execrable traffic in human flesh is on the wane, far less that its extinction can be calculated upon at any definite period. The sense of shame, the dread of exposure, the stings of conscience, which, in ordinary cases, frequently operate on individuals as the preventives of crime, are torpid or extinct in the breast of the slavedealer, and in those who sanction the nefarious traffic. It would be expecting too much from the practised slave-dealer, hardened as he is in crime, to forego so profitable a trade, however strongly the force of public opinion might set against it, while he perceives his own government, in total disregard of the faith of treaties, and of the most solemn promises, not scrupling to violate engagements made and recorded in the face of the world.

It was an unfortunate omission in the treaties concerning the slave-trade, and we are persuaded the main cause of their inefficiency, that they provided no punishment whatever for the culprit beyond the loss of ship and cargo; whereas, if, on condemnation, the master and crew had been made liable to imprisonment, and to be branded with a visible and indelible mark of infamy, the subjects of those with whom treaties have been made would not venture to contravene them by falsehood and chicanery, and by the prostitution of royal licences. It is something gained, and we confess beyond our expectations, that the Cortes of Spain, in their new criminal code, (which, however, has not yet been submitted to the king for his sanction,) contains a provision of this kind.

"Art. 276. All owners and fitters out, captains, masters and officers of Spanish vessels which shall or may purchase negroes on the coast of Africa, or shall introduce them into any part of the Spanish dominions, or that shall be captured with slaves on board, shall forfeit the ship or vessel; the produce of which, when sold, is to be considered as a fine; besides which, such offending persons shall be condemned to ten years' hard labour on the public works.

““The same penalties and forfeitures shall also attach to all owners, proprietors, captains, masters and officers of all foreign ships or vessels, who shall or may in like manner introduce slaves into any of the ports of the monarchy.

"All negroes found on board, or introduced by any of the abovementioned means, shall be declared free.

"Of the produce arising from the sale of the slave-ships, one part shall be distributed among the negroes, that they may be reconveyed to their own country, or be enabled to form establishments in the country where they are introduced."'—Report, p. 1k. ....

This decree, if it should pass into a law, and be acted upon with good faith, will, next to declaring the trade to be piracy, have the desired effect with regard to the Spanish part of it. At the same time we must observe, that it would have been more honourable to

the

the nation, had they passed a decree to this effect before they made the enormous addition which they have done to the slave population of Cuba, and others of their colonies; or even in 1821, when the Cortes rejected the proposition of a law for the more effectual suppression of the slave-trade, proposed by the Count de Terreno: instead of which, an intimation was given to our ambassador at Madrid of an intention, on the part of the Spanish government, to apply for a further extension of two years to the term fixed by treaty for its abolition. The peremptory tone in which this intimation was answered by the late Marquis of Londonderry, that his Majesty neither would nor could lend himself to such a proposition,' together with the despair, perhaps, of ever recovering their continental colonies, may have occasioned that much better spirit' which the Report says began to manifest itself.'

In the mean time, however, the subjects of his Most Catholic Majesty have not been idle on the coast of Africa; and the island of Cuba continues to be the general entrepôt for ships of all nations, and under every flag, particularly that of France, not only for the reception of slaves, but as a place of outfit. Yet we have there two Commissioners of the Mixed Court, whose functions, by their own account, are perfectly nugatory. It is stated in the Parliamentary Papers, that, since their residence at the Havannah, ninetyfive slave-ships have entered that port, (twenty-six of them in open violation of the treaty,) besides about forty others in the minor ports of the island; not one of which has been condemned. It further appears, that, from the 31st October, 1820, the period assigned by treaty for the total abolition of the Spanish slave-trade, to the 1st September, 1821, twenty-six vessels had entered the port of Havannah, with slaves to the amount of 6,415. Of these vessels, eighteen were Spanish, five French, two Portugueze, and one American, none of which had been judicially noticed by the government of the island. One case only was brought before the Mixed Commission Court of that place, and it proved abortive. The governor, it appears, had received instructions from Spain to carry into effect the stipulations contained in the Treaty of Abolition; but it is very doubtful whether any regard will be paid by the local authorities to any orders they may receive from Spain. At the present moment the Havannah is the sink of slavery, and the common receptacle of pirates and of thieves.

The Portugueze government is perfectly untractable. It has so far the happiness of being singular, that it is the only European state which has boldly and openly refused to prohibit, its subjects from trading in slaves. Other powers have at least affected to feel some compunction for the sufferings of humanity; and, in acknowledging the atrocity of the trade, have made fair promises to put an end to it either within certain or indefinite periods; but Portugal unblushingly

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unblushingly claims a continuance of the odious traffic in its own African colonies, and encourages its subjects in it by the unlimited grant of royal licenses, nominally to Cabenda, where there are few or no slaves, but really to the Bight of Benin and Biafra, where they abound, and where, by treaty, she has stipulated to prohibit the trade. The Governor of Bissao, north of the line, is a notorious slave-dealer; and one of his ships, with slaves of his own on board, was captured by Lieutenant Mildmay, almost within gun-shot of his fort. It has been ascertained,' says the Report of the Institution, by Captain Leeke, of his Majesty's ship Myrmidon, that from July, 1820, to October, 1821, an interval of about fifteen months, 190 slave-ships had entered the river Bonny, and that 162 had entered the Calabar, for the purpose of purchasing slaves-of which the greater number were French and Portugueze.' So actively, indeed, is the nefarious traffic carried on, that, in the course of six months, as appears from the Parliamentary Papers, (No. III. p. 53-57.) between the Galinas and Calabar upwards of 38,500 human beings were torn from their country and friends, chiefly by French, Portugueze and Spanish traders. We are informed, on good authority, that in the eighteen months ending with August last, not fewer than 400 slave-ships had departed from the western coast of Africa, carrying away upwards of 100,000 slaves; that nearly one half of these were French, and the rest mostly. Portugueze.

.

We had occasion, in a former Article, to notice the conduct of the notorious Gomez, the slave-mongering Governor of Prince's island. Our government, it seems, had remonstrated so strongly against the practices of this man, that he was recalled, as our officers thought, to Lisbon; but what was their astonishment and indignation on discovering him once more on the island, decorated with a ribband and star! The trade, it seems, had not suffered in his absence, having been carried on by his daughter, Donna Maria da Cruz, a worthy representative of her father, if we may judge from the specimen afforded by the capture of the Jose Hallaco, belonging to this mirror of female tenderness. This cock-boat was under the burden of seven tons: the height from the water-casks to the beams, the only place of shelter for the wretched beings who composed the cargo, was seventeen inches; and in this miserable chasm, thirty human creatures had been wedged; ten of them, however, when the vessel was captured, had been released from their misery by starvation, and the remainder were found in the last stage of human suffering, from hunger, filth and disease!

The total indifference of the Spanish and Portugueze slavetraders to the wretchedness which they inflict on the unhappy beings who fall within their grasp, is illustrated in the two following instances, given by Sir George Collier.

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In two small vessels, the one only 73, and the other about 160 tons, captured nearly at the same time by the boats of the Tartar and Thistle, there were 700 slaves! The height of between-decks of these vessels was less than three feet: the slaves were all fettered in pairs, jammed (for so only can I speak when I describe their situation) one within the feet of the other. Fever, dysentery, and all the train of horrible diseases common to the African climate (increased by filth so foul, and stench so offensive, as not to be imagined) had attacked many of them; and the evident consequences to probably the greater part of the slaves, determined me to seek a remedy if possible. I consulted Mr. Patten, the surgeon of the Tartar; Mr. Clark, the assistant-surgeon, and Mr. Bennet, the assistant in the Thistle, as to a remedy, if one could be found: the result was a general inspection of the slaves; and every case of fever, dysentery, and other diseases, to the amount of nearly one hundred, was removed to the booms of the Tartar: and though there seemed, and assuredly was, extreme risk in doing so, yet, by the precautions taken, and by the active and, indeed, never-ceasing attention of those valuable medical officers, the only person attacked with fever in the Tartar was the surgeon's assistant, and he recovered. 'Several of the slaves died notwithstanding our best efforts; and I am fully persuaded few of those captured would have lived, had I suffered those in fever to remain in the filthy and putrid dungeons of the slave-vessels.

'I will presume to add one other circumstance, that I ventured to order the shackles of every slave to be removed as soon after their capture as possible; when the alarm of the slave-masters became ridiculous, these men assuring me that the life of no white person could be secure; but generally, so sensible were the poor beings who had been relieved, of their improved situation, that, by all the means they could express themselves, they showed the utmost gratitude and thankful

ness.'

His Catholic Majesty's royal passports to trade for slaves at Cabenda and Malembo appear to be more numerous than ever. The Thistle fell in with no fewer than ten traders in the Bight of Biafra, all of them fitted completely for the reception of slaves-platforms, water-casks, boilers and shackles-not one of which had the least intention to go near Cabenda or Malembo, but to take their car

goes on board in Bonny or Calabar. Obvious as this may be, without slaves being actually found on board, they are not liable by the treaties to detention; and the consequence is, that the inhuman wretches who command vessels of this description, if met with, when only a small number of slaves have been embarked, in order to escape capture, make no scruple to throw them overboard, or stow them away in casks, &c, as we have seen before. The Iphigenia, in boarding the Juliana, Portugueze schooner, picked up a boy of ten years old, clinging to the rudder-chains, whom the brutal master had forced overboard, on the appearance of his Majesty's ship.

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While

While all these horrors are committed by Portugueze subjects, and their sovereign is signing his royal licenses to authorize them to make as many slaves as they can, one can scarcely suppress a smile-a bitter smile-on seeing words like the following, put into his mouth by his liberal ministers. The glory of kings is inseparable from the happiness of their subjects; and he who presides over a free nation is as happy as those are miserable who rule over slaves."

We have every reason to think that the King of the Netherlands, personally, is well disposed to put an end to the slave-trade; but the demand for slaves in the colony of Surinam is too tempting a speculation for his subjects to resist the admission of them into that colony, under whatever flag they may be brought. We fear too that his ministers have not always acted with that good faith which the treaties demanded. From the open and repeated violation of them by the colonists, remonstrances were made on the part of our government; upon which a new decree was issued, professing to prohibit and punish the importation of slaves into Surinam; but which, in fact, opened the ports of that colony more widely for their admission, by diminishing the penalties of illicit slave importations. His Majesty is made to declare, that the introduction of Negroes into the colonies of his kingdom, is prohibited under the penalties denounced against the importation of prohibited goods into the said colonies;-a punishment which, as the Directors of the African Institution justly observe, while it places a human being on a level with a keg of gin, or a firkin of butter, is a relaxation, instead of an aggravation, of the penalties already affixed to slave-trading.'

Lord Clancarty was not deceived by this evasive and unsatisfactory decree; and finding, during his correspondence with the Dutch minister, how little disposed this gentleman was to concede any point that appeared to be favourable to the object he had most at heart, he solicited a direct communication with the King, on whose personal attention the subject was further pressed by the late Marquis of Londonderry and the Duke of Wellington, in private interviews to which they were admitted. From this time such an evident change was produced in the councils of his Majesty as to lead Lord Clancarty to think, that the government was seriously disposed to put an end to this detestable traffic; and that he might venture to congratulate the Marquis of Londonderry on what he thinks he may designate as the full accomplishment of this important object, as far as relates to the kingdom of the Netherlands.' We believe indeed that the slave-trade of the Dutch on the west-coast of Africa has nearly ceased; and that the fort of Elmina has of late merely afforded facilities to the slaving vessels of other nations; but it is understood

that