The Sun.
London, England, 1813-07-15 00:00:00

SLAVE. TRADE.

Mr. WILBERFORCE rose, pursuant to his notice,
to move an Addisess, to 'his Royal Highness the;
Prince Regent, praying that hiSßoyal Highness
would be graciously pleased to order to be, laid
before the house information' respecting 'all' the
articles.. of the Treaty entered into between his
Britannic 11Iajesty and the Prince Regent of Por-
tugal, Tor the purpose of co-operation in the cause
of humanity by the abolition of the Slave Trade.
The non. Gent. then noticed, that the House
had, on several former occasions, addressed the
throne, praying, that steps might he taken,, in
concert with foreign powers, to effect a general
abolition of that traffic, so revolting to humanity
Although he' was, sorry that the effect of these Ad-
dresses was not such as could be wished, .yet he
wished it to be observed, that he did not impute
the disappointMent which he. had met with to any
want of zeal on the part of his Majesty's Govern.-
mem. He was, however, sure, that the House would
hear with extreme concern, tlifit uotWlthstanding.
the desire which the Prince Regent of Portugal
had expressed to co-operate With the views of this
country; since the 'Slave Trade had been abo-
lished in Great Britain, it. hind been carried on to
a greater extent than ever liy the merchants of
Portugal, and with circumstances of 'inhumanity
even unexampled in the annals of that degrading
trafli6. It was, therefore, high time for the
House to incialre whether the prince Regent a-
Porttigal had .taken any steps to fulfil the engage-
minus into which he had entered with the. Br-
itish Government ? The way in which the Slave .
Trade bad been formerly carried on by Pot-toga],
was characterised by a great 'degree of- humanity
towards the slaves ; their comfort had been at-
tended to, and they had even been afforded the
means of instruction. While the trade was car-
ried on With these marks of humanity on the
part of' the Portuguese, they confined their
traffic to those parts of Africa which are south
of the line ; but •he was sorry to say, that
.they had now carried it to the northern parts
of Africa, attundcd with the greatest barbarities.
The miserable slaves were crowded into small
vessels, where many of them died'of actual suf~
location, and numbers perished of the most loath-
Some diseases, caused by inburnan treatment.. As
all this had happened since the Court of Portugal
had entered into its engagements. with this coun-
try, he hoped that Goverunient would fake steps
towards remedying so flagrant an infraction of
the laws of humanity. Being convinced that the
character of the Prince Regent of POrtugal was
such, that lie would feel the inhtunanity of the
conductof his subjects, lae hoped that a represen-
tation on the subject from the Government would
have a proper effect. When' he recollected that
Portugal was the most ancient ally of Great Bri-
tain., he trusted-that the pr6ent ntlier of Portugal
would' feel the'advantage wh kb he reaped from such
an alliance. Bat he could not bear the idea, that
while area Britain was'aupporting that country,
we: shoald; at the smile tame, 'support a traffic,
which Was an outrage on humanity. MICH he
considered that it was Great Britain that afforded
protection to, those very ships which carried on
this disgraceful trade, he thought' that we should
be chargeable to God and man with the guilt of
that traffic which it was in our,power by force to
prevent.
,He could not. but hope that there would
be no occasion for any such distressing alterna•-•
tive, antj that the great work of ltholition would
finally be completely effected, •He was the' more
encouraged in his hope that Portugal Would finally
co-operate, from the reCollection of,the conduct
of the Government of that country in regard to
the: inquisition, which was a favourable- omen of
the disposition of the Court.
Mr. DOUGLAS seconded the, Address.
Lord CASTLEREAGH observed, that the stage of
the Session was such, that any Information that
could be laid before the House on the aubject,
could not lead to any thing conclusive.. Govern-
eta tt
ttieu acdte,:tisrot
Portugal, of rres et represen he tations tot the efreseu ht
04
ice
acknowledge that some ditlicalty had arisen on
the subject. He hoped, however, that the klon.
Gentleman would agree to withdraw his motion
for that Session, and confine himself to an

nation of his intention to call tor the information
early in the next Session, as by tbat time Govern-
ment might he ableto product all the information
thAt might be necessary, and iii a perfect state.—
ln justice to the Portuguese Government, he Was
bound to say, that a disposition to accede to the ar-
tides of the treaty had been manifested.
Mr. W. SMITH thought that the conduct of the
Court of Portugal,evinced a dispositiOn to creep
out of their engagements with this country on
that riuldect, as soon as a decent pretence for do-
ing so could be found.
Mr.. J. Sm tT II wished the motion to be persisted
in, with a view to the effect it might have on the
negociations. pending on the subject, as it was im-
portant that the opinion of-Parliament on such a
subject should be recorded.
Mr. C. ,GRANT, front what had been said, was
convinced, that unless the Hoitse was unceasingly
watchful on the subject, the great work of abo-
lition would never be completely' effected. He
believed that Government wits sincere in its desire
to promote the views of the House in that respect,
but he could not help remarking, that the power
which was now bound to us by the closest tics,
was that by which the trade was carried on in its
.greatest extent, and with all the complicated ma-
chinery of its most disgusting enormities. The
career of improvement which nature had ordained
for Africa had been checked by that trade, which
.had deprived the country of thousands of its most
valuable natives. Considering the part which
this country had once acted, it became the House
to sink in oblivion the injury which it had com-
mitted on Africa, by binding .up those wounds
whiCh it had contributed to inflict, and by achui-
nistering the balms of civilized lite.
Mr. WILBERFORCE said, that he thought no-
thing would be lost by withdrawing his motion,
yliat had been said was sufficient to strew the
sense Of the House on the subject.

The motion was then withdr-awn.
CURRENCY OF TGIF COUNTRY.

Sir WPARNELLi pursuant to his notice, moved
some Reit)lutions on the subject of the Deprecia-
ation of the Paper Currency. The substance was
that the value of. Bank Paper was less than that of
his Majesty's money by 28 per cent'.
The- 'first Resolution being read from the
•
The CHANChLLOR Of the .EXCHEQUER was sur-
mised that the Honourable Baronet should conic
'forward with such
.a motion at that period of 'the.
Session. The Honourable Baronet surely , was.
not to expect that the House would agree, on his
hare assertion, to overturn the whole of those
Resolutions on the subject which had been passed
by the House during the Session. Under all the
circumstances of the case, 'he- would not repeat
those arguments which bail been so often used,
but would' content himself with moving as an
amendment, that the House should adjourn. "
The amendment was carried without a divisian,
and the House adjourned till Tuesday next.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT ,OF CI I ANC EltY, :It Ll' 14.
1-lArs lAR KET 7'l-i FATIt E.
MORRIS V: COLMAN.

Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY renewed the motion be
had made in this cause on the last day but one of
the past term, and which was fixed for this day
by, the Lord Chancellor's direction.
The motion was for liberty to the plairktiti to
employ performers, and procure all the necessary
apparatus for opening the Theatre for the season,
and carrying on the usual performances without
the concurrence or co-operation' of Mr. Colman,
the general manager and joint proprietor of the
concern, on the ground that Mr. Colman had
utterly refused to do any thing ; and consequent-
ly prevented the theatrical performances in toto,
to the great injury of the other proprietors.
Mr. HART opposed the motion, on the ground
that the Theatre was' a joint interest, and, of
course, the consent Of all parties interested thtre-
in necessary to the proposed arrangement ; but on
finding the motion of the Learned Mover so
framed as to secure the rights of the defendant
and all others concerned, .the opposition was
withdrmrwn, and leave given to Mr. Morris to
comluet the. Theatre, giving securities for gua-
ranteeing to the defendant and others, their pro-
portionate shares of the profits at. the coucluskon
of the season.

COUIrr OF KING'S. lIENCEI,-Juty 14.

TIITI KING V. 61IRKWIN.

This was an indictment against the defendant,
a respectable attorney, for peljury. The perjury
yew.; alleged to have been committed in the Qom-
mon Pleas, .by the defendant's having sworn that
be did not agree on behalf of a client to sign the
certificate of one Newman, a bankrupt, on con-
dition that his client ?honkd have security for five
shillings in the pound upon his debt. Whereas,
it was alkeged that the eantrury. was the fact, and
that
,Fry, his client, recetved at nOte from New--;
man's brother for the amount. Newman, the
bankrupt, and the attorney, were called to prove
these facts—when the ATTORNEY GENERAL, for
the defendant, stated, that he had known Mr.
Sherwin for many years as a most respectable
practitioner, and if
,the prosecutor depended
merely on the testimony alreedy given, he appre-
hended the defendant must be acquitted. But he
hod succeeded in persuading lir. Fry, who was a
quaker, to set aside his religious prejudices, and
state on his oath what was the true transaction,
-which was this—Mr. Fry was an eminent letter
founder, and the bankrupt ryas a printer, who
having an execution sent into his house, which
would have swept away all his effects, he wild)"
Mr. Fry.
,would , strike a docquet against him, in
order that his effects might be equally divided
amongst all his creditors. Mr. Fry declined inter-
fering, as he thought there might not be enough
to
.pay the expense of the commission ; upon
winch Newman's brother said, lie would,take Fry's
dividend, and give him a note for ss. in the pound
upon his debt. Mr. Fry accepted this, and suf-
fered his attorney to strike the docquet.
The transaction, of the note being thus explain-
ed, Mr.'OURNEY, for Abe proSeeution, admitted
he could not expect that the Jury should find the
defendant guilty. The Jury, therefore, hunie-
diately found the defendant No't Guilty,