| Year 2007 No. 14, March 16, 2007 | ARCHIVE | HOME | JBBOOKS | SUBSCRIBE |
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Workers' Daily Internet Edition: Article Index :
Message of Condolence from Friends of Korea
Forthcoming Events Relating to the Bicentary of the 1807 Slave Trade Act
For Your Reference:
Text of the 1807 Abolition Act
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Jacob 'Jack' Gaster, solicitor and activist, was a campaigning lawyer for the vulnerable and unrepresented. He took a courageous stand in solidarity with Korea and its people during the difficult days of the 1950-1953 Korean War. He was President of the Society for Co-operation in Russian & Soviet Studies.
We are posting the text of a message of condolence sent to his family by the Co-ordinating Committee of Friends of Korea, together with the obituary written by Victoria Brittain which appeared by the Guardian on Tuesday, March 13, 2007.
Funeral: 2.30pm, Wednesday March 21
Golders Green Crematorium, Hoop Lane, NW11 7NL
Flowers welcome or donations, if desired, to the Morning Star or SCRSS c/o Co-operative Funeral Services, 133 High Road, London N2 8AJ
March 13, 2007
The Friends of Korea would like to convey to you our deep condolences on the death of your father.
A number of the members of our Co-ordinating Committee have known Jack for a good many years. But we are all aware of his reputation, particularly of course for his courageous stand in the 1950s in defence of Korea and its people and in exposing the evil crimes perpetrated by the aggressors against that country during the Korean War. In this respect, his work was extremely important in exposing, very shortly after the Second World War, the violations of the norms of international law and crimes against peace and against humanity for which the United States and its allies were, and continue to be, responsible.
We remember him also as being active in the movement for solidarity with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea well into the 1990s.
We salute Jack’s work as a tireless defender of human rights and fighter against anti-communism.
Such democratic figures who fight for justice and progress as did Jack Gaster are an inspiration to everyone who at this time is active in the anti-war movement and in the struggle for socialism. We honour his memory, and are sure that the grief you have for his passing will be turned into strength in today’s turbulent world situation.
With our heartfelt best wishes,
Michael Chant, Secretary
Harpal Brar, Chair
Obituary by Victoria Brittain, Guardian
Jack Gaster, who has died aged 99, was one of the most prominent leftwing British lawyers through several decades from the 1930s: defender of tenants against landlords, trade unionists against big business, legal adviser to almost all the socialist embassies in London, to liberation movements and medical charities in unfashionable places, and a revered role model for many of the next generation of prominent human rights lawyers. His clients as a solicitor ranged from Joe Slovo and Tariq Ali to miners, bus conductors and peace demonstrators. He became a communist in the 1930s, and the strictest code of ethics and egalitarianism governed his public and personal life at every stage.
Born in Maida Vale, north London, Jack was the twelfth of 13 children of Dr Moses Gaster, who was expelled from Romania in 1885, and later became chief rabbi of the Sephardic community in Britain, and his wife, Lucy Friedlander. It was a high-minded, intellectual household with Jewish tradition at its heart. Jack, an atheist, was a most unexpected product. His father was a distinguished scholar and a linguist, who went blind while Jack was still a child.
The youngest five children – each 15 months apart – lived noisy nursery years in Maida Vale, leaving Jack close to his siblings, and with an encyclopaedic knowledge of a London explored enthusiastically on foot. Decades later he still thrived on enormous family gatherings, and loved to lead groups on long walks – not unplanned wanders, but more likely a purposeful tracing of Marx's life from Soho to Highgate cemetery.
He spent a year at the London School of Economics before commencing his career in law as an articled clerk in 1925; he qualified in 1931, and started a firm with the likeminded Richard Turner the following year. In parallel, Jack began the radical political career that shaped his life. Against the background of Britain's 1920s sharp class divisions, poverty, rising unemployment, and the beginnings of fascism, he joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1926 after the general strike, which shifted him for ever into the world of underprivileged workers' rights.
He was horrified when his brother Francis became a blackleg during the strike, and still shuddered 70 years later at the memory of seeing him driving a bus, protected by wire and with a policeman next to him. However that deep difference of views did not prevent Francis later becoming his favourite brother.
Those were days of hectic political involvement, and Jack's flat became a centre for meetings of the unemployed movement and of communists. He went to work at his firm, leaving his keys in a milk bottle outside for those who would meet at the flat while he was out. He became a street speaker for the unemployed – articulate, fearless, and angry.
Jack was already a great organiser and always ready to take on extra work. Not surprisingly he was chosen as the ILP representative on the reception committee for the gaunt ranks of hunger marchers who walked to London in 1934. Those days, with their images of dignified protest for working men's rights, never left Jack's heart, and well into his 90s he was still taking the bus to join anti-war demonstrations, or rallies for a variety of just causes in the Friends House or Conway Hall. That was the politics he respected. He was, as he liked to say, "never a drawing room socialist".
For a few years he headed the ILP's revolutionary policy committee, a doomed attempt to try to secure unity with the Communist party. But in 1935, with the decisive shift in communist policy at the Third International, he and many of his colleagues left the ILP for the Communist party. There he met and married his soulmate, the beautiful Moira Lynd, with whom he had two daughters and a son.
In the second world war he suffered a smashed elbow in training for the army. However, he did not leave the service and, despite strong resistance from the War Office, turned his attention to running experimental schools for illiterate and backward soldiers.
In 1946 he was elected as one of only two communists on the London County Council for three years, in addition to resuming his legal work. Among his many political activities he became a member of the Communist party national Jewish committee together with the legendary Palme Dutt, also passionately anti-Zionist. They produced a memorandum for the Anglo-American commission on the future of Palestine, arguing for a Palestinian democratic state with the Jews as a national minority. To the end of his life he followed events in Israel and Palestine closely and with increasing dismay.
In 1952, Jack had what he described as one of the most horrible experiences of his life. He was part of an international legal team that went to North Korea to examine reports that the US were using bacteriological weapons, against the Geneva conventions. The team – from Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, Poland, Brazil and China – travelled seven days on the Trans-Siberian railway to China, and then in Korea only by night to evade the omnipresent US military.
Jack wrote a powerful pamphlet about the "evil things" they saw – millions of insects were dropped carrying plague, cholera and encephalitis, infecting countless peasants. They took many witness statements, and Jack also managed to visit the British prisoner of war camps in the far north and bring messages home. The team's report was not believed. Jack was vilified, and called "a traitor" in the press. It was years before their reports were vindicated.
In the 1950s, he acted for the London dockers in the dock strike, while the MP Sydney Silverman acted for the Liverpool dockers. Legal battles large and small continued till he retired in 1990. For clients and colleagues he was a kind and caring friend, and, while not suffering fools gladly, his reputation as gruff was mostly among those who never had the privilege of working with him.
The worst political setback of his life came with what he believed was the wrecking of the Communist party internally at the beginning of the 1990s. He described as traitors those who went for the new line he called "pseudo-popular democratic". Moira was quicker to feel the tide than he was, and for many years had dedicated her political activities to the peace movement and CND. Jack continued to look for a political home well into his 90s, and temporarily found one in Arthur Scargill's Socialist Labour party, but later decided to concentrate on the pensioners' movement and the Marx Memorial Library, while donating regularly to Oxfam and other good causes and – lucid to the end – excoriating New Labour.
A devoted family man, he took great joy in his great-grandchildren in his final years, alongside walking over Hampstead Heath, and reading Trollope and Jane Austen.
Moira died in 1990, and Jack is survived by his children, Lucy, Polly and Nicolas, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Raising the Race: Black History and Heritage in our Schools
http://www.ioe.ac.uk/schools/efps/poster.pdf
To mark the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, the Institute of Education is holding a public lecture and debate on African and Caribbean history and heritage in our schools.
Featuring:
What is Black History?
Dr Hakim Adi
Reader in History of Africa and the African Diaspora, Middlesex University
Mainstreaming Black and Asian British History in the National Curriculum
Dan Lyndon
Head of History, Henry Compton School
History Hurts: the Experiences of African-Caribbean History Students and Their Mothers
Dr Kay Traille
History Lecturer, Newbold College
A selection of Caribbean food will be served after the lecture.
Friday 16 March 2007, 5.30-8.30pm,
Drama Studio, Institute of Education, 20 Bedford Way, London WC1H 0AL
Book early – places are free but limited – contact Neal Carr on 020 7612 6820 or n.carr@ioe.ac.uk
This event is organized by the Centre for Equalities and Human Rights in Education (CEHRE), Institute of Education.
Sponsored by Institute of Education Staff Development, Educational Foundations and Policy Studies and Sodexho.
Further details
The seminar aims to re-consider the nature and content of historical teaching in schools, especially in relation to colonial and postcolonial histories:
* How are Empire and the struggle for emancipation and reconciliation represented in our teaching and learning about African and Caribbean history and heritage?
* What is 'Black and Asian history' and should it be mainstreamed?
* What are the resources and politics involved in moving the subject forward?
* How is the legacy of slavery implicated in contemporary constructions of British identity and citizenship?
Dr Hakim Adi (Ph.D SOAS, London University) is Reader in the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at Middlesex University, London, UK. He is a founder member and currently chairs the Black and Asian Studies Association. Hakim is the author of West Africans in Britain 1900-60: Nationalism, Pan-Africanism and Communism (Lawrence and Wishart, 1998) and (with M. Sherwood) The 1945 Manchester Pan-African Congress Revisited (New Beacon, 1995) and Pan-African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora since 1787 (Routledge, 2003). He has appeared in television documentaries and radio programmes, and has written widely on the history of Pan-Africanism, the African Diaspora, and Africans in Britain, including three history books for children.
Dan Lyndon
Dan Lyndon is an Advanced Skills Teacher at Henry Compton School, Fulham, West London, where he is also the Head of History. Dan has been teaching for 14 years, after graduating from Sussex University having studied History in the School of African and Asian Studies and completing his PGCE at York University. In addition, Dan is the webmaster of www.blackhistory4schools.com , the only website in the UK with teaching materials, articles, weblinks and a blog dedicated to integrating Black and Asian British History into the National Curriculum and www.comptonhistory.com a website with resources for History teachers. Dan is also on the Management Commitee of the Black and Asian Studies Association (BASA).
Dr Kay Traille
Kay Traille taught secondary school history in north London for ten years and also worked as a youth worker for Westminster City for over a decade. For the past twelve years she has worked as a higher education lecturer in history. She has a BA (hons) in English and History, MA in Commonwealth History and completed a PhD last year titled, 'School history and perspectives on the past: A study of students of African-Caribbean descent and their mothers'.
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Transatlantic Slave Trade course at the National Maritime Museum
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Passage of Time - Uncovering the Untold Histories of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
British Library Conference Centre on the 24th of March
It will be ticketed for 250 people. Doors will open at 11.30am and the event is being introduced and chaired by Dotun Adebayo. Among the elements making up this commemorative day are:
Readings by leading actors,
from the works of Thomas Clarkson, Olidiah Equiano and William Wilberforce.
A drop-in workshop led by the
Carnival Arts Group Mahogany to produce two 3-D friezes by the end of the day,
one depicting slavery and the other freedom.
On display, various British Library treasures relating to the Abolition, including the minutes of the first meeting of the Abolition Committee and a First Edition of Equiano's book 'An Interesting Narrative'.
Live music, composed by the
aboltionist Ignatius Sancho.
The opportunity to contribute
reflections on the trade in enslaved people and the abolitionist movement to a
commemorative book.
The centrepiece of the afternoon however, will be two lectures. The first, delivered by Dr Hakim Adi, entitled An examination of the wider historical context of the abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade . The second will be delivered by Peter Herbert, the eminent black barrister and will be entitled The Legacies of Slavery for Contemporary British People .
Following the lectures both speakers will be joined on stage by two leading figures (likely to be Esther Stanford and Prof Kwame McKenzie) for a debate, entitled 'What should the Legacy of this Anniversary be?.
BBC London intends to record the lectures in full for their website. The debate will be recorded and broadcast on radio the following day and will then be posted on our website for posterity and to ensure access to the widest possible audience.
Timetable:
11.30 - Doors
open, music, readings, artists, written contributions, treasures.
12.30 - 1st Lecture in
auditorium (expected duration approx 45 mins)
1.15 - Music
in auditorium and other 'drop in' activities recommence.
2.00 - 2nd
Lecture
2.45 -
Actors in auditorium and other drop in activities recommence.
3.30 -
Debate.
4.30 -
Close.
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1807 ABOLITION ACT
The IMPLICATIONS
Dr. Hakim Adi
(Reader in History, Middlesex University) talks about the Act
at
African Caribbean Community Library
265 Lavender Hill, SW11
Monday 26th March - 7.00-9.00pm
The event also features African drums and
Alex Wheatle reading from his book Island Song
Tickets are free and must be booked in advance
in person at African Caribbean Community Library
by telephone - 020 8871 7456
or by e-mail - selrayah@wandsworth.gov.uk
*********
World Service Interview
With Hakim Adi, on the World Service website until 18.32 GMT, Saturday, March 17: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/the_instant_guide.shtml
47° Georgii III, Session 1, cap. XXXVI
An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
[25th March 1807.]
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I. 'Whereas the Two Houses of Parliament did, by their Resolutions of the Tenth and Twenty-fourth days of June One Thousand eight hundred and six, severally resolve, upon certain Grounds therein mentioned, that they would, with all practicable Expedition, take effectual Measures for the Abolition of the African Slave Trade in such Manner, and at such Period as might be deemed advisable, And whereas it is fit upon all and each of the Grounds mentioned in the said Resolutions, that the same should be forthwith abolished and prohibited, and declared to be unlawful'; |
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From May 1, 1807, the Slave trade shall be abolished. Penalty for trading in or purchasing Slaves, &c. 100l. for each Slave. |
Be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That from and after the First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and seven, the African Slave Trade, and all and all manner of dealing and trading in the Purchase, Sale, Barter, or Transfer of Slaves, or of Persons intended to be sold, transferred, used, or dealt with as Slaves, practiced or carried on, in, at, to or from any Part of the Coast or Countries of Africa, shall be, and the same is hereby utterly abolished, prohibited, and declared to be unlawful; and also that all and all manner of dealing, either by way of Purchase, Sale, Barter, or Transfer, or by means of any other Contract or Agreement whatever, relating to any Slaves, or to any Persons intended to be used or dealt with as Slaves, for the Purpose of such Slaves or Persons being removed or transported either immediately or by Transshipment at Sea or otherwise, directly or indirectly from Africa, or from any Island, Country, Territory, or Place whatever, in the West Indies, or in any other part of America, not being in the Dominion, Possession, or Occupation of His Majesty, to any other Island, Country, Territory, or Place what ever, is hereby in like Manner utterly abolished, prohibited, and declared to be unlawful; and if any of His Majesty's Subjects, or any Person or Persons resident within this United Kingdom, or any of the Islands, Colonies, Dominions, or Territories thereto belonging, or in His Majesties Occupation or Possession, shall from and after the Day aforesaid, by him or themselves, or by his or their Factors or Agents or otherwise howsoever, deal or trade in, purchase, sell, barter, or transfer, or contract or agree for the dealing or trading in, purchasing, selling, bartering, or transferring of any Slave or Slaves, or any Person or Persons intended to be sold, transferred, used, or dealt with as a Slave or Slaves contrary to the Prohibitions of this Act, he or they so offending shall forfeit and pay for every such Offence the Sum of One hundred Pounds of lawful Money of Great Britain for each and every Slave so purchased, sold, bartered, or transferred, or contracted or agreed for as aforesaid, the One Moiety thereof to the Use of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, and the other Moiety to the Use of any Person who shall inform, sue, and prosecute for the same. |
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Vessels fitted out in this Kingdom or the Colonies, &c. for carrying on the Slave Trade shall be forfeited. |
II. And be it further enacted, that from and after the said First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and seven, it shall be unlawful for any of His Majesty's Subjects, or any Person or Persons resident within this United Kingdom, or any of the Islands, Colonies, Dominions, or Territories thereto belonging, or in His Majesty's Possession or Occupation, to fit out, man, or navigate, or to procure to be fitted out, manned, or navigated, or to be concerned in the fitting out, manning, or navigating, or in the procuring to be fitted out, manned, or navigated, any Ship or Vessel for the Purpose of assisting in, or being employed in the carrying on of the African Slave Trade, or in any other the Dealing, Trading, or Concerns hereby prohibited and declared to be unlawful, and every Ship or Vessel which shall, from and after the Day aforesaid, be fitted out, manned, navigated, used, or employed by any such Subject or Subjects, Person or Persons, or on his or their Account, or by his or their Assistance or Procurement for any of the Purposes aforesaid, and by this Act prohibited, together with all her Boats, Guns, Tackle, Apparel, and Furniture, shall become forfeited, and may and shall be seized and prosecuted as herein-after is mentioned and provided. |
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Persons prohibited from carrying as Slaves Inhabitants of Africa, the West Indies, or America, from one Place to another, or being concerned in receiving them &c. Vessels employed in such Removal, &c. to be forfeited, as also the Property in the Slaves. Owners, &c. so employed to forfeit 100l. for each Slave. |
III. And be it further enacted, That from and after the said First Day of May, One thousand eight hundred and seven, it shall be unlawful for any of His Majesty's Subjects, or any Person or persons, resident in this United Kingdom, or in any of the Colonies, Territories, or Dominions thereunto belonging or in His Majesty's Possession or Occupation, to carry away or remove, or knowingly and willfully to procure, aid, or assist in the carrying away or removing, as Slaves, or for the purpose of being sold, transferred, used, or dealt with as Slaves, any of the Subjects or Inhabitants of Africa, or any Island, Country, Territory, or Place in the West Indies, or any part of America whatsoever, not being in the Dominion, Possession, or Occupation of his Majesty, either immediately or by Transshipment at Sea or otherwise, directly or indirectly from Africa or from any such Island, Country, Territory, or Place as aforesaid, to any other Island, Country, Territory, or Place whatever, and that it shall also be unlawful for any of His Majesty's Subjects, or any Person or Persons resident in this United Kingdom, or in any of the Colonies, Territories, or Dominions thereunto belonging, or in His Majesty's Possession or Occupation, knowingly and willfully to receive, detain, or confine on board, or to be aiding, assisting, or concerned in the receiving, detaining, or confining on board of any Ship or Vessel whatever, any such Subject or Inhabitant as aforesaid, for the Purpose of his or her being so carried away or removed as aforesaid, or of his or her being sold, transferred used, or dealt with as a Slave, in any Place or Country whatever; and if any Subject or Inhabitant, Subjects or Inhabitants of Africa, or of any Island, Country, Territory, or Place in the West Indies or America, not being in the Dominion, Possession, or Occupation of His Majesty, shall from and after the Day aforesaid, be so unlawfully carried away or removed, detained, confined, transshipped, or received on board of any Ship or Vessel belonging in the Whole or in Part to, or employed by any Subject of His Majesty, or Person residing in His Majesty's Dominions or Colonies, or any Territory belonging to or in the Occupation of His Majesty, for any of the unlawful Purposes aforesaid, contrary to the Force and Effect, true Intent and Meaning of the Prohibitions in this Act contained, every such Ship or Vessel in which any such Person or Persons shall be so unlawfully carried away or removed, detained, confined, transshipped, or received on board for any of the said unlawful Purposes, together with all her Boats, Guns, Tackle, Apparel, and Furniture, shall be forfeited, and all Property or pretended Property in any Slaves or Natives of Africa so unlawfully carried away or removed, detained, confined, transshipped or received on board, shall also be forfeited, and the same respectively shall and may be seized and prosecuted as herein-after is mentioned and provided; and every Subject of His Majesty, or Person resident within this United Kingdom, or any of the Islands, Colonies, Dominions, or Territories thereto belonging, or in His Majesty's Possession or Occupation who shall, as Owner, Part Owner, Freighter or Shipper, Factor or Agent, Captain, Mate, Supercargo, or Surgeon, so unlawfully carry away or remove, detain, confine, transship, or receive on board, or be aiding or assisting in the carrying away, removing, detaining, confining, transshipping, or receiving on board, for any of the unlawful Purposes aforesaid, any such Subject or Inhabitant of Africa, or of any Island, Country, Territory, or Place, not being in the Dominion, Possession, or Occupation of His Majesty, shall forfeit and pay for each and every Slave or Person so unlawful carried away, removed, detained, confined, transshipped, or received on board, the Sum of One hundred Pounds of lawful Money of Great Britain, One Moiety thereof to the Use of His Majesty, and the other Moiety to the Use of any Person who shall inform, sue, and prosecute for the same. |
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Subjects of Africa, &c. unlawfully carried away and imported into any British Colony, &c. as Slaves, shall be forfeited to His Majesty. |
IV. And be it further enacted, That if any Subject or Inhabitant, Subjects or Inhabitants of Africa, or of any Island, Country, Territory, or Place, not being in the Dominion, Possession, or Occupation of His Majesty, who shall, at any Time from and after the Day aforesaid, have been unlawfully carried away or removed from Africa, or from any Island, Country, Territory, or Place, in the West Indies or America, not being in the Dominion, Possession, or Occupation of His Majesty, contrary to any of the Prohibitions or Provisions in this Act contained, shall be imported or brought into any Island, Colony, Plantation, or Territory, in the Dominion, Possession, or Occupation of His Majesty, and there sold or disposed of as a Slave or Slaves, or placed, detained, or kept in a State of Slavery, such Subject or Inhabitant, Subjects or Inhabitants, so unlawfully carried away, or removed and imported, shall and may be seized and prosecuted, as forfeited to His Majesty, by such Person or Persons, in such Courts, and in such Manner and Form, as any Goods or Merchandize unlawfully imported into the same Island, Colony, Plantation, or Territory, may now be seized and prosecuted therein, by virtue of any Act or Acts of Parliament now in force for regulating the Navigation and Trade of his Majesty's Colonies and Plantations, and shall and may, after his or their Condemnation, be disposed of in Manner herein-after mentioned and provided. |
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Insurances on Transactions concerning the Slave Trade not lawful. Penalty 100l. and treble the Amount of the Premium. |
V. And be it further enacted, That from and after the said First Day of May One Thousand eight hundred and seven, all Insurances whatsoever to be effected upon or in respect to any of the trading, dealing, carrying, removing, transshipping, or other Transactions by this Act prohibited, shall be also prohibited and declared to be unlawful; and if any of His Majesty's Subject's, or any Person or Persons resident within this United Kingdom, or within any of the Islands, Colonies, Dominions, or Territories thereunto belonging, or in His Majesty's Possession or Occupation, shall knowingly and willfully subscribe, effect, or make, or cause or procure to be subscribed, effected, or made, any such unlawful Insurances or Insurance, he or they shall forfeit and pay for every such Offence the Sum of One hundred Pounds for every such Insurance, and also Treble the Amount paid or agreed to be paid as the Premium of any such Insurance, the One Moiety thereof to the Use of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, and the other Moiety to the Use of any Person who shall inform, sue, and prosecute for the same. |
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Act shall not affect the trading in Slaves, exported from Africa in Vessels cleared out from Great britain on or before May 1, 1807, and landed in the West Indies by March 1, 1808, &c. |
VI. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall extend, or be deemed or construed to extend, to prohibit or render unlawful the dealing or trading in the Purchase, Sale, Barter, or Transfer, or the carrying away or removing for the Purpose of being sold, transferred, used, or dealt with as Slaves, or the detaining or confining for the Purpose of being so carried away or removed, of any Slaves which shall be exported, carried, or removed from Africa, in any Ship or Vessel which, on or before the said First Day of May One thousand eight hundred and seven, shall have been lawfully cleared out from Great Britain according to the Law now in force for regulating the carrying of Slaves from Africa, or to prohibit or render unlawful the manning or navigating any such Ship or Vessel, or to make void any Insurance thereon, so as the Slaves to be carried therein shall be finally landed in the West Indies on or before the First Day of March One thousand eight hundred and eight, unless prevented by Capture, the Loss of the Vessel, by the Appearance of an Enemy upon the Coast, or other unavoidable Necessity, the Proof whereof shall lie upon the Party charged; any Thing herein-before contained to the contrary notwithstanding. |
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Slaves taken as Prize of War, or seized as Forfeitures, shall be condemned as prize, or forfeited to the King, for the Purpose of putting an End to their Slavery, and may be enlisted &c. |
VII. 'And whereas it may happen, That during the present or future Wars, Ships or Vessels may be seized or detained as Prize, on board whereof Slaves or Natives of Africa, carried and detained as Slaves, being the Property of His Majesty's Enemies, or otherwise liable to Condemnation as Prize of War, may be taken or found, and it is necessary to direct in what manner such Slaves or Natives of Africa shall be hereafter treated and disposed of: And whereas it is also necessary to direct and provide for the Treatment and Disposal of any Slaves or Natives of Africa carried, removed, treated or dealt with as Slaves, who shall be unlawfully carried away or removed contrary to the Prohibitions aforesaid, or any of them, and shall be afterwards found on board any Ship or Vessel liable to Seizure under this Act, or any other Act of Parliament made for restraining or prohibiting the African Slave Trade, or shall be elsewhere lawfully seized as forfeited under this or any other such Act of Parliament as aforesaid; and it is expedient to encourage the Captors, Seizors, and Prosecutors thereof;' Be it therefore further enacted, That all Slaves and all Natives of Africa, treated, dealt with, carried, kept, or detained as Slaves which shall at any Time from and after the said First Day of May next be seized or taken as Prize of War, or liable to Forfeiture, under this or any other Act of Parliament made for restraining or prohibiting the African Slave Trade, shall and may, for the Purposes only of Seizure, Prosecution, and Condemnation as Prize or as Forfeitures, be considered, treated, taken, and adjudged as Slaves and Property in the same manner as Negro Slaves have been heretofore considered, treated, taken, and adjudged, when seized as Prize of War, or as forfeited for any Offence against the Laws of Trade and Navigation respectively, but the same shall be condemned as Prize of War, or as forfeited to the sole Use of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, for the Purpose only of divesting and bearing all other Property, Right, Title, or Interest whatever, which before existed, or might afterwards be set up or claimed in or to such Slaves or Natives of Africa so seized, prosecuted, and condemned; and the same nevertheless shall in no case be liable to be sold, disposed of, treated or dealt with as Slaves, by or on the Part of His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors, or by or on the Part of any Person or Persons claiming or to claim from, by, or under His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, or under or by force of any such Sentence or Condemnation: Provided always, that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, and such Officers, Civil or Military, as shall, by any general or special Order of the King in Council, be from Time to Time appointed and empowered to receive, protect, and provide for such Natives of Africa as shall be so condemned, either to enter and enlist the same, or any of them, into His Majesty's Land or Sea Service, as Soldiers, Seamen, or Marines, or to bind the same, or any of them, whether of full Age or not, as Apprentices, for any Term not exceeding Fourteen Years, to such Person or Persons, in such Place or Places, and upon such Terms and Conditions, and subject to such Regulations, as to His Majesty shall seem meet, and shall by any general of special Order of His Majesty in Council be in that Behalf directed and appointed; and any Indenture of Apprenticeship duly made and executed, by any Person or Person to be for the Purpose appointed by any such Order in Council, for any Term not exceeding Fourteen Years, shall be of the same Force and Effect as if the party thereby bound as an Apprentice had himself or herself, when of full Age upon good Consideration, duly executed the same; and every such Native of Africa who shall be so enlisted or entered as aforesaid into any of His Majesty's Land or Sea Forces as a Soldier, Seaman, or Marine, shall be considered, treated, and dealt with in all Respects as if he had voluntarily so enlisted or entered himself. |
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Certain Bounties shall be paid for such Slaves to the Captors as Head Money is paid under 45 G.3. c.72. § 5. |
VIII. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That where any Slaves or Natives of Africa, taken as Prize of War by any of His Majesty's Ships of War, or Privateers duly commissioned, shall be finally condemned as such to His Majesty's Use as aforesaid, there shall be paid to the Captors thereof by the Treasurer of His Majesty's Navy, in like Manner as the Bounty called Head Money is now paid by virtue of an Act of Parliament, made in the Forty-fifth Year of His Majesty's Reign, intituled, An Act for the Encouragement of Seamen, and for the better and more effectually manning His Majesty's Navy during the present War, such Bounty as His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, shall have directed by any Order in Council, so as the same shall not exceed the Sum of Forty Pounds lawful Money of Great Britain for every Man, or Thirty Pounds of like Money for every Woman, or Ten Pounds of like Money for every Child or Person not above Fourteen Years old, that shall be so taken and condemned, and shall be delivered over in good Health to the proper Officer or Officers, Civil or Military, so appointed as aforesaid to receive, protect, and provide for the same; which Bounties shall be divided amongst the Officers, Seamen, Marines, and Soldiers on Board His Majesty's Ships of War, or hired armed Ships, in Manner, Form, and Proportion, as by His Majesty's Proclamation for granting the Distribution of Prizes already issued, or to be issued for the Purpose is or shall be directed and appointed, and amongst the Owners, Officers, and Seamen of any private Ship or Vessel of War, in such Manner and Proportion as, by an Agreement in Writing that they shall have entered into for that Purpose, shall be directed. |
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Certificates to entitle to Bounty. |
IX. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That in order to entitle the Captors to receive the said Bounty Money, the Numbers of Men, Women, and Children, so taken, condemned, and delivered over, shall be proved to the Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy, by producing, instead of the Oaths and Certificates prescribed by the said Act as to Head Money, a Copy, duly certified, of the Sentence or Decree of Condemnation, whereby the Numbers of Men, Women, and Children, so taken and condemned, shall appear to have been distinctly proved; and also, by producing a Certificate under the Hand of the said Officer or Officers, Military or Civil, so appointed as aforesaid, and to whom the same shall have been delivered, acknowledging that he or they hath or have received the same, to be disposed of according to His Majesty's Instructions and Regulations as aforesaid. |
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Claim to Bounty shall be determined by the Judge of Admiralty. |
X. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That in any Cases in which Doubts shall arise whether the party or parties claiming such Bounty Money is or are entitled thereto, the same shall be summarily determined by the Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, or by the Judge of any Court of Admiralty in which the Prize shall have been adjudged, subject nevertheless to an Appeal to the Lord Commissioners of Appeals in Prize Causes. |
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On Condemnation of Forfeitures of Slaves for Offences against this Act, these shall be paid to the Prosecutor 13l. for a Man, 10l. for a Woman, and 3l. for a Child &c. |
XI. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That on the Condemnation to the Use of his Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, in Manner aforesaid, of any Slaves or Natives of Africa, seized and prosecuted as forfeited for any Offence against this Act, or any other Act of Parliament made for the restraining or prohibiting the African Slave Trade (except in the Case of Seizures made at Sea by the Commanders or Officers of His Majesty's Ships or Vessels or War) there shall be paid to and to the Use of the Person who shall have sued, informed, and prosecuted the same to Condemnation, the Sums of Thirteen Pounds lawful Money aforesaid for every Man, of Ten Pounds like Money for every Woman, and of Three Pounds like Money for every Child or person under the Age of Fourteen Years, that shall be so condemned and delivered over in good Health to the said Civil or Military Officer so to be appointed to receive, protect, and provide for the same, and also the like Sums to and to the Use of the Governor or Commander in Chief of any Colony or Plantation wherein such Seizure shall have been made; but in Cases of any such Seizures made at Sea by the Commanders or Officers of His Majesty's Ships or Vessels of War, for Forfeiture under this Act, or any other Act of Parliament made for the restraining or prohibiting the African Slave Trade, there shall be paid to the Commander of Officer who shall so seize, inform, and prosecute for every man so condemned and delivered over, the Sum of Twenty Pounds like Money, for every Woman the Sum of Fifteen Pounds like Money, and for every Child or person under the Age of Fourteen Years the Sum of Five Pounds like Money, subject nevertheless to such Distribution of the said Bounties or Rewards for the said Seizures made at Sea as His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, shall think fit to order and direct by any other Order of Council made for that Purpose; for all which Payments so to be made as Bounties or Rewards upon Seizures and Prosecutions for Offences against this Act, or any other Act of Parliament made for restraining the African Slave Trade, the Officer or Officers, Civil or Military, so to be appointed as aforesaid to receive, protect, and provide for such Slaves or Natives of Africa so to be condemned and delivered over, shall, after the Condemnation and Receipt thereof as aforesaid, grant Certificates in favour of the Governor and Party seizing, informing, and prosecuting as aforesaid respectively, or the latter alone (as the Case may be) addressed to the Lords Commissioners of his Majesty's Treasury; who, upon the Production to them of any such Certificate, and of an authentic Copy, duly certified, of the Sentence of Condemnation of the said Slaves or Africans to His Majesty's Use as aforesaid, and also of a Receipt under the Hand of such Officer or Officers so appointed as aforesaid, specifying that such Slaves or Africans have by him or them been received in good Health as aforesaid, shall direct Payment to be made from and out of the Consolidated Fund of Great Britain of the Amount of the Monies specified in such Certificate, to the lawful Holders of the same, or the Persons entitled to the Benefit thereof respectively. |
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Counterfeiting Certificates Felony without Clergy. |
XII. And be it further enacted, That if any Person shall willfully and fraudulently forge or counterfeit any such Certificate, Copy of Sentence of Condemnation, or Receipt as aforesaid, or any Part thereof, or shall knowingly and willfully utter or publish the same, knowing it to he forged or counterfeited, with Intent to defraud His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, or any other Person or Persons whatever, the Party so offending shall, on Conviction, suffer Death as in Cases of Felony, without Benefit of Clergy. |
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Recovery and Application of Penalties and Forfeitures. 4 G.3. C15. |
XIII. And be it further enacted, That the several Pecuniary Penalties or Forfeitures imposed and inflicted by this Act, shall and may be sued for, prosecuted, and recovered in any Court of Record in Great Britain, or in any Court of Record or Vice Admiralty in any Part of His Majesty's Dominions wherein the Offence was committed, or where the Offender may be found after the Commission of such Offence; and that in all Cases of Seizure of any Ships, Vessels, Slaves or pretended Slaves, Goods or Effects, for any Forfeiture under this Act, the same shall and may respectively be sued for; prosecuted and recovered in any Court of Record in Great Britain or in any Court of Record or Vice Admiralty in any Part of His Majesty's Dominions in or nearest to which such Seizures may be made, or to which such Ships or Vessels, Slaves or pretended Slaves, Goods or Effects (if seized at Sea or without the Limits of any British Jurisdiction) may most conveniently be carried for Trial, and all the said Penalties and Forfeitures, whether pecuniary or specific (unless where it is expressly otherwise provided for by this Act) shall go and belong to such Person and Persons in such Shares and Proportions, and shall and may be sued for and prosecuted, tried, recovered, distributed, and applied in such and the like Manner and by the same Ways and Means, and subject to the same Rules and Directions, as any Penalties or Forfeitures incurred in Great Britain, and in the British Colonies or Plantations in America respectively, by force of any Act of Parliament relating to the Trade and Revenues of the said British Colonies or Plantations in America, now go and belong to, and may now be sued for, prosecuted, tried, recovered, distributed and applied respectively in Great Britain or in the said Colonies or Plantations respectively, under and by virtue of a certain Act of Parliament made in the Fourth Year of His present Majesty, intituled: An Act for granting certain Duties in the British Colonies and Plantations in America, for continuing, amending, and making perpetual an Act passed in the Sixth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, King George the Second, intituled: 'an Act for the better securing and encouraging the Trade of His Majesty's Sugar Colonies in America; for applying the Produce of such Duties to arise by virtue of the said Act towards defraying the Expences of defending, protecting, and securing the said Colonies and Plantations; for explaining an Act made in the Twenty-fifth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, intituled: "An Act for the Encouragement of the Greenland and Eastland Trades, and for the better securing the Plantation trade, and for altering and disallowing several Drawbacks on Exports from this Kingdom, and more effectively preventing the clandestine Conveyance of Goods to and from the said Colonies and Plantations, and improving and securing the Trade between the same and Great Britain."' |
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Seizures may be made by Officers of Customs or Excise, or Navy. |
XIV. And be it further enacted, That all Ships and Vessels, Slaves or Natives of Africa, carried, conveyed, or dealt with as Slaves, and all other Goods and Effects that shall or may become forfeited for any Offence committed against this Act, shall and may be seized by any Officer of His Majesty's Customs or Excise, or by the Commanders or Officers of any of His Majesty's Ships or Vessels of War, who, in making and prosecuting any such Seizures, shall have the Benefit of all the Provisions made by the said Act of the Fourth Year of His present Majesty, or any other Act of Parliament made for the Protection of Officers seizing and prosecuting for any Offence against the said Act, or any other Act of Parliament relating to the Trade and Revenues of the British Colonies or Plantations in America. |
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Offences triable as if committed in Middlesex. |
XV. And be it further enacted, That all Offences committed against this Act may be inquired of, tried, determined, and dealt with as Misdemeanors , as if the same had been respectively committed within the Body of the County of Middlesex. |
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His Majesty may make Regulations for Disposal of Negroes after their Apprenticeship. |
XVI. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty in Council, from Time to Time to make such Orders and Regulations for the future Disposal and Support of such Negroes as shall have been bound Apprentices under this Act, after the term of their Apprenticeship shall have expired, as to His Majesty shall seem meet, and as may prevent such Negroes from becoming at any Time chargeable upon the Island in which they shall have been so bound Apprentices as aforesaid. |
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Negroes enlisted as Soldiers not entitled to Pensions, &c. |
XVII. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That none of the Provisions of any Act as to enlisting for any limited Period of Service, or as to any Rules or Regulations for the granting any Pensions or Allowances to any Soldiers discharged after certain Periods of Service, shall extend, or be deemed or construed in any Manner to extend, to any Negroes so enlisting and serving in any of His Majesty's Forces. |
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General Issue. Treble Costs. |
XVIII. And be it further enacted, That if any Action or Suit shall be commenced either in Great Britain or elsewhere, against any Person or Persons for any Thing done in pursuance of this Act, the Defendant or Defendants in such Action or Suit may plead the General Issue, and give this Act and the Special Matter in Evidence at any Trial to be had thereupon, and that the same was done in pursuance and by the Authority of this Act; and if it shall appear so to have been done, the Jury shall find for the Defendant or Defendants; and if the Plaintiff shall be nonsuited or discontinue his Action after the Defendant or Defendants shall have appeared, or if Judgement shall be given upon any Verdict or Demurrer against the Plaintiff, the Defendant or Defendants shall recover Treble Costs and have the like Remedy for the same, as Defendants have in other Cases by Law. |