British and Foreign State Papers

In case the Portuguese Commissioner and Arbitrator shall not have reached Jamaica at the time of your arrival, you will enter on your duties at once.

In discharging the functions intrusted to you respectively, you will be careful not to lose sight of your judicial character, and will uniformly endeavour to combine a fair and conscientious zeal for the suppression of the Slave Trade, with the maintenance of the strictest justice towards the parties concerned, and with the promotion of a spirit of conciliation and harmony between Her Majesty's subjects and those of the Queen of Portugal.

Her Majesty has commanded that you shall from time to time transmit to this office an account of your proceedings in despatches addressed to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and that you shall also conform to such further instructions and directions as you may receive from time to time from him for your guidance. I am, &c.

Her Majesty's Commissioners.

ABERDEEN.

No. 280.-Her Majesty's Commissioner to the Earl of Aberdeen. (Received June 19.)

MY LORD,

Jamaica, May 15, 1843. Ir becomes my painful duty to state to your Lordship that a list of the sufferers by the wreck of the Solway steam-packet has been communicated to me by his Excellency, the Earl of Elgin, from which it appears that my colleague, Mr. Fitzjames, the Arbitrator of this Commission, has perished in that catastrophe.

The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T.

I have, &c.

D. TURNBULL.

No. 288.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Her Majesty's Commissioner. SIR, Foreign Office, September 12, 1843.

I HAVE to acquaint you that Her Majesty has been pleased to appoint Mr. Arthur Richard Hamilton, in the room of Mr. Fitzjames deceased, to be Arbitrator on the part of Her Majesty to the Mixed British and Portuguese Commission, established at Jamaica under the Treaty of July 3, 1842, between Great Britain and Portugal for the suppression of Slave Trade,

Mr. Hamilton will proceed to Jamaica by the packet which conveys this despatch.

He has been directed to wait upon you on his arrival.

You will take an early opportunity to introduce him to the Governor, that he may take the prescribed oath, and enter upon the duties of his office without delay. I have, &c.

D. Turnbull, Esq.

ABERDEEN.

ST. PAUL DE LOANDA. (Angola.)

No. 293.-The Earl of Aberdeen to Her Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, September 27, 1843.

I TRANSMIT to you herewith Her Majesty's Commission, bearing date the 22nd instant, appointing Mr. John Thomas to be Commissioner, and Mr. Charles Francis Fynes Clinton to be Arbitrator, on the part of Her Majesty, in the Mixed British and Portuguese Commission, to be established at the city of Loanda in Angola, under the Treaty concluded at Lisbon on the 3rd July, 1842, between Great Britain and Portugal, for the suppression of the trade in slaves.

I transmit to you likewise, 10 copies of the Treaty concluded on the 3rd July, 1842, and of an Additional Article thereto, concluded on the 22nd of October, 1842, also 10 copies of an Act of Parliament passed on the 10th ultimo, for carrying the Treaty into effect; and I have to desire that you will consider these documents as laying down the general basis and rule of your conduct in the offices to which Her Majesty has been pleased to appoint you.

You will proceed forthwith to your post at Loanda.

On your arrival at Loanda you will notify your arrival to the Governor, and propose to pay your respects to him, and at an early opportunity show to him your Commission, and take before him the oath prescribed to you by Article I, Annex B of the Treaty.

If you should find that the Commissioner and Arbitrator appointed on the part of Her Most Faithful Majesty have already arrived at their post, you will ascertain that their Commission is correct in form and substance, and will then consult with them on the most eligible. course to be pursued in entering on the duties intrusted to your care, and will enter on these accordingly.

In case the Portuguese Commissioner and Arbitrator shall not have reached Loanda at the time of your arrival, you will enter on your duties at once.

In discharging the functions intrusted to you respectively, you will be careful not to lose sight of your judicial character, and will uniformly endeavour to combine a fair and conscientious zeal for the suppression of the Slave Trade, with the maintenance of the strictest justice towards the parties concerned, and with the promotion of a spirit of conciliation and harmony between Her Majesty's subjects, and those of the Queen of Portugal.

Her Majesty has commanded that you shall, from time to time, transmit to this office an account of your proceedings, in despatches addressed to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and that you shall also conform to such further instructions and

directions as you may receive from time to time from him for your guidance.

Her Majesty's Commissioners.

I am, &c.

ABERDEEN.

No. 301.-Viscount Canning to Her Majesty's Commissioners. GENTLEMEN, Foreign Office, November 4, 1843. WITH reference to the Earl of Aberdeen's despatch to you of the 27th September last, enclosing a copy of a despatch from Her Majesty's Envoy at Lisbon, announcing the appointment of the Portuguese Commissioner, Arbitrator, and Registrar of the Mixed Commission to be established at Loanda; I am directed by his Lordship to transmit to you the accompanying extract from a despatch from the Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs to Her Most Faithful Majesty's Minister in London, from which you will perceive that the gentleman who has been appointed Portuguese Commissioner at Loanda is Senhor Eusebio Catella de Lemos Pinheiro Falcao, and not, as stated in Lord Aberdeen's despatch above-mentioned, Senhor Ladislau Benevenuto dos Santos, the latter gentleman having been appointed Commissioner at Boà Vista.

Her Majesty's Commissioners.

I am, &c.

CANNING.