The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-17 00:00:00

r •

tog
heai:s of age, were put aside as unable
t in the caravan. Infants were torn from
lowk-aiiers' breasts, children of six oe seven years of
lit, re wrung from the grasp of their parents. What
:0 I PerisTo maintain them was costly, to leave them
latched h on the coast was cruel—they were dis-
grA,4e,,nd they. were the least to be pitied. The
lid b. bet out, men, women, and children, halt' naked
srefoot. The weakly were driven on by the lash,
re'ng were restrained from flight by ropes and
s,llk Thus they marched hundreds of miles, across
Itt,ierAning sands of the desert, some tortured by agony
di; ; some fell down dead, others perished by linger-
ksii ease ; others were knocked on the head ; and
111, jilt travellers had stated that you might track the'
tis'srftvan through the pathless wilderness by bun-
vend thousands of human skeletons. At length they
slui at the coast, where they were obliged to wait for
ttisave-ship. Disease, superinduced by fatigue and
ardent, speedily thinned their numbers. The slave-
tki eh 'ength arrived. The captain made his selection,
tst,,,,se those whose strength sickness had least im-
qo; the sickly were rejected. How were they dis-
-1114,f e They were either put out of the way or
hbarLt° Perish by famine. An equal number to those
had perished by famine, disease, or violence,
Iltpeirk.erery five hundred that went on board the
kkheicitP five hundred more had perished before they
tiled ~it But what were the horrors which pre-
"ere
..""e voyage to what these unfortunate beings
kaied.to endure during that fatal transit? It was
bon°4'n that a quarter or one-third more were put
bott.d4rd the slave-ship than would be tolerated on
'itti "3' other vessel. The result was, they fell
wt,,en's m disorder, and died a horrible death, if they
ilk,e.llo.t thrown overboard. The captains of these
NI,1111",Ps invariably took more negroes than the vessel
'4%, o'd, for the purpose of making up any deficiency
ttiat:Nnetice of death. If death ensued from these
Ott 'Qs, the dead bedies were thrown overboard; but
b'terb:44 hot all, for sometimes the living were thrown
tile!,_rd too, for when the slave-trader thought, from
'tsi°R(l:` of the slaves, that they could not out-live the
b`, that fate was sure to await them. This
had by tie means an uncommon occurrence, and that
the 11 even done by Englishmen, when years back
The :tare-trade was tolerated in this country.
'la C insequence of all this was, the raging of
esi„ en board the vessel ; and instances had
",°,.wn where opthalmia had raged to such an
`pal tiltuall no person on board could steer the ship,
b; 'vessel had been lost. The space allotted
tot tti-s on board ship was so small, that the negro had
'eatitom. Itch room as a man in his coffin. In moderate
'l,ly; air was given to the negroes from the hatch-
kj. at When storms arose, and the hatchways were
siet!i to be closed, it was horrible to contemplate the
Itiffoei°4 of the negroes, hundreds of whom died from
ko(sati". From all these various causes it was
lien that one-third of the negroes embarked on the
tt cif Africa perished before they arrived on the coast
litiotitries- The ravages thus committed in the popu-
keonn- °I Africa could not be less than from 400,000 to
til,e,7 every year Let any man calculate from that
N'lntnt of devastation. which must have followed
;:" the last fifty years on the population of Africa.
t?i0"°111d venture to say, that if all the other
kit tf3 which the whole human race had corn-
IN ,s from. the creation of the world till the
they- day, were brought into an aggregate,
401 w°llld- not equal—certain was he they could
lei sfleeed—the amount of the guilt of the African
Zlt;,:titde e.—( Hear, hear.) Was it not, therefore, the
rtsl" every:Government, and of every nation on whom
tenee had bestowed the means of putting an end
4444",nlonstrous traffic, to employ those means to the
)Gov extent?—(Bear, hear)—and, if ever there was a
• tz„lN'tinnent or a nation upon which that duty was
pressing, that Government was the
cpCuttleut of England, and ours was that nation.—
tirit"ithtt,) He admittedA- 'that much had been done. The
bad
overnment and the British nation could look
,"1/4(1 rn.`,t,[l satisfaction to the efforts which the country
,u4s -41,'‘e in this cause. Partial success had certainly
tpte"lined. The late Government had done their
thin respect.—(Hear, hear.) When they came
'ibiii()'ee in 1830, they inherited the fruits of the
t
trade those who had gone before.them. The slave
!ittd b.onder the British flag had been abolished,
tt liscia,s, utterly extinct. Under the French flag
„,,elteat, :,se,a prohibited, and existed only to a partial
miverettuough :great use was made of that flag to
slave trade. With regard to Spain and Portu-
cortuptll the Brazils, we had treaties with Spain and
es liaat'tbe treaties were insufficient. Those coun-
Ogsgis; Passed a law prohibiting their subjects from
biter, 'Liu the slave-trade; but that law was a dead
and S „Ye had likewise treaties with the Netherlands,
'Pah de tw,",,_ tend Denmark. There was no great slave
itiitleylladWett under the flag of Holland, and none at
theon flags of Sweden and Denmark. When
14 Fran-rne into office important events had just occurred
i,,ce• The Sovereign of that country had sue-
", 1).- the Crown from the free choice of a free peo-
/Pithttc4ver was in the hands of men deeply imbued
hille et." spirit and the principles of liberty. That being
the might
it appeared to them that the Government of
'fie ▪ Inight be induced to enter into engagements with
hews erernment of England on that subject—their
ad had been met. The French Government
kamaJqfully and readily accepted .their pr0..1
..1
1114 d for a treaty, by which the right of search
'tta• reviprocally granted by each nation in their
114, 4 latitudes for the purpose of putting an end to the
That treaty, as far as the slave-trade was
tistrned, had been undoubtedly successful.. It was not
'test.:"'st' as had been asserted, that in that instance the
catihati."ee bad been all on one side. There was a
on feeling in France that France had been called
avtto make concession to England which England had
ilo4lalle to France. Ile knew of no quality more
ep,i'llrable than that national feeling .which so pre-
-1:1a-t4'iltlydistinguished the French nation.—(Cheers.)
Cr as great a sacrifice had been made on the part of
eat 13 •main, when she permitted her commercial navy
4 visited and searched by the ships of war of France,..to
be had:i been made by France in permitting her ships
."(viLt`ai and searched by the ships of war of England
beneti_ except to accomplish such a
"nt Purpose as the abolition of the slave-trade, it
tttaz a sacrifice that no British Minister would have dared
(4.. Propose ; but " they had laid aside all feelings
leJ:alotis,y for the attainment of this benevolent object.
tu:Pabl gimdar events had happened. There the ordi-
etir course of the succession had been changed. There
tsti_nest had arisen between a Queen supporting free
st.atitutional principles, on the one hand, and a Prince
14Prted by the party of despotism on the other. Eng.
to (41; sYlzpathising with the struggles of a great people
of the freedom, had thrown her weight into the =tale
these Queen and. Constitutional Government, and, from
The; thus given to that cause, it had triumphed.
ow „_,Y felt that the Spanish Government of thst day
tht'll them a debt of gratitude, and they had called on
° Pay it, not by giving to them any sordid advau•
qi Political or commercial. No; but they had said
trade us a better treaty for the suppression of the slave.
We call upon you, who have so recently engaged
4 g`°rimis straggle to obtain constitutional freedom
ti,elNtrselves, to co-operate with us in rescuing the m
&hu t' Africa fiom a thraldom worse than that under
Friend You yourselves have been suffering. His Noble
Lord Clarendon, then Mr. Villier., who was at
NI Vile our Ambassador in Spain, had exerted that
kkrtul knowledge for which ho was so remarkable,
14 kill treaty had been signed, in 1835, which gave
epee ,Powers to enforce on Spanish subjects obedo•
"IN "" those laws which had been enacted in
(311 to this matter as long ago as 1817. That treaty
ttkisPrtr,",,,tteed a great effect in discouraging the slave-
' lsPos.-Pilba. In Cuba, in 1835, the number of slaves
Tt had averaged 40,000 a year, and in 1838 that num-
'sst,ao, been reduced to 28,000. Events similar to
Kkee ;which had taken place in Spain had likewise taken
i.,s4sitts:4 Portugal. There the dispute was a Queen and
\,lis,,,listational maxims on the one side, and a usurping.
ICT and despotism on the ether. The course which
4,,caado ted-in Spain we had adopted in Portugal.
s111;41, exeprted (flirt influence on the side of liberty, and
6-41)4,7 our assistance the cause of liberty had tn.-
a We had made to the Portuguese Government.
';t4tet-' appeal that we had made to the Spanish txo-
\'‘a.ie eat, but not with the same success. The slave-
-4,41'17 were stronger in Lisbon than they were in
Co',lisiti.",thousli he would say, that if the appeal had
1' 1,-"„4"e to the Government of Cuba, instead of to the
h's nemof Madrid, he believed we should
ti• "ail as little success as we had met with
dsit'l4 The Government had then come
~,gieir,;" Parliament and stated the engagementswit
_nytugai had entered into, and the manner with
tai of''e treated those engagements. The Parliament
h:P, Go-
that the cause was a good one, and gave
1a414,1w those powers which the Portuguese o-
tvest' had refused to give them by treaty. That was
nkt 44, step gained, as it gave them the power of check-
slavetrade, carried on under the Portuguese
tO
1;440. -I:kanner which, before that, they had been unable
estPoss'ile naval officers on the coast of Africa, for the.
'lefs of destroying the slave•trade with the native
t,ll'°o' 411(1,,Ipliktl, and taken possession of the slave ha-
' The had given up the property found there
aynd bad taken the slaves to Sierra Leone
:41 ° (L.,' them. The Government had authorised
apt--' this. That step had 'truck the greatest dis-
es at •
It:telitthey
osnlave traders of Cuba. He had reason to
1, vi th In consequence, they had been about to with-
„.-tig en.
rh.er eor capital from the slave-trade, as they could no
the traffic with any hopes of success.
se 41,, is of those operations, to judge from the. official.
Akt)ei• `1„,41 been to produce a great diminution in the
)314Nsi-k.(4 slaves landed- on the islands and coasts of
94 The number of slaves landed in. 1838 was—in
22 t)00 '"0, and in Cuba 28,000, making a total of
4411 ti• rteciv. bile, in 1840, two years afterwards, the number
'kin Into Brazil was 14,000, and into Cuba 14,100,
1,*11440.1744 ia8:8otal of 28,700, instead.
.of 122,000, which it
e• a diminution of 83,00 J in the
eer er -wl3- d with that year
Leeq la we slaves imported, as compared
t,3„.11,0t, a sudden and casual diminution. It had
by Mr. Vandeler that from the years 1817
?it'44.4-shatahenuniber of slaves imported into the island of
1. 8, as been from 39,000 to 40,000 every year ; in
3:na, 1839,56,00 0 2,5
(tit 1842,
B:o42th:a
have been
nl.d4Ai,mosoiOnfais;rheiadns
1,12 thows:si helieved to have been only 11,000; and in
tfihtt,4ooo;.
inThni.e_Pn"urinteberd
Imported was state
into
14,000.8rzil in 1833 was
n which Parliament had received would
vt44llepail!-iuteril to judge, a great diminution had taken
ro ay e i'lltnber of slaves transported from Africa
ek-rricae•r. Treaties had been concluded with almost
the traatie_ 'Fan state, except the northern one—.when
tEP'inte_ with the other powers of Europe were signed
Nnlea
rest of
to go further. The treaty with France con-
ktissi4" article by which those powers had engaged to
ter the
8° ,if such
.of the other powers to accede to a treaty
the PPresston
441-1
thetreaties of Aix-la-Chapelle. These Powers
iliqtrittwould adhere to the spirit of their previous
bbilir,s--they engaged to sign the treaty which
.'lned becweeu England find France, but