Proclamation.

PROCLAMATION.

 

In the name of His Majesty, George III, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

 

KING,

His Excellency, R. T. Farquhar, Esq. Governor and Commander in Chief of the Islands of Mauritius, Bourbon, and Dependencies, Captain-General and Vice-Admiral, &c. &c.

 

HAVING taken into consideration all the former laws with regard to the manumission of slaves in the Islands of Mauritius, Bourbon, and Dependencies, and deliberated thereon with His Honour the Chief Judge and Commissary of Justice;—

 

Seeing that the number of manumitted persons requiring relief from the poor fund is augmenting every day;—

 

Seeing that it is no less important for the public interest, than that of the freed persons themselves, to secure for them some certain and permanent means of subsistence, so as effectually to prevent their becoming a burden upon the Colony;—

 

Hath resolved as it is hereby enacted.

 

SECTION I.

 

No slave shall in future be manumitted without the permission of His Ex­cellency the Governor and Captain-General, who, according to the information that he shall obtain, will decide whether the purposed manumission may be carried into effect without injury to the interest of the community.

 

SECTION II.

 

In consequence, the master who purposes manumitting a slave, shall address his demand to that effect, in form of petition to His Excellency the Governor and Captain-General, containing a statement of the reasons inducing him thereto; which, if found satisfactory, will admit him to the benefit of complying with the conditions and formalities prescribed by the following clauses.

 

SECTION III.

 

The slave-owner who wishes to manumit his slave, is bound, First, to make a donation to the Poor Fund to the amount of one hundred dollars, without re­gard to the age of the slave. Secondly, to bestow upon the slave he may manu­mit, as a provision for his sustenance, the sum prescribed according to the age and sex of the manumitted person, as follows:—

 

SECTION IV.

 

The sums hereby specified must be deposited in the Poor Fund before the act of manumission can take place; that prescribed by the second article of the third section is to be laid out for the benefit of the person manumitted, at the periods, and agreeably with the conditions laid down in the eight following sections.

 

SECTION V.

 

An advertisement, stating the name and designation of the master, the name, cast, sex, and age of the slave to be manumitted, shall be inserted in the Weekly Gazette, at three successive periods; and His Majesty’s Attorney-General is hereby required to ascertain whether the slave belong to the person desiring to manumit him, how long he may have belonged to him, and whether there exists any legal objection or impediment to the manumission.

 

SECTION VI.

 

The object of the above notifications being that, of preventing any manu­missions, whereby the right of creditors or the interest of the colony might suffer, all persons are requested to inform His Majesty’s Attorney-General of any reasons known to them, why the proposed manumissions should be op­posed. Every opposition, grounded upon litigated points, is to be decided upon by the courts of law, according to the forms prescribed in other summary causes.

 

SECTION VII.

 

The master may, after eight days shall have elapsed from the date of last publication of the advertisement, make, before a notary, a declaration of his consenting to manumit, to be drawn up and executed in the presence of the same; which, however, shall not be effectual, until it shall have been con­firmed by an enactment to that effect by His Excellency the Governor and Captain-General, after a deliberation thereon with His Honour the Commissary of Justice, at which must be produced the following documents. First, A certificate from the administrator of the Poor Fund, of the donation made to it to the amount of one hundred dollars, and of the deposit of the sum prescribed by the second article of the third section of the present Proclamation, according to the case of the person to be manumitted. Secondly, A certificate of the advertisement, stating all that is prescribed by the fifth section, having been in­serted during three successive weeks in the Gazette; as also a certificate of the non-opposition of His Majesty’s Attorney-General.

 

SECTION VIII.

 

The deed of manumission, to be drawn up by a notary, must specify not only the donation made by the master to the Poor Fund, but likewise the amount of the deposit with the treasurer of that Fund, for the future sustenance of the manumitted person, to be laid out for the benefit of the same, within three months from the date of the manumission; His Majesty’s Attorney-General will take an account of the manner of laying it out, proposed by the master, whether in the purchase of plantation land, field, or tradesmen negroes, or in any other manner proper for securing a subsistence to the person manumitted; and will make a report thereof to His Honour the Commissary of Justice, who, should it meet his approbation, will give his sanction to it, the master remain­ing bound to provide for the manumitted person until it can be carried into effect.

 

SECTION IX.

 

After all the formalities prescribed shall have been complied with, the deed of manumission shall be confirmed by an enactment of His Excellency the Governor and Captain-General, and all the documents respecting it shall remain deposited in the Registrar’s Office.

 

SECTION X.

 

As soon as the deed of manumission shall have been confirmed by the Governor and Captain-General, it shall be published in the Court of First Instance, and entered upon its records. It shall, likewise, at the requisition of His Majesty’s Attorney-General, be entered upon the records of citizenship of the district in which the manumitted person may be domiciliated; an instru­ment to this effect shall be drawn up, and an office copy thereof transmitted forthwith to the Central Police Office.

 

SECTION XI.

 

Manumissions by last will may be confirmed, according to circumstances, resulting, whether from the intention of the testator, the state of his affairs, the deserts of the slave, or other causes to be judged of by His Excellency the Governor and Captain-General, but always subject to the condition of all that is prescribed by the third Section being complied with at the expence of the testator’s estate.

 

SECTION XII.

 

In the event of a free man of colour, or a manumitted man’s marrying one of their slaves, the latter shall become ipso facto free, without payment of the sums prescribed, provided the former shall make it appear to the satis­faction of His Excellency the Governor that he possesses sufficient means of subsistence ; otherwise the act of manumission shall not become effectual, until all the above-mentioned formalities shall have been complied with, under the superintendance of His Majesty’s Attorney-General, authorized thereto by His Honour the Commissary of Justice.

 

SECTION XIII.

 

In all cases of the manumission of minors, the Attorney-General for the time being shall be appointed guardian to the manumitted person.

 

SECTION XIV.

 

Freed persons, known to be without any calling or visible means of support, shall be obliged, when thereto required by the authority of His Excellency the Governor and Captain-General, to submit to any government order for employing them on the highways, or such other public works as may be pre­scribed them.

 

In which case Government will provide for their subsistence, and allow them besides a remuneration for their services in money, proportioned to their respective deserts, which, however, shall not in any case exceed the sum of two dollars a month per head.

 

SECTION XV.

 

Foundlings, recognised to be of colour, shall be at the disposal of Govern­ment during fourteen years, to be employed in its service, and subsisted at its expence during the said term, at the expiration of which, they will be entitled to all the privileges of free persons of colour.

 

SECTION XVI.

 

All the anterior laws by which the manumissions have been hitherto regu­lated are hereby revoked, and cease to have effect.

 

SECTION XVII.

 

The present Proclamation to have effect from the first day of January 1815, and to be published, read, and entered upon the Records of the different courts and tribunals of the Islands of Mauritius, Bourbon and Dependencies, and an office copy thereof to be forthwith transmitted to His Honour the Commissary of Justice.

Port Lewis, 30th December 1814.

 

(Signed) R. T. FARQUHAR.

 

By order

(Signed) F. ROSSE, Acting Deputy-Secretary to Government.