and to avoid being confounded with them. And hence it happens that, in those Provinces where, on account of the scarcity of Slaves, White People are of necessity employed in domestic services, the latter are particularly careful not to labour too hard, and to keep their occupations as distinct as possible from those of the Black Servants.

Another of the evils brought on America by the importation of Slaves, is the corruption of good morals. Whether or not it be the effect of that peculiar kind of life which they are condemned to lead, of their physical constitution, of their bad education and stupidity, or of the celibacy to which they are doomed, or is the result of all these combined, it is certain that the Blacks are in a particular manner addicted to every kind of vice and irregularity; and that debauchery, drunkenness, and every bad passion, even that of murder, are equally familiar to them.

Nevertheless, it is proposed to encourage the increase of Slaves, on the ground that, by acting otherwise, the rights of the Landed Proprietors and Planters,-who, under the sanction of, and the expectations held out by, the existing Royal Cedulas, have continued the Traffic, in order to supply the hands necessary for cultivation,—would be violated. But, even reducing the question to one of right, it is evident that, as the prolongation of the Trade, to which an appeal is thus made, was granted only by Royal favour, until the further pleasure of His Majesty, for a limited period, and with a view to promote the personal interests to be derived by the Applicants; it will not be the fault of the Law, but the result alone of circumstances and the vicissitudes of the times, if those Applicants have not derived all the advantages which they had anticipated. Besides which, it must have been foreseen at The Havana, which is most interested in the question, and where, it is said, the greatest necessity exists for Slaves, that, the Abolition having been sanctioned by the English Nation, and a Motion to the same effect having been made in the Extraordinary Cortes, the continuance of the traffic would no longer be permitted in Spain; moreover, since the last War with Great Britain, they must doubtlessly have had sufficient time to provide themselves with the requisite number of Blacks, which it is highly probable they have done; and of which indeed we have a proof, in the Letter of the Provisional Intendant of that Port, Don Julian Fernandez Roldan, dated the 31st July, 1815, by which it appears that, in the course of the months of April, May, June, and July, of that year, there had been imported into The Havana, by Spanish Vessels, 2,144 Bozal Negroes, of both sexes.

It must, therefore, be concluded, that the Abolition of the trade cannot be productive of any serious injury to the agriculture of

America, and that if it were so, it would be only to such a degree as to admit of an easy remedy.

The Council is already engaged in a plan for increasing the Population of the Island of Cuba, by permitting the introduction of Catholics, belonging to Foreign and Allied Nations; and it will immediately endeavour, should your Majesty approve of it, to find out other means for supplying any deficiency of Blacks.

The measures which the Minister, Don Joaquim Mosquera, proposes, in his Report upon this subject, which the Council has thought it right to submit to your Majesty, are highly important, and worthy of the Royal attention.

Don Francisco Xavier Caro, in his Report, proposes some other judicious measures, for the purpose of transferring the Blacks now employed in the Towns, back to the labours of the Field.

Lastly, the Accountants General and Revenue Officers of Peru and New Spain, in their Answers to several Questions put to them, dated the 14th and 24th of October, and the 7th of December last, propose, likewise, other measures of the highest importance, which must form the subject of separate discussions hereafter, without prejudice to those which may now be adopted on this subject.

The Council, therefore, recommend that your Majesty may be pleased to command that the Slave-trade be forthwith perpetually abolished throughout your Dominions; it being understood that the Individuals who may have commenced Expeditions for this traffic, under the guarantee of the last Concession granted to them, may be allowed to complete those Expeditions, submitting themselves to the Regulations contained in the Royal Cedulas of the 22nd of April, 1804.

The Council further submits, that the restoration of the captured Slave Ships, and the indemnification for damages sustained by their capture, which is claimed by the Chamber of Commerce of The Havana, are founded in justice; and that your Majesty may, therefore, be pleased to give the necessary commands to the Secretary of State, to support the Claim to be made against the British Government; to which effect, the Chamber of Commerce should be directed to collect all the necessary Documents, including a List of the captured Vessels, their burthen, the number of Slaves that they had on board, and other particulars, in order that a just estimate may be formed of the whole amount to be comprehended in the Claim.

The Council is also of opinion, that the privileges and immunities granted to the Island of Cuba, in favour of its products, should continue, without any alteration being made in the freedom of commerce which exists in that Island.

The Council will make it their duty to inquire, whether it be convenient to extend, and, if so, under what restrictions, the system of

freedom of commerce to all the American Possessions; and they will not fail to investigate the best means of augmenting the Population of those Countries with White Men, in order to prevent any bad effect that might result to the agriculture and commerce thereof, from the Abolition of the Slave-trade.

Lastly, the Council will take into their consideration the administrative government and police to be established, with regard to the Negroes already in our Colonies; to which effect it will be expedient, that your Majesty be pleased to return the Opinion, with or without any Resolution, addressed by the Council to your Majesty, on the 17th of March, 1794, respecting the propriety of suspending the operation of the Royal Cedula, dated the 31st of May, 1789, containing certain Resolutions for the good treatment, education, and employment of the Negroes.

(2.)-OPINION of the Dissentient Members of the Council of the Indies, against the immediate Abolition of the Slave Trade.

THE Ministers, Don Francisco Requena, Don Francisco Ybañez Leyba, Don Francisco de Arango, Don Francisco Xavier Caro de Torquemada, Don Josef Navia y Bolaños, Don Bruno Vallarino, and Don Mariano Gonzalez de Merchante, dissent; their Opinion being as set forth hereinafter :

WE admit that the Slave Trade ought to be prohibited; all Europe, departing from its ancient maxims, has just come to this resolution for the good of the human race, and it would ill become Spain to refuse taking part in so glorious a proceeding; indeed, she would gain nothing by such a refusal. England, the mistress and governess of the seas, ardently desires the universal and perpetual Abolition of this traffic; and as she possesses means sufficiently powerful to carry her point at any hazard, all opposition on our part would prove fruitless, and even prejudicial. But we by no means agree in the opinion, that the Slave Trade should be prohibited all at once. The United States of America, who take credit to themselves for having been the first to abolish it, allowed their Citizens a previous term of 21 years. It took the British Parliament no less than 19 years to examine the Landed Proprietors of their Colonies, and to collect every information capable of throwing a light on the matter, in order to guide them in their discussions and decision. The Prince Regent of Portugal did not prohibit it until 5 years after he had agreed with His Britannic Majesty to contribute towards the attainment of His Majesty's object; nor was that prohibition even a general one, but was limited to the Coasts of Africa, North of the Equator; for with reference to those situated to the Southward of the Line, His Royal Highness thought it proper to reserve

and defer the prohibition to another time, and by another Treaty. We shall risk nothing in imitating the example of these 3 Nations; while, on the other hand, by deviating from the path which they have successively trodden, the laws of justice will be transgressed, the cries of humanity neglected, the most prudent maxims of policy disregarded, and, above all, a great risk incurred, which will be the more serious, in proportion to its being the less anticipated.

When the Coasts of Africa shall be shut against all European Nations, those Provinces of America which are under the melancholy necessity of cultivating their lands by means of Slaves, will have no source whatever left to supply the deficiency of the Slaves who die, or are manumitted; consequently, the value of those already existing in the Countries in question must greatly augment, whilst the produce of the estates must gradually diminish; and the price of colonial commodities will rise, in a ratio calculated between that augmentation and that diminution. These prejudices, of themselves worthy of consideration, would arrive at a height which human prudence can neither calculate nor foresee, if the abolition of the traffic were to be sudden. It is a fact known to all who have inquired into the subject, that the estates in America have not for their cultivation a sufficiency of Negroes, and that in none of them is the number of females proportioned to that of the males. To abolish the Slave Trade, suddenly, in so disadvantageous a state of things, would be to accelerate the injurious effects of the prohibition, and to render them insupportable; it would be to condemn thousands of Land Owners to lose a considerable portion of their incomes, and, what is of more consequence, to suffer a great deterioration and loss in their capitals, without their being able to repair them; it would be, to stop up simultaneously all the sources of prosperity, and to spread sorrow and misery in Countries, where now reign prosperity and abundance.

But, putting out of the question the interests of the Land Proprietors, and forgetting for a moment that they are justified in demanding from the Government, that it do not destroy them with a stroke of the pen, and in an instant ; let us fix our attention on the melancholy lot of those unhappy Persons who are already Slaves. Without females whom they might marry, they would pass their sorrowful lives in forced and insupportable celibacy, and be for ever deprived of the advantages and comforts which matrimony produces to all men, but more particularly to the unfortunate. When America shall be deprived of some of the hands necessary for cultivation, and when the scarcity of hands shall every day increase, the few, who are now remaining in that part of the World, will, of necessity, have to perform the same labours that, antecedently, were performed by the many; for the Owners, to prevent their incomes from being diminished, and their capitals from being comparatively idle, will impose on their Slaves additional work. Hence

the value of the latter must exorbitantly rise; and it will be more difficult for them to obtain their liberty, inasmuch as neither will they be equally able to earn the necessary means for purchasing it, nor will their Owners be so forward and generous in granting it to them. The exaggerated and questionable benefit, therefore, which is designed for the inhabitants of Africa, would be productive of injuries and calamities to their brethren in America. We should thereby interest ourselves in favour of uncivilized Barbarians, who employ their freedom only in selling or devouring each other, and, at the same time, neglect those whom our intercourse and our instruction have rendered rational, useful, and industrious Christians. We should scruple to deprive the former of their useless and chimerical liberty, whilst we should not only rivet the chains of the latter, but make them more galling.

Putting aside, for a moment, the interests of the American Slaves, as well as those of their Owners, it may not be improper to turn our attention to our own interests, and to the present exhausted state of our Treasury we ought to avail ourselves of the opportunity now offered, to put forth against the English, a Demand for some valuable consideration, as an indemnification for the losses which would be consequent upon the abolition which is so much desired by them. This policy, which would be practised by all the Nations of the World, has not escaped the penetration of His Majesty. Accordingly, when he consented to prohibit the Slave Trade within 8 years, he did so upon certain conditions, which, although we are ignorant of their purport, have not yet been fulfilled. The English, notwithstanding, have since continually urged that we should reduce this term of 8 years to 5. In this state of the question, the most natural and the best advice that could be given to His Majesty is, that he should accede to this request, that he should lay due stress upon the service which he thereby renders, and should require, in compensation for that service, the same conditions that had previously been agreed upon, or such others as his exalted judgment may deem more suitable to the general interests of his dominions. If, instead of following this course, which is dictated by prudence, the Slave Trade be immediately prohibited, the English will not believe that we make any sacrifice, because even more would be conceded by us than they ask: no convenient opening would be left for stipulating any compensation; and His Majesty would lose the relief which he has a right to demand from from a rich and powerful Nation, founded upon so just and honourable a title.

And what would be the feelings of the Americans, on receiving intelligence of a prohibition, so sudden, so unexpected, and so inimical to their prosperity? Would they be pleased with, or would they, at best, behold with indifference, the shutting up, all at once, and for ever, of the only channel through which they are enabled to supply them