notwithstanding the dangers which they perceive in theory, the projet relative to the visit, they would still see in its application serious cause of uneasiness.

It cannot be denied that there exists between the subjects of Great Britain and France, and, as it were, blended with the esteem which they mutually inspire, a sentiment of rivalry, which, heightened by numerous and unfortu nate circumstances, has often assumed the character of animosity. It is unfortunately too probable that the mutual exercise of the right of visit at sea would furnish it with new excitements. Whatever precautions may be taken, however mildly it be exercised, the visit must necessarily be a source of disquiet and vexation. Can it be thought that the vessel which believes she can elude it, will not seek to do so by every means? It will then be necessary that the visiting vessel exert force. This force may produce resistance. On the high seas, far from all control, the subjects of the two Powers might be tempted to believe themselves no longer bound by the orders of their own sovereigns; and, listening to the voice of a false point of honor, might take up arms in their defence. The most prudent enactments will be illusory. Will the captain of a ship of war charged with the visit, consent to show his commission to the inconsiderable trader? If not, how is he to be constrained to do so, and what guarantee shall the detained vessel have, that the visit is not an arbitrary act? How prevent, also, the possible infractions of the regulations agreed upon for rendering the visit les vexatious? The trader may indeed complain and demand punishment; but it is known by experience how difficult is the decision of these abuses. Will not the oppressed be often without the means of knowing what officer shall have abused, in his case, the right reserved to the cruizers, or shall have unduly arrogated it to himself? What proof do the incidents bring which pass far from all witnesses, and which each of the parties may represent under a different light? The English Government know, that, when they have themselves wished to punish abuses committed by their ships upon the coast of France, or within the limits of her territorial jurisdiction, they have been prevented by the impossibility of procuring documents sufficiently positive to ascertain the guilty.

These inconveniences, which it would be imprudent to lose sight of receive an additional importance from the probability that they would lead to mutual exasperation; and it is too well known that such sentiments among the people have often disturbed the peace of nations.

If such a misfortune were to follow, would not Europe have a right to demand of the Powers a strict account of those measures which, concerted for the good of humanity, should have compromised the public tranquillity.

There is another consideration, which would have induced the Government of his most Christian majesty to pause, even if they did not see the impossibility of admitting the proposition of the visit. This is in referrence to the mixed commissions which would be empowered to adjudge the questions of prize, in the spirit of the regulations for restricting the trade.

The immediate consequence of such an institution would be to withdraw the subjects of his majesty from their natural judges, and his conscience will not permit him to believe that he has the right to do so. Jurisdiction is, of

all the rights of sovereignty, that which is the most essentially destined to the defence of the subject; and it may be said that it is the only one exclusively for the interest of the latter. There are circumstances in which the common law of Europe admits that the jurisdiction of the sovereign ceases

of right, because he cannot in fact exercise it. It is when a subject commits upon a foreign territory a crime against the laws of the country upon which this territory depends; he is then liable to the application of those laws, and his sovereign, who cannot oppose, tolerates it.

But, except in these circumstances, the sovereign could not consent that his subject should pass under a foreign jurisdiction, In vain would it be alleged that the mixed commission does not exercise its jurisdiction in a crimi nal manner, and that it only pronounces "upon the legality of the seizure of the vessels having slaves illicitly on board."

To pronounce upon the legality of the seizure, is to judge the question asmuch as it is possible to do it; it is to decide that the captured has or has not incurred the penalties attached to the crime which he has committed. His fate is thenceforward fixed.

It matters little that the penalties which he has or has not incurred be determined by the code of his country, or by that of another. When he has undergone the examination of the commission, it only remains to apply this code, or to set him at liberty: he is then in reality judged, and that not by his natural judges. His most Christian majesty, it is repeated, does not be. lieve himself, in conscience, to have the right to sanction such a change in the legislation of his kingdom; and, should he think that this right might belong to him, it is out of all probability that the Powers whose co-operation would be necessary to him, in order to admit of this change, would acknowledge it.

It results, from the preceding observations, that France has done all that depended upon her to bring about the complete abolition of the slave trade; that she perceives in the project proposed by England for suppressing all possible continuation of this odious commerce, dangers which will not permit her to admit it; that, in a word, it appears to her that, to attain one desirable end, for the interests of a portion of mankind, the risk is run of compromising interests still more precious, since they relate to the maintenance of the peace and the repose of Europe.

She has given her opinion upon this subject with the more freedom, in proportion to her anxiety to attain the objects to which her acts of legislation and administration have been directed. She has no separate views, inconsistent with her declarations. The reports, indeed, which announce that the trade is still actively continued on the French territory, are anterior to the establishment of a naval force upon the coast, and to the new instructions sent to Senegal for putting an end to all fraudulent trade. This is perhaps the place to remark, that implicit faith should not be given to the reports brought forward against the authorities of Senegal. The reports, which implicate them so seriously that the accusers ought to be called upon for their proofs, are in part prepared by persons who conceived themselves to have other grounds of complaint against these authorities.

France, moreover, would not feel that she had sufficiently proved her desire to co-operate in the measures of repression against the trade, if she did not indicate, in her turn, new means of effecting it Hitherto, the dispositions made in this respect have been directed against the transport of slaves, since it is principally upon the manner of detaining at sea the vessels employed in this commerce, that they have been concerted. The principle is good, since the length of the passage offers great probability that the illicit traffic may be intercepted But, on the other hand, the uncertainty of the sea, and consequently the hope of escaping observation, as well as the enor

mous benefits it holds out, offer chances, and an attraction, sufficiently powerful for the slave merchants not to be totally discouraged. The measures which would tend to check the commerce of slaves, not in its middle passage, but at its birth and at its termination, that is to say, upon the points where the purchase and sale of the negroes are effected, might effectually contribute, when combined with the other arrangements, to accomplish the salutary work which is intended.

It is proposed then to establish in the comptoirs where the purchase of slaves is habitually made, commissioners charged to notify the same to the government, and empowered to prosecute the offending parties in the public tribunals. There might also be introduced into all colonies where the proprietors are interested in recruiting slaves, regulations like those of the registry bill, to fix the number of blacks existing upon each plantation, and to ascertain, by periodical computations, that the law has not been eluded. The confiscation of the negroes upon each plantation, beyond the number previously declared, (saving those born on the spot) and a heavy fine for each slave clandestinely introduced, might be the punishment inflicted upon the delinquents. These measures, which enter into the interior administration of each government, might, however, be concerted between all; and, instead of mixed commissions, charged with pronouncing upon the culpability of the individuals who import the negroes, committees might be established, charged with the duty of watching the individuals who purchase them, and to make known to the superior authorities of the country the infractions which the inferior agents might show reluctance in prosecuting. These arrangements are in the nature of those which the government of his most Christian majesty might take, without fear to wound the rights of his subjects, and he is ready to come to an understanding in this respect with the Powers who unite their efforts for bringing about the entire abolition of a trade, odious in itself, and which has been stigmatized with general condemnation.

THIRD ENCLOSURE IN No. 11.

Opinion of the Austrian cabinet upon the question of the slave trade.

Since the abolition of the slave trade has been the object of the common. deliberations of the Powers of Europe, the cabinet of Austria has not ceased to devote to this question all the interest which it merits in its great relation with the good of humanity, as well as with the precepts of sound morality and religion. Faithful to the principles solemnly proclaimed in this respect at the period of the congress of Vienna, and to the successive engagements founded upon those bases, Austria, although not able, from her geographical position, to co-operate directly for the success of so meritorious and noble an enterprise, has not less eagerly concurred in all which might advance and perfect it; and it has been with these unalterable sentiments that the minister of Austria has examined, with the most serious attention, the propositions made by the plenipotentiaries of his Britannic Majesty to the present conferences, for completing and extending the system hitherto pursued for attaining the final extinction of the trade, and for ensuring the execution and the efficacy of this system.

His majesty the Emperor is ready to take part in the measures which the allied sovereigns are about to adopt with the cabinet of Rio de Janeiro, to engage it to fix, as soon as possible, the period of definitive abolition.

His Majesty cannot but feel that the sovereign of Brazil may meet, in this transaction, difficulties more real, perhaps, and stronger, than any other Power has had to surmount who has consented to this salutary measure. But he reckons too much upon the loyalty of this sovereign to admit that any obstacles whatever would prevent him from fulfilling a sacred engagement, such as that which he has contracted in the face of the world, by the declaration of the 8th of February, 1815.

With respect to the measures proposed by the British plenipotentiaries, to put an end to the illicit trade, as it appears admitted on all parts that a system of permanent surveillance cannot be effectually established, until the abolition of the trade shall have been generally and definitively pronounced by all the Powers, the Austrian cabinet is of opinion that, in adjourning to that period the ulterior discussion of the measures to be adopted for this purpose, the intermediate time might be usefully employed in reconciling and conciliating all opinions, persuaded, as it is, that, provided the fundamental principle, that of arriving at the universal and effectual abolition of the trade, be never lost sight of, and that each power continues to second, with its utmost efforts, those which the British Government have hitherto used in so honorable a cause, they will ultimately agree upon the most effectual means for securing its full and complete accomplishment.

The Austrian cabinet also desire that the ministerial conference established in London for the consideration of this question, may continue its work in the sense most conformable to the principles by which it has hitherto been guided.

FOURTH ENCLOSURE IN No. 11.

Opinion of the Prussian cabinet on the slave trade question.

Invariably attached to the principles of morality and humanity, which for a long time have demanded the abolition of the slave trade, and faithful to the engagements which they have made to this effect, the Prussian Government is constantly ready to concur in every thing that may contribute to the definitive accomplishment of this noble end.

In consequence, they do not hesitate to accede to the proposition of a combined representation to the court of Brazil, in order to engage it to accelerate, as much as the circumstances and the necessities of its situation may admit, the entire abolition of the trade.

As to the measures of general police that may be adopted to prevent or put a stop to the illicit trade, the Prussian Government cannot dissemble the inseparable inconveniences of the concession of a right of visit, exercised on the high seas; a concession which will become but too easily a source of abuse and misunderstanding, and which would subject peaceable and innocent traders to molestations, of which the idea alone will indispose them perhaps still more than the real mischief.

The Prussian Government, in consequence, believe it to be their duty to give the preference to every measure of precaution and of surveillance, which, being confined to the point of departure, and to the point of arrival, that is, to the coast of Africa, and the colonies interested in favoring these illicit enterprises, will admit of an execution more rigorous and more decisive.

FIFTH ENCLOSURE IN No. 11.

Memorandum (B.)

The plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, after attentively perusing the notes given by the several cabinets on the measures brought forward on the part of the Prince Regent, for effectuating the abolition of the slave trade, cannot dissemble their deep regret that the deliberations of the august assembly which is now about to terminate, are not destined to be marked in the page of history by some more decisive interposition than is likely to take place, in relief of the sufferings of Africa.

They had persuaded themselves that it was reserved for the plenipotentiaries assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle to have completed at once the work of peace in Europe, and to have laid a broad and lasting foundation, on which the deliverance of another great quarter of the globe from a scourge lar more severe than European warfare, in its most aggravated forms, might have been effectuated by establishing an alliance which should for ever deny to the fraudulent slave trader, of whatever nation, the cover of their respective flags for the purposes of his iniquitous traffic. Although disappointed in this hope, they will not despair of ultimately arriving at their object, whilst they have so powerful a cause to advocate, and whilst they can address themselves, not less to the understandings, than to the hearts of those sovereigns, who, when assembled in congress at Vienna, solemnly pronounced upon this question, and devoted their future exertions to the consummation of this work of peace.

They derive additional consolation from the perusal of the documents above referred to; for although they fail them for the present in their conclusion, they nevertheless bear in all their reasonings such homage to the princple, and in some of their details so fully evince the strong sense of duty which animates the august sovereigns in the prosecution of this measure, as to be regarded rather as the precursors of some decided effort for putting an end to this great moral evil, than as indicating on their part any abandonment of a cause, which, in the face of mankind, they have taken under their especial protection. It has been the fate of this question, in every stage of its progress, to have difficulties represented as insurmountable, which, in a little time, have yielded to the perseverance and to the more matured impulses of humanity.

The language in every country has been at times discouraging, and yet the principles of truth and of justice have ultimately triumphed, so as to have left only one great blot in the civilized world at this day unremoved. Every nation, one only excepted, has secured itself from this pollution, and his most faithful majesty has taken steps sufficiently decisive in the same direction, to afford the most encouraging prospect of his determination to deliver his people, without loss of time, from a practice which must degrade them, in the scale of enlightened policy, so long as it shall continue to be tolerated amongst them. It is against the fraudulent slave trader, for the welfare of Africa, that more decisive measures are urgently called for; were it not for his pestilential influence, more than half of that great continent would at this day have been consigned to peaceful habits, and to the pursuits of industry and of innocent commerce. But they are his piratical practices on the coast of Africa, in breach of the laws of every civilized government, which not only vex that extended portion of the globe, but which have undone the work of many years of slow but successful improvement.