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

respected.

Judgment has not yet been given, and from
the hesitation displayed by Sir J. STUART, we
hope and believe that he does not quite agree with
the Judge called in to assist him. At all events the
matter has not as yet been satled, and we have
no doubt that it will be carried to the highest
tribunal in the land, before the opinion is suc-

Sam

cumbed to. The consequences thereof would be
of a very terrible character. Not only would
many persons of unquestionably moral
and religious character be plunged into
deep distress and misery, but thousands
of innocent children would be deprived of their
birthrights, and improperly and unjustly branded,
with the stain of illegitimacy. We should
also find some extrordinary results. Polygamy
would be legalised. A man might have two law-
ful wives—aye, or three. Living close to the
border he might have two establishments within
a few miles, and another on the Continent. A
Scotch divorce would entitle him to marry in the
sister kingdom, but it will not be respected south
of the Tweed. Of course he may marry
his deceased wife's sister in Germany. There
will, then, be two valid marriages according
to the lee loci, or rather leges locorum, and when he
comes to Merry England he may repudiate both,
and contract a third nuptials. This view of the
case may appear extravagant, but it follows from
the judgment of Mr. Justice CRESSWELL, which
is alike opposed to natural justice and to
public policy. We have but Etat, doubt of its
reversal either by judicial or legislative authori-
ties ; and it is, perhaps, fortunate that the
issue has at length been fairly raised, so that no
further postponements or procrastination can be
tolerated.

We may hive something more to say on this
important subject shortly, which will prone, be-
yond the possibility of doubt, the nature and
extent of the error into which Sir C. CItESSWELL
has fillers.

It is gratifying to learn from the very best
authority that our at med warfare with the slave-
trade has not been altogether in vain. Dr.
LIVINGSTONE'S letter to the Times last Wednesday
effectually disp3ses of the almost pro-slavery sug-
gestions
of that journal. We trust that the tone
of several of its articles on slavery and the slave-
trade will not lead foreigners to imagine that the
great English public is either hoodwinked or has
lost the least of its anti-slavery feeling. Hints
on the cost of our cruisers employed on the coast
of Africa appear every now and then, probably at
the suggestion of Manchester cotton-men ; but
our royal navy needs a little active work some-
where, and we hardly know how it could be more
honourably employed than in suppressing the
most hellish deeds which have ever disgraced the
ocean.

We have been repeatedly told, however, that
it does no good. The Times suggests as much ;
but Dr. LIVINGSTONE tells us a very gratifying fact
or two touching the efficiency of our operations.
He wer,t, be it observed, to the Portuguese settle-
ments prejudiced against our cruising operations.
His unusually strong sense and candour, however,
soon appreciated the bearing of two or three un-
questionable facts. First, he found the Portu-
guese talking in the past tense of the good old
days of the slave-trade. Secondly, ho found that
in these good old days individuals were rich who
could not maintain that character in these latter
days of British cruisers. Thirdly, and here the
evidence is surely unmistakeable, slave-boys, about
150 miles from the coast, were sold for 124. each,
who used to fetch 60 cr i 0 dollars in the "good
old days of the slave-trade." They were INA
worth, of course, hunting and capturing. Fourthly,
the frank confession of those who ought t) know
'best, proved that the cruisers were the main
check on the trade.

This was not all. The Government now com
pels a large number of carriers to bring merchan-
dise at a very low price-2d. a day--to the coast,
when previously to our squadron being raised to
efficient strength, the work was done by slaves
whom the traders bought where they bought their
goods, and sold and shipped the slaves as easily
as the ivoryand other articles of African production.
This was stepped in 1845 by the large augmenta-
tion of oursquathon.- The spectacle of large gangs
of slaves marched down to the coast, frequently
seen previously to 1845, has not been witnessed
since then. The Custom-house receipts from this
source for head money have since then ceased.
So far as the trade is carried on by stealth, it has
become a very difficult game, since for a small
consideration some of the Portuguese thomselves
will betray the villains to our officers ; and the
kidnappers have to conceal their victims in pl►ces
to the north of Loando, not only from our cruisers
but from their own people too. So bad is the
trade indeed, that the Dr. had seen eight slaves
taken into the country from the coast to purchase
ivory.

Dr. LIVINGSTONE, who has so thoroughly seeu

the interior, indignantly protests against the as-
sertion that " Africans take delight in hunting,
buying and selling each other, any more than
Englishmen glory in hanging themselves in the
month of November." He lays great blame on the
prostitution of the American flag (is it a prostitu-
tion of a Slave Republic's flag ?) as the great
encouragement to the slave trade ; professes his
principal reliance to be on the introduction of
commerce, civilisation, and the cuitivation of do-
mestic produce, as the ultimate means of putting
down the trade ; but he justly observes, that
till
hope of this musk be given up if ,4 the coast tribes
are to
be hounded-on by Europeans to hunt down
the defenceless
inland inhabi:ants on the absurd
pretence of promotin
g free emigration. We hope
the Emperor of the FRENOR
and EXPERTUS of the
Times will study the letter of the great African
Traveller.