In 1835, with Spain, by Treaty of Madrid, 28th June (abolishing slave-trade on part of Spain henceforward, totally and finally, in all parts of the world ; and regulating a reciprocal right of search); and with Sweden, by Additional Article to Treaty of 1824, signed at Stock holm 15th June.
In 1837, with Tuscany, by Convention signed at Florence 24th November (containing accession of the Grand Duke of Tuscany to French Conventions of 1831 and 1833); with Ranee Towns, by Con vention signed at Hamburg 9th June (to same effect); and with Netherlands, by Additional Article to Treaty of 1818, signed at the 7th February.
In 1838, with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, by Convention signed at Naples 14th February (containing accession of his Sicilian Majesty to French Conventions of 1831 and 1833).
In 1839. with Republic of Venezuela, by Treaty signed at Caracas 15th March (abolishing for ever the traffic in slaves, so far as it con sists in the conveyance of negroes from Africa ; expressing the deter mination of Venezuela to preserve in force the provisions of a law passed in February, 1825, declaring Venezuelans found engaged in that trade to be pirates and punishable with death, and regulating a mutual right of visitation); with Chile, by Treaty signed at Santiago 19th January ; with Uruguay, by Treaty signed at Montevideo 13th July ; with Argentine Confederation, by Treaty signed at Buenos Ayres 24th May ; and with Hayti, by Convention signed at Port-au Prince 23rd December.
In 1840, with Bolivia, by Treaty signed at Sucre 25th September ; and with Texas, by Treaty signed at London 16th November.
In 1841, with France, by Treaty signed at Paris 20th December, which however the French government afterwards refused to ratify ; with Mexico, by Treaty signed at Mexico 24th February ; and with Austria, Prussia, and Russia, by Treaty signed at London 20th De cember.
In 1842, with the United States of North America, by Treaty signed at Washington 9th August (stipulating that each party shall maintain on the coast of Africa a naval force, carrying in all not less than eighty guns, " to enforce, separately and respectively, the Laws, rights, and obligations of of the two countries for the suppression of the slave-trade ; the said squadrons to be independent of each other," but " to act in concert and co-operation, upon mutual consultation, as exigencies may arise"); with the Argentine Republic ; and with the Republic of Hayti.
In 1842, the Ashburton Treaty with the United States of America, by which it was stipulated that each party was to maintain a separate squadron on the coast of Africa to suppress the slave-trade, but if the vessel seized on suspicion was under American colours she was to be delivered to an American cruiser, and if tinder any other to be given up to the British, to be decided upon as to the fact of slave trading being established, by the conrts of the rdirsective countries. [Seam', Mows or.] This divided action has not been found effective. With Portugal, by Treaty signed at Lisbon 3rd July.
In 1845, with Brazil ; and with France, by a Convention signed at London on the 29th of May (by which each power is to keep up an equal naval force on the western coast of Africa, and the right of visitation is to be exercised only by cruisers of the nation whose flag is carried by the suspected vessel).
The History of the Abolition is to be found in the work under that title by T. Clarkson, and the state of the law, as well as the treatment of slaves practically in the colonies, is most fully treated of in a work on that subject by Mr. Stephen. The writings of the late Sir John Jeremio also contain much useful information on the condition of slavery in the British colonies just before the Emancipation Act. T. Clarkson's other works on the nature of the traffic, which first exposed it to the people of this country, were published in 1787.
The slave-trade was suppressed, but slavery continued to exist in the British colonies. In 1834 the British parliament passed an act by which slavery was abolished in all British colonies, and twenty millions sterling were voted as compensation money to the owners. This act (3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 73) stands prominent in the history of our ago. No other nation has imitated the example. The emancipated negroes iu the British colonies were put on the footing of apprenticed labourers. By a subsequent act (1 Vie. c. 19) all apprenticeships were to cease after the 1st of August, 1840, but the day was anticipated in all the West Indian colonies by acts of the colonial legislatures. Slavery exists in the Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and in the Southern states of the North American Union. The new republics of Spanish America, generally speaking, emancipated their slaves at the time of the revolution. As the slave population in general does e'st, maintain its numbers by natural increase, and as plantations in America are extended, there is a demand for a fresh annual importation of slaves from Africa, which are taken to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Monte Video. Since the slave-trade has been declared to be illegal, the sufferings of the slaves on their passage across the Atlantic have been greatly increased, owing to its being necessary for masters of slave traders to conceal their cargoes by cooping up the negroes in a small compass, and to avoid the British cruisers; they are often thrown overboard in a chase. There is a considerable loss of life incident to the seizing of slaves by force in the hunting excursions after negroes, and in the wars between the chieftains of the interior for the purpose of making captives. There is a loss on their march to the sea-coast ; the loss in the middle passage is reckoned on an average at one-fourth of the cargo; and, besides this, there is a further loss, after landing, in what is called the " seasoning " of the slaves. The Portuguese flag has been openly used, with the connivance of the authorities, for carrying on the slave-trade. The Spanish flag has also been used, though with caution, owing to the treaty between England and Spain which formally abolishes the slave-trade on the part of Spain. A mixed commission court of Spaniards and British exists at Havana to try slavers; but pretexts are never wanting to elude the provisions of the treaty. There seems indeed to be a great difficulty in obtaining the sincere co-operation of all Christian powers to put down the slave trade effectually, although it is certain that in all but the Portuguese and Spanish settlements the traffic has now almost entirely ceased.