Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1819-10-30
FROM THE N. 7. DAILY ADVERTISER.
TIE SLAVE TRADE.


On the 9TH June, Mr.. Wilberforce, in
the house of commons of Great Britain,
moved an address to the Prince Regent
on the subject of the slave trade, and on
the 9th the Marquis of Lansdown made
a similar motion in the house of Lords !;
both of which were carried, the latter
without dissenting voice. The object
OF these speeches, was to acknowledge
the obligations of the houses to hisroyal
highness for his efforts to accomplish
the humiliation of the slave trade, and
to request him to renew his endeavors,
particularly in conjunction with the gov
ernments ofFrance and the United States
Of America, for the effectual attainment
of that great end.
Portugal is the only nation in Europe
which has hitherto taken no measures
to abolish the slave trade. And the in
quiry suggested by the members Of par
lament, viz. whether that solitary nation
shall be suffered, in case she will per-
sist in standing out against the united
voice of christendom, to carry it on, and
to permit others to carry it on under her
flag, must, we are fully persuaded, be-
fore many years, be categorically replied
to by the other powers. And we trust
that answer will be peremptorily and de-
cidedly in the negative-and when given,
that it will be enforced by reasons of so
cogent a nature that she must submit
In our view, neither Portugal nor any
other nation, has any more right to say
that she will carry on the traffic in black
human flesh, than she has to carry it on
in zuhite-that she has no more right, by
the law of nations or the laws Of con-
science, to seize and carry away to slave
ny the inhabitants of Africa, than she
has those of Asia, Europe, or America
How does it happen, that the people Of
three quarters OF the globe, no matter
of what color or complexion, are ex-
empted from this tSul injustice, this
savage cruelty, while those OF Africa
alone are subjected to its most tremen-
dous horrors? No person, hardened in
cruelty and villany as he may be, thinks
of transporting men and women from
among the Asiatics, or from our Indians,
for the purpose of selling them as slaves
I-much less does any other attempt to
purloin and fetter the white inhabitants
of Europe or America.
But the wretched, unoffending, and
Idefenceless natives Of Africa, have been
the object of universal oppression, injus-
tice, and cruelty, for centur;es--and now
at this late enlightened period, when
sentiments more just, more liberal, more
nevolent principles of the Christian re-
ligion, prevail over nine tenths of those
portions of the world where Christianity
is professed, shall it be endured, that one
comparatively feeble and insignificant
power shall go abreast of the general
sentiment, the general practice, and still
carry on the detestable traffic We trust
not. We do hope that all the powers
who have united to put an end to it, will
say to Portugal, in tones that she shall
understand and respect, that African
slavery must cease--that the abomina-
ton must come to perpetual end--and
that the nation, and its subjects, that will
persist in carrying it on, shall be taught
by force that they must withhold their
hands from the accursed employment
There is a mode of producing such a
result, and we hope and trust, that if ne
cessary, it will be resorted to by the ma
val powers without hesitation. That
mode is clearly limited at by the Marquis
of Lansdown in the following words
:" The only means by which it was pos
sble to terminate the slave trade on the
coast of Africa, would be to display a
common flag against the common enc
mics of mankind, and to establish such
a system of maritime police as would
give effectto the determination Of Europe
to suppress this abomination."
| We do most cordially hope that the
next congress of sovereigns in Europe,
will declare, that the transportation OF
negroes from Africa for the purpose of
enslaving them, shall be considered pi-
racy, and every person engaged or inte-
rested in it, shall be viewed and treated
as apirate. Then, and not till then, shall
we expectto see an end to this diabolical
business.
The Mad House at .4persa, in Naples.
| This establishment will, in livery short
time, be classed among the principal in
situations of useful arts and manufactures.