The Express.
London, England, 1853-07-25 00:00:00

gist ennetlSL

Spain, and the chances are that the infernal traffic will
soon become,like British buccaneering lathe Spanish
Main, a crime of the past.

4morirt !Maxi 4" nit Illatemem." the tare eveairre
published may Thuds, sad aiebt. is tine
p rt.
I usewbto. isteaded tat "The Reyna; busies Ilteriag wise.
sue. De at J. tiGes. 10. lieseeris.earelk by Two oti.ek se the
day 4: pabileatiss.

FA MIT Englishman is naturally pledged to the
belief that the safety of England depends wpm its
" wooden" walls. He clings to the article " wood"
as obstinately as the currier in the fable to the
material, leather. And the Englishman is right
according to the universal testimony of modern
history. The immense development of the naval
strength of England, owing to its favourable
situation with respect to the Old World, and
to its establishment of colonies in the New,
has rendered it impregnable up to the pre-
sent time. The 'exigencies of its commerce have
I placed a floating bulwark between it and other na-
tions, which has hitherto laughed to scorn all attacks.
The real wooden walls have been supposed to be far
more efficient than Hooei BACON'S proposed brazen
wall ever could have been. There is little to object
to in this theory. Our enormous naval superiority
has hitherto preserved us from all those evils to
which every nation on the continent has been more
or less subject.

1 :OR WATER AT LONDON BRIMS.
TL. Lat-Illarsleg. Sb. .-......Antrious. 3 no
Tormumbw-Illandag. bb. —.-Aborawo. IC nu.

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 23.

Mg. thin has obtained another Committeeon Use
subject of the Slave Trade. The veteran Reformer
has no•, however, launched into the open and tndlese
ocean of the general questiae, which, • few years
ago, was investigated by Mr. Hem's committee in
t►e Commons and the Bishop of Oxio•D'Y in the
Lords; but has rather, with both point and purpose,
restricted his inquiries into the specific treaty en-
garments existing between this country and Spain
and Portugal—the sums paid and allowed fur those
treaties, and how far their obligations have been ful-
filled. This, it will be at once seen, has a very im-
portant practical bearing; and if the result of Mr.
lit Committee be to place before the public, in
a compendious and succinct form, the price we paid
for those treaties—what it is we are entitled to expect
from the Governments of Lisbon and Madrid under
them—the extent to which they have left their obli-
gations unfulfilled—and • trustworthy account of the

" Hereby hangs a tale," or rather a syllogism. En.
thusiutic admirers of the navy, tough-headed old
admirals, metamorphosed in the later period of their
uses into plethoric country gentlemen, superan-
nuated surveyors of dockyards, and other equally
capable professors of logical art, have reasoned thus.
England's superiority is owing to her naval supre-
macy ; this supremacy is due to hnr ships; her ships
are made of oak—ergo, or aryal, as STIANSPEARE'S
Gravedigger bath it, or therefore—we stand or fall
by our oaks. This is the gist of the reasoning of
thousands who make " Hearts of Oak " their war-
song, and think that the men of England will be de-
prived of their last meal when the last hog can no
longer find an acorn.
Lord COLLINGWOOD was the type of the reasoner*
to whom we have teen alluding. Ile had given
most undeniable thrashings to enemies from all
quarters when in command of British fleets. With
an almost unaccountable forgetfulness of the share
that English sailors had a right to claim
in these achievements, with u much for-
getfulness of the skill and courage of their
commanders, of whom he himself was one of
the most distinguished, he preferred to concentrate
his attention on the material of which the ships in
which the victories were achieved, were built. Not on
the admiral, not on the shipbuilder, not on the sailor,
does he bestow his consideration. It is the wood,

recent revival of the Slave Trade, Mr. Henn will
greatly strengthen Lord CLAlv..NDwee hands in deal-
ing with that chief offender, the Court of Spain.
'fbe pressen t positions of the Cover omen ts ot Portugal
and Spain on this great question of humanity are by
no means identical. Portugal was long in this scandal-
ous sit uat ion, that, without tropical colonies oft er own
to people, she permitted her settlements and factories
at llissao, Angola, and other points on the western
coast, and in the Mozambique Chi nnel on the eastern
side of Africa, to be the great marts of exportation
for slaves. To encourage end promote the profits of
this diabolical trade, she gave to our general anti-
slave trade policy (which she was bound to support)
the utmost opposition and resistance in every part of
the world. The Government of Portugal was, in
short, some twelve years ago, the chief support
of the Slave Trade interest. This, however, was
during a period of double uncertainty and great
difficulty at home; ss hen the position of the
reigning dynasty itself was one of danger, and be-
fore constitutional government had made much way
in Portugal. More recently, however, as these em-
barrassments have diminished, a great change in its
Slave Trade policy has come over the Government of
Portugal. Severe laws against the traffic have been
enacted ; governors have been sent out to Angola and I
the other African possessions untainted with partia- I
littes in its favour and honest enough to reject bribes;
and now, though the Slave Trade has revived a little,
and some of the old Portuguese offenders and traf-
fickers have re-appeared on the western coast, there is
no distinct imputation on the sincerity and earnest-
ness of the Portuguese Government in Europe or on
its African agents. The Portuguese colours have
again been abused in the trade. Portuguese names
appear in the accounts of slave ventures ; but on the
whole the Court of Lisbon has, let us hope, dis-
couraged, and, as far as it can, repressed, the revival
of the traffic, and now seems disposed to fulfil its
treaty obligations so far as it has the power. It is
satisfactory also to observe from tho annual Slave
Trade volumes laid before Parliament that cordial
co-operation exists nt present between the
authorities of the Portuguese factories on shore
and the officers of the British squadron afloat.
(In the other hand, however, Portuguese subjects
are seriously implicated, though not in African
possessions of Portugal. For instance, several of the
old Portuguese traffickers in human flesh have
recently made their, re-appearance at Logos, and are
there engaged in exporting slaves on Cuban account.
It is but eighteen months since, to punish it for
its Slave Trade offences, we battered Lagos almost to
pieces, and, at the instigation of the Church mission-
aries, deposed one king, and made another in the sup-
posed i nterests of humanity.At that time t heDnilyNe ter

veutured to doubt the policy of these proceedings;
and, in spite of all this bombarding and destruction
of life and property, of all this interference in an
African war of succession, and in the disputes be-
tween Abeoketa and Dahomi, it now turns out, as
we had indeed anticipated, that it is at Lagos that
the sieve Trade ;is again showing its head. The
truth is that, if we are to have a policy in the
Bight of Benin, the only sensible policy is, to pre-
serve, support, and strengthen the considerable state
of Dahomi that lies behind it, in the sure and certain
arpsdadaa that inlisence, Mich as our friendship
would quickly acquire there, must sooner or later
briar the Ling and people of Dahomi into our Slave
Trade views, with which their own best in-
terests entirely accord. But instead of doing
that, we have blockaded the ports of De-
bora?, armed the enemies of the Bing
against him, have encouraged revolts against
and resistance to his power, and the consequence is,'
by so weakening a great state, we hare brought ge-
neral disorganisation into the country. Of this dis-
organisation the unusually vile race of negroes who
inhabit Lagos have taken the advantage, and have
famished the Portuguese there with slaves to export
to Cuba.

the oak, which rivets his admiration. England,
according to him, must rise or fall with its oaks.
He beseeches every landed proprietor to walk
about with a handful of acorns in his
pocket to fling about him at random, in
order that some of these acorns may grow up into
oaks, which may form the material of ships, which
may contain brave British sailors, which may, when
commanded by future COLLING WOODS and NELSONS,
preserve the supremacy of England. This is the
'' House that Jack built " style of reasoning by which
one of oar greatest Admirals, and cleverest statesmen,
would persuade us that the primary duty of an Eng-
lishman is to cherish the oak-tree. What follows?
Plant oaks or England must be ruined. But
Englishmen will not plant oaks. That CoLLING•
WOOD himself saw, or he would never have promul-
, gated the scattering-of-the-acorn theory. That has
been seen by every agriculturist of note in the
country, who never dreams of planting oaks in his
private estate as a matter of expediency. What is
to be done ? Here is the safety of England depend-
ing upon its acorns—will nobody come to the rescue?
We want oaks. Varying the words of the poet, we
shall be no longer to fearful

Whilst our complaints against the Portuguese do
■ot at present extend to the Portuguese Government,
it is far otherwise with Spain. It is against the
Court of Madrid that we are entitled to charge the
recent revival of the Slave Trade. It is not merely
that Spain has a Captain General in Cuba who, more ,
than supine and indifferent, is said to have en- ,
couraged the import of Africans into that ,
island, of which wo have a right to complain
and to insist on satisfaction. There is, in addition, too
much reason to believe that the Court of Madrid
itself has, by way of conciliating the planters to
its rule and by way of uniting their interests
against the designs of the United States, deliberately
winked at, if it has not stimulated, the introduction
of the late addition to the slave population of Cuba.
According to an American account, no fewer than
9,049 Africans have been poured into Cuba in the
first five months of the present year; and, even ad-
mitting that to exaggerate the extent of the Slave
Trade jumps with American projects on Cuba by
suggesting that annexation would at least put a stop
to such flagrant outrages on humanity, still the more
temperate, and probably more accurate correspon-
deuce from Havanoah which has recently appeared
in the Lady Ntscs, is too conclusive as to the late
importations being very large.
'this state of things is not to be endured. If our
cruisers cannot prevent, and the Spanish Govern-
meut will permit, the Importation of slaves into
Cuba, Lord Ct..tatrr pox is bound to do
one thing: and it is to insist that every
African so imported shall be restored to
freedom. 'fwo years' experience have established
beyond all doubt or cavil the fact that the island au-
th,.vities can keep slaves out if they choose; if they
don't choose, thee it is our duty to insist on the libe-
ration of every African they permit the introduction
of. The present is a great crisis in the history of the
Sieve Trade; and we have only to be peremptory with

- ills a prey
If oaks accumulate, though men decay.

The remedy is easy, says some one ; look to the
Woods and Forests. These—the special property of
the Crown—ought to be duly prorisioned with the
timber which is especially adapted to promote the
security of the Crown. Let the oak for the defence
of England come from the Crown forests, and let us
have the gratification of seeing that the land, which
was formerly depopulated of its men to make room
for trees, now affords trees for the protection of men.
Fine words! An acorn requires a hundred or •
hundred-and-twenty years to develop into an oak.

COLLINGWOOD'S &Corns are by this time respectable
twigs, and little more. Any patriotic person who
devotes an acorn to the service of his country in the
present year of our Lord, 1853, cannot hope
that it will do duty on the side of a
British man of war, until the year. 19.53
at least. And this is upon the supposition that
our naval arrangements will remain the same as
they have been. It ignores the possibility that oak
may no longer be required for the purposes of ships
of war, and that no other material will be found
more applicable to warlike purposes.
If, however, there is anything to be expected from
the Woods and Forests the expectation will not be
realised =lass this department of the public service
is subjected to proper management. Some letters
relative to Chopwell Woods which have appeared in
our columns will give our reeders grounds of judg-
ing how far this is the case in the department in
question. If they want still more knowledge they
must be referred to the evidence taken before a
Committee of the House, of which Lord DUNCAN was
chairman. The report, for which we aro mainly in-
debted to the diligence of that nobleman, shows
most clearly that the continuance of the policy
which consisted in treating these forests as nurseries
for navy timber, can no longer be adhered to. Both
Lord DUNCAN'S report and the amendments proposed
by Mr. PI:UT affirm the principle that out of the
whole number of forests only a few should be pre-
served, and the rest disposed of. The details con-
cerning the unprofitable rtsults of the occupation
of the small forests are only explicable
upon the fact that the management of
these properties affords admirable opportunities
for political jobbers. The profits from the manage-
ment of Chopwell Forest, for instance, have amounted
in some instances to tho enormous sum of 2s. per
acre. Nevertheless, the forest is considered available
as a refuge for a Government officer.
recent events appear to make it doubtful whether
Government will follow up the recomnondations of
the committee. This is a point which must be
thoroughly watched. We went men and not trees.
And while millions of acres of tetle are waiting in
our East India possessions to be applied to the pur-
poses of navigation, while forests of available wood
are equally procurable in other colonies, it must no
longer be permitted that valuable land should be
covered with stunted wood in England, in order that
a few political partisans may find therein comfortable
I nests.

DEATH OF MIL SALTS SCHWABE, OF MARCHES-
al.—Feelings of the dcepc t regret .ere eacited amongst
• manufacturers &al others assembled on the Manchester

Etching, on Satut'ay, by the announcement of the death
of Mr. Salts Schwabe, one of the leading int reheats of that
city. This event took place at the country seat of Mr.
Schwabe, in Anglesey, at two o'clock on Saturday morning,
and was quite unetpected. lIJ had for the last two or
three cloys been muff, ring from an attack of scarlet fever,
which was not supposed to be dangerous until Friday
evening, when a telegraphic message was sent to Manche'.
ter, summoning the best medical advice ; but his file could
not be med.

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 25, 1853.