SLAVE TRADE. (Hansard, 27 June 1822)

§ Mr. Wilberforce

began by observing, that as parliament had some years ago come to a determination to abolish the Slave Trade, it was incumbent upon it to endeavour to make the measures it had agreed to for its abolition as complete and effectual as possible. For that purpose, application had been made to several foreign powers for their assistance, and the object of his motion was, to obtain the production of the correspondence which had taken place between them and this government. The hon. gentleman proceeded to take a review of the policy which had been pursued by the various European states, and by America, with reference to this interesting subject. The Cortes of Spain had, in a manner highly creditable to themselves, passed a law, inflicting a severe penalty on any one who should be found dealing in slaves, and directing the instant manumission of the slaves themselves. He was unable to speak with equal praise of the conduct of the old government of Portugal. That government had long resisted the applications of the British government on the subject, until at length, wearied out with the intreaties of the latter, the Portuguese government had consented, on the understanding that they should receive some commercial conces- 1400 sions in return, to abolish the trade to the north of the line only. Unhappily, however, there was reason to believe, that the agreement had not been strictly carried into effect, and that the governors of some of the Portuguese settlements not only winked at the trade, but were themselves partakers of it. He hoped that the new government of Portugal would make a beneficial change on this subject. To the conduct of the government of the United, States, he could advert with unfeigned pleasure. The American government had abolished the trade on their own part, and had co-operated with our government in endeavouring to render that abolition universal. Still, however, there was something for the government of the United States to do. Last year a committee of the House of Representatives recommended the adoption of a mutual and qualified right of search; without which, indeed, all efforts wholly to put down the trade must be hopeless. It was to be lamented, that any ancient prejudice should be permitted to stand in the way of so desirable a measure; but the recommendation to which he had alluded was not very favourably received, by the senate, and by the American government. He could not close this portion of his remarks without paying a just tribute to the naval officers of America, who had cordially co-operated with our own in the abolition of the traffic. He had now to speak of a power, the conduct of whose subjects on this great question, no friend of humanity could contemplate without the deepest pain.—He meant France. Along the whole coast of Africa, the subjects of France were carrying on the Slave Trade with an everyday increasing activity. Invitations were openly held out to persons possessing small capitals to embark in this infamous traffic, with assurances that enormous profits would result from the speculation. And yet the government of France had expressed the same reprobation of the trade as had been expressed by the government of England! It was lamentable to remark, that, although the executive government of France had been prompt and powerful to decide on this subject, they had proved tardy and weak when the time arrived at which their decision ought to have been carried into effect. The thing was so extraordinary, that he could, scarcely help believing, either that the fact of what was taking place was little 1401 known in France, or that some unaccountable interposition prevented the operation of all those moral and religious feelings, for which we had been accustomed to give the French credit. It had been said, that since the revolution religion had been reviving in France. But he could not help mistrusting the character of any religion, the growth of which was accompanied by the growth of so abominable a practice, as a trade in human beings. He trusted the House and the country would persevere in the course they had so happily begun. The hon. member concluded by moving, "That an humble address be presented to his majesty, to represent to his majesty, that the deep interest which this House has so long taken, and still continues to take, in the abolition of the Slave Trades has led us to peruse with no little solicitude the papers relative to that subject, which by his majesty's commands, were lately laid before us: And that we could not forbear indulging a hope that his majesty's renewed representations and remonstrances would have at length produced the desired effect of causing the various governments, by whose subjects the Slave Trade was still carried on, seriously to consider the numerous and powerful obligations under which they lay, to cooperate with his majesty, heartily and efficiently, in order to put an end for ever to this enormous evil:

"But that we have learned with grief and shame, that, with very few exceptions, every hope of this nature has been altogether frustrated, and that we are still compelled to witness the strange and humiliating spectacle of practices which are acknowledged to be made up of wickedness and cruelty, by the very governments whose subjects are nevertheless carrying them on, upon a great and continually increasing scale:

"That we observe, however, with satisfaction, that the powerful reasoning and continued expostulations of his majesty's government, enforced by the strong and persevering remonstrances of his majesty's ambassador at the court of the Netherlands, have at length produced an admission of the just construction of the treaty with that power:

"That we are glad also to see that some of the abuses have been corrected which had prevailed in the conduct of the courts of mixed jurisdiction at Sierra Leone; but that experience has proved 1402 the necessity of altering that provision, which renders it necessary for the slaves to have been actually on ship board, to justify the condemnation of the vessel, and of allowing due weight to be given to that decisive proof of the object of the voyage, which is afforded by the peculiar mode of fitting and equipping slave ships:

"Thai it is some alleviation of the pain produced by the almost uniform tenour of these distressing accounts, to learn that the Cortes of Spain has subjected all who should be found concerned in Slave trading, to a severe, and infamous punishment; and that, with this evidence of a just estimate of the guilt of the crime, we cannot but hope that they will not rest satisfied with a legal prohibition, but that they will provide the requisite means for carrying their law into execution:

"That we find with concern; that the vessels of Portugal, so far from gradually retiring from the trade, have been carrying it on with increased activity, more especially on that very part of the coast which is to the north of the line, in direct violation of the treaty by which she had stipulated to confine her trade to the south of it:

"That we cannot but cherish the hope, that the new government of Portugal will manifest a warmer zeal for enforcing a treaty which every law, divine and human, binds her to observe:

"That we have observed with no little pleasure the zeal for the abolition of the Slave Trade that has been manifested by the commanders of the ships of war of the United States of America, employed on the coast of Africa, and the disposition they have shewn to co-operate with the officers of his majesty's navy for their common object; but that we are concerned to have perceived in the American government no disposition to give up the objections it formerly urged against the establishment of a mutual right of examining each other's ships on the coast of Africa:

"That we had hoped that the powerful arguments used by a committee of the House of Representatives in favour of this arrangement, would have their just weight, more especially that which points out the difference, or rather contrariety, between this conventional and qualified system and the right of searching neutral vessels without any previous treaty, as claimed and practised in war; above all, that the con- 1403 sideration so strongly enforced, that it is only by the general establishment of some such system, that the trade can ever be effectually abolished, would have induced the American government to consent to it, when the object in question involves the rights and happiness of so large a portion of our fellow creatures:

"That with the deepest concern we find, as in the last year, vessels under the French flag, trading for slaves along the whole extent of the coast of Africa, at home and abroad: Proposals are circulated for slave-trading voyages, inviting the smallest capitals, and tempting adventurers by the hopes of enormous profits:—that the few ships of war of that country stationed in Africa, offer no material obstruction to the trade, nor do the governors of her colonies appear to be more active: And all this while the French government reprobates the traffic in the strongest terms, and declares that it is using its utmost efforts for the prevention of so great an evil:—That it is deeply to be regretted that a government which has been generally regarded as eminent for its efficiency, should here alone find its efforts so entirely paralyzed:—That meanwhile, we can only continue to lament, that a great and gallant nation, eminently favoured by Providence with natural advantages, and among the very foremost in all the distinctions and enjoyments of civilized life, should thus, on its restoration to the blessings of peace, and to the government of its legitimate sovereign, appear in fact to be the chief agent in blasting the opening prospects of civilization, which even Africa had begun to present, and in prolonging the misery and barbarism of that vast continent:

"That, on the whole, we conjure his majesty to renew his remonstrances, and to render it manifest that his interference has not been a matter of form, but of serious and urgent duty:—That this country will at least have the satisfaction of knowing that we have been active and unwearied in making reparation to Africa for the wrongs with which we ourselves were so long chargeable; and we cannot doubt that we shall ultimately be able to congratulate his majesty on the success of his endeavours; and on his having had a principal share in wiping away the foulest blot on the character of Christendom."

§ Sir J. Mackintosh

said, that though it was much to be lamented that a great opportunity had been lost by the government of this country for putting down the abominable Slave Trade, yet he was bound in candour to say, that since the summer of 1815, the noble lord and his colleagues had not been wanting in their exertions to put an end to the traffic. But where solemn treaties had been entered into and shamefully violated, he could describe such conduct by no other name than perfidy. Where declarations were made in the face of Europe in favour of the abolition of the Slave Trade by the very powers who afterwards promoted that trade, he could give to such conduct no other name than that of hypocrisy. He lamented much to say, that the continental governments had proved that they were proof against all the statements of atrocity that from time to time had been made. In violation of solemn treaties, they persisted in promoting that abominable trade. The only hope that remained of bringing them to any sense of shame or justice, was by frequent appeals to the feelings of civilized men. Those governments were now placed beyond the reach of human justice; and their crimes could not be punished by human laws; but perhaps they might not always be in a situation not to feel and to dread the execration of mankind. With respect the government of Portugal he could scarcely say that that government had been guilty of a breach of, faith. From the beginning Portugal almost bade defiance to the moral judgment of Europe. At one period, indeed, Portugal sold to 1405 England its right and privilege of carrying war and slavery and slaughter on the north of the line; but even those terms it had not observed. Neither the decree of the Cortes of Spain, nor the conduct of America, had any effect on the policy of Portugal. With respect to America, the report of the committee of the House of Representatives was about to be adopted by the senate. He lamented that so much stress had been laid in America on a mere phrase—the right of search; but when it was attempted to place America and France in the same light, he thought the comparison altogether failed. America took vigorous steps to abolish the Slave Trade—she made dealing in slaves a capital offence. But France—what hopes were to be entertained of France? The affair of the Rodeur presented in one view all the aggravated horrors which the traffic naturally excited. Those acts were committed under the eye of an administration which boasted of its zeal for the Christian religion—by persons who assumed a religious regard for the plighted honour of their king, and who yet, by every sort of evasion, fraud and hypocrisy, promoted and encouraged those abominations. The duke de Broglie, much to his honour, recorded his sentiments upon the subject, but the minister of finance did not hesitate to reprobate the treaty of 1814 as anti-national. The minister of finance called a treaty anti-national which had for its professed object the suppression of flagrant acts of robbery and murder; he called those who had agreed to it, blind to the interests of their country, because they were not altogether deaf to the calls of justice and humanity. The article of the treaty bearing upon the case set out by stating, that the horrors of the Slave Trade were against the principles of justice, and opposed to the intelligence of the age, but yet that very treaty permitted those horrors to go on for five years. He recollected the observation of a noble friend of his, a nobleman whom, in spite of some political differences, he would always respect, he meant lord Grenville, that noble lord had truly said, that the preamble contradicted the body of the treaty—the preamble dwelt upon the horrors of the Slave Trade, and in the body of the treaty it was agreed that all amelioration of those horrors should be delayed for 5 years. With respect to Russia—Russia, at the congress of Vienna, was profuse in her abuse of the Slave 1406 Trade; she proposed to unite her exertions with other nations suppress that trade, but her subsequent conduct afforded a remarkable contrast to her professions at the congress. Russia agreed to exclude from her market the colonial produce of those countries which should encourage the Slave Trade; but that undertaking had been openly violated. In 1819, a new tariff, or scale of duties, was published, which, absolutely excluded from the market of. Russia the produce of those countries that abolished the Slave Trade, and gave a monopoly to the produce of those countries which refused to do so. Cuba and Brazil had a monopoly in the Russian market. It never should be forgotten that those who thus violated solemn treaties, who violated the laws of humanity—those who were ready to carry on this trade, at the expense of a deluge of African blood, were the heads of the Holy Alliance—the professed object of which was, to enforce the performance of the duties of Christianity! And what had followed from their union? Insincere declarations, breaches of faith, the practice of falsehood, the encouragement of barbarity, and the perpetration of cruelty and murder! So long, as he had power to combat under the banner of that venerable leader who had so often fought, the battles of the oppressed African race, so long would he raise his feeble voice against the continuance of this infamous traffic.