PETITION. (Hansard, 16 March 1858)

LORD BROUGHAM

presented a Petition of Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, praying for the more effectual Suppression of the African Slave Trade. The noble and learned Lord said, he wished to draw the attention of the noble Lord the Minister for Foreign Affairs to certain of the allegations contained in it and to a statement he was about to make. He wished at the outset to say that he believed no blame attached to the French Government in any part of the proceedings he was about to mention; on the contrary, there was every reason to believe that it disapproved of them, and so far as it had not been able to prevent, it sincerely lamented them. It had been represented to him (Lord Brougham), according to intelligence received from most respectable quarters—and he had himself 228 read five or six letters from persons who were well known as respectable and trustworthy— that there had been recently passed by the Government of Guadaloupe, under the name of a reglement de travail, or a kind of vagrant act, a law which had an immediate and direct tendency to reduce to a state of slavery the free negroes in that colony, and thus to counteract the law which was passed in 1848—almost, he (Lord Brougham) ventured to say, the only good act of the Provisional Government—for the emancipation of the negroes in the French colonies. But the institution of this vagrant act was a direct retrograde movement on the part of the authorities of Guadaloupe, and was accomplished, no doubt, without the knowledge, and much more, without the approval, of the Government in the mother country. And why did he say that no blame attached to the French Government? For the reason that the reglement had been in some measure followed by our own countrymen in Jamaica. He was told that an act had passed the Jamaica Assembly to the same effect, and which, under the name of a vagrant act, had a tendency to reduce the free negroes to a state of slavery. That such an act had ever been passed with the knowledge and had ever received the sanction of Her Majesty's Government was utterly impossible. He (Lord Brougham) doubted whether indeed it had yet come over to this country. Then with respect to the practice of "free negro" importation—as it was hypocritically called—which was the main subject of the Petition, he would beg to state further that the greatest suffering attended the project of obtaining so-called free slaves in Africa, and then pretending to carry them into what was nothing but a state of bondage. Some short time since the Messrs. Regis, of Marseilles, had fitted out a vessel called the Stella, for the purpose of calling at Loango and other places on the African coast, and purchasing as many of these free negroes as they could. By that contract the captain was limited in price, being only allowed to give a certain sum —some forty dollars for each negro. He found, however, that other merchants, Spanish and Portuguese—but more of the former than the latter—who were under no control as to price, came also into the market, and accordingly he had great difficulty in completing his cargo. He did so at length, however, by taking those negroes who had been left, and shipped them to a large amount—950 it was said 229 —on board his vessel. It was stated that the contract, as they called it, with these negroes was only completed after they were on board ship. Now, as the vessel was small, not above 400 tons, there was necessarily very bad accommodation; and as the voyage had been prolonged thirty days, owing to the deficiency of provisions both in quantity and quality, and the want of proper medical attendance, no less than 33 per cent. of these unfortunate negroes thus shipped, or upwards of 300, died on the passage. The 600 that remained were landed in Guadaloupe; but no preparation or provision had been made for them at the place where they arrived; and whilst some were taken by land across the island, others were removed by sea. These, to the number of 110, were put on board a coasting vessel, and as they had been on the voyage from Africa, the so-called free negroes were treated precisely as if they had been slaves in the time of the old execrable African trade. These free negroes were crammed into the hold of the vessel, like animals in a kennel, to the number of between eighty and ninety, as many as the hold could contain, and the rest only were allowed to remain on deck. While on the voyage the vessel foundered, having struck upon a rock, and every one of these unfortunate beings thus crowded into the hold perished. Thus the old slave trade was revived under a new name. In a I this he (Lord Brougham) repeated that he believed no blame attached to the French Government; and, indeed, with respect to this subject, he had authority of an important kind—namely, that of our own Emigration Commissioner, who had compared different plans pursued on board the French and English vessels. We had no such traffic in free negroes to the West from the East Indies; but with respect to the transport of Coolies from the East Indies, a different mode of accommodation was provided on board the French and English vessels. The result of the Commissioners' inquiry was that, as a general result, there was much less mortality on board the French than on board the English ships. There might be greater allowance of tonnage in our vessels; but there was greater mortality also. The subject, how ever, of this scheme, as carried on upon the west coast, deserved the most vigilant attention of Government.

§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURY

My noble and learned Friend having called my attention, before he rose, to the subject on 230 which he was about to speak, I am desirous of communicating to him all I know on the matter, and I can only say that at any time he gives me notice in respect to any question he desires to be informed on, I shall be ready to give my noble and learned Lord the best attention I am able, Since I have had the honour of occupying the post which I now hold no information has reached me from Her Majesty's Consul in regard to the particular proceedings which my noble and learned Friend says have taken place in Guadaloupe. I quite concur with the noble and learned Lord that whether this new plan of "free emigration" be carried out, or whether the old slave trade be renewed, it is a distinction without a difference. I need not tell my noble and learned Friend that Her Majesty's Government will direct all their endeavours to discourage the practice, although my noble and learned Friend knows that we cannot effectually interfere to put it altogether down. With respect to my noble and learned Friend's observations about the conveyance of Coolies, I cannot think, as the noble and learned Lord seems to do, that the present system is at all satisfactory; I am afraid, upon a clearer view of the subject, that a great deal of suffering is endured, and many lives are lost, in the passage from the East Indies and China to those islands referred to. It is only within the last two or three days I have seen a report in the Foreign Office which convinces me that there must be a much stricter surveillance exerted in relation to those matters than has hitherto been in force.