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THE MOZAMBIQUE CONSULATE. denounce us as insincere
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Prince will also be the representativeof national unity . He will appear as a material embodiment of that sentiment which "binds together the far-scattered lands which form part of the British Empire , and the widely different races who claim the name of English subjects . He ^ goes at a time in which the iealousies , heartburnings , and dissensions , which once subsisted between the Colonists aiid the Home Government are almost extinguished . Canada and its sister colonies now enjoy nearly perfect self-government . They mayand do wrangle amongst themselves upon purely local questions , but they no longer complain
of metropolitan misgovernment . Indeed , the relations of the Colonies to the mother country have , of late years , taken so complete a turn , that , so far as * direct and palpable results are concerned , the Colonies may be said to take all the benefit } and England all the burden of the connection . Ultimately , of course , England reaps advantages from these possessions , which well repay her outlay upon them , whilst by abandoning to . them the management of their own affairs she has removed any inducement on their part to seek independence . The visit of the Pbince manifests the interest the mother country takes in these offshoots ,
and becomes itself a means of cementing a cordial union . The inhabitants of Newfoundland will feel that their interests are not forgotten , that England does not intend to abandon them to the pertinacious Napoleonic aggression to which some of our Ministers have been but too ready to succumb . The French population of Lower Canada willhave an opportunity given them to display their loyalty towards a race of sovereigns , under whom they have enjoyed , without distinction of race , the fullest civil and religious the
liberty , and in the preparations making for that display Prince de Joinville , now on a visit to this once French possession , may find another proof of the truth that there is but one way to retain a throne . In all the festivals and illuininations Which will mark the progress of the Pbince of Wales , the hearty attachment of the Colonists to the British Empire will be abundaritly-manifest , and what slight misconceptions and misunderstandings mayyet remain will be dissipated in the cordiality
of those rejoicings . — - So neaivto the Ijnited-States , _ the Prince could not well quit the New World without visiting that wonderful nation . Whilst the visit itself can do little p iermanent good , the neglect to pay it would have been productive of considerable mischief . . The people of the United States will crowd to see the Prince , and do their best to impress him with a sense of their own extraordinary achievements ; but the compliment paid them will not alter the feelings of one individual towards this country . The ridiculous system of provocation , put in practice towards England is an exigency of American politics . There is a large and'powerful class of voters in the Atlantic cities who , Irish themselves or of Irish descent , hate us most Cordially . Then there are * he ~ manufaetur © rs ^ f-N ^ w ^
the fire-eating pro-Slavery men of the South , who hate our interference with the slave-trade—all powerful interests , which must be conciliated by a pugnacious , irritant attitude towards England . Americaa vanity would have been deeply wounded had the Prixce declined the Piilsident's -invitation ; it will be gratified , and the national curiosity have a treat by his journey through the States . For the Prince himself we must profess our cordial sympathy . Royalty has a good deal to suffer at home from the curious ; but if it ventures into a republic , that curiosity rises to a height which becomes almost unbearable . The Prince will find many gentlemen , thoroughly qualified in
every respect to associate with him , in the United States . If he visits Mr . Buchanan , or becomes the guest of any Southern gentleman , he will meet with all the courtesy and consideration that could anywhere be shown to " him ; but when he visits , as he must do , New York , and receives the hospitality of that precious collection of riffraff ,, the New York Corporation , he will suffer a martyrdom which ought to expiate all the faults he has committed as n boy , and absolve him for all the peccadilloes he may be guilty of in the next ten years . Much the same would be his fate in any of the other large Atlantic cities . To a young man who should travel unattended and unknown , a tour through the United States would be very pleasant and instructive . To a Prince , how hard soever he may try to play the private gentleman , it must inevitably be a tremendous bore .
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Mozambique , was , however , well calculated to excite such an idea * The opposition of the Government to the proposition is irt itself suspicious , and the arguments of the Under- Secretary of State are singularly well calculated to augment the distrust .. Practically , " his contention was that Cuba is the sole cause of the Slave-trade ; and he . followed up that contention by declaring that so long as Spain connives at the trade there , all our efforts to suppress it must fail , the necessary conclusion being : that any such efforts are completely thrown away . It is , of course , a question open to discussion , whether thist country should make any attempt to suppress the Slave-trade generally . It may be contended that , having abolished Slavery in our own territories we have done all that could fairly be asked
of us . It is possible to argue that we have no business to interfere with the commercial and social arrangements of other nations , and to maintain that if the king of any African tribe chooses to sell his subjects to Spanish traders , no third party has any right to put obstacles in his way . With much force it may be said that we have no right to waste our money and risk the lives of our sailors in maintaining cruisers on the African coasts , and that we should leave the whole matter to other nations to settle for themselves , and trust to truth and our own good example to make them do what is right . But it so happens that the question has been resolved bv the country in another sense . We have
undertaken to suppress the Slave-trade , and if we had not been hindered by the bad faith of Spain and Portugal , and the unreasonable and absurd punctilios of the United States , we should have done the work long ago . Until the national decision upon tlie general question is reversed , we have only to ask whether any particular plan which may be proposed for furthering that suppression is of a practical character , and does not cost too much . If it fulfils these requisites it ought to be adopted , and the House of Lords did well in refusing to take Lord WoDEiiotJSE ' s assurances that the Government would give the
flJ ^ HE Americans sometimes our _» attempts to put down t } ie Slave-trade , / Hie accusation is about as ridiculous" as the general ' run of charges against John Bull , got up by unscrupulous writers nnd speakers across tlm Atlantic , to enliven "their sensation-loving fellow citizens . , Thc speech of Lord Wodehouse nguinst Lord Stiiatiieden ' s motion for an address to the Crown for the appointment of a Consul at
subject the best consideration . Disgraceful as the conduct of Spain undoubtedly is , Cuba is not ^ fter all , the only land which imports slaves . They have been carried into the United States in . the last two . or three vears ; a few cargoes are still landecHn the Brazils , and under the name of free labourers a large number are evm-yet shipped off to Reunion . If the supply ; were stopped " altogether , or if by the stringent supervision ' of European ' - Governments possessing territory ' in Africa ^ and by-their . ' ¦ ¦ influence / upon 'the natives it were so diminished that the cost of slave labour should exceed that of free , Spain might connive as . much as she pleased at the landing of cargoes in Cuba ; no slaves would be imported into the island . . The east coast of Africa is now the great source of slave
slave-hunts in the ir . terror . The Portuguese teiTitory-RTtmdH from Delagoa Bay in the south to Cape Delgado in the north . The settlements upon this immense line of coast arc few , but the influence which the authorities exercise upon the native tribes in the interior is very great . . The officials at the different settlements are either slave-dealers themselves , or receive a regular allowance from the dealers for every slave they export . They carry on this foul trade with the full knowledge and approbation of the home Government , which pretends , indeed , to discourage the
trade , but lets its representatives foster it . It pays them miserable salaries , upon which , no officer could exist ; yet they all return to Europe with immense fortunes , and the . appointments are sought with avidity . As a matter of course , these men have used every exertion to discourage legitimate trade . They haw done their best to hinder the navigation of the Zambesi , and , if allowed , they will utterly frustrate those labours of Dr . Livingston upon ' which Lord Wodehouse relies so much . At present , they arc without the slightest check . If our Government complains to the Portuguese Government of their proceedings , it can give no proof of tlie charges it makes . A consul at and
Mozambique , the seat of Government , would be some check ; if a vice-consul were placed nt the other settlements , it would be impossible for the officials to encouruge the trade as they now do . If the Governor ^ General of the Colony happens himself to be an honest man he is not likely to interfere with the trade , and raise a nest of hornets around himself , unless forced to do so by the remonstrances of-n consul . Suoh remonstrances . he would be unable to resist , because neglect would result in complaints to the Court of Lisbon 5 nnd that Court , however well disposed to connive at the nefarious practices of its subordinates , could not withstand the representations made by , the English Government ,
upon the testimony of a consular agent . Tliat such an officer is expected us a general rule , to do something to suppress the traffic fs evidenced by the fact , " that we have consuls at several points on the West Coast , whose prmcipaL if
supply , and it is so because the Portuguese authorities have deliberatelv used their influence to encourage the revival of the
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July 7 , 1860 . J The Sattirday Analyst and Leader . ® 2 &
The Mozambique Consulate. Denounce Us As Insincere
denounce us as insmcore THE MOZAMBIQUE CONSULATE .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1860, page 629, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2355/page/5/
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