EUROPEAN COLONIAL POLICY. 8PANISH AND ENGLISH RESTRICTIONS UPON TRADE AND COM. It is difficult, at the present day, to comprehend the blindness of the European nations to their own interests, and those of their colonies, as exhibited in the prohibitions and restrictions once universally imposed upon trade and commerce. Experienced politicians must have foreseen the probable tendency of that short-sighted policy which, for the sake of present gain, was willing to destroy all identity between the parent states and their colonies, and to alienate the affections of a vast population, whose loyalty, gratitude, and friendship, by the exercise of a little forbearance, might have been retained for many generations. We have had occasion, elsewhere, to speak more particularly of the insufferable tyranny of Spain in all the dealings with her colonies in those of England, although the domestic privileges of the community were not so openly and grossly violated, there yet existed restraints on manufactures and trade, which, considering the difference in natural character, were hardly less galling. The most jealous care was taken to discourage the development of all internal resources which might interfere with British manufacture or produce; British vessels must be employed, and an English market sought, regardless of the interests of the merchant and the requirements of trade. Individual selfishness alone can account for the pursuance of such a policy, and we must conclude that those in VOL. IV. 43 power foresaw the consequences of their proceedings, but trusted to reap the benefits in their own persons, leaving retribution to be visited upon their posterity. The temptations held out to the contraband trader were sufficiently great for the incurrence of heavy risks, and the connivance of the home government at such irregularities, so far as they only affected the interest of a rival nation, gave special impetus to their commission. Severities practised upon offenders when detected, and mutual hostility engendered by continual conflict of claims, resulted in wars between the old countries, the burden of which fell most heavily upon the infant colonies, whose whole energies were required to overcome the natural difficulties of their situation. By the "assiento" treaty, the privileges of which were made over to the celebrated South Sea Company, Spain conceded to England a limited right to transport slaves into the colonies of the former nation. This gave great impetus to the traffic, and so far was the community blinded by present interest to the claims of humanity and true policy, that it was generally "accounted a genteel employment," reflecting no discredit upon those who systematically pursued it. It is a singular thing how far the opinions of men, and how much farther their conduct, receive direction from custom. However much we may condemn the evils of a system, before denouncing its individual supporters, we should do well to inquire what would have been our own course of conduct had we passed our lives subject to the same influences, and dependent upon the same interests. Statistics of the proportion of those who have freed their slaves, during their own lives, from conscientious scruples, as compared with the whole slave-holding population, would furnish every man with a fair criterion for estimating the extent of his own disinterestedness. The treatment of slaves is, of course, as variant as the character of their owners, but where the institution of slavery exists, all, with a few rare exceptions, who can avail themselves of its convenience, openly support it. In the Northern United States it existed until the influx of free labourers reduced the value of slave-labour, and created a majority in the community of those whose interests were directly opposed to the continuance of the system. We may venture to predict that no other influence than this will ever avail to produce a similar result in the southern states. Self-interest, when directly appealed to, must ever prevail with the majority, until mankind shall have made an advance in benevolence and a sense of justice, beyond any present indications. The manner of procuring negroes on the African coast, and of their conveyance to the shores of America, has undergone no material change from the period of their first introduction to the present day. The extent of coast upon which they can be procured, and the convenience of legal markets, have indeed been curtailed; but the unfortunates now brought over to the island of Cuba, are procured by the same species of traffic, confined in the same limited space on their passage, and subject to the same sufferings from short allowance and tempestuous weather, as in former times. Still are children kidnapped by strangers or sold by their relations; the same rude regulations still render one negro a slave to his fellow in his native land; one tribe may yet, as of old, make war upon another, upon the annual unfolding of a certain flower, for the sake of procuring prisoners. The trade, carried on mostly by British merchants, proved as profitable to the ship-owners as acceptable to the colonists. It is computed that no less than three hundred thousand negroes were imported into the original states during their continuance as colonies. A vastly larger number were brought over in English bottoms, to the French and Spanish colonies. Mr. Bancroft's estimate is as follows: "We shall not err very much, if, for the century previous to the prohibition of the slave-trade by the American congress, in 1776, we assume the number imported by the English into the Spanish, French, and English West Indies, as well as the English continental colonies, to have been, collectively, nearly three millions; to which are to be added more than a quarter of a million purchased in Africa, and thrown into the Atlantic on the passage. The gross returns to English merchants for the whole traffic in that number of slaves, may have been not far from four hundred millions of dollars." The question as to the exact bearing of the laws of England upon *A negro having a lien upon his own brother, for a debt, or some other cause, brought him on board a slaver, and concluded a bargain for him. As the vendor, however, was about to leave the vessel, he was informed that he might keep his brother company, and was presently clapped under hatches with the rest. The Rev. John Newton, who was long engaged in the slave-trade, as master of a vessel, says: "It often happens that the man who sells another on board a ship, is himself bought and sold in the same manner, and perhaps in the same vessel, before the week is ended." the subject of slavery, was long a questio vexata. The institution had a gradual origin by custom, scarcely recognized, and never directly supported by legislative enactments. In the courts great difference of opinion prevailed, but the general legality of the system was maintained by their decisions, it being declared a valid custom. As has been remarked, such a custom would hardly possess all the requisites for validity laid down by Blackstone, viz: that it should be a "good custom," for "malus usus abolendus est," that it should have existed "so long that the memory of man runneth not to the contrary;" that it should have been "continued," without interruption; that it should be "peaceable," "reasonable," "certain," "compulsory," and "consistent." About the middle of the past century, the slave-trade, freed from restrictive laws, recognized in its legality by decisions of courts, and open to every adventurer, flourished to an extent never known before or since. The trade was the object of special attention to the British government, by which the forts on the coast of Africa were maintained. Slaves were even allowed to be taken to England, and the right of their masters to hold them in servitude on British soil was definitely acknowledged by the most able judicial authorities. Notwithstanding the immense importation of negroes, the constant call for labourers was met, especially in Virginia and Pennsylvania, by the immigration of apprentices, or "redemptioners," being whites of the poorer class, who were bound to service for a term of years. To these, grants of land and temporary supplies were secured by law at the end of their term, but during its continuance they were substantially in the condition of slaves. |