Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

XXVII. Le Gouvernement pourra, s'il le juge convenable, faire rembourser tout ou partie des Obligations du Trésor Royal, avant leurs échéances; si mieux n'aiment les Porteurs consentir à une réduction d'intérêts.

XXVIII. Les sommes recouvrées avant les échéances sur les produits affectés au paiement des Obligations du Trésor Royal, seront employées exclusivement et par avance au rachat des Obligations.

XXIX. Toute Obligation émise pourra, à la volonté du Porteur, être convertie en Inscription sur le Grand Livre des 5 pour cent Consolidés, avec jouissance du semestre courant, à la date de la délivrance de l'Ordonnance originaire ou à la date du dernier paiement d'indemnité.

XXX. Toutes les Obligations qui rentreront au Trésor par rachat, paiement, ou conversion en Inscriptions, seront annulées immédiate

ment.

XXXI. Il sera vendu jusqu'à concurrence de 300,000 hectares de bois de l'Etat, sol et superficie, dont le produit ne sera affecté qu'au paiement et à l'amortissement des Obligations du Trésor Royal.

Il pourra, sur ce gage, être ouvert un emprunt dont le produit sera exclusivement destiné au rachat et à l'extinction desdites Obligations.

XXXII. I sera remis à la Chambre des Députés par chaque Ministre, un compte des Ordonnances qu'il aura délivrées pour dépenses antérieures au ler Avril, 1814.

Le Ministre des Finances remettra à la même Chambre un compte présentant :

1. Les paiemens effectués en Obligations du Trésor Royal;

2. Les Inscriptions portées sur le Grand Livre, soit en paiement d'Ordonnances, soit par conversion d'Obligations;

3. Le montant et l'emploi des sommes recouvrées sur les produits affectés au remboursement et à l'amortissement des Obligations du Trésor Royal.

Les mêmes comptes seront remis à la Chambre des Pairs.

XXXIII. S'il était reconnu, d'après ces comptes, que les ressources affectées par la présente Loi au paiement des dépenses antérieures au ler Avril ne sont pas suffisantes, il serait accordé, en réglant le Budget de 1816, tous supplémens nécessaires.

Mandons et ordonnons que la présente Loi, discutée, délibérée et acceptée par les 2 Chambres, et par nous sanctionnée, sera publiée et enregistrée pour être exécutée comme Loi de l'Etat; voulons, en conséquence, qu'elle soit gardée et observée dans tout notre Royaume, Terres et Pays de notre obéissance.

Si donnons en mandement à nos Cours et Tribunaux, Préfets et Corps administratifs, que les présentes ils gardent, observent et entretiennent, fassent garder, observer et entretenir, et, pour les rendre

notoires à tous nos Sujets, ils les fassent lire, publier et enregistrer partout où besoin sera, car tel est notre plaisir, et nous y avons fait apposer notre Scel.

Donné à Paris, le 23 Septembre, de l'an de Grâce 1814, et de notre Règne le 20ème.

LOUIS.

LAWS and Decrees of Foreign Governments, relating to the Slave Trade; which were in force in 1814.

DENMARK AND SWEDEN.

(1.)—EDICT of the King of Denmark and Norway, concerning the Slave Trade.-Copenhagen, 16th March, 1792*.

(Translation.)

WE, Christian the VII, King of Denmark and Norway, make known that, considering the circumstances which attend the Slave Trade on the coast of Guinea, and the transporting of the Slaves bought there, to our West India Islands; and also considering, that it must in every respect be beneficial and advantageous, if the importation of new Slaves from Guinea could be laid aside, and our West India Islands be cultivated in future with Labourers born and brought up in the Islands, accustomed from their infancy to the labour, the climate, and to those whom they serve; we directed inquiries to be made as to the manner and when this may possibly be effected. From these inquiries it is proved, beyond a doubt, that all further importation of Negroes will be unnecessary, when once the Plantations are supplied with a sufficient and proportionable number of Slaves of both sexes, when assistance is given to such Planters as may stand in need thereof, and when care is taken to encourage among the Negroes, marriage, information, good morals, and sobriety.

We, therefore, to free our West India Islands from the dependance in which they have been, and still are, in regard to the importation of Slaves, hereby make known for the information of all Men, such part of what relates thereto, as is necessary to be made public immediately, and we therefore ordain and command as follows:

ART. I. From the beginning of the year 1803, all traffic in Negroes for the Subjects of the King, is to be abolished on the coasts of Africa, and wherever it may be practised out of the Royal Possessions in the West Indies; so that after that period, no Negro nor Negress shall be bought, either on the coast or elsewhere, on account of, or by any of

Articles I and VI of this Edict, or Proclamation, form Annex B to Treaty between Great Britain and Sweden of 6th November, 1824.

the Subjects of the King, nor be transported in Vessels belonging to Subjects of the King, nor be imported into the Possessions of the West Indies for sale there, and all sale in contravention of this Proclamation shall be regarded as illegal.

II. From the present, and to the end of the year 1802, all Nations, without any distinction, and under any Flag, are permitted to import men and women Slaves from the Coast into our West India Islands.

III. For healthy and sound Slaves, either men or women, who in the course of the above period shall be imported into our West India Islands, we allow the following quantities of raw sugar to be exported from the Islands within one year of such importation, either in our own or Foreign Ships, to Foreign Places, either in or out of Europe; viz., for every full-grown man or woman Slave, 2000 lb. gross weight, and for every half-grown 1000 lb., without any distinction of sexes; but for children nothing.

IV. The Duty imposed on imported Slaves by the Edicts of 9th April, 1764, and 12th May, 1777, which, inasmuch as they respect the Slave Trade, we hereby annul, we graciously take off from all women Slaves hereafter imported. In lieu of which, all sugars exported to Foreign Places for men or women Slaves imported, shall pay an export Duty of per cent. more than what is at present paid.

V. Further, it is our will that in order to establish a proportion between both sexes, from the beginning of the year 1795, the poll or head Tax on women Slaves, or girls, who work on the Plantations, if they are not house Slaves, shall be no longer paid, but the said Tax is from that time to be doubled on all male Negroes in the Plantations.

VI. The exportation of Negroes and Negresses from the Islands of the West Indies is forbidden from this day, very severely, and those only are excepted from the effect of this prohibition, whom the Laws permit to go out of the Country, and those to whom the GovernorGeneral, and the Regency in the West India Islands, may grant a similar permission, according to circumstances, and in particular

cases.

Given at our Palace of Christiansburg, Copenhagen, March 16th,

1792.

CHRISTIAN.

NETHERLANDS.

(2.)—DECREE of the Sovereign Prince of the Netherlands, relative to the abolition of the Slave Trade.-The Hague, 15th June,

1814.

[See Vol. 1815-16. Page 889.]

PORTUGAL.

(3.)—ALVARA of the King of Portugal, for preventing the conveyance of Negroes from Brazil, to Sea-port Towns of Territories which are not in the Portuguese Dominions.-Lisbon, 14th October, 1751*. (Translation.)

I, THE KING, make known to those to whom this Alvará, having the form of a Law, shall come, that, it having been represented to me, in a Report from my Council beyond Sea, how great an irregularity is occasioned by Negroes being exported from Brazil, and conveyed to Dominions not belonging to me, whereof results a notorious prejudice to the public welfare and to my Royal Revenue, and that it is necessary to devise a proper remedy; I deem it right to ordain in general, that no Blacks shall be conveyed to Sea-port Towns of such Territories as are not in my Royal Dominions, and if the contrary be ascertained, that the triple value of such Slave shall be forfeited, half of it to go to the Informer, and the other half to the Royal Revenue, and that the Persons guilty of Contraband shall be banished for 10 years to Angola; it being likewise ordered, that no Clearance shall be given for the Colonia do Sacramento or other localities in the vicinity of the Portuguese Frontier, without entering in a separate Book (to be kept at the Provedorias), the name and marks of the Slave; and a Pass shall be transmitted to the Provedoria or the ordinary Court of Justice of the Peace to which the. Clearance is given, which Pass such authority shall be obliged to return within a year; and all the Justices of those Places on the Frontier shall be obliged to send every year to the Provedorias of the City of Bahia and of Rio de Janeiro, a list of all the Slaves that had arrived, and of all those who abide there, specifying such as died, or were absent for some justifiable reason, or from having proceeded to Territories of my conquests.

Wherefore, I command my Viceroy and Captain-General, by sea and land, of the State of Brazil, and all the Governors, Superior Captains of that State, and the Provedors of the Royal Revenue in the same, to cause this my Alvará to be published, which shall be registered in the Courts of Justice in Brazil, and in all the Provedorias of the Royal Revenue, and in such other parts as may be proper, that it may be known what I ordain in this Alvará, and that it may be fulfilled and observed completely as set forth in it without any hesitation, which Alvará shall have the effect of a "Carta," although it is to be in force for upwards of a year, notwithstanding the Ordinance of Book ii., tit. 40, to the contrary, and it shall be published and registered in my Supreme Chancery of the Kingdom.

Lisbon, 14th October, 1751.

MARQUESS DE PENALVA.

Cited in Circular of 22nd October, 1835.

THE KING.

(4.)—ALVARA of the King of Portugal, prohibiting the importation of Black Slaves into Portugal.-Lisbon, 19th September, 1761*.

(Translation.)

I, THE KING, make known to those who shall see this Alvara, which has the force of Law, that having been informed of the many and the great inconveniences resulting from the excess and licence with which, contrary to the Laws and customs of other civilized Courts, is conveyed annually from Africa, America, and Asia, to these Kingdoms, so extraordinary a number of Black Slaves, that while they cause in my Dominions beyond Sea a sensible want of hands for the cultivation of the ground and the working of mines, they only resort to this Continent to supply the places of Menials, who being of little use, abandon themselves to sloth, and plunge into vice, its natural consequence. And having directed Men of learning and piety, and zealous of the service of God, as well as of my own and of the common welfare, to deliberate with many Ministers of my Council and Tribunal, on the subject of those inconveniences, and of others deserving my Royal care; and having adopted their opinions:

I decree, that from the day of the publication of this Law in the Ports of America, Africa, and Asia, and after the expiration of 6 months in the first and second Ports referred to, and of 12 months in the Ports of Asia, it shall not be lawful in any of them to embark or to disembark, in these Kingdoms of Portugal and of the Algarves, any Black Male or Female; ordaining that all those who shall arrive in the said Kingdoms after the expiration of the periods above stated, to be calculated from the day of the publication of the present, shall, in virtue of this Decree, be free and emancipated, without needing any other Letter of manumission or emancipation, or any other Warrant, beyond the Certificates of the Administrations and the Officers of the Custom-houses of the Places where they land; which Certificates I command to be handed to them forthwith, together with the specifications of the localities whence they shall have sailed, of the Vessels in which they arrive, and of the day, month, and year that they are set on shore, the aforesaid Administrators and Officers being entitled to the quadruple of the fees of those Certificates, at the expense of the Masters of those Blacks, or of the Persons who shall carry them in their company. But if these Certificates be withheld from them for more than 48 consecutive hours, to be reckoned from that at which they enter the Ships, the Officers withholding them shall incur the penalty of suspension during my pleasure, and in this case, those who find themselves aggrieved shall apply to the Judges and the Justices of the respective Territories, having ordinary juris. diction in them, in order that each of them may produce the said Certificates with the same fees, and with the declaration of the doubts • Cited in Circular of 22nd October, 1835.

« ForrigeFortsett »