a été l'objet de mes pensées depuis de longues années, parce qu'elle est de la plus grande importance pour mon pays. Jamais je n'oublierai le moment actuel, Messieurs, je m'en souviendrai aussi longtemps que je vivrai, que me vie soit longue ou courte. Messieurs, je vous remercie de tout mon cour."

La Conférence accueille avec sensibilité les paroles de M. le Commissaire et demande qu'elles soient consignées dans le Protocole.

Le présent Protocole est lu est approuvé.

BRITISH NOTIFICATION of the French Blockade of the Port of Venice.*-London, June 9, 1859.

Foreign Office, June 9, 1859.

Ir is hereby notified that the Right Honourable the Earl Cowley, Her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris, received on the 2nd June instant, from Count Walewski, Minister of Foreign Affairs to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of the French, the following official communication:

M. L'AMBASSADEUR,

Paris, le 2 Juin, 1859.

J'AI l'honneur d'adresser à votre Excellence deux exemplaires d'une Notification, insérée au Moniteur Officiel de ce jour, pour faire connaître le Blocus mis par une escadre Française aux ordres de M. le Contre-Amiral Jurien de la Gravière, devant le Port de Venise. Je vous prie de vouloir bien transmettre cette notification au Gouvernment de Sa Majesté Britannique.

Agréez, &c.

* "London Gazette" of June 10, 1859.

WALEWSKI.

Extrait du "Moniteur Universel" du 2 Juin, 1859.

Notification relative au Blocus du Port de Venise ainsi que de sc8

issues.

Paris, le 1 Juin, 1859.

Il est notifié, par les présentes, que Son Excellence le Ministre de la Marine a été informé par le Contre-Amiral Jurien de la Gravière, Commandant les Forces Navales Françaises dans l'Adriatique, que le 18 Mai, 1859, et à partir du dit jour, il a été établi par les forces navales placées sous son commandement un Blocus effectif du port de Venise et de ses issues.

Il est en outre notifié par les présentes que toutes les mesures autorisées par le droit des gens et les Traités respectifs existant entre Sa Majesté l'Empereur et les différentes Puissances neutres, seront adoptées et exécutées par rapport à tous les navires qui tenteraient de violer le dit Blocus.

BRITISH NOTIFICATION of the Spanish Blockade of the Ports of Tangier, Tetuan, and Larache, on the Coast of Morocco.*-London, November 8, 1859.

Foreign Office, November 8, 1859. Ir is hereby notified, that Mr. Buchanan, Her Majesty's Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Madrid, received from Senor Calderon Collantes, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs of Her Catholic Majesty the Queen of Spain, on the 30th ultimo, a note, of which the following is a translation :

SIR,

Palace, October 30, 1859.

I HAVE the honour to forward to you herewith a copy of this day's "Gazette," which contains the official notification of the blockade of the ports of Tangier, Tetuan, and Larache, on the coast of Morocco.

I request you to have the goodness to acquaint your Government with this notification, for the information of the subjects of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain. I avail, &c.

SATURNINO CALDERON COLLANTES.

Her Britannic Majesty's Minister Plenipotentiary.

(Translation.) Department of the Ministry of State. Notification of Blackade of the Ports of Tangier, Tetuan and Larache.

Notice is hereby given, that according to communications addressed to the Minister of State by the Minister of Marine, with * "London Gazette" of November 8, 1859,

reference to the Commander-in-chief of the Spanish Naval Forces destined to operate on the coast of Africa, on the 28th of the present month of October, the ports and anchorages of Tangier, Tetuan, and Larache, on the coasts of Morocco, were in a state of effective blockade by the competent number of vessels of the royal navy.

CORRESPONDENCE relative to the Slave Trade at Zanzibar and along the Mozambique Coast, and to the purchase by the French of Negroes as Free Emigrants.*-1854-1858.

The Government of Bombay to the Court of Directors of the East India Company.

(Extract.)

September 24, 1858. WITH reference to the instructions received from the Honourable the Secret Committee, and alluded to in our despatch, dated the 7th instant, we have the honour to forward to your Honourable Court copy of a letter from Captain C. P. Rigby, Honourable Company's agent at Zanzibar, dated the 15th August last, reporting circumstances connected with the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa.

The Government of Bombay to the Court of Directors of the East India Company.

(Extract.)

October 9, 1858. IN continuation of the first and second paragraphs of our despatch of the 24th September last, we have the honour to forward copy of a letter with enclosures from Captain C. P. Rigby, agent at Zanzibar, dated the 20th August last, reporting circumstances connected with the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa.

We have also the honour to forward copy of a letter from Captain Rigby, dated the 24th August last, reporting on the present state of affairs at Zanzibar.

The Government of Bombay to the Secretary of State for India. (Extract.) November 9, 1858. OUR last letter relative to the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa was addressed to the Honourable the Court of Directors, and bore date the 9th October last.

We have now the honour, with reference to our letter dated the 24th September last, to submit copies of two communications from Captain Rigby, our agent at Zanzibar, dated the 13th and 21st of * Laid before Parliament by the India Office, 1859.

the same month, and to solicit the earnest attention of your Lordship to the commerce in slaves which has recently been created on the East Coast of Africa by French influence.

The East India Company's Agent at Zanzibar to the Secretary to Government of Bombay.

SIR,

Zanzibar, August 15, 1858.

I HAVE the honour to report, for the information of the Right Honourable the Governor in Council, the following circumstances relative to the Slave Trade on the East Coast of Africa.

In consequence of some recent orders of the French Government, permitting the importation of negroes into the Island of Bourbon, the Slave Trade all along the East Coast of Africa is being carried on to a far greater extent than has hitherto been known. Vessels are being sent out from France on purpose to be employed in conveying negroes from this coast. I am informed by the merchants here that one person in Marseilles has contracted to land 25,000 negroes in the Island of Bourbon within the next two years. These negroes are purchased by native agents all along the Mozambique coast, and taken on board French ships; they then go through the form of asking them if they are willing to engage themselves to serve for 10 years; the slaves, not understanding a word that is spoken, are previously ordered by their masters to nod their heads when spoken to, and this is considered sufficient assent. They are then registered and numbered, and forwarded in ship loads to Bourbon.

There is at present a large French ship of this discription at anchor in this harbour; she is full of negroes, who wear a number on a piece of wood round their necks. I have been privately informed that she has been shipping negroes at night here by stealth; she is anchored outside all the other vessels in the harbour, and is said to be waiting the arrival of a French man-of-war, daily expected.

The sudden development of this trade on a scale of such magnitude has caused a great sensation amongst the inhabitants of this place, and his Highness the Sultan, Said Majid, is about to dispatch his frigate Artemis to cruize off the Island of Monfia and the southern part of his dominions on the coast of Africa to prevent slaves being shipped from those places.

I understand that his Excellency the Governor-General of the Mozambique has taken very decided steps to put a stop to this traffic within the limits of the Portuguese settlements. A French ship recently captured has been condemned by the Portuguese courts at Mozambique, and the commander sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment.

In addition to the traffic carried on by the French, I am informed that a vessel under Spanish colours shipped 500 slaves from the vicinity of Lamoo on the African coast to the north of Pemba, for conveyance to Cuba; and another large American ship, also under Spanish colours, shipped 1,200 slaves for conveyance to Cuba from the ports of the Mozambique. I have, &c.

H. L. Anderson, Esq.

C. P. RIGBY, Captain.

The East India Company's Agent at Zanzibar to the Secretary to Government at Bombay.

SIR,

Zanzibar, August 20, 1858. I HAVE the honour to report the following circumstances for the information of the Right Honourable the Governor in Council.

On the evening of the 17th instant the schooner L'Eglée, belonging to the French Imperial Navy, arrived in this harbour, and on the following morning the brig Génie also belonging to the French Imperial Navy, arrived here, and the commander immediately sent a message to his Highness the Sultan, Said Majid, requesting to have an audience at 10 o'clock the following morning. In the evening his Highness sent his private secretary to me to inform me of the French commander's request for an interview, and to state that this same vessel arrived here some months ago, when the commander urged his Highness to permit the export of negroes from his Highness's territories, to be conveyed to the island of La Réunion as engaged labourers, and that upon that occasion his Highness gave a decided refusal to this request, and his secretary informed me that his Highness feared that the present visit of the brig Génie was to renew this demand, and that he therefore wished for my advice as to the nature of the reply he should make to the commander of the Génie, should his visit relate to this subject. I told the secretary that, as there are no free labourers here, and no class of persons who, of their own free will, would engage themselves to embark for La Réunion or any other French colony, any compliance on the part of his Highness to the shipment of negroes, under any name or any pretence, would certainly lead to a Slave Trade on an extensive scale, such as it is notorious the French are actively engaged in along the east coast of Africa to the south of his Highness's territories, and that my advice therefore was that his Highness should inform the commander of the Génie that there are no free labourers here, and that his Treaty engagements with the British Government forbid his sanctioning any direct or indirect sale of slaves within his dominions to Europeans of any nation.

His Highness's Secretary then alluded to the suspicious conduct of several French vessels which have visited this port, and, pointing to a large French ship, now in the harhour, said that she had been