RESOLUTION. ADDRESS. (Hansard, 17 July 1857)

HL Deb 17 July 1857 vol 146 cc1661-80 1661

THE MARQUESS OF CLANRICARDE,
who had a notice upon the paper of his intention to present a petition from Guiana praying for the removal of certain impediments to the importation of free labourers into that colony, said, that he would give way to his noble and learned Friend, believing that the discussion of this subject would be favourable to the views of the petitioners.

LORD BROUGHAM
My Lords, I rise to move a Resolution, which I propose to follow up by a Motion for an Address on the subject of an apprehended revival of the African Slave Trade. My Lords, when I consider the very great importance of the question which I am about to bring before your Lordships, I cannot avoid expressing my surprise—my agreeable surprise—at finding so many of your Lordships now present; for the subject has nothing to do with party—it has nothing personal to recommend it—it has none of those qualities that generally create a gathering together—I will not say in both Houses, but in your Lordships' House of Parliament. It rather belongs to that class of questions of which Mr. Canning once said, "Vital questions, as they are called, are those questions which nobody cares two straws about." I cannot say, however, that the present question conies within that description, for there is both in Parliament and out of it a very strong feeling, as well as a deeply rooted conviction, of the importance attaching to the subject which I shall now proceed shortly to bring before your Lordships.
My Lords, it was with very great pain, and no little astonishment, that I first heard of the measures which have been lately adopted in Paris. I felt then, as I feel now, perfectly assured that the Sovereign of that country is wholly incapable of lending his countenance to any measures which would tend to revive the African slave trade. I say so, in the first place, on account of His Majesty's family connection with him who first in France abolished that execrable traffic. The "Most Christian Kings" had, one after another, allowed that traffic not only to continue, but even to flourish, and had, indeed, all the while encouraged instead of suppressing it. It was reserved for the First Napoleon to do that act of his life which 1662 reflects the most honour upon him—I will say, indeed, the only act of his life in which he showed himself the friend of human rights and human liberties—it was reserved for him at once and for ever to abolish the African slave trade. I cannot, therefore, believe that he who so naturally prides himself upon his near relationship to that celebrated individual will take a retrograde course, and lend his countenance to a system which his eminent predecessor abolished, and by a measure as to which he has probably been not only ill-advised and misled, but deceived. The Emperor of the French, no doubt, believed that the project in question had none of that tendency to the revival of the slave trade which, I think, I can prove to your Lordships, without doubt or question, it possessed: I cannot believe it possible that His Imperial Majesty has been otherwise than misinformed and deceived. There is another reason why I take this view. When I consider those by whom, he is surrounded, and to whom he gives in ecclesiastical matters so much of his confidence—namely, those ministers of religion to whose policy his Imperial Majesty seems inclined to lean, I feel certain that they must have told him of the offences committed by slave traders being ranged in the denunciations of Holy Writ with the most hateful and disgusting crimes of which man can be guilty; crimes to which I dare not in this place even allude except to say that they are not worse than slave trading. When this shall have been well represented to His Imperial Majesty, and especially when he finds that your Lordships and that the Government of this country view with great suspicion all that is now doing or attempting to be done—when that shall have been represented to the Emperor, I trust that His Majesty will view these transactions with the same jealous suspicion of their possible consequences, and that he will be thus furnished with a sufficient answer to the importunities of his colonial subjects, to which, for the present, and under a misapprehension of the facts and consequences, he seems to have given way.
My Lords, without further preface, I will proceed to state how it is that licences have been given to certain mercantile adventurers, or to certain agents as it has even been said of the French Government, to import a limited number of "free negroes," as the phrase has been, into the French West Indian, colonies. Now, such 1663 a scheme as that must end in a renewal of the infernal African slave trade. From the representations which have been made to me by a learned Friend, Mr. Fitzpatrick, who filled the important office of judicial assessor on the Gold Coast for a period of six years, and who was thoroughly acquainted with the Messrs. Regis, of Marseilles, as well as their representatives upon the Gold Coast, he had ascertained that those gentlemen were most respectable merchants; so that in the information which I have received in reference to them from Mr. Fitzpatrick, prejudice against them cannot be said to have a share. What, then, is the proposition which, according to Mr. Fitzpatrick, was made upon the part of those gentlemen? Why, that the Africans, being slaves in their own country, should be induced to emigrate to the West Indies; that care should be taken that the contracts which might be entered into with them should be faithfully observed; that they should have the security of the Government officers for their proper treatment on the voyage to the West Indies; that upon their arrival in that quarter they should have Government security for the exercise of kindness towards them upon the part of the masters to whom they were to be bound apprentices by indenture; and that if they at any time desired to return to their native country, they should be allowed to do so, and should be conveyed back to the coast from which they had been taken at the charge of those by whom they had been carried to a foreign land. Thus, it was proposed to do for them, in short, everything which humanity could suggest. But I will beg your Lordships, to bear in mind that we do not this evening hear for the first time of Africans being slaves in their own country, or of the great benefits which must result to them from their transmigration, to the western hemisphere. On the contrary, I can recollect the assurances of a blessed change to be effected by such a transmigration which were in former times so confidently made. Looking back over a period of sixty years, during which time I have had my share in promoting the abolition of the slave trade, and during which I have laboured, more or less actively, more or less successfully, but always to the utmost of my power for the attainment of that great object, I cannot name a single discussion upon the subject in which language precisely similar to that to which I have just called your Lordships' 1664 attention was not made use of. I shall not trouble the House with any lengthened quotations in proof of this statement, but it is important that I should produce two or three instances in order to show how identical are the arguments which in years gone by were advanced in favour of the slave trade and the reasons which are now put forward in support of the proposed system of free emigration. The advocates of slave trading then and the advocates of free emigration now use identically the same arguments. From the year 1787 down to the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, the reasons which were urged in opposition to the measure bore to those used a striking similarity. In 1811, four years afterwards, I introduced into the other House of Parliament, the Bill declaring that the conveyance of Africans from their own country and their sale in other lands was in law, as it had always been in fact, a crime and not a traffic. But, up to that time, and during the whole period of the controversy from 1787, in all the debates upon that question, General Tarleton, who was then Member for Liverpool, asserted that the Africans themselves entertained no objection to the slave trade. He moreover complained that those who held contrary opinions were led away by a mistaken humanity. He indignantly denied even the misery which it was said had been inflicted upon those unfortunate negroes in the middle passage, and contended that only five out of 500 of them died upon an average, while 10½ per cent of our own troops perished on board the West India transports. General Tarleton further cited in support of his views the authority of one governor, two admirals, one captain, a commodore, and a large number of naval officers, whom he represented as friendly to the slave trade, and as willing witnesses to the benefits which it conferred. Sir William Young, himself a planter, in the course of the same debates, stated that he did not regard the commerce in African slaves in the light of an inhuman commerce. Not only did he defend the traffic in these human beings on the ground that they were slaves in their own country, and, in addition to being slaves, were there subjected to various tortures, and, in many instances, to murder itself; from all of which he maintained they were saved by the slave trade; but he described their happiness in the West Indies, and even on board of ship, in romantic terms. According to him, a slave 1665 estate was a most delightful, spectacle. He spoke of the slaves dancing and singing, and enjoying every indulgence. Alderman Brook Watson, Lord Mayor, took the same view. He held that those who had brought them from their own country had brought them to happiness, and wound up by telling the House that there could not be a more delightful scene than that presented by the dancing and other amusements of the happy slaves on a well-managed estate. These quotations will probably be sufficient to show your Lordships that the arguments now brought forward in favour of the negro emigration scheme are by no means original, but had been brought forward very freely in defence of the execrable slave traffic from 1787 to 1811. This plan of free emigration has indeed an ominous resemblance to the scheme in which the slave trade had its origin. Soon after the discovery of America, it was thought that the miseries inflicted by the avarice and cruelty of the Spaniards upon the native Indian tribes might be terminated, if their place was supplied by the importation of negroes from Africa. That scheme arose from the union of short-sighted benevolence with far-sighted self-interest. This unnatural union it was which first produced that monstrous progeny—the African slave trade. The greatest cruelty ever perpetrated in the history of the world, has been ascribed, I hope untruly, to one of the most eminent philanthropists that ever lived, Bartholomew Las Casas, the protector of the Indians. In accordance with that plan, to which Cardinal Ximenes would not listen, a licence to take out 4,000 negroes from Africa was obtained from Charles V., who granted it inconsiderately—a licence which was afterwards annually renewed. It is quite true that slaves had been carried over from Africa previously; but that traffic was only an insignificant trading of the Portuguese. The foundations of the slave trade were laid by the Emperor Charles and his Flemish councillors. Between that plan and the scheme now proposed there is the closest resemblance; for what is the pecuniary arrangement offered by the French Government? The terms proposed to those negroes are 9s. a month, and it is said that negroes having been purchased and liberated on the African coast will immediately have their minds opened to the nature of an indenture of apprenticeship, will immediately enter into such 1666 indentures and go on hoard ship to be conveyed to the West Indies at wages of 12 francs, or 9s. a month, with an allowance of provisions. Now, the negro nature is completely misunderstood by those who defend such a scheme. The negroes are naturally simple-minded and innocent—but they are possessed almost, as were the ancient Egyptians, with an absolute horror of the sea. That feeling was always rooted in their nature, even before the commencement of the slave trade, and it had gathered additional strength from that infernal traffic and the middle passage connected with it. To propose, therefore, to free negroes to emigrate from Africa and cross the ocean is one of the wildest schemes which ever a perverted imagination conceived. It is said that the Kroomen, who are free negroes, eagerly offer their labour; and that therefore it is natural to presume other negroes will be ready to leave their country. But what are the inducements which must be held out to those Kroomen before they would consent to go on board ship? Upon that subject I have the benefit of information both from Mr. Fitzpatrick, who has had great experience in Africa, and from the paymaster of one of Her Majesty's ships upon that coast, and from their statements I can inform your Lordships what wages are necessary to tempt the Kroomen to go on board ship. Why, their engagements are only temporary; they are paid 19 or 20 dollars a month, or something like 2s. 6d. a day, and not 3d. or 4d., as M. Regis offers; and then they will only ship themselves upon condition that they shall only work upon the coast, that they shall be allowed to land when they please, and when the ship leaves the coast the Kroomen invariably leave the ship. When my noble Friend (Earl Grey)—whose absence on the present occasion I very greatly regret—was in office, he was very much pressed to sanction some scheme of negro emigration; much stress was laid on the benefits which would accrue to the Africans themselves by such an emigration; the Kroomen were quoted, and great stress was laid upon the want of labour in some of the colonies. My noble Friend was much disposed to countenance a scheme having for its object the promotion of the emigration of free labour, provided it could be carried into effect without danger of the revival of the slave trade in another shape. Accordingly, his Lordship 1667 employed a very intelligent officer to proceed in a steamer to the coast of Africa, and to make inquiries whether it were possible to procure really free emigrants. Earl Grey found it was impracticable to try the experiment, and although the colonists were very anxious for what they called "the removal of obstacles to the emigration of free labourers," his Lordship must have perceived that as what they desired under this phrase was buying slaves, in order to liberate and transport them, it was neither more nor less than the suspension of the Abolition Act, which made the purchase of negroes, even for the purpose of liberating them, an offence punishable by transportation, and he most properly refused to listen to any such proposition. Now, with regard to the alleged want of hands in the colonies, what is the real cause of it? I will read to your Lordships an extract from a letter written by Mr. Clark, a gentleman who has lived in Jamaica for twenty years, relating to that subject. Mr. Clark in that letter, which is dated June the 4th, 1855, states:— Agriculture and commerce are now looking up. The proprietors of estates who were wise and able enough to carry on their estates during the season of low prices are now getting large returns; and (he goes on to say) still, notwithstanding the price of produce having more than doubled, the labourers are almost everywhere compelled to work at the same rate as when it was at the lowest ebb—9d. and 1s. a-day. The papers have, however, taken the matter up, and I hope that ere long 1s. 3d. and 1s. 6d. will be paid, without any agitation or strike on their part. There is again the old cry for immigration, especially from Africa; whereas our planters, who treat the people fairly and kindly, are getting all the labour they require, and if more be wanted they have but to increase the rate of wages, and their wants will be supplied more abundantly than by the importation of thousands of immigrants. In reply to the question as to whence those negroes were to come, we are at once informed that there are many at present working on the provision grounds or on small farms and gardens, in raising produce for the market, who would work on the plantations if their wages were increased to 15d. or 18d. a day. As to obtaining negroes from Africa, I at once admit that there would be no difficulty on this head. Only let it be known that so many pounds sterling will be given for each slave in order to liberate him—only let it be known to the native chiefs that any captives taken in war will be ransomed, and I will answer for it that numbers of slaves will be brought for purchase, and 1668 that then, under the pretence of an indenture of apprenticeship, they will be carried across the sea to the new world. Captives, as well as home-born slaves, there will be in plenty. In order to supply a sufficient number of captives to be ransomed, wars will be undertaken by the native chiefs for the express purpose of taking prisoners and bringing them down to the coast for sale to the "emigration" companies. It was said by Mr. Pitt—and God forbid that ever again there should be cause for its being repeated—"Alas! you treat human beings as merchandise, and yet you do not give them the common benefit of the principle of all commerce, that the supply suits itself to the demand." Would that the voice of that great man could now ring through those walls, and put down each attempt to revive the African slave trade! "Ubi, Pansa, illa tua vox quæ populum Romanum monere solebat, nihil homini fœdius servitute!" Although the natural character of the negro is simple and innocent, yet all who have visited the country agree in saying that the African princes, and chiefly on account of this execrable traffic, have been inured to blood in a degree confined, I really believe, to that quarter of the globe. But the abolition of that abominable traffic has been attended with the best results on the African continent. Mr. Fitzpatrick tells me, "that on the death of the Queen Mother in one of those States, some seventy years ago, 150 persons were murdered on her grave," while, as if showing the softening effect of the suppression of the slave trade, when her son died a short time back there was a notification that there would be no human sacrifice at all. Mr. Fitzpatrick congratulating the reigning Prince on this salutary change in African customs, which he attributes to the abolition of the slave trade, received a friendly answer with a present. Nor is this the only change. To the criminal traffic, or rather to the felony, has succeeded legitimate and innocent commerce. Great and even rapid progress has been made, and the exportation of produce from Africa to this country now amounts to above £2,000,000 sterling; that is to say, such is the value of the goods sent from this country to be exchanged against the produce of legitimate industry. In the article of palm oil, the principal article of that commerce on the Gold Coast, the export is upwards of £1,500,000. This is the industry, this the commerce we are called upon to inter- 1669 rupt; this is the scene we were desired to darken; this is the prospect which we are told it was our duty to cut off—the prospect of improvement in trade, in the arts of peace, and in civilization. It is this we are asked to stop, by sending men to purchase slaves under the pretence of ransoming captives taken in the wars which must of necessity be caused by the inducements which we hold out for the express purpose of making those captives, in order that they may be sold to us and carried away. I have cited the authority of Mr. Fitzpatrick, I will now read a letter from him, which more than confirms the opinions which I have expressed. That gentleman says:— The Africans are not a migratory people. If they were free to-morrow, and capable of understanding this contract for ten years' expatriation and servitude," which I need not tell your Lordships the poor African can no more comprehend than he could a problem in the higher geometry, "they would much rather become slaves in their own country than enter into it. The Kroomen, though fond of earning money to take back to their own country after a short absence, and though tempted on board our cruisers by pay amounting to from 8 dollars to 12 dollars per month, with full rations or their money value equal to 7 dollars more per month, and employment on the element on which they are at home, will not enter into lengthened service; and to suppose that they would be induced by a promise of 12½ francs per month to go to a distant country for ten years is absurd. The MM. Regis, however, propose to purchase the slave's freedom on condition of his at once emigrating for ten years' service in the French West Indies, and thus to establish a system of free emigration. It is difficult, I think, to discover in this plan the punctum temporis in which the subject of the operation is free. It merely provides a change of masters, with this peculiarity, that the new master and his country are to be far away in regions of which the African never dreamed; and to slavery, I apprehend, it is honours not enchantments which are lent by distance. It is idle to suppose that a poor African slave will look forward to his freedom and a return to his country after ten years' service. It is a theory for too complex for his simple understanding. The slave then will not contract for a new and strange master in a distant land. But I am free to confess the master will; and, moreover, he will perform his part of the contract. When his own stock is exhausted he will prey upon his neighbours; he will steal and kidnap and panyar, and those who have the requisite establishments will go out a-hunting. The King of Dahomey will take out both his packs—his male and female 'dogs of war'—and every petit chief will do the like. Mr. Fitzpatrick then states that great improvement has taken place among the African princes, and, adding that the most difficult of all things was to teach the natives a regard for truth, says— One of the objections to this emigration scheme 1670 is that it has all the appearance of a false pretence. No African will believe that a depôt to receive emigrants at Whydah is anything but a barracoon for slaves. I have received similar testimony from Mr. Forster, a highly respectable person connected with the African trade. He takes precisely the same view of the subject, and has printed his opinions in the newspapers. Having complained that he had been misrepresented on account of having mentioned the probable fate of a slave who refused to go voluntarily on board ship, he continues:— What I said referred to his treatment in the hands of the native slave dealer before he is shipped, after he has been brought to the coast and sold. I deny that the native African is cruelly treated at home before he is sold. The natives of Africa are not a cruel people in their natural and social relations. I will undertake to say there are fewer murders among them in proportion to the population than there are in this country. If the slave trade is to be revived in this new form, it may just as well be revived in its old shape. The consequences will be quite as bad—nay, in some respects, worse. A limited demand in the way proposed would bring more slaves from the interior than were wanted, and they would be starved in barracoons, while it would unsettle the minds of the people, and disturb and destroy legitimate trade as much as an unlimited traffic under the old system. I have not dwelt upon that which presents itself as an insuperable difficulty in the way of this scheme for the emigration of Africans,—I mean the impossibility of taking precautions which shall give us a chance—I do not say a reasonable prospect, but even a chance—of preventing the occurrence of the grossest abuse, the most cruel evils in the course of the transport of the negroes. When we remember that no person, no free English subject is allowed to embark on board a vessel going to Canada, or any other of our own settlements, without the greatest care being taken to examine her fittings, her stowage, her accommodation for the number of passengers proposed to be received on board, her provisions, and the medical attendance which has been provided, and, above all, to see that no more than the specified number are taken on board; and when we find that so strictly is this guarded by law that the severest penalties are inflicted in the case of any shipment of free English subjects on board an English merchant vessel, except at a port where there is a customhouse and a staff of officers to make these preliminary investigations, we must at once perceive the uselessness of any attempt to conduct on the coast of Africa a traffic of 1671 this sort, and to transport not intelligent Englishmen, but half-civilized, or less than half-civilized Africans from one distant country to another.
I do not think that I have anything to add upon the general question; but I cannot conclude what I have to press upon your Lordships in behalf of the claims of Africa, without recalling to your recollection the opinions and the feelings of Mr. Pitt on this subject. Great as his authority is with some of you on many subjects, on this it must by all be admitted to have peculiar weight, and to deserve the greatest attention—I may say the most profound respect. Of all the speeches marked by his majestic eloquence—of all the speeches with which he astonished and delighted his hearers, his celebrated oration upon the abolition of the slave trade, delivered in 1791, holds the first place. Some persons may think that his renowned declamation upon the breaking out of the war in 1803 equals, but it certainly does not surpass it. In that speech Mr. Pitt sums up the atonement which he trusted we were about to make for our long and cruel injustice to Africa. He expressed his hope that in the evening of her days she was about to enjoy those blessings which had descended upon us at an earlier period of the world's history, and he closed with these memorable words:— This great and happy change to be effected in the state of her inhabitants is of all the various and important benefits of the abolition, in my estimation, incomparably the most extensive and the most important. Some years later I heard him upon the question of a grant to the colony of Sierra Leone, to which objections were taken on a false principle of economy, express his earnest hope and even confidence that the day would come when Africa would take her place in the scale of nations, and enter on a new and splendid career, free in herself and freed for ever from the curse of that execrable traffic which had wasted her energies and destroyed her peace. My Lords, I now move my Resolution:— That the Encouragement of Emigration of Negroes from the African Coast to the West Indies by the Purchase or Liberation of Slaves or the Ransom of Prisoners taken in War, even when this may not be held illegal, has a direct Tendency to promote the internal Slave Trade of Africa, and to obstruct the Progress of its inhabitants in the Arts of Peace and the Course of Civilization.

§ Motion agreed to, Nemine Dissentiente.

§ Then it was moved— That a humble Address be presented to Her 1672 Majesty, praying that Her Majesty will be graciously pleased to withhold her Countenance from all such Schemes among her Subjects, and will use her best endeavours with Her Majesty's Allies for engaging them to discontinue all Projects which have a Tendency to promote African emigration by any Means directly or indirectly connected with the Purchase of Slaves or Ransom of Captives taken in War.

§ Agreed to, Nemine Dissentiente.

§ THE EARL OF CLARENDON
said, he would not attempt to follow his noble and learned Friend through all the details of the able speech with which he had prefaced his Motion, but he need scarcely assure him and all men that he concurred in every word that had fallen from his noble and learned Friend in deprecation of any attempt calculated to promote the revival of the slave trade. His noble and learned Friend had accurately stated the opinion of Her Majesty's Government, and traced with great correctness the course of the proceedings which had taken place in this transaction. He thought that his noble and learned Friend had done no more than justice to the Emperor of the French, and he must add to the French Government also, who, he was convinced, were as incapable of intentionally giving encouragement, direct or indirect, to the revival of that abominable traffic as we were ourselves. But he rejoiced that his noble and learned Friend had brought forward the Motion in the eloquent and impressive manner which had marked his noble and learned Friend's address, because, as all the world knew, his noble and learned Friend had for a long series of years—sixty years, as he had himself told their Lordships—been the indefatigable friend of the African negro and the successful champion of the natural rights of that race. Therefore any opinion of his noble and learned Friend on this subject would necessarily be received with respect and attention abroad, as well as at home, and there as well as here it would be felt that he would not have brought the question before their lordships in the solemn and formal manner of asking them to concur in an Address to the Crown, if he had not seen some cause for apprehension and alarm in the proceedings to which he had called attention. He (the Earl of Clarendon) hoped their Lordships would agree to the Address for which his noble and learned Friend had moved, because it could not but strengthen the hands of her Majesty's Government; though he could assure their Lordships that that was not required 1673 as a stimulus to them, for—so far from the subject having escaped their attention—so far from there being any intention on their part to lend themselves to the project his noble and learned Friend so much deprecated—he assured his noble and learned Friend that it had been a matter of constant and confidential communication between the two Governments, and that no effort of her Majesty's Government would be wanting to prevent the establishment of such a state of things as his noble and learned Friend had shadowed forth, and to cheek the slave trade by every means in their power. But France, like ourselves, having abolished slavery in her colonies, had experienced, as we had, great inconvenience from want of labour, and she now proposed to supply that want by the importation of negroes as free labourers—but without renewing the slave trade, or giving any encouragement either to the kidnapper or the slave dealer. The French Government had been perfectly frank in all their proceedings—they had never disguised either what they intended to do, or what they had done. So long ago as 1853 they informed her Majesty's Government that it was their intention to purchase slaves from the West Coast of Africa—emancipate them immediately, and then introduce them as free labourers into their colonies, where they were to earn wages, and their lot would be greatly superior to that in which they had been previously placed. But we at once represented to them, that before slaves could be sold they must be made, for it was altogether a mistake to suppose that slavery was the general condition of the African race—that it was true slavery existed, and slaves were employed by the African chiefs for their own purposes, but not in greater numbers than was sufficient for those purposes; and that if slaves were sold by them, the additional number must be provided by kidnapping or internal wars, waged by one tribe against another. And we pointed out also that it would be difficult to make the chiefs understand where the difference would lie between selling slaves to French speculators for exportation to the French colonies, and selling them to the slave trader, to be afterwards sold to the planter at Cuba—and to explain to them why the one transaction was to be encouraged and the other punished with the penalty of piracy. The French Government always contended that 1674 they would only import free labourers—because slavery having ceased to exist in the French territory, all negroes imported there must be necessarily de facto free. But in answer to that argument we observed, that if France established the system she contemplated, other countries in which slavery was not abolished might have recourse to it—they might pretend to import Africans as free labourers; and if the system were adopted by France with our concurrence, we should lose the right and the power to protest and prevent its being acted upon by those other countries of whose institutions slavery was still a part. The French Government then said that they would endeavour to make an experiment of the immigration of free labourers; and, in the first attempt that was made, we saw great reason to fear the consequences my noble and learned Friend has suggested, and we again brought the subject before the French Government, and they informed us of all the precautions they were taking to prevent it. They told us that the persons who had got the licence from the French Government, MM. Regis, would have to deal only with the negroes born freemen, or such as had been free for a long time—that they had ascertained that such persons might be obtained, who were willing to labour for wages, and for a limited time; and that one condition of the contract was, that they should be restored to their native country when the period of service was expired. And they further said, that the system they proposed would be guarded by the same precautions as had been taken by the English Government, when they sought to introduce free labour into their West India colonies. That was, no doubt, perfectly true; but then we informed the French Government that we had abandoned the practice, and considered the continuance of it impossible, for the reasons which my noble and learned friend has quoted; that we found on all those parts of the coast of Africa where slavery did not exist, so few negroes disposed to emigrate, that it was utterly futile to depend upon labour from that source; but a greater reason for abandoning the system was, that we found it gave rise to erroneous impressions abroad, and amongst the Africans themselves it was supposed that we were about again to give encouragement to the slave trade; and, in one instance, a chief actually made war upon a neighbouring 1675 village, and captured the inhabitants, in the hope and expectation that he could dispose of his captives to us. Another case occurred on the coast of Mozambique, and that place being under the French flag we brought the matter to the knowledge of the French Government, by whom peremptory orders were sent out. Ten minutes ago he (the Earl of Clarendon) had received a communication from the Admiralty, containing a despatch from Commodore Trotter, which contained a passage confirming the view of the Government as to the course proposed by the French Government, and stating that the French consul at Mozambique not only thoroughly objected to the system as a revival of the slave trade under another form, but as contrary to the orders he had received. He (the Earl of Clarendon) mentioned these facts to show that the subject had had the constant attention of her Majesty's Government, and that it was the intention of the French Government to inform them fairly and openly of all their proceedings. With regard to the Kroomen, the experiment had been tried by us and had failed; but he did not know that he was therefore entitled to say that it would not succeed with the French people. He had in his hand a placard which the gentlemen who first undertook the speculation had caused to be very extensively placarded in Sierra Leone, containing the conditions on which the Kroomen were to be engaged, and he must say that if those conditions could be honestly carried out, he could see no objection to them. This placard stated that the labourers were to be provided with clothes, proper food, medicines, and medical attendance during the voyage—a certain quantity of water per man—that they were to be employed for six years at stated wages, and that at the end of that period they were to be sent back to their homes free of expense, unless they preferred to remain under a new agreement. But though we were not entitled to say that this project, as regarded the Kroomen, must necessarily be a failure, or protest against it on that ground, he nevertheless entertained the same doubt and apprehension with regard to it as his noble and learned Friend did to the proposal for importing labourers from other parts of the African coast. He had never yet heard that there was any disposition on the part of the Kroomen, or the Africans 1676 of other parts of the coast to leave their country for the sake of employment. If, then, the system was to be carried out, it would require the greatest caution and watchfulness on the part of the French Government as well as of our own. And, in conclusion he would renew the assurance that, if it should be found to be attended with the consequences which his noble and learned Friend expected, Her Majesty's Government would not hesitate to bring the fact under the notice of the French Government, and he could not doubt that that Government, judging from the course they had already pursued, would never consent to the prostitution of the French flag to cover any proceeding which would have a tendency to revive the slave trade of slavery in any form.

§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURY
said, that it would be wasting their Lordships' time if he were to occupy it by proving that our illustrious ally, the Emperor of the French, was not likely to evade the treaties made with this country in respect to the slave trade, and that he was sure to follow on this subject the example of the illustrious man the first of his name. It would be equally a waste of their time if he was to say that he thought that any attempt like that described by his noble and learned Friend opposite would not be fraught with danger; or that if it were carried out in the manner stated, it might not re-open the trade which we had just put down at so great a sacrifice of time, money, and blood. But while giving all the admiration possible to the noble and learned Lord, who had devoted a long life to purposes of humanity and usefulness, he thought it was natural that he should be carried away more than any other man by apprehensions to a certain degree on this point. But he must remind the House that those who had had experience of the coast of Africa, whether as governors of colonies or as commanders of Her Majesty's ships, did not entirely agree with the statements made by the noble and learned Lord. They agreed that if any attempt were made to purchase slaves on the southern coast of Africa that would lead to slavery; but they did not agree that the experiment would be equally hope-lese if it were tried with Kroomen. These people inhabited a tract of country 500 miles in length, extending from Cape Palmas to Sierra Leone, and to their capabilities as emigrants he had his attention 1677 called only the day previously by Sir Henry Huntley, who had been for several years governor of Gambia, and had also for several years commanded one or other of Her Majesty's ships engaged in suppressing the slave trade. That gentleman felt, as he (the Earl of Malmesbury) did, what a boon it would be to America and Africa if we could devise some scheme by which an outlet could be provided for the inhabitants of the latter, and their progress in civilization could be promoted by bringing them in contact with superior races, while the millions of acres we possessed on the former continent could at the same time be brought into cultivation. Sir Henry Huntley, he need hardly say, had no less horror of the slave trade than any noble Lord present, but he believed that by promoting emigration amongst them we ran no risk of reviving its horrors. In this view he was confirmed by the evidence given by Captain Denman before the House of Commons, in which it was stated that the Kroomen never made slaves nor dealt in them, and that the Spaniards alleged that they would die rather than be made slaves. He would read to their Lordships some portions of the statement with which Sir Henry Huntley had furnished him upon this subject: The Kroomen come in small canoes from their country, 500 miles, to Sierra Leone, in search of labour. They are employed up the river Sierra Leone, Mellacoree, and other rivers, by the merchants to cut and prepare timber for shipping to England. They enter also on board merchant ships trading along the coast, and also those trading in the rivers for palm oil. They frequently assist in navigating vessels, which have lost men by fever, &c. to England. I knew an instance of thirty going to England in a leaky vessel to help at the pumps. At Fernando Po upwards of 350 were employed by an English company to cut timber—very fine teak wood—stipulating to be sent home every third year; their wages varied from 3d. to 10d. per diem. They received pay in merchandise. Ships of war always have Kroomen on board on the coast of Africa; so many, according to the size of the ship. They are paid in the Royal navy as sailors. Kroomen are employed, I believe, at the Island of Ascension, about 900 miles from their country; they never object to go to the Cape of Good Hope in ships of war. Captured slaves, called by us the 'liberated Africans,' with very few exceptions, have been found useless when employed on board ships of war; merchant ships will not take them; they are lazy, and demand high wages. That gentleman had also furnished him with the following suggestions for regulating the employment of Kroomen in the British West Indies:—

"1. Kroomen to be shipped at no place in Africa but Sierra Leone.
1678
"2. Kroomen shipped for the West Indies must be registered at Sierra Leone, and also in the West Indies upon arrival.

"3. Certain ports in the West Indies to be named for the reception of Kroomen.

"4. Kroomen never to be taken to the West Indies upon speculation of being employed.

"5. Before a ship can sail to get Kroomen for the West Indies, the owners to make application for a licence at the——office in England, showing a demand for a certain number, and naming in it the property upon which they are to be employed in the West Indies. Copy of the demand and licence to be sent to the registrar at Sierra Leone.

"6. Ships intended to carry Kroomen to the West Indies to be fitted with propeller, and apparatus for obtaining fresh water from sea water.

"7. Tonnage of ship to regulate number of Kroomen carried on board.

"8. Kroomen in no case to be subject to corporal punishment—(magistrates or registrars should regulate between employer and man).

"9. No registrar in chief to be appointed but from England—he may appoint deputies with the sanction of the——office in England.

"10. Kroomen not to be transferred or let out on hire in the West Indies, nor allowed to work upon any property excepting that named in the licence, without the sanction of the registrar in chief and consent of the Kroomen."

Considering the respect due to the authority of Sir Henry Huntley, he had thought it right to put the House in possession of his opinions; because, although it would be superfluous to say that he was as much alarmed at any project like that described by his noble and learned Friend as he could be, still he should consider the subject in every light, and turn it over again and again before he despaired of opening Africa to communication with the more civilised quarters of the globe and abandoned it to its present barbarism.

§ THE EARL OF HARROWBY
believed that if the proposed emigration were confined to the Kroomen it would be perfectly safe; but it was very difficult to induce the Kroomen to leave their own country. They were a people who never made slaves of others, and who were unwilling to be made slaves themselves; and it was their habit to go away from home, but not for more than two years at a time. One result of the investigation before a Select Committee of the other House of which he was a Member was, that this was the only race of Africans who could be transferred to our West Indian colonies without the danger of an immediate renewal of the slave trade. To show the light in which this system was likely to be viewed by the native chiefs in Africa, he would take the liberty of reading the copy of a very curious letter sent by the King of Calabar in 1679 answer to a British merchant who had written to His Majesty to know whether any of his people would engage themselves as free labourers. The letter was as follows:— Old Calabar, June 5, 1850. Dear Sir,—I receved your kind letter by the Magistrate, through Captain Todd, and by your wish I now write you to say, we be glad for supply you with slaves. I hav spoken with King Archibury, and all Calabar gentleman, and be very glade to do the sam. Regard to free emigration we man no will go for himself. We shall buy them alsam we do that time slave trade bin. We be very glad for them man to come back again to Calabar; but I fear that time they go for West Indies he no will com back her. We have all agreed to charges four boxes of brass and copper rod for man, woman, and children, but shall not be able to supply the quantity you mention. I think we shall be able to get 400 or 500 for one vessel, and be able to load her in three or four months, for we cannot got them all ready to wait for the ship. She will have to com and tak them on board as they com. We have no place on shore to keep them. The ship will have to pay convey to me and Archibury, but no other gentlemen—say, 10,000 copper for earch town in cloth or any other article of trad. I shall be very glad if the term I mention will suit you, for we shall not be able to do it at a less price, and man to be paid for with rods. I shall be very glad when you write me again to mak arrangements with your captain what tim the ship must come, hoping you are quite well, beleeve me to be, My dear Sir, your humble servant, EYO HONESTY KING. This letter showed that the system would be but another form of the slave trade, and that the so-called free labourers would be bought and sold. No doubt the horrors of "the middle passage" could be prevented by the proper regulation of the vessels employed in conveying the negroes; and after the labourer arrived in a colony in which slavery had been abolished he would no longer be the victim of oppression. Yet, on the coast of Africa the effect of the plan would be to revive the gambling spirit engendered by the slave trade, together with all the atrocities connected with the capture of slaves in the interior, while the course of peaceful commerce and agriculture, now extending rapidly over the shores of Africa, would be entirely arrested.

LORD BROUGHAM
briefly replied, quoting the favourite organ of the slave party in the Carolinas, to show that the slaveholders in America regarded the example proposed to be set by England and France in the matter of the exportation of "free" negroes from Africa, as an encouragement and a justification for them to procure as many slaves as they chose 1680 for the Southern States. The enforcement of any contract for wages would be entirely within the jurisdiction of the slave state in which the negro was located; and it was easy to see what would become of the "freedom" of the African emigrant in the event of any legal dispute arising.

§ Motion agreed to, Nemine Dissentiente.