delicacy. Ministers showed no hostility towards these new governments: they even gave every facility for friendly intercourse with them; but they had not yet formally acknowledged their inde pendence, or entered into treaties with their rulers. Columbia, though infinitely below Mexico, Peru, and the provinces of the river Plata in importance, had always been in the eyes of the British public the whole of South America; and its fates and situa tion were generally considered as identical with those of the whole continent. The proximity of that district to our West Indian islands the number of British adventurers who had repaired thither the speculations of which many individuals among us had made it the scene and, particularly, the loans which had been raised here for its service had all contributed to create and foster this prejudice. Mr. Zea, the Columbian agent, had published a letter, in which he declared that those would be excluded from the commerce of Columbia, who did not acknowledge her independence. This foolish bravado was regarded as an official declaration of all the South American governments, though they, in truth, were perfect strangers to it; a public dinner was given to Mr. Zea, in which he was com→ plimented as the representative of states who knew nothing of him; and, part of the mercantile community being alarmed, some petitions and representations on the subject were addressed to parlia ment and the ministers. In fur therance of the same views, Mr. Lennard, on the 23rd of July, moved, that" an humble address be presented to his majesty, praying that copies may be laid before

parliament of all correspondence between Mr. Zea or other agents of the Columbian government and his majesty's ambassador at Paris, or the secretary of foreign affairs in England, with respect to the right of the Columbian government to be recognized as independent."

Lord Londonderry opposed the motion, alleging that it was not customary to lay before the House proceedings which had not arrived at any result; and that parliament would place itself in an embarrassing situation, if it interfered with arrangements in the stage of those in question, and took upon itself a responsibility which regularly belonged to government. His majesty's ministers had never refused to entertain any agents of what was called the Columbian government, although such per son had not been received officially; and the representations of such agents had been discussed by government, and made the subject of communication with Spain. There had been every desire, upon the part of government, to cultivate good understanding and friendly intercourse with the provinces of South America. Every right of real value, as regarded their ships and their commerce especially, had been conceded to them; - and upon measures of that character Spain could have no right to interfere with this country. As long as any state of South America continued de facto a government, so long was England entitled to cultivate de facto a friendly feeling and communication with her. Whether it would be advisable at the present moment to establish formal diplomatic arrangements with these countries, was another question; and he doubted whether

the facts of the case were sufficiently within the possession of the hon. mover to enable him to arrive at a just conclusion upon the point. It would be better, he submitted, for the House not to interfere until the matter arrived at such a stage as would enable the hon. member opposite to advise some definite proceeding in it-better for the House not to call for information, until it was prepared to adopt some course upon that information when received. The noble marquis repeatedly assured the House that ministers were disposed to pay every requisite attention to the situation of the South American provinces; and, in answer to a question put to him by sir Robert Wilson, declared, that we were not fettered in our policy towards these Trans-Atlantic states by any treaties with European sovereigns.

Mr. Lennard's motion was rejected by a majority of 53 to 18.

Mr. Wilberforce continued to direct the attention of parliament and the nation to the state of the slave-trade, and to such measures as might lead to its abolition. On the 27th of June, after taking a review of the course which the different governments of Europe had followed, and were following on this subject, he moved an address to the throne, in which the House lamented the inefficacy of all our endeavours to put an end to so inhuman a traffic, reprobated in strong language the negligence of some foreign states, in suppressing it, or their secret, or avowed encouragement of it, and implored his majesty to continue his zealous efforts in the cause of Africa.

This address was agreed to without opposition; as was anoVOL. LXIV.

ther relative to slavery at the Cape of Good Hope, which he moved on the 27th of July, in consequence of his having received information, which induced him to believe, that, unless proper measures were adopted, there was great danger of a slave colony being formed in that quarter. The emigrants, who were now settling, or who had lately settled at the Cape of Good Hope, finding a few old colonists in that very extensive territory who were in possession of slaves, would be very apt to follow a similar course. It was, therefore, requisite to give a sort of general warning to the new settlers, that they must abandon all idea of employing their capital in the purchase of slaves, or of cultivating their possessions by such labour. From the nature, however, of the country in question, from the example afforded by the existence already of slavery in a slight degree; and from the facility there was for introducing slaves both by land and by sea, very rigorous measures of prevention would be necessary. Already, indeed, in the grants of land a condition was inserted, that the soil should not be worked by slaves; but it too frequently happened, that the conditions of such grants were very quickly forgotten: and besides, the condition, if observed, would only prevent the employment of field slaves; and it was universally admitted, that domestic slavery, if it were the cause of less physical suffering to the slave, produced the greater degree of moral depravation in the master. If the condition attached to the grant of land was insufficient to prevent the extension of slavery, no less difficulty would be found in ap[M]

plying the system of registry, which was adopted in our West India settlements. The countries stood under very different circumstances. In the West Indies the registry law almost executed itself; for, as the property and the negroes became forfeited by its violation, every creditor upon an estate was interested in seeing it observed. A man who wanted to borrow money upon his property, knew that borrowing would be impossible, unless the law had been complied with. But none of those incentives to obedience would operate with respect to the Cape emigrants. The possession of slaves by the old settlers would afford temptation and opportunity for the introduction of slaves by the new. In an extensive country, thinly peopled, vigilance (while slavery existed in any degree) would scarcely be able to prevent its fraudulent extension; and, therefore, the only effectual course would be, to abolish slavery in the newly colonized districts as a condition recognized by law, and to make liberty the lex loci. The address, which Mr. Wilberforce moved, and to which the House assented, was very long; but the following paragraphs contain the substance of its representations:

"That this House has learned with great satisfaction that his majesty's government, with a just abhorrence of slavery and a provident dread of the evils which would result from its extension, has made it a condition in the grants of land which it has recently allotted within the new settlements of the colony of the Cape of Good Hope, that no slave labour should be employed in their cultivation.

"Also, that his majesty has

established a registry of the slave population.

"That, nevertheless, from the great extent of the colony-from its contiguity to countries whence slaves may at no distant period be easily procured from the remoteness of many of the farms that are scattered over its surface, and from the thinness of the population, the due execution of all laws enacted for the government of those countries, particularly those for preventing the illicit extension of slavery, must be rendered extremely difficult, more especially when self-interest shall tempt powerfully to the violation of them.

"That the regulation, so justly introduced into the colonial grants, applies only to predial slavery; whereas, domestic slavery, while it is in itself at least as great an evil, would prove a strong temptation to the needy and indolent to procure drudges for their own use, and would operate with a still more pernicious influence on the feelings and habits of the new settlers.

"That, as to the expediency of a registry, the House cannot but fear, that a slave registration for so extensive a colony, comprising thousands of square miles, where the plantations are very thinly scattered, and divided from each other by wide tracts of a desert and unpeopled country, cannot be so constituted and regulated, as materially to check, much less effectually to prevent the fraudulent introduction of slaves, where facilities exist for such introduction.

"That under such circumstances, no effectual means can be devised for preventing abuses injurious to the best interests of

the settlers themselves, pernicious to the natives of Africa, and derogatory to the honour of this country, but the extending, as far as possible, by a fundamental law, to the new African settlements, the same just and liberal principles of colonization, with such exceptions only as the slaves actually in the colony may render necessary, which have been so honourably and beneficially established at Sierra Leone."

In the present year, piracy in the West Indian seas, especially in the neighbourhood of Cuba, rose to such an unwonted height, as called for and received the consideration both of the legislature and the government. There were, however, two difficulties, which could not be easily overcome. The one, that the pirates sailed under the Spanish flag: the other, that they took refuge on the desolate shores of Cuba, where we could not attack them without violating the territory of Spain. The atrocity of the crimes that were perpetrated by the pirates, and the obstacles that prevented us from taking summary vengeance on them, were clearly pointed out in a discussion which arose on a petition from Liverpool, relative to this subject. The petition was presented by Mr. Canning; who, having detailed the contents of the petition, begged to add some facts with which he had been furnished, regarding outrages committed upon British shipping. On the 13th Dec. 1821, when within five miles of Cape San Antonio, a British ship, bound for Liverpool, had been stopped by a crew of armed men, who boarded her, and demanded of the steward, if there were any specie on board. The answer being in the negative, the

man was instantly stabbed by the pirates. They then endeavoured to extort a confession from the captain, and compelled his own crew to hoist him up by the neck to the yard-arm, where he entreated his mate to fasten weights to his feet, that his misery might be more speedily terminated. Of course, this was not allowed, and when taken down and while lying on the deck in a state of almost total insensibility, the wretch, who had stabbed the steward, blew out the brains of the captain. The pirates were all either Spaniards or Portuguese. The right hon. gentleman mentioned other similar trnsactions, and observed that the petitioners had first applied to the Admiralty, which had represented the matter to the court of Spain. No doubt, every step had been taken on the part of the British executive to remedy an evil so outrageous; but the petitioners felt that a time would arrive, if it had not arrived, when the mother country would be unable to redress the grievance committed under the flag of her colonies, and when it would, therefore, be necessary for this government to adopt some course for the protection of the trade of the empire.

Sir G. Cockburn said, that, when these transactions came to the knowledge of government, it sent out instructions to the admiral on the station to seize all vessels, which could not prove their nationality, and which had committed depredations on our trade: a statement was sent in answer to government, that no actual proof could be made of depredations committed by any particular vessel: government sent out fresh orders to the admiral, requiring him to seize all vessels against which rea

sonable cause of suspicion existed. With respect to the depredation committed off Cape St. Antonio, the moment the government heard of that transaction it excited their attention. It appeared that the pirates lay at the point of St. Antonio, in watch for vessels; that they anxiously looked out in order to distinguish merchantmen from ships of war; and that sometimes they made their attack in schooners and sometimes in small boats. So long as our men of war were near the coast, these pirates did not come out, but as soon as they were driven off by winds or currents, the pirates came out in their schooners, and boarded vessels that happened to pass. The land on the west coast of Cuba was jungle, only intersected by small paths, so that if our ships landed their crews the pirates would disperse through the country, and all that could be done would be, to burn their huts, which were of no value. If, however, Spain would send down a force from the Havanna, to attack their piratical settlements on the land side, while we sent a force against them on the sea side, we might bring them to the condign punishment, which he would do the Spanish government the justice of supposing that it wished to inflict. As to the giving convoy to foreign ships, this was what the Admiralty always set their faces against; because it was impossible for the Admiralty to be acquainted with the arrangements between foreign nations as to the right of search, &c., and to give directions, in following which the commanders of our ships could be secure against violations of the law. Before government could take any farther step, it was necessary to wait a reasonable time, to see in

what way the Spaniards meant to act.

The Marquis of Londonderry said, that if the cases of aggression complained of were mere cases of undisguised piracy, there would be no difficulty in dealing with them; but the peculiarity was, that the piracy was perpetrated by vessels having commissions. At the commencement of the contest between Spain and her colonies, these commissions had been issued, not only by the provinces which carried on war against Spain on the sea coast, but by powers which had no ports, particularly by Artigas, whose commissions were sold to cover piracies. In consequence of this, the government had issued orders to seize all vessels sailing under commissions from governments in whose ports they were not fitted out. As to the local governments in South America, they had shown every disposition to keep their cruisers within bounds; and, considering the difficulties of the case, had made great efforts to do justice. But when the vessels sailing under the commissions he had de scribed were seized, it was necessary to prove that they had committed acts of hostility. These orders were at last enlarged, and our ships were authorized to seize on suspicion vessels of the description mentioned. He next came to the particular acts of piracy complained of, which had taken place near Cape St. Antonio, and which were first brought under the notice of his majesty's government in March last. The facts were communicated to him in a letter from the Admiralty, of the 23rd of March, 1822. The first was the case of the Martha; the second was that of the Harborough; the third was the case of the Alex