The Sun.
London, England, 1806-05-03 00:00:00

SLAVE TRADE.

Mr. WILBERFORCE, in 'consequence of a dif-
ference of opinion which took place' last night on a
matter of fa& respeaing the Slave Trade, thought
it was necessary for him, in support of his opinion,
to move for certain Papers. It had been stated,
that a very considerable Trade in Slaves had existed
for a longtime between the Merchants of this Coun-
try and the Spanish Colonies in South America : he
thoUght, hi justice to his Right Hon. Friend (Mr.
Pitt), and to himself, it was necessary to state the
nature and origin of this Trade. In the year 1707.
when this country was aaually at war with Spain,
the Government having' understood that there was
no obje&ion to,receiving a certain quantity of Bri-
tiAh manufaaures in the Spanish Colonies, issued an
Order of Council (rain- certain Free Ports in the
West Indies to the Spanish Colonies, , Afterwards-
they found, with great pain, that this Order, which
made only with a view to the introdu6tion of
British manufactures, Was made use of tcreover a
Slave Trade. They, therefore, in March 17g8, is-
sued another Order in Council, and dire Lions to the
Commanders of his Majesty's Cruizers, in which-
Order the word " Slaves" was purposely omitted,
The intention of the Government had therefore
been manifested for a long time against this branch
of the Slave Trade, and therefore what was carried
on was by a species of smuggling that was perfe&ly
unauthorized. 'There was a subsequent order that
the Trade should be allowed to be carried on during
the. present War, as it was during the last. To
confirm his statement in this resped, he should
move for Copies of the Instruaions given to the.
Captains of His Majesty's Cruizers upon this siab-
jea, on the 20th. of November, 1797.
Mr. ROSE still contended, that our manufac-
tures were conveyed to the Spanish Colonies, to the
value Of nearly three millions sterling annually, and
that these were covered by Slaves. A Ship had an
Opportunity of disposing of a valuable cargo there,
by carrying only seven Slaves by Way of a cover.
khis privilege would be lost if the Trade in Slaves
with these Colonies was abolished. He affirmed_
that it was no smuggling to carry Slaves to these
Colonies, as the traders had a positive Mt in their
favour, though the Order in Council was against
theM. They had still a right, therefore, to carry it
on at the risk of capture. _ _

Mr. FRANcis asked, if our manufaaures were ex-
ported to the Spanish Colonies to' the value of
2, 8 0 , 0 01. annually what might be the value of each
cargo which was allowed to be so'd under the cover
of seven Slaves, and whether it might not be tol
without that cover ?

Mr. ROSE replied, that the value of a cargo might,
perhaps, be about 50,0001.
Mr. FRANCIS then said, that we had this fa&,
that a cargo of the value of 50,0001. might be
sold in these Colonies under the cover of seven
Slaves, and that it could not be sold without this
cover.

Mr, ItosE.L—l- do assert that fa&. . •
Mr. WILBERFORCE adverted to the distinEtion
between authority and right, established in hiS-oWn
mind by his Right Hon. Friend. He Itad heard
that smuggling was -no breach of morality„ as the
smugglers carried on' the trade at their own risk..
fly the same logic 'highway robbery might be proved
to be a very honourable sort of occupation. Thik
morality would be convenient for many of his Right
Hon: Friend's neighbours on the Southern Coast.
Another proof that the Spaniards wished for a di-
rest supply' of our manufaetures, independent of the
Slaves, wa,; that they had been supplied with these
manufaStures bethre in neutral bottoms' employed
by our Merchants ; and had therefor, no occasion
to.use the coves of this trifling number of Slaves to
.
propure them. _

J. NEWPORT hoped that this abominable Trade
would soon be altogether abolished.

After some- farther 6133crvations -from M?..
NIISG 'and- Mr. RUSE,

' Mr. W..l3EnFoncE moved, 'by Address. to His
Majesty, for the Order in Council,-rcspeeting the
Trade with' the Spanish Colonies, of the :Nth of
November, 1797 ; and also for the Orders of the
28th of March, 1788, and the 23d of September,
1803, relative. to the same subje&—Agreed to.
The Jrish Butter Bill went through a-Committee,
and the Report was ordered to .be received to-I=r-
row.—Adjourned.

MAILS.
Hamburgh, 1 Waterford. Del:— Otten-
burgh, t Lisbon, 'Dublin, i Waterford.

Consols

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THE SUN.

SpLg}l4. QU;S DICERS FALSIJW Al DEAT ?

L 0 N D 0 11;

SA.TIZILDAY, MAY 3, 1806,

Tuts morning the Hantturgh Mail due on Wed.
nesday arrived, and the. intelligence which it brings
is of the utmost importance. If the accounts from
different_ •parts of the. Continent may be 'relied
upon, the Russians have aEtually evacuated Ragusa
and Cataro, in consequence of. which the French
have discontinued• the Works which they were cont
stru&ing at Brannan, and the Divisions of Marshals
NEY and SOtriT have commenced their march.

The Editor' of the Hamburgh Paper eipresseq
doubt of the truth of this intelligence ; and it cert.
tainly tloes not appear probable, upon the first view
of the subje&, that the Itussians, having obtaincJ
possession of such an important Position as that of
Cataro, should lave quietly resigned it to the
French. It is, however, possible, that the Emperor
Ar.;x.tainta may have been induced, by tlic en,
treaties'.of the Court of Vienna, to consent to the
evacuation of Cataro in order' to save Austria from
an immediate contest with France, the result of
which, under the present circumstances, might
most fatal to, her. •

A sliglAt skirmish has taken place between CI:"
Swedes and Prussians near itatieburgh, the result
of which was, that the former being greatly interior
in numbers, were compelled to retire.

The boigniflai res oJ Gaeta still holds out,
although a French, Army of 24,000 men, with, a
formidable Train of Artillery, are employed it the
Siege. The Garrison consius of 60,uti men; who.
Itre well supplied with provisions. It is Supposed that
MASSENA means to attempt the Invasion, of Sicily,
as he has collected a number of Transports w 4.
think it very improbable that he would attempt such;

an enterprize while the gaglish and Aussians are
complete masters of the Sea,
The predielion which we made spore months ago,
respeaing the States of theChureh, arson the point
of being verified : PLUS theNl4h, after all his abject
subnaiision to the ce,m.rnands of BoxArAitTE,
has, it is said, received an intimation that his
resignation will be accepted. Cardinal, FEsoz;
is to be his successor. The residenqe of the Porps
is in future to be at Avignon, and the Roman State.
'is to tie incorporated with the Kingdom of Italy.

The Alelamps Frigate, Capt. PCYNTZ4 has arrived.
at Plymouth., with intelligence that Sir R. SpiAcu.tSr,
has rejoined the channel Fleq, after having cruized.
in vain off the l*deiras, in the hope of falljnq in.
with one of the French Squadrons.
Admiral RUSSEI4 sailed on Thursday, with the
Fleet • under his command, on a Cruize off the Dutch
Coast.,--The Dutch Fleet remains, quietly in the
Texel, without spewing any disposition to put to
Sea,

His Majesty's Ships Tigre, of 80 gun 3, Orion, of
74, Fame, 74, Polyphemus, 64, 4frka, 64, and the
Endmion Frigate, arrived off Madeira on the 3d 9(
April, and sailed again on the 6th and 7th.—The
Fame, P,,lllphenius, and Africa, sailed from Ports-.
mouth on the 4th of March, .with a Fleet of East
Indiamen, and the Nana:ell and Hero of Me
two of the Convoy, arrived at Madeira on the 18th
of March.

THE, Intelligence brought by the Pievoyante Store-
ship, which lately arrived from Gibralthr, that 50,000
Trench Troops were on their march to invade Por-
t
tugal, turns out, as we expeded, to be without
foundation. Whatever BosArAwrE's future inten-
tions may be with resped to Portugal, he certainly
could not at present *spare 50,000 men for 'such a
service. The report, however, occasioned' some
alarm among the Merchants engaged
,in the Portugal
,Trade, but it was removed by a notice sent into the
City. yesterday by the Portuguese Minister, to the
'following effect, viz. " That from all the accounts
he bad received from Lisbon, there was not the least'
cause for lann.".

The Topaze French Frigate, which has remained
so long in the Tagus, has at length made her escape,
,and sailed for France. . The French Captain re-
peatedly boasted, that as soon as his VesSel was
repaired, no single Frigate. in the British Navy
should prevent him sai4ng ; but as long as a. single