The Sun. — 1838-01-30 (London, England)

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.  In the House of Lords lasi night, Lord Brougham made a statement with regard to the slave trade calculated to give inexpressible pain to every person possessed of human feelings—that the efforts of this country to put down the slave trade, however well meant, had added greatly to the amount of suffering occasioned by that nefarious traffic. His Lordship referred to the very convincing details on that subject afforded in the very interesting account by Mr. Laird of the voyage up the Niger. It appears that the risk in this abominable trade is so trifling, that an insurance can be effected for 11 or 12 per cent., that from the mode of rewarding the officers by head money, the slavers are allowed to take their cargoes on board, and to run out to sea, and that to avoid evidence of guilt, it is customary to throw the slaves overboard with weights appended to them that they might sink to the . bottom. When the slave trade was lawful it was carried on under regulations framed with a view to the prevention of unnecessary cruelty ; but now every thing was sacrificed to the sole object of outsailing the cruisers and escaping detection. " If," said his Lordship, " the master of the slave vessel found that there was not time to throw the human cargo overt oard, he has been known to pack them in water casks, to lead those water casks, and to fling them overboard ; and one vessel, in trying to escape, had sent twelve of those casks overboard. There' were two of these vessels chased, overtaken, and captured by the cruisers ; and out of these two vessels there had been thrown overboard, as proved by incontestible evidence, 500 human beings, every one of whom had met with a watery grave. He could state a dreadful fact, and one which depended on no fanciful authority, for it was on the authority of the Commodore on the station, that the sharks were quite aware of the proceedings that were going on, and that they followed those vessels when they left the port, and that the track of the slaver might be traced through the ocean by the blood of its murdered victims."  The trade, too, is stated to be greater than it ever was, and on the increase. His Lordship seemed to think that the evil might be greatly diminished by discontinuing head-money, and adopting another mode of remunerating the captors. Lord Ellenborough, too, thought that the head-money had had the worst affects ; and Lord Ashburton thought that it might be desirable to grant a reward upon the tannage. Lord Minto and Lord Glenelg both admitted that' the description given, by Lord Brougham, however appalling., was not exaggerated. Indeed, Lord Ashburton observed, that. " it was notorious that for years pest the trade was carried on to as great an extent end with a degree of cruelty which was tenfold what it had been formerly." Every Noble Lord declared that the country was greatly indebted to the Noble and Learned Lore for =the manner in which Ye had exposed the horrors of. the glare trade as it was now carried on. It is grievous to think that our exertions to put down this accursed troffie have been attended with so unfortunate a result.— Alorning Chronicle.