The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-18 00:00:00

trade, and had promised the appointment of Jose Fer-
nandez, an extensive and notorious slave-owner, to the
office of Portuguese Consul, in Cuba, for the ostensible
purpose of putting down the trade —( Hear.)
'File resolution that Dr. Madden be requested to submit
his paper to a committee, consisting of Mcs-irs. Alexander,
Turnbull, Sturge, and Seobell, fur the purpose of trans-
lating it into the Spanish language, was then unanimously
agreed to.
Mr. J. STURG E then announced amidst much applause,
that he bad that morning received 100/. from the Anti-
Slavery Society in Jamaica, as a subscription to the pur-
poses of the Convention.
Mr. R. ALLEN, of Dublin, moved, and Mr. TURNBULL
seconded, a resolution for the appointment of a Committee
to inquire respecting the manufacture in this country of.
shackles, fire-arms, and cotton goods for the express use of
the slave trade, &c., but the motion was withdrawn, upon
the understanding that it would be entertained at the re-
sumed sitting of the Convention in the evening.
At two o'clock the meeting adjourned till four.

done so, and he did not think he could pursue a better
course than to read it to the meeting -
" From the great and increasing amount of the African
trade, the evils of which have only been aggravated by the
various attempts that have hitherto been made to restrain
it, I submit I am entitled to assume that the true principle
on which an effective measure of abolition should be bleed
has not yet been disclosed. I will not assert that the plan
I am now to bring forward is free from all difficulty, but
I confidently maintain that there is no difficulty attending
it which cannot be easily surmounted, if the Government
will consent to apply to it the mere moral force at its dis-
posal.
" The lever with which I propose to overthrow this
colossal grievance, is to be found among the simplest ale- '
menu of economical science. It is by cutting off the de-
mand for victims that the supply is to be suppressed. It
is by making the purchaser and the possessor of an Afri-
can slave insecure in the enjoyment of his unlawful acqui-
sition, that he is to be deterred foom paying the price. 1.
is by demonstrating to toe slave-dealer that imported
Africans will no longer be a marketable commodity, and
Previously to the Session adjourning at Two o'Clock by that process alone, that he will willingly abandon a
the President requested the Delegates of the United King-
trade which has ceased to be profitable.
The great consumers of African slaves are the em-
dons to remain, when the following petition to Parliament "
pire of Brazil, and the colonial dependencies of Sp dn.
was read and adopted : " The white inhabitants of the Brazilian empire begin
To the Honourable the Commons of the United King-
to be sensible of the imminens dangers to which they will
dom of Great Britain ! nd Ireland in Parliament assem.
expose themselves, if they p
" The petition of the undersigned British subjects, ersevere much longer in add-
bled : ing to the disproportionate amount of their negro popu-
lation, by the toleration of the African slave trade. With
being members of a Convention now assembled in
London for the purpose of promoting the abolition the example of St. Domineo before their eyes, we have a
of slavery and the slave.trade throughout the world . reasonable guarantee of the sincerity of the professions
of his Imperial Majesty's Government, in favour of a sys-
" Humbly sheweth, tern of absolute suppression.
" That your petitioners address your House for the pur-The case is somewhat different with regard to the colos
pose of declaring their apprehensions and fears respecting
nial dependencies of Spain. In Cuba, the white and co-
s measure now before you for facilitating the transfer of
loured portions of the population are nearly balanced in nu-
persons known by the name of Hill Coolies from the shores
merical strength. In Porto Rico, the negroes are far out-
of British India to the Island of Mauritius.
numbered by the inhabitants of European descent. In
That the fears and apprehensions of your petitioners
both islands, but especially in Cuba, the natural desire for
arise not only from a review of the course hitherto pursued
independence has of late years been stimulated into passion,
towards these unhappy men, which has made their removal
by the intolerable burthen of the fiscal exactions whit!.
from India in effect a slave-trade, and their detention in the
have been levied for the purpose of defraying the charges
Mauritius no better than slavery ; but also from the ab-
of a war in another hemisphere, in which they feel rig
sence of all official and distinct information as to the course
interest.
to be pursued in future, and the want of any defined and lt is in consequence of this state of things, that the sin-
efficient plan for protecting them against the recurrence of
cerity of the professions of the Government of her Catholic
the same evils. Majesty, on the subject of the suppression of the slave-
That your petitioners would remind your Hon. House of
trade, is liable to reasonable suspicion. The planters ot
evidence in Parliamentar Papers,—evidence, which as ay
Cuba and Porto Rico, wherever their estates are fully and
be seen from the very best papers on the subject, prinmted
your Hon. House, is accumulating both in the by-order ofproperly peopled with ajust proportion between the sexes.
amount and the enormity of the evils complained of,
in place of desiring the continuance of the slave-trade, lte,.
showing that the Coolies before leaving their native a direct and obvious interest in its suppression. On th!
nent of America, d
shores have generally been deceived by false repro. neighbouring
conays' sail of the Havana,North the average value of awithin field-slavet
y,
sentations ; that in their transit they have, in num.
is at least a thousand dollars. In Cuba, the effect of the
berless instances, been treated with harshness and
competition of the slave-dealers with each other is to reduce
cruelty, so as to renew, to a fearful extent, the horrors of
the value of an imported African to less than the third part
the notorious Middle Passage ; that when they have
reached their destination, and landed in Mauritius, they
of"hat amount,
The high price of slaves in those States of North
have been subjected to grievous oppression and mat-
America which adjoin the Gulf of Mexico is still main-
treatment, in unaccustomed and excessive toil, deficiency
twined, in spite of the well-known fact, that, in the breed-
of food, severe personal chastisements, neglect in times of
ing districts of Maryland and Virginia, the negro popula-
sickness, inappropriate dwellings, fraudulent refusal of
tion is found to increase in a duplicate ratio, as compare('
wages, and falsification of labour-tickets, in restraints
with the inhabitants of those regions of European descent.
upon their freedom, and the employment of an armed force The planters of Cuba are aware that the negro population
to goad them to service. of Virginia has long been doubling itself every twelve years
" That your petitioners would also recal to the conside-
and a-half, while the white inhabitants require twenty-five
ration of your Honourable House the frightful mortality
years to accomplish the process of duplication,
which has been the necessary result of these cruel hitlic-
There is nothing in the climate of Cuba to prevent P
lions, causing a rapid decrease in the number of Hill
similar rate of increase of the negroes. There is nothing,
Coolies in the Mauritius ; while, to aggravate the evil,
in short, but the cheapness of labour, arising from the to-
and to induce a gross and wasting immorality there has
leration of the African trade, which prevents the proprie-
been an unnatural and excessive inequality of the sexes in
tors of old plantations in Cuba from throwing themselves
every cargo of the victims imported.
with confidence on the principle of propagation.
" That your petitioners, while they see in the past so Here I would desire respectfully to guard myself
much to condemn and deplore, can see nothing in the against the supposition of my being the apologist of slaver;
plans or disposition of the parties who are calling for the
under any circumstances, or with any degree of modifies-
removal of existing restrictions which can justify a hope
tion. My present business is to deal with the African
that the evils they have referred to will not be renewed,
slave-trade, and to suggest a practicable mode of accom-
should the British Parliament be deceived by the specious
plishiog its suppression. In the proper place and at the
professions of a company of interested planters and
proper period, I do not despair of being able to demon
traders, or induced by any arguments founded on
strafe, that, by a resort to sound principles, the practice
general principles of free transfer and free labour, to
of slavery itself may be rooted oat, in those very coun-
abandon the ignorant and defenceless Coolies into the
tries whose social and political institutions are now so in-
hands of men who have been guilty of such barbarity and
tiniately blended with it.
injustice. I have not engaged in this conflict without endea-
s' That your petitioners have looked with anxiety, but
Touring to measure the strength of the adversaries with
have looked in vain, for any satisfactory guarantee that
whom I shall have to contend. Of these I perceive there
these wrongs will not be again perpetrated against the
arc several classes :
Hill Coolies on the continent of India, to decoy and trepan
The mere dealer in slaves—the man who invests his
them during their voyage, and on their arrival at Mau-
capital in the building and outfit of fast sailing clippers,
ritius. Nor is there, as your petitioners verily believe, in
the present state of society in that colony, the least ground in manning them with their ruffian crews, in loading them
with their cargoes of rum or gunpowder, and in devoting
for expecting that any laws, however framed, or however
himself to the study of international treaties and pre-
excellent, for the benefit and protection of the Hill
ventive laws for the sole purpose of evading them, is
Coolies, would be carried into execution. But till this
guarantee be furnished, the British public, and your yeti_
not by any means to be regarded as a very formidable
boners es ecially must feel an uncom romisi re u
antagonist. The terms " coward" and " capitalist" were ,
p ,
never more truly convertible than in, the person of the
nance to the passi png pg.
ng of any measure of the kind now be-
fore your Honourable House, as impolitic and most mis-
trafficker in slaves. He may hire the bands of ruffians
chievous—most deceptive and cruel.
and outcasts to hazard their lives in his service ; but his
" That your petitioners might feel themselves warranted
money he will not peril without the assurance of a profit-
in claiming for this much injured class of British subjects, able return. That object he finds the means of accom-
a compensation for the frauds and wrongs they have al- pushing, either by spreading the risk over a sufficient num-
her of separate adventures, or by abandoning a portion of
ready endured. But looking to the future, they do moat
earnestly implore your Honourable House to withhold its
the gain he contemplates, in the shape of premiums of in-
sanction from the measure now before it, which will set surance, to Joint Stock Companies or private underwriters.
aside the restriction upon the export of Hill Coolies, " Another class of opponents will be found among the
ministerial and judicial servants of the Spanish Govern.
which was imposed by the Governor-General of India in
meat. Their superiors in the mother country have inge-
I, 838, and which from that time to the present has been
niously made it the interest of a great number of these
an effectual instrument of protection and security to that
public functionaries to evade the execution of the laws,
race of men dwelling in the British dominions in the East.
and to convert that evasion into a fiuitful source of profit,
" And your petitioners," Sic.
the better to secure the retention of the island in her Ca-
Shortly after the Chairman had resumed his seat at
tholic Majesty's dependence. Inasmuch, however, ns ake
four o'clock, in consequence of a heavy shower of rain fall-
existence of the Court of mixed commission at the Havana,
ing, mac of the waiters of the Tavern, named Nunney
with all its acknowledged imperfections, has had the effect,
was sent round to close the windows, in the upper part of
during the twenty years elapsed since its creation, of dis-
the Hall. Mr. Turnbull had just risen to address the
appointing the cupidity of those venal functionaries to a
meeting, when the unfortunate man, in endeavouring to
pass round one of the buttresses, somehow lost his very considerable extent, I see no reason to doubt that,
with the improved machinery I propose to introduce, this
footing, and was precipitated to the ground, a height of
iniquitous source of profit will be completely dried up and
nearly forty feet, In his fall he struck Mr, Joseph Bass,
extinguished.
of Brighton, who was sitting close to the spot. The
" Before catering on the specification of the nature of this
accident created an appalling sensation in the Hall,
machinery, it may not be inconvenient to indicate the first
which at the time was extremely crowded, most of
and most important step ,c, the process which I propose
the Delegates having taken their seat,. Several of the
ladies rushed out of the room screaming, while others should be followed.
" It i; asserted by many of our most eminent philantbro-
nearly fainted. The unfortunate man Nunney was carried
pints, that, according to the spirit of our existing treatiee
out in a state of insensibility, and Mr. Bass, who was able
with Spain, we are entitled to demand the instant fibers
to walk between two friends, was removed to another room.
Short! afterwards Joseeti STURGE addressed the meeting, lion of every individual consigned to slavery, in any part of
stating that Dr. Hodgkins and another medical gentleman
the Spanish dependencies, since the date of the first o!
t
were in attendance upon the unfortunate man Nunney, these conventions. To this argument it would not be
and that all they could say at the moment was that he was easy to offer a satisfactory reply. For the present, how.
breathing. Their friend Joseph Bass had been hurt also,
ever, I am content to cut oil the source of future importa-
Lion, and to leave this an open question, to be agitated by
but not seriously.
The CHAIRMAN said it would be impossible to proceed others. Should my humble voice be ever entitled to share
to business immediate) in consequence of the lamentable in the decision, I trust I need not say with what cordiality
y ,
would I give it in the affirmative.
accident that had just occurred, and he should therefore
" take the liberty of suggesting that they sit in silence for Let us not embarrass ourselves, however, with too
much work at a time. The most convenient moment for
a few minutes.
discussing this separate question will be after the channels
Shortly afterwards Mr. Joseph Reynolds of Bristol was
carried out of the room on a chair ; and it was announced of importation shall have been cut off, and after the enor-
that he had been sitting close to Mr. Bass, and being in an moos masses of capital at this moment engaged in the
infirm state of health, had fainted ; but he had received trade to Africa shall have been finally drawn off, to find'
no injury whatever. their due level in the great money markets of the world,
Mr. SIIICARMAN said that two or three medical gentle. " According to the views lam now to submit to your
men had just examined the person who had fallen from Society, the courts of mixed commission at the Havana ane
the cornice of the Hall, and he was happy to announce Rio de Janeiro, which under the operation of existing
that there were no bones broken, nor was there any ticatie3 have gradually been sinking into a state of listlest-:
probability of his life being in danger.—( Hear, hear.) inactivity, will at once be raised to a degree of efficiency
Shortly afterwards the Rev. Mr. SCA LEs announced that ind vigour, which they have not possessed at any period of
Mr. Turnbull had been so much affected by the acci- their existence.
dent, that he found himself unable to proceed with hi, " The plan I have conceived is, by the negotiation of
address. new conventions, or of additional clauses to existing
The Rev. J. BeNNETT then rose to move the follow-
iz
treaties, to confer on these courts the power of enfurcin
the laws of the country in which they sit, by declaring the:
ing resolution :
A, B, or C, the inmate of a barracoon, or a labourer on a
" Application having been made by Mr. Buxton on
behalf of himself arid his friends to be heard is the Con-
plantation, is not a native creole, but has been introduced
vention, on the objects and plans of the African Civilize-
Into the country in violation, of law and treaty. I ate
Society—Resolved, That while the Convention
further to propose that the onus of proving a lawful
would gladly hear Mr. Buxton, or any:ot his friends, on the dominion over the slave should be thrown on the party
proper business of the assembled Delegates, it cannot corn-
claiming it, that, in sliest, there should be a legal pre
ply withethe present application."
sumption in favour of freedom ; and I think there can be
the less objection to introduce and recognise this prin.
He would take that opportunity of calling their attention
to the fearful accident which had just taken place. lie
ciplr in the treaty I recoremeed fur negotiation, inasmuch
.
had always supposed that an accident of the kind might as I have been informed by the eminent Sp. nab juris
occur, as every one must have supposed who had seen a consults with whom I have advised on the subject, that the
man passing round those cornices and buttresses. He presumption of freedom, in the absence of proof to the
trusted that in future the windows would be regulated by contrary, is already the right of every inhabitant of her
cords, and that no person would be permitted in future to Catholic Majesty 's dominions.
" H ippily, however, for the intereete of humanity', it
pies along those cornices for the purpose of opening or
shutting the windows.—(Hear, hear.) He was glad to is matter of notoriety, among persons conversant e ith the
find, so far as the medical report had gone, there was no-
subject, that a fresh imported or bozal negro can, for
thing like danger either to the party falling, or the per-
many years after his arrival in America, he distin
,wished at a glance from the native creoles. The die-
son he had fallen upon.—( Cheers.) lie would now
direct their attention to the important, but at the same
Onetime is in fact so deer, t .at the mere prssentation
time delicate subject of the resolution. If all the indivi-
of the individual in court, without a word of evidence
duals now present were numbered with their fathers, the as; to the place of his birth, would in most cases be
e
great work of human freedom must go on. Generation suffi lent to determine his condition.
alight follow generation before the great work had been " Should her elajisty's Government be induced to en-
achieved, but achieved it must be, and they must be found ter on such a negotiation, the true grounds and motives
at their posts until the consummation was announced. for the opposition to be expected from the Government of
In undertaking to bring forward the present re-
her Catholic Majesty will not, in all probability, be openly
elution, he would observe tl at he had always been
avowed. It will never be admitted that a clandestine en-
-in admirer of the pure principles and honest integrity of couragement of the worst practices of the slave-trade is
Mr. Bust in. lie had no doubt about the purity of hie rendered necessary by a sort of political necessity, in order
intentious or the sterling character of his motives, and to repress the aspirations of the creole population of Cuba
therefore, ho felt the less hesitation in proposing a resolu-
for that sort of independence which the other Spanish
" Neither will it be pretended Oat the continuance of
tion which, under other circumstances, might be considered provinces of America have already achieved.
exceedinely invidious. After some further observations
the Rev. Gentleman concluded by proposing his resolution. the slave-trade is necessary to the successful cultivation of
Dr. GREVILLE, of Edinburgh, seconded the resolution, the soil, in presence of the fact already alluded to, of the
observing that he cordially agreed with all the preceding rapid increase of the negro population in the neighbouring
t
speaker had said as to the personal character, the purity of
stages of the North American Union,
motives, and integrity of principle of Mr. Buxton, The ostensible ground of opposition will probably be
Mr. TURNBULL moved as an amendment that it be an confined to a pretended fear of discontent and insurrection
t part of those sl who be entitle to a
instruction, to the Business Committee that they do appoint
on
declahe ration of freedom inaves will
not
their favour, in consequence of
a day and hour fur the Convention to hear Mr. Buxton,
Dr. Lushington, and Mr. S. Gurney, agreeably to the the place of their birth, or the date of their introduction.
Iler Catholic Majesty's Government have constantly pro-
request.
feesed as ardent a desire as our own to concur in the mere-
. A long discussion followed on the point of order, it
niouslyeFl g cn contended
submittednt
Denr d. edL tuthsaah tti
nht
geh et
oßrequestßusiness
CoNulorgmh t
.t o have been p re- sures of suppression already proposed ; and the fact is
m..it.tee, and that .Mr.
Button, undeniable, that, in the place of being diminished or me_
in-
nixed in the double . S. Gurney, being
here-
already Members of the'dified by any of the measutrhees oefvirlestatraaincttuwahiliychehaavteheia.tofore been resorted to,
.
yf Membersth u ea
s m oer Convention,capacitytfhoef
Delegates could notfrom
be
anotherree c e
S 0,,c
ii ey
.t y
G, aunud,
Eosire cruse;
naturea pe-
fs i t itohne
offi satisfactorily'eial
returns
ethe a
tp r oogf rtehse-
erwCarodnvaenudtiosna.id, that as I
seemed there was some doubt. as. to whether the request. slave population.
could be acceeded to, in
conformity with the f " The
discontenthe. arguimnts that. may be drawn from a pretended
Convention, he would, in the -
Lushington, and himself, request name
l of Mr. Buxton, Dr. e
fact,a r ot h
at
tt
ta
the and i l 'tin sand
r e cs ion.va.g maye
Africanb c an.saeicoreced byh t the
ea
removal we propose—and that it is no part of our !angle
t eave to withdraw it.—
( Loud cheers.) .
acting onthbee lihraaeld-f disturb the condition of the comparatively civilized creole.
Leave was then given to Mr. Gurney,
of himself and the other gentlemen, to lt is, besides, by units, and not by cargoes, that the process
withdraw of
liberation will take place ; so that the proceedings
quest, and it was withdrawn accordingly. under the new treaty will be much less alarming in their
Mr. Siteetteess towards the close of the discussion an. general aspect, or their individual amount, than those al_
nounced that the man who had fallen from the gallery ready sanctioned by existing conventions.
recovered his senses, and that he was happy to State there "As the proceedings of the Court of Mixed Commis•
was no reason to apprehend any serious results at present. sion, moreover, have hitherto been conducted in strict l
AFRICAN SLAVERY, conformity with the Spanish principle of closed doors,
writteni pleadings, and secret deliberations, it might po3- !
sb
Mr. TURNBULL said he came forward for the purpose of l ybe advisable to adhere to the established practise., in-
oontinuine the discussion of the morning, and to propose a smuch as the presence of a British prosecutor, and one
for the adoption of the convention a plan for the suppress or more British judges, would afford a sufficient guarantee
sion of the African slave trade. Soon after the appear. I for their
fe
perfect regularity. The mere existence of the ! 1
Court ance of his work the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs I for upwards of twenty )'ears, in the course of which ! i
had done him the honour of addressing a letter to him, 1 discussions
to give theic Captain-General without
Gave frequentlyfan arisen affecting the freedom of 1 i
producing
or th e a
(Govern- si lnl e
i
requesting him to lay before the Government the plan 1 entire cargoes of Africans,
which he proposed to adopt. In consequence be had Practicalevil,