New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-06-30
AnIufamOus TrmHic.


A few years ago, after. more than nan z
century Of agitation, diplomacy suceossle -
ia achieving the destruction Of the trade 10
human beings, carried on by protested
Christians from the western coast OF At
RIGA to various places on the Atlantic
coasts Tbis trade, which had subsisted
for over 300 years, was ruined by the ire
sistible hostility of European and Amerf-
can civilization. From the same cause
almost all nations upon which that traffic
depended have abolished slavery itself
on December 81, 1858, the mixed commits
sion. established at tile Cape Of Good Hope
bv the governments of the United States,
Great Britain and Portugal, declared that
IL had not been called upon to decide one
single case Of slave trade during the year
then closing.
Upon this report these three nations con-
cluded to discontinue the commission.
Strange as it may appear, while this prac-
tice on the one side Of Africa has died out,
it has been revived on the other 1t is
maintained to supply the requirements Of
the nations Of the East where long estab-
lished custom has given to slavery, in the
eyes Of the inhabitants. almost the eharac-
ter of a divine institution. Turkey, Egypt,
Arabia, and Persia have, for several years,
drawn from Central and Northern Africa
eastward, annually, 10000 slaves, and have
caused the death Of $4,000 to $4,000 more.
To these facts ample testimony has been
borne by travellers in Africa, such as the
Englishmen Baker, Spoke, and Livingstone,
the German ROhlffs, and the Frenehmen
HeuQiin and Leiean. Quite recently val
liable compilation has been made in refer
ence to this subject by Etienne Felix Der
lioux, professor of history ia the Lyeeum
Of Lyons, France.
In tracing the moral responsibility for
these odiouE practices, it will be found that,
aside from those who directly participate
in them, the greatest blame attaches to
nation which has earned an enviable repu-
tation for philanthropy. Apparently to set
a barrier to French Influence in the Indian
ocean, nominally to prepare the way for
civilization, the British government, in
1913, entered into negotiations with Fan
zibar, making its ruler their protege; but
to secure their purposes, they conceded 10
the princes of Zanzibar, by treaties the
right Of purchasing negroes And now
at Zanzibar. under the eye of the
British consul, vast numbers of slaves
are shipped on vessels to Persia
and Arabia without any molestation what
ever. Thus, for commercial purposes, Great
Britain sacrificed her principles and, by
sanctioning a crime against humanity, actu-
ally encouraged it. How far tine moral
sense of those Englishmen affected by this
state of affairs has been blunted appears
from the tact that in 1870 and 1871 certain
British agents, in official propositions, did
not recommend the suppression of the
traffic. but simply its regulation. It was
proposed that there should be only one port
for buying and enc for selling; the number
Of slaves should be limited vessels legally
authorized should bear some distinguishing
mark; their sails or sides should be painted
a certain color.
It is regarded as a general rule that all
Mussulman countries have retained slavery;
and that, until foreign or exterior influence
effects change, wherever Islamism reigns
man viii be thing to be bought and sold.
This is especially the case with European
Turkey, where Western countries are
awakening to the fact that the laws author
ize the system, and it is protected by the
magistrates. But there are no insurmount-
able obstacles to the extirDation of this
evil. The path through Egypt, along which
the slaves are driven, is so narrow that
vigorous effort would promptly close that
avenue.
If a concerted arrangement were made
by the Western nations to watch the valley
of the Nile, the Red sea and the Persian
gulf this traffic would soon become so
hazardous that it would be no longer pro-
ftable, But to make these efforts effeetual,
it is absolutely necessary that the unfor-
tunate treaties between Great Britain and
Zanzibar should terminate. Such propo-
sitiOn has been advocated with some warmth
by Englishnnen themselves.
As the record Of our own struggle with |
slavery shows that Great Britain regarded |
the question of its suppression as one of |
those domestic problems which call for in |
interference, our government |
might strictly be justified in considering |
the advisability Of urging upon the British |
government the abandonment of the protec- |
lion extended over slavery in Zanzibar. |
The discussion that has already taken |
place in England on this subject confirms |
The impression that no technical objection |
need arise to the reputation of the treaty |
to that halt-civiIized State.