The Sun.
London, England, 1833-09-27 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Respected Friend,—Although fully aware that the
pages of the Times are constantly assailed with a vast
press of important matter, yet, the Session of Parliament
being over, I earnestly entreat, for the cause of humanity,
which has frequently been so powerfully pleaded in its
columns, the admis.ion of a few remarks on the present
state of the African slave trade.
The convention made between the British and French
Governments, about the commencement of 1832, by which
mutual right of search within certain limits is granted,
has removed ore disadvantage under which our vessels
employed to prevent the slave trade have long laboured;
but it is deeply to be regretted that vessels fitted for this
infernal traffic cannot be captured unless slaves are actually
found on board ; and until this be conceded, and all vessels
fitted expressly for the slave trade are liable to capture,
our attempts to suppress it, which, according to Chief
Justice Jeffcott, have cost this country nearly 7,000,000/.

. .
sterling in the last 10 years, must prove utterly abortive.
But this is not the worst feature of the case, for it appears
that our ineffectual efforts are the means of even adding
greatly to the cruelty of the system. A short extract from
the " Records of a Voyage to the Coast of Africa in
1830, 1831, 1832," by P. Leonard, surgeon in the Royal
navy, will place before thy readers, in a clear light, the
defects of our present system :
" On the 10th of Sept. our two tenders (the Black
Joke and Fair Rosamond) chased into the river Bonny
and captured the Spanish brigs Rapido and Regulo, both
bound for Cuba.

" Connected with the capture of these vessels a cir-
eutnstance of the most horrid and revolting nature occur-
red, the relation of which will afford an additional in-

'tance of the cruelty and apathy of those who carry on
,he slave trade,—of the imperfection of the laws enacted

for its suppression,—as well as of the additional inhu-
manity entailed upon it by ourselves, as a consequence of
the very imperfection of these laws. Both vessels were
discovered at the entrance of the Bonny, having just sailed
from thence; and, when chased by the tenders, put back,
made all sail up the river, and ran on shore. During the
chase they were seen to throw their slaves overboard by
twos, shackled together by the ancles, and left in this
manner to sink or swim as they best could. Men, women,
and young children were seen in great numbers struggling
in the water by every one on board of the two tenders;
and, dreadful to relate, upwards of 150 of these wretched
creatures perished in this way, without there being a
hand to help them, for they had all disappeared before
the tenders reached the spot, except two, who were for-
tunately saved by our boats from the element with which
they were struggling. Several managed with difficulty,
is may be supposed, to swim on shore, and many were
thrown into large canoes, and in that manner landed
and escaped death; but the multitude of dead bodies
east upon the beach during the succeeding fortnight pain-
fully demonstrated that the account given to us by the
natives of the banks of the Bonny of the extent of the
massacre had been far from exaggerated. The individuals
whose lives had been saved by the boats were two fine
intelligent young men, rivetted together by the ancles, in
the manlier described. Both of them, when recovered,
pointed to tie Rapido as the vessel,from which they
were thrown into the water. On boarding this vessel no
slave was found ; but her remorseless crew having been
seen from both tenders busily engaged in their work of
destruction, and as the two poor blacks, who endeavoured
to express gratitude for their rescue by every means in
their power, asserted, with horror and alarm depicted in
every feature, that this was the vessel from which they
were thrown, she was taken possession of. On board the
Reyulo only 204 slaves were found remaining of about
450. All of those found on board of her were branded
with the letter T on the right shoulder. Had the com-
mander of the Black Jobe (which had been cruising off
the river Bonny for a long period), who knew that those
vessels were lying there, ready to take slaves on board,
been permitted to use every means in his power to sup-
press the slave trade, he could and would have gone up
the river with his vessel and destroyed them with the
greatest ease, and thereby prevented the merciless
cruelty which subsequently took place. But, no ! lle
dared not, because he was liable in heavy penalties had
he even detained a Spaniard without having slaves actu-
ally on I oard. These inhuman scoundrels are fully
aware of this ; and it was this very legal impediment to
the capture of Spanish vessels which induced them to
throw their miserable captives into the river, so that, no
slave being found when boarded by the tenders, they and
their vessels aught be suffered to escape. But they could
effect, their nefarious design completely, for our
notteu ders were close at their heels, and they were detected
in their crime, and consequently detained. As, how-
ever, there were no slaves actually found on board of the
Rapido, and as the members of thee Court of Mixed Com-
mission at Sierra Leone usually adhere
e theto the letter
instead of the spirit of the law, soiltreaties hav •
ing for their object the suppression of the slave trade
although the fact of her having slaves bona fide on board'
and having thrown them out in the murderous manner
described, was witnessed by some hundreds of persons, it

is questioned by many here, on a consideration of the cir-
cumstances attending the trial of cases somewhat similar,
whether this court, from whose verdict there is no appeal,
will condemn her or not. It is quite certain, whether
this may be the case or not, that there will be no punish-
ment inflicted upon the perpetrators of so great a crime."
The Rapido was, however, afterwards condemned on
the evidence of the two slaves who were fortunately saved.
Thus we have the mortification to see, that by the im-
perfection of our measures, we are increasing the mi-
series it is our object to prevent. Now, if the fittings of
slave vessels were at all similar to those of vessels en.
gaged in any legitimate trade, there might be some ex-
cuse for this legal impediment, but, as everybody knows
that slave vessels are fitted up in a totally different way to
all others, there is not even the colour of excuse for this
inhuman absurdity.
Let but the British and French Governments declare

that vessels fitted for the reception of slaves are liable
without slaves being actually on board to capture, and we
shall no longer have to regret that the humane exertions
and heavy expenditure made to put down this scourge
and curse of Africa are neutralized and derided by the
most inhuman and abandoned of mankind.

I remain respectfully thy friend,
JOSEPH COOPER.
Southwark, 20th of 9th month. [ Times.'
Among a multitude of mistakes which Baron
D'Haussez, the late Minister of Marine under
Charles X., has made in his work entitled
" Great Britain in 1833," we nevertheless re-
cognise many very shrewd and just remarks,
which both the Government and the people of
this country may very essentially profit from.
Among these we may notice the following ob-
servations which occur in his chapter on agricul-
ture. " The agricultural population," says the
Baron, ‘: has degenerated from an easy condi-
tion to a state of suffering, contemporaneously
with the abolition of small farms, and their

union with large ones. The first step to make
towards a more rational order of things is the
gradual, well-considered returns towards the
system best adapted to the genius of the people
—I mean the system of small farms. The
landed proprietor will be a gainer by it, for there
will be a greater competition for the letting of
small farms than for that of larger ones, and his
income will be augmented in the ratio of the
little value which the fat mer generally attaches to
the labour of the members of his family. The

small tenant will herein also find his account
for in giving a higher rate of rent for a certain
extent of land than the larger farmer (who would
give that portion to ten others of the same value)
he would obtain by his own and his children's
labour, and by the effects of a minute and care-
ful cultivation, an abundant equivalent for the
increase of his rent. Social order is no less
interested in this question ; for if once solved,

there would be an end of that subaltern

aristocracy, always dangerous, always disposed
to be jealous of those above it, and to
turn its irreflective masses against power, no
matter in what hands authority is placed."
In the whole of these observations we most
cordially agree, and should rejoice to see their
spirit animating the landowners of England.
Till within the last half century the land was
divided in very different numbers and species
of holdings to those which the great bulk of
it now exhibits ; and there are still many per-
sons living who can remember what are now
large farms, held in numerous small portions,
principally by copyholders and leaseholders for
lives, and when, instead of the peasantry being
dependant, as now, on the poor rate for support,
such a thing as poor rate was scarcely known.
It is true that the first germs of returning to
the system here recommended are already sown
—we mean in the allotments of land to la-
bourers, which has already been partially
adopted with so much success. As a begin-
ning, this augurs well ; but cottagers' gardens
and small farms are very different things, even to
say nothing of the dependent and precarious te-
nure of the former ; and much, therefore, as we
admire and applaud the practice, as far as it has
hitherto gone, we admire it principally as
leading, as we trust it will, to the re-establish-
ment of a class of persons, the loss of whom
may be truly said to have been one main cause
of the evils with which our agricul ural popula-
tion have been of late years afflicted. In every

point of view such a change, wisely and pru-
dently brought about, would be of the highest
national advantage ; and it reflects, perhaps, no
great credit upon the discernment of those whom
it most concerns, that it should devolve upon a
foreigner to point out those advantages, with a
clearness and an obviousness which no native
reasoner has hitherto displayed. At the same
time we do not go the length of saying that
large farms can be entirely abolished, or that it is
desirable they should be. That is a point which
must rest entirely upon localities. Where large
sheep walks, for instance, prevail, large breadths
of arable land must necessarily accompany the in
nor, it must be admitted, could the various
breeds of sheep for which England is so emi-
nently distinguished have ever risen to their
present state of perfection in the hands of small
farmers. But it is not in such districts that small
farms have been thrown into large ones, nor in
which the land can be divided in the manner
suggested. Taken up, however, upon a large
scale, and combined with the cultivation of our
waste lands, there is no doubt that much might
be done to bring about a vast mass of public
and individual benefit ; and i❑ thus adverting to
it, we trust we are performing an acceptable ser-
vice to the country.—Morning Herald.

We persevere in our opinion, as already re-
peatedly expressed, upon the state of affairs in
Portugal, that there has not been the slightest
symptom of anything like flinching on the part
of the Royalists since they arrived in sight of
the fortified lines of their enemies, and conse-
quently that nothing has occurred which indicates
an approximation of the contending parties.
No wishes for a conciliation were ever uttered
from without, although there is every reason to
believe that within Lisbon something of the kind
was expected. It was even thought that after so
many advantages, such as the occupation of the
Portuguese capital by the invaders, and the re-
cognition of Donna Maria by England, next by
France, would have produced dismay in the
King of Portugal's councils, and at least stag-
gered the hitherto unsubdued spirit of the
Portuguese army and people. Nothing of this,
however, has happened, and consequently over-
tures were impossible. The hostile feeling
which previously existed, far from being allayed,
has rather increased through Don Pedro's acts.
Seduced by the pomp and novelty of the
scene in which he suddenly became the prin-
cipal actor, he lost all command of temper, and
every species of discretion. It would, perhaps,
be wrong to make him responsible for all the
deeds of private vengeance which have occurred
since his troops occupied Lisbon ; nevertheless
his decrees and enactments, since he himself
arrived there from Oporto, have been marked
by a more than usual degree of that shameless
injustice which has characterized all his measures
against Portugal. Don Pedro thinks, and has
always thought, since he obtained his first in-
spirations at the Clarendon Hotel in London,

that, according to his sovereign will and pleasure,
everything ought to bend before him in Portu-
gal. He has been so much flattered and deluded,
that he has actually brought himself to believe
that at his nod, at his approach, the proudest
monuments of ages ought to crumble into dust;
in a word, that the nationality and independent
existence of Portugal are be blotted out by his
mere fiat. With these high pretensions, how
then is it possible that a protracted dispute can
be settled by the willing co-operation of any
umpires, however powerful or interested they
may be ? It is not a matter that regards two
brothers only—it is not a question that in-
terests the Braganza family alone. It is a con-
test in which every Portuguese, having rank
or property in the country, has an immediate
stake ; and, after all, the mind and soul of a
nation live in the people. Don Pedro offers
reform, and commences its introduction by re-
sorting to revolutionary measures. At the end
of ten years, during all which time he was the
Sovereign of a foreign and independent kingdom,
which alone would vitiate and defeat his rever-
sionary claims upon Portugal, even if he had not
abandoned them, he returns and says that
all that has been done and enacted during
his absence is to be void and of no effect.
One of the last numbers of his State Ga-
zette, the Chronica, contains a decree declar-
ing that all the acts of the Government of
Don Miguel, even those enacted during the
Regency, are revoked, and the decrees of Angra
put in force. Now was there ever any thing
more monstrous than this ? When at Angra,
that is, in the Azores, Don Pedro was legally
invested with no power. He assumed the autho-
rity of Regent, even in opposition to his own
Charter, as his own friends have been obliged to
confess. To the exercise of that power the Por-
tuguese were no parties. At the time they knew
nothing more of what was passing at Angra than
in China, and yet they are now to be bound by
such decrees as it pleased Don Pedro, with
the aid of a band of exiles, to pass there,
annulling the legislation of ten years, including
acts of the Cortes, &c. ! Really this is much
more than a Charles or a James ever did
among us, and if Ministers were only to reflect
a little they might, without much trouble, find
a better cause than that of Don Pedro for their
partiality and favouritism. We need not say
that we consider the little Queen as no party in
the affair, since, if she were separated from
the father, it is a fact that her cause could not
exist a single week, and so Ministers in the
sequel will find. Appearances every day con-
vince us more and more that th e Portu-
guese will never sit down quietly under
the dominion of a Prince whose public career,
first in Brazil and next in Portugal, has been
marked by a series of base, ambitious, and re-
volting acts. He accepted, and for ten years
wore, the Brazilian Crown on the express con-
dition of renouncing that of Portugal, and he
swore to a Constitution which he afterwards
endeavoured to subvert. Ejected for his mis-
deeds in one country, he goes to the other,
supported by a band of foreign adventurers, in
order to play the same pranks over again,—for it
was with foreign adventurers that he sought to
deprive the Brazilians of their Charter. And
is this the cause that is favoured with British
protection ? The Brazilians rejected him as
the bane of their happiness, and can the Portu-
guese accept him as the promoter of their wel-
fare ? Time will answer this question.—Morn-
ing Post.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HO USE.

FORGERY.-Philip Harvey was brought up for
final examination, on the charge of having forged
bill of exchange for 3001., in the name of Mr. Ar-
doine, of Mark-lane. The prisoner had obtained
the sum of 2501. upon the bill, from Messrs. Under-
wood and Chalk, the bill brokers. That bill was
not yet due ; but not the least suspicion was ex-
cited in the minds of the brokers who advanced the
money, until the prisoner called at the office, and
wanted them to give up the pretended acceptance of
Mr. Ardoine, and to take in lieu of it a bill purport-
ing to be drawn by that gentleman, and accepted by
the prisoner, for the sum of 2641. ISs. Mr. Chalk
then made inquiries and learned that Mr. Ardoine
had had no bill transactions with the prisoner ; and

it was subsequently found that the name of Richard
Carpenter, a gentleman of fortune, and a cousin of
the prisoner, had been forged upon several other
bills of exchange, to a very considerable amount.
Yesterday the Justice-room was crowded to excess
by mercantile men, many of whom had cashed bills
for the prisoner, and others had given bills to him
to get cashed.
Mr. Bennett, the solicitor for the prosecutors,
stated that forgeries had been committed by the
prisoner upon Messrs. Gurney, Overend, and Co.;
Messrs. Coles, Nicholls, and Co.; and Messrs.
Stephen, Nicholson, Barber, and Co.; and that it
had been already ascertained that the prisoner had
got within the last month 6001. by sheer forgeries.
Mr. Carpenter, whose name appeared upon several
of the bills, had seen those bills on the preceding
day, and pronounced them to be forgeries, so far as
his name was concerned. In fact, Mr. Carpenter
denied that he had ever endorsed a bill for the
prisoner.

The LORD MAYOR had no doubt that gentlemen
were ashamed to come forward and admit they
were overreached, at a time when forgeries formed
so extensive a portion of the business of the metro-
polis. The respectable house of Messrs. Gurney
and Overend, and others of the Society of Friends,
must be aware to what the increase of forgeries was
attributable.

Mr. Gurney said that the house to which he be.
longed no longer felt any hesitation at prosecuting
in cases of the kind.

The LORD MAYOR—You will be very shy of
taking bills in future. Forgery is now almost alto-
gether wholesale.
Mr. Gurney—We'll certainly look at both sides
of a bill, and our assistance shall not be wanting to
prevent the prisoner from escaping.
Mr. Bennett—My Lord, we found, upon search-
ing the prisoner's premises, at No. 68, Broad-
street, as many bills, foreign and domestic, us
would paper a room. He (Mr. Bennett) would
not say whether they were generally forgeries or
not, but he would supply the solicitor! to the pri-
soner with notice of any additional indictments.
The LORD MAYOR—Prisoner, have you anything
to say why I should not commit you fur this forgery ?
Prisoner—l'd wish to ask Mr. Barber a question ?
Here he wrote upon a piece of paper, Enid handed
it to the gentleman he named, who holds, we un-
derstand, bills which had been cashed for the pri-
soner to the amount of about 5001. on account of
the supposed endorsement of Mr. R. Carpenter.
Mr. Berber handed the paper to the LORD
MAYOR, and said he had no answer to return.
The LORD MAYOR read the question, which was,
whether Mr. Barber believed the offence had been
committed from fraudulent motives or necessity ?
His LORDSHIP—What have you done with the
6001. which you obtained in this manner within the
last month. Was it necessity that compelled you
to commit that amount of plunder ? Are not all
these bdls an answer to your question ? Pi isoner—
I hope, my Lord, some of that will be forthcoming.
The LORD MAYOR—Where is it—what have you
done with it ? I understand you have a ship ready
to move out of the port; no doubt you could have
got off in her very much to your convenience and

satisfaction, if you had escaped a little longer the
hands of justice.

Mr. Bennett—A bunch of keys were found in his
possession, and they do not open any trunk or drawer
on his premises.

The LORD MAYOR—No, but they open the place
where he has deposited his plunder. He has a safe,
and other premises, no doubt.

- -
The prisoner—I beg to ask Mr. Chalk, whether,
after lie knew I supposed that he suspected the
acceptance of Mr. Ardoine was a forgery I could
not have escaped ? Mr. Chalk—l am sure I need
not say it was with. great regret I caused to be
taken into custody a man with whom I had been
drinking wine but a very short time before. I did
not think of such a thing until I had ascertained
that the acceptance was a forgery.
Some mercantile men stated, that good bills
which they had given to the prisoner to get ac-
cepted had been taken out of his possession, and
were in the hands of the officer, and they requested
that the Lord Mayor would order them to be de-
livered up to the owners.

The LORD MAYOR consulted with the Chief
Clerk, and then stated that he could not consider
himself justified in ordering the bills to be given up.
The prisoner sighed, and shook his head, but
did not answer. He was then fully committed for
trial.

Like all other prisoners who have been committed
of late from the Mansion-house for forgery, he
seemed to think no more about the charge than if it
were for an offence of a venal character.