AFRICA AND BRAZIL.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2239, 23 September 1864, Page 6

AFRICA AND BRAZIL.

(i-RCni THE "svTURDiY ltEYir-ft ," JULY 23) Tim Tlousc of Commons has leant to peisuade itself thai its clucf business at picscnt is to force on tlio G-o\cinmcnL a new system of foieign policy. The name Inch is used to designate this new policy is the policy of lionmterfeience, but, although it -nould be difficult to suggest a better, this name scaiccly "comprehends all that 13 included in the news) stem. For tins system shifts -with the subject-matter to which it is applied On Monday night, ior example, it received three applications, each of a very diffeient kind. The subject of Biazil T\as started, and the Government was called on to be much more civilto Bi^/ilthan lfchab becn^ and more especially to repeal a certain Act of Parliament, called the Abeuleen Act, under which Buti^h cruiseis aie authoiiscd to sci/e Brazilian slavers aud cany them for adjadic.ition before a Bntish tribunal. Then the Ashantec war provoked a discussion, and the whole system was attacked under which petty colonial governors engaged England in the quarrels of the native tribes, and under which we spend so much money and saenflee so many livos in order, not to stop the shvc trade, "but to make the slave liadc somewhat difficult and hazaulous. Lastly, the sad story of the New Zealand war was levn cd. and member after member io*eto e^piess the indignation with w Inch they had learnt that a couple of attoincj s, who form the imnisteual leadcis of tlie colony, shculd be able to dictate wlieie and how Jintish tioops should be employed in a contest which all independent inquirers have pionounccd to have been, in its origin, simply iniquitous. On each of these points the House was clcaily right, aud its expression of opinion Mas ncaily unanimous, The Government was quite as ready to alter its policy as the House was eager to see it alteied Loi'd Palmciston spoke, lor him, quite mildly and pleasantly about Bia/il , and Mr Cai dwell stated that he had given mstiuctions to the iifucan authorities to keep out of absurd little wars if they could, and had positively instiucted the Governor of New Zealand not to let his attorneys interfere -i\ith the military anangemcnts At the same time, a new and popular policy is gcncially advocated at the cost of some lnj'ustiec aud of some imwairanted oblivion of the past It is quite right that we should be civil to Brazil, and Lord Eussell exceeded the limits of prudence, and went to the very evtreme of what was legally notifiable, when he oidercd those summary proceedings which led to the interruption of diplomatic relations "But the Brazilian authonties were very remiss in their investigations of the murder which we alleged to have taken place, and it is always veiy hard for an English Minister to know ■» hen he ought to acquiesce in the lives of British subjects being taken with impunity. The behaviour of the Governors of Lagos and of the Gold Coast may have been indiscreet, and the useless sacrifice of the lives of our soldiers is tcirible , but it is a vcr}' wide question whether our efforts to suppress the Slave Tiado have been entirely abortive, and we have too often acted on the supposition that detached posts as settlements on a coast aid English commerce, to warrant us in abandoning ourAfucan settlements without full inquiry. Bad, too, as the Now Zealand war is it is not true to say that the colonists keep it up merely that they may piolit by the expenditure, and employ British tioops to conquer land for them. Doubtless these objects are among the > prime motives of the w ar, but the colonists do not leayc the contest cntiicly to the regular troops They fight almost to a man, aud freely risk their own lives in a. contest which has at least marred as many fortunes as it has made. When w e have to apply the new policy of non-interference to these 1 emote small colonies and outlying scmi-baibarous States, no have to ask ourselves two questions In the first place, 1 what duties have we to dischaigc ? — and, in the I ne\t place, what uiteiests have we to promoter The discussion about Uia^il and the discussion

about the African coast both turned mainly on the mode in which we discharge the special duty which wo, as a nation, have chosen to take on ourselves — tho suppression of the Slayo Trade. Brazil was the chief country on which wo undertook to force our notions of what is right ; and the only excuse that can be found for what wo did was that we were so much superior to the Brazilians that wo know what was best for them, and were not to bo bound by any strict theones of law, or of right and vviong, while vv c were inculcating a threat moral lesson We outraged every principle of international law iv order to have our way. A more unwarrantable mcasiuc than the Aberdeen Act was never passed, if we vv ere torcgard only what is supposed to be due to an independent State Wo have had, also, the constant mortification of reflecting that vv hat we did to Bi azil we did not dare to do to Spain. It cannot, however, be said that we woiked in vain. The slave trade between Africa and Brazil has entirely died out, and this has chiclty happened because the Brazilians themselves have been most sfcicnuous in their efforts to put an end to tho traffic. But then how did this anxiety to terminate tho tradic grow up in a nation of slaveholders P We need not hesitate to refer it partly to tho trouble we gave slave-tiadcrs, amtpaitly to the feeling against slavery which our efforts to put an end to the traffic have so largely tended to foster Tho opinion of the woild is against ncgio slavery, and it is England that has ei cited tins opinion. English statesmen of all ' paitics felt veiy keenly on the point, and although they at first preached to deaf ears, yet in the end they produced an effect, and have made slavery everywhere something to be excused and apologised for. There is much that is illogical and unreasonable in the -wholesale condemnation of slavery, but, on fhc whole, it is a great gam that there should be a lively popular fooling against slaveiy among almost every European nation except the Spanish But we have now piobably done as mucfi s;ood as we can do. Spain defies us, and boldly nnpoits negroes into Cuba ; and as she, although a minor Power in Europe, has powcilul Euiopean suppoit, we cannot Ueat her as \vc have tieated Brazil, and we shunk horn forcing her to give up the tiafllc she finds so lucrUive It appeals th it tho Spamaids vciy piudently buy the stillest ships as slucis that tliev can get hold of and as none of our cuiiseis on the Afnuin slition can go above seven or eight knots an hour, the fast slavers have an easy time of it It is ludicious that we should spend a million a year and waste countless lives in order to attempt to teach Spam her moial duhcVtthile we know peifectly "u ell that she docs not even pietend to caie for our teaching Such tjood as we could do by our Afncin sqindron appevi-, to have been done It is not to bo regietted that we have made many sacnIkes m older lo pioiluec the couMcleiaWc amount of good we ha\c eflected But so far as ouv squadron has been meant to cieatc a certain bias of public opinion it has done its woik, and so far as it was meant to keep Spain moial against her -wish, it is a faihuc Oui duty may be held to have been dischaigcd, and it is a fair matter for consideration whether mo might not now feel ouisehcs at libcity to abandon altogether our supemsion of the West Coast of Afuca. Whcthci, if our Afncan «ettlemcnts were abandoned .is chocks on the Slave Tiade, they should vet be letamed as keys to the commeico of the intenor, is one of those questions which different persons may answer honestly m voiy difl'eieut ways At least it maybe said that Butish tiadeis value so highly the existence of ti ulmg settlements that few Governments can longer resist thcpressiuc which the coiiimeicial woild ev.ncibos iv order to ha\c these staitmgi points of ontcipnse created. Iti spite of al that has been said about non-intcrfeienco, Sir Iviitheifoid Alcock has managed to get a thousand English soldiers sent to help him in Japan Pailiamcnt is always complaining of Ihedangpis we arc running in China, and of tho unuecessaiy display ot foice which we keep up thoie , and yet session after session pisses an ay, and our occupation of Chinese polls only gets inoie and more established And when we have once begun to hold fortified settlements, the teripta'ion to mleifere in the quariols of tho adjacent tubes comes veiy stiongty over tho minds of oui Consuls and Go vei not s There is alwajs one set of natives who tiy to become poweiful by siding with us, and anothci set ot natives who tiy to become powerful by opposing xis , and when our fiicnds chance to be woistod, and our enemies giow insolent, it is not m the nature of such men as Goveinoi Pme to ent humble pie, and forego the plcasuic of ordci ing about troops and gunboats. So, again, it ia impossible to avoid oflei ing some military help to our colonies. They have been founded, and have flouiishcd, and aie flourishing, because then ultimata connexion w ith the raothor-counliy tempts Englishmen to emigiatc to thorn It is not wow ho keep our colonies attached to us against then vj ,]f — [(, m Uicy who refuse to leave us , and w c gain by this refusal, bee ausc an outlet to our population and a new centre ot trade are furnished by the foundation of colonies on the undoi standing that they are to lemain attached to the mothei-counliy. We cannot possiblvavoul ,omc kind of mtoiforcnco in whit is going on beyond the shores of England. Wo must have ' settlements and colonies, and we must continue to play some pait in the politics of Europe All v, o can do is to avoid gioss blundeisand acts of ob\ ious m]ustico We can steer clear of such follies as lettino; a couple of local attorneys dictate the mode m which our soldicis aio emplojed, and of letting a local Governor diag us . into a wai w ith the Kins of Asn mtcc But it is not easy to get into a light line of policy all at once, an! considerable allowance ought to be made lor the difficulties which the Jlcmc Government lias to encounter, piovided that it keeps cleai of the pci verse obstiuicy so dear to officials, and does not piclcnd, in the face of manifest disasteis, thatcveiy thing is quite ughl and obviously for the best