Sir T. D. Acland.
Mr. Aldam.
Viscount Courtenay.
Captain Fitzroy.
Mr. W. Hamilton.
VISCOUNT SANDON, in the chair.
Captain _Henry Worsley Hill_, called in; and further Examined.
7958*. _Chairman._] Have you something which you wish to add to your
evidence on the case of the Augusta?--Yes; I wish to state, with respect
to my detaining the Augusta, the grounds on which the seizure was made,
as far as my memory will admit of my going, and I feel myself at liberty
to disclose to the Committee. On going on board the Augusta, amongst the
letters and papers that were seized by me, I found a letter, dated
“London, 20th August 1840.” This letter is a reply to a letter written
by Captain Jennings from Portsmouth, stating, “We cannot exceed 500_l._
for the vessel in question, such as described in your letter; if you
cannot, therefore, succeed at those limits, we must give up the
purchase.” This letter is signed Zulueta & Co. By this letter, it
certainly appears to me that the vessel was purchased by Zulueta &, Co.,
or intended to be purchased by that firm. The next letter is dated
“London, 26th of September 1840,” addressed to Captain Thomas Jennings,
Portsmouth; the signature of this letter was cut out on my finding it.
It acknowledged the receipt of Captain Jenning’s letter of the following
day, observing “that the sum remitted would not be sufficient to cover
the expenses, to clear the ship, and requesting that Captain Jennings
would write the next day, stating the sum that was necessary, that it
might be forwarded to him by the post of Monday night, to enable the
ship to sail for Liverpool on Tuesday or Wednesday at furthest.” The
signature cut out. But there is a note to the letter: “According to our
Liverpool mode, note, you will go on shore to the Salt House Dock.” The
next paper I would allude to, is the charter-party of the vessel, dated
London, 19th October 1840, wherein it is mutually agreed, between Mr.
Thomas Jennings, master and owner of the good ship or vessel called the
Augusta, and Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of Havannah, that the ship
shall load from the factories of the said Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. a
cargo of legal goods, and shall proceed therewith to Gallinas, on the
coast of Africa, and there deliver the same; after which she may be sent
on any legal voyage between the West Indies, England, Africa, or the
United States, according to the directions of the charterer’s agents.
The freight to be paid on unloading and right delivery of the cargo, at
the rate of 100_l._ sterling per calendar month. The necessary cash for
the ship’s disbursements to be furnished to the captain free of
commission; the captain being indebted to the charterers in certain
sums, as per acknowledgment elsewhere. The freight earned by the vessel
to be held as general lien for such sums.” This is signed Thomas
Jennings, for Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of Havannah, Zulueta & Co.
7959*. Jennings is the owner of the vessels?--Yes.
7960*. And Zulueta appears as the agent to Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co.,
chartering Jenning’s vessel for certain purposes?--Yes; by the extract
from the first letter it appears that Zulueta bought the vessel; by the
second letter he pays the expenses of the vessel; but the charter-party
is made out by Thomas Jennings, as the owner of the vessel.
7961*. Sir _T. D. Acland_.] Then Zulueta acts as agent for Messrs. Pedro
Martinez & Co.?--Yes; the next paper, I will read the extract from is
marked “Additional Memorandum of Charter-party;” which commences, “I
Thomas Jennings, captain and owner of the ship Augusta, declare I have
received from Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of this city, 1,100_l._
sterling, for the disbursements of the said ship, the fitting out and
provisions, which I engage myself to repay, with the earnings of the
same, namely, all the earnings of the ship, will be accounted for and
applied to the said Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co., they furnishing the
cash for all expenses, crew’s wages (including 15_l._ per month for my
salary as captain). At any time when the said gentlemen may think proper
to close the charter-party, I will deliver to them, or their
representative, a bill of sale for the said ship, and all her
appurtenances, to cover the balance due to them in the said account.” It
states, that Mr. Thomas Jennings is no way responsible for the
settlement of the above-mentioned debt, but with the said ship and her
earnings, and that Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. will take on themselves
the insurance and risk on the vessel. This paper is dated London, 21st
October, 1840, and signed “Thomas Jennings.” The next paper is the bill
of lading, which states the cargo to be shipped by Thomas Jennings, of
Liverpool, in the Augusta, lying in the port of Liverpool and bound to
Gallinas: 20 hogsheads of tobacco, 60 cases of arms, one case of
looking-glasses, 10 casks copper ware, 134 bales of merchandize, 1,600
iron pots, 2,370 kegs of gunpowder, to be delivered at Gallinas to Don
Alvarez, Don Angel Ximenez, and Don Jose Perez Rolla. This is dated
Liverpool, 10th November 1840. The vessel had no register, but a sailing
licence from the Commissioners of Her Majesty’s Customs, wherein Thomas
Jennings, of No. 2, James-street, Limehouse, is represented to be the
owner, and that the vessel is to be employed in foreign trade. There is
also an account current between Messrs. Zulueta with Thomas Jennings,
master of the Augusta, amounting to 339_l._ 16_s._ 9_d._, the chief part
of which is for the disbursements of the vessel. I further state to the
Committee, that ten letters were found on board this vessel, dated
Cadiz, and addressed to three notorious slave merchants at Gallinas: in
one of these letters, addressed to Señor Ignacio Perez Rolla, at
Gallinas, dated Cadiz, 30th November 1840, is a paragraph to the
following effect: “In a letter, dated London the 21st instant, which I
have just received from Messrs. Zulueta & Co., merchants, in London, I
had the pleasure of receiving a bill drawn by you on them for 250_l._,
which I this day place to their credit, waiting your advice of the
same.” This letter is signed “M.” but no name. The other letters were
all on slave business; not a word of any innocent trade, but the whole
directing how slaves were to be shipped on board various vessels.
7962*. Who were they signed by?--All signed in the same way.
7963*. Signed “M.”?--Yes, and to the best of my recollection, every
vessel to which they referred was captured by Captain Denman and myself.
7964*. Where were these letters dated from?--From Cadiz; the Vanguardia
was captured by Captain Denman; the Uracca by myself, the Diana also;
the other vessel referred to in the letters is the Gabriel, which vessel
fired upon the boats of Her Majesty’s vessel Termagant, killing three or
four of her crew, and has been since captured by the Acorn, Captain
Adams. Therefore these letters at once show that the three persons to
whom they were addressed, residing at Gallinas, and who were the parties
to whom the Augusta was consigned, were most extensively engaged in
slave dealing. No other letters were found on board the Augusta but
those that related to slave dealing.
7965*. The Augusta had touched at Cadiz on her way out from
England?--Yes, and landed part of her cargo at Cadiz, although it was
consigned to be delivered at Gallinas.
7966*. What are the inferences that you draw from these papers?--That
Zulueta, by the letter of the 20th of August, 1840, advanced the money
for the purchase of the vessel; that by the letter of the 26th of
September, that Zulueta advanced the money to defray her expenses and
fitting out, necessary before she proceeded to sea; that Mr. Jennings
was put in as the owner, when in fact he was not the owner; that Zulueta
was perfectly aware of this, and that he chartered the vessel to carry a
cargo on behalf of Messrs. Pedro Martinez & Co. of Havannah, a notorious
slave dealer, which cargo was to be delivered to three notorious slave
dealers at the Gallinas; that afterwards these notorious slave dealers
at Gallinas were to have the direction of the vessel for the future
proceedings; and, moreover, that at any time Messrs. Martinez, or their
agents, thought proper to close the charter party, the vessel was to be
given up to their agents, by which means, a ship bearing English colours
was certainly employed by notorious slave dealers; she was to be
directed in her voyage by slave dealers; and she was, at any time these
notorious slave dealers thought proper to name, to be given up to them
entirely. This transaction, with the purchase of the vessel, and a
person put in as the nominal owner who was not the owner, cannot but
stamp a character that the vessel was engaged, with the knowledge of
Zulueta, in some trade that they were desirous should not be discovered.
7967*. Mr. _Forster_.] Inform the Committee in what way you connect
Messrs. Zulueta & Co. illegally with any improper transaction there, or
what part of the transaction which you have detailed it was not
competent for foreign merchants to perform as agents in this country;
mention which part they were not bound to perform, provided they
received instructions from their agents at Havannah to do it, having
money in their hands to make a purchase of the vessel and ship the
goods?--Messrs. Zulueta must be aware that it is contrary to law to act
as agents, or otherwise, for the shipment of goods that are to be
employed in the slave trade; they were bound to do no thing illegal;
they are merchants residing in England, and they must conform themselves
to the laws of England, and they cannot, by the laws of England, plead
ignorance of those laws.
7968*. _Chairman._] You conceive it would be unlawful for an agent in
this country to ship goods to be employed in the slave trade?--Yes.
7969*. Mr. _Forster_.] How is a merchant acting in this country in
pursuance of orders from his correspondent abroad to know what that
correspondent means to do with the goods which he purchases on his
account and ships at Liverpool?--In this case I think it is plain that
Messrs. Zulueta entered into a scheme for chartering and purchasing a
vessel, and putting in an owner, and establishing a British character to
a vessel that he could not be ignorant was to be engaged in the slave
trade, or in some trade which, for reasons that Messrs. Martinez may
have, that they wished to keep in the back ground, and that secrecy
alone ought to have called from Messrs. Zulueta a degree of vigilance,
and more particularly a vessel being bound to a place on the coast of
Africa, where, if they had taken the slightest trouble in the world,
they must have known there were no constituted authorities or
custom-house officers, or any persons of an European nation who could
ascertain if she was engaged in legal trade.
7970*. Then, in fact, you think it is imperative on the English
merchant, before he executes the orders of his foreign correspondent, in
any matter relating to the trade between Brazils, Cuba, and the coast of
Africa, to send out and inquire the character of the party with whom the
transaction is connected on the coast of Africa?--I have stated nothing
of the sort; but I have endeavoured to be particular in making it appear
that this vessel was chartered to a place where there were no
constituted authorities. A vessel to be chartered to the Brazils or
Cuba, or any country where authorities existed in the colony of a
recognized nation, would materially alter the position of Messrs.
Zulueta; but Messrs. Zulueta, as I before stated, residing in England,
it became the duty of that house to be guarded that they did not break
the laws.
7971*. Do you speak of this as a matter of prudence and taste on the
part of Zulueta & Co., or as an act of criminality?--As far as I am able
to give my own opinion, I believe that Messrs. Zulueta were perfectly
criminal; at least they had a perfect knowledge of what they were doing.
I think I am borne out in that by the secrecy they have endeavoured to
purchase, and putting in a false owner. Messrs. Zulueta have been for a
number of years agents to the notorious Pedro Blanco; they have also
before this purchased and sent out to the Havannah a notorious slave
vessel called the Arrogante, which circumstance was represented by Mr.
Tolme, Her Majesty’s consul at the Havannah, to the English Government,
and is also in the printed correspondence laid before parliament, either
for the year 1839 or 1840. In fact, there can be no want of evidence to
show that Messrs. Zulueta had for a length of time been agents to slave
dealers; and I think it is impossible that any merchant can be an agent
and ship cargoes of goods without ascertaining some knowledge of the
party for whom they are shipped.
7972*. in the first place, you assume that it was illegal for Messrs.
Zulueta & Co. to ship these goods to Alvarez at the Gallinas; are you
quite sure that that is not a gratuitous assumption of law on your
part?--I am speaking from my own belief; I cannot say what the law is,
but I am speaking from my own belief, and the inferences I can draw from
the vessel’s papers. I think the papers are quite conclusive to the mind
of any man that Zulueta was cognizant of what he was doing; but as far
as it is an illegal transaction it is not for me to judge, but the judge
of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Sierra Leone did think it illegal, and
condemned the vessel; and, moreover, the man who is put forward as
captain and owner did not defend the vessel on her trial.
7973*. Are you quite sure he had the means to do so?--He cannot plead as
an excuse that he had not the means, for the owner of a vessel in a
British port, with a cargo worth between 4,000_l._ and 5,000_l._, I
think, could always manage to raise 30_l._ or 40_l._ for the defence of
his vessel.
7974*. Was that cargo in his possession, or was it under seizure at the
time you speak of?--The vessel and all was seized by me, but still there
was the captain and the owner present, and nothing was touched until the
condemnation took place.
7975*. How could he offer security and raise money on a seized ship and
cargo?--To say how he is to do so is not for me; I am not a mercantile
man, but I only observe, that it is most extraordinary that the owner of
a ship, with a cargo on board, cannot, in a British port, raise 50_l._
for the defence of that vessel.
7976*. But how can you affect any wonder on that subject, when you
yourself admit that you do not know how he was to do it?--I have already
stated that I am no mercantile man, and to say how these things are
done, I cannot.
MINUTES OF EVIDENCE
TAKEN BEFORE
THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON WEST COAST OF AFRICA.
_Mercurii, 22º die Junii, 1842._