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 A 
 
 VIEW OP THE ACTION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 
 
 IN 
 
 BEHALF OF SLAVERY. 
 
 BY WILLIAM JAY. 
 
 "We, the People of the United States, do ordain and establish this 
 Constitmion."— FecZemZ Constitution. 
 
 UTIC A: 
 PUBLtSilED BY JAMES C JACKSON. 
 
 1844. 
 

 Entered according to the Act of Congress, iu the year 1839, by 
 
 WILLIAM JAY, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the 
 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 4.-1 i^ C5X; .uata 
 
 R. W. ROBERTS, PRINTER, 
 
 58 Genesee Street, 
 UTICA. 
 
SALE OP FREE NEGROES. I5 
 
 without full and unequivocal proof, and to that proof we now 
 appeal; preniismg tor the better understandino- of our proof 
 that the marshal is required to maintain the suspected fum' 
 tives while m his custody and is entitled to fees for receivino- 
 them, &c, and if unreclaimed has no means of procuring 
 payment of his expenses and fees but from the proceeds o'f 
 I^ie sale of his prisoners; and further, that the icliole of those 
 proceeds are permitted by law to remain in his pocket un- 
 less ^>r the sale the master should be discovered, ' and 
 should claim the balance. 
 
 On the 11th January, 1S27, the committee on the District 
 ot Colunibia, to whom the subject had been referred by the 
 House of Ilepi;esentatives, reported that "in this District, as 
 in all the slaveholdmg States in the Union, the leoal pre- 
 sumption IS, that persons of color going at large without 
 any evidences of their freedom, are absconding slaves, and 
 pnmafacie hableto all the legal provisions applicable to 
 that class of persons.;' They state that in the part of the 
 Distric ceded by Virgmia, a free negro may be arrested 
 and put m jail for three months on suspicion of bein^ a fuoi- 
 tive; he is then to be hired out to pay his jail fees] andV 
 he does not prove his freedom within twelve months, is to 
 be sold as a slave. This statement is followed by the re- 
 mark, "the committee do not consider any alteration of the 
 Z'T '^^^^V^T'y, of Alexandria in relation to this subject, 
 necessary! In the County of Washington, ceded by Ma' 
 iTland, they inform us, "If a /r.e man of color should be 
 apprehended as a runaway, he is subjected to the payment 
 of ^W fees and reicards given by law for apprehendin/iuna 
 
 SdT aT" '^"-^^^ payment, is liable to 
 be sold a. a slave That is. a man acknowledged to he free 
 
 t"e "fees""? ^^^"^^ff-^^-' f '- be sold as a ./... to .ay 
 
 mca.n^ If T "TT\ ^''""^ ^^.'"^^ ^'' ^PPrebending rul 
 a^ays If Turkish despotism is disgraced by any enact- 
 ment of equal atrocity, we are ignorarTt of the fact.^ Ev'n 
 the committee thou^ght this law rather hard, and therefore 
 they "recommended sucji an alteration of it as would make 
 
 But the7T ^7A'^' '^ ^'^ Corporation of Washin J"n - 
 I^ut the Federal Government, unwavering in its devotion to 
 slavery made no alteration, and the code^f Wash nTon s 
 ^:^i^:^\ '^ -,^-^^--bly the most iniquitou: 
 statute m Chiistendom. Laws are sometimes more profli- 
 
 ?o"t:et'" "'" T ^^i:^' ^^ ^'^^'^^ them, a^the 
 committ^^ that the marshal has in allc ases re- 
 
 * ^^^ P^epon^f Comiiiittees,^ Sess. 19 Cong. VoJ. I. No. 43; " 
 
16 ' SALE OP FREE NEGROES. 
 
 frained from selling his prisoners for fees and charges, when 
 their rights to freedom have been established ; and in conse- 
 quence of not availing himself of the pi^ivilege allowed him 
 by this lawj he had incurred, in the last eight years, a per- 
 sonal loss of $500! In other words, the marshal's sense of 
 justice^ decency, and humanity, exceeded that of the rulers 
 of our Republic. 
 
 On the 29th of January, 1829, the committee on the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia made a report in obedience to the instruc- 
 tions of the House of Representatives, "to inquire into the 
 slave-trade as it exists in and is carried on throusjh the Dis- 
 trict." The Report proposes no interference on the part of 
 Congress, but is virtually an apology for this vile traffic, as 
 is apparent from the following heartless sentiments and false 
 assertions. 
 
 " The trade alluded to, is presumed to refer more partic- 
 ularly to that which is carried on with the view of transport- 
 ing slaves to the South, which is one way of gradually dimin- 
 ishing the evil complained of here; while the situation of 
 these persons is considerably mitigated by being transplanted 
 to a more genial and bountiful clime. Although violence 
 may sometimes be done to their feelings in the separation of 
 families, it is by the laws of society which operate upon them 
 as property, and cannot be avoided as long as they exist; 
 yet it should be some consolation to those whose feelings are 
 interested in their behalf, to know that their condition is more 
 frequently bettered, and their minds hcqypier hy the exchange^^ 
 
 To this report is appended a letter (January 13, 1829,) 
 from the marshal to the committee, containing most import- 
 ant and heart-rending statements. It appears from this let- 
 ter, that from the 1st January, 1826, to 1st January, 1828, 
 there were committed to the Washington prison as runa- 
 ways, 101. 
 
 Proved to be free, and discharged, 15 
 
 Unclaimed, and sold for maintenance, and charges 
 
 and fees, 5 
 
 Proved to be slaves, and delivered to their masters, 81 
 
 101 
 
 In 1828 — Committed as runaways, 78. 
 'Proved to be free, 11 
 
 Unclaimed, or sold for jail fees, etc. 1 
 
 Delivered to their masters, ^^ 
 
 78 
 
 * Reports of Committees, 2 Sess. 20 Cong. No. 60. 
 
SALE OF FREE NEGROES. 
 
 17 
 
 Here tlieii is proof, official documentary proof, that in 
 three years, 179 human beings were, by the authority of the 
 Federal Government, arrested in one county, of the District, 
 and committed to prison on no allegation of crime, but mere- 
 ly to aid the slaveholders in trampling upon those gi-eat prin- 
 ciples of human rights, for the protection of which the Na- 
 tional Government was professedly founded. It is also in 
 proof that of these 179 prisoners, 26 were, by the confession 
 of the Marshal, yy-ee men ; men whom (as appears from the 
 report we have quoted,) he had a legal right to consign to 
 hopeless and awful bondage, merely because they were too 
 poor to pay the expenses of their unjust imprisonment; and. 
 who were indebted for their liberty, not to the laws and con- 
 stitution of their country, but to the beneficence of their 
 jailor — a beneficence too, exercised at his own pecuniary 
 loss. Proof also is here given, that six persons unclaimed 
 as slaves, were, by the judgment of this same jailor, without 
 counsel, witnesses, or trial, sentenced to be sold as slaves for 
 the purpose of raising money, the whole of which, as we 
 shall presently see, was paid over to the judge who pronoun- 
 ced the sentence. The Marshal gives in his letter the par- 
 ticulars of the sale of the five unclaimed negroes, as follows, 
 viz: *Si — Amount of jail fees, etc. $84 82 
 
 Offered for sale according to law, and no person 
 being willing to give 884 82, he was purchased by 
 Tench Ringgold, the Marshal, for that sum, and 
 afterwards sold by him to Robert Brown for $20, 
 by which the Marshal lost, 64 82 
 
 Hannah Green sold for 
 Maintenance, etc. 
 
 Balance remaining in Marshal's hands, 
 
 Leicis Davis sold for 
 Amount of fees, etc. 
 
 Balance remaining in Mai-shal's hands, 
 
 James Green sold for 
 Fees and maintenance. 
 
 Balance remaining in Marshal's hands, 
 
 Arilmr Ncal sold- for amount of his jail fees and 
 
 maintenance, to the^farshal, being 
 Sold afterwards by priv^e sale to J. G. Hutton for 
 
 Lost by Marshal, 
 
 $61 
 
 48 
 
 00 
 71 
 
 812 
 
 29 
 
 $250 
 50 
 
 00 
 07 
 
 $199 
 
 93 
 
 $80 00 
 49 66 
 
 $30 
 
 34 
 
 $46 
 40 
 
 06 
 00 
 
 $06 06 
 
IS SALE OF FREE NEGROES. 
 
 The letter concludes thus : " The Marshal has always con- 
 sidered it to be his duty whenever a negro was committed 
 as a runaway by a Justice of the Peace, who in all cases 
 under the law commits them, which negro had not in his 
 IDOssession proof of his freedom, but alleged himself to be a 
 freeman, to write to any part of the United States to persons 
 who the negro afHrmed could prove his freedom, urging 
 them to send on their certificates of such negro being free; 
 and in many instances, these letters of the Marshal or his 
 jailor have been the means of bringing proof that the negro 
 was free. 
 
 " The law of Maryland in force in this District, directs 
 that the balance of sales of negroes (sold as runaways) shall 
 remain in the Marshal's hands until the runaway was identi- 
 fied as the property of some master; and in conformity there- 
 to, the Marshal has uniformly handed over such balance 
 whenever the master proved his property. In a late case, 
 Mr. Sprigg of Louisiana, lost a valuable slave, who escaped 
 from him, and made his way to this District, and was com- 
 mitted to my custody, advertised and sold, according to law; 
 leaving a balance oi five hundred dollars, after paying main- 
 tenance, etc., in my hands. The negro v/as carried to Lou- 
 isiana by the person who purchased him of me, discovered 
 by his former master, INIr. Sprigg, who sent on here and 
 claimed his money. Plaving ascertained that this negro was 
 the property of Mr. Sprigg, I paid the $500 on demand to 
 his agent liere> Mr. Josiah J ohnsoi>. Senator of Congress from 
 that State. Tench Ringgold, Marshal, Dist. Col." 
 
 Such are the secrets of the prison-house, established by 
 the Federal Government. It may be well to contemplate 
 them in detail. It appears from the cases of Si and Neal, 
 that the JNIarshal of the United States after deciding on the 
 liberty, or bondage of his prisoners, is allowed to take his 
 fees in human flesh, and the condemned becomes the 2^^'op^r- 
 ty of the very Judge who sentenced him to servitude, and 
 who carries him into the market there to make out of him 
 as much money as he can. True it is> Mr. Ringgold's spec- 
 ulations appear not to have been very productive, but other 
 jailor judges may have less honesty, or more skill in negro 
 flesh. The Marshal it seems sold his fees in the shape of 
 Si, for only $^0. " No reason is assigned for this nominal 
 price; : V-ery probably it was a case similar to the one de- 
 scribed by Mr. Miner, in his speech on the floor of the House 
 of Representatives, in 1829. *'In August, _ 1821," said Mr, 
 M., " a black man was taken up, and imprisoned as a runa- 
 
SALE OF FREE NEGROES. 19 
 
 way. He was kept confined until October, 1822, four hun- 
 dred and five days. In this time, vermin, disease, and mise- 
 ry had deprived him of the use of his limbs. He was ren- 
 dered a cripple for life, and finally discharged, as no one would 
 huy liimy 
 
 The Hannah and James Green sold for fees, were most 
 likely man and wife, and may remind us that the law we are 
 considering is utterly reckless of the most sacred relations. 
 The proceeds of three of the five sold in 1826-7, after de- 
 ducting fees, &c. is $242,56, and this sum, according to law, 
 the Marshal retains till called for ; but if the negroes were 
 free, then, there being no claimant, the money can never be 
 called for, and becomes the perquisite of office, and the in- 
 come of the Judge of course fluctuates according to the num- 
 ber of freemen he condemns to slavery. Thus does the law 
 literally press upon the Marshal the wages of unrighteous- 
 ness — thus does it bribe him to the commission of wicked- 
 ness. Tn one instance, the receipts of a single condemna- 
 tion were $500, of which the Marshal was deprived only by 
 a most extraordinary accident. 
 
 And now let us review the conduct of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment towards the free colored citizen of any State, who 
 presumes to visit the city of Washington. At the will of a 
 Justice of the Peace he is thrown into prison. His jailor, if 
 he possesses the humanity and disinterestedness of Mr. Ring- 
 gold, may, if he pleases, write letters to distant parts of the 
 confederacy, although he knows that a favorable answer may 
 keep some hundred dollars from finding their way into his 
 pocket. If no such answer arrives, without any evidence 
 that the letter of inquiry was ever received, the poor wretch 
 is condemned as a slave, and the price of his bones and mus- 
 cles is paid to the Judge who condemned him. 
 
 And by whom is this accursed law kept in force 1 By 
 Northern Representatives and Senators in Congress. On the 
 8th February, 1836, the House of Representatives resolved, 
 that " Congress ought not to interfere in any way with slavery 
 in the District of Columbia," and no less than 82 Northern 
 men had the hardihood to record their names in favor of 
 the resolution. To place if possible, in a still stronger light, 
 the conduct of these men, it may be mentioned that the law 
 we have been considering, belonged to the code of Mary- 
 land, at the time the District was ceded, and was continued 
 in force by Act of Congress. In the meantime, the Leo-is- 
 lature of Maryland, composed of slaveholders, yielding to 
 the spirit of the age, has erased this foul stain from her stat- 
 
20 SALE OF FREE NEGROES. 
 
 ute-book, while our Northern Democrats with liberty and 
 equality forever on their lips, in the hope of getting a few 
 Southern votes for their party, discover that Congress ought 
 not to interfere in any way with slavery in the District, al- 
 though it is by the authority of Congress that freemen are 
 converted into slaves. 
 
 We will now place side by side, two advertisements, one 
 published by authority of Congress, in which Northern men 
 have the majority ; the other by authority of the slave State 
 of Maryland, — the first relating to a icoman and infant 
 claiming to be free, the other to a man confessing himself 
 
 a SLAVE. 
 
 "Notice. — Was committed to the jail of Washington 
 county. District of Columbia, as a runaway, a negrro woman, 
 by the name of Polly Leiper, and her ivfant child William ; 
 she is five feet four inches high, about twenty-three years of 
 age. She had on when committed * * * * Says she 
 was set free by John Campbell, of Richmond, Va., in 1818 
 or 1819. The owner of the above-described icoman and 
 child, if any, are requested to come and prove them, and 
 take them away, or tJiey will be sold for their jail fees 
 
 AND other expenses AS THE LAW DIRECTS. 
 
 May 19, 1827. Tench Ringgold, Marshal" 
 
 *' Ranaway. — Was committed to the jail of Washington 
 county, Maryland, on the 24th December last, a mulatto 
 man who calls himself John McDaniel, about 25 years of age. 
 
 * * Says he belongs to William Hill, living at Falmouth, 
 Va., and was sold to John Daily, living somewhere in the 
 South. The owner of the said slave is requested to come 
 and take him away, or he tuill he released according to law. 
 
 Christian Newcomb, Jun., Sheriff^ 
 
 December 10, 1827.* 
 
 The endeavors of the Federal Government to secure the 
 restoration of fugitive slaves to their masters, is not confined 
 either to the District of Columbia, or to the States of this 
 confederacy. Even American diplomacy must be made sub- 
 servient to the interests of the slaveholders, and republican am- 
 bassadors must bear to foreign courts the wailings of our gov- 
 ernment for the escape of human property. 
 
 On the 10th of May, 1828, the House of Representatives 
 requested the President "to open a negotiation with the 
 British Government in the view to obtain an arrangement 
 whereby fugitive slaves who have taken refuge in the Cana- 
 
 * Both advertisements are taken from the Washington Intelligencer. 
 
FUGITIVES IN CANADA. 21 
 
 dian provinces of that government, may be surrendered by 
 the functionaries thereof to their masters, upon making sat- 
 isfactory proof of their ownership of said slaves." 
 
 Here v^as a plain, palpable interference in behalf of slave- 
 ry by a government v^hich we are often assured by the slave- 
 holders "has nothing to do with slavery;" and so tame and 
 subservient w^ere the northern members, that this disgraceful 
 resolution was adopted without even a division of the House ! 
 At the next session, the impatience of the slaveholders to 
 know if Great Britain would restore their slaves who had 
 taken refuge in Canada, could brook no longer delay, and 
 the House called on the President to inform them of the re- 
 sult of the negotiation. The President immediately sub- 
 mitted a mass of documents to the House, from which it ap- 
 peared that the zeal of the Executive, in behalf of "the pe- 
 culiar institution," had cmticijmted the wishes of the Legis- 
 lature. Two years hefore the interference of the House, 
 viz: on the 19th of June, 1826, IMr. Clay, Secretary of State, 
 had instructed Mr. Gallatin, American Minister, in London, 
 to propose a stipulation for "a mutual surrender of all per- 
 sons held to service or labor under the laws of either party 
 who escape into the territories of the other." Mr. Clay 
 dwelt on the number of fugitives in Canada, and desired 
 Mr. Gallatin to press on the British Government the consid- 
 eration that such a stipulation, would secure to the West In- 
 dia planters the recovery of such of their slaves as might take 
 refvge in the American Repuhlic ! 
 
 Surely the Federal Government was never intended by its 
 founders to act the part of kidnapper for West India slave- 
 holders. 
 
 On the 24th of February, 1827, Mr. Clay again urged Mr. 
 Gallatin to procure this stipulation, and informed him that a 
 treaty had just been concluded with Mexico, hy luhich that 
 'power had engaged to restore our runaway slaves!^" 
 
 On the 5th July, 1827, Mr. Gallatin communicated to his 
 government the answer of the British Minister, that "it was 
 utterly impossible for them to agree to a stipulation for the 
 surrender of fugitive slaves." 
 
 Determined not to take no for an answer, Mr. Clay desi- 
 red Mr. Barbour, our then Minister in England, to renew 
 the negotiation, inasmuch as the escape of slaves into Cana- 
 da is " a growing evil;" but alas! Mr. Barbour replied that 
 on broaching the subject to the British Minister, he had in- 
 
 * Such a treaty was negotiated, but the Mexican Congress refused to rat- 
 ify the base compact. 
 
22 
 
 FUGITIVES IN FLORIDA. 
 
 formed him *'i/f^ Intn ^/* z> ?• 
 
 they were wortli. There wq.^ wf ®'' ™°''' '''an 
 
 southern frontier I,p1 n f' '"'"'«™i-' a territory on our 
 
 Britain to.pZs' 'a.teTi'oLr,L°"''' ''"-^"'^ *^" ^Jrea 
 It is that /e are called to co'sXr ^"^^'"'^'Snty, and hence 
 
 Ihe INVASION OF pLORrnA a^^t. 
 
 SLAVES BV.H.P™'^^;4\%™-™- "^ -™ 
 
 On the loth of March ISlfi M '=°;^''-^^^^°^'^''-«"ent. 
 
 War addressed a letted to Gene^llio"''-' f""^''''^ °' 
 that there was a fort in Florida nlff' '"f"™'"? him 
 and 300 blacks, and that they a.vlH'?"''-,''^^''^'"'^''" 250 
 were guilty of secret practices to inve' 7''"' '^''"^ ^"'''^"^ 
 frontiers of Georgia, LdaiZZT^'' """S™^' f™™ ''>« 
 
 of the Con,manda°nt afpen aco lai 7 '°v" "'" '"'''«'«" 
 retary added, that should "he Cn,™ 1 '"Y"" ^'>'^ See- 
 ing, and should it be de ermfned r^',^? ''<'"''"'' '"'^'fer- 
 negro fort does not t^ufre tie lancr "'%''^^'™«ion of the 
 w,n be ij.-otnptly taken' foHu^e^duclir "' ''°"'''''' — 
 
 Bpatci:-:^Sfred'rr;oSigrf t --.- of this de- 
 respecting this very fort to Gen f' • '''"'t"^ '""^ °''d«rs 
 bors the negroes of our citizen n-^f'' ,"^^ "'«' '■°« ^ar- 
 within our territory, or ho ds n,,? °t """^'^ ^"'"="'^ '"'ing 
 of our citizens to dtert from the ,.'"'''''T^°'^ "> the slavel 
 
 ie *^^™W.-Notify the G^veL" of Pe '"i"".' '' '""'' 
 vince into his terriiorv and foTZ '''^^''"=acola of your ad- 
 
 'ng these laroless handitt^' ^^^IVZ""' Pfl'^^^ of desUoy- 
 
 tions to "restore the stolen ne^l ! f"'''"''''^ '""'i '''rec- 
 
 (Letter of Sth April fgie" ° "° ""^"^ ''ightf"! owners." 
 
 f.ifiur/irsra?d"aii:!rrt' ^- «-- ^^^ -ot 
 
 palachicola river by wder of Co™ 1 ''^'^'^"' "P '•'« Ap- 
 the 27th July attacked tiefonTrfi'" ^',",'^"'=°"' ^^^ °» 
 A shot entered the raa-rn^in^ }^ t'""" •'''<'-''°' ^'''ot at it 
 - thus stated in tli^S " ort "■ Tr'°,<^^''-, ^"^^ --It 
 «*e»-, women, and chadren and abnnf "','^'1 '"""^red negroes, 
 fort; of these, 270 were kil ed an j th "'^''"'' "^^'^ '" '^e 
 rest M«-te«_y wounded." " ^reater part of the 
 
 Commodore Patterson ;„ i • i 
 
 the Navy observes "The "erlli"""'."' ?^ ^''"'"ary of 
 -T^- i^^l^eiTO^rendered by the destruc- 
 
FUGITIVES PAID FOK. 23 
 
 tion of this fort, and the band of negroes who held it and the 
 <:ountry in its vicinity, is of great and manifest importance 
 to the United States, and particularly those States bordering 
 on the Creek nation, as it had become a general rendezvous 
 for runaway slaves and disaffected Indians — an asylum where 
 they found arms and ammunition to protect themselves against 
 their owners and the government. This hold being destroy- 
 ed, they have no longer a place to fly to, and will not be so 
 liable to abscond. The force of the negroes was daily in- 
 creasing, and they had commenced several plantations on the 
 banks of the Appalachicola."* 
 
 A^arious plantations have also been commenced in Canada 
 by fugitive slaves, but being under the protection of Great 
 Britain, and not of Spain, the Federal Government has wisely 
 abstained from ^iuj forcible attempt to destroy them. 
 
 It is now time to advert to one of the most extraordinary 
 exploits of American diplomacy, viz : 
 
 Compensation for fugitive slaves, obtained by the 
 Federal Government. 
 
 The presence of British armed vessels in our southern 
 waters, during the last war, afforded an opportunity to many 
 of the slaves to escape from bondage. In 1814, and while 
 tlie war was raging in all its fury, commissioners were ap- 
 pointed to treat of peace, and instructions were given to 
 them as to the stipulations to be inserted in the treaty. These 
 instructions contain the following remarkable passage : " The 
 negroes taken from the southern States should be returned 
 to their owners, or paid for at their full value. If these 
 slaves were considered as non-combatants, they ought to be 
 restoi-ed : if as property, they ought to be paid for." More- 
 over, this stipulation is expressly included "in the conditions 
 on which you are to insist in the projoosed negotiations." — 
 Letter of instructions from Mr. Monroe, Secretary of State, 
 2Sth January, 1814.t 
 
 Thus we see that not even the calamities of war, could di- 
 vert the attention of the Federal Government from the pe- 
 culiar interests of the slaveholders. The commissioners were 
 faithful to the charge thus given to them ; and in the treaty 
 concluded at Ghent, adroitly provided for the restoration of 
 slaves; and in such obscure terms as ultimately secured a 
 far more extensive concession than the British negotiators 
 had any intention of making. 
 
 * State papers. 2 Sess. 15th Cong'. No. 65. t American State papers. 
 Vol. IX. p. 364. 
 
24 NEGOTIATION FOR PAYMENT 
 
 The 1st Article is as follows: "All territory, places, and 
 possessions whatever, taken from either party, by the other 
 during the war, or which may be taken after the signing 
 of this treaty, shall be restored without delay ; and without 
 causing any destruction or carrying away of the artillery or 
 other public property origmally captured in said forts or pla- 
 ces, and which shall remain upon the exchange of the ratifi- 
 cations of this treaty, or any slaves or other private property." 
 The treaty was ratified at Washington on the 17th Feb- 
 ruary; and six days after, three commissioners appointed by 
 the Government appeared in the Chesapeake, authorized to 
 demand and receive the slaves on board the British squadron 
 still in our waters. 
 
 Captain John Clarelle happened to be at the moment in 
 command of the British forces, and he positively refused to 
 give up a single fugitive; contending that the stipulation in 
 the treaty related only to slaves "originally captured in forts 
 or places," and remaining in such forts or places at the ex- 
 change of the ratifications, and had no reference to the slaves 
 who had voluntarily sought protection on board British vessels. 
 A few days after. Admiral Cockburn arrived, and a sim- 
 ilar demand was made upon him. He also refused to sur- 
 render miy fugitives, as such were not intended in the treaty, 
 but gave up 80 slaves which were found on Cumberland Isl- 
 and at the time that place was captured, and who had not 
 been removed previous to the exchange of ratifications ; this 
 being a case directly within the true meaning and intention 
 of the treaty. The Secretary of State then applied to the 
 British Charge d'Affaires at Washington, requesting him to 
 direct the Naval Commanders in the Chesapeake to give up 
 the fugitives on board their vessels ; but Mr. Baker declined 
 interfering:, takino- the same view of the article as the Admi- 
 ral had done. In the meantime the squadron had sailed for 
 Bermuda. The Government, tracking the scent of a fugitive 
 with blood-hound keenness, forthwith despatched an agent 
 to Bermuda in pursuit, to demand the negroes of the Gov- 
 ernor. The worthy Englishm.an, nettled at a requisition so 
 derogatory to the honor of his country, replied, " he would 
 rather Bermuda, with every man, woman, and child in it, 
 were sunk under the sea, than surrender one slave that had 
 sought protection under the flag of England." 
 
 The Agent, (Thomas Spalding) nothing daunted, now as- 
 sumed the diplomatist, and addressed a long argumentative 
 Idespatch to Admiral Griffith, commanding on the Bermuda 
 IStation, demanding the fugitives and promising to furnisli 
 
OF FUGITIVE SLAVES. 25 
 
 him with a particular list of the slaves claimed, which he ex- 
 pected to receive in a few days from the United States. The 
 Admiral very cavalierly assured Mr. Spalding, that it was 
 quite unnecessary for him to wait at Bermuda for the expect- 
 ed document, since there was, neither at Bermuda, nor any 
 other British island or settlement, any authority " competent 
 to deliver up persons who during the late wars, had placed 
 themselves under the protection of the British flag."* 
 
 From British Governors and Admirals, our Government 
 now turned to the British Cabinet, and found that there also 
 it was held a point of honor to keep faith, even with runaway 
 slaves. Lord Castlereagh declared that the Government 
 never would have assented to a treaty requiring the surren- 
 der of persons who had taken refuge under the British 
 Standard. Again was the demand made, and again was it 
 unequivocally rejected. But the administration refused to 
 yield, and insisted on a reference of the question to the de- 
 cision of a friendly power, and named the Emperor of Rus- 
 sia as umpire. After tedious negotiation, this point was car- 
 ried ; and in 1818, a convention was concluded at London, 
 submitting the true construction of the treaty to the Empe- 
 ror, who decided in favor of the slaveholders. It now be- 
 came necessary to determine how the number of slaves, 
 and their value, should be ascertained. Another negotiation 
 ensued, which resulted in a second convention,' by which it 
 was ao-reed that each party should appoint a certain number 
 of Commissioners, who should form a Board to sit at Wash- 
 ington, to receive and liquidate the claims of the masters. 
 But difficulties soon arose. The American Commissioners 
 insisted on interest, which the others refused to allow. Ne- 
 gotiations again commenced, till at last the British Cabinet, 
 wearied with the pertinacity of the American Government, 
 and sick of the controversy, entered into a third convention, 
 (13th Nov. 1836,) by which the enormous sum of one mil- 
 lion TWO HUNDRED AND FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS WaS paid 
 
 and received in full of all demands. 
 
 Thus after a persevering negotiation, conducted for twelve 
 years, at Washington, in the Chesapeake Bay, at Bermuda, 
 at London, and at Petersburgh, did our Government succeed 
 in obtaining most ample compensation for the fugitives. 
 Commissioners were then appointed to distribute this sum ; 
 and after fixing an average value on each slave proved to 
 have been carried away, it was found that a surplus still re- 
 mained ; and this surplus wE^j^divided among the masters ! 
 
 * State papers — 14th Cong, ^d Sess, — Senate documents, No. S^, 
 
26 DEMAND OF PAYMENT 
 
 Having now seen the success that attended the pursuit of 
 fugitive slaves, let us next witness the 
 
 Efforts of the Federal Goverment to recover ship- 
 wrecked SLAVES. 
 
 Considering the extent of the American slave trade, it is 
 not surprising that our slavers are occasionally driven out of 
 their course ; and are soinetimes wrecked upon the danfrer- 
 ous reefs abounding in the neighboring Archipelago. 
 
 On the 3d Jan. 1831, the brig Comet, a regular slaver 
 from the District of Columbia, on her usual voyage from 
 Alexandria to New-Orleans, with a cargo of 164 slaves, was 
 lost off the Island of Abaco. The slaves were saved, and 
 carried into New-Pi'ovidence, where they were set at liberty 
 by the authorities of the Island. A portion of the cargo, 
 (146 head) was insured at New-Orleans for 871,330. 
 
 On the 4th Feb. 1S33, the brig Encomium, from Charles- 
 ton to New-Orleans with 45 slaves, was also wrecked near 
 Abaco, and the slaves carried into New-Pj^ovidence, where, 
 like their predecessors, they were declared to be free. 
 
 In Feb. 1835, the Enterprise, another regular slaver from 
 the National Domain, on her voyage to Charleston, with 78 
 slaves, was driven into Bermuda in distress. The passen- 
 gers, instead of being thrown into prison as Bermudians 
 would have been in Charleston under similar circumstances, 
 were hospitably treated, and permitted to go at large. These 
 successive and unexpected transmutations of slaves into free- 
 men, roused the ready zeal of the Federal Government. — 
 Directly on the loss of the Comet, instructions were sent 
 from Washington to our Minister, to demand of the British 
 Government the value of the cargo. In 1832, another des- 
 patch was forwarded on the subject. The instructions were 
 again renewed in 1833 ; the Secretary of State remarking, 
 this case " mnat be brought to a conclusion — the doctrine that 
 would justify the liberation of our slaves, is too dangerous to 
 a large section of our country to be tolerated." 
 
 In 1834, fresh instructions were sent, and a demand order- 
 ed to be made for the value of the slaves in the Encomium. 
 
 In 1835, similar instructions were sent relative to the En- 
 terprise. 
 
 In 1836, the instructions were renewed ; the Secretary 
 observing to Mr. Stevenson, " In the present state of our 
 diplomatic relations with the Government of His Britanic 
 Majesty, the most immediately/dressing of the matters with 
 which the United States' Legation at London is now charged, 
 
FOR SHIPWRECKED SLAVES. 27 
 
 is the claim of certain American citizens against Great Brit- 
 ain for a number of slaves, the cargoes of three vessels 
 v^recked in British Islands in the Atlantic." 
 
 Thus for six successive years did the Cabinet at "Washing- 
 ton keep sending despatches to their agents in England, urg- 
 ing them to obtain payment from Great Britain for these 
 cargoes* oi human flesh. Nor were those agents remiss or 
 reluctant in fulfilling their instructions. Numerous were 
 the letters addressed to the British Secretary, claiming either 
 the restoration of the slaves, or their equivalent in money. 
 
 From a long and labored communication from INIr. Ste- 
 venson to Lord Palmerston, we extract the following morceau. 
 
 " The undersigned feels assured that it will only be neces- 
 sary to refer Lord Palmerston to the provisions of the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, and the laws of many of the 
 States, to satisfy him of the existence of slavery, and that 
 slaves are there regarded and protected as property : that 
 by these laws, there is in fact 7io distinction in principle be- 
 tween property in persons and property in things ; and that the 
 Government have more than once, in the inost solemn manner, 
 determined that slaves killed in tlie service of the United States, 
 even in a state ojicar, were to he regarded as property, and not 
 as persons; and the Government held responsible for their value.'* 
 
 No answer having been vouchsafed to this letter, and the 
 argument being exhausted, Mr. Stevenson tried the virtue of 
 a diplomatic hint that the United States would go to war 
 for their slaves ; expressing his hope in a letter to Lord 
 Palmerston, that the British Government would " not longer 
 consent to postpone the decision of a subject which had been 
 for so many years under its consideration ; and the effect of 
 which can be none other than to throw not only additional 
 impediments in the way of an adjustment, and increase 
 those feelings of dissatisfaction and irritation which have 
 already been excited ; but by possibiUty tend to disturb and 
 weaken the kind and amicable relations whiclb noio so happily 
 subsist between the two countries, and on the pjreservation of 
 which, so essentially depend the interests and happiness of both.'* 
 — (Letter of 31st December, 1836.) 
 
 How this hint was received we are not infonned ; but it 
 is certainly not creditable to the British Government, that 
 instead of a prompt and frank refusal to deliver into cruel 
 and perpetual bondage, innocent men who had providentially 
 been thrown under its protection, or to estimate their value 
 in pounds, shillings, and penffc, it had, at our last accounts, 
 avoided giving a decided answer to the demands of the Wash- 
 
28 AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 ington Cabinet, under pretence of taking the opinion of the 
 law officers of the crown. 
 
 The negotiation was made public in consequence of a call 
 by the Senate on the President (7th Feb. 1S37) for a copy 
 of the "Correspondence with the Government of Great 
 Britain in relation to the outrage committed on our flaof, and 
 the rights of our citizens, by the authorities of Bermuda and 
 New-Providence, in seizing the slaves on board the brio: 
 -Cincommm' and ' Enterprise,' engaged in the coasting trade^ 
 but which were forced by shipwreck and stress of .weather 
 into the ports of those Islands." 
 
 The language of this resolution, indicates the influence 
 exerted by slavery over the Federal Government. Should 
 a murderer escape from England and land on our shores, 
 we refuse to surrender him to the justice of his country ;* 
 but when the West Indian authorities refuse to deliver two 
 hundred and eighty-seven innocent men, women, and child- 
 ren, thrown by the tempest under their protection, into 
 hopeless, interminable slavery, the Senate solemnly pro- 
 nounce the refusal to be an outrage on our flag, and the 
 rights of our citizens. Moreover, the liberation of these 
 persons is spoken of as a seizure of them, and the slavers carry- 
 ing human cargoes to market, are most audaciously declared 
 to have been engaged in the coasting trade ! The real trade 
 m which these vessels were eno^affed, was 
 
 The American Slave Trade ujvder the protection and 
 
 REGULATION OF THE FeDERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 We shall first exhibit the character and extent of this 
 trade, and then show that it is in fact carried on under the 
 protection and regulation of the Federal Government. 
 
 The competition of free with slave labor in the bread 
 stuffs and some other productions of Maryland, Virginia, and 
 North Carolina, have greatly reduced the value of slaves as 
 laborers in those States ; and hence the disposition mani- 
 fested there some years since, to get rid of this unprofitable 
 portion of their population. But the rapid extension of the 
 cotton and sugar cultivation in the extreme South, together 
 with the settlement of the new States of Alabama, Missis- 
 
 NoTE BY J. C. Jackson. 
 
 "* By a provision in the Ashburton Treaty, made with England during the 
 time Daniel Webster was Secretary of State, this Government and that of 
 England have mutually stipulated to deliver up persons charged with otFences 
 and escaping into the jurisdiction of CT»er, provided such acts are considered 
 by both as criminal offences. 
 
AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 29 
 
 sippi, jNlissouri, and Arkansas, occasioned a prodigious de- 
 mand for slaves ; and the agriculturists of Virginia and the 
 neighboring Staies discovered that their most lucrative occu- 
 pation was that of raising live stock for the southern and 
 western markets. In Georgia and South Carolina, it- has 
 also been found more advantageous to export their supernu- 
 meraries to Mobile, New-Orleans, or Natchez, than to em- 
 ploy them on their already well-stocked plantations. Hence 
 has grown up an almost incredible transfer of slaves from 
 the North to the South ; and recently a new market has 
 been opened in Texas, giving an additional stimulus to the 
 trade. It is impossible to ascertain the exact amount of this 
 trade, as the Secretary of the Treasury in his annual rej^ort 
 on the commercial statistics of the United States, has never 
 included any statements respecting this branch of the " coast- 
 ing trade." But indeed, the returns from the several Cus- 
 tom Houses of the size and value of the human cargoes 
 cleared for the southern ports, if giveji, would afford a very 
 inadequate idea of the extent of the traffic, since it is carried 
 on by land as well as by sea. Whole coffles of chained slaves 
 are driven long and painful journeys in the interior of the 
 Republic, much in the same manner as in the wilds of Afri- 
 ca. The Rev. Mr. Dickey, in a published letter thus de- 
 scribes a coffle he met on the road in Kentucky : — " I dis- 
 covered about forty black men all chained together in the 
 following manner : each of them was handcuffed, and they 
 were arranged in rank and file ; a chain perhaps forty feet 
 lonsf was stretched between two ranks, to which short chains 
 were joined, which connected with the handcuffs. Behind 
 them were, I suppose, thirty icomen, in double rank, the cou- 
 ples tied hand to handT 
 
 J. K. Paulding, the present Secretary of the Navy, gives 
 the following picture of a scene he witnessed in Virginia: 
 
 " The sun was shining out very hot, and in turning an 
 angle of the road we encountered the following group : first, 
 a little cart drawn by one horse, in which five or six half 
 naked black children were tumbled like pigs together. The 
 cart had no covering, and they seemed to have been actually 
 broiled to sleep. Behind the cart marched three black wo- 
 men, with head, neck and breasts, uncovered, and without 
 shoes or stockings ; next came three men, bareheaded, half 
 naked, and chained together with an ox chain ! Last of all 
 came a white man — a white man, Frank ! — on horseback, 
 carrying pistols in his belt, and who, as we passed him, had 
 the impudence to look us in the face without blushing. I 
 
30 AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 should like to have seen him hunted by blood-hounds. At a 
 house w^here we stopped a little farther on, we learned that 
 he had bought these miserable beings in McU'yland, and was 
 marching them in this manner to some of the more southern 
 Stat'.'S. Shame on the State of Maryland! I say — and 
 shame on the State of Virginia ! and every State through 
 which this wretched cavalcade was permitted to pass. Do. 
 they expect that such exhibitions will not dishonor them in 
 the eyes of strangers, however they may be reconciled to 
 them by education and habit V* 
 
 * "Letters from the South, written during an excursion in the Summer of 1816.'' 
 New-York, 1617, Vol, 1, Letter XL p. 117, 
 
 It may be thought by some that the elevation to a seat in the Cabinet, of a gentle- 
 man who expresses himself with so nauch warmth and fearlessness against one of the- 
 " peculiar institutions of the South," militates against our idea that the influence of 
 the Federal Government is exerted in behalf of slavery. Singular as it may appear, 
 the appointment of Mr. Paulding is nevertheless strongly corroborative of the opinioix 
 we have advanced ; and the explanation is at once easy and amusing. The " Letters 
 from the South" were reprinted iu 1835, and form the fifth and sixth volumes of an 
 edition of " Paulding's Works." The letter from which we have quoted consists of 
 fourteen pages, devoted to the, subject of slavery. On turning to the corresponding 
 letter in the recent edition we Bnd it shrunk to three pages, containing no allusion to- 
 the internal trade, nor any thing else that could offend the most sensitive Southerner. 
 In the nineteenth letter as printed in 1817, there is not a word about slavery. In the 
 same letter as published in 1835, we meet with the following most wonderful predic- 
 tion ; a prediction that has lately been cited in the newspapers as a proof of the saga- 
 city and foresight of the Secretary of the Navy: — 
 
 " The second cause of disunion will be found in the slave population of the South, 
 tchenever the misguided, or willfully malignant zeal of the advocates of emancipation, 
 shall institute as it one day doubtless will, a crusade against the constitutional rights of 
 the slave owners, by sending among them fanatical agents and fanatical tracts, calcu- 
 lated to render the slaves disaftccted, and ibe situation of the master and his family 
 dangerous; when appeals shall be made under the . sanction of religion to the passions 
 of these ignorant and excited blacks, calculated and intended to rouse their worst and 
 most dangerous passions, and to place the very lives of their masters, their wives, and 
 their children, in the deepest peril ; when societies are formed in the sister States for the 
 avowed purpose of virtually destrojdng the value of this principal item in the propertj- of 
 a southern planter : when it becomes a question mooted in the Legislatures of the States, 
 or of the General Government, whether the rights of tlte master over his slave shall 
 be any longer recognized or maintained, and when it is at last evident that nothing 
 will preserve them but secession, then will certain of the Stars of our beautiful con- 
 stellation ' start madly from their spheres and jostle the others in their wild career.'" 
 
 In the title of the new edition, the date of the "excursion" is modestly omitted, but 
 the reader is not informed that the spirit of prophecy descended upon the writer, not 
 while journeying at the South, but while witnessing in New-York the operations of 
 the predicted soyeties, and after the city had been convulsed by the abolition riots. 
 
 In 1836, Mr. Paulding published his "Slavery in the United States." In this work 
 both the Old and New Testament are made to gi%-e their sanction to slaver3\ Great 
 Britain, in abolishing slavery in the West Indies, is charged with having " committed 
 robbery uni'er cover of humanity." — (p. 41.) "A community of free blacks rising 
 among the ruins of States, lords of the soil, smoking with the habitations and blood of 
 their exterminated masters and families," woiild we are assured l>e only fulfilling " the 
 wishes" of the abolitionists. — (p. 56.) The advocates of immediate emancipation re- 
 commend it as asserted, "indiscriminate marriages between the wliites ancl blacks :"^ 
 (p. 61.) and well educated respectable females ammigst tliera are apparentlj' anxious 
 " to become the mothers of mulattoes," — (p, 62.) Slavery we are told "is becoming 
 gradually divested of alt its harsh features, and is now only the bugbear of the imasri- 
 nation :" — (p. 26.) and Mr. Paulding affirms — "In a residence of several years within 
 the District, and a pretty extensive course of travel in some of the southern States, 
 (the excursion in the summer of 1816, we suppose,) we never saw or heard of any 
 such instances of cruelty. — We saw no chains, (!) and heard no stripes." — (p. ]GS.) 
 
 We trust our readers are now fully convinced of this gentleman's qualifications for 
 the office of Secretary of the Navy, and of Mr. Van Burea'.s consistency in appointinf 
 
AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 31 
 
 As we are about to enter into particulars respecting the 
 American slave trade, it may not be uninteresting to inquire 
 who are its victims 1 They are native horn Americans. But 
 of what color and descent 1 This will no doubt be deemed 
 by many a very unnessary question ; and no little indigna- 
 tion w^ill probably be excited when we answer that large 
 numbers of these victims are white men and women, and the 
 diildren of American citizens. 
 
 People at the north are disposed to be incredulous, when 
 they hear of lohite slaves at the South ; and yet a little re- 
 flection would convince them not only that there must be 
 such slaves under the present system, but that in process of 
 time, a large proportion of the slaves will be as white as their 
 masters. Were there no other sources of information re- 
 specting the complexions of the southern slaves, the news- 
 paper notices of runaways would most abundantly confirm 
 our assertion. Of these notices, we give the following as. 
 samples. 
 
 " SlOO Reward. — The above reward will be paid for the 
 apprehension of my man William. He is a very bright mu- 
 latto — straight yellowish hair. I have no doubt he will change 
 his name, and try to pass himself for a WHITE MAN;, 
 which he may be able to do, unless to a close observer. 
 
 Auo:USt 9. T. S. PiCHARD." 
 
 " SlOO Reward. — Hanaway from James Hyhart, Paris, 
 Kentucky, on the 29th June last, the mulatto boy Norton,, 
 about 15 years, a very bright mulatto, and would be taken 
 for a WHITE BOY, if not closely examined. His hair is 
 black and straighty &c. — iVewj Orleans True American, 11th 
 August, 1836." 
 
 '^ $1(^() Reiuard — Will be given for the apprehension of 
 my negro (!) Edmund Kenney. He has straight hair, and 
 complexion so nearly WHITE, that it is believed a stranger 
 would suppose there loas no African hlood in him. He was 
 with my boy Dick a short time since in Norfolk, cind offered 
 him for sale, and was apprehended, bijt escaped under pre- 
 tence of being a WHITE MAN. Ani>erson Bowles. 
 
 Richmond Whig Qth January, 1836." 
 
 " $50 Reivard — Will be given for the apprehension and 
 delivery to me of the following slaves : Samuel, and Judy his 
 wife, with their four children, belonginsr to the estate of 
 backer Dubberly, deceased. 
 
 I will give $10 for the apprehension of William Dubberly,, 
 a slave belonging to the estate. William is about 19 years< 
 
32 WHITE SLAVES. 
 
 old, QUITE WHITE, and would not readily be mistaken 
 for a slave. John T. Lane. 
 
 Neivberri Spectator, IStk March, 1S37." 
 
 "$100 Pveicard. — Ranaway from the subscriber, a bright, 
 mulatto man slave, named Sam. Light sandy hair,hlue eyes, 
 ruddy complexion — -is so WHITE as very easily to pass for 
 a free WHITE MAN. Edwin Peck. 
 
 Moh'de, April 22, 1837." 
 
 "$50 Reicard. — I will give the above reward of fifty dol- 
 lars for the apprehension and securing in any jail, so that I 
 get him again, or delivering to me in Dandridge, E. Tenn. 
 my mulatto boy named Preston, about twenty years old. It 
 is supposed he will try to pass as a free WHITE MAN. 
 
 Oct. 12, 1838. John Roper." 
 
 " Ranaway from the subscriber, working on the plantation 
 of Col. H. Tinker, a bright mulatto boy named Alfred. Alfred 
 is about 18 years of age, pretty well grown, has blue eyes, 
 light -flaxen hair, shin disposed to freckle. He will try to pass 
 as FREE BORN. S. G. Stewart. 
 
 Green County, Mahamay 
 
 Mr. Paxton, a Virginia writer, tells us in his work on 
 slavery, that " the best blood in Virginia flows in the veins 
 of the slaves." 
 
 Dr. Torrey, in his work on domestic slavery in the United 
 States, p. 14, says : " AVhile at a public house in Frederick- 
 town, there came into the bar-room on Sunday, a decently 
 dressed white man, of quite a light complexion, in company 
 with one who was totally black. After they went away, the 
 landlord observed that the icliite man was a slave. I asked 
 him with some surprise how that could be possible % To 
 which he replied, that he was a descendant, by female ances- 
 try, of an African slave. He also stated that not far from 
 Fredericktown, there was a slave estate on which there were 
 several white females, as of fair and elegant appearance cis 
 white ladies in general, held in legal bondage as slaves ! ! 
 
 A Missouri paper, reporting the trial of a slave hoy, re- 
 marks : " All the physiological marks of distinction which 
 characterize the African descent, had disappeared. His skin 
 was fair, his hair soft, straight, fine and white, his eyes blue, 
 but rather disposed to the hazel-nut color, nose prominent, 
 the lips small and well formed, forehead high and prominent." 
 
 In the summer of 1835, a slaveholder from Maryland ar- 
 rested as his fugitive, a young woman in Philadelphia. A 
 trial ensued, when it was moat conclusively proved that the 
 
WHITE SLAVES. 33 
 
 alleged slave^ Mary Gilmore, was the child of poor Irish 
 parents, and had not a drop of African blood in her veins. 
 
 A paper printed at Louisville, Ky., the " Emporium," re- 
 lates a circumstance that occurred in that city, in the follow- 
 ing terms. " A laudable indignation was universally mani- 
 fested among our citizens on Saturday last, by the exposure 
 of a woman and two children for sale at public auction, at 
 the front of our principal tavern. The woman and children 
 were as white as any of our citizens ; indeed, we scarcely 
 ever saw a child with a fairer or clearer complexion than 
 the younger one." — Nilcs's Register, June, 1821. 
 
 Mr. Niles tells us in his register, that Mr. Calhoun, the 
 late Vice President, had related to him the case of a man 
 *' placed on the stand for sale as a slave, whose appearance 
 in all respects gave him a better claim to the character of a 
 WHITE MAN than most persons so acknowledged could 
 ^howr— Register, 25th 0^7^.1834. 
 
 We Vvdll novv" attempt to give the reader some idea of the 
 extent of the trade — a trade in which human beings of every 
 sha'de, from the purest white to the deepest black, are made- 
 articles of merchandise, and treated with cruelty little if any 
 less than that which has made the African slave trade the 
 execration of the civilized world. 
 
 " Dealing in slaves," says the Baltimore' Register, " has 
 become a large business ; establishments are made in several 
 j^laces in Maryland and Virginia, at which they are sold like 
 cattle ; these places of deposit are strongly built, and v/ell 
 supplied with iron thumb-screws and gags, and oraamented 
 with cowskins and other whips, oftentimes bloody." 
 
 The advertisements of the Baltimore traders show that 
 the Maryland Colonization Society, in their endeavors to 
 suppress the slave trade, may find a field for their labors less 
 distant than the coast of Africa. We annex some samples. 
 
 " Austin IVoodfolk of Baltimore, wishes to inform the 
 slaveholders of Maryland and Virginia, that their friend still 
 lives to give cash and the highest price for negroes," &;c. 
 
 " General Slave Agency Office. — Gentlemen planters from 
 the South and others who \vish to purchase negroes, would 
 do well to give me a call. Lewis Scott." 
 
 " Cash for two hunclred Negroes. — The highest cash prices 
 will be paid for negroes of both sexes, by application to me 
 or my agent at Booth's Garden. Hope H. Slater." 
 
 " For Neic-Orlcans. — A coppered, copper-fastened packet- 
 brig Isaac Franklin, will sail on the 1st Feb. for Baltimore. 
 
34 AMEEICAX SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 Those having servants to slap will do well by making eartj 
 application to James F. Purvis," &c. 
 
 Human flesh is now the great staple o£ Virginia. In the 
 Legislatm-e of this State in 1832, Thomas Jefferson Ran- 
 dolph declared that Virginia had been converted into " one 
 grand menagerie, iclterc men arc reared for the market lihe oxen 
 for the shamUes'^ This same gentleman thus compared the 
 foreign with the domestic traffic. " The trader (African) 
 receives the slaves, a stranger in aspect, language, and man- 
 ner, from the merchant who brought him from the interior. 
 But here, sir, individuals whom the master has known from 
 infancy — whom he has seen sporting in the innocent gam- 
 bols of childhood — who have been accustomed to look to 
 him for protection, he tears from the mother's arms, and sells 
 into a strange country, among a strange j^eople, subject to cruel 
 taskmasters. In my opinion it is much worseP 
 
 Mr. C. F. IMercer asserted in the Virginia Convention of 
 1829, " The tables of the natural growth of the slave popu- 
 lation demonstrate, when compared with the increase of its 
 numibers in the Commonwealth for twenty years past, that 
 an annual revenue of not less than a milJiwi and a haf of 
 dollars is derived from the exportation of a part of this popu- 
 lation." — Debates 2^. 99. 
 
 Professor E. A. Andrew? Jiives a conversation he had with 
 a trader on board a steam-boat on the Potomac,, in 1835. 
 " In selling his slaves, N assures me he never sepa- 
 rates families : but that in purchasing them he is often com- 
 pelled to do so, for that his business is to purchase, and he 
 must take such as are in the market. Do you often buy the 
 wife without the husband ? Yes, very often ; and frequent- 
 ly, too, they sell me tlie mother, while they keep the childrcru 
 I have often known them take aicay the i7f ant from themotlo- 
 cr's breast, and keep it, ichilc they sold her. Children from 
 one to eighteen months old, are now worth about one hun- 
 dred dollars."* 
 
 The town of Petersburg in Virginia, seems to enjoy a 
 large share of this commerce, judging from the advertise- 
 ments of its merchants.' 
 
 " Cash for Negi-oes. — The subecribers are particularly anx- 
 ious to make a shipment of negroes shortly. All persons who 
 have slaves to part with, will do well to call as soon as pos- 
 sible. 0\*ERLY & Saunders." 
 ** Tlie subscriber being desirous of making another shiv-- 
 
 * Slavery af.d the domestic slave trad© in the L^pited. States, p. 4,17. 
 
\1RGINIA. ■ 35 
 
 7ne^t by the brig Adelaide to New-Orleans, on the first of 
 March, will give a good market price for fifty negroes from 
 ten to thirty years old. Henry Davis," 
 
 " The subscriber wishes to purchase one hundred slaves, of 
 both sexes, from the age of ten to thirty, for which he is dis- 
 posed to give much higher prices than have heretofore been 
 o-iven. He will call on those living in the adjacent counties 
 to see ^T\y property. - Ansley DavxS." 
 
 But of all the Virginia merchants, Mr. Collier, of Rich- 
 mond, seems to be the most enterprising. We give extracts 
 from his 
 
 ' " " Notice. — This is to inform my former acquaintances, and 
 the public generally, that I yet continue in the SLAVE 
 TRADE, at Pdchmond, Virginia, and will at all times buy 
 and give a fair market price for young 7iegroes. Persons in 
 this State, Maryland, or North Carolina, wishing to sell lots 
 of negroes, are particularly requested to forward their wishes 
 to me at this place. Persons wishing to purchase lots of 
 neo-roes, are requested to give me a call, as I keep constantly 
 on hand at this place, a great many for sale ; and have at 
 this time the use of one hundred young negroes, consisting 
 of boys, young men, and girls. 1 will sell at all times at a 
 small advance on cost, to suit purchasers. I have comfortable 
 rooms with a jail attached, for the reception of the negroes ; 
 and persons coming to this place to sell slaves, can be accom- 
 modated, and every attention necessary will be given to have 
 them well attended to; and when it may be desired, the re- 
 ception of the company of gentlemen dealing in slaves, will 
 conveniently and attentively be received. My situation is 
 very healthy and suitable for the business. 
 
 Lewis A. Collier." 
 
 Joseph Wood of Hamburg, South Carolina, a " gentle- 
 man dealing in slaves," advertises that he " has on hand a 
 likely parcel of Virginia negroes and receives new supplies 
 every fifteen days."" 
 
 And what are the pecuniary results of this commerce % 
 I\Ir. Mercer, as we have seen, estimated the annual revenue 
 to Virginia from the export of human flesh, at 07ic million 
 and a half of dollars. But this was in 1829, before the trade 
 had reached its present palmy state. " The Virginia Times," 
 in 1836, in an article on the importance of increasing the 
 banking capital of the Commonwealth, estimates the num- 
 ber of slaves exported for sale the 'Mast twelve months," al 
 FORTY THOUSAND ; each slave averaging six hundred dollars^ 
 ^x\.^ thus yielding a capital of twenty -four millions, of 
 
36 AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 Avhicli the Editor thinks, at least thirteen millions might be 
 contributed for banking purposes * 
 
 Let us now visit the " Metropolis of the Nation," the very 
 heart of this mighty commerce in the bodies and souls of 
 men. The District of Columbia, from its relative situation 
 to the breeding States, forms a convenient depot for the ne- 
 groes, previous to their exportation; and the non-interfer- 
 ence of Congress, gives the traders " under the exclusive 
 jurisdiction" of the Federal Government, as unlimited power 
 over the treatment and stowage of their human cargoes, as 
 their brethren enjoy, on the coast of Guinea. 
 
 Hence large establishments have grown up upon the na- 
 tional domain, provided with prisons for the safe-keeping of 
 the negroes, till a full cargo is procured ; and should at any 
 time the factory prisons be insufficient, the public ones, erect- 
 ed by Congress, are at the service of the dealers, and the 
 United States Marshal becomes the agent of the slave trader ! 
 
 It must be admitted, that the following pictures of the 
 scenes witnessed in the District of Columbia, are drawn by 
 impartial hands. So long ago as 1S02, the grand jury of 
 Alexandria complaining of the trade, remarked : " These 
 dealers in the persons of our fellow-men, collect within this 
 district from various parts, numbers of these victims of slave- 
 ry, and lodge them in some place of confinement until they 
 have completed their numbers. They are then turned out 
 into our streets, and exposed to view loaded witJi cliams, as 
 though they had committed some heinous offence against our 
 laws. We consider it as a grievance that citizens from a 
 distant part of the United States, should be permitted to 
 come within the District, and pursue a trafiic fraught with 
 so much misery to a class of beings entitled to our protec- 
 tion, by the laws of justice and humanity; and that the in- 
 terposition of civil authority cannot be had to prevent parents 
 being wrested from their offspring, and children from their 
 parents, without respect to the ties of nature. We consider 
 these grievances demanding legislative redress :" — that is, 
 redress by Congress. 
 
 In 1S16, .Judge Morell of the Circuit Court of the United 
 States, in his charge to the grand jury of Washington, ob- 
 served, speaking of the slave trade : " The frequency with 
 which the streets of the city had been croicded ic'itli manacled 
 cajjtives, sometimes on the Sabbath, could not fail to shock 
 the feelings of all humane persons." 
 
 * Niles's Register. 
 
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. 37 
 
 The same year, John Randolph moved in the House of 
 Representatives for a committee "to inquire into the exist- 
 ence of an inhuman and illegal traffic of slaves carried on, 
 in, and through the District of Columbia, and report whether 
 any or what measures are necessary for putting a stop to the 
 same." The motion was adopted ; ha(J it been made twen- 
 ty years later, it would under the rules of the House, have 
 been laid on the table, " and no further action had thereon." 
 
 The Alexandria Gazette of June 22d, 1827, thus describes 
 the r-cenes sanctioned by our professedly republican and 
 Christian Legislature : " Scarcely a week passes without 
 some of these wretched creatures beins; driven throug^h our 
 streets. After having been confmed, and sometimes man- 
 acled in a loathsome prison, they are turned out in public 
 view to take their departure for the South. The children 
 and some of the women are generally crowded into a cart or 
 wagon, while others follow on foot, not unfrequently hand- 
 cuffed and cliained together. Here you may behold fathers 
 and brothers leaving behind them the deafest objects of af- 
 fection, and moving slowly along in the mute agony of de- 
 spair — there the young mother sobbing over the infant whose 
 innocent smiles seem but to increase her misery. From 
 some you will hear the burst of bitter lamentation, while 
 from others, the loud hysteric laugh breaks forth, denoting 
 still deeper agony," 
 
 In 1828, a petition for the suppression of this trade was 
 presented to Congress, signed by more than wie thousand in- 
 hahltants of this District. 
 
 In 1829, the Grand Jury of Washington made a commu- 
 nication to Congress, in which they say, " Provision ought to 
 be made to prevent purchasers for the purpose of removal 
 and transportation, from making the cities of the District, 
 depots for the hn-prisonment of the slaves they collect. Tlie 
 manner in which they are brought and confined in these pla- 
 ces, and carried through our streets, is necessarily such as to 
 excite the most painful feelings. It is believed that the whole 
 community would be gratified by the interference of Congress 
 for the suppression of these receptacles, and the exclusion 
 of this disgusting traffic from the District." 
 
 In 1830, the "Washington Spectator" thus gave vent to 
 its indignation : 
 
 " The slave trade in the Capital. — Let it be known to the 
 citizens of America, that at the very time when the proces- 
 sion which contained the President of the United States and 
 his Cabinet was marching in triumph to the Capitol, another 
 
38 AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 kind of procession was marching another way ; and that con- 
 sisted of colored human beings, handcvffed in fairs, and driven 
 along by what had the appearance of a man on horseback] 
 A similar scene was repeated on Saturday last; a drove con- 
 sisting of males and females, chained in cow^Ze*, starting from 
 Roly's tavern on foot for Alexandria, where with others they 
 are to embark on board a slave ship in waiting to convey 
 them to the South. Y/here is the O'Connell in this Repub- 
 lic that will plead for the emancipation of the District of 
 Columbia!" 
 
 The advertisements of the dealers, indicate the extent of 
 the traffic. The National Intelligencer of the 2Stli March, 
 1836, printed at Washington, contained the following ad- 
 vertisements : 
 
 " Cash for five hundred Negroes, including both sexes, from 
 ten to twenty-five years of age. Persons having likely ser- 
 vants to dispose of, will find it their interest to give us a call, 
 as we will give higher prices in cash, than any other pur- 
 chaser who is now or may hereafter come into the market. 
 Franklin & Amfield, Alexandria." 
 
 " Cash for three hundred Negi'oes. — The highest cash price 
 will be given by the subscriber, for negroes of both sexes, 
 from the ages of twelve to twenty-eight. 
 
 William H. Williams, Washino-ton." 
 
 *' Cash for four hundred Negroes, including both sexes, from 
 twelve to twenty-five years of age. 
 
 James H. Birch, Washington City." 
 
 " Cash for Negroes. — We will at all times give the highest 
 prices in cash for likely young negroes of both sexes, from 
 ten to thirty years of age. 
 
 J. W. Neal & Co., Washington." 
 
 Here we find three traders in the District, advertising in 
 one day for twelve hundred negroes, and a fourth offering to 
 buy an indefinite number. 
 
 In a later number of the Intelligencer, we find the follow- 
 ing : 
 
 " Cash for Negroes. — I will give the highest price for like- 
 ly negroes from ten to twenty-five years of age. 
 
 George Kephart.' 
 
 " Cash fr Negroes. — I will give cash and liberal prices for 
 ANY number of young and likely negroes, from eight to forty 
 years of age. Persons having negroes to dispose of, will 
 find it to their advantage to give me a call at my residence on 
 
AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 39 
 
 the corner of Seventh-street and IMaryland Avenue, and op- 
 posite Mr. Williams' 2Jf'ivatejail. 
 
 William H. Richards." 
 
 ** Cash for iVe^roe^.— The subscriber wishes to purchase a 
 number of negroes for the Louisiana and Mississipjn market. 
 Himself or an agent at all times can be found at his jail, on 
 Seventh-street. Wm. H. Williams." 
 
 The unhappy beings purchased by these traders in human 
 flesh, men and women, and children of eight years old, are 
 sent to the South, either over land in coffles, or by sea, in 
 crowded slavers. Fostered by Congress, these traders lose 
 all sense of shame; and we have in the National Intelhgen- 
 cer, the following announcement of the regular departure of 
 three slavers, belonging to a single factory : 
 
 '^Alexandria and New-Orleans Fa:htts. Brig Tribune, 
 
 Samuel C. Bush, master, will sail as above on the 1st Janu- 
 ary — Brig Isaac Franklin, Wm. Smith, master, on the 15th 
 January — Brig Tineas, Nath. Boush, master, on the 1st Feb- 
 ruary. They will continue, to leave this port on the 1st and 
 15th of each month, throughout the shipping season. Ser- 
 xants that arc intended to he shipped, loill at any time he recei- 
 'ved^for safe-kecpini^ at twenty-Jive cents a day. 
 
 John Amfield, Alexandria." 
 
 This infamous advertisement of the regular sailing of three 
 slavers, and the offer of the use of the factory prison, appears 
 in one of the principal journals of the United States. Its 
 proprietor has several times been chosen printer to Congress, 
 and there is no reason for believing that he has ever lost the 
 vote of a northern member for this prostitution of his col- 
 umns. 
 
 But the climax of infamy is still untold. This trade in 
 blood ; this buying, imprisoning, and exporting of boys and 
 girls eight years old; this tearing asunder of husbands and 
 wives, parents and children, is all legalized in virtue of au- 
 thority delegated by Congress ! ! The 249th page of the 
 laws of the city of Washington, is polluted by 'the following 
 enactment, bearing date 28th July, 1831 : 
 
 " For a license to trade or traffic in slaves for profit, four 
 hundred dollars." 
 
 Such is the character and extent of the American slave 
 trade, impudently and wickedly called by the Senate, " the 
 coasting trade," — a trade protected and regulated by the 
 very government which in the Treaty of Ghent, with won- 
 derful assurance, declared that "the traffic in slaves is irre- 
 concilable with the principles of justice and humanity." 
 
40 AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 The government may be fairly said to protect the trade, 
 when it refuses to exercise its constitutional power to sup- 
 press it. The very fact that slave traders are licensed in the 
 District, is a full and complete acknowledgement that there 
 is authority competent to forbid their nefarious business. 
 The continuance of the traffic under the immediate and "ex- 
 clusive jurisdiction" of the National Government, stamps 
 with disgrace every member of Congress who assents to it ; 
 and more especially, and with peculiar infamy, those north- 
 ern members who, for party purposes, vote that " Congress 
 ought not in anij way, to interfere with slavery in the District 
 of Columbia." 
 
 But we are constantly told by the apologists of slavery that 
 the American slave trade is beyond the constitutional con- 
 trol of the Federal Government; yet that government abol- 
 ished the African slave trade, and no human being ever ques- 
 tioned its right to do so ! But whence v/as that derived % 
 Solely from the Sth Sec. of the 1st Art. of the Constitution, viz : 
 
 " Congress shall have power to regulate commerce with 
 foreign nations, and among the several States." 
 
 In virtue of this delegation of power. Congress has made 
 it a capital crime to carry on commerce in African slaves. 
 Now that this legislative prohibition of the traffic is consti- 
 tutional, is 23rorved by the highest possible authority, even the 
 Constitution itself; for that instrument, after giving Con- 
 gress power to regulate commerce v/ith foreign nations, re- 
 stricts it from abolishing the African slave trade before the 
 expiration of twenty years.* To regulate, we are told, does 
 not include the power to destroy; yet it seems the power to 
 regulate commerce with foreign nations does include the 
 power to interdict an odious, cruel, and wicked branch of it. 
 By what logic then will it be shown that the power to regu- 
 late the commerce among the several States, does not include 
 the power to interdict a traffic in men, women, and children? 
 Is it more wicked, more base; more cruel, to traffic in Afri- 
 can savages liian in native born Americans — in white men, 
 and women and children — in the offspring of our own citi- 
 zens, and not unfrequently, of very distinguished citizens? 
 Yet it is this abominable commerce that our government fos- 
 ters and protects. We have seen its watchful guardianship 
 
 *The phraseology of this restriction shows that it was intended to limit the power to 
 regulate commerce as well " among the several States " as with foreign uatious. " The 
 migration, or importation of such persons as any of the existing States shall think 
 proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand 
 eight hundred and eight." — (Art. I. Sec. 9.) If any State should think proper to admit 
 slaves migrating- from another State, it was not to be restrained from doing so till 
 160S. If it should think proper to import slaves from a foreign country, it iftight da so 
 notwitbstaading the wishes of Congress, till the same period. 
 
DUPLICITY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 41 
 
 over this trade in its unceasing endeavors to obtain compen- 
 sation from Great Britain for 287 slaves throw^n by the v^^inds 
 and waves under her protection. Mr. Van Buren, our Min- 
 ister in England, in an official note on this subject, (Feb. 25, 
 1832,) remarked: — 
 
 *' The Government of the United States respecting the 
 actual and unavoidable condition of things at home, v\rhile it 
 most sedulously and rigorously guards against the further in- 
 troduction of slaves, iirotccts at the same time by reasonable 
 laws the rights of the owners of that species of property in 
 the States where it exists, Q.nd permits its transfer coastwise 
 from one of these States to another, under suitable restric- 
 tions to prevent the fraudulent introduction of foreign slaves.'* 
 
 By the act of Congress of 2d March, 1807, masters of ves- 
 sels under 40 tons burthen, are forbidden to transport coast- 
 wise from one port to another in the United States any per- 
 son of color to be sold or held as a slave, under the penalty 
 of $800 for each slave so transported. 
 
 By the same act, masters of vessels, over 40 tons burthen 
 sailing coastwise from one port to another, and intending to 
 transiwrt i^ersons of color to he sold or held as slaves, must first 
 make out duplicate manifests, specifying the names, sex, age, 
 and stature, of the persons transported, and the names and 
 residence of their owner or shipper. These manifests are 
 to be delivered to the collector of the port who is to retain 
 one, and to return the other to the master with a ''permit,'' 
 endorsed on it, "authorizing him to proceed to the port of 
 destination." If the master presumes to transport a slave 
 without such permit, not only is the vessel forfeited, but the 
 master is to pay a penalty of $1000 for each slave shipped. 
 On the arrival of the vessel at the port of destination, the 
 manifest, with the permit, is to be handed to the collector, 
 who thereupon is to grant a ''permit'' for the landing of the 
 slaves, and if any are landed without such permit, the master 
 forfeits one thousand dollars. So it seems Congress may 
 prohibit the slave trade in vessels under forty tons ; but ac- 
 cording to northern politicians, it would be unconstitutional 
 to prohibit it in vessels over forty tons; and according to the 
 slaveholders, such a prohibition would cause the dissolution 
 of the Union ! But alas ! the permission, regulation, and 
 protection of this traffic is in perfect keeping with 
 
 The duplicity of the Federal Government in regard 
 TO the suppression of the African slave trade. 
 
 The great struggle for the abstract principles of human 
 liberty, in which our fathers engaged with so much zeal, had, 
 
42 btjpLiciTY OF The federal government. 
 
 at the close of the revolutionary war, excited a very general 
 conviction of the injustice of slavery. When the convention 
 appointed to form a Federal Constitution assembled, the 
 northern and many of the southern delegates were disposed 
 to give the new government such unqualified power over the 
 commerce of the nation, as would enable it to abolish a traf- 
 fic no less at variance with our republican professions than 
 with the precepts of humanity and religion. A portion of 
 the southern delegates however, insisted on a temporary re- 
 striction of this power as the price of their adhesion to the 
 Union ; and their threat of marring the beauty, symmetry, 
 and strength of the fair fabric about to be erected by with- 
 drawing from it the support of the States they represented, 
 unfortunately induced the convention to yield to their wishes, 
 and to insert in the Constitution a clause restraining Con- 
 gress from abolishing the African slave trade for twenty 
 years. Mr. Madison has left us the following history of this 
 iniquitous clause: "The southern States would not have 
 entered into the union of America without the temj^orary 
 permission of that trade. The gentlemen from South Caro- 
 lina and Georgia, argued in this manner — ' We have now 
 liberty to import this species of property, and much of the 
 property now possessed has been purchased, or otherwise 
 acquired in contemplation of improving it by the assistance 
 of imported slaves. What would be the consequence of 
 hindering us from it ] The slaves of Virginia would rise in 
 value and we should be obliged to go to your markets.' " — 
 Debates in Virginia Convention. 
 
 We liave here the solution of much contradictory action 
 on the part of the slaveholders in regard to this trade. It 
 seems to have been early discovered that its abolition would 
 be advantageous to the slave-breeders, but not to the slave- 
 buyers. Owing to Climate, soil, and productions, slave labor 
 is less profitable in Maryland and Virginia, than in the more 
 southern States; hence, the greater demand for this labor in 
 the latter States has, since the cessation of importation, 
 caused a constant influx of slaves from the former. The 
 breeders in Maryland and Virginia have, for the most part, 
 striven in good faith for the total suppression of the African 
 trade ; while those who originally refused to enter the Union 
 unless permitted for at least twenty years, to import their 
 slaves directly from Africa, have since evinced very little de- 
 sire to secure to their neighbors the monopoly of the market. 
 
 Whenever the opponents of Abolition find it convenient 
 to refer to the action of the Federal Government on the sub- 
 
DUPLICITY OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 43 
 
 ject of slavery, they laud and magnify its horror of the Afri- 
 mn slave trade, and exultingly point to the law of Congress, 
 branding it with the penalties of piracy. And yet we are 
 inclined to believe, that the conduct of our government in re- 
 lation to this very subject, is one of the foulest stains attach- 
 ed to our national administration. Has the trade been sup- 
 pressed? Has the Federal Government in good faith en- 
 deavored to suppress it % These are important questions, 
 and we shall endeavor to solve thera by an appeal to facts 
 and official documents. 
 
 In a debate in Congress in 1819, Mr. Middleton of South 
 Carolina, stated, that in his opinion, 13,000 Africans were 
 annually smuggled into the United States. Mr. Wright of 
 Virginia, estimated the number at 15,000 ! The samo year, 
 Judge Story of the Supreme Court of the United States, in 
 a charge to a Grand Jury, thus expresses himself: — " We 
 have but too many proofs from unquestionable sources, that 
 it (the African trade) is still carried on with all the implaca- 
 ble ferocity and insatiable rapacity of former times. Avarice 
 has grown more subtle in its evasions, and watches and sei- 
 zes its prey with an appetite quickened rather than suppres- 
 sed by its guilty vigils. American citizens are steeped to their 
 very mouths, (I can scarcely use too bold a figure,) in this 
 stream of iniquity." 
 
 On the 22d Jan. 1811, the Secretary of the Navy wrote 
 to the commanding naval officer at Charleston. "I hear, not 
 without great concern, that the law prohibiting the importa- 
 tion of slaves, has been violated in frequent instances, rmdjo 
 St. Mary's, since the gun-boats have been withdrawn from 
 that station." 
 
 On the 14th March, 1814, the collector of Darien, Geor- 
 gia, thus wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury: — " I am in 
 possession of undoubted information, that African and West 
 India negroes are almost daily illicitly introduced into Geor- 
 gia, for settlement, or passing through it to the territories of 
 3ie United States, for similar purposes. These facts are no- 
 torious, and it is not unusual to see such negroes in the streets 
 of St. Mary, and such too, recently captured by our vessels 
 of war, and ordered for Savannah, were illegally bartered 
 by hundreds in that city, for this bartering (or bondings as it 
 i^ called, but in TQ^Yily selling,) actually took place before any 
 decision has passed by the Court respecting them. I can- 
 not but again express to you, sir, that these irregularities, 
 and mocking of the laws by men who understand them, are 
 such that it requires the immediate interposition of Congress 
 
44 IMPORTATION OP AFRICANS. 
 
 to effect the suppression of this traffic; for as things are, 
 should a faithful officer of the Government apprehend such 
 negroes, to avoid the penalties imposed by the laws, tliejjro- 
 jprktors disclaim them, and some agent of the Executive de- 
 mands a delivery of the same to him, loho may emjjloy them as 
 he j^lcases, or effect a sale by ivay of hand for the restoration of 
 the negroes lohcn legally called on so to do, ivliich hond is un- 
 derstood to he forfeited, as the amount of the hond is so muck 
 less than the value of the projyerty. After much fatigue, peril, 
 and expense, eighty-eight Africans are seized and brought to 
 the Surveyor to Darien; they are demanded by the Govern- 
 or's agent. Notwithstanding the knowledge which his Ex- 
 cellency had that these very Africans were some weeks with- 
 in six miles of his Excellency's residence, there was no ef- 
 fort, no stir made by him, his agents, or subordinate State 
 officers, to carry the laws into execution ; but no sooner than 
 it was understood that a seizure had been effected by an 
 officer of the United States, a demand is made for them ; 
 and it is not difficult to perceive, that the very aggressors 
 ™^y> by a forfeiture of the mock hond, be again placed in 
 possession of the smuggled property." 
 
 In 1817, General David B. Mitchell, Governor of Georgia, 
 resigned the Executive chair, and accepted the appointment 
 under the Federal Government, of Indian Agent at the Creek 
 Agency. He was afterwards charged with being concerned 
 in the winter of 1817 and ISIS, in the illegal importation of 
 Africans. The documents in support of the charge, and 
 those also which he offered to disprove it, were placed by 
 the President in the hands of Mr. Wirt, the Attorney Gen- 
 eral of the United States, who on the 21st January, 1821, 
 made a report on the same. From this report, it appears 
 that no less than 94 Africans were smuggled into Georgia, 
 and carried to Mitchell's residence. Mr. Wirt concludes 
 his report with the expression of his' conviction, "that Gen. 
 Mitchell is guilty of having prostituted his power as Agent 
 for Indian Affairs at the Creek Agency, to the purpose of 
 aiding and assisting in a conscious breach of the Act of Con- 
 gress of 1S07, in prohibition of the slave trade, and this from 
 mercenary motives."* 
 
 On the 23d May, 1817, the Collector at Savannah wrote 
 to the Secretary of the Treasury: — "I have just received 
 information from a source on which I can implicitly rely, 
 that it has already become the practice to introduce into the 
 State of Georgia across St. Mary's River, from Amelia Isl- 
 a nd, E. Florida. A fricans who have been carried into the 
 
 * Senate papers, 1st Sess. 17th Coug. No. 93. 
 
IMPORTATION OP AFRICANS. 45 
 
 port of Ferdinancla. It is further understood, that the evil 
 will not be confined altogether to Africans, but will be ex- 
 tended to the worst class of West India slaves.'' 
 
 Captain Morris of the Navy, informed the Secretary of 
 the Navy, (ISth June, 1817,) — " Slaves are smuggled" in 
 through the numerous inlets to the westward, where the peo- 
 jyle are hut too much disposed to render every j^osslhle assistance. 
 Several hundred slaves are now at Galveston, and persons 
 have gone from New-Orleans to purchase them." 
 
 On the 17th April, 1818, the Collector at New-Orleans, 
 wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury : — " No efforts of 
 the officers of the Customs alone, can be effectual in prevent- 
 ing the introduction of Africans from the westward : to put 
 a stop to that traffic, a naval force suitable to those waters is 
 indispensable ; and vessels captured with slaves ought not to 
 he brought into this ])ort, hut to some other in the United States, 
 for adjudication r We may learn the cause of this signifi- 
 cant hint, from a communication made the 9th July, in the 
 same year, to the Secretary, by the Collector at Nova-Ibera. 
 " Last summer I got out State warrants, and had negi'oes 
 seized to the number of eighteen, which were part of them 
 stolen out of the custody of the coroner ; the balance were con- 
 demned by the District Judge, and the informers received 
 their part of the nett proceeds from the State Treasurer, 
 Five negroes that were seilzed about the same time, were 
 tried at Opelousa in May last, by the same Judge. He de- 
 cided that some Spaniards that were supposed to have set up 
 a shajn claim, stating that the negroes had been stolen from 
 them on the high seas, (! !) should have the negroes, and that 
 the fcTsons tvho seized them should 'pay half the costs, and the 
 State of Louisiana the other. This decision had such an ef- 
 fect as to render it almost impossible for me to obtain any 
 assistance in that part of the country." 
 
 The Secretary of the Treasury, in a letter to the Speaker 
 of the House of Representatives, 20th January, 1819, re- 
 marked : — " It is understood that proceedings have been in- 
 stituted under the State authorities which have terminated in 
 the SALE of persons of color illegally imported into the States 
 of Georgia and Louisiana, during the years 1817 and 1818. 
 There is no authentic copy of the acts of the Legislatures of 
 these States upon this subject in this department, but it is 
 understood that in both States, Africans and other persons of 
 color, illegally imported, are directed to be sold for the 
 
 B'iiNEFIT OF THE STATE."* 
 
 * In 1835, the New-York Journal of Comraerce asserted that vessels had been re- 
 cently fitted out in that port for the African slave trade. 
 
46 IMPORTATION OF AFRICANS, 
 
 We have now, we think, proved from high authority, thaJ 
 notwithstanding the legal prohibition of the slave trade, tha 
 people, the courts, and the Executive authority in the plant-^ 
 ing States, have afforded facilities for the importation of Af- 
 ricans. It now becomes important to inquire how far the 
 Federal Govei'nment has enforced the penalties imposed by 
 the Act forbidding the trade. 
 
 On the 7th January, 1819, Joseph Nourse, Register of the 
 Treasury, in an official document submitted to Congress, cer- 
 tified that there were no i^ecords in the Treasury department 
 of any forfeitures under the Act of 1807, abolishing the sla\'e 
 trade ! So that notwithstanding the thirteen or fifteen thou- 
 sand slaves, said by southern members of Congi'ess to be 
 annually smuggled into the United States — notwithstanding 
 American citizens were declared by a Judge of the Supreme 
 Court to be " steeped to their very mouths in this stream of 
 iniquity," not one single foi-feiturehdid. in eleven years reached 
 the Treasury of the United States ! IMr. Nourse, however^. 
 states, that it was understood that there had been recently ticv 
 forfeitures, one in South Carolina, and the other in Alabama- 
 Respecting the first, we have no information ; of the latter, 
 we are able to present the following extraordinary history. 
 
 The Collecior at Mobile, writing Nov. 1-5, 1818, to the 
 Secretary of the Treasury, remarks : " Should West Florida 
 be given up to the Spanish authorities, both the American 
 and Spanish vessels it is to be apprehended will be employed 
 in the importation of slaves with an ultimate destination to 
 this country ; and even in its present situation, the greatest 
 facilities are afforded for obtaining .slaves from Havana and 
 elsewhere through West Florida. Three vessels, it is true, 
 were taken in the attempt last summer, but this was owing 
 rather to accident than any well-timed arrangement to prevent 
 the trade." 
 
 These three vessels brought in 107 slaves. By what mis^ 
 take they were captured we are not informed, but another 
 
 The Boston Express of 17lh December, 1838, thus gives the substance of the stat©^ 
 nicnts made by Mr. Elliott Cresson, of the Pennsylvania Golouizatiou Society, in a 
 public address delivered a few days before in Boston: 
 
 "Out of ITT slave ships which arrive at Cuba ever3- year, five-sixths are owned and 
 fitted out from ports in the United States; and the enormous profits accruing from, 
 their voj'ages remitted to this country'. One house in Nev.'-York received lately for 
 its share alone the s.im of $'250,000. Baltimore is largelj" interested in this accursed, 
 traffic as well as New-York — and even Boston, with all her religion and morality, does 
 not disdain to increase lier wealth by a participation in so damnable a business. A 
 gentleman of the highest respectability lately informed Mr, Cresson that a sailor iii. 
 this city told him that he had received several hundred dollars of hush money to make 
 Ijim keep silent, and when he mentioned the names of his employers the gentleman 
 gays he was actually afraid to repeat them, so high do they stand in societj'. A cap»» 
 tain in the merchant service from New-York, was lately offered liis own terms by twsjj 
 different houses provided he would undertake a slave voyage." 
 
 Of the ti^uth of these etalements we know nothing. 
 
IMPUNITY OF TRADERS. 47 
 
 letter from the Collector shows us how the " accident" was 
 remedied. " The vessels and cargoes and slaves have been 
 delivered on bonds ; the former to the owners, and the 
 slaves to three other persons. The Grand Jury found true 
 bills against the owners of the vessels, masters and super- 
 cargo — all of iclioiii have been discJmrged — why or where- 
 fore, I cannot say, except that it could not be for want of 
 proof against them." From this letter it is most probable 
 tliat the forfeiture of which Mr. Nourse had heard, if any in 
 fact occurred, was the collusive forfeiture of the Bonds.* 
 
 We most freely acknowledge that so far as the statute 
 book is to be received as evidence, there can be no question 
 of the sincerity and zeal with which the Federal Government 
 has labored to suppress the African slave trade : but laws da 
 not execute themselves, and we shall now appeal to the stat- 
 ute book, and to the minutes of Congress, to convict the 
 Government of gross hypocrisy and duplicity. 
 
 It is difficult to understand why men who are engaged in 
 breeding slaves for the market, or why men who are employ- 
 ed in buying and working slaves, should have any moral or 
 religious scruples about the African trade ; and when we find 
 polidcal leaders professing to be ready to sacrifice the Union 
 to secure the perpetuity of the American trade, we may sure- 
 ly be excused for doubting the sincerity of their denuncia- 
 tions against the foreign traffic. 
 
 In the year 1817, a new and sudden zeal was excited in 
 Congress for the abolition of the trade, and this zeal as we 
 shall see, was the offspring of the efforts of Virginia to colo- 
 nize the free blacks. The legislature of that State had for 
 years been anxious to get rid, not of the slaves, but of the 
 free negroes. On the 1st January, 1817, the Colonization 
 Society, the result of Virginia policy, was organized at 
 Washington, and immediately presented a memorial to Con- 
 gress praying for national countenance. The committee to 
 whom this memorial was referred, reported (11th Feb.) two 
 resolutions: — 1st, Calling on the President to enter into 
 negotiations with foreign powers for the *' entire and imme- 
 diate abolition of the traffic in slaves;" and 2nd, asking him 
 to obtain the consent of Great Britain to our colonizing free 
 people of color at Sierra Leone.. Thus early was the cause 
 of Colonization connected with the agitation in Congress 
 about the slave trade ; a connexion from which, as we shall* 
 presently see, the Society reaped a very large pecuniary ad- 
 
 * Tiie documents -sve have quoted on this subject, are to be found in. Reports ©5' 
 Committees. — 1st Sess. 21st Gong. No. 348.. 
 
48 ' COLONIZATION AND 
 
 vantage. The resolutions were not acted on, and the next 
 session, Mr. Mercer, regarded in Virginia as the father of 
 the Society, succeeded in getting a vote of the House (Dec. 
 30th, 1817,) instructing the committee on the memorial from 
 the Society, to report on the expediency of rendering the 
 laws against the slave trade more effectual. Of this commit- 
 tee Mr. Mercer was himself the chairman ; and he recom- 
 mended in his report, that the President should take meas- 
 ures for procuring siiitahle territory in Africa for colonizing 
 free peojile of color with their own consent ; and that armed 
 vessels should occasionally be sent to Africa for the purpose 
 of interrupting the trade. The suggestions of the commit- 
 tee were not adopted, but the ensuing session, (3d March, 
 1819,) a new act against the slave trade was passed, which 
 gave *' a local habitation" to the present colony of Monrovia ; 
 and was equivalent to a liberal and national grant to the So- 
 ciety. By this act, the President was authorized to restore 
 to their country, such Africans as might be captured on board 
 of slavers, or illegally introduced into the United States ; and 
 he was to appoint agents on the coast to receive them. Mr. 
 Monroe, then President of the United States, was a zealous 
 colonizationist, and was afterwards placed at the head of the 
 Auxiliary Society. Let us see what use he made of the 
 powers entrusted to him by the act of 1819. Many years 
 after, an inquiry was instituted in Congi'ess as to the expend- 
 itures under this law, and the Secretary of the Navy (1830,) 
 reported that "252 persons* of this description (recaptured 
 Africans) have been removed to the settlement provided by 
 the Colonization Society on the coast of- Africa; and that 
 there had been expended therefor, the sum of tico hmclrecl 
 mid sixty four tliousand seven hundred and ten dollars. * * * 
 The practice has been to furnish these persons with provis- 
 ions for a period of time after being landed in Africa, vary- 
 ing from six months to one year ; to provide them with 
 houses, arms, and ammunition ; to pay for the erection of 
 fortifications, for the building of vessels for their use, and in 
 short to render cdl the aid rcq?.ii?-ed for tJie founding a?id sup- 
 p>ort of a colonial estahlishmenty 
 
 * Wc have not been nble to ascertain from what sources these Africans were obtain- 
 ed, buL tliat they were not aZZ of them troj^hies of the zeal of our cruisers iu the cause of 
 humanity, appears from the following extracts from official documents. "There are 
 HOW in the charg'e of the Marshal of Georgia, 248 Africans taken out of a South Amer- 
 ican privateer, the 'General Ramirez,' tcliose crew mutinied, and hrnught the vessel 
 into St. Manfs, Georgia." — Letter of Scc'y of Navy, 7th Feb'y, 1821 "A decision 
 of the Supreme Court in the case of the ' General Ramirez,' placed under the control 
 of the Government from 125 to 130 Africans, who were brought into Georgia, and ar- 
 rangements are making to send them to the vdocrecwj'— (Liberia.)— Report of Sec'y of 
 Navy, Dec 2d, 1625. 
 
THE SLAVE TRADE. 49 
 
 A report from Amos Kendall, Fourth Auditor of the 
 Treasury, discloses more particularly the manner in which 
 the " Act in addition to the Acts froliihiting the slave traded 
 was made subservient to the purposes of the Colonization 
 Society. 
 
 " In May, 1822, the Secretary of the Navy directed that 
 ten Uberated Africans should be dehvered to Mr. J. Ashmun, 
 for transportation to Africa. The Secretary authorized him 
 to take out at the expense of the Government, 15,000 hard 
 brick, 5,000 feet of assorted timber, 30 barrels of ship bread, 
 eidit of tar, four of pitch, four of rosin, and two of turpen- 
 tine. ******** 
 
 " In the simple grant of power to an agent to receive recap- 
 tured negroes, it requires broad construction to find a grant 
 of authority to colonize them, to build houses for them, to 
 furnish them with farming utensils, to pay instructors to 
 teach them, to purchase ships for their commerce, to build 
 forts for their protection, to supply them with arms and mu- 
 nitions, and to employ the army and navy in their defence.''* 
 
 It cannot be denied that the friends of Colonization had 
 great encouragement to proceed in their warfare against the 
 slave trade. Accordingly Mr. Mercer, as the chairman of 
 the committee to whom a memorial from the Society had 
 been referred, reported (May 9th, 1820,) a Bill incorporating 
 the Society, and another making the slave trade piracy ; and 
 likewise two resolutions, — the first requesting the President 
 to negotiate with foreign powers, " on the means of effecting 
 an entire and immediate abolitirm of the slave trade ;^' and 
 another requesting him to make such use of the public armed 
 vessels as may aid the efforts of the Colortization Society. 
 The first resolution was adopted, and the consideration of 
 the other postponed. A few days after, (May 15th,) the Act 
 making the African slave trade piratical, was passed. But 
 laws do not execute themselves : and if any slave trader has 
 suffered death in the United States as a pirate, we confess 
 our icrnorance of the fact.t 
 
 o 
 
 * Senate Documents. 2 Scss. 2 Cong. 
 
 tin 1820, a slave vessel, tlie Science, fitted out at New-York, and commanded by 
 Adolphe Lacoste of Ciiai-lcston, South Carolina, was captured on the coast of Africa, 
 by the United Wtalcs Ship, Cyane, and Lacoslo sent home for trial. The trial took 
 place in the Circuit Court of the United States, before Judge Story. The evidence 
 was full and unequivocal ; Lacoste was convicted, and sentenced to live years' impris- 
 onment, and to the payment of a fine of S:3,000. Had the crime been committed a few 
 months later, the penalty v.o.ild have been death, under the new law, declaring the 
 trade piracy. Lacoste received a full pardon from the President, and the reader may 
 thence judge, whether had he been convicted as a pirate, his life would have been 
 much in danger. The reasons assigned for the pardon, were youth, previous good 
 character, and an aged mother. — Niles's Register, Aijril 20, 1822. 
 
 D 
 
50 FOREIGN NEGOTIATIONS 
 
 It certainly required some little assurance in the House 
 ^f Hepresentatives, thus to order a negotiation with foreio-n 
 powers, for the suppression of the trade, when the Federal 
 Government had itself been so remiss in its efforts, that both 
 Houses of the British Parliament had, the year before, (July 
 1819,) addressed the Prince Regent, praying him to renew 
 "his beneficent endeavors, more especially with the Gov- 
 ernments of France and the United States of America, for the ■ 
 effectual attainment of an object we all profess to have in 
 view :" and a negotiation had already been actually com- 
 menced with our Government, proposing to concede " to 
 each other's ships of war, a qualified right of search, with a 
 power of detaining the vessels of either State, with slaves 
 actually on hoard :''* and a positive refusal to this proposal 
 had already been returned. There is no evidence that our 
 Government ever took a single measure in consequence of 
 this resolution ; and under all the circumstances of the case, 
 it is not uncharitable to believe, that it was intended to save 
 appearances. 
 
 We must now beg the reader's attention to a new act, in 
 this farce of supj^ressing the slave trade. 
 
 In 1814, our government concluded a war with Great 
 Britain, and in the tretity of peace, gave its assent to the fol- 
 lowing article. '' Whereas the traffic in slaves is irreconci- 
 lable with the principles of humanity and justice ; and where- 
 as His Majesty and the United States are desirous of con- 
 tinuing their efforts to promote its entire abolition, it is here- 
 by agreed, that both the contracting parties shall use their 
 best endeavors to accomplish so desirable an object." 
 
 On the 29th January, 1S23, Mr. Stratford Canning, the 
 British Minister at Washington, addressed a letter to the 
 Secretary of State, reminding him of this pledge, and calling 
 on the American Government either to assent to the plan 
 proposed by Great Britain, or to suggest some other efficient 
 one in its place. After the reception of this letter, and be- 
 fore the return of an answer, the following resolution was 
 l^assed (2Sth Feb.) by the House of Representatives, viz. 
 
 "Resolved, that the President of the United States be re- 
 quested to enter upon and prosecute from time to time, such 
 negotiations with the several maritime powers of Europe and 
 America, as he may deem expedient, for the effectual aboli- 
 tion of the African slave trade, and its ulthnate denunciation 
 as ijiracy, under the laws of nations, hy the consent of the civ- 
 ilized loorldy 
 
 ' Letter from Lord Castlereagh to Mr. Rush, June 20, 1S18. 
 
ABOUT THE SLAVE TRADE. 51 
 
 The British Minister was then informed, in answer to his 
 letter, that the flan proposed by the United States was a 
 mutual stipulation to annex the penalty of piracy to the of- 
 fence of participating in the trade, by the citizens and sub- 
 jects of the two parties. Mr. Canning replied, that " Great 
 Britain desires no other, than that any of her subjects who 
 so far defy the laws, and dishonor the character of their 
 country as to engage in a trade of blood, proscribed not more 
 by the act of the Legislature, than by the national feeling, 
 should be detected and brought to justice even by foreign 
 hands, and from under the protection of her flag." He nev- 
 ertheless urged a limited concession of the right of search, 
 as the only practical cure of the evil ; and he communicated 
 the fact, that so late as January, 1822, it was stated officially 
 by -the" Governor of Sien-a Leone, " that the fine rivers of 
 Nunez and Pongas were entirely under the control of rene- 
 gade European, and American slave traders." He then pro- 
 posed that a mutual right of search should be conceded, to 
 be confined to a fixed number of cruisers on each side ; to 
 be restricted to certain parts of the ocean ; and that to pre- 
 vent abuses, these cruisers should act under regulations pre- 
 pared by mutual consent ; and moreover, that this conces- 
 sion should be made only for a short time, that if found in- 
 convenient in practice, it might be discontinued.* 
 
 But the Republic stood on its dignity, and would not con- 
 descend to yield a concession which Great Britain, France, 
 Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and 
 Sardinia, have thoug^ht it no deG:radation to make in the cause 
 of humanity. 
 
 But still the American Government was very anxious that 
 every man of every nation, who engaged in the traffic of 
 slaves on the coast of Africa, (not in the District of Colum- 
 bia,) should be hung by the neck till he was dead ; and forth- 
 with, in obedience to the resolution of 2&th February, des- 
 patches were forwarded to the Cabinets of France, Spain, 
 Portugal, Russia, the Netherlands, Buenos Ayres, and Co- 
 lumbia, announcing the desire of the United States to de- 
 clare the trade piracy, by the common consent of nations. 
 
 It is generally understood, that a pirate is an enemy to the 
 human race, and may be put to death by any government in 
 whose hands he may chance to fall. If this was not the pur- 
 port of the proposition of the House of Representatives, that 
 the trade should be denounced " as piracy under the laws 
 
 " Letter from Mr. Stratford Canning to the Secretary of State, I8th April, 1S23. 
 
52 FOREIGN NEGOTIATIONS. 
 
 of nations, by the consent of the civilized world,^^ we may 
 well ask, what did it mean ] 
 
 On the 24th June, 1823, instructions were forwarded to 
 our Minister in England, authorizing^ him to conclude a 
 treaty with Great Britain on the subject of the slave trade, 
 on certain conditions. " The draft of a convention," savs 
 the Secretary of State, " is herewith enclosed, which, IF the 
 British Grovernment should agree to treat upon this subject, 
 on the basis of a legislative prohibition of the slave trade by 
 both parties under the penalties of piracy, you are authori- 
 zed to propose and conclude." 
 
 Now it should be remembered, that at this time the trade 
 was not piratical by the British laws, and the English Minis- 
 try could not make it so by treaty. We therefore proposed 
 a condition with which possibly, they might not have it in 
 their power to comply. The ministry, however, when made 
 acquainted with the condition, felt confident of the acquies- 
 cence of Parliament. " The British Plenipotentiaries," says 
 Mr. Rush, in his letter to the Secretary of State, " gave their 
 unhesitating consent to the principle of denouncing the traf- 
 fic as piracy, ^provided we could arrive at a common mind on 
 all the other parts of the plan proposed." 
 
 The treaty, nearly verbatim, with a draft sent from Wash- 
 ington, was signed at London on the 13th March, 1824 ; and 
 a few days afterwards, according to a previous understand- 
 ing, and in fulfilment of the condition exacted by us. Parlia- 
 ment passed an Act, declaring that all British subjects found 
 guilty of slave trading, " shall suffer death v/ithout benefit of 
 clergy, and loss of lands, goods, and chattels, as pirates, 
 felons, and robbers upon the seas, ought to suffer." 
 
 This treaty provided in substance, that the cruisers of 
 either party on the coast of Africa, America, and the West 
 Indies, might seize slaves under the flag of the other, and 
 send them home to the country to which they belonged, where 
 they should be proceeded against as pirates. So that in fact 
 the whole concession made by us to Great Britain, amounted 
 to no more than permitting her to arrest our pirates, and to 
 deliver them to our courts for trial ; and in return, she grant- 
 ed us precisely the same right with respect to her pirates. 
 
 The treaty was submitted of course to the Senate for rati- 
 fication, which, under the circumstances of the case, one 
 would think, must have followed as a matter of course. The 
 Senate, however, thought otherwise. The treaty was laid 
 before them on the 30th of April; but as they delayed to 
 act upon it, the British Minister at Washington became un- 
 
TREATY FOR THE SUPPRESSION 53 
 
 easy, and on the 16th of May, addressed a letter to the Sec- 
 retary of State, complaining of the postponement of the 
 ratification, especially as the project of the convention had 
 originated with the United States ; and as Great Britain "had 
 not hesitated an instant to comply with the preliminary act 
 desired by the President," the Legislative prohibition of the 
 slave trade under the penalties of piracy. 
 
 The President naturally feeling his own good faith com- 
 promitted by the hesitation of the Senate, now sent them a 
 confidential message, urging the ratification of the treaty. 
 He remarked that the rejection of the treaty would subject 
 the Executive, Congress, and the Nation, " to the charge of 
 insincerity respecting the great result of the final suppression 
 of the slave trade. To invite all nations with the statute of 
 piracy in our hands, to adopt its principles as the law of na- 
 tions, and yet to deny to all the common rights of search for 
 the pirate, whom it would be impossible to detect without 
 entering and searching the vessel, would expose us not sim- 
 ply to the charge of inconsistency." 
 
 The Senate after long debates, finally ratified the treaty, 
 in a mutilated form. They struck out the word, •* America," 
 in the clause authorizing the seizures of slavers on **the coasts 
 of Africa, America, and the West Indies." They also ex- 
 punged the articles applying the provisions of the treaty, to 
 vessels chartered, as well as owned by the citizens or sub- 
 jects of either party ; and to the citizens or subjects of either 
 party carrying on the trade under foreign flags ; and they 
 added an article authorizing either party to terminate the 
 treaty at any time, on giving six months notice. 
 
 It will have been observed from the documents we have 
 quoted, that the slaves imported into the United States, have 
 been chiefly introduced through the Spanish possessions on 
 our southern frontiers ; slavers direct from Africa, rarely 
 having the hardihood to enter our ports, end discharge their 
 cargoes ; while small vessels from the West Indies, have 
 occasionally found their way into the southern waters. Of 
 course the treaty as altered by the Senate, would afford but 
 little interruption to this mode of stocking the plantations of 
 Louisiana and the neighboring States. 
 
 As chartered vessels were excepted, our traders would only 
 have to hire slavers instead of owning them, to be exempted 
 from the hazard of being arrested and sent home for trial, 
 by British officers ; or if even on board their own vessels, by 
 running up a foreign flag, they would escape the penalties 
 of piracy. 
 
54 OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 The British Cabinet refused to agree to the treaty thus 
 despoiled of all its efficiency ; but'with wonderful simplicity, 
 they proposed to restrict the right of search on the coast of 
 America, to the coast of the .soiithej-n States. This proposi- 
 tion was of course, promptly rejected by our Minister in 
 England. 
 
 The British Government vainly cherishing the hope, that 
 the United States might still consent to some combined ef- 
 fort to destroy a trade they professed to abhor, offered 
 through their Minister at Washington, to consent to a treaty, 
 word for word the same as the one the Senate had ratified, 
 with the single exception of restoring the word, " America." 
 To this, Mr. Clay, then Secretary of State, replied, that 
 " from the views entertained by the Senate, it would seem 
 unnecessary and inexpedient any longer to continue the ne- 
 gotiation respecting the slave convention, with any hope that 
 it can assume a form satisfactory to both parties. That a 
 similar convention had been formed with Columbia, on the 
 10th December, 1824, excepting that the coast of America 
 was excepted from its oinration ; and yet, notwithstanding this 
 conciliatory feature, the Senate had hy a large majority re- 
 fused to ratify itT'* 
 
 Negotiations have since been renewed on this subject ; 
 and France has united with Great Britain, in urging the 
 Cabinet at Washington to co-operate with them in putting 
 an end to the African slave trade. The correspondence has 
 not been made public, but we learn from the Edinburgh Re- 
 view, for July, 1836, that the final answer of the American 
 Government is, that " binder no condition, in no form, and 
 with no restriction, will the United States enter into any con- 
 vention, or treaty, or comhined efforts of any sort or kind icith 
 other nations, for the sujrpression of this trade.'" 
 
 To our readers we leave the task of making their own 
 comments on this history of duplicity and hypocrisy; and 
 proceed to other details. 
 
 On the 2nd November, 1825, the Columbian Minister at 
 Washington, in the name of his Government, invited the 
 United States to send delegates to a Congress of the South 
 American Republics, to be held at Panama. In enumera- 
 ting the topics to be discussed in the proposed Congress, he 
 remarked ; " The consideration of means to be adopted for 
 the entire abolition of the African slave trade, is a subject 
 sacred to humanity, and interesting to the policy of the Amer- 
 ican States. To effect it, their energetic, general, and uni- 
 
 * The documents quoted on this subject, may be found in State Papers, 1st Sess. 19 
 Cong. Vol. 1. And in Reports of Committees, 1st Sess. 21 Cong. Vol. 3, No. 348. 
 
INTERFERENCE FOR CUBA. 55 
 
 form co-operation is desirable. At tlie proposition of the Uni- 
 ted States^ Columbia made a convention with them on this 
 subject, which has 7iot been ratified hy the Governmcjit of the 
 United States. Would that America, which does not think 
 j^olitic what is unjust, contribute in union, and with common 
 consent, to the good of Africa !" 
 
 This document was submitted to the Senate, and on the 
 16th January, 1826, a committee of the Senate made a re- 
 port in relation to it, in w^hich they observe : " The United 
 vStates have not certainly the right, and ought never to feel 
 the inclination to dictate to others who may differ with them 
 on this subject," (the slave trade,) " nor do the committee 
 see the expediency of insulting other States by asce7iding the 
 onoral chair, and proclaiming from thence mere abstract prin- 
 ciples, of the rectitude of which each nation enjoys the per- 
 fect I'ifrht of decidino;' for itself." 
 
 The remarks made on this occasion by Mr. White, a Sen- 
 ator from Tennessee, are worthy of observation. " In these 
 new States (the S. American Republics,) some of them have 
 put it down in their fundamental law, * that whoever owns a 
 slave shall cease to be a citizen.' Is it then fit that the Uni- 
 ted States should disturb the quiet of the southern and ivest- 
 crn States upon any subject connected Vvdth slavery 1 I think 
 not. Can it be the desire of any prominent politician in the 
 United States, to divide us into parties upon the subject of 
 slavery 1 I hope not. Let us then cease to talk about slave- 
 ry in this House ; let us cease to negotiate upon arty subject 
 connected with it." 
 
 We have seen most abundantly, that slaveholders have no 
 objection to talk about slavery in Congress, or to negotiate 
 about it with foreign nations, when the object is to guard their 
 beloved institution from danger. It is only on the abomina- 
 tions of the system, and the means of removing it, that every 
 tongue must be mute, and the Federal Government passive. 
 Turning from the consideration of our professions, as con- 
 trasted with our conduct in regard to the suppression of the 
 African slave trade, let us next take a view of 
 
 The efforts of the Federal Government to prevent 
 
 THE abolition OF SLAVERY IN THE ISLAND OF CuBA. 
 
 At the time of the Congress of Panama, Spain was still 
 at war with her late colonies, and of course they were au- 
 thorized by every principle of national law, as well as of self- 
 defence, to carry their arms into the dominions of their ene- 
 my. Cuba was at a short distance, devoted to the royal 
 
56 INTERFERENCE FOR CUBA. 
 
 cause, and affording a depot for the naval force ever ready 
 to prey upon the commerce of the repubhcs. Under these 
 ch'cumstances, Mexico and Columbia meditated the invasion 
 and conquest of that island. But these republics, on achiev- 
 ing their own freedom, had given freedom to their slaves ; 
 and it was probable that they would manifest equal regard 
 for human rights, were they to become masters of Cuba. 
 These remarks will explain the following extract from the 
 instructions given to the ministers appointed to represent the 
 United States at the Congress of Panama. 
 
 *' It is required by the frank and friendly relations which 
 we most anxiously desire ever to chensh with the new repub- 
 lics that you should, without reserve, explicitly state that the 
 United States have too much at stake, in the fortunes of Cu- 
 ba, to allow them to see with indifference a war of invasion 
 prosecuted in a desolating manner, or to see employed, in the 
 purposes of such a war, one race of the inhabitants combat- 
 ting against another, upon principles and with motives that 
 must inevitably lead, if not to the extermination of one party 
 or the other, to the most shocking excesses. The humanity 
 of the United States in respect to the weaker, and which in 
 such a terrible struggle would probably be the suffering por- 
 tion, and the duty to defend chemselves against the contagion 
 of such near and dangerous examples, would constrain them, 
 even at the hazard of losing the friendship of Mexico and Co- 
 lumbia, to employ all the means necessary to their security."* 
 
 The obvious meaning of all this, in plain English, divested 
 of its diplomatic circumlocution, is simply that the Federal 
 Government, in order to protect the slavery of the South 
 from the shock it might receive from emancipation in Cuba, 
 would, if neecessary, go to war with our sister republics to 
 prevent the invasion of that island. 
 
 But so long as Spain refused to acknowledge the indepen- 
 dence of her revolted colonies, the war would be continued, 
 Cuba would be exposed to invasion, and the slave States to 
 the " contagion" of emancipation. Hence the cabinet at 
 Washington became exceedingly anxious to act the part of 
 peace-makers. Our Minister at St. Petersburg was instruct- 
 ed " to endeavor to engage the Russian Government to 
 contribute its best exertions towards terminating the exist- 
 ing contest between Spain and her colonies. From the vi- 
 cinity of Cuba to the United States, its valuable commerce 
 and the nature of its population^ their government cannot be 
 
 " Letters of Instructions from Mr. Clay, Secretary of State, to Messrs. Anderson and 
 Sargeaut, 8th May, 1826. 
 
INTERFERENCE FOR CUBA. 57 
 
 indifferent to any political change to which that island may 
 be destined."* 
 
 Spain also was implored, through the American Minister 
 at Madrid, to be reconciled to her undutiful children. " It 
 is not for the neiv republics,'' said Mr. Clay, in his letter (27th 
 April, 1825,) to Mr. Everett, " that the President wishes you 
 to urge upon Spain the expediency of concluding the war. 
 If the war should continue between Spain and the new re- 
 publics, and those islands (Cuba and Porto Rico) should be- 
 come the object and theatre of it, their fortunes have such a 
 connexion with the people of the United States, that they 
 could not be indifferent spectators ; and the possible contin- 
 gencies of a protracted war might bring upon the Government 
 of the United States duties and obligations, the performance of 
 which, however painful it should be, they might not be at liberty 
 to decline.'' t 
 
 The proposed invasion was abandoned ; but the fears of 
 our Government were not allayed. The war continued, and 
 some contingency arising from it, might give liberty to the 
 tens of thousands in Cuba pining in bonds. A new attempt 
 was made to induce Spain to remove the danger by conclu- 
 ding the war. On the 22d October, 1829, Mr. Van Buren 
 then Secretary of State, instructed Mr. Van Ness, our Min- 
 ister in Spain, to press upon that court a reconciliation with 
 the South Ameiican republics. " Considerations," he re- 
 marked, " connected with a certain class of our population, make 
 it the interest of the southern section of the Union, that no at- 
 tempt should be made in that island to throw off the yoke 
 of Spanish dependence ; the first effect of which would be 
 the sudden emancipation of a numerous slave population, whose 
 result could not but be very sensibly felt upon tJie adjacent shores 
 of the United States'* 
 
 Fortunate it is for the cause of humanity, that the great- 
 est republic upon earth had not the power to prevent " the 
 sudden emancipation of a numerous slave population" in the 
 British West Indies, on the 1st of August, 1838 ; " whose 
 result," blessed be God, is and will be " very sensibly felt on 
 the adjacent shores of the United States." 
 
 The subject of the Panama mission was debated at gi'eat 
 length in both Houses of Congress, and frequent allusions 
 were made by the speakers to Cuba. Let us hearken to the 
 sentiments expressed by some of our republican legislators. 
 
 * Letters from Mr. Clay to Mr. Middleton, 10th May, 1325. 
 t Senate Documents, Ist Sess. 19 Cong. vol. 3. 
 
58 AVOWALS IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Mr. Randolph of Virginia : " Cuba possesses an immense 
 negro population. In case those States (Mexico and Colum- 
 bia) should invade Cuba at all, it is unquestionable that this 
 invasion will be made with this principle, — this genius of 
 universal emancipation, — this sweeping anathema ac^ainst 
 the white population in front, — and then sir, wJiai is the sit- 
 uation of the Southern States .?" 
 
 Mr. Johnson of Louisiana : " We know that Columbia 
 and Mexico have long contemplated the independence of 
 that island (Cuba.) The final decision is now to be made, 
 and the combination of forces and plan of attack to be formed. 
 What, then, at such a crisis, becomes the duty of the Gov- 
 ernment ? Send your ministers instantly to this diplomatic 
 assembly, where the measure is maturing. Advise with 
 them — remonstrate — menace, if necessary, against a step 
 so dangerous to us, and perhaps fatal to them." 
 
 Mr. Berrien of Georgia : " The question to be determined 
 is this : With a due regard to the safety of the Southern 
 States, you can suffer these islands (Cuba and Porto Rico) to 
 pass into the hands of BUCANIERS, drunk with their new- 
 born liberty ? If our interests and our safety shall require 
 us to say to these new republics, Cuba and Porto Rico must 
 remam as they are, we are free to say it, and by the blessing 
 oi God and the strength of our arms, to enforce the declara- 
 tion ; and let me say to gentlemen, these high considerations 
 do require it. The vital interests of the South demand it." 
 
 These new republics were stigmatiz^ by this honorable 
 gentleman as bucaniers ; not that they were robbers, but be- 
 cause they had ceased to rob the poor and helpless ; and the 
 evidence of their being drunk with liberty, was their ^;;-«c^z- 
 cal acknowledgement of the principles of human rights, pro- 
 fesssd in our declaration of independence. 
 
 Mr. Floyd of Virginia : " So far as I can see, in all its 
 bearings, it (the Panama Congress) looks to the conquest of 
 Cuba and Porto Rico ; or, at all events, of tearing them from 
 the crown of Spain. The interests, if not safety of our own 
 country, would rather require us to interpose to prevent such 
 an event, and I would rather take up arms to prevent, than 
 to accelerate such an occurrence." — Congressional Delates, 
 2d vol. 
 
 The facts and sentiments we have now exhibited, prove 
 beyond cavil, that this mighty republic volunteered to solicit 
 the aid of foreign monarchs to perpetuate slavery in Cuba, 
 and was strongly disposed to incur the hazard and calamities 
 of war in the cause, — not of liberty, but of bondage. 
 
HISTORY OF HAYTI. 59 
 
 Having noticed our watchful guardianship over Cuba, we 
 will next advert to 
 
 The hostility of the Federal Government to Hayti. 
 
 To do justice to this part of our subject, we must beg the 
 patience of our reader while we briefly lay before him a few 
 historical facts. 
 
 The Island of St. Domingo was one of the most valuable 
 colonies belonging to the crown of France. It is about 450 
 miles long, and 150 wide. Its population in 1790, was esti- 
 mated as follows : 
 
 White inhabitants, ^ 42,000 
 
 Free colored inhabitants, 44,000 
 
 Slaves, 600,000 
 
 Total, 686,000 
 
 Of the free colored inhabitants, numerically equal with the 
 whites, many were men of education and property, landed 
 proprietors, and the holders of slaves. Still they were de- 
 iDarred from all pohtical privileges on account of their com- 
 plexion. At the commencement of the French Revolution, 
 the National Assembly abolished this discrimination on ac- 
 count of color, and gave the free blacks in the colonies, the 
 same civil rights that were possessed by their white brethren. 
 The pride of the latter led them to refuse submission to this 
 humiliating decree of the mother country, and a civil war 
 between the whites and the free blacks, ensued. No inter- 
 ference whatever with the rights of slaveholders as such, had 
 at this time been attempted, either in France or the colony ; 
 and the dissensions which convulsed the island, for a long 
 time related exclusively to the political condition of the free 
 colored population. In August, 1791, a partial insurrection 
 of the slaves occurred, favored by the quaiTels of their mas- 
 ters. In some instances the free blacks united with the 
 whites, in their efforts to suppress the insurrection, and in 
 others, they availed themselves of the aid of the revolted 
 slaves, against the planters. 
 
 In 1792, the French Government sent over three commis- 
 sioners with 6000 troops, to enforce their decree respecting 
 the free blacks, and to restore order. Many of the planters, 
 however, still resisted ; while others took sides with the 
 Government, and the distractions of the island w^ere now 
 aggravated by a civil war between the ichites themselves. 
 
 A portion of the planters, abhorring the attempt of the 
 Government to elevate the free blacks to a political equality 
 
60 
 
 HISTORY OP HAYTI. 
 
 with themselves, now intrigued with Great Britain to seize 
 upon the island, and thus to save them from the degrading 
 consequences of repubHcan principles. In comphance with 
 their invitation, conveyed through their agent, M. Charmilly, 
 an expedition was fitted out at Jamaica, for the capture of 
 St. Domingo ; and on the 19th Sept. 1793, arrived at Jere- 
 mie. Only a few days before the appearance of the British 
 fleet on the coast, one of the French commissioners, who 
 happened at the moment to be acting alone, in the absence 
 of his colleagues, having received intelligence of the intended 
 invasion, and knowing the disaffection of the planters, issued 
 a hasty proclamation, giving freedom to all the slaves, as the 
 only means of preserving the colony from conquest.* 
 
 The free negroes and the manumitted slaves united in de- 
 fending the island against the invaders, while an army of 
 2000 of the white inhabitants, ranged themselves under the 
 British standard. The French commissioners soon after re- 
 turned to France ; great numbers of the planters emigrated ; 
 and the island was virtually abandoned to the blacks, except 
 so much of it as was occupied by the British troops. These 
 troops were from time to time reinforced by detachments 
 from Europe and the West Indies— but in vain. The blacks 
 under Toussaint, who was appointed by the Government at 
 home, ** Governor General of the armies of St. Domingo," 
 continued the contest for about five years, and finally suc- 
 ceeded in driving the English from the island. Britain be- 
 ing in the meantime at war with France, her naval forces 
 prevented all intercourse between the colony and the mother 
 country : and the blacks thus left to themselves, declared 
 themselves independent on the 1st of July, 1798, and organ- 
 ized the Government of Hayti. 
 
 The peace of Amiens afforded Bonaparte an opportunity 
 to attempt the subjugation of the island, and the reduction 
 of its inhabitants to slavery. 
 
 Early in January, 1802, a French army of 20,000 men 
 were landed at St. Domingo, and various reinforcements 
 afterwards followed. 
 
 The war was waged with atrocious cruelty on the part of 
 the French, and the blacks aided by the climate, succeeded 
 m destroying about 40,000 of their enemies in eleven months; 
 and on the 19th of November, 1802, the wrecks of the in- 
 vading army surrendered to Dessalines, the black chief. 
 
 * The ensuing year, 1794, by a decree of the National Assembly, slavery was for- 
 mally abolished throughout all the French colonies. 
 
HOSTILITY TO HAYTI. 61 
 
 Since that time, Hayti has continued an independent nation, 
 perfectly inoffensive in all its foreign relations ; and its en- 
 tire sovereignty is at present fully acknow^ledged by both 
 France and England, and undisputed by any poM^er on earth. 
 
 It is now important to inquire, what has been the conduct 
 of the United States towards this heroic republic 1 
 
 Twelve years after slavery had been abolished by a decree 
 of the French Government ; after the expulsion of the armies 
 of England and France ; when for three years not a hostile 
 foot had pressed the soil of Hayti ; when a regularly organ- 
 ized government was in full operation ; and without one 
 solitary cause of complaint against the new State, the Amer- 
 ican Congress passed an act, (2Sth Feb. 1806,) " to suspend 
 the commercial intercourse between the United States and 
 certain parts of the island of St. Domingo." These certain 
 parts were defined in the act, to be such parts as were not 
 "in the possession and under the acknowledgement of 
 France ;" and of course included the whole island. As there 
 was at this time no war in Jact, between Hayti and France, 
 and the latter was prevented by the naval superiority of Eng- 
 land, and her own continental wars, from sending a single 
 soldier to Hayti ; the sole object of this act, was to distress 
 and harrass the Haytians by depriving them of the bread- 
 stuffs and other necessaries they were accustomed to receive 
 from this country. It was a piece of wanton cruelty, unre- 
 quired by the obligations of neutrality ; and demanded by 
 France in a tone of arrogance, which would have secured its 
 rejection had not the intended victims been black. Bona- 
 parte, irritated by the loss of his army, and the defeat of his 
 designs upon Hayti, resolved to starve, if possible, a people 
 whom he could not conquer ; and he found in the Federal 
 Government, a willing instrument of his vengeance. His Min- 
 ister at Washington, in a letter to the Secretary of State, de- 
 manded an immediate cessation of the commerce between 
 the citizens of the United States and *' the rebels of St. Do- 
 mingo — that race of African slaves, the reproach and the 
 refuse of nature ;" and he enforced his demand with the in- 
 formation ; — "The Emperor and King, my master, expects 
 from the dignity and candor of the Government of the Union, 
 that an end be put to it promptly,"* The letter was written 
 in January ; and in February the act required was passed, 
 and continued in force for two years. 
 
 The invitation to the United States to send ministers to 
 the Congress of Panama, has been already mentioned. In 
 
 * American State papers. 5th vol. p. 154. 
 
62 COxXGRESS TO PANAMA. 
 
 the document conveying the invitation, it was remarked : 
 " On what basis the relations of Hayti, and other parts of 
 our hemisphere, that shall hereaftei' be in like circumstances, 
 are to be placed, is a question simple at first view, but attend- 
 ed with serious difficulties when closely examined. These 
 arise from the diflerent manner of regarding Africans, and 
 from their different rights in Hayti, the United States, and 
 in the American States. This question will be determined 
 at the Isthmus."* 
 
 The invitation was accepted, and the instructions of our 
 ministers contained the following : — " Under the actual cir- 
 cumstances of Hayti, the President does not think'that it would 
 be proper at this time to recognize it as a new State."! This, 
 be it remembered, was just a quarter of a century since the 
 Haytians had declared and maintained their independence, 
 and at a moment when they were enjoying the blessings and 
 exercising the prerogatives of an independent State, and at 
 peace with all the world. And what motive prompted the 
 United States thus to exert its influence to prevent the Con- 
 gress of Panama from recognizing Hayti " as a new State V 
 — none other than the apprehension that the admission of a 
 palpable truth, the independence of a black Republic, would 
 prove dangerous to the perpetuity of American slavery. Is 
 this slander ] Let the members of Congress speak for them- 
 selves. The following sentiments were elicited in the de- 
 bate on the Panama mission. 
 
 Mr. Berrien of Georgia : — " Consistently with our own 
 safety, can the people of the South j)crimt the intercourse 
 which would result from the establishing relations of any 
 sort with Hayti ] Is the emancipated slave, his hands yet 
 reeking" (thirty-two years after slavery had been abolished 
 by the French Government) " in the blood of his murdered 
 master, to be admitted into their ports, to spread the doc- 
 trines of insurrection, and to strengthen and invigorate them, 
 by exhibiting in his own person an example of successful i*e- 
 volt ] Gentlemen must be sensible — this cannot be. The 
 great principle of self-preservation will be arrayed against it. 
 I have been educated in sentiments of habitual reverence for 
 the Constitution of the United States : I have be^n taught 
 to consider the union of these States as essential to their 
 safety. The feeling is nowhere more universal or more 
 strong than among the people of the South. But they have 
 
 ^ Senate Documents. 1st Sess. 1.9 Cong. vol. III. \ Letter of Mr. Clay, 
 Secretary of State, 8th May, 1826. 
 
OPINIONS IN CONGRESS. 63 
 
 a stronger feeling — need I name it % Is there any one who 
 hears and does not understand me ] Let me implore gen- 
 tlemen not to call that feeling into action by this disastrous 
 policy." In plain English, the slaveholders love slavery 
 more than they do the Union, and would sacrifice the last, 
 lather than acknowledge as free, a people who had once 
 been slaves, 
 
 Mr. Benton of Missouri : — *' The peace of eleven States 
 in this Union will not permit the fruits of a successful negro 
 insurrection to be exhibited among them ; — it will not per- 
 mit the fact to be seen and told, that for the murder of their 
 masters and mistresses they are to find friends among the 
 white people of the United States." 
 
 Mr. Ha:milton of South Carolina : — " It is proper that on 
 this occasion I should speak with candor and without re- 
 serve : that I should avow what I believe to be the senti- 
 ments of the southern people on this question, and this is 
 that Haytian independence is not to he tolerated in any form. 
 # * * * ^ people will not stop to discuss the nice meta- 
 physics of a federative system, when havoc and destruction 
 menace them in their doors." 
 
 Mr. Hayne of South Carolina : — " With nothing connect- 
 ed with slaveiy can w^e consent to treat with other nations ; 
 and least of all ought we to touch the question of the inde- 
 pendence of Hayti in conjunction with the Revolutionary 
 Governments whose own history affords an example scarcely 
 less fatal to our repose. These governments have proclaimed 
 principles of liberty and equality, and have marched to vic- 
 tory under the banner of universal emancipation. You find 
 men of color at the head of their armies, in the Legislative 
 halls, and in the Executive departments. * * * * Qui- pol- 
 icy with regard to Hayti is plain ; we never can acknowl- 
 edge her independence. * * * * Let'our Government direct 
 all our Ministers in South America and Mexico, to protest 
 against the independence of Hayti." 
 
 Gentlemen when they talk in a passion, rarely talk wisely 
 or consistently-. Mr. Hayne insists that we cannot touch the 
 question of the independence of Hayti in conjunction with 
 the American Revolutionary Governments ; and yet in the 
 next breath, he is for opening negotiations with all these 
 governments on this very subject. Alraost every slaveholder 
 assures us that the slaves, if emancipated, could not take 
 care of themselves ; and yet Mr. Hayne proclaims the in - 
 portant fact, that the armies of these same governments have 
 " marched to victory" with colored men at their head ; and 
 
64 RESPECTING HAYTI. 
 
 that colored men are found in their Legislative halls, and 
 Executive departments ! 
 
 Mr. Johnson of Louisiana : — *' It may be proper to ex- 
 press to the South American States the unalterable opinion 
 entertained here in regard to intercourse with them. The 
 unadvised recognition of that island, (Hayti) and the public 
 reception of their Ministers, will nearly sever our diplomatic 
 intercourse, and bring about a separation and alienation in- 
 jurious to both. I deem it of the highest concern to the po- 
 litical connection of these countries, to remonstrate against 
 a measure so justly offensive to us, and to make that remon- 
 strance EFFECTUAL." — Congressionol Dehates, Vol. IL 
 
 Thus the gentleman from Louisiana looked upon the re- 
 cognition of Hayti by other and independent States, as a 
 measure so offensive to us, as to afford us ground for quar- 
 rellinof with them. 
 
 We will now advance twelve years in our history, and see 
 if the lapse of time has softened the hatred of our rulers to 
 Hayti. On the 17th December, 1838, a petition was pre- 
 sented to the House of Representatives, praying for the 
 establishment of the usual international relations with that 
 republic. No sooner was the purport of the petition an- 
 nounced, than vehement objections were made to it, and no 
 less than thirty-two members had the hardihood to vote 
 against even its reception. They were, however, in the 
 minority ; and on a motion being made to refer it to the 
 Committee on Foreign Relations, the Chairman of that 
 committee, himself a slaveholder, advocated the reference, 
 as, t|i% best way of stifling the discussion, observing that 
 " several similar memorials had been sent there the last ses- 
 sion, which had never been reported on. This would take a 
 similar course ; it would never he heard of again.^* With 
 this intimation the petition was referred. A motion was 
 then made to instruct the committee to report on the peti- 
 tion : but, to stop the discussion, the previous question was 
 moved, and the motion denied by a great majority. A few 
 extracts from the speeches delivered on this pccasion may be 
 useful, as showing the temper and logic displayed by the 
 southern members. 
 
 Mr. Legare of South Carolina : ** It (the petition) origi- 
 nates in a desio-n to revolutionize the South and convulse the 
 Union, a^id ought therefore to be rejected with reprobation. 
 As sure as you live, sir, if this course is permitted to go on, 
 the sun of tliis Union will go down — it will go down in 
 BLOOD — and ,g;o down to rise no more. I will vote un- 
 
BRITISH ARMY IN HAYTI. 65 
 
 hesitatingly against nefarious designs like these* They are 
 treason,— yes sir, I pronounce the authors of such things 
 traitors — traitors not to their country only, but to the whole 
 
 HUMAN RACE." 
 
 Mr. Wise of Viro^inia : " We are called to recoiniize the 
 insurrectionists who rose on their French masters. A large 
 portion of those now in power in this black republic, are 
 slaves who cut their master's throats. Christophe himself 
 was an insurrectionist and a revolutionist. Their Govern- 
 ment has the stamp of such an origin. And will any gentle- 
 man tell me now, that slaves, aided by an English army, 
 (and it is consolatory to think, when we are threatened by 
 abolitionists with having our throats cut at the South, that 
 these slaves in St. Domingo, though ten to one in number, 
 never could have succeeded in insurrection but for the aid 
 of the British array,) ought to be recognized by this Govern- 
 ment, and that their being such is no argument against it '? 
 No, it is the abolition spirit alone which would have us say 
 to these men, whose hands are yet red with their master's 
 blood : * You shall be recognized as freemen ; we wish to 
 establish international relations with you.' Never will I — 
 never will my constituents be forced into this. This is the 
 only body of men who have emancipated themselves by 
 butchering their masters. They have long been free, I ad- 
 mit ; yet, if they had been free for centuries, — if Time him- 
 self should confront me, and shake his hoary locks at my op- 
 position, — I should say to him, I owe more to my constitu- 
 ents — to the quiet of my people — than I owe or can owe to 
 mouldy prescriptions, however ancient." 
 
 The consolation enjoyed by this gentleman, from_ the con- 
 viction that the Haytians are indebted to a British army for 
 their liberty, is not a little ludicrous. There has never been 
 but one British army in Hayti, and that was sent for the pur- 
 pose, not of emancipation, but of conquest ; and instead of 
 aiding the blacks, it was joined by two thousand of the plant- 
 ers, who looked to it as the means by which they were to 
 recover their authority over their former slaves. Yet this 
 army, thus aided, found itself vanquished by the despised 
 blacks ; and in May, 179S, under Brigadier General Mait- 
 land, capitulated to Toussaint, the black General. The his- 
 tory of St. Domingo affords much and valuable instruction 
 to slaveholders, but certainly very little consolation. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to state a few facts relative to 
 the present condition of a republic which so powerfully ex- 
 cites the apprehensions of southern gentlemen, and to the 
 
 E 
 
66 PRESENT CONDITION OF HAITI. 
 
 magnitude of the commerce which our northern politicians 
 are willing to sacrifice for southern votes. 
 
 The advocates of slavery are fond of representing the 
 Haytians as a horde of barbarians. We therefore pive the 
 following evidence, published by the British Parliament, and 
 taken before one of its committees. 
 
 Evidence of Vice Admiral, tJie Hon. Cliarlcs FUjnrng, Mem- 
 ber of Parliament : — "• He could not speak positively of the 
 increase of the Haytian population since 1804, but believed 
 it had treUed since that time.* They now feed themselves, 
 and they export provisions which neither the French nor the 
 Spaniards had ever done before. He saw a sugar estate 
 near Cape Haytian, General Boulon's, extremely well culti- 
 vated and in beautiful order. Anew plantation was forming 
 on the opposite side of the road. Their victuals were very 
 superior to those in Jamaica, consisting chiefly of meat — 
 cattle being very cheap. He saw no marks of destitution 
 any where. The country seemed improving, and trade in- 
 creasing. The estate he visited near the Cape was large ; 
 it was calculated to make 300 hogshead of sugar. It was 
 as beautifully laid out and as well managed as any estate he 
 had seen in the West Indies. His official correspondence 
 as Admiral, with the Haytian Government, made him attri- 
 bute much efficiency to it, and it bore strong marks of civili- 
 zation. There was a better police in Hayti than in the new 
 South American States; the communication was more rapid ; 
 the roads much better. One had been cut from Port-au- 
 Prince to Cape Haytian that would do honor to any country. 
 A regular port was established. The government is one 
 quite worthy of a civilized people." 
 
 In 1831, the imports into France from Hayti exceeded \n. 
 value the imports from Sweden, Denmark, the Hanseatic 
 Towns, Holland, Austria, Portugal, the French West Indies, 
 or China. — McCidlocli's Dictionary of Commerce, p. 637. 
 
 In 1833, the imports from Hayti into the United States 
 exceeded in value our imports from Prussia, Sweden and 
 Norway, Denmark and the Danish West Indies, Ireland and 
 Scotland, Holland, Belgium, Dutch West Indies, British 
 West Indies, Spain, Portugal, all Italy, Turkey and the Le- 
 vant, or any one of the South American republics. And 
 what protection is afforded to this commerce by the Federal 
 Government — a Government willing to negotiate in every 
 court of Europe for compensation for shipwrecked or fugitive 
 
 * By the census of 1824, the population was stated at 335,000. It is unque^ji^uably 
 apjyard^ of a million at the present time. 
 
TEXAS. 67 
 
 negroes 1 " Our trade with Hayti is embarrassed ; it is sub- 
 jected to severe discriminating duties. W^e are probably the 
 least favored of any people in the ports of the republic. Ton- 
 nage duties and vexatious port charges discourage and op- 
 press our commerce there. I am assured that, but for these 
 impediments, the- trade from this country with that would be 
 greatly extended. The acknowledged cause of all the em- 
 barrassments to that trade is found in the fact, that our Gov- 
 ernment refuses to recognize the Government of Hayti.— ^ 
 We stand aloof, as if they were a lawless tribe of savages. 
 While all other powers have long since acknowledged them 
 as an independent Sovereignty, we refuse to recognize them. 
 Others profit by their commerce at our expense. We have 
 no representative at the island of any grade, nor have they a 
 public officer accredited here. No commercial relation, 
 therefore, exists between the two Governments." — Speech 
 of Mr. Grcnndl, in H. of R., ISiJi, December, 1S3S. 
 
 If the treatment which Hayti has received from the United 
 States, evinces the hatred of our republic to emancipation, 
 we have a proof no less strong of its attachment to slavery, in 
 
 The conduct of the Federal Government To^yARDS 
 
 Texas. 
 
 In 1829, the Republic of Mexico having achieved her own 
 independence, gave liberty to every slave within her limits. 
 This State had a vast and fertile, but thinly peopled territo- 
 ry, adjacent to Louisiana. In this territory within a few 
 years past, a large number of adventurers from the United 
 States, had taken up their residence with the consent, and 
 under the jurisdiction of Mexico. These adventurers sighed 
 for the sweets of slavery, which they had enjoyed in their 
 native land; and as the soil was adapted to the cotton culti- 
 vation, they became restless under the requirement of the 
 Government, either to till it themselves, or honestly to pay 
 those who tilled it for them. Hence, they conceived the 
 idea of transferring their allegiance from Mexico, to another 
 republic less tenacious of human rights. Nor was a large 
 portion of that other republic less anxious to acquire a new 
 market for slaves, and a new territory which would give to 
 -the slaveholding interest a preponderance in the national 
 councils. Judge Upshur in 1S29, remarked in the Virginia 
 Convention : " If Texas should be obtained, which he strong- 
 ly desired, it would raise the price of slaves, and be a great 
 advantage to the slaveholders in that State ;" and in 1832, 
 Mr. Gholston declared in the Virginia Legislature, that " he 
 
6S INVASION OF TEXAS. 
 
 believed the acquisition of Texas w^ould raise the price of 
 slaves fifty per cent, at least." Virginia, it v^^ill be recol- 
 lected, is a breeding State, and therefore interested in the 
 opening of ,a new market. The planting States have no 
 w^ish to raise the j^rr/ce of slaves, but are deeply concerned 
 for the perpetuity of the system. One of their distinguished 
 politicians published a series of essays on the policy of annex- 
 ino- Texas to the United States ; a territory, which he con- 
 tended was large enough to be divided into ni?ie slave States ; 
 which would counterbalance the increasing number of free 
 States at the North. 
 
 The Federal Government ever ready to promote the slave- 
 holdino- interest, commenced a negotiation for the purchase 
 of Texas, and offered four 7nillwnsqf dollars for the territo- 
 ry.* The offer was promptly rejected, and other means 
 were resorted to. 
 
 Texan land companies were formed at the North, for the 
 sale of extensive tracts of land, said to have been obtained 
 by grants, from the Mexican Government. Capitalists, pol- 
 iticians, and demagogues participated in these splendid 
 schemes of speculation, and became vociferous in the cause 
 of Texan liberty. At the same time, crowds of emigrants 
 repaired to the territory, many carrying their slaves with 
 them. At last, these men feeling themselves strong enough, 
 raised the standard of rebellion in September, 1835, and on 
 the 2d of the succeeding March, issued their declaration of 
 independence. The Mexicans of course, endeavored to 
 quell the insurrection ; but, although nominally fighting with 
 their own subjects, they were in fact contending against an 
 invasion from the United States. The truth of this assertion 
 will scarcely be questioned : yet it may be well to support 
 it by a few facts. The following extracts from the journals 
 of the day, will, it is presumed, be sufficient. 
 
 ** WJio will go to Texas 1 — Major J. W. Harvey of Lin- 
 colnton, has been authorized by me, with the consent of 
 Major-General Hunt, an agent in the western counties of 
 North Carolina, to receive and enrol volunteer emigrants to 
 Texas ; and will conduct such as may wish to emigrate to 
 that Republic, about the 1st of October next, at the expense 
 of the Repubhc of Texas. J. P. Henderson, 
 
 'Brig. Gen. of the Texan Army^ 
 North Carolina Paper. 
 
 * See instructions from Mr. Van Buren, Secretary of State, to Mr. Poinsett, Miuietw 
 to Mexico, August 25, 1629. 
 
INVASION OF TEXAS. 69 
 
 " Three liundred Men for Texas. — Gen. Dunlap of Ten- 
 nessee, is about to proceed to Texas, with the above number 
 of men. The whole corps are now at Memphis. Every 
 man is completely armed, the corps having been originally 
 raised for the Florida war. This force we have no doubt, 
 will be able to carry every thing before it." — Vickshurg 
 (Miss.) Register. 
 
 " Since early last winter, a series of transactions have 
 passed before us in open day, the undisguised object of 
 which has been to enlist troops, and procure arms to aid the 
 Texans in their war with Mexico. Troops have been enlist- 
 ed — arms have been obtained. Their military parades have 
 been exhibited in our streets — they have embarked at our 
 wharf — have proceeded to Texas — united themselves with 
 her troops, and joined with them in war against Mexico. Is 
 it not a fact that every stand of public arms deposited at this 
 place by the State, have been sent to Texas, with the conni- 
 vance of those who had charge of them ]" — Cincinnati Gaz. 
 
 Meetings were held in various places, and speeches made, 
 and resolutions passed in favor of the Tey.?in jJatriots. 
 
 At a meeting in Cincinnati, of the friends of Texas, it was 
 resolved : " That no law either human or divine, except such 
 as are formed by tyrants for their sole benefit, forbids our as- 
 sisting the Texans ; and such law, if any exists, we do not 
 as Americans choose to obey." 
 
 The Federal Government far from taking any efficient 
 measures to arrest this invasion of a friendly and neighbor- 
 ing State, sent an imposing force under Gen. Gaines, into the 
 Mexican territory, under the pretence of protecting the fron- 
 tiers ! With what result is shown by the following article. 
 
 From the Pensacola Gazette. 
 
 " About the middle of last month, Gen. Gaines sent an 
 officer of the United States army into Texas, to reclaim some 
 deserters. He found them already enlisted in the Texan 
 service to the number of two hundred. They still wore the 
 uniform of our army, but refused of course to return. The 
 commander of the Texan army was applied to, to enforce 
 their return, but his only reply was, that the soldiers might 
 go, but that he had no authority to send them back. This is 
 a new view of our Texan relations^ 
 
 The adventurers in Texas had no sooner set up themselves, 
 than they adopted a constitution, in which they aimed, — 
 first, to secure themselves and their children forever, the 
 blessings of slavery ; and secondly, to acquire the aid and 
 
70 SLAVERY ESTABLISHED. 
 
 protection of the United States. The first object was to be 
 attained by a constitutional prohibition of both private and 
 legislative emancipation ; and by making it a fmidamental 
 law of the Republic, that no free black or mulatto person 
 should reside within its boundaries ; and the second object, 
 by giving to the United States in perpetuity, a monoply of 
 the slave market in Texas, — the importation of slaves from 
 any other country, being absolutely prohibited, thus promis- 
 ins: to realize the golden visions of the A'^irsfinia breeders. 
 
 A feverish impatience now pervaded the southern States 
 for the acknowledgement of Texan independence ; — an im- 
 patience in v/hich the northern speculators fully participated. 
 Acknowledgement it was seen, must precede annexation, 
 since the latter could only be effected by a treaty with Texas 
 as an independent power. Still policy required that this 
 measure should be cautiously managed, lest the North should 
 become alarmed at this scheme for vesting the whole politi- 
 cal power of the Union in the hands of the slaveholders, and 
 the northern members of Congress be found for once refrac- 
 tory. 
 
 Congress met in Decem.ber, 1836, and on the 22d of the 
 same month. President Jackson sent them a special message 
 in relation to Texas. He remarked : " Prudence seems to 
 dictate that we should still stand aloof, and maintain our pre- 
 sent attitude, if not till Mexico, or one of the great foreign 
 powers shall recognize the independence of the new Gov- 
 ernment, at least until the Icqise of ti7ne, or the course of events 
 shall have proved heyoml all cavil or dispute^ the ahility of that 
 covntry to maintain their separate sovereignty, and to iipjlwld 
 the Government constituted hy them^ 
 
 This message dissipated all apprehensions on the part of 
 the friends of freedom, of a speedy acknowledgement, and 
 relieved Congress from the remonstrances and petitions with 
 which their tables would otherwise have been loaded. 
 
 It was obvious, however, that if we could contrive to be- 
 come embroiled in a war with Mexico, we might then seize 
 upon Texas, and hold it by right of conquest, without any 
 violation of our neutral obligations ; and that by this jjrocess, 
 the annexation might be effected with even more facility 
 than by a compact with Texas as an independent power. 
 Accordingly about two weeks after the late message, the 
 President sent another to Congress on our grievances against 
 INIexico — grievances about which the people at large knew 
 and cared nothing. This message recommended the passage 
 of a law authorizing the President to employ a naval force 
 
KECOGNITION OF TEXA&. 71 
 
 against Mexico if she refused ** to come to an amicable ad- 
 
 o 
 
 justment of the matters in controversy between us, upon an- 
 other demand thereof, made from on hoard one of our vessels 
 of icar on the coast of Mexico.'^ This proposition was coldly 
 received, neither Congress nor the nation seeming to approve 
 of such a novel and summary way of declaring war ; and no 
 one having the slight-est desire for war, except those who 
 were anxious for the annexation. It being found that a war 
 could not be had, another game v/as played. The session 
 was to close on the 3d March. The strongest opposition to 
 Texas was to be apprehended in the Lower House. Four 
 days before the termination of the session, a motion was there 
 made to add a clause to the appropriation bill, making pro- 
 vision for the salary of a diplomatic agent to Texas. There 
 was no time for long speeches, and the motion was adopted 
 with the amendment " to be sent by the President whenever 
 he shall receive satisfactory evidence that Texas is an inde- 
 pendent power, and shall see fit to open a diplomatic inter- 
 course with her." The late message proved that the Presi- 
 dent had not yet received " the satisfactory evidence," and 
 anticipated it only from the action of the great foreign pow- 
 ers, or " the lapse of time." Little hesitation therefore was 
 felt in leaving the subject under the control of the Execu- 
 tive. The House of Representatives, in which there was a 
 majority of northern members, having been thus managed, 
 and a salary secured for a Minister to Texas ^ the veil was 
 thrown aside in the Senate, and two days before the end of 
 the session, it was " Resolved, that the State of Texas, hav- 
 ing established and maintained an independent government, 
 capable of performing those duties, foreign and domestic, 
 which appertain to independent governments, and it appear- 
 ing that there is no longer any reasonable prospect of the 
 successful term.ination of the war by Mexico against said 
 State, it is expedient and proper, and in conformity with the 
 laws of nations and the precedents of this Government in 
 like cases, that the independent political existence of said 
 State, be acknowledged by the Government of the United 
 States." * 
 
 As the whole tenor of this resolution was in direct oppo- 
 sition to the message of the 22d December, and as nothing 
 had occurred since that date to weaken the jDOsitions assumed 
 in the message, one of the Senators in opposing the resolu- 
 tion, very naturally alluded to the views entertained by the 
 President, On this, Mr. Walker, a Senator from Mississippi, 
 rose in his place and declared, that " lie had it from the Pre- 
 
72 CONDUCT TOWARDS HAYTI AND TEXAS. 
 
 sident^s own lips, that if lie luere a Senator^ he would vote Jhr 
 this resolution ! /" 
 
 At eleven o'clock of the night of the 3d March, an hour 
 before his term of office expired, and just as the Senate was 
 about adjourning, the President sent them the nomination 
 of a Minister to Texas. 
 
 The conduct of the Federal Government tov\^ards Texas 
 and Hayti, places in a strong light the influence of slavery 
 on our national councils. The latter State has been inde- 
 pendent both in name and in fact for thirty-seven years, yet 
 we still refuse to recognize her. Twelve months after Texas 
 declared her independence, she was received by us into the 
 family of nations, and honored by an interchange of diplo- 
 matic agents. For thirty-five years, the soil of Hayti has not 
 been trodden by an invader ; only ten months before the ac- 
 knowledgement of Texas, a Mexican army was carrying ter- 
 ror and destruction through its territory. That army had 
 indeed been defeated, but another was preparing to renew 
 the contest. Hayti had long been at peace with all the world. 
 Mexico claimed Texas as its own, and solemnly avowed its 
 determination to chastise and suppress the revolt. Hayti 
 achieved her independence after a long and arduous strug- 
 gle with powerful armies, and has a population of a million 
 to maintain it. Texas, when acknowledged, could appeal 
 only to the fortunate result of a single battle as evidence of 
 her national power, while she had no more than 60,000 in- 
 habitants to contend asfainst the ei£?ht millions of Mexico. 
 With Hayti, we had a large and valuable commerce, while 
 our commerce with Texas was only in expectancy. Yet has 
 slavery estranged our Government from the one nation, and 
 led it to welcome to its embrace another, incomparably infe- 
 rior in political strength and moral worth. 
 
 The indecent haste with which Texas was acknowledged, 
 and the trickery by which the acknowledgement was effect- 
 ed, were prompted by the desire of annexation. A southern 
 journal speaks thus frankly on the subject. " Does any sober 
 observer contend — can he in the face of facts, that Texas 
 has substantially, according to the usages of nations, accom- 
 plished her independence '{ Was there not an even chance, 
 to put the matter on the most favorable footing, that the 
 victory of Jacinto might this campaign be reversed ] But 
 natural yeeZm^ has outstripped the prudence of our Govern- 
 ment, usually discreet and judicious, and social sympathy has 
 done what political precedent, and possibly expediency, might 
 not have sanctioned. The debate in the British Parliament 
 
ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 73 
 
 shows how well State fapers and official ceremonies" (viz. 
 the President's message,) " may delude, or seem to delude 
 foreign governments. While Lord Palmerston and O'Con- 
 nell were defending our Government from any improper 
 haste in acknowledging the independence of Texas, the deed 
 is consummated!" — The Fort Gihson (Miss.) Southerner. 
 
 The whole slave region, with scarcely an exception, de- 
 manded a union with the new State. " The very reasons," 
 said the Charleston Mercury, " so in temperately urged by the 
 North against it, that it will increase the political weight of 
 the southern States, and perpetuate and extend the curse of 
 slavery, are our best reasons for it." 
 
 The Legislatures of South Carolina, Mississippi, and Ten- 
 nessee, all passed resolutions in favor of the annexation. 
 Many individuals at the North had likewise a deep pecuniary 
 interest in the question. They had speculated largely in 
 Texas lands, but their title would be of but little value, so 
 long as they depended on the faith of the lawless adventurers 
 who possessed the country. Could that country be received 
 into the Union, and subjected to the acts of Congress and 
 the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, their purchases might 
 ensure to themselves or their families, princely estates. A 
 writer in the Salem Gazette, (Mass.) probably a speculator, 
 in vindicating the annexation, thus appealed to the avarice 
 of New-England. " It is calculated that the value of one 
 kind of property in the South, slaves, will be enhanced so 
 much, that that portion of our country will realize one or 
 two hundred millions of dollars ; and the South cannot be 
 enriched without benefiting the North — the money icill nat- 
 urally come here at last." 
 
 The people of Texas were no less desirous of annexation 
 than southern slaveholders, or northern speculators. The 
 plan of union was avowed from almost the very commence- 
 ment of the rebellion. In August, 1836, S. F. Austin, in an 
 address offering himself as a candidate for the Presidency, 
 told the people : *' I am in favor of the annexation, and will 
 do all in my power to effect it with the least possible delay." 
 W. H. Jack, a candidate for the legislature, declared : "I am 
 decidedly and unequivocally in favor of annexing Texas to 
 the United States." Gen. Houston, the Commander-in- 
 chief, intimated that " the annexation was essential to the 
 interests of the new country." The Texan Congress resol- 
 ved, "that the President of the Republic of Texas be em- 
 powered and authorized to despatch a commissioner or com- 
 missioners to the United States of America, to obtain a ne- 
 
T4 ANNEXATION OF TEXAS. 
 
 gotiation of our independence, and enter into a treaty with 
 that Government for a union on a footing with the original 
 States." The first condition prescribed for this pro230sed 
 union, was, " the free and unmolested authority over 
 
 THEIR SLAVE POPULATION." 
 
 On the 4th August, 1837, the negotiation was opened by 
 the Texan Minister at Washingtion, by a proposition " to 
 unite the two peojile under one and the same government." 
 The acceptance of this proposition would of course have 
 been equivalent to a declaration of war against Mexico ; a 
 responsibility which Mr. Van Buren did not see fit to assume, 
 especially in the recess of Congress. He declined entering 
 into the negotiation, on the grounds that the United States 
 were at present, at peace with Mexico, and that that power 
 had not acknowledged the independence of Texas. As this 
 answer merely postponed the annexation on account of an 
 obstacle easily removed, it was entirely satisfactory to the 
 South, and the more so as the President's message to Con- 
 gress on the 4th of the ensuing December, wore a very bel- 
 ligerent aspect towards Mexico. 
 
 This formal attempt at annexation roused the fears of the 
 North, and innumerable remonstrances against the measure 
 were presented to Congress. In the meantime Mexico, by 
 proposing a submission of her differences with the United 
 States to arbitration, removed all pretence for immediate 
 war. Under these circumstances, the southern delegation 
 in Congress thought it most prudent not to pr^ss the annex- 
 ation. The Texahs, moreover, finding themselves unmo- 
 lested by Mexico, who had become involved in war with 
 France ; and observing the strong hostility manifested to- 
 wards the measure in the United States, formally withdrew 
 her application for admission into the Union, It is folly, 
 however, to suppose that the project of annexation is aban- 
 doned either by the South or by Texas \ nor does it need 
 the gift of prophesy to foresee that the first favorable oppor- 
 tunity of making war upon Mexico, v/ill be readily embra- 
 ced by the Federal Government. Should such a war be 
 effected, the dominion of the whip may, perhaps, be extended 
 from Maryland to Panama. 
 
 It may not be amiss here to compare the conduct of the 
 Federal Government towards the Texan and the Canadian 
 rebels. The first were slaveholders re-establishing slavery 
 on a soil from which it had been banished ; and they enjoyed 
 from the first the sympathy of our Government, who took 
 care to interpose no real obstacle to an invasion on their be- 
 
CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS. 75 
 
 lialf from the United States ; while for the*purpose of aiding 
 them it labored to excite an immediate war with Mexico. 
 The Canadian rebels were professedly fighting for liberty, 
 and should they succeed, there was no probability that negro 
 slavery would crown their triumph. They, like the Texans, 
 looked to us for aid ; but the President, now alive to the ob- 
 ligations of neutrality, and finding the existing laws insuffi- 
 cient to enforce them, applied to Congress and received ad- 
 ditional powers. Troops were sent to the frontiers, not to 
 swell by desertion the ranks of the rebels, but in good faith, 
 forcibly to prevent American citizens from abetting the re- 
 volt. A war with Mexico was desired by the slaveholders, 
 and the President was for negotiating on hoard an armed 
 vessel. A war with Great Britain, emphatically an anti- 
 slavery nation, is now viewed with horror and dismay by the 
 whole South,* and the Executive has sedulously endeavored 
 to avoid it. 
 
 We have now presented numerous instances of the action 
 of the Federal Government in behalf of slavery ; but our 
 task is not completed. We are still to view that Govern- 
 ment, which, in the language of the Constitution, was estab- 
 lished " to secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and 
 our posterity ;" assailing the constitutional rights of the citi- 
 zen, in order to rivet the fetters of the slave ; striving to ex- 
 tinguish the freedom of the press, the freedom of debate, and 
 the right of petition, to perpetuate property in human flesh. 
 These, we are sensible, are strong assertions ; we solicit at- 
 tention to the facts on which they are founded, and first to 
 
 The attempt of the Federal Government to estab- 
 lish A CENSORSHIP OF THE PRESS. 
 
 In the summer of 1835, the Anti-slavery Society in New- 
 York, directed their publisher to forward a number of their 
 periodical papers, containing facts and disquisitions on the 
 subject of slavery, to various southern gentlemen of distinc- 
 tion, in the hope of exciting by this means, a spirit of inquiry 
 among persons of influence and character. But it was pre- 
 cisely such a spirit of inquiry, that the advocates of perpet- 
 ual bondatre feared might be fatal to their favorite institu- 
 tion. Hence they affected to believe that the papers sent to 
 tlie masters, were intended to excite the slaves to insurrec- 
 tion, and they succeeded in maddening the populace to fury. 
 
 * A distinguished southern Senator, speaking of the importance of preserving ouf 
 neutrality on the Canada frontier, declared that in his opinion " a war with Englaud 
 would be the heaviest calamity that could befall the country." 
 
76 MR. Kendall's letter. 
 
 A mob broke into the Charleston Post-Office, and seizino- a 
 quantity of anti-slavery j^apers, burned them in the street. 
 This outrage was virtually approved by the City Council; 
 and at a public meeting, a committee of " gentlemen" was 
 appointed to take charge of the northern mail on its arrival, 
 accompany it to the Post-Office, and see that no paper advo- 
 cating the rights of man, should be delivered to their owners. 
 The Post-Master informed the head of the department, that 
 under existing circumstances, he had determined to suppress 
 all anti-slavery publications, and asked for instructions for the 
 future. It should here l^e recollected that of all the pohtical 
 advisers of the President, Mr. Kendall, at this time acting as 
 Post-Master General, was the most odious to the opposite 
 party. He had been appointed during the recess of the 
 Senate, and it was regarded as a matter of course, that on 
 the meeting of that body, in which the opposition had a ma- 
 jority, his nomination would be rejected. The Constitution 
 forbade a censorship of the press, and had the people been 
 disposed to delegate so formidable a power, they certainly 
 would not have vested it in the 10,000 deputies of the Post- 
 Master General. The law moreover ex23ressly required eve- 
 ry Post-Master to deliver the papers received by him, to the 
 persons to whom they were directed. 
 
 Such were the circumstances under which Mr. Kendall 
 returned his famous answer. After stating that not having 
 seen the papers in question, he could not judge of their char- 
 acter, but had been infonncd that they were incendiary, in- 
 flammatory, and insurrectionary, he added : " By no act or 
 direction of mine, official or private, could I be induced to 
 aid knowingly in giving circulation to papers of this descrip- 
 tion, dii-ectly or indirectly. We owe an obligation to the 
 laws, but a higher one to the communities in which we live ; 
 and if the former be perverted to destroy the latter, it is pa- 
 triotism to disresard them. Entertainingr these views, I can- 
 not sanction and will not condemn the step you have taken." 
 This letter taught the Senate that the new officer was willing 
 to conduct the Post-Office in a manner calculated to protect 
 the " domestic institution" from the assaults of truth and ar- 
 gument, and his nomination was confirmed. Mr. Kendall 
 was at the date of his letter, a member of the Cabinet, and it 
 was understood that the novel, extraordinary, and dangerous 
 doctrine of that letter received the sanction of the President. 
 
 On the opening of Congress, President Jackson in his 
 message, recommended the " passing of such a law as will 
 prohibit under severe penalties, the circulation in the south- 
 
president's calumny. 77 
 
 ern States through the mails, of incendiary publicati^Dns i7i~ 
 tended to instigate the slaves to insurrection." The propo- 
 sed law it seems, was not to prohibit the printing of certain 
 papers, nor their committal to the mails in the northern 
 States, but only their circulation in the slave region. Of 
 course certain persons, Post-Masters we presume, were to be 
 required under " heavy penalties," to stop these papers ; and 
 they were necessarily to be judges of the character of the 
 papers, and of the intentions of their writers. From what 
 code of despotism did our very democratic President derive 
 his plan for destroying the efficiency of the Press % By a 
 contemptible quibble, this plan was to evade the constitu- 
 tional guarantee of the freedom of the press. It was not to 
 interfere with the press — not at all — it was merely to pre- 
 vent the circulation of its productions ! The press was still 
 to be free to pour forth its arguments against slavery, only 
 *' heavy penalties" were to prevent the people from reading 
 them ! The reason moreover assigned for this high-handed 
 act of tyranny, was a most willful calumny. It was to pre- 
 vent the circulation in the southern States of publications irh- 
 tendcd to excite the slaves to insurrection. Such a proposal 
 from the first magistrate of the country to Congress, and fol- 
 lowincr the affair at Charleston, and Mr. Kendall's letter, 
 irresistibly fixes upon the members of the American Anti- 
 slavery Society at New- York, the charge of sending papei-s 
 into southern States for the purpose and with the desire of 
 effecting the massacre of their fellow-citizens. If the Presi- 
 dent really believed that such was the object of the New- 
 York abolitionists, and such the character of their publica- 
 tions, and if he thought it his official duty to bring the sub- 
 ject before Congress, he owed it to himself, to the country, 
 to truth and to justice, to have submitted to Congress the 
 facts and documents, on which he founded his proposed inva- 
 sion of the constitutional rights of his fellow-citizens. But 
 he cautiously avoided specifying a single fact, or quoting a 
 single sentence in support of his tremendous accusation, or 
 in justification of his most unwan-antable proposition ; and 
 when written to by the acting committee of the New- York 
 Society for proof of his charge against them, he deemed it 
 most prudent not to return an answer ! Surely the burden 
 of proof rests upon him, who in a solemn official address to 
 the Legislature, holds up a portion of his fellow-citizens as 
 miscreants engaged in plotting murder and insurrection ; 
 and urges the enaction of a law to counteract their execrable 
 machinations. 
 
7S INSURRECTIONARY LANGUAGE. 
 
 .1. ^i'^ often difficult to prove a negative ; but in this instance, 
 the falsehood of the President's charge is amply demonstrated 
 by an olhcial document from the slaveholders themselves 
 We give thLs document, not to exculpate the members of the 
 IS ew- York bociety from a calumny which their own charac- 
 ters abundantly refute, but to show in a stroncr lio-bt the un. 
 prmcipled means to which the Federal Govermne^nt is capE^ 
 ble ot resortmg to uphold the "pecuHar institution" of the 
 bouth. 
 
 A Grand Jury in Alabama, conceived the bright idea that 
 the publication of tracts at the North against slavery miahi 
 be arrested, by indicting the publishers as felons, and then 
 demandmg^ them from the Governors of their respective 
 btates as JuoUives from southern justice. It was necessary 
 however, to specify in the indictment, the precise crime of 
 which they had been guilty; a necessity which the Presir 
 dent regarded as not applicable to his message. We may 
 well suppose therefore, that the Grand Jurv would endeavoT 
 to secure the success of this, their first experiment, by selecSr • 
 ing from the various publications, alluded to by the Presir 
 dent and Mr. Kendall,, as sent to the South for the purpose 
 ot exciting insurrection, the most insurrectionary, cut-thro&t 
 passages, they could find. Behold the result. 
 
 " State of Alabama, ) Circuit Court, September 
 luscaloosa County. / Term, 1S35. 
 
 .T.".p'''/^'''n^^.'-^r' * * * * upon their oath present, 
 that Robert G. Williams, late of sakl coimty, beino- a wicked, 
 malicious, seditious, and ill-disposed person, and beincr oreafe- 
 ly disaffected to the laws and government of said State, and 
 leloniousiy, wickedly, mahciously, and seditiously contriving 
 devismg, and intending to produce conspiracy ,msurrcctiml 
 and rehchmi among the slave population of said State, and 
 to alienate and withdraw the affection, fidelity, and allegiance ■ 
 ot said slaves from their masters and owners, on the tenth 
 day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 eight hundred and thirty-five, at the county aforesaid, felonir 
 ously, wickedly, mahciously, and seditiously did cause to be 
 distriDuted, circulated, and published, a seditious paper called 
 iHE J^maxcipator; in which paper is published according 
 to tne tenor and effect following, that is to say: ^God coZ 
 mands, and all nature cries out, that man' should not he held ess 
 
 ^"^o'TclL V'"" ^'-^'^^"^ of making men j^roj^erty, has plunged- 
 ^,dD0,O{){) oj our fcllow-country?nen into the deepest physical 
 and moral degredation, and they are every moment sinking deep^ 
 
ACTION OF THE SENATE. 79 
 
 dr.' In open violation of the Act of the General Assembly 
 in such case made, and provided, to the evil and pernicious 
 example of all others in like case offending, and against the 
 peace and dignity of the State of Alabama."* 
 
 In the Senate, the recommendation of the President was 
 referred to a committee, who reported a bill prohibiting 
 Post-iNIasters from delivering " any pamphlet, newspaper, 
 handbill, or other printed paper, or pictorial representation, 
 toucjiing the subject of slavery in any State, in which their 
 circulation is prohibited by law." The object of this bill 
 was by means of federal legislation, to build around the 
 slave States a rampart against the assaults of light and truth. 
 Its absurdity was equalled only by its wickedness. Not a 
 newspaper containing a debate in Congress, a report from a 
 committee, a message from the President, a letter from the 
 West Indies, ** touching the subject of slavery," could be 
 legally delivered from a southern Post-Office; and thousands 
 of Post-Masters were to be employed in opening envelopes, 
 and poring over their contents, to catch a reference to the 
 *' domestic institution." 
 
 By this bill, the Federal Government virtually surrender- 
 ed to the States, the freedom of the press, and nullified the 
 guarantee of this inestimable privilege, given by our fathers 
 in the Constitution to every citizen. This bill, moreover, 
 prepared the way for the destruction of civil and religious 
 liberty. If every paper touching the subject of slavery 
 might be suppressed, then the same fate might just as con- 
 stitutionally be awarded to every paper toucMiig the conduct 
 of the administration, or the doctrine of the Trinity. It es- 
 tablished a censorship of the press on one subject, which 
 misht afterwards Be extended to others. Yet this bill, ab- 
 surd and unconstitutional as it was, went through its regular 
 stages with little opposition, till the important question was 
 taken on its engrossment ; — the vote stood 18 to IS. The 
 casting vote was now required from Mr. Van Buren, who, 
 as Vice President, occupied the chair. He gave it for the 
 slaveholders, and received from them at the ensuing election, 
 sixty-one electoral votes, by means of which, he became 
 President of the United States.! On the final question, the 
 
 *Another count was ;>ctded for distributing " The Emancipator," but without giving 
 aaiy extracts. It is scarcely necessary to add, that Williams had never been in Alabama. 
 Yet on this indictment, he was demanded of the New-York Executive as a fugitive 
 felon, by the Governor of Alabama. 
 
 tThe two Senators from New-York, Messrs. Wright and Tallmadge, political friends, 
 of Mr. Van Buren, supported the bill. It is due to justice to mention, that the bill wasj, 
 ^iJiUly iost by the volea of several southern Senators. 
 
80 RIGHT OP PETITION. 
 
 bill was rejected, and this attempt to trammel the press for 
 the protection of slavery, defeated. A very different result 
 how^ever, has attended 
 
 The effort of the Federal Government to nullify 
 
 THE right of petition AND THE FREEDOM OF DEBATE. 
 
 For thirty years past, petitions have been presented to 
 Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Co- 
 lumbia, and the national territories ; and until latterly, were 
 received and treated like other petitions. But having with- 
 in a few years prodigously increased in number, and some 
 northern members having shown a disposition to advocate 
 their prayer, a most extraordinary course has been pursued 
 in relation to them. The reason of this course is explained 
 by the following passage from a speech by Mr. Strange, a 
 Senator from North Carolina. " Every agitation of this sub- 
 ject (slavery,) weakens the moral force in our favor ; and 
 breaks down the moral barriers which now serve to protect 
 and secure us. We have every thing to lose, and nothing to 
 gain by agitation and discussion.^* 
 
 The frankness of this confession is as remarkable as its 
 truth is unquestionable ; and it shows us why the advocates 
 of slavery instead of meeting their opponents in argument, 
 have sought to sileace them by brute force, and penal enact- 
 ments. 
 
 One of the most unequivocal and undoubted of all consti- 
 tutional rights is that of petition, and it is moreover, express- 
 ly guaranteed by the Constitution. But this right has been 
 most audaciously nullified by both branches of the National 
 Legislature. The Senate have not, it is true, avowedly re- 
 fused to receive anti-slavery petitions, but they have adopted 
 a course which answers the same purpose. The practice for 
 some years past has been to lay the question of reception on 
 the table without deciding it, and the j)etition not being in 
 fact received, cannot be discussed, nor any measure respect- 
 ing it taken. This course is no less at variance with the 
 constitutional rights of the petitioners, than it is with those 
 of the members of the Senate. The rights of petition and 
 freedom of debate are both nullities, if the body to which a 
 prayer is addressed, is prohibited from listening to it, and 
 the individual members are prohibited from noticing it. — 
 Would it be no violation of the Constitution were the Senate 
 to order that every petition, " touching the subject of slave- 
 ry," should be delivered to their doorkeeper, to be commit- 
 ted by him to the flames ] And yet in what joarticular, are 
 
f'RfeEDOM OF DEBATE. 81 
 
 %lie rights of tlie petitioners more respected by the practice 
 we have mentioned'? The petitions are not indeed burned, 
 but they are left in the pockets of those to whom they were 
 •entrusted ; and not being received, the Senate is supposed 
 to be ignorant of their contents, and of course no member is 
 permitted to discuss their merits, or to propose any measure 
 founded upon them. Let us now turn to what is regarded 
 as the 2^<^P^^^^ hrancli, — the House of Representatives, — 
 intended to be the special guardian of the liberties of the 
 •PEOPLE, as the Senate is of the rights of the States. 
 
 In May, 1836, a committee reported to the House, a reso- 
 lution prefaced with this extraordinary avowal : " Whereas 
 it is extremely important and desirable, that the agitation 
 on this subject (slavery) should be finally arrested for the 
 purpose of restoring tranquility to the public mind, your 
 comm.ittee respectfully recommend the following resolution." 
 
 Here then is an acknowledged, unblushing interference 
 by the Federal Government, in behalf of slavery ; an avowed 
 interference to arrest that agitation, which we are assured 
 by Mr. Strange, "breaks* down the moral barriers," which 
 serve to protect and secure a system of iniquitous cruelty 
 and oppression. To arrest this agitation, the committee did 
 not scruple to recommend a measure, breaking down the 
 constitutional barriers erected to protect and secure the 
 rights and liberties of the people of the United States. The 
 resolution reported by the committee, was adopted by the 
 House, on the 26th of May, 1836, and is in these words : 
 
 " Resolved, That all petitions, memorials, resolutions, and 
 propositions relating in any ivay, or to any extent whatever, 
 to the subject of slavery, shall without being either printed 
 or referred, be laid on the table, and that no farther action 
 whatever shall be had thereon." Ayes 117 — Nays 68. 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that of the ayes, no less than 62 
 were from the free States ! The advocates of this resolution, 
 conscious that it could bear discussion as little as slavery 
 itself, caused it to be adopted through the operation of the 
 previous question, by a silent vote. 
 
 We have exhibited the character of slavery and the slave 
 trade at the seat of the Federal Government, and have shown 
 that Congress is the local legislature of the District of Co- 
 lumbia, having " exclusive jurisdiction over it in all cases 
 whatever." Now one of the peculiar atrocities of this reso- 
 lution is, that it wrests from every member of the House, 
 his constitutional right to j^ropose such measures for the gov- 
 ernment of the District as justice and humanity may require. 
 
 p 
 
82 RIGHT OF PETITION. 
 
 Slaves might be burned alive in the streets of the Capital - 
 the slavers might be crowded to suffocation with human vic- 
 tims ; every conceivable cruelty might be practised, and no 
 one member of the local legislature could be permitted to 
 propose even a committee of inquiry, " relating in any way^ 
 or to any extent whatever, to the subject of slavery !" 
 
 The fact that 62 northern members on thi& occasion, arr 
 rayed themselves on the side of the slaveholders, affords a 
 melancholy and alarming proof of the corrupting influence 
 which slavery is exerting on the morality and patriotism of 
 the free States. 
 
 This foolish and wicked expedient to " restore tranquih- 
 ty" to the people, by trampling on their rights and gagging 
 their representatives, failed of success. The petitioners at 
 this session were 34,000, — at the next the number was 
 sv/elled to one hundred and ten thousand ! and the gag 
 was- renewed. During the session of 1S37-8, the number 
 rose to THREE hundred thousand. Early in the last men- 
 tioned session, a member from Vennont, presented a petition 
 for the abolition of slavery in the X)istrict of Columbia, and 
 took the liberty to offer some remarks on the subject of 
 slavery. This attempt to break down "the moral barriers," 
 threw the southern members into great trepidation, and the 
 scene which ensued, illustrates the system oiintimiclation, to 
 w4iich w^e have already adverted. The Speaker was inter- 
 rupted by a gentleman from Virginia, calling aloud, and ask- 
 ing his colleagues to retire with him from the hall ; — ano- 
 ther from Georgia exclaimed, that, he hoped the whole south- 
 ern delegation would do the same ; — a third from South Car- 
 oUna declared, that all the representatives from that State 
 'had already signed an agreement.' The House adjourned, 
 and a southern member invited the gentlemen from the slave- 
 holding States to meet immediately in an adjoining room. The 
 meetino; was held, but its proceedings were not made pub- 
 lic. The result, however, was manifest in the introduction 
 next morning, of another gag resolution, directing all memo- 
 lials, petitions, and papers touching the abolition of slavery 
 in the national territories, and of the American slave trade, 
 to be laid on the table, without being printed, read, debated, 
 or referred, and that no farther action should be had thereon. 
 Through the acquiescence of northern members, it was 
 passed by a silent vote. 
 
 At the beginning of tile next session, a meeting of the ad- 
 ministration' members was held, at which it was determined, 
 to rotuew the gag^^ and as & pi:oof of the devotio© of the den>. 
 
ACTION OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 83 
 
 ocractic party at the North to the cause of slavery, It was ar- 
 ranged that now, for the first thne, the odious measure should 
 be propose* by a northern man : nay, not merely a northern 
 nian, but a native of New-England — a representative from 
 New-Hampshire. The resolution was accordingly introdu- 
 ced, and was passed on the 12th December, 1838, and has 
 given notoriety to the name of Atlierton. 
 
 Thus we see a persevering, systematic effort on the part 
 of Congress to protect slavery by suppressing debate, and 
 throwing contempt upon the petitions of hundreds of thous- 
 ands of American citizens. That this should be done by 
 slaveholders was perhaps to have been expected ; but that 
 they should be aided in such a desperate assault upon con- 
 stitutional liberty by northern men, for the paltry considera- 
 tion of southern votes and southern trade, is mortifyina and 
 alarming.. The meeting of extremes is a trite illustratfon of 
 human inconsistency. If, in Dr. .Johnson's time, the loudest 
 yelps for liberty were heard from the drivers of slaves ; the 
 loudest yelps in the northern States against aristocracy, char- 
 tered monopolies and oppression of the poor, are now heard 
 from men who have labored to perpetuate the bondage of 
 millions, by gag laws, and restrictions on the freedom of 
 speech and the press. These men are acting from party 
 views, and are rushing to battle under the war cry of " Van 
 BuREN AND SLAVERY," in hopos, through southern auxiliaries, 
 of enjoying the spoils of victory. Others again, without the 
 slightest sympathy in the political principles of these men, 
 and with their ears stuffed, and their hearts padded with 
 cotton, are co-operating with them in behalf of slavery, from 
 their love of southern trade.* 
 
 The followuig are strong and amusin? instances of the meeting of extremes. In 
 the bpring of 1«37 the whig merclmnts of Xevv-York, sent a deputation to Washing- 
 ton 10 request the Presulent to ad-opt certain measures to relieve the commercial em- 
 barrassments of the country. The request was declined, and a great meetin- was 
 convened to receive the report of the deputation. The report which was adonred bv 
 the meeting-, recommended efforts to displace m. Van Buren, and as one means of ef- 
 lecting this object, exhorted the merchants to "appeal to our brethren of the South 
 lor their generous co-operation; and promise them that those who believe the pos- 
 session of property of any kind" (not excepting men, women, and children,) " is a'^ii 
 evidence ofmcnt, will be the last to interfere with the rights of property of «w?/ kind ■ 
 discourage any efTort to awaken an excitement, the bare idea of which should make 
 every husband and father shudder with horror." In plain English* if the slaveholders 
 would make common cause with the New-York merchants against Mr. Van Buren they 
 in return would make common cause with the slaveholders against the abolitionists. 
 i.ut aemocratsknow the value of southern votes quite as well as the whi"-s. Accord- 
 ingly we fand in the Washington Globe of Feb. 9, 1S39, a speech i«<«ifZe<^^ to have been 
 cieliverec, but prevented by the gag resolution, by Mr. Eli Moore, a double-refined 
 deniocrat, President of the New-York Trades' Union, and representative from that d?y 
 in (congress. I.li]sgentlema« tells us " the wild, enthusiastic, and impetuous spir4 
 ^nrco y iJ ^l^e fires of Smithfield, and strewed the plains of Palestine with the 
 corses of the crusaders, stands with lighted and uplifted torch hard by the side of 
 abolitioajsm, ready to.spread- cooflagratioa and death around the land"— he declares 
 
84 ACTION OP THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 We will here close our protracted investigation with a 
 brief 
 Recapitulation of the action of the Federal Gov- 
 ernment IN behalf of slavery. 
 
 This action we have found exhibited (omitting constitu- 
 tional provisions) in 
 
 1. Its effort to degrade the free people of color by exclu- 
 ding them from the militia ; prohibiting them from driving a 
 mail waggon — denying naturalization to foreigners of their 
 complexion — subjecting them to odious disqualifications and 
 restrictions in the City of Washington ; and above all in per- 
 mittino- them without trial, at the discretion of the marshal, 
 to be sold as slaves to pay their jail fees. 
 
 2. In its tolerance of slavery in territories under its exclu- 
 sive jurisdiction. 
 
 3. In its arbitrary, unconstitutional, and wicked laws for 
 the arrest of fugitive slaves. 
 
 4. In its negotiation with Great Britain and Mexico for 
 the surrender of fugitive slaves. 
 
 5. In its invasion of Florida, in pursuit of fugitive slaves. 
 
 6. In its negotiations with Great Britain, for compensation 
 for slaves who had taken refuge on board British ships of 
 war. 
 
 7. In its negotiation with Great Britain, for compensation 
 for slaves, ship-wrecked in the West Indies. 
 
 S. In its tolerance, protection, and regulation of the Amer- 
 ican slave trade. 
 
 9. In its duplicity, with regard to the abolition of the Afri- 
 can slave trade. 
 
 10. In its efforts to prevent the abolition of slavery in Cuba. 
 
 11. In its conduct towards Hayti. 
 
 12. In its conduct towards Texas. 
 
 13. In its attempt to establish a censorship of the press. 
 
 14. In its invasion of the right of petition, and the freedom 
 of debate. 
 
 Such has been the action in behalf of human bondage, of 
 a Government which, in the language of the Constitution, 
 
 tUat " so long as the Democratic or Stale Rights' party shall maintain the ascendancy, 
 the efforts of the abolitionists will be comparativelv innoxious :" and he announces 
 what will be no less news to the New-York merchants, than it is to abolitionists, that 
 " the Federal or National Bank Party, believe the Federal Legislature not only have 
 the pov/er to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, hut also in the States" 
 
 From the opinions and motives we have ascribed to masses, Me know there are many 
 exceptions. No community can oft'er brighter examples of virtue and philanthropy 
 than the merchants of New-York ; and he who thinks that there are not among our 
 ultra-democrats, men who conscientiously believe the principles they profess, ar.d act 
 in consisteucy with them, does not know them. 
 
RESPONSIBILITY OF THE FREE STATES. 85 
 
 was formed to establish justice, and secure the blessings of 
 
 LIBERTY. 
 
 And by whom are the men composing the Government 
 which thus perverts the objects of its institution, invested 
 with their power ? They are the agents, the mere instru- 
 ments of the people of the United States — of the North and 
 the East, as well as of the West and the South. This con- 
 sideration calls us to consider 
 
 The Responsibility of the Free States. 
 
 The advocates of slavery and the tools of party, are con- 
 tinually telling us, that " tlie North has nothing to do uith 
 slavery.''^ A volume might be filled with facts, proving the 
 fallacy of this assertion. There is scarcely a family amono- 
 us, that is not connected by the ties of friendship, kindred, 
 or pecuniary interest, with the land of slaves. That land is 
 endeared to us by a thousand recollections — with that land 
 we have continual commercial, political, religious, and social 
 intercourse. There in innumerable instances, are our per- 
 sonal friends, our brothers, our sons and our dauo-hters. — 
 How malignant and foolish then is the falsehood, that the 
 thousands and tens of thousands of abolitionists amono- us, 
 are anxious to see that land reeking in blood ! But the more 
 intimate are our connections with that land, the more expo- 
 sed are we to be contaminated by its pollutions ; and the 
 more imperatively are we bound to seek its real welfare. 
 
 Let it then sink deep in our hearts, let it rest upon our 
 consciences, that in every wicked and cruel act of the Fed- 
 eral Government in behalf of slavery, the people of the North 
 have participated, — we might almost say that for all this 
 wickedness and cruelty, they are solely resjJC^sille ; since it 
 could not have been perpetrated but with the consent ci their 
 representatives. Vast and fertile territories, which mio-ht 
 now have been inhabited by a free and happy population, 
 have by northern votes been converted, to use the language 
 of the poet, into 
 
 " A land of tyrants, and a den of slaves." 
 
 By northern Senators, have our African slavers been pro- 
 tected from the search of British cruisers. By northern rep- 
 resentatives, is the American slave trade protected, and the 
 abominations enacted in the Capital of the Republic, sanc- 
 tioned and perpetuated : and northern men are the officia- 
 ting ministers in the sacrifice of constitutional liberty on the 
 altar of Moloch. But representatives are only the agents of 
 their constituents, speaking their thoughts, and doing their 
 
86 DIVISION OF THE UNION. 
 
 will. The people of the North have done '' this great 
 wickedness." When they repent, when they love mercy, and 
 seek after justice, their representatives will no longer rejoice 
 to aid in transforming the image of God into a beast of bur- 
 den — then will the human shambles be overthrown in the 
 Capital — then will slavers "freighted with despair," no 
 longer depart from the port of Alexandria, nor chained cof- 
 fles parade the streets of Washington. Then will the powers 
 of the Federal Government be exercised in protecting, not 
 in annihilating the rights of man ; and then will the slave- 
 holder, deprived of the countenance of the free States, as he 
 is already of nearly all the rest of the civihzed world, be led 
 to reflect calmly on the character and tendency of the insti- 
 tution he now so dearly prizes, and seek his own welfare and 
 that of his children in its voluntary and peaceful abolition. 
 
 But here we are confronted with direful prophecies. Let 
 us then proceed to inquire into 
 
 The probable influence of the Anti-slavery agitation 
 
 ON THE permanency OF THE UnION. 
 
 Before we can predict what this influence w^ill be, we must 
 first inquire, what will probably be the direction and aim of 
 the ao-itation % Every State possesses all the powers of in- 
 dependent sovereignty, except such as she has delegated to 
 the Federal Government. All the powers not specified in 
 the Constitution as delegated, are by that instrument reserv- 
 ed. Among the powers specified, that of abrogating the 
 slave codes of several States, is not included ; on the con- 
 trary, the guarantee of the continuance of the African slave 
 trade for twenty years, the provision for the arrest of fugitive 
 slaves, and the* establishment of the federal ratio of repre- 
 sentation, all refer to and acknowledge the existence of slave- 
 ry under State authority. If therefore the abolitionists, un- 
 mindful of their solemn and repeated disclaimers of all power 
 in Congress to legislate for the abolition of slavery in the 
 States, should with unexampled perfidy attempt to bring 
 about such legislation ; and if Congress, regardless of their 
 oaths, should ever be guilty of the cunsumraate folly and 
 wickedness of passing a law emancipating the slaves held 
 under State authority, the Union would most unquestionably 
 be rent in twain. The South would indeed be craven could 
 it submit to such profligate usurpation ; it would be compel- 
 led to withdraw, not for the preservation of slavery alone, 
 but for the protection of all its rights ; and indeed the liber- 
 ties of every State would be jeoparded under a government, 
 
POWERS AND DUtY OP CONGRESS. 87 
 
 Vv^hich, spuming all constitutional restraints, should assti'me 
 the omnipotence of the British Parliament. But it is scarce- 
 ly worth while to anticipate the consequence of an act which 
 can never be perpetrated so long as the people of the North 
 retain an ordinary share of honesty and intelligence. 
 
 We have, under all the circumstances of the case, suffi- 
 cient reasons for believing that the anti-slavery of the North, 
 will carry its action to the very limits of the Constitution, 
 but not beyond them. In despite of all the coalitions of par- 
 ties, and the intrigues of politicians, liberty of speech and of 
 the press will be maintained, and the discussion of slavery 
 will be extended by the very efforts inade to arrest it. Let 
 us suppose this discussion to be attended with its natural 
 and probable result, the conversion of the great mass of the 
 northern people to the principles and avowed objects of the 
 abolitionists. Of course, those principles and objects will 
 be embraced by their representatives in Congress. In this 
 case, we may expect that slavery will be abolished in the 
 District of Columbia, and that it will be prohibited in the 
 territories hereafter to be formed on the west of the Missis- 
 sippi. Thus far the constitutional power of Congress cannot 
 be rationally questioned. Independent of the exclusive ju- 
 risdiction over the territories granted to Congress, we have 
 the precedent of the ordinance of 1787, prohibiting slavery 
 in the North-west Territory, and the more recent precedent 
 of the prohibition of it in the Louisiana territory north of 
 38^ degrees of north latitude. The American slave trade is 
 now, and has been for upwards of thirty years, prohibited in 
 vessels under forty tons burden. It would not be easy to 
 show that the Constitution forbids its prohibition in vessels 
 over forty tons burden. We may therefore take it for grant- 
 ed, that the Senate^s coasting trade will be legally abolished. 
 Should the land traffic not be also destroyed, it would not 
 be for want of disposition, or constitutional power in Con- 
 gress, but on account of the extreme difficulty which would 
 exist in preventing evasions of the law. 
 
 We have now the Sum total of national legislation, which 
 on our present supposition, will result from the anti-slavery 
 action at the North. Yet we are positively assured that such 
 legislation would cause a dissolution of the Union. Now ad- 
 mitting the constitutional right, and the moral obligation of 
 our national legislators, to pass the laws in question, it would 
 be difficult to decide by what code of morals they could be 
 excused from the discharge of their duty by the apprehension 
 of consequences. If God governs the world, more is to be 
 
8S MOTIVES FOa A SEPARATION; 
 
 feared from rebellion, than from obedience to his will. If 
 his wisdom and goodness are both infinite, his will i^ and 
 must be an infallible standard of expediency. If it be folly 
 to barter a single soul for the whole world, would it be wise 
 to expose a nation to the wrath of Heaven, for a boon which 
 we now hold, and would continue to hold at the pleasure of 
 men who are daily threatening to deprive us of it '^ 
 
 But we have no fears that Congress will ever find the faith- 
 ful discharge of their duty, conflicting with the welfare and 
 preservation of the Union. How far selfish and influential 
 individuals may succeed in raising up at the South a party 
 for secession, it is impossible to predict ; but it is not difficult 
 to show that a seperation founded on the legislation we have- 
 specified, would be most preposterous and disastrous, and 
 therefDre we may reasonably presume it will not occur. 
 
 Should the South secede, they would do so we may sup-- 
 pose, for one or more of the following reasons, viz. 
 
 1. To protect their rights from invasion. 
 
 2. To guard and perpetuate the institution of slavery. 
 
 3. To increase their w^ealth and power. 
 
 The North is the strongest portion of the confederacy ;: 
 and whenever, unmindful of the federal compact, it wickedly 
 an^ forcibly usurps power to the prejudice of the South, se- 
 cession is the only resource left to the latter for the protec- 
 tion of its risfhts. But a disreoard to the tcishes does not 
 necessarily imply a violation of the rights of the South. Not 
 one of the measures we have contemplated as the probable 
 result of the anti-slavery agitation, encroaches on the consti- 
 tutional rights of the South ; and therefore secession, how- 
 ever it might be professedly justified, would in fact be prompt- 
 ed by other motives than that of self defence. But so long 
 as the Federal Government confines its action against slavery 
 within the limits of the Constitution, in what way would se- 
 cession tend to guard and perpetuate the institution % 
 
 It is natural that the slaveholders should wish to destroy 
 the influence of the abolitionists, and hence they have very 
 unjustifiably expressed fears respecting them which they do 
 not feel, and circulated calumnies which they do not believe. 
 The following admissions reveal the true nature of the appre- 
 hensions entertained by the slaveholders. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun, alluding in the Senate to, opinions express- 
 ed by some of his Southern colleagues,, exclaimed : " Do i/ 
 they expect the abolitionists will resort to arms, and com- 
 mence a crusade to, liberate our slaves by force % Is this what 
 they mean when they speak of the attempt to abolish slavC" 
 
ADMISSIONS OF SLAVEHOLDERS. 89 
 
 ry ] If SO, let me tell our friends of the South who differ 
 from us, that the war which the abolitionists wage against us, 
 is of a very different character, and far more effective — it is 
 waged not against our lives, but our character." 
 
 Mr. Duff Green, the editor of the United States Tele- 
 graph, and the great champion of slavery, thus expressed 
 himself in his paper. " We are of those who believe the 
 South has nothing to fear from a servile war. We do not 
 believe that the abolitionists intend, nor could they if they 
 would,-excite the slaves to insurrection. The danger of this 
 is remote. We believe that we have most to fear from the 
 organized action upon the consciences and fears of the slave- 
 holders themselves ; from the insinuation of their dangerous 
 heresies into our schools, our pulpits, and our domestic cir- 
 cles. It is only by alarming the coTisciences of the weak and 
 feeble, and diffusing among our people a morbid sensibility 
 on the question of slavery, that the abolitionists can accom- 
 plish their object."* 
 
 We would now respectfully submit to Mr. Calhoun's con- 
 sideration, whether a secession would tend in any way to 
 defend the cliaracters of slaveholders from the war he con- 
 tends is waged against them ; or fortify their consciences 
 against the "dangerous heresies" by which they are assailed? 
 
 The new slave nation would acquire from her separate 
 independence, no new power to darken the understandings, 
 or benumb the consciences of her citizens. The freedom of 
 the press throughout the v/hole slave region, is already ex- 
 tinguished. Not one single newspaper, from Maryland to 
 Florida, dares to raise its voice in favor of immediate eman- 
 cipation ; and a southern publication, for expressing views 
 unfavorable to slavery, notwithstanding its bitter denuncia- 
 tions of abolitionists, was lately taken from a Post-OfHce in 
 Virginia, and in pursuance of the laics of the State, commit- 
 ted to the flames by order of the public authorities ; and 
 when the laws are silent, lynch clubs are ready to visit with 
 infamous and cruel penalties, the man who presumes to ad- 
 vocate the inalienable rights of man. What new ramparts 
 could the southern confederacy build around their beloved 
 institution'? What new weapons could they forge against 
 freedom of discussion ] 
 
 At the North, the discussion of slavery is now greatly re- 
 stricted by pohtical and mercenary considerations ; but such 
 
 * The New-York whig merchants may learn from this candid avowal, that the " bare 
 idea" of the abolition excitement does not make every "husband and father shudder 
 v\i\\ horror" at the South, whatever it may do iu Wall-street. 
 
90 CONSEQUENCES OF A SEPARATION. 
 
 considerations would be dissipated in a moment by seces- 
 sion. The very -demagogues who are fawning upon the 
 slaveholders for their votes, would, when they had no longer 
 votes to bestow, seek popularity in ultra hatred to slavery. 
 
 The anti-slavery agitation at the North, is at present chiefly 
 confined to the religious portion of the community ^ it would 
 then extend to all classes, and be embittered by national ani- 
 mosity. Slavery would appear more odious and detestable 
 til an ever, after having destroyed the fair fabric of Arnerican 
 Union, and severed the bonds of kindred and of friendship, 
 to rivet more firmly the fetters of the bondman. 
 
 The slaveholders are now our fellow-countrymen and cit- 
 izens ; they would then be foreigners who had discarded our 
 friendship and connection, that they might trample with more 
 unrestrained violence upon the rights and liberties of their 
 fellow-men. These considerations show that any expecta- 
 tion of extinguishing or weakening the anti-slavery feeling 
 at the North by separation, must be utterly futile. 
 
 A separation would moreover deprive the institution of 
 the protection of the Federal Government. Should the 
 slaves attempt to revolt, the masters would be left to strug- 
 gle with them, unaided by the fleets and armies of the whole 
 Repui)lic. 
 
 And by what power would the master recapture his fugi- 
 tive who had crossed the boundary of the new empire ] Now 
 he may hunt him through the whole confederacy, nor is the 
 trembling wretch secure of his liberty, till he beholds the 
 British standard waving above him. Then freedom would 
 be the boon of every slave who could swim the Ohio, or reach 
 the frontier line of the free republic. And this frontier line 
 be it remembered, tvould he continually advancing South. — 
 The anti-slavery feelings of the North, aggravated as they 
 would be by the secession, would afford every possible facil- 
 ity to the fugitive, and laws would then be passed, not for 
 the restoration of human property, but for the protection of 
 human rights. 
 
 Would the dissolution of the Union afford the southern 
 planters a more unrestricted enjoyment of the foreign or do- 
 mestic slave trade ] Alas ! from the moment of sepaiation, 
 slave trading becomes piracy in fact, as well as in name, and 
 the crews of New-Orleans and Alexandria, as well as of Af- 
 rican slavers, would swing on northern gibbets. 
 
 We confess then our utter inability to perceive in what 
 possible mode, a secession of the southern States would tend 
 to guard and perpetuate the institution of slavery. 
 
CONSEQUENCES OP A SEPARATION. 91 
 
 Would a dissolution of the Union augment tlie power and 
 wealth of the slave States ] The power and wealth of a na- 
 tion depend on its population, industry, and commerce. The 
 increase of the white population at the South is now small, 
 compared with the wonderful tide of Hfe which is rolling 
 over the western plains. And when the southern region shall 
 be insulated from the sympathies of the whole civiUzed world, 
 and consecrated to a stern and remorseless despotism, — a 
 despotism sooner or later to be engulphed in blood, by what 
 attraction vnll it divert the tide of emigration from the fair 
 prairies of the west, to its own sugar and cotton fields 1 If 
 even now, armed patroles must traverse at night the streets 
 and highways that the whites may sleep in safety, and mili- 
 tary preparation is essential to domestic security,* what hus- 
 band or father will take up his residence in the new empire 
 when withdrawn from the protection of the Federal Govern- 
 ment, and the friendship of its neighbors 1 The slaves are 
 now rapidly gaining upon their masters, and will increase in 
 a still greater ratio after the separation, since the prudent 
 and the enterprising will abandon the doomed region, and 
 few or none will enter it from without. Hence it is obvious 
 that the white population could gain no accession from the 
 erection of the Southern States into a separate confederacy. 
 
 Would secession augment the wealth of the South ] Be 
 it remembered that there is now no one restriction on south- 
 ern industry and enterprise which separation would remove. 
 The slaveholders in Congress with rare exceptions, have 
 conducted the affairs of the nation to suit themselves.^ So 
 far as the interests of the northern manufacturer were iden- 
 tified with the tariff, they have been sacrificed at the mandate 
 of the cotton grower ; and so far as national legislation can 
 promote the wealth of the South, the statutes are already 
 enacted. 
 
 It will not be denied that the larger portion of the strength 
 of the Union — population, money, commerce, and shipping 
 is to be found at the North. In all these elements of national 
 power, the South participates equally with the North. The 
 foreign invader is kept from her shores, and her property 
 abroad is protected from spoliation at least as much by the 
 power of the North, as by her own. Her strength for^ all 
 purposes of defence, is the strength of the Union. What 
 
 * " A state of military preparation must always be with us a state of perfect domes- 
 tic security. A profound peace, and consequent apathy, may expose us to the danger 
 of domestic insurrection."— itfewa^-e of Gov. Hayne to the Legislature of South Oar* 
 olina, 1833. 
 
92 CONSEQUENCES OF A SEPARATION. 
 
 would it be after secession 1 True it is, the South would 
 receive Texas into her arms, but she would derive neither 
 honor nor power from the loathsome embrace. Annexation 
 now would ensure to her the jDolitical dominion of the whole 
 Republic, but qfte?' secession, would cause rather weakness 
 than strength. 
 
 As we can discover no possible advantage which the South 
 could derive from secession, we are convinced that the threats 
 of dissolving the Union, which her statesmen are so prodigal 
 in scattering, are the ebullitions of passion, or the devices of 
 policy, rather than the result of mature determination. This 
 conviction is strengthened by still further considerations. 
 
 Should the slave States withdraw without any aggression 
 on their rights, but for the sole purpose of enjoying in great- 
 er privacy and tranquility the sweets of slavery, they would 
 leave the whole North in a state of high exasperation. The 
 ligaments which have so long bound us together, cannot be 
 ruthlessly and wantonly torn asunder, without causing deep 
 and festering wounds, the consequences of which, the ima- 
 gination revolts from anticipating. And in what light would 
 the dark and gloomy despotism be viewed by the civilized 
 world 1 Mankind would behold, and wonder, and despise. 
 The new State would be excluded from the companionship 
 of nations. Her cotton would indeed be still purchased, as 
 we buy the coffee of Hayti ; but with the least possible inti- 
 macy. Already is our Minister at London treated with con- 
 tumely, because he is a slaveholder — as the representative 
 only of the men who had shattered the American republic to 
 secure the permanency of human bondage, he would not be 
 endured at any court in Europe with the exception of Con- 
 stantinople. In a few years, the slaves would attain a fright- 
 ful numerical superiority over their masters. The dread of 
 insurrection within, and of aggression from without, would 
 realize the prediction of holy writ, when men's hearts shall 
 fail them for fear, and for looking after those things which 
 are coming on the earth. At length the fatal period would 
 arrive, when, stung with insults and injuries, the new empire 
 would appeal to arms ; and should a hostile army land upon 
 its shores, the standard of emancipation would be reared, 
 and slavery would expire in blood. 
 
 We well know with what indignant feelings these pages 
 will at first be read by many ; and fortunate shall we deem 
 ourselves should we escape the imputation of writing to pro- 
 mote insurrection and disunion. But we appeal from the 
 decision of angry passion to that of calm reflection. Do we 
 
CONSEQUENCES OF A SEPARATION. 93 
 
 not speak the words of truth and soberness ] Do not the 
 signs of the times warrant our predictions l In what respect 
 do the sentiments we have uttered conflict with the lessons 
 of history, or the character of human nature ] Do we love 
 the union of the States ] (!) If such a love can descend by 
 inheritance, we should possess it ; if it can be founded on 
 the most thorough conviction of the importance of union not 
 merely to the prosperity of our country, but to the happi- 
 ness of numerous and beloved children and relatives, we 
 should possess it. If the history of the States of Greece, of 
 Italy, of Holland, of Germany, of South America, and of our 
 own land, demonstrates the blessings of union, and the ca- 
 lamities of separation; then should the prayer of every 
 American ascend to Heaven for the perpetuity of the Amer- 
 ican Union. But let it be a union for the preservation, not 
 the destruction of liberty : a union cemented by a sacred 
 observance of the constitutional compact ; not enforced by 
 gag laws, a censorship of the press, and the abrogation of 
 the right of petition — a union in conformity with the will of 
 God, not in contempt of his authority — a union that shall 
 be regarded as a common blessing, not held as a boon from 
 the South, ever ready to be withdra^\^l as a penalty for the 
 discharge of moral and political duties. 
 
 May Almighty God in mercy j^reserve the friends of eman- 
 cipation, from the sin and folly of even hazarding the Union, 
 by the slightest encroachment on the constitutional rights of 
 the South, and may He give them grace to maintain their 
 own rights in defiance of every menace. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 the: AMISTAD case. 
 
 In the month of July, 1839, the Spanish schooner Amis- 
 tad, Ramen Ferrer, master, sailed from Havana for Porte 
 Principe, a place in the island of Cuba, about 100 leagues 
 distant, having on board as passengers, Don Pedro Montes, 
 and Jose Ruiz, with 54 fresh African negroes, just brought 
 from Lemboko, as slaves. After being out four days, tlie 
 negroes rose in the night, killed the captain and cook, and 
 took possession of the vessel. The tv/o sailors took the boat 
 and went on shore, and Montes was required, on pain of 
 death, to navisrate the ve&sel to Africa. He steered east- 
 wardly in the day time, but put about at night, and thus kept 
 near the American coast, until the 26th of August, when they 
 were taken by Lieut. Gedney, United States Navy, and car- 
 ried into New-London. Judge Judson, of the United States 
 Court, was sent for, and after a short examination of the two 
 Spaniards, and a Creole cabin boy, without a word of com- 
 munication with the ne2:roes, the latter were bound over for 
 ti'ial as pirates, although their utter ignorance of any Euro- 
 pean language, and the admission of Ruiz himself showed 
 that they were fresh Africans, and of course could not be 
 slaves by the laws of Spain. At this time, it was the united 
 voice of the public press and of public men, that as a matter 
 of course, they would either be tried and executed here, or 
 delivered up to the Spaniards., 
 
 The abolitionists saw that these men had only exercised 
 the natural right of self-defence, justified by all laws, and 
 that justice to these strangers, and a regard for the honor of 
 law itself, required a vigorous effort to turn the tide of public 
 opinion and judicial prejudice. Messrs. S. S. Jocelyn, J. Lea- 
 vitt, and Lewis Tappan, were appointed a committee to take 
 charsre of the case, who immediately enora2:ed as counsel, 
 Seth P. Staples and Theodore Sedgwick,. Esqrs., of New- 
 York, and R. S. Baldwin, of New-Haven. Our hands were 
 strengthened by a letter from Mr. Adams, which was pub- 
 lished in the newspapers, asserting the right of the negroes 
 to act as they did, and declaring that the vessel and its con- 
 tents, were- theirs by the law of nations. 
 
APPENDIX. 95 
 
 On die 6tli of September, M. Calderon de la Barea, the 
 Spanish Minister, demanded tl>e immediate delivery of the 
 schooner and cargo to Ruiz and Montes, under the treaty, 
 and that " the negroes be sent to be tried by the proper tri- 
 bunal" in Cuba. He thus establishes the distinction between 
 tlie " negroes" and the " cargo." He urges as reasons why 
 tlie negr-oes should be given up, "the law of nations in a 
 case analagous," and also that "the crime in question is one 
 of those, which, if permitted to pass unpunished, would en- 
 dano-er the internal tranquiUty and safety of the island of 
 Cuba, where the citizens of the United States not only carry 
 on a considerable trade, but where they possess territorial 
 properties which they cultivate with the labor of African 
 slaves;" and further, that if the negroes " should be con- 
 demned by the incompetent tribunal that has taken upon it- 
 self to try them as pirates and assassins, the infliction of 
 capital punishment here would not be attended with the sa- 
 lutary effects," and " the satisfaction due to the public mind 
 would not be accorded." And as a further inducemei^t, he 
 promises that his Government "would immediately accord 
 tlie extradition of any slaves that might take refuge there 
 from the southern States." 
 
 On the 5th of September, the United States Attorney for 
 tlie District of Connecticut,. W. S. Holabird, Esq., wrote to 
 INIr. Forsyth, the Secretary of State, apprising him that 
 *' the INIarshal of this District has in his custody the Spanish 
 schooner Amistad, with her cargo and 41 hIacJcs, supposed 
 to be slaves." The blacks " are now in jail at New Haven," 
 and " the schooner and cargo have been libelled by Lieut. 
 Gedney" for salvage. Here again is the distinction between 
 tlie "cargo" and the "blacks." He says also, "the next 
 term of our Circuit Court sits on the 17th instant, at which 
 time I suppose it will be my duty to bring them to trial, 
 unless they are in some other loay disposed qf^ To this IMr. 
 Forsyth replies, Sept. 11, that tjie Spanish Minister has 
 claimed the " vessel, cargo, and blacks on board, as Spanish 
 property," and directing Mr. Attorney to " take care that no 
 proceeding of your Circuit Court, or of any other judicial tri- 
 bunal, places the vessel, cargo, or slaves beyond the control 
 of the Federal Executive." M. Calderon had not demand- 
 ed the "blacks" as "property" at all, but as criminals ; and 
 his successor, INL Argaiz, Nov. 26, says his complaint is that 
 "the public vengeance has not been satisfied, for be it recol- 
 lected that the legation of ^^mn does not demand the delivery 
 qf slaves, hut of assassins'' In the' face of this, declaration 
 
96 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the legation, Mr» Forsyth instructs INlr. Holabird that the 
 blacks are claimed as "property," and the whole proceeding 
 of our Government is based upon this false assumption. 
 
 On the 9th Sept., Mr. Holabird writes to Mr. Forsyth that 
 he thinks the United States Courts have no jurisdiction over 
 the alleged crime, as it was committed on board a Spanish 
 vessel on the high seas, and he eagerly asks " whether there 
 are no treaty stipulations with the Government of Spain that 
 would authorize our Government to deliver them up to the 
 Spanish authorities ; and if so, whether it could be done be- 
 fore our Court sits V The Executive, however, dared not 
 take the responsibility of sending these MEN beyond seas 
 by a mere order, without warrant or form of law. 
 
 Mr. Holabird writes again, Sept. 21, to Mr. Forsyth, that 
 *' with a view of carrying out your instructions," that is, to 
 prevent " any other judicial tribunal" from placing the ne- 
 groes "beyond the control of the Federal Executive," he 
 had " filed a libel in the District Court, against the negroes, 
 in behalf of the United States, averring" that they had been 
 claimed by the Spanish Government as projjerty, and also 
 that they had been " imported in violation of the law of 1819" 
 prohibiting the slave trade, and praying the Court to "decree 
 that the Marshal hold them subject to the order of the Fed- 
 eral Executive on the one claim or the other." The Circuit 
 Court instructed the Grand Jury that they had no jurisdic- 
 tion over the alleged crime. The Committee then caused a 
 writ of habeas corpus to be issued from the Circuit Court, to 
 know by what authority the negroes were detained by the 
 Marshal, but Judge Thompson, after full argument, decided 
 that, since these persons had been libelled as property, the 
 question of their right to liberty could not be examined on 
 habeas corpus — thus subjecting the Common Law and habeas 
 corpus to the paramount authority of the Civil Law in Ad- 
 miralty process, on a claim of human beings as property — 
 a virtual prostration of the great bulwark of personal liberty, 
 the habeas corpus. 
 
 The hearing of the case in the District Court was adjourn- 
 ed to the November term, and afterwards to January. Ot\. 
 the 5th Nov., Mr. Holabird again writes to Mr. Forsyth that 
 " if there is any action to be had on the part of our Govern- 
 ment, 'with reference to the blacks, it is important that we 
 be informed, either officially or unofficially, before the session 
 of the court:' And again, Nov. 14, asking leave to employ 
 assistant counsel because " my health is feeble, and if the 
 matter is not disposed of by the Executive before our Court sits, 
 
APPteNDlX. 91^ 
 
 ytiuch is to be done.** This proves beyond a doubt that there 
 were all the while negotiations and consultations going on> 
 " officially or unofficially," to see if some method could not 
 be hit upon to put these negroes in the power of their ene- 
 mies, and satisfy *' public vengeance" at Cuba) without wait- 
 ing the slow and Uncertain movements of the courts of law. 
 But the risk was too gi-eat of thus openly assuming the forms 
 as well as powers of despotism. This is surprising too, in- 
 asmuch as the Attorney General of the United States, Hon. 
 Felix Grundy, had advised in the first stage of the proceed- 
 ings, that the negroes were a part of the cargo, and that the 
 proper mode of proceeding " would be for the President of 
 the United States to issue his order, directed to the Marshal, 
 in whose custody the vessel and cargo are, to deliver the 
 same" including the negroes, to the order of the Spanish 
 Minister ; and M. Argaiz says, Dec. 25, this opinion " was 
 confidentially communicated to him at the Department oi* 
 State on the 19th of November," and " he was assured had 
 been adopted by the Cabinet." 
 
 In the mean time, the Vigilant Committee on behalf of the 
 negroes, had Messrs. Ruiz and Montes arrested in New York, 
 on a civil suit for assault and false imprisonment on the high 
 seas. This brought out a bitter complaint from M. Argaiz, 
 Oct. 22, which was answered by Mr. Forsyth instructing the 
 United States Attorney for New York, B. F. Butler, to offer 
 them his *' advice and aid if necessary, as to any measure 
 which it may be proper for them to take to obtain their re- 
 lease, and indemnity" for their ari'est. Mr. Butler very pro- 
 perly advised them that the only way to get out of prison 
 was to give bail, but Ruiz declined to give bail, " for rea- 
 sons of state," as he himself said in a note in the newspapers, 
 or as Mr. Butler informs Mr. Forsyth, November 18th, 
 " under the hope that his deliverance might be effected 
 through the intervention of the Government of the United 
 States," but finding this could not be done, bail was finally 
 given. The suit, however, was never brought to trial. The 
 transaction, however, exhibited the spirit of the Executive. 
 M. Argaiz writes to Mr. Forsyth, Dec. 25, " The undersign- 
 ed would not have troubled the Government of the Union 
 with his urgent demands, if the two Spaniards (who as the 
 Secretary of State, in his note of the 12th, says ' were found 
 in this distressing and perilous situation by officers of the 
 United States, who moved by sympathetic feelings which sub 
 sequenthj became nationaV) had not been the victims of ?^ 
 intrigue, as accurately shown by Mr. Forsyth, in the conf^" 
 
9S APPENDIX. 
 
 ence which he had with the undersigned on the 21st of Oc- 
 tober last." And Mr. Forsyth, in the letter above referred 
 to, Dec. 12, assures M. Argaiz that " with the single excep- 
 tion of the fexatious detention to which Messrs. Ruiz and 
 Montes had been subjected in consequence of the civil suit 
 instituted against them, all the proceedings in the matter, on 
 the part both of the executive and judicial branches of the 
 matter, have had their foundation in the assumption that those 
 persons alone v;ere the parties -aggrieved, and that their claim 
 to the surrender of tlce property was founded in fact and in 
 justice." 
 
 All this, however, does not satisfy the Spanish Minister, 
 who had claimed, Nov. 26, that it was the duty of the Gov- 
 ernment to have acted ^^ gtibernativaTnente'^ by Executive 
 mandate; and declared that it " must be the opinion of the 
 Cabinet," that the Government possessed ah'eady " the ne- 
 cessary powers to ^oX gubernativamente,''' and "without await- 
 ing the decision of any court." And he demands such action 
 as a proper " proof of the scrupulousness and respect with 
 which this nation fulfills treaties ;" and he threatens that "if, 
 contrary to this hope, the decision should not be as the under- 
 signed asks, he can only declare the General Government of 
 the Union responsible for all and every consequence which 
 the delay may produce." No rebuke was returned for this 
 insolence, but when, afterwards, Jan. 20, 1841, the British 
 Ambassador, Mr, Fox, in obedience to the orders of his Gov- 
 ernment, wrote to Mr. Forsyth, courteously expressing his 
 " hope" that the President would " find himself empowered 
 to take such measures for the Africans as shall secure to 
 them their liberty, to which, without doubt they are by law 
 entitled," the Secretary tartly replies, that the communica- 
 tion is received " as an evidence of the benevolence of Her 
 Majesty's Government — under which aspect alone it could he 
 entertained by the Government of the United States." 
 
 In his letter of Dec. 12, Mr. Forsyth had assured M. Ar- 
 gaiz that while the delays and proceedings in the courts were 
 " beyond the control of this Department," at the same time 
 " it is not apprehended that they vnll affect the coitrse which 
 the Government of the United S'lc.xs may think fit ultimate- 
 ly to adopt." What this hint was designed to assure M. 
 Argaiz of, we could probably better understand if we had 
 minutes of the " confidential" conversations so often referred 
 \to in the correspondence. As it is, we can only infer what 
 Vas meant, from what was done. Dec. 30, M. Argaiz writes 
 U> Mr. Forsyth, referring to "a conversation which I had 
 
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