6905. Would any papers that you could have found have been sufficient to condemn her under the treaty with Hamburgh?—Had I found papers distinctly proving that she was intended to take slaves, I should have taken upon myself the responsibility of sending her to Hamburgh for trial, according to the treaty; because, although not according to the letter of the treaty, I believe the spirit of the Hamburgh treaty is entirely true and just, and I believe it would have been enforced.
6906. Would any papers found upon her in British waters cause her to be condemned, which would not cause her to be condemned if found in other waters?—Papers found upon her in British waters, proving her to be engaged in the slave trade, might certainly condemn her under our laws, as coming under our jurisdiction.
6907. Mr. Forster.] Did the registrar inform you that the hollow place in the buoy was intended to conceal papers, or that papers were found concealed in it?—He told me that papers had been concealed in it. He did not say that they had been found there, but that it had been used for that purpose.
6908. Did he say that papers of that nature had been found in it at Sierra Leone?—No, I think not.
6909. Mr. Milnes.] Have you known many instances of the crews of men-of-war boats remaining on board during a search of that kind, and conducting themselves improperly, taking articles out of the cargo for their own use?—Extremely rarely. In this instance I am aware that some of my ship’s company misbehaved themselves; but they, well knowing the punishment that awaited them, managed to desert.
6910. Did you order the return of the goods which they had taken?—There were no goods taken; I believe there was a bottle or two of champagne drunk.
6911. Did you order the men for punishment?—The men escaped; the master did not bring them back with him. They both died shortly afterwards, or rather one died and the other one was very badly wounded in the Termagant’s boats, and never returned to the Wanderer.
6912. Is it not very difficult to prevent the men from committing those abuses?—I think not when the officers are strictly vigilant; but upon this occasion Mr. Elliott had been induced to go on shore by some representations of Mr. Canôt, who wished to prove to him that his intentions were honest and upright as regarded his abandonment of the slave trade; and that accounted for it.
6913. Were the men left by themselves?—No, they were not; there were the officers of the Termagant employed also, in whose charge they were left.
6914. Mr. Forster.] What means do you suppose the master of the Echo would have at the Havannah of knowing the character and pursuits of Mr. Canôt, to whom he was consigned upon the charter-party?—If he had made the smallest inquiry, he could not have been in doubt for a moment.