proposal for joint cruising
off the coast of Cuba.[77] Great Britain offered to relieve the United
States of any embarrassment by receiving all captured Africans into the
West Indies; but President Buchanan "could not contemplate any such
arrangement," and obstinately refused to increase the suppressing
squadron.[78]

On the outbreak of the Civil War, the Lincoln administration, through
Secretary Seward, immediately expressed a willingness to do all in its
power to suppress the slave-trade.[79] Accordingly, June 7, 1862, a
treaty was signed with Great Britain granting a mutual limited Right of
Search, and establishing mixed courts for the trial of offenders at the
Cape of Good Hope, Sierra Leone, and New York.[80] The efforts of a
half-century of diplomacy were finally crowned; Seward wrote to Adams,
"Had such a treaty been made in 1808, there would now have been no
sedition here."[81]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Cf. Augustine Cochin, in Lalor, _Cyclopedia_, III. 723.

[2] By a law of Aug. 11, 1792, the encouragement formerly
given to the trade was stopped. Cf. _Choix de rapports,
opinions et discours prononces a la tribune nationale depuis
1789_ (Paris, 1821), XIV. 425; quoted in Cochin, _The Results
of Emancipation_ (Booth's translation, 1863), pp. 33, 35-8.

[3] Cochin, _The Results of Emancipation_ (Booth's
translation, 1863), pp. 42-7.

[4] _British and Foreign State Papers_, 1815-6, p. 196.

[5] _Ibid._, pp. 195-9, 292-3; 1816-7, p. 755. It was
eventually confirmed by royal ordinance, and the law of April
15, 1818.

[6] _Statute 28 George III._, ch. 54. Cf. _Statute 29 George
III._, ch. 66.

[7] Various petitions had come in praying for an abolition of
the slave-trade; and by an order in Council, Feb. 11, 1788, a
committee of the Privy Council was ordered to take evidence on
the subject. This committee presented an elaborate report in
1739. See published _Report_, London, 1789.

[8] For the history of the Parliamentary struggle, cf.
Clarkson's and Copley's histories. The movement was checked in
the House of Commons in 1789, 1790, and 1791. In 1792 the
House of Commons resolved to abolish the trade in 1796. The
Lords postponed the matter to take evidence. A bill to
prohibit the foreign slave-trade was lost in 1793, passed the
next session, and was lost in the House of Lords. In 1795,