Part 20
7286. And it would generally happen that those forts would be built upon an unhealthy part of the coast?--It is almost impossible to select any part of the coast of Africa as being healthy. One spot may be more healthy this season than another; but there is very little difference upon the coast. The coast of Africa, from the Kroo country up to Senegal, is generally composed of a low swampy mangrove line of coast. Those mangroves extend frequently from 25 to 30 miles into the interior. There are spots like Sierra Leone, Cape Verde, and Cape Mount, where you can find high land; but generally speaking it is all a swampy mangrove coast.
7287. The spots you would select for those forts for commercial purposes would generally happen to be unhealthy?--It would naturally so occur, because they would require to be near the mouths of the principal rivers, for drawing the exports down from the interior; but I should think that the communication would be drawn down better from the interior by opening some communication, or making an agreement or treaty with some of the inland powerful chiefs, such as the Foolahs, who are by far the most enlightened race that I have seen, and much more advanced towards civilization than the people in any other part of Africa that I have been in.
7288. Sir _T. D. Acland._] Does Teembo belong to them?--Yes.
7289. Mr. _Aldam_.] Would you contemplate in that case having a fort some distance up the river?--No; in the River Nunez, to which I allude with respect to the Foolahs, I do not think it would be necessary, because the petty chiefs immediately at the mouth of the Nunez, who are now likely to give trouble, would be kept in order by them; I think a treaty entered into with the Foolah chief, would in a great measure ensure our trade with the Foolah country. Through the means of the Foolah chief we should be enabled to carry on trade independent of the petty chiefs, through whose territory the trade now has to pass.
7290. What kind of treaty would you make with those chiefs?--The object of it would be to bind the Foolah chief down to afford protection and security to our commerce, and to people settling in his country, for the purpose of carrying on trade.
7291. And you think it would be easy to obtain such a treaty?--I think so; I judge from the opinion given me by a Foolah chief, whom I met in the Nunez, and who expressed himself desirous that the white people should not leave the River Nunez, and said that he would be very happy to escort me up to Teembo, that the Foolah Almaamy would be very happy to see me.
7292. Over what extent of country would the influence of this chief extend?--The Foolah country is now very extensive. The kingdom of Kikandy is in some measure tributary to the Foolah country.
7293. Mr. _Forster_.] Were you at Sierra Leone when the affair of the Hamburgh vessel, the Echo, took place?--I was at Sierra Leone while the Echo was there.
7294. Did you apply to the captain of the Echo for some of his crew?--I met some of the crew of the Echo, who came to me and expressed a wish to enter the Saracen for Her Majesty’s service, and on meeting the captain of the Echo, I mentioned to him that those people had done so; but I had no idea of entering the crew, as they were all foreigners.
7295. Sir _T. D. Acland_.] How far is the Nunez navigable?--For vessels drawing 10 feet water to Debucca, a distance of 50 or 60 miles; and for large canoes I should think much higher.
HOUSE OF COMMONS. _Select Committee on West Coast of Africa._ R. R. GIBBONS, Esq. to MESSRS. ZULUETA & Co.
Gentlemen,
July 15th, 1842.
I send you herewith a copy of evidence given by Captain Hill, of a later date than that I sent on a previous occasion.
I am, &c.
(signed)
_R. R. Gibbons._
_Lunæ, 4º die Julii, 1842._
MEMBERS PRESENT.
Sir T. D. Acland. Mr. Aldam. Viscount Courtenay. Captain Fitzroy. Mr. W. Hamilton.
VISCOUNT SANDON, in the chair.
Captain _Henry Worsley Hill_, called in; and further Examined.
7958*. _Chairman._] Have you something which you wish to add to your evidence on the case of the Augusta?--Yes; I wish to state, with respect to my detaining the Augusta, the grounds on which the seizure was made, as far as my memory will admit of my going, and I feel myself at liberty to disclose to the Committee. On going on board the Augusta, amongst the letters and papers that were seized by me, I found a letter, dated “London, 20th August 1840.” This letter is a reply to a letter written by Captain Jennings from Portsmouth, stating, “We cannot exceed 500_l._ for the vessel in question, such as described in your letter; if you cannot, therefore, succeed at those limits, we must give up the purchase.” This letter is signed Zulueta & Co. By this letter, it certainly appears to me that the vessel was purchased by Zulueta &, Co., or intended to be purchased by that firm. The next letter is dated “London, 26th of September 1840,” addressed to Captain Thomas Jennings, Portsmouth; the signature of this letter was cut out on my finding it. It acknowledged the receipt of Captain Jenning’s letter of the following day, observing “that the sum remitted would not be sufficient to cover the expenses, to clear the ship, and requesting that Captain Jennings would write the next day, stating the sum that was necessary, that it might be forwarded to him by the post of Monday night, to enable the ship to sail for Liverpool on Tuesday or Wednesday at furthest.” The signature cut out. But there is a note to the letter: “According to our Liverpool mode, note, you will go on shore to the Salt House Dock.” The next paper I would allude to, is the charter-party of the vessel, dated London, 19th October 1840, wherein it is mutually agreed, between Mr. Thomas Jennings, master and owner of the good ship or vessel called the Augusta, and Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of Havannah, that the ship shall load from the factories of the said Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. a cargo of legal goods, and shall proceed therewith to Gallinas, on the coast of Africa, and there deliver the same; after which she may be sent on any legal voyage between the West Indies, England, Africa, or the United States, according to the directions of the charterer’s agents. The freight to be paid on unloading and right delivery of the cargo, at the rate of 100_l._ sterling per calendar month. The necessary cash for the ship’s disbursements to be furnished to the captain free of commission; the captain being indebted to the charterers in certain sums, as per acknowledgment elsewhere. The freight earned by the vessel to be held as general lien for such sums.” This is signed Thomas Jennings, for Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of Havannah, Zulueta & Co.
7959*. Jennings is the owner of the vessels?--Yes.
7960*. And Zulueta appears as the agent to Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co., chartering Jenning’s vessel for certain purposes?--Yes; by the extract from the first letter it appears that Zulueta bought the vessel; by the second letter he pays the expenses of the vessel; but the charter-party is made out by Thomas Jennings, as the owner of the vessel.
7961*. Sir _T. D. Acland_.] Then Zulueta acts as agent for Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co.?--Yes; the next paper, I will read the extract from is marked “Additional Memorandum of Charter-party;” which commences, “I Thomas Jennings, captain and owner of the ship Augusta, declare I have received from Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of this city, 1,100_l._ sterling, for the disbursements of the said ship, the fitting out and provisions, which I engage myself to repay, with the earnings of the same, namely, all the earnings of the ship, will be accounted for and applied to the said Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co., they furnishing the cash for all expenses, crew’s wages (including 15_l._ per month for my salary as captain). At any time when the said gentlemen may think proper to close the charter-party, I will deliver to them, or their representative, a bill of sale for the said ship, and all her appurtenances, to cover the balance due to them in the said account.” It states, that Mr. Thomas Jennings is no way responsible for the settlement of the above-mentioned debt, but with the said ship and her earnings, and that Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. will take on themselves the insurance and risk on the vessel. This paper is dated London, 21st October, 1840, and signed “Thomas Jennings.” The next paper is the bill of lading, which states the cargo to be shipped by Thomas Jennings, of Liverpool, in the Augusta, lying in the port of Liverpool and bound to Gallinas: 20 hogsheads of tobacco, 60 cases of arms, one case of looking-glasses, 10 casks copper ware, 134 bales of merchandize, 1,600 iron pots, 2,370 kegs of gunpowder, to be delivered at Gallinas to Don Alvarez, Don Angel Ximenez, and Don Jose Perez Rolla. This is dated Liverpool, 10th November 1840. The vessel had no register, but a sailing licence from the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Customs, wherein Thomas Jennings, of No. 2, James-street, Limehouse, is represented to be the owner, and that the vessel is to be employed in foreign trade. There is also an account current between Messrs. Zulueta with Thomas Jennings, master of the Augusta, amounting to 339_l._ 16_s._ 9_d._, the chief part of which is for the disbursements of the vessel. I further state to the Committee, that ten letters were found on board this vessel, dated Cadiz, and addressed to three notorious slave merchants at Gallinas: in one of these letters, addressed to Señor Ignacio Perez Rolla, at Gallinas, dated Cadiz, 30th November 1840, is a paragraph to the following effect: “In a letter, dated London the 21st instant, which I have just received from Messrs. Zulueta & Co., merchants, in London, I had the pleasure of receiving a bill drawn by you on them for 250_l._, which I this day place to their credit, waiting your advice of the same.” This letter is signed “M.” but no name. The other letters were all on slave business; not a word of any innocent trade, but the whole directing how slaves were to be shipped on board various vessels.
7962*. Who were they signed by?--All signed in the same way.
7963*. Signed “M.”?--Yes, and to the best of my recollection, every vessel to which they referred was captured by Captain Denman and myself.
7964*. Where were these letters dated from?--From Cadiz; the Vanguardia was captured by Captain Denman; the Uracca by myself, the Diana also; the other vessel referred to in the letters is the Gabriel, which vessel fired upon the boats of Her Majesty’s vessel Termagant, killing three or four of her crew, and has been since captured by the Acorn, Captain Adams. Therefore these letters at once show that the three persons to whom they were addressed, residing at Gallinas, and who were the parties to whom the Augusta was consigned, were most extensively engaged in slave dealing. No other letters were found on board the Augusta but those that related to slave dealing.
7965*. The Augusta had touched at Cadiz on her way out from England?--Yes, and landed part of her cargo at Cadiz, although it was consigned to be delivered at Gallinas.
7966*. What are the inferences that you draw from these papers?--That Zulueta, by the letter of the 20th of August, 1840, advanced the money for the purchase of the vessel; that by the letter of the 26th of September, that Zulueta advanced the money to defray her expenses and fitting out, necessary before she proceeded to sea; that Mr. Jennings was put in as the owner, when in fact he was not the owner; that Zulueta was perfectly aware of this, and that he chartered the vessel to carry a cargo on behalf of Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of Havannah, a notorious slave dealer, which cargo was to be delivered to three notorious slave dealers at the Gallinas; that afterwards these notorious slave dealers at Gallinas were to have the direction of the vessel for the future proceedings; and, moreover, that at any time Messrs. Martinez, or their agents, thought proper to close the charter party, the vessel was to be given up to their agents, by which means, a ship bearing English colours was certainly employed by notorious slave dealers; she was to be directed in her voyage by slave dealers; and she was, at any time these notorious slave dealers thought proper to name, to be given up to them entirely. This transaction, with the purchase of the vessel, and a person put in as the nominal owner who was not the owner, cannot but stamp a character that the vessel was engaged, with the knowledge of Zulueta, in some trade that they were desirous should not be discovered.
7967*. Mr. _Forster_.] Inform the Committee in what way you connect Messrs. Zulueta & Co. illegally with any improper transaction there, or what part of the transaction which you have detailed it was not competent for foreign merchants to perform as agents in this country; mention which part they were not bound to perform, provided they received instructions from their agents at Havannah to do it, having money in their hands to make a purchase of the vessel and ship the goods?--Messrs. Zulueta must be aware that it is contrary to law to act as agents, or otherwise, for the shipment of goods that are to be employed in the slave trade; they were bound to do no thing illegal; they are merchants residing in England, and they must conform themselves to the laws of England, and they cannot, by the laws of England, plead ignorance of those laws.
7968*. _Chairman._] You conceive it would be unlawful for an agent in this country to ship goods to be employed in the slave trade?--Yes.
7969*. Mr. _Forster_.] How is a merchant acting in this country in pursuance of orders from his correspondent abroad to know what that correspondent means to do with the goods which he purchases on his account and ships at Liverpool?--In this case I think it is plain that Messrs. Zulueta entered into a scheme for chartering and purchasing a vessel, and putting in an owner, and establishing a British character to a vessel that he could not be ignorant was to be engaged in the slave trade, or in some trade which, for reasons that Messrs. Martinez may have, that they wished to keep in the back ground, and that secrecy alone ought to have called from Messrs. Zulueta a degree of vigilance, and more particularly a vessel being bound to a place on the coast of Africa, where, if they had taken the slightest trouble in the world, they must have known there were no constituted authorities or custom-house officers, or any persons of an European nation who could ascertain if she was engaged in legal trade.
7970*. Then, in fact, you think it is imperative on the English merchant, before he executes the orders of his foreign correspondent, in any matter relating to the trade between Brazils, Cuba, and the coast of Africa, to send out and inquire the character of the party with whom the transaction is connected on the coast of Africa?--I have stated nothing of the sort; but I have endeavoured to be particular in making it appear that this vessel was chartered to a place where there were no constituted authorities. A vessel to be chartered to the Brazils or Cuba, or any country where authorities existed in the colony of a recognized nation, would materially alter the position of Messrs. Zulueta; but Messrs. Zulueta, as I before stated, residing in England, it became the duty of that house to be guarded that they did not break the laws.
7971*. Do you speak of this as a matter of prudence and taste on the part of Zulueta & Co., or as an act of criminality?--As far as I am able to give my own opinion, I believe that Messrs. Zulueta were perfectly criminal; at least they had a perfect knowledge of what they were doing. I think I am borne out in that by the secrecy they have endeavoured to purchase, and putting in a false owner. Messrs. Zulueta have been for a number of years agents to the notorious Pedro Blanco; they have also before this purchased and sent out to the Havannah a notorious slave vessel called the Arrogante, which circumstance was represented by Mr. Tolme, Her Majesty’s consul at the Havannah, to the English Government, and is also in the printed correspondence laid before parliament, either for the year 1839 or 1840. In fact, there can be no want of evidence to show that Messrs. Zulueta had for a length of time been agents to slave dealers; and I think it is impossible that any merchant can be an agent and ship cargoes of goods without ascertaining some knowledge of the party for whom they are shipped.
7972*. in the first place, you assume that it was illegal for Messrs. Zulueta & Co. to ship these goods to Alvarez at the Gallinas; are you quite sure that that is not a gratuitous assumption of law on your part?--I am speaking from my own belief; I cannot say what the law is, but I am speaking from my own belief, and the inferences I can draw from the vessel’s papers. I think the papers are quite conclusive to the mind of any man that Zulueta was cognizant of what he was doing; but as far as it is an illegal transaction it is not for me to judge, but the judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Sierra Leone did think it illegal, and condemned the vessel; and, moreover, the man who is put forward as captain and owner did not defend the vessel on her trial.
7973*. Are you quite sure he had the means to do so?--He cannot plead as an excuse that he had not the means, for the owner of a vessel in a British port, with a cargo worth between 4,000_l._ and 5,000_l._, I think, could always manage to raise 30_l._ or 40_l._ for the defence of his vessel.
7974*. Was that cargo in his possession, or was it under seizure at the time you speak of?--The vessel and all was seized by me, but still there was the captain and the owner present, and nothing was touched until the condemnation took place.
7975*. How could he offer security and raise money on a seized ship and cargo?--To say how he is to do so is not for me; I am not a mercantile man, but I only observe, that it is most extraordinary that the owner of a ship, with a cargo on board, cannot, in a British port, raise 50_l._ for the defence of that vessel.
7976*. But how can you affect any wonder on that subject, when you yourself admit that you do not know how he was to do it?--I have already stated that I am no mercantile man, and to say how these things are done, I cannot.
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE TAKEN BEFORE THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON WEST COAST OF AFRICA.
_Mercurii, 22º die Junii, 1842._
MEMBERS PRESENT.
Mr. Aldam. Sir T. D. Acland. Captain Fitzroy. Sir Robert H. Inglis. Mr. Milnes. Mr. W. Patten. Mr. Stuart Wortley.
Captain the Honourable _Joseph Denman_, R. N. called in; and Examined.
6540. _Chairman._] Will you state what your service on the coast of Africa has been?--My first acquaintance with the coast of Africa was in the year 1834, when I took over a slave vessel from Rio Janeiro. In the year 1835 I commanded the Curlew, upon that coast, for a considerable period; and for the last two years I have been in charge of the coast between Cape Verde and Cape Palmas. I was the senior officer upon that district.
6541. What has been the course of the slave trade since your acquaintance with the coast of Africa; has it decreased in extent, or changed its direction?--Since my first acquaintance with the coast, the slave trade has changed in many most important particulars, both with regard to the locality and with regard to the method in which it has been carried on.
6542. Will you state first, as to the locality, in what respect it has changed?--In the year 1835, when the Equipment Treaty came into force, the effect was, in a great measure, to drive the slave trade into the south latitude, where it was carried on with perfect impunity, under the flag of Portugal, by the then existing treaty. They then found that upon the north coast they could carry on the slave trade, by using the flag of Portugal, exactly as before.
6543. By the north coast, you mean north of the equator?--Yes: but from the end of the year 1839 they have been equally shut out from the Portuguese and from the Spanish flag. Up to that period no check whatever had been effected. Since that period I conceive that the slave trade has diminished to one-half what it was before.
6544. Not only north of the equator, but along the whole coast?--Along the whole coast of Africa. The whole amount of the export of slaves from Africa is, in my opinion, now, not one-half what it was previously to the Act of 2 Victoria, empowering us to capture Portuguese ships fitted for the slave trade. The effect of all former changes had been to throw the slave trade under the flag of Portugal, where it received a perfect protection in the southern latitude, and in the northern latitude was on the same footing on which it had been always since the trade was first established.
6545. Does the trade seem now to look to any flag to cover itself under?--They seem to have been deprived of every flag they could possibly look to; they no longer receive protection from any flag.
6546. Not from the American?--Not from the American flag, decidedly, except indirectly.
6547. Do you conceive that the present system, if carried on with the same amount of force, will reduce the slave trade to a still greater extent?--My opinion is, that the system of blockade is that which alone can be successful under any circumstances, but that to render it effective we want a considerable increase of force; with an increase of force I believe that in three years the slave trade may be demolished and exterminated.
6548. Sir _T. D. Acland_.] In the south as well as in the north?--Yes; there is no longer any difference since the 2nd of Victoria.
6549. _Chairman._] Do you contemplate a blockade of the whole coast?--I contemplate the blockade of those parts where the slave trade is carried on.
6550. Do you believe that a material check to the trade, or an extirpation of the trade for two or three years, in any one place, makes it difficult to resume it afterwards, if the interference of the cruizers is suspended?--It turns the trade into another course. When once the trade is interrupted at any place, people are not in the habit of sending traders up the country for slaves, and traders from the interior cease to bring slaves down to them there, and there is great difficulty felt in resuming it; and in almost every instance legitimate commerce comes in, and the wants of the natives are supplied by those means; but I would not in such cases suspend the interference of the cruizers altogether, until the slave trade should be entirely eradicated.
6551. You believe that when the slave trade is checked for a period, legitimate commerce grows up in its place, and the desire to resume it is diminished?--I think the desire to resume it is diminished, in the first place, principally on account of the difficulty of resuming it. I believe that all over Africa the natives prefer the slave trade to any other trade.
6552. But you conceive that the lawful trade co-operates with the efforts of the cruizers?--In speaking of lawful trade I think it is necessary to state, that in my opinion the only legitimate trade of Africa, in the strict sense of the term, is that wherein goods are paid for in produce; all other trade, more or less, is connected with the slave trade.
6553. You mean that the money by which goods are paid for can only have been acquired by the slave trade?--Universally by the slave trade; dollars are brought upon the coast by no other means.
6554. Mr. _Forster_.] Those dollars and doubloons being diffused over the coast, in what way would you propose to stop the circulation of them?--I do not propose to stop the circulation of them.