treated as Piracy. Art. I. Convention; AUTHORITY TO ACT UNDER THE CONVEN TION. VISIT AND In carrying into effect the stipulations of that Convention, the Parties agreed to adopt and renew, mutatis mutandis, the Treaty between Great Britain and Portugal of the 22nd January, 1815, and the Additional Convention of the 28th July, 1817, and the several Explanatory and Additional Articles thereto. Your conduct in suppressing Slave Trade carried on in Brazilian vessels, must be governed and regulated by the following Instructions, which are framed in conformity with those Compacts with Portugal, as altered by the Convention with Brazil, for the purpose of distinctly pointing out the course which you are to pursue in carrying the last-mentioned Convention into execution. Commanders of Her Majesty's ships are not authorized to search Brazilian vessels unless duly provided with the Instructions for ships of war, annexed to the Additional Convention with Portugal, of the 28th July, 1817, and with Special Orders from the Admiralty to carry the same into effect; but when furnished with these Documents, they are authorized to visit, search, and detain, any Brazilian vessel which, upon reasonable grounds, may be suspected of being engaged in Slave Trade. The authority to visit and search must be exercised under the following restrictions and regulations : First. In no case is the search to be made by an Officer under the rank of Lieutenant of the Navy. Secondly. The Right of Search can only be exercised on merchant-vessels. Thirdly. No vessel can on any account whatever be visited or detained whilst in a port or roadstead belonging to Brazil, or within cannon-shot of the batteries on shore. But in case suspicious vessels should be found so circumstanced, proper representations must be addressed to the Authorities, requesting them to take effectual measures for preventing such abuses. It will be your duty, when duly authorized, to seize any DETENTION. Brazilian vessel, found where search is permitted, whenever it shall appear, First. That Slaves for the purpose of traffic are or have been on board during the particular voyage on which the vessel may be captured. Secondly. That the vessel has on board fittings or equipments. for Slave Trade, or that other proofs are found showing the vessel to be engaged in that Trade. Negro servants or sailors found on board Brazilian vessels, must not in any case be deemed a sufficient cause of detention. If you should determine to seize the vessel, you are forthwith to take possession of the ship's papers and of all other documents and letters found on board, and cause a list to be made out thereof in duplicate, according to Form No. 4, verifying the Form No. 4. same by your signature; and you are to deliver to the Master of the seized vessel one of the said certified lists. You are also at the time of seizure to draw up a declaration of the state in which you found the detained vessel, according to Form No. 5; and this declaration is to be signed by yourself, Form No. 5. and to be given in or sent, together with the captured vessel, to the Mixed Commission Court before which such vessel may be taken for adjudication. There are two of these Courts-one at Sierra Leone, and the other at Rio de Janeiro. you ING TO THE In the event of your having seized a Brazilian vessel, CONDUCTmust without delay cause her to be taken in for trial as soon as PORT OF ADpossible for judgment before that one of the Mixed Commission JUDICATION. Courts which shall be nearest the place of detention, or which can be soonest reached from such place; and the Officer in charge must be provided with a copy, certified by you, of the Special Order authorizing you to carry the Convention into effect. You are to leave on board all the cargo, the Master, and a part at least of the crew of the detained vessel. The Negroes must not be disembarked until the arrival of the vessel at the Port of Adjudication, unless urgent reasons, arising from the length of the voyage, their state of health, or other causes, require that they should be disembarked entirely, or in part, before her arrival there. In this case you, or the Officer charged with the said seized vessel, as the case may be, must draw up a certificate, according to Form No. 3, in which the reasons of the said transfer are to Form No. 3 be declared; and Negroes so transferred must be conducted immediately to the same port as the vessel and its cargo. PROCEED As soon as the Officer in charge of the detained vessel shall INGS AT THE have brought her to the place where the Mixed Commission is JUDICATION. Sitting, he is to deliver to the Court, PORT OF AD First. Duplicate of the certificate delivered to the Master at Form No. 4. the time of seizure, according to Form No. 4. Secondly. The authentic declaration drawn up at the time of Form No. 5. seizure, according to Form No. 5. Thirdly. An affidavit to which all the ship's papers, together with all other documents and letters at any time found on board, must be annexed, and this affidavit must verify the same. Form Form No. 6. No 6 is to be used for this purpose, unless there should be a different Form prescribed by the Court. Fourthly. Another affidavit, in which are to be stated any changes which may have taken place in respect to the vessel, the Slaves, if any, and the cargo, between the period of her detention Form No. 7. and the time of delivering in such papers: Form No. 7 is to be used for this purpose, unless there should be a different Form prescribed by the Court. Fifthly. If any transfer of the Negroes or crew to another vessel shall have taken place as before mentioned, he is also to deliver in to the Court a certificate therein required, according to Form No. 3. Form No. 3. If the detained vessel be carried to a Brazilian port, the Officer in charge will deliver up to the Brazilian Authorities the crew of the vessel, and will inform Her Majesty's Minister at Rio thereof, in order that the Minister may require, that the Treaty, declaring the Slave Trade when carried on by Brazilian subjects to be piracy, may be carried into execution. The Officer in charge of the vessel will reserve, to be produced on demand of the Court, the copy of the Special Order to enforce the Convention. The Officer will then, by himself or agent, proceed in the case according to the forms of business in use in the Mixed Commission, which he will learn upon application to the Registrar. The rights conferred by the Convention must, in every case, and in all stages, be exercised in the mildest manner and with every attention which ought to be observed between allied and friendly nations: and you will bear in mind the responsibility of Great Britain to make good any losses which Brazilian subjects may suffer by the arbitrary or illegal detention of their vessels. Brazilian ships of war duly authorized under the Convention have the same right of search and detention with respect to British merchant-vessels suspected of being engaged in Slave Trade, as may be exercised by Her Majesty's ships of war so authorized with respect to Brazilian vessels. Given under our hands, this 12th day of June, 1844. By command of their Lordships, G. COCKBURN. W. H. GAGE. SIDNEY HERBERT. [Forms 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, apply to these Conventions.] 5.-FRANCE. Instructions for Commanders of Her Majesty's Ships authorized to act under the Convention of the 30th November, 1831, and the Supplementary Convention of the 22nd March, 1833, between Great Britain and France, for the Suppression of the Traffic in Slaves. By the Commissioners for executing the Office of Lord High Ratifications Admiral of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and of Con. of Ireland, &c. 1831 exchanged Dec. 16, of 1833, A CONVENTION for the suppression of the Slave Trade, was 1831; and concluded between Great Britain and France, on the 30th of of Sup. Con. November, 1831, and a Supplementary Convention thereto on April 12, the 22nd March, 1833, and the Supplementary Convention has 1833. annexed to it Instructions to Cruizers, bearing the same date, Supplemenand declared to form an integral part thereof. tary Con Art. II. Your conduct in suppressing Slave Trade carried on invention; French vessels must be governed and regulated by these Conventions and the Instructions to Cruizers. The following Instructions are framed in conformity with these documents, for the purpose of distinctly pointing out the course which you are to pursue in carrying the Conventions into effect. TO ACT The right of searching French merchant-vessels is to be ex- AUTHORITY ercised only by British ships of war, whose Commanders have the rank of Captain, or at least that of Lieutenant in the Navy, CONVENand who are duly provided with special authority from each of TIONS. the two Governments: namely, a Warrant from the French Convention; Government, and a Special Order from the Admiralty; but when Art. II. furnished with these documents, they are authorized to visit, Convention; search, and detain, under the conditions prescribed by the Con- Art. V. ventions, any French merchant-vessel which, upon reasonable grounds, may be suspected of being engaged in the Slave Trade. The authority to visit and search must be exercised under VISIT AND the following restrictions and regulations: SEARCH. First. Search is to be made only by you, or if not made by Instructions you, by an Officer of your Ship not under the rank of Lieutenant to Cruizers, in the Navy. Sect. 1. Secondly. In no case can the Right of Search be exercised on Convention; ships of war. Art. VIII. Convention; Thirdly. The Right of Search can be exercised only within the waters hereinafter described, namely: 1. Along the western coast of Africa, from Cape Verd to the distance of ten degrees south of the Equator; that is to say, from the 15th degree of North latitude to the 10th degree of South Mem. Long. latitude, and as far as the 30th degree of West longitude, from Green- reckoning from the meridian of Paris. wich, 20° 40' W. Instructions Sect. 7. 2. All round the Island of Madagascar, to the extent of about twenty leagues from that Island. 3. To the same distance from the coasts of the Island of Cuba. 4. To the same distance from the coasts of the Island of Porto Rico. 5. To the same distance from the coasts of Brazil. A suspected vessel descried and begun to be chased by you, whilst within the said space of twenty leagues, may be searched by you beyond those limits, if, without having lost sight of the suspected vessel, you should succeed in coming up with her, though at a greater distance from the coast. Fourthly. If you should have reason to suspect that a to Cruizers, French merchant-vessel, sailing under convoy of, or in company with, a French ship of war, is engaged in Slave Trade, or has been fitted out for that traffic, you are to confine yourself to communicating your suspicions to the Commander of the convoy, or of the ship of war in company, and to leave it to the French Officer to proceed alone to visit the suspected vessel, and to deliver her up, if the case require it, to the jurisdiction of her own country. Convention; If the Commander of the convoy omit to fulfil the provisions of the Conventions, you have no authority to take any further steps. Should the Commander of a French ship of war duly authorized to act under the Conventions, declare to you that he suspects any British vessel under your convoy or in company, to be engaged in the Slave Trade, or to have been fitted out for that traffic, you are to proceed alone to visit the suspected vessel, and make the strictest investigation into the circumstances, and if the case require it, to seize her and send her in for trial before a British tribunal. A full report of the circumstances relating to any British or French vessels, so met with under convoy, must be made to the Officer under whose orders you are serving; and a duplicate of the Report is to be sent to the Admiralty at the earliest opportunity. The following Article requires particular attention:Whenever a French vessel is visited by you, you are immeArt. VI, and diately on coming on board, and before you begin the search, to exhibit to her Master the documents which confer on you the right of search, namely, the Warrant from the French GovernInstructions ment and the Special Order from the Admiralty; and you are to Instructions to Cruizers, Sect. 1. |