inevitably relapse into a state of slavery if sent back to the Mozambique, they were placed under the care of the Curator of Liberated Africans in this colony, by whom they have been apprenticed in the usual manner. The passenger Francisco dos Santos Tavarez not having surrendered at the time appointed for him, his bail was forfeited. The person who aided him in escaping from the colony was punished by a fine of 2007. inflicted by the Supreme Court. The passengers João Gonçalvez da Silva Netto and Jozé Femino Figueiredo, who were unable from ill health to proceed with the other detained persons, remain at the Cape, awaiting an opportunity of forwarding them to the Mozambique for trial. The hull and tackle of the Eolo were purchased by the Commodore commanding the English squadron on this station. The merchandize on board was sold, and the net proceeds, amounting to 5,6691. 6s. 43d. were divided between the Governments of Great Britain and Portugal, in virtue of Article VI, Annex B, to the Treaty. With respect to the state of the liberated negroes and their progress in religious and mechanical education, the Undersigned have only to report that as yet no negroes have been emancipated by decree of this Mixed Commission. GEORGE FRERE, Junior. ALFREDO DUPRAT. JAMES R. MACLEAY, Registrar. LOANDA. No. 66.-Her Majesty's Comm'. to Visc'. Palmerston.—(Rec. April 24.) MY LORD, Loanda, January 25, 1851. NEARLY 23 years have elapsed since I had the honour, as Her Majesty's Commissioner, of making my first report on that object to promote which Great Britain has made such unparalleled sacrifices-the suppression of the Slave Trade; and this is the first occasion when I have been able to do so with any well-grounded hope that those sacrifices had in any degree met with the success which their disinterestedness deserved; but I think I may, in my present periodical report, unhesitatingly congratulate your Lordship and the country on a very sensible diminution of that traffic during the year which has just closed, so far at least as regards that part of the coast with which, from my present residence, I am more immediately conversant; and I have the greater satisfaction in the reflection that it is permitted me to report this persuasion to your Lordship, because I cannot but admiringly feel to whose unflinching and persevering exertions such a result must mainly be attributed; and because I have hitherto, I own, been less sanguine, though not less zealous in the cause of abolition, unaided by no more powerful means than have till lately been brought forward in its support, than others of my fellow-labourers may have perhaps shown themselves. The years 1848 and 1849 were marked, my Lord, as you know, by the most flagrant abuse of the flag of The United States, but the capture of several vessels practising this abuse, and the appearance of the American corvette Portsmouth with the broad pendant of the American Commodore, and other vessels of his squadron, by which 3 slavers were successively seized and sent to The United States for adjudication, have happily put what will, I trust, prove a permanent stop to it. The intelligence of the fate of these vessels seems, on reaching the Brazils, to have created the greatest dismay among the slavetraffickers; and coupled, perhaps, with the measures simultaneously taken by the Government of that country and by Her Majesty's naval forces on the Brazilian station, appear to have greatly paralyzed their movements; the consequence has been, that from that time, not a single ship, under similar suspicious circumstances, has entered this port nor been heard of on the coast. A few vessels, chiefly from Bahia, yet make their appearance, I am told, under the Sardinian flag, in and about the Congo; but they have been so closely watched by Her Majesty's cruizers as to have been unable to effect their object. Still, that occasional slave-cargoes have been shipped, principally, I believe, to the south of Loanda, cannot be denied; and the recent case of the Veiga, which I am inclined to look upon as a desperate forlorn venture on the part of the slave-merchants of this place, shows that similar attempts will continue to be made whenever an opportunity may offer; moreover, that great quantities of slaves are collected on different parts of the coast ready for embarkation is certain; but we have not heard of any arrival from the other side of the Atlantic, of vessels on board of which to ship them, for a long time, and the attempts will be confined probably to such smaller craft as it may be found practicable to employ for the purpose in the manner recently tried at Quicombo. Success therein can never be obtained but by the connivance of the Portuguese local authorities, which only renders the greatest care on the part of the General Government in their selection the more necessary, because, though the chief of that establishment has been dismissed for his conduct on that occasion, it is much to be feared that if the dealers in slaves had no other opposition to dread than the fidelity and vigilance of those officials, a supply would continue still to be furnished them, if only dealt out, as it were, in driblets, under cover of the coasting trade. Of the operations of the British squadron, it would be idle in me to pretend to say more than that they appear to be marked by their usual zeal and activity. The proceedings of the Portuguese naval force, to which a small schooner the Conde do Tojal, was last year added, have been confined to the burning of a few huts along the coast-not one seizure having been made by it during the last twelvemonths; whilst on the part of the French squadron, there has been an appearance of increased activity and watchfulness, in which, however, I should think they had more in view the general interests and extension of their com merce than the suppression of the Slave Trade, with which they have avowedly ceased to interfere, except in the case of French bottoms, although they seized a Brazilian vessel, the Rivale, some months ago, on a charge of piracy, and sent her to France for trial. The number of the squadron is besides reduced now to 6 sail, 1 or more of which are frequently in this port, in which the Commodore, M. Pénaud, on board the Eldorado steam-frigate, remained at anchor for nearly a month last autumn. Although, as above intimated, there has been a great relaxation in acting upon the instructions which form the French Annex referred to in Article VIII of the Convention of the 29th May, 1845, yet I ought not to dismiss this part of my subject without recording the determination expressed by Captain Pénaud to use his utmost exertions to carry out the intentions of the 2 Governments in signing that Convention, and to prevent any French vessel from engaging in Slave Trade, directly or indirectly, in pursuance of which determination a close watch has been kept by his cruizers on one of the few French vessels, the Tourville, which are yet probably destined to ship slaves, should the opportunity offer that has of late appeared on this coast. The increase of licit commerce being at once the surest promoter and test of a diminished Slave Trade, it is satisfactory to notice the arrival of a greater number of vessels from Lisbon during the past, as compared with the entries of the preceding year. This amounts to not less than six, making a total of 18 who have all returned, or are about to return, with licit cargoes from these parts; in addition to which I may mention, as a novel circumstance, that 2 vessels-1 French, the other Portuguese, dispatched to Europe by 2 merchants of this place, have been mainly freighted with the oil-nut of this country. On the other hand, the slave-merchants both here and at Benguela are described as being in great straits, and the losses of late experienced by them are said to have contributed considerably to the general want of money which has long been felt in the province. Whether the failure of a vessel recently arrived at Benguela from Lisbon, laden with what is termed "Fazendas de ley" (cotton goods), to dispose of any part of her cargo at that place, is to be attributed to the dearth of ready money, or to a decreased demand for such goods, used as they principally are for Slave Trade pur. poses, I know not, but I would fain ascribe so unusual a circumstance to the latter cause. I have, &c. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. GEORGE JACKSON. No. 67.-Viscount Palmerston to Her Majesty's Commissioner. SIR, Foreign Office, May 9, 1851. I HEREWITH transmit to you for your information and guidance, a copy of a despatch and of its inclosures from Her Majesty's Minister at Lisbon, reporting, first, the appointment of Senhor Guilherme Cypriano Demony to be Portuguese Commissioner in the Mixed Commission at Loanda, in the room of Senhor Falcão, deceased; 2ndly, the appointment of Senhor Francisco Travassos Valdes to be Arbitrator in the room of Senhor Demony, promoted; and 3rdly, the appointment of Senhor Augusto Guides Coutinho. Garrido to be Registrar, in the room of Senhor da Cunha Carneiro, who has been relieved from that office. Her Majesty's Commissioner. I am, &c. PALMERSTON. No. 75.-Her Majesty's Comm. to Visc. Palmerston.-(Rec. June 24.) I HAVE the honour of inclosing herewith for your Lordship's information a translated extract from the minutes of the Court of the 19th instant, containing 2 communications made by the Por tuguese Acting Commissioner, in consequence of despatches received from his Government. The first of these despatches (the date of which he has not inserted in the minute) refers to the mode of paying the Marshal, which he says was then a matter of discussion between the 2 Governments; the second, dated the 13th of February, 1850, declares the acquiescence of the Portuguese Government in the proposal which, by your Lordship's instructions, I had made to my Portuguese colleague, to adopt the rule laid down in your Lordship's despatch of 21st October, 1849, relative to the extent of the duties of an arbitrator when once chosen. This rule, therefore, has now been formally adopted and recorded as that by which this Mixed Commission is in future to be bound and guided. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. 1851. I have, &c. . GEORGE JACKSON. (Inclosure.)-Minute of Session of the Mixed Commission, March 19, (Extract.) (Translation.) THE Arbitrator, Guilherme Cypriano Demony, acting as Commissioner on the part of Her Most Faithful Majesty, declared that, with reference to the minute of the 26th March, 1850, which treats of the mode of paying the Marshal, it appeared by a despatch received from his Government, that the 2 Governments had this matter under discussion, in order to its final regulation; and further, with reference to the minute of the 27th March, 1850, when his colleague, the British Commissioner, proposed, in virtue of instructions received from his Government, that this Commission should adopt as a rule that the Arbitrator once chosen in any given case, should be the person to whom should be submitted all and whatever questions or doubts which may arise in the same case, and in which the Commissioners might differ, he perceived, by a despatch from his Government, dated the 13th February, 1850, that, in conformity with the proposal of his colleague, the Portuguese Government were also agreed that such was the true meaning of the Treaty; on which account he, the Acting Commissioner on the part of Her Most Faithful Majesty, acquiesced in the aforesaid proposal of his colleague to adopt as a rule in this Mixed Commission, that the Arbitrator once chosen in any given case should be the person to whom should be submitted all and whatever questions or doubts which may arise in the same case, and in which the Commissioners might differ. The British Commissioner informed of this, it was decided that the above rule should be followed in future in this Commission. No. 78.-Her Majesty's Comm. to Visc. Palmerston.-(Rec. June 24.) IN forwarding to your Lordship the joint report of the British and Portuguese Commissioners, which the XIth Article of Annex B to the Treaty makes it incumbent upon them to transmit annually to each Government, I beg leave to notice two circumstances: first, in explanation of the delay which has this year occurred in the transmission of it; and next, with reference to the nature of the paper itself, should its contents appear to your Lordship somewhat more diffuse than necessary. With regard to the delay, it is to be accounted for by the fact that it was not till the month of February that I had any Portuguese |