The African Slave Trade

Abstract

REPORT from the Select Committee of the House of Lords appointed to consider the best Means which Great Britain can adopt for the final • Extinction of the AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. Presented in Session 1850. THAT the Committee have met and considered the Subject Matter to them referred. In following out the Inquiry intrusted to them as to the most effectual means for suppressing the African Slave Trade, have felt it to be their duty, first, to examine the means hitherto employed for this end; to ascertain the amount of success which had attended their employment; whether they could be rendered more effectual, and if so, by what means; the objections urged against them; and whether any other means could be devised, either as substitutes for these, or as accessory to them. The means which have been hitherto employed are: (1.) the formation of Treaties with the various civilized States for the prohibition and suppression of the Slave Trade, and the punishment of those who engage in it by confiscation of their ships. (2.) The formation of Treaties with the Chiefs of Africa, prohibiting the exportation of Slaves from their territories. (3.) The maintenance of certain Forts upon the African Coast. (4.) The maintenance of armed Cruizers on the Coast of Africa, to enforce these Treaties. As regards the first of these means, a large measure of success has attended the efforts of this Country.