their own law, to punish their respective subjects, ‘who may participate in an illicit traffic in slaves,’ and ‘to assimilate, as much as possible, their legislation in this respect to that of Great Britain;’ and those powers will thus enjoy the opportunity of fulfilling their obligations. The punishment of the guilty persons might be strongly urged by the British ambassadors; but whether punished or not, we are persuaded that a more severe blow would be given by this proceeding to foreign slave trade than it has ever yet received. No less than 687 Spanish and Portuguese sailors were engaged in navigating the 30 vessels which came before us last year. All these men have long since returned to their former occupation; but had they been withdrawn, as we propose, from their old haunts and pursuits, carried to Europe far from their slave trading connexions, fined, imprisoned, and otherwise punished, and left to find their way back as best they could to Cuba and Brazil, the alarm which would have been thereby caused amongst the many thousands of seamen engaged in the same manner, would have done more to check and injure the illegal traffic than any means that have been adopted for the last twenty years.” 5197. Mr. _Forster_.] In the paper you have just read, the necessity of increased measures for the punishment of the crews of slave vessels is alluded to; you are not aware, probably, that it is in evidence before this Committee, that those crews, being landed on the coast at the nearest point to that at which the capture took place, not above one in ten of them escape death from destitution and want, in which case you would probably think the punishment sufficient?--I was not aware of the fact; but still I would have _that one_ sent home. 5198. _Chairman._] You would rather have the regular punishment of the sailors?--A total withdrawal of the men from the place where their slave trading occupation leads them, even if they are not punished in Portugal and Spain, would have a good effect; they would be withdrawn so completely from the line of their ordinary business, that the expense of their finding their way to the Havannah or the Brazils would deter them from engaging in such voyages, except at extravagantly high wages. 5199. Mr. _Aldam_.] Why could not they work their way back?--But they still would be losing the enormous wages that they would obtain on board a slave ship. 5200. Mr. _W. Patten_.] Do you happen to know the wages given on board the slave ships?--They vary a little; but the wages of a common sailor I have known to be 5_l._ a month. I should say a common seaman on board one of those vessels would obtain, taking the value which the slaves fetch, 7_l._ or 8_l._ a month on a successful voyage.