ENGLISH ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE SLAVE-TRADE.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SPECTATOR.
London, 31st January 1.838.
shall feel obliged if you will allow me to occupy a part of your valuable columns, with a few remarks upon the speeches delivered in the House of Lords on Monday last on the subject of the Foreign Slave-trade.
The eloquent speech of Lord BROUGHAM seemed to meet the general appro.. bation of their Lordships, with the exception of the First Lord of the Ail. miralty; who in his reply, attempted, by confounding the condemnation of the system with a specific charge against the gallant British Navy, to inlist the sympathies of his audience in their favour, and prevent them judging of the question on its real merits. The charge made by Lord BROUGH A M in his speech, and in Mr. A IR n's narrative, from which he quoted, is-that the present system adds greatly to the cruelty tvithout diminishing the amount of the Slave-trade, and that one great reason of its inefficacy is the bead-money paid upon the captured slaves. Neither Lord BROUGHAM nor the author whom he quirtee are singular in this opinion. In the Report of the Select COnitnittee of the House•of Com- mons on Sierra Leone and Fernando Po, Commodore Iturd.es specifically states the best system for destroying the Slave-trade to be-not blockading the ports, but "beating off Cape Formosa or theteabouts." He also bears evi- dence of the great mortality amongst the slaves after capture; specifying the Aviso's losing "42 slaves and one of ray officers;" the Segunda Rosalie, " I am afraid more than 120 ;" and the Isabel, where "the throats of two Mid- shipmen were cut, and the prize crew thrown overboard." Captain W. J. Pe Itelleer, R.N., commanded the Esk, of 20 guns, from 1825 to 1828; and took nine slavers. In answer to an inquiry within what limits he took them, he replies, "Generally in the .Biyht of Benin." Ile states that 539 slaves died between the periods of capturing and lauding them, Out of a total of 2,246,-or 25 per cent. GEORGE JACKSON, E.g., Judge of the Mixed Commission Court at Sierra Leone-" I think the sufferings of those poor slaves are greatly aggravated by the course now adopted ; for the trade is now illegal, aiid therefore whatever is done is done clandestinely; they are packed more like bales of goods on board than human beings." In seventeen vessels captured by British cruisers, and having when taken 7,057 slaves on board, 2,883, or 38 per cent., died before landing.
After these facts, all taken from Parliamentary Papers, no reasonable man will doubt that the cruelty of the trade is much enhanced by the present system.
With regard to the head-money acting as Lord Banucerwer describes it to do, let the four last Commodores and the naval officers under them on the African stations be examined ; let the log•books of the veseels, and the orders specify- ing the cruising-ground given to the Commanders, be produced ; and if they do not bear out the assertion that nothing is done to prevent the shipment of slaves by the present system. then, and not till then, let it be considered unfounded. I have no doubt that, leaving all other evidence out of the question, every other t•harge advanced by 1.0rd BROUGHAM will be proved by naval officers alone, if Parliament should inquire into the system. Lord Mnero mentioned the gallant capture of a slaver by a boat's crew, in one of the African rivers. As he did not mention the name. I presume he alluded to the Minerva, minuted by the boats of H.M.S. Pelona, in old Calabar River, on the lath January 18:35. If so, does his Lordship mean to say, that if the Commander tit' the Pelorus had informed the slaver that his boats were placed to intercept him, a single slave would have been shipped ? Would not the interest of the slaver have been to leave the river empty, anti thus save his vessel? And would it not have been much niore humane to have done tide, seeing that out of '725 slaves on board at the time of capture, 200 died before adjudication? One proof of the uselessness of the present system may be drawn from the number of vessels employed in tire service. In 1819, the first year of the Mixed Comiiiiesion Court, there were seven vessels of war upon the station: in 1838, after twenty years of preveotive service and head-money, there are upon the same station sixteen vessels of war, carrying 221 guns, and headed by a line-of. battle ship, with Admiral the Honourable GliOlIGE Eereorr, C.13., at their cad.
And yet Lord MINT° says that there is no case made out for the substitution of tonnage for beau-money ! I must say, however, that I am averse to any substitution. Let the trade he made piracy-or leave it alone ; take off the African squadron, and let the slaves be carried in large airy roomy vessels-or put it down with the strong hand of power. There is, in my humble opinion. no medium; nothing can justify the inflicting an actual misery upon the poor Negroes in the hope of an eventual good result. If the trade were carried on in an open manner, the civilized world would be roused to interfere; at present, the African squadron acts as a sop to-our national conscience. When the enormity of the trade is mentioned, the sixteen vessels 14 war, the Mixed Commission Courts, and Sierra Leone, are referred to ; and a triumphant answer is given to the charge that the nation is indifferent.
Let the First Lord of the Admiralty follow up his speech with inquiry, and
no fear is felt as to the results, by SA5180. [We have the name of the writer, and can vouch for his high authority. Lord Mierro only manifested the. usual official ignorance, and practised the stale trick of Parliamentary anti official claptrap.-En.]
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