The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-07-28
For the Union.
THE SLAvE-TRADE.

mo. Y.
The introduction of the right of search, in time
OF peace, was looked upon by England as prece.
dent, and as conquest of the greatest importance,
Lord Castlereagh, wishing to take Immediate advan-
tage Of the precedent which he had Just established
called together, IN the month Of February, 1918, all
the representatives of the maritime powers, and in
vited them transmit TO their respective courts
proposition granting to all vessels of war Of each
nation the right Of visiting all merchant vessels, for
the purpose of suppressng the slayo-trade. On the
2ls of February, he addressed note to Sir Charles
Stewart, ambassador from England to the French
court, with instructions to induce that government
to take part in the treaties, by which SPAN, Portu-
gal, and the Netherlands had consented to the re-
ciprocal right of search This the Duke of Richie
lieu refused to accede to- and based his refusal upon
the ground, 'that the offer of reciprocity Woy;
and the unavoidable conflicts to which the exercise
of the right Of search must give RISE would have a
tendency to disturb the harmony then existing be-
tween the two governments"
The instructions given on the 26h of March, 1919,
to the Marquis de Latour Maubourg ambassador at
London, point to the question of the right of search,
which requires, on his part, the greatest pru-
dence and circumspection; and reminds him " that
the court of London seeks, for its own particular
interests, 10 take advantage of projects, which ap.
pearance of philanthropy, conformably to the opin-
ions of the age, prevents from being openly re-
ected"
Mr.. Pasquier, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in a
note dated "April, $780," continued TO reject the
right of aearch said to be required for the abolition
of the slave-trade;-"the remedy" he says, "would
be more dangerous than the disease. Search sea,
in time of peace, is an act that would wound the in
dependence of the flag a nation cannot subscribe 10
H. ,citiout giring atatal stab 10 lis independence"
AT the Congress Of Verona, in 1922, the first
thing demanded by England was the right of search.
The answer Of Mr.. dc Chateaubriand, the then
minister penipotcntiary from France, is worthy of
all praise, and cannot be too often repeated "lfhe
French government could ever consent to the right
Of search, the most fatal results would follow The
national character of the French and English is OPP
posed to II; and if this opinion required proofs, it
would only be necessary to call to mind, that this
very year, in time of a general peace French blood
has flowed upon the shores of Africa. France rec
ognises the liberty of the seas for oil acknowl-
edged foreign flags, to whatever power they may
belong. She only claims that independence which
she respects in others, and which COMFORTS with
her dignity"
Persevering in the fulfment of her object wary
in profting by circumstances, England has put to
rest the feelings of friendship which the revolution
of 1880 had awakened between people who had been
enemies so long. She took advantage of the difficult
position in which France had been placed by the
revolution of July, 1880, in her relations with the
whole of Europe. She sold France her alliance
and the right of search was her price.
In the sitting Of the Chamber of Deputies Of the
2Sth of May, 1912, Marshal Sebastian actnowl-
eugen = tndt the alliance was ccmcnteu ny tnt
treaty Of 1885, but for this treaty, the alliance would
Immediately have been broken.n The words of the
Duke de Broglle are still more explicit: 81 entreai
the chambers to recall TO mind the period of 1881
and the situation we were then placed in; it was
at a time when the Austrian government had march
ed its army of occupation into the Roman States
when the French government had ordered the occu-
patton of Ancona when the Dutch army had inva-
dcd Belgium; and when the French army had, il
turn, marched into it, to drive them OUT when Poland
was struggling in her last painful agony! There
were then, on both sides of the Rhine, seven ol
eight hundred thousand armed men, watching each
other, and no one could say if. from day to day
peace could be maintained. Would it have beer
prudent, with such a threatening aspect of n gen
cral war the continent, to burden ourselves, also
with naval war; y
Hence 1t was that the treaties of 1881 and 1885
were imposed upon France, by which she coded the
right Of search. England has inflicted moral injury
upon France. which has submitted TO these odous
treaties, not 10 tpolpe herself III naral icari These
treaties the more to be deplored, inasmuch al
England, having hawked them over all Europe, has
SCI forth France MS example to all the secondrat'
powers, and has successfully obtained their adhe
SION How could they refuse what had been con
ceuea ny Frances-France, which they had hereto
ore looked upon the born protectress Of the lber
| ~ OF the seas! The magnanimous allies of France
had extracted from her tho treaties Of 1891 and 1893
But as the right Of search, according to thes,