The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1807-02-07 00:00:00

SI.IVE TRADE.

On the Order of tf.e Day far the Wife resolving
itself into a Committee on theltill for die Abolition
of the Slave Trade.
%vs t.-ING:IASI in the Chair ;
Lrwd GRI NVILLE informed the Committee,
that in rising the precise period at which the pre-
s-nt Bill should begin to operate, he felt apprehen-
sive, that many Noble Loads who had supported
tnis measure, from a strong reeling of us immediate
necessity, svonld he disappointed in the en:pea:46oas
t: ey were induced to loom. 'Ow happiness he him-
sell felt :rem the de:Lian of their Lordships. and
the probeete ptsrpt 41 of a successful termination to
11. ii iniquitous traffic, precluded in Lis mind the
cs-te.idei ation of any temporary evil, as arising from
the pi,:loogation of the time, revious to the opeta-
non et the present There-foie he should be
iuelia--d to allow to all t:tose incerr:ted in the Trade,
a so.ti.:int inters ti to gu ird aguinit sudden en)-
bstrr4.4rnenr. or to rev-nt any lasses which the
ems:tea:am cessation of rite Trade may be rapro:cd

• till he sp 1.1 i 3 lb ream, waive TIPT at u

. -
681.111141. trader tilt :feeling, he eolookted to
test Cootioilioi, that this Ait should begin to oki
the Trade mirshe Africmatosst from the Ist Of Jo-
nah/sr, lies; *L. Thu the time for permitting.
ships WWI from nay port i*Great Britain, for the
purposes of carrying on that Trade, should be
limited-to the lit of Man lW; and next,l hat the
period for allowing she leading of Sieves in the
West Indies, sheuld ie remised to the Ist of Ja—
nuary, 1808 ; with this extsesion, that upon a auk.
fsaory explanation of the esu,es of delay, any
ship which had lona fide saikd from a Britf.h port,
for the African coast, previous to the Ist of May,-
1807, should have permission to land her cargo,
and dispose of thnso :Paves, under the same pro-
visions which now regulate that trade. The clauses
to which these provision. referred were then sever-
ally put and agre,d to.
011 the CU.- lltMAN's putting the motion on
the preamble of the Bill,
_ _

Lord HAW KESI3URY declared his disincli-
nstion to enter into any discussion of the merits of
the me tsure, after the opinion which a great main.
rity of their Lordships had, on the last night. pro-
wlers-seed. But, with the conviClion he entertained
of the impropriety tit introducing ab,tran
p: iuci-
ples into the preamble of the Bill, ise conceived it
his duty to suh:nit to the Committee an amend-
ment, which should exclude the terms " justice
and Isumanitv," and confine the necessity of abolish
ing the Slave Traffic, solely to the ineapedi••ncy of
its continuance. lie could not see what objettions
the warmest advocates for the abolition could
have to the amendment. The preamble, as it then
stood, nariecessarity mooted a point, on which a
welt difference of opinion existed, and which, if
suffered to be m.t.le a part of the law of the land,
and of the colonies, may be produllive of miss.
chilvous and fatal consequences ; of those cause-
qaeisc •s, which the Noble Baron, who introduced
Oa Bill, so strongly deprecated; he meant any
ill-Lroundt•d conclusions which the Negroes
in the West Indies may infer, relative to
ills it emancipation, Ai connaled with the mea-
sure of Abolition. Indeed it was a conclu-
sion natural for men in their circumstances to
make, when they found the law of the laud declor-
ing that system trajast and inhuman, by the
operation of which they were detained is a state of
:to tier y. Sonic all.•••eanee should also be made for
the feelings id coaraffers of those who had em-
harl.trd tin ir ;:i.:srser•y in the African Trade; and
as the end was o!). • .seJ, it was exceeding even the
practice nt hvutc p sides, to continue and promul-
tstte an imputatini., which nothing but the inability
of sticcerrltag its the riled could justify. It may
be obi• :1-1, that Cie resolution ofthe two Houses
of Pa: -t ha:f already expressed the same
ts,rinion ; but he he ;:ged leave to state a marked clif-
f, :case in the two c uses. The Resolutions of the
House v. ere n t r:tligatory, they were limited to
the Member,; but t Aa became obligatory upon
the eirule :moire, open those Colonial Assemblies,
whose op ai ...s and feelings were known to be
d &rent. He thetelere trusted, as the No-
ble I.— La.! carried the as 4,11 ft. fur the stc-
com;•l'sisoleitt of which they appeared so anxious,.
that the) sa -ail • join in .n amendment, in no man-
ner hostile to she principle. but which, in its opera-
tion, may have the esieCt of promoting its success,
by ti-_ recnrciliation of the different interested
parties. Tile Nn.•le Lord then moved," That the
terms • inetersiste.st with the principles of justice
and humanity,' be lyft out of the preamble of the
BID."
The Earl of CARNARVON assured their Lord-
ships, that, with tf e feelingswhiehalluated hSm, and
the vi-ses he entettained on f.ae nature of that un-
just and execrable traffic, lie could by no means
acquiesce in the Amendment of the Noble Lord.
To palliate guilt and compromise injustice he never
would consent, ncr ll.ould he think of shrinking
from the exposure 01 a system, as illegal is it was
iniquitous. The laws of the cou.stry equally ex-
tended to every part of the British empire, as well
on the high seas as to the colonies; and if the
necessity of cultivating the waste lands of the
We.t India islands was a sufficient plea ft.r
the ,violation of justice, upon equal principles of
prop! iety. the peasantry of this kingdom may be
dragged from their homes, to till and labour in the
enclosure of wastelands. ( ery of " Oder " from
orpofi:e siJrf. Nol.le Lords may accuse him of
nut h-ing in order, hut he felt he was acing perfesily
orderly, and, thercl:re, should continue to exercise
Isis own julgemcnt, in exposing a system of oppres-
pi m and rap.nc, a hich,if suffered to continue, would
be uitimataly extended even to this country.

Mal11:11 quo non atlas Telocius ulluo;
Mo'oi,t4te 51;!It, fiCquins ;
PIM. mete pawn: inOX 5 sit altold in aunt.
auln, St taut Infer nut),ls comfit."

The LORD CIIANCELLOR contende3, that
the a ir-rt.tmeat •d the Noble Lord, if acquiesced
in, wrath; opp• rate to the prejudice of that general
principle, whi,:h Noble Lords had asserted was ne
cessary to insure the efficiency of the measure. The
determination of all the States of Europe to abolish
this infamous trade was considered as the great
TaCtical mea-are in this work of humanity. In
what way was this concurrence to be obtained, but
on the liberal and enlarged grounds of justice and
humanity. 'Die very intimation of confining the
tall Ili our own views of convenience and expediency,
would naturally produce the jealousy of other
poweri. IJr;der that view, he was of opinion that the
preamble should continue in its original state.

Earl SVAITON and Lord REDESDALE re-
probated the intioduaii n of &bursa principles, in
tic place of the old, wary. legislative language of
Parliament. Such was the practice of modern
France, and one 01 the leading causes in producing
that dreadful r.•volutiunary convulsion.
Earl S i'ANHOPE wished to impress on the
Committee the impropriety of changing the lan-
guage of the preamble. It might happen, that in
it treaty with a Foreign Power, the question of this
execrable trade was disciissed and decided, ►olely on
the admission of its injustice and inhumanity ; and.
therefore,
.upon those strong grounds should :he
measure of their Lordships r.t. But, It is said.
that the feelings of those who have becn concerned
in this infernal and murderous traffic should be
consulted, and less violent mean, adopted, to recon-
cile the Abolition to the Coliiiiial Assemblies.—
Shotila the Assemblies in the rept-Rive islands not
feel incliucd to assist in the sccorqi:el..ment of this

il 7- -----Prinnr-i k
...-slrF—V- ' --"---w"7" '
title • •
sismistua.havw tsh Argislatine the muss
of compelling :,If their hearts are callous to
'the aim 4 homanity, end to the claims of jestices
is it not Is the power of PArliAm-nt, by teeing their
mats, to appeal to their profit% to .heir cub—an
appeal with them mcre pow..rlul.thien all the per-
suasions of a Cicero, or the vigour of %Demosthenes
TheEail ot LAUDE RD A LE thoulht it inconsist-
en; with the honour and dignity of tie House, and
with the li beta! feelii.gs of the cou.ory, to surrender,
or rather not to declare the gtots ids non which
this great measure of hum mit! was decided. W.V.
it even considered only with reference to the West
India Planters themselves, ft would be hizltly un-
generous to them, end discreditable to Pa& anent,
to limit the motives of its condo:3 on this qtt tstion
solely to the princii.le of nation ,1 i sitediency. But
in what light would the country thus rutting ap.
pear to the other powers of Europe? Certainly not
in a light corresponding either with its general Gila-
racer, or with the proud feelings of liberality wlnch
animated it on this great aFt of necessary justice.
He would state to the Committee one circutnstance
which occurred during his residence at Paris, when
a conversation took place on the proposed Abolition
of the Slave Trade. The people of this Country,
said the Minister of France, are not so warm in their
wishes for the Abolition as the people of Great
Britain. The eveuts of St. Domingo have in a great
degree produced this popular apathy; therefore,
what would be the opinion of that power, if, upon
any future occasion, the expedien:y of this measure
should be thrown in our face ; and particularly »hen
it was recollelled, that at the per ik.clof the Abolition,
the English Colonies were well stocked with labour-
ers, whilst in those of France there was a cimsider-
able decrease He should d,ciderlly oppose the
amendment cf. the Nnble Lord.

Lord HOLLAND could not arcouni fort the
grounded apprehensions of some Noble Lords,
neither could he so Acribe to the phicy of conc. al-
ing the proud, generous, and benevolent feelings
on which the House and the country were in.
dured on th:s .-asion, to aet. The country had
given an enviable example of disinterestedness
to the other powers of the world, and if the
real inducement; were suppressed, the benefit of
the example woill probably be lost. With
respell to the supposition, that the Slaves in the
colonies would torn out discontented, and that
the language of the preamhle encouraged that
discontent, he should answer such unreal :sad idle
apprehension?, by referring to matters of fad and
experience. In Virginia, where the importation of
Slaves was d scon:inued, and where a similar prin-
ple was made the
._;•nund for the discontinuance of
the traffic, yet none of those evils have occurred.
Is it not sign a well known faft, that the Proclama-
tions and Documents of the BI elks, in St. Domingo,
are regularly published in the Colonial Casettes,
and has any sense of degradation aroused the Slaves
to any sR. of discontent or disaffection ?
Toe Doke of CLARENCE—" My Lords, I
have listened, with considerable attention, to the
various observations of the Noble Lord.; who have
preceded roe; and I erinfess I see the advantage of
that bold, strong, and pointed manner, which the
forms of the House permit, when any measure is
submitted to the consideration of a Committee.
On what has fallen from the Noble Earl opposite
(Lauderdale) I will not now comment; but I do
assure that Iskrisle Lord, and the Committee, that
the observations of the French Minister, as corn.
munieated to him, are safely treasured in my mind.
The time will come, when I will have the opportunity
of some useful conclusions from that conversation.
Although I have uniformly been the supporter of
the Slave Trade, and though I have never on any
occasion hesitated to submit to this House, and the
public at large, my opinion of the expediency of
this traffic, yet, if this Bill shall be saw:Honed,
(which I sincerely hope it will not), by the vote of
this and the lower House, and thus, by receiving
the Royal Assent, pass into a Law, I, as a subjeß
of this realm, shall, notwithstanding private dif-
ference of opinion, ever be amenable to that Law ;
and if at any time placed, in my official capacity, to
superintend and enforce the execution of it, shall, to
the utmost of my power and abilities, endeavour to
give it full effaft."
The H. use having divided on the Amendment,
there appeared as follow,:—Fur the Amendnient
10—agu'nst it 57.
The original Motion was then put, and carried
without a division.

The Duke of CLARENCE then stated to the
House, that having given notice, on a former night.
that he would, on Wednesday nest. move an in-
quiry concerning the importation of Chinese natives
iiito eie island of Trinidad ; he thcught it neces-
sary to state to the House. that having received the
most satisfattnry ;nformation respelling their situa-
tion and treatment, from some very intelligent
Planters in that Island, he would not trouble the
House with any motion on that subjeti.
Lord GRENVILLE said, that in consequence
of the reception of the Report being fiaerl for Mon-
day, he would postpone his motion for assimilating
the Scotch Law to that of England, until Tbatidey
next.—Adj3urned until Monday.