Star. — London, England, 1807-02-06 00:00:00

NOTICE TO PROPRIETORS OF ENTAILED FSTATES IN SCOTLAND. P ROP RIETORS of entailed Eflates in .Scotland, are requtfted to meet on Monday the 16th of February inft. at One o'Cl• eh, in Oman's Tavern, Edinburgh, when fornetbing of importance will be fuhmitted to their confederation. Such Froprietors as cannot attend perfonally, are rrqueftcd to I appoint lonic. P rfon to appear and ad for them. TO THE. PROPRIETORS OF EAST INDIA STOCK. i 1 LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, aftive Canvafs being already commenced for your Suffrages at the Annual Eleetion of Diredors in April next, permit me, at prefont cut of the Diredlion by rotation, to make you again a moft refpeaful tendcr of my Cervices, and to folicit the honour of your fupport on that occaGon. It is now more than twelve years fince, after havisg been en gyged during the better part of my precedii , g life in the employ of the Company, you were pleafed to confer upon me the honoura ble diftinetion of choofing me to be one of your Erectrive Body. In an addrele like the prefent, it may be allowed me to fay, what I truft I can fay with truth, that front the period of my entrance into the Diredion, I have devoted the chief part of my time totbe important concerns entrufted to its care, that I have atted in thofe concerns with diligence and earnefttufs, and have made the inte rrfts of the Company the governing objedt and principle of my eonduft. If on Cue!' grounds as there you 'hall be pleafed to continue the croifid,i:cc with which you have hitherto favoured me. it will be to me an additional incentive to approve myfelf in future as I have trde.o.uured to be in time paft. Ladies and Gentlemen, Your faithful and obedient Servant, Ruffetl fquare, Feb. 1. CHAALLFS GRANT. PiIIiLIAMEbTARr PROCEEMINGS. HOUSE OF LORDS, THURSDAY, FEE 5. The Duke of Sonierfet and the Marquis of Landfdowne took the oaths and their feats. The frifh Militia Service and Office Abolition sills, and the Creenland Intercourfe Bill, were forwarded in their rtfpcdtive fines. ABOLIITMN OF THE SLAVE TRADE. The Order of the Day for the fecund reading of the Bill for abolifhing the African Slave Trade hav ing been read, Lord GRENVILLE rote, for the purpofe of bring. ing before their Lordthips the very important matter contained in the Bill before the Haute. In doing fo, it would be neceffary for him to tread over a great ileal of ground, which was familiar to their Lord Mips, to bring again to their confideration arguments which had been often Rated by much abler perfons than himfelf. Whatever diladvantage there might be in repeating arguments which had been more for. cibly urged before, he thought it better to fubmit to it, than to omit any thing which might give weight or die& to the great fubjea which he had prnpofed to their Lordfhips. He would, therefore, with their permillion, retrace a few of the great principles upon which he conceived the queftion chiefly to reft. The abolition of the African Slave Trade was, in his opi nion, indifpenfable towards the fafety of the Britifh empire, which had unfortunately borne too great a Aare in this pernicious and immoral traffic. In this trade of blood and of treachery we were not merely , acceffaries but parties; we had lent our lanaian and countenance to the moll flagrant fyflem that had ever difgraced any period of the civilized world, and when he had made cut that to a Britiffi Houfe of Lords, he truaed he had done all that was neceffary. He knew not in what fcbool of law, religion, or morality, the principle was to be found which conftituted that to be a juft proceeding in one nation, the manifefl tendency of which was to inflia the groffeft irjullice upon the inhabitants of another country. If there were any loch principle, he would take leave to enter his pro. *eft against it, as lapping the foundation of all moral virtue. The Counfel who had been heard at their Lordfl.ips' bar, had Mlles' much upon the great irjury which individuals mutt futtain in conic• quence of the abolition of the African Slave Trade. This was an argument to which, as a 131 kith Legifla tor, legiflating ut n a great national quellion, in which the honour no lefa than the interells of the country was implicated, he did not feel hirnfelf ob liged to reply; but, however, he was not unwilling to meet Counfel upon the point, and even to examine it as a matter of account. He would undertake to prove, that upon every ground of policy it was the duty of Parliament to ;nterpore, and put an end to a trade which was driving the Weft India Planter to deftruaion. It was laid that it was impoffible to keep up the population in the Weft India Iflands, but by freth importation:). This fubjea had been ex arniaed, and the very reverie bad been proved. Why fhould the laws of nature be inverted in the Weft In dies ? Why fhould that great principle, " increa le and multiply," be rendered inoperative there, and there alone?" Shew me (laid his Lordfhip) a country where population is on the decreafe, and I will undertake to prove, that it is owing to fometlring elfe than the int% ence of climate ;that it is, in fail, owing to a moral and not to a pbyfical cattle." If there was, therefore, any of the Weft India Elands in which there was a rapid decay of population, he would fay, that there it would be found the labouring claihrs were greatly overworked. He would admit that rills brutal and horrible praftice was not fanaioned by the great planters tefident in this country. He knew that their feelings revolted againft fuch cruelty ; but how were they, at the dittance of feveral thoufand miles, to control chafe to whom they had delegated their power, who °fun delegated it to others, and fo on, until it fell into the bards of the molt callous and unfeeling of human beings ? The planter, unfortunately, could only judge by the returns of his eftate, whether his flock upon it had been overworked ; and this difco very always came trio late to prevent, or even reme dy the rnifchief. But fo far from there being a de creafe in the Negro population in the Weft Indies, the contrary was alcertained to be the fait. It was now fourteen, or rather near twenty years ago, fince the fubjea was examined in all its details, and minutely inveltigated by the greateft political arithmetician this or perhaps any other country ever produced, hi meant the late Mr. Pitt, and Ire proved to the Houle of Commons, front the anfwers of the planters and other documents, that though the population might have decreafed in former periods in the ifland of Ja maica, yet that decreafe was gradually diminifhed as it approached nearer the pretent time. At different periods the decreate, as he proved undeniably, dimi miler! fucceffively from three and a half to two and a half, and one three fourth per cent. until at laft it war reduced to kfs than one per cent. He proved, that with refpeft to the waste isf population, the alle gations of the planters were totally ni,f Amsted, and that tittle falfe affertioxas were not fa much the con fequences of their ignorance, as of their never having given themfelves the trouble to enquire into the ran. From 1788, the pet iod of the enquiry, to the prefent time, near twenty years had elapfed, and, upon the average of the lair - three years, it was found that no decteafe had taken place, or that, if any, it was fb inconfiderable as not to be worth mentioning. This was the cafe in Jamaica ;—and in Dominic; the refult was found to be the fame. It is faid, that if the - itnportation of new negroes be prohibited, the old population would not be equal to cultivate the iflands. He was perfuaded of the contrary.--, He was convinced that all the parts of the old iflands, which were at prefent in cultivatioa, could he main tained in that Rate without the neceflity of bringing one more negroe from Africa. For what purpofe, then, was it that fuch efforts were made to continue this trade? It was for the purpofe of making the uncultivated parts as produCtive as thofe which were in culture, a praftice pregnant with much immediate embarraffment, and, as he feared, it would prove ultimate ruin to the planter. if the planter had now to uiruggle with the difficulities re fulting from a great diminution in the price of the ar. tick which he cultivated, a diminution in a great mea fume to be attributed to the breaking up of new lands, it was evident that thefe difficulties mutt be increafed by furnithing him with themcana of further reduciag its price. Where would be the policy to encourage him to import new African naves, for the purpofe of enabling him to continue a deltruCtive rivallhip, where even fuccefs mull terminate in ruin ? Examined as a quellion of detail, confidered merely as to gain and Ids, he had not the leall fear that he fhould be able to prove that the continuance of the trade mutt ultimately terminate in the ruin of the Planters, and, confequently affeet the fafety of the Empire. But tome perfons fay it will be time enough to put an end to the trade when the walle lands are cultivated. He would ark, what time it would take to import a firfficiency of slaves for that purpufe ? Had any of the perfons tsho reafoned in that way taken the trouble to make the calculation ? He was perfuaded they had not, for otherwife they would noLhave ad vanced fuch an argument. According to the prefent feale of importation, it would take no lefs than two or three centuries to import 'laves enough into Ja maica, to bring the uncultivated parts of that ifland into culture. It would require as long a period to introduce !laves enough into Trinadad, to break op the new lands in that ifland ; and for thefe purpofes not lefs than a million more of African Haves would be neceffary in each of thefe iflands. He wi'bed to bring this piCture before the molt hardened nave dealer, before the moll inhuman tyrant that ever exercifed defpotic foray between the decks of a thee Quo ; he would with to prefent to him two millions of Africans, torn from their families and their deareft ties, doomed to a cruel death, or, what is more rewriting to human nature, to fpend a miferable exiflence in a (late worfe than death; and he would be glad to fee whether his feelings, callous as they might be, would he proof againft loch a repre fentation. And yet this was the boon which the Legiflature of Jamaica silks from a Britifh Houfe of Lords; nothing more, forfooth, than the privilege of dragging the unhappy natives of Africa from their 'homes, their focial ties, their clean& relations, and of hunting them down for five centuries longer. But this was a boon which, he untied, a Britjfh Houfe of Lords would never grant. No; he trufied that the term of the abolition of this nefarious traffic was at leng , h arrived, and that both the Legiflature and thole who were concerned in it had met at a certain point at lat. One of the great dangers of abolifhing the trade, as urged either at the bar or in common converfation, was that refulting from the example which St. Domingo offered. As one of thole charged with the general intereft of theimpire, he would fay, that the greatell danger to the Weft Indies arofe from the importation of Raves, and that little was to be apprehended from thole who had been efiablifh ed there for fcme time. He would even fay, that the example cf what had taken place in St. Do. mingo moll powerfully recommended the immediate abolition of the trade. If there were no other rea fon for putting an end to it, the events which had occurred there thould induce the Houfe to put an end to it without delay. If they walled to guard againft infurreCticn in Jamaica, let them take the advice 6f Mr. Long, an eminent planter himfelf, and the hillmian of the ifland. What did he aflign as the caufes of the frequent rebellions in that Mind ? He proved that, nine times out of ten, they were entire. ly owing to the newly imported negroes. The Cre. ole negroes, who were in tome degree slomellicated, who had occafional accefs to the family, in general continued firm in their attachment, while the African negro, goaded by the refentment of his injuries and the (cote of his [offerings, rated into rebellion. It was true, that in the tents which had taken place at St. Domingo, it was not newly imported negroes who were the principal eaters; but let any one confider the caufe of that infurration, and he would fee that it was not the confequence of emancipation, as was falfely fopperies!, but that it was produced by the molt foul and fcandaleus breach of promife. It was produced by the unjull, inhuman meafure of recal ling that freedom which had been granted to Raves. If we wished to guard againfl fimilar intivration in our own Wands, it was not by importing frefh car goes of Raves every year that it was to be effected, but by making friends of the negro population which was already there ; and this he trolled a Britith Par liament would do, by putting the Planter under the neceflity of well-treating his !laves. If we Itioked regulations for abolition, inflead of to abolition for regulations, we should never fee the happy period of the termination of this deteflable traffic arrive. A refolution had been palled in 1792, to adopt meafures for the abolition of the trade at a certain period.— When thefe meafures came to be propofed they were related, and inked of abolifhing the trade, all that WAS done was an application to his Majefty to recom mend to the Legiflature of the different Minds to make provifion for bettering the conditien of the (laves. See in what manlier his Majefly's recom mendation was attended to. It would appear in Lord Seaforth's correfpondence. When that Noble Lord affumed the command of Barbadoes, he found that the murder of a negro was only punifhable by a fmall penalty of t 11. In fail, it was not confidered as a crime ; fo far from it, that it became a. queftion in one of the Colonial Courts of Justice whether it was an offence? Lord Seaforth details three moll (hock ing instances of the murder of negroes, and when he preffed the Legiflature of Baebadoes to alter the law in this tetra; how was hie propufal received ? How was the poriontion of the kg',. Itaptsratitttlire, sttd the reermamendation of his Pl•*jelLy, received? Why, with contumely and Intuit I They not only rehired to contlitute the wanton killing of a negro Inttrelfr, but in their language, in their debates, they la• bowed to repel what they termed the intuit of filch a propofal. One of thefe murders was per. petrated by a white militiaman returning from se. ercife, who, in the moll wanton and barbarous man ner, ran his bayonet into an unofTending negro wo. man, who was accidentally patting by. Whenthe was reproached with his crime, and threatened with punilhment, he triumphantly exclaimed—" Punith• ed ! What, for killing a negro A white man pa nifhed for killing a negro ?" jolt as a brutal dray man in the ftreet might exclaim, if reproached by a pat• Fenger far feverely chalttfing his horfc. And it was from Inch perfons, and a Legiflature prnteeting fuch perfons, that we were to look for filch . regulations fur bettering the condition of the unfortunate negro, as would preclude the neceffity of abolifhing the in. human and pernicious traffic, which it was the objea of the Bill to deliroy. Here his Lovdthip was interrupted by The Eatl of MORTON, who role, he raid, to order, and complained that a perfon had been taking notes at the Bar, in dited violation of the privileges of the Houle. Lord ELDON obferved, that it was the duty of the Noble Lord on the Woolfack to put an end to fuch a praetice. Load HOLLAND laid, it was no more the duty of that Noble Lord than any other. The whole Houle was the confervator of its privileges, and not the No ble Lord on the Woolfack. The Earl of MORTON obferved, that, if the de bate took that turn, he fhnuld feel himfelf obliged to move, that the Houle should be cleared. After a few words in explanation from Lord EL DON, the converfation terminated, and. Lord G RENVILLE relit rned—but i n confequence , of the obfervatinns of the two Noble Lords (Lords I Morton and Eldon) the order againa taking notes was flrietly enforced by the attendants of the Honfe, and our Reporter t; as confequently unable to do that juflice to the remainder of his Lordfhip's fpeech, cer tainly one of the molt logical, as well as animated, that has ever been delivered on this great fubjeet fince it was fi• it ol,itated, to v, hich it wan fo well entitled. I—After combating every argument which had ever been urged against the abolition—after (hewing that if the trade was alandoned by Great Britain and America, it could act poffibly be taken up by any other nation—his Lordthip concluded with a b:illiant encomium upon the talents, eloquence, virtue, and perfeverance of Mr. WILBERFORCE, to whom, he obferved, millions unborn would be indebted fcr this great bleffing. The Duke of CLARENCE was glad to find that the negroes now employed in the laborious bufinefs of our colonial efiablifitments were not to be included in the prefent arrangements, but were to be permitted to fulfil their important duties. He was pleafed alfo that it was admitted that thefe at prefent engaged in the African Trade had engaged in their commercial purfuits under the fanetion of Parliament. Much had been mil - apprehended on the nature and circumstances of the traffic itfelf, by perfons who had no local know ledge on the fubjeet. With relpeet to himfelf, the habits of his life had given him opportunities of know ing the fads from the befl authorities; and he had vifited every one of the iflands. where he had con verted with fame of the moil thinl and experienced perfons on their culture, produce, climate, and pop lotion. He could fcarcely fuppofe the Noble Lord was ferious in what he laid on the tricks of witchcraft, as among the expedients reforted to to facilitate this commerce; but he was inclined to think he was ac• curate in the particulars he Rated, indicative of the improvement in the population of the colonies, and that this augmentation of the negroes prevailed over all the difadvantages in Dominica, which was the molt unhealthy of all thefe fettlements. The ar gument, however, operated precifely in a contrary direetion to that which the Noble Lord attempted to give it ; for, h was a decilive proof that the condition of the (laves was ameliorated, and that a degree of humanity towards them was exercifed which rendered the prefent Bill unneceffary. It was a little fingular, that after exhibiting a tlyle of decla matory accufation again the Planters, not unufual on this fubjeCt, the Noble Lord had adduced but one or to% o infolated examples of cruelty towards the ne groes to fuppott all his broad and confident affertions —the truth was, that human nature was much the fame in every country, and that the Planters as well as their Lordfhips had hearts fenfible to the calami ties cf their fellow beings. It was ufelefs to refign this traffii, fince other nations would purfue it if we abandon it, and under circumflances much let's con -1 ducive to the comfort of the Africans ; the idea then of abolithing the trade was nugatory and abfurd ; it might be transferred into work bands, but it would I Hill be perfevered in with all the difireffes, and many I more, which the enemies of this commerce were fo fond of detailing. The flotation of St. Domingo was a warning not to try experiments unneceffarily the population of this rich country has been reduced fince the infurreltion from zgo,ooo to teso,coo fouls; and whether the fame horrors were to be experienced in the adjacent iflands, in confequence of thefe new projects, was yet a matter of uncertainty. Among the effeets of fuch meafures mull be, that his Ma jelly, by the multitude of feizures (for the whole navy of England could not prevent the trade) would become the yreateft (lave merchant in the world.— Another, confequence would be, that the maritime llrength of the nation would be dearoyed ; for on the African Trade, more than on any other refource, de pended the fupply of our hoftile navy, which had rendered the name of Britain glorious in every part of the world. A third refult would be, that the re venues of the State would be largely diminithed, from which the fupplies for that navy mutt be drawn —Many illnfttious charaelers had been mentioned, who had not only approved, but contributed to the efiabliihment of this commerce ; from the circle of his own immediate acquaintance, he could add feve ral others who concurred in the fame fentiment, and who were an ornament to their profeffion and to their country ; among thefe he might rime a late gallant Admiral, with whom he was allied in the clofelt inti mac). -(Lord Nelfon), and whe l bad received, on nu• merons occafions, the enthutiattic applaufe of * grateful people. Should the bill pats, he had no doubt but the fuppotters of it would loon regret their pretipiiation t ana if the ptdent tsiiniftert ea. tinned to 'cog in office, he entertained no doubt that in three or four years they would retrace their R e p % and apply to Parliament that the trade might b e again refumed. But, be the event what it might j a other refpeets, to his mind it was pettedly clear, th a t without this trade the Weft Indies muft be loa t o Britain ; and without the Well Indies, not only th e dignity and praperil of the nation was gone, but its very exidence as an incl.:pendent empire. The Duke of GLOUCESTER perfeftly coincid ed with a Noble Lord near him (Lord Grenville) art the injuttice and impolicy of the African trade..... He was ready to meet the queflion en either ground, whether the ohjeClions were to be founded on the in. humanity or on the inexpediency of this commerce, as it affected the mercantile interetts of the country, The (objet s however, had been fa fully ditcuffed rat the firli Addrefs that evening, and their Lnrd(hipd had enjoyed fo many oppoitimi,ies of previous in. quiry, that it wonld be needlefs ,for him to detain them long with fuch oblervations as occurred to hi! mind. It was evident that the popul a tion h a d 1 1 „, t greatly obflrutted by feverity ; the Maroons, it was well known, doubled their numbers io a period of about thirty-three years ; and there was no reafri to cupric that the fame increafe would not la ke place with the fl tees, if it were not obltroded by ar. tificial caufes. As an irdlance of the inhumatity with which the negroes were treated, and of the light v a l u e t tat was fet upon their lives whet- , they were not the* aßually ufeful to the owner, his Royal Higlisei mentitmej the cafe of a poor black woman that had been fold to a Captain of a fhip; the Captain did not dircfiver until after he had bought her, that the had a young eild, who then fuckled at her breaft ; tipoa this he remonfl rated with the man with whom h e h a d made the bargain, upon the unfa'rnefs of his dealing, as be ohferved that a woman with a fucking child cr uld not do fo much work, and conferment!) , was net worth ft much money as if the had not the child ta fockle. The unfeeling, barbarous (lave merchant then Lid, " Oh, I will loon fettle that point," tore the child from its mother's arms, and, throwing it into the fea, received the rm:ney Fr which he had bar. gained. Much had been Paid by the Learned Counfel, on the Irffes their clients would fuffer from the inapplicability of the flare (hips to other trades. Thus much was correely flared, hut they did not tell their Lortlfhips that there veffels might be molt advantageoufly applied as tranfports : indeed, no (hips whatever were fo well adapted to fuch a put pole. But it was not neceffary to difcilfs tittle mi. nute items of profit and lots •; it. was evident that the commerce was oppofed to every found maxim ofjuf rice and humanity, and therefore it ought to be abo. lifhed ; it was a claim not only nn the clemency,but on the honour and integrity of their Lordfhips, and he trulled loch a demand would not go unfatisfied. L-rd MOR fON Paid a few words- in oppofitionto the Bill. • The Earl of WESTMORELAND cArnmeseed his vindication of the Slave Trade by Rating, that it had been fanltioned in the earließ ages by that fs.- voured nation which had been fpecially cholen by the ALMIGHTY, and that there was not a word inthe New Tertament which forbade ir. Although oar religion was fluent upon the fubjeet, yet a new doc trine had lately been difcovered, and it was found out that flavery ought to be entirely abolithed. The Noble Lord, indeed, had conferred that Rarely had exilted from the earließ times, but maintained that it was formerly much milder than it is at prefent. He however mull maintain the contrary political. He fhould not examine the annals of the moll barbarous nations, nor the times when the poets faid that flares were devoured, but he would recur to the Roman Hiliory, which often makes mention of Haves being expofed to wild beaßs at the amphitheatre, and to the Grecian Hillery, which made mention of the treat. ment of the Helots. It was not until the reign cif the Emperor Adrian that the murder of a Hare was punithable. At relent there were fuch provifioss for the proteetion and maintenance of our Haves in the Welt Indies as furmer ages had not. If the great Difpofer of Events had confulted Democrats or Ja cobins at the creation, perhaps flavery would not have exifled ; but as he bad no fuch counfellors, it pleafed him to ordain that flavery fhould exiii in Afri• ca, and as it has called there fince the earliell time, we had no right to find fault with, or oppofe the dd. penfations of PKI)IIIInNCE. Wh:aever might be tke proferEons of thofe who brought forward the area lure, he confidered the tendency of it as very dan gerous ; and he could not avoid recollefting, that the attempt of the Sierra Leone Company, begun from motives of humanity, produced all chafe evils which it preferred to remedy. When Minifters propofed to Bonaparte to abolifh the Slave Trade in France, he replied, that he mull firß confider how Inch a ReP would affe,ft the interefis of his colonies. It was to be hoped that the Houle Would have the fame confide ration for the Britith col. nies. We could not prorate France, Spain, Portugal, and America from taking up the trade, neither could we prevent the Emperor of Morocco, or the African Pt ince% from continuist it. He then touched on the great importance of the Weft Indies, as taking off one third of our exports , employing from fixteen to twenty thoufand femora, and yielding four or five millions annually to the re• venue. He confidered it quite impoffible that the population in the Hinds could maintain itfelf, sant the proportion of women to men was'only as 2 to He confidered the next topic of popular declamation would be the property of the Clergy, and he conceiv ed that every perfon porreffed of property was bola to oppofe the meafure. Lord SELKIRK raid, that if, becaufe flaverycl• irked, it was therefore to be called a difpeofation of PROVIDENCE, which mull be lubmitted to, upon OP fame gruund it might be faid that murders and rob beries were alto the cirfpeurailons of Pauvisescs,a 94l should not be punithed by-the -executioner. He con tended that the population molt fupport itfelf by 03. tural means in our Welt India iflands as well as 41 every other part of the world, if the Haves were well treated. If during the lad ten years the black P°' pulation of our Weft India Colonies had, inct eafed as fall as the black population of Carolina, r.c 411 0 " Id have now eight hundred thoufand initead of five hundred thouland, and then there would be IT danger of the waile lands in Jamaica wanting c ul t vators. He was convinced that the confequ ence of . the abolition would be, that matters would be oblige d to treat their Haves better, and that in return for that 1 the flares would hare more affediou for their mailers, SI