Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-28 00:00:00

TRH IMMIGRATION SLAVF, TRADE.

On Tuesday, the 24th instant,
a Paeputation waited upon
the Earl of Clarendon, at the Fo'leign Office, for the purpose
of presenting a memo ial f.: ors the Committee of the British
and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, against the Immigration
Slave-trade, now being carried on by the French, from the
West Coast of Africa. It was composed of the following
gentlemen : —The Hon. A. Kinnaird. M.P (Scotland) ;
Messrs. R. Reentry, MP. ; Charles Buxton, M.P. ; Chas.
Gilpin, M.P. Capt. Wilmot, R.N.; Capt. Coote, RN. ;
the Revs. J. Sherman (Blackheath, J. H. Hinton, William
Owen, R. Richard, P. Latrcbe (London), Dr Carlile
(Woolwich) ; Messrs. T. F. Buxton, T. H. Gladstone,
W. Janson, Thomas Wnns, Josiah For.ter, Joseph
Cooper, R. N. Fowler, William Miles, George Laishley,
R. Alsop, G. L Neighbour (London), Joseph Sturge,
R. C. Barrow (Birmingham), W T Blair (Bath), J. Cad-
bury (Banbury), R. Charleton (Bristol), John Pace, (Bury
St. Edmunds). John Candler (Chelmsford), Thomas
Graham (Coalbrooke Dale), J. Burn Murdoch jun.
(Edinburgh), Samuel Bowley (Gloucester), B. Wiffin
(Woburn), James Cropper (Kendal), E. A. Crouch Lis-
keard), John Barrow (Lancaster), W. Dendy (Jamaica),
William Robson (S:ockton), Dr. N. Shaw, and L. A.
ChameroveDw.
The memorial called the Earl of Clarendon's attention
to the address p-esented by a deputation from the
Society to Viscount Palmerston in July last, on the
occasion of the attempt made by the West India body
to obtain the sanction of the Governments to a general
scheme of immigration from the Coast of Africa, and
dwelt upon the evils which—as had been predicted—
had resulted from the adoption of the scheme by
the French Government. through the agency of the
Messrs Regis and Co., of Marseilles. It stated, on the
authority of Mr. Consul Campbell, at Lagos, that the
Portuguese and the Spaniards had greatly simulated the
trade in slaves, for they had outbidden the French in their
demands far so-called imraig7ants, and shipped large
numbers of negroes ; and as one consequence of this
demand for men instead of commodities, the native
chiefs were abandoning legitimate commerce to turn
their attention again to slave-dealing. Quotations
were added from the letters of the Rev H.
Townsend, Church Missionary at Abbeokuta, and from
the Sierra Leone Advertiser, giving a special instance of
the injurious operation of the new scheme, and denouncing
it as open elave-trading. The Memorial concluded by
expressing a hope that the Government woald adopt the
promptest means of putting an end to a new traffic in
human beings, which, if not checked at once, was likely
soon to assume nnlimitable proportions, with results as
disastrous as any that have attended the prosecution of
the Slave-trade itself.

The Earl of Clarendon expressed the gratification it
afforded him to receive so large and influential a deputa-
tion, which he could see, from the list of names handed
in, embraced delegates from all parts of the country, and
might therefore be regarded as an evidence of the deep
and general interest that was felt in the question which
the memorial brought under his notice. Such a deputation
was very encouraging to the Government, which, he need
scarcely observe, was in possession of the fullest information
on the subject of this" new system" of obtaining labour, one
he did not hesitate to designate as the slave-trade, unmitigated
and undisguised. The whole question, however, had been
submitted to the consideration of the French Government,
which he believed had not foreseen that the result of
attempts to obtain immigrants from Africa would be the
revival of the Slave trade ; and he felt quite sure nothing
was further from the wishes or the thoughts of the
Emperor of the French than to re open this
execrated traffic in opposition to the policy of the
leading civilised powers, and to the well known national
sentiment of this country. The evils cou'd scarcely
be exaggerated that must arise from the checking of the
legitimate commerce which, in many parts of the African
Coast, had totally superseded the trade in slaves, and in
others was rapidly extinguishing it. This was a point
which bore intimately on the commercial interests of this
country, and to the importance of which the Government
was fully alive. The Deputation would be encouraged to
hear that the attempts of the French agent to obtain
immigrants had been so unsuccessful, he (Lord Clarendon)
thought he might venture to say that, even on this account,
the speculation would be abandoned, at least for the
present, and no effort should be spared by the Government
to prevent the renewal of a traffic between which and the
slave trade there was nn appreciable difference. He
assured the Deputation of his cordi )1 symp sthy with the
objects of the Anti-Slavery Society, and his concurrence
in the sentiments set forth in the Memorial.