It will hereafter be shown that, by following the motions of this Slave barque “Minnetonka,” under both American and Spanish colours—for Captain Ward used both flags whenever it suited his convenience—I discovered the Slave Trade carried on by the Portuguese authorities in the Province of Mozambique, from Cape Delgado to Delagoa Bay; and was further enabled to drag to light, and lay before the world, the whole system of French free-labour emigration, as carried on by delegated authority;—a system of so-called emigration, which has caused a renewal of all the horrors perpetrated by the natives on each other, for the purpose of supplying that Slave Trade which England has, for more than half a century, been endeavouring to put an end to by a lavish expenditure of money, and the continued sacrifice of the most heroic spirits in her peerless Navy.
In confirmation of the statement of the Mate of the “Minnetonka,” that she was bound for Cape Corrientes, I learned at Natal that four full cargoes of Africans had been shipped from that locality within the two last months, while Her Majesty’s Consul for Mozambique was detained at the Cape of Good Hope; and the Mozambique Channel was left without a cruiser on the advice of Mr. João de Costa Soares, better known as “John of the Coast;”—the governor of Inhambane and “John of the Coast’s” aunt supplying the slaves for those four vessels.
On the morning after landing at D’Urban, a deputation from the Chamber of Commerce of Natal did me the honour of waiting on me at Weeden’s Hotel, to lay before me the great difficulties which the Natal merchants had to encounter in pushing British commerce into Eastern Africa. They stated that the rates of duty charged by the Portuguese authorities were too high, and at least fifty per cent. above the tariff established by the government at Lisbon; that every conceivable difficulty was thrown in the way of legal traders, and that it was impossible to carry on legitimate commerce in those parts possessed by the Portuguese; while, on every other part of the coast, between Cape Delgado and Delagoa Bay, which did not belong to the Portuguese, they were forbidden to trade with the natives, under pain of their property being confiscated.
To this I replied:—“That the object of Her Majesty’s government in appointing a Consul to Mozambique was to establish Legitimate Trade in those parts, and at the same time to abolish the Slave Trade; and that it would be my most earnest endeavour to establish commercial relations on those terms which ought to subsist between the subjects of friendly sovereigns.”
A member of the deputation next inquired if I could not promote the supply of Native Labour from Mozambique to Natal, placing this British Colony on the same terms, as to labour, as the neighbouring French Colony of Réunion.
To this I replied:—“That if an application of that nature was made to the Lieutenant-governor of the Colony, no doubt it would receive an immediate and definite reply.”
Hereupon the deputation withdrew; and Captain Gordon and myself had a good laugh at the proposal of one member of the deputation to make Her Majesty’s Consul a Delegate for obtaining free labour from Mozambique.
During the course of that morning I had a visit from Mr. G. V. Duncan, who had been up to Delagoa Bay, in a small Cutter called the “Herald,” of Natal, endeavouring to establish commercial relations with the natives on the south part of that Bay, which is British territory; and he complained to me of the obstacles thrown in his way by the Portuguese authorities at Lourenço Marques, situated in that Bay, in preventing him from trading with persons who were willing to do so; and also of their preventing him trading with the Zulus in the British territory on the south part of Delagoa Bay, unless he first paid duties to the custom-house at Lourenço Marques. To give me some further insight into the conduct of the authorities at the above-named place, he placed in my hands a copy of the following letter, which will be again referred to in these pages:—
“DELAGOA BAY AND THE SLAVE TRADE ON THE EAST AFRICAN COAST.
“To the Editor of the Natal Mercury.