through your First Secretary of State, Don Pedro Cevallos, your Majesty was pleased to direct, that the Supreme Council of the Indies. should forthwith deliberate, and give their advice, upon a subject of the highest and most urgent importance, and which, on that account, had engaged the most serious attention of all the Powers of Europe assembled together, through their respective Representatives, in the celebrated Congress of Vienna.

The question is, whether or not the Slave-trade should continue to exist? a question worthy, indeed, of the attention of a considerate and beneficent Government, such as Spain enjoys, and hopes long to enjoy in the highest degree of perfection, under the auspices of a Monarch like your Majesty, just, indefatigable, and full of the most ardent zeal for the welfare and happiness of his People.

However delicate and arduous the subject, it does not now present, either in its examination, or in its solution, those difficulties which were at first experienced. 20 years of important and luminous discussions, in the Parliament of Great Britain, have exhausted every variety of argument; and England, which, in a less enlightened Age, had been amongst the most forward in engaging in a commerce against nature, merely because it encouraged the cupidity and avarice of her merchants, has the glory of having been the first likewise, of all the civilized Nations of Europe, in promoting and sanctioning its entire abolition. Justice thereby triumphed. The lamentations of the African Slaves, this wretched portion of the human species, were listened to; and insulted humanity reasserted its rights. The name

of the illustrious William Pitt, the first mover of those discussions, and that of the pious and indefatigable Wilberforce, the author of the Abolition Bill, will be for ever respected by all who feel and can appreciate the high dignity of man.

But the British Government, not satisfied with having abolished the Slave-trade throughout the Dominions of Great Britain, endeavoured to inspire friendly and allied Nations with similar ideas of philanthropy, exhorting them to follow their example.

With this view, the moment at which the Tyrant and common Enemy, Napoleon, had been vanquished, an Article was inserted in the Treaty of Paris, engaging to put a limit to the Slave-trade, and stipulating that it should form the subject of discussion at the Congress, which was to assemble at Vienna, for the consolidation of a general Peace, and the establishment of the balance of power in Europe.

The British Plenipotentiaries proposed, in that Congress, that the prohibition of this Trade should be declared in a General Convention, having the force of a universal Law of the rights of Nations, founded on the simple principles of natural justice, and of the morals and civilization of the People. Notwithstanding this, several well-informed Members of the Congress were of opinion, that the question involved

principles of political economy, as well as of civil, public, and private rights; and hence it was left to the Sovereigns, as a measure of adıninistration, to fix the periods, and to adopt the regulations, for the continuance of the Traffic, which might be suitable to their respective Dominious. The Sovereigns most anxious for the Abolition engaged, at the same time, to offer their mediation, in order to induce those Powers, which, by possessing large and extensive Colonies, or owing to any other motive, might be unwilling to surrender their peculiar interests with regard to this Traffic, to adopt, at the earliest opportu nity, the philanthropic views of Great Britain.

The result of these Negotiations has been, that Portugal, by the Treaty of the 22nd of January, 1815, has engaged not to permit the Traffic in Slaves on the African Coast, North of the Equator, that is, not to permit the carrying on of any direct Trade from that Coast in Slaves, with a reservation to fix, hereafter, the period for the total Abolition; that, by France, the Traffic has been prohibited, in the most absolute manner, throughout its Dominions, as appears by the Letter from Prince Talleyrand to Lord Castlereagh, dated Paris, the 30th of July, 1815; and that your Majesty, by the Additional Articles to the Treaty concluded with Great Britain, in July, 1814, has also recognized the principle of the Abolition of that commerce; deferring the declaration of its total Abolition to the period when the civilization of the African Tribes, and the interests of the Spanish Colonies, might admit of a determination of so conclusive a nature. A term of 8 years has subsequently been fixed upon, under certain conditions to be fulfilled on the part of Great Britain; and the British Government having since strongly urged that that period should be reduced to 5 years, your Majesty, willing to entertain the proposition, has, through your Minister of State, been pleased to desire the opinion and advice of the Council of the Indies thereupon.

In compliance with this requisition, they have furnished themselves, both from the Secretary of State's Office, and the late General Department of the Indies, with all the Documents, Private Communications from various Ministers, and Reports and other Papers, written on the subject; which, joined to those already existing in the Secretary's Office of the Council, particularly the Royal Cedulas and Concessions granted at different times for the carrying on of the Slave-trade, and to information received from the Officers of General Accounts, and the Fiscal Administrations, in Peru and New Spain, have served to throw upon the question all the light of which it is susceptible.

When we consider the question with reference to morality, every one must admit that the Christian maxims, and the mild character of the Spaniards, unite in condemning a Trade so execrable in itself, and by which a traffic is made in the blood of our Fellow Creatures; re

ducing a portion of the human race to the condition of Brutes, or of articles of merchandize ;-the only difference between them and other Men being their diversity of colour and their higher or lower degree of civilization, and with respect to whom an equivocal right and assumed privilege have been brought forward, in support of the practice of forcing, or by means of deceit inducing, those unfortunate beings to serve, with their labour, in augmenting the riches of their hard-hearted Masters; and hence we must conclude that, if the moral principle alone of the Trade were to be considered, no Person would be found hardy enough to propose it, nor would any Government be induced to permit it. In a financial and political point of view, however, no such unanimity of opinion is to be met with.

Considering the length of time, (3 centuries) during which America has enjoyed the privilege of carrying on the Trade in question, and the influence which the old custom of employing Slaves for the labours of the field, as well as for domestic services, may have on the Colonies; some Persons are inclined to think, that the encouragement of agriculture in those vast Regions indispensably requires the continued importation of Slaves, especially in the Island of Cuba; and they go even so far as to point out several serious consequences which would result from a total and sudden abolition. Hence, they incline to the opinion, that a gradual abolition, such as the other European Powers have sanctioned, would be preferable, and that great advantages, moreover, would be derived, by an increased quantity of produce, and a better sale of our Colonial Articles in the different markets of Europe.

Others, on the contrary, apprehend, and with more than sufficient reason, that great disadvantages and well-known dangers would ensue from the continuance of the Trade; nor can they perceive the asserted utility of it, nor the indispensable necessity of African hands, which might not be done away with by a system of a more humane, just, and equitable nature. They, therefore, feel that it would be perfectly in conformity with your Majesty's well-known sentiments of Christian piety, and with the relations which unite us to the generous British Nation, more especially since the interposition, on her part, of her friendship and influence, not merely to limit this illicit commerce to the period of 5 years, but rather to strike immediately at its root,-care being taken, by prudent and proper measures, to prevent injury being done to those who are engaged, under the late Royal Grants, in that Trade, at the present moment; and to supply with White Men the demand for manual labour, which such a prohibition might occasion in some Provinces of the American Hemisphere.

The Council incline to the latter opinion; and, in order that your Majesty may feel satisfied that they have endeavoured to fulfil your Majesty's benevolent intentions, they will proceed to shew, on the one

hand, the solidity of the principles and the irresistibility of the grounds upon which they support that opinion, and, on the other, to combat, so far as a matter of this description will admit of evidence, the objections that have already been, and may yet be, brought forward against the abolition of the Traffic. The result, they hope, will be a thorough and general conviction, that the proposed measure will do equal justice to the welfare of the Nation, the privileges of the American Merchants, and the glory of your Majesty.

But in order to do this the more effectually, it will be proper, in the first place, to take a review of the subject, by relating, with as much brevity as possible, the history, progress, and vicissitudes, of this commerce, from its commencement.

The Slave-trade began, immediately after the first settlement of the Portuguese on the Coasts of Africa, and at a time nearly coeval with the discovery of the Americas. They were the first who, profaning the sacred rights of natural and civil liberty, snatched from their native soil the unfortunate Africans, depriving them of every thing that was dear to them, forcing them across the Atlantic, through a thousand miseries, and there reducing them, as an aggravation of their miseries, to the wretched condition of Slaves, after exposing them for sale as objects of commerce in the European markets.

The Dutch and the Genoese, and afterwards the English, gave greater extension to this Traffic: but the Spanish Court viewed with horror a commerce so contrary, in its nature, to every feeling of humanity; so much so, indeed, that, notwithstanding the repeated Applications from our American Colonies, the encouragement of such a Trade was constantly refused, and it went even so far as to prohibit, in the year 1516, under various heavy penalties, the importation of Negroes into America.

In spite, however, of this determination, which ought to have closed for ever any further opening to future Applications, the Licentiate, Bartolomeo de las Casas, urged his reclamations in favour of America, and, led away by his excessive attachment to that Country, he imagined it to be beneath the character and dignity of its Inhabitants to apply themselves to labour in the fields, and proposed that Negroes from the African shores should be procured for that purpose.

Yielding to his importunities, our Lord Charles V. removed the then existing prohibition, and permitted him to introduce into the American Islands, 4,000 Slaves, for the purpose of cultivating the land.

This is the history of the first Resolution which was passed against those unfortunate Beings. Its effect was to last for 8 years; but, at the end of that period, the trade and importation of Slaves still continued, in virtue of Special Privileges granted, though with no very great progress, to Private Individuals, until, at the Union of the 2 Crowns of Portugal and Castile, in the year 1580, the Portuguese gave a greater

extension to this Traffic, from the facilities which their Possessions on the Western Coast of Africa offered to them; facilities which the English had, since the year 1552, shared with them.

The French, likewise, took part in the Traffic at the beginning of the last Century, after the accession of Philip V. to the Throne; but it ultimately remained, under a Contract for 30 years, in the hands of the English, in consequence of certain stipulations which were contained in the Treaty of Utrecht, of 1713.

In this order, but with some slight variation, has the Slave-trade been carried on in Europe for upwards of 3 centuries, in spite of the law of nature, and of every sentiment of humanity; and, whilst the French, English, and North Americans have, at different times, carried this speculation to an amazing extent, we have limited ourselves to receiving the Slaves from their hands, for a price regulated by the circumstances of the moment. It was not until the 28th of September, 1789, that the first Royal Cedula was issued, permitting to Spaniards the free Trade in Slaves, but with the limitation of " till further orders," and to Foreigners the same permission for 2 years, under certain conditions enumerated and stated in the said Royal Cedula.

By another Royal Cedula, however, of the 24th of November, 1791, the time allowed to every Spaniard and Foreigner, for carrying on the Slave-trade, was fixed to 6 years in the Vice-Royalties of Santa Fé and Buenos Ayres, the Captain Generalship of Caracas, and the Islands of St. Domingo, Cuba, and Porto Rico, distinguishing the Ports in which they were to be imported; and charging the Governors and Captain Generals to give a Monthly Account of the number of Negroes successively imported,-reporting whether the Plantations were sufficiently provided with them,-and the prices properly regulated; together with any further information that they could supply, by which it might be seen, whether, after the expiration of the prescribed period, it would be expedient either to prolong or to suspend the Traffic.

By a Royal Order of the 22nd of November, 1792, several privileges were granted to the Island of Cuba, with a view to promote its trade and agriculture; namely, an exemption for 10 years, from all duties of "Alcabala" and Tenths, upon cotton, coffee, and indigo, and the restitution of duties upon sugar and other products; as well as an extension to 40 days of the period previously limited to 8, during which Foreigners might effect the sale of the Slaves imported into the Port of Havana.

In another Royal Order of the 3rd of January, 1793, we find that permission was granted for the embarkation of African produce on board of Slave Ships; and on the 24th of the same month and year, various other favours were granted to Persons carrying on that Trade.

On the 19th of March, 1794, Spanish Vessels which should not meet