SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES. In a former part of this month's · Harbinger,' we have given our readers a copy of a very able letter on this subject from the pen of the late Mr. Edward Rushton, of Liverpool, addressed to General Washington. We now add, what may be considered a State paper, an official document, from our Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, addressed to the British Minister in the United States, from which it will be seen that our government are far from being asleep, as respects this very important subject. We sincerely hope that they will follow it up perseveringly, and may Heaven succeed their efforts in freeing that land of liberty from this disgraceful stigma on its national character!—EDITOR. VISCOUNT PALMERSTON TO SIR CHAS. VAUGHAN. Foreign Office, July 7, 1834. SIR— Your dispatch of the 28th March of this year has been re. ceived, and laid before the King. His Majesty's Government have learned with much regret that the President of the United States has declined acquiescing in the proposition which you were instructed to make to him for his accession to the conventions recently concluded between Great Britain and France, for the more effectual suppression of the slave trade; and his Majesty's Government are the more disappointed at this refusal, as they had indulged an expectation that the Government of the United States, animated by an earnest desire to assist in suppressing that inhuman traffic, would have eagerly availed themselves of the opportunity which the above proposition afforded them of co-operating effectually towards the accomplishment of that purpose. His Majesty's Government, however, after an attentive consideration of the reasons which the President of the United States has assigned for refusing his accession to the treaty in question, are unwilling to abandon the hope of still succeeding in obtaining that accession; for while, on the one hand, the objections which the President has urged to the proposal are not in themselves without weight, on the other hand the stipulations to which those objections refer, although essentially conducive to the complete attainment of the purpose in view, are, however, not absolutely indispensable. Mr. M.Lane, while he renews the objections originally urged by the American Government to an extension of the right of search to the coasts of the United States, observes, that a clause, proposing such extension, would not be an accession to the existing conventions according to their present terms, but an interpolation of a new article, giving a fresh and broader scope to the original limitations, and not contemplated by the high parties. This observation is undoutedly true; and the mere fact that this objection has been taken by the Government of the United States is a sufficient reason for not further pressing the adoption of such an article. But however desirable such an article would be if the Government of the United States could be prevailed upon to agree to it, still, even without such a stipulation, a very important advantage would be gained for the interests of humanity by the accession of the Government of the United States to the conventions as they stand. If the flag of the United States was prevented by special treaty from being assumed by the dealers in the human race as a protection for their nefarious traffic on the coast of Africa and in the West Indian seas, and if these enemies of mankind were obliged to run the gauntlet through the cruisers of almost all the naval powers of Christendom, over some thousand miles of sea, unprotected by any flag by which they might attempt to cover their iniquity, it might well be hoped that their course would be arrested before they could reach any latitude within which the national pride of the United States could be wounded by the measures necessary for submitting them to stoppage or search. Taking these circumstances into consideration, his Majesty's Government are willing to abandon that part of their proposition to which Mr. M‘Lane's objections are directed, and you are therefore instructed to renew your application to the United States' Government for their accession to the convention, omitting the stipulation for the extension of the right of search to the coasts of the United States. In addressing the American Government again on this subject, you will state that his Majesty's Government have derived high gratification from learning, by Mr. M‘Lane's note, the earnest and unceasing solicitude felt in the United States, both by the Government and by the nation, for the entire annihilation of the odious traffic in slaves, and you will express the earnest hope of his Majesty's Government, that sentiments which reflect so much honour upon the United States will induce the American Government to waive any further objections to a measure calculated to contribute, in so important a manner, to bring about the result which all parties thus ardently desire.— I am, &c., (Signed) PALMERSTON. * The Right Hon. Sir Charles Vaughan, G.C.H., &c. gc. LONDON: PRINTED BY J. TAYLOR, 119, FLEET-STREET. INDEX TO VOL. I. America, an interesting object to Britons, 1. account of them, 186. in reference to communion, 77 ; Note. sins, 253. Spirit, under the signature of Paulinus, No. 1, 130; No. 2, 169. dress to her daughters, 181. to, 162. Colton, Calvin, his account of American Revivals, 186. call an imposition on Christian credulity, 117; not more pious letter to Mr. Wyeth, ibid; his first letter to W. Jones, 23; Bible, Missionary, and Tract Societies, 163. scribed, il ; how they should propagate Christianity, 54. 55; Essay on the, No. 1, 111; Essay, No. 2, 300; how con- how they are manufactured, 300. able from what is merely human, 177. churches, 155. Gospel, how it is to spread through the World, 52; Essay on its design and immediate effects, 250.9 10 VAZUTA TM idu t 19 meid sal 200 El the 2nd most mer badet 20 , first Christian churches, 55. 10; its invaluable Essay on Baptism, 64.. L America, 23. ter, 82. origini de |