[BILL 144.] SECOND READING. (Hansard, 1 June 1863)

§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTON
It is only just to the United States to draw the attention of the House to this Bill We all know that for a great number of years the African slave trade was protected by the shelter of the United States flag. Last year, however, the Government of the United States, in the most handsome manner, agreed to a treaty by which that protection was no longer to be afforded. They concurred in those arrangements usual between different Powers, giving a mutual right of search, constituting mixed tribunals for the trial of vessels caught in carrying on the slave trade, and making other provisions Connected with those adjudications. It was found that the extent of the area to which those arrangements applied was not sufficient. This year, therefore, the Government of the United States agreed to a supplementary article extending to the neighbourhood of Madagascar the right of search, which in the first treaty was confined within too narrow limits. It is due, I think, to the liberality of the United States Government that I should point this out to the House. Last year the measure was passed very much as a matter of form, and without sufficiently attracting the notice of Parliament or of the country. It is no more than justice to the American Government, who have behaved in the most 236 honourable and liberal manner in regard to this matter, which is of great interest to this country, that the second reading of the Bill should be marked by some attention being paid to it.

§ MR. CAVE
said, he was very glad that so important an addition had been made to the treaty as represented by the noble Viscount. There was, he hoped, no slave trade to Porto Rico or St. Domingo; but the extension of the right of search to the seas which surrounded these islands would enable British cruisers to close more effectually the avenues of communication with the arch-offender Cuba; and if British sailors were sufficiently active, they might in some degree neutralize the advantages given to that island by British capital and British legislation. Similar activity might also be desirable off Madagascar; for the French Governor of Réunion openly threatened the British Consul there, that if England enforced inconvenient regulations respecting coolies, the French would resume African immigration; and if it was not already known what that meant, a despatch from Sir Baldwin Walker, just laid on the table of the House, in reference to the immigration from Mozambique to Nos Bé viâ the Comoro Islands would enlighten them. He heard also that M. Regis, of Marseilles, still continued to keep up his establishments in Africa for that purpose, which made him suspect that the Emperor was already beginning to repent of his anti-slavery edicts, mild and moderate as they were. He regretted much that this very important treaty excited so little attention last Session, and that the measure for carrying it into effect was coldly received and passed without remark, like a mere Continuance Bill. He should be sorry that America and France should imagine that the interest of England in the great question of the slave trade had died away; and though he did not wish to pay compliments to the American Government for having thus late done simply what was just and right, yet, as he had felt it his duty more than once in that House to express himself in strong terms upon their conduct in reference to the slave trade, he would not be backward in acknowledging that most important and honourable change in their policy, a solitary bright spot amid the gloom of their deplorable civil war. With regard to the whole measure, he would only advert to the highly important equipment clause, by which the presence of certain fittings on 237 board a vessel was no longer, as hitherto by American law, mere presumptive evidence of slave trading, but proof positive unless rebutted. He would also call attention to the 16th clause, under which the crew were to be sent home for trial, which the recent execution of a slave captain in New York showed to be no empty form. A Spaniard, who had made many successful slaving voyages, and whom he casually met in the Gulf of Mexico, said to him, "We don't care much for capture, that is simply a matter for insurance; but if you wish to stop the slave trade, which" (he did the English the honour to say) "I don't believe, hang the captain, or one of the crew if you can't identify the captain, and you will stop the trade in six months; we cannot insure against hanging." On the other hand, it seemed inexpedient to send slaves captured near Cuba direct north to New York, perhaps in the depth of winter. He had always thought, too—and that was a provision of the Bill, not the treaty—that head-money was not a good mode of rewarding sailors, as it laid them open to the charge which he had often heard, though he believed it to be entirely without foundation, of allowing vessels to take in their slave cargoes before capturing them. There were other points on which he might remark, but he was too well satisfied with so important a step to be minutely critical. He might mention two circumstances new possibly to Her Majesty's Government, and interesting, as showing what had been the effect of the mere rumour of the measure. He once stated in that House that Havannah was illuminated on the receipt of the news of the Bill of 1846, which equalized the duties on free and slave-grown sugar. As a contrast to that, he had heard that on account of the apprehension caused by the Treaty the demand for machinery had slackened in Cuba; and more than this, that certain proprietors had given orders that their slaves should no longer be worked for the same excessive number of hours, not from motives of humanity, but because they they knew, that when the supply was stopped, slaves would be too valuable to be worked to death in eight years, as they had hitherto been under the most approved and economical estate management in Cuba. Important, however, as the treaty was, its objects could not be fully attained so long as there remained the flag of any nation under which the slave traders could find shelter, and unfortunately 238 the tricolor gave them the protection they once enjoyed under the stripes and stars. Late advices from Sierra Leone mentioned the departure of a French screw slaver with 1,250 slaves for Havannah. They were told also that the French were re-establishing works at Whydah, a notorious slave-trading port; but the most remarkable circumstance was detailed in the Sierra Leone paper the Free Press, of the 16th of April, which he would ask permission to read to the House, and with which Her Majesty's Government were no doubt already acquainted— An English cruiser, the Zebra, took, on suspicion of being a slaver, a vessel which carried the French flag, but which flag was hauled down when the officer from the Zebra went on board. The vessel arrived here without colours, and in charge of a lieutenant and prize crew, and the usual steps were taken to place her in the Vice Admiralty Court. The French Consul presented a formal protest against the seizure of the vessel on the ground of her being really French, but the Governor declined to interfere between the seizors and the decision of the Court. On Saturday morning, a French steamer of war arrived in the Roads, and it is reported that the captain declared his intention of awaiting no decision; but that having satisfied himself of the nationality of the vessel, he would proceed to take her by force. From the appearance of the military and naval preparations, we believe that they would have signally failed, but fortunately the Court came to a decision releasing the vessel. He did not wish to remark upon the grave international question involved in that strange proceeding, but merely to show how hopeless it was to stop a trade carried on under the flag of a powerful nation. He trusted, however, that Her Majesty's Government would not delay to make use of the powers given them by this Treaty, but would at once send a squadron of swift gunboats to the coast of Cuba, if they had not already done so. The Cuba coast was of immense length, but from the south-east (the slavers' course) it could only be approached by two channels. In those latitudes near the shore, the wind blew from the sea during the day, and from the land at night. There was an interval about sunrise when there was a dead calm. Nothing moved. The vessels in the offing lay Like painted ships upon a painted ocean, waiting till they could carry the breeze in with them. At that time the swiftest sailer was at the mercy of a steam gunboat. He was one of a deputation which laid these facts before the noble Viscount some years ago. The noble Lord acted on the suggestions made to him, and with 239 such effect that the slave-trade was for a moment paralysed, till the traders got up stories about insults to the American flag, which eventually induced Government, for the sake of peace, to withdraw the squadron and allow the slave trade to be carried on under that flag with perfect impunity, with what result Consul General Crawford's recently-published despatches fully testified. That difficulty had been happily removed by the present treaty. He congratulated the Government on the result of their negotiations. If they were determined to take advantage of the situation, and to send a few fast steamers to their old cruising ground in the Caribbean Sea, and if the negotiations which it was stated were pending with France proved equally successful, then it might be hoped that free labour might be at length relieved from the unfair competition by which it was well-nigh paralysed, as the memorials he had lately presented from the West Indies showed, notwithstanding some prosperity statements lately made by some who might have known better—it might be hoped that it was indeed the beginning of the end, and that that abominable traffic might become a matter of history even in our day.

§ MR. CONINGHAM
said, he wished to express his great satisfaction at the language used by the noble Lord with reference to the United States and their liberality in agreeing to the treaty. He hoped they might accept it as an indication that the policy that had been hitherto adopted with reference to America, the policy of non-intervention, would be the policy of the future, and that the Government would not be swayed by the reports of public meetings held in the North, which he did not believe represented the liberal intelligent and enlightened opinion of the country. If the Government followed the policy of non-intervention, he had no doubt that it would be supported by the country.

§ MR. BUXTON
said, that every one must acknowledge the great liberality of the Government of the United States in this matter, and feel gratified at their desire to wash their hands finally and for ever of any participation in the slave trade. He would suggest that Her Majesty's Government should consider the expediency of either taking possession of Whydah, or of obtaining some footing there, whereby a deadly blow might be given to the traffic in slaves.

§ MR. TORRENS
observed, that he was of opinion that the discussion should be postponed until the House had an opportunity of considering the Bill.

§ MR. KINNAIRD
said, he conceived that the measure was of the greatest importance, and that it would save this country a great deal of expense which otherwise it must incur if it wished to check the slave trade.

§ MR. HENNESSY
said, he was astonished, if the Bill were one of the most important of the Session, as the noble Lord had declared it to be, that it had not been produced. The noble Lord had not told them a word about the clauses of the Bill. Where was it?

§ SIR GEORGE GREY
said, the Bill only confirmed the treaty, which had already been laid on the table of the House, and in it the hon. Gentleman would find all the substance of the Bill.