Monarques et les Peuples prennent bien garde que l'injustice et l'immoralité d'une guerre, quelqu'heureux qu'en soient apparemment les résultats, ne peuvent jamais laisser d'être punies tôt ou tard par les lois invariables de l'ordre éternel, que le Suprême Arbitre du monde a prescrites à tous les êtres, et auxquelles ni la force, ni la grandeur, ni aucun pouvoir sur la terre, ne sauraient jamais se soustraire. Lisbonne, le 15 Décembre 1820.

CORRESPONDENCE between The United States and Spain and Great Britain, on the subject of the African Slave Trude.-1818 to 1820.

Report of the Secretary of State.

Department of State, 4th January, 1821. THE Secretary of State, to whom has been referred the Resolution of the House of Representatives, of the 4th ult. requesting the communication to that House of any Correspondence that the President does not deem it inexpedient to disclose, which may have existed between the Executive of The United States, and the Government of any of the Maritime Powers of Europe, in relation to the African Slave Trade, has the honour of submitting Copies of the Papers requested by the Resolution. With the exception of a Note from the late Spanish Minister Onis, communicating a Copy of the Treaty between Spain. and Great Britain, on this subject, the only Government of Europe with whom there has been such Correspondence is that of Great Britain; and these Papers contain all that has passed between them on the subject, in writing. Since the arrival of Mr. Canning, various informal Conferences between him and the Secretary of State have been held, in which the proposals, on the part of Great Britain, have been fully discussed, without effecting a removal of the objections upon which the President had, in the first instance, found himself under the necessity of declining them. They have not yet terminated, nor have any written Communications passed on the subject, with the exception of the Note from Mr. Canning, and the answer to it, herewith submitted, both of a date subsequent to that of the Resolution of the House.

No.

5. Viscount Castlereagh to Mr. Rush

6. Mr. Rush to Viscount Castlereagh

7. Mr. Adams to Messrs. Gallatin and Rush..

8. Mr. Rush to Viscount Castlereagh

9. Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams....

10. Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams

11. Mr. Stratford Canning to Mr. Adams......... 12. Mr. Adams to Mr. Stratford Canning

SIR,

(1.)-Don Luis de Onis to Mr. Adams.-(Translation.)

Washington, 14th May, 1818. THE introduction of Negro Slaves into America was one of the earliest measures adopted by the august Ancestors of the King, my Master, for the improvement and prosperity of those vast Dominions, very shortly after their discovery. The total inaptitude of the Indians to various useful, but painful labours, the result of their ignorance of all the conveniences of life, and their imperfect progress in civil society, made it necessary to have recourse to strong and active labourers for breaking up and cultivating the earth. With the double view of stimulating them to active exertion, and of promoting the population of those Countries, a measure was resorted to by Spain, which, although repugnant to her feelings, is not to be considered as having originated the system of Slavery, but as having materially alleviated the evils of that which already existed, in consequence of a barbarous practice of the Africans, upon saving the lives of a considerable portion of the captives in War, whom they formerly put to death. By the introduction of this system, the Negroes, far from suffering additional evils, or being subjected, while in a state of Slavery to a more painful life than when possessed of freedom in their own Country, obtained the inestimable advantage of a knowledge of the true God, and of all the benefits attendant on civilization.

The benevolent feelings of the Sovereigns of Spain did not, however, at any time permit their Subjects to carry on this trade but by special License; and in the years 1789, 1798, and on the 22d of April, 1804, certain limited periods were fixed for the importation of Slaves. Although the last term had not expired when His Majesty our Lord Don Ferdinand the VIIth was restored to the Throne, of which a perfidious Usurper had attempted to deprive him; His Majesty, on resuming the reins of Government, soon perceived that those remote Countries had become a prey to civil feuds; and, in reflecting on the most effectual means of restoring order, and affording them all the encouragement of which they are susceptible, His Majesty discovered that the numbers of the Native and Free Negroes had prodigiously

increased under the mild regimen of the Government, and the humane treatment of the Spanish Slave Owners,-that the white Population had also greatly increased; that the climate is not so noxious to them as it was before the lands were cleared; and, finally, that the advantages resulting to the Inhabitants of Africa, in being transported to cultivated Countries, are no longer so decided and exclusive, since England and The United States have engaged in the noble undertaking of civilizing them in their native Country.

All these considerations, combining with the desire entertained by His Majesty of co-operating with the Powers of Europe in putting au end to this traffic, which, if indefinitely continued, might involve them all in the most serious evils, have determined His Majesty to conclude a Treaty with the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, by which the Abolition of the Slave Trade is stipulated and agreed on, under certain regulations; and I have received his commands to deliver to the President a Copy of the same,* His Majesty feeling confident that a measure so completely in harmony with the sentiments of this Government, and of all the Inhabitants of this Republic, cannot fail to be agreeable to him.

In the discharge of this satisfactory duty, I now transmit you the aforesaid Copy of the Treaty, which I request you will be pleased to lay before the President; and I have the honour to renew, &c.

God preserve you many years! The Hon. John Quincy Adams.

(Extract.)

(2).—Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams.

LUIS DE ONIS.

London, 18th February, 1818. You will probably have perceived, by the proceedings in the House of Commons, that Treaties have been formed between this Government and both Spain and Portugal,* securing, as far as may be done by Treaty, the final Abolition, after a specified time, not very remote, of the Slave Trade. Thus is a last hand to be put to the work of America, whose Legislators led the way, with Europe against them, in this transcendant moral reform. But it is a triumph, which as little the Courts as the Public of Europe seem willing, in any shape, to acknowledge. The palm is claimed by others. America is even placed in fault. In his speech on the Spanish Treaty, delivered in the House of Commons, on the 8th instant, Lord Castlereagh observed, that it was in vain for Britain, alone, to shut the door of her Colonies against the Slave Trade; for that, unless there was a concert of exclusion, the other Islands of the West Indies "and the southern Provinces of The United States would become the asylum and depot of it." I gladly caught the opportunity of this accidental meeting with Lord Castlereagh, to say what could not have been otherwise than

→See Commercial Treaties. Vol. 2.

acceptable to the zeal for Abolition. I stated the nature of our Laws. I said, I felt sure that he would hear from me with pleasure, that it was upwards of 9 years since the traffic had been abolished throughout the Union; and that, so far had our Acts of Congress carried the prohibition, that to import even a single Slave into any of the States had, during the same period, been denounced as an offence, and subjected to unusually rigorous penalties of fine and imprisonment. His Lordship admitted the prohibitions, but intimated fears lest we could not enforce them, alluding to the recent state of things at Amelia. In the end, he invited me to look into all their Conventions with other Powers upon this subject, with a view to future conversation; adding, that he was well disposed himself to a proper concert of action between our 2 Governments, for the more effectual extirpation of the traffic.

I shall look into the Conventions accordingly, and wait the renewal of the topic. Whether policy would dictate any concert, is a point upon which, not being instructed, I will not presume to give any opinion. But I hope I do not misjudge in thinking that, for the present, I am merely bound to listen to, without seeking, any further conversation. I will take care punctually to communicate, for the President's information, whatever may be said to me, in like manner as my duty devolves it upon me to transmit this first sentiment so cursorily thrown out by Lord Castlereagh. It will be understood, that in adverting to our municipal prohibitions, I intended no advance to the point of National co-operation. It was barely for the sake of an incidental and gratuitous vindication, after a public remark, which, to say no more, was susceptible of unjust interpretations. On his allusion to Amelia Island, I reminded him that it was the very anxiety to prevent the illicit introduction of Slaves, that had formed a ruling motive with the President for breaking up, with the public force itself, the establishment at that place. The Hon. J. Q. Adams.

(Extract.)

RICHARD RUSH.

(3.)-Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams.

London, 15th April, 1818. HE (Lord Castlereagh) next spoke of the Slave Trade. The Government of Great Britain felt, he said, an increasing desire that the Government of The United States should lend itself to the measures of regulation going forward in Europe for its complete extirpation. These measures mean, in effect, a reciprocal submission to the right of search. He explained, by saying, that only to a limited number of the armed Vessels of each of the Maritime States would a power to search be deputed, while the exercise of it would be strictly forbidden to all others. It was contemplated, he continued, to form, out of an association of these armed Vessels, a species of Naval Police,

to be stationed chiefly in the African seas, and from whose harmonious and co-operating efforts the best results were anticipated. He added, that no peculiar structure or previous appearances in the Vessel searched, no presence of irons, or other presumptions of criminal intention, nothing but the actual finding of Slaves on board, was ever to authorize a seizure or detention. He said that they had lately pressed France upon the subject, and that there was no doubt of her eventual agreement. The recent vote in both her Chambers, on the broad principle of Abolition, he regarded as a full pledge of her ulterior steps.

I replied, that I was sure that the President would listen with an ear the most liberal to whatever distinct proposals were made, more especially as The United States had been long awake, as well to the moral guilt as to the political and social evils of the traffic, and had, as was known, aimed against it the denunciations of their own Laws. The distinct propositions, his Lordship gave me reason to think, would be made known, before long, through Mr. Bagot. The Hon. J. Q. Adams.

(Extract.)

RICHARD RUSH.

(4.)-Mr. Rush to Mr. Adams.

London, 24th June, 1818.

IN 2 former Despatches I have mentioned what Lord Castlereagh has said to me relative to the Slave Trade. In my interview with him on the 11th of this month, he spoke of it in a manner more formal and definitive.

He first alluded to the late Treaties concluded between Great Britain and several of the Powers of Europe upon this subject. Entering into conversation upon their particular nature and provisions, he said that the period had arrived when it was the wish of the British Government, to invite the Government of The United States to join in the measures which Europe was so generally adopting, for the more perfect abolition of this traffic, and that it was now his design to submit through me Proposals to this effect. It will be perceived by my Despatch of the 15th April, that, at that period, it had been contemplated to make them through the channel of the English Mission at Washington. What may have led to a change in this respect, his Lordship did not state, nor did I deem it material to inquire.

It had occurred to him, he said, to make the proposals by sending me, accompanied by an Official Note, entire Copies of all the Treaties in question. They would best unfold the grounds and principles upon which a concert of action had already been settled by the States that were parties to them, and it was his intention to ask the accession of The United States, upon grounds and principles that were similar. He added, that he would willingly receive my suggestions as to any other course that might strike me as better adapted to the object. I