The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-12 00:00:00

re exasperated by the contraband nature of the adventure,
ow the unavoidable mischief is needlessly aggravatel by
-he very means taken to extirpate it. The great object
,eing to escape our cruisers, every other consideration is
iacrificed to the swiftness of saifinf, in the construction of
he slave ships. I am not sayin,, that hum:mitv is saeri-
iced. I should of course be laugled to scorn by all who
Ire implicated in the African tragic, MT,: 1 to use such a
•vord in any connection with it. But all other consider.:tons
,especting the vessel herself are sacrificed to swiltne:s, and
he is built so narrow as to put her safety in peril, being
:made just broad enough on the beam to keep thc sea. What
s the result to the wretched slaves? Before the trade was
aut down by us in 1807, they had the benefit of what was
,armed the Slave-carrying Act. During the '2O years that
ye spont in examining the details of the quesiion—in ascer-
'-aining whether our crimes were so profitable as not to
varrant us in leaving them off—in debating whether to':-
'Try, piracy, and murder should be prohibited by law, or
receive protection and encouragement from the State—
,ve, at least, were considerate enough to regulate the
;rerpetration of them ; and while those curious and very
7reditable discussions were going on, Sir 'William Dolben's
Bill gave the unhappy victims of our cruelty and iniquity
the benefit of a certain space between decks, in which they
'night breathe the tainted air more freely, and a certain
iupply of provisions and of water to sustain their wretched
^xistence. But now there is nothing of the kind : and the
slave is in the same situation in which our first debates
,Ound him above half a century ago, when the venerable
Thomas Clarkson awakened the attention of the world to
els sufferings. The scantiest portion which will support
l'fe, is alone provided ; and the wretched Africans are
compressed and stowed into every nook and cranny of the
ship, as if they were dead goods concealed on board smug-
:,ding vessels. I may be thought to have said enough ; but
I may not stop here. Far more remains to tell ; and I
approach the darker part of the subject with a feeling of
horror and diTust, which I cannot describe, and which
three or four days' gazing at the picture has not been able
o subdue. But Igo through the painful duty in the hope
if inducing your Lordships at once to pronounce the doom
f that system which fosters all that you are about to
.ontemplate.

Let me first remind you of the analogy which this head-
:noney system bears to what was nearer home called blood-
money. That it produces all the effects of the latter, I
am certa►nly not prepared to affirm ; for the giving reward
to informers on capital conviction had the effect of engen-
dering- conspiracies to prosecute innocent men, as well as to
prevent the guilty from being stopped in their career, until
their crimes had ripened into capital offences ; and I have
❑o conception that any attempts can be made to capture
vessels not engaged in the trade—nor- indeed could the
head-money, from the nature of the thing, be obtained by
any such means. But in the other part of the case the
two things are precisely parallel, have the self-same ten-
dency, and produce the same effects ; for they both appeal
to the same feelings and motives, putting in motion the
same springs of human action. Under the old bounty
system no policeman had an interest in detecting and
checking guilt until it reached a certain pitch of depravity;
until the offences became capital, and their prosecutor
could earn forty pounds, they were not worth attending to.
The cant expression, but the significant one, is well
known. "He (the criminal) is not yet weight enough—
he does not wi igh his forty pounds"—was the saying of
those who cruised for head-money at the Old Bailey.
And thus lesser crimes were connived at by some—en-
couraged, nurtured, fostered in their growth by others—
that they might obtain the maturity 'which the law had,
in its justice and wisdom, said tlioy must reach before it
should be worth any one's while to stop the course of
guilt. Loft to itself, wickedness could scarcely fail to shoot
up and ripen. As soon as he saw that time come, the
policeman pounced upon his appointed prey, made his vic-
tim pay the penalty of the crime he had suffered, if isot
encouraged him to commit, and himself obtained the re-
ward provided by the State for the patrons of capital felony.
Such within the tropics is the tendency, and such are the
effects of our head-money system. The slave-ship gains
the African shores ; she there• remains unmolested by the
land authoriti'•s, and unvisited by the sea ; the human cargo
is prepared for her ; the ties that knit relatives together are
forcibly severed ; all the resources of force and of fraud,
of sordid avarice and of savage intemperance, are exhausted
to fill the human market ; to prevent all this, nothing, or
next to nothing, is attempted ; the penalty has not as yet
attaelled ; the slaves arc not on board, and head-money is
not due ; the vessel, to use the technical phrase, does not
vet weigh enough ; let her ride at anchor till she reach her
due standard of five pounds a slave, and then she will be
pursued! Accordingly, the lading is completed ; the cruiser
keeps out of sight ; and the pirate puts to sea. And now
begin those horrors—those greater horrors—of which I am
to speak—and which are the necessary consequences of the
whole proceeding, cow,ideriog with what kind of miscreants
our cru►sers have to deal.

On being discovered, perceiving that the cruiser is giving
chase, the slaver has to determine whether he will endea-
vour to regain the port, escaping for the moment, and wait-
ing for a more favourable opportunity, or will fare across
the Atlantic, and so perfect his adventure and consummate
Ins crime, reaching, the American shores with a part at
least of his lading. How many unutterable horrors are
embraced in the word that has slipt my tongue! A part of
the lading ! Yes, yes. For no sooner does the miscreant
find that the cruiser is gaining upon him, than he bethinks
him of lightening his ship, and he chooses the heaviest of
I,is goods, with the same regard for them as if they were
all inanimate lumber. He casts overboard, men and
women and children ! Does he first knock off their fetters ?
No ! Why ? Because those irons by which they have been
held together in couples, for safety—but not more to secure
the pirate crew against revolt, than the cargo against suicide
—to prevent the Africans from seeking in a watery grave
an escape from their sufferings—those irons are not screwed
together and padlocked, so as to be removed in case of dan-
ger from tempest or from fire—but they are rivetted—welded
together by the blacksmith in his forge—never to be re-
moved norloosened,until, after thehorrors of the middle pas-
sage, the children of misery shall be landed to bondage in
the civilized world—and become the subjects of Chris-
tian Kings ! The irons, too, serve the purpose of weights,
and if time be allowed in the hurry of the flight, more
weights are added, to the end that the wretches may be en-
tangled, to prevent their swimming. Why ? Because the
Negro, with that Herculean strength which he is endowed
withal, and those powers of living in the water which almost
give him an amphibious nature, might survive to be taken
up by the cruiser, and become a witness against the mur-
derer. The escape of the malefactor is thus provided, both
by lightening the vessel which bears him away, and by de-
stroying the evidence of his crimes. Nor is this all. In-
stances have been recorded of other precautions used with
the same purpcse. Water-casks have been filled with hu-
man beings, and one vessel threw twelve overboard thus
laden. In another chase, two slave ships endeavoured, but
in vain, to make their escape ; and my blood curdles when I
recite, that in the attempt they flung into the sea five
hundred human beings, of all ages and of either sex! These
are things related not by enthusiasts of heated imagination
—not by men who consult only the feelings of humanity,
and are inspired to speak by the great horror and un.eitin-
guishable indignation that fills their breasts—but by officers
on duty—men engaged professionally in the Queen's service.
It is not a creation of fancy to add, as these have done to
the hideous tale, that the ravenous animals of the deep are
aware of their prey, when the slave-ship makes sail ; the •
shark follows in her wake, and her course is literally to be
tracked through the ocean by the blood of the murdered,
with which her enormous crimes stain its waters. I have
read worse than even this! But it will not be believed!
I have examined the particulars of scenes yet more hideous,
while transfixed with horror, and ashamed of the human
form that I wore—scenes so dreadful aeait was not deemed
fit to lay bare before the public eye ! scenes never surpassed
in all that history has recorded of hum in guilt to stain her
pages—in all that poets have conceived to harrow up the
soul ! scenes compared with which the blood-stained annals
of Spain—cruel and sordid Spain—hate registered only
ordinary tales of avarice and suffering—though these have
won for her an unentied pre-eminence of infamy ! scenes
not exceeded in horror by the forms with which the great
Tuscan poet peopled the hell of his fancy—nor by the dis-
mal tints of his illustrious countryman's pencil, breathing
its horrors over the vaults of the Sistine Chapel! _alortua
quilt etiam jungebat corpora vivis! On the deck and in
the loathsome hold are to be seen the living chained to the
dead, the putrid carcase remaining to mock the survivor,
with a spectacle that, to him, presents no terrors—to mock
him with the spectacle of a release which be envies ! Nay,
women have been known to bring forth the miserable
fruit of the womb surrounded by the dying and the
dead—the decayed corpses of their fellow-victims. Am
I asked how these enormities shall be prevented ?
First ask me to what I ascribe them—and then my answer
is ready—l charge them upon the system of head-money,
which I have described, and of whose tendency no man
can pretend to doubt. Reward men for preventing the
shiver's voyage, not for interrupting—for saving the Afri-
cans from the slave ship, not for seizing the ship after it
has received them—and then the inducement will be ap-
plied to the right place, and the motive will be suited to
the act you desire to have performed.
But I have hitherto been speaking of the intolerable
aggravation which we saperadd to the traffic. les
amount is another thing. Do all our efforts materially
check it ? Arc our cruisers always successfal ? Are all
flags and all the slavers under any flag subject to
search at liable to capture ? I find that the bulk of this
infernal traffic is still undiminished ; that though meny
slave-ships may be seized, many more escape and reach the
New World ; and that the numbers still carried thither
are as great as ever. Of this sad truth the evidence is but
too abundant and too conclusive. The premium of in-

suranee at the Havannah is
this
higher thanl74lperdcerr.
to cover all laz Of this 4:lj per cent. is
Bowe
ho
sea risk urderwriter's profits, leaving but , for t
chance of capture. But
leaving but 6,), for risk of capture. In the
in Rio it as low us 11 pa3sceni;i;
slave-ships sailed from the ilavannali alcne : and I
tha..4..a
list of the numbt rs which ss: of these brougL,) hack,
"-icing an average of about 360 ; so that abote, L.,5,000
were hrought to that port in a year. In the monta of D ,:-
ember of that year, between 4,000 and 3,000 were safely
landed in the port of Rio, the capital of our good friend
and ally, the Emperor of Brazil. It is frightful to think
of the numbers carried over by some of these ships. One
transported 370, and another no less than 700 wretched
beings. I give the names of these execrable vessels—the
Fclicidad and the Soe,rro. Of all slave-traders, the
greatest—of all the criminals engaged in these guilty
crimes—the worst—are the Brazilians, the Spaniards, and
the Portuguese—the three nations with whom our com-
merce is the closest, and over whom our influence is the
most commanding. These are then itions with whom we
(and 1 mean France as well as ourselves) go on in linger-
ing negotiation—in quibbling discussion—to obtain some
explanation of some article in a feeble, inefficient treaty, or
some extension of an ineffectual right of search—while
their crimes lay all Africa waste, and deluge the s,‘as with
the blood ofinr inhabitants. Yet if a Common and less
guilty pirate dared pollute the sea, or wave his black flag
ov2r its waves, let him be of what nation he pleased to libel
by assuming its name, he would in an instant be made to pay
the forfeit of his climes. It was not always so. We did not in
all times nor in every cause so shrink from our duty through
delicacy or through fear. When the thrones of ancient
Europe were to be upheld, or their Royal occupants to
be restored, or the threatened privileges of the aris-
tocracy wanted-champions, we could fully swiltly advance
to the encounter, tl,row ourselves into the breach, and
confront alone the giant arm of Republics and of' Em-
perors wielding the colossal power of France. But now,
when the millions of Africa look up to us for help—
when humanity and justice alone are our (lily clients-1 am
far from saying that we do not wish them well. I can
k,.lieve that a word
_could give them success—if a wave
of the hand sufficed to end time fray—the word would be
pronounced, the gesture would not be withholden ; but if
more be wanted—if some exertion is required—if sonic
risk must be run in the cause cf mercy—then our tongue
eleavis to the roof of our month ; our hand falls paralyzed;
we pause and faulter, and blanch and quail before the
ancient and consecrated Monarchy of Brazil, the awful
(night of Portugal, the compvct, consolidated, overwhelm-
ing power of Spain! My Lords, I trust—l expect—we
shall pause and falter, and blanch and quail no more ! Let
it be the earliest, and it will be the most enduring glory of
the new reign, to extirpate at length this execrable traffic !
would not surround our young Queen's throne with
fortresses and troops, or establish it upon the triumphs of
arms and the trophies of war—no, not I! I would build
her renown neither upon military nor yet upon naval
greatness ; but upon rights secured—upon liberties ex-
tended—humanity diffused—justice universally prornul-
gel In alliance with such virtues as these, I would
have her name descend to after ages. I would have it
commemorated for ever, that in the first year of her reign,
her Throne was fortified and her Crown embellished, by
the proudest triumph over the worst of crimes—the
greatest triumph mortal ever won over the worst crime
ever man committed:

NOTE.
Lord Minto defended the naval officers, but admitted
that Lord Brougham had in no respect misstated, or at
all exaggerated, the atrocities committed on the African
coast. He denied that the head-money produced the effects
alleged, though be could not deny its tendency. As for
the foreign Slave Trade, he was sure it existed as much
while Lord Brougham had been in office, acd yet more
was not then done to put it down..
Lord Brougham would be content with this admission,
and only ask, if it were true or not.that the cruisers went
off the coast to let the slavcrs take in their cargo and
come out ? As to what was said of the foreign Slave Trade,
while he (Lord B.) was in ollice,—did the Noble Earl for-
get the changes that had since taken place? Had he fot-
gotten our connexion since with Portugal, and our new
intervention in Spanish affairs ? Above all, did he forget
that, during the last twelve or &ghteen months, the most
satisfactory indication; had appeared of a greatly improved
feeling on the part of the French Government upon this
question ?

Lord Minto did not deny the proceedings of the cruisers,
but asserted that with ships of those nations, which had'
not the equipment clause, such a course W3S necessary.
Lord Brougha:n maintained that the blockade and pre-
vention of loading the slave ships was the thing required,
but that would not earn the head-money. However, he
came at once to the point, and asked, " Will you put an
end to head-money, the tendency of it being admitted, and
no good whatever accruing from it? Will you then substi-
tute payment by the ton?"
Lord Minto said that the treasury sometimes did pay by
the ton-when co slaves were captured.
Lord Brougham replied that the Noble Earl sheaved a
total misconception of his propo,ition, and of the whole
argument, for it was not that tonnage-money would do
good, but that bead-money did harm, and consequently
what he required was to abolish the one, and not to give
the olicr, which—except as a substitute—was wholly
useless.

Lord Ellenborough said it was clear that there could be
no objection whatever to adopting Lord Brougham's pro-
position,
sition if we really meant to put down the odious and
criminal traffic ; and dwelt with much force upon this point.
Lord Glenelg admitted that Lord Brougham's state-
ment,, however painful and appalling, were any thing ra-
ther than exaggerated. He promised that the subject should
engage the Government's serious attention, as it had already
done, and added that Lord Palmerston's attention had been
directed towards it.
Lord Ashburton ably supported the proposition for al•o-
-lishing head-money ; and maintained that it was quite la-
mentable to rcfl_.ct how little, after all our efforts, hunil-
nity had profitad by our proceedings. In consequence of
their stopping short of the right marl:, and being often
ill directed, it might be truly s..il that the negroes were
worse off than before we interfered in their behalf. As for
Spain, and especially Portugal, no one could, without feel-
ing indignation, contemplate the conduct which her traders
were still suffered to pursue, considering our paramount
influence in the Portuguese affairs. Ile was always peculiarly
averse to any foreign intervention where the case did not
clearly justify it ; but when he reflected in what cases we
had exerted our influence, in Portugal particularly, he
must say he considered it discreditable that in such a case
as the present, we should so long and so invariably have
been defeated.
The different papers moved for were granted.

GRAND DINNER TO HER '.MAJESTI'S ATI IcV
•
TF:ItS AT TIIL MANSION HOUSE.—On Saturday the Lord Mayor
gave a splendid entertainment to her Majesty's Ministers.
• There were present the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of
Lansdowne, the Duke of Argyle, Lord Melbourne, Lord
Palmerston, Lord Morpeth, Lord Glenelg„ the Bishop of
London, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Henry Par-
nell, Sir R. Hussey Vivian, the Attorney and Solicitor -Gene-
rals, &c., a great number of the Aldermen, the Sheriffs, &c.
The health of the Queen, the Queen Dowager, and the other
loyal toasts were drunk %% ith the usual honours; then followed
the " Lord Chancellor," " Lord Melbourne and her Majesty's
Ministers," " the Bishop of London," &c.
Henry Seaton, Esq., of the Chancery Bar, has been
appointed to the Judgeship in the Supreme Court at Calcutta,
vacant by the death of Sir Benjamin Malkin.
LIVERPOOL SHARE MARKET, SATURDAY.--
A moderate portion of business was effected at this morning's
market. Our last quotations remain unaltered, and generally
speaking the rates may be considered very firm, with a ten-
dency to improve. At the conclusion of the day there were
sellers of the following at the figures below : Railways—
Bristol and Exeter, .5k ; Chester and Crewe, 3i ; Great
Wes:ern, 17 ; North Midland, 264 ; North and Eastern, 4;
Midland Counties, 17+ ; Grand Junction, 222; Eastern
Counties, 355. ; South-Eastern Dover, Gk. Banks—Bo-
rough Bank, Liverpool, 1; North and South Wales, 9-;
Royal Bank, Liver' 001, 635.. Ocean Assurance Company,
7-1 • Exchange-buildings, 1.59.
z__

- We understand that a committee of merchants and
bankers of great eminence arc engaged in inquiries tending to
show the immense a !vantage to commerce which would flow
from the reduction of postage to one uniform charge of one
penny for every half an ounce, whether consisting of one or
more sheets of paper. Correspondence begets business.
' Business of every kind leads to the consumption of exciseable
articles—to the payment of the duties of excise, of customs,
and stamps, and there seems no reason to fear that the revenue
from toe post-office will diminish, and there is a certainty that
it will be largely increased in every article upon which excise
duties or customs and stamps are paid. When the unequal
pressure of this tax is considered in restraining the correspon-
dence of the middle and labouring classes, the communications
of advice and affection b.tween parents arid chi:dren, and the
interchange of kindness and sympathy amongst the various
members of the same family and its connections, indeed be-
tween all who,ie pecuniary means are limited, the matter
becomes one of the highest moral and national importance._
Morning Paper.
Saturday afternoon as a clerk belonging to an
eminent banking-house, in Lombard-street, was going to
Charing,-cross, in hi:, way he dropped his pocket-book, con-
taining drafts and bills to the amount of 3 0001. and upwards.
It was picked up by a newsvender's boy, who on finding the
address of the banking firm within the cover, lost no time in
conveying it to the house, the principal of which, cn being
inforrned of the honesty of the boy, oktained the address of his
father, who is in very indigent circumstances, and generously
presented him with ten sovereigns, and promised to forward
the interest of the lad in every way that lay in his power.
On Wednesday the post-office clerks commenced
travelling on the B:rmingham railroad, and sorted the letters
during the journey, so as to have them ready for delivery on
their arrival.—Derby Mercury.