HL Deb 28 July 1873 vol 217 cc1068-76
LORD CAMPBELL

My Lords—In rising to make a few remarks upon the Notice I have given, I am in want—although not for a long time—of much indulgence from your Lordships. When I first brought the subject forward, more than 10 years ago, I could depend on the support of Lord Brougham, who, in the ordinary lapse of time, has passed away, and of a right rev. Friend, whose recent fate has suddenly withdrawn him from our body. To be deprived of such pre-eminent allies would be sufficient to weigh down the mind of any man, if it was not weighed down already. As regards the right rev. Prelate, I will not attempt to heighten the tributes which in this House have lately been devoted to him; still less to enter into rivalry with all the pulpits of the town, in which, a few hours ago, his qualities were handled. On a theme of this kind, which comes home to me from many special circumstances, except in those who may be leading an Opposition or a Government, it is scarcely prudent to betray our thoughts to a political Assembly. But it is my duty to inform the House with the accuracy of a witness, of the degree to which the lamented Prelate was a party to the Resolution I shall offer to them. Some weeks ago when he was invited to correct it, he approved of every phrase and every particle which it contains. He engaged to be here at 5 o'clock to-day in order to support it. He expressed a sanguine hope that it would be adopted by the Government, and determined to exert his influence upon the noble Earl the Secretary of State for that result. It will hardly be denied therefore that, if sufficient argument is found to recommend it, to adopt the Resolution would be a homage to the memory which all desire to exalt. I know no shorter method of engaging the House to such a course than a reference to the case by which, in 1860, your Lordships were induced to address the Crown, in order to restore our Consular authority in the Portuguese possessions of East Africa, since, unfortunately, the same arguments which then prevailed continue to be relevant. I will not state them fully, as they were mixed up with international transactions and party struggles which ought not to be revived. It was contended by Lord Brougham, the right rev. Prelate, and myself, that Portugal had entered into treaties with Great Britain for the prevention of the slave trade on the Eastern Coast of Africa, that for years remonstrances, despatches, and anathemas had gone to Lisbon as regards their non-observance; that at last it was resolved to appoint a British agent on the spot who would be able to watch the colonial officers of Portugal, and keep them on the path Great Britain pertinaciously insisted on. We pointed out that during his residence the Viceregal power at Mozambique was strenuously exerted against the slave trade, and that in one of its most insidious branches. When temporary difficulties occasioned his withdrawal it was essential, we maintained, that the function should not cease, its necessity having been placed beyond the reach of doubt, and its advantage having been triumphantly established. We touched on the commer- cial argument, and the lamented Prelate in particular insisted that unless your Consular authority enlightened them, darkness would always hang over those waters, under which no traffic could grow up, except the traffic he was in the habit of denouncing. We were not so rash as to deny that the French Government, who at that time were engaged in transporting negroes to Rèunion, viewed the British agency as something of an adverse force; but we denied that such a fact was a sufficient ground for its extinction, or that the French alliance, if it tended to retard our policy against the slave trade, would any longer be esteemed among the people of this country. Your Lordships were not determined by what fell from us alone. The noble Earl the Secretary of State, the noble Duke who at that time presided at the Admiralty, the noble Earl who now directs the Colonies, came forward to oppose us, and said whatever could be said against the Motion. The majority in our favour included several adherents of the Government, and the opinion of the public out-of-doors decidedly supported it. I shall, therefore, ask the House what new considerations have been evolved by time in support of our former case, which time has not substantially affected? The first is, that Sir Bartle Frere, in a despatch of the blue book, confirms all we had advanced, and urges the re-appointment we demanded. The next is, that during 10 years Great Britain has been accountable for the lamentable traffic she was on the verge of utterly annihilating; and which would not now exist if the voice of this House, instead of being neglected, had been listened to. Popular attention is more directed to the subject than it used to be; a considerable body in connection with the Anti-Slavery Society have instructed me to urge it on the Government, and there is not the slightest pretext for inaction. Events have taken place by which the Sovereignty of Portugal has been a good deal undermined upon that coast. Events are not improbable in which the want of British agency from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay would be remarkably disastrous to our objects. It is useless to arrest the slave trade from Zanzibar, as we hope to do, while it is flourishing—and on this point Captain Sullivan and Captain Colomb, two naval officers, have given recent evidence—for 900 miles to the south of that dominion. My Lords, society is under a delusion if it imagines that to check the slave trade from Zanzibar is to deliver Eastern Africa from its oppression. If it is to leave that coast, it is more desirable that its guilt should fall upon an Arabian than on an European Power—that it should proceed at a considerable distance from, than in close proximity to our colony of Natal. Last of all the Treaty with Zanzibar, which has been just negotiated, cannot be expected to have much practical effect if the Sultan is aware that from the conterminous dependency of Portugal slave trade is going on unwatched and unresisted. This view is strengthened by referring to the mission of Sir Bartle Frere, of which as yet I have said nothing. You Lordships well know that since the return of Sir Bartle Frere, a Treaty has been obtained which the Sultan would not grant while he was present. How far it may be traced to the exertions of Sir Bartle, and how far to those of Dr. Kirk the resident, is a secret in the inner conscience of the Sultan. At first sight the conduct of the Sultan seems to be inexplicable. According to an acute and eminent historian, referring to a potentate of Africa, Regiœ voluntates, quum vehementes, tum mobiles, sœpe etiam ipsis advanœ. "The will of Sovereigns is vehement as variable, and often clashes with itself." It is possible, however, that the Sultan may have been guided by a deeper train of thought than it is usual to ascribe to him. He may have seen that in the end the Treaty was inevitable and yet have resolved to inflict a deep humiliation on the Government which asked for it. As it was generally thought that France inspired his resistance, for many weeks he held up this country as having been deceived by an ally who wanted its support, and baffled by a State whom it had lately called into existence. At last he flung before the Consul what he had denied to the Ambassador and thus proclaimed the inutility of the mission which had taken place while he disarmed the hostile preparations likely to succeed it. In dealing with a mind so resolute, so guarded and vindictive, we should not venture on a weak or an assailable position. But our position towards him will be of this character, so long as the Portuguese possessions in his neighbourhood are left without a British representative. It will be open always for the Sultan to remark, when he is taxed with an imperfect execution of the Treaty—is there to be one law for the Mahometan and another for the Christian? Is slave trade only to be persecuted when joined to a faith which either sanctions or extenuates it? To the north of Cape Delgado shall it be rooted out, while to the south of that point it is allowed to flourish with impunity? Is it to be denied to Zanzibar, while Portugal, whom Britain guards upon the map of Europe, is tacitly invited to engage in it? My Lords, unless these questions had been easy to suggest and difficult to answer the Treaty would have been more rapidly negotiated; and until their foundation disappears we have not any moral right to count on its observance. Well, my Lords, if the former case was accepted by the House as irresistible, if nothing has occurred to shake it, if late events have given it a basis of which it did not stand in need, there would be no excuse for a protracted statement upon my part. It will scarcely be contended that the Resolution is unnecessary after the long delay which has occurred and the mysterious reluctance which has seemingly occasioned it. The only class of minds to which the Resolution ought to be obnoxious, is the class of minds who question our policy in Africa, and who deny that European wealth ought to be made a stepping-stone to a contingent, a remote, as yet, at least, an unattained civilization. No doubt that class of minds deserves to be respected. The idea which first sent our ships to either coast of Africa may be seen in many lights. Its origin is generally traced to 1815. At that time emerging from a struggle which aspired to the deliverance of Europe, the country was disposed to effort in another sphere, which to a colder or less excited age may wear the aspect of extravagance. To blockade the best part of a Continent, to fertilize inhospitable deserts, to regenerate the lowest race of bondsmen and barbarians, to stop a traffic which had darkened the ocean for 1,000 years, and which many States were interested in preserving, appeared to be a feasible exertion to those who had contended against the genius of Napoleon, not only for the balance of power but the safety of their homes. The project may have been too great for modern statesmanship to enter on. But the illustrious Duke who commands the Army of the Queen explained to us not long ago that public undertakings which ought not to be begun, are not on that account to be unfinished or abandoned; the more when a considerable outlay has already been devoted to them, from which you are entitled to some return, although it might have been more cautiously or more judiciously invested. Your Lordships might be disposed to add that honour will sometimes demand the end, when prudence has not wholly sanctioned the commencement. Since its cost is in significant to neglect this measure any longer would be rather a concession to fatigue than to economy. Fatigue, however subtle and imperious its action upon men, is not so easily permitted to communities. From their perpetually renewing elements they are less exposed to age and to exhaustion; to the corroding indolence and deadly lassitude by which individual efforts are too frequently restrained. For them it is more practicable to revive the warmth of an original design amidst the languor, scepticism, and disgust, by which its final execution is inevitably thwarted. For it should not be forgotten that when our Consular authority in the Portuguese possessions is revived, no further steps on this extensive subject will be called for. The naval power will adapt itself to the want the Consular authority discovers, and be directed by the knowledge it acquires. The Treaty with Zanzibar will have an outwork to protect it. The triumph we have gained upon the Western Coast will be unquestioned unless, the market of Brazil or Cuba should unhappily revive. Your steamers will plough the waves from Aden to the Cape, although not at so grand a cost as that designed by the Treasury. A long and what appeared a hopeless labour will be crowned at last. Great Britain will have gained a laurel which time can hardly strip away; and on Africa, so far as it is connected with the slave trade, the ear of Parliament will enjoy a long, a well-deserved, an often coveted repose—to which, that I may hasten to contribute, I move, without another observation, the Resolution of which I have given Notice. Moved to resolve, That in the opinion of this House late proceedings and events in East Africa render it desirable that the consular authority of Great Britain in the Portuguese dominion from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay should now be re-established.—(The .Lord Campbell.)

EARL GRANVILLE

said, that when last he had occasion to make a statement to their Lordships' House on the subject of the Mission of Sir Bartle Frere, he stated that the Mission had been a complete success except on one important point. he had succeeded in renewing our Treaties with the principal Chiefs on the Persian Gulf, and had concluded one with the Imaum of Muscat, and another with other influential Princes; but he failed in completing a Treaty with the Sultan of Zanzibar. With that potentate Dr. Kirk has since concluded a Treaty. Sir Bartle Frere, in visiting numerous places, had collected a fund of most valuable information for Her Majesty's Government. By his investigations he had been able to confirm much that was already known here, and also to inform the Government of additional facts. He had communicated many things and made many suggestions in reference to creeks, to interpreters, and to Consular agents in the Portuguese settlements and elsewhere, and, generally, as to the best means of putting an end to the capture of slaves. To all this Her Majesty's Government were giving their most anxious consideration. But it was not a subject that could be dealt with by one Department only—the Foreign Office, the Indian Office, and the Treasury were all acting in the same spirit, and were all considering what ought to be done. At the beginning of the Session Lord Derby gave the Government a prudent advice—that they should not be led away by the philanthropic object in view so far as to incur unlimited difficulty and expense. The Government would keep that warning in mind, while at the same time they would do whatever might be necessary to deal efficiently with this horrible traffic on the East Coast of Africa. But clearly this was a matter which would require a little time, in order that the Government might come to a determination, after consideration, how to carry out their intentions in the most efficient and the best way. Under these circumstances, he hoped the noble Lord would not think it necessary to press his Motion.

THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURY

joined in the suggestion that the noble Lord should not press his Motion to a division. All must admit that the Foreign Office had not departed from the position of English statesmen—that this slave trade ought to be put an end to. The conduct of the noble Earl at the head of the Foreign Office in conducting these negotiations had been marked by conciliation and kindness. Having been successful in reference to one of the outlets of the slave traffic on the Eastern Coast of Africa, they had every reason to believe that proper precautions would be taken for preventing a continuance of it through other outlets. He believed that they had better leave the matter in the hands of the Government; because if they came to any decision in that House upon the subject it would attract unnecessary attention in foreign countries, and would tend rather to defeat the object which the noble Lord sought to accomplish. The difficulty lay rather with foreign nations than with our own, and he thought that the best way would be to take the assurance which had been given, and resign themselves to the action of the Government.

LORD CAMPBELL,

in reply, said, that he was quite unable to concur in the proposition of the noble Earl the Secretary of State that this measure might be fairly left to the discretion of the Foreign Office. If that was so, why, for ten years and upwards, had it been neglected without a shadow of defence? If it could be so loft, why, when Sir Bartle Frere went out to Zanzibar, was the vacancy in the Portuguese Possessions suffered to remain, although demonstrably calculated to weaken his appeals, and even paralyze his Mission? In spite of a remonstrance from the House of Lords, in spite of new and pressing reasons for obeying that remonstrance, the measure had been year after year withheld, and they were now asked to confide in the despatch of the authority which had so pertinaciously withheld it. The case for interference from their Lordships could not he resisted; but if the noble Earl and the noble Marquess had united to prevent it he should divide the House in vain. He should also give the House the unworthy and undignified appearance of reversing the decision at which they had arrived so long ago, when stronger grounds than ever fur maintaining it existed. He would therefore withdraw the Motion. But the public out-of-doors would see that the responsibility of its withdrawal did not rest with him, but with the noble Earl and the noble Marquess who prevented its adoption.

Motion (by leave of the House) —withdrawn.