The Port Charges Are Also Rendered Heavy By
Twenty Dollars Being Charged As A Perquisite Of The Secretary Of Government,
With A Fee For The Chief Physician, Something For The Hospital,
Custom-House Officers, Guards, Etc., Etc.
But, with all these drawbacks,
the Americans carry on a brisk and profitable trade in calico, biscuit,
flour, butter, etc., etc.
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 37 slave-ships lying in this harbor,
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, however good, can not 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 statesmen 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 enactments against this mode of compulsory labor,
but there is very little probability of the benevolent intentions
of the Legislature being carried into effect.
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