Sidebilder
PDF
ePub

or negligences of the above Administrators or Officers of the Customhouses, to the end that, on the Parties complaining of them to the Regidors, Presidents of Courts of Justice of the respective departments and jurisdictions, they may immediately cause this procedure to be carried into effect, and without the formality of a Court, and may promulgate in the same manner the penalties above-directed.

In addition to the latter, I direct that all and every Person, of whatever state or condition, who shall sell, buy, or retain under their subjection and in their service, against their will, as Slaves, any Black Men or Women that may arrive in these Kingdoms, after the expiration of the said periods, shall be visited with the penalties established by Law, against those who keep private prisons, and who subject free Persons to captivity. But it is not my Royal intention that with regard to the Black Men and Women who are already in these Kingdoms, and may arrive in them within the periods referred to, any innovation should take place in consequence of the present Law, nor that, under the pretext of it, Slaves that now are, or shall hereafter be in my Dominions beyond Sea, should desert; on the contrary, I ordain that all the free Black Males and Females who may come to these Kingdoms to live, trade, or serve in them, with the enjoyment of that full liberty which is due to them, shall indispensably bring a Pass from the respective Chambers of the Places whence they have sailed, so as that these Passes shall make appear their sex, age, and person, establishing their identity, and manifesting that they are those very same emancipated and free Blacks, and that if any should arrive without those Passes so drawn up, they shall be seized, maintained, and sent back to the Places whence they came, at the expense of the Persons in whose company or Vessel they have arrived or shall have been found.

And this shall be complied with as fully as is set forth in it. Therefore, I command the Tribunal of the Dezembargo of the Court; the Council of my Royal Revenues; and, beyond Sea, the House of Suppliagno; the Court of Conscience and Orders; the Senate of the Chamber; the Junta of the Commerce of these Kingdoms, and its · Dominions; the Governors of the Department and Tribunal of Porto, and of the Courts of Judicature at Bahia and Rio de Janeiro; the Viceroys of the States of India and Brazil; the Governors and Captains-General, and every other Governors of the same States; and also the Ministers, Officials, and other Individuals of them, and of these Realms, to fulfil and keep, and cause entirely to be fulfilled and kept, this, my Alvará, notwithstanding any other Laws or Provisions opposed to its contents, and which I also hold for abrogated, solely to this effect, while, in all other respects, they remain always in their vigour ; and I command Doctor Manoel Gomes de Carvalho, of my Council, and Supreme Chancellor of these Kingdoms and Seignories, to cause

it to be published and registered in the offices of the Supreme Chancellor of the Kingdom. And it shall in the same manner be published in my Kingdoms and Dominions, and in each of the Districts of them, that it may come to the cognizance of all, and no one may be able to plead ignorance.

It shall also be registered in all the Courts of Justice of my Kingdoms and Dominions, and at other points where such Laws are usually registered and this Alvará shall also be deposited in the Tower of Tombo.

:

Given in the Palace of our Lady of Ajuda, the 19th September, 1761. THE KING.

(5.)—ALVARA of the Prince Regent of Portugal, respecting the Slave Trade.-Santa Cruz, 24th November, 1813*. (Translation.)

I, THE PRINCE REGENT, make known to all who shall see the present Decree, to avail as though it were an Act passed, that having taken into my Royal consideration the returns of the Population of this State of Brazil, which I ordered to be laid before my Royal Person; and it being evident, on a perusal thereof, that the number of the Inhabitants is not yet proportionable to the vast extent of my Dominions in this part of the World, and that therefore it is insufficient to supply and effect, with such promptitude as I have recommended, the important works already realized in many parts, such as opening of communications in the interior, by Land and by Rivers, between this Capital and the different Captainships of this Empire; the improvement of agriculture, the plantations of hemp, spices, and of other products of great importance, and of known utility, both for internal consumption and that of exportation; the establishments of manufactures, which I have ordered; the exploration and extraction of the precious products of the vegetable and mineral kingdoms which I have encouraged and fostered, articles with which this happy and opulent Country abounds, especially favoured in the distribution of riches, divided amongst the various parts of the Globe; and that, having also considered that the provident dispositions ordered by me for the welfare of the Population of these my Kingdoms, cannot immediately yield their salutary effect, as they depend on a successive space of time; not being possible for that reason to facilitate the supply of the Workmen, which infirmity and death daily disable or deprive of life; the urgent necessity of permitting the expedient hitherto practised for conveying and exporting from the Ports of Africa hands to aid and promote the increase of agriculture and industry has been manifested to me, so as to produce by a greater portion of work, a greater abundance of products. But bearing in mind the cruel and * Referred to in Convention between Great Britain and Portugal of 28th July, 1817.

inhuman treatment which the Negroes experience on their passage from the Ports of Africa to those of Brazil, the barbarity and sordid avarice of many of the Masters of the Vessels who convey them, being carried to the extreme, and who, misled by the fatal ambition of getting freights and more profit, overload the Ships, by admitting a much greater number of Negroes than can be conveniently stowed, standing in need of necessary food for their subsistence, not only in quantity, but also in quality, inasmuch as they give them such damaged and corrupted provisions as turn out most to account; and as the result of so abominable a traffic, which cannot be thought of without horror and indignation, is sickness, which for want of being cured and of proper treatment, turns to epidemic and mortal diseases, as experience has unfortunately proved; and as my constant and natural sentiments of humanity and beneficence cannot tolerate the continuance of such acts of barbarity, committed under a manifest violation of Divine and natural rights, and of the Royal dispositions of the Kings my august Progenitors, according to the Decrees of the 18th March, 1684, and the Act passed on the 1st July, 1730, which I order to be observed in all such parts as shall not be annulled in this my present Decree, or substituted by other dispositions more conformable to the present state of things, and to the advancement and perfection to which physical knowledge and the new chemical discoveries have arrived, particularly as far as regards the important object of public health; I have, in consequence thereof, been pleased to determine and pronounce the following provisions, to be inviolably observed and fulfilled.

I. As it is necessary for the health and lives of the Negroes who are conveyed from the Ports of Africa to those of this State of Brazil, that they should have during the passage sufficient room to lie in, and enjoy that ease which is indispensable for the preservation thereof, the dimensions of the space necessary for that purpose, not being dependant on the arbitrary or capricious notions of the Masters of the Vessels; under all these considerations, I have deemed fit to determine, conforming myself to the measures which other enlightened States have adopted respecting this subject, and which constant experience has manifested to appertain to the ends which I purpose; that Ships employed in the conveyance of Negroes shall not receive a greater number than their quota, according to the proportion of 5 Negroes for every 2 tons, which proportion is only to take place for the quantity of 201 tons, and for the additional tonnage beside the 201 above expressed, I permit them to ship one Negro only for each additional ton.

And, in order to prevent the frauds that may be practised by conveying a greater number of Individuals than those regulated by the established Orders, and also to be cautious of the liquidation of my [1812-14.] 3 R

Royal Duties, and of the frauds practised by some Masters of Vessels who convey Negroes for their own account, and that of private Individuals, and are accustomed to supply the deficiency of their own Negroes when it proceeds from sickness or any other misfortune, by availing themselves of the Negroes of other Owners, and wickedly and fraudulently making them suffer the loss which ought only to attach to the said Masters; I order that each Ship shall have a Cargo-book, arranged in the same manner as those made use of for goods: that in the left margin of the Book there be specified the number of Africans embarked, denominating their sex, declaring whether they are Adults or Children, to whom they are consigned, and enumerating the distinctive mark which denotes him or her; and in the column or margin on the right, that a description of the Individual who may die be given, stating his or her quality, mark, and consignee. And inasmuch as it is highly repugnant to the sentiments of humanity that such marks should be permitted to be made with hot iron; I order that such a barbarous invention shall not be practised in future, substituting in lieu thereof a handcuff or collar, whereon is to be engraved their mark, to serve as a distinction; those who contravene this part being subject to the penalty set forth in the Ordinance, book the 5th, title 36, paragraph 1, in the beginning thereof. And for the due legality of the above-mentioned particulars, I order that the Book in which they are made be certified by the Judge of the Custom House, or whomsoever may officiate in his stead, in the Port from whence the Vessel may depart, the Masters immediately on their entering any of the Ports of this State of Brazil being required to produce this Book for the inspection of the Authorities whom I may appoint for that purpose; and should it happen that, in violation of what I have determined, a greater number of Slaves be introduced on board than that established, in such event the Transgressors will incur the penalties set forth in the Act of the 1st July, 1730, which I order to be observed in that part as is therein contained. And in order that it may legally appear if this my Royal determination be observed or not, I order that Vessels employed in this kind of conveyance shall be visited at the time of departure from the Port in which they have been laden, and at that where they may arrive to which they are destined, by the respective Judges of the Custom House, Intendency, or such other Authority as I may think fit to appoint for that purpose.

II. And as the assistance of a skilful Surgeon is likewise essentially necessary for the preservation of health, and the attendance on and cure of diseases, I order that all Vessels destined for the conveyance of Negroes shall carry an expert Surgeon, without whom they shall not be permitted to depart. And as it is proper to reward those who by their skill, attention, and humanity, may contribute to the preservation of health, and the cure and re-establishment of the

Negroes that may be conveyed to the Ports of Brazil, I have been pleased to determine, that should it happen that the number of those who die in the passage from the Ports of Africa to those of Brazil do not exceed 2 in 100, in that event the Master of the Vessel is to receive, as a remuneration, 240 mil-reis, and the Surgeon 120; and should the number of those who die exceed 3 per hundred, there shall be allowed to the Master and Surgeon one half part of the remuneration above stated, to be paid out of the coffers of the Board of Health; and in the event of the number of Persons who die being to such a degree as to create suspicion of neglect in the execution of the Regulations for the salubrity of the Passengers or the cure of the Sick, I order the Judge in the Criminal Department, to whom the lists of mortality of every Vessel are to be produced, to proceed to a minute examination of Witnesses; in order that those, whom it may be proved shall have violated my Royal Orders, relative to the completion of the obligations required of them in so important an affair, be punished.

III. For the better and more regular treatment of the Invalids, and in order to guard against the infection of disease, which for want of necessary precaution, may turn to epidemic or still more grievous distempers, by a neglect in the necessary treatment, cleanliness, and supply of proper food, I order that in the forecastle, or in any part of the Ship that may be deemed more convenient, an infirmary be established, in which the Sick are to be admitted, there to be treated in the manner directed to be observed on board Ships of War; and it not being possible that the care and attention of the Sick can be entrusted to Persons who, being employed in other services, cannot attend to the infirmary with that assiduity which is requisite, I order, in compliance with the 10th chapter of the Law of the 18th of March, 1684, that there be appointed 2, 3, or more Persons, according to the number of the Sick, who are to be occupied in attending on them, and for that purpose excluded from all and every other service.

IV. And also, to provide against the introduction of diseases on board, I order that no one be permitted to embark who may labour under any contagious distemper, for which purpose the proper examinations ought to be made by the Persons appointed by the principal Physician of the Kingdom, where there is one, (to be professional Men,) by the Surgeon or Physician who may be in the Port of shipment, or by the Surgeon of the Vessel.

V. As it is materially conducive to the preservation and existence of the Individuals who are exported from the Ports of Africa, that the food which Masters of Vessels ought to furnish to the Crew and Passengers should be of a good quality, and that in the distribution thereof a sufficient quantity be given to each Individual: I order that

« ForrigeFortsett »