{"1": {"fulltext": "LIBRARY OF CONGRESS\\nDDDD4EE3D44", "height": "3062", "width": "1924", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0001.jp2"}, "2": {"fulltext": "", "height": "3000", "width": "1841", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0002.jp2"}, "3": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0003.jp2"}, "4": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0004.jp2"}, "5": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0005.jp2"}, "6": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0006.jp2"}, "7": {"fulltext": "THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0007.jp2"}, "8": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0008.jp2"}, "9": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0009.jp2"}, "10": {"fulltext": "KIDNAPPING BEN JOHNSON BECAME A SLAVE HIMSELF.\\nSee page 54.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0010.jp2"}, "11": {"fulltext": "THE AMERICAN\\nSLAVE-TRADE\\nAN ACCOUNT OF\\nITS ORIGIN, GROWTH\\nAND SUPPRESSION\\nBY\\nJOHN R. SPEARS\\nILLUSTRATED BY\\nWALTER APPLETON CLARK\\nNEW YORK\\nCHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS\\n1900", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0011.jp2"}, "12": {"fulltext": "63352\\nCopies Received\\nj OCT 19 1900\\nCopyright entry\\n\u00c2\u00aeefc.v\\\\,vnoo\\nFIRST COPY.\\n2ni Copy Delivered 1 to\\nORQLR DIVISION\\nNOV 20 19 00\\nCopyright, 1900, by\\nCHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS\\nTROW DIRECTORY\\nrRINTINQ A\u00c2\u00abD BOOKBINDING COMP", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0012.jp2"}, "13": {"fulltext": "(Co\\nALL WHO SINCERELY\\nSTRIVE TO UNDERSTAND AND OBEY\\nTHE DIVINE COMMAND\\nTHOU SHALT LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0013.jp2"}, "14": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0014.jp2"}, "15": {"fulltext": "PREFACE\\nThis history of the American slave-trade grew out\\nof a study of the history of the American navy. The\\nnavy was in a way connected with the slave-trade,\\nbut the subject was so large that only the briefest\\nmention of what the navy did on the slave coast\\ncould be made in The History of Our Navy. The\\ndiscovery that our naval ships, in forces ranging from\\na single schooner to a frigate squadron, had cruised\\non the coast of Africa at intervals during a period\\nof nearly forty years for the proclaimed purpose\\nof suppressing the slave-trade without accomplish-\\ning so much as a restriction of it, determined me\\nto give the subject a separate consideration. What\\nI have gathered I have set down here as well as\\nI could.\\nAs it seems to me, the facts form the most remark-\\nable story known to the history of commercial enter-\\nprises. Consider, for instance, the origin of the\\ntrade. It was established because of the sincere pity\\nof a tender-hearted and most praiseworthy priest for\\nan outraged people. No other trade ever had such\\nan exalted origin, and yet the cruelties and horrors of\\nit far surpass those described in any other branch\\nof history. The soldiers who have looted cities, the\\nvii", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0015.jp2"}, "16": {"fulltext": "viii ritEFACE\\npirates who have made passengers and sailors walk\\nthe plank, and the religious zealots who have burned\\ntheir opponents at the stake, were more merciful than\\nthe slave-traders.\\nFurther than that, no trade ever paid such large\\nreturns on the investments. More remarkable still,\\nthe trade at one time made some who followed it\\nheroes, but at last degraded all who were connected\\nwith it beyond the power of words to describe.\\nBut now that I have written out the facts, I am\\nbound to say, here in advance, and to repeat further\\non, that the intrinsic evil in the slave-trade was not\\nfound in the slaughter of the helpless during the\\nraids in Africa, or the horrors of the middle passage,\\nor the brutality of planters who deliberately worked\\ntheir slaves to death as a matter of business policy\\nnor was it in all of these combined. I cannot say all\\nthat is in my thought, but it is a fact that the slave\\ntrade and the plantations might have been carried on\\nprofitably without any cruelty whatever to the slave.\\nIt is a matter of knowledge among people now living\\nthat many planters promoted the physical comforts\\nand added to the mental pleasures of their slaves,\\nwhile here and there a ship was found to make the\\nmiddle passage without losing a life. The horrors of\\nthe trade that cried aloud to heaven for more than\\nthree hundred years were merely the grosser natural\\noutgrowths of the root evil in it.\\nNor is that all. If we look at the story with judi-\\ncial mind (and it is necessary, though difficult, to do\\nso) we shall find that the ills brought upon the domi-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0016.jp2"}, "17": {"fulltext": "i-i;i:i i:\\nIX\\nnant race by the slave-trade and slavery are more to\\nbe deplored than those indicted upon tlio manifestly\\noppressed negro.\\nAt first thought it may seem a story to make an\\nAmerican ashamed of his country. Certainly the\\npower of the slave-ship owner in national politics\\nbefore the civil war was something that makes us mar-\\nvel now. From the enactment of the law that made\\nthe slave-trade piracy until Abraham Lincoln became\\nPresident the policy of pretence that prevailed in\\nconnection with the slave-trade was infinitely dis-\\ngraceful to the nation. But when all the facts are\\nfairly considered, it is found that we were steadily\\ndeveloping, under adverse circumstances, a love of\\nexact Justice. We washed away our shame, at last,\\nwith unstinted blood, and then a time came when our\\npeople took up arms to give liberty even to an alien\\nrace. The history of the slaver days is worth con-\\nsideration if only that it may be contrasted with the\\nhistory of the end of the Nineteenth Century.\\nThis book has been written almost wholly from\\npublic documents, biographies, stories of travellers,\\nand other sources of original information. I am under\\nespecial obligations to the work of Professor Du Bois\\non the suppression of the slave-trade for its full lists\\nof references, and to Mr. A. S. Clark, without whose\\nknowledge of the book trade I should have been\\nunable to complete my collection of authorities.\\nJ. R. S.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0017.jp2"}, "18": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0018.jp2"}, "19": {"fulltext": "(a\\nCONTENTS\\nCHAPTER I\\nTHE TRADE IN THE EARLIEST DAYS\\nv\\nThe Unnamed Dutch Slaver of 1819 First Slaver Fitted Out in American\\nWaters and the First American-built Slaver\u00e2\u0080\u0094 When Human Beings were\\nFrequently a Part of a Ship s General Cargo How a Good Priest,\\nthrough a Love of Humanity, Promoted the Traffic\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Days when Chris-\\ntian Missionaries Found Profit in the Trade, and It Hurt the Conscience\\nof No One Engaged in It\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Kings and Nobles as Slave-traders\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Slaver\\nContract that was Considered a Magnificent Triumph of Diplomacy\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nThe Yankee Slavers Successful Stroke for Free Trade and Sailors Rights\\nExtent of the Early Traffic, Page i\\nCHAPTER II\\nOLD-TIME SLAVER CAPTAINS AND THEIR SHIPS\\nDavid Lindsay as a Typical American Slaver of the Eighteenth Century\\nWith a Rotten Ship that Showed Daylight Through Her Seams Al\\nRound Her Bow Under Deck He Reached the Slave-coast, Gathered\\nHis Cargo in Spite of Fevers, Deaths in the Crew, and Competition,\\nand Finally Landed at Barbadoes with All in Helth and Fatt An As-\\ntrologer s Chart for a Slaver s Voyage Tales of the Slaver Vikings\\nof Liverpool\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Debt of Early American Commerce to the Slave-trade\\nJohn Paul Jones a Slaver, Page 2 1\\nCHAPTER III\\nWHEN VOYAGES WENT AWRY\\nTales of Trouble When Lying on the Slave-coast We are Ready to\\nDevour One Another, for Our Case is Desprit A Second Mate s\\nUnlucky Trip in a Long Boat\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Sickness in the Hold as Well as Among\\nzi", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0019.jp2"}, "20": {"fulltext": "x ii CONTENTS\\nthe Crew Cocoanuts and Oranges could not Serve in Place of Water\\nStory of the Mutiny on the Slaver Perfect Risks the Underwriters\\nAssumed\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Proportion of Disastrous Voyages Page }i\\nCHAPTER IV\\nTHE SLAVER AND HER OUTFIT\\nThere were Tiny Ships in the Trade\u00e2\u0080\u0094 One Vessel had a Capacity of 5,000\\nGallons of Molasses Only, and even Open Row-boats were used in the\\nNineteenth Century Dimensions of a Slaver s Timbers The Famous\\nVenus, a Forerunner of the Yankee Clippers Steamers that were in the\\nTrade\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Blubber Kettles of Whalers used for Boiling Rice and Yams\\nRum, Guns, and Coin were the Favorite Articles of Traffic, but Silks,\\nLaces, Parasols and Other Goods for the Use of Women of Education\\nand Delicate Tastes were Wanted\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Naval Officer s Estimate for a\\nSlaver s Outfit, Page 36\\nCHAPTER V\\nON THE SLAVE-COAST\\nPhysical Features of Land and Sea Peculiarities of the Aborigines and some\\nCharacteristics that were not Peculiar to Them\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Gathering Slaves for\\nthe Market A Trade that Degenerated from a System of Fair Barter\\ninto the Most Atrocious Forms of Piracy Conceivable Utter Degra-\\ndation of White Traders The Slaughter at Calabar Prices Paid for\\nSlaves The Barracoons of Pedro Blanco and Da Souza When Negroes\\nVoluntarily Sold Themselves Page 44\\nCHAPTER VI\\nTHE MIDDLE PASSAGE\\nStowing Slaves for the Voyage from Africa to a Market\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Galleries-\\nCompelled to Lie Spoon-fashion to Save Deck Space\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Plan by\\nwhich the Tween Decks Space was Packed Full\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Effects of the Ship s\\nRolling on the Manacled Cargo\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Living Slaves Jettisoned to Make a\\nClaim on the Underwriters\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Horrors of The Blood-Stained Gloria\\nBlinded Crews of the Rodenr and the Leon\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Suicide Among the Tortured\\nSlaves\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Pitiful Tale of a Weanling s Death\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Punishing Mutiny on the\\nAmerican Slaver Kentucky\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Slave Ships Named for Two of Our\\nPresidents, p a ge 68", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0020.jp2"}, "21": {"fulltext": "CONTENTS Xiii\\nCHAPTER VII\\nTHE SLAVERS PROFIT\\nNine Hundred Pounds on One Voyage ol the Newport Slaver Sanderson,*\\nVessel that was Offered for Sale at ,\u00c2\u00a3450 with No Buyers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 One Voyage\\nof the Liverpool Slaver Enterprise that Paid \u00c2\u00a324,430\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Details of Ex-\\npenses and Receipts on a Voyage of the Ninety-ton Schooner La For-\\ntuna\u00e2\u0080\u0094k Baltimore Schooner s Profit of $100,000\u00e2\u0080\u0094 When the Venus\\nCleared 5200,000\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Sums Paid to Captains and Crews\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Slave Transpor-\\ntation Compared with Modern Passenger Traffic Page 82\\nCHAPTER Vlll\\nSLAVER LEGISLATION IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES\\nThe Colonies often Levied Taxes on Imported Slaves, and these Duties were\\nin Rare Cases Prohibitive, but this Legislation was always Based on\\nCommercial C insiderations Only, or else a Fear of Negro Insurrections\\n\u00e2\u0080\u0094Great Britain Never Forced the Slave-trade on them Against Their\\nVirtuous Protest Georgia s Interesting Slave History, Page go\\nCHAPTER IX\\nTHE EARLY WORK FOR EXTIRPATION\\nThe Words and Deeds of the Fanatics\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Quakers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Slaves that were\\nFreed by Baptism\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Granville Sharp as a Liberator\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Fanatic s Politi-\\ncal Creed Plainly Stated\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Widespread Influence of the Somerset Case\\nwhen the Right Prevailed in England\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Policy that would not Square\\nWell with a Practical Business Sense of Things\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The American Declara-\\ntion of Independence and the Black Men, Page 98\\nCHAPTER X\\nTHE SLAVERS OUTLAWED\\nBritish Abolitionists and Their Work\u00e2\u0080\u0094 After a Crusade of only Twenty\\nYears, They Outlawed a Trade that, from a Business Point of View, had\\nbeen the most Profitable in the United Kingdom\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Slave-trade and\\nthe American Constitution\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Inauguration of the System of Compro-\\nmises that Led to the Civil War\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Slave-trade Legislation of the States\\n\u00e2\u0080\u0094The Act of March 2, 1S07, Page 106", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0021.jp2"}, "22": {"fulltext": "xiv CONTENTS\\nCHAPTER XI\\nTALES OF THE EARLIER SMUGGLERS\\nA Slaver s Ferry Between Havana and the Florida Ports Amelia Island as\\na Smugglers Headquarters The Barataria Pirates and the Smuggling\\nTrade Extent of the Illegal Traffic A Georgia Governor who Left\\nHis Post to Become a Slave Smuggler, Page 122\\nCHAPTER XII\\nSLAVERS DECLARED PIRATES\\nFines and Imprisonment with Rewards for Informers were not Sufficient\\nto Stop Slave Smuggling Workings of the Prohibitive Legislation\\nIllustrated by the Doings of the Knife-inventor Bowie and the Pirate\\nLafitte Slaves Sold by the Pound Influences that Led to the\\nPiracy Act, Page 127\\nCHAPTER XIII\\nINTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION FOR SUPPRESSING THE TRADE\\nWork of British Diplomacy among the Continental Powers When Spain\\nagreed to Abolish the Slave-trade for a Money Consideration and\\nFailed to Fulfil Her Contract\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Free Offer of Sailors Rights which\\nWe Refused to Accept\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Shameful Record in American Slaver Legisla-\\ntion The Ashburton Treaty, Page 1)4\\nCHAPTER XIV\\nTALES OF THE OUTLAWED TRADE\\nHow the Laws were Interpreted\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Slavers that would Make a Fierce Fight-\\nFamous American Privateers that Became Slavers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Whole Cargoes of\\nSlaves Thrown to the Sharks to Avoid the Confiscation of Vessels-\\nTales of the Rapido, the Regulo, and Hemans s Brillante\u00e2\u0080\u0094k Cargo of\\nSlaves Bound to Anchor and Chain and Thrown Overboard A Slaver\\nWho Coolly Murdered His Sweetheart and Child\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Trade that was\\nLucrative in Proportion to Its Heinousness, Page 140", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0022.jp2"}, "23": {"fulltext": "Contents xv\\nCHAPTER XV\\nTHE NAVY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE\\nStory of the Half-hearted, Wholly Futile Work of Blockading the African\\nCoast Reward of an Officer Who Earnestly Strove to Stop the Trade\\nAn Interesting Period in the Career of Commodore M. C. Perry\\nAmerican and British Squadrons Compared\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Sham Work of the\\nBuchanan Administration, Page 148\\nCHAPTER XVI\\nFREE-NEGRO COLONIES AND THE SLAVE-TRADE\\nEngland Led the Way by Establishing a Colony at Sierra Leone to Provide\\na Home for Negroes Carried from the United States during the Revolu-\\ntionary War The Enterprise Saved by the Sturdy Maroons Origin\\nof the American Society for Colonizing Free People of Color Life of\\nthe Colonists at Cape Mesurado The Nation of Liberia Organized\\nAn Ape of Philanthropy, Page 160\\nCHAPTER XVII\\nTALES OF THE COASTWISE SLAVE-SHIPS\\nColored Men from New York Prison Sent to New Orleans and Sold Steal-\\ning Slaves in New Jersey for the Southwest Market Coastwise Slavers\\nthat Lost their Human Cargoes in British Islands Madison Washing-\\nton a Negro Worthy of his Name\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Joshua R. Giddings and the Coast-\\nwise Trade\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Extent of the Coastwise Traffic Page 173\\nCHAPTER XVIII\\nSTORY OF THE A MIST AD\\nA Cuban Coastwise Slaver that may have been Used to Smuggle Slaves Into\\nthe United States On the Way from Havana to Puerto Principe the\\nSlaves Overpowered the Crew, and Started Back to Africa, but were\\nBeguiled to Long Island\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Judicially Decided that Slaves Unlawfully Held\\nhave a Right to Take Human Life in a Stroke for Liberty, Page 184", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0023.jp2"}, "24": {"fulltext": "xvi CONTENTS\\nCHAPTER XIX\\nLATTER-DAY SLAVE SMUGGLERS\\nNotable Slave-ships that Plied between the African Coast and the Uni!\\nStates just before the Civil War When the Wanderer Carried the Flag\\nof the New York Yacht Club to the Congo Troubles of a Smuggler as\\ndescribed in his Letter-book A Movement for Legally Reopening the\\nSlave-trade Dream of a Slave Empire, Page 194\\nCHAPTER XX\\nWHEN THE END CAME\\nBuchanan s Administration and the Slave-trade\u00e2\u0080\u0094 When the Sham Efforts to\\nSuppress Came to an End\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Story of Captain Gordon of the Erie, the\\nFirst Slaver Pirate to be Executed in the United States, Page 21}\\nPAGK\\nAPPENDIX A, 225\\nAPPENDIX B, 229", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0024.jp2"}, "25": {"fulltext": "ILLUSTRATIONS\\nKidnapping Ben Johnson Became a Slave Himself Frontispiece\\nFACING\\nPACE\\nBringing One that was Bound and Gagged 24\\nAfter a Raid 48\\nA Wild Dash for Life was Made 64\\nEvery Soul on Board was Blind 72\\nf\\\\e Applied the Lash not only to Make Them Eat but to Make\\nThem Sing 96\\njit was a Malaria or Death-mist that 1 Saw Rising .128\\nShe Walked to the Ship s Side and Dropped the Body into the Sea 144\\nThen He Cast Loose the Anchor 156\\nThey were Seen to Throw Slaves Overboard Shackled Together 172\\nhe Slaves on the Ship had Mutinied 192\\nhe Human Cargo was Under the Charge of the Old Rice-field\\nNegroes 2t6", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0025.jp2"}, "26": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0026.jp2"}, "27": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER I\\nTHE TRADE IN THE EARLIEST DAYS\\n#1\\nThe Unnamed Dutch Slaver of 1019\u00e2\u0080\u0094 First Slaver Fitted Out in\\nAmerican Waters and the First American-built Slaver\\nWhen Human Beings were Frequently a Part of a Ship s\\nGeneral Cargo How a Good Priest, through a Love of\\nHumanity, Promoted the Traffic Days when Christian\\nMissionaries Found Profit in the Trade, and It Hurt the\\nConscience of No One Engaged in It Kings and Nobles\\nas Slave-Traders A Slaver Contract that was Consid-\\nered a Magnificent Triumph of Diplomacy The Yankee\\nSlavers Successful Stroke for Free Trade and Sailors\\nRights Extent of the Early Traffic.\\nOn a hot day late in the month of August, 1619,\\nwhile the people of the little British settlement called\\nJamestown, in what is now the State of Virginia, were\\nbusily engaged in the work of establishing homes on\\nthe borders of the great American wilderness, an\\nalarm was raised that a ship was coming with the tide\\nup from the sea. Only one more startling cry than\\nthat could have been heard a warning that hostile\\nIndians were coming but in those days, when the\\nfighting between nations nominally at peace might\\ncost more lives than were lost in our war with Spain,\\nthe approach of an unknown ship, to a settlement as\\nweak as Jamestown, was a most serious matter. It\\nwas the more serious for the reason that Spain, in\\n1", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0027.jp2"}, "28": {"fulltext": "2 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nthose days, laid claim to all of North America, and\\nwas threatening to come to the Chesapeake Bay and\\nlay waste the settlement there as an encroachment\\nupon her rights.\\nThe stranger was a queer-looking craft, if we may\\njudge her by modern standards, for she was, as all\\nships then were, short and thick\u00e2\u0080\u0094 bluff-bowed and\\nround at the stern\u00e2\u0080\u0094 while she towered so high out of\\nwater at each end that the term forecastle, which\\nwas then and is now applied to any structure at the\\nbow of a ship, was a word of obvious significance.\\nThere was literally a castle on her bow, and another,\\ncalled a poop, on her stern. Her sails, too, of which\\nshe carried, doubtless, two on the fore and the main\\nmasts, and one on the mizzen, were like great bags\\nbellying out before the wind. When compared with\\nthe flat canvas of a modern ship it is easy to see that one\\nwould have difficulty in securing a crew for such a ship\\nin these days. But more interesting than the form of\\neither hull or sail was the row of black-muzzled cannon\\nthat projected through the bulwarks on each side and\\naltogether it is not mere fancy to say that the alarm of\\nsuch a ship approaching Jamestown carried tremors\\nof fear to the breasts of the weak, and added throbs to\\nthe hearts of the strong as they hurried to get their\\nweapons and go down to the river bank to receive\\nher.\\nBut as the stranger drew near, the trained eyes of\\nthe colonists saw many signs to allay their fears. She\\nwas flying the Dutch flag, for one thing, and the Dutch\\nwere then the leading traders of the world. Moreover,\\nit was apparent that her cannon were neither manned\\nnor cast loose for action the attitudes and the work", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0028.jp2"}, "29": {"fulltext": "THE TRADE IN THE EARLIEST DAYS 3\\nof her crew told convincingly that trade, and not war,\\nwas wanted, and, seeing this, the ready muskets of the\\ncolonists were laid aside that a friendly welcome might\\nbe extended.\\nThen came the ship to the shore, where her lines\\nwere made fast to the near-by trees, and her captain\\nwalked over a gang-plank to greet the colonists under\\nthe wide-spread, thick-leaved branches, and tell them\\nthat he had brought merchandise to exchange for the\\nproducts of the settlement.\\nFew more interesting ships than this are known to\\nthe history of America. The Mayflower only, of all\\nthe ships that followed Columbus, may be compared to\\nher, and that by way of contrast, because the New\\nEngland ship came with men who sought a form of\\nliberty, while the Dutchman came to introduce a kind\\nof slaveiy. Among the articles of merchandise that\\nthe Dutch captain had to offer the colonists were\\ntwenty human beings, negroes brought from the coast\\nof Africa, and his ship was probably the first slave-\\ntrader to visit what is now the coast of the United\\nStates.\\nFrom a sailor s point of view also the story of this\\nslaver is remarkable; in fact, it is one of the most\\nsingular stories known to the history of commerce.\\nThus, we know that she hailed from Flushing, and the\\nnumber of slaves that she brought. There is no doubt\\nabout her shape and rig. We are well enough as-\\nsured as to where she landed, and we are even justified\\nin saying how she was secured to the river s bank.\\nThere is an old record containing the names of some of\\nthe slaves she landed. But her name and the name ol\\nher commander have been lost beyond recovery. She", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0029.jp2"}, "30": {"fulltext": "4 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nappears above our horizon like a strange sail at sea,\\nshowing unmistakably from our present point of\\nview that something is wrong with her we pass her\\nclose enough at hand to see on her decks men and\\nwomen in distress whom we are wholly unable to re-\\nlieve, and then she fades away in the mists astern, and\\nis lost forever.\\nWe are indebted to John Rolfe, the man that mar-\\nried the Indian maiden Pocahontas (and so became the\\nmost famous squaw-man in history), for the greater\\npart of what we know about the first slave-trader to\\nvisit our shores. Rolfe was in Jamestown when the\\nDutchman came to Virginia waters, and it is his record\\nthat says a dutch man of warre that sold us twenty\\nNegars came to Jamestown late in August, 1619.\\n^tajji other accounts this ship is called a Dutch trader,\\nintetead of a man of warre, while others still call her\\na privateer. Taking all the statements together, the\\ntruth appears to be that she was built as a cargo car-\\nrier, and yet was armed, and had a license permitting\\nher to prey on the commerce of the enemies of Holland.\\nHer chief business was as a trader, but incidentally she\\nwas a lawful privateer. At what point in Africa, or\\nhow, she obtained the negroes is not known.\\nX The story of how she happened to carry her slaves\\n/to Virginia is of especial interest here because it in-\\ncludes that of the first ship fitted in United States ter-\\nritory for the slave trade.\\nIn the year 1619 the rapacious and unscrupulous\\nCaptain Samuel Argall was ruler of the colony of Vir-\\nginia. Argall was able, energetic, adroit, and con-\\nscienceless. He was what ward politicians would call\\na heeler of the Earl of Warwick, a man at once", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0030.jp2"}, "31": {"fulltext": "THE TRADE IN THE EARLIEST DAYS 5\\nrich and unscrupulous. Among the Earl s possessions\\nwas the ship Treasurer, and Argall owned a share of\\nher.\\nDuring the year 1619 the Treasurer came to Virginia,\\narmed as a privateer, and bearing a commission from\\nthe Duke of Savoy permitting her to cruise against the\\nSpaniards. Presumably intending such a cruise, she\\ncleared out for the West Indies, where, as her log-book\\nshows, she fell in with a Dutch letter of marque and\\ntold him that slaves were wanted in Virginia.\\nIt is fair to presume that the Dutchman at once\\nheaded away for the Chesapeake, because John Pory,\\nsecretary of the Virginia colony, in a letter to Sir\\nDudley Carleton, dated September 13, 1619, mentions\\nthe man-of-war of Flushing, and says: The oc-\\ncasion of this ship s coming hither was an accidental\\nconsortship in the West Indies with the Treasurer\\nHe adds that the Dutchman wanted to buy provis-\\nions, of which the master pleaded that his vessel\\nwas in dire need.\\nIt is a matter of record that the Treasurer also\\nbrought negro slaves to Virginia, and a woman called\\nAngela was sold to a Mr. Bennett. A record of her\\nmay be found in the census record of Virginia made\\nin 1625, according to Hotten s Original List of Emi-\\ngrants, etc.\\nIt is possible that the Treasurer returned ahead of\\nthe Dutchman but, because the Dutchman was in\\nneed of food, and because John Rolfe speaks of the\\nDutchman s slaves only, it is fair to infer that the\\nDutchman came first.\\nThe records tell why the Treasurer landed but one\\nslave. Says the Declaration of the Virginia Coun-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0031.jp2"}, "32": {"fulltext": "Q THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ncil, made in 1623 Finding Captain Argall, the set-\\nter-of-her-ont, departed thence, she withdrew herself\\ninstantly from the new Governor s power, and went to\\nthe Somer Islands, then discharged her booty, which\\nwere a certain number of negroes, all of which, even\\nthose that belonged as shares unto the mariners\\n(whereof they have not long since complained in\\ncourt), were taken and placed on the said Earl s\\nlands, as belonging to his lordship, and so continue.\\nIt is perhaps worth mentioning that it has been\\nasserted that the slaves ascribed to the Dutchman\\nreally came from the Treasurer, and that the letters\\nand other Virginia documents relating to the matter\\nwere deliberately false, because the Virginians feared\\nthe Spanish would come to avenge the raids which\\nthe Treasurer had made in the West Indies. But a\\ncareful reading of all the available matter on the sub-\\nject shows no real foundation for the assertion.\\nAs to the Treasurer s career, a word more must be\\ntold, because, as has been said, she was the first slaver\\nfitted out in America. She had visited the coast occa-\\nsionally as a trader between England and the colonies\\nsince 1613, but had not been in the slave-trade until\\n1619. In this voyage to the West Indies she was\\nmanned with the ablest men in the colony (see\\nDeclaration of 1623), but on reaching Bermuda she\\nwas declared to be unseaworthy. Her arms were taken\\nout of her and she was broken up. The robbing of her\\ncrew was a natural incident of the trade, and in after\\nyears common enough.\\nOne more question as to the first slave-carrying\\nships in the American trade remains to be considered\\na question that has been raised in connection with", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0032.jp2"}, "33": {"fulltext": "THE TRADE IN THE EARLIEST DAYS 7\\nthe Spanish settlement of Florida, and with the Norse\\ndiscoveries on the New England coast. If it be ad-\\nmitted that Eric the Red landed on the New England\\ncoast, then it is probable that he carried a woman\\nslave ashore with him. That the Spaniards had negro\\nslaves in their settlement in Florida is not now dis-\\nputed. Peter Menendez, who held a commission of\\nthe King of Spain for a settlement in Florida, landed\\nat St. Augustine on September 8, 1565. He undoubt-\\nedly had negro slaves in his party. If anyone wishes\\nto make an exhaustive study of the matter of the\\nlanding of the first slaves in America, he can find\\nnearly all the references to authorities needed in the\\nMagazine of American History for November, 1891\\nbut the question of interest to the present history is\\nnot -when the first slaves were brought within the\\npresent limits of the United States, but when the first\\nslave-ship came here in the prosecution of its traffic in\\nhuman beings. Certainly neither the Viking nor the\\nSpaniard came as a slave-merchant.\\nThe first American-built slaver of which there is\\ndefinite record was the ship Desire, a vessel of 120\\ntons, built at Marblehead, in 1636. It does not appear\\nthat she was in the trade to Africa, but Winthrop s\\nJournal has the following under the date of February\\n26/ 1638\\n?V Mr. Pierce in the Salem ship, the Desire, returned\\nfrom the West Indies after seven months. He had\\nbeen at Providence, and brought some cotton and to-\\nbacco and negroes, etc., from thence, and salt from\\nTortugas. To this is added a remark worth consid-\\nering: Dry fish and strong liquors are the only com-\\nmodities for those parts.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0033.jp2"}, "34": {"fulltext": "8 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TEADE\\nMeantime another slave-ship had come to Virginia\\nthe Fortune, Captain Grey, of London. While on\\nthe coast of Africa she had fallen in with an Angola\\nship loaded with slaves, and had captured her. The\\nslaves were carried to Virginia and exchanged for\\neighty-five hogsheads and live butts of tobacco,\\nwhich were sold in London. This was in 1630.\\nThat the Dutch introduced African slaves as soon as\\nthey obtained a foothold in America need not be said\\nto those who are familiar with the history of New\\nYork. They tried, at first, after the custom of the\\ntimes, to enslave the aboriginal inhabitants, but the\\ntask was found so harassing and unprofitable that\\nthey soon sought supplies of blacks from Africa.\\nIn fact enslaving red men led to such trouble that a\\nwall was built across the lower end of Manhattan\\nIsland, where Wall street is now found, to keep red\\nlovers of liberty from driving the Dutch slave-catchers\\nover the Battery beach into the bay.\\nThe first formal mention of negro slaves in the\\nDutch Manhattan documents is found in the thirtieth\\nclause of the Charter of Liberties and Exemptions of\\n1629. It says: The company will use their en-\\ndeavors to supply the colonists with as many blacks as\\nthey conveniently can. The New Project of Liberties\\nand Exemptions of a later date says the Incorpo-\\nrated West India Company shall allot to each Patroon\\ntwelve Black men and women out of the prizes in\\nwhich Negroes shall be found. Unquestionably\\nthe first slave-ships in the trade to Manhattan Island\\nwere privateers, as the first slaver in Virginia was,\\nor they were men-of-war.\\nJust when the first slaver reached New York is no-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0034.jp2"}, "35": {"fulltext": "T11K TIJADK IN TIIK KARLIEST DAYS Q\\nwhere stated, but we can prove that it was within a\\nfew years after the first blacks were landed in Vir-\\nginia. In 1G44 Director-General Kieft gave liberty to\\na number of slaves who had served the company\\neighteen or nineteen years. That is to say they had\\nbeen taken into the company s service in 1625 or\\n1626.\\nOn the introduction of negro slaves at other points\\nalong the coast nothing need be said here. It was\\nin those earliest years a very small trade. There were\\nno ships engaged in carrying slaves exclusively on the\\nhigh seas, so far as the record shows, until about 1630,\\nwhen the Fortune captured the Angola slaver. The\\nslaves were merely a part of the general cargo of\\nthat day. In 1647 the Dutch on Manhattan Island\\nwrote of the slave-trade, that hath lain so long dor-\\nmant, to the great damage of the company. In 1635\\nthe whole number of slaves imported into Virginia\\nwas but twenty-six. In 1642 only seven were imported,\\nand in 1649 only seventeen. There is no record of the\\ntotal importations, but it is certain that the traffic in\\nall the colonies combined amounted to only a few\\nhundred previous to 1650 certainly fewer in num-\\nber than would have made a single cargo in later\\nyears.\\nTrivial as were these transactions from a commercial\\npoint of view, the facts are all of importance here, not\\nonly because they belonged to the beginning of the\\ntrade, but because they are helpful to an understanding\\nof the light in which the colonists saw the trade. Did\\nthe colonists think, as they bargained for the blacks,\\nthat there was the beginning of a fatal traffic that\\nwas imposed upon them from without did they", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0035.jp2"}, "36": {"fulltext": "10 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nlay aside scruples against a traffic in human beings\\nbefore they exchanged their products for the twenty\\nNegars\\nThe student who looks to see why this Virginia\\ncolony was established may see, first of all, in The\\nTrue and Sincere Declaration, published in 1609,\\nwhat the colonists said was their chief object. It\\nreads: To preach and baptize into the Christian\\nReligion, and, by the propagation of the Gospell, to re-\\ncover out of the armes of the Devill, a number of poore\\nand miserable soules wrapt up unto death in almost in-\\nvincible ignorance to endeavour the fulfilling and ac-\\ncomplishment of the number of the elect which shall\\nbe gathered out of all corners of the earth and to add\\nour myte to the Treasury of Heaven.\\nThey believed that was their chief object, but we\\nhave another view of their habits of thought.\\nIn a letter written by Captain John Smith in 1614\\nwe find the following regarding the sport of fishing in\\nthe waters of the colony\\nAnd is it not pretty sport to pull up twopence,\\nsixpence, and twelvepence, as fast as you can haul\\nand veer a line?\\nOne may search the entire literature of that day\\nwithout finding another sentence so significant of the\\nspirit of the age as well as of the colonists the spirit\\nthat measured even its sport in fishing by counting\\nthe market value of each fish taken. In all sincerity\\nthey would proclaim that missionary work was the\\nfirst object in making the settlement they did truly\\nwish to add their myte to the number of the\\nelect, but with their missionary purposes there was\\nfound a proclaimed and unrepressed determination", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0036.jp2"}, "37": {"fulltext": "TIIK TRADE EN THE EARLIEST DAYS H\\nto make money. They had religious instructors who\\nturned from a contemplation oL the gold-paved streets\\nof their heavenly home to talk of pay streaks in the\\nmines of their wilderness home beyond the sea.\\nAnd when they had arrived, they laid out a town site,\\nboomer fashion, after which there was no talk, no\\nhope, no work but dig gold, wash gold, refine gold,\\nloadegold.\\nBut, alas, the dirt did not pan out. They sent a\\ncargo of glittering stuff home in the first Supply, but\\nit was worthless, so they turned to pitch, tar, and\\nsoap ashes also to sassafras, with such vigor that\\neven the gentlemen of the colony went to work with\\naxes and thereby blistered their soft hands until they\\nswore wicked oaths at every other stroke of their\\naxes. For this they were publicly punished, so that\\nthey were led to hold their tongues, commonly, what-\\never their thoughts might be.\\nBut pitch, tar, and soap ashes also failed to\\nmake them rich, or even comfortable, and the colony\\nwas at the point of absolute extinction when John\\nRolfe, the squaw man, introduced the cultivation of to-\\nbacco in 1612. With tobacco came, at last, prosperity,\\nbut only at a terrible price. To grow the crop required\\nthe severest kind of toil, and, what was worse, the work\\nhad to be done under conditions that proved deadly to\\nthe colonists of every class.\\nWith these facts held in mind let us recall the\\nfurther fact that the greater part of the chopping and\\ndigging was done by apprentices a real working\\nclass a class of men (afterward women were in-\\ncluded) who were brought from their homes in Eng-\\nland under contract to serve for a stated number of", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0037.jp2"}, "38": {"fulltext": "12\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TEADE\\nyears, and were sold to the Virginia planters. The\\nwhole colonial labor system was based on the appren-\\ntice system, and it is a well-known fact that many\\nmen of education and ability came to the colonies\\nas apprentices, and were sold out as merchandise\\nwas.\\nEven that law of Massachusetts in 1641 so often\\nquoted to prove that the colonists there were opposed\\nto human slavery proves, in fact, that voluntary\\nslavery was common. It says: There shall never\\nbe any bond slavery amongst us, unles it be Lawfull\\ncaptives, taken in just wars, [or such] as [shall] will-\\ningly sell themselves.\\nHolding in mind these facts, consider next the\\nclimate of the tobacco-growing region. The extinction\\nof the colony was at one time threatened. Every\\nimmigrant had to endure the seasoning fever, and\\nthe percentage of deaths was frightful.\\nIn this condition of affairs came a trader who offered\\nto exchange twenty black laborers (who would need\\nno seasoning for the products of the land which\\nthe colonists had in abundance.\\nWere men who had never obtained a laborer save by\\npurchase, and men who themselves had voluntarily\\nsubmitted to being bought and sold, to have their\\nconsciences afflicted at the thought of buying these\\nstrangers Such an idea could not enter their heads.\\nThe fact is that the English Missionary Society that,\\nin the seventeenth century, supplied all English-Amer-\\nican colonies with pious pabulum, owned a plantation\\nin Barbadoes and worked it with slaves, while the\\ngreat Quaker Fox, after a visit to the West Indies,\\nhad nothing to say about the principle involved in the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0038.jp2"}, "39": {"fulltext": "THE TRADE IN THE EARLIEST DAYS 13\\ntraffic, although he was careful to denounce the cruel\\ntreatment of slaves.\\nOne more question in connection with this introduc-\\ntion of negro slaves must be considered briefly. Did\\nit pay? Let the facts answer. The planters in the\\ntobacco, rice, cotton, and sugar regions not only in-\\ncreased in number from year to year, but they built\\nfiner houses, bought finer clothes and books, and lived\\nin more expensive fashion from generation to genera-\\ntion.\\nVriius we read: Everything is by God s blessing\\nin a good condition; and in consequence of the em-\\nployment of the negroes, which were from time to time\\nintroduced from Angola into Brazil, in planting grain,\\nHour is produced in such quantity that what always\\nused to cost eight or ten guilders still continues to be\\nsold at the rate of six stivers. Such quotations\\nmay be multiplied almost indefinitely. In Georgia,\\nthe one colony where no slaves were allowed, in early\\ndays, the planters became so eager for them that their\\nregular toast when drinking together was Here s\\nfor the one thing needful\\nIn short, to sum up the facts, slaves were introduced\\ninto United States territory in answer to a demand\\nfor labor. They were purchased by men who were ac-\\ncustomed to the purchase and sale of laborers, and no\\none s conscience was in any way hurt by the transac-\\ntion. It was a good business proposition for that day,\\nand for two centuries, at least, thereafter.\\nAs for the early West India traffic, for which but\\nbrief space can be allowed, it appears that as early as\\n1503 negroes were carried to Hayti and put at work\\nSee Vol. I., 1G7, New York Colonial Documents.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0039.jp2"}, "40": {"fulltext": "14 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\non the plantations there. Herrera writes of these ne-\\ngroes that they prospered so much in the colony that\\nit was the opinion that unless a negro should happen\\nto be hung he would never die, for as yet none had\\nbeen known to perish from infirmity. Here was the\\nvery inception of the American trade. When the\\nSpaniards tried enslaving the aborigines of the island,\\nthe unfortunate red men withered like green corn\\nunder the hot winds of the unirrigated American\\ndesert. Bartholomew de las Casas, filled with pity for\\nthe dying Indian race, rose up in its defence. Gfood\\npeople have since been moved to apologize for and ex-\\nplain what this Dominican did, but his acts need no\\napology from any man. To save the race unfit for\\nlabor there, the Dominican proposed substituting ne-\\ngroes who were both physically and mentally capable\\nof enduring even the work of digging gold in the tor-\\nrid zone under the devil-hearted Spaniards of that day.\\nHaving the true state of affairs placed before him by\\nthe humane Dominican, in the year 1510 the King of\\nSpain ordered fifty slaves to be sent to Hispaniola to\\nwork in the gold mines. So says Herrera. That\\nwas the beginning of the systematic importation of\\nAfricans into the Spanish West Indies. On the whole,\\nthe Spanish- American slave-trade was, at its inception,\\nin the interest of humanity, shocking as that asser-\\ntion may seem at first glance.\\nThat the trade begun in 1510 did not reach our\\nshores until 1619 is readily explained by the fact that\\nour shores were not permanently settled by the whites\\nuntil nearly a century after that first slave cargo was\\nsent out.\\nOf the Spanish slave-trade in that first century we", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0040.jp2"}, "41": {"fulltext": "Tin: TRADE IN THE EARLIEST DAYS 15\\nknow little, nor are the Eacts necessary to the interest\\nor the principles of this history, but we must not omil\\nto record that Sir John Bawkins, the famous British\\nnavigator, made the first Anglo-Saxon venture in the\\ntrade in 1562. In his first voyage lie descended on the\\ncoast of Ai iica, where lie took, partly in trade and\\ntartly by violence, a cargo of slaves, of whom he\\nsold three hundred in the West Indies, at a great\\nprofit.\\nWhen Queen Elizabeth heard this story on his re-\\nturn to England, she declared that it would be de-\\ntestable and call down the vengeance of heaven upon\\nthe undertakers if any more negroes were taken by\\nviolence but this opinion did not prevent Hawkins\\nrepeating the operation, nor did it keep Elizabeth from\\nknighting him for his success.\\nOf the trade in the seventeenth century we know\\nmore because our ancestors the English then entered\\nit, and some of the documents relating to it have been\\npreserved. The cultivation of sugar-cane, which was\\nundertaken with success in Barbadoes in 1641, gave\\nthe first impulse to the slave-trade in the British West\\nIndies, and in 16G2, when the company of Royal Ad-\\nventures Trading to Africa was chartered by Charles\\nII., the company bound itself to land three thousand\\nnegro slaves per year in the British West India\\nislands.\\nThe Queen dowager and he who was to be James\\nII. both held stock in this company. This company\\nbuilt some forts on the African coast, as good points\\nfor buying slaves, but in 1672 sold out to a new com-\\npany for \u00c2\u00a334,000. It had lost a large sum of money.\\nAnd it is worth noting that this loss was due to the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0041.jp2"}, "42": {"fulltext": "IQ THE AMEEICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nsuccess of interloping owners of single ships who un-\\nderstood the trade and knew the slave-coast and the\\nWest India market. Good people have supposed that\\na special interference of Divine providence ruined the\\ncompany.\\nThe new company was called the Royal Assiento.\\nIt had bought out the old one, used guns on the out-\\nside traders, but the private traders, especially the\\nAmerican merchants, made such persistent appeals\\nthat Parliament was obliged to come to their relief.\\nThe company wanted to maintain a monopoly intact,\\nand the English private trader wanted the monop-\\noly abolished. The keen Yankees suggested that it\\nwould be a great benefit to the Kingdom to secure the\\ntrade by maintaining Forts and Castles there, with an\\nequal duty upon all Goods exported. This com-\\npromise was adopted. Parliament declared that the\\nslave-trade was highly Beneficial and Advantageous\\nto this Kingdom, and to the Plantations and Colonies\\nthereunto belonging, and then enacted that private\\nships should be free to enter the trade on the payment\\nof ten per cent, duty on English goods exported to\\nAfrica. The tax money was used to maintain forts on\\nthe African coast.\\nThose who are familiar with American naval history\\nwill find especial interest in the above account for the\\nreason that it was the first Yankee conflict for Free\\nTrade and Sailors 1 Rights.\\nThen the British on both sides of the Atlantic reached\\nout for the trade to the Spanish colonies, which Spain\\nin those days farmed out to other countries. This\\nwas obtained by what is known as the Assiento Treaty\\nof March 13, 1713.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0042.jp2"}, "43": {"fulltext": "THE TRADE IN TIIH EARLIEST DAYS 17\\nOnly the Royal company was named in the agree-\\nment, but all British traders were to participate in the\\ntrade. It was contracted on the part of the Spanish\\nthat they would take at least 4,800 negroes a year for\\nthirty years, and that the company might sell as\\nmany more as it could for twenty-five years at any\\nSpanish-American port except three. In return for\\nthis the company paid 200,000 crowns spot cash,\\na duty of 33^ crowns on each slave landed, and a\\nquarter of its profits each to the Spanish and the\\nBritish kings.\\nThis contract is found in Article 1G of the Treaty\\nof Utrecht, which was signed on April 11, 1713.\\nAlthough England obtained by this treaty the\\nHudson Bay Territory, Acadia, Newfoundland, and\\nGibraltar, this slave-trade article was regarded as\\none of the greatest triumphs of the pacification of\\n1713.\\nAt the time of this treaty London and Bristol were\\nthe slave-ship ports of England, and Newport was the\\nchief one in America. Liverpool entered the slave\\ntrade previous to 1730, with a single barque of thirty\\ntons.\\nThe vessel had half the capacity of one of the sailing\\nlighters common to New York Harbor. An Erie Canal\\nboat carries two hundred and forty tons. But the\\nlittle bark was profitable, and the trade grew after\\n1731 until in 1752 Liverpool had eighty-seven vessels\\nin the trade, Bristol one hundred and fifty-seven, and\\nLondon one hundred and thirty -five. The Liverpool\\nmerchants built such sharp and swift ships for the\\ntrade that a special wet dock, that would keep them\\nafloat during ebb tide while in that port, had to\\n2", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0043.jp2"}, "44": {"fulltext": "18 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nbe built for them. The present great dock system\\nof Liverpool originated in the needs of the slave- j\\ntraders.\\nIn those days the ship-chandlers of Liverpool made\\nspecial displays in their windows of such things as\\nhandcuffs, leg-shackles, iron collars, short and long\\nchains, and furnaces and copper kettles designed for\\nslavers use.^The newspapers were full of advertise-\\nments of slaves and slaver goods. The young bloods\\nof the town deemed it fine amusement to circulate\\nhandbills in which negro girls were offered for sale.\\nAn artist of wide repute Stothard painted The\\nvoyage of the Sable Venus from Angola to the West\\nIndies. The Merchants Exchange, or Town Hall,\\nas it was called, was ornamented in a way that\\nwas strikingly appropriate, for between the capi-\\ntals runs an entablature or fillet, on which are\\nplaced in base-relief the busts of blackamoors and\\nelephants, with the teeth of the latter, with such-\\nlike emblematical figures representing the African\\ntrade and commerce. The merchants of Liverpool\\nneeded no Ruskin to suggest pendant purses for\\ndecorating a frieze, or pillars broad at the base,\\nfor the sticking of bills, when they were building\\na market-place.\\nIn America the New England colonies took the lead\\nin the slave-trade. Barefooted boys waded through\\nthe snow to find berths in the forecastles of the colony\\nships, and, hard as sailor life was then, they found\\nmore comforts afloat than on the farms they left be-\\nhind. And once afloat the Yankee boy worked his\\nway aft as readily as he climbed the ratlines when\\nordered to reef topsails.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0044.jp2"}, "45": {"fulltext": "TIIIC TKADK l.\\\\ THE EARLIEST DAYS [9\\nAt the very birth of foreign commerce from New\\nEngland ports, says one writer,* the African slave\\ntrade became a regular business. The Desire, as\\nalready mentioned, was a slaver. The ships which\\ntook cargoes of staves and fish to Madeira and the\\nCanaries were accustomed to touch on the coast of\\nGuinea to trade i or negroes, who were carried generally\\nto Barbadoes, or the other English islands of the West\\nIndies.\\nThe Massachusetts statute of 1705, which is curiously\\nenough often quoted as showing that the people there\\nwere opposed to the slave-trade, was carefully worded\\nto promote the trade. It did, indeed, lay a tax of four\\npounds on each negro imported, but a drawback was\\nallowed upon exportation. The harbors of New\\nEngland were thus offered as a free exchange-mart for\\nslavers.\\nIn Rhode Island Governor Cranston, as early as\\n1708, reported that between 1698 and 1708 one hun-\\ndred and three vessels were built in that State, all of\\nwhich were trading to the West Indies and the South-\\nern colonies. They took out lumber and brought back\\nmolasses in the direct trade, but in most cases\\nmade a slave voyage in between.\\nAccording to the Reminiscences of Samuel Hop-\\nkins, Rhode Island had one hundred and fifty vessels\\nin the African slave-trade in 1770. Hopkins wrote in\\nthat year saying: Rhode Island has been more\\ndeeply interested in the slave-trade, and has enslaved\\nmore Africans than any other colony in New Eng-\\nland.\\ni\\nIn 1787 he wrote again: This trade in human\\nHistory of Slavery in Massachusetts, by Geo. II. Moore.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0045.jp2"}, "46": {"fulltext": "gO THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nspecies lias been the first wheel of commerce in New-\\nport, on which every other movement in business has\\ndepended. That town has been built up, and flour-\\nished in times past on the slave-trade, and by it j\\n[the inhabitants] have gotten most of their wealth\\nand riches.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0046.jp2"}, "47": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER II\\nOLD-TIME SLAVER CAPTAINS AND THEIR SHIPS\\nDavid Lindsay as a Typical American Slaver of the Eighteenth\\nCentury With a Rotten Ship that Showed Daylight\\nThrough Her Seams Al Round Her Bow Under Deck\\nHe Reached the Slave Coast, Gathered His Cargo in Spite\\nof Fevers, Deaths in the Crew, and Competition, and Finally\\nLanded at Barbadoes with All in Helth and Fatt An\\nAstrologer s Chart for a Slaver s Voyage Tales of the\\nSlaver Vikings of Liverpool Debt of Early American\\nCommerce to the Slave Trade John Paul Jones a Slaver.\\nDetails of the characters of the men and of the\\nships that were engaged in the American slave-trade\\nduring the eighteenth century are lamentably hard to\\nfind in these days, bnt fortunately such as remain to\\nus are sufficiently graphic and significant.\\nFor a type of the Yankee slavers of the day we may\\nvery well choose Captain David Lindsay, who hailed\\nfrom Newport, R. I., in the middle of the eighteenth\\ncentury, when that town was one of the liveliest of\\nAmerican ports. His story has been preserved in a\\nconsiderable number of letters and documents that\\nwere printed in the American Historical Record some\\nyears ago.\\nThe earliest mention of Captain Lindsay s existence\\nis found in a letter that comes literally from the sea\\na letter that is dated June ye 13 1740 at Sea Latt. 8\u00c2\u00b0\\n21", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0047.jp2"}, "48": {"fulltext": "22 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\n30 N. Long. 39\u00c2\u00b0 30 W. It was written by one George\\nScott, himself a slaver captain, and it contains a vari-\\nety of matters of interest to the slave-trade in addition\\nto the references to Captain Lindsay. It reads as\\nfollows\\nGentlemen Meeting with this opportunity I was very\\nglad to acquaint you of our miserable voyage. We left\\nAnamaboe ye 8th of May, with most of our people and slaves\\nsick. We have lost 29 slaves. Our purchase was 129. My\\nnegro Bonner is ded the slaves we have left is now all re-\\ncovered. We have five that swell d and how it will be with\\nthem I can t tell. We have one-third of dry cargo left, and\\ntwo hhds. rum. If I had staid there for it and sold I believe\\nI should have lost all our slaves. I think to proceed to\\nAntigo and fit ye sloop and take ye other trial on the coast.\\nIt will not do to give up for one bad bout. If I go directly\\nback I ll sell ye rum for gold, if I gitt but twenty pence for it\\nbefore I ll by slaves. The slaves that died, I believe there was\\none above twenty-two years old and none under fourteen. I\\nhave sent by Captain Lindsay sixteen ounces of gold, which\\nis all. I wrote you by Capt. Kinnecutt, who sail d ye 10th\\nApril. I have repented a hundred times ye bying of them\\ndry goods. Had we laid out two thousand pound in rum\\nbread and flour, it would [have] purchased more in value than\\nall our dry goods. I have paid a good part of the wages.\\nMy serviss to all friends, pray excuse all blunders, for I am\\nnow aboard Capt. Lindsay and in haste to gitt aboard.\\nObserving, by the way, that Captain Scott was de-\\ntermined to fit ye sloop and take ye other trial on the\\ncoast that he was a man of pluck himself the ref-\\nerences to Lindsay mean much to a sailor.\\nScott was more than a month out from the African\\ncoast and yet had covered but thirty degrees of west\\nlongitude. Then along comes a vessel, commanded by", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0048.jp2"}, "49": {"fulltext": "OLD-TIME SLAVER CAPTAINS AND TIIKIW SHIPS o;j\\n[Captain Lindsay, that is also bound west, and imme-\\ndiately Captain Scott not only writes a letter to the\\nowners of his ship, which he gives to Lindsay to\\ncarry, but he also entrusts all the gold-dust he had\\nobtained to the same hand.\\nManifestly Lindsay must have had a fast ship, and\\nhe was a man known to make quicker voyages, at\\nleast, than Scott. What is of equal importance,\\nLindsay must have had a reputation as an honest\\nman, Our introduction to Lindsay, though it comes\\nfrom an unknown slaver and out of the sea, is decid-\\nedly in his favor.\\nThe next reference to Lindsay in these documents\\nis in 1752, when he was in command of the brigantine\\nSanderson, belonging to William Johnson, of New-\\nport, R. I. The register of the vessel has been pre-\\nserved, and reads in part\\nThe Brigantine Sanderson, whereof David Lindsay is at\\npresent master, being a square stern d vessel of the burthen\\nof about forty tons, was built at Portsmouth, in the colony\\naforesaid, in the year Seventeen Hundred and Forty-five, and\\nthat this deponent at present is sole owner thereof, and that\\nno Foreigner, directly or indirectly, hath any share or part\\nor interest therein. William Johnson.\\nNot only was she small there are few, if any, of\\nthe Hudson River brick schooners that will not carry\\nmore cargo she was a cheaply built vessel, as appears\\nfrom another document which shows that during the\\nyear she was built she was offered for sale for \u00c2\u00a3450,\\nwhen the cost of building a first-class ship varied from\\n\u00c2\u00a324 to \u00c2\u00a327 per ton register.\\nFinding no sale for her she was kept going, and in\\nthe year 1752, with Lindsay in command, she went to", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0049.jp2"}, "50": {"fulltext": "24 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nthe West Indies for molasses, whence Lindsay wrote\\nhome that she was tite as yett. She was probably\\nstill tite on her return to Newport, for she was at\\nonce loaded for Africa, where she arrived in due time,\\nand it is then that we learn what kind of pluck Lind-\\nsay had. In a letter dated Anamaboe 28th Feby\\n1753 he says:\\nGentlemen This third of mine to you and now I am to\\nLett you know my proceed gs sense my last, Dated 3d Jany,\\nI have Gott 13 or 14 hhds of rum yet Left abord, and God\\nnoes when I shall Gett clear of it. Ye traid is so dull it is\\nactually a noof to make a man creasey. My cheefe mate after\\nmaking four or five Trips in the boat was taken sick Re-\\nmains very bad yett then I sent Mr. Taylor he Gott not\\nwell three more of my men has been sick. James Dixon is\\nnot well now and wors than yt have wore out my small cable\\nalso oakam have been oblige to buy one heare, for I thought\\nthe concequance of yr Intrust on bord this vesiel was Two\\ngreat to Husk without a cable to trust, therefore I begg you\\nnot Blaim me in so doeing. I should be glad I cood come\\nKite home with my slaves, for my vesiel will not last to pro-\\nceed farr. We can see daylight al round her bow under deck.\\nHowever I hope She will carry me safe home once more. I\\nneed not inlarge. Heare lyes Captains hamlet, James Jepson,\\nCarpenter, Butler Lindsay. Gardner is dun. firginson is\\nGon to Leward. All these is Rum Slnps. butler is in a brig\\nwith 150 hhds from Barbadoes, belongs to Cape Coast Castle.\\nI ve sent a Small boye to my wife. I conclude with my best\\nEndeavors for Intrust. Gentlemen, your faithful Servant at\\ncom md David Lindsay.\\nN. B. on the whole, I never had so much Trouble in all\\nmy voiges. I shall rite to barbadoes in a few days.\\nMr. Taylor was the second officer. Both first and\\nsecond were in their bunks, and three of the men in", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0050.jp2"}, "51": {"fulltext": "OLD-TIME SLAVEB CAPTAINS AND THEEB SHU S 25\\nthe forecastle were sick. Terribly short-handed, with\\nslaves in the hold likely to rise up and strike for free-\\ndom in case they learned this fact, and with the prob-\\nability that others of the crew would take the fever,\\nCaptain Lindsay found himself in a serious strait, but,\\nworse than all that, he could see daylight al round\\nher bow under deck.\\nAnd yet Captain Lindsay came up from that fear-\\nsome look at the open seams of his vessel and went on\\nloading her for the long voyage across the Atlantic.\\nIf we will but look at the case in the light of that\\nday the courage, the fortitude, of the stout-hearted\\nold skipper was inspiring. Nor shall we fail to observe\\nhis though tf ulness for the wife that would hear of the\\ncondition of the rotten ship with quaking fears.\\nSo it is with a feeling of relief, and with increased\\nadmiration for his pluck, that we find a letter which\\nshows that he reached Barbadoes safely after a most\\nperilous voyage our admiration is all the greater\\nbecause the perils are described so simply. The letter\\nis as follows\\nBarbadoes, June 17th, N. S. 1753.\\nGentle n These are to acqt of my arivel heare ye Day\\nbefore yesterday in 10 weeks from Anamaboe. I met on my\\npassage 22 days of very squally winds continued Kains, so\\nthat it beat my sails alto pieces, soe that I was oblige Several\\nDays to have sails onbent to mend them. The vesiel, Likwise\\nis all open Round her bows under deck. For these Reasons\\nam oblige to enter my vesiel heare and have valued myself on\\nMr. Elias Meriveal, who is to despatch me in three or four\\nweeks Time. My slaves is not landed yet they are 56 in\\nnumber for owners, all in helth fatt. I lost one small gall.\\nI ve got 40 oz gould dust eight or nine hundred weight\\nMaligabar pepper for owners.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0051.jp2"}, "52": {"fulltext": "26 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nNot to Inlarge, shall rite in a day or 2. We are all well\\non borcl. Mr. Sanford died the 3d day of March, one John\\nWood who went in ye boat with him, died ye 3d of April, at\\nsea. I left Capt. Hamblet at Cape Coast, sick. His slaves\\nhad rose they lost the best of what they had. Heare is no\\nslaves at market now.\\nii\\ni\\\\The reader who knows the sea will fully appreciate\\nthe condition of that tiny ship during those 22 days\\nof very squally winds the tiny ship that was open\\nall Round her bows under deck. For she was short-\\nhanded through deaths and sickness, and yet her\\npumps had to be kept going during all that time,\\nwhile several days were spent in repairing sails that\\nthe winds had blown to pieces.\\nNor does this letter tell us of fortitude alone, for it\\nis a significant fact that Lindsay lost one small gall\\nonly, while all the rest were landed in helth fatt.\\nThey had been cared for in kindly fashion. The facts\\nseems to show that Lindsay was superior to the average\\nslaver of his day. It was then a lawful trade, and we\\nhave testimony that it was very genteel. More\\nimportant still, it was a trade that, more than all\\nothers, taxed the trading ability, the patience, the skill\\nas a seaman and the fortitude of the men engaged in\\nit also, it was, when successfully carried on, the most\\nprofitable branch of commerce. Naturally the most\\ncapable men of the sea were called to this trade. In\\nshort, Lindsay was a type of the race of Yankee\\nslaver captains.\\nWith all these facts in mind it is amusing to turn\\nto one other characteristic of this hard-headed old\\nslaver. Before starting on this eventful voyage he\\nmust needs consult an astrologer, or conjurer, as the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0052.jp2"}, "53": {"fulltext": "OLD-TIME SLAYKi; A I l A I NS AM) THBIB SUM S 27\\nseers of the time were often called, to learn the day\\nand hour when the ship must s;iil in order to have all\\nAf^J/tf.\\n77\\nfvco. 22.\\nthe kindly influences of the heavenly bodies in her\\nfavor. Fortunately the chart which he obtained has\\nbeen preserved, and we know from it that D. L,", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0053.jp2"}, "54": {"fulltext": "28 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nsailed for Guinea at 11.32 o clock on Aug. 22d,\\n1752.\\nOf the English captains engaged in the American\\ntrade there was Captain Billy Boates, also called\\nWilliam Boates, Esq., whose extensive transactions\\nin the commercial world rendered him a most useful\\nmember of society, to quote an obituary notice of\\nthe man from a Liverpool paper. Captain Boates was\\na waif. His mother or her friends cast him adrift in\\na Liverpool harbor boat a few hours after his birth. He\\nwas picked up, reared in an orphan asylum, appren-\\nticed to a ship master, and then began a career that\\nshowed the kind of stock from which he sprang.\\nFrom the forecastle to the after-cabin required but\\nthree steps easily taken. From the cabin to the count-\\ning house was a step longer than the three preceding\\ntaken together but he made the leap.\\nIn the Knight he sailed from Anamaboe on Janu-\\nuary 6, 1758, with three hundred and ninety-eight\\nnegroes, of whom, after a voyage that lasted less than\\nsix weeks, he landed three hundred and sixty at\\nJamaica. That was a voyage worth recording for its\\nspeed alone but off the Leeward Islands the Knight\\nfell in with a French privateer that carried twelve\\ncarriage guns and full of men, which attempted to\\nboard him several times.\\nThe odds against Captain Billy were tremen-\\ndous, but what he lacked in men and arms he made\\nup by his magnificent pluck. The privateersmen\\nswarmed to his deck, but never a Dago that got\\nover the rail lived to return.\\nMore famous still as a fighter was Captain Hugh\\nCrow, the one-eyed slaver of Liverpool, one of the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0054.jp2"}, "55": {"fulltext": "OLD-TIME SLAYKK CAPTAINS AND THEIE SUM S 29\\nbravest, shrewdest, quaintest and most humorous old\\nsea-dogs that ever breathed but he was of a later\\ndate than Lindsay or Boates, being, in fact, captain of\\nthe last lawful Liverpool slaver. One would like to\\ntell his whole story, but space can be spared only to\\nsay that when in the slaver Mart/ he was attacked at\\nnight by two sloops-of-war, each of which was of far\\nsuperior force. Captain Hugh supposed they were\\nFrenchmen, and, calling his men to quarters, for six\\nhours fought off the determined attacks of both meu-\\no -war. And then when daylight came he found they\\nwere British sloops at that. They had supposed that\\nhe was French. All things considered, that was the\\nmost splendid battle known to the history of peace-\\nful commerce.\\nIndeed as the most important branch of British com-\\nmerce the commerce of the new England as well as\\nthe old England the slave-trade became the chief\\nnursery of British seamen. The instincts inherited\\nfrom viking ancestors were fostered and encouraged\\nthere. It must be frankly admitted that not only did\\nthe boasted prosperity of both English and American\\nover-sea commerce have its foundation in the slave-\\ntrade, but also that the magnificent qualities of the\\nAnglo-Saxon naval seamen of the eighteenth century\\nwere nourished in the tiny traders, of an average of\\nseventy-five tons burthen from Liverpool, of an\\naverage of forty tons from Newport and Boston, that\\nwent forth to face the unavoidable hurricanes of the\\ntropical seas and to meet, yardarm to yardarm, the\\nwar-ships, privateers, and pirates that were ever on the\\nlookout for such rich prizes as the slavers. The fact\\nis the seamen who manned our ships in the War of the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0055.jp2"}, "56": {"fulltext": "30 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nRevolution, and by their pluck and skill captured the\\nmunitions of war that enabled Washington to win at\\nlast, were trained on the decks of slavers. And John\\nPaul Jones, one of the true sea-kings, whose claim\\nto the title lies in the qualities of the head as well as\\nof the heart, came through the forecastle of the\\nslaver King George to hoist the first American naval\\nensign above the quarter-deck of the first American\\nflag-ship.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0056.jp2"}, "57": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER III\\nWHEN VOYAGES WENT AWRY\\nTales of Trouble When Lying on the Slave Coast We are\\nReady to Devour One Another, for Our Case is Desprit\\nA Second Mate s Unlucky Trip in a Long Boat Sickness\\nin the Hold as Well as Among the Crew Cocoanuts and\\nOranges Could Not Serve in Place of Water Story of the\\nMutiny on the Slaver Perfect Risks the Underwriters As-\\nsumed The Proportion of Disastrous Voyages.\\nAnamaboe, October 27th, 1736.\\nSir After my Respects to you, these may Inform how it\\nis with me at pres nt. I bless God I In joy my health very\\nwell as yett, but am like to have a long and trublesum voy-\\nage of it, for there never was so much Rum on the Coast at\\none time before. Nor ye like of ye french ships was never\\nseen before, for ye whole Coast is full of them, for my part\\nI can give no guess when I shall get away, for I purchest but\\n27 slaves since I have been here, for slaves is very scarce we\\nhave had nineteen sails of us at one time in ye Rhoad, so that\\nthose ships that used to carry pryme slaves off is now forsed\\nto take any that comes here is 7 sails of us Rum men that we\\nare ready to devour one another, for our Case is Desprit. Sir,\\nI beg that you will exist my famely in what they shall want,\\nfor I no not when I shall get home to them myself. I have\\nhad the misfortin to Bury my chefe mate on ye 21st of Sept.\\nand one man more, and Lost the negx o man Prymus and\\nAdam over board on my pasedge, one three weeks after\\nanother that makes me now very weke handed for out of\\nwhat it left thair is two that is good for nothing. Capt.\\n31", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0057.jp2"}, "58": {"fulltext": "32 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nHamond has bin lieare six months and has but 60 slaves on\\nbord. My hearty servis to your spouse and famely. I am\\ny rs to com d John Griffen.\\nBefore describing fully the evils inflicted on the\\nslave cargoes it seems but an act of justice to give\\nhere some of the ills endured by the old-time slavers.\\nWe must consider the condition of the conscientious\\nslaver captain when there were 7 sails of us Rum\\nmen in one port anxious to buy slaves the slaver\\ncaptain whose Case is Desprit with such degree\\nof sympathy as we can summon for his benefit, if we\\nare to see the trade as it was. Captain Griffen was\\none of the Newport slavers. Very likely he was in\\nthe trade when Captain Lindsay was making fame\\nand wealth certainly everyone who knows the sea,\\nand how the time drags while waiting for a cargo in\\nan unhealthy, unattractive port, far from home, will\\nsympathize with Captain Hammond, who had been on\\nthe slave-coast for six months and had less than half\\na cargo in his hold.\\nAnother letter from the captain, George Scott, al-\\nready quoted in connection with Captain Lindsay\\nwill show still more clearly how troubles came upon\\nthe slavers. The letter related to the voyage pre-\\nviously mentioned, and it runs as follows\\nAnamajboe, April ye 9th 1740\\nBrother Daniel, this I hope will find you in good health\\nas I am at present. I have not been very well for five weeks\\npast, which is made our voyage very backward, and am now\\nvery well recovered, Blessed be God. We have now five\\npeople sick and bonner so bad he will not recover. I am\\nheartily tired of ye voyage, everything runs so cross that I\\nundertake to make a voyage. I being not very well, kept my", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0058.jp2"}, "59": {"fulltext": "WHEN VOYAGES WENT AWHV 33\\ncheif mate aboard and sent ye second mate in ye Long boat\\nto Leward a trading. He had not been gone above four days\\nbefore lie hired a canoue, sends her up with his gold taken to\\nme for goods, without any orders from me. i sent ye canoue\\nimmediately back -without goods going down they overset\\nthe canoue, the blacks came off from ye shore and took them\\nup, put them in irons the blacks where ye [long] boat lay\\ndetained ye mate ashore, in which time a man slave he had\\nbought, got out ye boat with two ounces of gold and has got\\nclean off. I was obliged to go down with ye sloop and pay\\nthirty-two pound in ye best of goods before they would let ye\\nmate come off. Upon the hole I ve lost nigh three hundred\\npounds with that trip, in money, by the mate s folly. I am\\nsure he will never be able to make satisfaction.\\nI bought some slaves and Goods from a Dutchman for\\ngold, which I thought to sell to ye french, [but] in a little\\ntime after [that] my slaves was all taken with the flucks, so\\nthat I could not sell them lost three with it and have three\\nmore very bad ye rest all well and good slaves. We have\\nnow aboard one hundred and no gold. I think to purchase\\nabout twenty go off ye coast ye time of year don t doe to\\ntarry much longer. Everything of provisions is very dear and\\nscarce it costs for water Tenn shilling for one day. I think\\nto stay in this place but fourteen days more. We shall go to\\nShama and water our vessel and sail off ye coast with what I\\ncan purchase, which I believe will be 120 slaves cargo. We\\nshall have left about two hundred pound sterg. in goods,\\nwhich wont sell here to any profitt. Every man slave that we\\npay all Goods for here, costs twelve pound sterg. prime. I\\nhope I shall be in Barbadoes, ye latter end of June, but have\\nnot concluded whither we shall go to Jamaica or Virginia\\nour slaves is mostly large. GO men and men boys, 20 women,\\nthe rest boys and girls, but three under four foot high. Pray\\nexcuse all blunders and bad writing, for I have not time to\\ncoppy, the sloop being under sail.\\nOne of the earMest of the voyages that went awry,\\nof which a record kas been preserved, was that of the\\n3", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0059.jp2"}, "60": {"fulltext": "34 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nDutch West India Company s ship St. John, the log\\nof which is given in O Callagan s Voyages of the\\nSlavers. The troubles here were due to the parsi-\\nmony of the owners rather the directors of the com-\\npany who fitted the ship out with rotten food and\\nwater casks that leaked. To take the place of water\\nthey took on 5,000 cocoanuts and 5,000 oranges, but\\nthe slaves died as cattle on the desert do, and at last,\\nto complete the misery of all, the ship was stranded in\\na gale, and then looted by pirates.\\nAnother cause of loss to the slavers was in the mu-\\ntiny, so-called, of the slaves. Although the negro was\\nnever for a moment to be compared with the North\\nAmerican Indian as a fighter, he did sometimes, even\\nas a slave, rise against his oppressor. While the slaver\\nPerfect, Captain Potter, was at Mana, on January 12,\\n1759, with nearly one hundred slaves on board, the\\ncaptain sent the mate, the second mate, and the boat-\\nswain away for slaves that had been paid for. This\\nexpedition took more than half the Perfect 1 s crew\\naway from her and while they were gone, the slaves\\nin some way got clear of their manacles and swarmed\\nup on deck. They killed the captain, the surgeon, the\\ncarpenter, the cooper and a boy, when six other mem-\\nbers of the crew got into a boat and fled ashore to the\\nmate, and thence to the slaver Spencer, Captain Daniel\\nCooke.\\nNext morning Captain Cooke took his ship near the\\nPerfect and fired his guns into her for about an\\nhour, but the Perfect s mate could not persuade him\\nto board her. In the end such of the slaves as escaped\\nthe guns of the Spencer managed to run the Perfect\\nashore, where they plundered and burned her.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0060.jp2"}, "61": {"fulltext": "WHEN VOYAGES WENT AWRY 35\\nOf the troubles that came upon the slavers through\\nthe wars of the eighteenth century one might write a\\nlong and stirring chapter. For the Blavers made good\\nfighting, especially when it was viking blood in the\\nslavers against Latin blood in naval ships. But\\nof that nothing can be told here, because the losses\\nwere not an outgrowth of the slave-trade as a special\\nbranch of commerce. But something may be told of the\\nproportion of losing to paying voyages, even though\\nno list of slavers has been or can be made. In the old\\npapers already mentioned in connection with Captain\\nLindsay, we find the charges of underwriters set forth,\\nand no better comment on the risks of a trade can be\\nfound than an insurance policy. A paragraph from\\nsuch a policy reads\\nAnd touching the adventures and perils which we,\\nthe assurers are content to bear, and do take upon us\\nin this voyage, they are of the seas, men of War, Fire,\\nEnemies, Pyrates, Rovers, Thieves, Jettisons, Letters of\\nMart, and Countermart, Sarprizals, Taking at sea, Bar-\\natry of the Master, and Marines, and all the Perils,\\nLosses, and Misfortunes that have or shall come to the\\nhurt, Detriment or Damage of the said Goods and\\nMerchandize, or of the said vessel, her Tackel, Apparel\\nand Furniture, or any part thereof.\\nFor assuming these risks the underwriters charged\\nusually \u00c2\u00a320 in a hundred, but Mr. William Johnson\\ngot at least one policy of a hundred for \u00c2\u00a318 premium.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0061.jp2"}, "62": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER IV\\nTHE SLAVER AND HER OUTFIT\\nThere were Tiny Ships in the Trade\u00e2\u0080\u0094 One Vessel had a Ca-\\npacity of 5,000 Gallons of Molasses Only, and Even Open\\nRow-Boats were used in the Nineteenth Century Dimen-\\nsions of a Slaver s Timbers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Famous Venus, a Fore-\\nrunner of the Yankee Clippers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Steamers that were in the\\nTrade\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Blubber Kettles of Whalers used for Boiling\\nRice and Yams\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Rum, Guns, and Coin were the Favorite\\nArticle- of Traffic, but Silks, Laces, Parasols and Other\\nGoods for the Use of Women of Education and Delicate\\nTastes were Wanted\u00e2\u0080\u0094 A Naval Officer s Estimate for a\\nSlaver s Outfit.\\nSjThe Desire, built at Marblehead, in 1636, was the\\nearliest American slaver of which we have the size, and\\nshe, as already noted, was a vessel of 120 tons.\\nAnother slaver of those days was the Oak Tree,\\nJansen Eykenboom, from Hoorn, master under\\nGod. In a charter-party dated in the year of\\nthe birth of our Lord and Saviour the Lord Jesus\\nChrist, 1659, the 25th of January, under which the\\nOak Tree was to sail, with the first favourable wind\\nand weather which God may vouchsafe, from the\\nharbor [New York] direct toward the coast of Africa,\\nthe size of the ship is given In length 120 ft, in\\nwidth 25\u00c2\u00a3 ft, draft 11 ft, above the waterline 5 to 6 ft,\\nwith a poop deck.\\n36", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0062.jp2"}, "63": {"fulltext": "TIN-: SLAYER WD IIKII OITFIT 37\\nThe average New England slaver was much smaller.\\nThe sloop Welcome that cleared from Newport for\\nBarbadoes had a capacity of 5,000 gallons of mo-\\nlasses. The Fame, a noted slaver and privateer of\\nNewport, had a keel seventy-nine feet long. She was\\njust about as long on the water-line as the Newport-\\nbuilt defenders of the America s cup. Her beam was\\ntwenty-six and a half feet, which was about the width\\nof the widest defender.\\nThe brigantine Sanderson, in which Captain David\\nLindsay made fame, carried 10,000 gallons of mo-\\nlasses.\\nA contract made by Caleb Clapp and Stephen\\nBrown, who were ship-builders at Warren, in the\\nCounty of Bristole, in the colony of Rhode Island,\\nin 1747, gives some interesting dimensions of a brigan-\\ntine they had on the stocks. She was to be sixty\\nfeet length of keel, straight rabbet, and length of\\nrake forward to be fourteen feet, three foot and one-\\nhalf of which to be put into the keel, so that she will\\nthen be sixty- three feet keel and eleven feet rake for-\\nward. Twenty-three feet by the beam, ten feet in the\\nhold, and three feet ten inches betwixt decks, and\\ntwenty inches waste. Rake abaft to be according to\\nthe usual proportions, to have a sufficient false stern.\\nKeel to be sided thirteen inches.\\nA vessel of 500 tons would have, in these days, a\\nkeel no larger than that. The betwixt decks\\nspace is worth remembering, because the slaves were\\nstowed there.\\nIn 1808 the trade was outlawed, while twelve years\\nlater it was declared piracy, and a few war- ships\\nwere sent out to suppress it. Two kinds of vessels", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0063.jp2"}, "64": {"fulltext": "38 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nwere used thereafter. One kind included slender\\nschooners built for speed the other kind included\\nlarge ships, a few only of which were swift. The\\nlarge ones were fitted out by men who meant to get\\nrich at a single stroke. The small ones were used by\\nmen who found the trade congenial. These last would\\nhave been sneak- thieves in a criminal career ashore\\nthe others, highwaymen.\\nWe have definite figures regarding some of the ves-\\nsels provided for the sneaking slavers, because some of\\nthem were captured and accurate measurements were\\nmade. In 1847 the Felicidade, of sixty-seven tons; the\\nMaria, of thirty tons, and the Rio Bango, of ten tons,\\nwere captured, all loaded with slaves in a manner to\\nbe described further on though it may be said here\\nthat the Maria, a vessel, say, fifty feet long and six-\\nteen wide, had two hundred and thirty-seven on board\\nwhen taken. Some New York oyster sloops are larger\\nthan she was.\\nThe smaller vessels were built, in some cases, in such\\nfashion that the crew could take down the masts and\\nuse oars. This gave them every advantage in escaping\\nfrom the cruisers that must show sails above the hori-\\nzon when ten miles or more away.\\nEven the ten-ton schooner was not the limit. Open\\nrow-boats no more than twenty-four feet long by seven\\nwide landed as many as thirty-five children in Brazil\\nout of, say, fifty with which the voyage began.\\nThe finest ship of the large class was the Veiius, a\\nvessel of four hundred and sixty tons, built at Balti-\\nmore, at a cost of $30,000. So swift was this vessel\\nthat when chased on the coast of Africa her captain\\nactually shortened sail in order to play with the man-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0064.jp2"}, "65": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVER AND HEIJ OUTFIT 39\\no -war. There was nothing under sail that could equal\\nher in her day. She landed over eigb I hundred slaves\\non her first voyage, with a net profit not far from three\\nhundred dollars per head.\\nA few steamers were known in the trade. The\\nProvidenda in four voyages landed 4,500 slaves in\\nBrazil. Another one called the Cacique is better\\nknown. She was originally the Tigress, belonging to\\na Captain Sanford, and was plying between New York\\nand Stonington. Sanford sold her to a Brazilian mer-\\nchant named Sexias for $11,500. Sexias spent $13,500\\nin repairs and alterations. In these transactions Mr.\\nGardner, an American resident in that city [New\\nYork], appears to have acted as agent, and he was\\nlooked upon then and afterward, by the Americans\\nbelonging to the vessel, as the consignee, and there is\\nreason to believe he engaged in fitting out other steam\\nvessels for the same purpose.\\nThe Cacique took on 1,000 slaves at Cabenda and\\ncould have made a safe voyage with these, but Sexias\\nwaited for the local agents to collect five hundred\\nmore and was captured by a British cruiser in conse-\\nquence.\\nThe old whaler became a favorite slaver type, be-\\ncause her try-pots could cook yams and rice as well\\nas try oil, and her barrels carry either oil or water.\\nOne of the last and undoubtedly the most noted of\\nthe whaler-slavers was the bark Augusta, of New York.\\nGilbert H. Cooper testified, after the Augusta was\\nseized, that he purchased portions of the same vessel\\nat the rate of $2,000 for the whole, and that he sold\\nher to Appleton Oaksmith for $4,900, including $1,800\\nworth of outfittings for the voyage, or $3,100 for the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0065.jp2"}, "66": {"fulltext": "40 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nship alone which was $1,000 more than the [other]\\nowners had authorized me to sell her for.\\nAs the eighteenth century passed away the improve-\\nments in merchant shipping, so far as improvements\\nwere made, were due chiefly to the enterprise of slave-\\nmerchants, and at the beginning of the nineteenth\\ncentury there was nothing afloat of their size that\\ncould overhaul the slavers that were turned into pri-\\nvateers during the war of 1812.\\nIn the nineteenth century the slave-trade had rela-\\ntively much less influence on shipping, but it is certain\\nthat the Venus from Baltimore was the forerunner of\\nthe splendid Yankee clippers whose voyages previous\\nto the Civil War astonished the maritime world. It is\\ncertain, too, that the building of small, swift schoon-\\ners enriched many a Yankee ship-yard owner in the\\nyears before our Civil War. If the sole end of\\ngovernment were the promotion of business inter-\\nests, then it might be said that those officials who\\nwinked at the doings of slavers served their country\\nwell.\\nWhat goods were used in the slave-trade has been\\nrecorded in many official documents. Here is the bill\\nof lading of the Sierra Leone, a Yankee slaver in the\\nmiddle of the eighteenth century.\\nShipped by the Grace of GOD in good Order and well\\nconditioned, by William Johnson Co., owners of the said\\nSchooner, called the Sierra Leone, whereof is master under\\nGod for this present voyage, David Lindsay, now riding\\nat Anchor in Harbour of Newport, by God s grace bound\\nfor the Coast of Africa: To say, etc. The usual list of\\nrum, food, and shackles follows, with sixty musketts, six\\nhalf barrels Powder and so on, the bill ending at last with", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0066.jp2"}, "67": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVER AND HER OUTFIT 41\\nthese words: And so God send tho good Schooner to her\\ndesired Port in Safety. Amen.\\nThere is no reason to suppose that the invocations\\nto the Deity were a mere vain following of custom.\\nThere is the record of one good old elder, whose\\nventures on the coast had uniformly turned out\\nwell. He always returned thanks on the Sunday\\nfollowing the arrival of a slaver in the harbor of New-\\nport, that an overruling Providence has been pleased\\nto bring to this land of freedom another cargo of be-\\nnighted heathen, to enjoy the blessing of a Gospel dis-\\npensation. As the author of Examen de l Esclav-\\nage en General, a French pro-slavery work, says:\\nDevotion was at that time the great occupation in\\nEurope and it was believed that Christians and sugar\\nmight easily be made at the same time.\\nIn 1801, when the prices on the slave-coast were at\\nthe highest, the following goods were given for one\\nprime slave. The list is quoted from Gower Williams\\nOne piece of chintz, 18 yards long one piece of baft, 18\\nyards long one piece of chelloe, 18 yards long one piece of\\nbandanoe seven handkerchiefs one piece of niccannee, 14\\nyards long one piece of cushtae, 14 yards long three pieces\\nof romalls forty-five handkerchiefs one large brass pan\\ntwo muskets twenty-five kegs powder 100 flints two bags\\nof shots twenty knives four iron pots four hats four\\ncaps four cutlasses six bunches beads fourteen gallons\\nbrandy. The total cost of the articles was \u00c2\u00a325.\\nThe captain of another slave-ship, writing in 1757,\\ngives a list of his cargo as follows\\nHave on bord 140 hhds. Rum for owners, 100 lbs.\\nProvitions, 12 Thousand lbs. bread, six 4-pounders, 4", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0067.jp2"}, "68": {"fulltext": "42 T HE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nswevles 4 cowliorus [a kind of gun], small arms,\\nc.\\nIn the earliest days rum was the best article for the\\npurchase of slaves. At the end of the eighteenth cen-\\ntury, when slaves were obtained chiefly by murderous\\nraids, arms were of first consequence. And then when\\nthe slavers established great depots and barracoons on\\nthe slave-coast a time came when coin was wanted\\nmore than any other commodity.\\nWhen Commodore M. G. Perry was in command of\\nthe African squadron he sent the following letter to\\nWashington:\\nUnited States Frigate Macedonian,\\nAt Sea, January 28, 1844.\\nGoods suitable for the African trade, to comprise a cargo\\nfor a vessel of two hundred and fifty tons.\\n40 hogsheads tobacco, long leaf and small head, Virginia.\\n100 barrels powder, in 10 and 20 pound kegs. American\\ncotton goods, consisting of furniture and apron checks,\\nbleached and unbleached muslins, blue handkerchiefs, calicoes,\\nblue drill, blue bafts or salempores, English dry goods, viz..\\nblue and white bafts satin stripes, romanes, tomcoffees. 100\\nbarrels beef, pork and mackerel. 100 barrels flour, 25 barrels\\nkiln-dried cornmeal. 2,000 pounds refined sugar, 1,000\\npounds brown sugar, 20 kegs butter, 20 kegs lard, 20 boxes\\nsperm candles, 50 boxes soap. 2,000 pounds hams, 1,000\\npounds sides and shoulders, 400 pounds beef tongues. 300\\npounds cheese, 20 boxes raisins, 50 barrels pilot and navy\\nbread. Half dozen quarter casks of wine, madeira, port and\\nsherry. Tea in two-pound caddies, young hyson and gun-\\npowder, 500 pounds coffee. Crockery, consisting of C. C.\\nwash basins, painted quart and pint mugs and jugs, say 100\\ndozen of each. Tin pans, assorted sizes, say 50 dozen. Tin\\nbuckets with bales, four gallon size, 100 dozen. Wooden\\nbuckets, painted, say 25 dozen. Gentlemen s boots and shoes,\\n100 pairs, assorted, principally large sizes. Ladies shoes,", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0068.jp2"}, "69": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVKK AND IIKR OUTFIT 43\\nkid and pruncllo, 100 pairs, assorted. Gentlemen s half hose,\\nladies cotton stockings oi good quality, 50 dozen each. 100\\ndozen palm-leaf hats, assorted. Blank books, paper, ink and\\nquills, in equal proportion, say $50 worth. 400 pounds\\nwhite lead, 30 gallons paint oil, 30 gallons lamp oil. Brass\\nkettles and pans, say 1,000 pounds, two-eighth kettles.\\nAbout $500 laid out in articles of good quality for ladies\\nmuslin, lace, insertion, silk gloss, silk stockings, small\\nquantity of black silk, needles, pins, thread in spools and\\nhanks, ribbons for bonnets, a few bonnets c. 10 boxes good\\nSpanish cigars in quarter boxes. If there be plenty of room,\\nput in 500 feet of boards. 20 kegs of cut nails, assorted sizes,\\nsay 4, G, 7, and 8 penny. 2 dozen silk and 5 dozen cotton\\numbrellas. A small quantity of ale, porter, and cider, the best\\nquality, say 50 dozen each of ale and porter, and 25 of cider.\\nCutlasses and muskets are in demand for trade, but can be\\nfurnished much cheaper from England than from the United\\nStates. Those brought out are of an inferior quality.\\nThis list has been received from an authentic source, and\\nis now forwarded to the Navy Department, by\\nM. C. Perry,\\nCommanding African Squadron.\\nNote. Whiskey, or rum, is a profitable article of traffic, but\\nis purposely omitted in this list.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0069.jp2"}, "70": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER V\\nON THE SLAVE-COAST\\nPhysical Features of Land and Sea Peculiarities of the Abo-\\nrigines and some Characteristics that were not Peculiar to\\nThem Gathering Slaves for the Market A Trade that\\nDegenerated from a System of Fair Barter into the Most\\nAtrocious Forms of Piracy Conceivable Utter Degrada-\\ntion of White Traders The Slaughter at Calabar Prices\\nPaid for Slaves The Barracoons of Pedro Blanco and Da\\nSouza When Negroes Voluntarily Sold Themselves.\\nThe chief source of supply for the devouring slave-\\nmarket of the West throughout the whole history of\\nthe trade, and practically the only source during the\\nyears when the trade was legal, was found along the\\nAtlantic coast of Africa, between Cape Verde, at\\nthe north, and Benguela, or Cape St. Martha, at the\\nsouth. The sea here makes a great scoop into the land,\\nas if the Brazilian part of the South American con-\\ntinent had been broken out of the hollow in the Afri-\\ncan coast. Two great rivers and a host of smaller\\nstreams come down to the sea within its limits, and\\nits contour, as a whole, is that of a mighty gulf, but\\nthere is neither bay nor inlet throughout its whole\\nextent that forms a good harbor for shipping. And\\nthe off-shore islands, too, are few in number and small\\nin extent. The land at the beach is almost every-\\nwhere low, even though hills and mountains may be\\n44", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0070.jp2"}, "71": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 45\\nseen, flooded with a dreamy haze, in the distance.\\nThe rivers wind about through uncounted channels in\\nlow delta lands covered with masses of mangrove and\\npalm trees, and haunted by poisonous and vicious\\nreptiles. The yellowish sand of the sea and the black\\nwashings of the uplands mingle to form low, tawny\\nbeaches and dunes where the river currents are beaten\\nback by the ever-present and ever-treacherous surf.\\nGoree and Gambia, Sierra Leone and Liberia, the Bight\\nof Benin and the Bight of Biafra, Bonny and Calabar,\\nAnamaboe and Ambriz, the Congo and St. Paul de\\nLoango, are all familiar names to the student of slave-\\ncoast literature.\\nHere as elsewhere in the primitive life of man the\\nstrong dominated the weak there were tribes that\\nwere superior, mentally and physically, to their neigh-\\nbors, and in every tribe there were men who arose above\\nthe masses, while among these stalwarts there was a\\nchief who was in every case a real hero to his people.\\nThe sons of the chiefs or kings did, indeed, inherit the\\ncommanding positions of their fathers, but only when\\nit was shown in them that the blood had not degen-\\nerated. In some tribes there was no inheritance of\\nthe chief s office.\\nIt was a superstitious as well as a savage people,\\nbelieving in the existence of invisible supernatural\\nbeings of various kinds, but because of the destruc-\\ntive influence of the unexplainable phenomena of\\nnature round about, they regarded nearly all of these\\nspirits as having malevolent minds. From the light-\\nning s stroke to the insidious spread of a tumor, no ill\\nof life occurred that was not the work of a malignant\\nspirit.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0071.jp2"}, "72": {"fulltext": "46 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nIn a way not hard to understand, these savages con-\\nnected the spirits with the evil creatures of the earth\\nwith the poisonous serpents, the fierce robber birds,\\nthe ravenous beasts, and with those human individuals\\nin whom cunning and stealth took the place of courage\\nand physical prowess. Even the rocks, when of un-\\nusual form, and especially when of terrifying aspect,\\nwere regarded as the abiding places of evil spirits, and\\nnot infrequently as their visible bodies.\\nWith all they had a crude knowledge of what, in\\nworks on political economy, is treated under the head\\nof exchanges. The savage, of course, had made\\nbut slight progress in the practical arts, while the\\nwhite men understood the results of accumulation\\nas well as of exchange.\\nIn one other matter the savage and the civilized\\nman found themselves on common ground, though\\nthat is not to say exactly on a level. They both\\nloved rum. The white man mixed his rum with\\njuice of limes and water and sugar. The savage\\nalways took (and takes) his straight. The white\\nman of those days, too, preferred madeira wine\\nwhen he could afford it, which he could do after\\none voyage to Africa. Moreover the white man\\ndrank it for his health, or for some other reason of\\nthat kind, while the savage took it because he liked\\nit. The relative levels of the two races are herein\\nmanifest.\\nBecause the white men were superior in a variety of\\nways the black men received them with joy, and\\nopened traffic at once.\\nIt was a grewsome traffic that followed the most\\ngrewsome in the history of the world for the white", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0072.jp2"}, "73": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 47\\nmen came seeking slaves and the blacks had them to\\nsell.\\nIt is a curious subject of inquiry, when we come to\\nconsider how the A Frican chiefs happened to have slaves\\nfor sale. That slaves were few in number during the\\nearlier years of the trade is certain. That is to say,\\nthe great men of every tribe held a few of their neigh-\\nbors as personal property. They were detained in\\nvarious ways, but chiefly through taking prisoners in\\nthe fights with neighboring tribes, for strange as it\\nmay seem now, the presence of slaves in a tribe indi-\\ncated some degree of mercy in the minds of the slave-\\nowners. Instead of killing everybody, old and young,\\nwhen attacking an enemy, these slave-owners saved\\nsome alive.\\nOne other way was through the tribal laws regard-\\ning debts. The civilized people threw the insolvent\\ndebtor into prison and held him there, very fre-\\nquently, until he died sometimes while he starved\\nto death. The black savages made the debtor work\\nout the debt. It was also noted by the whites that\\nwhen a negro husband found one of his wives unfaith-\\nful he made a slave of her lover.\\nMore remarkable still was another source of slave-\\nowning among the Africans. So jealous were they\\nof their right to worship their gods when, where,\\nand how they pleased, that for a man to desecrate\\nor remove a neighbor s fetish, or even to touch\\nit, was an offence for which the penalty was often\\nslavery.\\nWar, crime, and superstition supplied the great\\nmen of the tribes with servants, and these they would\\nsell on occasion. That they might also sell wives and", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0073.jp2"}, "74": {"fulltext": "48 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nchildren scarcely need be said, though sons were rarely\\nsold save in time of famine, even in the mild slave-\\nholding days before the white slaver came days when\\nslaves were, on the whole, treated as members of the\\nslave-holder s family. In connection with these facts\\nwe must remember that the Africans, having food and\\nraiment, were therewith content. They did not try to\\naccumulate fortunes, and so had no need for many\\nworkmen. Slaves were few in number on this coast\\nbefore the white man came.\\nThe story of the first American voyage to Africa of\\nwhich we have a definite record tells us somewhat of\\nmethods employed in obtaining slave cargoes. A\\nBoston ship, called the Rainboioe, commanded by\\none Captain Smith, went away to Madeira with salt-\\nfish and staves. Sailing thence with the proceeds of\\nher sale, she touched on the coast of Guinea for\\nslaves. She found some London slave-vessels already\\nhere, with their captains very much disgruntled be-\\ncause trade was dull. There were very few slaves for\\nsale, that is, and to liven matters a little, the Yankees\\nand the Londoners united, and on pretence of some\\nquarrel with the natives landed a murderer the ex-\\npressive name of a small cannon attacked a negro\\nvillage on Sunday, killed many of the inhabitants,\\nand made a few prisoners, two of whom fell to the\\nshare of the Boston ship.\\nThat was in 1645 just twenty-six years after the\\nDutchman landed the slaves in Virginia as recorded\\nby John Rolfe, the first American squaw-man. False\\npretence, outrage, and the slaughter of innocents\\ncharacterized the first-recorded gathering of slaves in\\nwhich an American had part. They killed many of", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0074.jp2"}, "75": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 49\\nthe inhabitants, and got two slaves for their share of\\nthe plunder.\\nThat Captain Smith s act was not according to the\\nordinary usages of the trade may be inferred from\\nwhat happened when he returned to Boston. A\\nquarrel with the ship s owners over the proceeds of\\nthe voyage resulted in a lawsuit. The story of the\\nvoyage was told in court, and although it was not a\\ncriminal trial, one of the magistrates charged the\\nmaster with a threefold offence\u00e2\u0080\u0094 murder, man-steal-\\ning, and Sabbath-breaking. The captain escaped\\npunishment on these charges, on the ground that the\\ncourt had no jurisdiction over crimes committed in\\nAfrica, a decision that was typical of what was to\\ncome. But the two slaves were returned home.\\nOn the other hand, when we consider the usual\\ncourse of trade, we may say that, viewed fairly and\\nby the light of the age, the gathering of slaves on the\\ncoast of Africa, previous to 1750, was conducted with\\nas great a regard for honesty as was any other trade\\nwith uncivilized people.\\nThe voyage to the coast in the Newport slaver\\ndays lasted anywhere from six to ten weeks, accord-\\ning to the ship and the luck in winds. On reaching\\nBonny, or Anamaboe, or Old Calabar, then favorite\\nports, the captain made ready for a grand entertain-\\nment in honor of the native chiefs and headmen. To\\nput it bluntly, the chiefs were invited on board to get\\ndrunk, and they accepted the invitation with an eager\\nthirst.\\nIn addition to this free debauch the chiefs received\\nsundry presents. According to Alexander Falcon-\\nbridge, a surgeon in the trade in the latter half of the\\n4", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0075.jp2"}, "76": {"fulltext": "50 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\neighteenth century, the presents generally consist of\\npieces of cloth, cotton, chintz, silk handkerchiefs, and\\nother India goods, and sometimes brandy, wine, or\\nbeer.\\nHaving propitiated the chiefs, the captain was free\\nto begin trade. Some inkling of how this was con-\\nducted is told in the letter of Captain George Scott\\nin the chapter When Voyages Went Awry.\\nIt was disheartening and even exasperating to the\\nslavers, and the more enterprising made ways of liven-\\ning the trade. They looked for a chief who held a\\ngrudge against a native tribe, and incited and aided\\nhim to take revenge. They suggested to chiefs that\\ncertain stout, well-built citizens of the tribe were am-\\nbitious of becoming rulers and that an effectual stop\\nto such ambition was to sell the offenders. They made\\nfriends with the fetish or medicine men\u00e2\u0080\u0094 always the\\nadroit and underhand rascals of the tribe in order to\\nhave charges of witchcraft preferred against likely\\nyoung men and women. They persuaded the medicine\\nmen to have youths and children entrapped without\\nany charge of any kind. They told men having many\\nwives that this or that young man was the lover of\\none or another wife. So the great man was led to\\nlie in wait and capture the lover and sell him. It was\\na short step from this to another practice whereby at-\\ntractive wives were sent to entrap unwary amorous\\nswains. Incredible as it must seem, the civilized cap-\\ntains from Christian lands introduced what is known\\nto professional thieves as the badger game, and they\\nmade money out of it, and the ship merchants and\\nstockholders in the ships knew that it was done and\\nwillingly shared the profits.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0076.jp2"}, "77": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 51\\nBut a worse state of affairs was to come. That\\nthere was a stead} 7 growth in the number of ships in\\nthe trade has already been noted. The cause of the\\nrapid increase in the number and capacity of the\\nslavers during the middle years of the eighteenth cen-\\ntury is not far to seek. The planters of the West\\nIndies had found it more profitable to work slaves to\\ndeath, while yet in the prime of life, than to support\\nthem in an idle old age. The loss of hands could be\\nreadily replaced by importations from Africa, and\\nthere was nothing in the civilization of that age to\\nmake the planters consider any other question in the\\nmatter than that of making profits.\\nThe prices of slaves rose steadily under this increas-\\ning demand. Captain Lindsay, in the voyage that\\nwas anoof to make a man creasey, sold his prime\\nslaves for \u00c2\u00a335 each. Twenty-five years later the price\\nreceived averaged \u00c2\u00a370, and the Liverpool ship Enter-\\nprise, belonging to T. Leyland Co., in a voyage\\nmade about the first of the present century, cleared\\n\u00c2\u00a324,430 85. Wd. on a cargo of three hundred and\\nninety-two slaves, or more than \u00c2\u00a362 per head, old and\\nyoung all counted in.\\nThe result was an activity, well called feverish,\\nin the market on the African coast. The price of a\\nslave there, according to a Newport record dated 1762,\\nwas one hundred and ten gallons of rum. An old\\ncommercial history of Liverpool records that in 1786\\nthe average cost of delivering a slave in the West In-\\ndies was \u00c2\u00a327 5s. 10d., of which perhaps \u00c2\u00a322 was the\\nprice paid for the slave. With the first jumps in the\\nprice came a change in the methods of obtaining car-\\ngoes. The dribbling supply that had worried Captain", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0077.jp2"}, "78": {"fulltext": "52 THE AMEKICAN SLAVE-TKADE\\nLindsay, who was satisfied with a cargo of but fifty-\\nsix, was wholly inadequate to the growing de-\\nmand.\\nThe first change in the trade was relatively a mild\\none. Slavers had never been very scrupulous about\\nthe title which a seller claimed when a slave was of-\\nfered, but there are cases on record where slavers re-\\nfused to buy when it was learned that men offered as\\nslaves were really free and had been kidnapped.\\nWhen the demand became eager, after 1750, the cap-\\ntains let it be known that every soul offered, if phys-\\nically sound, would be taken and no questions asked.\\nSlaves, too, had been purchased almost exclusively\\nof chiefs and headmen, and it had been a daylight\\ntrade. Now anybody might bring a slave at any\\ntime of the night and get a good price for him.\\nStraightway the people of the coast who, in the or-\\ndinary course of their lives would never have owned\\na slave, began bringing slaves to the ships. Two or\\nthree would paddle off in a canoe at night, bringing\\none that was bound and gagged, and the purchase of\\nthose who were manifestly kidnapped became the\\nregular custom of the trade. Alexander Falconbridge,\\nthe slaver surgeon already quoted, said that in his\\ntime (during the latter part of the century) the ma-\\njority of the slaves with whom he talked had been\\nkidnapped. He gave many instances of which he had\\npersonal knowledge, by way of illustration. A wo-\\nman was invited by a neighbor to come in for a visit\\none evening. As soon as she entered the hut two men\\nin waiting bound her and carried her on board ship.\\nA father and his son, while planting yams, were\\nseized by men who came from the brush. A man", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0078.jp2"}, "79": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 53\\nfrom the interior having brought some product to the\\nbeach for sale was asked to visit the ship lying off\\nshore and get a free drink of rum. He went, but\\nwhen there found that his guide had sold him, and\\nstay he must.\\nJames Town, a ship carpenter, in the Parliamentary\\ninquiry, testified that he saw a dealer sell a slave on\\nboard a ship, in the Gallinas, but when the dealer\\npaddled to the beach with his goods, four men came\\nfrom the brush, seized him, robbed him of his goods\\nand then carried him, in his own canoe, to the slave-\\nship, where they sold him to the captain, who had\\nseen the whole doings.\\nWhile the British slaver Briton was lying in the\\nBenin River a native chief known as Captain Lemma\\ncame on board to get the usual presents. A few min-\\nutes later a canoe with three negroes was seen crossing\\nthe river, and the chief sent his followers to bring it to\\nthe ship. The three proved to be members of another\\ntribe than the chief s, and they were at once offered for\\nsale. Two were purchased, but the third, an elderly\\nman, was refused as unsalable. At that the old man\\nwas taken over the rail and there his head was\\ncut off.\\nOff Piccaninni Sestus, on the windward coast, in\\n1769, Mr. William Dove saw a noted native slaver\\nnamed Ben Johnson bring off a girl he had stolen.\\nJust as Johnson was leaving the ship on one side two\\nvery excited men came to the other to inquire about\\nthe girl. On learning her fate they went in chase of\\nJohnson, captured him, and, bringing him to the ship,\\noffered him for sale.\\nYou won t buy me, whom you know to be a great", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0079.jp2"}, "80": {"fulltext": "54 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ntrading man, will you, captain? said Johnson, in\\nremonstrance.\\nIf they will sell you I will buy you, be you what\\nyou may, replied the captain, and the kidnapping Ben\\nJohnson became a slave himself. This story is espe-\\ncially interesting because of the picture it gives of the\\nworkings of the captain s mind. He would not kidnap\\na negro himself, but he would buy of anyone under\\nany circumstances.\\nA man named Marsh, who was in charge of a shore\\nstation established for buying slaves at Cape Coast\\nCastle, in those days, is on record as saying: I do\\nnot mind how they get them, for I buy them fairly.\\nIt is a queer exhibition of conscientious scruples,\\nthough one, perhaps, not now wholly unknown.\\nBut the slavers rapidly outgrew such squeamishness.\\nThey outgrew it simply because the increased numbers\\nobtained by such methods were still inadequate for\\nthe demand. Moreover with the increase in the num-\\nber in an average cargo came a special need for haste\\nin procuring them. Captain Lindsay might keep forty\\nnegroes in helth and fatt under the deck of the\\nSanderson while gathering fifteen or twenty more by\\nthe old slow process, but when Captain Billy Boates,\\nof Liverpool, a noted slaver, who was born a beggar\\nto die a lord, had two hundred and fifty on board\\nthe ship Knight, in which he won fame, he could not\\nwait long for the remaining hundred because those\\nalready on board would die.\\nThe trade in its origin had been an exchange of a\\nfair measure of goods for individuals legally held\\nas slaves. It arrived at a stage in which a majority\\nof every cargo purchased consisted of freemen kid-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0080.jp2"}, "81": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 55\\nnapped as individuals. The next step down in-\\nvolved a resort to piracy to deliberate attacks on\\nnatives who refused to trade. It will be remembered\\nthat the Massachusetts slaver had been a pirate in this\\nfashion as early as 1045. Such acts were too common\\nthroughout the traffic, but what is to be emphasized\\nhere is that piratical acts naturally increased in num-\\nber as the demand for slaves increased.\\nFollowing bloody quarrels with the coast tribes\\ncame the practice of inciting the coast tribes to make\\npiratical raids on the interior.\\nIt is likely that the practice of inciting these raids\\nbegan as early as 1757 perhaps earlier, in a desultory\\nway. At any rate, in a letter already quoted six\\nfour-pounders, four swevles, and four cow-horns\\nwere among the goods carried out for trade. But it is\\ncertain that raiding was not then the usual course of\\ntrade.\\nMr. John Bowman, who was employed at the slave\\ncoast just previous to 1776, testified before the Com-\\nmittee of Parliament that he had had charge of an\\nagency established on the Scassus River for supplying\\nthe warlike natives with arms for raids, and that he\\naccompanied the raiders on one expedition. Coming\\nto the agency the chief obtained a supply of guns and\\nammunition. Then the trumpets were sounded, a band\\nof men was collected, the arms were distributed, and\\nthe start was made immediately. Late in the after-\\nnoon the band camped near a branch of the Scassus\\nand waited until midnight. Then, leaving Bowman,\\nwhose heart had failed him, they crept away through\\nthe forest. A half hour later shouts and screams were\\nheard and the forest was lighted up by the flames of", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0081.jp2"}, "82": {"fulltext": "56 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nburning lints. Later still the band returned, bringing\\nthirty men, women, and children. A small village\\nhad been attacked when all its people were asleep.\\nSome were killed and some escaped to the brush,\\nthe thirty captives being taken alive and unhurt.\\nThese were bound securely, and when day came they\\nwere carried down to the agency.\\nThis is one of the mildest stories of a raid known to\\nthe history of the trade.\\nCaptain Canot, in describing the work of a raiding\\nparty, says\\nIn my wanderings in Africa I have often seen the\\ntiger pounce upon its prey, and with instinctive thirst\\nsatiate its appetite for blood and abandon the drained\\ncorpse but these African negresses [who were of the\\nraiding party] were neither as decent nor as merciful\\nas the beast of the wilderness. Their malignant\\npleasure seemed to consist in the invention of tortures\\nthat would agonize but not slay. A slow, lingering,\\ntormenting mutilation was practised on the living\\nand in every instance the brutality of the\\nwomen exceeded that of the men. I cannot picture\\ntheir hellish joy while the queen of the har-\\npies crept amid the butchery gathering the brains\\nfrom each severed skull as a bonne bouclie for the ap-\\nproaching feast.\\nAs for the defeated negroes who were not killed,\\nthey were carried down to the sea and sold. And as\\ntime passed the passion for blood grew on the raiders\\nuntil it was greater than their greed. They tortured\\nto death many whom they might have sold. Before\\nthe end of the eighteenth century these raids, called\\nwars by those who owned the slave-ships, were the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0082.jp2"}, "83": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE COAST 57\\nchief source of supply for the coast market, and after\\nthe trade was declared illegal they were, practically,\\nthe only source of supply and the people of the\\nUnited States knew that it was so.\\nThere were many little tribes and settlements on\\nthe rivers in the old days wherein the natives were\\nchiefly devoted to agriculture, and these were the\\nprey of the coast pirates until the rivers were swept\\nclean of all peace-loving inhabitants, and the whole\\npopulation surviving was turned into ravaging pirate\\nbands.\\nSaid an eloquent coast chief when the English be-\\ngan to negotiate with him for the abolition of the\\nslave traffic\\nI and my army are ready, at all times, to fight the\\nenemies of England, and do anything the English\\nmay ask of me, except to give up the slave-trade.\\nNo other trade is known to my people. It is the\\nsource of their glory and wealth. Their songs cele-\\nbrate their victories, and the mother lulls the child to\\nsleep with notes of triumph over an enemy reduced to\\nslavery.\\nStill another view of the effect of the growing de-\\nmand for slaves is to be given. Treat men as pawns\\nand nine-pins and you shall suffer as well as they.\\nIt is chiefly because of the effect of the trade on those\\nengaged in it, directly or indirectly, that their history\\nis of present interest.\\nFrom furnishing arms to raiders and otherwise in-\\nciting them to the work, the white slavers at an early\\nday descended far enough to take part in the bloody\\ndeeds. Even Anglo-Saxon slavers members of the\\nonly race that in these days does really understand", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0083.jp2"}, "84": {"fulltext": "58 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nthe meaning of the words justice and liberty were\\nfound ready to pose as peacemakers for the purpose\\nof betraying one band of negroes into the hands of\\nanother, and of themselves beginning the bloody\\nslaughter that followed.\\nThe Calabar (or Kalaba) River empties into the\\nBight of Biafra right at the angle formed by the\\ncoast lines of the huge gulf already mentioned. It is\\na stream about three miles wide, with from three to\\nfive fathoms of water. The banks are low and covered\\nwith mangrove brush and palm-trees. Numerous\\nlagoons are found on both sides of the stream, and\\nthe apparent banks are but a succession of islands.\\nOn one of these islands was a settlement known as\\nOld Calabar, or the Old Town. On another was a set-\\ntlement called New Town. The people of the two\\nsettlements were of one blood, but they hated each\\nother intensely because of the rivalry growing out of\\nthe slave trade. Yet so nearly balanced were they\\nin forces that only by kidnapping and an occasional\\nmurder of an individual or two could one inflict\\ninjury on the other. However, as time went on the\\nNew Town people became somewhat the stronger\\nthrough favor of the slave captains, and then came\\nthe crowning infamy of the trade in that age.\\nIt was in the year 1767. The ships Indian Queen,\\nDuke of York, Nancy, and Concord, of Bristol the\\nEdgar, of Liverpool and the Canterbury, of Lon-\\ndon, were lying in the river between the two towns.\\nTrade was dull, and the captains of these ships got\\ntogether to devise a plan to liven it by taking advan-\\ntage of the jealousy between the two towns, and the\\nsomewhat superior force of New Town. After brief", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0084.jp2"}, "85": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 59\\nconsultation it was agreed that they should, on the\\npretence of making pence between the two towns,\\ninvite the Old Town people to come unarmed to the\\nships for a palaver. Accordingly messages were sent\\nto the chief, Ephraim Robin John, his brother, Amboe,\\nand some other headmen, requesting all the men of\\nthe town to come to the ships on a certain day, and\\npromising unlimited free rum to mellow the hearts of\\nthe obdurate before the peace terms were arranged.\\nThe captains, of course, pledged their honor to protect\\nthe Old Town people from all danger during the\\npalaver, and a safe return ashore.\\nKnowing their inferiority in fighting force, the Old\\nCalabar people very gladly accepted the offer of these\\nship-captains to arrange for peace, and the appointed\\nday came on with much jubilation in Old Calabar.\\nFor some reason not given Chief Ephraim did not go\\noff to the banquet, but he sent one of his wives as a\\npresent to the Chief of New Town and three of his\\nbrothers, of whom Amboe was the oldest, went in one\\ncanoe along with twenty-seven other men, while nine\\nother canoes, none of which was smaller than this,\\nfollowed.\\nThe first ship visited was the Indian Queen, where a\\nseemingly hearty welcome was extended. From the\\nIndian Queen the leading canoe was sent to the Edgar\\nand thence to the Duke of York, an abundance of rum\\nbeing supplied at each ship. Some of the canoes fol-\\nlowed the leader, and others distributed themselves\\namong the other ships, where the greater number of\\ntheir crews went on board and were received with\\nlavish presents of rum.\\nThe effect of the liquor was soon apparent in the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0085.jp2"}, "86": {"fulltext": "60 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nsleepy actions of the drinkers, and the moment for the\\nfinal stroke of the conspiracy was at hand. While\\nAmboe Robin John and his two brothers were sitting\\nin the cabin of the Duke of York her officers and crew\\nsuddenly dropped the rum-cups, and, taking up mus-\\nkets, cutlasses, and boarding-pikes, that had been\\nplaced ready for the occasion, they attacked the unsus-\\npecting and unarmed negroes.\\nA wild dash for life was made. The three brothers\\nstrove to get out of the cabin-windows, but were\\nhauled in and ironed. On deck the negroes who strove\\nto resist were cut down, and those who fled for the rail\\nwere tripped or slashed or stabbed or shot, as the case\\nmight be. Even the canoes alongside were fired on\\nand sunk with all who happened to be in them, when\\nsome were drowned, some were dragged on board, and\\na few went swimming for the shore.\\nThe noise of the conflict on the Duke of York was a\\nsignal to the other ships, on most of which the natives\\nwere attacked in like manner. And then came the\\ninhabitants of the New Town for the slaver captains\\nhad arranged that they should hide in the man-\\ngroves along shore until the attack was made, when\\nthey were to come out with canoes and pick up the Old\\nTown people who might be swimming for the shore.\\nAnd these, being mad with their thirst for blood,\\nkilled more than they took out of the water for slaves.\\nIn all more than three hundred of the Old Town people\\nwere killed or enslaved in the course of this raid\\nplanned by the white men.\\nBut the end of the story is not yet told. Having\\nkilled or captured the last man in the water, the New\\nTown people paddled to the ships to receive their re-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0086.jp2"}, "87": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST Gl\\nward for their share in the onslaught. This reward\\nwas collected, of course, in the shape of a liberal price\\nfor each captured Old Town man, with free drinks\\nadded, although of the drinks they were naturally a\\nlittle shy under the circumstances. But at the side of\\nthe Duke of York, one other reward was wanted the\\nhead of their chief enemy among the captured Old\\nTown people the head of Amboe Robin John. But\\nknowing that the captain of the Duke of York cared\\nnothing for their thirst for blood knowing that he had\\njoined in the raid solely for the profit there was in it\\nthe chief of New Town, who was known as Willy\\nHonesty, said\\nCaptain, if yon will give me that man, to cut his\\nhead off, I will give you fche best man in my canoe,\\nand you shall be slaved first ship.\\nAt that Amboe, who could speak English, bowed his\\nhead and, putting his hands together in the attitude of\\nprayer, begged the captain of the ship to retain him\\non board. But the captain forced him, his guest\\nunder a [solemn promise of protection, over the rail,\\nwhere his head was struck off, and his body thrown to\\nthe sharks.\\nAs a result of their treachery and murder, the slaver\\ncaptains received from twenty-five to thirty slaves\\neach, of whom a third, perhaps, were captured in\\nthe water, and had to be purchased of the New Town\\npeople.\\nThe two brothers of Amboe Robin John were sold in\\nthe West Indies, but managed to escape to Virginia,\\nand thence to Bristol, where the captain who had\\nbrought them, fearing he had done wrong, meditated\\ncarrying them back. But before he could sail with", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0087.jp2"}, "88": {"fulltext": "62 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nthem, a shipper in the oil, ivory, and gold-dust trade,\\nwho had heard the story of the massacre, took them\\nbefore a court on a writ of habeas corpus, when they\\nwere declared free and were sent home to Old Calabar.\\nThrough this means Clarkson, the famous abolitionist,\\ngot the authenticated story, and used it with tre-\\nmendous effect in his crusade against the trade. It\\nwas not in the Anglo-Saxon heart to approve such\\ndoings, even in the eighteenth century.\\nTime had been when the long and dangerous voyage\\nhad made vikings of those engaged in it, but as the\\nprofits grew and swelled before the eyes of the slavers\\nall other views were fogged from sight, and from brave\\nmen, really striving to do right, they were, within half\\na century, degraded to a level beyond which there was\\nno depth conceivable. And degradation is the inevi-\\ntable fate of everyone who deliberately ignores justice\\nin his treatment of inferiors. Get rich he may, but be\\ndegraded hell-low he shall be.\\nHow the degradation of the slaver s deck was con-\\ntagious how it spread to the owners of the ships\\nhow these owners, while posing as Christians, became,\\nthrough inciting such acts, worse than the captains\\nwho participated actively in the infamies how com-\\nmunities and nations were thus made rotten, until at\\nlast the greatest slave nation of them all regained\\nhealth by the most frightful of modern wars, can only\\nbe suggested here.\\nAfter the end of the eighteenth century the only no-\\ntable change in the methods of gathering slaves for\\nmarket was in the establishing of barracoons that is,\\nwhat a cowboy might call corrals\u00e2\u0080\u0094 in which to herd\\nthe slaves awaiting shipment. The trade having", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0088.jp2"}, "89": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST G3\\nbeen outlawed, cruisers were stationed on the African\\ncoast to stop the work ol* the slavers. The slave-ships\\nthen had need of such quick despatch as had never\\nbeen dreamed of before. They came to the coast,\\nusually, disguised as honest traders, and watching for\\na day when the coast was clear they got their slaves\\nquickly on board and sailed away. To enable a ship\\nto load quickly, depots were established at conven-\\nient points, where pens were built by setting tree-\\ntrunks into the ground to make a high fence. In\\nthese the slaves were held by the hundred sometimes\\nmore than a thousand were imprisoned in one pen to\\nawait the arrival of a ship.\\nCaptain Philip Drake, an English slaver, whose\\ndiary was printed in New York about forty years ago\\nunder the title of Revelations of a Slave-Smuggler,\\ndescribes incidentally two of the most noted of these\\nslave stations\u00e2\u0080\u0094 that of Don Pedro Blanco, on the Gal-\\nlinas River, and that of Da Souza, at Whydah.\\nGallinas, he says, was a depot and market for\\nslaves brought from all streams that penetrated the\\nGuinea Coast, as well as territory further south. The\\nriver was full of small islands and on several of\\nthese, near the sea, as well as on the banks, were lo-\\ncated factories, barracoons, dwelling-houses, and store-\\nhouses. The success of Blanco had attracted a dozen\\nother traders, and the Don was a prince among them.\\nIn African fashion he supported a harem, and quite a\\nretinue of house servants, guards, etc., besides clerks\\nand overseers of his barracoons.\\nCaptain Canot describes Blanco s headquarters in\\ngreater detail. He says\\nAbout a mile from the river s mouth we found a", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0089.jp2"}, "90": {"fulltext": "64 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ngroup of islets on each of which was erected the fac-\\ntory of some particular slave-merchant belonging to\\nthe grand confederacy. Blanco s establishments were\\non several of these marshy flats. On one, near the\\nmouth, he had his place of business or trade with\\nforeign vessels, presided over by his principal clerk,\\nan astute and clever gentleman. On another island,\\nmore remote, was his residence, where a sister, for a\\nwhile, shared with Don Pedro his solitary home.*\\nHere this man of education and refined address sur-\\nrounded himself with every luxury that could be\\npurchased in Europe or the Indies, and dwelt in\\na sort of Oriental but semi-barbarous splendor. Fur-\\nther inland was another islet, devoted to his seraglio,\\nwithin whose recesses each of his favorites inhabited\\nher separate establishment after the fashion of the\\nnatives.\\nThe barracoons were made of rough poles of the\\nhardest trees, four or six inches in diameter, driven\\nfive feet in the ground and clamped together by doub-\\nle rows of iron bars. Their roofs were constructed\\nof similar wood, strongly secured, and overlaid with a\\nthick thatch of long and wiry grass, rendering the\\ninterior both dry and cool. Watch-houses, built near\\nthe entrance, were tenanted by sentinels, with loaded\\nmuskets. Each barracoon was tended by two or four\\nSpaniards or Portuguese, but I have rarely met a\\nmore wretched class of human beings. Such were the\\nsurroundings of Don Pedro in 1836. Three years\\nlater he left the coast forever with a fortune of nearly\\na million.\\nThere are records of more than one woman being engaged in the\\nslave-trade on her own account.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0090.jp2"}, "91": {"fulltext": "A WILD DASH FOR LIFE WAS MADE.\\nSee page 60.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0091.jp2"}, "92": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0092.jp2"}, "93": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 65\\nCaptain Drake, under date of January 5, 1840,\\nwrites of another coast prince as follows\\nDaSouza, or Cha-Cliu, as everybody calls him, is\\napparently a reckless voluptuary, but the shrewdest\\nslave-trader on the African coast. Whydah was built\\nby his enterprise, and he lives the life of a prince.\\nHis mansion here is like a palace, and he has a harem\\nlilled with women from all parts of the world. He\\nkeeps up a continual round of dissipation, gambling,\\nfeasting, and indulging in every sensual pleasure with\\nhis women and visitors. His house is the\\nvery abode of luxury. He must squander thousands.\\nBut what is money to a man who has a slave-mine in\\nDahomey, bringing hoards of wealth yearly by a hun-\\ndred vessels. Da Souza enjoys almost a monopoly of\\nthe coast trade. Blanco has been his only rival of\\nlate years. This morning Cha-Chu met me\\nand proposed to supply me with a wife. You shall\\nhave French, Spanish, Greek, Circassian, English,\\nDutch, Italian, Asiatic, African or American, he\\nsaid laughing.\\nThe origin of the demand for silks and other fancy\\ngoods of which Commodore Perry made mention is\\nthus apparent.\\nThe kidnapping and the raiding were increased, al-\\nthough the market price of slaves fell as low as from\\n$12 to $20 a head. The demand continued because\\nthe hardships of the slave-life killed off the slaves\\nmore rapidly than slave children were born. This\\nwas true even in certain parts of the United States.\\nVirginia and some other States were breeding places,\\nbut by a statement printed in De Bow s Review for\\nNovember, 1858, it appears that the slave population\\n5", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0093.jp2"}, "94": {"fulltext": "QQ THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nof Louisiana in 1850 was 244,985. The report of the\\nState Auditors to the Legislature of 1858 puts it at\\n264,985, an increase of 20,167, or twelve and one-half\\nper cent., in seven years. The slaves had increased\\nat the rate of less than 3,000 a year in spite of the im-\\nportation of thousands from the slave-breeding States\\nand the smuggling of native Africans\\nThe raids were extended hundreds of miles inland,\\naccording to Canot. In the atrocities of the raids\\nthere could be no change for the worse, because\\nthere was no form of torture or degradation be-\\nlow that already existing. There was a greater vol-\\nume of suffering there could be no worse degree\\nof it.\\nThe history of the slave-trade is in one respect\\nunique. In all other forms of industry there was a\\nsteady amelioration of the people engaged in them as\\ncivilization grew brighter. On the sea for instance,\\nthe cat was abolished as a lawful instrument of dis-\\ncipline and impressment was abandoned. Even in\\nthe killing of cattle humane methods came to be\\nadopted. But the handling of slaves, from the be-\\nginning of the trade to its end, was like a portrayal of\\nthe myth of the bottomless pit.\\nAnd yet, black as was the panorama of the trade as\\ndescribed in history, there was one dash of warm\\ncolor in it to relieve the aching heart of the spectator.\\nSays Charles W. Thomas, U. S. N., chaplain to the\\nAfrican squadron in 1855, in a work relating to coast\\nusages\\nIn time of famine men who have no slaves to dis-\\npose of, or not enough to meet the demand, pawn\\nthemselves for food. A degree of ad-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0094.jp2"}, "95": {"fulltext": "ON THE SLAVE-COAST 07\\nmirable self-immolation is sometimes shown in such\\ncases of family distress by a member coming forward\\nand offering himself to the highest bidder, willing to\\ngo anywhere or to be anything so that he may re-\\nlieve his father and mother or other dear relatives\\nfrom distress.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0095.jp2"}, "96": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER VI\\nTHE MIDDLE PASSAGE\\nStowing Slaves for the Voyage from Africa to a Market The\\nGalleries\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Compelled to Lie Spoon-fashion to Save\\nDeck. Space A Plan by which the Tween Decks Space was\\nPacked Full\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Effects of the Ship s Rolling on the Manacled\\nCargo Living Slaves Jettisoned to Make a Claim on the\\nUnderwriters Horrors of The Blood-Stained Gloria\\nBlinded Crews of the Rodeur and the Leon Suicide\\nAmong the Tortured Slaves Pitiful Tale of a Weanling s\\nDeath Punishing Mutiny on the American Slaver Ken-\\ntucky\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Slave Ships Named for Two of Our Presidents.\\nThe term Middle Passage arose from the fact that\\neach slaving voyage was made up of three passages\\nthe passage from the home port to the slave coast, the\\npassage from the slave coast to the market, and the\\npassage from that market back to the home port\\nsay, Newport or Liverpool. It was during the mid-\\ndle of the three passages that the slaves were on board.\\nThis passage was invariably made, of course, from the\\neast to the west, and the route lay, for the greater\\npart of its length, in the torrid zone, even when the\\nslaves were destined for the United States.\\nMost of the ships built for the trade in the eigh-\\nteenth century had two decks. The space between\\nthe keel and the lower deck was called the lower hold,\\nwhile the space between the two decks was sometimes\\n68", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0096.jp2"}, "97": {"fulltext": "THE MIDDLE TASSA(JE 69\\ncalled the upper hold, but was generally designated\\ntween decks. The tween-deck space was reserved\\nfor the slaves. The new slaver built at Warren in the\\ncounty of Bristole, in the colony of Rhode Island,\\nwas to be ten feet in the hold, with three feet ten\\ninches betwixt decks. That is to say, the space be-\\ntween the decks where the slaves were to be kept\\nduring the time the cargo was accumulating (three to\\nten months) and while crossing the Atlantic (six to ten\\nweeks) was a room as long and as wide as the ship, but\\nonly three feet ten inches high the space of an aver-\\nage Newport slaver in the days when the traffic was\\nlawful and respected.\\nThe men were ironed together, two and two by the\\nankles, but women and children were left unironed.\\nThey were then taken to the slave-deck, the males for-\\nward of a bulkhead built abaft the main hatch, and\\nthe women aft. There all were compelled to lie down\\nwith their backs on the deck and feet outboard. In\\nthis position the irons on the men were usually secured\\nto chains or iron rods that were rove through staples\\nin the deck, or the ceiling of the ship. The entire deck\\nwas covered with them lying so. They were squeezed\\nso tightly together, in fact, that the average space\\nallowed to each one was but sixteen inches wide by five\\nand a half feet long.\\nIn the Liverpool ships in the latter part of the eigh-\\nteenth century ships that carried from three hun-\\ndred to five hundred slaves at a load\u00e2\u0080\u0094 the average\\nheight between the two decks was five feet two inches.\\nThis statement of the average distance between decks\\nwas proven by measuring many ships. But that is not\\nto say that the slaves were more comfortable on the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0097.jp2"}, "98": {"fulltext": "70 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nships having greater space between decks. On the\\ncontrary, they were less so. Economy of space was\\nstudied with a sharp eye. It would never do to allow\\nall that space between decks to remain unoccupied.\\nSo a shelf or gallery, usually six feet wide, was sus-\\npended midway between the two decks, and on this an-\\nother layer of slaves was placed Of course the deck\\nunder the shelf or gallery was covered with slaves\\npacked as closely together as possible. This shelf was\\nmade of unplaned lumber, and there was no effort to\\nmake tight the joints between the boards.\\nThe smaller ships the sloops and schooners that\\nhad no tween-decks were arranged for stowing the\\nslaves by building a temporary deck beneath the upper\\none. Having stowed the barrels of food and water in\\nthe hold so as to occupy as little space as possible, a\\nrow of stanchions, fore and aft on the keelson, and\\nrising just above the barrels, was erected. These\\nwere connected by a ridge-pole, and from this ridge-\\npole rafters were extended to the sides of the ship.\\nOn the rafters common unplaned boards were laid.\\nThus a deck was laid that could be easily removed on\\noccasion.\\nThe space between this deck and the upper one was\\nrarely, if ever, more than three feet high, and cases are\\non record where it was considerably less than two\\nfeet\u00e2\u0080\u0094 in this century even as little as eighteen inches.\\nMost of the vessels used after the trade was out-\\nlawed were of the small, single-decked class. Be-\\ncause the trade was unlawful these slavers had to be\\nprepared to pass as palm-oil buyers when they were\\noverhauled by a cruiser, and they could not do that if\\nthey had a slave-deck laid. Accordingly the slave-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0098.jp2"}, "99": {"fulltext": "THE MIDDLE PASSAGE 71\\ndeck was not laid until the slaves wore on the beach\\nready to embark. Being then in great haste the Blaver\\ndid not usually go to the trouble ol erecting stanchions\\nand building his deck substantially. He merely laid\\nhis rafters or timbers on the barrels, as best he might\\nspread the boards over them, with a nail driven in here\\nand there, perhaps, but sometimes with never a nail to\\nhold them in place, and then the slaves were brought\\non board and jammed into the thin space with less\\nregard for their comfort than is shown now for hogs\\nshipped in a two-deck stock-car.\\nIn fact, when the cruisers became at last somewhat\\nvigilant, cargoes were shipped in vessels that had no\\nslave-deck the slaves were piled on the barrels of food\\nand water until the barrels were blanketed out of\\nsight.\\nBut the limit of devilish ingenuity in stowing slaves\\nwas not reached until the trade was outlawed. To in-\\ncrease the number of slaves on the deck they were then\\ncompelled to lie on their sides, breast to back, spoon\\nfashion, to use the term then common. Where the\\ntween-deck space was two feet high or more the slaves\\nwere stowed sitting up in rows, one crowded into the\\nlap of another, and with legs on legs, like riders on a\\ncrowded toboggan. In storms the sailors had to put\\non the hatches, and seal tight the openings into the\\ninfernal cesspool. It was asserted by the naval officers\\nwho were stationed on the coast to stop the traffic that\\nin certain states of the weather they could detect the\\nodor of a slaver further away than they could see her\\non a clear night. The odor was often unmistakable\\nat a distance of five miles down wind.\\nIt was possible for a humane ship-master, such as", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0099.jp2"}, "100": {"fulltext": "72 THE AMEKICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nCaptain Hugh Crow, the one-eyed slaver of Liverpool,\\nby alleviating the sufferings of the slaves by means\\nof good food, daily washings, and some effort to make\\nthem cheerful, such as playing musical instruments,\\netc., to keep the death rate down to one or two per\\ncentum. Captain John Newton, who became a famous\\npreacher, says regarding his own experience:\\nI had the pleasure to return thanks in the churches\\nfor an African voyage performed without any acci-\\ndent or the loss of a man and it was much noticed\\nand acknowledged in the town. I question if it is not\\nthe only instance of the kind. It [the slave-\\ntrade] is, indeed, accounted a genteel employment,\\nand is usually very profitable.\\nOther captains did carry a cargo each without the\\nloss of a man, but such passages were rare. The or-\\ndinary slaver captain at the end of the eighteenth cen-\\ntury was not so careful, while many a slaver was sim-\\nply without any sympathy for the unfortunates.\\nThe story of the Zong. Captain Luke Collingwood,\\nillustrates this statement. The Zong sailed from the\\nisland of St. Thomas, off the coast of Africa, on Sep-\\ntember 6, 1781, bound for Jamaica, with four hundred\\nand forty slaves. The water on board was insufficient\\nin quantity, and the slaves began to die for want of it.\\nOn arriving off Jamaica, Collingwood made the mis-\\ntake of supposing he was off Hay ti, and the death-rate\\nwas now so great that he began to think the voyage\\nwould be unprofitable. On casting about for some\\nway of saving the owners from the impending loss of\\nprofits, Captain Collingwood remembered that the\\nunderwriters were always obliged to pay for all cargo\\njettisoned thrown overboard either to lighten the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0100.jp2"}, "101": {"fulltext": "EVERY SOUL ON BOARD WAS BLIND.\\nSee page 76.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0101.jp2"}, "102": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0102.jp2"}, "103": {"fulltext": "THE MIDDLE PASSAGE 73\\nship or to provide in any way for the safety of the\\ncargo retained on board. In short, if the slaves died\\nof disease or from lack of water while on board the\\nship, the loss would fall on the ship but if he threw\\noverboard some of them so that he would have enough\\nfood and water to abundantly nourish those remaining,\\nhe could collect the price of those thrown into the sea\\nfrom the underwriters.\\nAccordingly, one hundred and thirty-two of the most\\nwretched slaves were brought on deck. Of these one\\nhundred and twenty-two were thrown to the sharks\\nthat swarmed about the ship; but ten, seeing that\\nthey were to be thrown over, and that most of the\\nsufferers were writhing in abject terror these ten\\nstruggled to their feet, and, in spite of cramps and\\nweakness, staggered to the rail and plunged over, that\\nthey might show the others how to die.\\nThe underwriters refused to pay, however the case\\nwent to court, and the jury decided in favor of the\\nship. Solicitor-General J. Lee refused to carry the\\ncase to a higher court. He said the master had an\\nunquestionable right to throw the slaves into the\\nsea.\\nThis is a case of goods and chattels, said he. It\\nis really so it is a case of throwing over goods for\\nto this purpose, and the purpose of insurance, they\\nare goods and property.\\nThe insurers appealed the case, and the court above,\\nLord Mansfield, presiding, in spite of the plain man-\\ndate of statute disregarding the obvious meaning of\\nthe laws, with the making of which he had nothing to\\ndo yielded to Ids sense of humanity, decided accord-\\ning to the higher law, and said, It is a very shock-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0103.jp2"}, "104": {"fulltext": "74 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ning case. He granted a new trial, at which the in-\\nsurers escaped paying for the loss. So the laws, being\\nunjust, were violated disregarded even by the\\ncourts before they were repealed. Such sacrifice of a\\npart of a cargo of slaves to save the others was com-\\nmon enough in the history of the trade.\\nFor a picture of a slaver of the lower class take that\\ngiven by Drake in his Revelations of a Slave-Smug-\\ngler. He says\\nWe had left the Verds, and were making southerly in bal-\\nlast, when we overhauled a Portuguese schooner, and ran\\nalongside. She had a full cargo of slaves, with a large quan-\\ntity of gold-dust, and our captain, Ruiz, proposed to attack\\nher. The crew were ready, and, inspired by rum, soon mas-\\ntered the schooner s hands our captain blowing out the\\nbrains of a passenger, who owned the gold. Some of the\\nPortuguese leaped overboard, with spars but Ruiz had a\\nboat manned, and knocked the survivors on the head with\\naxes. The gold-dust and negroes were then quickly trans-\\nferred to the slaver, the schooner was scuttled, and we kept\\non our way to the land with 190 slaves. We then\\nran for Accra, and landed at Papoe, a town belonging to\\na Dahoman chief, where we found 600 negroes, waiting for a\\nSpanish slaver, soon expected. Ruiz bought 400 of these,\\npaying in the Portuguese gold-dust, and hauled our course\\nfor the Atlantic voyage.\\nBut this was to be my last trip in the blood-stained\\nGloria. Hardly were we out a fortnight before it was dis-\\ncovered that our roystering crew had neglected to change the\\nsea- water which had served as our ballast, in the lower casks,\\nand which ought to have been replaced with fresh water in\\nAfrica. We were drawing from the last casks before this dis-\\ncovery was made and the horror of our situation sobered\\nCaptain Ruiz. He gave orders to hoist the precious remnant\\nabaft the main grating, and made me calculate how long it", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0104.jp2"}, "105": {"fulltext": "THE MIDDLE PASSAGE 75\\nwould sustain the crew and cargo. I found that half a gill a\\nday would hold out to the Spanish main and it was de-\\ncided that, in order to save our cargo, we should allow the\\nslaves a half gill, and the crew a gill, each day. Then began\\na torture worse than death to the blacks. Pent in their close\\ndungeons, to the number of nearly five hundred, they suffered\\ncontinual torment. Our crew and drivers were unwilling to\\nallow even the half gill per diem, and quarrelled fiercely over\\ntheir own stinted rations. Our cargo had been stowed on\\nthe platforms closer than I ever saw slaves stowed before or\\nsince. Instead of lowering buckets of water to them, as was\\ncustomary, it became necessary to pour the water into half-\\npint measures. Those furthest from the gratings never got a\\ndrop. Death followed so fast that in a short time\\nat least a hundred men and women were shackled to dead\\npartners. Our captain and crew, as well as myself, drank\\nhard. The dead were not thrown overboard. At\\nlast Captain Ruiz ordered the hatches down, and swore he\\nwould make the run on our regular water rations, and take\\nthe chances of his stock.\\nThat night we caroused, and satisfied our thirst, whilst\\nthe negroes suffocated below. Next morning came a storm,\\nwhich drove us on our course a hundred knots. Two days\\nafterward, Ruiz and four of the men were taken suddenly ill\\nwith a disease that baffled my medical knowledge. Their\\ntongues swelled, and grew black their flesh turned yellow,\\nand in six hours they were dead. The first mate went next,\\nand then three others of the crew, and a black driver, whose\\nbody became leprous with yellow spots. I began to notice a\\nstrange, fetid smell pervading the vessel, and a low, heavy\\nfog on deck, almost like steam. Then the horrid truth\\nbecame apparent. Our rotting negroes under hatches had\\ngenerated the plague, and it was a malaria or death-mist that\\nI saw rising. At this time all our men but three and myself\\nhad been attacked and we abandoned the Gloria, in her\\nlong boat, taking the remnant of water, a sack of biscuit, and\\na rum beaker, with what gold-dust and other valuables we", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0105.jp2"}, "106": {"fulltext": "76 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ncould hastily gather up. We left nine of our late comrades\\ndead and five dying on the Gloria s deck. After running for\\ntwo days we struck a current, and in three more were drifted\\nto the island of Tortola.\\nPeople familiar with Whittier s poems will recall\\nThe Slave Ships, founded on the experience of the\\nFrench slaver Rodeur. In 1819 while she was on her\\nway to Guadeloupe with but one hundred and sixty-\\ntwo slaves on board, a disease of the eyes appeared in\\nthe hold and spread rapidly. To save the unaffected\\nand to ground a claim on the underwriters, the captain\\nthrew thirty-six of the negroes alive into the sea. The\\ndisease continued its ravages, however, and soon at-\\ntacked the crew with such malignancy that in a short\\ntime all but one of them became blind.\\nIn this terrorful condition a sail was seen, and the\\none man who had the use of his eyes steered the Ro-\\ndeur toward her. In a short time she was seen to be\\ndrifting derelict with all sail set, though men were\\nwandering about her deck. The man on the Rodeur\\nhailed her, and then her crew swarmed to her rail and\\nbegged for help, saying that she was the Spanish\\nslaver Leon, and that every soul on board was\\nblind through the ophthalmia generated among the\\nslaves.\\nThe Rodeur reached port steered by the one man,\\nbut he went blind on reaching shore. The Leon was\\nnever seen again.\\nTo the stories of the ills of the Middle Passage so\\nfar given must be added those which relate to the\\nmental sufferings of the slaves and those that grew\\nout of the deliberate cruelty of the crews. Indeed it\\nis not to much to say that the saddest result of the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0106.jp2"}, "107": {"fulltext": "THE MIDDLE PASSAGE 77\\nslave trade now visible is the mental attitude of the\\nwhite race of America toward the colored.\\nThe ships, said Dr. Alexander Falconbridge, of\\nthe slaver Tartar, were fitted up with a view of pre-\\nventing slaves jumping overboard, but an opening\\nwas left in the netting set above the rail in order that\\nrefuse might be dumped overboard, and through this\\nmany a negro leaped to his death. Others managed\\nto secrete rope-yarn or strong twine, by which a noose\\nwas made and secured to a cleat overhead, and so the\\nslave strangled himself to death. One tore his throat\\nopen with his finger-nails. Many others, to kill them-\\nselves, refused to eat. They were flogged to compel\\nthem to eat, but this failed so often that it was the\\ncustom for all slavers to carry a tube-like instrument\\nused by surgeons to force food into the mouths of pa-\\ntients suffering from lockjaw. This was driven into\\nthe mouths of obstinate negroes, smashing lips and\\nteeth, until food could be forced down the throat. In-\\nstances were described where the lips were burned with\\ncoals and hot irons to compel the negroes to open their\\nmouths and swallow the food.\\nHow men and women were flogged to death how\\nthey died smiling under the blows, saying, Soon we\\nshall be free how they leaped overboard and exult-\\nmgly bade farewell to friends who rejoiced in their\\nescape all that has been told over and again by the\\nslaver captains themselves.\\nOne of the most pitiful stories known to these\\nannals is told in connection with the slaver habit of\\ncompelling his slaves to eat. There was a child, less\\nthan a year old, that could not eat the boiled rice pre-\\npared for it, and the captain decided that it was stub-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0107.jp2"}, "108": {"fulltext": "78 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nborn, rather than sick. Getting angiy as the little\\none repeatedly turned its head from the food, he\\ngrabbed it from its mother s arms. He tied a twelve-\\npound stick of wood to its neck as a punishment, and\\nthereafter flogged it with the cat at each meal-time\\nuntil the fourth day, when, after the whipping, it\\ndied. To make complete his work, the captain, whip\\nin hand, then called the child s mother to pick up the\\nlittle body and throw it over the rail. She refused at\\nfirst, but, tortured by the cat, she took up the child,\\nwalked to the ship s side, and turning her head away\\ndropped the body into the sea.\\nOf the truth of the story there is no doubt. It was\\ntold under oath before a committee of Parliament,\\nand of all the tales of inhuman deeds perpetrated by\\nthe slavers, none had more effect in ridding the earth\\nof the traffic than this.\\nFrom one point of view the picture of a gang of\\nslaves when on deck for an airing/was one of the most\\nshocking known to the trade. yFor the slaver captain\\nknew how much brooding over their wrongs tended to\\npromote disease, and his chief object in bringing them\\non deck was to cheer them. He wanted them to sing\\nand dance, and he saw that they did it too he ap-\\nplied the lash not only to make them eat, but to make\\nthem sing. There they stood in rows and as the\\nbrawny slaver, whip in hand, paced to and fro, they\\nsang their home-songs, and danced, each with his free\\nfoot slapping the deck.\\nWhen the slaves tried to kill themselves because\\nthey believed in the resurrection and a life in their\\nold homes after death, some of the slaver captains\\nmutilated the bodies of the dead by cutting off and", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0108.jp2"}, "109": {"fulltext": "THE MIDDLE PASSAGE 70\\ncarrying along the heads or other portions of the\\nbodies, and telling the slaves that thus the dead\\nwould be wholly unable to exist, or, at any rate, to\\nenjoy the life they hoped Eor after death. But the\\nslaves smiled in contempt when they heard that.\\nThey were of a heathen race. They had never learned\\nthe Christian s hope of heaven, but something had told\\nthem (who shall say how that the body, though it be\\nsown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption\\nthat though it be sown a natural body, it is raised a\\nspiritual body. And they those heathen trusted\\nimplicitly the light they had..\\nIt is a most interesting fact that while the slave\\ntrade developed vikings when it was a legal and\\nreputable traffic, it developed a race devoid of every\\nmanly instinct when it became unlawful. As illus-\\ntrating this fact, it may be said that in the nineteenth\\ncentury the slavers dealt in children as far as pos-\\nsible. Children did not bring as large a price as field\\nhands, of course, but they cowered under torture, and\\nthere was no fear of their rising against the crew.\\nBut manjr adult cargoes were shipped, and the\\nAmerican slaver Kentucky, Captain George H. Doug-\\nlass, master, and Thomas H. Boyle, mate, was one\\njjipi. p.qrijejLa dults.\\\\ On September 9, 1844, she sailed\\nfrom Inhambane with five hundred and thirty slaves\\nin her hold. On the voyage there was an insurrection.\\nIt was quickly subdued by force, but, through fear of\\nmore trouble of the kind, the captain determined to\\npunish the ringleaders. In all, forty-six men and one\\nwoman were hanged and shot to death.\\nThey were ironed or chained, two together, and\\nwhen they were hung, a rope was put round their", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0109.jp2"}, "110": {"fulltext": "30 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TEADE\\nnecks and they drawn np to the yard-arm clear of the\\nsail, said one of the crew when testifying under\\noath. This did not kill them, but only choked or\\nstrangled them. They were then shot in the breast\\nand the bodies thrown overboard. If only one of two\\nthat were ironed together was to be hung, the rope\\nwas put around his neck and he was drawn up clear\\nof the deck, and his leg laid across the rail and\\nchopped off to save the irons and release him from\\nhis companion, who at the same time lifted up his leg\\ntill the other was chopped off as aforesaid, and he\\nreleased.\\nThe bleeding negro was then drawn up, shot in\\nthe breast, and thrown overboard as aforesaid. The\\nlegs of about one dozen were chopped off in this way.\\nWhen the feet fell on deck they were picked up\\nby the crew and thrown overboard, and sometimes\\nthey shot at the body while it still hung living, and\\nall kinds of sport was made of the business.\\nWhen the woman was hung up and shot, the ball\\ndid not take effect, and she was thrown overboard liv-\\ning, and was seen to struggle some time in the water\\nbefore she sunk and deponent further says, that\\nafter this was over they brought up and flogged about\\ntwenty men and six women. The flesh of some of\\nthem where they were flogged putrefied and came off\\nin some cases six or eight inches in diameter, ancLin\\nplaces half an inch thick. jji/LtfA rfp** V0M*\\\\**l A\\nThis story, sworn to before United States Consul 4J(\\nGeorge William Gordon, was repeated by Consul\\nHenry A. Wise (of Virginia) in an official communi-\\ncation to Secretary of State James Buchanan, under\\ndate of May 1, 1845. James K. Polk was then Presi-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0110.jp2"}, "111": {"fulltext": "THE Ml DDI.I PASSAGE 81\\ndent of the United States, and this story and other\\nstories oi* like character were sent to the Congress of\\nthe United States in House Ex. Doc. 61, 30th Congress\\nsecond session, and Senate Ex. Doc. 28 of the same\\nsession.\\nSaid Consul Wise in an official letter dated Febru-\\nary 18, 1845\\nI beseech, I implore, the President of the United States\\nto take a decided stand on this subject. You have no con-\\nception of the bold effrontery and the flagrant outrages of the\\nAfrican slave-trade, and of the shameless manner in which its\\nworst crimes are licensed here. And every patriot in our land\\nwould blush for our country did he know and see, as I do,\\nhow our own citizens sail and sell our flag to the uses and\\nabuses of that accursed traffic. We are a by- word among\\nnations the only people who can now fetch and carry any\\nand everything for the slave-trade and, because we\\nare the only people who can, are we to allow our proudest\\nprivilege to be perverted, and to pervert our own glorious flag\\ninto the pirate s flag?\\nNeither James Buchanan nor James K. Polk, nor\\nany other member of any administration from and\\nincluding that of Andrew Jackson down to the Civil\\nWar, did anything that could in justice be called an\\neffort to stop the use of the American Hag for cover-\\ning such atrocities.\\nIt is a significant fact that there was one slave-ship\\nnamed Martin Van Bur en and another named James\\nBuchanan. It is a pity that these two slavers could\\nnot have been preserved in the navy yard of the\\nAmerican metropolis as monuments to the officials\\nwhose names they bore, and to remind the shuddering\\nspectator that along with our days of magnificent\\nglory we have had our age of infinite shame.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0111.jp2"}, "112": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER VII\\nTHE SLAVERS PROFIT\\nNine Hundred Pounds on One Voyage of the Newport Slaver\\nSanderson, a Vessel that was Offered for Sale at .\u00c2\u00a3450\\nwith No Buyers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 One Voyage of the Liverpool Slaver\\nEnterprise that Paid ^24,430 Details of Expenses and\\nReceipts on a Voyage of the Ninety-ton Schooner La For-\\ntuna\u00e2\u0080\u0094k Baltimore Schooner s Profit of $100,000\u00e2\u0080\u0094 When\\nthe Venus Cleared $200,000\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Sums Paid to Captains and\\nCrews Slave Transportation Compared with Modern Pas-\\nsenger Traffic.\\nIt has been repeatedly asserted in the course of this\\nwork that the slave-trade was, on the whole, enor-\\nmously profitable, and it is now proposed to give in a\\nbusiness way some facts in verification of those asser-\\ntions. There were, of course, many voyages that went\\nawry, but that that was not the usual course of the\\ntrade is abundantly proved. Thus, the fact that New-\\nport had one hundred and fifty vessels in the trade by\\nthe middle of the eighteenth century, shows what\\nNewport merchants made out of the traffic. That\\nLiverpool had but one sloop of thirty tons in the trade\\nin 1729, while in 1751 no fewer than fifty-three\\nvessels, with an aggregate burthen of 5,334 tons, sailed\\nfrom the Mersey for the slave-coast, shows how Liver-\\npool slavers prospered. But something more than\\nthese general statements must prove of interest.\\n82", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0112.jp2"}, "113": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVER S PROFIT 83\\nTo go back to an early period, we find that the\\nnegroes imported on the White Horse (the first slaver\\nsent ont from New York for the direct trade with\\nAfrica) were sold at auction for an average price of\\n1 25 each for the choice stock. The negroes had arrived\\nin a bad condition, but they were doctored up for the\\nBale, and brought good prices for that day, so that the\\nslaver made a good profit even though the purchasers\\nafterward lost some of their slaves. The exact profit is\\nnot given, but the fact that a profit was made is proved\\nby the act of the directors of the West India Company\\ntaking the trade thereafter into their own hands.\\nWhen Captain David Lindsay, of the Sanderson,\\nsold the cargo he landed in helth and fatt in\\n1753 he received \u00c2\u00a335 each for twenty-five of his\\nslaves, \u00c2\u00a330 each for three more, while the remainder\\nbrought prices ranging down to \u00c2\u00a321, save one small\\nboy who brought \u00c2\u00a315. All told, forty-seven slaves sold\\nhere brought \u00c2\u00a31,432. The remaining slaves were car-\\nried to Newport, but there is no record of their sale.\\nWe may guess that they realized about \u00c2\u00a3250, or, say,\\na total of \u00c2\u00a31,680 for the cargo of slaves.\\nThe net profit on this voyage cannot be ascertained\\nnow, but Captain George Scott s letter of 1740 says\\nthat a prime slave cost \u00c2\u00a312 in the unsalable dry goods,\\nwhile other documents show that in 1753 a prime slave\\ncost one hundred and ten gallons of rum, or \u00c2\u00a311. The\\ngross profit on the slaves sold in Barbadoes was doubt-\\nless as much as \u00c2\u00a3900, and the net profit on the whole\\nvoyage, after the remaining slaves were sold elsewhere,\\nwas at least \u00c2\u00a3900. And yet the Sanderson had been\\noffered for sale several years earlier for \u00c2\u00a3450, and\\nduring this voyage, as we have learned already, her", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0113.jp2"}, "114": {"fulltext": "84\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ncaptain was able to see daylight al round through\\nthe open seams in her bows.\\nIn Williams s Liverpool Slave Trade it is shown\\nthat in 1786 the Liverpool slavers sold 31,690 slaves\\nfor \u00c2\u00a31,282,690 net. The gross value of the goods ex-\\nported to Africa was \u00c2\u00a3864,895, while the maintenance\\nof the slaves cost \u00c2\u00a315,845. That leaves \u00c2\u00a3401,950 for\\nthe owners of the slavers, from which, however, they\\nhad to pay their crews and the wear and tear of the\\nships. These expenses are classed as freight, at\\n\u00c2\u00a3103,488, but the fact is there was a profit on the\\nfreight. Nevertheless, calling the freight all ex-\\npense, the clean profit was \u00c2\u00a3298,462.\\nThat is an estimate giving the expenses at the highest\\nlimit, and the sales at the lowest. Going more into\\ndetail, the returns for a single good voyage are given.\\nThe ship Lottery, Captain John Whittle, belonged\\nto Mr. Thomas Ley land, who was thrice Mayor of\\nLiverpool. She sailed from the Mersey on July 6,\\n1798, and passed Barbadoes on November 27th with\\nfour hundred and sixty negroes. Of these four hun-\\ndred and fifty-three were sold for \u00c2\u00a322,726 net\u00e2\u0080\u0094 the\\nowner received that sum after paying all commissions\\nand charges. From this sum, however, must be de-\\nducted \u00c2\u00a32,307 10a. for the ship s outfit and \u00c2\u00a38,326 14s.\\nfor the cost of the cargo sent out to Africa, a total of\\n\u00c2\u00a310,634, which leaves the sum of \u00c2\u00a312,091 profit on the\\nvoyage. That is to say the profit on each negro was\\nover \u00c2\u00a326, and it was earned in six months.\\nThe Lottery in another voyage cleared \u00c2\u00a319,021. The\\nEnterprise on a cargo of three hundred and ninety-\\ntwo slaves landed, cleared \u00c2\u00a324,430. The Fortune on\\nthree hundred and forty-three cleared \u00c2\u00a39,487. The", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0114.jp2"}, "115": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVER S PROFIT 85\\nLouisa on three hundred and twenty-six skives cleared\\n\u00c2\u00a319,133. The Bloomy belonging to another honse, on\\nthree hundred and seven slaves cleared \u00c2\u00a38,123. An\\naverage of six voyages shows a clean profit of \u00c2\u00a343\\nper slave. And to this profit was added that on the\\nWest India goods carried to Liverpool when the ship\\nwent home to refit.\\nOther estimates of single voyages give profits rang-\\ning from \u00c2\u00a312 up to \u00c2\u00a340 per head landed.\\nAn important element in the trade was the cost of\\nthe ship. The records show that a good ship fit to\\ncarry from three hundred to four hundred slaves could\\nbe built for \u00c2\u00a37,500. Such a ship would make a clean\\nprofit of from \u00c2\u00a37,000 to \u00c2\u00a320,000 each voyage, and it is\\ncertain that some of them made as high as five voj^ages\\nbefore they became so foul that they had to be aban-\\ndoned.\\nOf the profits made when the trade was declared to\\nbe piracy we have abundant records, even though it\\nwas a smuggling business.\\nCaptain Theodore Canot in his autobiography,\\nTwenty Years of an African Slaver (it is prac-\\ntically an autobiography), has the following (p. 101)\\nAs the reader may scarcely credit so large a profit, I sub-\\njoin an account of the fitting of a slave vessel from Havana in\\n1827, and the liquidation of her voyage in Cuba\\n1. Expenses Out.\\nCost of La Fortuna, a 90-ton schooner $3,700.00\\nFitting out, sails, carpenter s and cooper s\\nbills 2,500.00\\nProvisions for crew and slaves 1,115.00\\nWages advanced to 18 men before the mast 900.00", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0115.jp2"}, "116": {"fulltext": "gg THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nWages advanced to captain, mates, boat-\\nswain, cook and steward 440.00\\n200,000 cigars and 500 doubloons, cargo 10,900.00\\nClearance and bush-money 200.00\\nTotal $19,755.00\\nCommission at 5$ 987.00\\nFull cost of voyage out $20,742.00\\n2. Expenses Home.\\nCaptain s bead-money, at $8 a bead $1,736.00\\nMate s $4 873.00\\nSecond mate s and boatswain s bead-\\nmoney, at $2 eacb 873.00\\nCaptain s wages 219.78\\nFirst mate s wages 175.56\\nSecond mate s and boatswain s wages 307.12\\nCook s and steward s wages 264.00\\n18 sailors wages 1,972.00\\nTotal of expenses out and borne $27,162.46\\n3. Expenses in Havana.\\nGovernment officers, at $8 per bead $1,736.00\\nMy commission on 217 slaves, expenses off 5,565.00\\nConsignees commission 3,873.00\\n217 slave dresses 634.00\\nExtra expenses of all kinds 1,000.00\\nTotal of all expenses $39,970.46\\n4 Returns.\\nVessel at auction $3,950.00\\nProceeds of 217 slaves 77,469.00\\n$81,419.00", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0116.jp2"}, "117": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVER S PftOPIT 87\\nEesiimr.\\nTotal Returns $81,410.00\\nExpenses 39.970.4G\\nNet Profit $41,448.54\\nWith a schooner that cost $3,700 and a total capital\\nall told, amounting to less than $21,000, the net profit\\nin six months was $41,438.54.\\nWriting on the same subject, Captain Philip Drake\\ntells about one voyage he made in the schooner Na-\\npoleon.\\nThe Napoleon was a ninety- ton Baltimore clipper,\\na model for speed and symmetry. She came out from\\nCuba, in ballast, as a new craft, and made two suc-\\ncessful trips before, at Don Pedro s request, I supplied\\nthe place of mate and surgeon in her last voyage,\\nwhen she sailed freighted with two hundred and fifty\\nfull-grown men and one hundred picked boys and girls\\nfor the Cuban market. By actual calculation the\\naverage cost per head of the three hundred and fifty\\nwas $16, and in Havana the market average was\\n$360, yielding a profit for the whole, if safely de-\\nlivered, at $360 a head, of $120,400 on the slaves.\\nSubtracting $20,000 from this, the average cost of\\nthe clipper s round trip, including commissions, and\\nher earnings would be $100,000 in round numbers.\\nSuch were the enormous profits of the slave-trade in\\n1835.\\nAn official report on the first voyage of the beautiful\\nBaltimore clipper ship Venus [See House Ex. Doc. 115,\\n26th Cong. 2d Sess.] says\\nWith regard to the ship Venus otherwise the Du-\\nquesa de Braganza, we should state that the original", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0117.jp2"}, "118": {"fulltext": "88 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ncost, we understand, was 30,000 dollars and that the\\nfitting out, and expenses of every description for the\\nvoyage, including the value of the return cargo, was\\nestimated at $60,000 more. The number of negroes\\nbrought back, as has been before stated, was 860 and\\nthey are said to have been sold at 340 dollars per head,\\nproducing the sum of nearly 300,000 dollars of which\\ntherefore two- thirds was net profit. That was in\\n1838-39.\\nAs far back as 1827, the captain of a small slave*\\nwould receive $2,000 for a round trip requiring six\\nmonths time, while the mate got $1,000. To fully ap-\\npreciate how much money that was to a ship s officers\\none has to remember that even now there are plenty of\\ncaptains of schooners and barks of a thousand tons\\ncapacity who receive but $75 or $80 a month, although\\nwages all around are fifty per cent, higher, and even\\nmore. The captains of transatlantic liners to-day\\nreceive from $2,000 to $3,000 a year, whereas the\\ncaptain of a little ninety-ton slaver got $2,000 in six\\nmonths. The liner that cost, say, a million dollars\\nwill carry first-class passengers in luxurious state-\\nrooms and furnish abundant meals for from $100 to\\n$150 for the passage, and $125 is a fair average price\\nfor superb accommodations on the most expensive ves^\\nsel. The average profit on a slave after the year 1825\\nwas not less than $250, or twice the price of a first-\\nclass passage on a ship costing a million. To make\\nthe contrast absolutely fair we should say that the\\nslaver who received $340 per head, and paid but $20\\nin Africa received $320 for transporting the slave to\\nCuba. His net profit was reduced to, say, $250 by\\nthe expenses of the voyage, just as the steam liner s", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0118.jp2"}, "119": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVER S PROFIT 89\\nnet profit may be reduced to $25 by the expenses of\\nthe voyage.\\nHowever, to be liberal, there was the sum of $250\\nnet, at least, which the slaver could get for transport-\\ning a negro from Africa to Cuba. If the owners of\\nsteamships costing a million can afford to carry first-\\nclass passengers in luxury for $125, the slaver might\\nhave carried negroes in cleanliness and perfect com-\\nfort, and still have realized profits of from fifty to one\\nhundred per centum every voyage, from the invest-\\nment. It is plain that the horrors of the Middle Pas-\\nsage were not necessarily incident to the transportation\\nof slaves from Africa to the West Indies.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0119.jp2"}, "120": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER VIII\\nSLAVER LEGISLATION IN THE AMERICAN COLONIES\\nThe Colonies often Levied Taxes on Imported Slaves, and these\\nDuties were in Rare Cases Prohibitive, but this Legislation\\nwas always Based on Commercial Considerations Only, or\\nelse a Fear of Negro Insurrections Great Britain Never\\nForced the Slave-trade on Them Against Their Virtuous\\nProtest Georgia s Interesting Slave History.\\nIf there is any chapter in our history that is likely\\nto make a patriotic student an utter pessimist, it is the\\nchapter relating to American slave legislation. No\\nother chapter is so disheartening none can excite such\\nindignation and contempt. But if we consider that at\\nlast, after two hundred and forty-two years of oppres-\\nsion and robbery, a time came when we did, by legal\\nenactment, recognize that a negro man was entitled at\\nleast to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we\\nshall not be without hope that a time may yet come\\nwhen we shall fully understand and act upon the Di-\\nvine command, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy\\nself.\\nThat the British Government, in the interest of Brit-\\nish shipping, did, in the eighteenth century, try to en-\\ncourage the slave-trade is abundantly proved by many\\nother facts than the appropriations, amounting to\\n\u00c2\u00a390,000, which Parliament granted, between 1729 and\\n1750, for building, repairing, and supporting forts and\\n90", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0120.jp2"}, "121": {"fulltext": "SLAVES LEGISLATION IN AMERICAN COLONIES 91\\nslave-pens on the coast of Africa. But whether the\\nAmerican colonies virtuously struggled to resist and\\nsuppress the slave-traffic during those years is another\\nmatter entirely.\\nTo begin with the facts in the matter, we find that in\\nNew York in 1709 a tariff duty of \u00c2\u00a33 per head was laid\\non all negroes imported from any other place than an\\nAfrican port, and this is said to have been prohibitive.\\nIn connection with this take the letter of the Earl of\\nBellemont to the Lords of Trade\\nI should advise the sending for negroes to Guinea,\\nwhich I understand are bought there and brought\\nhither, all charges whatever being bourne, for \u00c2\u00a310 a\\npiece, New York money. If it were practical\\nfor the King to be the merchant and that the whole\\nmanagement of this undertaking were upon his ac-\\ncount, were it so, there would be profit of at least \u00c2\u00a350\\nper cent. (Vol. IV. Col. Doc.)\\nThe tax was laid to promote a direct trade. In 1716\\na tariff then imposed was explained by Governor\\nHunter. (Vol. V., N. Y. Col. Doc.)\\nThe duties laid on negroes from ye other colonies\\nare intended to encourage their own shipping and dis-\\ncourage their importing of refuse and sickly negroes\\nhere from other colonies, which they commonly do.\\nThe fact is that while New York State eventually\\nabolished slavery, it never put so much as a spray of\\nsea- weed under the bows of slave-ships owned by her\\ncitizens.\\nIn Rhode Island, as early as 1708, a tax of \u00c2\u00a33 per\\nhead was laid on all negroes imported. This tax has\\nbeen called a restraint on the trade and it has been\\nquoted to show that the Rhode Islanders even thus", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0121.jp2"}, "122": {"fulltext": "92 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nearly showed a glimmering sense of the moral char-\\nacter of the slave-trade. The fact is the tax was laid\\nto enable the Colonial Government to obtain a share\\nof the profits of the trade, and Newport streets were\\nfirst paved out of the proceeds of that tax.\\nMoore, in his Slavery in Massachusetts, points out\\nthat in 1701 the representatives from Boston were\\ndesired [by the voters] to promote the encouraging\\nthe bringing of white servants, and to put a period to\\nnegroes being slaves. That looks like a real desire\\nto abolish slavery, even though no legislation followed\\non the desire but the truth is, the Boston voters were\\nanimated solely by business principles, as shall be\\npointed out in connection with similar legislation in\\nNew Jersey.\\nMoreover the law of 1703 (two years later) chapter\\n2, was in restraint of the Manumission, Discharge\\nor Setting free of Molatto or Negro slaves. The\\nclose-fisted slave-owners had begun to manumit\\naged or infirm slaves, to relieve the master from the\\ncharge of supporting them.\\nIn 1705 Massachusetts again enacted slaver laws.\\nOne clause of the bill imposed a tax of \u00c2\u00a34 on each\\nslave imported. This looks something like a restraint\\nof the trade, but a further examination of the act\\nshows that it was for the Better Preventing of a\\nspurious or mixt Issue. It is shocking to learn that\\nthe young men of Puritan blood were so fond of the\\nblack Briseises. Another clause of the bill provided\\nfor an entire rebate of the tax if the slaves were\\nexported after having been entered at the custom\\nhouse. The act was really designed to enable the\\ncolony to share in the profits of the slave-trade, and", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0122.jp2"}, "123": {"fulltext": "SLAVER LEGISLATION IN AMERICAN COLONIES 93\\nto encourage slavers in making Boston a clearing-\\nhouse, so to speak, for the slave-trade of the whole\\ncontinent.\\nDu Bois notes that the middle colony and southern\\nports allowed a rebate of not more than one-half the\\nduty of reshipment of slaves; but the student must\\nnot fail to consider this in its proper light. It was not\\na question of morals of a desire to suppress the slave-\\ntrade. The middle and southern ports were merely\\nless anxious to promote sea-traffic they were less\\nunder the iniiuence of ship-owners.\\nIt apj^ears that New Jersey really strove to prohibit\\nthe trade in 1713, by a duty of \u00c2\u00a310. This law looks\\nquite a little like an honest attempt to extirpate the\\ntraffic. It certainly was not the expression of a desire\\nto participate in the profits, or to promote shipping,\\nor to interfere with the trade of other colonies. But\\non looking at the real reason we find (Vol. IV. New\\nJersey Archives) that it was calculated to Encour-\\nage the Importation of white Servants for the better\\nPeopeling that Country.\\nIt was seen clearly in New Jersey, and also in other\\ncolonies (though dimly in some of them) that white\\nservants of a character to become enterprising citizens,\\nwhen their term of slavery was ended, were likely to\\nbe of more benefit to a community with a climate like\\nthat of any of the northern colonies than African\\nslaves would be. The negro was to be a slave for life\\na mere laborer whose value was as that of a horse.\\nBut a large proportion of the white slaves became, at\\nlast, business men who would develop the natural\\nresources of the country, and build the nation.\\nAnd all this is to say, with emphasis, that the pro-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0123.jp2"}, "124": {"fulltext": "94 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nhibitive legislation of New Jersey, as of some other\\ncommunities, was based strictly on business considera-\\ntions. The only question really was, Which in the\\nend will pay best white or black servants\\nIn Pennsylvania the first law to impose a prohibitive\\ntax was passed in 1712, and the bill itself sets forth\\nthe object in view. It began: Whereas divers\\nPlots and Insurrections have frequently happened,\\nnot only in the Islands, but on the Mainland of Amer-\\nica, by Negroes, which have been carried on so far\\nthat several of the inhabitants have been barbarously\\nMurthered, an Instance whereof we have lately had in\\nour Neighboring Colony of New York, etc. The act\\nended by imposing a duty of \u00c2\u00a320.\\nFor fear the slaves whom they dominated might rise\\nto secure liberty and avenge uncounted injuries, the\\npeople of Pennsylvania decided that no more slaves\\nshould come in. It was the sheer cowardice of con-\\nscious tyrants that animated those Pennsylvania legis-\\nlators.\\nA similar state of affairs was developed in South\\nCarolina very early in 1698 when it was said that\\nthe great number of negroes which of late have been\\nimported into this collony may endanger the safety\\nthereof, and a special law to encourage the importa-\\ntion of white servants was passed. A few years later,\\nwhen the King of Spain and the Queen of England\\nwent into the slave-trade in partnership, heavy duties\\nwere laid on imported negroes, because the number\\nof Negroes do extremely increase, and the safety\\nof the said Province is greatly endangered. In 1717\\na duty of \u00c2\u00a340 currency was laid, and this cut down\\nimportations so much that a duty of \u00c2\u00a310 was substi-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0124.jp2"}, "125": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0125.jp2"}, "126": {"fulltext": "AFTER A RAID.\\nSee pane 56.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0126.jp2"}, "127": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0127.jp2"}, "128": {"fulltext": "BRINGING ONE THAT WAS BOUND AND GAGGED.\\nSee page 52.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0128.jp2"}, "129": {"fulltext": "SLAVEli LEGISLATION IN AMERICAN COLONIES 9f\\ntuted for all others in 1719. In 1734 there were 22,000\\nslaves to less than 8,000 whites in South Carolina, and\\nthis state of affairs was exceedingly alarming to the\\nwhites, especially as insurrections hud been attempted.\\nAn insurrection at Stono under a negro called Cato\\nled to a prohibitive duty of \u00c2\u00a3100 laid for a time on\\nimported negroes. Again in 1760 the importation \\\\v:is\\nprohibited through fear.\\nGeorgia was first established by charitable English-\\nmen as a refuge for a lot of people who were im-\\nprisoned for debt in trouble through misfortune\\nonly. The charter was granted June 9, 1732. It was\\nto be a silk, wine, oil and drug growing colony.\\nAnd negro slavery was absolutely prohibited.\\nT. Rundle, one of the trustees of the corporation, in\\na sermon preached at St. George s, February 17, 1733,\\nsaid: Let avarice defend it as it will, there is an\\nhonest reluctance in humanity against buying and\\nselling, and regarding those of our own species as\\nour wealth and possessions. To this Oglethorpe\\nhimself, the colony s chief promoter, added that the\\nslave-trade was against the gospel as well as the\\nfundamental law of England, and that we refused\\nas Trustees to make a law permitting such a horrid\\ncrime.\\nIn view of the regulations covering rum and negro\\nslaves, Du Bois, the distinguished historian of the\\nnegro race, is moved to say that in Georgia we have\\nan example of a community whose philanthropic\\nfounders sought to impose upon it a code of morals\\nhigher than the colonists wished.\\nThe fact is, however, that Oglethorpe was Deputy\\nGovernor of the Royal African Company, the company", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0129.jp2"}, "130": {"fulltext": "96 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nchartered to monopolize the slave-trade under the\\nfamous Assiento contract with Spain the company\\nwhich agreed to deliver 4,800 slaves per year, or 144,000\\nslaves in all, in the Spanish colonies alone, during the\\ncourse of thirty years, and which did deliver many\\nmore than 4,800 slaves into the American colonies in\\nthe very year when Oglethorpe made a speech on the\\nslave-trade declaring it a horrid crime. He also\\nowned a plantation near Parachucla, South Carolina,\\nforty miles north of the Savannah River, that was\\nworked by slaves. Oglethorpe proclaimed (as many\\nan American did after him) that the slave-trade was\\nhorrid, but he was one of the most active partici-\\npants in it known to his age. The conclusion reached\\nby Stevens in his History of Georgia is irresistible.\\nIt was policy and not philanthropy which prohibited\\nslavery in the settlement of Georgia. The policy\\nwas the desire to place a buffer perhaps one should\\nrather say a sentinel troop between the Spanish\\nforces of Florida and the English colony of Carolina.\\nThe Carolina people felt that their slaves were an\\nelement of great weakness should the Spanish come\\nas invaders. A colony of white men only would serve\\nas an outpost that the Spaniards would fear and\\nrespect.\\nBut Georgia did not prosper as a settlement of\\nwhites only, and slaves were, at last, introduced, at\\nthe urgent demand of the colonists.\\nTo omit further details of colonial policy it may be\\nsaid generally that, with the exception of Georgia,\\nevery colony did at one time and another impose\\ntaxes on imported negro slaves, and that in some\\ncases the so-called restraint amounted to prohibition.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0130.jp2"}, "131": {"fulltext": "HE APPLIED THE LASH NOT ONLY TO MAKE THEM EAT BUT TO MAKE THEM SING.\\nSee i age 78.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0131.jp2"}, "132": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0132.jp2"}, "133": {"fulltext": "SLAVER LEGISLATION IN AMEIMCAN COLONIES 97\\nBut with this admission it must be declared that every\\nsuch tax was laid either through greed (i.e., for the\\nsake of giving the State a share of the profits) or\\nthrough the idea that from a business point of view\\nwhite servants would develop the country more rapid-\\nly or through a mean and degrading fear of the\\nblacks. Not one act passed by a colonial legislature\\nshowed any appreciation of the intrinsic evil in the\\ntrade or tended to extirpate it from the seas not one.\\nIt might as well be asserted that our present tariff on\\nimported woollen goods shows that we abhor shep-\\nherds and desire to extirpate the world s traffic in\\nwool, as to assert that the colonial tariffs on the slave-\\ntrade were honest efforts to rid the world of a horrid\\ntraffic. The world was not at that time sufficiently\\ncivilized to even discuss the rights of slaves. It was\\nnot until 1772 that Granville Sharp, the lone aboli-\\ntionist of England, got one lone question regarding one\\nright of one lone slave heard and decided in an Eng-\\nlish court. The assertion that the British forced the\\ntraffic on unwilling colonists in America is a puling\\nwhine.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0133.jp2"}, "134": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER IX\\nTHE EARLY WORK FOR EXTIRPATION\\nThe Words and Deeds of the Fanatics The Quakers Slaves\\nthat were Freed by Baptism Granville Sharp as a Liber-\\nator A Fanatic s Political Creed Plainly Stated Wide-\\nspread Influence of the Somerset Case when the Right Pre-\\nvailed in England A Policy that would not Square Well\\nwith a Practical Business Sense of Things The American\\nDeclaration of Independence and the Black Men.\\nWhen Sir John Hawkins, flushed with success, was\\ntelling Good Queen Bess how he had taken, partly by\\nthe sword and partly by other means three hundred\\nnegroes from the coast of Guinea to the far side of the\\nAtlantic and sold them there with profit, the heart of\\nthe Queen was touched and she saw, back of the great\\nprofit, the picture of the negroes when they were\\ntorn from their homes by force, and she said the deed\\nwas detestable. For one brief moment she saw\\nclear-eyed, and a writer recorded her words where\\nthey were most likely to find readers among her\\npeople in a naval history.\\nThe importance of the fact that her words were\\nprinted is to be emphasized. The reader will recall\\nwhat Carlyle says of the voiceless millions, whose suf-\\nferings made the French revolution possible, in contrast\\nwith the screaming outcries of the few who were un-\\n98", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0134.jp2"}, "135": {"fulltext": "THE EARLY WORK FOB EXTIRPATION 99\\njustly treated therein while those millions held power.\\nWhen t lie protest of Elizabeth was printed, the voice-\\nless negro slave was heard.\\nIn like fashion the slave was heard again when\\nMorgan Godwyn, a clergyman employed by the slave-\\nholding missionary society of England, wrote The\\nNegroes and Indians Advocate. Then Richard\\nBaxter wrote a Christian Directory, wherein he\\ngives advice to those masters in foreign plantations\\nwho have negroes and other slaves.\\nThey were sowing good seed a sort of winter-\\nwheat crop, one may say. The Pennsylvania Quakers\\ntook up the work and on the 13th day of the 8th\\nmonth, 1693, at our Monthly Meeting in Phila-\\ndelphia, prepared an Exhortation and Caution to\\nFriends Concerning Buying or Keeping of Negroes.\\nThey were opposed to keeping negroes for Term\\nof Life for several reasons clearly stated, the\\nfifthly of which shall be quoted Because slaves\\nand souls of men are some of the Merchandize of\\nBabylon, by which the Merchants of the Earth are\\nmade Rich.\\nIn the valuable and interesting book called The\\nWorkers by Walter A. Wyckoff, is a graphic de-\\nscription of the effect, as he observed it, of a sermon\\nupon a wealthy congregation in a Chicago church\\nwhich he attended that he might see how a laborer\\nwould be received among the wealthy. So earnest\\nwas the preacher, so intent were the audience, that (to\\nquote the author) it was as though distress had ceased\\nto be for them the visible sufferings of the poor, and\\nhad grown, through the deepening sense of brother-\\nhood, into an anguish of their own, which must find\\nLofC.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0135.jp2"}, "136": {"fulltext": "100 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nhealing in forms of effective helpfulness. Very clearly\\ndawned the conviction that, if one could but point out\\nto the members of this waiting company some way,\\nsomething to do, which would square well with their\\npractical business sense of things, instant and un-\\nmeasured would be their response.\\nThe quotation emphasizes the work of the Quakers\\nof 1693, for they did not ask nor did the} so much as\\nthink of what would square with practical business\\nsense. There is not a word in their manifesto, nor was\\nthere a thought in the heart of one of them, about the\\nImpolicy of the Slave-trade. And they were fol-\\nlowed by many others who refused to entertain busi-\\nness considerations, but asked solely what was right.\\nThe story of the Boston slaver, who, in 1645, robbed\\nan African village by force of arms of its inhabitants,\\nwas told in open court because the slaver captain quar-\\nrelled with the ship s owners. On hearing it, one of the\\nmagistrates, Richard Saltonstall, declared that the\\nmaster and his mate had been guilty of murder, man-\\nstealing, and Sabbath-breaking, all crimes capital\\nby the law of God This was the first time that a\\nman was accused in open court, on United States soil,\\nof a capital offence because he had stolen negroes in\\nAfrica. It was the first of the long series of slave-\\ntrials wherein the insolent slaver was let go on techni-\\ncalities, the Courts deciding that they had no jurisdic-\\ntion over crimes committed by citizens of the colony\\nwhen on the coast of Africa.\\nThe next court case worth mention here came up\\nin 1767. In 1727 the British planters of the West\\nIndies who came to England bringing slaves for\\npersonal attendants began to have trouble through", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0136.jp2"}, "137": {"fulltext": "THE EARLY. WORE FOB EXTIRPATION 101\\nthe efforts of the slaves to escape service. The ne-\\ngroes, seeing the relative freedom and comfort of the\\nwhite servants of England, ran away. For a time the\\nmasters had merely to find the negroes to recover them,\\nbut eventually it was noised among the negroes that,\\nunder the laws of England, every human being who\\nhad been baptized in the Established Church was free.\\nThereat every negro made haste to get baptized.\\nThe law was plain in letter and spirit, but the Crown\\nAttorney and the Solicitor-General, at the request of\\ncertain slave-owners, wrote an opinion saying that bap-\\ntism of a slave could not divest the slave-owner of any\\nproperty right. That opinion served as law for nearly\\nforty years.\\nBut in 1765 a Barbadoes planter named David Lisle\\ncame to London bringing a negro slave named Jona-\\nthan Strong with him, and took lodgings in Wapping.\\nLisle abused Strong in shocking fashion and then\\nturned him into the street, as he would have turned a\\nworthless dog, to die.\\nAt that time a Dr. William Sharp lived in Wap-\\nping, and he gave much time to charity. In some w r ay\\nthe negro Strong found his way to Sharp s office.\\nSharp heard his story and sent him to a hospital,\\nwhere he was cured. Now, Dr. Sharp had a brother,\\none Granville Sharp, born at Durham, England,\\nNovember 10, 1735. His early education was limited.\\nIn 1750 he was apprenticed to a Friend afterward to\\nan Independent and subsequently to a Komanist.\\nThe story of the negro Strong appealed to Granville,\\nwho after he left the hospital obtained a situation for\\nhim where all went well with him until one day in 1767\\nhis old master saw him, and at once decided to take", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0137.jp2"}, "138": {"fulltext": "102\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\npossession of him again. To this end he had the slave\\nkidnapped, and then sold him to one John Kerr for\\n\u00c2\u00a330.\\nAlthough held in prison, Strong found means to send\\nfor friends, and Granville Sharp went to the Lord\\nMayor, Sir Robert Kite, and entreated him to send\\nfor Strong, and to hear his case.\\nAccordingly the case was heard, and Strong was\\ndischarged from custody on the ground that he had\\nbeen kidnapped\u00e2\u0080\u0094 that is, really, on a technical plea.\\nSharp freed Strong, but this case established no prin-\\nciple worth mention, and the story is told chiefly be-\\ncause the work of Sharp in the case was his first effort\\nin behalf of the negro race, and great things were to\\nfollow through his later efforts.\\nStraightway Sharp found his hands full of the work\\nof liberating slaves. So let us look his work in the\\nface. It was nothing more nor less than an attack\\non property legally obtained and legally held. It was\\na work that would not square with the business\\nsense of anybody. It is, therefore, but justice to the\\nman to let him say here what the faith was that\\nmoved him to this extraordinary career. In a letter\\nto Lord Carysport he said\\nThis is the compendium or sum total of all my poli-\\ntics, so that I include them in a very small compass.\\nI am thoroughly convinced that Rigid ought to be\\nadopted and maintained, on all occasions, without\\nregard to consequences either probable or possible.\\nThis was the first statement made by an abolitionist\\nof what the abolitionists called the higher law.\\nIn November, 1769, Charles Stewart, a Virginia\\nplanter, brought a slave named James Somerset to", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0138.jp2"}, "139": {"fulltext": "THE EARLY WORE POE EXTIRPATION 103\\nEngland. Somerset ran away was recaptured, and\\nwas placed on the ship Mar// and An it to be carried\\nto Jamaica and sold. On Learning this i act Sharp\\ntook the negro from the ship on the usual writ, ami\\nit was agreed that the case should turn on the broad\\nquestion Whether an African slave coming into\\nEngland becomes free.\\nThat was a trial to stir the kingdom, for it was an\\nopen attack not alone on the planters of distant col-\\nonies, but on the whole foreign commerce of the na-\\ntion that had been developed, nurtured, improved,\\nand brought to the leading place on the sea through\\nthe profits of the slave-trade. Worse yet, from a\\nbusiness point of view, it was an attack upon many\\ninterests ashore. The distilleries that made rum, the\\nfactories that made ropes, sails, and other ship fit-\\ntings, even the whole industry of Manchester that\\nturned out cloths for the African trade all these\\nwere interested in the success of the slavers.\\nThe wealth of the nation and the power of society\\ngathered on one side. On the other side stood a tim-\\norous negro slave and Granville Sharp. Lord Mans-\\nfield in his robes presided.\\nFor six months from January to June, 1772, inclu-\\nsive Wind Justice held the scales aloft in that court\\nwhile learned counsel heaped this side and that with\\nlore and statute bald, and strove with fierce as well as\\npleading breath to sway the poised beam. And then\\nhe who stood for the oppressed, rising above the ob-\\nscuring, tape-bound chaos of formulas, asked in a\\nvoice that was heard in spite of clamor\\nShall the Right prevail in England\\nWhen those words were heard a hush fell upon all", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0139.jp2"}, "140": {"fulltext": "104 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nin that court, as if God had spoken. And then Jus-\\ntice raised her sword, and, while the timorous slave\\nand the arrogant master listened, the justice who was\\nappointed to speak said\\nImmemorial usage preserves the memory of pos-\\nitive law long after all traces of the occasion, reason,\\nauthority, and time of its introduction are lost and\\nin a case so odious as that of the condition of slaves,\\nmust be taken strictly (tracing the subject to natural\\nprinciples, the claim of slavery never can be sup-\\nported). The power claimed by this return never was\\nin use here. We cannot say the cause set forth by\\nthis return is allowed or approved of by the laws of\\nthis kingdom, and therefore the man must be dis-\\ncharged.\\nThat was said on Monday, June 22, 1772. From\\nthat day slave-traders lost England as a landing-place\\nlost her waters even as ports of call while their\\nhuman cargoes were on board. The slave-trade had\\nbeen actually restricted regardless of business consid-\\nerations.\\nNot only did the case of Somerset serve to restrict\\nthe territory of the slave-traders the stir it created\\nin public talk was of tremendous effect. For it\\nshould be recalled that under the laws of England\\nand of the colonies in those days it was libellous to\\ntell the truth in public print about the ill-treatment a\\nslave might receive from his master, unless, indeed,\\nthe story of it were first told in open court during a\\ntrial involving the matter. The cases which Gran-\\nville Sharp brought into court enabled the masses of\\nthe English-speaking people who held no slaves to\\nlearn lawfully how slaves were treated by slave-own-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0140.jp2"}, "141": {"fulltext": "THE EARLY WORK KOR KXTIRPATION 105\\ners, and this set them to considering whether or not\\nslave-own ing was right.\\nGranville Sharp, in lighting the battle of an unfort-\\nunate negro, prepared the way in England for the\\ndiscussion of slavery and the slave- trade on their\\nmerits. The voiceless negro through him appealed to\\nthe justice and humanity of the dominant race.\\nIn America no such appeal as that was heard, but a\\ndemand was made there for universal liberty, and it\\nwas heard around the world because emphasized by\\nthe thunder of cannon.\\nWhen the colonists united to oppose British op-\\npression, the talk about slavery and slaves, which\\nhad reference to their own condition, turned their\\nthoughts to the unfortunate negro slaves, and on\\nThursday, October 20, 1774, they signed an agree-\\nment that they would not purchase any slave im-\\nported after the first day of December next after\\nwhich time we will wholly discontinue the slave-trade,\\nand will neither be concerned in it ourselves, nor will\\nwe hire our vessels, nor sell our commodities or manu-\\nfactures to those who are concerned in it.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0141.jp2"}, "142": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER X\\nTHE SLAVERS OUTLAWED\\nBritish Abolitionists and Their Work After a Crusade of only\\nTwenty Years, They Outlawed a Trade that, from a Busi-\\nness Point of View, had been the most Profitable in the\\nUnited Kingdom The Slave-trade and the American\\nConstitution Inauguration of the System of Compromises\\nthat Led to the Civil War Slave-trade Legislation of the\\nStates\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Act of March 2, 1807.\\nAlthough the British American colonies, from\\nMassachusetts to Georgia, had become the United\\nStates of America before anything was done through\\na love of humanity for the legal abolition of the traffic,\\nit is necessary, for the purposes of this history, to con-\\nsider the progress of the trade, and of its opponents,\\nvery much as if no separation had taken place be-\\ntween the colonies and the mother country.\\nAlthough the notable decision that right should\\nprevail in England, as far as the negro Somerset was\\nconcerned, was made in 1772, it was not until 1787\\nthat a Society for the Abolition of the African Slave-\\ntrade, was formed in London. However, an aboli-\\ntion association, or committee without special organi-\\nzation, was formed as early as 1783. The immediate\\ncause of its formation was the story of the slaver\\nZong already related.\\nThe first meeting of the committee was held July 7,\\n106", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0142.jp2"}, "143": {"fulltext": "THE BLAVEBS OUTLAWED 107\\n1783, to consider what Bteps they should take for the\\nreliei and liberation of the Negro slaves in the West\\nIndies, and for the discouragement of the Slave-trade\\non the coast of Africa. The result of the agitation\\nof this private committee was the formation on May\\n22, 1787, of the Society for the Abolition of the\\nAfrican Slave-trade, 1 of which Granville Sharp was\\nthe chairman, and Thomas Clarkson was, next to\\nSharp, the most active member. In Parliament Will-\\niam Wilberforce became the champion of the society,\\nchiefly through the work of Clarkson. Of the stand-\\ning of the supporters of the trade we have a sufficient\\nindication in the fact that their leader was His Royal\\nHighness the Duke of Clarence, afterward William IV.\\nHow the society held meetings and published ap-\\npeals, and how the slavers were forced to reply but\\nfailed to show convincing arguments, cannot be told\\nhere. But in the meantime David Hartley, a member\\nof Parliament from Hull, made a motion in the House,\\nin 1776, That the slave-trade is contrary to the laws\\nof God and the rights of man. In support of this\\nresolution he laid on the table of the House some of\\nthe irons used in securing slaves on the slave-ships.\\nSir George Saville seconded the motion, but, of course,\\nit failed even of a respectful hearing.\\nIn 1783 an effort was made to regulate the slave-\\ntrade, and it was then the abolition committee began\\nits work. The bill of 1783 failed, but because of the\\ncontinually increasing agitation by the abolitionists\\nthe King by an order in council, dated February\\n11th, 1788, directed that a committee of the Privy\\nCouncil should sit as a board of trade to take into\\ntheir consideration the present state of the African", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0143.jp2"}, "144": {"fulltext": "108 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ntrade, particularly as far as related to the practice and\\nmanner of purchasing or obtaining slaves on the coast\\nof Africa, and the importation or sale thereof in the\\nmarkets of the West.\\nOn May 9, 1788, the first real discussion of the slave\\ntrade was heard in Parliament. Mr. Pitt moved a reso-\\nlution to the effect that a full discussion of the trade\\nbe had in the next session, and his motion prevailed.\\nHowever, Sir William Dolben was not satisfied to\\nallow the session to close without doing something to\\nrelieve the slaves, and on May 21, 1788, asked leave to\\nbring in a bill which was designed only to limit the\\nnumber of persons to be put on board to the tonnage\\nof the vessel which was to carry them, in order to\\nprevent them from being crowded too closely to-\\ngether to secure them good and sufficient provisions,\\nand to take cognizance of other matters which related\\nto their health and accommodation and this only till\\nParliament could enter into the general merits of the\\nquestion.\\nThe slavers at once protested that any restriction\\nwould ruin the trade, but meantime Mr. Pitt had sent\\nCaptain Parry, of the Royal Navy, to Liverpool to\\nmeasure the slavers there, and his measurements\\nshowed that many slavers had made enormous prof-\\nits where fewer slaves had been carried than the con-\\ntemplated bill would permit. It was now that the\\npeople learned how little space was allowed to the\\nslaves crowded into the slaver s hold.\\nOn June 17, 1788, the bill passed the House of Com-\\nmons by a vote of fifty-six to five. By its terms\\nslavers were to be allowed to carry five men to every\\nthree tons in every ship under one hundred and fifty", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0144.jp2"}, "145": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVERS OUTLAWED 109\\ntons burthen [according to the custom-house measure-\\nment] which had the space of five feet between the\\ndecks, and three men to two tons in every vessel be-\\nyond one hundred and fifty tons which had equal\\naccommodation in point of height between the decks.\\nIn the House of Lords, in spite of increased oppo-\\nsition, the bill was amended to compel the carrying of\\nregularly educated surgeons on every slaver and to\\ngive bounties to slaver captains who lost no more than\\ntwo per centum of the slaves during the Middle Pas-\\nsage. Finally, on Thursday, July 10, 1788, the first\\nbill that ever put fetters upon that barbarous and de-\\nstructive monster, The Slave-trade, was sent to the\\nKing. And on the next day the King signed it and it\\nbecame the law of the realm.\\nThe Parliamentary investigation of the trade fol-\\nlowed, and this gave the public a full knowledge of\\nits horrors. As already said, these horrors grew up\\nonly because of the blind greed of the slavers. They\\nmight perhaps, by giving the slaves good passenger\\naccommodations, have long delayed the fate that was\\nat hand. But blind they were. On April 27, 1792,\\nParliament passed a resolution by a vote of one hun-\\ndred and fifty-one to one hundred and thirty- two for\\nthe abolition of the trade in 1796. In the House of\\nLords it failed.\\nIn 1793 the abolitionists failed in the Commons as\\nwell as the House of Lords. In 1794 the measure was\\ncarried in the Commons but lost in the upper house.\\nThen an effort was made to keep British ships from\\nsupplying foreigners, and that failed. A supreme\\neffort seems to have been made in 1799, but that failed\\nalso, and thereafter nothing of importance was done in", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0145.jp2"}, "146": {"fulltext": "110\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nParliament until 1804, which was fixed upon for re-\\nnewed exertions. A bill then passed the Commons,\\nbut was thrown out by the Lords.\\nHowever, in 1805 an order in council prohibited the\\nimportation of negroes to the newly conquered colo-\\nnies of the British Crown. Following this Sir A.\\nPigott, the Attorney-General, as an officer of the\\nCrown, brought in a bill on March 31, 1806, the first\\nobject of which was to give effect to that order. The\\nsecond object was to prohibit British subjects from\\nbeing engaged in importing slaves into the colonies of\\nany foreign power. A third object was to prohibit\\nBritish subjects and British capital from being em-\\nployed in carrying on a slave-trade in foreign ships,\\nand to prevent foreign slavers fitting out in British\\nports. This bill, the first which dismembered this\\ncruel trade, passed the Commons at once, and the\\nLords on May 7th, when it was signed by the King.\\nThe triumph of Humanity was at hand. Parliament\\nwas dissolved in November, 1806, but public opinion\\nhad so far changed that Roscoe, a noted abolitionist,\\ncould be sent from Liverpool, the chief slaver port,\\nto the new Parliament that was soon convened. It\\nwas a short-lived Parliament, but a bill was passed\\ndeclaring that no vessel should clear out for slaves\\nfrom any port within the British dominions after May\\n1, 1807, and that no slave should be landed in the colo-\\nnies after March 1, 1808. It received the King s signa-\\nture on March 25, 1807. The fight that was organized\\nin 1787, when the abolitionists formed their society for\\noutlawing the trade, was won.\\nThis was not the first time that the trade had been\\nprohibited by legal enactment in an English-speaking", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0146.jp2"}, "147": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVERS OUTLAWED HI\\nstate, but it was the first time such a law had been\\nmade from humane motives only.\\nTo consider the course of events on our side of the\\nAtlantic, it appears that the slave-tnule was hardly\\ntouched upon in the Congress of the Confederation.\\nIt was mentioned only in connection with the count-\\ning of slaves as well as of freemen in the apportion-\\nment of taxes; but when the articles were finally\\nadopted a law was enacted by which fugitive slaves,\\ncaptured on the sea, or on the beach below high-water\\nmark, were to be free unless claimed by the owner\\nFrom the adoption of the articles of confederation\\nuntil it was found that those articles were utterly in-\\nadequate to their proposed object of holding the States\\ntogether as a nation, the slave-trade was not an object of\\nnational legislation. But when the convention which\\nadopted the present Constitution met, the subject\\nof the slave-trade had a fair discussion, though it must\\nbe said that no one foresaw the extent to which slavery\\nwas to grow. On the contrary, the people as a whole\\nbelieved that it was a dying institution, destined\\nspeedily to take itself from the nation.\\nA fair examination of the discussions in this conven-\\ntion shows that the trade would have been prohibited\\nin the Constitution but for the delegates from Georgia\\nand South Carolina. Delegates from Delaware, Mary-\\nland, and Virginia all denounced the traffic, even\\nthough all of them were slave-holders. Mason, of Vir-\\nginia, called it infernal. Georgia was ruled by\\nthe feeling in favor of slavery that had come down\\nfrom the days when her financial interests had suf-\\nfered for want of slaves under the proprietary gov-\\nernment.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0147.jp2"}, "148": {"fulltext": "H2 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nIn South Carolina the people were probably in-\\nfluenced chiefly by what may be called the States 1\\nrights doctrine. They did not then need imported\\nslaves. In fact, of their own will, they prohibited\\nthe traffic temporarily afterward. It was, appar-\\nently, the principle of surrendering the control of\\nthe trade to the general government to which they\\nobjected.\\nWhen the two States refused to join the confederacy,\\nif the slave-trade were definitely prohibited, Roger\\nSherman, of Connecticut, said It is better t o let the\\nSouthern States import slaves than to part with those\\nStates. 1\\nHerein was laid the foundation of the national legis-\\nlation on slavery that was continued until it culmi-\\nnated in the civil war. It is certain that but for the\\ncompromises then inaugurated we should have had\\ntwo nations instead of one formed from the original\\ncolonies.\\nIn view of this undisputed fact, and in view of the\\nhistory of the nation since that date, what does the\\nreader think of the assertion of principle made by\\nGranville Sharp, when he said\\nRight ought to be adopted and maintained on all\\noccasions, without regard to consequences, either\\nprobable or possible f\\nAnd here let it be remembered that the slave ques-\\ntion was discussed in the Constitutional Convention\\nchiefly from an economic standpoint, and that the\\nword slave was carefully excluded from the instru-\\nment/or the sake of appearances.\\nNot to dwell too long on a topic that is humili-\\nating to every patriot, we find that the slave-trade", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0148.jp2"}, "149": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVEKS OUTLAWED 113\\nmatter was disposed of as follows in the Constitu-\\ntion\\nArticle I. Section 0. The Migration or Importation of\\nsuch Persons as any of the States now existing shall Ihink\\nproper to admit shall not he prohibited by the Congress\\nprior to the Year one thousand, eight hundred and eight, but\\na Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not ex-\\nceeding ten dollars for each Person.\\nThe opponents of the trade provided for a date\\nwhen the trade might be prohibited, and they saw\\nthat a negro was described as a Person, not as an\\nanimal or real estate. This was something. People\\nhad been found to deny that a negro was a man and a\\nbrother, though the fact that he was a half-brother to\\nsome of the leading white citizens of the nation was\\npatent enough.\\nMeantime the States were able, both under the con-\\nfederation and under the Constitution, to deal with the\\nslave-trade and slavery as they pleased. The State\\nlegislation was based chiefly on economic considera-\\ntions, but the effect of the Declaration of Indepen-\\ndence is also seen. New York, as a State, appears to\\nhave taken the lead in prohibitory legislation. On\\nFebruary 28, 1788, she enacted that no slave should be\\nimported within her boundaries, nor should any be\\npurchased in the State for export. The penalty was\\n\u00c2\u00a3100.\\nMassachusetts followed, on March 25, 1788, and\\nprohibited to her citizens the African slave-trade.\\nThere was nothing in the act to prevent carrying slaves\\nfrom any other continent.\\nPennsylvania four days later was more sweeping, for", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0149.jp2"}, "150": {"fulltext": "114\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nit prohibited the trade to, from, or between Europe,\\nAsia, Africa, or America, or any places or countries\\nwhatever.\\nSouth Carolina, during this year, prohibited the\\ntrade for a period (until January 1, 1793). Delaware\\nfollowed with prohibition on February 3, 1789.\\nJ On May 13, 1789, it was proposed in Congress to tax\\nthe importation of slaves at $10 a head. The national\\ngovernment needed money badly, but this proposal\\nto share in the profits of the trade was never carried.\\nThe first real step toward a national restriction of\\nthe trade under the Constitution was taken on March\\n23, 1790. The abolitionists had been stirring up the\\nmenagerie if one may be allowed the only term graph-\\nically descriptive of the members in their ordinary\\nmotives and doings in connection with disagreeable\\ntopics. Petition after petition on the subject of\\nslavery and the trade had been sent in, and Congress\\nhad continued the policy of evasion inaugurated at\\nthe Constitutional Convention. But on that date the\\nHouse declared that Congress have authority to\\nrestrain the citizens of the United States from carry-\\ning on the African trade, for the purpose of supplying\\nforeigners with slaves, and of providing, by proper\\nregulations, for the humane treatment, during their\\npassage, of slaves imported by the said citizens into\\nthe States admitting such importations. Further,\\nthat Congress have authority to prohibit foreigners\\nfrom fitting out vessels in any port of the United\\nStates for transporting persons from Africa to any\\nforeign port.\\nThe vote was twenty -nine to twenty-five, and even\\nthat was obtained only because the same resolutions", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0150.jp2"}, "151": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVKKS ()UTI,\\\\\\\\VKI) 115\\ndeclared that Congress have no authority to interfere\\nin the emancipation of slaves, or in the treatment of\\nthem within the States, and that the migration or\\nimportation of such persons as any of the States now\\nexisting shall think proper to admit cannot be pro-\\nhibited by Congress prior to the year one thousand,\\neight hundred and eight.\\nFour years passed before anything was done under\\nthese declared powers. The ills of the slave-trade as\\ndescribed by the witnesses before the English Parlia-\\nment became widely known in this country, and the\\nabolitionists, led by the persistent Quakers, kept nag-\\nging Congress with petitions for the abolition of\\nslavery, but Congress went on, brushing these aside,\\nuntil the shadow of the storm raised in Hayti by\\nToussaint L Ouverture darkened the southern horizon.\\nThe slaves of the great island just east of Cuba arose,\\nand in a day, so to speak, had asserted and maintained\\nthe principle that all men are born free and equal.\\nTheir rising, like that of the oppressed in France, was\\nmarked with the violence that power suddenly released\\nfrom restraint always shows. Many and frightful\\nwere the deeds of bloodshed and rapine, and the\\nthought of these and of the real cause of them made\\nthe white American legislators cower.\\nA Quaker petition for a law against the transport\\ntraffic in slaves was received without a murmur in\\n1794, and on March 22 of that year the first national\\nact against the slave-trade became a law.\\nThe student finds, as he reads through the great mass\\nof American works on slavery printed since that day,\\nthat many of the writers announce, with a flourish of\\nOld Glory, that the United States was the first nation", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0151.jp2"}, "152": {"fulltext": "HQ THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nto prohibit the slave-trade. They think this act pro-\\nhibited the trade.\\nThe truth is the act was merely to prohibit the\\ncarrying on the Slave-trade from the United States to\\nany foreign place or country and to prohibit fitting\\nout slavers here for a foreign country. It was merely\\nan act in mild restraint of the trade so mild, in fact,\\nthat it never injured the slavers to the extent of a\\ndollar.\\nHere the matter rested for six years save only that\\nby the act of April 3, 1798, in relation to the Missis-\\nsippi territory, to which the constitutional provision\\ndid not extend, the introduction of slaves was forbid-\\nden, under severe penalties, and every slave imported\\ncontrary to the act was to be entitled to freedom.\\nBut in 1800 a petition of Pennsylvania free negroes for\\na revision of the laws relating to the slave-trade, the\\nfugitive slave law, and for gradual emancipation, once\\nmore stirred the House to fever heat.\\nIn the debate that followed, Dana, of Connecticut,\\ndeclared that the petition contained nothing but a\\nfarrago of the French metaphysics of liberty and\\nequality. That from Connecticut\\nBrown, of Rhode Island, said We want money\\nwe want a navy we ought therefore to use the means\\nto obtain it. Why should we see Great Brit-\\nain getting all the slave-trade to themselves why may\\nnot our country be enriched by that lucrative traffic\\nCongress, however, made it unlawful not only to fit\\nout ships for the foreign slave-trade but to hold any\\ninterest, direct or indirect, in foreign slaver voyages.\\nAnd serving on slavers was prohibited to American\\ncitizens. Naval vessels were directed to make prizes", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0152.jp2"}, "153": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVERS OUTLAWED 117\\nof any American slave-ships, and the guilty merchants\\nand crews were to bear, on conviction, an imprison-\\nment of two years as well as a line of $2,000 for a\\nmaximum penalty. The slaves were to be forfeited,\\nbut what was to be done with them was not said, al-\\nthough the captors were not to have them.\\nIt was still lawful to import slaves from Africa into\\nany State permitting the trade. On February 28,\\n1803, a bill became a law which provided for the for-\\nfeiture of any ship that should bring into any State,\\ncontrary to its laws, any negro, mulatto, or other\\nperson of color. The ship-master violating this law\\nwas to be fined $1,000. Curiously enough, this law\\nwas passed on presentation of a petition from North\\nCarolina. Some Haytian negroes had landed at Wil-\\nmington, and the North Carolinians were frightened\\nby the thought that the Haytians were emissaries come\\nto preach the Haytian ideas of liberty and equality.\\nNevertheless the great profits in cotton planting,\\nafter Whitney invented the cotton gin, and was robbed\\nof his rights, caused a reaction in favor of the slave-\\ntrade. To obtain more negroes for the cotton-field,\\nSouth Carolina repealed her law prohibiting slave im-\\nports. What South Carolina did openly, other States\\ndid sneakingly they smuggled slaves.\\nAbout that time the Louisiana Territory was under\\nconsideration in Congress, and manj^ slaves were\\nwanted there. Harper, of South Carolina, got a bill\\npassed compelling the planters in Louisiana to import\\nthrough the limits of the United States the practi-\\ncal effect of the law being to make all slavers enter\\ntheir cargoes at Charleston, after which they were at\\nliberty to proceed to New Orleans.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0153.jp2"}, "154": {"fulltext": "]13 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nAs a result of this opening of the traffic in South\\nCarolina, two hundred and two ships brought 39,075\\nslaves from Africa to Charleston during the years 1804T\\nto 1S07, inclusive. According to the official returns of\\nthe custom house as gathered by Senator Smith, of\\nthat State, and reported to Congress, these ships were\\ndivided as follows From Connecticut, 1 Boston, 1\\nNorfolk, 2 Baltimore, 4 Rhode Island, 59 Charles-\\nton, 61; Sweden, 1; France, 3; Great Britain, 70.\\nThere were only sixty-one ships nominally hailing from\\nNorthern ports engaged in the trade. But when one\\nlooks to see who reaped the profits, it appears that of\\nthe consignees of these slavers 88 were natives of\\nRhode Island, 13 of Charleston, 10 of France, and 91\\nof Great Britain.\\nRhode Island passed in October, 1787, an act to\\nprevent the importation of slaves into her own terri-\\ntory and to encourage the abolition of slavery in the\\nState. Importation of slaves was prohibited under\\npenalty of a fine of \u00c2\u00a3100 per negro, and \u00c2\u00a31,000 per\\nship, but there was nothing in her legislation, or in\\nany other legislation then extant, to prevent her ship-\\nowners reaping the profits of the open trade to South\\nCarolina. It was right hard work to induce legislators\\nin those days to shut off absolutely a business where-\\nin a man could make $90,000 profit in one round voy-\\nage of a ship worth less than $10,000.\\nHowever, as the year 1808 drew nigh, legislation of\\nimportance was had. Congress had assumed that it\\nhad the right to prohibit the trade beginning with that\\nyear, and President Jefferson in his message of De-\\ncember 2, 1806, congratulated Congress on the ap-\\nproach of the period at which you may interpose", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0154.jp2"}, "155": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVERS OUTLAWED 119\\nyour authority constitutionally to prohibit the slave-\\ntrade. The next day\u00e2\u0080\u0094 December 3 Bradley, of Ver-\\nmont, introduced the bill that became the act of\\nMarch 2, 1807.\\nThe first part of it considered was the disposal of\\nthe slaves in vessels to be captured while attempting\\nto bring slaves in\u00e2\u0080\u0094 that the ship-owners would violate\\nthe law was taken as a matter of course. The anti-\\nslavery men wanted the negroes so captured to be\\nfree, but were willing to have them indentured, even\\nfor life. This was asking more than could be ob-\\ntained. The fear of having free blacks turned loose\\nin slave-holding communities\u00e2\u0080\u0094 the fear that the free\\nblacks would incite insurrections was too strong.\\nOf course there were moral objections to selling the\\nslaves, but Congressman Joseph Clay declared mo-\\nrality has nothing to do with this traffic. It must ap-\\npear to every man of common-sense that the question\\ncan be considered in a commercial point of view only.\\nWorse yet, Congressmen were found to argue for the\\ndecent appearance of the statute book. They\\nwere drabs who feared detection, not the sin.\\nOf course, in the state of civilization then prevail-\\ning the commercial consideration necessarily pre-\\nvailed. The law (section 4), as at last passed, pro-\\nvided that neither the importer, nor any person or\\npersons claiming under him, shall hold any right or\\ntitle whatsoever to any negro which might be capt-\\nured on a slaver coming to the United States, but\\nthe same shall remain subject to any regulations, not\\ncontrary to this act, which the several States or\\nTerritories might make in the matter.\\nSo Congress in trying to stop the traffic provided", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0155.jp2"}, "156": {"fulltext": "120 THE AMEEICAN SLAVE-TEADE\\nthat the unfortunates brought from Africa should not\\nregain the liberty they had lost through the work of\\nland pirates.\\nNo slaves were smuggled into the Northern region.\\nIn the South some States passed no law on this matter,\\nand in others the laws varied widely. The Alabama-\\nMississippi territory act of 1815 provided for the sale of\\nthe negroes by public auction, for cash, to the highest\\nbidder, the informer to have half the proceeds of the\\nsale, and the other half to go to the public treasury.\\nHow this law worked will appear later on. In North\\nCarolina (law of 1816) one-fifth of such sales went to\\nthe informer. In Georgia the slaves, by the act of\\nDecember 18, 1817, might be sold, after giving sixty\\ndays notice in a public gazette, or if the society for\\nthe colonization of free persons of color will\\nundertake to transport them to Africa at the\\nsole expense of said society, and shall likewise pay all\\nexpenses incurred by the State since they had been\\ncaptured and condemned, His Excellency the Gov-\\nernor is authorized and requested to aid in promoting\\nthe benevolent views of said society.\\nNo national law regulating the disposal of such\\nslaves as these was passed until after the war of 1812.\\nAnother matter considered in connection with this\\nbill introduced on December 3, 1806, was the coastwise\\ntraffic between the States. The efforts to prohibit that\\nfailed but the law provided that no ship under forty\\ntons should engage in it. There was no limit to the\\nnumber of slaves that might be carried, although a\\nvoyage from the Chesapeake to New Orleans fre-\\nquently lasted as long as one from Africa to the West\\nIndies.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0156.jp2"}, "157": {"fulltext": "THE SLAVERS OUTLAWED 121\\nThe penalties provided for the violation of this act\\nincluded forfeiture of the ship to the United States\\na line of $20,000 to be imposed for fitting out a slaver\\na fine of ft.O.OOO for aiding in the importation of slaves\\na line of from $1,000 to $10,000, with imprisonment\\nranging from five to ten years, for taking slaves on\\nboard a ship from Africa or any other foreign country,\\nand a fine of $800 for buying a smuggled slave.\\nFurthermore, the President was authorized to cause\\nany of the armed vessels of the United States to be\\nemployed to cruise on any part of the coast of the\\nUnited States in search of smugglers. In case any\\nsuch smuggler was captured the captain, on conviction,\\nwas to be imprisoned from two to four years, and fined\\nnot to exceed $10,000. The ship was to be forfeited\\nas a prize to the naval ship. The negroes were to be\\ndelivered to the State authorities where the slaver\\nprize found a port.\\nThis law has often been mentioned as the result of a\\ngreat moral victory and, of course, it did show some\\nprogress in American civilization but when the facts\\nare considered we find that practically it was a mere\\ndead-letter.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0157.jp2"}, "158": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XI\\nTALES OF THE EARLIER SMUGGLERS\\nA Slaver s Ferry Between Havana and the Florida Ports\\nAmelia Island as a Smugglers Headquarters The Bara-\\ntaria Pirates and the Smuggling Trade Extent of the\\nIllegal Traffic A Georgia Governor who Left His Post to\\nBecome a Slave Smuggler.\\nNothing like a complete story of the smuggling\\ntraffic in slaves carried on along the coasts of the\\nUnited States has ever been told, and none can be\\ntold, because of conditions that were very well stated\\nby Congressman Lowndes, of South Carolina, in the\\nHouse on February 14, 1804. With navigable rivers\\nrunning into the heart of it [his State], it was impos-\\nsible, with our means, to prevent our Eastern breth-\\nren, who in some parts of the Union, in defiance of the\\nauthority of the general Government, have been en-\\ngaged in this trade, from introducing them into the\\ncountry. The law was completely evaded, and for the\\nlast year or two Africans were introduced into the\\ncountry in numbers little short, I believe, of what\\nthey would have been had the trade been a legal\\none.\\nThe fling at New England ship-owners was entirely\\njustified by the facts, but it will also be observed that\\ncitizens of South Carolina were the receivers of the\\ngoods stolen by the New England thieves.\\n122", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0158.jp2"}, "159": {"fulltext": "TALES OF THE EABLIEB SMUGGLERS 123\\nAnother popular Florida port was Pensacola.\\nThere was a regular slave-ferry between Havana and\\nPensacola in the days when Florida was Spanish ter-\\nritory. When General Jackson seized Pensacola in\\nthe spring of 1818, Colonel Brooke captured the\\nslaver Constitution with eighty-four negroes on board,\\nwhile Lieutenant McKeever, of the naval forces, capt-\\nured the Louisa and the Marino with twenty -three\\nslaves between them. All these slaves were destined\\nto the United States for a market. Considering the\\nfact that three slavers were found in or near the port\\nat one time, it is fair to suppose that at least one slaver\\na week was the average of arrivals.\\nCongressman Mitchell estimated that 20,000 were\\nsmuggled in each year. In 1810 President Madison\\nreferred to the traffic and said he believed that just\\nand benevolent motives would be felt by Con-\\ngress in devising further means of suppressing the\\nevil.\\nOn January 22, 1811, Secretary of the Navy Paul\\nHamilton wrote to Captain H. G. Campbell, the com-\\nmanding naval officer at Charleston, S. C, saying\\nI hear, not without great concern, that the law pro-\\nhibiting the importation of slaves has been violated\\nin frequent instances at St. Mary s (Ga.), since the gun-\\nboats have been withdrawn from that station.\\nHasten the equipment of the gunboats and\\ndespatch them to St. Mary s with orders to use all\\npracticable diligence.\\nThe extent of the traffic here mentioned may be im-\\nagined from what is said by the author of the Voy-\\nage of the Ship Two Friends who was in a position\\nto learn some of the facts before he wrote his book.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0159.jp2"}, "160": {"fulltext": "124 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nDuring the existence of the impolitic intercourse act\\nso great was the trade [of all kinds] that three\\nhundred sail of square-rigged vessels were seen at\\none time in the Spanish waters waiting for cargoes.\\nAmelia Island was then probably the most populous\\nslave-station in the world.\\nAnother notable slave-station on the borders of the\\nUnited States previous to the war of 1812 was that\\nestablished at Barataria, southwest of New Orleans,\\nwhere Jean Lafitte ruled. Lafitte s piratical cruisers\\ncaptured many slavers and brought their cargoes to\\nBarataria. The bayous between that and the Missis-\\nsippi were admirably suited for smugglers. They\\nsmuggled all kinds of goods, but negroes paid best of\\nall. The operations became so bold that the national\\nGovernment sent Commodore D. T. Patterson, of the\\nnavy, and Colonel George T. Ross, of the army, with\\nforces that destroyed the settlement. The vessels and\\nother property captured sold for $50,000, and this sum\\nwas distributed among our men who had part in the\\nexpedition. That so great a sum was realized at\\nforced sale for the property shows how extensive the\\nBarataria smuggling business was.\\nAfter the war of 1812 the people chiefly concerned\\nin the Barataria colony went to Galveston Island and\\nthere established what they called the Government of\\nthe new State of Texas. This was done in 1817 but\\nthe exact date is not recorded. The ruling spirit was\\nCommodore Louis Aury, who had held a commis-\\nsion in the New Grenada navy, but was in 1817 act-\\ning under a commission issued by Herrero, an agent\\nof the Mexican republic. Aury called himself the\\nCommodore of the allied fleet in the war with Spain.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0160.jp2"}, "161": {"fulltext": "TALES OF THE EARLIER SMUGGLERS 125\\nHe set up a court of admiralty, and before this court\\nhe brought and condemned such vessels as his allied\\nfleet could capture. To dispose of the property thus\\nobtained he adopted the smuggling tactics of the Bar-\\natarians, and he found plenty of men in New Orleans\\nready to assist him.\\nOn April 5, 1S17, Aury removed his establishment\\ndown to Matagorda, and thence to Amelia Island,\\nFla., where the smuggling operations became so\\nbold and extensive as to attract the attention of the\\nwhole nation.\\nIn fact the business became so profitable that Gov-\\nernor David B. Mitchell, of Georgia, resigned his hon-\\norable office and became the United States agent of the\\nCreek Indians in order that he might, as he supposed,\\nsafely participate in the smuggling traffic. The Creek\\nagency was in the midst of the wilderness then lying\\nbetween the Georgia settlements and the new planta-\\ntions of the Louisiana purchase. Mitchell had the\\nslaves taken by obscure trails to his headquarters at\\nthe agency, and he intended to distribute them thence\\nto the Louisiana plantations. He supposed that the\\nroutes to be followed, the location of the agency, and\\nhis personal influence combined would enable him to\\ndo a wholesale smuggling business in perfect safety.\\nBut he was detected, and lost money as well as his\\nhonor. The facts in this matter can be found in the\\nAmerican State Papers Miscellaneous Vol. II., p.\\n957. It seems necessary to give the authority for this\\nstory lest it seem wholly incredible.\\nThe documents in this case (p. 962) show that prime\\nfellows were offered at Amelia at $250 ordinary from\\n$175 to $200. Therefore the net profit in smuggling", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0161.jp2"}, "162": {"fulltext": "126 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nslaves into the United States varied between $350 and\\n$500 per head.\\nDetails of the smugglers methods are to be had in\\nsufficient number, but the story of one trip described\\nby Drake may suffice for all.\\nThe kaffle, under charge of negro drivers, was to\\nstrike up the Escambia River, and thence cross the\\nboundary into Georgia, where some of our wild Afri-\\ncans were mixed with various squads of native blacks\\nand driven inland till sold off, singly or by couples,\\non the road. The Spanish possessions were\\nthriving on this inland exchange of negroes.\\nFlorida was a sort of nursery for slave-breeders, and\\nmany American citizens grew rich by trafficking in\\nGuinea negroes and smuggling them continually, in\\nsmall parties, through the Southern United States. At\\nthe time I mention, the business was a lively one.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0162.jp2"}, "163": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XII\\nSLAVERS DECLARED PIRATES\\nFines and Imprisonment with Rewards for Informers were not\\nSufficient to Stop Slave Smuggling- Workings of the Pro-\\nhibitive Legislation Illustrated by the Doings of the Knife-\\nInventor Bowie and the Pirate Lafitte Slaves Sold by the\\nPound Influences that Led to the Piracy Act.\\nWith the smoke of the Amelia Island camp-fires in\\ntheir eyes and nostrils our national legislators under-\\ntook the task of making the dead law of 1807-08 a live\\none. Both houses brought in bills, but adroit politi-\\ncians were found in Congress to see that the power of\\nthe bills was weakened, if not destroyed, and in this\\ncase these politicians succeeded in ruining the bill\\naltogether.\\nThe bill as passed was entitled An act in addition\\nto an act to prohibit the introduction [importation]\\nof slaves into any port or place within the jurisdiction\\nof the United States, from and after the first day of\\nJanuary in the year of our Lord 1808, and to repeal\\ncertain parts of the same. It was approved on April\\n20, 1818.\\nIt might with truth have been entitled An act to\\npromote treachery among smugglers. Congress sup-\\nposed that by appealing to the cupidity of the lawless,\\nand offering a cash premium to those smugglers who\\n127", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0163.jp2"}, "164": {"fulltext": "128 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nwould inform on their associates, the morality of the\\nsmuggling region would be improved.\\nTo show how the new law differed from that of 1807,\\nit may be said that the old provided (see sec. 2) that\\nevery such ship engaged in importing slaves shall\\nbe forfeited to the United States. The law of 1818\\n[sec. 1] provided forfeiture, in any district in which\\nit may be found one-half thereof to the use of the\\nUnited States, and the other half to Mm or them who\\nshall prosecute the same to effect.\\nBut while the act was ineffective, as a whole, one\\nsection (8) is of interest because it clearly shows a ten-\\ndency in Congress at that time to extirpate the trade.\\nTherein it was provided that in all prosecutions\\nunder this act the defendant or defendants shall be\\nholden to prove that the slave which he or they\\nshall be charged with having brought into the United\\nStates, or with purchasing, selling, or otherwise dis-\\nposing of the same, was brought into the United\\nStates at least five years previous to the commence-\\nment of such prosecution, or was not brought in,\\nholden, or purchased, or otherwise disposed of con-\\ntrary to the provisions of this act. To throw the\\nburden of proof on the accused was a novelty in\\nAmerican legislation.\\nThe next year Congress acknowledged this law to\\nbe inefficient by passing the act of March 3, 1819.\\nWhile this was in the House of Representatives, Nel-\\nson, of Virginia, had a clause inserted providing the\\ndeath penalty for engaging in the traffic. This pen-\\nalty was struck out in the Senate. Du Bois notes\\nhere that Congress was already beginning to divide\\non party as well as geographical lines when slavery", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0164.jp2"}, "165": {"fulltext": "L", "height": "2990", "width": "1852", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0165.jp2"}, "166": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0166.jp2"}, "167": {"fulltext": "SLAVERS DECLABED PIEATES 129\\nwas to be considered. The bill of 1818 was favored,\\nlie says, by the South, the Senate, and the Demo-\\ncrats. The law of 1819 was the bill of the North,\\nthe House, and by the as yet undeveloped but grow-\\ning Whig Party.\\nUnder the act of 1819 the President, in section 1,\\nwas authorized, whenever he shall deem it expe-\\ndient, to cause any of the armed vessels of the United\\nStates to be employed to cruise on any of the coasts\\nof the United States or territories thereof, or of the\\ncoasts of Afr lea or elsewhere to seize Amer-\\nican slavers. The proceeds from the sale of seized\\nslavers were to be divided between the nation and the\\nnaval crew, and a bounty of $25 for each slave so\\ntaken was given in addition.\\nThe President was also authorized to appoint an\\nagent to reside on the coast of Africa (Liberia) to re-\\nceive and care for the negroes when captured.\\nPlain citizen informers were to have half the\\nproceeds of fines and $50 cash bonus for each\\nslave captured in the course of smuggling opera-\\ntions.\\nOn the other hand, in the interests of the slavers,\\nit was provided (sec. 5) that a naval officer must\\nbring the vessel and her cargo, for adjudication, into\\nsome port of the State or Territory to which such ves-\\nsel so captured shall belong, if he can ascertain the\\nsame. This section was added on the motion of\\nCongressman Butler, of Louisiana, who said he had\\na due regard for the interests of the State that he\\nrepresented. The slave-ships owned in New Orleans,\\nfor instance, were to be sent to New Orleans for ad-\\njudication. Section 4 provides also that it shall be\\n9", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0167.jp2"}, "168": {"fulltext": "13() THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TEADE\\nascertained by verdict of a jury whether a ship had\\nviolated the law.\\nTo show how this law operated we may quote a\\npassage from the life of the noted James Bowie, of\\nNew Orleans, who gave his name to the famous sheath-\\nknife. Bowie, with his brother, Rezin Bowie, and two\\nothers of like adventurous minds, formed a company,\\nand entered into treaty with Lafitte, who was still a\\nchief spirit among the smugglers in the Gulf region.\\nLafitte sold them sound and likely blacks off his\\nslave-ships at the rate of a dollar a pound. That made\\nthe average price something like $140 the head. In\\nthe open market the blacks would fetch from $500 to\\n$1,000 each. Having purchased the slaves, the or-\\ndinary course was to sneak them through bayous to\\nany purchaser they could find. But taking advantage\\nof the law that gave half the proceeds of the sale of\\nthe negroes to the informer, besides a bounty of $50 a\\nhead, they often informed on each other, under false\\nnames, and had the slaves condemned and sold by\\ndue process of law. At the sale no competitors ap-\\npeared, because it was fully understood in the com-\\nmunity that Bowie was evading the law, and, slaves\\nbeing in demand, public sentiment supported the\\ntransaction. The Bowies made a good profit in these\\ntransactions, the Government officials got fat fees, and\\nplanters got the slaves at market prices.\\nAltogether the company realized a profit of some\\n$65,000 within a couple of years. But the business\\ninvolved such mummery and flummery of false names,\\npretended disguises, and pretended seizures that the\\nBowies pretty soon tired of it. They were a rough\\nlot, but they were not sneaks. They proved, long be-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0168.jp2"}, "169": {"fulltext": "SLAVERS DECLARED PIRATES ];;i\\nfore the words were written, that it is physically im-\\npossible for a brave man Lo make money the chief\\nobject of his thoughts.\\nWhen Congress reassembled in December after pass-\\ning the act of March 3, 1819, the slave-trade came up for\\nfurther consideration. The colonization society that es-\\ntablished Liberia, of which the story is to be told, had,\\nby its activity in various ways, increased the public\\nknowledge of the evils of the slave-trade. Further-\\nmore, it was able to reach the slave-holders for two\\nreasons. First, it was pledged not to interfere with\\nAmerican slavery. Second, it was formed for the\\nspecific purpose of removing the slave-holder s chief\\neyesore, the free negro, out of the United States.\\nUndoubtedly there were in the United States many\\npeople who were opposed to the trade because of prin-\\nciple. But the student cannot overlook the fact that\\nthe feeling against the trade was able to make head-\\nway because there was no financial interest in slaves\\nor slavers at the North, outside of a few ports, and at\\nthe South there were increasing numbers of slave-own-\\ners who had slaves to sell through the natural increase\\nof their holdings. The fact that the coastwise trade\\nhad demanded consideration in the previous legislation\\nis significant. Virginia was already the mother of an\\nexport trade in slaves. To prohibit absolutely the\\nimportation of wild Africans was to bull the market\\nfor the planters who found more profit in breeding\\nslaves than in cultivating the soil.\\nMeantime the privateers, so-called, of the Latin-\\nAmerican republics had made alarming attacks on\\nour unarmed merchant ships. Pirates swarmed over\\nthe West India seas, and their doings were justly be-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0169.jp2"}, "170": {"fulltext": "j 32 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TEADE\\nlieved to be, in many cases, chargeable to the slave-\\ntrade. The slavers turned pirates, and the pirates\\nturned slavers, as occasion warranted.\\nIn short, from good motives and bad, a bill was\\nbrought in that became the act of May 15, 1820.\\nBecause it provided the death penalty for partici-\\npation in the slave-trade, the sections pertaining to\\nthe trade shall be given in full\\nAnd be it further enacted, That, if any citizen of k the United\\nStates, being of the crew or ship s company of any foreign\\nship or vessel engaged in the slave-trade, or any person what-\\never being of the crew or ship s company of any ship or vessel\\nowned in whole or in part, or navigated for, or in behalf of,\\nany citizen or citizens of the United States, shall land, from any\\nsuch ship or vessel, and, on any foreign shore, seize any negro\\nor mulatto, not held to service or labor by the laws of either of\\nthe States or Territories of the United States, with intent to\\nmake such negro or mulatto a slave, or shall decoy, or forcibly\\nbring or carry, or shall receive, such negro or mulatto on\\nboard any such ship or vessel, with intent as aforesaid, such\\ncitizen or person shall be adjudged a pirate, and, on convic-\\ntion thereof, before the Circuit Court of the United States\\nfor the district wherein he may be brought or found, shall\\nsuffer death.\\nAnd be it further enacted, That, if any citizen of the United\\nStates, being of the crew or ship s company of any foreign\\nship or vessel engaged in the slave-trade, or any person what-\\never, being of the crew or ship s company of any ship or vessel\\nowned wholly or in part, or navigated for, or in behalf of, any\\ncitizen or citizens of the United States, shall forcibly confine,\\nor detain, or aid or abet in forcibly confining, or detaining,\\non board such ship or vessel, any negro or mulatto not held\\nto service by the laws of either of the States or Territories of\\nthe United States, with intent to make such negro or mulatto\\na slave, or shall, on board any such ship or vessel, offer or\\nattempt to sell, as a slave, any negro or mulatto not held to", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0170.jp2"}, "171": {"fulltext": "SLAVERS DECLARED PIRATES 133\\nservice as aforesaid, or shall, on the high seas, or anywhere\\non tide-water, transfer or deliver over, to any other ship or\\nvessel, any negro or mulatto not held to service as aforesaid,\\nwith intent to mako such negro or mulatto a slave, or shall\\nland or deliver on shore, from on board any such ship or\\nvessel, any such negro or mulatto, with intent to mako salo\\nof, or, having previously sold, such negro or mulatto as a\\nslave, such citizen or person shall be adjudged a pirate, and,\\non conviction thereof before the Circuit Court of the United\\nStates for the district wherein he shall be brought or found,\\nshall suffer death.\\nAn an expression of the sentiment of the nation as\\na whole at that time, regarding the slave-trade, that\\nlaw seems unmistakable. But that was not all that\\nCongress did to show the determination of the nation\\nto suppress the slave-trade. On May 12th a resolution\\npassed the House as follows\\nThat the President of the United States be requested to\\nnegotiate with all the Governments where Ministers of the\\nUnited States are or shall be accredited, on the means of\\neffecting an entire and immediate abolition of the slave-\\ntrade.\\nThe law was comprehensive and just. Though lim-\\nited in life to two 3 7 ears, it was made perpetual by a\\njoint resolution on January 30, 1823. This resolution\\nlooked to a wide-spread and thorough enforcement of\\nthe law. It was a good resolution.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0171.jp2"}, "172": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIII\\nINTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION FOR SUPPRESSING\\nTHE TRADE\\nWork of British Diplomacy among the Continental Powers\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nWhen Spain agreed to Abolish the Slave-trade for a\\nMoney Consideration and Failed to Fulfil Her Contract\\nA Free Offer of Sailors Rights which We Refused to\\nAccept A Shameful Record in American Slaver Legisla-\\ntion The Ashburton Treaty.\\nMeantime in Europe, in 1804, an act in Denmark,\\nabolishing the slave-trade, which had been passed in\\n1792, came into operation. In 1806 Great Britain pro-\\nposed to the United States a treaty of amity, com-\\nmerce, and navigation under which the two nations\\nwere to agree to use their best endeavors to procure\\nthe co-operation of other Powers for the final and com-\\nplete abolition of a trade so repugnant to the principles\\nof justice and humanity, but the United States re-\\nfused to join.\\nFinding that the act of 1807 was ineffective, the\\nBritish legislators in 1811 declared participation in the\\ntrade by any British subject a felony punishable with\\nfourteen years transportation.\\nOn March 29, 1815, Napoleon, on assuming control\\nof France after his return from Elba, decreed the abo-\\nlition of the slave-trade. This decree was re-enacted\\nin 1818 by the Bourbon dynasty.\\n134", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0172.jp2"}, "173": {"fulltext": "CO-OPERATION FOB SUPPRESSING THE TRADE 135\\nBy the treaty of Ghent, concluded December 24,\\n1814, Great Britain and the United Slates agreed to\\nuse their best endeavors for the abolition of the\\ntrade.\\nOn February 8, 1815, five of the principal Powers\\n[Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and France]\\nmade a solemn engagement, in the face of mankind,\\nthat this traffic should be made to cease, in pursuance\\nof which these Powers have enacted municipal laws to\\nsuppress the trade.\\nOn July 23, 1817, Great Britain and Portugal made\\na treaty whereby ships of war of each nation might\\nvisit merchant vessels of both, if suspected of having\\nslaves on board, acquired by illicit traffic. This related\\nonly to trade north of the equator. On September 23d\\nof the same year Spain agreed, in consideration of\\n\u00c2\u00a3400,000 paid to her as an inducement, to the imme-\\ndiate abolition of the trade north of the equator, its\\nentire abolition after [May 30] 1820, and the conces-\\nsion of the same mutual right of search which the\\ntreaty with Portugal had just established. Portugal\\nagreed to abolish the trade absolutely in 1823.\\nMixed courts were also established under these\\ntreaties, but it is certain that their work was nullified\\nas far as possible by both the Spanish and the Portu-\\nguese people.\\nFew events more honorable to the British nation\\nare described in history. Her willingness to pay out\\n$2,000,000 thus early for the benefit of a down-trod-\\nden race was not only a forerunner of a similar and\\nmuch greater sacrifice, but it was characteristic. That\\nSpain should have beea willing to accept pay under\\nsuch circumstances, and that she should then have de-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0173.jp2"}, "174": {"fulltext": "236 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nliberately violated the contract for more than fifty\\nyears, was also characteristic.\\nOn May 4, 1818, Great Britain and the Netherlands\\ncontracted for a mutual right of search.\\nOn March 3, 1824, Great Britain enacted that any\\nBritish subject found guilty of engaging in the slave-\\ntrade should be deemed and adjudged guilty of\\nPiracy, Felony and Robbery, and should suffer\\nDeath without Benefit of Clergy, and Loss of Lands,\\nGoods and Chattels, as Pirates, Felons and Robbers\\nupon the Seas ought to suffer.\\nIn 1713 the Assiento treaty was considered a mar-\\nvellous triumph of diplomacy. In 1824, the trade con-\\ntemplated in that treaty was denominated piracy.\\nOn November 6, 1824, Sweden and Great Britain\\nagreed to a mutual right of search on the slave-coast,\\nand England invited us to join in such an agreement,\\nthough we declined. In 1820 she had done this also.\\nIn 1830 Brazil prohibited the slave-trade under severe\\npenalties. In 1831 and 1833 Great Britain and France\\nagreed to a mutual right of search, and then together\\ninvited the United States to join them under the\\nsame agreement.\\nThis is an important matter from one point of view.\\nWe fought out the war of 1812 because of British ag-\\ngression but, in spite of our victories, the British,\\nwhen peace was made, refused to concede our de-\\nmands in regard to the searching of our ships and the\\nimpressment of our seamen. But now, in order to\\nsuppress the slave-trade, England not only asked for\\nthe right of search within a definitely described space,\\nbut in terms both renounced all claims to a right of\\nsearch elsewhere and offered to agree that no seamen", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0174.jp2"}, "175": {"fulltext": "CO-OPERATION FOB SUPPRESSING THE TRADE 137\\nshould be impressed from the ships so to be searched.\\nA pirate had been, by the law of nations, a man with-\\nout a country he was the Lawful prize of all honest\\nships. The plain meaning of any stal ate declaring the\\nslave-trade piracy was to deliver up the slaver to the\\nvengeance of any lawfully authorized patrolman of the\\nhigh seas. Great Britain was entirely willing that\\nevery British slaver should be treated so, but even\\nJohn Quincy Adams was constrained to declare to the\\nBritish authorities, at the behest of the slaver power,\\nthat the slave-trade was statutory piracy some-\\nthing different from high-sea robbery. It could never\\nbe allowed by the people of the United States that an\\nAmerican slaver should be treated as a high-sea robber\\nby any other power than an American court\\nAnyone wishing to examine the original documents\\npertaining to this branch of the subject will find them\\nin Sen. Doc, 18 Cong. 2 Sess. I. No. 1 and American\\nState Papers, Foreign, V. Probably the most inter-\\nesting of our public documents on the slave-trade are\\nNo. 283, Ho. Rep., 27 Cong. 3d Sess., and Doc. No.\\n115, Ho. Ex. Rep. 26 Cong., 2d Sess.\\nThe radical trouble was that cotton-growing w r as be-\\ncoming so profitable that people who in 1808 thought\\nslavery a dying institution had become aggressive for\\nthe spread of it, and so men were always found in Con-\\ngress to block legislation that would hinder the slavers.\\nWorse yet, the law of May 15, 1820, was thwarted by\\nthe United States District Attorneys who brought\\nindictments against captured slavers under previous\\nStatutes. It appears by the records, for instance, that\\nin the United States District Court for Maryland, Cap-\\ntain Jason L. Pendleton, of the slaver brig 3fo?itevideo,", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0175.jp2"}, "176": {"fulltext": "138\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TEADE\\nwas sentenced on Monday, June 23, 1845, by Justice\\nHeath, on an indictment found under the statute of\\nMay 10, 1800.\\nOur act of 1819 for the suppression of the slave-trade\\nhad carried an appropriation of $100,000 for enforcing\\nit. In 1823 we appropriated $50,000. Thereafter at\\nwide intervals smaller appropriations were made. In\\n1834 only $5,000 was appropriated, and not another\\ncent was given after that until 1842. Moreover the\\nmoney given in these appropriations was not wholly\\nfor the direct suppression of the slave-trade, the bulk\\nbeing devoted to the support of negroes captured\\nfrom smugglers and of that ill-gotten enterprise the\\nLiberia colony.\\nNevertheless a treaty in relation to the slave-trade\\nwas yet to be made with Great Britain. The causes\\nleading to this treaty were numerous, the chief cause\\nbeing the exposures, frequently made, of the doings of\\nAmerican slave-ships. Our cruisers captured a slaver\\nnow and then. The Cyane, the first sent out, captured\\nfive, of which the Plattsburgh was most notorious.\\nThe tales of these slavers, and the perjury which\\ntheir owners never hesitated to commit (see the slaver\\ncases in reports of U. S. Supreme Court) were shock-\\ning.\\nBut the feature of the trade that proved most shock-\\ning was the use of the American flag for its protection.\\nBecause we had deliberately and emphatically de-\\nclared that no foreign ship should search an American\\nmerchant-man in time of peace, the slavers flocked to\\nour flag. Slavers were captured, too, that carried\\nblank American papers to be filled out as occasion re-\\nquired. The ConslUucao, with blank papers signed", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0176.jp2"}, "177": {"fulltext": "CO-OPERATION FOB SUPPRESSING THE TRADE 139\\nby United States Consul JS r 1 Trist, of Eavana, was\\none. (See Sen. EJx. Doc L25, 26 Cong. 2 Sees.)\\nThen came Buxton s book on The Slave-trade and\\nIts Remedy. It was an appeal to sentiment rather\\nthan reason, but it gave facts which have never been\\nseriously disputed, and which excited horror wherever\\nread. It was proved beyond dispute that more than\\n250,000 lives were deliberately sacrificed in Africa, and\\nmore than 00,000 on the high seas in each year in order\\nto supply the Americans with the slaves wanted.\\nMeantime there were a number of matters in contro-\\nversy between Great Britain and the United States,\\nand the people were sensible enough to get commis-\\nsioners to consider them instead of going to war. Out\\nof this commission came a treaty of which the part im-\\nportant for this history was a solemn agreement on the\\npart of the United States to keep a squadron of war-\\nships cruising on the African coast to operate in con-\\njunction with a British squadron of equal force for the\\nsuppression of the slave-trade.\\nOur laws had, therefore, permitted the President to\\nsend naval vessels to Africa to suppress the slave-\\ntrade. By Article 8 of what is known as the Ashbur-\\nton Treaty we became in honor bound to maintain\\nin service, on the coast of Africa, a sufficient and ade-\\nquate squadron or naval force of vessels, of suitable\\nnumbers and descriptions, to carry in all not less than\\neighty guns, to enforce, separately and respectively,\\nthe laws, rights, and obligations of each of the two\\ncountries for the suppression of the slave-trade.\\nDaniel Webster signed the treaty for the United\\nStates, and Lord Ashburton for Great Britain, on\\nAugust 9, 1842.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0177.jp2"}, "178": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIV\\nTALES OF THE OUTLAWED TRADE\\nHow the Laws were Interpreted\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Slavers that would Make a\\nFierce Fight Famous American Privateers that Became\\nSlavers Whole Cargoes of Slaves Thrown to the Sharks\\nto Avoid the Confiscation of Vessels Tales of the Rapido,\\nthe Regulo, and Hemans s Brillante A Cargo of Slaves\\nBound to Anchor and Chain and Thrown Overboard A\\nSlaver Who Coolly Murdered His Sweetheart and Child\\nA Trade that was Lucrative in Proportion to Its Heinous-\\nness.\\nThe trade being now outlawed, the tender solicitude\\nof legislators for what were called lawful traders,\\nthat is, traders who exchanged rum and cast-iron\\nmuskets for ivory and palm-oil, was so great that\\nthe law regarding slavers was restricted in ridicu-\\nlous fashion. Nor was it ridiculous alone from the\\npoint of view of one who sees that to trade rotten\\nmuskets for good palm-oil and ivory was degrading to\\nthe trader. The lawful traders, so called, on the coast\\nof Africa were almost invariably panders to the slave-\\ntraders. Says Drake, in his Revelations of a Slave-\\nSmuggler (p. 66), regarding the goods he exchanged\\nfor slaves: Our spirits, cotton, powder, and guns\\nare bought from English trading stations on the Congo.\\nWe buy on the coast, and pay higher for these goods,\\nrather than that the old factories should break up\\n140", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0178.jp2"}, "179": {"fulltext": "TALKS OF THE OUTLAWED TBADE 141\\nthey being very convenient sometimes as temporary\\nslave depots.\\nTo protect these panders it was provided in the con-\\nventions between England and various continental\\ngovernments for the suppression of the trade that\\nno visit or detention can take place, except by a\\ncommissioned officer having express instructions and\\nauthority for the same nor can he detain or carry into\\nport any vessel so visited, except on the single and\\nsimple fact of slaves found on board.\\nIn like fashion it was held for a time in our courts\\nthat the presence of slaves on a ship was necessary to\\nsecure her conviction as a slaver. Eventually the\\npresence of slave-goods was sufficient to convict, and\\nin English courts the slave-goods were also considered\\ngood evidence as to an English slaver, but it appears\\nthat when a slaver under any other flag was to be\\ntried there it was always necessary to show that the\\nslaves were on board lest some harm be done to the\\nlawful trader.\\nAs to the effect of the laws on the slavers the men\\nin the trade there is one feature of this effect that\\nseems to have been overlooked by the writers who\\nhave considered the subject. It is a most interest-\\ning fact that from the moment it was ou tlaw e d the\\nslave-trade became more attractive to certain advent-\\nurous spirits of the age. For it need not be doubted\\nthat men lived in those days whose souls as eagerly\\nsought the thrill of a fight for life whose souls\\nmore eagerly sought for the smell of burned gun-\\npowder and the sight of blood-splashed decks than\\nfor the gold doubloons that rewarded the successful\\nvoyage. The sea was alive with men who had served in", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0179.jp2"}, "180": {"fulltext": "142 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nthe privateers during the long-continued wars, and\\nreal black-flag pirates abounded. To declare by legis-\\nlative enactment that the slave-trade was illegitimate\\nwas for these men but to increase its attractiveness.\\nStill all slavers were greedy, more or less, and an\\nimmediate effect of the laws was to reduce the price\\nof the slaves on the coast of Africa. Slavers, when\\nthe trade was lawful, had often paid as high as $100\\nfor a good negro in Africa. The price now went down\\nto $15 and $20. On the other hand, the market in the\\nWest was at least made firm. Prices were not raised\\nin Cuba or Brazil, perhaps, but there was never any\\ntrouble in disposing of the cargo even when the slaves\\nwere reduced so much that they had to be carried ashore\\nin arms, like babes, from the landing barges.- The\\nprice in the United States 1 would have been increased\\nby the laws, only for the fact that Virginia had become\\nan exporter of slaves but, as it was, the price was\\nalready high enough to yield a profit that now seems\\nwell-nigh incredible. The slave that cost $20 in Africa\\nwould, if landed in fairly good order in Georgia bring\\nno less than $500 net, even after allowing for dividing\\nwith underground agents there. In short, outlawing\\nthe trade enhanced its attractiveness in every way to\\nthe wilder spirits.\\nSo it came to pass that a naval cruiser s success in\\ncapturing a slaver sometimes depended on the relative\\nsize, speed, and armament of the two ships. In the\\nHouse Reports No. 348, 21st Congress, first session, is\\na list of eighteen slavers that resisted the cruisers by\\nforce of arms. Of these, five were former well-known\\nAmerican privateers. They were the Commodore\\nPerry, the Commodore McDonough, the Argus, the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0180.jp2"}, "181": {"fulltext": "TALES OF THE OUTLAWED TBADE 143\\nCriterion, and the Saucy Jack. Buill for speed, and\\nmanned by men who had seen Bervice in voyages for\\nlegal plunder, these privateers were bhe ideal slavers.\\nThey went down the slave-coast Hying any Hag that\\npleased the fancy. If they fell in with a slaver of l ss\\nforce than their own they transferred her cargo to their\\nown decks. If they met a small cruiser they cleared\\nfor action, and it is a matter of record that they made\\nsuch a good fight, in many cases, that they beat off\\narmed agents of the law. Of the five, four were capt-\\nured, but, each of the brief reports says, after a\\nsevere action. The Saucy Jack seems to have justi-\\nfied her name, for she not only escaped capture but\\nconvoyed several vessels to and from the coast.\\nThe Paz was a noted Yankee slaver. Under the\\nAmerican flag she beat off the Princess Charlotte\\nand killed several of her men. The Camperdoion, an\\nEnglish slaver brig, of sixteen guns, destroj^ed the\\nsloops Rambler and Trial, of Sierra Leone, and carried\\noff their black crews as slaves, and made slaves of\\nall the people going off in canoes.\\nAnd then there was the slaver Velos Passagero.\\nShe carried twenty guns and a crew of one hundred\\nand fifty men. Having five hundred and iifty-five\\nslaves on board, she fell in with the British sloop-of-\\nwar Primrose, but not until forty-six of her crew had\\nbeen killed and twenty wounded by the war-ship s\\nclose-range fire, would she yield. The sloop lost three\\nkilled and twelve wounded.\\nExtended reports of these battles are not now to be\\nfound, but the brief statements of losses show how\\nstubbornly the outlaws resisted arrest when they were\\nof a force to give hope of success.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0181.jp2"}, "182": {"fulltext": "144 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nOn the whole, it is likely that during the earlier\\nyears of this century nearly a fourth of all the slavers\\noverhauled by the cruisers made some sort of resist-\\nance with arms, and as late as 1845 we have an account\\nof the massacre of the crew of the cruiser Wasp on\\nthe African coast. But that one was a sorry victory\\nfor the slavers, for it led to the just order to British\\ncruisers to give no quarter to a slaver that resisted,\\nand resistance immediately went out of fashion.\\nPrevious to that massacre, according to Captain\\nCanot, British officers were known, sometimes, to ad-\\nmire a good fighter so much as to let him escape\\neven to help him escape after capture\\nWhen there was no hope in a fight, the only way\\nto escape condemnation was to get rid of the slaves\\nbefore the cruiser could get an officer alongside. That\\nlegislators should not have foreseen the effect of this\\nlaw or its interpretation, is no great wonder. But\\nthat the rule should have remained in force as it did\\nis a shocking exhibit in the civilization of the day.\\nThe facts as to the workings of this rule appear in\\nthe brief stories of scores of captured slavers. There\\nwas the case reported by the British cruiser Black\\nJoke, Captain Ramsey, for instance, in the Bight of\\nBenin, in 1831. Captain Ramsey sent two tenders in\\nchase of the Spanish slaver brigs Rapido and Regulo\\nthat were seen coming, loaded with slaves, from the\\nBonny River in September of that year.\\nWhen chased by the tenders both put back, made\\nall sail up the river, and ran on shore. During\\nthe chase they were seen from our vessels to throw\\ntheir slaves overboard, by twos, shackled together by\\nthe ankles, and left in this manner to sink or swim as", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0182.jp2"}, "183": {"fulltext": "SHE WALKED TO THE SHIP S SIDE AND DROPPED THE BODY INTO TH1 SEA.\\nSei pagi", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0183.jp2"}, "184": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0184.jp2"}, "185": {"fulltext": "TALKS OF THE 01 TLA WED TRADE 145\\nthey best could. Men, women, and children were\\nseen in great numbers, straggling in the water, by\\neveryone on board the two tenders; and, dreadful to\\nrelate, upward of one hundred and fifty of these\\nwretched creatures perished in this way. So runs\\nlaptain Ramsey s report. Captain Ramsey said after-\\nward that he and his men distinctly saw the sharks\\ntearing (lie negroes as they struggled in the water.\\nIn order to save the (wo vessels, that together were\\nnot worth $10,000, from condemnation in courf, t he se\\nslaver capta ins deliberately murdered one hundred and\\nfifty human beings.\\nThe liegulo was overhauled while she had yet two\\nhundred and four on board out of her original cargo\\nof four hundred and fifty. The liapido had not one\\nleft on board when overhauled, but, two of her cargo\\nhaving been picked up, it was possible to prove that\\nthey had been on board of her, and she was made a\\nlawful prize.\\nOne of the most murderous stories of captains who\\nwere anxious to get rid of their slaves is told of\\nthe slaver Brillante, commanded by an Englishman\\nnamed Homans, who in ten voyages had landed 5,000\\nnegroes in Cuba. She was brig rigged, carried ten\\nguns, thirty sweeps (big oars), and a crew of sixty men\\nin the forecastle. An English cruiser that attacked\\nher was so badly cut up that her crew had to abandon\\nher. When, on another occasion, the boats from a\\nsloop-of-war attacked the Brillante they were driven\\noff with great slaughter. Finally Homans found him-\\nself trapped by four cruisers that came upon him from\\nall quarters, and there was no escaping them.\\nHowever, the wind died away and night came on\\n10", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0185.jp2"}, "186": {"fulltext": "146 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nbefore the cruisers arrived at their range, and at that\\nHomans set his largest anchor ready for dropping.\\nThen he hauled the chain-cable out through the\\nhawse-pipe and stretched it around the ship outside\\nthe rail, by means of slender stops, and to this chain\\nhe bound every slave on board about 600 in number,\\npiling them up at the rail and securing their arm-\\nshackles to it by strong cords through the chain links.\\nThere the slaves remained until the war-ship boats were\\nheard coming near at hand, and then he cast loose the\\nanchor, and down all those slaves were carried into the\\nsea.\\nAlthough the crews of the war-ship boats had heard\\nthe noise and the outcries when the slaves were sent\\nto the bottom, and the hold of the slaver contained\\nindisputable evidence that the slaves had been there\\nbut a few minutes before the boats arrived, they had\\nto let the slaver go free. Indeed, Homans jeered in\\ntheir faces and defied them as they stood on his deck,\\nbut they had no redress.\\nThe British war-ship Medina on boarding a slaver\\noff the Gallinas River found no slaves on board. The\\nofficers learned afterward, however, that her captain\\nreally had had a mulatto girl in the cabin. He kept\\nher for some time after the cruiser appeared, but see-\\ning that he was to be boarded, and knowing that the\\npresence of one slave was enough to condemn the\\nship, he tied her to a kedge anchor and dropped her\\ninto the sea. And so, as is believed, he drowned his\\nown unborn flesh and blood, as well as the slave girl.\\nIn view of the murders invariably committed on\\nboard the slavers, it is not without interest to recall\\nthat among those captured in 1828 was one on its way", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0186.jp2"}, "187": {"fulltext": "TALKS OF TIIK ()l TI.AWKK T1JADK 147\\nfrom Africa to Brazil, thai was called the Bom [Sic]\\nJesus.\\nOne might multiply these stories by going to the\\nskiver cases that reached the United States Supreme\\nCourt, but it would only add to the number of facts\\nwithout increasing knowledge. The student who may\\nwish to pursue the subject will find all the stories he\\nneeds in Wheaton s Reports, vols. 5, 8, 9, 10, and\\n12; Cranch s, 2, and 6; Peters s, 11, 14, and\\n15 all of which were carefully examined in preparing\\ntliis work.\\nAs to the extent of the trade previous to the Ash-\\nburton treaty, we can find ample confirmation of all\\nthe estimates ever made by the abolitionists if we will\\nexamine the official reports of consuls and naval\\nofficers. Captain Trenchard of the Cyane, for instance,\\nreported three hundred slavers on the coast while he\\nwas there. Over two hundred slavers were nominally\\nowned in Havana in 1818. During the year 182S no less\\nthan 46,100 slaves were imported into Rio de Janeiro\\nalone, and the slavers bringing them reported deaths on\\nthe way numbering 5,592 (see Niles s Register, Janu-\\nary 9, 1830). Cuba and Brazil had become the great\\nlanding territories for slaves, for it was an open traf-\\nfic there in spite of solemn treaties. The trade was\\nindeed lucrative in proportion to its heinousness\\nthe traders to elude the laws did but increase its\\nhorrors.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0187.jp2"}, "188": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XV\\nTHE NAVY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE\\nStory of the Half-hearted, Wholly Futile Work of Block-\\nading the African Coast Reward of an Officer Who\\nEarnestly Strove to Stop the Trade An Interesting\\nPeriod in the Career of Commodore M. C. Perry\\nAmerican and British Squadrons Compared The Sham\\nWork of the Buchanan Administration.\\nThe first act of Congress to connect our navy in any\\nway with the slave-trade was that of 1800. Section 4\\nprovided That it shall be lawful for any of the com-\\nmissioned vessels of the United States to seize and\\ntake any vessel employed in carrying on trade, busi-\\nness or traffic, contrary to the true intent and mean-\\ning of this, or the said act, to which this is in addition.\\nNothing to attract public attention was done by the\\nnavy under this act until 1811, when Captain H. G.\\nCampbell, senior officer at Charleston, was ordered by\\nSecretary Paul Hamilton to hasten to the St.\\nMary s River as already noted, to stop the smuggling\\ntrade. A similar use of the navy was made in the\\ntrouble with Aury.\\nAfter the act of March 3, 1819, several ships were\\nsent to the coast of Africa. The Cyane, Captain Ed-\\n148", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0188.jp2"}, "189": {"fulltext": "THE NAVY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE 149\\nward Trenchard, twenty-four guns, sailed from the\\nUnited States in January, L820 the corvette Hornet,\\nCaptain George C. Reed, eighteen guns, Bailed in\\nJune, 1820, and the corvette John Adams, Captain\\nII. S. Wadsworth, twenty-four guns, sailed .July is,\\n1820. To these was added the schooner Alligator,\\nCaptain R. F. Stockton, that sailed on April 3, 1821,\\nreached the coast on May 6, started home in July,\\nsailed out once more on October 4, and left for home\\non December 17, thus making two cruises on the coast\\nin that year. The schooner Shark, Captain M. C.\\nPerry (a brother of the hero of Lake Erie), sailed on\\nAugust 7, 1821, and was on the slave-coast a part of\\nSeptember, all of October, and a part of November.\\nTrenchard of the Cyane reported that there were three\\nhundred slave-ships on the coast. Perry reported, 1\\ncould not even hear of an American slaving vessel\\nand I am fully impressed with the belief that there is\\nnot one at present afloat.\\nThe Cyane captured five American slavers, the Hor-\\nnet took one, the Alligator took four, but three of\\nthese were recaptured from the prize-crews. The\\nfourth, the Jeune Eugene, reached Boston and was\\ncondemned.\\nIn 1822, Captain R. T. Spence succeeded Trenchard in\\ncommand of the Cyane. The Secretary of the Navy,\\nSamuel L. Southard, in his report dated December 1,\\n1823, says that both Spence and Perry have, for\\nshort periods, cruised on the coast of Africa to carry\\ninto effect the intentions of the Government.\\n[they] neither saw nor heard of any vessel, under the\\nAmerican flag, engaged in the slave-trade.\\nAmerican State Papers\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Naval Affairs, Vol. I., p. 1099.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0189.jp2"}, "190": {"fulltext": "250 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nThereafter the work of the navy in suppressing the\\nslave-trade was confined to occasional visits to Li-\\nberia until 1839, when the shame aroused by the fre-\\nquent reports of the use of the American flag by\\nslavers caused some activity. The brig Dolphin,\\nCommander Bell, and the schooner Grampus, Lieu-\\ntenant Paine, were sent to the coast, where they mere-\\nly scared a few slavers. Captain John S. Paine, of the\\nschooner Grampus, having been ordered to the coast\\nof Africa to suppress the slave-trade, assumed that\\nhe was to do everything possible within the laws of\\nnations to accomplish the work. He found many\\nslavers provided with double sets of papers. Now,\\nunder the laws he could do nothing with slavers\\nbearing any flag but his own. But England hav-\\ning made treaties including the right of search on\\nthat coast with a number of continental powers,\\nher cruisers were able to search almost any ship\\nvisiting the coast except those under the American\\nflag.\\nTo meet the scheme of double papers Captain Paine\\nand Commander William Tucker, of the British forces,\\nagreed that whenever the Grampus fell in with a\\nvessel manifestly a slaver, and showing any flag ex-\\ncept the American, she was to be detained (but not\\nsearched) until a British cruiser could be brought to\\nsearch her. On the other hand, every slaver showing\\nthe American flag was to be detained (but not searched)\\nuntil the Grampus could come to make the search.\\nWhen Paine reported his plan to Washington he\\nwas promptly told that his plan was contrary to\\nthe well-known principles of his Government. The\\nslave-coast was 3,000 miles long. Paine was ordered", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0190.jp2"}, "191": {"fulltext": "THE XAYY AND THE SI.W E TRADE\\n151\\nto suppress nil American shivers there with the\\nGrampus.\\nIn 1842 came the Ashburton treaty, under which\\nwe were bound to keep on the coasl of Africa a\\nsufficient and adequate squadron or aaval force of\\nvessels for the suppression of the slave-trade.\\nEngland was bound by the same words.*\\nThe fact is, we never had on the coasl, for any length\\nof time worth mention, even the eighty guns which the\\n*A message of President Buchanan under date of April 21, 1858, to\\nthe Senate of the United States contains the following tallies showing\\nhow each nation kept its faith\\nThe following is a statement of the number of vessels and total number of guns of the\\nBritish squadron on the west coast of Africa on the 1st of January of each year\\nfrom 1848 to 1S57, inclusive:\\nYear.\\nVessels.\\nGnns.\\nYear.\\nVessels.\\nGuns.\\n1843\\n14\\n141\\n1851\\n26\\n201\\n1844\\n14\\n117\\n1852\\n25\\n174\\n20\\nL80\\n1853\\n19\\n117\\n1846\\n23\\n245\\nL854\\n18\\n108\\n1847\\n21\\n205\\n12\\n71\\n1848\\n21\\n208\\n1856\\nJ 13\\n72\\n1849\\n213\\n155\\n.1 16\\n84\\n1850\\n24\\n154\\n1\\nThe following is a statement of the number of vessels and total number of guns of the\\nUnited States squadron on the coast of Africa on the 1st of January of each year\\nfrom 1843 to 1S57, inclusive\\nYear.\\nVessels.\\nGuns.\\nYear.\\nVessels.\\nGuns,\\n1843\\n2\\n30\\n1851\\n6\\n96\\n1S44\\n4\\n82\\n1852\\n5\\n76\\n1845\\n5\\n6\\n98\\n82\\n1853\\n1854\\n7\\n4\\n136\\n1846\\n88\\n1847\\n4\\n80\\n1855\\n3\\n82\\n1848\\n5\\n66\\n1856\\n3\\n46\\n1849\\n5\\n72\\n1857\\n3\\n46\\n1850\\n5\\n76", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0191.jp2"}, "192": {"fulltext": "152\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ntreaty called for. The table shows how many guns\\nwere on ships assigned to the squadron, not what\\nwere actually on the coast.\\nCommodore M. C. Perry was the first officer to com-\\nmand on the coast under this treaty. He got his or-\\nders on April 6, 1843, and reached Liberia on August\\n1st. It was almost a year after the treaty was ratified\\nbefore we had a gun on the coast, and even then she\\nwas at an American free colony.\\nPerry s ship was the Saratoga, a frigate, whereas\\nlight, swift schooners were needed. However, the For-\\npoise did cruise on the slave-coast. The instructions\\nto her commander, as issued by Perry, may be summed\\nup in the following paragraph taken from a letter un-\\nder date of August 1st\\nIt is only necessary for rne to add that under no circum-\\nstances are you to permit, without resistance to the extent of\\nyour means, any foreign vessel of war, of whatever force or na-\\ntion, in the exercise of any assumed right of search or visita-\\ntion, to board in your presence (you having -first forbidden it)\\nany vessel having the American flag displayed. But you are\\nto use every vigilance in examining, with your own officers,\\nthe vessels so displaying the American flag, and if it shall be\\nfound that she has unauthorizedly hoisted such flag, you will,\\nif there be no cause for detention by yourself, immediately\\ngive notice to any vessel of war in sight that she (the vessel\\nexamined by you) has no rightful claim to your interference\\nor protection.\\nThe Decatur also cruised on the slave-coast. Her\\norders said\\nIt is my desire that you show your ship at as many of\\nthe slave and trading marts as time and circumstances will\\nauthorize.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0192.jp2"}, "193": {"fulltext": "THE NAVY AM) THE SLAVE-TRADE\\nThis order calls to mind a certain game constable\\nemployed by the State of New York to prevent poach-\\ners from killing deer in the Adirondack^ ut season.\\nSome law-abiding citizens having notified him that\\nUtica scoundrels were killing deer by jacklight on Lit-\\ntle Black Creek Lake, the constable said I ll stop\\nthem at once. Thereat he drove as near to the Lake\\nas the woods roads would permit, and stuck his card in\\nthe splinters of a dozen or more stumps along the\\nroute.\\nThere, said he; that ll scare em out. Then\\nhe drove home again.\\nHaving fallen in with a British cruiser, Perry got\\nauthentic stories of two American vessels, the Illinois\\nand ShaJcsjieare, that brought slave-goods to the\\ncoast, and, after discharging, were loaded with slaves.\\nThen the American Hag was hauled down and away\\nthey went over the sea. The Illinois hailed from\\nGloucester, Mass., and was the property of Pason\\nCo.\\nIn the instructions issued to British naval officers\\non the coast after the treaty of August 9, 1842, ap-\\npears the following sentence\\nThe commanding officers of Her Majesty s vessels\\non the African station are to bear in mind that it is\\nno part of their duty to capture or visit, or in any\\nway interfere with, vessels of the United States, wheth-\\ner these vessels shall have slaves on board or not.\\nThe British officers had only to satisfy themselves\\nthat a ship really had American papers. They were\\neven instructed to manoeuvre so as to board without\\nbringing to the vessels flying the American flag.\\nMeantime it should be noted that Perry had been", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0193.jp2"}, "194": {"fulltext": "154 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ninstructed that it was highly desirable that a vessel\\nof each nation should, as far as possible, cruise in\\ncompany with a vessel of the other, so that each may\\nbe in a position to assert the rights and prevent the\\nabuse of the flag of its own country.\\nTo assert the rights was put first, of course;\\njoint cruising was desirable rather to keep the British\\nfrom American traders than to suppress the slave-\\ntrade.\\nJoint cruising was one of the stock terms in use\\nat Washington before the civil war. Every admin-\\nistration believed in joint cruising as the right\\nway to suppress the slave-trade.\\nSays the chaplain to the African squadron in the\\nyears 1855-57, himself a believer in slavery, in his\\nbook Adventures and Observations on the West\\nCoast of Africa (p. 318): The joint cruising has\\nbeen from the first in spirit and letter dead. It is\\nhardly worth while to inquire upon which party the\\ngreater blame rests in the non-fulfilment of this pro-\\nvision but it is certainly true that the object of the\\ntreaty could be better carried out by a hearty and\\nwell-understood co-operation. The prevailing indif-\\nference on this subject may be seen by the following\\nstatement The flagships of the American and British\\nsquadrons on the coast in the years 1855, 1856 and\\npart of 1857 met but once, and that at sea. They\\nwere two miles apart they recognized each other by\\nsignal, and by the same means held the following\\ncommunication\\nAnything to communicate\\nAnswer. Nothing to communicate.\\nPerry himself summed up the result of his work as", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0194.jp2"}, "195": {"fulltext": "THE NAVY AM) THE SLAVE-TRADE [65\\nthe commander f tli American Bquadron for the\\nsuppression of the slave-trade on the coasl of Africa\\nin ;i Letter to Secretary A. P. Upshur, dated Septem\\nber 5, 1843\\nI cannot hear of any American vessels being en-\\ngaged in the transportation of slaves; nor do Ibelieoe\\nthere Jut* bet n one so engaged for several years.\\nHe deliberately ignored the cases of the Illinois and\\nthe ShaJcspeare. Moreover that was in 1843, when a\\ncondition of affairs prevailed at Rio Janeiro that led\\nthe United States Consul, a Wise of Virginia, to write,\\na little later We are a byword among nations the\\nonly people who can fetch and carry any and every\\nthing for the slave-trade without fear of the English\\ncruisers a condition wherein the slavers were\\nallowed to pervert our glorious flag into the pirate s\\nflag.\\nWe can now see how it happened that Perry was\\nhonored with the command of the Gulf squadron in\\nthe war with Mexico, and with the command of the\\nJapan expedition in later years. The name of Oliver\\nHazard Perry will be held in honor while glorious\\ndeeds afloat are remembered the name of his brother\\nMatthew C. Perry brings the flush of shame to the\\nface of everyone who is proud of the navy s glory _\\nThe system of patrol was utterly wretched and Perry\\nwas a fit man for commodore under such a system.\\nAfter Commodore Perry the next naval officer in in-\\nterest to this history was Admiral Andrew Hull Foote,\\nin those days a lieutenant-commander, who was sent to\\nthe coast as captain of the brig Perry.\\nFoote was a sincere man, but, being of a sanguine\\ntemperament, he was mistaken as to what was really", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0195.jp2"}, "196": {"fulltext": "156\\nTHE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\naccomplished by the American squadron. He carried\\nout the spirit of his orders, and so devoted very much\\nmore time to hunting for British cruisers that were\\naccused of boarding American ships than to suppress-\\ning the slave-trade. In a book that he wrote about\\nhis experience on the coast, he devotes more space to\\ntelling how the American commodore argued from\\ndocuments and other testimony that bona fide Amer-\\nican vessels had been interfered with, and, whether en-\\ngaged in legal or illegal trade, they were in no sense\\namenable to British cruisers than to the capture of\\nslavers.\\nNevertheless Foote did good work on the coast, and\\nhis book has some good stories of slaver days in it.\\nAmong the best of the stories is that of the capture of\\nthe American bark Pons, Captain James Berry, on\\nNovember 30, 1845. The Pons had been at Kabenda\\nfor twenty days during which the British cruiser Cyg-\\nnet remained on blockade. But a time came when the\\nCygnet had to leave for supplies. At that Captain\\nBerry turned the ship over to one Gallano, a Portu-\\nguese slaver, and at eight o clock that night the Pons\\nwas under way with nine hundred and three slaves\\nunder her hatches.\\nTo avoid the cruisers off shore the Pons kept along-\\nshore during the night. At daylight, seeing the upper\\nsails of a British cruiser out at sea, she furled her own\\nsails and drifted so close in to the breakers that the\\nnatives came to the beach expecting her to come\\nashore. However, she neither grounded nor attracted\\nthe British cruiser, and eventually she stood out to sea.\\nAs it happened, the Yorktown, Captain Bell, was\\nlying in her path, but the slavers supposed she", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0196.jp2"}, "197": {"fulltext": "THEN HE CAST LOOSE THE ANCHOR.\\nSec page 146.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0197.jp2"}, "198": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0198.jp2"}, "199": {"fulltext": "THE \\\\\\\\\\\\Y AM) THE SLAVE-TRADE lf-,7\\nwas a British cruiser and at once Bet the American\\nflag. That settled her Eate, for she was a legitimate\\nprize to an American warship. The Portuguese cap\\ntain put on his hatches, but no sooner had the American\\nnaval officer boarded her than they were taken off and\\nthe slaves gave a shout that could have been heard a\\nmile.\\nA remarkable fact about this ship was that she had\\nno slave-deck. About eight hundred and fifty of her\\ncargo had been stowed in bulk on the water-casks and\\nprovision barrels in the hold. Eighteen had died\\nduring the night. In the fourteen days that elapsed\\nwhile going to Monrovia one hundred and fifty more\\ndied, and eight died while in the harbor before they\\ncould be landed.\\nFoote s chief prize was a big ship called the Martha.\\nThe Perry arrived at Ambriz on June 5, 1850, in\\nsearch of her flagship, John Adams, but learned that\\nshe had gone to Loanda. Sailing thence the Perry,\\nwhile at sea, next day, saw a big ship standing in for\\nthe coast and at four o clock in the afternoon brought\\nher to. At this time the Perry had not shown her\\nflag and the stranger hoisted the American flag. Her\\nname and port, \u00e2\u0080\u00a2Martha, New York, were painted\\nacross her stern.\\nAccordingly a boat was sent to her, when her cap-\\ntain saw, by the uniform of the boat s officer, that the\\nPerry was an American cruiser. At that the Martha s\\nAmerican flag was hauled down and the Brazilian\\nhoisted, while a writing-desk was thrown overboard on\\nthe side of the Martha opposite the boat.\\nA Portuguese who claimed that he was captain pro-\\ntested when Lieutenant Rush, the American boarding", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0199.jp2"}, "200": {"fulltext": "258 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nofficer, reached the deck, but Rush said that the ship\\nhad made herself a legal prize as a pirate by throwing\\naway her papers. The writing-desk had been picked\\nup and its contents discovered meantime. The Amer-\\nican captain, though disguised as a common sailor,\\nwas identified. He finally admitted that she was a\\nslaver and that she was to have taken on board 1,800\\nslaves that night.\\nThe Martha and all her crew were sent fro New\\nYork, where the ship was condemned. Her captain\\nwas released on $3,000 bail, which he at once forfeited.\\nThe mate was not well taken care of by the slavers,\\nfor he was sent to prison for two years.\\nThe farce which our courts played regularly in\\nthose days was exhibited in this case, for the percent-\\nage payable to the slaver captain on an ordinary cargo\\nof slaves landed\u00e2\u0080\u0094 say four hundred\u00e2\u0080\u0094 was $12,000.\\nRarely, if ever, was a greater bail than $5,000 exacted.\\nAnd it is to be further noted that when Foote capt-\\nured the Martha he had her crew put in irons,\\nbut both American and Brazilian captains, together\\nwith three or four cabin passengers [probably slave-\\nagents] were given to understand that they would be\\nsimilarly served in case of the slightest evidence of\\ninsubordination They lived in the cabin.\\nFoote declares that the yellow fever, that has car-\\nried off its tens of thousands of white men, was gen-\\nerated from dead slaves in the slavers at Rio de Ja-\\nneiro in 1849. He is right beyond question. It is a\\nfact that may even now give us pause. The sufferings\\nof the slaves were avenged on the white race with mer-\\nciless severity. There is a universal law of compensa-\\ntion.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0200.jp2"}, "201": {"fulltext": "THE NAVY AM) THE SLAVE-TRADE l.V.i\\nFoote believed thai the activity of the American\\nsquadron in the early fifties had broken u] the slave-\\ntrade. How far wrong he was appears in the report\\nof the Secretary of the Navy for 1860, wherein n less\\nthan eleven slavers are mentioned as prizes taken in\\n18. 0. The one most important to this history was the\\nship Eric, captured on August 8, 1860, oil the Congo,\\nby the sloop-of-war Mohican, Commander Sylvester\\nW. Godon. She had eight hundred and ninety-seven\\nslaves on board. She landed those that survived at\\nMonrovia.\\nThe number of slavers captured that year was most\\nremarkable. At first glance one would say that the\\nBuchanan administration was honestly striving to en-\\nforce the law, but the fact is, this flurry of activity\\nwas but a part of a scheme to enlarge the borders of\\nAmerican slave territory. Buchanan and his Secre-\\ntary of the Navy, Isaac Toucey, deliberately told\\nCongress that the administration was active in its\\nendeavors to suppress the African coast slave-trade,\\nwhen they were active only in an effort to annex Cuba\\nto the United States. On the same page where Tou-\\ncey boasts that his department was active (p. 9,\\nreport of the Secretary of the Navy, 1860), he says\\nCuba is now the only mart in the world open to\\nthis trade. If Cuba were to pass under the\\nConstitution of the United States by annexation the\\ntrade would then be effectually suppressed.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0201.jp2"}, "202": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XVI\\nFREE-NEGRO COLONIES AND THE SLAVE-TRADE\\nEngland Led the Way by Establishing a Colony at Sierra Leone\\nto Provide a Home for Negroes Carried from the United\\nStates during the Revolutionary War The Enterprise\\nSaved by the Sturdy Maroons\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Origin of the American\\nSociety for Colonizing Free People of Color Life of the\\nColonists at Cape Mesurado\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Nation of Liberia Or-\\nganized\u00e2\u0080\u0094An Ape of Philanthropy.\\nWhen Lord Mansfield declared on June 22, 1772,\\nthat the negro Somerset must be set free a new ques-\\ntion arose for the consideration of the ruling race. It\\nwas a question of growing importance, as time went\\non, and it was eventually transferred to America,\\nwhere it became, at last, for a time, the most serious\\nsubject of discussion before the people of the United\\nStates What shall be done with the freed man\\nIt was easy to provide for Somerset and all those\\nwho were liberated, one at a time, under Lord Mans-\\nfield s order, but after our Revolutionary war the\\nEnglish had a larger share in the problem, because\\nof the number of American slaves they had carried\\naway during that war.\\nMost of the slaves thus taken had been landed\\nin Nova Scotia, where there were no slaves. The\\nnegroes would have been more comfortable in the\\n160", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0202.jp2"}, "203": {"fulltext": "FREE-NEGRO COLONIES AND THE SLAVE-TRADE \\\\q\\\\\\nWest India islands, bnt thither they could not be\\ntaken because the slave-owners were beginning to see\\nthat free negroes were a serious disturbing element\\namong the plantations. It rarely occurred to a negro\\nslave that he was born to any rights equal with t hose of\\nhis master, until he saw free negroes work or not at\\npleasure, and receive wages when they did work.\\nThen he began to think. It was a serious matter\\nfor the owner when the slave began to think. It\\nbecame most serious in Jamiaca when the slaves fled\\nto the mountains for freedom and there organized com-\\nmunities that were naturally predatory so serious,\\nindeed, that troops were sent into the mountains to\\nhunt out with bloodhounds these maroons, as they\\nwere called. The troops settled the question there\\ntemporarily by killing many of them and capturing\\nmore.\\nMeantime the British people found the ports of\\nEngland swarming with negroes discharged from the\\nnavy at the end of the war. So three classes of free\\nnegroes were to be considered at the end of the\\neighteenth century the slaves from America, the sail-\\nors from the navy, and the Jamaica maroons.\\nAs a first step in solving the problem an Englishman\\nnamed Smeatham, of London, who had lived for a\\ntime at the foot of the Sierra Leone Mountains, con-\\nceived the idea of forming an African colony with\\nthese freedmen. The subject appears to have been\\nbroached first in 1783; it is mentioned in Sharp s\\nMemoranda on August 1st of that year, and Sharp\\nadopted the idea. Eventually the Government granted\\nan allowance of \u00c2\u00a312 per head for the expense\\nof transportation a ship was chartered a sloop-of-\\n11", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0203.jp2"}, "204": {"fulltext": "162\\nTHE AMEKICAN SLAVE-TKADE\\nwar _the Nautilus, Captain Thompson was sent as\\nconvoy, and on April 8, 1787, away they sailed for\\nSierra Leone. There were more than four hundred\\nex-slaves gathered in English ports, and sixty Euro-\\npeans in the party. Reaching the coast they pur-\\nchased of a native chief, known as King Tom, the Sierra\\nLeone colony site, and the African colonization scheme\\nwas inaugurated.\\nHow the first colonists died by the score from ma-\\nlarial fever; how the Nova Scotia negroes were\\nbrought there to die in like fashion how drunkenness\\nand indolence helped on the anarchy how a war with\\nthe natives nearly wiped out the remnants of the set-\\ntlement, and how, at last, in 1800, a band of maroons\\nfrom Jamaica, five hundred and fifty strong, came and\\nsaved the adventure from utter failure all that is too\\nlong a story to be told here. We need only remember\\nthat the men who saved the colony were those who\\nhad been too proud to remain slaves, and had found\\nliberty in the wilds of the Jamaica mountains until\\nhunted down by bloodhounds set on by the Christian\\nhosts of the king.\\nWhen the colony of Sierra Leone had been estab-\\nlished as a refuge for freed negroes the story was told\\nin the United States, where the slave-owners were ever\\nin fear of a servile insurrection led by free negroes.\\nHere, then, was the solution of the most troublesome\\nquestion known to slave communities It appealed to\\nthe humanitarian who was willing to sacrifice his\\nproperty in slaves whenever he could do so without\\nviolating the laws of his State, as well as to the slave-\\nowner whose brutal tyranny was the result of innate\\ncowardice. The one was glad of a chance to give free-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0204.jp2"}, "205": {"fulltext": "FREE-NEdUO COLONIES AND THE SLAVE-TRADE\\ndom to his slaves the other was glad to get rid of\\nthe free negroes, whom he hated because he feared\\nthem.\\nStill another class heard of the plan with joy the\\nindolent philanthropists, who would do something for\\nunfortunate people if it did not involve too much\\ntrouble.\\nLooking the matter squarely in the face, a century\\nafter the plan was inaugurated, we can see unmistak-\\nably that the African freedmen colony scheme was\\nfounded chiefly on indolence and cowardice. If we\\nspeak of Liberia alone we must say it was founded on\\ncowardice and indolence. At the same time many\\nupright, sincere, self-sacrificing people were connected\\nwith both colonies. The tales of what some people\\nsuffered to promote the interests of the unfortunate\\nblacks are heart-rending.\\nIt is true that the idea of forming a free-negro colony\\nwas considered in the American colonies before our\\nRevolutionary war, but it was not until Sierra Leone\\nwas established that anything practical was done here.\\nOn December 31, 1800, the Virginia House of Delegates\\nrequested the Governor to correspond with the Presi-\\ndent on the subject of purchasing lands without the\\nlimits of this State whither persons obnoxious to the\\nlaws or dangerous to the peace of society may be\\nremoved. (Italics not in original.) Other State Legis-\\nlatures considered the matter in similar fashion. There\\nwas talk of sending the free negroes tollayti. A part\\nof the Louisiana Territory was considered as a possible\\nlocation. Finally, on December 21, 1816, a meeting\\nwas called in Washington for the purpose of form-\\ning a colonization society. Henry Clay presided, and", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0205.jp2"}, "206": {"fulltext": "1(54 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\non the 28th the organization of the society was com-\\npleted. The constitution adopted began as follows\\nArt. 1. This society shall be called The American Society\\nfor Colonizing the Free People of Color of the United States.\\nArt. 2. The object to which its attention is to be exclusively\\ndirected is to promote and execute a plan for colonizing\\n(with their consent) the free people of color, residing in our\\ncountry, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem\\nmost expedient. And the society shall act, to effect this ob-\\nject, in co-operation with the general Government, and such\\nof the States as may adopt regulations upon the subject.\\nThe constitution was written by Robert Wright, of\\nMaryland. Elias B. Caldwell, Clerk of the United\\nStates Supreme Court, was the chief orator of the oc-\\ncasion, but John Randolph also spoke. Mr. Justice\\nBushrod Washington was elected President. Henry\\nClay and Andrew Jackson were among the seventeen\\nVice-Presidents, of whom, by the way, only five were\\nfrom the free States. It is asserted that all of the twelve\\nmanagers were slave-owners, and certainly nearly all\\nwere so, while Bushrod Washington was engaged in\\nthe domestic slave-trade when not hearing cases on the\\nbench.\\nJ. H. B. Latrobe, in an address delivered before\\nthe society on January 20, 1880, describes the organi-\\nzation and the motives of the original members accu-\\nrately. He said that some regarded it as a mis-\\nsionary enterprise only. Others hoped that it\\nwould lead to a separation of the negroes from what\\nthe masters said was an injurious contact with their\\nslaves. Others believed that it would tend to\\nraise the negroes of the United States to civil and re-\\nligious liberty in the land of their forefathers. Others", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0206.jp2"}, "207": {"fulltext": "FBEE-NEGBO COLONIES AM) THE SLAVE-TRADE 1G5\\nagain supported it as likely to promote emancipation.\\nOthers looked forward to the commerce that would\\nfollow the establishment of a colony on the borders\\nof a vast continent and others again fancied\\nthat, in some undefined way, African colonization\\nwould afford a solution of the negro question in this\\ncountry.\\nThat is to say, those who sincerely desired to af-\\nford the free black an asylum from the oppression\\nthey suffered here, and by their means to extend to\\nAfrica the blessings of Christianity and civilization\\nthose who wished to accelerate emancipation those\\nwho expected to enhance the value of slaves by get-\\nting rid of the meddlesome free blacks those who\\nwanted to promote trade in ivory and palm-oil, and\\nthe half-hearted philanthropists who sought relief\\nfrom a bad population witliout the trouble and ex-\\npense of improving it all these were united in an\\norganization for colonizing our free negroes in Africa.\\nAt their meetings the devoted missionary, ready to\\npour out his life on the sands of Africa, was jos-\\ntled by the trafficker in human flesh, and the hum-\\nble, self-denying Christian listened to the praises of\\nthe society from the unblushing profligate. Mr. La-\\ntrobe, speaking to and for the society, says it was\\nwell that all this was so. Co-operation, regardless of\\nmotive, was the necessity of the occasion.\\nCongress by the act of March 3, 1810, authorized\\nthe President to employ naval ships to cruise on\\nany of the coasts of the United States or territories\\nthereof, or of the coasts of Africa or elsewhere,\\nto capture slave-ships and, further, to appoint a\\nproper person or persons, residing upon the coast of", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0207.jp2"}, "208": {"fulltext": "166 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nAfrica, as agent or agents for receiving the negroes,\\nmulattoes, or persons of color, delivered from on\\nboard vessels seized in the prosecution of the slave-\\ntrade by commanders of the United States armed\\nvessels.\\nThe Rev. Samuel Bacon, on the society s recom-\\nmendation, was appointed both Government and co-\\nlonial agent. Mr. John P. Bankson and Dr. Samuel\\nA. Crozer, agents of the society, were associated with\\nhim. The ship Elizabeth was chartered by the United\\nStates (Congress had appropriated $100,000) and\\neighty-six colored emigrants were picked up and car-\\nried to Boston. These agreed, in consideration of\\ntheir passage and other aid, to prepare suitable ac-\\ncommodations for such Africans as might be rescued\\nfrom the slave-ships by American cruisers.\\nOn February 6, 1820, the Elizabeth sailed. A land-\\ning was made at Sherboro, where a New Bedford negro\\nnamed Kizel had established a colony of eight families\\nat his own expense. Then fever made its appear-\\nance among the people, who were loud in their com-\\nplaints, and with very good reason, too, because\\ntwenty-five of them died of it, and Bacon himself fell\\na victim. The remaining emigrants went to Sierra\\nLeone, and colonization was in a bad way.\\nBut meantime the warship Cyane and others had\\nsent several slavers loaded with wild negroes to the\\nUnited States for adjudication, and to get rid of those\\nnegroes further efforts were made to establish an Afri-\\ncan colony. The Government sent the war schooner\\nAlligator, Captain R. F. Stockton, to explore the\\nAfrican coast, and Captain Stockton selected Cape\\nFoote s Africa aud the American Flag, p. 113, line 18.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0208.jp2"}, "209": {"fulltext": "FREE-NEGRO COLONIES AM) THE SLAVE-TRADE 107\\nMesurado as a suitable Location, on December 12,\\n1822.\\nWhen an attempt to get the land by treaties with\\nthe natives was made the chiefs foresaw thai the colony\\nwould interfere with their profitable Blave-trade, but\\nStockton s diplomacy prevailed, and a tract, including\\nCape Mesurado, that lay between the Mesurado and\\nJunk rivers, thirty-six miles along the sea-shore with\\na breadth of two miles was secured.\\nTo this site Dr. Ayres carried the remaining colo-\\nnists who had gone to Sierra Leone, landing them on a\\nsmall island amidst the menaces of the natives.\\nThen, by an arrangement with a neighboring chief,\\nthey crossed the river to the north and erected a\\nnumber of comparatively comfortable buildings.\\nMeantime many colouists had been attacked with\\nthe unavoidable fever, and while this was spreading\\nthey had a fight with the natives. An English crew on\\na captured slaver let her drive ashore. The natives\\ncame to loot her. and the colonists helped the English,\\nwith loss of life on both sides. They saved the vessel\\nbut incurred the hatred of the natives. The truth is\\nthe scheme would have failed then and there but for\\nthe courage and fortitude of Elijah Johnson, one of\\nthe colored men.\\nWhen Dr. Ayres, the white agent, and a number of\\nthe emigrants returned to Sierra Leone, almost in de-\\nspair (as the society s records say, but wholly in de-\\nspair, probably), Johnson said\\nI have been two years searching for a home and I\\nhave found it, and 1 shall stay. And he did stay.\\nNeither the Pilgrim fathers nor the followers of Lord\\nBaltimore nor the French Huguenots had worse troub-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0209.jp2"}, "210": {"fulltext": "X68 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nles to face than he, nor did any one of them all show\\na manlier front.\\nNot to follow all the distressful details of the found-\\ning of the colony, it may be said that the inevitable\\nfever was their chief enemy, even though at one time\\nthey had to fight so many natives that the balls from\\ntheir nine-pounder cannon literally passed through\\nso many bodies as to spend their entire force in that\\nfashion.\\nUntil 1824, the colonists were, on the whole, acting\\nin self-defence. In 1824, no less than fifteen slavers\\nwere loading, under the guns, almost, of the colony,\\nand there was a contract between one slave-trader and a\\nnative chief by which eight hundred slaves were to be\\ndelivered within four months. Thereat the colonists as-\\nsumed the offensive, attacked the chief who had made\\nthis contract, destroyed the slave-pen, released the\\nslaves, and compelled the chief to sign an agreement\\nto abandon the trade.\\nFollowing this a slaver settlement called Trade town,\\nwhere there were three slave factories and two armed\\nslave-ships, was attacked. The fighting lasted from\\nApril 10th to April 12th, inclusive (1824), the settle-\\nment was captured, and the explosion of two hun-\\ndred kegs of powder consummated the destruction of\\nTradetown.\\nThe annihilation of Tradetown and of the slave\\nfactories was a severe blow to the traffic, which was\\nfelt as far south as the Bight of Benin, says Commo-\\ndore Foote.\\nThis much was done by free colored men. In view\\nof that fact the reader will find the following extracts\\nfrom publications of the Colonization Society remark-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0210.jp2"}, "211": {"fulltext": "FKKK-NKOlio COLON IKS AND THE SLAVE-TRADE IfjQ\\nable reading. Said Eenry (May in a speech found in\\nthe African Repository, Vol. VI., p. 12:\\n01 all the descriptions of our population the free\\npersons of color are by Ear, as a class, the most cor-\\nrupt, depraved, and abandoned. The same periodi-\\ncal, Vol. VII., p. 230, called them an anomalous\\nrace oi beings, the most depraved upon earth. An\\neditorial Vol. I., p. 68, said There is a class among\\nus, introduced by violence, notoriously ignorant, de-\\ngraded and miserable, mentally diseased, brok n-\\nspiritedr\\nMeantime the colony had been named Liberia by\\nthe home society, from the Latin word liber, a free\\nman.\\nIn 1834 the Maryland Colonization Society, formed\\non the same lines as the original association, sent out\\nan expedition on the brig Ann. She called at Mon-\\nrovia, got twenty-live acclimated citizens, and, going\\ndown to Cape Palmas, formed an independent colony,\\nlanding on February 11th. A very valuable tract of\\nland at Bassa Cove was purchased for the Young\\nMen s Colonization Society of Pennsylvania, this\\nyear, and the ship Ninus landed one hundred and\\ntwenty-six emigrants there, of which one hundred and\\nten were slaves, freed by the will of Dr. Hawes, of\\nVirginia. Meantime the original colony was widen-\\ning its borders.\\nThen came (in 1836) Thomas Buchanan, a colored\\nman, agent of the New York and Pennsylvania so*\\ncieties to Monrovia. He was a born leader. He saw\\nthe evil likely to arise through trade jealousies be-\\ntween the separate and independent though neigh-\\nboring colonies, and a union of all was effected under", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0211.jp2"}, "212": {"fulltext": "170 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\na constitution providing for a government somewhat\\nlike that of the United States. No white man could\\nbecome a land-owner under the laws, but all adult\\nblack males were voters, and slavery was absolutely\\nprohibited. It failed of making a nation of the col-\\nonies only because the American Colonization So-\\nciety retained the right to veto the acts of the local\\nlegislature.\\nThis was an anomalous condition of affairs, but it\\nserved very well until Buchanan, as governor of the\\nunited colonies, began levying duties on goods im-\\nported at old-established trading posts lying within\\nthe territory over which his people had obtained con-\\ntrol. There were factories for legitimate trade that\\nhad been in existence longer than the Liberian settle-\\nments. The traders having made the establishments\\nby the same sort of contract that existed between\\nthe natives and the Liberia ns, believed themselves to\\nhave as good rights to free trade there as the Libe-\\nrians had. Buchanan acted on the theory that the\\nLiberian Government had the same control over its\\nterritory as our Government has over the United\\nStates.\\nAs a matter of fact Liberia had then no standing as\\na government. It consisted merely of a lot of settle-\\nments controlled by a society of private American\\ncitizens. So when Buchanan seized by force the\\nproperty of certain British citizens he went too far.\\nThe British Government naturally protected its cit-\\nizens, and the John Seyes, a colonial schooner, was\\ntaken by way of reprisal.\\nThis led to an appeal to the American Government.\\nIt was proposed that the United States adopt the col-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0212.jp2"}, "213": {"fulltext": "FBEE-NEGBO COLONIES AND THE BLAVE-TEADE ]7|\\nony as Great Britain had adopted Sierra Leone; bul\\nwe would have no entangling over-sea alliances, and so\\nmissed a chance to get a foothold on whal is now a\\ncontinent well worth exploiting. So a compromise\\nwas effected with the British.\\nAfter a time Buchanan died in the harness and .Jo-\\nseph J. Roberts succeeded him as Governor. He was\\na statesman as well as a natural leader. He had been\\ntrained under the masterful Buchanan, and the region\\nunder his control continued to flourish, after a fash-\\nion, until the evil of its anomalous position among na-\\ntions compelled an organization as a republic. Ac-\\ncordingly a convention was called, a Declaration of\\nIndependence was proclaimed, a new constitution writ-\\nten and adopted, and on August 24, 1847, the lone-star\\nflag of the Republic of Liberia was flung to the\\nbreeze.\\nA census report published in the African Reposi-\\ntory for 1847 (p. 192) shows that in 1845 the immi-\\ngrant population amounted to nearly 5,000, to\\nwhich was added a native population of which esti-\\nmates vary from 10,000 to 15,000. Of these about 300\\nare so far civilized that they were permitted to vote\\nat elections. In this report the startling statement is\\nmade that of all the emigrants from the United States\\nto Liberia no less than one-fifth had died of the so-\\ncalled acclimatizing fevers The average life of a\\nwhite man there, as learned on another authority, was\\nthree years.\\nTen years later (1857) the Rev. Charles W. Thomas,\\nthe naval chaplain already quoted, reported Liberia as\\nhaving a coast line of over 600 miles, embracing a\\ncountry of 30,000 square miles, and a population of", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0213.jp2"}, "214": {"fulltext": "172 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nover 10,000 civilized blacks and 200,000 natives (un-\\ncivilized). This may be considered a friendly esti-\\nmate.\\nIn 1857 the Government income was $47,556 dis-\\nbursements, $47,048. Said Thomas There is a sur-\\nplus in the treasury of $500 but truth demands the\\nstatement that many of the Government officials,\\nnoble and patriotic men, have deferred drawing the\\nfull amount of their salaries, small as these are, until\\nthe country is more able to pay them.\\nOf the history of Liberia since that time little need\\nbe said. Perhaps as a last item the fact that it stood,\\nhat in hand, before Congress in 1879, begging for the\\npitiful sum of $25,000, will suffice.\\nThe old society has still life enough to support a\\nsecretary and publish an annual report, but its power\\nfor creating discontent among the American negroes is\\nwell-nigh ended. It was an ape of philanthropy from\\nthe day of its organization, and the industrial schools\\nfor colored men that are nourishing at the end of the\\nnineteenth century will soon strangle\u00e2\u0080\u0094 or starve\u00e2\u0080\u0094 it\\nto death, when its memory will be found worth pre-\\nserving only as a warning.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0214.jp2"}, "215": {"fulltext": "THEY WERE SEEN TO THROW SLAVES OVERBOARD SHACKLED TOGETHER.\\nSr.- page M4-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0215.jp2"}, "216": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0216.jp2"}, "217": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XVII\\nTALES OF THE COASTWISE SLAVE-SHIPS\\nColored Men from New York Prison Sent to New Orleans and\\nSold Stealing Slaves in New Jersey for the Southwest\\nMarket Coastwise Slavers that Lost their Human Car-\\ngoes in British Islands Madison Washington a Negro\\nWorthy of his Name Joshua R. Giddings and the Coast-\\nwise Trade Extent of the Coastwise Traffic.\\nWnEN the United States prohibited the slave-trade\\nby the act of March 2, 1807, a reservation was care-\\nfully made in favor of the coastwise trade of the na-\\ntion itself. Sections 8 and 9 provided that no ship\\nor vessel of less burthen than forty tons, in the coast\\ntrade, should take on board or transport any slave to\\nany port or place whatsoever under penalty of $800\\nfor each slave. Any ship or vessel of the burthen of\\nforty tons or more sailing coastwise from\\nany port in the United States to any port or place\\nwithin the jurisdiction of the same, might carry\\nslaves, however, on making out duplicate manifests\\nof every such negro, with a full description of each,\\nand delivering such manifests to the collector of the\\nport, before sailing. There was absolutely no limit\\nspecified as to the number to be carried, nor was there\\nany provision for the safety, let alone the health and\\ncomfort, of the slaves so to be carried. And that, too,\\n173", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0217.jp2"}, "218": {"fulltext": "174 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nin the face of tlie fact that a voyage from the breeding-\\nplantations in Virginia to the market in New Orleans\\nmight, and often did, last as many days as the shorter\\nvoyages from Africa to the West Indies.\\nCurious tales are told regarding the working of this\\nlaw. The first, so far as found by the writer hereof, is\\nin an incidental reference in a public document quoted\\nin N lies s Register for September 30, 1815, wherein\\nis mentioned the fact that a young woman named\\nCatharine Richardson was in the schooner Cyn-\\nthia, of New York, Charles Johnson, master. John-\\nson having touched at a British port, his slave\\nmanaged to get ashore and found friends who se-\\ncured her freedom under the British law that pro-\\nhibited the importation of slaves. That occurred in\\n,1811.\\nA New Orleans paper quoted in the Register for\\nJ February 8, 1817, said\\nSome inhuman speculator at New York has dis-\\nburdened the prison of that city of seventy or eighty\\nnegroes, by procuring their imprisonment to be com-\\nmuted for transportation, and shipping them for this\\nplace where they arrived a few days ago. But he\\nhas been disappointed of his profit, and we doubt if he\\nwill clear even the freight of his cargo. The corpora-\\ntion has very properly ordered the vessel containing\\nthis gang of thieves and ruffians to proceed without\\nthe limits of the city.\\nIn that day newspapers did not employ professional\\nhumorists, but the editors wrote humor unintention-\\nally and in spite of indignation. Fancy sending sev-\\nenty able-bodied negroes beyond the limits of New\\nOrleans, in 1817, as a means of depriving the holder of", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0218.jp2"}, "219": {"fulltext": "TALES OF THE COASTWISE SLAVE-SHIPS 17f,\\na profitable sale If the editor had added thai con-\\nscienceless New York was forcing an odious traffic\\nupon helpless but indignant Louisiana as the wicked\\nBritish forced the odious traffic on their helpless but\\nindignant American colonies the editorial would have\\nbeen worth printing as a red-ink broadside to be\\nTrained for lasting preservation.\\nA similar editorial item in June, 1818, says that\\nnegro trading seems to be actively carried on through\\ncertain great villains holding their headquarters in\\nNew Jersey, from whence, we trust, the good people\\nof that State will soon chase them. A vessel with\\nthirty-six persons of color has been seized at New Or-\\nleans for not having a manifest, etc., as required by\\nlaw. She received her cargo of human beings near\\nPerth Aniboy. It is probable that the greater part of\\nthese unfortunate creatures were stolen.\\nThat is to say, free negroes in New Jersey were kid-\\nnapped, taken on board ship, and carried to New Or-\\nleans for sale\u00e2\u0080\u0094 an exact counterpart of one feature of\\nthe prohibited African slave-trade. Mr. Niles did not\\ngive the name of the vessel, but it was the brig Mary\\nAnn, and she sailed from Perth Amboy on March 10,\\n1818.\\nNear the end of 1829 the schooner Lafayette sailed\\nfrom Norfolk for New Orleans, having on board a\\ncargo of more than one hundred slaves. The slaves\\nrose against the crew, but were subdued, and twenty-\\nfive of them were bolted down on the deck for\\nthe remainder of the voyage. That was the first\\nmutiny in the coastwise trade that I have found.\\nOthers more interesting followed.\\nTo appreciate fully the following stories the reader", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0219.jp2"}, "220": {"fulltext": "176 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nmust recall an act passed by the British Parliament\\nin 1833, to take effect August 1, 1834. This act was,\\nin one respect, the most notable in the history of hu-\\nman liberty, for while in a thousand other cases men\\nhave done noble deeds for their own liberty, in this\\none the British nation voluntarily taxed itself to the\\nextent of \u00c2\u00a320,000,000 to provide liberty for an inferior\\nrace. During more than thirty years Great Britain\\nspent regularly more than \u00c2\u00a3500,000 a year on her Af-\\nrican squadron and gave the lives of many of its best\\nsailors for the benefit of the despised negro, and mean-\\ntime, at one appropriation, added \u00c2\u00a320,000,000 to all\\nthat expense. As a national recognition of the obliga-\\ntion which the dominant race owes to all inferior races\\nthe work of Great Britain in connection with negro\\nslavery and the slave-trade remains unequalled in the\\nhistory of the world.\\nOn August 1, 1834, slavery for life was forever abol-\\nished in the British nation. The legislation of all\\nother nations of that day was based on the inhuman\\nidea that mental and physical superiority in one race\\ngave it the right to deprive inferior human beings of\\nliberty and to extort from them labor for the aggran-\\ndizement of the superior race.\\nIn the year 1830 the city of Alexandria, Va., was\\nwhat may be called the Omaha of the human cattle\\ntrade. Slaves were gathered there by traders for trans-\\nfer to the ever-craving maw of the Gulf States. In\\nthe course of the year the brig Comet was loaded there\\nwith slaves and cleared for New Orleans, but on the\\nway she was wrecked on the False Keys of the Bahama\\ngroup. Wreckers carried crew and slaves to Nassau,\\nwhere the authorities held that the slaves were free,", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0220.jp2"}, "221": {"fulltext": "TALKS OF THE COASTWISE SLAVE-SHIPS 177\\nbecause, as alleged, the British laws prohibited the in-\\ntroduction of slaves.\\nThe brig Encomium, from Charleston for New Or-\\nleans, with slaves, met the same fate in the same local-\\nity, with the same result to the slaves, early in 1834.\\nThe Enterprise, with a cargo of slaves from the Dis-\\ntrict of Columbia\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Washington was noted for its slave\\nbarracoons in those days\u00e2\u0080\u0094 also carrying slaves for the\\nNew Orleans market, was compelled by stress of\\nweather to put into Bermuda on February 20, 1835.\\nThe Friendly Society of colored people of the town\\nat once got out writs of habeas corpus, served them\\nupon the people interested, and had all the negroes,\\nseventy-eight in number, brought before the proper\\ncourt, with their alleged owners and the master of the\\nship. It was nine o clock at night when they appeared\\nbefore the court. The master of the ship had striven\\nto have the hearing put off until next day, hoping, no\\ndoubt, to go to sea, but the effort was vain. He had\\nalso promised to give the slaves considerable sums of\\nmoney if they would tell the Court that they preferred\\nto continue the voyage.\\nHaving all the slaves in court, the Chief Justice took\\nhis seat, called up one of the negro men, and said\\nYour name is George Hammett you came in the\\nbrig Enterjyrise as a slave, and it is my duty (under-\\nstanding that you were kept on board that vessel\\nagainst your will) to inform you that in this country\\nyou are free free as any white person and should it\\nbe your wish to remain here, instead of proceeding to\\nthe port whither you was bound, to be sold or held to\\nservice as a slave, you will be protected by the au-\\nthorities here and if you do decide to remain, you\\n12", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0221.jp2"}, "222": {"fulltext": "178 Tli E AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nwill become, as I have observed, a free person, and will\\nbe punished for any breach or break of the laws of this\\ncolony while if you conduct yourself with propriety,\\nsoberness, honesty, and industry, you will meet with\\nencouragement from the whole community. Do you\\ntherefore wish to remain and be a free person, or con-\\ntinue your voyage to the vessel s destined port and re-\\nmain a slave\\nAll of the slaves save a woman with five children\\ndeclared they would remain. This one family went on\\nto their destination as slaves.\\nThe expressive phrase of twisting the lion s tail\\nhad not been invented in those days, but twisting the\\nlion s tail was much more common then than even in\\nthose recent years before our war with Spain had\\nshown us what a real and natural bond of sympathy\\nexisted between the two English-speaking nations.\\nAnd the manner in which members of Congress turned\\nand twisted the lion s tail in connection with these\\nslave-ship deliveries was memorable.\\nAs to the British, their attitude was admirably por-\\ntrayed by the picture of the true griffin in Ruskin s\\nModern Painters. They were at once reposeful and\\nalert, and withal ready to fulfil national obligations.\\nInternational law, which is presumably founded on\\nnatural rights, demanded that all the property on\\nthose vessels should be held sacred for the owners, but\\nstraightway there arose a question as to the property\\nright of masters in their slaves. Under the laws of the\\nUnited States that right was granted [See the fugitive\\nslave laws]. Under the laws of Great Britain that\\nright had been everywhere abolished within her juris-\\ndiction on August 1, 1834.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0222.jp2"}, "223": {"fulltext": "TALES OF THE COASTWISE SLAVE-SHIPS 17\\nAfter the matter had been fully discussed, Lord\\nPalmerston said that the slaves taken from the En-\\ncomium and the Comet had been unlawfully freed be-\\ncause when they came within British jurisdiction Brit-\\nish law recognized property in human beings. Therefore\\nthey would be paid for. Those of the Enterprise ar-\\nrived when British soil and water were free, and would\\nnot be paid for. This decision was made in 1837.\\nFrom that year property in man, as a feature of inter-\\nnational law. ceased and determined for ever.\\nNevertheless, the question was to come up again.\\nOn October 25, 1841, the Creole, under the command of\\nCaptain Robert Ensor, sailed from Richmond, Va.,\\nbound for New Orleans, having on board three white\\nmen as passengers, with the wife and child and a niece\\nof the captain. In the hold were one hundred and\\nthirty-five slaves for the New Orleans market. Two\\ndaj^s later the Creole cleared the Capes and thereafter\\nhad a prosperous voyage until Sunday evening, No-\\nvember 7, 1841, when she was within about twelve\\nhours 1 sail of Nassau.\\nAmong the slaves was a man named Madison Wash-\\nington, who was of unusual character. He had fled\\nfrom slavery in Virginia some time before that, and by\\nthe underground railway had safely reached the free\\nsoil of Canada. But when there he remembered his\\nwife away back on the old plantation, and out of love\\nfor her had returned to carry her to freedom also. He\\nreached the plantation in safety, but before he could\\nget away with the wife he was caught by the planter.\\nIn those days the fate of these runaways was settled\\nin advance. They were whipped unmercifully and\\nthen sold for the New Orleans market. To the ordi-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0223.jp2"}, "224": {"fulltext": "180 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nnary negro, to be placed on a New Orleans ship was to\\nend hope. To Madison Washington it brought oppor-\\ntunity for freedom.\\nAt eight o clock on the night of November 7th the\\ncrew hove to the Creole for the night, because of the\\ndangers of navigation ahead of them. At 9.30 o clock\\nit was reported to the mate Z. C. Gifford, who had the\\ndeck, that one of the negro men was among the female\\nslaves. At that Gifford made an examination and\\nfound Madison Washington there. Having a very\\nwrong idea of the negro s intentions in going there,\\nGifford expressed his surprise, and then, having\\nbrought him on deck, was about to secure him for\\npunishment, when Washington suddenly resisted, a\\nshot was fired by an unknown hand, the mate was\\nseverely wounded in the back of the head, and Wash-\\nington cried out\\nCome on, my boys! We have commenced and\\nmust go through with it.\\nHe had planned a mutiny, and the other negroes\\nwere awaiting his detection in the hold as a signal for\\nthe assault on the crew.\\nIn the fight one white man was killed and several\\nwere wounded. No negro was hurt, and in ten minutes\\nWashington controlled the ship. Then by threats\\nand promises he got her navigated into Nassau har-\\nbor, where she arrived on Tuesday morning, the 9th,\\nat eight o clock.\\nOf course the American consul, as in duty bound,\\nat once made every effort to get the brig again under\\nthe command of her crew, with the slaves on board.\\nThe populace, including the authorities, knowing all\\nabout the case of the Enterprise at Bermuda, were", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0224.jp2"}, "225": {"fulltext": "TALES OF THE COASTWISE SLAVE-SHIPS 181\\ndetermined that the negroes should ,L r EreOj and free\\nthey became, though nineteen of them, who were\\nidentified as active in the assault on the crew, were\\ntaken in custody on the charges oi mutiny and mur-\\nder preferred by the consul and the crew. But they\\nwere not replaced on the Creole.\\nTo state the case of the slave-owners, we may quote\\nthe words of Henry Clay when he said that the Creole\\nwas carried to Nassau by an act of mutiny and mur-\\nder, and if the British authorities sanctioned the\\nenormity, Americans would be virtually denied the\\nbenefits of the coastwise trade of their own country,\\nbecause their vessels could not proceed in safety from\\none port to another with slaves on boards It is ap-\\nparent that under the laws of the United States, as\\nthey then stood, Mr. Clay was entirely justified in\\nwhat he said. But by the laws of Great Britain there\\nwas no such thing as property in man. All men\\nwere born free, by her law, and the negroes who\\nwere held in slaveiy, contrary to their will, were jus-\\ntified in taking the lives of their masters in order to\\nobtain their natural right. Having carried the brig\\ninto British waters, the slaves, under British laws,\\nbecame free and the result was that they all re-\\nmained free except five who voluntarily continued the\\nvoyage to New Orleans.\\nIt is perhaps worth mentioning here that Joshua R.\\nGiddings, a member of the House from Ohio, prepared\\na number of resolutions on the subject in which he\\nsustained the natural right of the negroes to liberty\\nand to use force to obtain it. These resolutions he\\ntook to the House, introduced them, and gave notice\\nthat he would call them up for consideration. For", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0225.jp2"}, "226": {"fulltext": "182 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nthis he was censured by the House by a vote of one\\nhundred and twenty-five to sixty-nine. Remarkable\\nas it seems now, the pro-slavery members were so\\nfar fanatical in their pursuit of Mr. Giddings that\\nthey refused to allow him to defend himself or even\\nexplain his object in introducing the resolutions.\\nSuch unjust action eventually did more harm to the\\nperpetrators than to anyone else it did harm, in\\nfact, to no one else. Giddings resigned, went home,\\nand was returned by his constituents within five\\nweeks.\\nThus the mutiny on the Creole, a coasting slavey\\nbecame one of the most important episodes in the ir-\\nrepressible conflict that was rising between the slave\\nand the free-soil States.\\nThe number of slaves that were shipped in coastwise\\ntraders is now really a matter of conjecture, but one\\nmay get an idea from kindred facts. Thus the Vir-\\nginia Times, in an article quoted in Niles s Register\\nfor October 8, 1836, boasts that no less than 40,000\\nslaves had been sold for export from Virginia to other\\nStates during the fiscal year preceding, and that the\\nsales had brought into the State an average of $600\\nper head, or $24,000,000 all told. A letter to the Jour-\\nnal of Commerce, of New York, at about that period\\nestimates the number driven {i.e., sent South on foot)\\nout of the State in a year at 20,000. This would leave\\n20,000 to be sent by ship.\\nAnother estimate may be drawn from the fact that\\nthe number of slaves in the Lafayette, Encomium, En-\\nterprise, and Creole was near one hundred per vessel.\\nVery likely that was an average coaster cargo. Now\\none Alexandria firm advertised two ships a month,", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0226.jp2"}, "227": {"fulltext": "TALES OF THE COASTWISE SLAVE-SHIPS\\nand there was at least, on the average, a vessel :i\\nweek from that port the year round. Norfolk was a\\nport about as lively, and Baltimore and Richmond\\nwere not far behind. Apparently two hundred ves-\\nsels carried a hundred slaves each to a Southern mar-\\nket every year from the waters of Virginia.\\nIn the Democratic JZevieio, of New York, for July,\\n1858, in an article entitled Visitation and Search of\\nVessels, wherein an argument is made in favor of re-\\nopening the over-sea slave-trade, the editor says of the\\nover-sea and the coast trades\\nWe aver that if one is wrong, then both are\\nwrong that if one is right, then both are rigM. We\\nenter protest against such absurd definitions and dis-\\ntinctions as have been made by Congress.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0227.jp2"}, "228": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XV11I\\nSTORY OF THE AMISTAD\\nA Cuban Coastwise Slaver that may have been Used to Smug-\\ngle Slaves into the United States On the Way from Ha-\\nvana to Puerto Principe the Slaves Overpowered the Crew,\\nand Started Back to Africa, but were Beguiled to Long\\nIsland Judicially Decided that Slaves Unlawfully Held\\nhave a Right to Take Human Life in a Stroke for Liberty.\\nOn August 26, 1839, the United States brig Wash-\\nington, Captain Thomas R. Gedney, was engaged in\\nsurveying the water between Gardiner s Island and\\nMontauk Point, L. I., when a schooner was seen at\\nanchor well in shore near Culloden Point. There were\\na number of people on the beach with carts and horses,\\nand a boat was passing to and fro between the stranger\\nand the shore.\\nApparently here was a smuggler at work in broad\\ndaylight, and Captain Gedney at once sent a boat,\\nwith six armed men, in charge of Lieutenant Richard\\nW. Meade and Passed Midshipman David D. Porter\\nto investigate. They found her a Baltimore-built\\nvessel of matchless model for speed, about one hun-\\ndred and twenty tons burden, and about six years old.\\nOn her deck were grouped, amid various goods and\\narms, the remnant of her Ethiope crew, some decked in\\nthe most fantastic manner in the silks and finery pil-\\n184", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0228.jp2"}, "229": {"fulltext": "STOKY OF THE AMISTAD [gfi\\nfered from the cargo, while others in a state of nudity,\\nemaciated to mere skeletons, lay coiled on the decks.\\nOver the decks were scattered, in the most wanton\\nand disorderly profusion, raisins, vermicelli, bread,\\nrice, silk, and cotton goods. In the cabin and hold\\nwere the marks of the same wasteful destruction.\\nHer cargo appeared to consist of silks, crepes,\\ncalicoes, fancy goods of various descriptions, glass and\\nhardware, bridles, saddles, holsters, pictures, looking-\\nglasses, books, fruits, olives, olive-oil, and other things\\ntoo numerous to mention. So runs an old news) ta-\\nper account.\\nAs soon as the United States officers reached her\\ndeck two white men came to them, one begging for\\nprotection, while the other, an elderly man, threw his\\narms around Lieutenant Meade and held him in an\\nembrace that made the lieutenant think the man in-\\ntended violence. Drawing a pistol, Meade thrust it in\\nhis face, when the man retreated, and his companion,\\na young man of good address, who spoke English flu-\\nently, began an explanation.\\nHe said his name was Jose Ruiz and that of the\\ndemonstrative elder was Pedro Montez. No offence\\nwas intended by Montez; on the contrary, his embrace\\nwas but a manifestation of gratitude. The queer little\\nschooner, he continued, was the Amistad, of Havana,\\nwhere she was owned and commanded by Captain\\nRamon Ferrar. She had sailed from Havana on June\\n27th, bound for Guanaja, in the Cuban state of Puerto\\nPrincipe, but on the night of June 30th the slaves on\\nthe ship had mutinied, killed the captain and cook,\\nsent the two sailors ashore in the boat, and ordered\\nhim (Ruiz) and Pedro Montez to navigate the ship to", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0229.jp2"}, "230": {"fulltext": "IQQ THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nAfrica. Under fear of death the Amistad had been\\nsteered toward the east by day, but at night she had\\nbeen headed for the United States. So it had hap-\\npened that they had been for several days within a\\nfew miles of Long Island, and had finally anchored\\nwhere found in order to get food and water.\\nAs to the negroes, Ruiz said that one called Antonio\\nwas the property of the slain captain, three belonged\\nto Pedro Montez, while the remainder, forty-nine in\\nnumber, were his own property.\\nOn hearing that, Meade sent Porter ashore with four\\nmen to round up the blacks there. The blacks on\\nshore got into their boat and started rowing out to\\nthe schooner, but Porter stopped them with a pistol\\nshot, and took them on board the schooner under\\nguard. Once there, their leader, called Cinque, leaped\\noverboard with a belt containing three hundred doub-\\nloons, and went diving and swimming like a fish\\nfor sli ore, but he was hauled back on board with a\\nboat-hook in the hands of a grinning quartermaster.\\nMeantime Captain Gedney had brought the Wash-\\nington alongside, and on hearing the reports of his\\nofficers decided to take the schooner to New London,\\nwhere he libelled her for salvage. And then the\\ntrouble began.\\nSehor A. Calderon, who was then the Spanish Min-\\nister at Washington, at once demanded the vessel and\\ncargo under the treaty with Spain dated 1795. One\\narticle of this treaty was quoted as exactly covering\\nthe case. It said\\nAll ships and merchandise of what nature soever,\\nwhich shall be rescued out of the hands of any pi-\\nrates or robbers on the high seas shall be brought into", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0230.jp2"}, "231": {"fulltext": "STORY OF THE A.MISTAD 187\\nsome port of either State and shall be delivered to the\\ncustody of the officers of that port, in order to be\\ntaken care of and restored entire to the true proprietor\\nas soon as due and sufficient proof shall be made con-\\ncerning the property thereof.\\nThe words in italics were so emphasized when quoted\\nin Senor Calderon s demand. Wry naturally the\\nWashington officials were entirely willing to grant the\\ndemand. Under our laws slaves were property, and\\nhere were negroes in charge of a ship which they had\\ntaken by force from its owner. Further than that,\\nthese negroes were, according to the papers of the\\nship and the passports of the two Spaniards Ruiz and\\nMontez, slaves. Ruiz, for instance, produced a pass-\\nport issued by the captain of the port of Havana, in\\ndue form, dated 26 de junio (June) del839, which read\\nin Spanish thus: Concedo licencia, a cuarenta y\\nnueva negros ladinos, nombrados, etc. The names\\nof the negroes followed.\\nThe Spanish words are given because of their bear-\\ning on the case, as will appear further on. So far as\\nthe papers appeared, everything was in proper form.\\nMeantime, however, the negroes, who were put in\\njail at New London, had found friends who were will-\\ning to spend money to see that they had a fair trial,\\nwere that possible in the existing state of civilization.\\nThese friends saw the passport which Ruiz exhibited\\nas proof of ownership of the forty-nine negroes, and\\nthey were able to translate it. The translation offered\\nby Ruiz and accepted by our Government, and so\\nprinted in a message of the President on the subject,\\nread as follows\\nI concede license to forty-nine sound negroes, la-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0231.jp2"}, "232": {"fulltext": "188 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ndinos being rendered as sound. As a matter of fact,\\nladinos was a local term used in Cuban law to desig-\\nnate slaves born in the country or imported previous\\nto 1820. The translation was a fraud, and the begin-\\nning of a shameful attempt to deceive the people of\\nthe United States, including the courts. For it was\\nat once learned that neither the forty-nine negroes\\nclaimed by Ruiz nor the three claimed by Montez\\nwere ladinos. Cuban slave-dealers had imported them\\nfrom Africa in a Portuguese vessel called Tegora, on\\nJune 12th\u00e2\u0080\u0094 fifteen days only before they were taken\\non board the Amistad. They had been landed near\\nHavana, and taken to a barracoon near the city, and\\nthere, on June 22d, Ruiz and Montez had purchased\\nthem. The purchasers had then obtained the usual\\npermit for taking ladinos coastwise. But how it had\\nhappened that the Havana official was willing to issue\\na ladino permit, when these negroes had been landed\\ncontrary to the Spanish law, does not appear in the\\nprinted proceedings.\\nIn short, the abolitionists said these negroes, that\\nhad been taken from their African homes and carried\\nto Cuba, contrary to the laws of Spain, were not slaves\\nbut freemen, and when they were confined as slaves on\\nthe Amistad they had the natural right to rise against\\nthose who restrained them, and to regain liberty even\\nif they had to kill two men to do it.\\nSo issue was joined, and in the course of time (1841)\\nthe case reached the United States Supreme Court,\\nwhere Justice Story delivered the opinion of the court.\\nHe said that in order to sustain the claims of Ruiz\\nand Montez it is essential to establish: 1st. That\\nthese negroes under all the circumstances fall within", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0232.jp2"}, "233": {"fulltext": "STORY OF THE A.MISTAD 189\\nthe description of merchandise in the sense f the\\ntreaty. 2d. That there has been a rescue of them on\\nthe high seas out of the hands of the pirates and rob-\\nbers, which, in the present case, can only be by show-\\ning that they themselves are pirates and robbers. Ad.\\nThat Ruiz and Montez, the asserted proprietors, are\\nthe true proprietors, and have established their title\\nby competent proof.\\nAs to the first point, if the negroes had been law-\\nfully held as slaves under the Spanish law, said the\\nJustice, we see no reason why they may not justly be\\ndeemed, within the intent of the treaty, to be includ-\\ned under the denomination of merchandise.\\nBut admitting this, it is clear, in our opinion\\nit is plain beyond controversy, if we examine the evi-\\ndence, they never were the lawful slaves of Ruiz or\\nMontez, or of any other Spanish subject. If,\\nthen, these negroes are not slaves there is no\\npretence to say they are pirates or robbers. But it is\\nargued on behalf of the United States that the ship\\nand cargo and negroes were duly documented as be-\\nlonging to Spanish subjects, and this court has no\\nright to look behind these documents. To\\nthis argument we can in nowise assent. The\\nvery language of the ninth article of the treaty of\\n1795 requires the proprietor to make due and suffi-\\ncient proof of his property. And how can that proof\\nbe deemed either due or sufficient which is but a\\nconnected and stained tissue of fraud? Upon the\\nwhole, our opinion is that the said negroes\\nbe declared free, and be dismissed from the custody\\nof the court, and go without date.\\n*Peter8 s U. S. Reports, vol. 15, p. 592.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0233.jp2"}, "234": {"fulltext": "190 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nThe narrative of events lias been interrupted in or-\\nder to give the exact status of these negroes under our\\nlaws of that date, because we are thus enabled to ap-\\npreciate better the attitude of the Government officials\\ntoward this case. The Spanish Minister, Calderon,\\nclaimed them not only as slaves but as murderers, and\\nasserted that if the leaders were executed for crime in\\nCuba the effect would be more salutary than if they\\nwere convicted and executed in Connecticut. Our\\nGovernment officials were anxious to sustain this\\nview. United States District Attorney William S.\\nHolabird, of Connecticut, was so anxious in the matter\\nthat he wrote to Secretary of State Forsyth to ask\\nwhether there were no treaty stipulations under which\\nthe negroes might be given up before our court sits.\\nThere were none, but Secretary Forsyth instructed\\nhim to take care that no proceedings of your Circuit\\nCourt, or any other judicial tribunal, place the vessel,\\ncargo, or slaves beyond the control of the Federal Ex-\\necutive. Attorney-General Grundy wrote an opin-\\nion saying he could not see any legal principle\\nthat would justify the Government in questioning\\nthe papers clearing the vessel from one Spanish port\\nto another. He added that as the negroes were\\ncharged with violating Spanish law they ought to be\\ndelivered over to Spanish courts for trial in order that\\nthe guilty might not escape punishment. The\\nPresident, he thought, ought to order the vessel, cargo,\\nand negroes delivered to the Spanish Minister at once\\nwithout any investigation.\\nPresident Van Buren did not go so far as that,\\nbut Captain Gedney was ordered to hold his vessel in\\nreadiness to go to Cuba with the negroes, and for the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0234.jp2"}, "235": {"fulltext": "STORY OF THE AMISTAD 191\\npurpose of giving testimony in any proceedings that\\nmay be ordered by the authorities of Cuba in the mat-\\nter. This was done before the court in Connecticut\\nhad assembled to consider the case. Worse yet, the\\nCabinet, in anticipation that the District Com! would\\ndecide against the liberty of the negroes, prepared to\\nhurry them off to Cuba before an appeal could be taken.\\nThe proof of this is found in a letter written by Secre-\\ntary Forsyth in which he said I have to state, by\\ndirection of the President, that if the decision of the\\ncourt is such as is anticipated, the order of the Presi-\\ndent is to be carried into execution unless an appeal\\nshall actually have been interposed. You are not to\\ntake it for granted that it will be interposed.\\nHad the Court decided as Van Buren hoped it would\\ndo, the negroes would have been marched from the\\ncourt-room to the United States ship Washington,\\nand sent, as fast as wind and tide could drive her, to\\nHavana.\\nBy the decision of the Court the negroes freed were\\nonly those that had been imported from Africa in the\\nPortuguese ship Tegora. Antonio, claimed as the\\nproperty of Captain Ferrar, of the Amistad, was by\\nlaw a slave, and he would have been delivered to the\\nSpanish authorities had not some conductors on the\\nunderground railroad come to his aid. He had simply\\ndisappeared. The schooner was sold for salvage.\\nMills Register (October 31, 1840) says she was old\\nand Cuban built. She sold for 8245.\\nDrake in his Revelations of a Slave-Smuggler\\nspeaks of the Amistad as a schooner that belonged to\\na joint-stock slave-smuggling company connected\\nwith leading American and Spanish mercantile", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0235.jp2"}, "236": {"fulltext": "192 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nhouses, that used one of the Bay Islands, so called,\\nnear the coast of Honduras, as a station where slaves\\nwere landed after the voyage from Africa. They were\\nthere restored to health and taught plantation work\\nbefore being sent to market.\\nIt is not unlikely that the energy shown by the\\nWashington authorities in their efforts to return these\\nfree negroes to Cuba was due in part to pressure\\nbrought by New York merchants of prominence.\\nBut the case of the Amistad by no means came to\\nan end with the comprehensive decision of the Su-\\npreme Court. The Spanish authorities appealed to\\nCongress for indemnity in behalf of Ruiz and Montez.\\nOur executive branch of the Government was entirely\\nwilling to grant this appeal, and on April 10, 1844,\\nCongressman Charles J. Ingersoll, of the House Com-\\nmittee on Foreign Affairs, brought in a report in which\\nthe committee entirely concur with the President s\\nintimation that in conformity with every principle\\nof law and justice the United States ought to pay for\\nthe Amistad negroes. It was asserted by them that\\nto set the slaves free cardinal principles were vio-\\nlated and that in defiance of the law of treaties,\\nof the law of all civilized nations and of primary prin-\\nciples of universal jurisprudence, were these much-\\nabused foreigners stripped of their property and the\\npirates who, by revolt, murder, and robbeiy, had de-\\nprived them of it, set free.\\nBy an examination of the documents (including\\nHouse Reports No. 426, 28th Congress, 1st Session) it\\nappears that Ingersoll in making this report delib-\\nerately falsified dates, and built his argument on a\\nfalse date.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0236.jp2"}, "237": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0237.jp2"}, "238": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0238.jp2"}, "239": {"fulltext": "STOKY OF THE AMISTAI) [93\\nThe desired appropriation was no! made, but as late\\nas February 2, L858, the claim was before Congress\\nwith a recommendation from President Buchanan that\\nit be paid. But it never was paid, and it might now\\nbe forgotten but for the fact that the Supreme Court\\nof the United States, when it heard the case, decided\\nthen, for the first time, that black men carriecl Erom\\ntheir homes in Africa as slaves had the right, when\\nseeking their liberty, to kill any who would deprive\\nthem of it.\\n13", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0239.jp2"}, "240": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XIX\\nLATTER-DAY SLAVE SMUGGLERS\\nNotable Slave-ships that Plied between the African Coast and\\nthe United States just before the Civil War When the\\nWanderer Carried the Flag of the New York Yacht Club\\nto the Congo Troubles of a Smuggler as described in his\\nLetter-book A Movement for Legally Reopening the\\nSlave-trade Dream of a Slave Empire.\\nThe most remarkable evidence regarding the smug-\\ngling of slaves into the United States in the decade\\nbefore the civil war is found in a series of letters\\ncopied from the letter-book of Charles A. L. Lamar,\\na citizen of Savannah and a member of a family of\\nhigh social position. These letters were rescued from\\na paper mill by an unnamed writer and printed in the\\nNorth American Review for November, 1886.\\nThe first letter referring to the slave-trade was\\ndated on October 31, 1857, and was written to Lamar s\\nfather. It says\\nYou need give yourself no uneasiness about the\\nAfricans and the Slave-trade. I was astonished at\\nsome of the remarks in your letter they show that\\nyou have been imbued with something more than the\\n1 panic by your associations North and with Mrs.\\n194", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0240.jp2"}, "241": {"fulltext": "LATTER DAY SLAVE SMUGGLERS 1\\nFor example, you say An expedition to the moon\\nwould have beeu equally sensible, and no more con-\\ntrary to the laws of Providence. May God forgive\\nyou for all your attempts to violate His will and His\\nlaws. Following out the same train of thought,\\nwhere would it land the whole Southern community 1\\nYou need not reproach yourself for not interposing\\nwith a stronger power than argument and persuasion\\nto prevent the expedition. There was nothing you or\\nthe Government could have done to prevent it. Let\\nall the sin be on me. I am willing to assume it all.\\nA letter of an earlier date (July 27, 1857) tells some-\\nthing more about this expedition, and also gives a\\nvery good insight into the way President Buchanan s\\nadministration got on with the slave smugglers. The\\nletter was written to Howell Cobb, Secretary of the\\nTreasury. It says\\nI am loath to trouble you again, but your damned\\nsap-head of a collector refuses to do anything.\\nHe detained my vessel eight days after she was ready\\nfor sea, and after she had applied for her clearance\\npapers. Mr. Boston said she was not seized, but\\nmerely detained. He said the department would\\nrespond to any demand I might make for damages,\\netc. The District Attorney and all the lawyers to\\nwhom he applied for advice told him that there was\\nnothing to cause suspicion to attach to the vessel.\\nA bill for damages follows Eight days detention\\nat $150 per day, $1,200; wharfage, etc., $120; total,\\n$1,320. It is not unlikely that the bill was paid.\\nThen comes this frank statement\\nI did not, in my other communication, disclaim\\nany intention of embarking in the Slave-trade, nor did", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0241.jp2"}, "242": {"fulltext": "196 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nI say anything to warrant you in supposing I was not\\nengaged in it. I simply declared that there was noth-\\ning on board except what was on the manifest, and\\nthat I insist there was nothing suspicious on it. I will\\nnow say, as the vessel is 1,000 miles from here, that\\nshe was as unfit for a voyage to import negroes as any\\nvessel in port. What she may hereafter do\\nis another matter. John Boston had her de-\\ntained because he says he knew she would be engaged\\nin the trade, and had heard that from men who con-\\nfessed that they were eavesdroppers, who hung around\\nmy windows to listen to all conversations that took\\nplace. I am coming on to bore you in person\\nunless you will yield to my short epistles.\\nThat to an officer who had sworn he would execute\\nthe laws\\nWe find in a letter of November 7th, of the same\\nyear, to N. C. Trowbridge, of New Orleans, that the\\nventure went awry. The letter reads\\nI am truly glad to find that Grant [the slave cap-\\ntain] is at least honest. He has acted badly and sac-\\nrificed our interest most shamefully. His clearance\\npapers would have taken him anywhere he wanted to\\ngo, unmolested. He knew the vessel was\\nfitted for nothing else but the trade, and ought to\\nhave known we would want to send her back.\\nWhy did he not go to the Coast? He knew before he\\nundertook the command that there were armed vessels\\non the Coast, and a number of them. He ought to have\\nknown that he was running no risk that the cap-\\ntain and crew are always discharged. The captain of\\nthe Albert Devereux was here the other day. The\\nBritish cruisers even let him take his gold. If Grant", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0242.jp2"}, "243": {"fulltext": "LATTER-DAX SLAVE BMUGOLEBS 1 )7\\nhad been equal to the emergency we would all have\\nbeen easy in money mattera.\\nA letter of December 23, 1857, to Theodore Johnson,\\nof New Orleans, says: In reference to (J ran I, dis-\\ncharge him, pay him nothing, and hope with me that\\nlie will speedily land in hell.\\nMuch talk of Lamar s financial straits follows, and\\nthen we learn the name of the vessel. Something\\nought to be done at once with the Rawlins he sa s.\\nA letter dated three days later invites L. Viana, of\\n158 Pearl Street, New York, to join in the slave-smug-\\ngling business, and then we learn that Captain Will-\\niam Ross Postell a Gent, reliable in every\\nway, and a thorough sailor and navigator, was se-\\ncured to take command of the E. A. Rawlins. An\\nera of prosperity came to the smugglers, it seems, for\\nthe letters show that, in addition to the Rawlins, the\\nRichard Cobden and the notorious yacht Wanderer\\nwere put into the trade. Lamar even contemplated\\nbuying a steamer. Here is what he wrote about the\\nsteamer on May 24, 1858, to Thomas Barrett, Esq..\\nAugusta, italics as in the original\\nI have in contemplation, if I can raise the necessary\\namount of money, the fitting out of an expedition to go to\\nthe coast of Africa for a cargo of African apprentices to be\\nbound for the term of their natural Jives, and would like your\\nco-operation. No subscription will be received for a less\\namount than $5,000. The amount to be raised is $300,000.\\nI will take $20,000 of the stock and go myself. I propose to\\npurchase the Vigo, an iron screw steamer of 1,750 tons, now\\nin Liverpool for sale at \u00c2\u00a330,000 cash. She cost \u00c2\u00a375,000. G.\\nB. Lamar can give you a description of her. She is\\nas good as new, save her boilers, and they can be used for\\nseveral months. If I can buy her I will put six Paixhan", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0243.jp2"}, "244": {"fulltext": "1Q8 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nguns on deck and man her with as good men as can be found\\nin the South. The fighting men will all be stockholders and\\ngentlemen some of whom are known to you, if not person-\\nally, by reputation. My estimate runs thus\\nSteamer $150,000 repairs, guns, small arms,\\ncoal, etc., $50,000 $200,000\\nSupplies, $25,000 money for purchase of\\ncargo, $75,000 100,000\\n$300,000\\nI have, as you know, a vessel now afloat, but it is, in my\\nmind, extremely doubtful whether she gets in safely, as she\\nhad to wait on the Coast until her cargo could be collected.\\nIf she ever gets clear of the Coast, they can t catch her. She\\nought to be due in from ten to thirty days. I have another\\nnow ready to sail which has orders to order a cargo of 1,000\\nor 1,200 to be in readiness the 1st of September, but to be\\nkept, if necessary, until the 1st of October which I intend for\\nthe steamer\u00e2\u0080\u0094 so that no delay may occur. With her I can\\nmake the voyage there and back, including all detentions, bad\\nweather, if I encounter it, etc., in ninety days, certain and\\nsure and the negroes can be sold as fast as landed at $G50\\nper head. I can contract for them to arrive at that figure,\\ncash. The Vigo can. bring 2,000 with ease and comfort, and\\nI apprehend no difficulty or risk, save shipwreck, and that\\nyou can insure against. I can get one of the first lieutenants\\nin the navy to go out in command, and we can whip any-\\nthing if attacked, that is on that station, either English or\\nAmerican. But I would not propose to fight for the Vigo\\ncan steam eleven knots, which would put us out of the way\\nof any of the cruisers.\\nIn an estimate of the steamer s profits sent to\\nWilliam Roundtree, of Nashville, Tenn., Lamar placed\\nthe cost at $300,000, and the income 1,200 negroes\\nat $650, $780,000, which leaves net profit and steamer\\non hand, $480,000.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0244.jp2"}, "245": {"fulltext": "LATTEB DAY SLAVE SMUGGLERS [99\\nIn some way this scheme Eel] down probably h i\\ncould not raise the capital. But it is worth telling, as\\nshowing the drift of affairs in our slave territory at\\nthat time.\\nAs to his proposal to introduce Africans as appren-\\ntices for life, to evade the letter of the law, he said in a\\nletter to Secretary Cobb, in 1858: I would land the\\ncargo on the levee in New Orleans and test the legal-\\nity of the matter in the courts of the United States.\\nAnd because Cobb refused to sanction such a plan,\\nLamar asked sternly in another letter, Has Northern\\npublic opinion, then, acquired the force of law?\\nThe yacht Wanderer, of which Lamar makes men-\\ntion, was without doubt the most notable slave-smug-\\ngler known to the trade, and her story is therefore\\nwell worth giving here.\\nAccording to the records of the New York Yacht\\nClub, the Wanderer was built by James G. Baylis, at\\nPort Jefferson, L. I., for Mr. J. D. Johnson, a wealthy\\nmember of the club. She was launched in June, 1857.\\nHer dimensions were Length over all, 104 feet keel,\\n95 beam, 26.5 depth of hold, 10.5 draught, 10.5.\\nHer mainmast was 84 feet long and its topmast 35.\\nThe main boom was 65 feet .long, and its gaff and the\\nmain gaff 35. The bowsprit was 23 feet outboard.\\nCaptain Thomas Hawkins superintended her while\\non the blocks, and to hear him tell it, said one of\\nhis friends to me, you d think she could fly instead\\nof sailing. He added She was, however, a very\\nfast schooner. A beautiful painting of the Wan-\\nderer hangs in the Yacht Club s reception room at\\nthis writing (1900).\\nMr. Johnson sold the schooner to Captain W. C.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0245.jp2"}, "246": {"fulltext": "200 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nCorrie, who was elected a member of the New York\\nYacht Club on May 29, 1858, and he sailed for the\\nSouth with her at once. Under the rules of the club\\nCorrie was captain of the yacht. Her sailing master\\nwas a brother of the late Admiral Semmes, of the Con-\\nfederate navy. Captain Corrie took her to Charles-\\nton, and there cleared out for Trinidad, as if on a\\npleasure voyage, although, as a matter of fact, she\\nhad a slaver outfit in her hold. Captain Egbert Farn-\\nham, a man of an adventurous career he had been a\\nfamous overland rider in his time, and, it is said, one\\nof Walker s Nicaragua filibusters went along as su-\\npercargo.\\nFrom Trinidad the Wanderer went to St. Helena,\\nand thence to the Congo River. She was still flying\\nthe American flag and that of the New York Yacht\\nClub, of course, and when the British war-ship Me-\\ndusa was found cruising for slavers on the Congo\\ncoast, Captain Corrie ran alongside and remained\\nwith her several days (according to the newspapers),\\nduring which he entertained the British officers with\\nthe best he had, and was in turn entertained in royal\\nfashion on the war-ship. Places of interest ashore\\nwere visited in company. There was a race with a\\nBritish yacht off the coast, in which, of course, the\\nWanderer won handsomely.\\nFarnham told the reporters, after his return, that on\\none occasion, after the wine had mellowed the British\\nofficers sufficiently, they were invited to inspect the\\nWanderer to see whether she was not a slaver, whereat\\nthe whole party laughed joyously. The idea that such\\na magnificent floating palace as the Wanderer was to\\nbe used as a slaver did seem extremely ridiculous to", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0246.jp2"}, "247": {"fulltext": "LATTER-DAY SLAVE SMUGGLERS 2 1\\nthem. Then the British sailed away and the Wan-\\nderer slipped away up the Congo to the barracoons.\\nThe owners of the Wanderer, besides Corrie, were\\nCharles A. L. Lamar, of Savannah N. C. Trowbridge,\\nof New Orleans Captain A. C. McGhee, f Columbus,\\nGa. Richard Dickerson, of Richmond, a and Ben-\\njamin Davis, of Charleston, S. C. Captain McGhee, in\\nan interview with a correspondent of the New York\\ntiun, printed four or five years ago, said that the cargo\\npurchased consisted chiefly of young negroes from thir-\\nteen to eighteen years of age, and that seven hundred\\nand lif ty were taken on board.\\nThat she got clear of the slave-coast with a full load\\nis beyond doubt. The exact date of her arrival on the\\nGeorgia coast is not known, but it was not far from\\nDecember 2, 1858. The first mention of the matter in\\nprint is found in the Savannah Republican of Decem-\\nber 11th of that year, wherein it is asserted that her\\ncargo was landed in the neighborhood of St. An-\\ndrews Sound, near Brunswick, and that part of\\nher cargo was subsequently sent up Saltilla River on\\nboard a steamer.\\nThe Savannah Republican said a few days later that\\nit had heard that the slaves were landed on Jekyl\\nIsland, for which privilege, it is said, the negro traders\\npaid $15,000, and that a steamboat from this city went\\ndown and brought one hundred and fifty of them past\\nSavannah and up the river to a plantation from whence\\nthey were scattered over the country.\\nCaptain McGhee tells how this was done\\nThe most difficult part of the voyage was to get\\ninto port. The only w r ay to enter the mouth of the\\nSavannah River was under the black muzzles of the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0247.jp2"}, "248": {"fulltext": "202 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nguns of the fort, and it would have been madness to\\nattempt to enter with that contraband cargo in open\\ndaylight. Instead Captain Senimes crept into the\\nmouth of the Great Ogeechee by night and ascended\\nthe river to the big swamp, and there lay concealed\\nwhile he communicated with Lamar in Savannah.\\nLamar thereupon announced that he was going to\\ngive a grand ball in honor of the officers and garrison\\nof the fort, and insisted that the soldiers, as well as\\ntheir superiors, should partake of the good cheer.\\nWhen the gayety was at its height the Wanderer stole\\ninto the river and passed the guns of the fort unchal-\\nlenged in the darkness and made her way to Lamar s\\nplantations, some distance up the river. The human\\ncargo was soon disembarked and placed under the\\ncharge of the old rice-field negroes, who were nearly\\nas savage as the new importations.\\nAccording, however, to a letter written by Lamar\\nto N. C Trowbridge, of New Orleans, on December\\n18th, the smugglers were in trouble enough in spite\\nof successful tricks, for United States District At-\\ntorney Ganahl had moved in the matter at once, and\\nLamar wrote\\nI returned from Augusta this morning. I distributed the\\nnegroes as best I could but I tell you things are in a hell of\\na fix no certainty about anything. The Government has em-\\nployed H. R. Jackson to assist in the prosecution, and are\\ndetermined to press matters to the utmost extremity. The\\nyacht has been seized. The examination commenced to-day\\nand will continue thirty days, at the rate they are going on.\\nThey have all the pilots and men who took the yacht to Bruns-\\nwick here to testify. She tvill be lost certain and sure, if not\\nthe negroes. Dr. Hazlehurst testified that he attended the\\nnegroes and swore they were Africans, and of recent importa-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0248.jp2"}, "249": {"fulltext": "LATTKIM :\\\\Y SLAVE SMUGGLERS 203\\ntion. I don t calculate to gel a new dollar for an M\\none. All these men mus1 be bribed, I must be paid for my\\ntime, trouble, and advances. Six of those who were\\nleft at Mont s, who were sick, died yesterday. I think the\\nwhole of them now sick will die. They are too enfeebled\\nadminister medicine to. I am paying fifty cents a day each\\nfor all those I took up the country. It was the besl I con Id\\ndo. I tell you hell is to pay. I don t think they will\\ndischarge the men, but turn them over for trial.\\nNor were his troubles solely with the Government\\nofficials. In a letter to Theodore Johnson, of New Or-\\nleans, he says that some of the planters witli whom the\\nnegroes were left for safe keeping were proving recre-\\nant to the trust. He says\\nI am astonished at what Governor Phiniz has written me.\\nThe idea of a man s taking negroes to keep at fifty\\ncents a head per day, and then refusing to give them up when\\ndemanded, simply because the law does not recognize them\\nas property, is worse than stealing.\\nA letter from Lamar to C. C. Cook, Esq., Blakely,\\nGeorgia, is of interest here, though I am not able to\\nsay definitely that it refers to the Wanderer, for Lamar\\nhad two other slavers afloat. The italics are in the\\noriginal\\nYou are aware that it is a risky btisiness. I lost two out of\\nthree. To be sure, at first knew nothing of the business. I\\nhave learned something since, and I hope I can put my infor-\\nmation to some account. I have been in for grandeur, and\\nbeen fighting for a principle. Now I am in for the dollars.\\nMeantime arrests had been made. Captain Corrie\\nwas taken in custody on January 22, 1859. The date\\nof Lamar s arrest is not recorded, as far as I can\\nlearn.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0249.jp2"}, "250": {"fulltext": "204 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nFrom a letter addressed to Captain N. J). Brown,\\nwho was apparently one of the men under arrest, it\\nappears that while in trouble himself, Lamar still\\nstood by some of his crew, for he says\\nYour attorneys will visit you before the trial. If a true\\nbill be found against you by the grand jury, it will be done\\nupon the evidence of Club and Harris, and of course they will\\ntestify to the same thing. In that case I think you all ought\\nto leave, and I will make arrangements for you to do so, if you\\nagree with me. I have offered Club and Harris $5,000 not to\\ntestify but the Government is also trying to buy them.\\nI am afraid they will convict me, but my case is only\\nseven years and a fine. If I find they are likely to do so, I\\nshall go to Cuba until I make some compromise with the\\nGovernment.\\nThe distribution of the negroes was accomplished in\\nthe meantime. Captain Frazier, of the river-steamer\\nAugusta, testified that he carried one hundred and\\nseventy-two of the negroes from Jekyl Island to a\\nplantation lying two miles below Augusta. It is likely\\nthat the ball mentioned by Captain McGhee was given\\nwhen this cargo was taken up the river past Savannah\\nto Augusta.\\nMeantime the news had created a deal of excite-\\nment in every part of the country. Congress took up\\nthe matter. On motion of Senator Henry Wilson the\\nSenate called on President Buchanan for all the facts\\nthat the Government had. The document containing\\nthe President s reply is a leaflet. He said: I concur\\nwith the Attorney-General [J. S. Black] in the opinion\\nthat it would be incompatible with the public interest\\nat this time to communicate the correspondence with\\nthe officers of the Government at Savannah, or the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0250.jp2"}, "251": {"fulltext": "LATTEB DAY. SLAVE SMUGGLERS 205\\ninstructions which they have received. He added a\\npromise to make every practicable effort to die\\ncover all the guilty parties and to bring them to\\njustice.\\nAs usual, the smugglers escaped, and the Wanden r\\nwas condemned. She was sold at auction, and was\\nbid in by her former owners at a fourth of her value\\nas a merchant schooner.\\nCaptain McGhee, already quoted in telling of the\\nfinal results of the voyage, said that the slaves that\\nhad been purchased for a few beads and bandanna\\nhandkerchiefs were sold in the market for from $600\\nto $700 apiece. The owners of the vessel paid Cap-\\ntain Semmes $3,500 for his services and cleared up-\\nward of $10,000 apiece on the venture for themselves.\\nLamar s letters do not quite agree with this so far\\nas he was concerned personally. I have been badly\\nswindled/ he says, by getting into the hands of\\nrascals and vagabonds. I am out of pocket on the\\nWanderer had to assume all the responsibility, pay\\nall the money, and do all the work.\\nIt is fair to presume that he actually got back more\\ndollars than he put in, but considered that he had\\nlost his time had been inadequately paid for it.\\nOn July 21, 1859, Lamar wrote to his friend Trow-\\nbridge, at New Orleans, saying, The Wanderer is\\ngoing to China, and may return with coolies. They\\nare worth from $340 to $350 each in Cuba, and cost\\nbut $12 and their passage. It is likely she did not\\ngo on this voyage. McGhee said, at any rate, that\\nIn the spring of 1859 the Wanderer again sailed\\nfor the west coast of Africa, and again Captain\\nSemmes found King Dahoniiney ready to trade on the", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0251.jp2"}, "252": {"fulltext": "206 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nmost liberal terms. On the second occasion lie had to\\ngo further up the river to secure the cargo, but he\\nsucceeded in delivering six hundred captives at the\\nmouth of the river. They were more intelligent than\\nthe first cargo, lighter in color, and better in many\\nrespects than those captured nearer the coast. A\\nnumber of them died during the voyage, and the\\nWanderer was put to her best speed on several occa-\\nsions to get away from undesirable acquaintances, but\\nshe was never overhauled, and she arrived off the\\nGeorgia coast in December. She was caught in a vio-\\nlent gale, and in attempting to enter Jekyl Creek,\\nbetween Jekyl and Cumberland Islands, she ran\\naground one stormy night, and a number of the cap-\\ntives escaped from the hold and jumped into the sea\\nand were drowned. The negroes were sent to\\nNew Orleans and sold, except a few that were scat-\\ntered about among the Georgia planters. The profits\\nwere quite as large as from the first expedition, and\\nbut for the breaking out of the war and the blockad-\\ning of the port at Savannah, the Wanderer might\\nhave made another voyage in 1860. As it was, she\\nwas hemmed up in the river by the blockade and\\nfinally sold to the Confederate Government.\\nLamar wrote a letter regarding this second voyage\\nthat is interesting as showing the kind of a heart\\nhe had. He said\\nThe man who went on her before would like to go again,\\nbut he made an extraordinary claim the last time, and it, of\\ncourse, was not settled in full and he might take some ad-\\nvantage and throw us, to pay off any feeling he might have\\nagainst the old company. He claimed he was to have re-\\nceived $30 a head for every one who had life in him, that was", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0252.jp2"}, "253": {"fulltext": "LATTEE-DAY SLAVE BMUGGLEBS 207\\nlanded, independent of his condition, even though he might\\ndie before lie eould be housed. Such was not the contract.\\nImagine the scene portrayed by this letter. There\\non the banks of Jekyl Island lay the negroes, dying\\nbecause of the torments they had endured, while La-\\nmar and the captain stood by quarrelling over the\\nblood money.\\nIn the record of the meetings of the New York\\nYacht Club for 1859 (a thin little 12mo manuscript\\nvolume) can be found, under the date of Febru-\\nary 3, a preamble and resolutions expelling Come\\nfrom the club and erasing the name of the Wanderer\\nfrom the club s squadron list. The club did this not\\nonly because Corrie had violated the law, but more\\nespecially from his being engaged in a traffic repug-\\nnant to humanity and to the moral sense of the mem-\\nbers of this association.\\nThere were many slavers living in New York then,\\nbut they were not considered fit for membership in\\nthe New York Yacht Club.\\nAccording to Lamar s letter-book, the Wanderer\\nwas stolen out of Savannah, after the second voyage\\nto Africa, by a Captain D. S. Martin. He has un-\\ndoubtedly gone to the coast of Africa for a cargo of\\nnegroes, says Lamar and if he is as smart there as\\nhe has been here, he will get one.\\nThe Wanderer was eventually captured by the\\nFederal forces, and was, for a time, used as revenue\\ncutter at Pensacola. Then she was sold at auction\\nand was put into the cocoanut trade by a firm deal-\\ning with the islands on the north coast of Honduras,\\nand there she remained until driven ashore on Cape", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0253.jp2"}, "254": {"fulltext": "208 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nHenry, where her bones found a last resting-place.\\nLamar was killed in battle during the civil wa r. \\\\y\\nOne might tell in considerable detail, too, the story\\nof the slaver Clotilde, a schooner of three hundred\\nand twenty-seven tons built by Captain Timothy\\nMeagher on the Mobile River late in the fall of 1858.\\nTimothy bought one hundred and seventy-five prime\\nslaves in Africa, and landed them without the loss of\\none (a most humane voyage) near Mobile City. But it\\ndid not pay. The negroes cost too much ($8,640 gold,\\nbesides ninety cases of rum and eight cases of cloths),\\nand only twenty-five could be sold, because of the\\ndiscovery of the importation and the rush of officials\\nfor prize money. The Captain sunk in all nearly\\n$100,000.\\nAs to the extent of the smuggling Stephen A.\\nDouglas said in public that he believed 15,000 slaves\\nwere smuggled into the United States in 1859. A\\ncorrespondent wrote to the Tribune in 1860 that\\ntwelve vessels will discharge their living freight\\nupon our shores within ninety days from the 1st of\\nJune last. Douglas s position on the slaver ques-\\ntion cost him dearly he failed of election as Presi-\\ndent because of it.\\nIn spite of a pretence of prosecuting the slavers de-\\ntected in their work, the Government in those days\\npractically aided them by failing to prosecute them to\\nconviction for the crime committed. Out of sixty\\npersons arrested as slavers, who have been bailed\\nfrom the first day of May, 1852, to the first day of\\nMay, 1862, says a report made by Secretary of the\\nInterior Caleb B. Smith, the following disposition had\\nbeen made Eight cases were still pending nine had,", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0254.jp2"}, "255": {"fulltext": "LATTER-DA? SLAVE SMUGGLERS 209\\nbeen tried and acquitted by the jury; QO bill had\\nbeen found in two cases in one case Defendant\\ncould not be found, but the bond was not forfeited\\nin another, Defendant surrendered his bail, but af-\\nterward escaped. In all other instances the cast- was\\ndismissed or a nolle was entered.\\nIn one of Lamar s letters was a reference to what he\\ncalls his missionary work, and that is a subject need-\\ning further notice. An examination of newspapers\\nand periodicals shows that many slave-owners had a\\nstrong desire for the expansion of the slave territory.\\nFilibustering expeditions like that of Walker to Nica-\\nragua -grew out of it. Pollard in his Black Dia-\\nmonds speaks of Walker as one of a number of men\\nwho looked over the whole territory bordering on the\\nCaribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico as a vast field\\nfor slave-holders to acquire in order that they might\\nmake of it a slave empire that should supply the world\\nwith cotton, coffee, sugar, and other staples, all to be\\nproduced by slave labor for the benefit of the domi-\\nnant race. Pollard called the dream magnificent.\\nThen there was the plan for buying Cuba which\\nBuchanan aided, as already mentioned. Spain could\\nhave had $100,000,000 for the island then.\\nIn addition to these evidences of restlessness were\\nthe efforts made to reopen the slave-trade between\\nAfrica and the United States.\\nIn Be Bow s for November, 1858, is the following\\nIt cannot be denied that the Southern States-\\nmore especially those in which are grown the great\\nstaples of cotton, sugar, and rice demand a greater\\nnumber of negro laborers than can now possibly be\\n14", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0255.jp2"}, "256": {"fulltext": "210 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nacquired by natural increase or from those home\\nsources which have hitherto yielded but a sparse\\nsupply.\\nThe price of slaves was increasing rapidly, the\\nwriter continues. Quotations from reports of auction\\nsales showed that the price has already reached that\\npoint which is beyond the means of small planters.\\nAble men sold as high as $1,835 cash. The lowest\\nprice for an adult at a sale quoted was Olivia, $1,-\\n140. There was, of course, but one remedy the re-\\nopening of the African slave-trade.\\nThis is a fair sample of many similar appeals in\\nperiodicals. Pamphlets were printed and circulated.\\nOne of them made a most potent appeal to all the\\nmerchants and manufacturers having trade with slave-\\nowners. The character of the appeal appears from its\\ntitle, Southern Wealth and Northern Profits. It\\nmay be found in the libraries.\\nMeantime conventions were called wherein orators\\ncould proclaim views which were, of course, printed\\nafterward in the newspapers. It was a campaign of\\neducation.\\nFor instance, there was the convention of May 10,\\n1858, held at Montgomery, Ala. Spratt, of South Car-\\nolina, from the committee on the slave-trade, intro-\\nduced the following resolutions (quoted in Du Bois)\\nResolved, That slavery is right, and that, being right, there\\ncan be no wrong in the natural means to its formation.\\nResolved, That it is expedient and proper that the foreign\\nslave-trade should be reopened, and that this convention will\\nlend its influence to any legitimate measure to that end.\\nWhen some of the more conservative men present\\nmildly objected, Yancey declared that if it is right", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0256.jp2"}, "257": {"fulltext": "LATTER-DAY SLAVE SMUGGLERS k J 1 I\\nto buy slaves in Virginia and cany them to New Or-\\nleans, why is it not right to buy them in Cuba, Brazil,\\nor Africa, and carry them there 1\\nHis question was, of course, unanswerable. Be\\nmight also have said that if it was right to own\\nnegroes it was right to buy them wherever they were\\non sale and take them to any place where they were\\nneeded. Although he did not know it, he was clear-\\ning the much-befogged road leading to the point of\\nview from which might be seen the real evil principle\\nat the bottom of slavery.\\nAt Vicksburg, in 1859, a convention of commercial\\nmen resolved by a vote of forty to nineteen that all\\nlaws, State or Federal, prohibiting the African slave-\\ntrade ought to be repealed; also that the conven-\\ntion raise a fund to be dispensed, in premiums for the\\nbest sermons in favor of reopening the African Slave-\\ntrade\\nThe reopening of the trade was also advocated on\\nthe floor of Congress. Omitting many quotations\\nthat might be made from the words of slave-holding\\nCongressmen it will be sufficient to note what two\\nwho were representative of their class said. Alexan-\\nder Stephens, in his farewell address to his constitu-\\nents, according to reputable reports, used these\\nwords Slave-States cannot be made without Afri-\\ncans. [My object is] to bring clearly to your\\nmind the great truth that without an increase of Afri-\\ncan slaves from abroad you may not expect or look\\nfor many more slave-States.\\nJefferson Davis, while opposing an immediate reop-\\nening of the trade, denied any coincidence of opinion\\nwith those whojDrate of the inhumanity and sinful-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0257.jp2"}, "258": {"fulltext": "212 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TTvADE\\nness of the trade. The interest of Mississippi, not of\\nthe African, dictates my conclusion. He thought to\\nopen the trade immediately would flood Mississippi\\nwith negroes by bringing in more than could be profit-\\nably and safely handled, but this conclusion, in re-\\nlation to Mississippi, is based upon my view of her\\npresent condition, not upon any general theory. It is\\nnot supposed to be applicable to Texas, to New Mexi-\\nco, or to any future acquisitions to be made south\\nof the Rio Grande.\\nBut the rising tide of the power of those who be-\\nlieved in human slavery had reached its highest level.\\nWhile slave-holders were holding conventions in\\nwhich to advocate the reopening of the slave-trade,\\nthe abolitionists were in a thousand ways proclaiming\\nthe right of every human being to life, liberty, and the\\npursuit of happiness. A few were even proclaiming\\nthe strange doctrine that the superior race, instead of\\nhaving, by virtue of its superiority, the right to op-\\npress the weak, was, by the example and command of\\nAlmighty God, bound to uplift and carry the burden\\nof the weak. A river of Jordan running bankful of\\nblood lay before us, and we were about to bathe in it\\nand be healed.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0258.jp2"}, "259": {"fulltext": "CHAPTER XX\\nWHEN THE END CAME\\nBuchanan s Administration and the Slave-trade When the\\nSham Efforts to Suppress Came to an End Story of Cap-\\ntain Gordon of the Erie, the First Slaver Pirate to be Exe-\\ncuted in the United States.\\nAs hitherto noted, the slave-trade differed from all\\nother kinds of traffic known to the history of the world.\\nIn every other traffic there was (and there is) a steady\\namelioration of the condition of all persons engaged in\\nit. The African slave-trade to the Americas began\\nwith the work of a good bishop who saw that it was\\nmore humane to enslave the hardy African than the\\neffeminate red aborigines. From that the trade de-\\nscended to a level where it was, for that day, an ordi-\\nnary commercial enterprise, and then, because it was\\nprofitable and was becoming steadily more profitable,\\nit reached out to overwhelm with its suffering, as well\\nas its shame, not only everyone connected with it,\\nwhether directly or indirectly, but it drenched with\\nits sorrows uncounted thousands who had never had\\nany part in it, and still other thousands who had\\nopposed it.\\nBut even while Buchanan was striving to buy Cuba\\non the pretence that thus the slave-trade would be\\nsuppressed, the end of America s shame was at hand.\\n213", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0259.jp2"}, "260": {"fulltext": "214 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nIt was not in the blood of the race to perpetuate\\nhypocrisy and injustice forever.\\nThose of us who are old enough recall with strange\\nfeelings the tumultuous controversies of the days of\\nthe Buchanan Administration. The pelting of words\\nwas incessant, but back of all that and growing\\nsteadily more ominous, was the tornado roar of one\\nmighty question, Shall the Right prevail in the United\\nStates of America\\nGranville Sharp, as the friend of one oppressed\\nnegro, had asked that question, standing alone, in\\nother years. Now tens of thousands of the mightiest,\\nmost heroic souls of the earth were standing up to\\nanswer it, not by words alone but by freely giving\\ntheir life blood.\\nYet let no injustice be done now in recalling that\\ncontroversy. As long as a people holds its life in its\\nhand, ready to give it for its honor (though a foolish\\nhonor) for its love (though a foolish love) for its\\nbusiness (though a foolish business), there is hope for\\nit. The slave-owners, too, held their lives in their\\nhands. No higher proof of their sincerity is known\\nto man. Nathan Hale, whose statue stands in the\\nCity Hall Park of New York, reached out both hands\\n(albeit with sorrow) when he welcomed to the further\\nshore the spirits of those Americans who cheerfully\\nwent to their death in the David torpedo-boat, of\\nCharleston harbor. We were to determine not only\\nwhether the right should prevail, but to see what was\\nright, and our pool of Siloam was full to the brim of\\nblood.\\nBut when that is said\u00e2\u0080\u0094 when the entire sincerity of\\nthe masses of those who sought to perpetuate slavery", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0260.jp2"}, "261": {"fulltext": "WHEN THE END CAME 216\\nis proclaimed the tad remains (and we can all Bee it\\nnow) that our Declaration of Independence bad been\\nfor three-quarters of a century a grinning mask. It\\ncould not remain so longer. The spirit that had\\ninspired the men who mad. that Declaration, 1 1 t\\nfully knowing what they did, was ready at last t\\nturn the mask into the Hushed face of the L r dd. 89 of\\nAmerica. A time had come when a President who\\ncould understand the immortal words was to 1\\nelected, and he was elected. The laws against the\\nslave-trade were now to be executed. The spirit f\\nthe Declaration of Independence was now not only to\\nbe enacted in statutes, but, within limits, to become\\nthe faith of the people.\\nUnder Buchanan it was possible for the slave-bark\\nCora to be captured on the coast of Africa on the\\n18th day of May, carried to New York, let go after a\\nform of condemnation, and then captured once more\\non the slave-coast, on December 10 of the same year.\\nWith the advent of Abraham Lincoln the sham\\npassed aw 7 ay. Here was a man who had the first\\ncharacteristics of all heroes sincerity and strength.\\nHe would, with charity for all and with malice\\ntoward none, and with such obstacles in his way as\\nno American had ever faced before, and no American\\nwill ever face again he would do his duty. Of all\\nbooks that have been written here and may now be\\nhad for a price, there is none so well worth the study\\nof an American reader, if he will but seek the heart of\\nit, as a Life of Abraham Lincoln. But the American\\nCarlyle has yet to come to place the heart of it plainly\\nbefore us.\\nIn a letter regarding the slave-trade written by Mr.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0261.jp2"}, "262": {"fulltext": "216 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nSeward to Lord Lyons, on March 22, 1862, it is said\\nthat the last slave-smuggler was the Wanderer,\\nalready described. Possibly in fact, very likely\\nsmall parties were brought over from Cuba after she\\nlanded her cargo, but she was the last regular slave-\\nship to come to our coasts.\\nThe blockade of the Confederate ports by the\\nFederal ships, however, in 1861 ended all slave-smug-\\ngling here. Nevertheless the smuggling of slaves into\\nthe Spanish colonies in America was carried on for a\\nlong time after our civil war ended. The trade is\\ncalled smuggling because during all the weary years\\nafter 1820 the weary years during which so many\\nnegroes were thrown overboard that every wave of the\\nsea in the Middle Passage became a mound over a\\nbody that had been tortured to death during all\\nthose years the laws of Spain prohibited the traffic.\\nMr. Seward, in view of the fact that this infamous\\ntraffic has been carried on by persons resident in other\\ncountries, including the United States, was prepared\\nto open negotiations for a convention with Her\\nMajesty s Government that should be worthy of the\\ncivilizations of the age. The shams of previous ad-\\nministrations, and the clap-trap about the right of\\nsearch and the sacredness of our flag, were to come to\\nan end, and they did end in a treaty that was con-\\ncluded at Washington on April 7, 1862. To give it\\neffect, Congress made two appropriations of $900,000\\neach. The days when an American cruiser, out of\\nfifteen months service in the African squadron, would\\nspend no more than fifteen days on the slave-coast, as\\nreally happened under the sham, were now at an end.\\nThe days when American naval officers were to go", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0262.jp2"}, "263": {"fulltext": "THE HUMAN CARGO WAS UNDER THE CHARGE OE THE OLD RICE-FIELD NEGROES.\\npage 02.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0263.jp2"}, "264": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0264.jp2"}, "265": {"fulltext": "WHEN THE END CAME 21?\\nthrough the forms of executing the laws, while ham-\\npered by the Department, were also at ;m end. There\\nwere, indeed, slavers afloat thereafter. While the\\nmarket existed, and such enormous profits were to be\\nmade, even the severest measures could, perhaps, but\\nrepress. By a treaty made with Great Britain on\\nFebruary 17, 1863, the limits of the territory wherein\\nthe mutual right of search existed were greatly ex\\ntended. Even as late as 1870, Great Britain and the\\nUnited States had to strengthen still further their\\nagreement for the suppression of the trade, because a\\nfew slavers were yet on the high seas. It was not\\nuntil about 1886 that the Spaniards (and some Ameri-\\ncan citizens) ceased to own slaves in Cuba, but the\\nslave-trade began its death throes it for the first time\\nfelt a real strangling pressure on its throat when this\\ntreaty was made.\\nDetailed stories of some of the slavers owned in New\\nYork but trading to Cuba are to be had by the stu-\\ndent in sufficient number. For instance, George Howe,\\nM.D., told the story of his experience in The Last\\nSlave-Ship, in tfcrzYmer s Magazine for July, 1890.\\nThe story of how Appleton Oaksmith, written also\\nOaks Smith), the son of an honored poetess, disgraced\\nhis name by trying to get aw T ay for a slaver voyage in\\nthe whaler bark Augusta is told in Government\\ndocuments. This is a particularly interesting story\\nfrom the fact that Oaksmith was prosecuted by Mr.\\nStewart L. Woodford, late United States Minister to\\nSpain, then just beginning his public career by serving\\nas an assistant to the United States District Attorney\\nin New York City. It brings the slave-trade close\\ndown to the present day, so to speak, when we re-", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0265.jp2"}, "266": {"fulltext": "213 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nmember that the well-known diplomat of 1898 began\\nhis public career by prosecuting a slaver. But all of\\nthese stories must be omitted in order to emphasize\\nthat of a slaver whose fate marked the end of the\\nheinious traffic.\\nIn the summer of 1860, Captain Nathaniel Gordon, of\\nthe ship Erie, took his vessel to Havana and there com-\\npleted an outfit for the slave-trade that he had begun\\nbuying in New York. Gordon was a citizen of Port-\\nland, Me., and had made already, it was said, three\\nslave voyages. On leaving Havana he went directly\\nto the Congo River, and sailed forty-five miles up into\\nthe interior. There he discharged a cargo of liquor,\\nand having prepared his ship for her return cargo of\\nslaves he came down near the mouth of the stream,\\nwhere on the afternoon of August 7, 1860, he brought\\non board the slaves, and thrust them, densely\\ncrowded, between the decks, and immediately set sail\\nfor Cuba. The slaves numbered eight hundred and\\nninety, of whom but one hundred and seventy-two\\nwere men. The women numbered one hundred and\\nsix, and the remainder were boys and girls. Gordon\\nwas one of those slavers who carried children because\\nit was safer to carry them. They would but flinch\\nand scream when he tortured them they would never\\nstrike back.\\nAs it happened the United States warship Mohican\\nwas fifty miles off shore next morning, and the JSrie,\\nwhile crowding sail for Havana, was seen and capt-\\nured. The negroes were taken to Liberia and landed,\\nwhile the Erie and Gordon were sent to New York\\nfor trial. The ship was soon disposed of. She had\\nbeen taken with the slaves on board, and even in 1860", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0266.jp2"}, "267": {"fulltext": "WHEN THE END CAME 219\\nshe was sure to be condemned, because the condem\\nnation would bring considerable sums of money to all\\nconcerned in her capture and condemnation. She\\nwas sold, on October 4th of the same year, at auction,\\nfor $7,8215. 2ft, showing she was a right good ship, for\\nshe measured but rive hundred tons.\\nTo punish Gordon as a pirate under the law of 1820\\nwas another matter, and when lie was first brought to\\nface the charge there was a mistrial. But in the\\nmeantime a new administration had come in, and a\\nDistrict Attorney, E. Delafield Smith, who respected\\nhis oath of office, had been appointed.\\nGordon was once more put on trial on November G,\\n1861. He was defended by ex-Judge Dean and P. J.\\nJoachimson, who were experienced in such cases.\\nJudge Nelson presided. In tw r o hours a jury was\\nobtained.\\nThe papers of that day say that but few spectators\\nwere in court during the trial. The public showed\\nvery little interest in the case. The Civil War was in\\nprogress, and how could anyone stop to consider the\\ntrial of a ship captain who had been on trial once be-\\nfore, had secured a disagreement of the jury, and, if\\nprecedent counted for anything, was likely to go free\\nin the end Even the most sensational papers of the\\nday gave the trial but scanty space. So, with never a\\nthought that they were making important history, the\\nJudge and the lawyers and the jury worked away.\\nThe plea, as was usual in such cases, was that Gordon\\nwas a passenger, having turned the command over to\\na foreigner carried along for the purpose. On the af-\\nternoon of Friday, November 8, the attorneys ended\\ntheir part of the trial, Judge Nelson delivered his", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0267.jp2"}, "268": {"fulltext": "220 THE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\ncharge, and at 7 o clock in the evening the jury re-\\ntired. Twenty minutes later they came back with the\\nverdict.\\nGuilty.\\nGordon heard the verdict without emotion, so\\nthe reporters described the scene, and they were about\\nthe only spectators outside of those directly inter-\\nested in the case.\\nBut when that verdict had appeared in print, next\\nday, the people of New York woke up to the im-\\nportance of what had occurred. On Saturday, No-\\nvember 30, when motions for a new trial had been de-\\nnied, and Gordon was commanded to stand up and\\nhear his doom, he arose to his feet in a court-room\\ndensely packed with people who had come to hear\\nthe sentence of the first American slaver convicted as\\na pirate.\\nAs Gordon heard the command to stand up his face\\nchanged color rapidly, but once on his feet he recov-\\nered his composure, and in reply to the usual ques-\\ntion said, with a forced smile,\\nI have nothing to say whatever.\\nAt that Judge Nelson began to speak. He recited\\nthe facts in the case, warned the prisoner that as he\\nhad shown no mercy to the unfortunate he could ex-\\npect none now from the Court, and ended by ordering\\nthat the slaver be, on February 7, 1862, between the\\nhours of noon and three in the afternoon, hanged by\\nthe neck until he was dead.\\nWhen February 7 came Gordon had been respited\\nfor two weeks by the President. It was current^\\nreported that the President had commuted the sen-\\ntence, said one paper, but Marshal Murray knew", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0268.jp2"}, "269": {"fulltext": "WHEN THE END CAME j j\\nbetter, and when Gordon Looked in his face, od receiv-\\ning the respite, he saw his fate.\\nMr. Marshal, then there is no hope 1 he asked.\\nNot the slightest, replied Murray.\\nThere was no lack of effort, however, to Bave the\\npirate. Even on the last day of his life, one f his\\nattorneys telegraphed that the Governor of the State\\nhad appealed to the President, and asked for a delay\\nfor a reply, but Murray explained that an arrangement\\nhad been concluded with the President by which qo\\ntelegram from any source whatever should interfere.\\nNor was that all that was done to save him.\\nThreats were made that a rescuing mob to storm the\\njail would be raised threats that were really ominous,\\nfor that was a day when innocent negroes were hanged\\nto lamp-posts by a New York mob.\\nBut a guard of eighty marines from the navy-yard\\nfiled into the yard of the city prison on the morning\\nof February 21, 1862, and there loaded their muskets\\nwith ball cartridges, and fixed their bayonets. And\\nthat ended the possibility of mob attacks.\\nMeantime Gordon had passed the early part of the\\nnight in writing letters. At one o clock in the morn-\\ning he went to sleep and slept for two hours. On\\nwaking he managed to swallow a dose of strychnine\\nhe had obtained for the occasion. As it began to\\nwork he gnashed his teeth at the guards and shouted,\\nI ve cheated you I ve cheated you\\nBut he w T as mistaken, for physicians saved him alive\\nand conscious for the gallows. Two or three notes\\nwere written by him after his recovery from the poison,\\nand then, just before the noon hour, the Marshal cam.\\nto the cell and in the usual course read the death", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0269.jp2"}, "270": {"fulltext": "222 TUE AMERICAN SLAVE-TRADE\\nwarrant and asked Gordon if he bad anything to\\nsay.\\nFor a moment the prisoner was silent, and then in\\na firm voice he replied\\nMy conscience is clear. I have no fault to find\\nwith the treatment I have received from the Marshal\\nand his Deputy, Mr. Thompson but any public man\\nwho will get up in open court and say to the jury, If\\nyou convict this prisoner, I will be the first man to\\nsign a petition for his pardon, and will then go to the\\nExecutive to prevent his commuting the sentence, is\\na man who will do anything to promote his own ends,\\nI do not care what people may say.\\nIt was a remarkable speech to make in the shadow\\nof the gallows, for the charge it contained against\\nDistrict Attorney Smith was untrue. The reporters\\nhunted up the stenographic report of the speech to\\nthe jury and found no such words in it.\\nAt noon, on February 21, 1862, Nathaniel Gordon,\\nwith a slanderous lie on his lips, started for the\\ngallows. He was deathly pale with terror [says the\\nNew York Tribune of February 22, 1862], his head\\nhung over his shoulder, and his limbs almost refused\\ntheir office. He tottered as he stood beneath the fatal\\nbeam, [so that] he had to be supported. At a given\\nsignal the cord was snapped asunder by the execu-\\ntioner s axe and Nathaniel Gordon was hoisted aloft\\ninto mid-air. A few convulsive twitches of the body\\nfollowed. The veins of his neck and hands swelled\\nand stood out hard then the limbs lost their rigidity,\\nthe flesh assumed a livid hue, and the slave-trader,\\nnow a lump of dishonored clay, swung slowly to and\\nfro in the frosty air.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0270.jp2"}, "271": {"fulltext": "WHEN THE END \\\\Ml.\\nFor more than three hundred years the oppressed\\nhud been crying from flu- foul hold of the Blaver\\nHow long, O Lord, how long? But when the axe\\nfell, and the rope creaked to the weight of that dis-\\nhonored clay, the sweet angel of Mercy was at last\\nable to reply\\nNow.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0271.jp2"}, "272": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0272.jp2"}, "273": {"fulltext": "Al l KNPl\\n5\\nz\\na-\\ni?\\n\u00c2\u00a33 5\\np 2\\n5 J!\\ni\\n55 s\\no e\\nO -m\\ns\\n8\\n5\\nlO ^J\\n\u00c2\u00abca g\\nr -i e\\nGj c\\nm\\n09\\nW\\nGO\\nof May,\\neing enga\\nnded for,\\nc\\nSi rQ O\\nc*\\n3 -c\\n6\\n|gX\\no\\no\\nft\\nH\\ne 6 5\\ni\\n5 s\\nCO\\nS a\\nCO\\no\\nded f\\nw Tot\\ne amo\\no\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a28\\nM\\ne o\\nW\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a02 3s S\\n02\\n3\\no\\nr2 C\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0to t\u00c2\u00a7\\n\u00c2\u00abC e- s*\\n\u00c2\u00ab0 O fc\\nQ\\n^S 8\\n5\\n^a\\ng\\no\\n_.\\ne s\\n1 SI\\n\u00c2\u00ab0 5\\ng\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a25a\\n1\\na 9^\\n7 3\\nQ\\n\u00c2\u00a7\u00e2\u0080\u00a28\\na\\ntl\\nZ3\\nT.\\n2\\na\\n0*\\n8S\\nCO\\n-I\\n\u00c2\u00a30\\n2\\no 5E o h\\ni\\nJ3\\n-S c! x\\np\\nce\\n3 J3 u\\nS a c\\nCO\\nrt\\n5 2 o\\n5 c m 5 c? g\\n2 eo\\no !5 es j2 a S3\\n;3\\n3\\n^8\\n-a\\na\\no\\nCO\\nto n\\n15", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0273.jp2"}, "274": {"fulltext": "226\\nAPPENDIX\\n*Em\\nU O\\n.a\\nM\\nSsS\\nJ2\\nP\\ng-r)\\nP v\\n8 a\\nu\\nu\\nd\\n_ 8\\nto ^_TT3\\n^s\\n-a p-\\n+SCQ 43\u00c2\u00ab atf2 02\\no_o\u00c2\u00bb\\ncf\\\\a\\ndCq\\nfe\\no o\\n^5 to T3\\ng C3\\n.2 o o\\n-a S\\no-a 2 \u00c2\u00abs\\no p 2\\nTS-H^ P\\nn\\nas\\npr-H\\n1\\no\\nO\\nSt s\\nc o (5\\n02\\nr to\\nCO t-c\\nCO\\n1-5\\n\u00e2\u0080\u009eQ es\\n03\\nP\\no c3\\n\u00c2\u00ab-2\\n0) *o\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2-5\\n;\u00c2\u00abs\\noo\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2ess\\nft\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\no cS\\n2 2\\nCO 4^\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0s S\\n:\u00c2\u00bb5\\noh\\nIN\\n03\\nfc d\\nIS", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0274.jp2"}, "275": {"fulltext": "APPENDIX\\n227\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2-933\\n3 S\\nIs\\na .a\\nh f\u00c2\u00b0\\nCO \u00c2\u00a32\\no O ir\\na S a c*\\na 0,0 g:o\\nQ- p a 9 r\u00c2\u00bb\\na a i a t-\\nT3\\nO CO 0\u00c2\u00ab0\\nPJi\\nh\\ng\\n43\\ni\\no\\nT3\\na\\na tj\\ns\\na s\\nT3\\ni\\n8\\nT3\\n0\u00e2\u0080\u0094 f\\nT3\\n0) \u00c2\u00bb-l\\ni\u00c2\u00a7\\nfl\u00c2\u00bb\\na d a\\na\\na m\\nc8.S\\n2\u00c2\u00a7\\n\u00c2\u00a71\\ndem\\napp\\ncisio\\na\\nS.9\\na a\\n\u00c2\u00bb-a\\nBC*\\na d u\\na\\no\u00c2\u00ab\\nOT3\\now\\n0.\\nfe\\nO\\nO\\nO\\na\\na or\\niHa b\\n2\\na a\\nEg.\\nj4\\na .a\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2-9\\n_\u00e2\u0096\u00a0\\na-c\\n43\\n43\\n\u00c2\u00a7oa\\ni-s\\no -sg\\nfe-3\\noP-i\\na o\\ngoo\\nCO\\nis\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2\u00c2\u00a72\\nH J\\na 1\u00e2\u0080\u0094 1\\n5S\\n*P a H\\nSo* 1\\nt O0\\nO ,-1\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0g.s\\nce a\\n5 U\\nO d\\n3\\nl-3 S\\n-S 3\\na\\nPQ\\nSi\\nn\\nPQ\\nco o\\nB* 43 G\\n5\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0H\\n4q Os\\n02\\n3 so\\n8\\ns\\nIf*\\na", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0275.jp2"}, "276": {"fulltext": "228\\nAPPENDIX\\nb\\nB (K\\n-C\\neg o\\nin w\\n3-S\\ntb bi ti\\na o a\\n^3 TS TJ\\n\u00c2\u00b01\\na a a\\nCD CD u\\nas\\nP. 0. ft\\nc^\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a02 c\\nJoa\\n3 S\\nCO CO CO\\n[spo\\nAm\\nft.it\\nV 4) OJ\\nCO to CO\\nQ\\nq u a\\nu\\nS 8\\n+J o\\n2\\nSO CO\\nS S\\nr-T\\no\\n1 O\\nS\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2d t\u00c2\u00ab\\nc\\ni\\na 9\\nc\\n-S\\no\\nto O t3\\nra\\n2 -a c -r-\\na S\\no\\ns\\ns\\nS5\\ncp4S ai-i.2\\nfco-tJ o_T^\\ni-H to\\no S\\nm\\nCD -H M _\\n-\u00c2\u00b0sg a tc\\nfe o\\nO -O fcEOO\\ntsf\\ng|\\nto i\u00e2\u0080\u0094i\\n\u00c2\u00a3.-2\\n5djo iS ao 00\\np rt 3^\u00c2\u00b0\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00baJ\\nj 3\\n4-l\\nIs\\nO (j O O\\n,a o\\n00\\nt3\\n*a\\na\\n2 A e\\no\\nT S\\no\\n_, fc to\\np\\n(50 3 6D [j Jf\\nfc\\nC C o 5\\nPQ 03 m\\nto J-\\n1-9\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0a o I\\nSo-o", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0276.jp2"}, "277": {"fulltext": "\\\\l ENDIX\\n229\\na\\n8\\ng\\n09\\n,2 o\\n\u00c2\u00a3\u00e2\u0080\u00a28 5\\nCO\\nMay,\\ng eng\\nd the\\nW\\nGO\\nvf i\\nC\\nS S3 8\\no\\nO\\nW\\n-8\\n03\\nX\\nH\\n6^3\\nCO\\nQ\\nZ\\nUJ\\nQu\\n0-\\nCO\\nto\\nd\\no\\nA\\n8 1\\nM\\n8\\nS\\nN\\np *s\u00c2\u00bb a\\nri\\nGO\\na\\nwho\\nrn Dt\\nthe b\\no\\nt%\\n6\\nft\\n1 1\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2c-\\ne 8\\n\u00c2\u00a7S\\n5\\nv.\\nOS S\\ns\\nW\\n\u00c2\u00b00 fc.\\n8 1\\nC? 5 j\\n4\\n6.\\n3\\n10\\n3\\n18\\na *s 00 55 00 go\\nCM f\u00e2\u0080\u0094 4 t\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\ns s\\ns 2\\na.\\na o\\nirt i\u00c2\u00bb -t\\ni\u00c2\u00ab IC C\\n55 00\\ns a o\\nM O\\nS 3\\nS -2\\nH ^aj\\nr-i\\n_ d\\na cc -9\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a04\\n6\\n3.2\\n=3 a\\nEh CQ", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0277.jp2"}, "278": {"fulltext": "230\\nAPPENDIX\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a22f*\\n13 T2\\noo in\\nr JJ O QJ Q\\nu u a,\\nSE.I\\nS SSS-S\\na G\\no o\\nCQ CQ\\na\\nflflB\\nre q re\\nn\\ns a\\na, a,\\no o\\nd n\\nScot* o oco\\nCO ill\\nr t H\\nOO\\n55 rr\\n-73 .2 T3 .3 T3 O\\nd p d a d d n\\nCQ CQ CQCQtt CQ\\neE2 d g\\nd^g 2\\nd g,d d\\nt;t3 h u\\nd d g,d d\\nCQCQ CQ\\no 3\\nd d\\nA\\n.fi\\nTS\\nT3 a\\n-73 co\\nd\\n\u00c2\u00a7i\\n1 -si\\n43 73 ctj\\n.-gfifl\\nS\u00c2\u00abg d\\ncq m Q\\nd\\na \u00e2\u0096\u00a0a\\nd 9\\ns\u00c2\u00ab\\n!8S 8 8?\\n10 o\u00c2\u00a9\\n3\\nJ d\\nW\\ne\\na\\ni\\nd a) oj\\n\u00c2\u00abai\\ni 1,-1 re u\\nja .CQ u\\n3 -WpH\\nu^^ o\\nPi Hi-sN\\nO\\nre\\n-t 0)\\nTS\\nCD\\na a\\n2 re\\nO M K\\n0)\\n\u00c2\u00b0r d\\nDig\\nre\\na\\n\u00c2\u00bbQJ3\\n152\\nrh\\nO l-S\\nrt\\ns s\\nSo 1 \u00c2\u00ab^2\\n00 00 S S i\u00c2\u00bbo6\u00c2\u00bb moo a!\\n,-S n ci\\n\u00c2\u00abt o\\nd\\na a\\nC*C}\\nCM C ,-1\\na a\\n01510\\n0000 -jo\\n-\u00e2\u0080\u00a2I\\nr3 \u00c2\u00b0d\\nO O\\nH\\nd. P3\\nto\\nft\\nd\\n00 c\\nPhO\\nCO\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2g d\\nre\\nU o 4\\n^CQ\\ns a\\ng g-\\n\u00c2\u00ab\u00c2\u00ab1", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0278.jp2"}, "279": {"fulltext": "APPENDIX\\n231\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0y\\nT3\\n43\\nEj\\na\\nc-1\\nrt\\nB\\nEM\\n5\\n.2 .2 .2 .2 rl k a\u00c2\u00b0\\n.2 .3\\n.a .a .a\\na a s a a a\\na\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\n1-9 3 o\\n3\\n1\\nSB\\nu\\nS 2 5 3\\n.t; .t;\\nq-S q?, g\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a03 g O g 0 .2 3\\ng eg erg ti g\\no o o\\n4-l tH H\\n3 .2 T3 .2 T3 .2 3 -2 -3.1\\n3 M fl C3 pq\\nT3\\n.2 .2\\n\u00c2\u00abS \u00c2\u00abS\\nb i- t-\\nO o o\\n*-l \u00c2\u00ab\u00c2\u00a3J *H\\n-3 .2 -3 .2 -3 .2\\n1 g S 9 6 g 2\\no 3\\n\u00e2\u0096\u00a0d\\na\\nV\\na\\nL\\na\\n6\\n5\\ni\\nzj\\n.ga-g 1\\nT3 O\\nH 3 c\\nc\u00c2\u00ab es o\\n111\\ns.s\\n3 a\\n;3~\\nU O fe\\no w q\\nS 3\\ns\\nB-s\\nM a\\no o q\\no\\na^a-g\\na to\\n-a tea\\na a a\\nO c\\na\\no\\nm\\ns s\\ncm cj at\\nt*\\nU D\\no a\\n\u00c2\u00abi 2\\na\\nCJ\\nm\\n2tf a\\nJ3 j\\ns\\n-a\\nh\\nH\\n,id^J Jd ^1 ^J ,y J\\nOOtnOOOUOO\\nrt efl n rf ri ct cj ri rt\\no 5\\nf J \u00c2\u00absj\\na\\no o\\nCD CD 35 O C5 C5 G5\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2ft w \u00c2\u00bbS \u00c2\u00bbfl \u00c2\u00abo o io\\nC75 35 05 35 Ci o\\n10 s io us\\nOOoOQOCOODCOOOoOOOao ;i;\\nfc fc\\nCD\\nSi\\n35\\n35\\n35\\n35\\nss\\n35\\nC5\\nC5\\n35\\nC5\\n35\\nCO\\n00\\nr\\nCO\\n00\\noo\\n13\\nOO\\n00\\n13\\nCO\\n00\\ng\\n00\\n13\\n00\\nU9\\nCO\\n8\\ntQ\\n00\\nCD\\nOO\\no\\n00\\nbo\\n3\\no\\no\\na\\na\\n9.\\na\\n3\\na\\n3\\n3\\n3\\n3\\n3\\n3\\n3\\ng\\no\\n3\\n3\\n9\\n3\\n8\\n3\\n9\\n3\\n-5\\n3\\n1-9\\n3\\n9\\n3\\n9\\n3\\n9\\n3\\n\u00e2\u0080\u00a2-9\\n3\\n9\\nQ\\na\\na\\n5 a\\na\\nffl O\\nO\\nO 73\\na h o a\\nH Eh\\n1 P,\\n5 a 1\\nI", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0279.jp2"}, "280": {"fulltext": "232\\nAPPENDIX\\na a\\na\\nB\u00c2\u00ab\\ng \u00c2\u00ab-g cyg fe-g g -g a,\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nB 60 blfl to B t3 B ^q a hD i\\nB a B _\\n.rt rg .S r\u00e2\u0080\u0094 fcjjrjj bCl-J^\\na a a a a\\nT3\\nB\\ng^ g.fl g.O\\nca m m m m m o\\n3 33\\n00\\nso a .5 S 5\\n!h-\u00c2\u00ab j.^j n3 o^rs-^\\n60bb\\na a\\nr OT3\\nfl a S\\na 3 e\\no m o\\na a a a on b\\no n o H s S\\nffl cq qo\\no\\nPQ\\nP3 ffl H\\nO O O j Ph\\nCs 3\\nO r-J X\\nJ5 o\\n2 d\\nPQ M\\ntD cp\\na\\nH H i-l\\nM M g =7l\\n2 a o\\nOgt-\\nS-i CCCJ\\nfe\\nPJCO 00\\no?t\u00c2\u00bb 35 CO\\n60 60\\n\u00c2\u00ab0 CO \u00c2\u00abD CD\\nC i-( i\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nPi Pi Pi*\\nfe\\n,0 ea\\n00 co 00 c\u00c2\u00bb co p; p;\\nQ Q Q fc Q\\n00 co S\u00c2\u00bb\\np-i ho (2,\\nCO 00 CO\\nd -5*\\n5.\\nO fiC\\nc\u00c2\u00ab a\\nCO n\\no\\nWffi\\nO -2\\nW O\\ng i2 p= pq h w J\\n.si\\nfe K O l\\n\u00c2\u00ab5\\n-t s-l\\nPh\\ntiffi\\nCO\\nJ\\n8,8\\nN\\nHB\u00c2\u00ab\\nfi", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0280.jp2"}, "281": {"fulltext": "BY JOHN R. SPEARS\\nTHE HISTORY OF OUR NAVY\\nFrom Ha Origin to the Proses] Day, 1775-J898\\nWith more than 500 illustrations, maps and diagrams\\n5 volumes, 12mo, $10.00\\nCONTENTS\\nVOLUME I.\\nOrigin of the American Navy\\nFirst Cruise ol the Yankee squadron\\nAlone Sinn in 177\\nHe Saw the Countenance of the\\nKnemy\\nUnder the Crags of the Tight Little\\nIsle\\nJohn Paul Tones and the Rang\\nThe First Submarine Warship\\nPrivateers ol the Revolution\\nJohn Paul Jones and the Bonhomme\\nRichard\\nAfter the Serapis Surrendered\\nThe Year 177 in American Waters\\nBuilding a New Navy\\nWar with Barbarv Pirates\\nI e .Uur and the Philadelphia\\nHand-to-Hand with the Pirates\\nWhy we Fought in 1812\\nAppendix.\\nVOLUME III.\\nWhen Porter Swept the Pacific\\nPorter s Gallant Action at Valparaiso\\nTales of the Yankee Corvettes\\nMystery of the Last Wasp\\nOn the Upper Lakes in 1S14\\nTo Defend the Northern Gateway\\nMacdonough s Victory\\nSamuel C. Reid of the Armstrong\\nA Yankee Frigate Taken\\nThe Navy at the Battle of New Orleans\\nOnce More the Constitution\\nIn the Wastes of the South Atlantic\\nIn British Prisons\\nStories of the Duellists\\nAmong the West India Pirates\\nDecatur and the Barhary Pirates\\nLed a Hard Life and Got hew Thanks\\nIn the War with Mexico\\nExpedition in Aid of Commerce\\nVOLUME II.\\nTroubles on the E\\\\ e f War\\nTin Mil look w.i s. at I- lit. not Pleasing\\nTin- Fust Exhibit ol Yankee Mettle\\nA Ra e i i tiu- Life o\\\\ a Nation.\\nThe Constitution ami the Cuorriere\\nFought in s I latteras Sale\\nBrought the Macedonian Into Tort\\nWhen the Constitution Sink the Java.\\nWhipped in Fourteen Minutes\\nLoss ol Lawrence and the Chesapeake\\nThe Privateers of 181a\\nEarly Woik on the Gnat Lakes\\nThe Battle on Lake Ei ie\\nIncidents of the Battle on Lake Erie\\nrin- Wai on Lake 1 tntai Io\\nLoss of the Little Sloop Argus\\nThe Luck of a Yankee Cruiser\\nGunboats not Wholly Worthless\\nVOLUME IV.\\nThe State of the Navy in 1859\\nBlockading the Southern Ports\\nLoss of the Norfolk Navy Yard\\nA Story of Confederate Privateers\\nThe Fort of Hatteras Inlet Taken\\nAlong Shore in the Gulf of Mexico\\nStoi of the Trent Allan\\nThe Capture of Port Royal\\nThe Monitor and the Merrimac\\nFirst Battle Between Ironclads\\nWith the Mississippi Gunboats\\nFarragut at New Orleans\\nFarragut at Mobile\\nTales of the Confederate Cruisers\\nThe Albemarle and Cushing\\nThe Navy at Charleston\\nCapture of Fort Fisher\\nVOLUME V.\\nThe War with Spain\\nThe Demand for Intervention Teaching Spain to Despise Us The White\\nSquadron Armored Cruisers and Battleships\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Tn ai berou Destruction of the Maine\\nThe War Message First Shot of the War Brave Work Along Shore Dewey at\\nManila Sampson s hitm Search foi Cervera The Oregon s Famous Run\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Schley s\\nCruise to Santiago The Blockade of Santiago\u00e2\u0080\u0094 The Marines at Guantanamo\u00e2\u0080\u0094\\nAuxiliaries and Naval Militia Destruction I Cervera s Squadron Seamen of the\\nSquadrons Contrasted\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Capture ol Guam and Manila Surrender of Santiago and\\nAfterward\u00e2\u0080\u0094 Our New Naval Programme.", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0281.jp2"}, "282": {"fulltext": "THE HISTORY OF OUR NAVY\\nOPINIONS OF THE PRESS\\nThe Dial\\nMr. Spears s History of Our Navy is, all things con-\\nsidered, the best that has yet been produced, and it is profusely\\nand appropriately illustrated.\\nReview of Reviews\\nThe most ambitious historical work that has appeared in\\nthis country in the last year or so. Mr. Spears has performed\\nhis task in a most thorough and workmanlike manner, and with\\nsuch a story to tell as that of naval achievements, the interest\\ncould not flag.\\nThe Independent\\nThe work is done in a warm, inspiring and patriotic tone.\\nIt is a history to be proud of, and which we can turn to not\\nonly with pride for the past but with hope for the future.\\na true gallery of most interesting and useful historic illustrations.\\nPhiladelphia Public Ledger\\n1 Reading the book one will find nothing that can be\\nomitted the fullest and most enlightening history of\\nthe American Navy ever issued.\\nBrooklyn Eagle\\nHis work must be regarded as the best history of the Navy\\nthat has been published it is an exceedingly interesting series\\nof volumes.\\nAtlanta Constitution\\nIt has remained for the Scribners to get out the most ex-\\nhaustive history of the United States Navy ever published.\\nThe Outlook\\nHis four volumes constitute a clear, concise and capital\\nhistory of American sea power.\\nThe Interior\\nAnd so, starting in simply and interestingly, the story pro-\\nceeds delightfully, for no opportunity is lost to make apparent\\nand significant the pith of the story or its pointedness.\\nChicago Evening Post\\nMr. Spears has written a work which no American can read\\nwithout interest and enthusiasm.\\nCHARLES SCRIBNER S SONS, Publishers\\n153-157 Fifth Avenue J* New York", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0282.jp2"}, "283": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0283.jp2"}, "284": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0284.jp2"}, "285": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0285.jp2"}, "286": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0286.jp2"}, "287": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0287.jp2"}, "288": {"fulltext": "", "height": "2995", "width": "1727", "jp2-path": "americanslavetra00spea_0288.jp2"}}