and should any Slaves be found on board, according to the tenor of the Xth Article of the aforesaid Treaty ;-and as to what regards the vessels, should there be ground to suspect that the said Spanish Slaves have been embarked on a part of the coast of Africa where the Traffic is no longer permitted, conformably to the Articles I. and II. of the Treaty of this date; in these cases alone, the Commander of the said ship of war may detain them; and having detained them, he is to bring them, as soon as possible, for judgment, before that of the two mixed Commissions appointed by the XIIth Article of the Treaty of this date, which shall be the nearest, or which the Commander of the capturing ship shall, upon his own responsibility, think he can soonest reach from the spot where the Slave ship shall have been detained.

Ships, on board of which no Slaves shall be found, intended for purposes of Traffic, shall not be detained on any account or pretence whatever.

Negro servants or sailors that may be found on board the said vessels, cannot, in any case, be deemed a sufficient cause for detention.

Art. 2 No Spanish merchantman or Slave ship shall, on any pretence whatever, be detained, which shall be found any where near the land or on the high seas, south of the Equator, during the period for which the Traffic is to remain lawful, according to the stipulations subsisting between the High Contracting Parties, unless after a chace that shall have commenced north of the Equator.

Art. 3. Spanish vessels, furnished with a regular passport, having Slaves on board, shipped at those parts of the coast of Africa where the

Trade is permitted to Spanish subjects, and which shall afterwards be found north of the Equator, shall not be detained by the ships of war of the two nations, though furnished with the present instructions, provided the same can account for their course, either in conformity with the practice of the Spanish navigation, by steering some degrees to the northward in search of fair winds, or for other legitimate causes, such as the dangers of the sea, duly proved; provided always, that, with regard to all Slave ships detained to the north of the Equator, after the expiration of the term allowed, the proof of the legality of the voyage is to be furnished by the vessel so detained. On the other hand, with respect to Slave ships detained to the south of the Equator, in conformity with the Stipulations of the preceding Article, the proof of the illegality of the voyage is to be exhibited by the captor.

It is in like manner stipulated, that the number of Slaves found on board a Slave ship by the cruizers, even should the number not agree with that contained in their passport, shall not be sufficient reason to justify the detention of the ship; but the Captain and the Proprietor shall be denounced in the Spanish Tribunals, in order to their being punished according to the laws of the country.

Art. 4. Every Spanish vessel intended to be employed in the legal Traffic in Slaves, in conformity with the principles laid down in the Treaty of this date, shall be commanded by a native Spaniard, and two-thirds, at least, of the crew shall likewise be Spaniards; provided always, that its Spanish or Foreign construction shall, in no wise, affect its nationality, and

that the Negro sailors shall always be reckoned as Spaniards, provided they belong, as Slaves, to subjects of the Crown of Spain, or that they have been enfranchised in the dominions of His Catholic Majesty.

Art. 5. Whenever a ship of war shall meet a merchantman liable to be searched, it shall be done in the most mild manner, and with every attention which is due between allied and friendly nations; and in no case shall the search be made by an officer holding a rank inferior to that of Lieutenant in the Navy of Great Britain, or of Ensign of a ship of the line in the Spanish Navy.

Art. 6. The ships of war which may detain any Slave ship, in pursuance of the principles laid down in the present instructions, shall leave on board all the cargo of Negroes untouched, as well as the Captain and a part, at least, of the crew of the above-mentioned Slave ship; the Captain shall draw up in writing, an authentic declaration, which shall exhibit the state in which he found the detained ship, and the changes which may have taken place in it; he shall deliver to the Captain of the Slave ship a signed certificate of the papers seized on board the said vessel, as well as of the number of Slaves found on board at the moment of detention.

The Negroes shall not be disembarked till after the vessels which contain them shall be arrived at the place where the legality of the capture is to be tried by one of the two Mixed Commissions, in order that, in the event of their not being adjudged legal prize, the loss of the proprietors may be more easily repaired. If, however, urgent motives, deduced from the length of the voyage, the state of health of the Negroes,

or other causes, required that they should be disembarked entirely, or in part, before the vessel could arrive at the place of residence of one of the said Commissions, the Commander of the capturing ship may take on himself the responsibility of such disembarkation, provided that the necessity be stated in a certificate in proper form.

Art. 7. No conveyance of Slaves from one port in the Spanish possessions to another shall take place, except in ships provided with passports from the Government on the spot, ad hoc.

Done at Madrid the twenty-third day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.

(L. S.) HENRY WELLESLEY.

(L. S.) JOSE PIZARRO.

Regulations for the Mixed Commissions, which are to reside on the Coast of Africa, and in a Colonial Possession of His Catholic Majesty.

ARTICLE I.

THE Mixed Commissions to be established by the Treaty of this date, upon the Coast of Africa and in a Colonial Possession of His Catholic Majesty, are appointed to decide upon the legality of the detention of such Slave vessels as the cruizers of both nations shall detain, in pursuance of this same Treaty, for carrying on an illicit commerce in Slaves.

The above-mentioned Commissions shall

Judge, without appeal, according to the letter and spirit of the Treaty of this date.

The Commissions shall give sentence as summarily as possible, and they are required to decide, (as far as they shall find it practicable,) within the space of twenty days, to be dated from that on which every detained vessel shall have been brought into the port where they shall reside; first, upon the legality of the capture; second, in the case in which the captured vessel shall have been liberated, as to the indemnification which she is to receive.

And it is hereby provided, that, in all cases, the final sentence shall not be delayed, on account of the absence of witnesses, or for want of other proofs, beyond the period of two months except upon the application of any of the parties interested, when, upon their giving satisfactory security to charge themselves with the expense and risks of the delay, the Commissioners may, at their discretion, grant an additional delay, not exceeding four mnths.

Art. 2. Each of the above-mentioned Mixed Commissions which are to reside on the coast of Africa, and in a Colonial Possession of His Catholic Majesty, shall be composed in the following manner :

The two High Contracting Parties shall cach of them name a Commissary Judge, and a Commissioner of Arbitration, who shall be authorized to hear and to decide, without appeal, all cases of capture of Slave vessels which, in pursuance of the stipulations of the Treaty of this date, may be laid before them. All the essential parts of the proceedings carried on before these Mixed Commissions, shall be written down