The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-18 00:00:00

ANTIDOTE FOR THE SLAVE-TRODU,

We submit to the amputation of a limb for the sake
of life ; we hang a man for the benefit of society ; we
remit punishment, for the sake of truth, when evidence
is furnished against accomplices. The appliances for
obtaining. and rendering justice must be coincident with
its demands. Wheii bad men conspire, good men must
combine. For national crimes there must be national
remedies. Those nations that dare the world's scorn
deserve the world's ExecratiOn, and when humanity
bleeds it behoves the humane to act with energy. The
slave-trade is now indelibly branded b}• civilised Europe
as infamous in those nations that allow it, iniquitous
towards than, and a wicked defiance of the A lmiolity.
•

There are no guilty deeds without guilty mini. The
hardened piratical crew of a slaver are not the only sin-
ners, nor indeed the chief sinners. The breeders and
owners of slaves ; the builders, owners, and equippers of
slave-ships; the rascal dealers in our race, the bargainers
for blood upon the coast, the marketing buyers in
America, Cuba, Brazil ; the inhuman taskmasters in
each exacting, not only sweat from the brow, but blood
from the flesh. These are the beings that Europe
execrates.

When the confirmed scoundrel and the young con •
federate are caught, and brought to prison, the older
inciting party receives the greatest punishment.
The sailor in a slave-ship is not so criminal as the
owner of the cargo and owner of the ship. Though
working in such in iniquitious traffic, he is innocent
when compared with his masters and the capitalists who
employ him fur their iniquitous gain. He seeks bread—
his employers geld, through the sacrifice of blood.
The sailors now employed in that trade feel they are
in a desperate course ; many of them, if they could and
had the inducement, would quit it to-morrow. The
question is, can it be managed ? Can the inducement be
offered?
To the first question the answer is, every British port
in the British colonies offers an asylum for a,:y kid-
napped African, and restores to him his natural freedom ;
and it may be hoped that, ere long, all other countries,
not excepting those who still uphold slavery, will also be-
come such asylums.

Can an inducement be (ffered for the crews of these
slave-ships to carry the slaves into one of these port; in-
stead of taking them to countries where they. would lc
bought and sold as slaves? If the different colonies
can now subscribe to pay the passages for free irnini-
grants, and of free negroes to the colonies, it would
answer their purpose quite as well to subscribe to meet
a reasonable gratuity to the crews of slavers, and accom-
plish thereby the noblest work—the freedom of the
captives.

The cry from the colonies is for free combined labour,
because the manumitted blacks work now mostly fur
their own account, and chiefly in occupations hitherto
neglected. Free emigration cannot be resorted to in
any sufficient degree from Europe to tropical climes, nor
is pit desirable ; and spontaneous emigration from Africa
is prevented by the convulsions in which that continent
is kept through the slave-trade.

Now, if we can combine a remedy for the honest de-
mands and necessities of a drooping agriculture, and, at
the same time, apply a final cure to the evils of Africa ;
and if the interests of humanity can be combined with
those of the planters, not only of the West Indian, but
the' r al and true interests of the very shareholders of
Brazil and Cuba whose existence is periled, by their own
showing, by further importation of slaves, why should we
hesitate to do it ?

• By these means self-interest would be made to act as a
useful assistant in the cause of humanity. The greater
risk for the owners of slave-trading vessels to lose their
property by the turning of their crews against them,
would deter them from embarking in such hazardous
speculations, and the temptations of a pecuniary reward
would act as a stimulus to these crews to bring their
cargo to such ports, where they can rely upon a premium
for so doing.
It such a device were acted upon, all tropical countries
in want of African free labour, and all those sincerely
desirous of doing away with the slave-trade, now a
hundred times more cruel and destructive than in past
centuries, would probably subscribe or vote an amount
for so valuable an importation of labour secured by such
means.

The countries wishing to protect themselves against
any further importation of slaves would co-operate, and
countless philanthropists all over the world will contri-
bute their mites of contributions towards a fund to be
employed in sufficient remunerations to said crews.
The vessels- to lee abandoned, or to be given up to the
lawfid (?}'Owners, in any manner consistent with the
law, which the -funds of the subscribers will test.

tet, therefore, meetingS of private indivials forthwith
take p:ae(i here and in the islands ; let a purse be made
up ;, and-let- the notices of premium be circulattd on
the coast of Africa, and among the sailors of Havannah
and -andlet an authorised individual or body,
as the representative of the subscribers to the fund, issue
his or their engagement•for the faithful performance of
these terms on the surrender of the ship, and landing of
the passebVi•s,' and the slave-trade will surely cease.-

TREATMENT OF EMIGRANTS.
THE SHIP MERSEY.-

In our last, we mentioned the arrival here of the Mer-
sey, from Liverpool to New York, which put 'back in
distress a second time. This vessel saiLd from Liver-
pool, the first time, on the 30th December, and again on
the 24th of March. The passengers a-re Wandering
about the streets in a state of destitution. Lieutenant
Hemmans, the Government agent here, has, we arc in-
formed, brought their case before the Protirator-Fiscal.
The following details have been furnished by some of
them ;—The shin Mersey, of 722 tons register, left
Liverpool for l'ew York on the 30th Denember,
under the command of Captain 'W. Rea. She. Was towed
out about 3 miles by a steamer, but from the foggy state
of the weather she could not proceed, and had to come
to anchor after having nearly got foul of another ship.
The following day she weighed anchor, and proceeded
on her voyage till the 6th February, when she encoun-
tered a violent storm, which continued till the 14th, when
one hundred and seventy of the passengers signed a pe-
tition to the captain, praying him to return, which re-
quest was complied with ; and the Mersey reached
Liverpool on the 25th February, with mainmast sprung,
and bulwarks, tiller, and round-house carried away. For
the fortnight previous, the passengers were- short (4
prov Lions, and they complain much of the prices charged
for such articles as were sold to them. The vessel lay in
Liverpool docks till the 17th of March, when she went cut
into the river, where she was examined by the Govern-
ment agent. She sailed again on the 24th of that
mouth, and on the day following she put back from
stress of weather. She remained again till the 3d of
April, when she set sail, and had a prosperous voyage
until the 17th ultimo, w heti she encountered a strong
gale of head-wind, in the course of which it was disco-
vered that the vessel had sprung a leak, and on the 18th
she put about, with the intention of making for the nearest
port, but when they got near the Cove of Bork, they were
again blown out to sea. On the 4th of May, they were
boa,rded by a Clyde. pilot; under rather peculiar circum-
stances. A passenger had hung up a shirt to dry, which
got entangled with one of the ropes, and when the crew
- were hauling, it gtit...hoigt-d to the top of the foretop •
mast, and was selii.byilie, rinot at a distance of seven
miles, and he instantly ni.ad4:foi- ;the ship, boarded, and
brought her to GrienoitV,...after she had been 46 days
out in her second atitfript:4ereiss the Atlantic. She had
285 passengers on Ita.fraNee,drcifl, and one was born
on the voyage.-G4,4o4'ol4freil6or.
TFis EPISCOPA4 -Ct64,NIGE AT PERTIL—At the
meeting of the Edinliurgh...Towri,COuncil on Tuesday:
Ain William Drysdale gave notice of the following mo-
tion :—" The Council; considering that for sonic time
past subscriptions to a large amount-have been collected
for the purpose of instituting a :seminary at. Perth for
tuition in the principles of the Cluirchtlf.England, remit
to the College Committee to consider what steps (if any)
should be adopted for the establishment of one or mere
chairs in.the University of Edinburgh for that branch of
study." He stated his apprehension that the proposed
College would he 'hurtful to the University, of Which the
Council were patrons, and said that it appeared to him
that it waS'their duty,.as:slvorn. Geuneillors, to do every-
thing in their power to brills the education of the country
as much as possible. to this eitY, and hot allow it to be
established any where else.—Glasgow Satz7day 'Post.

PUBLIC , MEETING IN AID OF THE UNEMPLOYED
OPERATIVES AND THE. Pooh.—At one o'clock on Thurs-
day, a public meeting, convened by the- Lord Provost,
was held in the Town Hall, to• take into consideration
the means to be adopted for alleviating the distress ex-
isting among the unemployed and poor, and appoint a
Committee to carry the resolutions which might then be
agreed upon into effect. The meeting was numerous,
comprising many of the first men of the city, in addition
to a large number of clergymen. Resolutions to take
measures to relieve the distress of the people, to support
a Managing Committee, and to solicit the Government to
remit the duties on the provisions, purchased to supply
the distressed, were • agreed to.—Abridged from the
Gavot', Argus.

MATAmonAs, MARCH 4.—The great epidemic
which raged last winter carried off eight hundred persons.
It assumed the nature of the congestive fever, the yellow
fever, and the black vomit. The following are the names
of some of the principal foreigners that died :—Mr.
Dorian (Prussian Consul), Mr. Rutherford (British
Consul), Messrs. Deeritt, Wilson, Garaty, Butts, Doug-
herty, Everitt, Breezed, Dr. Orr, and Mrs. Marstelli.
Not more than two of all the foreigners escaped the
disease.

A letter has been received from Algiers, May 1,
anneal:dug that General Changarnier had just mach a
successful excursion, against the Arabs, and 'captured
6,000 head of cattle.
.-
NOT A BA]) ONE. " Shakspere wrote well—
Dickens Weller."--Somerset Gazette.

The following is an extract of ..
a letter received by
a respectable mercantile house in Glasgow, from Singa-
pore, dated Feb. 22, 1842 •—" By the arrival of the
Sylph, this morning, from China, we learn that Amoy,
Chusan,
and Ningpo, had been declared free ports, and
that the people.of the Che Keang province had requested
the English to take possession, as they preferred being
under our GoTernment to the Chinese.