The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-07-17 00:00:00

disobeyed, as it was expected they would be—nay, even
perhaps as the authorities were instructed to do.
. Things were in this state when Mr. Villiers arrived in
:Madrid. :They Were; if possible, worse; for Mr. Adding,
ibri'haa been still less fortunate than his predecessors.
The slave trade was one of. the subjects that earliest
attracted Mr. Villiers's attention. It was found, how-
ever, to be embarrassed with difficulties of a kind by no
means easy to be overcome. Independent of the disgust
and weariness attached to a subject which had been so
often pressed and so often evaded, where the Spanish go-
vernment was conscious of bad faith, and the British
government animated by a sense of ill-treatment—inde-
pendent of all this, the means of acting upon Spain were
not apparent. The Spaniards are not warmed by any
philanthropic zeal, they do not even comprehend hu-
manity on a national scale, and they naturally have attri-
buted all along our enthusiasm in this cause to interested
motives. It is fancied in Spain that we are bent upon
selfish views; that, seeing our colonies in the state they
are, we are jealous of the prosperity of Cuba and Port
Rico, and that we would gladly stop the supply of slaves
in Spanish settlements, because we can no longer pro-
cure them in our own. In addition to this jealousy, the
slave trade is, with some drawbacks, a source of wealth
to Cuba, an island which, fur a multitude of reasons, is
deemed a possession of great importance in Spain, and
the popular opinion of which the government at home is
obliged to menager with much delicacy. Excepting,.per-
haps, by a few long-sighted persons in Cuba,-,the pros-
perity of the colony is cons;dered intimater' connected
with a copious supply of fresh slaves, and already the
mixed commissions, the controversies on the subject of
slaves smuggled into the island, and other sources of dis-
pute under the. old treaty, have produced much prejudice
against English emancipators. these persons have their
zealous representatives in Madrid.
It must be confessed that the prospect held out but a
poor promise of success. A yearand eight months of in-
defatigable perseverance, and the exercise of very pecu-
liar talents for diplomatic proselytism, combined with the
influence which the present political state of Spain gives
to the.government of Great Britain when dexterously
wielded, have enabled Mr. Villiers to accomplish every
object the most zealous emancipator has ever ventured to
trope.
The treaty solemnized on the 2Sth of thin month,
and of which the singers are M. Martinez de la Rosa,
whose powers were renewed by the Queen Regent after
he quitted office for this purpose, and Mr. Villiers, pro-
vides for every case that is likely to occur in carrying on
this abominable traffic, and guarantees their execution
in Arch an effectual manner that we may now look for-
ward to a speedy destruction of
.its last strong hold—the
Spanish flag.
Formerly none of the crew of a slave vessel were pu-
nishable, though they might have been caught in the act
of consummating their crime.. By the new treaty, not
only are the mater, pilot, and crew to be visited with
severe punishment, as in cases of piratical robbery, but
also Me owners of vessels condemned for trafficking in
slaves—a most serious blow to the wealthy citizen, who
in perfect security battens at home on the fruits of the
crimes his capital gives birth to on the coasts of Africa
and; America.

The new treaty also puts an end altogether to the evil
of which mention has been made, viz., that of evading
the present law by collecting the cargo on the shore, and
waiting the opportunity to sail away when the cruizer is
out of sight; for. this treaty embraces the equipment
articles ofwhich so much has been said.
By these articles a vessel fitted up for the slave trade
is as liable to be seized and condemned as if it were taken
with its cargo.
Another article meets the difficulty res7,ecting the ves-
sels bought in afterbeing condemned and again employed
in the slave trade. It is provided that every vessel so
condemned shall, previous to sale, be broken up and sold
in pieces—a most effectual means of ridding the seas of
these dangerous craft.
In future all ships captured by British cruisers are to
be made over to the British government, so that, as Spa-
nish cruisers capture none and British cruisers all, we
have the power of not only giving liberty to these unfor-
tunate people, but of securing it, which previously was a
grand difficulty.
In short, the new treaty puts the abolition of the slave
trade, which now almost solely flourishes under the Spa-
nish flag, entirely in British hands, and the result may
be readily anticipated. It may be hoped that in a very
brief time the enormous expense attendant upon keeping
numerous cruisers for this object in the most sickly part
of the globe will cease to be necessary, and that in our
endeavours to prevent the horrors of the slave trade we
may not be called upon to sacrifice the lives of great
numbers of our most valuable fellow-countrymen.
At present we employ a large force, which is restrained
by the regulations oldie old treaty from acting with any
efficiency ; under the new treaty a very small force will
soon render the seas absolutely untenable even for ves-
sels designed to deal in slaves.