The Sun. — London, England, 1817-07-10 00:00:00

could tot cffett the total abolition of . the Slave Trale, it had become our policy to do it to a (2er -tail) - eXet!nt in Africa, where we might exert our be vo lima efforts for the eiviliz:iriou of the 'people. ‘Ve had consequently made a stipu latioh, which had been agreed to by Portu al and all the other Powers hat one, to 'confioe the trade to the South of the line. What had Spain done ? She had agreed to confine her self to one 'part, and had chosen that very part which wt had reserved for ourselves for the pur pose of, e4ilization. This was au insult almost too great : for an independent nation) , visitors, hear, en Neither were Spanish vessels the .y tat a great number of other vessels came, under the Spapish flag, to that part of the coast where we hat planted schools, and had greatly succeeded iu training the chieftains to habits of 'peaceful industly and legitimate commerce. By the ar tival of the traders, those putsuits were abandon ed, and the chieftains were taught to return to their old habits of seizing upon their subjects, as answering much better. When, thirty years ago, the subject had been brought before Parlia ment, the House had resented, with the deepest indignation, the idea of barbarities committed by Englishmen in carrying on the trade, and bad passed a law to cause the slaves to suffer as little as possible in their passage. But now, in conse quence of the manner in which it was carried on, the ships were crowded beyond all precedent. In one case, said a letter from Sir Jas. Yeo, a vessel of 120 tons carried 600 slaves ! 4-le had asked some years ago the Captain of a ship of 240 tons, whether lie thought the slaves he had on board comfortable, anti he had answered in the affirmative, although he had owned that they had no room to lie on their backs. Yet he carried only 450 slaves. What, therefore, must have been the situation of thrise 600 'wretched victims in a vessel of 120 tons ? It was right the House should have some idea of the situation of a ship under such circum stances. lie then read an affidavit from an officer put on hoard of a slave ship taken as a prize, who swore, that on the 15th of February last, he had been on hoard the St. George, from Mozam bique to the Brazds, till the 19th ; that when the vessel left Mozambique 22 days before, he had been informed all the slaves were in good health ; that 13 died between the time of its capture and its art ival, a hen all were sickly, and nearly 100 afflicted with the scurvy ; that the vessel was more built for sailing'than for stowing; anti that the slaves were all stowed together naked in a place two feet in heiglit, and so small, that it was impossible for them not to press each other ; that they were chained by one leg with heavy irons, and compelled to do their necessities under them, and to lie in their own excrements till they were landed; that from the 19(1) to the 24th thirteen had died, though they were treated with every kind of attention, and that between the 24th of February and the 16th of . March thirty tno , e bad sunk tinder the effects of their previous treat ment, and the rest remained in a most sickly state. This was not a solitary case, but it must be nearly the same in all slave ships. In another, out of 540, three hundred and forty had died. The greater part of them were carried to the Havan na!), and he was informed that for several years the annual number imported had been 25,000. But this was 'tot all : the Spani3ll flag a floidcd protection to the traders of other nations, and when a vessel was attacked it would defend itself, and sometimes anticipate attack. They had fre quently acted as pirates, and driven away from the coasts all merchant vessels trading with the na tives, with the consent of the' old chieftains, who found it more productive to sell slaves titan toca'rry on a legitimate commerce. Would it be borne by Englishmen that their ships of force, with the na tioaal flag, should be attacked by those of other countries, because they enforced the provisions of a treaty ? We were bound to put a stop to such practices. If they were suffered to go on to the same extent, our West India Islands must give up the hope of extending the sale of their pro duce beyond our own country. It was not that be distrusted the efforts of his Noble Friend (Lord Castlereagh), but in order to strengthen his hands, that lie wished to Address the Crown apin on this subject. He boiled it would be successfully, and he could not conceive that the House would object to advise his Majesty to have recourse to an expedient, in which he thoogitt tire other European Powers coincided, as it had been suegesteil by his Noble Friend at the Congress of Vienna, by which all the great Powers should agree only to receive Colonial produce front those countries which had abolished the Slave Trade. He did not wish us to approach them with a high tone, but in the language of those who acknowledged that they had once themselves acted criminally, and were willing to make repa ration to Africa for time injuries which they had inflicted upon her. He then took a view of the gratifying exertions made in every quarter by English spirit to put down that abominable traf fic. At Java, a Society for the purpose had been formed wider the influence of Governor Raffles. Ile praised the activity of-Captain Curran of the Navy ; the conduct of Colonel Chisholm, who, whilst Goree was in our hands, had established a seminary for education there ; and of that most benevolent and enlightened individual Governor Alacarthy, who at Sierra Leone had set up schools, and adopted every step to civilize the na tives. He considered that it was the duty of the Country to repair the evil site had done to Africa, by promoting peaceful industry' anti the civilization of the people. The begin ning of this must be to put an end to the existing practices, and for that purpose he should move, " That an humble Addres be pie aented to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, most humbly to represent to his Royal Highness, that in bringing to a close the other business of this Session,'-roost important duties still remained to he pet formed by Parliament, and, amongst the rest, that of again submitting to his Royal High ness the anxions solicitude of the House for the total Abolition of the African Slave Trade; that the Howe were 4ratetol for the exertions already made, and the progress attained in the abolition of that It atlie, and rejoiced that it was now for ever proscribed, and that our laws had stiema tized it by a severe and igaotnittions punishment ; that they bad see!), with unspeakable satisfa-- tion, that many other nations, under whose that trade bad been carried C'a, bad ceased from it ; that their expectatiOni; keere strengthen ed by t he memorable declaration, SO wort)y of their great SOvereignS, rriat,le by all tbetienipotenthiries asseinbled at Vienna ; that they, Must deeply IC' gret that praCticei so contrgry, to such declara tions should, even for an hour, t3e continued by a Chtistian country, and that alllti'pailations being broken and disregarded, some should be found to pursue the same nefarious course as before; that in submitting these cirtionstanceSio 'the humane consideration of his Royal Highness, they hope shut he will take such Measures as will tend to ac complish the total atnilition of a systent vt hie!) triwates every endeavour to civilize Africa, and that he will leave no efforts untried to effect that pur pose ; that they also hope that his Royal High liess's rept esentations will pi•oduce the desired effect ; yet that if they should prove unavailing, they trust that the great Powers who joilted in the Declaration at Vienna will feel themselves com pelled by an overwhelming sense of duty to adopt such a course of policy in their commercial rela tions, as will tend to pot an end to the traffic, and duly punish its uerpetrators; and that in enforcing those considerations on his Royal Highness, they do not do it from mere humanity, but from asense that it is their duty to endeavour to repair the wrongs which England has inflicted on Africa, by teaching the natives of that country to enjoy the blessings of peaceful industry, and of legitimate commerce." Lord CkITLEREAGH was certain, that whatever might have been the result of their exertions, the House would not conceive his Majesty's Ministers to have slept on so important a question. Much had already been done by the solemn declaration of the greatest Sovereigns of the world at Vienna; but as long as any Power lent its hand to that degraded traffic, and thus enabled others under its flag, the whole was not done. He assured his lion. Friend that no exertion had been spared, and that his M,sjesty's Government, in conjunction with the other Powers; had been engaged in ne gociations with Portugal and Spain for the total abolition of the Slave Trade. A partial explana tion svouid, however, only prejudice the House without advancing the cause. It was on that account, and not because he wished to withhold information, that he' should not enter into a fuller explanation at present. Before Parliament should again assemble, it was probable that the pending negociations would have come to an issue, which he would then communicate to the House. fle could not engage that it would he a successful otie, but if it were, there still would be many points to which it tvould be desirable that Parlia ment should look, by referring them to a Com nottee. He sonata not oppose the address of his H,to Friend, hut should concur in it, and should h e prepared at the beginning of the next Session to lay the whole subject betore the House, for the purpose of going into an ito,nity , Mr PETER Mooae «ished his Hon. Friend co m pl e te success, but was not one of those who would promise him any. He did not think, how , ever, that he had adopted a proper course—he meant that which had been proposed four years ago, and %yule') the Noble Lord now recommend ' ed. He'coutentled that he (Mr. P. M.) had taken up the subject of the Slave Trade fourteen or fif t eeu 37,4,‘ before site Hun. Member had done it in this country. He maintained that, under the pretence of preventing the continuance of that traffic, merch a nts had sometimes been unjustly prosecuted and condermsed. Ile instanced the case of three persons who had been sentenced at Sierra Leone to fourteen years' transportation, and sent to England to be conveyed to Botany Bay. They had forwarded petitions to him, and through the benevolent interference of the Noble Lord at the bead of the Home Department had been rescued from transportation and death, though much emaciated. In another case it had been proved before a Court of Justice last week, that a prosecution had been commenced, not to abolish the Slave Trade, but to seize the proper ty of an individual.—(Hear, hear !)—The House might well hear ; it would then know that the individual in question had recovered 10001. in an action for false imprisonment, and 190001. da taages. Mr. BROUGHAM contended that the individual last meutioned had beets properly tried under the Act which made it an equal offence for a British subject to carry on the Slave Trade anywhere, as for any person -to carry it on in any part under British jurisdiction. Mr. Cooke, who was the individual in question, had been taken up as a British subject, for trading in slaves beyond the British limits, and it was not till after his con viction, and in his memorial to Government, that he had represented himself as an American. After his arrival in England, it .bad been discovered that a statute of King William, which gave a ge neral jurisdiction, had been repealed, but yet there was some apprehension that its provisions were revised by another, in which they were quoted as existing. The benefit of the donhewas properly given to Mr. Cooke, although he had been convicted, and he had been set at liberty ; but the question respecting the validity of the ju risdiction was not yet determined. There was therefore no fault on the part of Governor Max well, who had Mr. Cooke taken up after considerable resistance, nor of that of the person by whom that individual had been tried. As to the late verdict, it was only nominally one for 20,0001., and might be reduced to 10001. ; for Mr. Cooke had been allowed the damages for which he had prayed, but subject to a reference, by which they might be reduced to scarcely any thing. He- spoke highly in favour of the conduct of Governor Maxwell, and thought that Officer should he remunerated. It was not his wish to say any thing that might disturb the unanimity of the House on this occasion, and therefore lie would not enter-into the reasons why he thought that the Noble Lord's hopes with re spect to Spain and Portugal were riot likely to be realized. The Slave Trade would never be completely-put an end to the Fi"ciPle of mutual s e :i rc h was established among all the Powers of Europe ; till every Tosser ierognized the right of every other Power to,seatelr its ships in the time of peace ; till slaves were pot ou the same tooting; with conirabAiol of war. Until this was done,,, it %%mold be in v:in in hope Elia the Slave Trude would be lint an end to ; and until then, in spite, of all the tlireatA an; that could he penned by all the Doctors of Coim bra or of Salamanca (and they prodhc2 them by quires), the Slave Trade would be carried on to as great an extent as ever. . Mr. A. Bttowiiis spoke shortly fAvour of the Address, and said that there wa3 not any ili,po sition in any cif, the Colonies contrary to that which dictmtvd this motion. Mr. GOULBL7III thought it necessary merely to say, that Governor Maxwell's ease had been duly considered, and that it was inteudtd he should be remunerated. . Mr. C. SMYTH Of Cambridge) Vri3 in favour of the Address. lie ‘vished the right of mutual search of vessels to be established among the Eu ropeaut Powers. lie expressed a hope that the ex pectarions of the Noble Lord relative to the aban donment of the Slave Trade by Spain and Portno would be realized ; and that lie would soon be able to come down to the House and inform it of the signature .of Treaties with these Powers to that effect. If that should be the case, however high the Noble Lord's diplomatic reputation might al ready be, it would then be raised still higher, and established on principles as durable as humanity and justice. Mr. BARHAM concurred in the Address. He rose principally for the purpose of endeavouring to do away an assertion which had been frequently made, sometimes gravely—sometimes in the way of sarcasm, that this country had not abolished the Slave Trade until the state of its Colonies rendered it unnecessary, and that we only %vislied other States to abolish it, in order to diminish the value of their Colonies and prevent them from having any advantage over our own. This asser tion was most frequently made in France ; but it was also made in the other countries of Europe.— There could not be any thing more ❑ntrue in fact. The truth was, that the state of our colonial po pulation shewed that there was in them a great deficiency of negro-es ; whereas, in the colonies of other countries, the ease was quite the reverse. Mr. W. SMITH also concurred in the Address. Mr. MARRYATT was in favour of the Address, and strongly anitnadverted on the system pursued with respect to the remuneration given in cases of capture, where the sentence of the Colonial Court was reversed by the High Court of Admiralty.— The fact was, that when the sentence of con demnation of a Colonial Court was reversed, the country was put even to a greater expence than when it was affirmed, and the premium given by Act of Parliament for every slave in the condemned ship was payable.—The Address was then agreed to. FINANCE. Mr. TIERNEI* rose to open the debate on the Resolutions he had submitted to the House some 'short time ago ; but, in the first place, he Wished to withdraw the fist Resolution, because lie found it was not correct. The House would recollect that he had observed, that he could not pledge himself to their accuracy when he presented them, because some of the papers were not sufficieotly clear and explicit to enable him to make arty very confident deductions_ up on t h em . 1 - lii mistake h a d ar i sen f r o m the circumstance of four Mil lions of the Unfunded Debt of Ireland having been paid off, which was unknown to hint when he framed his Resolutions. The Unfunded Debt would now stand at 66 millions for the year, according tohis view of the subject, instead of 70,267,1921. as before stated. In the nest place, the total amount of the Supply for the year was 64,336,0001. and the Ways and Means amounted to 64,141,0001. leaving a deficiency of 195,0001. in the Ways and Means of this year. It appear ed that the sum of 582,0001. had been paid off on the balance of last year, but it did not appear front whence that sum was derived, but he supposed it was front the Ways and Means of the present year. The increase of the Unfunded Debt for the present year, making the allowance for the mistake into which he had been led, would be 16,378,0001. The manner in which these 'va rious payments were made might be well ander stood in thellouse, but he wished a clear view ofthe finences to be given, so that they might be under stood out of doors. The papers ought to have been - laid before the House at an earlier period, so that a full opportunity might have been afforded for the .111 , 2cosion of them. Towards the twenty two millions required for the current expences of the year; not more than 5,100;0001. would be raised-2,523,0001. of this could nat occur again, as it wag . made up of arrears of Property Tax, part being; taken into the Consolidated' Fund, and part into the Ways and Means of the year. In the next place, assuming the income and expen diture for the year to be the same In riiv year.ending sth Jan. 118, as the last, the deficiency on the COn solidated Fund will be 3,521,0001. But the Commit tee said, that the revenues of the years 1813 and 1817 should be put totrether, to form an estimate of the probable income of 1818. lie, however, could not see the fairness of this, nor the probability of improvement. He thought that too much delay had taken place in the arrangement of the Fi nances., and the final settling of them cool() only be deferred at the expence of much mischief They were told, that the accounts could not be made up to the sth of April till sonic time after that period had expired, and that was all excuse for procrastination, but in the Report the words, sth of April, would be looked for in vain. How ever, the whole surplus of the sth of April ell:at ter had been taken into the WilV3 and Means of the year, which he considered a very nufeir mole of proceeding ; but then it would be. said the charg e s on that quarter had first been paid off; it might. be so, but it was well ktiowo there were two goo d a nd two bad qoartees'in the year. The April quarter was a good one, and the July year ter was the reverse, so many payments falling due in it. The deficiency in the quarter ending sth July was, 3,372,000 ; deducting the surplus of the preceding, but leaving out this corisid r r a ti on , the defalcation would amount to 725,000 he be lieved. At all events the falling oft was great,.and the prospect was not more flattering with regard to the receipts of the two remaining; quarters, so that the revenue would not, he was sure, pay the interest of the debt. The distress of the country, which was so intimately connected with tls finances, was said to be temporal y ; why, it, had been temporary any time these two years. He was glad to see the Eon. Member (Mr. Grant) C.. 111:! 101 — Naril great taienlq am: raleel...,T4r. ;ilo w l..d g e th;s stibiect„ and tOO% 1 - raie ifliself in ha, i,, g been the reetri of iosllreitig hi/3 '0 tee ep the q'XitiOn ; he hoped this from year 10 yegi, itt Order th a t the co i n ,- might know the real state of the rivance,.. Ile approved of the , issue of- lii } z to meet a forto..r islue instead of fu ultra;.: them., hilt the system of Exeliv(itter Bill was a little mYs.. tet ions. lie should like to know the :ii»OIS:If Exchequer Bills purehrsedbl! Governmenei and b a n tor some time endeavourCd to get this infor mation, but w . •• out success. The /ilia,. tie ha.ll b ee n told, Was for Government to determine none of these Bills should be tregoiirted wi , horg a premium, which was managed bet,Neen Goverri mew and the Bruk, by which the hatter olteo a great gainer. 11,,w was it, it night he asktd, it s these,MUS and the Stocks alio were so high ‘‘.he !A th e revenue was on the decline. The stagnti".o l ,i o f tr a d e was the cause, which left large sums of money to be vested in the funds, which, in better .times, might be employed in trade. This was the way in which the Bankers employed the large sums which were formerly engaged in the busi nesS of discounts. They also used their rusiont ers' money in the purchase of Exchequer Bills., and every Banker thus became, in the lan;, , ,nage of the City, a bull, anxious for the rise of the Stocks. He thought these speculations exceed.: ingly mischievous : suppose Ilade should speedily revive, these Bankers must sell out at once, the Stocks would fall, and ruin in some cases w.ouiti doubtless follow. He had yet to learn %%lin was meant by there being plenty of money, as was said to be the case at one time; and then again, in a few months, without any assignable cause, a great scarcity prevailed. The Regent's Canal was in want of 200,00 W. and the Commissioners came like paupers to ask for part of the loan, which had lately been determined upon for dis tressed parishes. lie should have thought that a public work with such securities would not . haste been at a loss to obtain money, if it w . as so ,ex ceedingly plentiful, without flying to a temporary expedient resorted to on account of the great public distress. The Commissioners of kl'oods :41.4 Forests, as they knew by the Bilis which hadjtmt passed, wanted 300,0001. but would anyone believes that they would get it without going to the Stocks? He had intended to say a few ‘vords with rrspect to the Sinking Ftrid, which seemed to be vieWel of late in a very different character to what for= merly belonged to it, but he had already trespass-A too I!:ing on the time of the House. in the pre sent state of the world, they could not calculate upon mote than five or sig years of peace ; how. then were they to meet a war ex I sendiritre, if live income now in time of peace wtis, ktsuflicieot for the demands of the State ? lie bad thrown out these general hints very crudely, and without much order, but he hoped lie had made himst wa f er _ stood by the House. He concluded hymoving,that the first Resolution be withdrawn. Mr. C. GRANT. Ingail by n'iserviog, that the subject of the Right lion. Gentleman's Resolutiogn might be-divided into two parts the first of whiet related tothe amount of the Unfunded Debt andvq-e Increase in the present year, and the other to :lie income and vxpenditure of the 'rear. The vier*. which he had taken of the Finances was villa- , pally Confined to the amount of the tinfunde4l which the Right Hon. Gentleman stated at fiti lions,while lre,(Air.G.) set it d0.n.11 at 6 , 1,684,.VP21.. He also shnuld sinew to the House', that there was a diminution on the Attu of I,2oo„tittO. while the I:tight Hon. Gentleman stated an in— crease of 1,800,0001. which, perhaps, he twile out by assuming that there would be-a deficiency in the Ways and Means, but that could scarcely be, as they were nearly all realised. The out— standing debt of last year had been increased by subsequent votes, so that in fact the accoilw: ;4' unfunded debt should stand for Jan. 5, 16 , 16, art 52,116,0001. The lion. Gentleman (Ali . .. Grant) went into a variety of minute siatkenent s and cal— culations, to thz - .7 tte maximum of tke tin fowled debt, on the sth of January next, weuld be 64 millions, from which he inferred a reduction of the debt in the current Near of 1,270,0001. As he should take the liberty of moving the previous question on the resolutions of the Right lion_ Gentleman opposite (Mr.Tievney), he was bonuti to explain, that whatever merit belonged to Lim own propositions consisted in their being the propositions of fact and calculation those of the Right Elon. Gentleman were in a great measure propositions of conjecture and: arourentative in— ference, and this wiis the grounA oijection to them, because they proceeded cast. loader premises, and led to erroneous conclusions,. Zie regretted that the indisposition of the night Hv o ., Gentleman hail prevented him from rmottiplyiurz,-, these resolutions, so as to bring the whole ques— tion of pa financial circumstances before tbe a " tine k. . 1 1, p s l it o is i nt i n ),:t t i l i e n b so i en) in ob servations in so low The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUe.I4, said, it teas not necessary for him to mapitu late the al— guments of his lion. Friend (Nit i . Gr'"ut)' eslae— cially as the Right [lon. Gentleth . (1114) "" *. seemed to admit the force of them to some "I'"L I-le tlicrefi;te curiae iiimst' l j to a tew -,,c,,,. Hera! observations. lt svOuld be iceolleoed, that the Ex-chequer Bills paid off w ere always thOse of the preceding year, amt. as Government al• yeady diseliatged those of the mouth of October last, it was more likely there w ou ld be a seaeiiv of Exchequer Bills, (hall ( bat the or.:rket would diets.—(A 1.11%110—50 far be overstocked with the Resolutions of the Eight flan. cienoeniari were %yell founded ; Ihey only w estt to prove t h e prop, toy of the tinanctal plan upo n w hi c h h e ('he Chancellor - of the E'xchtlinct) was not allured tc,t, proceed. It thit system (the. inconte Tax), hat beet} acted upon, it would have produced al coin— sideraWe discharge of the national incombyantet, and he Cl/111d nut therefore, upon the wbote, t . N egretting that that system was not a dopted. If the encouraing prollects now openi.:4g should. un oappiiy to 1. lie ~ e as decided:y of opiiii-m that vig o r. Otis measures ought to he a d opte d to r the impr o ve. mem of oor sktuatian ; biso le hoped the ,ante 0 1 the cAintry would not requite it. TlPt. ,amidst all our difficulties such an improvemet ai existed should have t a t:er t pl a ce in the rend* was considered extraordinary ; but the PreseNt Session vi rarLatneut Ilan d sl,clled tvt gYVC