"[14] In addition to this, the next
day a circular letter was despatched by Castlereagh to Austria, Russia,
and Prussia, expressing the hope "that the Powers of Europe, when
restoring Peace to Europe, with one common interest, will crown this
great work by interposing their benign offices in favour of those
Regions of the Globe, which yet continue to be desolated by this
unnatural and inhuman traffic."[15] Meantime additional treaties were
secured: in 1814 by royal decree Netherlands agreed to abolish the
trade;[16] Spain was induced by her necessities to restrain her trade to
her own colonies, and to endeavor to prevent the fraudulent use of her
flag by foreigners;[17] and in 1815 Portugal agreed to abolish the
slave-trade north of the equator.[18]
68. ~Action of the Powers from 1814 to 1820.~ At the Congress of Vienna,
which assembled late in 1814, Castlereagh was indefatigable in his
endeavors to secure the abolition of the trade. France and Spain,
however, refused to yield farther than they had already done, and the
other powers hesitated to go to the lengths he recommended.
Nevertheless, he secured the institution of annual conferences on the
matter, and a declaration by the Congress strongly condemning the trade
and declaring that "the public voice in all civilized countries was
raised to demand its suppression as soon as possible," and that, while
the definitive period of termination would be left to subsequent
negotiation, the sovereigns would not consider their work done until the
trade was entirely suppressed.
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