The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-04 00:00:00

THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.
THE QUINTUPLE TREATY FOR THE SUP-
PRESSION OF Tim AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.
--(Signed at London, Dec. 20, 1841.)
ART. I.—Their Majesties the Emperor of Austria,
K ing of Hungary and Bohemia, the King of Prussia,
and Emperor of all the RUssias, engage to prohibit all
trade in slaves, either by their respective subjects, or
under their respective flags, or by means of capitol
belonging to their respective subjects; and to declare
such traffic piracy. Their Majesties. further declare,
that any vessel which may attempt to carry on the
slave trade shall, by that fact alone, lose all right to
the protection of their flag.
ART. order more completely to accomplish the
object of the present treaty, the high contracting parties
agree by common consent, that those of their ships of
war which shall be provided with special warrants and
orders, prepared according to the forms of the annex
A of the present treaty, may search every merchant
vessel belonging to any one of the high contracting
parties which shall, on reasonable grounds, be sus-
pected of being engaged in the traffic in slaves, or of
having been fitted out for that purpose, or of having
been engaged in the traffic during the voyage in which
she shall Rave, been met with by the said cruisers ;
and that such cruisers may detain, and
away such vessels in order that they may be brought
'send, or carry
to trial in the manner hereafter agreed upon. . .
Nevertheless, the abovementional right of search-
ing the merchant vessels of any one or other of the
high contracting parties shall be exercised only by
ships of war whose commanders shall have the rank
of captain or that of lieutenant in the Royal or Impe-
rial navy, unless the command shill!, by reason of
death or otherwise,- have devolved upon an officer of
inferior rank. The commander of such ship of war
shall .be furnished with warrants according.to the form
annexed to the present treaty, under letter A.
The said mutual right of search Shall not be exer-
cised within the. Mediterranean Sea. Moreover, the
space within which the exercise of the said right shall
be confined shall be bounded, on the north, by the
32d parallel of north latitude; on the west, by the
eastern coast of America, from the point where the
32d parellel of north latitude strikes that coast, down
to the 45th parallel of south latitude ; on the south, by
the 45th parallel of south latitude, from the point
where that parallel strikes the eastern coast of Ame-
rica to the 80th degree of longitude east
,from the
meridian of Greenwich ; and on the east, by the same
degree of longitude, from the point where it is inter-
seeted by the.lstli parallel of south latitude up to the
coast of India.

ART. 111.—Each of the high contracting parties
which may choose to employ cruisers for the suppres-
sion of the slave-trade, and to exercise the mutual
right of search, reserves to itself to fix, according to
its own convenience, the number of the ships of .war
which shall be employed on the service stipulated in
the second article of the present treaty, as well as the
stations on which the said ships shall cruise.
The names of the ships appointed for this purpose,
and those of their commanders, shall be communi-
cated-by each of the high contracting parties to the
others; and they shall reciprocally apprise each other
every time that a cruiser shall -be placed on a station,
or shall be recalled thence, in order that the necessary
warrants may be delivered by the Governments au-
thorisng the search, and returned to those Govern-
ments by the Government which has received them,
when those warrants shall no longer be necessary for
the execution of the present treaty.
ART. IV.—lmmediately after the Government
which employs the cruisers shall have notified to the
Gavernment which is to authorise the search the
number and the names of the cruisers which it in-
tends to employ, the warrants authorising the search
shall be made out according to the form annexed to
the present treaty, under letter A, and shall be
delivered by the Government which authorises the
search to the Government which employs the cruiser.
In no case shall the mutual right of search be
exercised upan the ships of war of the high contract-
ing parties.
The high contracting parties shall agree upon a
particular signal, to be used exclusively by those
cruisers which shall be. invested with the right of
search.

ART. V. - The cruisers of the high contracting
parties authorisA to exercise the right of search and
detention in execution of the present treaty shall can-
form themselves strictly to the instructions annexed
th'e said treaty, under letter B, in all that relates to
the formalities of the search and of the detention, as
well as to the measures to be taken, in order that the
vessels suspected of having been employed in the traffic
may he delivered over to the competent tribunals.
the high contractinc, parties reserve to themselves
the right of making in these instructions, by common
consent, such alterations as circumstances may render
necessary.

The cruisers of the high contracting parties shall
mutually afford to each other assiAance, in all cases
Alien it may be useful that they should act in concert.
ART. Vl.—Whenever a merchant vessel, sailing
tinder the flag of one of the high contracting parties,
shall have been detained by a cruiser of the other,
July authorised to that effect, conformably to the
provisions of the present treaty, such merchant vessel,
as well as the master, the crew, the cargo, and the
slaves who may be on board, shall be brought into
such place as the high contracting parties shall have
respectively designated for that purpose, and they
shall be delivered over to the authorities appointed
with that view by the Government within whose pos •
sessions such place is situated, in order that proceed-
ings may be had with respect to them before the com-
petent tribunals in the manner hereafter specified.
When the commander of the cruiser shall not think
fit to undertake himself the bringing in and the de-
livery up of the detained vessel, he shall intrust that
duty to an officer of the rank of lieutenant in the
Royal or Imperial navy, or at least to the officer who
;hall at the time be the third in authority on board the
detaining ship.
ART. VII.—If the commander of a cruiser of one
If the high contracting parties should have reason to
suspect that a merchant vessel sailing under the
convoy of, or in company with, a ship of war of one of
the other controcting parties, has been engaged in the
slave trade, or has been fitted out for that trade, he
shall make known his suspicions to the commander of
the ship of war, who shall proceed alone to search the
suspected vessel ; and in case the last-mentioned com-
mander should ascertain that the suspicion is well
founded, he shall cause the vessel, as well as the mas-
ter, the crew, the cargo, and the slaves who may be on
board, to be taken into a port belonging to the nation
of the detained vessel, to be there proceeded against
before the competent tribunals, in the manner hereaf-
ter directed.

ART. VIII.—As soon
as a merchant-vessel, de-
tained, and stint in for adjudication, shall arrive at the
port to which she is to be carried in conformity, with
annex B to the present treaty, the commander of the
cruiser which shall have detained her, or the officer ap-
pointed to bring her in, shall deliver to the authorities,
appointed for that purpose, a copy, signed by himself,
of all the lists, declarations and other documents spe-
cified in the instructions annexed to the present treaty,
under letter B ; and the said authorities shall proceed,
in consequence, to the search of the detained vessel,
and of her cargo, as alsb to an inspection of her crew,
and of the slaves who may be on board, after having
previously given notice of the time of such search and
inspection to the commander of the cruiser, or to the
officer who shall have brought in the vessel, in order
that he, or some person whom he may appoint to re-
present him, may be present thereat.
A minute of these proceedings shall be drawn up in
duplicate, which shall be signed by the persons who
shall have taken part in, or who shall have been pre-
sent at, the same ; and one of those documents shall
be delivered to the commander of the cruiser, or to
the officer appointed by him to, bring in the detained
vessel. .

ART. IX.—Every merchant vessel of any one or
other of the five nations, which shall be searched and
the trade.
fitting,o r t o
i
detained in virtue of the provisions ,of the present
aels;an insteadt-ves sels. of the close
h
treaty, shall, unless proof be given to
tildievceosis-iel duringtrarv,
be
deemed to have been engaged in the
slave
titthe have
etvhobe
ye
equipment,
i fittednwhicho utorf
sheoo v
r nthat
as
lt.
ir(iiaeffitthltn detained,
said
in . ,
there shall be
found to have been one of the articles hereafter speci-
fied, that is to say-
1. Hatches
Nvll l
whichh aret openused
d in gi.ratie
2. Divisions or bulk-heads, in the hold or on deck,
in greater number than are necessary for vessels en-
gaged in lawful trade. _
3. Spare plank fitted for being laid down as a
wie
gratings,
second or slave-deck.
4. Shackles, bolts, or handcuffs.
5. A larger quantity dwater, in casks or in tanks,
than is requisite. for the' consumption of the crew of
such merchant vessel.
6. An extraordinarY number of water-casks, or of
other receptacles for holding, liquid, unless the master
shall produce a certificate from the Custom-house at
the place from which he cleared outwards, stating
that sufficient security had been given by the owners
of such vessel that such extra number of casks or of
other receptacles should only he used to hold palm-oil,
or for other purposes of lawful commerce.
7. A'greater quantity of mess-tubs or kids than are
requisite for the use of the crew of such merchant-
vessel.
8. A bailer, or other cooking apparatus, of an un-
usual size, and larger, or capable of being made larger,
than requisite for the use of the crew of such mer-
chant-vessel ; or more than one boiler, or other cook-
ing Apparatus, of the ordinary.vize.
9. An extraordinary quantity of rice,
of the flour of
Brazil manioc, or cassada, commonly called farina, or
of maize, or of Indian corn, or of any other article of
food whatever, beyond the -probable wants of the
crew; unless such quantity of rice, farina, maize, In-
dian corn, or any other article of food, should' be en-
tered on the manifest, as forming Part of the 'trading
. cargo of the vessel.