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INFORMATION
CONCEnNIN& THE
SLAVE-TRADE.
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CONTENTS,
^♦-
Report of the Committee Page 1
Information on the French Slave-trade 4
on the Spanish Slave-trade SO
.......... on the Portuguese Slave-trade 24
on the Dutch Slave-trade 28
on the Trade on the East Coast of Africa ........ 35
Address of the House of Commons to the King 41
Minute of the Committee 4(j
Account of Subscriptions , Hj,
iNFonMATioN Concerning the SjL a fe-Trade, printed hy order of a Committee acting under the direction
, of the ^ Yearly Meeting of the religious Society of Friends, to aid in p7'omoting the total abolition of that iniquitous traffic.
YEARLY MEETING, 1821.
The folloio'ing Report has heen hro'ught in and read; and this Me^ting^ continuing to feel a lively interest in the Abolition of the Slave Trade, desires the Meeting for Sufferings to print and circulate the same in the respective Quarterly Meetings, together loith such other information as the Committee of thai Meeting on the subject, may think it desirable to communicate.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE.
*' Since the appointment of this Committee, much distressing information has been received of the progress made in the prosecution of the barbarous traffic in the lives and liberties of our fellow-creatures on the coast of Africa, not only by the subjects of Portugal, but also by those of France, Spain, and Holland ; and though, by the laws of these latter countries, the infamous trade has been formally abolished, yet, for want of proper exer- tions by their respective governments, especially by that of France, it is still carried on ; and with aggra- vated horrors, on account of the concealment which, in many instances, those who pursue it are induced to practise. In the mean time, the government of this country is using its influence in foreign courts, to render the abolition general and effectual. It is however
REPORT.
believed, that the public mind in some of the principal nations on the continent is not sufficiently enlightened on the subject, or sufficiently aware of the horrible nature of the Slave-trade ; and it therefore still appears to the Committee, tliat one means by which Friends might very consistently render essential assistance in the great cause of tlie total abolition of the Slave- trade, would be to aid in promoting translations, into the French, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese languages, of suitable tracts describing the nature of tlie trade, pay for the printing of the same, and take such measures as may appear likely to promote their circulation."
" The African Institution has facilities of obtaining information on the trade, and of devising means for detecting and exposing its enormities, far beyond those which this Committee is likely* to possess; and as the Committee is informed, that, although the funds of that institution do not at present amount to £.100, the managers of it have sanctioned the trans- lating into the Portuguese language, of a pamphlet, which is an abstract of Thomas Clarkson's history of the abolition, and printing 1000 copies of the same ; and the printing of 1000 copies of another pamphlet, written principally by William Wilberforce, exposing the nature of the trade ; the Committee has agreed to present them with one hundred pounds, to be ap})hed ex- clusively towards defraying the expense of the above- mentioned two pamphlets.
A sub-committee of the African Institution is now publishing an abstract from the papers lately laid upon the taljile of the House of Commons, wliich
nEi'oRT.
develope great enormities still practise^ in Africa and upon the persons of its inhabitants, by the sub* jects of different European powers: (so much of these documents as relates to the several countries implicated, being translated into their respective lan- guages : ) in connexion with w hich abstract, a pamphlet is about to be printed, as well in English as in the languages above alluded to, namely, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch, adapted to the present cir- cumstances of this iniquitous trade. And it is ap- prehended by the Committee, that if the contents of these publications should, on examination, be ap- proved by it, some pecuniary aid towards the expense of printing and circulating them will be a suitable ap- propriation of a further portion of the money intrusted to its care."
" The Committee hope that, when these pamphlets are published, they may be able to print cheap editions, or extracts from them, for their own circu- lation on the continent, through such channels as may appear proper and safe ; but the existing re- strictions on the press in France, render it difficult widely to disseminate, in that country, any accounts of the present state of the French slave- trade."
" It is the design of the Committee to print some extracts from the information contained in the papers already alluded to, and transmit them to Friends in the country, in the course of the present summer." ^
London, the \Uh of 5th Month, 1821.
In conformity with the last paragraph of the foregoing Report, the Comnuttee proceed to furnish the Societi/ iviih the information con- tained in the following Extracts*.
FRANCE.
*'' It appears certain that^ in the year 1820, the Frcncli slave-trade had swelled to a more enormous extent than at any former period. During the first six or seven months of that year, the coast of Africa- is described as having actually swarmed with French slave-ships. A distinguished officer of the British navy, who was himself an eye- witness of the fact, writing on the subject with deliberation, and after his attention had been called to a careful recollection of what he had seen, uses this remarkable expression : ' The number of French slave- ships now on the coast is something incredible/ The naval officers on that station had examined between twenty and thirty vessels trading for slaves on the coast, which were ascertained to be Fj-encli ; and one of those officers afterwards found, in the harbour of the Havannah, a still greater number of vessels bearing the French flag, which either had cargoes of slaves on board, brought thither for sale, or were fitting out for fresh slave-voyages, t"
*' This view of the extent of the French slave-trade on the coast of Africa during the past year, is confirmed by Sir Charles Mac Carthy, the governor of Sierra Leone, who returned last 3^car to England; and who states, that at the time of his leaving that colony in July last, he had received unquestionable information, that no fewer than- five vessels, bearing the French flag, were then engaged in procuring slaves at the Gallinas, a place situated about 100 miles to the south of Sierra Leone."
''If these statements are correct, and the authority on ^^•hich they rest, seems to leave no doubt upon the subject, then it will follow, that, during the first six or seven months of the last year, from fifty to sixty vessels, bearing the French flag, were actually seen engaged in the slave-trade. But as it cannot be supposed, considering the
■ Chiefly from the Fifteenth Report of the African Institution, aud the Supplement to that report.
•f Report, page 12.
FRANCE. 5
vast extent of the African cOast, and of the ocean which extends thence to thf West. Indies, that all the vessels so employed could have been niet by oiir cruisers, or have come under the observation of Governor MacCarthy's informant, it would seem to be no more than a fair inference from the facts which have been adduced, that the French slave-trade must have grown to an unprecedented magnitude during the past year. And yet it is reanarkable, that so uninformed docs the French government appear to have been of the fact, that, in the month of June last, the minister of the marine assured the legisla- ture, and reiterated that assurance about the same time to the British government, that the French slave-trade was at length extingtoshed.''
" But it is not necessary to rest this inference on general state- mcNts, however conclusive. Particular confirmatory details might easily be produced." -
"Among the French slave-ships met by our cruisers on the coast .of Africa, most of which were suffered to pass unmolested, two were supposed to have committed acts which justified their detention. Their names were La Marie and La Catharine. The slaves whicli they had on board were landed at Sierra Lepne, and the vessels sent" to Senegal, to be disposed of by the French authorities there."
" A third case merits a more detailed exposition. On the 4th of March, 1820, after a long chase, a vessel was boarded by the boats of his majesty's ship Tartar, commanded by Sir George Collier, which
proved to be La Jeune Estelle, of Martinique, M. master.
On being boarded, he declared that he had been plundered of his slaves, and that none remained on board. His agitation and alarm, however, excited suspicion, and led to an examination of the vessel's hold. During this examination, a sailor who struck a task, which' was tightly closed up, heard a faint voice issue from it, as of a crea- ture expiring. The cask was immediately opened, when two girls, of about twelve or fourteen years of age, in the last stage of suffocation, were found to be enclosed in it, and by this providential interposition were pjobably rescued from a miserable death."
" These girls, when brought on the deck of the Tartar, were re- cognised by a person on board, who had been taken prisoner in ano- ther slave-ship, as having been the property of the cajitain of a schooner bclunging to New York. An investigation having taken place, it a]>peart;d that this American contrabandist had died at a place on the
coast called Trade Town, leaving behind him fourteen slaves, of whom these two girls formed a part ; and that, after his death, the master of the vessel had landed his crew, armed with swords and pistols, and carried these fourteen slaves on board thb Jeune Estelle. Sir George Collier, conceiving that the other twelve slaves, ^who had been procured by this piratical act, might still be secreted in that Vessel, ordered a fresh search. The result was, that a Negro man^ not however one of the twelve, was rescued from death. A platform of loose boards had been raised on the water-casks of the vessel, so as to form -an entre-pont, or between-decks, of twenty-three inches in height, which was the only space allotted for the accommodation of
this unfortunate cargo of human beings, v/hom M. • intended
to procure and carry from the coast. Beneath this platform, one of the boards i-esting on his body, jammed between two water-casks, Appeared the above wretched individual, whom it was a mattei" of astonishment to find alive. Sir George Collier was inclined to re- move him on board the Tartar, as he had done the two girls ; but M. • — ■" • ■ having proved that the poor African had been bought - . by him for eight dollars'-worth of brandy and iron. Sir George did not feel himself authorised to do so ; although, had the vessel been capable of beating up to Senegal, he would have sent her thither for judgment, aa he had done the two former ships."
" With respect to the other twelve slaves taken bj' ' force froTn .. Trade Town, no distinct information could be obtained beyond tjie
assertion of M. -^ — , that he had been plundered of tliem by a
Spanish pirate. But it was recollected, with horror, by the officer* of the Tartar, that when they first began the chase of La Jeunc Estelle, they had seen several casks floating past them, in which they now suspected that these ■wretched beings might have been enclosed, having been thrown orerboard by this man, to elude the detection of his piratical proceedings. It was now impossible, however, to ascertain tlie fact, as the chase had led them many leagues to leeward ; and even after thej'' had consumed the time which would have been ne- cessary, by beating to windward, to reach the place where the chase commenced, there were many chances againsti their again seeing the casks, and not the slightest probability that any of the slaves enclosed in them, if they were so enclosed, would be found still alive."
" h was distinctly afhrmed by the minister of the French marine,
FRANCE. 7
in a speech made to tlic Chamber of Deputies in the month<)f Juije last, that the slave-trade had then ceased at Senegal; yet, on the 4th of October last, a vessel was found by an officer of the customs, to have made, in the night-time, the harbour of St. John's in Antigua, which vessel proved to be a French brig called La Louise, of the burden of 120 tons, having on board 128 slaves, bound from Senegal to Guadaloupc, for which island Antigua was mistaken. Her Negroes weise in a miserable condition when landed ; but tfiey soon jccovcred, when taken care of-and well fed and clothed. They were generally young, chiefly females, two of whom had infants at the bi'cast; and another, after being brought on shore, was delivered erf still-born twins. This ship was consigned to two slave-factors of Guadaloupe, and has been condemned at Antigua; but the diiecfcors have not learned what were the specific grounds of her condemn- ation."
" As a further proof that the statement of tlie cessation of \he French slave-trade at Senegal and its neighbourhood is not correct, it may be added, that when Governor MacCarthy visited Bathurst, in the- river Gambia, in the month of August last, in his way to Europe, he learnt, upon undoubted authority, that the slave-trade was at that time carried on with great activity by various merchants both of Senegal and Goi'ee. These persons were pointed out to iiim ; and it was added, that they had established agents for this pur- pose at a small village called Albreda, in the river Gambia, about 40 miles above its mouth. Albreda was formerly a French factory de- pendant on Goree. By the treaty of 1783, it will be seen that France relinquished all right to its occupation. Indeed, by the terms of that treaty, which has not since undergone any modification, it clearly appears that the river Gambia was as effectually and un- reservedly ceded to Great Britain, as the river Senegal was to France*."
" The vast extent to which the slave-trade on the west coast of Africa continues to be carried on, is further proved by accounts received from the river Bonny, dated in Jul}'^ and August, in the last 3-ear ; from which it appears, that from Maixh to July in that yeai",
* .Repori, pagii 14— -19.
there had usually been in the Bonny from nine to sixteen slaving vessels, of all descriptions, at the same time, each capable of carrying from 300 to 700 slaves ; and that two of these vessels, which were there in March, and had then sailed to the West Indies, had returned in July, and were engaged in their second voyage. During the above period of five or six months, 120 sail of French, iSpanish, and Portuguese vessels had visited the river Bonny, for the purpose of procuring slaves; in consequence of which, the preparation of palm- oil is said to have been totally neglected by the natives."
" An account Feceived from a gentleman on board the Cyane, an American sloop of war, which was sent to cruise on the coast of Africa, for the purpose of suppressing the American slave-trade, dated in April last, states, that since passing the river Sherbro, that vessel had detained ten slave-ships, four of which were sent in for adjudication; but the others, being well covered by fabricated papers, were given up. The number of vessels engaged in this inhuman traffic, the writer says, was incredible : he supj)osed that not fewer than 200 sail were on the coast at the date of his letter, all of them fast sailers, well manned and armed, and many of them owned by Americans, though under foreign flags. The Cyane had been con- stantly chasing, night aed day, since her arrival upon the coast, and sometimes had several slave-ships in sight at the same time*."
The folhtving Extracts from two Letters, writteii 07i otie of the West India islands, describe the shameless manner in which the traffic in slaves is carried on there.
" Guadaloupe, 13th December, 1820. ''Last September, an Americari pilot-boat-built schooner, landed sixty Africans at Rambouillette, Port Louis. They were debarked by the same person as before-mentioned. It appears that this schooner met some interruption on the coast, having lost her cables and anchors there, and was obliged to come away without a fall cargo ; besides, she brought back a part of the murdering cargo carried to
Report, pages 24, 25.
ij<p
FRANCE. 9
Africa to barter for the natives^ which was also landed at Ram- bouillette. / saw these articles : they consist of muskets, cutlasses, kegs of gunpowder, iron pots, bolts with padlocks, flints, &c.
" It is said that Messrs. Segond, Ferrand, and Ranee, are the interested parties of this adventure.
" The planters of St. Anne equipped a schooner, which was built at St. Rose, sent her to Africa, and succeeded in a return-cargo of Africans. A ship which was expected here, was captured by a pri- vateer of South Amei^ica, when near Deseada, situate to the wind- ward of this island, with 330 slaves on board. She was conducted to the neighbourhood of St. Thomas, among the Keys or small islands there, and her cargo was disposed of at forty dollars per head. This ship is named the f roteus. I saw her lying at Pointe-a-Pitre, she having been given up to her captain after the cargo was disposed of. I am informed that she is consigned to Mons. Rezel.
" I have information that another privateer carried a parcel of Africans to Martinique, where^ she sold them at eighty-five dollars per head. Sixty Africans, which are a part of them, were sent to Monsieur Delisle, of Pointe-a-Pitre, to be disposed of
" On the 20th of October, a sale of new Negroes took place at a little bourg called Cozier, situated immediately above the Entrance of the harbour of Pointe-a-Pitre. These are supposed to be the cargo of the Thetis, which vessel entered Pointe-a-Pitre, a few days preced- ing the sale, in ballast.
" All the vessels mentioned to you before, which were consigned to, or owned by, Messrs. Segond, were again equipped and sent to Africa in February last, or soon after. The Thetis mentioned above is, I believe, one of those of which you were then informed. All the others have again made the same successful voyage as the Thetis, except the brig Fox, which has not yet returned. On the 29th following, another cargo of 209 Africans, (there being 217 taken on board in Africa, eight, having died,) landed, from the ship L'Adele Aimee, Captain Bouffier, was sold at St. Fran^-ois : they were disposed of at about 3000 livres, or 150^. currency, per head, on an average 'calculation. The arrival of L'Adele Aimee at Pointe-a-Pitie, after being absent for several months on the well- known intention- of bringing slaves, preceded the sale. This is one
10 FRANCE.
of Messrs. Segond's vessels. On the 3d of November, the schooner, L'Atalante, Captain Boulemere, arrived at Pointe-a-Pitre. She also touched at St. Francois; but the owners, (as she belongs to the same house) having had so recent a sale as the cargo of L'Adele Aimee at St. Frau(jois, and it l)eing inconvenient for the planters who reside on what is called tlie Gaudaloupe shore to go over to the bays at Grand Terre, they determined to choose St. Marie Capisterre to be - the mart for the cargo of L'iVtalante. At this place, therefore, a landing of her cargo took place, the night before the day on which she entered Pointe-a-Pitre ; and the sale took place the Sunday fol- owing. She took in at the coast 2i0, thirteen whereof died: I97 were therefore safely landed. On the 18th following, the schooner L'Eugenie, Captain Cramponniere, arrived at Pointe-a-Pitre, having also landed her cargo at Capisterre. She was immediately advertised for sale, and was accordingly sold the 22d following. I do not know the number she landed, but she is of the same size as L'Atalante.
" There can be nothing else which prevents the seizure of these vessels and their cargoes, but a good understanding with the col- lector and other officers of the custom-house, or, as some scruple not to allege, the private instructions which the governor has received to favour this criminal traffic. St. Marie is so nearly situated to Pointe-a-Pitre, that I am induced to attribute the not seizing these two last-mentibned vessels to the foregoing reasons. I knew when L'Atalante touched at St. Fran^^'ois, and that her cargo was intended to be landed at St. Marie's ; and could I liave calculated on the sup- port of the government of this island, I could liave had that vessel with her cargo of slaves confiscated. But of what avail would my denunciation be ? Instead of being attended to, it would prove very nuisihle to my commercial intt'rcsts here, whilst detection of my in- terference would most assuredly subject me to assassination : at all events, if my life cscapctl, I should at least be banished from the countrjr never to return; which ciicumstance would be Tery de- struclive to my present prospects, without the chance of my being able to effect the desired liberation of the captives so unjustly dragged from their houses, in defiance of the laws of God, and of the deci'ees of that nation whose subjects are now so successfully eniployed in introducinp: ijito this island thousands of Africans.
I'RANCE. ~ 11
" L'Atalanle took in her cargo at Bouny. When she quittotl it, she left there the brig Fox in a leaky slate, having a part of her cargo on board. A sloop also took in her cargo at Bonny when L'Atalante was thei-e She (the sloop) arrived also at St. Frangois with 100 slaves, and effected her landing there. As soon as the vessels arrive at Pointe-a^Pitre they are sold. L'Adele Aimee, L'Atalante, and L'Eugenie, no sooner arrived there than they were sold, after being advertised in hand-bills.
" I enclose herein extracts from Le Journal Politique et Com- mercial of Pointe-a-Pitre, wherein you will discover the time of their arrival. A hand-bill also enclosed will show how soon L'Eugenie was sold after her arrival : so it was with the others. I need not incur expense of postage in enclosing to you all the hand-bills of the other vesels; one will suffice, no doubt, to go in corroboration of my statement*.'*
" The reason that the vessels are all put up for sale immediately after their arrival, and that the name of Messrs. Segond are so often mentioned, is, that they are the ostensible persons combined with Messrs. Ranee and Co., and are the chiefs of a kind of association or company of slave-traders here. It appears that each expedition is fitted out on the account and risk of a certain number of aelmmalrcs. Each subscribes what he is inclined to risk, and shares in propoitioji to the amount of his advances. The business is then conducted by the chiefs. The vessel therefore being estimated at a certain price when taken into the trade, is immediately sold at auction, on her arrival, to the highest bidder. When I contemplate the means thus acquired to carry on this barbarous and unchristian-like commerce, I need not wonder at its continuance, because, on every expedition, a new set of actionnaires can be easily found, and thus the fund is in- exhaustible.
* The followhigis a copy of the hand-bill: — " Vente ruBLiauE. Mer- credi prochaiii, 22 du courant, il sera precede, devant le magazin de M3I. Victer Hancd et Co., all heures du matin, a la vente publique de la Gol'ktte Eugenie, telle qu'elle se poursuit et<;omporte, sans aucune reclama- tion quekonque. Les conditions de la vente sont de payer comptant, et ce, fivant la mise en possession de I'adjudicataire, et en cas d'inexe'cution, la Ooelette sera recrie'e ie lendeniain a sa folle enchere.
^ " PoiiUe-ii-Pitre, Guadaloupe, le 18 Novembre, 1820."
12 FRANCE.
" Very early on the morning of 7th November^ about ten waiters Cdouaniers) belonging to Pointe-a-Pitre landed at that town. It ap- pears that they were sent, during the night before, to the north of La Riviere Sallee, under pretence of visiting the different bays situated in that part of the island, whilst Messrs. Segond were afforded an opportunity of landing Africans in the very town of Pointe-a-Pitre; because, on the night of the 6th of the same month, when the waiters were absent, they landed sixty of the unfortunate captives in the town aforesaid. They are, no doubt, the remainder of the cargo of L'Atalante. On the evenings of the 18th to 20th November, the custom-house officers were at the north entrance of La Riviere Sallee, embarrassing small fishing and passage-boats. One would suppose that those officers were doing their duty ; but no — it was to allow Messrs. Segond an opportunity of landing the remainder of L'Eugenie's cargo from St. Maiie Capisteire through the port of Pointe-a-Pitre, which opens to the south. This appearance seems supported by the real fact; because, on the 20th, a St. Marie's sloop- boat, (well known as belonging to St. Marie,) arrived. She went near, Messrs. Segond's wharf, when a pistol was fired as a signal of debarkation; whereupon twenty-two unfortunates were, one by one, conducted like criminals to the store of Messrs. Segond : when they were all landed, the pistol was again fired, upon which last signal a custom-liouse officer went on board to visit the said sloop-boat!!!
" I saw the captain and crew of a slave-ship or brig landed at Port Louis from Antigua, in a small schooner-boat. The vessel and cargo were seized at Antigua for entering there. It appears that they must have taken that island for this. This vessel was bound here. Mons. Ranee is the merchant whose name is mentioned as the owner or consignee.
" L'Adele Aimee took in her slaves at Old Calabar, situated (as I am informed) to the south-east of Bonn3\ The native chief, Duke Ephraim, supplied L'Adele Aimee with her cargo of slaves, at twenty- two to thirty-five bars each. ^Vliilst L'Adeile Aimee was at Old Calabar, L'Atalante, L'Eugenie, brig Fox, (and other vessels be- longing to this island,) were loading at Bonny. L'Adele Aimee had four guns when she went to the coast ; two of which, being brass six-poundcrs, were sold to Duke Ephraim, who has sent offers to
PRANCE.
U
Messrs. Segond to continue the trade. He has sent a boy, a rela- tion of his, to this island, with a servant to wait on him, for the purpose of receiving education. A vessel which v/as at Bonny, and could not succeed there on account of the number of vessels pur- chasing cargoes, arrived at old Calabar when' L'Adele Aimee was there, and reported that the number of slave-vessels she left at Bonny was twenty.
" Seamen have great temptation to go on the African slave-trade. Men before the mast get from 25 to 30 dollars a-month: thus some of the crew of the vessels which arrived at Pointe-a-Pitre had to re- ceive 200 dollars each, balance of wages. L'Atalante has been equipped again, and has sailed from Pointe-a-Pitrej no doubt with the intention to prosecute another voyage to the coast ; although the captain, oh account of his cruel treatment to his sailors, could not get a crew at Pointe-a-Pitre for the voyage ; but it is said that she has gone to Martinique to collect seamen. Her departure is marked on one of the enclosed extracts, mider the head, 23d to 30th Novem- ber. You will find also by, the enclosed extracts that each vessel (coming from Africa) reports in ballast from St. Bartholomew's.
" Slaves are now imported so openly into this island, that those landed at Pointe-a-Pitre from St. Marie, by Messrs. Segond, are by them employed carrying stones, &c. for a laj-ge building lately com- menced by these merchants, without any fear of their being seized. The Louisa, a schooner which I mentioned in my letter of February last, being a remarkably fast-sailing vessel, is re-built entirely anew. She is, I am told, to be equipped for the slave-trade, and will be ready shortly.
" I cannot conclude my present communication without expressing the horror and indignation which have seized me, when I have to relate that the Sabbath is the day on which, genei-ally speaking, a sale of the different cargoes landed on this island takes place, because it is on that day all the planters assemble at the different bourgs to go to church, &c.
"The schooner L'Atalante is the same which I mentioned to you in my letter of February last as La Talente. The mistake happened fi;om my not then seeing the name written,"
^4 PRANCE*
f
" GuadaJoupe, 5th March, 16^1. '' In addition to my last communication, imder date of 13th De- cember last, I have to furnish you witli the painful account of the arrival of the brig Fox, from the coast of Africa, with a cargo of slaves, after an absence of a year. She took in her cargo at Bonny ; and when she left it, there were about twenty-eight vessels, large and small, then lying there for the purpose of procuring similar cai-goes*, I am informed by the crew, that the chief is named King Pepper,>and is the person who supplies the slaves at Bonny. The Fox arrived off Port Louis the 23d ult. and i-emained until this day ; during which time the debarkation and sale of the unfortunate Africans took place. As soon as she appeared off, her signal was well known by the agent of Messrs. Segond, with whom instructions about her in- tended arrival off Port Louis were lodged, several months back : whereupon a boat, with the agent's clerk, was sent off to the brig to communicate, after which she approached and anchored off Port Louis, about two o'clock in the afternoon, in presence of all the peo- ple, and also of the custom-house officer stationed there, whilst the custom-house boat, with waiters from Pointe-a-Pitre, was at the north mouth of La Riviere Sallee, who must have seen this brig ap- proaching Port Louis. On her arrival, the Bourg of Port Louis im- mediately resounded with noise of the arrival of a Guinea-man. A boat was immediately dispatched to Messrs. Segond at Pointe-i\- Pitre, through La Riviere Sallee, with the captain of the brig Fox. At about nine o'clock at night, she returned with the captain and the chief clerk of Messrs. Segond : thus you find that the captain fearlessly showed himself at Pointe-a-Pitre before the slaves were de- barked. They immediately began to concert on measures for the debarkation of the cargo ; and it was proposed to wait until about three o'clock the next morning, when they would be favoured with moonlight, whilst they had engaged two large canoes for the purpose. However, the captain being sick and fatigued, did not commence to debark at that hour. The debarkation, therefore, commenced later.
• " This account will be found exactly to correspond with that received ii-ora the river Bonny Itself, and inserted in this year's Annual Report, p. 24." — Seepages.
and was not ended before seven to eight o'clock on Saturday morn- ing, the 24th February, They were put into an old store-room at Rambouillette, (Port Louis,) so that they could be seen by every body. The custom-house officer stationed there was seen by me going to look at them with other persons. I went also and witnessed the cruel siglrt. I went to be convinced and to deplore. There were about 300 miserable beings, without distinction of sex, packed close together in the above-mentioned store-room, upon the bare earth,^ without even planks to serve as beds. They had no coverings for their bodies, except some of them, who had Only a piece of cloth to cover their middle. Some were sick, and a few presented the human shape in a most dreadful form, being reduced to mere skele- tons. But generally speaking, the greater part appeared to be in good health. They are of th« Eboe nation ; and I am informed that king Pepper got them from the interior. He supplied them very slojvly, which accounts for the long detention of the Fox. She took in 328 at Bonny, whereof about twenty-eight died, some of whom jumped overboard and drowned themselves, and, I am told, with the erroneous hope of getting back to their own country. Three hundred must have been landed, because, at the sale, thei-e re- mained 2941, a few having died since their arrival. Circulars were sent to the different planters of Grandetorre, and to those residing on the Gtiadaloupe share, to invite them to the sale 3'esterday, being the Sabbath-day ! It accordingly took place, and was numerously attended by people from all quarters. They were sold, (except about eighty,) upon an average, at about 3000 livres, or £.150 currency,, per head : among them were a good m.any boys and girls. The re-» mainder was taken off this day, on board of a sloop, which was or- dered round from Pointe-a-Pitre for that pBrposc. I saw her after- wards quit: she steered westerly. I am informed that they are sent to Porto Pi,ico. The brig Fox sailed for Pointe-a-Pitre the same day she landed her cargo. Before she sailed, I went on board of her, and saw the platforms erected, and et'cry thing indicative of her having had a cargo of slaves on board. In this condition she must have arrived at Pointe-a-Pitre. She was set up 4here, and sold the 1st instant at vendue, like the other slave-vessels ofPornte-a-Pitre, to close the account of the nctionnairc'i interested in this voyage. " The Louisa, which you were informed was getting ready for sea.
16
FRANCE.
lias since sailed. She is a remarkably fast-sailing vessel. L'Eugenic has also sailed again.
" I am informed, and verily believe, that these slave-vessels get their arms and ammunition from the public arsenal at Pointe-a-Pitre. They all go out armed. There are no private stores where amis and ammunition are sold; and therefore the account which I have received, that the local government facilitates these expeditions, is very credible. As for the particulars respecting the arrival of the Fox, &c. it rests not upon idle reports, or what is generally beheved to be true. My information comes from what I have seen mjself
" Cold and unfeeling indeed must be the heart of that man, if, situated as I am, he did not feel some indignation. When I con- sider that his Most Christian Majesty has signed solemn treaties, and ordained solemn decrees against this inhuman traffic, and that his subjects are unblushingly and successfully carrying it on, (with all the semblance of protection from the colonial government,) I can- not do otherwise than feel for this act of injustice — this open viola- tion of a solemn treaty! Could his Most Christian Majesty have been present, as well as his ministers, at the debarkation of the cargo of the Fox, I think that the tear of sympathy would start from their eyes, unless they had befoi'e visited the colonies, and were tainted by colonial prejudice; or unless they could not be convinced of this truth — ^that these Africans were fellow-creatures. I think that his Most Christian Majesty would be sunk in amazement, (if he is not yet in the secret of what is going on in this island,) after witnessing such a scene, and learning that some of his officers afford every fa- cility to the introduction of these Africans into Guadaloupe.
" For my part, I think the present manner in which slaves are in- troduced into Guadaloupe, is more favourable to the slave-trader, than if the introduction was openly allowed by law; because, at most, he now pays about 600 dollars of a douceur, 8icr. but there no doubt would be a heavy duty, if the trade was permitted. Say then, that if only five per cent, ad valorem was demanded, the cargo of the Fox, if she paid that duty, and if the slaves were valued only at £.100 currency, would have to pay about £.1470, or 3266 dollars, as the total amount of dut3^"
" Such is the account of an eye-witness of many of the scenes which be describes. And here it ought not to be forgotten, that Guada-
FRANCE. 17
loupe was ceded to France by Sweden, under the mediation of this country, subject of course to the condition under which this last power had received it from Great Britain, namely, that no slave- trade should be allowed to exist there. This condition, however, it will be admitted, has been most flagrantly violated*."
After reading these melancholy statements of the callous insensibility of Slave-traders, who are a disgrace to humanity, and much more so to a people professing the Christian name, it is cheering to meet with o?ie honourable exception, in General Milius, governor of Bourbofi; although, in reading his letters, we find a fresh instance of the bar- barity and cruelty which this iniquitous traffic produces.
" The following is an account of the piratical habits produced by the slave-trade, given by General Milius himself, in a letter to the Minister of the Marine. After observing that the 'barbarous and inhuman expeditions which our slave-traders are so frequently en- gaged in at Bourbon, in defiance of the extreme severity by which I endeavour to oppose them,' are also frequent at the Mauritius, and attended by circumstances still more atrocious, he proceeds to state, that he had been applied to by the governor of the Mauritius, to deliver up a criminal of the name of Lemoine, whose conduct had confirmed all his former observations respecting the ' inhuman cru- elty, sordid avarice, and callous barbarity of those who engage in the slave-trade,' but that he had failed to trace him. The facts of the case are thus stated by governor Milius.
" In the month of September last, the Sieur Lemoine, master and owner of the schooner I'Espoir, or the Bamboche, left the Mauritius under English colours, shaping his course towards the coasts of Madagascar and of the Mozambique. He fell in with a Portuguese vessel, laden with negroes and gold-dust. An eagerness and thirst of gain seized upon his soul: he ran along-side of the Portuguese vessel, and immediately killed the mate by a musket-shot. Having boarded her, he soon obtained possession of the vessel tlius attacked; and his first questions were addressed to a Portuguese colonel, aged
" Supplement to the l">th Report, page 125 — 135.
I!
IS FRANCE.
50, of whom he enquired where the money and gold-dust were depo- sited. After this short interrogatory, Lemoine purposely stepped aside, and a man named Reineur, who was behind him, with a pis- tol blew out the unfortunate colonel's brains. But these crimes were not enough to satisfy their savage inhumanity. The master of the captured vessel, alarmed by the rapid succession of these massacres, threw himself overboard, in order to escape a more immediate death. Vain hope! the fury of Lemoine and his accomplices was not yet al- layed. They pursued him in a boat, and, having soon overtaken him, they cut him on the head with a sabre. The unfortunate man, feelino- himself wounded, caught hold, in order to support himself, of the boat in which his murderers were, who, profiting by this last ef- fort of despair, had the dastard cruelty i& run a sword into his throat, the point of which came out at the side of their victim: the body disappeared, and they returned on board fatigued, but not sa- tiated with murders ! They shut up, in the hold, the remaining Portuguese sailofs, and after having taken off the rich cargo, they scuttled the ship, and sunk her with the crew they had thus shut up.
" I own, Monseigneur, that such horrid acts of cruelty would be. too painful to relate, were they not seldom found to be accompanied by such frightful details.
" After this infamous expedition, Lemoine went to Mahe, which he soon left for the Mauritius ; leaving one Basset, his second in com- mand, in charge of the schooner at Seychelles.
*^* On his arrival at the Isle of France, Lemoine ordered Basset to sell his vessel at Mahe, which was done through the means of the Judge of the Admiralty. But, when Basset claimed the amount of the sale, the indiscretion of his crew had given rise to suspicion : the rumour of the murders was generally spread, and Basset was taken up. Having, by confession, obtained the clearest evidence of the crimes committed by Lemoine and the crew of TEspoir, the Commandant of Seychelles sent them to the superior court at the Mauritius, where proceedings are now going on against them.
" But the ends of justice will only be half attained : the most guilty person has escaped, and every circumstance confirms the pre- sumption that he has left the two colonies.
" The foregoing is, Monseigneur, a faithful narrative of the horrors
FRANCE. ip
|)ractised by a slave-trader. To these lengths will an eager avarice urge on those who can traffic in human flesh. I shall not venture to add a single reflection ; the heart and understanding of your Ex- cellency will furnish the best inference to be deduced from this com- faiunication *."
Sir George Collier, the commander of the British ships of warj stationed on the coast of Africa, to enforce the abolition laws, atid the treaties entered i7ito between Great Britain and the other powers of Europe, to promote the termination of the Slave-trade, in a letter^ dated " the l67A o/" September^ 1820/' says:
" France^ it is with the deepest regret that I mention it, has coun- tenanced and encouraged the Slave-trade, almost beyond estimation oir belief, trance is engrossing nearly the whole of the Slave-trade; and she has extended this trafiic beyond what can be supposed, but by one only who has witnessed it. In truth, France now supplies the foreign colonies, north of the Line, with Africans. I exaggerate nothing in saying, that thirty vessels, bearing the colours of France, havei, nearly at the same time, and within two or three leagues of distance, been femployed slaving. I will add, that in the last twelve months, not less than 60,000 Africans have been forced from their country, princi- pally under the colours of France ; most of whom have been distri- buted between the islands of Martinique, Guadaloupe, and Cuba. France has certainly issued her decrees against this trafiic, but she has done nothing to enforce them. On the contrary, she gives to the trade all countenance short of public avowal."
The Appendix to the last Report of the African Institution con* tains clear proof that the British ministry have not been backward in tepresenting to the French government the flagrant violations cm the part of its subjects, of the laws by which it should be bound, of the treaties to which it had been a party.
Towards the close of the year 1820, Lord Castlereagh addressed a long letter io the British ambassador at Pa)-is, to be communicated to the French ministry, containing importajit information and judicious
* Supplement to the 15th Report, page 144 — 146. B 2
20 SPAIN.
reflections on the continuance of the trade hy the subjects of France. The reply to this document is also printed, but the committee of the ■ African Institution have made long comments on its contents, in wliidi the arguments contained in the reply are ably refuted.
sPAiiSr.
Toivards the close of the year 1817, « decree mas issued by the king' of Spain, for the restriction and ultimate abolition of the Slave- trade, can-ied on by subjects of Spain. The first a7id third articles of this decree are as follon-s : .
" Alt. i. From this day forward, I prohibit all my 9uBjects, both in the Peninsula and in America, from going to buy negroes on the^ coasts of Africa, north of the Line. The negroes who may be bought on the said coa§ts shall be declared free, in the first port of my dominions at which the sliip in which they are transported shall arrive. The ship itself, together with the remainder of its cargo, shall be confiscated to the royal treasury, and the purchaser, the captain, the master, and pilot, shall be irrevocably condemned to ten years' transportation to the Philippines.
"Art.iii. From the 30th of May, 1820, I equally prohibit all my subjects,^^ as well in the Peninsula as in America, from going t-o purxhase negroes along those parts of the coast of Africa which are to the south of the Line, under the same penalties imposed in the first article of this decree : allowing likewise the space of five months from the above date to complete the voyages that may be undertaken before the above-mentioned 30th of May, in which the traffic in slaves shall cease in all my dominions, as well in Spain as in America.
The follorving extracts from the letters of one of the Commissioners of the British government, stationed at the Havannah, to^iforce the abolition laws, indicate great indifference on the part of Spain, to give them their due effect.
" On the 6th of February, 1 820, Mr. Kilbee acquaints Lord Castle- reagh, that ' the slave-trade continues to be very brisk, and that
SPAIN. 21
almost dally there are awivals from, and departures to, the- coast of Africa.'
" On the 29th of June, 1820, the same gentleman writes, that on the 30th of May', the very day on which, by treaty, the Spanish slave-trade was to cease, every where and for ever, and during a few days before, about twenty vessels sailed from the Havannah to the coast of Africa for slaves, their owners having been led hy thfe Spanish authorities theie, to believe that there was no risk of capture in the case of vessels clearing out for southern Africa, on or befoi-e the SOtli of May, even although they should 'not complete their voyages in the five rndnths allowed by the treaty for that purpose -aiid this notwithstanding the clear and express terms in which, their own mu- nicipal law, as well as the treaty with Great Britain, limits th^" period.
"On the 31st of August, 1S20, Mr. Kilbee informs Lord Castle- reagh as follows : ' No vessel detained in virtue of our slave-tracTe'" treaty with Spain, has yet reached this port for adjudication. V stated upon a former occasion that many of the slave-ships that ar- rive here obtain their cargoes on the coast of Africa north of the Line. For some time after the mixed Commission was declared ;td be opened, these vessels were in the habit of landing their negroes at Batabano, or some other of the smaller ports in the island ; fearing that if they came direct to the Havannah, where one of the British Commissioners was resident, their papers could be examined, and that they would be liable to the penalties stipulate}! by treaty. Finding, however, that such as did reach this port were not subject- ed to any special examination in consequence of the treaty, either on the part of the mixed Commission, or on that of the authorities of his Catholic Majesty, they have latterly come direct to the Havannah, and make pb mystery of having proceeded from the coast of Africa north of the Line.' "
'*' Every slave thus illicitly introduced is, by the treaty, most clearly entitled to his freedom ; and the British government have, besides, a right to half the proceeds of every vessel employed in introducing them. It seems; therefore, scarcely to admit of doubt, that such manifest violations of the engagements of Spain, and such gross neo-- Hgence, to say the least, on the part of the local authorities, might ^ave formed a proper subject, not less of the official denunciations of
23 SPAIN,
our Commissionerc, than of the pointed remonstrances of our go«i vernment*."
*' The last letter from Mr, Kilbee is dated November 8, 1820. It states, that on the 30th of October, the term allowed by treaty for completing the voyages of Spanish slave-ships, had expired; but that on the 6th inst. the brig Tellus, Don Juan Botel, master, consigned to Messrs. Pelegrin, Marquez, and Co. had entered that port with 176 negroes from the coast of Africa, and was admitted and allowed to land her cargo. Mr. Kilbee represented the matter to the go- vernor; but on his part it was alleged, that this vessel having cleared out before the 30th of May, must be allowed time to finish her voy^ age, five months not being sufficient for that purpose ; and, it was contended, that the penalties were only meant to attach to such as should commence their voyages subsequently to the 30th of May, He would, therefore, he said, admit vessels, under such circumstances, until he should receive further orders from his government ; and, in the mean time, security would be taken for the value of their car-; goes, from the owners of vessels arriving subsequently to the 30th of October, until the decision of the two governments should^ be known t.
*' The Spanish government applied several times to Lord Castlereagh for an extension of the period of five months allowed fpr completing the slave- voyages begun before the 30th of May, 1820; but this ap- plication his lordship uniformly and strenuously resisted. An able note addressed to the Spanish Charge d' Affaires, on the 11th of June, 1820, affords a comprehensive and most satisfactory view of the whole of his lordship's argument. The following extract from it will sufficiently show its general bearing,
*' The argument used in M. d'Usoz's note, founding the present demands on the known impossibility of vessels being able to com- mence and complete an expedition in slave-trading, within the pe- riod between May and October, 1820, so as to insure to the mer- chants the safety of their cargoes, is a position not to be denied; but the undersigned considers it as peculiarly corroborative of the spirit and intention of the article in question, which was to discourage, ra-
* Supplement to the 15th Report, page 29— 3J. f Ditto, page 33.
SPAIN. \ 23
ther than to facilitate the commencement of such Enterprises, at so late a period as the last day of the term in which the virtual suppres- sion was to take effect. In fact, such an integral change in this part of the treaty, can only be considered by the undersigned as pro tanlo defeating the very object for which it was framed ; which object cer- tainly was no other than the final abolition of the slave-trade by S|w,in, at as early a period as the interests of its subjects, upon due notice, would permit, and to which interest so large a sacrifice in money was, at the time, made by Great Britain, in reliance on the good faith of the Spanish government in carrying into effect the arti- cle which it is now proposed to defeat, by the solicitation of a still longer period ; aad as the treaty was made public as far back as the year 1817j the undersigned does not see how Spanish merchants can plead ignorance of the provisions of the treaty, or entertain any expectation of an alteration in one of its most important articles.
'* If there be any speculators, whose love of enterprise and thirst for lucre shall have led them into risks thus wilfully, not to say blameably incurred, such traders must abide by the penalties which they knew to be impending over them ; nor can they in justice claim the protection 0/ their government, after the timely notice given to them."
" On receiving Mr. Kilbee's last letter, Lord Castlereagh addressed a dispatch to Sir Henry Wellesley, dated the l6th of February, 1821, repeating many of the arguments he had before employed, and desiring him to require of the Spanish government an exact per- formance of the stipulations of the treaty. ' His Majesty rests his full assurance upon the well-known honour of Spain, that the govern- ment will give orders for acting up to the treaty. There is every reason to believe that an additional and forced trade in human beings has been founded on the prospect of its termination, both by sending more ships than could be loaded on the coast of Africa within the or- dinary time of trade ; and by multiplying ships' j)apers, so as to allow of their being used at a future time. And it appears, from the instance more immediately referred to, (that of the Telius,) that ves- sels take their clearances from one settlement, and make their im- portations into another ; thus making it doubly inexpedient to admit of any alteration of the treaty, since it would be impossible to esta- blish any effectual check against such evasiojis.' He concludes with
24 PORTUGAL.
desiring Sir H. Wellesley to call upon the Spanish government to issue immediate ordei's to the authorities at the Havannah and else- where, and to their commissioners at the Havannah and Sierra Leone, to act faithfully up to the stipulations pf the treaty. The re- sult of this communication does not appear from these papers*/'
PORTUGAL.
The documents printed in the S^ipplement from which the last ex- tracts are taken, unequivocally prove the continuance of the Slave-trade hy the Portugtiese, in a way which indicates great indifference to its abolition on the part of that government, as the following statements show.
" In various communications from Mr. Chamberlain, his Majesty's Charge d'Affaires at Rio de Janeiro, arc given isome interesting statements respecting the extent of the Portuguese Slave-trade.
" On the 2d of October, 1817, he writes, that during the two pre- ceding months the slave-trade from Rio de Janeiro had suddenly and largely increased. Twenty-seven vessels had sailed thence in that time, capable of carrying 9450 slaves, a number amounting to nearly half the supply of any former year ; and several more were pre- paring. Of these twenty-seven vessels, as many as twenty-one had cleared out for Cabenda, which Mr. Chamberlain attributes, with great appearance of probability, to the immediate vicinity of that place to the prohibited district, and the consequent facility of drawing slaves thence.
"From the 1st of January, 1817, to the 1st of January, 1818, 6070 slaves, the same gentleman states, were imported into the cap- taincy of Bahia from the coast of Africa, in sixteen ships.
" The number imported in the same time into Rio de Janeiro, in forty-two ships, was 18,033. A much larger number, viz. 20,075 had been embarked, but 2042 had died in the Middle Passage.
Supplement to the loth Report, page 34—36.
PORTUGAL.
One vessel, the Protector, had taken on board 807 slaves at Mozam- bique, of whom 339 died during the voyage.
" On the 9th of May, 1818, Mr. Chamberlain writes, that the slave-trade had now increased beyond all former example; twenty- five vessels having arrived since the beginning of the year, none bringing less, and many of them more, than 400 of these unhappy beings, which made the importation at least 10,000 during the pre- ceding four months.
" The number of slaves imported into Rio de Janeiro, from Janu- ary 1 to December 31, 1818, was 1938O2. The number embarked had been 22,231, in fifty-three ships, of whom 2429 had died on the passage. One vessel, the Perola de Norta, from Mozambique, lost l(5l out of 421; another the Uniao Fehz, from Mozambique, lost 229 out of 659, a third, the St. Jose Diligente from Kilimane, lost 238 out of 464.
" It is to be regretted that this account has not been continued; and also that the impoitations into the other captaincies of the Brazils should not have been mentioned.
" The third article of the treaty concluded with Portugal on the 28th of July, 1817? for repressing the illicit slave-trade, stipulated, that within two months after the exchange of the ratifications, which was to take place on or before the 28th of November, 1817, his Most faithful Majesty should promulgate a law, prescribing the punishment to be inflicted on such of his subjects as should in future participate in the illicit traffic of slaves; and renewing the existing prohibition to import slaves into the Brazils, under any other flag than that of Portugal ; in which law his Most Faithful Majesty further engaged to assimilate as much as possible the legislation of Portugal to that of Gi-eat Britain. In compHance with this stipulation, such a law should have been promulgated on or before the 28th of Januaiy, 1818. Repeated applications were made on this subject by Mr. Chamberlain, his Majesty's Charge d' Affaires at the Court of Brazil; but it was not till the month of May that the law was communicated to him, or even printed*."
* Supplement to the 15th Report, page 36 — 38.
$6 PORTUGAL.
This law contains the two following articles :
" Art. i. All persons, of whatsoever quality or condition^ who shall proceed to fit out or prepare vessels for the traffic in slaves, in any part of the coast of Africa lying north of the Equator, shall in- cur the penalty of the loss of the slaves, who shall be declared free, with a destination herein afterwards mentioned. The vessels engaged in the traffic shall be confiscated, with all their tackle and appurte- nances, together with the cargo, of whatever it may consist, which shall be on board on account of the owners or freighters of such ves- sel, and of the owners of such slaves. The officers of such vessel — to wit, the captain or master, the pilot and supercargo — shall be banished for five years to Mosambique, and each shall pay a fine equivalent to the pay or other profits which he was to gain by the, ad- venture. Policies of insurance cannot be made on such vessels, or their cargoes ; and if they are made, the assurers who shall knowingly make them, shall be condemned in triple the amount of the stipu- lated premium.
" Art. ii. All persons, of whatever rank or condition, who shall import slaves into Brazil, in foreign vessels, shall incur the same penalty of the loss of the slaves, who shall become freemen, and be provided for as hereinafter directed*/'
" This law," the Committee of the African Institution remark, "if properly followed up, would doubtless do much to repress the illicit Por- tuguese slave-trade ; and it might have been expected that the Court of Brazils, being really anxious to carry it into effect, would have given authority to the Portuguese judges of the mixed Commission Court at Sierra Leone, to have taken cognizance of any infractions of it which might be brought under their view. So far, however, was this from having been done, that in June, J 820, eighteen months after the date of the law, those judges, having before them a clear and undoubted case of illicit slave-trading, not only permitted the parties to depart, with their vessel and her cargo restored to them, but assigned to them a full indemnification, to be paid by the captor t.
" The Board will recollect, that at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, the powers assembled there agreed to make a solemn and joint ap-.
• Supplement to the loth Report, page 38, 39. -|- Ditto, page 42,
PORTUGAL. 27
peal to the King of Portugal, to induce him entirely to abolish the filavertrade. The letters of those different powers having been pre- sented to him; on the 21st of August, 1819? he addressed a letter to his Majesty, in reply to one received from him, in which he states that he had caused his subjects to observe the stipulations of the treaty, for abolishing the slave-trade to the north of the Line, and that he had given to that traffic * the direction which was most con- formable to these stipulations, without lisking a general commotion in the Brazils, in order to substitute white colonists for a black po- pulation, from whom rude labour alone can be expected, without either industry or activity' in such labours. * It is extremely dis- agreeable,' he adds, * to be thus placed between two evils, one of which would prevent the increase of industry in general; whilst the other, by opposing the prejudices of two centuries, would be revolt- ing to the opinions of the proprietors, and perhaps inflame the minds of the slaves. In this crisis I have preferred indirect means : the traffic has already much decreased ; and I hope that in time you will have the satisfaction of seeing your views realized.'
^' So far as this letter is intelligible, it appears intended to postpone the abolition of the Portuguese Slave-trade to an indefinite period. The only facts asserted in it — namely, that the king had caused his subjects to observe the stipulations of the treaty, abolishing the slave- trade north of the Line, and that the trade had much decreased
3re contradicted, it is to be feared, by incontrovertible evidence.
" Our government has not limited its efforts to induce Portugal entirely to renounce the slave-trade, to the above communication. There appear in these papers several urgent applications to the Portu- guese minister, calling upon him to fulfil the pledge given at the Con- gress of Vienna, that in eight years, at most, from that time, the Portuguese Slave-trade should cease*."
" Sir George Collier, in ISiPj had detained two slaving vessels, which were found to be the property of the governor of Prince's, on the coast of Africa; and the Nova Felicidade, whose case is mentioned above in the proceedings of the mixed Commission Court at Sierra Leone, and which, though only eleven tons burden, had seventy-
Supplement to the 15th Report, page 43. 44.
28 NETHERLANDS.
one human beings crowded into her hold, is stated to liave belonged to the «ame person. Lord Castlereagh preferred a complaint against him to the Portuguese government, urgently requesting ' that no time may be lost in instituting an inquiry into his conduct ; and that as there are the strongest reasons to believe that he has been deeply implicated in the abuses which have been practised on that coast, in carrying on the slave-trade, in violation of the treaty betwieen the countries, he may be removed, without further delay, from the com- mand of that island ?' He presses it also upon that government^ ' how eminently it becomes their character, as dii'ecting the affairs of a civilized nation, and how important to their fair name, at a mo- ment when the continuance of the Negro slave-trade is a subject of general abhorrence in every civilized country, with the single ex- ception of the Brazils, that they should adopt the most decisive and vigorous measures to arrest the progress of an evil which appears to be increasing, rather than to diminish, in its most horrid character.' ' The documents,' his lordship adds, afford ' ample proof of the horrid and disgraceful manner in which this odious traffic is still cars, ried on by his Most Faithful Majesty's subjects; how in its. most illicit form, it is encouraged and connived at by the Portuguese authorities; and how seriously it becomes the duty of every govern- ment, and of every individual friend of humanity, to do all in their power to put an end to such unjustifiable outrages.'
" The papers do not state what was the actual result of these spi's rited representations *."
NETHERLANDS.
It seems p-oper to ^introduce the account of the trade carried on hy the subjects of the king of the Netherlands , hy printing the following law.
" On the 20th of November, 1 S 1 8, tlie following law, entitled a law ' denouncing penalties in order to prevent and check the slave-trade,
• Supplement to the 15th KeporL, page 46, 47.
SietherLands. 29
was promulgated by that government, and a cop)'' of it reached Eng- land on the 4th of March, 181 9.
' We, William, by the grace of God, King of the Netherlands', Prince of Orange Nassau, Grand Duke of Luxemburg, &c. &c. &c. '
' Having considered our decree of June 15, 1814 ; likewise article eight of the treaty concluded August 13,. 1814, between our king- dom and that of Great Britain ; as also article one of the treaty dated the 4th of May, of the same year, all relative to the abolition of the slave-trade • and article sixty of the fundamental law ; and being solicitous to prevent a traffic so disgraceful to humanity, we, on the proposal of our minister for justice and foreign affairs, and after hearing the council of state, have decreed and do decree: —
' Art i. No one, of whatever description, in our West India colonies and settlements, or on the coast of Guinea, shall be per- mitted to carry on the slave-trade, or to be directly or indirectly connected with that traffic, whether by fitting out ships or vessels for that purpose, or by having an interest in the fitting out, to that end, of national or other ships and vessels, and by designedly letting them by contract for such object, or by shipping, buying, selling, bar- tering, and openly or surreptitiously importing, or causing to be im- ported, Negroes as slaves, into any Netherland or foreign- colony or settlement out of Europe, on pain, to transgressors and their accom- plices, of incurring, a penalty of five thousand florins, besides being declared infamous, and imprisoned for the period of five years.
' Art. ii. To the same punishment shall be liable all foreigners^ who, subsequently to April 1, I8I9, sha:ll have carried to, or im- ported, or attempted to import, into our above-mentioned colonies and settlements, one or more Negroes, and who shall be apprehended in our said colonies and settlements: and any ships and vessels laden with Negroes, which, previous to that period, may put into any of the Netherland harbours in those parts of the world, shall imme- diately be warned off.
' Art. iii. Penalties similar to those specified in article i. shall be
inflicted upon all masters of vessels, steersmen, and supercargoes,
whether Netherland or foreign, who shall have lent their assistance
towards the carrying on of the prohibited traffic in slaves, and shall,
' in consequence, after the above period, have carried to, or imported
30 NET HERLASTDS.
into, or attempted to carry to, or import into, the said colonies ot settlements, any cargo of Negroes.
* Art. iv. Sailors, and other seafaring men, who shall be appre- hended in our colonies on a charge of having deliberately entered
• into the service of ships or vessels, knowing them to be engaged in the slave-trade in general, or in the importation of slaves into om- above-mentioned colonies and settlements, shall, by way of punish- ment, be imprisoned for two years ; and those who discover it after- wards, shall immediately stand discharged from their service, and take the first opportunity, unattended with danger to themselves, to quit the same, on pain, in the contrary case, of incurring the punish- ment alluded to.
* Art. v. The above denunciations of punishment, however, shall ho way apply to slaves now existing in the colonies, or to their chil- dren, whether born or that may be born, respectively, who shall be transferred to and from any Netherland colony in the West Indies, or to and from any foreign colony, or any portion thereof; and we ex- pressly declare, that no one whosoever shall, on that account, be suffered to be at all molested ; inasmuch as such importation and transfer does not come within the meaning of the prohibited slave- trade.
* Art. vi. Neither shall the punishments threatened by the present law be made applicable to those who shall save and succour any slave- vessel in distress, or who may have transshipped from such vessel any slaves, provided the commander give due information of it within fourteen hours of his putting into the first port he shall make.
' Our ministers of justice and public instruction, of national in- dustry and the colonies, are directed, each according to his depart- ment, to see the above carried into execution ; and the latter shall cause the present decree to be proclaimed and affixed, as usual, in the before-mentioned colonies and settlements; and copies of the present decree shall hkewise be communicated to our ministers for foreign affairs, and to the council of state, for their information.*
" The fifth article of the above law, it will be obvious, goes far, by a kind of side-wind, to nullify the whole of the preceding enactments, •as well as the entire effect of the treaty which it professes to enforce; for that article permits the unrestricted import and export of slaves
NETHERLANDS. SI
between the Dutch colonies in the West Indies reciprocally; and be- tween those colonies and the colonies of all other nations.
" It ought not, perhaps, to excite any surprise, that the evasive nature of this provision should not have immediatel}"- arrested the attention of his majesty's government. It appears, indeed, to have been overlooked, until the practical evils which might naturally be expected to flow from it called loudly for interference.
" On the 12th of January, 1819, the above law was procMmed at Surinam.
" On the 2Sd of November, in thatyear,his majesty's commission- ers at Surinam, for carrying the treaty into effect, C. E. Lefroy, Esq. the commissary judge, and T. S. Wale, Esq. the arbitrator, inform- ed Lord Castlereagh, that ' under the fifth and sixth articles' of that decree, of which they inclose an official copy, * a trade in slaves with the West India islands does exist ; that two vessels, one from Guada- loupe, the other from Martinique, under the Fi-ench flag, but con- signed to inhabitants of this colony, ai-e at the present time discharg- ing their cargoes of slaves in the river Surinam ; and that a ship under the Netherland colours has sailed from hence for the purpose of purchasing slaves at^Pernambuco.'
" Again, on the 27th of December, 1819, the same gentleman in- formed Lord Castlereagh, ' that the trade in slaves under the French flag, is carried on in great vigour, and that the majority of the slave- cargoes admitted under that flag are recent importations from Africa. Every circumstance of appearance and language of the Negroes, and even the admission both of buyers and sellers, render this a fact too notorious to permit us to conceal it from your lordship.'
*' On the 1st of April, 1820, these gentlemen further stated:
* We are extremely sorry to report, that fresh arrivals of slave- vessels under the French flag have taken place; and that, as nearly as we can compute upon the whole, since the publication of the de- cree, of which we had the honour to inclose your lordship a copy in our dispatch of the 23d of November last, no less a number than 2800 slaves, (the greater part recently from Africa,) have lately been introduced into this colony. We have had some conversation with the captain and officers of a Dutch frigate, the Comet, which is com- missioned under the treaty to cruise upon this station ; but they do not think their authority extends to an interference, in any case, with
32 NETHEUI^ANDS.
the French flag, or with the interception of slaves imported underit>; protection. Our official colleagues, Messrs. Changiiier and Graafland, are likewise of the same opinion ; and that neither the letter nor the spirit of the authority with which the mixed courts are at present in- vested, comprehends any means of repressing or controlling this me- thod of evading the object of the treaty.
" Under these circumstances, it will be manifest to your lordship, that unless in compliance with the last clause of the first article of the treaty, the Dutch government repeals the permission, contained in the decree to which we have before had occasion to refer, of impor- tation from ' friendly colonies,' whose vessels have not been subject, by any express treaty, to the right of search, or has lecourse to some further measures, your lordship's efforts in this great cause will be, in part at least, defeated."
" Again, on the 6th of April, 1820, they wrote as follows: — " Although we had so recently the honour of addressing you, a circumstance- has occurred since we made up our last dispatch, of which we think it our duty to put your lordship in possession — viz. the arrival of a vessel, under Dutch colours, with not less than four hundred and eighty slaves on board, (with papers professedly from a ' friendly colony,' under the authority of the decree of the Dutch government, accompanying our dispatch of the iJ3d of November, but which papers, from the appearance, manners, and every circum- stance attending both the vessel and her cargo, we can feel no doubt to have been collusive,) without the least obstruction either from the Dutch ships of war in the river, or from the governor or local autho- rities in this place.'^
" His majesty's commissioners at Surinam, on the 14th of August, 1 820, again addressed Lord Castlereagh to the following effect :
" When we had before the honour of addressing your lordship, we communicated the circumstance of the French and Dutch flags being made covers to the importation of slaves into this colony, evidently new comers from Africa, though perhaps alleged to have been pro- cured immediately from neighbouring colonies: since then, we have seen the Portuguese colours also employed in a similar service ; and in the course of the last week, three vessels under the flag of France, apparently direct from the African coast, have discharged their cjir- Ijjoes of slaves in tliis port." '
NETHERLANDS. S3
'f The only remaining communitation from these gentlemen is dated so late as December 12, 1820, and is as follows: —
' We beg leave to inform your lordship, that the importation of slaves into this colony, which has been the subject of our former let-* ters to your lordship, is still continued, and that in a recent instance^ a slave-vessel with her cargo, prize to, and brought in by a South- American privateer, has been admitted b?/ this government to the market.'
" It is obvious that, according to the stipulations of the treaty, all the slaves who have thus been introduced into Surinam ought to have been emancipated, the ships to have been confiscated, and the parties concerned to have undergone the punishment prescribed in the decree of the king of the Netherlands*."
These statements did not fail to claim the early attention of the British government, and through the ambassador at the court of the Netherlands, strong remonstrances were made. They did not, how-, ever, meet with that diligent attention which the case demanded. At length, in the course of last spring, nine months afterwards, a decree was issued by the king, the substance of which is as follows:
" We, William, by the grace of God, king of the Netherlands, &c. &c. considering that, according to reports which have been received, slaves are now and then imported into the colony of Surinam fi'om certain foreign colonies, where the slave-trade with Africa direct is still permitted, — referring to the treaty concluded between the Netherlands and Great-Britain on the 4th of March, 1818; referring to the law of the 20th of November, 1813; having examined the reports of our ministers for foreign affairs and justice, public instruction, national industry, and colonies ; by the advice of our privy council — have thought fit and determined to prohibit the importation of slaves into the coloBies of our kingdom, and especially into that of Surinam, from those colonies where the direct slave-trade with Africa is still permitted, as we do by these presents,
" Supplement to the 15th Report, page 48—54.
34 ' NETllERLAiJDS.
and under the §»tne penalties as are denounced against, the importa-- tion of prohibited goods there."
On this debtee, the coynmillee of the African InslHution make th€ JoUoiving Just reflections:
" This decree was, doubtless, intehded by its frarners to satisfy the just and pressing demands of our government. The committee are nevertheless compelled to say, that however honourable may have lieen its intghtion, as it now starids it is a mere evasion of them ; for it pi-ohibits the iraportatioh of slaves into Surinam, only when it is made fiontl those colonies where the direct slave-trade with,Africa is perrhitted. But there is no such colony in the West Indies. The prohibition, therefore, if not perfectly nugatory, may be regarded as giving a legal sanction to what was formerly at least not admitted, namely, the right to import slaves into Surinam from all the other colonies in the West Iridies. Take the case, for example, of an im- portation fiOm Mattinique, or Guadaloupe, or Cayenne, or Porto Rico, ol- the Havannah : in nbhe of these is the direct slave-trade \*?ith Africa still permitted, to whatever- extfetlt it riiay illicitly subsist- From all of them, therefore, notwithstanding this decree, nay, even under its implied sanction, m^y slaves be imported into Surinam without restriction. But this was the very abuse against which our government had reirioHstrated. The government of the Netherlands' professed to yield to oui: remoristrances ; and in fulfilment of that profession, if prornUlgates a decreg which tibt Only leaves the abase complained of wholly untouched, but seems to render it legal. Our governrnfint, it cannot be doubted, has already pointed out this dis- appbintmijnt of the hiimahe expectations Which the appearance of the decree must have raised, and has called for a measure more conso- nant to the letter and the spirit of our existing treaties : a measure; to use the words of our treaty, " cal&ulaied in I^He Hiost EJFFECttJAL. MANNER to pr Client all their respective subjects froin taking any Share vi^HATEVER in this nefarious traffic'' It is lamentable to see with what tenacity this Christian power clings to every remnant of this execrable commerce, to which the special pleadings of its colonists can give any colour of consistency with its engagements.
" Then, as to the -punishment denounced by this new law, while it places a human beings or a cargo of human beings, on a level with a
East coast of Africa* S$
keg of gin or a firkin of butter, is it not a relaxation, instea^ of an aggravation, of the penalties already affixed to slave-trading, namely, • a penalty of "5000 florins, besides being declared infamous, and imprisoned for the period of five years ?' If the undefined penalty attached to the importation of prohibited goods be, as the com- mittee apprehend, one of less sevcrit3^ then the measure assumes a still more reprehensible character. But be it so, or not, the decree is still a most inefficient and unsatisfactory fulfilment of the solemn engagements of the king of the Netherlands^ and of the just expecta- tions of the British government*."
EAST COAST OF AFRICA.
OBSERVATIONS on the SLAVE-TRADE carried on at ZANZEBAR.
" The slave-trade is carried on along the whole extent of the east coast of Africa, wherever there is a harbour, or an anchorage, in which vessels can traffic with safety ; but I select one spot as peculiarly calling for the attention of the African Institution, and the British government.
*^ The island of Zanzebar, or Zinglebaus, (as it is called by the natives,) is situated between the latitudes of 5 deg. 40 min. and 6 deg. 30 min. south, and between 39 and 40 deg. east longitude. It lies in a direction nearly N. N. E. and S. S.W. and is distant from fifteen to twenty miles from the continent.
" There is an abundance of all the vegetables of tropical climes, which, with the fruits, are so bountifully supplied by nature, and re- quire so little assistance from man, that the agriculture of the island is chiefly confined to clearing the ground from an exuberant vegeta- tion not alimentary. Poultry is plentiful and cheap, a' Spanish dollar being the price of sixteen large fowls. The harbour and coasts of the island yield abundance of delicious fish of great variety.
" Supplement to the 15th Report, page 66—68. c 2
55 EAST COAST OF AFRICA. ^
" The population is computed to be 200,000, consisting of natives', Kegro slaves, and Arabs; the last not amounting to more than 2000, the slaves to about 150,000; some considerable Arab and native landholders possessing each from 200 to 400 of these unfortunate beings. It is comparatively happy for them, when their lot is cast in the service of an Arab, who is justly famed for his mild treatment of his slaves. He allows him a small habitation on his estate, exact- ing from him moderate labour, while the fertile soil yields him ample means of subsistence with little trouble. The poor Negro, therefore, under an Arab master, appears to enjoy ease and content. Numbers, unhappily, are differently situated ; and the account given by Captain Smee, of the East India Company's marines, who visited the island in 1811, is sufficient to harrow the hardest heart.
" A considerable number of merchants from Cutch and Scind occu- py the best houses in the town of Zanzebar, engross the greatest part of the slave-trade, and form the most opulent part of the community. The slaves are brought to the market-place early in the day; but the principal exhibition commences about three or four o'clock in the afternoon. They are ranged in a line, composed of both sexes, and all ages, beghming with the least and increasing to the rear, according to their size. To set them off to the best advantage, their skins are cleaned and burnished with oil, their faces painted with red and white stripes, their woolly hair plastered and filled with a yellow powder, esteemed among the poor creatures as a mark of beauty and ele- gance, their hands and feet ornamented with rings and bi'acelets, and round their loins is wrapped a new striped or plain coloured cloth. At the head of the file stand sthe proprietor, and on each side two or three of his domestic slaves armed as a guard. Thus arranged, the procession begins, and passes through the market-place and principal streets; the owner, in a sort of a song, sounding the good qualities of his slaves, and proclaiming the prices that he had been offered for them.
" When one of them strikes a spectator's fancy, t1ie line is halted ; and an examination ensues, which, for minuteness, is not equalled in any cattle-market in Europe. The pui'chaser first ascertains that there is no defect in the faculties of speech or hearing, and takes the assurance of the seller, that the slave neither snores nor grinds his
EAST COAST OF AFRICA. 87
leeth in his sleep, uhich aie deemed great objections; and then lie proceeds with his examination. The mouth and teeth are inspected, and afterwards every part of the body in succession, not excepting those parts which a sense of decency in the most savage tribes con- ceals from vicwj and which perhaps the very slave so inspected would not expose without a blus!!, which tlie lighter cheek of his future mas- ter could not display, vlfter this, he is made to run ; and if there be no defect in tlic limbs, and no indication of any disease, the bargain is concluded. At the close of the day, the wretched beings who have been sold are stripped of their decorations, and sent to the houses oi' the purchasers. Women with infants hanging at their breasts, and others feeble from age, are thus seen marshalled and driven about the ' streets. Some groupes had been so ill fed, that their bones appeared as if they would penetrate the skin. Children of six years' old were sold for four, five, and six dollars. The value of a jiiime slave was about fifty, and that of a young girl sixty dollars. Women with in- fants did not fetch so high a price as those without them.
" When a slave dies, his body is often allowed to putrify on the beach ; not a rag of cloth or handful of earth being laid over it. In consequence of this disgusting and revolting practice, the stench about the town is ii>CoIcrable ; and, co-opei"ating with the noxious effluvia arising from decayed vegetable matter, which floats down the stream in the rainy season, together with the filthiness of the low houses and narrow streets, tends to produce fevers and dysenteries, ' which make dreadful ravages among the inhabitants. In this, may not the hand of Providence be seen rendering the very objects of their cupidity the means of their destruction.^
" The various tribes of slaves brought annually to Zanzcbar for sale, (and of which 10,0U0 are supposed to be sent annually to India, Muscat, Bourbon, and the Isle of France,) could not be accurately de- scribed. The}'^ ar-e brought from the ecntinent, some, three months' journey from the coast: these are called Mechmacries, and their •country furnishes ivory and gold. The Meechcoos are two months in coming. The Mee-a-hoo, fifty days. The Mee-geer-doo, one month. The Gooroo, fifteen days. The Doai, ten days; and are said to be cannibals. The Jiggiea, four days; and the Morjeeir-bana, ihree. These are only a few of the different tribes -who inhabit the jcoimtry, directly inland from Zan/t'bar; the interior ol' \yhicli in
38 , EAST COAST OF AFRICA.
represented to be extremely fertile, and abounding with cattle and - elephants.
" The town of Zanzebar is situated on the south-west side of the island : it is large, and chiefly composed of huts. The few store- houses which are seen, belong to the merchants of Cutch, Scind, and the Arab residents. The fort, which was of Portuguese construction, is a square building, with a tower at each corner, and a battery in an outwork towards the sea; in which are mounted four or five guns of large cahbre, and of French manufacture. The harbour of this beauti- ful island is capacious and excellent. The tides rise between two and three fathoms; and, at a small expense, docks might be constructed, capable of admitting ships of the largest burden. The sovereignty of the island belongs to the imaum of Muscat, who appoints at pleasure the hakeem or governor, his vizier, and three or four officers, who col- lect the customs, but maintains no description of military force.
" The hakeem's slaves, amounting to about 500, are all armed, and serve as soldiers. He himself is an eunuch-slave of the imaum. His ruling passion is the love of power ; for the preservation of which he lives like a beggar: his savings and extortions being transmitted to Muscat as the price of his situation. The people who live under his government despise and detest him.
" The trade here, (as in most of the ports on the east-coast of Africa,) is chiefly in the hands of the Arabs from Muscat and Maculla, and of adventurers from Scind, Cutch, and Surat. The principal imports are Surat -and Cambray cloths, to the value of twelve lacs of rupees annually; cotton, beads, sugar, grain, iron, and Jead. The exports consist of slaves, ivory, rhinoceros's hides and horns, cowries, wax, turtle-shells, &c. The value of the duties annu- ally collected, were computed to be 1 50,000 dollars ; and the rate paid is five per cent.
" The ordinary annual nett revenue derived by the imaum from this possession, is 60,000 dollars ; but levies of money are frequently made upon the inhabitants, on various pretences : and when Captain Smee was there, a ship arrived from Muscat, M'ith a demand of 25,000 dollars, for the avowed purpose of enabling the imaum to resist the ericroachments of the Wahabees; but the real object was supposed to be, to purchase a cargo for the very ship that brought the demand. An additional tax was immediately imposed ; and the
EAST COAST OF AFRICA. S9
.plndpal men of the district were ordered to collect it, and held responsible tor its pa3nnent, at a stated pei'iod, undjer pain of inrpri- sonment. Tiie Siirat tradci-s were on this occasion called upon to contribute 3500 dollars as their quota; but Captain Smee very pro- perly afforded them that protection to which tJiey were entitled from a Bi-itish officer, and remonstrated with the hakeem on th.e injustice of demanding any thing from these peaceable traders beyopd the ^established duties of the port.
" In March^ Ifill, when that officer was at Zanzebar, with two of the East India Companys cruisers, there were lying in the haibour, for the purpose of commerce, 5Q vessels of different sizes, containing about 10,000 tons.
" In addition to these, 'numerous s-mall coasting craft are continu- ally arriving and departing. In some seasons 100 large dowhs have arrived there from India and Arabia. It must be very evident, from what has been already stated, that the slave-trade is not necessary to the prosperity of this island; that the com- mercial spirit of the place, if rightly directed, would find its l)e,st interest in the pursuit of other objects. The articles of import and export, of which a part has been enumerated, abundantly show that a very lucrative commerce mi^ht be prosecuted, untainted by the guilt of that nefarious and inhuman traffic. Along the whole range lof the eastern coast, there wili not be found a port, by its many ad- ■V;antages, so inviting to commercial enterprise.
^' It ought then to excite equal astonishment and regret, that an ex- tensive and populous island, so richly gifted by nature, and so ad- mirably adapted for commerce, the great and Sv-.ccessful means of ■civilization, should be subjected to the dominion of a petty Moham- medan state, which, at the distance of 2000 miles, rules it with a contemptible band' of slaves, whilst it is unable to defend its pwn tenitories and eommerce from tlie attacks of its neighbours in the Persian Gulf.
" But the first object which calls for attention, and which ought to engage the consideration of the British government in the East, is the abolition of the slave-trade ; a measure which, I ani confident, is easy of accomplishment. The imaum of Muscat is an old and steady ally of the East India Ccmp my, and, of late years, ha^ been indebted for his existence as a sovereign to theii" protection. His princiiml
40 EAST COAST OF AFIUCA.
ship for war and commerce was recently built in the company's dock- yard at Bombay ; and all his applications for supplies from the arse- nal are immediately granted. Indeed, the intimacy between the imaum and the Bombay governor has been such, and the confidence of this Mohammedan in Christian benevolence so great, that he has, (contrary to all usage,) been in the practice of sending his sister, to whom he was much attached, annually to Bombay with a large suite, there to pass some months for the benefit of her health. The British government, therefore, have only to express to the imaum their de- sire that the slave-trade at Zanzebar should cease; and I am confident that he would readily enter into a treaty with them for that purpose, and as readily agree, that the East India Company's vessels of war should enforce its execution. At all events, the trial should be at- tempted, and a beginning made to free the eastern coast of Africa from the dreadful scourge with which it continues to be afilicted*."
The Boaj-d of Directors of the African Institutimi communicated the above Memoir to the Court of Directors of the East India Com- jjani/, who, in a disjjatch to the governor of Bombay, dated 11th of Mh mo. 1821, ivrite in the following terms :
" We lately received from the president, vice-presidents, and directors of the African Institution, a letter and memoir respecting the slave-trade carried on at Zanzebar, on the east coast of Africa, a copy of which we transmit.
" We take the earliest opportunity, in drawing your attention to this communication, of expressing our most cordial concurrence in the lienevolent views entertained by the respectable members of that Institution, and of communicating to you our directions, that every means of persuasion may be exerted by j^ou, witli the imaum of Muscat, to induce him to abolish this inhuman traffic within his pos- sessions ; and consent to such of his subjects, as may al'terwards en- gage in it, being considered and treated as pirates f."
Fifteenth. Report of the African Institution. Appendix, page. 52—58, t Ditto, 03.
/ ADDRESS TO THE KING. 41
To these melancholy reports on the slave-trade, as carried on hy the subjects of European poivers, may be properly subjoined the JvlloW" ing Address to the King, which passed the House of Commons on the 27th of the 6tk month, 1821; the substance of which had been voted the preceding day, as a similar address from the House of Lords: —
"resolved, nemine contradicente,
" That an huilible address be presented to his majesty, represent- ing to his majesty, that in the various documents relative to the slave-trade, which, by his majesty's command, have been laid before the house, we find a renewed and most gratifying proof of the per- severing solicitude with which his majesty's government has laboured to meet the wishes of this house, and of the nation at large, by ef- fecting the entire and universal abolition of that guilty traffic: — that we learn from them, however, with the deepest regret, that his ma- jesty's unwearied efforts to induce various powers to perform their own solemn engagements, have not been more successful :
" That, notv/ithstanding the deliberate denunciation by which the slave-trade was branded with infamy at the congress of Vienna, as a crime of the deepest dye, and notwithstanding the solemn determi- nation there expressed by all the great powers of Europe, to put an end to so enormous an evil ; nevertheless, that this trade is still car- ried on, to an extent scarcely ever before surpassed, by the subjects, and even under the flags, of some of the very powers which were parties to those declarations : — A dispatch of a more encouraging tenor, from his majesty's commissioner and the chief criminal judge at Sierra Leone, has indeed been very recently communicated to this House, but we have too much reason to fear that the hopes ex- pressed, in that communication aie far too sanguine, and even the papers previously in our possession contain intelligence of a most painfully opposite nature:
" That the trade, faithful to its malignant character, is still pro- ductive of the same destructive effects as heretofore : — nay, though in the conduct of this detested traffic, every form of inhumanity might be supposed to have been already exhausted, yet of late it had been attended with unprecedented enormities :
42 ADDRESS TO THE KINO,
" That we lament deeply our not having experienced the cordial .co-operation which we might on every ground have so reasonably .expected from the court of the Netherlands :-— We have witnessed, however, with great satisfaction, the strenuous and able exertionsL with which the king's ministers at that court has followed up the instructions of his majesty's government, in contending for the just construction of our treaties with that power: — And we cannot but hope that commercial nation will feel the duty and necessity of adopt- ing a poliej'^ more consonant at once to the principles of justice and humanity, and to the dearest obligations of good faith towards her most ancient and steady ally;
*' That we have seen with extreme regret the slave-trade carried on of late j'ears by Spain to an extent before unparalleled; and also, that the local government of the Havannah has shown an evident indisposition to employ the means recently stipulated for its re^ pression; but the time having at length arrived when Spain solemnly engaged that all Spanish slave-trade should cease absolutely and for ever; that high-minded people, we cannot but feel confident, will prove faithful to their engagement, and will be induced cordially to anite with us in promoting the effectual and universal extinction of the trade, by every civilized power:
" That we cannot contemplate the conduct of the court of Portu^ gal, with respect to the slave-trade, without the deepest concern : — ^ That court, indeed, though not calling in question the true nature and effects of the slave-trade, forbore, even at Viennii, complj'ing ■with the earnest request of all the other European powers, that she would name some fixed period for the termination of the trade : — Even the treaty by which she engaged to abolish the slave-trade to the north of the line has been little regarded ; and to this day, though every form of entreaty has been exhausted by the great European powers, not the smallest hope is held out to us of the total abolition of the trade : — Under these circumstances, we cannot but think that both Great Britain, and the other powers assembled in congress at Vienna, would not be faithful to their high obligations and en- gagements, if they were any longer to rest satisfied with mere entreaties and remonstrances, which experience compels us to believe would be of no effect ; and we are necessarily led to revert to the ■suggestion which was countenanced by the high contracting powers
FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 43
at the negotiation at Vienna, of excluding from commercial inter- course with their respective dominions, any state which should per- tinaciously refuse to abolish the slave-trade, after it should have been prohibited by all other nations: — We are impelled, however, reluctantly to entreat his majesty to endeavour to induce those powers to carry the above suggestion into effect, and at least to prohibit the importation into their dominions of the produce of any colonies belonging to the crown of Portugal, so long as she shall con- tinue thus to set herself in. direct opposition to the moral feelings and concurrent wishes of all the Christian powers, and to defeat every hope of the civilization and improvement of Africa :
" That we contemplate with far different feelings the conduct of the United States of America: not only have their cruisers been actively employed, in co-operation with our own, in suppressing the slave-trade on the coast of Africa, but an act has been passed by congress, which places the slave-trade i)i the list of j)iracies, and subjects to capital punishment all citizens of the United States who shall be found to engage in it ; that in witnessing the conduct of the legislature of the United States on this occasion, we are led to re- flect with grateful exultation on our common origin, and on those common laws and institutions, whose liberal spirit has prompted our American brethren to be among the very foremost in thus stamping on a traffic in tlie persons of our fellow-creatures its just character and designation: — And we cannot but express our earnest hopes, that not only we ourselves shall speedily follow so honourable an example, but that the day is not far distant when, by the general concurrence of all civilized nations, this detestable traffic shall be pronounced to be piratical, to be an offence against all human kind, which all are intitied and bound by duty to suppress :
" That from the gratifying contemplation of the zeal manifested by the United States to promote the cause of humanity, we turn with feelings of the most painful disappointment to France, by some of whose subjects the slave-trade has been for some time carried on to an unprecedented extent, along the whole range of the western coast of Africa ; and whose flag not only protects her own subjects in their criminal enterprises, but serves to protect the subjects' also of other powers, v/Iio engage in this commerce, but who are pre-
44 ADDRESS TO THE KING, ' '
Vented by the vigilance of British cruisers from finding any shelter under the flags of their own countries :
"That we are bound by every consideration of duty and feeling to take an especial interest in the fate of those countries, now pos- sessed by France on the African continent, which were restored to her don:]inion by Great Britain : — And we cannot reflect without the deepest pain, that whereas while under our protection tliey not only enjoyed a temporaiy respite from their miseries, but were beginning to enjoy the security and comfort arising from the exercise of a peaceful industry, and of a legitimate commerce; the renewal of tlie slave-trade, which almost nrjinediately followed their cession to France, has utterly blasted these delightful prospects, and has again consigned these unhappy countries to rapine and anarchy, to bari'en- ness and desolation: — That we cannot believe, if the opprobrious facts of the case were fully known in France, that so great and gallant a people, blessed by the bounty of Providence with all that can render a nation powerful and prosperous, would tolerate the prostitution of its flag to such base and flagitious pui-poses, or would stoop to take «p and prosecute a ti'affic which so many other powers had indig- nantly abandoned on account of its incurable wickedness and cru- elty :— more especially when its real nature and effects have been unquestionably established ; v.'hen the French legislature has decreed the entire abolition of the trade; and when their sovereign Iiimself^ under his own hand, has solemnly pledged himself to join with his majesty in effecting the extinction of a traffic, which, to use his own emphatic language, ' tends to the destruction of mankind:' — That notwithstanding the sacred obligations thus contracted by France, so numerous and so flagrant have recently been the unpunished violations of her engagements, that, but for the •confidence we wish ever to repose in the upright intentions of those who administer her affairs, we should find it veiy difficult to believe that these viola- tions could have taken place without their knowledge and con- nivance : and we must have been compelled to suspect, that some partial interests, or some mistaken views of polic}', liad interfered to prevent the faithful performance of duties, to the fulfilment of which they are solemnly bound, not only by the mpst sacred obligations of religion and morality, but by the pledged faith of their govern*, mcut, and even by the personal honour of their sovereign :
FROM THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. 45
'' That we therefore entreat his majesty seriously to represent ,to the court of France, how deeply the credit and reputation of the French government are involved in tliese transactions, and that iiis majesty will be graciously pleased to renew the most earnest efforts, to induce them to make good their various solemn engage- ments on this subject, and in particular, to fulfil the promise re- centlj'- given, to employ new and more efficient restraints, and call into action fresh penal sanctions, in order effectually to prevent the carryiiig on, by French subjects, of this odious and disgraceful traffic:
" That while we thus entreat his majesty to concert with other powers the means of carrying into complete effect this great cause, we are not merely prompted by a sense of what is due to the general obligations of justice and humanity : — we cannot but feel that to Afiiva. we owe a debt which conscience and honour oblige us to repay : — And though we congratulate his majesty on the generous zeal which Great Britain has manifested, and the costly sacrifices she has made, in vindicating in this instance the rights and happi- of our fellow-creatures, yet we cannot reflect without remorse that we ourselves were too long among the very foremost in carrying on this guilty commerce:
" Since we are now aware of its real character, it beconies us to be earnest and incessant in our endeavours to impress the truth on others who may have been misled by our example:— And as we contributed so largely to prolong the misery and barbarism of the Africans, we should now be proportionably earnest in using the means with which Providence has endowed us, for promoting their civilization and happiness/'
4(5 SUSSCRlPTIONS.
The Jbllowing Minnte of^the Committee, with the subjoined idaie'^ fnent, may^ suitably close the present communication to the Subscribers :—*
Minute of the Committee of the Meeting for Sufferings^ \Uh of 11th Mo. 1821.
The Committee may embrace this opportunity of informing the Subscribers, that they have been en- gaged in considering various ways by which the object of their appointment may be answered. Among these is the printing for their own distribution, an edition, in French, of the " Cries of Africa," as that pamphlet is now printed in the French language. They are also about to make a selection of a few striking facts, ex- hibiting the cruelties of the trade, and to form them into a tract to be translated into French. They pro- pose to procure, as early as possible, a translation of Thomas Clarkson's tract into Spanish ; and they are endeavouring to diffuse information on the continent, through the medium of the foreign newspapers and journals.
Amount of Subscriptions hitherto received.
&. s. d>
Bedfordshire and Herts Quarterly Meeting 28 7 0
Berks and Oxon ditto 45 13 0
Bristol and Somersetshire ditto ..,,..%, 124 2 6
Buckinghamshire ditto 35 15 0
Carried forward .... 'iZZ 17 6
StrBSCRIPTIONS.
47
£. *. d.
Brought forward 233 17 6
Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Quarterly Meeting 10 1 6 6
Cheshire and Staffordshire ditto 12 0 0
Cornwall ditto 23 1 1 6
Derbyshire and Notts ditto 12 18 0
Devonshire ditto 26 2 7
Dorset and Haijts ditto.
Shaftesbury and Sherborne Monthly Meeting . . 10 0 0
Durham Quarterly Meeting 70 5 6
Essex ditto 67 0 0
Gloucester and Wilts ditto ,- 33 0 0
Herefordshire and Worcestershire ditto .32 2 6
Kent ditto 17 0 6
Lancashire ditto l6l 14 6
Lincolnshire ditto.
Gainsborough Monthly Meeting 4 4 0
Broughton ditto 3 4 0
London and Middlesex Quarterly Meeting 298 7 6
Norfolk and Norwich ditto 49 14 0
Northamptonshire ditto ..«-.. 6 7 0
Suffolk ditto 19 3 6
Sussex and Surrey ditto 23 8 0
Warwickshire, Leicestershire, and Rutland ditto 65 1 6
Westmorland ditto 20 19 6
Yorkshire ditto 205 1 7 6
Wales.
Shropshire Monthly Meeting 9 13 0
Carmarthensh. and Glamorgansh. ditto 10 10 0
• 20 3 0
A Friend, per George Jones 10 0 0
A ditto, per William Allen , , 5 0 0
Sundry smaller Subscriptions 8 5 0
£.1450 3 7
48 SUBSCRIPTIONS.
M B. The Committee have reason to beHeve, that some of the; subscriptions sent up were designed to be donations; but that the greater part were raised as annual subscriptions : the distinction can- not be readily ascertained.
Of the foregoing sum, £.100 has been appropriated as stated in the Report of the Committee, (see p. 2.) Of the balance, £. 1000 is, at present, placed out at interest.
THE END.
Printed hj Harvey^ Dartott, S[ Co. Gracechurch-Strcet, London.
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