The National Register. — London, England, 1814-07-03 00:00:00

~-- ~,. -: .~~r~ REGISTER. I THE NATIONAL Cur Sing, Constitution, ann tato. NO. "3- POLL FICA I, DIS.IUISITION. T;TE SLAVE TRADE AND SPANISH INQUISITION. There are some facts so derogatory to the dignity of his tory, and which the justice of mankind has so properly re probated, that it is almost like a participation in ,the system of witieh cruelty and oppression are the elementary compo nents, to speak or breathe of them. But, since it has pleased Providence to veil the objects of the past and the future from our view, we can do little more than make up our judg ment from what we see and know of the effects which certain principles have produced upon the happiness and liberty of the world; unless, indeed, liberty and happiness are negative of moral responsibility—th - e mere inventions of schoolmen ; the metaphysical ; veries of those sacred mystics, who would induce us to believe this nature of ours organized for more wise and beneficent purposes than the savage destruction of one another. This reasoning is, however, too hypothetical for the received notions of mank;nd, will are content to call things by proper names, and to e,teetn or reject them as favoutalde or inimical to the happiness of one another. Bence if the most ignorant were asked to define slavery, they would annex to it all that was most odious to the in• dependence and freedom of Euglish.nen ; they would not sand still, and ask for a refined definition of subtle dis tinctions between black and white, of views of policy or mo tives of interest; they would brand the cause on the ques- tion being put, with the sympathy and indignation of a brave people. Where then all men are agreed upon a position, it is the office of casuistry only to find fault, and whether it be the cause of the poor African or of the Russian self, emancipa tion has !he same materials to work upon for tale benefit of mankind. Bo t who will say that we should not coalesce with Russia because sloe continues to traffic in exchanges of this na- ture, or should dictate to France because we have contributed to restore her to her rank amongst the nations of Europe ? The French Government may agree as cordially with us, as the Chronicle seems to insinuate, but it is placed in different circumstances altorzether. Great Britain abounds with 'ex perimentalists of great property, and all that she wills she is enabled to execute. France has no resource of cultivation or improvement but what she may derive from the purchase of negroes. ft is therefore no boon to give her up islands which we refuse her the means of cultivating, or expect that Va. VAL No. CC:CA-A:Xt.... PUBLISHED AT NO. 11 7 NEWCASTLE-STREET ) STRAND. SUNDAY, JULY 3, 1814. PRICE 9d she will find amongst her own population, individuals so duerly inoculated with the rirus of modern philanthropy, as to undergo the fatigues and dangers of a vertical sun to realize the theories and mistaken notions of these missionaries in virtue. We hope that these our sentiments, which are principally directed against the political uses which have been made of thi, article of the treaty, will not be misconstrued into even a virtual approbation of the traffic, which we abhor with all good and virtuous men —who, by their opposition, have endeared themselves to the humanity (q,f ail ages and countries. But the true test of wisdom is to ask what is practicable, to follow what is attainable. In looking for too much, we miss the good that lies before us, and sacrifice to idle declamation, the hopes and objects of a rational pur- suit. To slavery, under whatever denomination or colour it may exhibit itself, we are, if we may be allowed the expression, Enemies by instinct. But so long as we know it to be the concomitant of power, and abstractedly to form a part of every system of human legislation, so long as we have known it to reside with philosophy, and to have upheld the perish able superiority of Rome: we may yet revere that supreme order of events that leaves something to rouse the dormant faculties of mankind,and to give constant employment to the active and consolatory pursuits of the heart. We fear, however, if the question were narrowly scru tinized that it will be found, that while we are in pursuit of a contingent benefit, many things of domestic and foreign interest are allowed to pass by without examination and with out censure,—and that, while we are busied in destroying slavery abroad, new endeavours are made by some powers most indebted to us in the fearful contest from which we arc just released, to re-estab!ish the most odious of these institutions, the existence of which, first led the way to all the blood and massacre that have desolated Europe for the last twenty years. Yet how can we interfere with a Power that we have made independent of ourselves ? How can we correct that besotted ignorance which wars wits all improvement, and which, unenlightened by the past, still clings to irs supersti tions, and, above all, to the hlessinv of the Inquisition Who could believe this after what has happened—after Spain has suffered—af►er the noble straggle which has by England for her security? It is here that we !fully called upon to act. If France is to be ........ made 1 Iset that ( , 1 mon k L „...4:-..- ; ' '•,. 'l -- ; ).. , ...t ): ;7'i ...... what been . e are soli- -4 •~ .11 , • • • • •`