HL Deb 25 June 1860 vol 159 cc908-34
LORD STRATHEDEN

My Lords, in rising to move your Lordships to Address the Crown in favour of appointing a Consul at Mozambique, the capital of the Portuguese dominions on the Eastern coast of Africa, I will not detain the House by a statement of the circumstances arising in the other House of Parliament, which induced me to submit the Motion. But I should wish, in passing, to observe that it has been postponed from the 4th June to the present moment, because it must have otherwise come on in the absence of the right rev. Prelate (the Bishop of Oxford), who presided over the Committee on the Slave Trade in 1850, and that noble and learned Lord (Lord Brougham), whose zeal upon these questions has been known for more than half a century. It seemed to me that their attendance was the firmest guarantee that your Lordships would not be led to a mistaken judgment on the point which I desired to bring before you.

My Lords, in 1854 the Government of that day resolved to send a Consul to Mozambique. In December, 1856, the Consul left this country. In July, 1857, he reached his destination. In May, 1858, the Portuguese authorities, not being able to defend him against a violent conspiracy of slave dealers, in the absence of our cruisers at that time called away to India, the Consul left his station for Mauritius. In the autumn of 1858 a great controversy took place between the Governments of France, Portugal, and Britain, on an event to which his consulship gave birth. Since that time the Consul has had no successor.

My Lords, remarks may be made as to the form of the present Motion, and I shall by and bye, with your permission, touch upon it. But as the vital question is, whether the Government are bound to re-appoint a Consul at Mozambique, I shall best consult the natural impatience of the House by asking them at once to weigh the two obvious and necessary points into which that question is divided: namely, whether the appointment was originally justified, and whether, if it was, the grounds which justified it have been confirmed by subsequent events, and still retain their power.

As regards the grounds which justified the Government of 1854 in sending out a Consul—if I state them far less precisely than I wish to do, it matters little since I am speaking in the presence of the noble Lord the Foreign Secretary at that time, of the noble Lord the President of the Council, then a Member of the Cabinet, and of the noble Lord then, as now, the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, who can do that justice to their policy which I may fail to do. In the year 1850, after long inquiries and debates, a strong resolution was displayed in the country and in Parliament to maintain British cruisers on the coast of Africa against the slave trade, even at a cost of half a million pounds a year. It was amply proved by evidence collected at that time, that the squadron could not be effective for its purpose, unless supported by consular establishments on land to furnish information to the naval officers, and to promote the lawful commerce by which the slave trade is reduced. On the Western Coast of Africa, our squadron was supported in this manner. Besides the British settlements of Gambia, Sierra Leone, and the Gold Coast, we had consular authorities at Lagos, at Fernando Po, Monrovia, and Loanda, the capital of the Portuguese dominions of Angola. There was no equivalent upon the Eastern coast between Zanzibar and Natal, a sea-board of above twelve hundred miles. Our Commissioner of the mixed Court and our Consul at Loanda had secured the concurrence of Portugal, with the operations of our squadron on the Western Coast. It was essential by new means to obtain the same concurrence on the Eastern coast. The Governor General of Mozambique was far more in want of British countenance and shelter in resistance to the slave trade than any other viceroy. He had the strongest possible temptations to engage in the forbidden traffic on account of the wants to which an insufficient salary exposed him. The feelings, interests, and habits of the colonial circle which surrounded him—threatened with the gravest penalties the slightest effort upon his part to restrain a system of which all enjoyed the gains, and none were sensible to the dishonour. About twenty years before one of these viceroys had been driven from his government in consequence of having assumed too bold an attitude towards the slave dealers. But, since 1854, the Governor General, if he meant to do his duty, had to resist the influence of France in forms of menace or persuasion. The French free-labour system had begun, and it involved an urgent demand for slaves along the sea-board of Mozambique. Against all this adverse pressure the Viceroy could not be sustained even by his Goverment at home without a British Consul to animate his zeal, to second his exertions, and should the occasion come, to reprimand his slackness. A further ground for the appointment of the Consul was that Britain had acknowledged the sovereignty of Portugal from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay, conditionally on observance of the treaty to arrest the slave trade, and that the presence of our representative was called for to ascertain that so long as she maintained her rights, Portugal fulfilled her obligations. Beyond this it was established that while twelve hundred miles of the eastern coast remained unwatched, it was idle to attempt to control the slave trade on the western coast. The stream went on, although the channel might be altered. The whole system of exertions Great Britain had been forming through the world against the slave trade since she reached her glorious position of 1815, was liable to failure, so long as this extensive chasm in her policy was open. On these grounds and others, doubtless, which escape me, the Government of 1854, appear to have been justified in making the appointment.

But did events belie the calculations which had led to it? Were the exertions of our Consul found to be superfluous or nugatory? What were his adventures? During his sojourn at the Cape, where he was long detained, Soares, the prime agent of the French slave trade in Mozambique, became informed as to his mission, travelled to the Cape, endeavoured to gain his confidence, by well-deserved invectives against the traffic he was guilty of; and almost persuaded him of his fitness for the office of Vice-Consul. So was Mr. M'Leod, by the best authority, initiated in the secrets of the region he was destined to. The frigate which took our Consul from the Cape to Mozambique was nearly all the while engaged in the exciting chase of the Minnetonka, a large vessel from Cuba, endeavouring to ship slaves along the eastern coast. It did not effect the capture, but a new light broke upon the Consul when it discovered a collusion between this vessel and the Zambesi, a Portuguese ship of war, under the control of an ex-governor. Mr. M'Leod, on his arrival at his station, found the French free-labour plan in active operation, and had the strongest proofs of its being neither more nor less than compulsory traffic in the negroes. Soon after he arrived an insurrection of the natives against Portugal broke out, from indignation at the attempts of the Portuguese authorities to meet the French demand, and to revive the evils of the slave trade. Amidst the violence which followed, the British Consul was secure; because he was alone regarded as the friend and champion of the Africans. But this very circumstance provoked the hatred of the persons who depended on the slave trade for their profits. The settlers of Mozambique conspired against him. They endeavoured to deny him any kind of habi- tation in the city. His supply of necessaries was impeded; all service was cut off from him; his home was violated; and his life in danger. The new Governor-General, who arrived after our Consul, with the best intentions was unable to protect him. Although these persecutions would not have occurred, had it not been for the unwonted and temporary absence of our cruisers, they afford the most decisive testimony to the value of a British Consul at that station. For what could have excited them, but the strong and well-founded conviction of the slave dealers, that between them and him no compromise could be arranged; that their gains must fall, or his authority be ruined? But it is worth while to recollect what he accomplished in a career so short, so troubled, and so full of incidents to abate his zeal, and to confound his operations. Two vessels containing British property, and engaged in lawful trade, one of which had been irregularly, the other practically seized, were given up to his remonstrances. He was not, therefore, useless to the commerce he was sent out to encourage. The Marie Caroline, the Maris Stella, and the Charles et Georges, by his efforts were prevented from taking slaves away upon that coast. At his instance the governor of Ibo, a minor settlement of Portugal to the north of Mozambique, was superseded for something worse than mere collusion with the slave trade. But far more, he did stimulate the new Governor-general into a course of energetic opposition to the traffic. He did induce that elevated person to face and to resist the French demand, by which, in that very year, upwards of 5,000 Africans, under the title of free labourers, had been torn away from Mozambique. It is not too much to say that the presence of the British Consul at this station for the first time engaged Portugal in that dignified and strenuous resistance to the slave trade, which for years past British statesmen had vainly urged her to pursue. It is too well known, at least, that Portugal became before the world a martyr to the principles so long impressed, and so reluctantly adopted. It is also certain that the labours of our Consul, after eliciting from the Viceroy of Mozambique conduct which reflected honour on his country and himself, were the means of drawing from the Emperor of the French a formal manifesto against the compulsory traffic which France had too long defended as legitimate. The manifesto may have led to no improvement, but at least it gives the British Government a vantage-ground in all remonstrances with France against the system she was led in language to renounce and even stigmatize.

But what followed the departure of our Consul from the eastern coast of Africa? Did anything occur to supply the plea for leaving the post vacant? Can it be said that what he did is adequate and final, and that there is, therefore, no occasion to perpetuate the office? On this point Major Rigby is a seasonable witness. Major Rigby was the agent of the East India Company at Zanzibar, the capital of the territory which stretches to the north of Mozambique. His despatches are contained in a Parliamentary Return delivered to the House of Commons on the Motion of Mr. A. Kinnaird, March 7th, 1859. On August 15th, 1858, three months after our Consul quitted Mozambique, Major Rigby informed the Government of Bombay that to the south of Zanzibar the slave trade had acquired dimensions and a vigour previously unknown in consequence of French arrangements, He informed them that vessels were sent from France on purpose to convey negroes from the eastern coast of Africa. He informed them that a large American ship under Spanish colours, had just left Mozambique with twelve hundred slaves on board. On August the 20th he wrote that two French ships of war had entered Zanzibar, bringing a letter from the Governor of Bourbon, to exhort the Sultan to permit a negro exportation, and that the Sultan was prevailed upon by Major Rigby to refuse it. Could any circumstance illustrate more precisely the vigour of the French demand, and the efficiency of our consular authorities? On the 13th of September, 1858, he wrote that the French merchant ship Anna left the island of Comoro, with four hundred negroes—that in eighteen hours the negroes armed themselves with fire-wood, overpowered the crew, and permitted them to escape in boats to Zanzibar. Was this the voluntary embarkation of free labourers? The Major wrote also that the price of slaves to the south of Zanzibar had doubled, and that so great were the profits of the trade that all lawful commerce was in danger of extinction. The last volume on the slave trade issued by the Foreign Office did not go much into the year 1859, but it was full of valuable lessons. It showed that on the eastern coast nothing was accomplished. It showed that on the western coast the squadron had been met by unprecedented obstacles. The tone of the commanders was a tone of gloom, if not of despair. The impression which the volume made was that we must now aim rather at preventing the embarkation of the negroes than at seizing ships in which they were embarked. It tended to raise the value of our consular establishments. But the establishments of this character on which it threw the most brilliant light, were those in the Portuguese dominion of Angola, upon the western coast—and the inference was clear as to Mozambique upon the eastern coast. The volume abounded with proofs that the French free-labour system had revived, and was prolonging, in the interior of Africa, the disorders and the horrors against which we had been waging war for half a century. It showed distinctly that the French colony of Bourbon, or Réunion, was not less intent on negro labour than before. It suggested no conclusion upon which the vacancy at Mozambique could be defended. If it were asked what was the precise evil for which the vacancy must answer, it was as follows:—Other Powers have been arrayed against the slave trade by Great Britain. And, were it not for her voice, they would at once suspend their opposition to it. But we are silenced towards these powers so long as on the eastern coast of Africa we allow a negro traffic to continue without the greatest efforts to restrain it; above all, when we fell back from a measure we have recently adopted, and of which all nations have witnessed the results and been led to recognize the value. But if we are not silenced towards Spain, towards Brazil, or towards the United States—as far as possible to limit the position—we are silenced towards France and towards Portugal. Unless we have a Consul to watch the eastern coast of Africa, from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay, we have no authoritative ground on which to reply to any version France may give of the proceedings in those waters. We may be convinced, but we have not the power to refute another Government contending with us. As regards Portugal, it was evident, from Mr. M'Leod's experience, that nothing but a thorough reformation could clear Mozambique of the slave trade. Until the leading slave dealers were banished, as in Angola they were banished—until new officials had replaced them—until the Governor-General received such a salary as would make him independent of the traffic —a system so inveterate and powerful would flourish. But this effective reformation could only be produced by British influence on Portugal. Except at British instigation, Portugal has never yet and never can advance a step against the slave trade. Until we had a consular authority to guide us, we could not urge the Government of Portugal about it. Like France, Portugal might answer that we had no authoritative evidence. But it might argue further, that, until we re-established our consular authority, our zeal was not apparent in our policy. Beyond this it might reply that, however just our views, and genuine our language it had not the power to effect a reformation at Mozambique until our Consul was replaced, because the Governor-General under no imaginable change could do his duty in the absence of a British representative. And the truth of this was incontestable. Last of all, Portugal might argue—if not in words in thoughts—that as her Government in 1857 and 1858 did adopt our counsels, did incur sacrifices, dangers, and embarrassments, by doing so—did expose her capital to menace and her courts of justice to aggression, in our cause, and at our instance—she ought not a second time to tread this arduous path while Great Britain suffered an eclipse upon the very scene on which we asked for a renewal of her hazardous exertions. What were the objections to the Consul being replaced, if the grounds of the appointment were something more than adequate, and if experience had only added to their cogency? Her Majesty's Administration would scarcely dwell upon expense as being the hindrance. They were now in possession of an unanticipated income from the vote of the House of Lords upon the Paper Duties, after strong arguments, to show that the income was superfluous. The Estimates might not have provided for a Consul at Mozambique, but further estimates were not a rare occurrence in this country. At least the disposition of our people to make pecuniary sacrifices to eradicate the slave trade could not be denied. If even £2,000 a year were necessary for this consulship it would be a prudent outlay, since it went to save from inutility a squadron which cost £500,000 a year. And when the Estimates had reached the height of £70,000,000, it was not the moment to haggle about a puny cost to us for an immeasurable benefit to Africa. The Government might far more prudently enlarge on the defencelessness of our Consul in 1857 and 1858, and on the outrages to which that defencelessness gave rise; but it must never be forgotten that that defencelessness arose from the necessary absence of our cruisers. Had four cruisers been stationed in the waters of Mozambique, as in common times they would be stationed, he would not have been defenceless, and he would not have been attacked. The Indian mutiny, by absorbing our ships, occasioned all the difficulties against which he was not able to maintain himself. To anticipate them more completely for the future, it had been thoroughly explained, that any new Consul should be provided with a vessel, and move from time to time along the sea-board between Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay. In this manner his efficiency would be increased, because his sphere of vigilance would be extended. He would have a refuge and a home in the event of serious commotions in Mozambique. His crew would be sufficient to protect him against violence; but he would still reside enough on shore to communicate habitually with the Viceroy—to watch the sources and accomplices of negro traffic—and to gain that information which never had and never could be gained by a detachment of the squadron. Perhaps the Government might urge that, although there ought to be a Consul in those parts, delay was immaterial. A more unhappy plea could hardly be selected. The great and radical reform at Mozambique, essential to a better state of things upon the eastern coast of Africa, could only be effected—even by the union of Great Britain and of Portugal—on the advent of a new Governor General. It was only at such a moment that so complete a change of system could be imagined—much more brought about. It could only be accomplished while the Viceroy was more under the influence of his Government at Lisbon than of his colleagues at Mozambique, while his ardour to control the traffic was uncorrupted by example, while the climate had not yet begun to enervate his vigour, while he had not yet incurred the taint or sunk on the proclivity which scarcely any of his predecessors had avoided. The present Viceroy having reached his Government in the autumn of 1857, and having been appointed for three years, would naturally quit it in the present autumn. The moment, therefore, was at hand when the voice of this country towards Portugal ought to be strong and irresistible. He had shown that it could be neither, in the absence of a Consul at Mozambique. Unless, therefore, Government immediately appointed one, they sacrificed the point of time when this essential reformation upon the Eastern coast might be effected. There was one argument upon which the Government would be too cautious to enlarge, but which, perhaps, would weigh with some Members of the House more than any other. It cannot be denied that at the French island of Réunion a strong interest desires negro labour, or that, within France itself, that interest has powerful supporters. It could not be denied, therefore, that while we had no Consul at Mozambique, collision between France and England on questions of the slave trade was less likely to occur. And it might therefore seem, at first sight, that the alliance of the countries gained by such a vacancy. But this view was superficial. The alliance could not be maintained by any understanding of Governments and crowned heads if it was revolting to the people of this country. And it was certain to be revolting to them as soon as they had reason to suspect that our policy against the slave trade was endangered or arrested or relaxed by it. The series of events which had in some degree estranged the public mind from that alliance had not as yet been able to subvert it. In spite of all that passed in 1858—in spite of the aggression upon Portugal in the autumn of that year—in spite of the gigantic estimates which France imposed on this country—the British public so clearly understood the gain which all the world derived from the alliance, that no invectives against the despotism of the French Government at home, or its rapacity abroad, had yet detached them from it. Let it once be known, however, that it demanded an essential part of our policy against the slave trade as a sacrifice, and its day was over. Engagements, statutes, treaties, the recollection of our greatest men, the moral and religious feelings of the country, besides its honour and its pride, would then become arrayed against the union of France and Britain, in irresistible remonstrance. And if it should be so, reason would not seem to be at variance with sentiment. The alliance with France, or any other Power, could only be regarded as an instrument of policy. The deliverance of Africa from the oppression of the slave trade was among the highest ends which, as a nation, we pursued. The alliance might be replaced by other international relations, but no atonement could be offered for the breach of our engagements towards Africa and the world at large. He had pointed to the suppression of our influence upon Portugal as the worst practical result of the vacancy in question. But how much more complete was that suppression if France were thought (unjustly it might be) to keep our efforts on the eastern coast of Africa suspended? Portugal was far more entitled than this country to look on France with apprehension. Portugal had found that to oppose a negro exportation in those parts was to incur the anger of that formidable Power. Could she be exhorted to resist it when deference to France appeared in the remotest way to act upon our councils. If that consideration touches Britain with a feather, Portugal must sink under its weight. Portugal might yield to it at least without so great a sacrifice of faith, or so deplorable a treason to the lesson she had not presumed to teach, although she was conditionally learning it. But he had no desire to push the case too far. He readily admitted that, if the arguments of those who ten years ago endeavoured to re-cal the squadron were accepted, it would be logical and just to appoint no Consul at Mozambique. But if in the House of Lords those arguments had never been submitted to—if the spirit which prevailed in 1807, when the slave trade was abolished; in 1810, when it became felony; in 1824, when it was stigmatized as piracy, still obliges our Government to maintain the squadron upon the coast of Africa, it becomes the House to see that the ships which still remain shall not be useless in those waters. Either let our consular establishments have all the vigour we can give them, or else withdraw our cruisers into seas in which they may increase the safety of our coasts, and raise the tone of our policy. By any other course we waste the national defences of the country. By any other course we make an unrequited sacrifice of life and of revenue. My Lords, there is nothing further to remark except as regards the terms of the present Motion. It was open to me, no doubt, to have proceeded in a different manner. A question might have been put to the Government about the reasons of the vacancy. Such a course would not have been irregular, but it did not seem to be the most considerate or friendly. It might have drawn from the Government a statement of intention before the case had been explained, and before others had been heard upon it. The Motion is so framed as to demand a step, without inculpating the Government for not having yet adopted it. It does not even recognize the fact that an established office has been vacant. It takes no advantage of the circumstance that it is still upon our list of consulships. It uses terms which might have been employed if we had never had a Consul at Mozambique. And I am ready to admit that many circumstances go to vindicate the Government in having left the post unfilled, which will not, however, vindicate them should they any longer do so. The Motion only aims at a distinct and satisfactory assurance from the Government of their intention to despatch a Consul to Mozambique in time to meet the coming Viceroy of that settlement. Should such distinct and satisfactory assurance be withheld, the other House of Parliament will probably elicit it. And even if the other House of Parliament fails in its exertions on this point, a case so strong, and bearing on their deepest obligations, however feebly explained, will hardly be forgotten by the press or by the people of this country.

LORD WODEHOUSE

said, if he was compelled, on the part of the Government, to object to the Motion of the noble Lord for an Address to the Crown for the appointment of a Consul at Mozambique, he could assure him it was not that they were insensible to the great importance of the question. It was true that the appointment of a Consul was only one small portion of the arrangements that were made for preventing an extension of the slave trade; but that appointment naturally brought the whole question of the slave trade on the east coast of Africa under the consideration of the House, and their Lordships always must take a deep interest in all matters connected with that question. The noble Lord had correctly stated the circumstances that led to the appointment of a Consul at Mozambique at the time that the noble Lord below him (the Earl of Clarendon) was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. The Consul proceeded to his post and remained there until 1858. He was sorry the noble Lord had thought it necessary to enter into detail relative to the conduct of Mr. M'Leod, because—although he had not the least wish to enter into the circumstances that led to his leaving his post—he did not agree with the noble Lord in thinking that the proceedings of Mr. M'Leod were so wise and dis- creet as he represented. He fully recognized in Mr. M'Leod an active and a zealous person, impressed with the deepest sense of the iniquity of the slave trade, and that he used his best efforts to prevent and suppress it; but he was bound, having carefully read his despatches and the book he had published, to add that he did not think his conduct on all occasions was characterized by judgment, which was quite as necessary as zeal in one whose duty it became, as Consul, to remonstrate against the slave trade in that district. He did not consider it necessary to refer to the particular circumstances that led to the vacancy, further than to say he thought the noble Earl then at the head of Foreign Affairs (the Earl of Malmesbury) was justified in not sending back Mr. M'Leod to his post. He had no wish to disparage the character of Mr. M'Leod as an agent of the Government, but he certainly did not think that gentleman's qualities rendered him peculiarly suited for the post he filled. The question naturally arose, should the Consul at Mozambique be reappointed? The noble Lord had stated that he thought it absolutely essential for the support of the representations that Her Majesty's Government had to make to the Portuguese Government, and for the support of the Portuguese Government in Mozambique, that there should be a British agent stationed at the capital of the Portuguese possessions. Those of their Lordships who had read the papers that had at various times been presented on the subject of the slave trade on the eastern coast of Africa were probably aware the circumstances attending the possessions of Portugal in that quarter were very peculiar. In point of fact the Portuguese possessed only three or four points upon the coast. The sovereignty they had on that coast had been acknowledged by treaty concluded in 1817 between this country and Portugal. Now, in order to prevent the slave trade from being carried on, it would not only be necessary that the Portuguese authorities should exert themselves, but it was also necessary that those authorities should be in a position to enable them to act with more effect; because it was a matter of fact that the Portuguese Government exercised extremely little control over the native population along the coast; and even though they had the will to prevent the slave trade—and he would not say they had not the desire, for the Government evinced a desire that the slave trade should be stopped—even though they had the will to make strenuous exertions to suppress the slave trade, they would not be able to effect that object. Under these peculiar circumstances it had been a matter of serious consideration in what manner the slave trade, which undoubtedly did prevail to a great extent on the eastern coast of Africa, should be prevented; and he was convinced that the only manner of really suppressing it was by leading the natives who lived in the interior of the country at some distance from the coast, and by whom the slaves were brought down to the coast, to engage in lawful commerce instead of in the slave trade. In order to promote that object, it was necessary to familiarize them with those matters of trade with which we were acquainted, to make them see the advantage of turning the fertility of the soil to account, and to show them that they might drive larger profits from the pursuits of lawful commerce, than from the illicit and infamous commerce of the slave trade. All these objects were sought to be accomplished by the expedition of Dr. Livingstone. He was happy to think that Dr. Livingstone, as was known to the public from his letters and journals, had met in his enterprise with considerable success; and although he could not say so sanguinely that all his anticipations could be fulfilled, yet he thought that what he had done gave very great promise for the future. Under these circumstances the Government thought it was not possible to do better than to encourage and develop further the efforts of Dr. Livingstone, and for that purpose they had this year proposed to the House of Commons, a largely increased Vote in connection with the Livingstone expedition. From the Estimate he found the figures to be as follows:—The present annual expenditure to this year for this expedition had been £3,000. The proposed additional annual expenditure for three years was £2,500; and the extraordinary and temporary expenditure proposed for the present year was £6,000; making a total of £11,500. A portion of that extraordinary expenditure, or about £5,000, was for the construction of a suitable vessel. With this additional aid to Dr. Livingstone's efforts, combined with the attempts to lead the natives to engage in lawful commerce, there would be a fair chance of success; and he thought they should wait to see what were the results of this large expenditure, and of these promising efforts of the Livingstone expedition, before they made further arrangements for the suppression or prevention of the slave trade. He did not say at all that a Consul at Mozambique might not be a very useful assistant in putting down this detestable traffic; but at the same time, working as the Government were in another direction at the present time, and which they thought promised better fruits, he did not think, and the noble Lord at the head of the Foreign Office did not think, that it was desirable to re-appoint a Consul at Mozambique. He did not say that at some future time it might not be desirable to take such a course; but at present this country had two separate agents there, both holding consular authority, and Dr. Livingstone also holding a consulship, and the appointment might lead to confusion, and rather defeat than promote the object in view. He could not help repeating, that as on the east coast so upon the west, and where-ever the slave trade flourished on the continent, the only real way of putting down the slave trade was to make the natives see how greatly it would be to their advantage to engage in ordinary commerce. Prevention by means of cruisers could never be completely successful; but let the natives, as they had already to a great extent, really feel the advantages of lawful commerce, and the foundation of the ultimate suppression of this odious traffic would be securely laid. The real root and source of the evil, however, he might be permitted to say, was to be found on the other side of the Atlantic; and so long as the Spanish Government did not act by their solemn engagements to prevent the slave trade in Cuba—engagements which if they chose they might with perfect facility perform—so long, he grieved to think, our best efforts to prevent and suppress that most iniquitous traffic must fail. He grieved to add that the most recent accounts that they had from Cuba showed that there was a great development in the traffic in slaves, and that it was carried on upon a largely organized scale. That was now the only spot in the world in which the slave trade was carried on upon a large scale, the rest of the world being practically free from it. It was a matter of deep regret and concern to all interested in the question, and who had a spark of humanity, that Spain had not acted by her engagements, or put an end to a traffic that was a disgrace to humanity, and which he believed in the long run would not further her own interests. Upon the grounds he had stated he hoped that his noble Friend would not persevere in his Motion. The subject commanded the best attention of the Foreign Secretary, and whenever his noble Friend thought it would be desirable to re-appoint a Consul at Mozambique he was prepared to do so.

LORD BROUGHAM

entirely concurred with his noble Friend in his view of the necessity of cultivating those commercial and agricultural relations with the east coast of Africa, from which, above all other things, the best hope of extinguishing the slave trade arose. But, instead of considering the Motion of his noble and learned Friend (Lord Stratheden) inconsistent with such an object, he believed that the appointment of a Consul was essential for its accomplishment. What prospect was there of inducing the natives to engage in commerce and agriculture if there was a body of Portuguese official agents of high rank and great influence, who, over the whole 1,200 miles of coast, themselves engaged almost openly in the slave trade? That was the fact. The salary of the Governor of Mozambique was paid in such a way that he had a direct interest in this trade. He received a trifling salary of £900 a year, which was greatly less than his necessary expenses, and all the rest was paid by the council, if, indeed, even that poor salary was not so paid, which he believed it was, and the council was composed of notorious slave-traders and their agents. Of the present governor he did not speak, but his predecessor certainly took an active part in the traffic. He was paid so much a head upon all the negroes shipped, and his agents up the country were paid so much a head, in proportion to the success of the slave-traders there. The native slave-traders were suffered to carry on their execrable traffic, by paying to these agents a certain per centage upon the negroes brought down to the coast; and then the agents, their salaries from the Government being insufficient eked thorn out by the profits of the slave trade, and were, therefore, themselves almost avowedly concerned in these guilty courses. Portugal had engaged to put down the slave trade, but the agents interested in it continued these illegal practices, and there was no vigilance exercised over one side, and no comfort or assistance given to the other. The extension of agricultural and manufacturing knowledge was undoubtedly of the greatest importance as calculated gradually to extinguish the slave trade; but in the mean time it must be recollected that the profits of selling men were far greater than the profits of selling cotton. So long, then, as men were allowed to be sold in the interior, the native chiefs, as was found on the west coast, would not only lend no encouragement to, but would prevent the development of the agriculture of the country, and of the little manufacturing knowledge already possessed by the natives, for they to a certain extent span some of the cotton which they grew. Until the Portuguese honestly and fairly performed the obligations they undertook in respect to the slave trade, so long would the development of the resources of the country be checked. However, it was not merely of the Portuguese Government that complaint had to be made, for there was still more reason to complain of the Spanish Government, against which the case was strong and irresistible. From the papers laid before their Lordships, it would be found that in 1858, according to the statement of the Commissary Judge at the Havannah, fifty slave-traders had left Cuba in two months in that year for the coast of Africa. The average of slaves on board each of these fifty vessels was 600. The number varied from 450 to 1,000, but taking the average at 600, it would appear that in the course of two months vessels were despatched to Africa for the frightful amount of 30,000 slaves. He did not mean to multiply that number by six, and to state that the result would represent the amount of slaves for whom vessels were despatched in the course of the year, for he knew that no such calculation could be made; but it appeared plain that in the course of two months 30,000 slaves were shipped from the coast of Africa. It was stated by Commodore Wise that the slave trade was taking a frightful extension on the coast of Africa; that new and formidable combinations of capitalists and joint-stock companies, called expeditions to Africa, were formed, and so openly, that on the Havannah Exchange the shares of these joint-stock slave trade companies were openly advertised, and the price was 1,000 dollars a share. Thus this infernal traffic was reduced to a system. The way in which it was carried on appeared to be this:—A vessel cleared out from the United States with a crew of naturalized Americans, who, being really foreigners, were not subject to the American law declaring the slave trade piracy. These men aped the manners of the Americans as well as spoke their language, so that the commander of an American cruiser was deceived by them, and could not discover that they were foreigners; but when the same commander visited the vessel for the purpose of stopping it, then, of course, the crew suddenly became foreigners. They then proceeded to the Havannah, got a fresh set of papers there, the market price of which was £5 or £6, and after obtaining all the requisite fittings up of a slave trader, steered to the coast of Africa. The extent to which the exportation of slaves from Africa was carried was atrocious. The noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs, in making a statement on the subject, that 35,000 to 40,000 were imported into Cuba yearly, gave vent to his feelings, and his predecessor in the Foreign Office, in a despatch to the British Minister at Madrid, Mr. Buchanan, observed that if Spain honestly performed her treaty engagements, the traffic in human beings would cease, and that the flagrant violation by the Spanish authorities of the engagements contracted with this country must tend seriously to impair those friendly relations which it was so desirable should be maintained. How it was said, could Spain put a stop to the slave trade? He would answer that question by putting another. How could Brazil put a stop to the slave trade? The Spanish Government had as much power over the authorities of Cuba as the Brazil Government had over its own authorities, and Brazil, to her infinite honour, had completely abolished the slave trade. The number of condemnations in the Vice-Admiralty Court of Sierra Leone before 1851 was sixty. Since 1851, when Brazil abolished the slave trade, the number came down to twelve, and at last to three. In short, as far as captures and condemnations on the coast were a test, the Brazil traffic had ceased. The Brazilian Government and people had showed great kindness and consideration for the negro race, and he thought their example might well be imitated in other parts, particularly in the North. In Brazil a man, be he of ever so sable a colour, provided he was emancipated, was capable of enjoying any public trust, and was in all respects, and in legal relations also, on the same footing as a white man. When he mentioned this, he wished he could read to their Lordships a letter which his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer had lately received from a negro gentleman in Liberia. The gentleman's name was Edward Bryden, and the Consul of Liberia informed him that his respectability was undeniable. He was engaged in the honourable office of teaching, and his quotations from Latin and Greek showed that he had, as he represented, devoted himself to the study of the ancient as well as the modern languages. It was to be hoped that his right hon. Friend would be prevailed upon to give that letter to the public, and it would then be admitted that a better composed or better reasoned letter was never written. It was addressed to his right hon. Friend as a testimony from the author of the respect which he felt for those qualities for which his right hon. Friend was so distinguished, for his eloquence, for his statesmanship, and for his great classical attainments. He concurred in every word of eulogy addressed to his esteemed Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and he had no doubt that in common candour every one who read the letter would feel as he felt as to the ability of the writer, and the justice of his tribute to the Chancellor of the Exchequer's great merits. This was not the only instance. A negro gentleman, who had been educated in this country, at Cambridge, was a distinguished public speaker; and another negro gentleman who came from Cambridge, in the United States, was equally distinguished for the same quality. He had also had the pleasure of receiving a letter from a mulatto gentleman in the island of Barbadoes, which did him great credit for the composition as well as the sentiments which it contained, and that gentleman was in this country, making his way to be called to the bar. When he saw the great prejudices which prevailed in some parts of the world upon a matter of colour—he particularly alluded to the United States of America—he was put in mind of an anecdote which his Friend Lord Lyndhurst as well as himself could mention. There was a Louisianian gentleman of great ability, who was the envoy of the United States, first in the south of Europe, and afterwards at the Hague. In consequence of an acquaintance made abroad, he met Lord Lyndhurst at his (Lord Brougham's) house, and he told them that he had made a tour in Cuba, and having become acquainted with a negro country gentleman, who lived in a magnificent house, was entertained sumptuously for three days. He said to his host, "I am very much obliged to you for the hospitality which I have received, and I thank you for it." The negro Cuban gentlemen replied, "I am a person above all prejudices. When I find a man like you—well educated, well bred, and well principled—I hold out the right hand of fellowship to him, if he be ns white as that table cloth." He hoped and trusted that their friends in the United States would some day adopt the same liberal opinions as this negro country gentleman, and that they would hold out the right hand of fellowship to every well educated, well principled, and well bred man, if as black as the hats on their heads. He knew that some time would elapse before that happened, but he lived in hopes that a gradual improvement would take place. We might fear they were far from it when we read the astounding decision of the Supreme Court, in the United States, in the case of "Scott v. Sanford," commonly called the Dred Scott case. If he had not read the report with his own eyes he could not have believed it. It had actually been laid down as law, that what was called the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, and not to be attended to, consequently that the province of Illinois was not to be considered a free state, notwithstanding that compromise. It was also broadly asserted that no African, having once been a slave, or his descendants, however remote, could have the privileges and rights of a native citizen. Their Lordships would hardly believe it unless he read the words of the decision, which he did, from the able Work of Mr. Edge, entitled "Slavery Doomed." The Chief Justice, giving the opinion of the Court, laid it down— That neither the class of persons who had been imported as slaves, nor their descendants, whether they had become free or not, were acknowledged as part of the people; that they had for centuries been regarded as beings of an inferior order, and were altogether unfit to associate with the white race, either in social or political relations; that so far inferior were they, that they had no rights which a white man was bound to respect; and that the negro might justly and lawfully be reduced to slavery for the white man's benefit. It was on this doctrine, so execrable as to be almost incredible, that some of the States had last year come to a resolution that persons of colour should cither be reduced to slavery or driven from their homes. It was in vain to expect any very active cooperation from the United States in the abolition of the slave trade, while they entertained such prejudices. Something they had done. They had made a few captures, but they were very few indeed. They had declared the slave trade to be a capital offence, and if they would really carry the law into effect, all those fraudulent representations as to naturalization, by which offenders generally escaped, would vanish. Let them only bring the captain or some of the crew on board of any of the slavers to trial, and they would very soon discover by previous investigation, that the whole system of fraud was of no avail to them, and that they were in reality American subjects. He by no means desired to see capital punishment resorted to; but one or two sentences, dealing with the prisoners according to the terms of the municipal law, and inflicting the severest punishment short of death, would at once put an end to all frauds. A correspondent had sent him some information as to the slave trade in Cuba. The thing which chiefly attracted his attention, and filled him with horror in that traffic, was the determination of the Cuban planters not to continue the race by breeding, but, for the sake of economy, to work them out. Accordingly, they brought few or no women from Africa. Another thing which struck him very much in the letters he had received, was, that vessels of great value were thrown away, as if of little consequence, after the slaves were disembarked. Owing to the immense profits of the trade, they could afford to lose a ship if they had landed the human cargo. It was calculated that the profits of this detestable traffic amounted to £1,400 per cent on the capital invested. If anything were wanting to increase their horror of such a trade, it would be such an account as he had recently seen reported. A slaver was run ashore in stormy weather to avoid our cruisers. The crew quitted the ship, and when the captain of one of our vessels went on board of it, the sight that met his eyes was, he declared, fearful and heartrending in the extreme. The slaves, escaping from the noisome abode in which they had been confined, rent the air with horrid yells, and flung themselves by hundreds into the sea, so that it was with the utmost difficulty that out of the 1,200 who formed the cargo, 340 or 350 were saved, and of these, forty died in the course of twenty-four hours from the hardships they had suffered. So that 900 miserable beings out of 1,200 were thus sacrificed to this infernal traffic. He remembered only one case worse than that which he had just cited, and that happened upon the East Coast. A vessel full of slaves was chased, and on the point of being taken. The atrocious miscreant who was captain, and his crew got into their boats and left the vessel, after having first set fire to it, with the intention of destroying the poor wretches who were at once the witnesses and victims of their crime. It was a subject of poignant regret that the attempts which had been made to put down the slave trade among our allies, the Portuguese and the Spaniards, should have proved so entirely unsuccessful in alleviating the miseries of the slaves. Atrocities, it was to be feared, were now committed in consequence of the attempts to stop the traffic that exceeded even the horrors of the middle passage. If we had forfeited much of the influence which we might have employed for the suppression of the slave trade, there was at least one influence which it was in our power to exert in regard to the Spaniards. They were entitled by treaty to have their wines and other goods admitted to our country on the footing of the most favoured nations; but they were also bound to abolish the slave trade, and we might very properly refuse them the benefit of the treaty if they did not fulfil their engagement as to the slave trade.

THE BISHOP OF OXFORD

confessed that he had heard with very great disappointment the announcement made by his noble Friend the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs, that it was not considered fitting at present to appoint a Consul at Mozambique. The grounds which he assigned for that decision did not carry conviction to his mind. His noble Friend dwelt principally on the circumstance that at this moment Dr. Livingstone, in the neighbouring quarter of South Africa, was endeavouring by opening up a legitimate commerce to produce the same effect which the residence of a Consul at Mozambique was expected to accomplish. No man felt more than he did the great importance of Dr. Livingstone's efforts, and the singular capacity of the man for bringing them to the most successful issue. But he was convinced, from his own study of the question, that unless Dr. Livingstone's efforts in the interior and up the rivers of that part of Africa were backed by the Consular influence of England at the port of Mozambique, they would practically be almost neutralized. Until Dr. Livingstone had discovered the southern branch of the mouths of the Zambesi, the Portuguese Government had kept us in ignorance that there was a free passage that way, and had sent the whole flow of the slave trade through that channel, and the immediate result of that discovery had been the establishment of a Portuguese Custom-house, as if to impede the flow of legitimate traffic in that direction. It was as plain as possible that the representatives of the Portuguese nation in that quarter desired nothing so ardently as to prevent the rise of any legitimate commerce, knowing that free commerce and the slave trade could not co-exist. Therefore, unless there was an authorized representative of the British Government at that critical point, Mozambique, there was no doubt whatever that the Portuguese would be able to defeat our efforts for the abolition of the traffic. His noble Friend said it should be taken into account that the Portuguese Government had, comparatively speaking, little power to check the efforts of the native chiefs to carry on the slave trade, and that therefore it must not be assumed, from the extent of the trade, that the Portuguese Government were really not anxious to put it down. He feared, on the other hand, there was too much reason to believe that it was the direct influence of the emissaries of Portugal that led the native chiefs to maintain the slave trade. They had refused to do so until officers in the Portuguese uniform went up with the slave dealers. The whole settlement of Mozambique was made ancillary to the slave trade. The line of coast was provided with signals, which were said to be sometimes repeated by the fort of Mozambique itself, giving warning of the approach of the English vessels that were cruising to capture the slavers. There was no doubt the rise of a legitimate trade would be more productive than the unlawful trade, but a strong temptation presented itself to uneducated and unprincipled men of getting large and immediate profits upon the export of slaves; which temptation was further strengthened by the great facilities and encouragement given by the agents of the Portuguese Government to the traffic. It might be that the Portuguese Government at home were kept in the dark; because the only inducement that he could see for continuing the pre sent system was that it enabled that Government to give miserable salaries to their representatives, who made it up by winking at the slave trade. If, however, a representative of the British nation were stationed at Mozambique, these enormities would be exposed in the face of Europe. The Portuguese Government would then send men of higher honour to this coast, and the moment this was done the efforts of the slave traders would be paralysed. If this were done along with the opening of a legitimate traffic through Dr. Livingstone's efforts, the two might, by God's blessing, deliver that part of Africa from the curse of the slave trade. We wore now like a man who, in putting out a fire, was content to tread out one patch of flame, which was instantly rekindled from another quarter. The Government were asked for no expensive armaments—for no alteration of policy, for nothing that would endanger our alliances; but on that coast, and for an object for which Great Britain was spending such large sums and lavishing so many lives, Her Majesty's Government were asked to place a consular representative, who might bring to bear upon Portugal these claims of humanity which Portugal had acknowledged in treaties, but which she suffered her governors to set aside. He believed that the material interests of Portugal itself were deeply at stake in this evil being remedied. What had ruined Mozambique itself? Why had there not been poured into Portugal from her African settlement riches far greater than she had obtained from Brazil? Because the slave trade wasted the resources of the country. It was, therefore, as much the interest of Portugal as of any other Power to put a stop to the present system. The English people had incurred a vast and peculiar responsibility in having mainly enabled the Portugues to keep their almost nominal hold of that coast through the assistance which this country had given them. But for that there would have been revolt against the Portuguese Government; the power now in the hands of the Imaum of Muscat would have spread down the coast; and it would have been a blessing to the natives that a Mahomedan Potentate should be their ruler rather than a Christian Prince. He trusted that the resolution of the Government, as announced by the noble Lord (Lord Wodehouse) would not be final; that it would be reconsidered; and that so great a boon to humanity and justice would not be refused in this critical day of the attempt to ameliorate the condition of the African.

THE DUKE OF SOMERSET

feared that the eloquent speeches which their Lordships had heard would unfortunately have very little effect in those quarters where only they could be of use; and if treaties and negotiations could have put an end to the slave trade it would have ceased long ago. He wished to set the House and the public right on one point that had been much dwelt upon. The right rev. Prelate had attached an exaggerated value to the appointment of a Consul at Mozambique, and had spoken as though that were the only great thing required to put an end to slavery on one side of Africa. But that was an entirely mistaken view. He had seen reports from many officers, and had conversed with others who had arrrived both from the East and West Coast of Africa. He regretted to say they agreed that the slave trade had been increasing on both the coasts of Africa. As long as our cruisers were not able to visit vessels that carried all the appurtenances of the slave trade, because they carried the flag of some Power that claimed exemption from the right of search, the vigilance of our squadron was frustrated. When the American flag was hoisted our cruisers could not touch a vessel and the captain defied them. As long as this went on was not the right rev. Prelate deceiving their Lordships and the public by saying that what was wanted was a British Consul at Mozambique? The cast coast of Africa was becoming almost as bad as the west, and the slave trade was almost as rife there as it once was at Sierra Leone. Emigration and other questions of a somewhat delicate character had arisen, and if he went into them he could show the House that the slave trade was in various shapes as rife as ever. The only effectual way of stopping it was at Cuba. Until that was done French and American flags would be hoisted, and our cruisers would be set at defiance. He did not say that these vessels were French or American, but they were nominally so. In many cases they obtained the rights of American citizens in order to carry on their horrible traffic. With these facts established it was idle to attach so much importance to the establishment of a Consul at Mozambique. He did not say that hereafter a Consul might not he appointed on that coast, but the best hope he entertained was from the cooperation of the Americans. They had lately sent out steamers to this coast, and an earnest desire had been expressed on the part of the American Government to co-operate with our cruisers on the west coast, and to deal with the false American vessels that assumed the American flag. If the officers cordially carried out this desire great advantages would result.

LORD BROUGHAM

wished to call at- tention to a circumstance which had recently occurred, that the captain of a Cunard steamer—a line of mail packets that had, from first to last, received something like £500,000 of the public money—had positively refused to receive any first-class passenger who had the slightest tinge of African blood. A lady in whoso face he (Lord Brougham) could detect no trace of African lineage was lately refused a first-class cabin by the captain on the ground he had stated.

EARL GRANVILLE

trusted that his noble Friend (Lord Stratheden) would be induced to withdraw his Motion after the explanation that had been given by his noble Friend (Lord Wodehouse). The question was one which might be left to the discretion of the Executive Government, especially with reference to the time at which a Consul should be appointed. He was unwilling to negative in express terms the Motion of the noble Lord, as it might give an erroneous impression that there existed lukewarmness on the part of the Government with reference to the suppression of the slave trade. No one, he was sure, could doubt the sincerity of the Prime Minister or the noble Lord the Foreign Secretary in their desire to put clown that traffic; and he hoped, therefore, that his noble Friend would consent to withdraw his Motion.

THE BISHOP OF OXFORD

said, he hoped his noble Friend would not assent to the proposal of the noble Earl. The utmost which that House could do was to express its opinion on the question, and if they did so, the country would take it as an expression of the opinion of their Lordships that the appointment of a Consul to Mozambique was a step that should be taken at once. He did think that the evils of introducing subjects of this importance without adequate results were very much aggravated by their being withdrawn without a division. He, therefore, trusted that the noble Lord would press his Motion.

LORD STRATHEDEN

said, no Member of the Government had employed language which could lead him to hope that the appointment of a Consul to Mozambique was contemplated as a step likely to be soon taken, and no attempt had been made to show that the slave trade could be checked on that coast till a Consul was appointed. He protested against the version which the noble Lord the Under Secretary had given of his (Lord Stratheden's) opinion, when he endeavoured to treat this as a question of the merit or demerit of our former Consul at Mozambique. He had never raised that question. There was not one remark of the noble Lord which did not point to the dispersion of our naval squadron, and the withdrawal of our Consular Establishment on the African coast, and he could not help expressing his astonishment at the language which had fallen from the noble Lord. He felt that he had no course left to him but to divide the House.

On Question their Lordships divided:—Contents 11; Not-Contents 6: Majority 5.

Resolved in the Affirmative.

CONTENTS.
Campbell, L. (L. Chancellor.) Lincoln, Bp.
Oxford, Bp.
Minto, E. Brougham and Vaux, L.
Bangor, Bp. Denman, L. [Teller.]
Cashel, &c., Bp. Dunfermline, L.
Chichester, Bp. Stratheden, L. [Teller.]
NOT-CONTENTS.
Somerset, D. Foley, L. [Teller.]
De Grey, E. [Teller.] Talbot de Malahide, L.
Granville, E. Wodehouse, L.

House adjourned at a Quarter before Eight o'clock, till To-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.