The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-13 00:00:00

N. GUIZOT TO TUE COUNT ST. AULAIRN.

Paris, Dec. 26, 1844.
M. le Comte,—Last year, about this time, I r quested
you to call the attention of Lord Aberdeen to the im-
portant question of the right of search, and to the power-
ful motives which led us to desire that the two Cabinets
should concert together with the view of substituting,
for this mode of repressing the slave-trade, a new mode,
which, whilst equally efficacious for our common object,
should be free from the same inconveniences and the
same dangers.
To this communication which you made to Lord Aber-
deen, his Lordship answered, that being perfeetly,con-
, limed of my sincere resolution to labour perseveringly
for the suppression of the trade, any proposition made
by me would be received by him with confidence, and
examined with the most scrupulous attention.
If since that time I hive abstained, M. le Comte, from
treating of this important affair in my official corre-
spondence with you—if I have delayed sending the in-
structions which I had announced to you—it certainly
has not been that the Government of the King have lose
sight fora single day of the object which they had to
propose to themselves, or that their convictions had be-
come less strong. You know the various causes, inter-
nal and external, which, by obliging us to devote all our
efforts to urgent questions, have made it imperative ors
us to suspend the negotiation, the opening of v. hich in
London you had been charged to call for, on the ques-
tion of the means of repressing the slave-trade. The
time is now arrived for resuming it.
As I have already mentioned to you, M. le Comte,
our conviction of the necessity of having mourn, in
concert with England, to a new mode of repressing the
slave-trade, is undiminished and profound. All the
events which have occurred, all the refleetions which
have forced themselves upon us, since this question was
raised, have made us feel Imre strongly the necessity of
modifying the system actually in force. In order that
this system should be effectual and without danger. it is
not sufficient that the two Governments are animated by
reciprocal goodwill and confidence. Constantly liable
in its application to oppose, cramp, and injure private in-
terests, often legitimate and inoffensive ones, this system
keeps up, in the minds of a numerous class, active, and
necessarily rough in manners. a source of irritationwhich,
though it may sleep for a time more or less long, may by
an unforeseen accident at sea. or by the slightest disturb-
ance in the political relations of the two States, beat any
moment developed, inflamed, extended and transformed
into a powerful and formidable national sentiment. This
being so, the system of the right of search used as a
means for repressing the slave-trade is more dangerous
than useful ; for it compromises' at one and the same
time, peace, good understanding between the two coun-
tries, and even the success of the great cause which it is
intended to serve.

This, M. le Comte, is not a mere conjecture, it is a
fact which experience has rnow deMonstrated. During
ten years the reciprocal right of search has been ac-
cepted and exercised by France and by England with
common consent, and without any declared feeling or
any manifestation of mistrust or of repulsion. o§, ing
to causes which it is useless-to revert te, the case is now
different The feeling or. the Chambers and of the
country is strongly averse _to this system. Not, M.
le Comte, that. France is at present more 'indifferent
than she was Some years ago to the horrorr of the slave-
' trade ; but a, conviction exists in France (and the Go-
vernment of the King shares this conviction) that it is
possible to find other means quite its' effi_vtaal,. more
effectual even than the reciprocal right of search, by
which this infamous traffieihay be reached.
In order to obtain the co'-operation of the country and
of the Chambers—their earnest, active, indefatigable
co-operation—for the repression of the trade, the adop-
tion of a different system is henceforth indispensable.
But what ought to be the new system ? By wheat
measure, by what combination of measures, can we
reasonably hope to obtain results in the way of repres-
sion at least equal to those which the right of search
has led us to hope for ? I might, M. le Comte, here
point out some of these measures ; but in a matter in
which the men of the two countries specially qualified
sympathy for the cause of
must,of necessity be beard, it appears to me preferable
that the task of collecting and examining all the elements
of the question sheuld, in the first instance, be confided
This Commission, which held
aer
peraecseionutsinasico,rreee,ven mote efficacious
of men' of consideration in their respective countries,
its work should be
repressing the slave-trade, and by their entire freedom
of judgment relative to the means of attaining this noble
iwtotso.:sittings mixed
k
wn Commission.if
inirli tohnpdironsi,ocuegreht,l think, to be composed
end. And when the Commission shall have thoroughly
examined the question, when it shall have searched well
and determined what new means of repressing the
presented to the two Governments, andsubmitted •
for
their decision.
tmllaybe system as
than, trade

Have the goodness, M. le Comte, to place this propo-
sal before the eyes of Lord Aberdeen. I am confident
that in the communication which you will make to him
of the present dispatch, he will see new evidence of our
constant solicitude for the two great interests which we
have equally at heart—the.maintenanee of peace and of
a good understanding bt•tween the two countries, and the
repression of the slave-trade.—lieceive, &c.
Monsieur the Count de St. Aulaire, &c. GUIZOT.
• London. .

LORD COWLEY TO TILE EARL OI ABF.RDEEN.
Paris. Jan. 18, 1845.
My Lord,—The messenger Fennessey arrived at Paris
on Saturday, the 11th instant, and delivered to me your
Lordship's dispatches Nos. 1 and 2, marked '• Slave-
trade."
I immediately directed a copy to he prepared of No. 2,
and placed it in the hands of the Minister fur Foreign
Affairs in the course of that day.
After reading that dispatch with attention in my pre-
sence, his Excelency said that he entirely concurred in
the views therein taken by your Lordship respecting the
engagements entered into by the two Governments for
the suppression of the traffic in slaves. He admitted
likewise that since the conclusion of the treaties of 1831
in the opinions
upon
and,,
f th
elB3
Chambers,B, a greatacsh
wellnng eihsa:!
f ttaken
hep
up
bl al
generally,public
the question of the right of search. It would be useless,
he said, to enter into any examination. of thec,