Star.
London, England, 1815-06-14 00:00:00

SLAVE Tr.ADE.

Mr. WILBERFORCE then rose, pursuant to the
notice which he gave on a former night, relatiVe to
the importation of Slaves into the British Colonies;
and, atter some observations on the various evasions
which were at present made of the existing laws
against the Slave Trade, saiJ, it was to render the
Acts passed for the Abolition of the Slave Trade ef-
fectual, that he now wished to bring forward the
measure he WAS about to propose. He thought every
evasion of the Act of Abolition ought to attract the
serious attention of the House, and he hoped Gentle-
men would pause long before they opposed the mea-
sure he was about to propose, and which he regretted
had not been proposed at the time the original Act
for abolishing the Trade was passed. The Honour.
able Gentleman contended that Slaves were still im-
ported into the British Colonies; and that it was so,
he was very strongly confirmed, by the well-known
fact, that Slaves had not been increased in value since
the Ab ilition Act was passed. He contended, that
the system of abolition must be rendered one in fact,
and not in theory only, The.temptation still Conti-
nued, and it was not a theoretical system but a prac-
t;cai one which morn he adopted, to put an end to
this ab(minable traffic in human blood. The Hon.
I Member then went into a detail of the various schemes
adopted by Captains of ships engaged in this prohi-
bited traffic, and the various hardships and cruelties
to which the unfortunate beings, the subjects of it,
were exposed ; and mentioned one instance in parti-
cular, in which, out of a cargo of 700 Negroes, 360
perished. The Honoorahle Member then proceeded
to state to the Rouse' w hat his proposed remedy for
these evils should be, namely—that a register should
be prepared of all the Slaves in the different British
Colonies, which register should contain the name and
desctiptiort of every Slave, and the title by which
each Slave was claimed s that a copy of Si;cli register
should be sent to This country and preserved here;
and that any fraud committed upon this regulation
should subject ;be offender to iivere punishment.—
This measure, if adopted, would give effect totheAbo-
lition Law ; and, he had hoped, was one to which no
objection would be made. He now understood, how.
ever, it would be opposed ; lend that one ground 'of
opposition' was, That it would interfere with the Colo-
nial Legislatures. 'This Obettion, dinveyers be 'con-
- • .. •

siflered as not descrying of any weigtt, when put in
competition with the interest and happiness of the
slave population of the West ladies ; and it never yet
had been denied that the Imperial Parliament had a
right to pass laws for the general regulation of the
Colonies. It might be said that the Colonial Assem-
blies would pass such a law ; but this was More'than
we could possibly expect—and indeed not only more
than we could expect from Their inclination, but more
than we could expect from their power. These Le-
gislatures could only legislate for their own particu-
lar colony, whilst this measure required a power con-
trouling the whole range of the Colonies to carry it
into effect: The Honourable Gentleman then pro-
ceeded to paint, in glowing colours, the present de-
graded state of the Negroes, and his regret that their
religious instruction was so entirely neglected. He
also regretted that marriage was not more encou-
raged among them ; and laid, in Mr. Burke's pro.
posed plan for ameliorating the situation of the slaves
he had proposed to force them to marry; but this, he
confessed, was, in his opinion, going rather too far.
(A laugh.)—The Honourable Gentleman then moved
for leave to bring in a Bill for better preventing the
illicit importation of Slaves into the British Colonies.
Mr. BROWNE hoped, if the House agreed to the
bringing in of the Bill, that it would not be proceeded
in at this advanced period of the Session ; hut would
be postponed until an opportunity was afforded of
consulting the interests of those who would he affec-
ted by it. The Honourable Gentleman observed,
that no opposition had been given by those interested
in the measures already passed for the abolition of the
Slave Trade. The effect, however, of the present
measure would be to destroy the colonial interest,
and would materially injure the West India property.
He denied that there had been any illicit introduction
of Negroes into the island of Antigua ; nor, did he
believe any had been introduced into the other islands.
The adop ion of a registry in the island, would be an
attack upon the constitutional rights of the island, as
established in the different Assemblies. The Hon.
Gentleman conjured the House not to sanction a
measure of this kind until they had ascertained whe-
ther the Assemblies had or not taken measures of a
similar description, supposing the evil existed, which
he was not disposed to admit. He then moved an
Amendment, by substituting, after the word " that
44 a Committee he appointed to inquire whether the
clandestine importation of Negroes into the British
Colonies has taken place since the passing of the Act
for the Abolition tat the Slave Trad."
Mr. PROTII 1:1: OE coinci,Fzd in tht, sentiments
of the last Speaker, expressing a conviction, that it
would not be prudent to legislate without satisfactory
evidence that the evil complained of had really exis-
tence. The Han. Gentleman admitted that the pa-
rent Legislature had a paramount right of enacting
a law upon the subject to those of the Islands. He
wished the Bill to lie over for the present year.
Sir .1. NEWPORT observed, that those Gentle-
men interested in the Bill admitted the right of the
House to controul the Colonial Legislatures. He ob-
jected to the appointment of a Committee, as calcu-
lated for the purposes of delay, in older to prevent
the completion of the great and humane work of
Negro Redemption. He deprecated the idea of com-
bating with the prejudices of the Legislatures in the
different' islands ; who must be, in some respects,
under the controul of the inhabitants.
Mr. MA RRI'ATT thought, if the assertion was
correct, that an illicit intercourse was going on with
the colonies, the appointment of a Committee would
not delay the measure, for the fact might soon be
ascertained. He condemned the proceedings of the
African Committee, from whom this measure origi-
nated. Without imputing blame to them, he rather
thought they acted upon incorrect information. He
stated that not less than 51 estates had been aban
dotted in the island of Trinidad, for want of Negroes
to cultivate them. In the island of Grenada too
there had been a considerable diminution of slaves
for many years past. He stated, that the condition
of the Slaves had been ameliorated.
Mr. F. DOUGLAS supported the motion.
Sir S. ROMILLY agreed with the Honourable
Gentleman as to the expediency of the measure; but
regretted that it was brought forward at so Late a pe-
riod of the Session.
Mr. BA REI A M contended, that our object should
be to give the Negroes as much liberty as they could
bear, to fit them for bearing more. But, it there
wete slaves illicitly brought into the colonies, that
fact could be proved before a Committee in a few
days. He wished that there should be a registry of
Slaves in the Colonies, which, he considered, would
remedy the evil complained of. There ought to be
A Committee appointed to inquire into the state of
the Negroes in the West Indies; and he meant, at
some future period, to move for such a Committee.
Lord CASTLEREAGH supported the motion of
Mr. Wilberforce; but he trusted that time would be
given to allow the Colonies to adopt this measure,
from their own conviction of the propriety of it.
Mr. W. smtru approved of the introduction of
the Bill ; but he wished that a measure of this irts
portance should not be hurtied through the House in
the present, Session.
Mr. WILBERFORCi replied, and Mr. BROWN with.
drew his amendment.
Leave was then given to bring in the Bill.
Lord PALMERSTON obtained leave to bring in
Bills for the Relief of Out Pensioners of Chelsea
Hospital; and for granting allowances extraordinary
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