De la part de l'Emir el Moumenin Mahomadou au Gouverneur, salut:

Cette lettre a pour but de vous informer que j'accepte moi-même ce qu'ont accepté le Fouta, le Toro et le Damga, qu'il m'en advienne du bien ou du mal, que j'en sois amoindri ou agrandi.

CORRESPONDENCE between Great Britain, France, and The United States, relative to the Right of Visit.*—1858, 1859.

No. 1.-Lord Napier to the Earl of Malmesbury.-(Rec. May 10.) (Extract.) Washington, April 19, 1858.

I HAVE the honour to transmit to your Lordship herewith a note addressed to Her Majesty's Legation by the Secretary of State in reply to various communications which I have made to the Government of The United States, under the instructions of the Earl of Clarendon, respecting the fraudulent adoption of the American flag in the prosecution of the African Slave Trade.

The Government of The United States will maintain a squadron of the force prescribed by Treaty.

Your Lordship will observe that General Cass recommends restrictive measures on the coast of Cuba, the only remaining market to which the Slave Trade is directed. He also refers with commendation to that Article in the Treaty of 1842, by which the Contracting Parties engage to use their remonstrances with the Governments which do not prevent the exercise of the forbidden traffic in their dominions.

In consequence of these observations, I have expressed to General Cass my hope that he would enable me to state to your Lordship that The United States' Government would despatch a naval force to the coast of Cuba; for I apprehended that the slavers, in approaching that island, would almost invariably hoist the flag of The United States, and thus elude the inspection of Her Majesty's cruizers. He had indicated the spot at which the remedy could be effectually applied; would he assist in applying it? I added that IIer Majesty's Government had already anticipated the views of the American Cabinet, and had sent three or four gunboats or light steamers to the Cuban waters.

General Cass replied that he could not promise to send any vessel to act against the slavers on the coast of Cuba; and on my pressing the inconsistency of his position, he answered that this was not only a question of what was right, but of what was possible. Here I must grant that the Secretary of State did not speak with

*Laid before Parliament, 1859.

out valid cause. The American navy is ill supplied with light vessels, and it may be doubted whether Congress would sanction any pecuniary appropriation for the purpose indicated.

Recalling the Article of the Ashburton Treaty alluded to above, I inquired whether General Cass would state to me officially that the Government of The United States had ever remonstrated with that of Spain in respect to the importation of enslaved negroes in the island of Cuba; and moreover, whether he would officially engage to do so at the present time.

General Cass replied that he presumed such remonstrances might have been offered. He did not know for certain that they had been so, nor could he at that moment promise to make the desired representations to the Cabinet of Madrid. He did not see, however, any objection to such a step, and it was certainly prescribed by the terms of the Treaty.

The Earl of Malmesbury.

(Inclosure 1.)—General Cass to Lord Napier.

NAPIER.

MY LORD, Washington, April 10, 1858. YOUR several letters respecting the African Slave Trade have been received at this department, but I have been prevented from answering them at an earlier day by the pressure of other duties, and by the difficulty of procuring information, not easily attainable, but necessary for their proper consideration. They have been submitted to the President, and I am instructed to communicate to your Lordship his views on the subjects they present for the determination of this Government.

While I concur with your Lordship in the opinion that the efforts of your Government have been unceasing for the extinction of this traffic, still I must be permitted to say, that its hope of the "hearty co-operation of the naval forces of The United States " might safely have been entertained, without appealing to the example of Great Britain. The officers of the Navy of The United States need no encomium from me, nor shall I pronounce one upon them. But I assure your Lordship, that when assigned to the irksome task of watching a long, desolate, and unhealthy coast, they will perform their duty, honourably and efficiently, without needing any other motive of action but that which a sense of duty inspires. Such devotion to the service is a part of their character and of the history of their country.

The United States have not been less anxious than Great Britain, for the extermination of this commerce in enslaved Africans, and they have given the most substantial proofs of this disposition, by acts both of legislation and of administration. If the American Government was not the first, it was among the first, to prohibit by

legal enactments, and to prevent by severe punishment, the longer continuation of this traffic, which had become repugnant to the opinion and feelings of the age. Lord Brougham, in a debate in the British House of Lords, when this subject was referred to, honourably and truly remarked, that "it should be borne in mind that The United States, at the very earliest period they were enabled to do so by the Federal Union, had adopted the abolition of the Slave Trade, and were, in fact, the first to make it piracy for any one of its subjects to carry it on."

But the best method of effecting the object, is a practicable problem of very difficult solution. The obstacles in its way were at first overlooked in the sanguine anticipations which were indulged of immediate success. Experience has come to test the measures proposed, and they have been found inadequate to the extinction of the evil. So much so that, in the opinion of your Government, its "present activity" demands increased exertions on the part of The United States, with a view to accomplish the object. Those exertions, it is suggested, should be directed to the coast of Africa, in order to render the blockade more effectual, and especially to examine and deal with vessels bearing the American flag and suspected of being engaged in this trade.

This system of a joint blockade has been pursued for some years, and the benefit it has produced bears no reasonable proportion, I regret to say, to the expenditure of life and treasure it has cost; but this failure need not discourage the anxious hopes of Christendom.

There is another method of proceeding, without the dangers, and difficulties, and inefficiency which beset a blockade, and which is sure to succeed if adopted and persevered in, and that is, to close the slave-marts of the world, or rather of the island of Cuba, which is now almost the only region where the slave-dealer can find a market. If these unfortunate victims could not be sold, they would not be bought. To shut the ports of Cuba to their entrance, is to shut the ports of Africa to their departure; and to effect this, nothing would seem to be wanting but the cordial co-operation of the Spanish Government. The example of The United States is sufficient to show that, however extensive a country may be, it can be rendered inaccessible to this evil by a sound state of public opinion, and by rigid laws rigidly executed. The introduction of a slave into this country is a fact which I believe the present generation has not witnessed. And Brazil also, with her long line of maritime frontier, has succeeded, by her legislation and by the faithful execution of it, in rescuing herself from the reproach of participating in this great crime as well national as individual. And it is due to the honourable course of the Imperial Government to

state that, on the application of The United States, it has lent its aid towards procuring evidence necessary for the conviction of persons, prosecuted in this country for the offence of slave-trading. The conventional arrangements which exist between Great Britain and France and Spain for their mutual co-operation in the suppression of the Slave Trade, are very imperfectly known to me; but it is understood that Spain has entered into engagements with Great Britain, if not with France also, that she will use her best exertions to prevent the importation of slaves into her dominions. This pledge, if given, has certainly not been redeemed, though it is difficult to believe that the Spanish Government would resist or neglect the firm remonstrances of these two great Powers, or even Great Britain alone, if she alone has the right, by Treaty stipulations, to demand of Spain the faithful performance of duties which she has voluntarily assumed. Upon the course of the Spanish Government far more depends than upon the most rigorous blockade of the African coast.

The United States have no suggestions to make respecting the most expedient measures to adopt in Africa, with a view to aid the operations of the squadrons employed by our respective Governments, or, instead of them, should the conviction of their inadequacy to effect the desired object induce the discontinuance of their services. But other means have been suggested by persons intimately acquainted with the slave coast, and who have watched the Slave Trade operations, and which offer encouraging prospects of success, if adopted. These suggestions relate to the extension and improvement of the free colonial establishments in that region, so as to create barriers at the most exposed points, and also to the construction of small military posts or blockhouses, garrisoned from the acclimated population, at or near the places to which the course of the trade has been directed, and where the means of interchange are to be found.

The negotiators of the Ashburton Treaty seem to have been among the few who doubted the efficacy of a blockade for the suppression of this Trade. Their provisions, as shown by Article IX of the Treaty, have been strikingly confirmed by experience.

Whereas, notwithstanding all efforts which may be made on the coast of Africa for suppressing the Slave Trade, the facilities for carrying on that traffic, and avoiding the vigilance of cruizers, by the fraudulent use of flags, and other means, are so great, and the temptations for pursuing it, while a market can be found for slaves, so strong, as that the desired result may be long delayed unless all markets be shut against the purchase of African negroes, the parties to this Treaty agree that they will unite in all becoming representations, and remonstrances, with any and all Powers within whose dominions such markets are allowed to exist; and that they will

urge upon all such Powers the propriety and duty of closing such markets effectually, at once, and for ever."

The obstacles in the way of the successful operation of the blockade system have been rendered sufficiently obvious by the experiment that has been made. The extent and indentations of the coast, the insalubrity of the climate, the paucity of the civilized settlements, and the want of co-operation on the part of the native population, together with the measures resorted to by the slavetraders, render it difficult, almost impracticable indeed, hermetically to close this long sea-margin, occupying the tropical regions of the continent.

But there are other causes in operation tending to affect the hopes heretofore so generally indulged, of the success of blockading squadrons upon the coast of Africa. The same state of things which has stimulated this trade into renewed activity, by the increased profits attending it, has produced a marked effect upon public opinion in Europe, and may lead to a relaxation in the measures for its suppression. The deficiency of labour in the tropical possessions of England and France, and the consequent falling off in their valuable products, now constitute a subject of anxious inquiry in both countries. The lamentable condition to which those once rich and flourishing colonies have been reduced under expectations which have not been realized, and the indolence and distress of the emancipated population, present matters of grave reflection, as well for the statesman as for the philanthropist. Means are in progress to remedy the evil, by the importation of labourers, but of their precise nature, and of the extent to which they have been, or are proposed to be carried, the information which has reached me is not as definite as is desirable. Independently of the supplies procured in other quarters of the globe, it is known that measures, with this view, have been taken in France, and have met with the approbation of the Government, for furnishing their colonies with labourers by "African emigration," as it is called; and that not only "freemen" may be engaged, but those "also who have been previously slaves." It is known that communications upon the subject have passed between the British and French Governments, and that the former "would not object to the French scheme, while the wants of British colonies are being supplied by the coolie trade." It is also known, that the British Government apprehending this process of supply might prove an "indirect obstacle" to the extinction of the Slave Trade, has proposed to the Government of France to substitute "Indian emigration for African emigration;" and that this suggestion is now a subject of discussion between the two Governments. Whatever guards may be thrown around this plan of agricultural relief, it is still a doubtful experiment