The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-05 00:00:00

THE SLAVE TRADE.

Dr. Livingstone has addressed the following letter to
he Editor of the Times :

Sir,--Having hi former years imbibed the idea, from
speeches it ale in Parliament, and from articles in news-
papers sinailar to that in your leader of the 24th, that our
squadron on the West Coast of Africa, so far from dimi-
nishing, rather increased the evils of the slave-trade, I % ent
to Angola in 1854 fully expecting to find, as you remark,
' " that'this nefarious traffic still spauists- As much as ever."
When, however, I came in contact with the Portuguese
who hail actually been engaged in the trade, and ht a-d
thorn refer to it invariably in tire 1)34 tense, my confidence
was somewhat shaken in the soundness of Parliamentary
information. Such a man was rich," said they, "in the
time of the slave-era le." And when I saw boys of 10 cr 12
years of age sold for about 12s. each within 150 wiles of
the coast, and heard the pathetic lamentation, "Ah ! we
could have got 60 or 70 dollars f.T these lads in the time
of dm slavettra 'e," together with the frank confession by
those who, of all others, ought to know best that the prime
agents in the repression of the traffic were the Euglish
cruisers, I was forced to a different conclusion from that to
which the really very plausible statements of various
parties had led me.

on
Then, again, I saw crowds of carriers (carregadoree)
the road from the interior to the coast. These carriers are
compelled by the Government of Loanda to convey neer-
chendise at the rate of N. a-day. On examining this system
of compulsory labour I found it to be a direct evidence of
the efficiency of our cruisers in repressing the sl eITO-
- Thus, previous to 1845, when the squadren was
increased to the strength it had before the breaking out of
with a few slaves bearing goods, °dip'
(tihoewßnutsositahnowcoaar,satlbl
ythe merchandise of Angola was brought
bees-wax with slaves sufficient to carry them. All were
,11 The
andmerchantspurchased
intended for exportation, and there was no more difficulty
einvto inland
la
and
in shipping the human cargo than the loads they carried.
But ou the augmentation of the force on the coast the Go-
verument resorted to this species of impressment to supply
the place of the slaves which were previously all exported.
The spectacle of a large gang of slaves marched down to
the coast, so common previous to 1815, is now never seen;
and if we glance at the Custom-house returns we find that
the receipts for head money gradually diminished from
that year till 1850, when none was received. This sacri-
fice of a large revenue by the Portuguese Government
shows that we are not the only people who have made
efforts to put down the odious traffic; and if half the
honesty of purpose which
you civilly ascribe to the Go-
veneer of Cuba had characterised the officialesent to Angola
the trade would have entirely ceased. A few incorrigible
slave-dealers, winked at by governors of Loanda who in
words would outmatch General Concha in strenuous en-lea-
; voirs to annihilate the traffic, have continuedlto eiport a
few loads annually horn certain ports north of Loanda. But
this has been a difficult game to play, inasmuch as their
own countrymen willingly give information to the crui-
sers for a small consideration, and being obliged to con-
ceal their shipments from both parties they stand, as
it wore, between two fires. So far from brisk is the
export trade that I once travelled in company with three
native slavedealers who bad eight women in a chain away
from the coast towards the middle of, the country to sell
them for ivory. One of their owners said "that the English
cruisers alone prevented their being sent across the sea."
And as for the alleged increase of cruelty in the middle
passage, any one who reads bow slaves were treated when
the slave trade was legal
will see that it was often even
then as bad as it could be. It is of such a heathenish, or
rather fiendish, nature that men engaged in it are some-
how led to treat their fellow-men immeasurably worse
than they would animals of equal or inferior value.
Notwithstanding the very decided influence of the crui-
sers on the parts I visited there seems to have been an in-
crease in the traffic since the strength of the cruisers was
reduced by the Russian war, and this inorease has taken
place in the rivers north of Angola. The prostitution of
the American fl se is a serious drawback to our efforts at
suppression. Yet it must be borne in mind that we hear
ledgem o r more about iatbunoa
ow a(cli
oaeyas
n;
oat ni thepiy a
nine r e
actuala se
aonf
gotouernkt
antoi wo
n-
ot the evil. While our attention is directed to greater num-
bers of slaves being imported into Cuba we must not shut
our eyes to the fact of another market being closed altoge-
ther to the trade, *or forget that the present posture of
Brazil is owing to the moral influence of Great Britain.
slaves annually. About two-thirds are kept away from
hCeurbsahworoeuldsbYwthereepresentabeloOcpkean. take and kill off 50,C00
de. That, with another
large market closed to the traffic, is surely not an ignoble
failure.
I have thus ventured to state my conviction in favour
of our present system, formed, as it was, from personal
observation, and in the teeth of a strong bias to the con-
trary, that you may, according to you custom, and if you
should deem it advisable, give this to your readers by way
of helping them to both sides of the question. It is not to
be supposed for a moment that the present system of
coercion will result in a radical cure of the evil. The culti-
vation by the Africans on their own soil of the raw mate-
rials of our manufactures and the influence of Christian
civilisation alone will effect a permanent suppression of the
slave-trade. But all hope of this must be given up if the
coast tribes are to be hounded on by Europeans to hunt
down the defenceless inland inhabitants on the absurd
true that Africans take delight ier hunting, buying end
pretence of promoting " free emigration." It is no more
selling each other than that the English glory in hanging
themselves in November. I know that is the case through-
out the interior, and I was sorry at the cause of a different
state of things on the borders of civilisation. But we are
ignorant of the sources whence statements such as that
referred to arise. From meeting it in various quarters,
and more especially in the mouths of slaveholders, or
it and that about the inefficiency of her Majesty's cruisers
would-be slave employers,ployers, I am inclined to think that both
have bad their origin in those who are, directly or indi-
rectly, abettors of slavery, and that they are promulgated
by many who, like myself, had not the means of testing
their truth.

yr.177L71: consequence
it bas been proposed to give DP a
considerable portion of the above line, and only to carry
t Worcester, and Wolverharop•
SEVERN VALLEY
thßearamownAe
and
the
di
difficult'
utlltiye
osoeufvtoebrttehaepinrcienosgsnuemrterouoncnetiyo'n of the railway from its intended
jtuonncattionn
awrittihebtuhreyOtoxfßorrdoseley
in
Shropshire.