per funds for maintaining this multitude of men, and it being inex~ pedient that they should remain in useless idleness, the Court adopted> also the opinion of the above-mentioned Fiscal, that the Negroes. should be distributed amongst Inhabitants and Planters of well-known responsibility and character, under the Regulations which have been. meditated long previous to this day; the opinions of all the Members of the Court agreed upon the following Articles :

:

1st. That this distribution be in quality of Deposit until the arrival of the above-mentioned Resolution of His Majesty; that the number of each lot shall not exceed ten or fifteen Negroes, and the period of returning them shall be within three days after notice given for that purpose, for the Depositaries who are Inhabitants of this City, or within four leagues' distance; and for those who are at a greater distance, within eight days. 2d. That the Depositary is to be bound to give. wholesome and abundant food to the Negroes delivered to him, to clothe them according to the custom of the country; to instruct them in the Doctrines of our Religion, in order that they may receive Holy Baptism as soon as possible, to attend to them in sickness, and to pay the expense of the burial of such as may die. 3d. That the Negroes shall be employed solely in common labour, such as free persons perform, without being punished or ill-treated in any way. 4th. That their conduct be watched, and that they be prevented from committing any excesses, it being understood that the Depositaries shall be responsible for the same, conformably to the Laws in force upon this subject with respect to fathers of families, and persons who maintain others in dependence upon them. 5th. That during the time the Negroes remain in deposit, they shall not be allowed to contract matrimony, on account of the inconvenience that might be thereby occasioned in carrying into effect the determination which shall be taken respecting their destination. 6th. That a List, with a description of all the Negroes deposited with Don Juan Perez, shall be formed, distinguishing Males and Females, and the different classes as to age, which shall be done at the time of the distribution agreed upon. 7th. That in the event of the death of any of the Negroes in deposit, due notice be given in this City and its Suburbs to the Commissaries of Divisions, and in the Country to the Captains of Districts, the Justices of which shall attend personally with two Inhabitants of good reputation, to certify that the deceased Negro was really one of those deposited, for the ascertaining of which they shall examine those who live in the house, the neighbours, with any other persons, until they shall be convinced of the fact; they shall then make a Report, which the aforesaid two Inhabitants, in the presence of whom the whole investigation must be made, shall sign, and in which Report the description of the Negroes is to be inserted; and this, together with the Certificate of the Burial, is to be sent to His

Excellency the President of this Court, in order that the necessary steps may be taken at the expense of the Depositary. 8th. That for this purpose the Notary Public shall form a book in paper of the third stamp, which he shall keep, together with a certified Copy of the present Decree; in continuation, the List of the Names of the Negroes, and in separate Papers, when the distribution is to take place, the form of delivery to the Individuals the Court shall select, with the description of each Negro, and of which a legalized Copy shall remain with the Depositary, including the Negroes thus described, whom he shall take away, in order that when necessary the proper use may be inade of the same. 9th. This Copy is to be presented to the Commissary of Division, or to the Country Justice, for the purpose of facilitating the investigation, in the event of the death of a deposited Negro, and for the ends mentioned in the 7th Article. 10th. That in case of a flight of any of the said Negroes, the Commissary of the Division, or the Captain of the District shall proceed to the investigation respecting such flight, together with two respectable Inhabitants, communicating the result to His Excellency the President of this Court, by a Report, in which shall be inserted the description of the absent Negro. 11th. For each of the Negroes distributed a sum of money shall be paid, the amount of which the Court will determine in another Session to be held for that purpose, previous to the delivery of such Negroes, which amount shall be in proportion to the great expenses occasioned in this Case, from the entrance into this Port of the four hundred Negroes, and those which may be occasioned in future with the Sick Negroes who are incapable of any service, and it shall be paid to the Person who shall be named by this Court. 12th. That for the ascertaining of the sum to be paid by the Depositary for the number of Negroes which shall be allotted to him in the distribution, the fund required being proportionate to the expenses mentioned in the preceding Article, Don Juan Perez shall present an account of the expenses he has incurred, and the taxer of the Court shall proceed without delay to tax the Costs in the present Cause, but confining himself to those arising from the Duties performed by the Official Ministers of this Court. 13th. That the aforesaid Don Juan Perez, at the time of presenting the account of his expenses, shall annex, in a separate sheet, the number of Negroes alive, distinguishing their sex and classes, and specifying whether they be in health or not. 14th. These Articles for the regulation of the Deposit of the Negroes shall have the applications and restrictions which circumstances may require, for their complete and perfect security. 15th. That the tenor of these fourteen Articles shall be notified to each of the Individuals who shall receive Negroes at the time of the distribution, and it must be stated, in the respective Lists, that they were fully apprised of the same, and that they were under the

express obligation to fulfil them in all respects under the most strict responsibility. Thus ordered and signed by His Excellency the President, and the other Members of the Court, conformably with the opinion of the Auditor. MIGUEL GASTON, &c. &c. &c.

(Enclosure 8.)-Secret Decree of the Court of Admiralty, in the Case of the Brig Maria de la Gloria.

(Translation.)

Havannah, August 23, 1824. In the always most faithful City of Havannah, on the 23d August, 1824, His Excellency the President, and the other Members of the Court of Admiralty, together with the Auditor and Fiscal of the same, remaining assembled for the purpose of drawing up the Secret Decree determined upon at the Session held this day, respecting the detention of the Portuguese Brig Maria de la Gloria, by the Spanish Privateer Romano, Don Jozé del Cotarro, Captain, which Brig was brought into this Port by the Sloop-of-War Marte, commanded by Lieutenant Don Jozé Apodaca, declared that not considering it to be prudent to give publicity, in the Report of the Proceedings at the above-mentioned Session, to the observations which the Court have to submit to the consideration of His Majesty, respecting the destination of the Negroes composing the Cargo of the detained Brig, they did it in the present form, stating that it would produce the most fatal consequences to the tranquillity of this Island, if the Africans should be allowed to remain here; for this class of men, when in a state of Slavery, engaged in field labours, in which they are chiefly employed, are maintained in subordination to their Masters, or to the persons who superintend them in their labours; but when they succeed in obtaining their liberty, they become immoral, do not apply themselves to work, and are distinguished in this populous Town for the crimes of every species, which they commit, from whence arises the well-founded apprehension of the Inhabitants that, if the number of the free Negroes were augmented to an equality with that of the Whites, they would conspire against the latter, as they did in the French part of Saint Domingo; for which reasons the Court have considered it to be their bounden duty to make this indication, on account of the fatal results that may happen if the Negroes brought in the Portuguese Brig be allowed to remain in the Towns at once free; without thinking it necessary to mention the important and well-founded motives for which all Nations that have had, and that have Slaves, have dictated precautionary measures, in order not to increase the number of those emancipated, the Court being persuaded that addressing this short Statement to the enlightened zeal of our Lord The King, His Majesty will perceive how much the security of this precious part of the Monarchy is endangered by the introduction therein of a portion of free Negroes, who, united with those we already

have, would probably disturb the tranquillity we enjoy and the said Members signed the same.

SIR,

MIGUEL GASTON, and the other Members.

(Enclosure 9.)-H. T. Kilbee, Esq. to the Captain General.

Havannah, September 12, 1824. I HAVE perused with due attention the Decrees of the Court of Admiralty in the Case of the Brig Maria de la Gloria, which, as your Excellency stated to me in your Letter of the 7th Instant, you were pleased to transmit to the Mixed Commission under the same date; and, in conformity with the practice I have always adopted, of apprizing the Chief Authority of the Island of those apparent violations of the Slave Trade Treaty, which I conceive it to be my duty to report to my Government, I shall proceed to make to your Excellency the observations that have occurred to me respecting the decision taken in this Case, in as far as I consider the same to be in contravention of the letter or spirit of that Treaty.

The Provision of the Public Decree of the Court of Admiralty, to which I would principally call your attention, is that by which it is directed that the Negroes belonging to the Brig Maria de la Gloria shall be placed in deposit, upon certain conditions, with individuals who are to pay a sum of money for the same. By this measure I conceive the Negroes are virtually reduced to a state of temporary Slavery; for their services being disposed of for a pecuniary consideration, without their participation in the same, and without their consent, they are to all intents and purposes Slaves under another name; and the Persons with whom they are deposited are as much entitled to their services for a limited time, as a purchaser is to those of a common Slave. The measure is therefore in violation of the Treaty of 1817, and likewise of the Royal Cedula issued in consequence of the same, by virtue of which no newly imported Negroes can remain as Slaves in the dominions of His Catholic Majesty.

Two motives are alleged as the chief grounds for the adoption of this measure, namely, the want of funds for maintaining the Negroes in future, and the necessity of paying the expenses already incurred; by neither of which, I humbly conceive, can it be justified, even supposing that any necessity could justify an infraction of Law and Treaty.

As to the first, the difficulty is at once got over, a Person having presented himself on behalf of the Portuguese Owner of the Maria de la Gloria, who is ready to accept of the deposit of the Negroes, giving ample security for their preservation, and subscribing to the conditions that may be imposed by the Government.

As to the second, which relates to the expenses that have already been incurred in Law-charges and in the maintenance of the Negroes,

it appears to me that, until the Case be finally decided, they should properly be borne by the Person who alone has occasioned all the present difficulties, namely, the Captain of the Privateer Romano, and, in his default, by the Owner of the same, Don Juan Perez. The charge of maintaining the Negroes was voluntarily assumed by the latter; and when that individual came forward, and, although a party in the transaction, was recommended by the Fiscal, and approved by the Court of Admiralty, as the proper Depositary of the Negroes, he could not have been ignorant, and much less the Fiscal and the Court, that, however responsible for any illegal conduct on the part of the Privateer, he never could, under a legal decision, whatever it might be, derive any profit from the Negroes, or be entitled to any property in them, inasmuch as, since the Abolition of the Slave Trade by His Catholic Majesty, none of His Subjects can legally acquire property in Negroes imported subsequently. Perez therefore, having voluntarily taken upon himself the charge of Depositary of the Negroes, for thè reasons he best knows, although he, and the Tribunal that appointed him, were perfectly aware that he could in no case be declared Proprietor of the same, having persisted in holding this charge, although the above-mentioned individual presented himself on behalf of the Portuguese Owner at an early stage of the Proceedings, and proposed that another Depositary should be named; and moreover, as Owner of the Privateer, being answerable for all her acts, and consequently bound to pay all the expenses attending the capture of the Slave Vessel, at least until such capture be declared legal, I do not think that he is entitled at present to the disbursement of his expenses.

These observations have been made under the supposition that the capture of the Maria de la Gloria by the Privateer was effected under ordinary circumstances, and that there are no obvious reasons for doubting its legality. The fact I conceive to be far otherwise, as will appear by the following statement, which results from the Proceedings had before the Mixed Commission.

The Privateer Brig Romano sailed from this Port on the 2d of December last, with Letters of Marque authorizing her to cruize against the enemies of His Catholic Majesty, by which was understood the French Nation, although it was well known here at that date that the war between France and Spain had been brought to a conclusion. Her powers to act were limited to "los Mares de Indias," [the American Seas], and yet she proceeded almost direct to the Coast of Africa, and after several other captures, fell in with and took the Maria de la Gloria. All the Officers and white people of the Crew, with the exception of one individual, a common sailor, and the whole of her Papers, were taken out of the Prize, which was then manned, and sent to this Island, for the professed purpose of adjudication by the Mixed Commission established here, although that at Sierra Leone was very near at hand;