ence to the enormity of the evils to be suppressed, our painful impressions were too deep and vivid to be easily capable of being rendered more so; but in reference to the practical results likely to issue from any measures now in progress, or hitherto projected, Mr. Buxton has mournfully diminished our expectations. We did hope, years ago, that stringent treaties, a powerful and vigilant maritime police, the accordance of a mutual right of search of suspected vessels, and a general denouncement of the traffic as piracy, would speedily repress it; but we are bound now to admit, that though all these things are very important to be urged to their fullest extent, the slave trade is too wily to be easily caught, or too powerful to be held, in the puny meshes of any national or international system which we can confidently hope for. Even if all the nations which have professed to unite to suppress the slavetrade were thoroughly honest and in earnest-which is the reverse of fact this would not prevent other nations embarking in the abandoned traffic, to which they would be allured by the accumulated gains of monopoly; nor could their flag be violated by the allied cruisers, though every thread of it were reeking in blood; to say nothing of the enterprises of smug. glers of all nations, which it would be very difficult to suppress on the wide seas, or the extended coast of Africa. We do not, however, allow our hopes to sink so low as Mr. Buxton has done; though whatever may be the result, whether successful or not, the path of duty is clear, not to relax any effort now in operation, and to urge still more strenuously the extermination of the piracy by national treaty and exertion; at the same time adopting every other remedy, more especially the extensive in

troduction into Africa of peaceful commerce, which Mr. Buxton mainly relies upon; and above all, we should say, studding the whole coast, and accessible interior, with Christian

Missionary stations, from which should emanate the arts of peace and civilization, in connexion with the knowledge of the one true God, and of Jesus Christ, whom he has sent.

The larger portion of Mr. Buxton's work is devoted to shewing the extent, enormity, and tenacity of the slave-trade; his conclusion from all which is, that an entirely new system of repression must be devised and attempted. We will quote, at some length, what he says on this important subject.

"It is but too manifest that the efforts already made for the suppression of the Slave trade, have not accomplished their benevolent object.

"The people of England take a more lively and intense interest in this, than perhaps in any other foreign subject. The government, whether in the hands of the one party or the other, cannot of years, been wanting either in zeal, or be accused of having, for a long series exertion, for its suppression. Millions of money and multitudes of lives have

been sacrificed; and in return for all, that the Slave trade is as far as ever we have only the afflicting conviction, from being suppressed. Nay, I am afraid the fact is not to be disputed, that while we have thus been endeavouring to extinguish the traffic, it has actually doubled in amount.

"In the debate of 2nd April, 1792, Mr. Fox rated the Slave trade at 80,000 annually: he says, I think the the supply of slaves, is to represent least disreputable way of accounting for them as having been convicted of crimes by legal authority. What does the House think is the whole number of Africa? 80,000. In the same debate these convicts exported annually from Mr. Pitt observed, 'I know of no evil that ever has existed, nor can imagine any evil to exist, worse than the tearing of 80,000 persons annually from their native land, by a combination of

the most civilized nations in the most enlightened quarter of the globe." The late Zachary Macaulay, than whom the African has had no better friend, told me a few days before his death, that upon the most accurate investigation

he was able to make as to the extent of the Slave trade, he had come to the conclusion that it was 70,000 annually, fifty years ago. Twenty years ago the African Institution reported to the duke of Wellington that it was 70,000. We will assume then that the number at the commencement of the discussion was 70,000 negroes annually transported from Africa. There is evidence before the Parliamentary committees, to show that about one-third was for the British islands, and one-third for St. Domingo; so that strictly speaking, if the Slave trade of other countries had been stationary, they ought only at the utmost to import 25,000; but I have already proved that the number annually landed in Cuba and Brazil, &c., is 150,000, being more than double the whole draught upon Africa, including the countries where it had ceased when the Slave trade controversy began. Twice as many human beings are now its victims as when Wilberforce and Clarkson entered upon their noble task; and each individual of this increased number, in addition to the horrors which were endured in former times, has to suffer from being cribbed up in a narrower space, and on board a vessel, where accommodation is sacrificed to speed. Painful as this is, it becomes still more distressing if it shall appear that our present system has not failed by mischance, from want of energy, or from want of expenditure, but that the system itself is erroneous, and must necessarily be attended with disappointment.

"Hitherto we have affected no other change than a change in the flag under which the trade is carried on. It was stated by our ambassador at Paris, to the French minister, in 1824 (I speak from memory), that the French flag covered the villains of all nations. For some years afterwards the Spanish flag was generally used. Now, Portugal sells her flag, and the greater part of the trade is carried on under it. Her governors openly sell, at a fixed price, the use of Portuguese papers and flag."

"To touch upon one only of the many difficulties which lie in the way of a universal confederacy for putting down the Slave Trade, I ask, how shall we get the consent of North America to the article yielding the right of search. She has told us, in the most peremptory terms, that she will never assent to it; and it should be remembered, that this confederacy must either be universally binding, or it is of no avail. It will avail us little that ninetynine doors are closed, if one remains

"But we will suppose all these difficulties removed; a victory in imagination has been obtained over the pride of North America, the cupidity of Portugal, the lawlessness of Texas, and the constitution of France. Let it be granted that the Spanish treaty, with an article for piracy, has become universal. I maintain that the Slave trade, even then, will not be put down. Three nations have already tried the experiment of declaring the Slave trade to be piracy-Brazil, North America, and England. Brazilian subjects, from the time of passing the law, have been continually engaged in the Slave trade; indeed we are informed that the whole population of certain districts are concerned in it, and not one has suffered under the law of piracy. In 1820, a law was passed by the legislature of North America, declaring that if any citizen of that country shall be engaged in the Slave trade, such citizen or person shall be adjudged a pirate, and on conviction thereof, before the circuit court of the United States, shall suffer death.' It will not be denied, that American citizens have been largely engaged in the traffic; but I have yet to learn that even one capital conviction has taken place during the eighteen years that have elapsed since the law was passed.

6

"Great Britain furnishes a still more striking illustration of the inefficacy of such a law. For ten years, the Slave trade prevailed at the Mauritius, to use the words of Captain Moresby, before the committee of the House of Commons, as plain as the sun at noonday.' Many were taken in the very act, and yet no conviction, I believe, took place. With these examples before me, I am not so sanguine as some other gentlemen appear to be, as to the efficacy of a law declaring the Slave trade piracy, even if it were universally adopted. I fear that such a law would be a dead letter, unless, at all events, we had the bona fide and cordial co-operation of the colonists. We were not able to obtain this in our own dominions."

"But now I will make a supposition, still more Utopian than any of the pre

ceding. All nations shall have acceded to the Spanith treaty, and that treaty shall be rendered more effective. They shall have linked to it the article of piracy; the whole shall have been clenched by the cordial concurrence of the authorities at home, and the populace in the colonies. With all this, we shall be once more defeated and baffled by contraband trade.

"The power which will overcome our efforts, is the extraordinary profit of the slave trader. It is, I believe, an axiom at the Custom-house, that no illicit trade can be suppressed, where the pro-fits exceed 30 per cent. I will prove that the profits of the slave-trader are nearly five times that amount. • Of the enormous profits of the Slave trade,' says commissioner Macleay,' the most correct idea will be formed by taking an example. The last vessel condemned by the mixed commission was the Firm.' He gives the cost of

Total expense Total product

"There was a clear profit, on the human cargo of this vessel, of 18,6401. or just 180 per cent.; and will any one who knows the state of Cuba and Brazil, pretend that this is not enough to shut the mouth of the informer, to arrest the arm of the police, to blind the eyes of the magistrates, and to open the doors of the prison."

"Once more, then, I must declare my conviction that the trade will never be suppressed by the system hitherto pursued. You will be defeated by its enormous gains. You may throw impediments in the way of these miscreants; you may augment their peril; you may reduce their profits; but enough, and more than enough, will remain to baffle all your humane efforts.

"I do not underrate the value of our maritime exertions. I think it may be good policy, and, in the long run, true economy, to multiply the number of our vessels, to do at once and by a blow all that can be done in this way; to increase our expenses for a few years, in order to escape the necessity of incurring cost, not materially less, for an indefinite period. Neither do I wish that our government should address Portugal in any terms short of a declaration, that our cruisers will have orders to seize, after a fixed and an early day, every

vessel under Portuguese colours engaged in the slave-traffic, to bring the crew to trial as pirates, and inflict upon them the severest secondary punishment which our law allows. Decisive measures of this kind would, there is no doubt, facilitate our success, by removing some of the great impediments which stand in the way of other remedial measures; nevertheless, I am compelled, by the various evidence which it has been my province to examine, to place my main reliance, not on the employment of force, but on the encouragement which we may be able to give to the legitimate commerce and the agricultural cultivation of Africa.

To

"We attempt to put down the Slave trade by the stong hand' alone; and this is, I apprehend, the cause of our failure. Our system, in many respects too feeble, is in one sense too bold. The African has acquired a taste for the productions of the civilised world. They have become essential to him. The parent debased and brutalised as he isbarters his child; the chief his subject; each individual looks with an evil eye on his neighbour, and lays snares to catch him-because the sale of children, subjects, and neighbours, is the only means as yet afforded, by European commerce, for the supply of those wants which that commerce bas created. say that the African, under present circumstances, shall not deal in man, is to say that he shall long in vain for his accustomed gratifications. The tide, thus pent up, will break its way over every barrier. In order effectually to divert the stream from the direction which it has hitherto taken, we must open another, a safer, and a more convenient channel. When we shall have experimentally convinced the African that it is in his power to obtain his supplies in more than their usual abundance, by honest means, then, and not till then, we may expect that he will be reconciled to the abolition of the Slave trade."

"The principles of my suggestions are comprised in the following propo

sitions:

:

of Mr. Buxton's statements and first, as to the present unexampled extent of this nefarious commerce, both legalized and contraband. He calculates, from a variety of official returns, and other data, that 150,000 human beings are conveyed from Africa across the Atlantic, and sold as slaves.

Take first the opprobrious case of Brazil:

"It stands confessed, upon authority which cannot be disputed, that from the 1st of July, 1827, to the 30th of June, 1830, (three years), there were brought into the single port of Rio de Janeiro, 148,940 negroes, or, on an average, 49,643 annually. It appears also, that in the last year, the number was swelled to 56,777 per annum.

"If the question were put to me, what is the number which I believe to be annually landed in Brazil? I conceive that the truth lies between the maximum as taken from Caldcleugh, and the minimum (78,331) as stated in the Official Returns; and I should conjecture that the real amount would be moderately rated at 100,000, brought annually into five Brazilian ports.'

"In September, 1836, the British Commissioners say, 'At no period, perhaps, has the trade been ever carried on with more activity or daring.' And again, in November, 1836, The traffic in Slaves is every day becoming more active and notorious on this coast.'

"The Marquis of Barbacena stated in the Senate of Brazil on the 30th June, 1837, That it may be safely asserted, without fear of exaggeration, that during the last three years, the importation has been much more considerable, than it had ever before been when the commerce was unfettered and legal.'"

We proceed to Cuba:

"We are continually told by the Commissioners, that difficulties are thrown in the way of obtaining correct information in regard to the Slave trade in that island. Everything that artifice, violence, intimidation, popular countenance, and official connivance can do, is done, to conceal the extent of the

traffic."

"Confining ourselves to the Havana, it would seem probable, if it be not demonstrated, that the number for that one port, à fortiori for the whole island, may fairly be estimated at 60,000."

We pass by Porto Rico, Texas, Buenos Ayres, and other South

American republics; but what shall we say to the following intelligence respecting the United States of America? We confess that we are not surprised at the announcement; for if there be any country in the world, where men may do the most wicked things with impunity, if only they be not unpopular, and cannot do the most virtuous, if they offend mob-law, it is that boasted land of liberty, which, with base, selfish hypocrisy, asserts, in its declaration of independence, that all men are entitled to liberty and equality, while it retains millions of human beings, for whom Christ shed his blood, in bitter slavery.

"In the Report of the Commissioners at Havana, for 1836, dated 25th Oct. 1836, I find these words:-' During the months of August and September (1836) there arrived here for sale, from the United States, several new schooners, some of which were already expressly fitted for the Slave trade."

"Two vessels arrived in the Havana, fitted in every particular for the Slave trade; and took on board a cargo which would at once have condemned, as a slaver, any vessel belonging to the nations that are parties to the equipment article."

The Commissioners farther observe, that the declaration of the American President not to make the United subject of the Slave trade, has been the States a party to any convention on the build and fit, in their own ports, vesmeans of inducing American citizens to sels, only calculated for piracy or the Slave trade, to enter this harbour, and, in concert with the Havana slave-traders, to take on board a prohibited cargo, manacles, &c.; and proceed openly to that notorious depôt for this iniquitous traffic, the Cape de Verde Islands, under the shelter of their national flag.'

"A few months afterwards they report that- We cannot conceal our deep regret at the new and dreadful impetus imparted to the Slave trade of this island (Cuba), by the manner in which some American citizens impunibly violate every law, by embarking openly for the coast of Africa under their national flag, with the avowed purpose of bringing slaves to this market. We are likewise assured that it is intended, by means of this flag, to supply slaves for the vast province of Texas; agents from thence