The Sun.
London, England, 1826-05-10 00:00:00

first ptOcation of this journal it was distinguished by the most
virulent attacks upon private character, not sparing the most emi-
nent and respectable persons. It then, as it grew bolder, com-
menced a series of attacks upon the Government, in the course of,
which every public transaction, including the operations of the
army, became the successive Subjects of severe animadversion.—
He conjured the House to consider the delicate tie by which our
Indian empire was held, and then he was sure it would he seen
that the Government must be protected from attacks tending to
bring it into contempt in the eyes of the natives.
Mr. TRANT said he had paid great attention to this case, and
however painful it was to his feelings to differ from those 'with
whom he usually agreed, he found Inmself under the necessity of
voting for the motion of the Noble Lord.
The House then 'divided.

46'
-3

For the motion
Against it - -
Majority for the motion
SLAVE TRADE,
Mr. F. BUXTON said that the motion which be was about
to submit to the House related to .the Slave Trade, and not to
Slavery. He meant to state that in the. Mauritius the Slave Trade
had been regularly and systematically carried on, in opposition to
the law of the land. He did not mean to deny that it had been
put down at intervals, once by Gen. Hall, and again in 1822 by
the low price of Colonial produce ; but with the exception of
those two intervals, he would prove, to the House that it had
been incessantly kept up. Ile entreated the Right Honourable
Secretary for Foreign Affairs, whom *he believed to be sincerely
desirous of seeing this traffic abolished, to attend to the evi-
dence, by which he would prove that it was now systemati-
rally and incessantly carried 'on in the Mauritius. He would
prove by officers high in the Army and Navy that it was not
only tolerated hut encouraged in the Colony.—Nr. Secretary
CANNIN C-;-" Tolerated by the Government?" —The Honour-
able Member continued—He could prove it to be tolerated and
encouraged by the highest authorities in the Colony. Ile did
not wish to make personal charges at present, but if "he was ob-
liged to say it, he would state that the evidence of these distin-
guished witnesses went to affect the conduct of the highest per-
sonage in the Island. The Hon. Member then read the declara-
tions of a General Officer, two Colonels, and other Military Officers,
—and of an Admiral, and other Officers in the Navy, stating cases
in which large numbers of slaves had been introduced, and etiola-
ting that the practice prevailed to a great extent. Ile had other
evidence from persons who held high civil offices in the colony to
the same effect. Rut he would go still higher, and prove the fact
upon the authority of the Governors of the Mauritius. There
had been three Governors during the time to which his statement
referred ; the Hon. Gentleman opposite, his successor General
Hall, and General Darling. The Hon. Gentleman would he
able to state to the House what he knew upon the subject. In the
diipatches of Gen. Darling he stated the Slave Trade was carried
on with a degree of effrontery which reflected disgrace upon the
Government; that not a week passed without some slave vessel
appearing off the Mauritius ; and that the opuient_portion of the in-
habitants publicly encouraged the traffic, and persecuted those who
'attempted to interpose with a view of checking it. It was well
known that when the French Government had been called upon by
the Right Hon. Gentleman opposite and his predecessor, to put a
stop to the dealing in slaves, they bad frequently pointed to the
Mauritius, and declared that it was carried on by this country.
Upon the evidence which he had described he did not feel warranted
in making any personal accusations, but he thought no one could
deny that it fully made out'the grounds of a motion for inquiry.
If the Mouse granted n Committee, he would lay proof before them
of direct facts which proved the existence of the trade. He would
prove that 44 vessel's had been captured off the Mauritius while en-
gaged in the Slave Trade, and he would prove that many Others had
been engaged in it which had never been captured at all. One
'species of his proof would he the depositions of soldiers, who,
while stationed on different parts of the island, had witnessed
ninety-nine instances of successful disenibatkation of slaves. The
deposition of one soldier named Dickenson, described ndimem-
bllrkatioo which took place upon the estate of 'a- Mr. Tellfair,
who was Privete Secretary to the. Hon. Member opposite, while
Governor and Public Secretary to the Colony. He would also
produce evidence to shew that soldiers had been ordered by their
superior officers not to interfere with the landing of slaves. One
soldier stated that be went to his Captain, and informed him that
he could prove that a disembarkation was then going on; when
be was told to mind his business ; and that if he interfered,
he would be plinished. Amongst other evidence, should
produce that of a Colonel in the Army, who stated, that in conse-
quence of having endeavoured, by all the means in, his power. to
put down these practices, every thing he slid was looked upon with
an evil eye, until he was obliged to connive at them.' There
were twenty soldiers now in this country, whom he could
bring before the Committee, as also the depositions of these.
Officers, 'He stood there to prove that there had been
ninetY4iinc disembarkations of slaves, and that forty-four vessels
had been captured with slaves on board; in all, that there had
been 14S vessels employed in the trade, and the number of
slaves they would bring from Africa, upon a fair average, would
80,000. One peculiarity of slavery, where the slave trade was
parried on, was, that the number of armies greatly predominated over
that of the females. In the West Indies, where the trade was abo-
lished, the numbera were about equal. In the sixteen
.West India
Islands, the timber of females was 859,000, of ma1ie353,000.
But in the Mauritius the difference Was iu the following pro-
portion—ntlet; 41,000, females 22,000. Another remarkable
fact in the slave population of the Mauritius, was, that the nuni•
her of foreign slaves so. greatly exceeded that of the Creoles. In
the West Indies, the slaves were 'tiniest all Creoles, or natives of
the soil. The only evidence they lied of the comparative num-
bers of Creole slaves and foreign' ones In the Mauritius, was to
be found in the ,advertise ments'of , the venders ; and from that he
found there were three foreign slaves to one Creole, whereas in
the West Indies there were more than three Creoles to one
foreign slave. One of the greatest
,temptations to the trade in
slaves was the growth of anger. In the year •1810 very little
sugar was grown in the Mauritius ; in three years the growth bad
increased to half a million of pounds • and in 1822 it was thirty
Millions-4eing: an increase of sixty-fold. It might be supposed
that the cultivation of other articles had been abandoned for that
of sugar ; but this WAS not the case, because the produce of other
articles had also increaliA It appeared from the returns of the
bounties allowed. upon captured slaves, that while scarcely any had
been granted for the West Indies, there had been upwards of 2,000
for the Mauritiu--nn immense disproportion, which plainly proved
that the trade attest have been curried on with great activity. If
the House put all the facts -together, he thought they were conclu-
aive proof of the active existence of the slave trade in this Colony.
AnotherargumentWhich proved it no less forcibly could be drawn
from the returns of the registration of slaves. This had always been
considered as the greatest barrier to the Slave Trade ; and he
would prove,hefore time Committee that the Orders in Council
for the registration of slaves had almost all been disregarded in
the Mauritius. Li 1818 the population, according to the regis-
ter, was 87,000 ; in 1817 no registry was kept ; in 1818 there
was no registry ; in 1819 the numbers were reduced to 21,000 ;
in 1820 there was 110 registry ; and 1821 the number was 7,482.
From this it appeared that the registration of 80,000 slaves,
the wine of each being 100 L, was omitted; and the penal-
ties upon. these would amount to eight millions of money.
It .was not • for hint to say what the Government should do
in respect to these fines; but the iderres who had not been
registered, were the property of Government until those tines
were paid. And he would state publicly, that all negroem
imported since the year 1810, were free by the law of Eng-
land. He would make another observation as to Mr. Tellfair,
whom he had before mentioned. The number of negroes re-
turned as being upon his estate Was 200. Now he Would bring
perswis to Trove that new slaves had been seen upon his pro-
perty, and that the number was from ten to twelve hundred, in-
stead of two hundred and sixty. The next view of the subject
was• the dreadful treatment of the slaves in the Mauritius.—
Wherever the slave trade raged, there the conditions of slavery
were Hotbed in tenfold ferocity. When the proper time arrived
he should be able to produce such cases of outrageous and detest-
able atrocity, as he believed lied never before been stated to any
Assembly. The Hon. Member then referred to accounts upon
which he admitted he could not wholly rely, showing that al-
though the deaths of slaves in one instance amounted to 6,568 out
of 11,000, in the course of six years; the population had gone on
increasing. Three years after, the Planters returned the number
of slaves it 87,000. Governor Hall proved that 40,000 had not
been registered, one of his dispatches the Ham Gentle Man
said to the Earl of Liverpool, that he was an enemy to the slave
trade, and an hereditary friend of, mankind. The dispatch fur-
ther went on to say, that as we allowed the continuance of the
Aare trade in Trinidad, after the prtiosingof the Act (which, how.
seer, we never did), the inhabitants of Mauritius were a fortiori
to the same immunity, as their island would be desolated
t ,iiuontitomore of the tratie. He was astonished that
for :el,. t.ieetleuten ettuld think 'of asking the Earl of Liverpool
te give his .suottion to the 'entronission iof a felony.,-(Mr.
Buoy GRAM here suggested that slave-trading was not a felony.)
lleit it
s -Iluena.s, Fa reiern4ie,lif the
ties at de; and he had' proved the
d 'that the act- did not amount to a felony; but
existence of it from the ppvi
ancurient 'testimony of disinterested
officers-4mM the slal•eilopilittion,-Which was Just such a one as
it ought to be in a flourishing state of the trade--free the growth
of sugar, and the cruelties which had been exercised in the Sey-
chelles ;—and he had further proved his case by three arguments,
which were strictly mathematical demonstrations. In the year