Without doubt, the
contention of the United States as to England's pretensions to a Right
of Visit was technically correct. Nevertheless, it was clear that if the
slave-trade was to be suppressed, each nation must either zealously keep
her flag from fraudulent use, or, as a labor-saving device, depute to
others this duty for limited places and under special circumstances. A
failure of any one nation to do one of these two things meant that the
efforts of all other nations were to be fruitless. The United States had
invited the world to join her in denouncing the slave-trade as piracy;
yet, when such a pirate was waylaid by an English vessel, the United
States complained or demanded reparation. The only answer which this
country for years returned to the long-continued exposures of American
slave-traders and of the fraudulent use of the American flag, was a
recital of cases where Great Britain had gone beyond her legal powers in
her attempt to suppress the slave-trade.[52] In the face of overwhelming
evidence to the contrary, Secretary of State Forsyth declared, in 1840,
that the duty of the United States in the matter of the slave-trade "has
been faithfully performed, and if the traffic still exists as a disgrace
to humanity, it is to be imputed to nations with whom Her Majesty's
Government has formed and maintained the most intimate connexions, and
to whose Governments Great Britain has paid for the right of active
intervention in order to its complete extirpation.
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