The Sun.
London, England, 1835-12-23 00:00:00

PORTUGUESE SLAVE TRADE.

JAMAICA, OCT. 27, 1835.—The following is extracted

from the Jamaica Herald of Oct. 26 :
" Captain Rose, of the schooner Gem, arrived at Salem,
from Africa, reports that there were 24 sail of ships and
brigs at one place Angola—waiting for cargoes of
slaves. Yew York Paper.
" Read the above all ye who have the interest of your
country at heart—all ye who know how these unfortunate
colonies have been treated—who know in what a shameful
manner we have been deprived of our property. Will it
not cause your blood to boil with indignation to learn that
while we have been compelled (although we always con-
demned slavery in the abstract) to emancipate our slaves,
the slave-owning colonies are allowed by the British and
other Governments to carry on the horrid practice of
man stealing, not only with impunity, but with a golden
harvest as the result of their iniquity ? At Angola alone,
twenty-four ships were at one time seen for this especial
traffic!"
The same paper of the following day thus again alludes

to this subject
" We have learned a few particulars which induce us to
state that the negroes from Angola are supposed not to be
considered in the light of simply kidnapped wretches, sold
by the cupidity of others in the odious- traffic of human
flesh ; but that, Angola being part and parcel of the Por-
tuguese dominions, the negroes from thence are merely ,to
be looked upon as changing the scene of their labours un-
der the same rulers ; that the rulers of Portugal and the
Brazils have as much right to ship those people from An-
gola as they have to bring subjects from Rio Janeiro ; that
the ships of Angola arc, therefore, to be looked upon rather
as transports for the conveyance of Portuguese subjects
from one part of the empire to another, than as slave-
ships engaged in man-stealing ! We are quite aware that
at Angola the Portuguese have a regular clerical and civil
Government, with all the usual officials, both in Church
and State, and that, under such circumstances, it may
be quite competent in the authorities to remove any por-
tion of the inhabitants from place to place, under the same
Government, on one of two conditions—namely, either that
they- be convicts, sentenced to transportation for infraction
of the laws, or persons voluntarily emigrating from the land
of their nativity ; until we can be convinced that this is
the case in the present instance, we will, and must, look
upon these ships as being engaged, bond fide, in the slave
trade! We have every respect for the quarter whence
we draw some of these ideas, but, as our impression was
that our informant did not look upon these ships as acting
nefariously, we must differ from hiM, until it can be clearly
pointed out to us that the persons engaged in transporting
these unhappy creatures from the scenes of their childhood
did not act tyrannically, or from sordid motives—until, in
.short, it.shall be shown that these people were to leave
Angola voluntarily—that they were not voluntarily sold.
It appears to us somewhat incredible that there should be
24 ships at Angola alone, capable altogether of carrying off
upwards of 8,000 human beings, without some of them be-
ing engaged in this frightful traffic. We cannot believe
that there would, or could, be 3,000 voluntary emigrants
from Angola ; and we know that a vast quantity of sugar
is made in the Brazils, and that there must be slaves to
make it. Perhaps we misunderstood what was said by our
informant ; .but, when we reflect upon every circumstance
connected with the subject, our heart waxes warm with
indignation, and, in the bitterness of our spirit, we cannot
help crying out against the monstrous iniquity of our rulers
at home, who, although they have put an end to this hell-
born trade in the British colonies;take no effectual steps
to put it down in other countries ! When we look on the
map of the African coast, from Cape Formosa, in about 5
degrees north latitude, exclusive of the Guinea Coast, &c.,
and consider that if, from about the centre of that part of
the coast, from Angola alone, 1,000 human beings may be
everlastingly torn from all that is dear to them, and calcu-
late that from the whole extent of coast we have named
perhapS 800,000 may be thus annually sold, and exported
as slaves to distant colonies, we exclaim with all the energy
of our souls—' away with slavery from the face of the whole
earth for ever !' "

MISFORTUNE WITH TILE BRIGHTON COMET.--
Yesterday morning, on the City side of London Bridge,
owing to the slippery state of the stones, the two .wheel
horses of this coach came down and laid for some time en-
tangled in the harness, owing to the great trouble in disen-
gaging them. The leaders were taken .off, and, all the
passengers alighted, and a great concourse of people soon
collected. No accident occurred to the coach or the pas-
sengers, and the horses did not appear to be seriously
hurt. Really horse-keepers should be more attentive to
having their horses better shod for the frost, as the lives
of the passengers and the comfort and security of the
horses themselves are at stake. The holies in Chaplin's
Brighton' Van were also both down in Gracechurch-street.
We mean the wheel horses, which were not shod for the
frost.