THE SLAVE TRADE ON THE COAST OF CIRCASSIA.

HL Deb 13 July 1854 vol 135 cc122-4

THE BISHOP OF OXFORD

claimed the indulgence of their Lordships while he put a question to the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, of which he had given him notice, and which was one of great interest to the public. He had to recall to their Lordships' recollection that there had appeared in the public journals within the last few days a series of statements, which would lead their readers to imagine that the first effect of the deliverance of the Circassian coast from the Russian domination had been to revive there, in its worst form, that greatest curse with which the human race had ever been afflicted—the slave trade. A correspondent of one of the morning journals wrote as follows— At present the only trade that may said to be carried on here is that in women, and that seems to be extraordinarily active at present, from the large prices obtainable in Constantinople, and the removal of all obstacles. I have been told from good authority that a girl bought for 15 purses here, is sold in Constantinople for 40. Numbers of little boats arrive all along the coasts from Trebizonde almost every day. They haul themselves up on the beach and spread the sails on the sides of the boat to form tents; here the captain sits, and the natives bring down to him their girls to exchange against his cargo, which generally consists of calicoes, prints, and other stuffs, and of salt. There is no money in the country, so that all the bargains are struck with reference to so many pieces of calico, each piece being called a 'mall;' one 'mall' is worth about 15s., and 25 'malls' make a Turkish purse.' Another correspondent wrote— I regret to state that the slave trade is greatly on the increase here. Every boat that arrives from the ports of Abasia brings in eight or ten girls or boys destined for the Constantinople market. It is right to add, that when the coast was blockaded by the Russians this traffic necessarily ceased. But now that communications with Trebizonde are free, the rush to dispose of daughters, sons, sisters, &c., is immense. I hope that our Government at home will bear this in mind, and put an end to such ill-practices. I regret, also, to mention that the Austrian steamers do not raise objections to convey the slaves to Constantinople, and every boat takes 80 or 100 down. Now, he thought it was of great moment to call their Lordships' attention, and that of Her Majesty's Government, to such a statement as that; because, although happily at present the great and necessary war in which this country was engaged, was highly popular, there was no reason why, if it was of long continuance, it should not share the same fate of all the wars in which England had been ever embarked, and become eventually unpopular; and he was sure their Lordships would agree with him in the opinion, that it would be a great misfortune if the objects for which the war was undertaken were left unaccomplished at its termination. On the other hand, he conceived nothing would tend more to the creation of such an unhappy feeling in the public mind of the country than a belief that the very first effect of the arrival of our arms off the coast had been to revive this abominable evil. He thought, however, it would tend greatly to quiet the minds of many throughout the country if Her Majesty's Government were able to say that their attention, at least, had been given to the subject, and that whatever might have been the first effect of the demolition of the Russian forts, it would be no fault of England. He was sure that the minds of the great mass of the people of this country would be not a little misguided if they were led to believe that the first effect of a war, undertaken in the name of justice and righteousness, and for the protection of the liberties of Europe, was to perpetuate and increase in Turkey the worst evil to which humanity could be exposed.

THE EARL OF CLARENDON

said, he had read the paragraph to which the right rev. Prelate had alluded with sentiments of horror and repugnance similar to those to which he had given utterance, and he certainly was not surprised that his right rev. Friend, with his well-known feelings upon this subject, and with his hereditary claims to advocate the cause of the slave, should have drawn the attention of their Lordships and of Her Majesty's Government to the subject. Their Lordships were well aware of all the features of what he might term the social system of Turkey, and they need not, therefore, be told of the extreme difficulty that existed of inducing a Mahomedan Government to entertain seriously the question of the abolition of this horrible traffic. But he could assure their Lordships that the efforts of Her Majesty's Government, as well as those of other Governments, had been directed to the subject, and, although Her Majesty's Ambassadors at Constantinople had stated reasons why they feared the abolition of this traffic amounted almost to an impossibility, yet, two or three years ago, Lord Stratford de Redcliffe, acting upon instructions received at the time from Lord Palmerston, did bring the matter formally and seriously before the attention of the Ottoman Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; but he regretted to say that Lord Stratford did not consider he could afford any reasonable hopes that such interference upon the part of foreign Governments would be successful, because of the habits and customs of the Ottoman people. With regard, however, to any particular information possessed by him on the subject, he was unable to tell his right rev. Friend whether the description he had communicated this evening to their Lordships was correct or not, or whether the statement was well founded that the trade had greatly increased since the withdrawal of Russian troops from the coast, or whether the description merely referred to the ordinary traffic. However, even since his right rev. Friend had given notice of his intention to put his question, he had seen a despatch which had arrived from Admiral Dundas, saying that his attention had been called to the subject, and that consequently most strict orders had been sent to the officers commanding Her Majesty's forces on the coasts of Georgia and Circassia to intercept and prevent by all friendly means the continuance of the traffic; and, what was of more importance, Admiral Dundas said, that having ascertained that Schamyl was unfavourable and hostile to the trade, Her Majesty's officers had received orders to communicate with him and with his deputies, in order to concert together measures for its suppression, and prevent its continuance. That, then, was the first opportunity which Her Majesty's Government had had of directly interfering in reference to the traffic, but he hoped he need not assure their Lordships that no effort would be wanting on their part to effect its entire suppression as soon as possible.