the provisions which the Masters propose to take in, shall be first approved of and examined on shore in the presence of the Person appointed by the Chief Physician of the Kingdom, should there be any, or by such Physician or Surgeon as there may be in the Port of shipment, or by the Surgeon of the Ship, and on the provisions being approved of, as well in the quality as in the quantity, the competent Licence shall be required from the Governor for shipping the same; for which examination, searches, and licences, the Masters are not to pay any fees whatever; and as it is repugnant to the feelings of humanity, that even the slightest variation or negligence should be exercised and tolerated, and more particularly in order that any neglect in the approval of provisions should be punished, which very frequently proceeds from mercenary views, bribery, or from a prospect of illegal gains, by admitting such as ought to be rejected as hurtful: I positively order the General Governors and Captains, and the Governors, or such as may represent them, not to grant Licence for such provi. sions to be laden, on its appearing that the approval thereof was not given with due sincerity, but on the contrary, they shall proceed to a fresh examination, informing me of the result, that the Transgressors may be punished according to Law; and I particularly recommend the Governors to be present as often as their occupations will admit of it, at such examinations and researches, so as that the Subalterns may be more exact and punctual in the performance of their duty, in the execution whereof humanity is so much concerned, as well as the benefit of my Royal service.

VI. Although French beans may be the principal food furnished to Africans on board Vessels, it having been ascertained by experience that they decline and reject the same, the first days of their voyage being over it is proper it should be varied, giving them a portion of rice at least once a week, and mixing the French beans with the Indian corn, which aliment the Negroes prefer to any other, excepting mandoby, to which they always give the preference, and therefore ought to be supplied with the same, providing for them a sufficient quantity of fish and dried meat likewise of good quality, for the cookery whereof iron cauldrons shall be used instead of copper ones, the latter being disallowed.

VII. A want of sufficiency of water being the greatest misfortune to experience, and especially on board of Ships overladen with Passengers, whilst they cannot get clear of the scorching heat of the Coasts of Africa, and it having been ascertained that from such a deficiency there usually results the diseases and death of a great number of Negroes, victims of the inhumanity and avarice of Masters of Vessels: I order that the water shall be regulated at the rate of 2 canadas per head per day for drinking and cooking, calculating the voyages from the Ports of Angola, Benguela, and Cabindo, to this of Rio de Janeiro,

at 50 days; from the same Ports to the Bahia and Pernambuco at 35 to 40 days; and 3 months when the Ship comes from Mosambique; and out of the said allowance of water, each Individual is to be furnished indiscriminately with 1 canada per day for drink, as follows: half a canada at dinner, and half a canada at supper; and being desirous that in future the barbarity made use of in the distribution of the water be not exercised, the cruelty having arrived to such a pitch as to strike those who, being most afflicted by thirst, came eagerly to satisfy themselves: I order that, retaining the established practice for provisioning the Negroes, they being divided into messes of 10 each, there be furnished alike to each mess such quantity of water as may be required, at the rate of half a canada per head at dinner, and at supper supplying each mess with a vase of Madeira or Cassengos, containing 5 canadas of water.

VIII. As the preservation of the water, as well of the quantity as of the quality, depends on the vessels, pipes or tuns, being perfectly secured, and fastened, and quite clean; I order that there be not admitted for containing the water, anything that shall not have those requisites, excluding all such as may as have served for wine, vinegar, brandy, or any other use, that may contribute to the corruption of the water and in the examination of the state of such vessels I order that the most rigorous investigation take place.

IX. Experience having proved that on the greatest care and vigilance, in the cleanliness and uncorruptedness of the Vessels, and of the frequent readmission of the air, the preservation of the Mariners depends, and even the personal interest of the Owners of Ships; therefore, and in order that they may not receive freight for the conveyance of the Negroes who die in the voyage from the Eastern Coast to the Ports of this Continent: I order that no Ships destined for the conveyance of Negroes shall depart from the Ports of my Dominions on the Coast of Africa, without an examination being previously made as to her cleanliness, refusing to grant the competent Licences for departure to such as shall not be in a fit state to receive them; and a similar examination is to take place in the Ports where the Ship or Vessel may unload, those Captains who convey to the Ports of the Brazil, Negroes from other Ports, being subject to a like examination, and on non compliance with the regulations ordered in this Decree, they will be subject to the penalties herein specified as far as relates to Transgressors.

X. The Captain or Master of the Ship is to be particularly careful in often renovating the air by means of ventilators which he shall be obliged to carry for that purpose, and the Master or Captain of the Ship or Vessel is likewise to cause the Negroes on board to be brought on the quarter deck in the morning and afternoon, in order to breathe the free air, providing them in the morning of every foggy

day with a sufficient quantity of brandy, and compelling them to bathe at mid-day in salt water.

XI. With the same wholesome intention of preventing diseases from propagating on board and becoming contagious, I order, that in the last search of the Vessel prior to her departure, that is, of such Ships as may convey Negroes from my Dominions on the Coast of Africa, the state of such Negroes shall be examined, and that if any of them have an infectious disease, or require a more careful cure, they are to be disembarked to be restored to health; and if my Royal Treasury shall have received the Duties of exportation, I order, that the Actuary of the Custom House, or his Deputies, shall pass the necessary securities to prove where it may suit to remit the Duties for the Negro or Negroes so disembarked after being paid for, and such Duties are to be discounted on the departure of a like number of Negroes to be embarked in subsequent shipments; it being well understood that the Chief Physician of the District, where there is one, or in default thereof, the Land Surgeon, or that of the Ship, and the Person appointed by the Chief Physician of the Kingdom are to be present at this last examination and decision, by whom an attestation is to be granted, declaring the infirmity and other distinctive symptoms of the Negro whom they are to order to be disembarked, specifying the number of those who proceed on the voyage; and should such Ships arrive at the Port of their destination, the Master or Captain is to present such attestation to the Governor or Captain-General-Governor, who may reside there, or their Deputies, for the latter to forward the same to my Royal Residence, through the medium of the Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs and the Ultra-Marine Dominions. And the Master or Captain is to deliver a duplicate of the said attestation to the Person appointed by the Chief Physician of the Kingdom at the Port of disembarkation, or to his Deputies, and should the Ship enter in the Port of this City and Court of Rio de Janeiro, the Master or Captain is to deliver such attestation to the said Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs and Ultra-Marine Dominions, and a duplicate thereof to the Chief Physician of the Kingdom or his Deputies.

XII. And as it is not less important to prevent and hinder the public health from suffering for want of necessary precaution in the examination of the condition of Negroes, on their arrival at the Port of destination; and as it is requisite that this should not be permitted prior to the competent visits from the Board of Health, and search being made to ascertain whether there is any contagious disease on board, I order, that in all the Ports of this Continent, and others wherein the disembarkation of the Individuals exported from the Coast of Africa shall be permitted, there be established a Lazaretto out of the City, choosing for that purpose an elevated and wholesome spot;

in which Lazaretto the sick Negroes are to be received, in order to be attended and cured, until the Person appointed, to whom the care of the Lazaretto and the care of the Invalids shall be committed, deem them in a fit state to go to the houses of the Persons to whom they come consigned, who are to provide the necessary means for their subsistence by a daily allowance, which I order to be regulated by my Royal Junta of Commerce: and to prevent frauds, deceit, and prevarication in the execution of such necessary precautions, by delaying or making difficulties as to their disembarkation under captious pretexts, with the reprobated intention of extorting illegal remunerations from the Persons interested, who might comply, to obtain a speedy conclusion of the business, I have very particularly recommended the Chief Physician of the Kingdom to be extremely circumspect in the election of Persons intended for such occupations, and to see that they execute their important trust with the fidelity and disinterestedness required, and, the extortion and covetousness used having been represented to me, so as to bring the Delinquents to punishment with all the rigour of Law. And, that I may ascertain the exactness practised in the execution of these my salutary and paternal dispositions, and the effect thereof in benefit of the public health, I order, that either the said Chief Physician of the Kingdom, or his Deputy, shall grant an attestation, declaring the number of deaths, and of those sick on board, at the time of the arrival of the Vessel, which is to be laid before my Royal Person by the Secretary of State for Maritime Affairs and the Ultra-Marine Dominions.

Wherefore, I order the Chief Judge of the Council Chamber, the President of my Royal Exchequer, the Royal Junta of Commerce, Agriculture, Manufacture, and Navigation, the Chief Justice of the Tribunal of Supplication, or his Deputy, the Principal Judges, Magistrates, Justices, Officers, and other Persons of these my Kingdoms and Dominions, to whom the fulfilment of this my Decree may appertain, to observe and perform the same inviolably and justly, as is therein contained, without any doubt or difficulty attaching thereto, notwithstanding all Laws, Acts, Decrees, Sentences, Regulations, or arrangements to the contrary; all of which I annul, as though special and particular mention were made of each, and which would otherwise remain in full force. And it is to serve as an Act passed by the Chancery, (although that Tribunal does not grant any, the validity whereof is to be for more than one year,) notwithstanding any Ordinance to the contrary.

Given in our Palace of the Royal Treasury of Santa Cruz, on the the 24th November, 1813.

COUNT DAS GALVEAS.

THE PRINCE.

Decree to avail as an Act passed, whereby your Royal Highness

has been pleased to regulate the measurement of Ships employed in the conveyance of Negroes, exported from the Ports of Africa, to those of Brazil; your Royal Highness giving, in virtue of your incomparable sentiments of humanity and beneficence, the mildest and most wholesome regulations for the benefit of those Individuals.

UNITED STATES.

(6.)—ACT of Congress, to prohibit the carrying on the Slave Trade, from The United States, to any Foreign Place or Country.— Approved, 22d March, 1794.

SECT. I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that no Citizen or Citizens of The United States, or Foreigner, or any other Person coming into, or residing within the same, shall, for himself or any other Person whatsoever, either as Master, Factor, or Owner, build, fit, equip, load, or otherwise prepare any Ship or Vessel within any Port or Place of the said United States, nor shall cause any Ship or Vessel to sail from any Port or Place within the same, for the purpose of carrying on any trade or traffic in Slaves, to any Foreign Country; or for the purpose of procuring, from any Foreign Kingdom, Place, or Country, the Inhabitants of such Kingdom, Place, or Country, to be transported to any Foreign Country, Port, or Place whatever, to be sold or disposed of as Slaves; and if any Ship or Vessel shall be so fitted out as aforesaid, for the said purposes, or shall be caused to sail, so as aforesaid, every such Ship or Vessel, her tackle, furniture, apparel, and other appurtenances, shall be forfeited to The United States; and shall be liable to be seized, prosecuted, and condemned, in any of the Circuit Courts or District Court for the District, where the said Ship or Vessel may be found and seized.

II. And be it further enacted, that all and every Person, so building, fitting out, equipping, loading, or otherwise preparing, or sending away, any Ship or Vessel, knowing, or intending, that the same shall be employed in such trade or business, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this Act, or any ways aiding or abetting therein, shall severally forfeit and pay the sum of 2000 dollars; one moiety thereof to the use of The United States, and the other moiety thereof to the use of him or her who shall sue for and prosecute the same.

III. And be it further enacted, that the Owner, Master, or Factor, of each and every Foreign Ship or Vessel, clearing out for any of the Coasts or Kingdoms of Africa, or suspected to be intended for the Slave Trade, and the suspicion being declared to the Officer of the Customs, by any Citizen, on oath or affirmation, and such information being to the satisfaction of the said Officer, shall first give bond, with