governments, shut them out from commerce and
This Portuguese pretense to dominion is the curse of the negro race on the East Coast of Africa, and it would soon fall to the ground were it not for the moral support it derives from the respect paid to it by our own flag. The Emperor Napoleon III. disregarded it in the case of the "Charles et Georges," while only by the aid of English sailors has the government of Mozambique, on more than one occasion, been saved from being overturned. Our squadron on the East Coast costs over £70,000 a year, and, by our acquiescence in the sham sovereignty of the Portuguese, we effect only a par tial suppression of the slave-trade, and none of the commercial benefits which have followed direct dealing with the natives on the West Coast. A new law for the abolition of slavery has been proposed by the King of Portugal, but it inspires me with no confidence, as no means have ever been taken to put similar enactments already passed into execu tion, and we can only view this as a new bid for still farther acquiescence in a system which perpetuates barbarism. Mons. Lacerda has unwittingly shown, by his eager advocacy, that the real sentiments of his employers are decidedly pro-slavery. The great fact that the Americans have rid themselves of the incubus of slavery, and will probably not tolerate the continuance of the murderous slave-trade by the Portuguese nation, has done more to elicit their king's recent speech than the opinions of his ministry.