1822.] 
theBritish dominions,who should in any- 
wise be concerned in the slave-trade, 
should be deemed a felon, and might be 
punished by transportation, fer a term 
not exceeding fourteen years ; and thus 
the: British law at present’ remains. 
This Act tended greatly to restrain, if 
not to extinguish, except in the Isle of 
France, the British slave-trade; and, 
whilst the nation continued at war, the 
slave trade of other states was also 
much diminished; so that Africa was for 
a time relieved in a considerable de- 
gree from the desolating effects of this 
traffic. 
But the return of peace to Europe, 
having put an end to the belligerent 
right of search, was the signal for an 
extensive revival of the slave trade in 
Africa, accompanied with more than its 
usual miseries. 
France and the Netherlands were, 
howeyer, prevailed upon to sign trea- 
ties stipulating for the total and imme- 
diate abolition of this trade. The re- 
sult of the efforts used with Spain and 
Portugal was not so favourable. Both 
these powers, however, agreed forth- 
with to confine their slave-trade within 
certain specified limits. Portugal still 
refused to fix any precise period for the 
final abandonment of it; but Spain 
consented totally to abolish it from the 
30th of May, 1820, five months being 
allowed for completing the voyages that 
might have been commenced prior to 
that period. 
Notwithstanding the stipulations en- 
tered into by France for the abolition 
of the slave-trade, the directors have 
had the painful duty, year after year, 
of exhibiting to the Institution nu- 
merous and irrefragable proofs of the 
continuance of this traffic by the sub- 
jects of that kingdom. They are much 
concerned to say, that the account 
which they have now to render of the 
state of the French slave-trade is even 
more afilicting than any which has 
preceded it. Indeed, so multipliedand 
so flagrant have been of late the viola- 
tions of the French law on this subject ; 
to such an extent, and with such im- 
punity, has this trade been carried on, 
almost without the affectation of dis- 
guise; that the evil, practically speak- 
ing, could scarcely have been greater 
had it been actually tolerated by the 
government of France. . 
The statements. thus made are con- 
firmed by the circumstances developed 
in the case of a French slave-ship 
called the Sylph, detained : by his 
MontuL_y Mac. No, 367. 
African Institution. 
337 
majesty’s sloop Redwing, Captain 
Hunn, and brought into Sierra Leone, 
on the 10th February 1819, with 364 
slaves on-board. From the examina- 
tions which took place on that occa- 
sion, it appeared that when Captain 
Hunn fell in with the Syliph, in latitude 
7 deg. 50 min. north, and longitude 16 
deg. 30 min. west, she had béen fifty- 
one days at sea from Bonny, where she 
had taken in 888 slaves: twenty died 
before her detention, and four after- 
wards. It also appeared, that she was 
bound to Guadaloupe, where the traffic 
in slaves was stated to be carricd on 
with scarcely any reserve. 
Another case, that of a ship called 
Le Rodeur, whilst it proves the little 
risk that is run by French subjects in 
carrying on the slave trade, furnishes 
also a most striking exemplification of 
some of the worst horrors which attend 
the Middle Passage.—‘‘The ship Le 
Rodeur, Captain B , of two 
hundred tons burden, left Havre’ the 
24th of January, 1819, for the coast of 
Africa, and reached her destination the 
14th of March following, anclioring at 
Bonny in the river Calabar. The crew, 
consisting of twenty-two men, enjoyed 
good health during the outward voy- 
age, and during-their stay at Bonny, 
where they continued till the 6th.of 
April. They had observed no trace of 
ophthalmia among the natives; and it 
was not until fifteen days after they 
had set sail on the return voyage, and 
the vessel was near the equator, that 
they perceived the first symptoms of 
this frightful malady. It was then re- 
marked, that the negroes, who, to the 
number of one hundred and sixty, were 
crowded together in the hold, and be- 
tween the decks, had contracied a 
considerable redness of the eyes, which 
spread with singular rapidity. .No 
great attention was at. first paid to 
these symptoms, which werethought to 
be caused only by the want of air in 
the hold, and by the scarcity of water 
which had already begun tobe felt. At 
this time they were limited to cight 
ounces of water a day for cach person, 
which quantity was afterwards reduced 
to the half of a wine glass. By the ad- 
vice of M. Maignan, the surgeon of the 
ship, the negroes, who had hitherto re- 
mained shut up in the hold, were 
brought upon deck in succession, in 
order that they might breathe a purer 
air. Butit became necessary to aban- 
don this expedient, salutary as it was, 
because many of those negroes, affected 
2U with 
