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prevention of the kidnapping system which has been carried on to a great
extent to supply the Fiji Islands and Queensland with labourers.
Nothing could be more abominable than the system which has been pursued.
Small-armed vessels have been fitted out, and have, by fraud or
violence, got the natives of different islands to come on board, when,
shutting them down under hatches, they have carried them off and
disposed of them, though nominally as free labourers, yet in reality as
slaves. By the efforts of the naval officers engaged in the service,
the practice has nearly, if not entirely, been suppressed.

These satisfactory results have not been produced without the sacrifice
of the lives of many gallant officers and seamen, the destruction of the
health of many more, and by a large expenditure of money. The question
to be asked is, "Will England be content, when contemplating all that
she has done, that slavery and the accursed slave-trade shall exist in
any part of the world where she by means of her navy has the power to
put it down?" We are confident that from every part of the British
dominions the answer will be, "No! at every cost we will continue the
noble work we have commenced, and not rest while a single nation dares
to assert her right to enslave our fellow-men."

We hold it as one of the most glorious privileges which England
possesses that a slave once setting foot on British soil or reaching the
deck of a British man-of-war is a slave no longer, and must not be
delivered up to the man who calls himself his owner while an English
soldier or sailor remains alive to defend him, or a plank of the ship in
which he has sought refuge still floats above the surface. More, we
would say that should the fugitive slave place his hand on the gunwale
of the smallest boat above which the flag of England flies, protection
should be afforded him, even though his pursuers were at his heels. Let
other nations know that England denies that one man can justly enslave
his fellow--acknowledges not the right of ownership in slaves, but is
resolved to strike off the fetters from the captive wherever he can be
reached, whether on shore or afloat. But her task is only yet partly
accomplished--she has still a great and glorious work before her, and to
enable the officers of our ships to perform their duty as they would
wish to do it, they must be hampered by no vexatious restrictions, or be
allowed to feel that they are liab