LORD BROUGHAMasked, If the Report of Commodore Wilmot in reference to his visit to the King of Dahomey, and which appeared in the Papers recently presented to the House on the subject of Brazil, had been communicated to the Government of Spain? If it were not, he trusted that it would be communicated without delay. He did not think that any Spaniard could read that Report without feelings of shame. Commodore Wilmot said the King of Dahomey stated that he did not send the slaves away in his own ships, but that white men came for them, and if there was any harm in his 1497 selling them, they ought to prevent white men coming for them. This country had long since given up the odious and detestable traffic, and he was proud to say that he gave the finishing stroke to it by bringing in a Bill making it a penal offence to engage in that trade. Since that time, we had not been contaminated by a vestige of it. Spain had engaged by treaty to forbid its subjects from carrying on the trade and to aid in its suppression, and she received more than £400,000 from this Government by way of compensation for giving it up. But she did not fulfil her engagements, and there were now imported into Cuba no less than 23,000 slaves a year. He trusted that his noble Friend would communicate this document to the Spanish Government and remonstrate with them on their conduct. There were ways and means by which we might compel Spain to observe the stipulations of the treaty. He had always thought it mistaken policy in this country to admit slave-grown sugar at the same duty as we admitted free-grown sugar, and one great means of suppressing the slave trade would be to impose a higher duty on slave-grown sugar than on free.
§ EARL RUSSELLsaid, he had no objection to send Commodore Wilmot's Report to the Spanish Government. It was not correct to say that the Spanish Government protected the slave trade. On the contrary, they said it was abominable and most inhuman, and they employed means to put it down.