The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-11-02
THE FRENCH SLAVE TRADE-THE TROUBLE
WITH PORTUGAL


THE FRENCH SLAVE TRADE-THE TROUBLE
WITH PORTUGAL
From The London Times Oct u
Whatever be the result OF the difference which
has arisen between France and Portugal, there are
in 1t many things which the mind Of a wei
wishcr 10 the general peace OF Europe, and tu the
great interests of humanity at large, must rest with
little satisfaction. The circumstances appear very
simple and indeed, the facts there is very little
DISPUTE frcnch vossn tho Iharlos ~ Goorrns
is found by the Portuguese authorities Of MoZam- .
:....- H.. ! g.st - 4i;: :=-. iataF:lai"d g. che 80 ]
ufoach 81 foreigners because an approach IN " In I
that particular point W. regarded by the Portuguese
government almost conclusive evidence ot an at .
tempt to carry ON the slave trade. On board the ship
we're one hundred and ten negroes, aud delegate |
at the French government The delegate aud cap
tain stated tu the Portuguese authorities that the
men were there by their own free consent having
engaged themselves 10 go a. aborcrs 10 the island Of
Reunion; that the negroes had regular passports
from the authorities at Mozambique, and that the
vessel was living of the ntcrdctcd portion Of the
coast for the purpose of obtaining q surgeon. To
this it was answered by the Portuguese, that a sur
grun was "a be found at Mozambique and was not
to be found on that part of the coast. The negroes
were examined, and declared one all that they
were carried oil against their viii and not in virtue
of any agrccment;and the passports spoken off turn
ed out to be documents furnished by native chief,
who probably was the person from whom the ne
grocs were obtained. Under these circumstances
the vessel seized SLAYER and sent to Lisbon
for adjudication.
On hearing of this the French government have
sent two men of war to the IaGus to wake with the
thunder of their guns the echoes of the Rock of
Lisbon. have peremptorily demanded the surrender
of the Charles ct Georges within fortyeight hours,
have given orders to the fleet at Toulon to hold it
self in readiness to sail and twice verbally refused
the offer of the Portuguese government to Sbmit the
matter to the arbitration OF Il third Power. The
latest accounts hold out a hope, indeed that a
friendly arrangement may be expected, but matters
are still in uncertain state. The ground on
which the French government is understood to
rely is that the presence of a French delegate on
board the ship necessarily implied such absolute in
uocence of any design of slave trading that the
Portuguese government was bound to be satisfied
with it at once, and to inquire further and that
compared with this conclusive proof of all matters
! of suspicion or irregularity become absolutely in
significant. and ought to be thrown aside as OF no
! account whatever.
To us the mere merits of this controversy, as
suming the facts to be correctly stated above, ap-
! pear to present no difficulty whatever. We know
! not what proof can be required of offence Of
! this kind, if the facts which we have Just al
legged are not to be held sufficient. The vessel
found in fragrant delict with the negroes actually
on board her, and they stated when examined that
said that the captain and delegate were deceived in
the matter, and believed these people to have gone
| on board voluntarily, in pursuance of an agree
ment to labor in the colony of Reunion, which they
fully understood, we may ask why the ship was
taken to an unusual and interdicted station, why
an utterly absurd reason was given for her going
| there, and why false statements were made with
regard to passports from the Portuguese authorities
at Mozambique p? These things showed not ONLY that
| the French captain and delegate were doing wrong
! but that they knew it, aud coupled with the fact
that they had a hundred and ten negroes on board
made out as complete a case as the nature of the
transaction could possibly admit To all this the
| French had nothing to oppose except a conclusive
presumption invented by themselves that it is alb
s0lutely impossible for a delegate of the French
government to lend himself to slave tradinr trans
action; and that therefore, such a transaction must
be assumed to be impossible. whatever evidence
there be to the contrary We are not aware
that the law of nations recognizes as one of its prn.
ciples the absolute mpeccabtv and incorruptibiIi-
ty of the agent of foreign government or consid-
ers that government to be entitled by placing dele
gate on board ship bearing its har to give that shin
a license to violate with impunity the OBLIGATIONS oil
treaties and the police regulations of friendly State
We, therefore feel no difficulty in concludno that
on the merits of the question: the great power is en-
rely III me US, anu the niue one is entIreiy
tne right ms however, Is but very small part
OF tne matter; Let US assume France to have beer
DIS Clearly right as she was maniieStiy wrong. Sure
~, Ill oruer 10 enforce that rlght she should have
uttered no menaces and employed no measure:
winch she would not have used to Russia, to Eng
anu' OF 10 the united states OF America. II France
DelieVed hefsei TO be IN the right, IN what respect
could her suffer instead Of thn
pretenson TO he iudre in bar oTv, caI,sa L LAZY
shown herself ready to abide Inv The ia,ati di
ion of A neutral Power2 If sbnI- nnu, shn y,,s ,r
no doubt the cour.e adonted j. exnIicobIo ono,aI
but it is not the less an invasion Of that eonaity
which the public law of modern Europe attributc;