House of Commons by Mr. Wilberforce, imploring his majesty to represent, in the most urgent manner, to the different governments whose subjects were engaged in this nefarious commerce, the necessity of their adopting stronger and more effectual measures of repression, in order to discharge their plainest and most incumbent obligations, and to redeem the solemn pledges they had given to this country and to Europe, respecting the entire abolition of the slave trade.

The correspondence of his majesty's government with foreign governments, during the past year, has recently been laid before parliament. But the only notice which is there taken of the above addresses, is contained in a circular letter from the Marquis of Londonderry to our ambassadors at Paris, Brussels, Lisbon, and Madrid.

The whole line of Western Africa, from the river Senegal to Benguela; that is to say, from about the latitude of 15° north, to the latitude of about 13° south; has, during that period, swarmed with slave vessels,-and that an active and increasing slave trade has also been carried on upon the eastern shores of that continent, particularly from the island of Zanzebar.

The chief seat of this detestable traffic on the west coast, may be considered to be the rivers Bonny and Calabar. It was ascertained on good anthority, by Captain Leeke of his majesty's ship Myrmidon, that from Jaly 1820 to October 1821, an interval of about fifteen months, 190 slave-ships had entered the former river, and that 162 had entered the latter, for the purpose of purchasing slaves; a fact which may afford some idea of what must have been the dreadful aggregate of misery inflicted, during the last year, on that unhappy portion of the globe.

An active slave trade has been unceasingly carried on between the adjoining continent and the islands of Bissao and Cape de Verd. These islands are used as depôts for the slaves taken thither in canoes and small vessels, by French and other slave-traders, with the view of being afterwards removed to the Havannah or to the French West-India Islands. But it is to the rivers which run into the Bight of Benin, and into that of Biafra, that the Portuguese slaveships chiefly resort. Many such vessels, in the course of the last year, have been found there by his majesty's ships

completely furnished with all the implements of their criminal traffic, and in a state of readiness to embark their human cargo. The traffic, however, has been but in a slight degree checked by these discoveries: for as it is only when slaves have actually been embarked that they can be seized by British cruizers, the persons engaged in the trade often take no pains to conceal the purpose of their voyage; on the contrary, they seem to exult in the mortification to which our naval officers are subjected, in a great number of instances, of being obliged by the terms of the conventions to leave them unmolested.

At the Congress of Vienna, as has already been remarked, Portugal held out some hope that in 1823 she would entirely abolish her slave trade. That hope, it is greatly to be feared, will prove altogether delusive, as no step appears yet to have been taken to realize it, and as every application to that effect, on the part of Great Britain, has hitherto been eluded by the Portuguese government.

The revolution which has recently occurred in Portugal may possibly have interrupted the negotiations on this subject. But it suggests also a hope, that the Portuguese nation, in vigorously asserting its own rights, will not be forgetful of the equally sacred rights of their African brethren, and that they will allow the voice of justice and humanity to be heard among them. Much may also be anticipated from that diffusion of information on the subject, which the liberty of the Portuguese press will now facilitate, and by which the public opinion may be enlightened, and the decision of the Portuguese Cortes eventually influenced.

In the month of April, 1821, Spain appeared still so attached to the slave trade, that not only was a law for its more effectual repression, which had been proposed by that able and active friend of humanity, the Count de Torreno, rejected by the Cortes, but an intimation was given to his majesty's government of their intending to apply for two years' farther extension of the term fixed by treaty for its abolition. To this intimation Lord Londonderry replied in the most peremptory terms, that his majesty neither would nor could lend himself to such a proposition.

A few months later, however, a much better spirit began to manifest itself.

On the 27th of August the Spanish minister declared, that orders had been given for the punctual enforcement of the treaty on this subject; and in the month of January last, an article was, on the motion of the Count de Torreno, introduced into the criminal code to the following purport, viz:

Extract from the Criminal Code of Spain. “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 above-mentioned 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."

As yet, however, there has been no relaxation of that trade in Cuba and Porto Rico. Fewer vessels, indeed, have appeared on the African coast during the last year under the Spanish flag; but the importations into the island of Cuba, especially under the flag of France, have been large; while the only attempt made there to check them by bringing one of the vessels so employed before the mixed Commission Court of that place proved abortive. The whole number of Spanish slaveships condemned at Sierra Leone, by the Mixed Commission Court, has been eleven, of which three were condemned during the last year.

The flag of FRANCE has maintained during the last, as in some former years, its guilty pre-eminence. Almost every part of the African coast, whether on its western or eastern shores, is actually crowded with French contrabandists. Although a French squadron has for some time been stationed on the coast of Africa, for the express purpose of suppressing the slave trade, no useful effort appears to have been made by it. While the slave-ships of France are to be found on every part

of the coast, the French cruisers have not, as far as is known, made a single capture. They have even met with ships trading for slaves under the flag of France, and, after exchanging civilities with them, have left them unmolested to pursue their illegal and criminal traffic. It is even affirmed, that they are without any instructions from their government to seize French slave-ships.

At Senegal and Goree, which form the head-quarters of the squadron, the merchants, and even some public functionaries, are still deeply engaged in this traffic. Few large ships, indeed, now export slaves from these settlements. The trade is chiefly conducted in small craft, which pass from the African Continent to the Portuguese Islands of Bissao and Cape de Verd, and there deposit their slaves; the only effect, even at Senegal and Goree, of all the vaunted measures of repression adopted by the French government, being this, that some additional caution is used in the mode of carrying on the trade. In other parts of the coast, the British cruisers, wherever they touch, find the French flag spreading its protection over an immense number of slave-ships. The coast appears to be almost covered with them.

But the ravages of the French slavetraders are not confined to the western shores of that devoted continent. The eastern coast, and especially the island of Zanzebar, have recently attracted the cupidity of these lawless adventurers; and an extensive traffic has been carried on thence for the supply not only of the Isle of Bourbon, but even of the island of Cuba.

A vessel, with 344 slaves on-board, named Le Succés, was detained in April 1821 by his majesty's ship Menai, Capt. Moresby, and carried into the Isle of France, where, no claim of pos session or property being preferred, she was condemned, and the slaves liberated. This very vessel, Le Succés, had already made a successful slavevoyage from Zanzebar to the Isle of Bourbon, where she had safely landed 248 slaves; the governor, M. Mylius, having been informed of the transaction, had instituted judicial proceedings against her; but the judges, whose office it was to try the cause, having themselves participated in the crime by purchasing some of her slaves, concurred in acquitting her;

and,

and, encouraged by this impunity, she was immediately dispatched for another cargo of Africans, and was returning with them to the Isle of Bourbon, when she was detained by the Menai. Nothing is more worthy of notice than the thorough hatred which the slave-traders appear to have entertained for Governor Mylius; who has since unfortunately been recalled, and whom they pay this uation the compliment to accuse of " Anglomania and philanthropy," merely, as it would appear, because he was determined conscientiously to fulfil the duties of his office, and was alive to the calls of humanity and justice.

It appears from the papers found onboard "Le Succés," that 248 slaves which she landed in the Isle of Bourbon in her first voyage, cost only 9,943 dollars; and that the proceeds of the sale of these slaves amounted to 29,564 dollars. The 344 slaves which she took on-board, on her second voyage, cost only 10,214 dollars; and would have yielded, if sold at the same rate with the former cargo, upwards of 40,000 dollars. In like manner, the authentic prospectus of a slave-voyage from Havre, inserted in the appendix to the Report of last year, exhibits on an outfit of 53,000 francs, a net profit of upwards of 166,000 francs.

In the session of 1821, as well as in that of the present year, various important discussions have taken place on this subject in the legislative chambers; and, although the French government has not yet been induced to fulfil its distinct and reiterated promise, to make the Abolition Laws more severe and efficacious; although, on the contrary, it appears to have become more reluctant than ever to adopt the measures required for its repression; yet good may be expected to arise from the frequent agitation of the question.

The most important discussion, however, which has occurred on this subject, was on the 28th of March last, in the Chamber of Peers, when the Duc de Broglie brought forward a motion for an address to the king, praying that he would direct more efficacious laws to be proposed for repressing the slave trade. The motion of the Duc de Broglie was unsuccessful: but he has pledged himself to renew his efforts in the succeeding session; and, in the hands of such a leader, possessing so perfect a knowledge of the subject, and animated by such enlightened zeal for

the interests of humanity, the cause must finally triumph.

.

A sketch of the slave-trade, with reflections upon it, written in Spanish, by Mr. Blanco White, contributed greatly, in 1817, to the treaty for the total abolition of the Spanish slave trade; and, they have reason to believe, that it has also been instrumental in producing the recent decree of the Spanish legislature, for rendering that. abolition more complete. The effect of this pamphlet was materially aided by the zealous and enlightened labours of Mr. Bowring, who has recently passed some time in Spain.

The Supplementary Report of last year, and an able pamphlet, prepared by Mr. Clarkson, exhibiting a succinct and striking view of the abominations of this commerce, and of its utter repugnance to every principle of religion, humanity, and justice, have also been translated into French, and widely diffused, not only in France, but in the Netherlands, in Spain, and in Portugal. The former of these pamphlets was introduced to the French reader by an energetic preface, written by M. Laroche, the translator, who has laboured with an honourable zeal to promote the cause of humanity. Copies of these two publications have been put into the hands of the members of the Legislative Assemblies, and the leading political characters of the different countries named above; and the directors hope that their perusal may have been attended with a beneficial effect. In France especially, they have excited considerable attention; and fresh editions have been undertaken by booksellers in Paris, with a view to the profit to be derived from the sale. Other pamphlets have also appeared on the same side of the question, which are read with avidity; particularly one, on the necessity of inflicting on the slave-trader an infamous punishment, by M. Gregoire. The speech of the Duc de Broglie has been already alluded to. Measures have been taken for re-printing and widely circulating it. One great obstacle, however, to the diffusion of right views on this subject in France, has arisen from the newspapers of that country having been shut against discussions intended to exhibit the slave trade in its true colours.

The government and legislature of the United States have continued to manifest the same anxious desire to

put

put an end to the slave trade which has always distinguished them.

Their cruisers on the African coast have well seconded their wishes; and five slave-ships detained on suspicion of being American property, though disguised under foreign flags, had already been condemned in their viceadmiralty courts, previously to the month of January 1821. Several others had been detained, but on the way to the port of adjudication were retaken by their crews.

The pertinacity with which some of the subjects of the United States still adhered to this infamous commerce, induced the American legislature, as was stated in the introduction to the Supplementary Report of last year, to go a step beyond any other nation, even beyond Great Britain herself, in its measures of repression. An Act has been passed, declaring the crime of slave-trading by American ships, or American subjects, to be piracy; and, as such, affixing to it the punishment of death.

By this decisive proceeding, the United States have probably done much to check the cupidity of such of their own subjects as could not be restrained by feebler means from the perpetration of this gainful crime. An example has thus also been given to other Christian governments, which Great Britain, we doubt not, will be the first to emulate, and which we may hope will in no long time be followed by others, until the identity of the slave trade with piracy shall form a part of the international policy of the whole civilized world.

It seems impossible that France should still contend that the honour of her flag would be tarnished by a proceeding to which the great maritime states of England and America submit, for the sake of an object, the "justness and nobleness of which," to use the language of the American Report, "are worthy of the combined concern of all Christian nations."

Last year the directors gave an account of the progress of the American Society for colonizing on the coast of Africa the free people of colour of the United States, which was accompanied by various interesting extracts from their third Report. A copy of their fourth Report has since been presented to the directors; and it will be found to display the same persevering spirit of benevolence which led to the forma

tion of their Institution. The Colonization Society have, it is true, experienced some severe disappointments in prosecuting their undertaking; but these have not been greater than were to be anticipated, or than have been actually encountered and overcome, not only in founding the colony of Sierra Leone, (to whose improvement and growing prosperity it is gratifying to observe that the agents of the American Society continue to bear a very favourable testimony,) but also in founding some of those very colonies which now form the most powerful members of their own gigantic union.

A hope was expressed, in the last Report, that Governor Farquhar would succeed in making arrangements with Radama, King of Madagascar, for putting an end to the slave trade, which had so long wasted that fine and fertile island. This hope has been realized. The terms of the treaty which has been concluded, one of the conditions of which was, that twenty Madagascar youths should be taken under the care of the British government; and that ten of them should be placed at the Isle of France, there to acquire the knowledge of certain useful arts, and that the other ten should be sent to England for the same purpose. This condition has been fulfilled: ten youths are now in a course of instruction at the Isle of France; and nine others, accompanied by Prince Rataffe, a near relation of King Radama, came to England about a year ago. Prince Rataffe, after spending a few months in this country, returned to Madagascar, leaving his companions to pursue their education. Soon after his arrival in England, a deputation of the directors waited upon him to express the gratification they had derived from the measures adopted by the King of Madagascar for the abolition of the slave trade; and their readiness to aid, by every means in their power, his plans for the improvement of his country.