Star.
London, England, 1818-10-20 00:00:00

ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

ADDRESS TO THE ALLIED SOVEREIGNS AT

ADCZA-CHAPELLE.

(Ormeluded from the Sr&s of yesterday.)
A near approach would certainly be made towards
the total extinction of this traffic, if the right of visit-
ing and of detaining vessels engaged in it, or which
have slaves on board, were universally agreed upon,
so that the national vessels of every State might have
the power of visiting the slave-ships of all the others.
Without the general agreement of the civilized world
to chi.; plan of maritime policy, nothing can effectually
bring about the proposed object. It would always be
in the power of an independent State, however insig-
nificant, which should refuse to adopt it, to cover with
its flag the contraband trade in slaves, and to ensure
th its impunity. But even though this agree-
ment Auld be universal, yet, while the punishment
• **grime shall consist merely in a pecuniary pe-
nalty, its extinction will remain incomplete. The risk
of confiscation would be counterbalanced by the im-
mense gains resulting from this trade in blood, gains
which would necessarily augment in proportion to the
new obstacles to be surmounted ; and it is to be feared
that in many cases men would yield to the temptation.
The only step to take, when the Slave Trade shall
be declared to be an infraction of the general law of
nations ; the only step agreeing with these principles,
and which can conduct to the desired end, will be this,
that the Sovereigns of Europe now in Congress as-
sembled should proclaim, that reckoning from the
Ist of June,lB2.o, the dealer in slaves shall be put on
the same footing as the pirate; and by this method,
simple and easy as it is, the liberation of Africa will
be certain and complete. At least, when the dealer
in slaves shall be branded with the character of a pi-
rate, and when he shall be subjected to the same
punishment, the Slave 'trade will soon become a
crime as rare as piracy now is in the world.
It is impossible to make any objection to this mea-
sure founded on reason or justice. It is only the ne-
cessary consequence of principles already established.
Theft, murder, or violence committed on the sea,
with intent to steal, are all acts of piracy; but does
not the Slave Trade carry with it theft and murder?
Even during the middle-passage, numerous murders
are committed. In the most favourable cases, a heap
of slaves perish miserably from the fatal effents of a
cruel imprisonment. When then this trade shall be
forbidden by law, it can no longer be looked upon
except as a capital offence ; and when it shall be de-
clared an infringement of the general law of Nations,
it will be, like other acts of piracy, a crime which
every body has the right, and which it is every body's
duty to repress. What must greatly contribute to the
adoption of this phut is, that it is equally simple and
proper.—There exist already in all Inaritime States
laws against pirates, and the manner of trying them
is a settled thing. There will be no need, therefore,
of complicated regulations for putting in force the
decree which all the Great Powers of Europe might
make on this subject. The dealer in slaves bemg
declared a pirate, the enemy of the human race,
would be immediately ranged among the great cri-
minals, and his crime would receive its just punish-
ment—that of a robber and an assassin.

The period proposed for putting that system into
execution will allow to all persons engaged in this
traffic a sufficient time to withdraw from tit.

There will then remain no longer any excuse for
those who may be taken acting an contravention of
the general law of nations, founded on that of (ion
and nature, the application of which it would only
serve to proclaim.
&apposing that this plan should be applied, it would
still be necessary to exercise a vigilant superintend•
ence over the manner in which the Slave Trade might
be carried on during the period of its permission, and
perhaps to extend that vigilance to some years after
the termination of that period. Without thisprecau-
tion, it would be prosecuted with so much ardour
from the present moment until the epoch fixed for
its close, that probably the months of its remaining
existence would be filled with a mass of evils more
numerous and enormous than ever the world witnessed
in an equal space of time. Would it not then be de-
sirable that the maritime Power; of Europe should
equip small squadrons for the protection of the coast
of Africa, winch, dispersed along the coast, would
execute with rigour the existing prohibitory laws re-
lative to the Slave Trade? The extent of this traffic
would then be repressed in as far as it might exist
within the limits which have been traced ant ; and
When it shall once have ceased, the frequent visits of
these squadrons would render all attempts at its re-
newal hopeless. The personal risk to he run would
then be of a nature too serious to render it probable
that the number of persons necessary for fitting out
and manning a slave ship would delibcrately expose
themselves to it. Then might we hope to see the ships
of war of different nations meeting on the ocean, not
as enemies, but as friends; not to sacrifice the lives of
men for false or frivolous causes, but to protect, en-
lighten, and give happiness to the human race.
And now, illustrious and generous Sovereigns, per-
mit the author of this address humbly to remind you
that the measures here submitted to you, wise and
noble as they indubitably are in themselves, are par-
ticularly worthy of your elevated rank. In deigning
to decree their adoption, you will fulfil in an eminent
degree the duties which revelation makes the especial
duty of the supreme authority in every State : you will
become at once the terror of evil doers, and the Mi-
nisters of GOD for the welfare of the most oppressed
and most miserable class of human beings.
To you then, illustrious Sovereigns, humanity ad-
dresses herself, as the Xicegerents of that SUPREME
Powna.whose continued' essence is benevolence, in
the humble conviction that the g-ent interests of man-
kind have particular claims on ynn above all other
Monarchs—on you; whom the Li of Prtovanxsen
has so visibly protected, and for wh:aart the arm of