Slavery
London, England, July 17, 1862
Queen Victoria Approves British Act to Work with the United States to Suppress the African Slave Trade
Printed document

[SLAVERY.] Queen Victoria, Printed Document Signed in Type, ?An Act to carry into effect the Treaty between Her Majesty and the United States of America for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade.? London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode, 1862. 28 pp. (357-384), 7.5" x 12". Disbound; general toning; very good.

The British Parliament passed and Queen Victoria approved this legislation to implement a recently signed treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom to suppress the Atlantic slave trade. President Abraham Lincoln wanted to avoid British recognition of or support for the Confederacy, and Secretary of State William H. Seward worked with British Ambassador Lyon to negotiate the treaty. The U.S. Senate unanimously ratified the treaty a few weeks after it was signed in Washington. This act provided details about how the British would implement the treaty in terms of jurisdiction, the operation of mixed courts consisting of British and American judges, the disposal of condemned vessels, the prosecution of the crew, and the awarding of bounties for seizing vessels.

Excerpts
?Whereas on the Seventh Day of April in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two a Treaty was concluded and signed at Washington, between Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America, for the Suppression of the African Slave Trade, whereby it was agreed as follows:
[Full text of the treaty and two ?annexes.?]
And whereas it is expedient that Provision should be made for giving effect to the Provisions of the Said Treaty and Annexes: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen?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, as follows:
[33 sections]? (pp357,374)

?Article VI.... The Negroes who may not previously have been disembarked shall receive from the Court a Certificate of Emancipation, and shall be delivered over to the Government to whom the Cruizer which made the Capture belongs, in order to be forthwith set at liberty.? (p370)

?13. Immediately after Sentence of Condemnation upon a Vessel charged with being concerned in illegal Slave Trade shall have been passed by the Mixed Court of Justice established under the said Treaty, all Negroes or others who were on board for the Purpose of being consigned to Slavery shall be delivered over to the Government to whom belongs the Cruiser which made the Capture.? (p379)

Historical Background
The United Kingdom abolished the slave trade in its empire in 1807, and the United States abolished its international slave trade in 1808. After its victory in the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Great Britain created Mixed Commission Courts with several other European nations to adjudicate allegations of illegal slave trading and to condemn slave trading ships. The courts were composed of judges from each of the cooperating nations. However, the United States initially declined overtures to participate in such mixed courts.

During the American Civil War, the administration of President Abraham Lincoln was eager to avoid British recognition or support of the Confederacy. As part of their agreements, Secretary of State William H. Seward and British Ambassador to the United States Richard Lyons, 1st Viscount Lyons, negotiated the Treaty between the United States and Great Britain for the Suppression of the Slave Trade. The treaty was concluded and signed in Washington on April 7, 1862, and the U.S. Senate unanimously ratified it on April 25. The two nations exchanged ratifications in London on May 25, 1862. Parliament passed this act, and Queen Victoria approved it in July 1862 to give guidance to British vessels and courts on the implementation of the treaty.

The treaty established aggressive measures to end the Atlantic slave trade, including commitments by both nations to use their navies to seize merchant vessels carrying captured Africans, including vessels that had shackles or chains, grated hatches instead of closed hatches, and supplies of food and war far exceeding the needs of a normal crew. The mixed courts established by the treaty were to be held in New York, Sierra Leone, and the Cape of Good Hope. However, the abolition of slavery in the United States made future large-scale illegal transportation of slaves highly unlikely, and the courts, not abolished until 1870, never heard a case.

Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 1837 until her death in January 1901. Her reign gave its name to the Victorian Era, and in 1876, the British Parliament gave her the additional title of Empress of India. She married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819-1861) in 1840, and they had nine children, including her successor, Edward VII (1841-1910). Her husband?s death in December 1861 plunged her into deep mourning, and she avoided public appearances for many years, leading to a growth of republicanism. During the latter years of her reign, however, her popularity resurged.

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7.5" x 12"