Haiti

HAITI.) Progress of the Movement.—England had not been the first European Power to abolish the slave trade ; that honour belongs to Denmark; a royal order was issued on May 16, 1792 that the traffic should cease in the Danish possessions from the end of 18o2. The United States had in 1794 forbidden any par ticipation by American subjects in the slave trade to foreign countries; they now prohibited the importation of slaves from Africa into their own dominions. This act was passed on March 2, 1807; it did not, however, come into force till Jan. 1, 18o8. At the Congress of Vienna (Nov. 1814) the principle was ac knowledged that the slave trade should be abolished as soon as possible ; but the determination of the limit of time was re served for separate negotiation between the Powers. It had been provided in a treaty between France and Great Britain (May 30, 1814) that no foreigner should in future introduce slaves into the French colonies, and that the trade should be absolutely interdicted to the French themselves after June 1, 1819. This postponement of abolition was dictated by the wish to intro duce a fresh stock of slaves into Haiti, if that island should be recovered. Bonaparte, as we have seen, abolished the French slave trade during his brief restoration, and this abolition was confirmed at the second Peace of Paris on Nov. 20, 1815, but it was not effectually carried out by French legislation until March 1818. In Jan. 1815 Portuguese subjects were prohibited from prosecuting the trade north of the equator, and the term after which the traffic should be everywhere unlawful was fixed to end on Jan. 21, 1823, but was afterwards extended to Feb. 183o; England paid £300,000 as a compensation to the Portuguese. A royal decree was issued on Dec. 10, 1836, forbidding the export of slaves from any Portuguese possession. But this decree was often violated. It was agreed that the Spanish slave trade should come to an end in 182o, England paying to Spain an indemni fication of £400,000. The Dutch trade was closed in 1814; the Swedish had been abolished in 1813. By the Peace of Ghent, Dec. 1814, the United States and England mutually bound them

selves to do all in their power to extinguish the traffic. It was at once prohibited in several of the South American States when they acquired independence, as in La Plata, Venezuela and Chile. In 1831 and 1833 Great Britain entered into an arrangement with France for a mutual right of search within certain seas, to which most of the other Powers acceded ; and by the Ashburton Treaty (1842) with the United States provision was made for the joint maintenance of squadrons on the west coast of Africa. By all these measures the slave trade, so far as it was carried on under the flags of European nations or for the supply of their colonies, ceased to exist.

Anti-slavery Movement.

Meantime another and more radi cal reform had been in preparation and was already in progress, namely, the abolition of slavery itself in the foreign possessions of the several States of Europe. When the English slave trade had been closed, it was found that the evils of the traffic, as still continued by several other nations, were greatly aggravated. In consequence of the activity of the British cruisers the traders made great efforts to carry as many slaves as possible in every voyage, and practised atrocities to get rid of the slaves when capture was imminent. It was, besides, the interest of the cruisers, who shared the price of the captured slave-ship, rather to allow the slaves to be taken on board than to prevent their being shipped at all. Thrice as great a number of negroes as before, it was said, was exported from Africa, and two-thirds of these were murdered on the high seas. It was found also that the abolition of the British slave trade did not lead to an improved treatment of the negroes in the West Indies. The slaves were overworked now that fresh supplies were stopped, and their numbers rapidly decreased. In 1807 there were in the West Indies 800,000; in 1830 they were reduced to 700,000. It became more and more evident that the evil could be stopped only by abolishing slavery altogether.