Since the settlement of Europeans on the continent of America and the
West Indian Islands, a trade in slaves, brought from the African
coast across the Atlantic, has existed to a less or greater extent.
The unfortunate black-skinned sons of Africa were first captured to
supply the loss of the mild and yielding natives of the New World,
destroyed by the avarice and cruelty of their Spanish taskmasters.
The British settlers, seeing what they believed the advantages which
the Spaniards derived from the introduction of this forced labour,
yielded to the temptation, and, entering into the nefarious traffic,
bequeathed to their descendants a curse which is even now weighing
heavily on their prosperity, and may some day overwhelm them. For
centuries, indeed, although many wise and good men saw the
slave-trade in its true light as a deadly outrage against the laws of
God and the rights of man, yet the great mass among the civilized
nations of the world were unconscious of its enormity, or indifferent
to its practices. In those days it was carried on like any other
trade in the present day. Vessels came out for slaves, ran down the
coast, touching at all the principal native settlements, and
purchased such slaves as were offered for sale, until their cargoes
were completed. Sometimes the unsuspicious natives, who came off in
their canoes to trade, were kidnapped in numbers sufficient to form a
cargo. Sometimes a well-armed slaver carried off by force the
negroes on board another slaver, ready to sail, and unable to defend
herself. There were besides, along the coast at convenient points,
forts and stations, established by the British and other European
Governments, for the very purpose of facilitating the slave-trade.
At length, by the indefatigable efforts of Wilberforce and other
philanthropic men, a brighter light dawned upon the eyes of the
British public, as well as that of the United States, and they were
taught to look on the slave-trade in all its dark and revolting
colours.
The truth having once become manifest, the honest-minded of the
people began to look with horror on a system they had so long
sanctioned by their silence, and the desire to put an end to it
became general among them.
On the 25th of March, 1807, the Royal Assent was given to the Bill
for the Total Abolition of the British Slave-trade on and after the
1st of January, 1808. At first only a penalty in money was exacted
from those convicted of slave-dealing; but this, of course, being
found inefficient, in 1811 slave-dealing was made punishable by
transportation for 14 years. This being afterwards discovered to be
a most inadequate check, the offence was declared in 1824 to be
piracy, and the punishment death. This law continued in force till
1837, when the punishment inflicted on British subjects for trading
in slaves was changed to transportation for life.
A squadron of small vessels supposed to be suited for the purpose was
forthwith equipped and sent out to the African coast to capture
slavers wherever they could be found north of the equator, either
embarking their cargoes or prepared to receive them, or with full
ships, or up rivers on the coast, or out at sea; but though much
energy and gallantry were displayed, and though there was an immense
amount of boat-service of a hazardous description, often proving
fatal to those engaging in it, there were, from the year 1819 to 1839
(twenty years), only 333 slave-vessels captured by the squadron,
owing to the inefficiency of the cruisers employed, while from the
year 1839 to 1849 inclusive (eleven years), 744 slave-vessels were
captured. The slave-trade, at the former time, existed on the coast
from Port St. Louis, on the river Senegal, on the north, to Cape St.
Martha, in Benguela, in the south--a coast line of 3,000 miles and
upwards. Till the year 1839 only a few 10-gun brigs and other
inefficient vessels were employed,--indeed, there were never more
than six cruisers at a time on the coast. So inferior, generally,
were the vessels in sailing qualities, and so disastrous was
frequently the result from the deadly climate when their boats were
sent away up the rivers, that the officers were often disheartened,
and persuaded themselves that the plan of blockading the coast would
not put any effectual stop to the slave-trade. When, however, a very
superior class of 16 and 18 gun brigs and sloops-of-war, and,
latterly, of fast screw-steamers fitted for sailing as well as
steaming, were sent out, the state of affairs was completely changed,
and, as we have before remarked, in about half the time twice as many
slavers were captured as under the old system.
The following extracts from the work of the Rev. J. Leighton Wilson,
an American missionary on the Gaboon river, west coast of Africa,
will more clearly prove what the British squadron has done to put an
end to the slave-trade, and the subsequent accounts will show how
they accomplished their work:--
"When the trade became illegal, it was banished from most of the
European settlements; and the Spaniards, Portuguese, and others who
determined to persist in it, notwithstanding its illegality, had to
adopt a new mode of operations.
"They could no longer perform their usual voyages along the coast
without being seized as prizes, and having their property
confiscated. It became necessary, therefore, to erect barracoons on
those parts of the coast where slaves could be collected with the
greatest ease and in the largest numbers; and at the appointed time
the vessels returned and took away these slaves without being
detained on the coast more than twenty-four hours, and in some cases
only a single night. The points thus occupied at one time could not
have been less than forty or fifty.
"The English have never had any treaties with the Spanish,
Portuguese, or Brazilian governments that would authorize them to
destroy these barracoons. Hence they have been compelled to do what
they could by guarding the coast and seizing slave-vessels in the
vicinity of these barracoons. But as the numbers of the places
occupied by the slave-trade greatly exceeded the number of cruisers
employed to watch them, and were seldom less than fifty or a hundred
miles apart, it will be readily seen that the cruisers had a
difficult task to perform, and the frequent escape of slavers was
inevitable. At the same time the profits of the trade were so great,
that the escape of a single slaver would cover the profits of three
captures.
"Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, such have been the
diligence and activity of the officers of the squadron, that they
have forced this trade out of more than three-fourths of the
strongholds which it once occupied.
"From the Senegal river, on the borders of the Great Desert, to Cape
Lopez, a few miles south of the equator, a distance coastwise of
something like 2,500 miles, there is now no trade in slaves whatever.
In fact, the trade is now confined to what is called the Congo
country, in which there are not more than eight or ten points where
slaves are collected, and from which they are shipped. Thus more
than 2,000 miles of the frontiers of the best and fairest portion of
the African continent has been relieved from this unparalleled
scourge, and perhaps more than 20,000,000 of human beings in
banishment have been restored to comparative peace and happiness by
the operations of the squadron along the coast."
"The Bight of Biafra, into which run the rivers Benin, Bonny, Brass,
Calabar, and Cameroons, once the chief seat of the trade, having been
subjected for several successive years to a virtual blockade [adds
Mr. Wilson], not only did the Spaniards and Portuguese find
themselves under the necessity of relinquishing it, but at the same
time the natives saw that they could derive a larger and more certain
profit from lawful commerce, and consequently turned their attention
to the manufacture of palm-oil. The number of vessels now engaged in
carrying on a lawful trade in these rivers is between forty and
fifty; and so decided are the advantages reaped by the natives from
this change in their commercial affairs, it is not believed they
would ever revert to it again, even if all outward restraints were
taken away." "Palm-oil, however, is only one of a great variety of
other products of the country equally valuable and capable of quite
as much augmentation. Regarded merely in a selfish point of view,
for its commercial results, England will be repaid for every dollar
she has expended upon this enterprise, not only by the market she
will have created in Africa for her manufactures, but likewise in the
immense amount of valuable products that will be brought to her own
shores from that country. But if these results acquire importance in
connexion with commercial enterprise, how must they appear when
contemplated in the light of humanity! We cannot contemplate this
sudden and wonderful development of commerce in any other light than
as one of those efficient agencies employed by Providence, not only
to raise up Africa from the lowest depths of barbarism, but to place
her on a footing of respectability with the most favoured nations of
the earth." The squadron has also put down piracy most completely,
and has enabled a number of settlements belonging to various nations
to exist and flourish. But it has done more than that, it has aided
in protecting a number of zealous workers in Christ's vineyard, who
have been employed in sowing the seeds of the gospel in the land.
"To the south of Sierra Leone, and between that and the Equator, that
part of the coast where the efforts of the squadron to put down the
slave-trade have been most successful, there have been founded, in
fifteen or sixteen years, as many as twelve independent missions, at
the distance of 100 or 200 miles from each other, embracing three
times that number of distinct stations along the coast, and a still
greater number of out-stations in the interior. The gospel is
statedly preached to thousands and hundreds of thousands, not only
along the frontier regions, but far in the interior. More than
10,000 youths are now receiving a Christian education in the schools
connected with these missions, and will ere long be sent forth to
spread the blessings of education and Christianity far and near among
the benighted inhabitants of the land."
_In all these varied ways has the British squadron rendered important
service to the cause of humanity. It has put down piracy on the
African seas; has restored peace and tranquillity to a line of
sea-coast of more than_ 2,000 _miles; has called into existence a
large and flourishing commerce, and, at the same time, has thrown the
shield of its protection over the cause of Christian Missions, and
all the varied agency that has been employed to promote the cause of
humanity and civilization among the benighted inhabitants of this
great continent_. IF THESE GREAT OBJECTS ARE NOT WORTHY OF BRITISH
PHILANTHROPY, WE KNOW NOT WHERE TO FIND THOSE THAT ARE.
The Committee appointed by the Lords of Parliament, also report to
the same effect, from the evidence collected from a number of
officers employed on the coast, and other persons acquainted with the
country:--
"With respect to the effect of the squadron on the coast of Africa,
it appears, in the first place, that all other means of direct
impression, as well as all moral influences which tend to the same
result (such as the extension of Christianity and commerce, the
return of liberated Africans and others to their native countries,
&c.), depend on its maintenance; that, in proportion to its
efficiency, these become more widely spread and more deeply rooted;
but, if withdrawn, or materially reduced, that these secondary means
could not continue to exist.
"With regard to the actual and direct effect of the squadron in
suppressing the slave-trade, it has been proved that, when its
operations began, the traffic extended over almost every part of
Africa, from the Equator, as far as Cape Verde, a distance of nearly
2,500 miles. To this quarter, the efforts of the cruisers were
entirely confined from 1815 to 1839; the slave-trade south of the
Equator, from which Brazil was almost altogether supplied, being
prosecuted with perfect security, and indeed protection. Yet, within
this time, the slave-trade has been expelled from every quarter,
north of the line, except from the Bight of Benin, a space of less
than 300 miles. In the Bight of Biafra, (in which 15,000 slaves per
annum were very recently exported from the river Bonny alone, while a
large export also took place from the Old and the New Calabar, the
Cameroons and other rivers), the slave-trade has been entirely
extinguished. Complete treaties, enabling the British force to land
and put it down, if resumed, have been concluded; and a consul,
resident at Fernando Po, periodically visiting these rivers, and
assisted by an occasional visit from a vessel of war, will, it is
expected, be able to secure their fulfilment. In the place of the
slave-trade, a great increasing commerce is springing up in this
bight.
"Mission stations have been established, and the comparatively small
means which suffice to prevent the revival of the slave-trade,
compared with those which were required to put it down, show that
wherever the slave-trade has once been effectively suppressed, a
large reduction of force may follow, without danger of its revival.
"On the Gold Coast the influence of the English forts has entirely
eradicated the traffic. At Cape Palmas, to the northward, as far as
Cape Mount, the settlements of Liberia have been equally efficacious
to that end.
"At Gallinas, under the treaty of 1840 (the operation of which was
long suspended by a doubt as to the legality of destroying
factories), the slave-trade has been recently entirely rooted out,
mainly by the assistance of the surrounding natives. In this quarter
a Government agent or consul on shore, aided by the presence of a
single cruiser, will, there is reason to hope, prevent the
slave-trade breaking out afresh; so that here, as well as in the
Bight of Biafra, effectual repression may be followed by a great
reduction of force.
"Further north, the natives themselves have risen against the
traffic, requesting the captain of a cruiser to land and destroy the
factories. A profitable trade has sprung up in its place, and the
Sierra Leone Commissioners report that not a slave has been shipped
for the preceding twelvemonth.
"To the south of the Equator the continuance of the slave-trade is
owing partly to the shorter period during which repressive measures
have been tried; partly to the inadequacy of the force which has
hitherto been employed in that quarter; and in some degree to the
assistance derived from the occasional connivance of certain of the
authorities in the colonies of Portugal. But there is no reason to
doubt that an adequate force, employed on the best system, would soon
reduce that traffic to a very small amount.
"The general tenor of the evidence establishes, beyond all doubt,
first, that the English cruisers have greatly checked and crippled
the slave-trade; secondly, that their removal would be the signal for
its breaking out with unexampled vigour at every available port along
the whole sea-board; thirdly, that this would lead, amongst other
results, to the whole coast swarming with piratical vessels, which
would utterly destroy the legitimate trade, now daily increasing in
value, between Great Britain and Africa; whilst all the beginnings of
civilization, and all attempts to Christianize Africa, would be
wholly defeated and destroyed; also that the legitimate trade cannot
coexist with the slave-trade; but that if the slave-trade be
suppressed for any lengthened period, its revival would be prevented
by the lawful trade."
The following description of the barracoons at Gallinas, and of
slave-vessels, empty and full, is taken chiefly from Captain Forbes'
account of the African coast blockade, a service we may feel assured
as important as any on which our navy is employed.