The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-11-11
FRANCo-PoRTUGUEsE DIFFICULTY.


There can be no doubt that the French Gov
eminent is determined to supply its colonies
with labor, at any sacrifice of justice and hu
manity Two or three recent cases make i
clear that it is actively engaged in the purchase
of negro slaves on the African coast, under the
name Of free laborers, in violation of laws ant
treaties to which that nation is pledged in the
! face of the world.
| Every intelligent man, without any particu
lar information on the subject, would conclude
from the nature of things, that ignorant sava
ges are incapable Of making contracts for labor
They know nothing of the value of labor, Oh
of other commodities, in the distant colonies
to which they are conveyed and it is well as
certaned that no contract is made with them
They are bought of regular slave dealers on
the coast, just as the traders to Cuba obtain
their supplies; and the French trade gives the
same encouragement to the perpetual slave
hunting wars on the African continent, which
have been hitherto stimulated by the Cuban
and Brazilian traffic
The Government of Louis Napoleon, by re
viving this infamous traffic under the specious
guise of procuring free and voluntary emigrants
to his colonies, only adds hypocrisy to crime
and the effect will be to render his reign as de-
testable for his colonial policy as it has uni
formly been at home. 1879
The subjoined article from the London Times
gives the circumstances of case in which the
French Government has shown = disposition to
90 to war with Portugal in vindication of its
right to purchase slaves on the coast of Africa
The reader will at once be reminded Of q par
allel case on the coast of Liberia, in which that
feeble Republic successfully frustrated similar
piratical attempt at kidnapping on the part Of
the French Government. Louis Napoleon
home Government might have satisfied the in
famous aspirations of an ordinary ambition; but
it seems no is emulous of the eclat which will
flow from revival Of the slave trade:
From the London Times, Oct. 49,
Whatever be the result of the difference which
has arisen between France and Portugal, there
are in it many things which the mind of well
wisher to the general peace of Europe, and to
the great interests of humanity at large, must
rest with little satisfaction. The circumstances
appear very simple, and, indeed, on the facts
there is very little dispute. A French vessel,
the Charles ct Georges, is found by the Portu-
guese authorities Of Mozambique on part of
the coast interdicted to the approach Of foreign,
ers, because an approach to it in that particu.
lar point is regarded by the Portuguese Gov
eminent as almost conclusive evidence Of an
attempt to carry on the slave trade. On
board the ship were ITO negroes and delegate
of the French Government. The delegate and
captain stated to the Portuguese authorities tina,
the men were there by their own free consent,
having engaged themselves to go as laborerss
to the island of Reunion; that the negroes had
regular passports from the authorities at Mozan
bique, and that the vessel was lying OF the inter
dicted portion of the coast for the purpose Of
obtaining a surgeon. To this it was answered
by the Portuguese, that surgeon was to be
found at Mozambique, and was not to be found
on that part of the coast. RI
The negroes were examined, and declared
one and all, that they were carried of agains,
their vii, and not in virtue of any agreement
and the passports spoken Of turned out to be
document furnished by native chief, who
probably was the person from whom the ne
groes were obtained. Under these circumstan
ces, the vessel was seized as a SLAYER, and sent