secute their business to the same extent as formerly, and the production of sugar was diminished. In other places, where the Negroes, immediately after the emancipation, had flocked to the towns, and thereby reduced the planters to a state of temporary embarrassment, they subsequently felt the necessity of earning a livelihood, and have since voluntarily returned. In some places, finally, for example in Antigua (whose situation greatly resembles the Danish Islands, and particularly St. Croix, where there is no uncultivated land), emancipation, so far from proving detrimental to the planters, has, on the contrary, benefited them, inasmuch as production has increased, and the price of property risen. We cannot admit that the planters, in the event of a general emancipation, are entitled to demand from the State the full value of the slaves in compensation. The rules which in other cases obtain in respect to property ceded for the benefit of the State, cannot be held valid in the case of a species of property which is at variance with the rights of humanity. But we at the same time admit, that it is no more than fair and equitable that the planters get compensated for the loss which they really may be found to sustain. We do not believe that the real loss will be great, particularly when we reflect on the local circumstances which lead us to infer results pretty nearly similar to those evinced at Antigua, and moreover when we bear in mind that Danish West India sugar would in that case enjoy in England those advantages which the recent Customs' law confers on sugar the produce of free labour. In case however it should appear, after a careful investigation, that a compensation is indispensable, several circumstances may be pointed out which will facilitate this operation. The Government is itself the proprietor of not a few plantations-it holds mortgages on many others. The reduction of the military force will be accompanied by a retrenchment in the expenditure; and similar retrenchments will, doubtless, be able to be effected in several branches of administration. We are not prepared to submit any specific plan as to the precise time when emancipation should take place, according to what rules the loss of the planters is to be estimated, by what means the entire compensation sum is to be raised, or in what manner the reciprocal relations ought to be settled, when emancipation is effected. For these purposes there will be required many data, which scarcely any other body than the Government itself is able to procure. But in regard to the doubts entertained as to the possibility of devising means for securing to the planter a supply of labour, and to the Negroes, house shelter and work, and to the public a guarantee against vagrancy and exorbitant poor rates, we may here-besides referring to the experience above quoted-make this additional remark by way of example, that among other ways such a guarantee might be found, if the reciprocal relations were so settled that the planters make over to the Negroes their huts and small lots of ground, either as their property, or in lease for life or a term of years, on condition that they again become bound for a certain number of work-days in the sugar-field or sugarmill. We subjoin a few notices which may be of use both in the way of elucidation and as a clue in the discussion of this matter. It is in a country where bondage and villainage were abolished without any violent changes, a country which, as Sir Robert Peel recently remarked in public, was the first to furnish the example and indicate the mode of abolishing the detestable Slave Trade; it is to the deputies chosen by the people of such a country that we now submit our proposal to petition the King of that country, to effectuate with all possible speed the entire abolition of Negro slavery in the Danish West India Islands. C. N. DAVID, Prof. and Counsellor. RAFFARD, Pastor. GRUNDLVIG, Parish Priest. SCHOUW, Professor. HANSE TOWNS. No. 345.-Colonel Hodges to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. April 26.) In obedience to the instructions contained in your Lordship's despatch of April 12, 1844, I have consulted with Doctor (now Senator) Haller, on the case of the Hamburgh barque Louise, detained by Her Majesty's sloop Grecian, on suspicion of Slave Trade; and I have based the inclosed copy of a note to Syndicus Sieveking on his legal opinion, which I trust your Lordship will approve. Owing to Dr. Haller's having been promoted to the Senate, he has transferred the above case to Dr. Knaut. I have, &c. The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. G. LLOYD HODGES. (Inclosure.)-Colonel Hodges to Syndicus Sieveking. Hamburgh, April 22, 1844. THE Undersigned, &c. having been instructed by the Earl of Aberdeen, to make inquiries into the present state of the question respecting the affairs of the Hamburgh barque Louise, detained in 1841 by Her Majesty's ship Grecian, on suspicion of Slave Trade, begs to inform his Magnificence Syndicus Sieveking, that as the commander of the Grecian, has formally applied to the Senate, through his attorney here, for the recovery of the expenses incurred by the detention and bringing in of the Louise, and as this demand was not complied with, the commander has now applied to Her Majesty's Government for their interference and support. From the investigation of the law papers in this case it appears, that although the confiscation of the barque Louise, was not pronounced by the Tribunal of Commerce, owing to various arguments drawn from the nature of the case, still the detention and bringing in of the Louise has been declared just and lawful, in virtue of existing Treaties. Under these circumstances, therefore, nothing can be clearer to the Undersigned than the right of the detaining officer to claim from the Hamburgh State a full reimbursement of all consequent expenses, insomuch that, according to the principles of the Treaty, the British navy are to be considered in this case as acting in the service of the Republic of Hamburgh, as it effectually suppresses all abuse of her flag from being used for purposes of Slave Trade. The Undersigned has consulted Captain Smyth's lawyer in Hamburgh, who informs him that he will renew his petition by direct application to the Senate. The Undersigned, in accordance with his instructions, begs most strenuously to urge Captain Smyth's claim to be reimbursed by the Government of Hamburgh the sum of 2591. 13s. 2d. for expenses incurred. The Undersigned, &c. H.M. Syndicus Sieveking. G. LLOYD HODGES. TEXAS. No. 389.-Captain Elliot to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. April 16.) The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. I have, &c. CHARLES ELLIOT. (Inclosure 1.)-Mr. Jones to Captain Elliot. Department of State, Washington, February 16, 1844. THE Undersigned, Secretary of State of the Republic of Texas, has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the note which Mr. Elliot, Her Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, addressed him on the 4th ultimo, acquainting him with the wish of Her Majesty's Government to be enabled, with the consent of this Government, to send to Trinidad or Demerara any Negroes who may be captured on board Texian vessels on the coast of Brazil, under the Treaty between Great Britain and Texas for the suppression of the African Slave Trade. In reply, the Undersigned has the pleasure to state to Mr. Elliot that no objection exists on the part of this Government to the proposed arrangement; but, on the contrary, it is believed, the proposed modification to the XVIth Article of said Treaty will be advantageous to all parties who may hereafter become affected by the stipulations therein contained. In accordance, therefore, with the request of Mr. Elliot, the Undersigned will, on the part of this Government, sign the declaration forwarded by Lord Aberdeen, and accompanying Mr. Elliot's note. The Undersigned, &c. Captain Elliot, R.N. ANSON JONES. (Inclosure 2.)-Declaration supplemental to Slave Trade Treaty. Washington, February 16, 1844. WHEREAS, by the XVIth Article of the Treaty concluded at London on the 16th November, 1840,* between Her Majesty and the Republic of Texas, for the suppression of the African Slave Trade, it is stipulated that slaves found on board Texian vessels detained on the coast of Brazil, shall be carried or sent at once by the commander of the capturing cruizer to one of the British settlements on the coast of Africa; and whereas it has been considered expedient by the Government of Her Britannic Majesty that British cruizers should be enabled to carry or send to Trinidad or Demerara slaves so captured, instead of carrying or sending them back to the coast of Africa as aforesaid; and whereas there exists on the part of the Republic of Texas no objection to slaves so captured being so disposed of: We, the Undersigned, Her Britannic Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires in Texas, and the Secretary of State of the Republic of Texas, being duly authorized by our respective Governments, hereby agree and declare that, notwithstanding the above-cited stipulation of the XVIth Article of the Treaty above mentioned, the commanders of British cruizers, duly authorized under that Treaty, may carry or send to Trinidad or Demerara slaves found on board Texian vessels captured on the coast of Brazil. In witness whereof we have signed this declaration, and have hereunto affixed the seals of our arms. Done at Washington, the 16th day of February, 1844. (L.S.) CHARLES ELLIOT. (L.S.) ANSON JONES. * Vol. XXIX. Page 85. CONSULAR. No. 406.-Mr. Kennedy to the Earl of Aberdeen.-(Rec. June 15.) In a despatch, dated the 22nd of March, I had the honour to acknowledge the receipt of the circular of the 31st December, of last year's series, and to assure your Lordship that my most earnest endeavours would be devoted to carrying out each particular of the instructions therein conveyed. I have now to inform your Lordship that, in conformity with this assurance, I caused a copy of the Act 6 and 7 Vict. cap. 98, to be affixed in a conspicuous part of my office, and omitted no occasion which personal intercourse afforded to make its purport known to the British subjects within this Consulate. Having, after due deliberation, arrived at the conclusion that no inconvenience could result to the public service from the proceeding, I transmitted to the Galveston newspapers an official notification of the character and object of the Act 6 and 7 Vict. cap. 98, and of the fact of its being open to the inspection of British residents at the office of the Consulate. I have the honour to inclose a copy of a Galveston newspaper containing the official notification; and also a copy of the notification merely, extracted from the same journal, which is one of the organs of the Government. I beg to observe, that the number of slaves actually within the limits of the Galveston Consulate, and owned by British subjects, is not considerable; that the cotton and sugar plantations are all upon the main land; and that administrative equity will not have attained its object unless speedy steps be taken for making parties contemplated by the "Act for the more effectual Suppression of the Slave Trade," and who hold slaves upon the main land, aware of the existence of that Act, and acquainted with the general effect and tendency of its provisions. I have, &c. The Earl of Aberdeen, K.T. WILLIAM KENNEDY. (Inclosure.)-Notice in the "Civilian and Galveston Gazette." Galveston, Republic of Texas. In accordance with instructions received from the Earl of Aberdeen, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and in order that the law may be known by all to whom this notice is addressed: I, the Undersigned Consul, do hereby notify all British subjects whomsoever, resident within the Consulate of Galveston, That a copy of an Act passed at the last session of Parliament, entitled "An Act for the more effectual suppression of the Slave Trade" (6 and 7 Vict. cap. 98), in which it is declared that all the several matters and things prohibited in the Act 5 Geo. IV, cap. 113, [1844-45.] 2 Q |