The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-03 00:00:00

their money to the adventure, or whether, as is said,
by running vessels destined for the coast." " Not only
fir their conduct in our internal concerns'." That meant
importing 70 or 80 slaves, and not only that, but grant-
ing certificates to slave traders. "But principally for the
way in which they contribute to the ransom of the cap-
tive blacks in Africa, whether by ordering goods fit to
be employed in this work of humanity !" Whether by
muskets bought for 16d. a-piece, and known to burst the
first time they were fired ; whether by shakles and
manacles, or the goods purchased for carrying out this
work of humanity, or whether by the purchase of slave
vessels, they did not particularise. Such vessels for
example, as that lately taken by Captain Denman, who,
to the honour of his name, he (Lord Brougham) might
confidently assert, if not the first amongst his gallant
brethren, had equalled any of them in the war
—interminable war—and be rejoiced to say, success-
ful war, which he had waged with these
felons of the coast—he stopped one small vessel of 47
tons with 370 negroes on board. Eight to owe ton ! being
five times more than our slave carrying bad permitted.
It was not necessary—it was not useful, that lie should
fall into any exaggeration on a motion of th 6 present
kind. He defied the imagination of man to conceive a
case worse than was conveyed in the bare statement of
the fact he had mentioned of 370 unhappy wretches
being crowded in a space not larger than a Thames
barge. He did not mean to attribute all the horrors of
the system to those parties whose capital was engaged in
the trade of Brazils and who drove that trade ; but he
could not acquit them of being accessory to it, of pro-
fiting by it, and that they must know it was a fact
placed beyond all possibility. of doubt. He would
take the case of the Mining Companies. Those
Companies were chiefly carried on by British
capital, and some of them had their seats
in the city of London itself. He understood that at a
meeting of one of those Companies it had been dis-
tinctly stated that one ground for a call being made on
the shareholiers for an increased payment in the shares
had been the expense to which the Company was put
for carrying on its operations in the mines. What were
those operations ? Why it appeared that 5,000/. had
been expended by the Company in one year in the pur-
chase of 73 slaves. Again, it appeared that 63 slaves
had been purchased in the following year ; and the num-
ber of slaves employed altogether in the mines amounted
to 2,000. Could there be any doubt as to the way in
which the 5,0001. were employed ? If the Directors of
the Company should say, that for aught they knew the
money was expended in buying Creoles, and not
newly imported slaves—that latter purchase being
allowed by the law, he should tell them that an
inquiry into the facts would prove the fallacy of such a
statement. No people in that country could doubt for a
moment whether a slave were a Creole, or whether he
had been lately imported. A person had only to be a
fortnight in the country to be enabled to distinguish the
two men, without hearing them speak a word. But if
any doubt could remain to the eye, none could remain to
the ear, because the instant these unhappy beings
attempted to speak, it would be seen at once whether
they had been imported from Africa, because in that
case they could not speak a word of Brazilian or Por-
tuguese. Besides the price showed that those slaves
were not Creoles. These seventy-three slaves had been
purchased for 5,0001. making it utterly and absolutely
impossible that they could have been Creoles. The price
of a Creole was 1201., 1301., or 140/. ; but those slaves
he had mentioned had been bought at the rate of half
that sum. Let him see any man purchasing a jewel for
less than half its value, even though it were not brought
to him by a suspicious character, and he should have his
doubts as to his honesty ; but let him see a man pur-
chasing a jewel brought to him by a most auspicious
character, and he should desire no further proof that one
was the receiver snd the other the thief. But an unli-
mited supply of Creole negroes could not be obtained ;
the quantity was always limited, except under extraor-
dinary circumstances ; and it was only by new negroes
that the plantations .and mines could be worked. Let
them consider the position in which these rich men
placed these negroes ; their agents on the spot might he
more guilty than themselves, as seeing all of the details
and having a more specific knowledge of the circum stances ;
but it was themselves who set this traffic in motion. Some
of those agents bore what was equal to a Magistrate's
commission. The cargoes could not be landed in the.
harbour of Rio, not so much from the fear of the national
authorities as of the British Commission ; they were
landed outside the bar, and conducted inland, where bar-
racoons were constructed in the woods, and in these the
poor wretches were cooped up. He bad asked how it
was that six or seven hundred men could be marched
away without resistance, and he had been told if he had
ever witnessed the scene he would not ask what precau-
tions were taken, for the slaves were landed in such a
state as rendered any attempt at resistance or escape
utterly and physically impossible. And all this
was well known to the authorities. He should
not attempt to draw nice distinctions between the
guilt of agents and principals, but he could not
acquit those who indirectly put this infernal ma-
chinery in motion ; those who profited by it, whose
speculation, whose labour all tended to their own gain,
were all consummated by the perpetration of an act of
accession to that villainy, of which, if they were not ac-
cessories, they were at least encouragers; these hecould
not hold blameless. Their capital, their enterprise, their
industry were as certainly the main-spring of the slave.
trade as the main-spring of that clock (pointing to the
clock of the House), put in motion the hands, which
reminded him how much longer than necessary he had
detained their Lordships in dwelling upon these circum-
stances. He remembered an Eastern tale which some-
what illustrated this subject. It represented some tyrant,
who was minded to put two persons of his own family
to death, but even his otherwise relentless nature
shrank from the sight of the murder he was about to
commit. He commanded an agent to perform it, who
partaking of the same scruples, entrusted the task to a
slave, who, being led into a cavern, saw a rope which de-
scended into a hole at the extremity. A hatchet was put
into his hand, and he separated the rope, which disap-
peared rapidly into the hole. He was then led to the ad-
joining palace, and found that his victims had been
sleeping under a marble canopy, which, when the rope
was secured, descended and crushed them by the blow.
The tyrant shrank from the sight ; but, by the blow of
the hatchet in the hand of the slave, as certainly caused
those deaths, as those speculations, as that capital,
kindled the wars, committed the murders, stimulated
the tortures and shed the desolation over Africa,
which had deluged that country for ages, merely
to glut with wealth those cruel nations who,
more than any others, were ostentatious devotees to the
religion of charity and peace.—(Hear, hear.) He alluded
tc the manner in which their Lordships had been em-
ployed on the day preceding, to show that if they could
disallow the plea of distress, when indecency or immo-
rality was involved, they would not hesitate a moment,
for the sake of trade, when mercy and humanity were
endangered, neither towards the rising of the sun, nor to
his going down, would they wage war for the lucre of
gain against virtue and human happiness—wars such as
were never waged by the greatest tyrant that ever sat
upon a throne. Let them remember what was
said by the greatest of our poets, and not the least
of our patriots, "That it was the prerogative
of this country to teach the nations how to live." But
it was with peace and freedom that the commerce of
England held her holy alliance. Far greater than Greek
or Rowan charity would be their Lordships' protection
to those for whom he pleaded, and they would call down
blessings from heaven upon the country and themselves
by taking the course which, with all humility, he called
upon their Lordships to take. They would add to their
own glory, and bestow upon him the greatest favour
which he could desire in discharging a sacred public
duty. The Noble Lord concluded, amidst cheers, by
moving a resolution to the effect that it was expedient to
take measures for preventing the employment of British
capital, and of British agents, in the slave trade.
The Duke of WELLINGTON said, that after the
attention with which his Noble Friend had been heard,
he was sure their Lordships would all be anxious to have
some measure under their consideration which would be
effectual to put an end to the evils which his Noble and
Learned Friend had with so much eloquence pourtrayed.
He felt that if the House adopted the motion, it would
be absolutely necessary for the Government of the
country to bring forward some measure for the suppres-
sion of those evils. His Noble and Learned Friend had
mentioned that some persons bearing her Majesty's
commission were concerned in these transactions. That
was is part of the evil for which there was no difficult),
in finding a remedy.—(Hear, hear.) But having at-
tended most minutely to the speech of his Noble and
Learned Friend, he could not discover anything like a
road to an effectual remedy, as the evils were perpetrated
in a country where they were not contrary to The law,
and he should be totally at a loss to know how
the English Government could obtain the information
which would enable them to propose any measure.
What, therefore, he proposed was, that his Noble and
Learned Friend should himself bring forward a measure
which would have the effect of putting an end to the per-
petration of those crimes, and relieve the country from
the disgrace of their continuance. He (the Duke of
Wellington) would submit to the House, and his Noble
and Learned Friend, an engagement on the part of the
Government that they would take his measure into con-
sideration at the earliest possible period in the next
session, for the purpose of rendering it a perfect
measure.

After a short conversation in which Lord Wharn-
clitfe and the Earl of Ripon took a part, Lord Brougham
withdrew his motion.

The motion was then withdrawn.
A message from the Commons brought up the Bri-
bery at Elections Bill, and the Drainage (Ireland) Bill,
LIMITATION OF ACTIONS (IRELAND) BILL.
On the Order of the Day being read for the House
resolving itself into a Committee on this Bill,
The LORD CHANCELLOR said, that he proposed
that the Bill should come into operation in the month of
July, 1844, in order to give parties affected by the mea-
sure time to assert their rights.
The House then went into Committee on the Bill.
The different clauses were agreed to after a short dis-
cussion, and the Report was ordered to be received on
Thursday.
The Colonial Passengers Bill, and the Bonded Corn
(No. 2) Bill went through Committee.
The Joint-Stock Banking Bill was read a third time
and passed.
The Double Costs Bill went through Committee, was
reported, and ordered to be read a third time on Friday.
The Ordnance Services Bill went through Committee,
as did also the Western Australia Bill.
On the motion of Lord CAMPBELL, the Bribery at
Elections Bill was read a first time, and ordered to be
read a second time on Friday.
The Bills on the table were- forwarded- a stage, and
the House, at half-past Eight. o'Clock, adjourned till
Thursday.

HOUSE OF COMMONS, Aug. 2.
DESIGNS COPYRIGHT BILL.
Mr. GLADSTONE moved the Order of the Day for
bringing uplthe Report on this /3ill.