DECLINE OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 114, 12 March 1853, Page 5

DECLINE OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.

[From the " Times."] We hare for some time kept silence on a subject which not long ago furnished an incessant topic of public discussion, and which is likely, perhaps, to be revived in private discourse by the stimulating pictures of Uncle Tom's Cabin. The slave trade on the coast of Africa seemed to be mastering the energies of all the powerful nations combined for its suppression. So hopeless did our efforts appear, and so manifestly were they attended not only with heavy losses to ourselves but with increased misery to the victims of the traffic, that the removal of the preventive squadron and the substitution of some other agency were earnestly advocated. Even the Anti-Slavery Society itself—the very organ and exponent of British philanthropy —adopted this argument ; our own views, as the reader will recollect, were expressed in conformity to such reasons ; and so general were the convictions of the Legislature upon the point that the continuance of the blockading system was only secured by an act of unusual arbitrariness on the part of Government. Lord John Russell informed his supporters that if a vote adverse to the maintenance of the squadron was carried the Ministry would resign. The impending blow therefore was stopped, and the African blockade was continued, with an assurance on the part of its advocates that a few months' perseverance would at last reward us with success. The public must now be anxious to learn how far these prognostications have been verified, yvln the last session, Mr. James Wilson procured a "return, as nearly as the same can be furnished, of the number of slaves embarked on the coast of Africa and landed in Cuba and Brazil in each year from 1542 to the latest date to which the accounts extend." The reader will not fail to observe the qualification with which these figures;are set forth. In point of fact, it must be nexi to impossible to ascertain with any correctness the 'particulars inquired fov, but such intelligence ■is the best we can

procure, and perhaps the relative proportions of each year's imports may be substantially given. The return extends from 1842 to 1851, both years inclusive, and thus offers a considerable field for survey. The chief promoter of this infamous commerce is Brazil, which has always been the largest purchaser of : human ilesh. From 1842 to 1850 * there were imported successively, year by year, into that country from Africa the following batch of slaves:—l7,43s, 19,095, 22,849, 19,453, 50,324, 56,172, 60,000, 54,000, and 23,000. It will be observed from these figures that from 1842 to 1845 the slave traffic, though not apparently declining, was, at any rate, stationary, whereas in 1846 it received an extraordinary impulse, which for four successive years nearly trebled its results. It is unnecessary to add that this increase coincided with those legislative acts which opened the British markets to Brazilian sugars. In 1850, however, though the sugar trade retained all its freedom, the importation of slaves fell to 23,000 —scarcely one-half its recent amount; and in the next year the returns were more remarkable still. According to the paper before Us, the figures, which from 1846 to 1849 Had ranged from 50,000 to 60,000, dropped in 1851 to 3,287! showing a decline in this nefarious traffic to less than one-fifth of the smallest importation previously known.

We have no reason to doubt the general accuracy of this statement, nor do we desire in any degree to diminish its force. It is of course notorious that the result has arisen, not from any'sudden efficiency in our system of blockade, but from the resolution tardily, though it is said sincerely, taken by Brazil herself to make the prohibition of this traffic a reality. Still it may be argued that this decision would not have been adopted at Rio if England had given any proofs of weariness in the work of suppression ; and though we do not assent to this view of the subject, we are not at present desirous of impugning it. We have warrant for believing that our unreasoning violence rather retarded than promoted these sage counsels of the Brazilian Government; but we are willing to take the facts as they stand, and to make the best, without question or cavil, of a result so plainly satisfactory. It is enough for us to hope that Brazil is truly and earnestly exerting the resources of the State to prevent the importation of slaves, and certainly this return gives an extraordinary confirmation to the professions which have been recently made.

The share of Cuba in this detestable commerce, though large in proportion to its extent of territory, is absolutely much smaller than that of Brazil. The numbers of the slaves imported into this island during1 the ten years specified were respectively, 3,530,8,000,10,000, 1,300,419, 1,450, 1,500, 8,700, 3,500, 5,000. It will be seen that these figures present a singular and not very explicable contrast to those extracted above from the Brazilian returns, and that they indicate some sources of encouragement or discouragement entirely peculiar. In 1544 the traffic was exceedingly large ; the next year it suddenly decreased by more than fourfifths ; and in 1846, the very year when our sugar bills gave such an impulse to the trade of Brazil, it declined to its lowest point, aad almost, indeed, to a nominal extent. Neither did it recover itself in 1847 or 1848,' when the Brazilian dealings were so large ; while, on the other hand, now that Brazil seems really desisting from the traffic, Cuba shows a very considerable importation —an importation, indeed, surpassing for the first time that of her rival on the Southern continent.

We are not disposed to venture on any decided conclusions from the prospects thus disclosed. If the cordial co-operation of Brazil in the good work can be permanently secured, we shall be making- a near approach to the reward of our labours, for the Brazilian traffic is far more important than that of Cuba—not to mention that the destinies of the latter island appear just now to involve many possible conditions beyond our means of calculation. There is certainly a concurrence of indications in favour of Brazilian sincerity. The Government of the country makes earnest professions, and its professions are apparently justified in a singular degree by the results. Of the accuracy of these returns we cannot, indeed, absolutely speak. We have marked with attention the reports periodically made from our African sqadron, but though matters did certainly in many respects appear improved, we were not prepared for such an extraordinary falling off in ihe traffic as the figures before us evince. If things

have gone this year as they went last year, the o-ross total of slaves exported from the coast cannot now exceed 6,000 or 7,000—a number wholly insufficient, we would imagine, to keep the trade in existence at all. The slave traffic demands large' capital, swift^sailing vessels, highly paid crews, depots on the coast, and or r ganized connexions in the interior of the country , all of which machinery can assuredly not be maintained by an. exportation of eight or ten ship-loads, annually. If this most desirable consummation can be brought to pass, we shall ; not raise any question about the merits,of the triumph. It will be quite sufficient, as we before remarked, to, find the slave trade, somehow or other, actually extinct; but, if there is one point clearer than another from prospects before us, it is that the consent and. co-operation of the trading States themselves furnish^ the only sure, means of annihilating the traffic. Contraband commerce, will always cease as soon as . people: resolve not to be smugglers, and the •slave trade, which, as these tables show, rose and fell with variations altogether irrespective; of pur blbekabing squadron, sinks into, what we trust is a permanent decline when once the prohibitive policy of Brazil has been fairly declared. .