Foreign Policy and Slave Trade: The Courts of Mixed Commission and Their Role in Implementing Abolition in Havana and Rio de Janeiro

The suppression of the slave trade was fervently pursued by the British in Cuba and Brazil, both by legal and sometimes extra-legal methods. Treaties, through which Britain imposed slave trade laws, led to the establishment of bilateral Mixed Commissions Courts for the suppression of the slave trade, in both Havana and Rio de Janeiro in the early nineteenth century. The Commissions have generally been viewed by scholars as important, but precursory to effective abolition; institutions which did not deter slave traders. As part of the suppression efforts, the Courts have been viewed in isolation, or grouped together in various locations, from Sierra Leone to Luanda. The unique conditions in each location, however, as well as the fact that the numbers of liberated Africans from each Court vary wildly, make the different Courts a challenging subject of comparison.

This paper draws on research on the Courts in Havana and Rio de Janeiro to demonstrate the importance of addressing local circumstances, and British overseas policy and objectives in each place, as well as viewing the Courts as part of a wider Atlantic system. The paper explores the ways that British diplomacy was reinforced by coercion and intelligence catered to each location. The procurement of information regarding the emancipados or liberated Africans from the Courts, for example, enabled British representatives to access plantations in the interior of Cuba. How did British agents navigate the laws on anti-slavery? What were the peculiarities and dynamics of each of the Courts? The paper explores these questions, and addresses the potential of the Mixed Commissions in light of British reluctance to sabotage economic dominance, despite its dedication to eradicating the slave trade.