LETTER from the Minister to the Administrators, on the transport of Black people from Saint-Domingue to the Spanish islands

I have been informed, gentlemen, that the Ship, the Prince de Conty, outfitted at S. Malo by the Sieur Magon fils, and commanded by the sieur Corbillé, had brought, at the beginning of 1777, to S. Domingue, 861 Black people acquired on the coast of Angola, and that 250 of these Black people had been sold, for 397,000 [currency unit missing], to the sieurs Gauthier fils and Rey, Correspondents of the Compagnie de l’Assiente, who had them sent on to Havana. I ask you to obtain precise information on these facts, and to tell me how it could have happened that these 250 Black people were transported to Havana without the knowledge of the Administrators, or for what reasons they could have granted permission. I am quite persuaded, in any case, that a similar violation of the Regulations, which forbid letting Black people leave our Colonies, will no longer occur in the future.