Star.
London, England, 1818-10-17 00:00:00

ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE.

The Public is acquainted with the most striking
external sign of the efforts made by the enemies of
the Slave-trade fcr the abolition of the detestable
traffic, in the appearance of Mr. Clarkson at the seat
of Congress, and his access to the Emperor of Russia.l
The exertions, however, of the friends of human na-
ture
and of benevolence, are not contked to the oral
communication of Mr. Clarkson. "There has been
sent from Aix-la-Chapelle, a pamphlet, written with
great energy; and which, as it exhibits the existing
condition of the Slave-trade, and sets forth the vari-
ous infractions of those principles which have by all
been acknowledged to be just, we determined to lay
it entire before the Pdhlic. The work is entitled—
" An Addre.;: to their Imperial and Royal .Mllnjesties,
and their Representatives at the Congress of ilix-la-
Chapelk 5"
ILLUSTRIOUS AND orsr.:tous SOVEREIGNS—The
Congress of Vienna, where your last assembly took
place, will form an epoch in history, of which the
memory will be for ever elle; idled by good men.—
After having saved Europe from the tyranny under
which it had so long groaned, you extended your
benevolent regards to the other ic3ions of the uni•
verse. Africa in particular excited your sympathy.
Sensibly touched with the miseries of which it was
the victim, you proclaimed the generous design of
uniting for its delivery from that state of oppression'
and misery to which the Slave-trade had reduced it;'

you resolved to put an end for ever (W I may be per-
mitted to use the energetic expressions which you
yourselves employed) 6, to that scourge which had
for so long a time desolated Africa, degraded Europe,
and afflicted humanity;" and to elevate that vast
Continent into the capacity of sharing with us in the
benefits of civilization, and the diffusion of moral

and religious truth.
Your Majesties being upon the point of avembling
at another Congress, one of the objects of your soli-
citude will naturally be, to inform rnirselves, whe-
ther your benevolent intentions with respect to Aft ica
have' been accomplished as they ought to be ; and
should it be proved that this is not the case, you will,
without doubt, desire to concert such measures as
rnay give effect to those elevated sentiments, those
truly Christian principles, which excited your first de-
clarations is favour of that Continent. It is not ne-
cessary to trace here in detail the nature of the Afri-
can Slave-trade, and the modifications which it had
undergone before the Congi ess of Vienna, the account
having been presented to your Majesties at that epoch.
In Iso7, Great Britain and the United States of

America, which entirely prohibited the trade in all
its branches to their respective subjects and in 1810,
Portugal, on its part, consented to circumscribe it
within certain limits on the coasts of Africa situated
to the north of the Equator. These important mea-
sures, aided at that time by the right of search which
belonged to the belligerent States, produced a'consi-
derable effect. A partial cessation of the Slave-trade
took place on a great extent of the coast of Africa,
and there remained but a few traces of that odious
traffic upon that which reaches from Senegal to the
Gold Coast : for England having added, by the right
of conquest, the establishments which the French
possessed in that country to those which it already ,
had, was in a condition to prevent the commerce of
its enemies, and to ensure the execution of the pro-1
Inbitory laws passed against the Slave-trade.
Short as the time was during which a part of the
Coast of the African Continent was protected from
the ravages of that traffic, it served fully to confirm
the expectations of the wise. The western shores of
the North of Africa began already to present an
aspect much more encouraging. The cares of peace-
ful industry, the arts of civilized life, and the pro-
pagation of true Religion,
.marching with a slow
but progresaife course, repaired the evils of a com-

nrerce as depraving as devastating—when all at
once the scene changed.
Peace, which followed the destruction of the revo-
lutionary power in France, and which was the source
of so many benefits to Europe, became to Africa the
source of new miseries--miseries which were even
aggravated by the partial repose which it had enjoy-
ed for some time, and the overthrow of those well-
founded hopes which had begun to be entertained.
Scarce was the peace proclaimed, when the traf-
fickers in human blood of all countries arrived in
crowds upon the African coast, and gave themselves
up afresh to their ancient crimes, with a cupidity so
much the more ardent, as it had been for a long
time repressed.
Among those, the French, who for more than 20
years had been able to take no direct part in the
murderous traffic, began it again with ardour; and
still openly continue it at this moment, in spite of
the solemn renunciation which their Government had
made in 1815, and in spite of the prohibitory laws
-which had been since that time promulgated in France.
The revival of the Slave-trade among the French,
and its history to the present time, have been marked
by circumstances the most disgraceful, and accom-
panied by cruelties most horrible, and consequences
the most disastrous.

During the ten years which preceded the restitu-
tion made to France of Senegal and Goree, no part
of the African coast, with the exception of Sierra
Leone, had been so completely freed from the eyjls
produced by the Slave-trade, as those establishments,
and the countries surroundsng them. The trade was
there alnu3st entirely abolished ; and in consequence
a remarkable increase of population, the progress of
agriculture, suit other ameliorations in the vicinity,
displayed the dawn of an opening prosperity most
gratifying to benevolent hearts.
It was in the month of January, 1817, that these
interesting colonies were given back to France, from
whence resulted effects truly deplorable. The resti-
tution was no sooner accomplished, than, notwith-
standing the declarations by which the King of
France had interdicted the commerce in slaves to }:is
subjects, that traffic was instantly renewed, and
spread over the whole coast. The means ordinarily
employed to excite the avarice of the Native Chiefs,
have produced, under existing circumstances, horrors
more revolting than heretofore. In the short space
of a year after the change of the possessors, the
neighbouring countries, where peace and abundance
flourished before, displayed only a disgusting spec-
tacle of misery and desolation. In this there is no-
thing astonishing to those who pay attention to what
passed. Bands of plunderers scoured all the mutt-
try, sacked and burned the towns and villages during
the night. The wretched inhabitants, fl) mg to es-
cape the flames, were either massacred, if they dared
to make an useless resistance, or were made prisoners
by their cruel enemies, and sold into endless exile
and slavery. By day, the peaceful labovrers shared
the same fate ; wretches stole upon theni by surprixe;
seized, gagged, and chained them, and then con•
ducted them to slave ship;. Others were broeght
before the barbarous Courts of the country, and ac-
cused of crimes which they had never committed, in
order that they and their families might be cordem•
lied, under the pretext of justice, and sold into sla-
very. Such are the ordinary means which the Slave
Trade employs to obtain its victim'.
It is here necessary to remember for a moment,
that Franco had professed, in the face of the universe,
the horror sk 'rich it felt at this guilty traffic. In the
Definitive Treaty of the :30th of November, 1815,
it had bound itself to the entire and effective aboli-
tion of " a commerce as odious in itself, as it is im-
peratively forbidden by the laws of religion and na-
term" Since the 30th of JulT, 1815, it had informed
the Ambassadors of the Allied Powers, that it had
issued orders " to put an end to the Trade in Slaves
on its part from that day, every where and for ever."
It had even 'previously assured the British Govern-
ment, that the establishments of Senegal and Goree.
which had been restored to it by the peace, should
never be permitted to contribute to the restoration of
the trade in Slaves.

Yet, nevertheless, in spite of all these declarations,
scarce had these establishments come again under her
dominion, than this work of rapine, carnage, and
desolation, was seen to re-commence ; all hope of
amelioration, which had begun to display itself, va-
nished in an instant ; thousands of unhappy prisoners
of every age, and both sexes, were heaped into the
pestilential hold of slave ships, and suffered all the
horrors, but too well known, which accompany their
transportation from the French Colonies►o the West
Indies ; and there, those who'survive arc condemned,
to pass their lives in severe .and unremitting labour,
under the whip of the bard•heatted driver.
It has bcen thought necessary to enter into some
dzt.rils in speaking of these Colonies, because they
tend to skew the full weakness and inefficacy of the'
ordinary methods of prevention, when it is necessary,)
to repress the restless and insatiable rapacity of the
traffickers in human blood.

No one can doubt the good faith of the Frencl:
Government ; and yet what a singular triumph hare
these wretches been able to obtain over all its deula4
rations and all its decrees!

But let it not be imagined that thisttreaMl scourge
is inflicted upon Africa by the hands of the French
only ; privateers of other nations, lust:ming any P.ag
agreeing best with their criminal views, have covered
the shores of Africa, and tilled their vessels with the
unhappy victims of those crimes which they had ex-
cited: not only the Pbrtuguese and Spaniards have
borne an extensive part in these enterprizes, but the
citizens of the United States, the Dutch, the English
themselves, concealing themselves under the flags of
other nations, have co-operated in this work of de►
struction. It can be proved, that from the origin of
this inhuman traffic, Africa has never suffered more
from its ravages than during part of the time which
has elapsed since the re-establishment of peace in the,
civilized world. Worthless men of every other coTI-
- seem to have basely conspired to nip in the bud
the hope of the happiness, and of the civilization of
Africa, and to frustrate the benevolent intentions of
their Sovereigns in favour of that unhappy portion of
the universe.

To elucidate the causes which have aggravated
this dreadful evil in so extraordinary a manner, it is
only necessary to explain the new circumstances in
which the Slave Trade is placed.
The restoration of peace deprived Great Britain of
the right which a state of war gave her, of examin.

LONDON.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1818.
vir. FUNDS.

FRICF OF STOCKS TDB DAY AT T%S'ET.VF. 0-CLO:K
Bank Stock shut-3 per Ct. Re 'him! 7514 ex. div.
per Cent. Consols 76.1—f0r Ace. 7(4
4 jwr Cent. 91 en. div.-5 per Ct. Navy 1062 i
Bink Long Anns. shit—lndia Bonds 8890 pre.
Omnitun dis.—• Exchequer Bills 19 20 prerrr.

stocks have then nearly one per cent. since yester-
day. The Market appeared very brisk this morning,
and Consols for the Account were done at 766.—:
The rise is attributed to the scarcity of Stock, the
Bankers having advanced immense sums of late upon
Stock securities.

We mentioned a few Jays ago, on the arrival of
'Papers from Montreal, that Sir Peitz°Arse MAtr•
LAND, the new Governor of Upper Canada, had sum-
moned the Provincial Legislature to assemble in the
course of this month ; and we have been since fa-
voured with a variety of private communications
from the same quarter, all of which are filled with'
expressions of the satisfaction which this prudent
measure of his Excellency has given to the people of
the Province.

It is stated, and we doubt not most truly, that it
has been altogether owing to the Province ha-ving
been deprived of the regular and constitutional me-
dium of a Parliament through which to represent
and obtain the redress of its grievances, that it has for
these two years past been a scene of so much popu-
lar disquietude and party dissension. The Provincial
Legislature, when last assembled, had been abruptly
dismissed by the late Governor, Lieutenant-General
CORE, at a moment when they were engaged in a
course of enquiry into several matters of vital im-
portance to the interests of the Province ; and the
manner of that dismission, was such as to indicate
' most clearly, that it was done with the unwise pur-
pose of putting a stop to that enquiry--of smother-
ing, if possible, the nearly unanimous cry of the
people for redress. The natural consequences of this
act of despotic indiscretion have been manifested in
"the violent ferment which has spread from one cor-
r.er of the Province to the other—in their Meetings
in every Township—their general conventions—their
Addresses and Petitions to the Throne—the trial of
their leader M. GOURLAT, and the enthusiastic joy of
the sr!..cle Province at his acquittal.
It is a fact, at the same time, which deserves not
to be concealed, as a useful lesson may be derived
from it for the conduct of this and other Provincial
Parliaments in future, that the House of Assembly of
Upper Canada were in a great measure the instru-
ments of their own dissolution, in consequence of their
making 2r. imprudent transposition in the usual and
safe order of legislative proceeding. They (list voted
the supplies required by the Gerernor, and left
their grievances to be treated of afterwards; whert.as
had they held the strings of their purse, as wiser
Parliaments have sometimes done, till they received
a satisfactory answer to their complaints, the Gover-
nor, not being able to do without the supplies, must
and would have conceded, all or much of what they
required. The Governor, as it was, having no far-
ther occasion for their services, and being fully pos-
sessed with that old appendage of Divine right, the
notion that Parliaments are of no other use than to
rue away the money of their constituents, he dis-
missed them to their homes, with infinitely less cere-
mony than he would have done a deputation of In-
dian bear-hunters.

That the matters about which the Provincial As-
sembly of Upper Canada were engaged, when they
were so abruptly dismissed by Lieutenant-General
GORE, were not of a nature which dverved such con-
tumelious disregard, the English ptCurc will be at
once perfectly satisfied, In pit:e stat(Jaellt of