370 THE SLAVE-TRADE. 



hands. The port charges are also rendered heavy by 

 twenty dollars being charged as a perquisite of the Secre- 

 tary of Government, with a fee for the chief physician, 

 something for the hospital, custom-house officers, guards, 

 &c, &c. But with all these drawbacks, the Americans 

 carry on a brisk and profitable trade in calico, biscuit, 

 flour, butter, &c, &c. 



The Portuguese home Government has not generally 

 received the credit for sincerity in suppressing the slave- 

 trade, which I conceive to be its due. In 1839 my friend 

 Mr. Gabriel saw 2>7 slave-ships lying in this harbour, 

 waiting for their cargoes, under the protection of the guns 

 of the forts. At that time slavers had to wait many 

 months at a time for a human freight, and a certain sum 

 per head was paid to the Government for all that were 

 exported. The duties derived from the exportation of 

 slaves far exceeded those from other commerce, and by 

 agreeing to the suppression of this profitable traffic, the 

 Government actually sacrificed the chief part of the export 

 revenue. Since that period, however, the revenue from 

 lawful commerce has very much exceeded that on slaves. 

 The intentions of the home Portuguese Government, how • 

 ever good, cannot be fully carried out under the present 

 system. The pay of the officers is so very small, that 

 they are nearly all obliged to engage in trade ; and owing 

 to the lucrative nature of the slave-trade, the temptation to 

 engage in it is so powerful, that the philanthropic states- 

 men of Lisbon need hardly expect to have their humane 

 and enlightened views carried out. The law, for instance, 

 lately promulgated for the abolition of the carrier system 

 (carregadores) is but one of several equally humane enact- 

 ments against this mode of compulsory labour, but there 

 is very little probability of the benevolent intentions of 

 the legislature being carried into effect. 



Loanda is regarded somewhat as a penal settlement, and 

 those who leave their native land for this country do so 

 with the hope of getting rich in a few years, and then 

 returning home. They have thus no motive for seeking 

 the permanent welfare of the country. The Portuguese 

 law preventing the subjects of any other nation from 

 holding landed property unless they become naturalized, 

 the country has neither the advantage of native nor 

 foreign enterprise, and remains very much in the same state 

 as our allies found it in 1575. Nearly ail the European 



