only necessary for the Undersigned to refer his Excellency Senhor Jervis d'Atonguia to that communication, and to request an early decision thereon, in order that, according to the original proposal of Her Majesty's Government, the Commissions which are to be abolished may be closed on the 30th of September next. Senhor J. d'Atonguia. The Undersigned, &c. R. PAKENHAM. (Inclosure 2.)-Senhor J. d'Atonguia to Sir R. Pakenham. (Translation.) Lisbon, August 13, 1851. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note which you were pleased to address to me on the 9th instant, accompanied by the copy of Lord Palmerston's despatch upon the pending question relating to the abolition of the Mixed Commissions at the Cape Verde Islands and at Jamaica, which was proposed by the Portuguese Government on the 10th December, 1847, to the British Government through Her Majesty's Minister at London, inasmuch as it was shown by experience that since the conclusion of the Treaty of 1842, which established those Commissions, they had not met with a single case to judge. In the said note referring to your predecessor's note of the 25th of April last, you add that your Government are ready to accept the original proposal of Her Majesty's Government for the abolition of the said Mixed Commissions at the Cape Verde Islands and at Jamaica, without any conditions, requiring at the same time that those Commissions should be declared extinct on the 30th September of the present year. In answer, I have the honour to state to you that Her Majesty the Queen, to whose superior knowledge the contents of said notes were brought, has been pleased to command me to inform you that Her Majesty is much satisfied to find that Her Britannic Majesty's Government agree to the just wishes of the Portuguese Government desisting from the conditions which it at first imposed for the acceptance of the proposal, and that upon this principle there will be no objection to signing the necessary Protocol on the day that you may be pleased to come to this State Office for that purpose, and in accordance with the original proposal of Her Majesty's GovernI avail, &c. ment. Sir R. Pakenham. SIR, A. A. JERVIS D'ATONGUIA. No. 408. Viscount Palmerston to Sir R. Pakenham. Foreign Office, August 27, 1851. I HAVE received and laid before the Queen your despatch dated the 18th instant, relative to the abolition of the Mixed Commission Courts in Jamaica and the Cape Verde Islands, now agreed upon between Her Majesty's Government and the Government of Portugal; and I have to inform you in reply, that I approve of the draft of Protocol for recording that agreement which you have referred to me, with the addition, however, of the words "of its Annexes," which ought to follow the words "Provisions of the said Treaty and," but which have been omitted in the copy of draft inclosed in your despatch. You are accordingly now authorised to invite the Portuguese Minister to sign this Protocol with you forthwith. Sir R. Pakenham. I am, &c. PALMERSTON. No. 412. Viscount Palmerston to Sir R. Pakenham. SIR, Foreign Office, September 12, 1851. I HAVE received and laid before the Queen your predecessor's despatches of the 13th and 17th of June; the first reporting to me that the title of Viscount Loures had been conferred upon a noted slave-trader, by name Angelo Carneiro; the second inclosing a translation of a note dated the 14th ultimo, which Sir H. Seymour had received from M. Atonguia, replying to the remonstrance which Sir H. Seymour had made to the Portuguese Government respecting the titles conferred on the notorious slave-traders, Jozé Bernardino de Sá and Augusto Gomes Netto. M. Atonguia states that the title granted to Bernardino de Sá was conferred upon him for his public services, those services being, first, the loan of 7531. in the year 1831 to the legitimate Government for conveying Portuguese emigrants from Rio de Janeiro to Terceira; and secondly, "a donation which he lately made of the sum of 6 contos of reis in metal, together with the balance of the above-mentioned loan to meet the exigencies of the State." He states that the decoration granted to Augusto Gomes Netto was conferred upon him on account of his personal qualities and of services rendered by that person to Portuguese subjects at Rio de Janeiro; and in both cases M. Atonguia disclaimed the Portuguese Government having had any knowledge or suspicion that these persons had been engaged in Slave Trade; and M. Atonguia adds that his Government will be more careful in future in granting honorary favours to persons established in Brazil. I have now to instruct you to present a further note to the Portuguese Government upon this matter, and to say that by conferring honours upon persons who have been guilty of crimes punishable by law and forbidden by Treaty, the Portuguese Government necessarily shakes all confidence in the good faith of Portugal in regard to the fulfilment of the engagements of the Portuguese Crown for the suppression of Slave Trade; for how is it possible that the subjects of Her Most Faithful Majesty, or the other nations of the world, can believe that the Government of Portugal seriously wishes to put Slave Trade down, when men who ought to be arraigned as criminals before a court of justice, are invested by the Crown of Portugal with marks of its special favour and approbation. Such acts as these on the part of the Advisers of the Crown in Portugal are wholly inconsistent with the assurances so often and so formally made by the Portuguese Government, that it is determined faithfully to execute the Treaty engagements of the Crown, and vigorously to carry into effect the laws of Portugal against the crime of slave-trading. Sir R. Pakenham. I am, &c. PALMERSTON. No. 413. Viscount Palmerston to Sir R. Pakenham. SIR, Foreign Office, September 22, 1851. WITH reference to my despatch to Sir Hamilton Seymour of the 6th of May last, and to previous correspondence on the subject of the Portuguese Government having conferred the title of Baron of Villa Nova do Minho on Jozé Bernardino de Sá, a notorious slavetrader of Rio de Janeiro, I herewith transmit to you a copy of a despatch which I have received from Mr. Hudson, Her Majesty's Minister at Rio de Janeiro, reporting that the Brazilian steamer Urania had captured in the Bay of Benevente, in the province of Rio de Janeiro, a vessel belonging to this same Jozé Bernardino de Sá, with upwards of 300 slaves on board. I have to instruct you to make known to the Poruguese Government this proceeding of the newly-created Portuguese Baron. Sir R. Pakenham. I am, &c. PALMERSTON. No. 414.-Sir R. Pakenham to Visc. Palmerston. - (Rec. Sept. 24.) I HAVE the honour herewith to transmit a Protocol signed this morning by the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs and myself, recording the abolition, by mutual consent of the Contracting Parties, of the Mixed Commission Courts in Jamaica and the Cape de Verde Islands, established under the provisions of the Treaty of 3rd July, 1842, between Great Britain and Portugal, for the suppression of the Slave Trade, but which experience has shown to be not required for the fulfilment of the objects proposed by that Treaty. Viscount Palmerston, G.C.B. I have, &c. R. PAKENHAM. (Inclosure.)-Protocol of a Conference between the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and Portugal for the Abolition of the Mixed Commission Courts in Jamaica and the Cape de Verde Islands.Lisbon, September 18, 1851. WHEREAS by Article VI of the Treaty concluded on the 3rd day of July, 1842, between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and Her Majesty the Queen of Portugal and the Algarves, for the suppression of the Slave Trade, it was stipulated that in order to bring to adjudication with as little delay and inconvenience as possible, the vessels which might be detained according to the tenor of Article II of the same Treaty, there should be established as soon as might be practicable, two or more Mixed Commissions, formed of an equal number of individuals of the two nations, named for that purpose by their respective Sovereigns; and that of those Commissions one-half should reside in possessions of Her Britannic Majesty, and the other half within the territories of Her Most Faithful Majesty; and that the two Governments at the period of exchanging the ratifications of the said Treaty, should declare, each for its own dominions, in what places the Commissions should respectively reside; and that each of the two High Contracting Parties reserved to itself the right of changing at its pleasure the place of residence of the Commissions held within its own dominions, provided that two at least of the said Commissions Сомо pelo Artigo VI do Tratado concluido no dia 3 de Julho de 1842,* entre Sua Magestade et Rainha do Reino Unido da Gram Bretanha e Irlanda, e Sua Magestade el Rainha de Portugal e Algarves, para a suppressão do Trafico da Escravatura, foi estipula doque para fazer julgar, com a menor demora e inconveniencia possivel, as embarcações que possam ser detidas segundo o teor do Artigo II do mesmo Tratado, se estabeleceriam, loge que fosse practicavel, duas ou mais Commissões Mixtas, compostas de igual numero de individuos das suas nações, nomeados para esse fim pelos seus respectivos Soberanos; e que metade nestas Commissões residiriain em possessões de Sua Magestade Britannica, e a outra metade nos territorios de Sua Magestade Fidelissima, e que os seus Governos ao tempo da troca das ratificações do dito Tratado declarariam, cada um, quanto aos seus proprios dominios, em que lugares haviam as Commissões de respectivamente residir, e qua cada uma das Altas Partes Contractantes se reservaria o direito de mudar a seu arbitro o lugar da residencia das Commissões estabelecidas nos seus proprios dominios, com tanto que ao menos duas das ditas Commissões deviam sempre residir ou na costa d'Africa, ou em uma das ilhas adjacentes d'aquella costa, should always be held either on the coast of Africa or in one of the islands off that coast, and that these Commissions should adjudge the causes submitted to them according to the provisions of the aforesaid Treaty and of its Annexes, which are considered as forming an integral part thereof: And whereas in accordance with the above-mentioned stipulations, Mixed Commissions were established in Her Britannic Majesty's Possessions at Cape Town at the Cape of Good Hope, and at Kingston in the Island of Jamaica; and in Her Most Faithful Majesty's Possessions at St. Paul de Loanda on the west coast of Africa, and at Boa Vista, one of the Cape Verde Islands: And whereas the High Contracting Parties now deem it unnecessary and inexpedient to continue the two Mixed Commissions established at Kingston and at Boa Vista, and have agreed to abolish them accordingly; the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain and of Portugal have met to record this decision in the present Protocol. * Vol. XXX. Page 527. Done at Lisbon in duplicate original, English and Portuguese, the 18th day of September, 1851.. R. PAKENHAM. ΑΝΤΟΝΙΟ ALUIZIO JERVIS D'ATONGUIA. e que estas Commissões julga. riam as causas que lhe fossem submettidas segundo as estipulações do sobredito Tratado, e dos sues Annexos, que são considerados como formando uma parte integrante delle; e como em conformidade com as supramencionadas estipulações foram estabelecidos Commissões Mixtas nas Possessões de Sua Magestade Britannica na Cidade do Cabo no Cabo da Bõa Esperança, e em Kingston na Ilha da Jamaica; e nas Possessões de Sua Magestade Fidelissima em S. Paulo de Loanda na costa occidental d'Africa, e na Ilha da Bõa Vista, uma das de Cabo Verde; e como as Altas Partes Contractantes julgam agora desnecessario e inconveniente continuarem as duas Commissões Mixtas estabelecidas em Kingston, e na Boa Vista, e por conseguente accordaram aboli-las; os Plenipotenciarios da Gram Bretanha e de Portugal se reuniram para consignar esta decisão no presente Protocolo. Feito em Lisboa em original duplicado, em Inglez e Portuguez, aos 18 dias do mez de Setembro de 1851. ΑΝΤΟΝΙΟ ALUIZIO JERVIS D'ATONGUIA. R. PAKENHAM. No. 419. Sir R. Pakenham to Viscount Palmerston.-(Rec. Oct. 14.) By a Decree, dated the 23rd of last month, Her Most Faithful Majesty has been pleased to appoint the Viscount de Pinheiro, until lately known as Colonel Ximenes, Aide-de-camp to the Marshal [1851-52.] 2G |