The voice of freedom. [volume], June 22, 1839, Image 1

About The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848

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T O I
ALLEN & POLAND, Publishers, m
' 'Published under the sanction of the Vermont Anti-Slavery Society., .-, ;;i l5 -i
CHAUNCEY L. KNAPP, Editor.
J.i.i'l ! "
VOLUME I,
MOxYTPELIKK, TEKIWOIVT, JUITE S3, 1839.
IV09IIER 85.
THE
IE
OF
BMIM HP DPISIBISIBCBEQo
1 ". From the Mass. Abolitionist.
Prejudice.
Our war with the peculiar American, colorpho
lic prejudice is internecine to the death and as
much again, for this prejudice, is, first, in itsell
the meanest and wickedest of all things, and, sec
ond, it is the main prop of slavery. Therefore,
we quote the whole of on article from the Herald
of Freedom on the same subject with one we in
dited two weeks ago. 'It is better than ours, ten
to one. i We commend it to all female patients
who are sick with the phobia, and not of it.
' UNPARALLELED OUTRAGE !
" OUTRAGE AND IMPOSITION."
The Boston Courier of the 16th mst. contains
an article, which the veteran editor tacitly endors
es, detailing one of the most flagrant violations of
American sentiment on record. Such an instance
of abolition insolence and fraud and of colored
impudence we scarcely remember since the mor
bid excitement begun against our southern institU'
tions. The particulars are detailed with frightful
fidelity by the Courier s accomplished correspon
dent, whose indignation seems to have been kin
dled to the utmost pitch of gentlemanly endurance.
And really if the Christian public passes this over,
the worst apprehensions ot the country from this
abolition excitement, will have been realized.
Popular forbearance should have limits. It is al
ready ceasing to be a virtue.
The outrage was on board the steamer Massa
chusetts. A passenger by the name of Buffum,
says the article " had with him besides his wife,
COLORED WOMEN, FOR WHOM HE PROCURED TICKETS,
WITHOUT GIVING ANV INTIMATION OF THE FACT, AND
PUT THEM IN THE LADIES' CABIN, WHERE THE? SLEPT
ALL NIGHT WITHOUT THE KNOWLEDGE OF ANY ONE."
What a concatenation of perpetrations have we
here! perpetration upon perpetration.! Tickets
procured for colored women, without forewarning
the captain. Women thrust into the ladies' cabin
not only women among ladies but colored wo
men among white ladies, for though the correspon
dent does not expressly avow it, we have to infer
they were white and the ugly creatures had the
deliberate insolence to sleep there. The height of
impudence this abolition has already led them to.
They could sleep in a ladies' cabin and the. ladies
themselves did not know it. " Without the knowl
edge of any one" says the correspondent. Oh
their perilous condition and. lliey not know it.
And but for the vigilance of a colored chamber
maid, the ldaies might have slept all night a
chamber-maid, ' excellent in her place,' says the
correspondent. She was in the same cabin to be
sure but then not for the impudent purpose of
sleep she was there for vigilance ' in her place,
to serve the ladies. Had these creatures been in
there for service instead of rest, they would have
been in their places but they were in for rest,
which was an 'outrage,' and they slept and con
cealed their color, which was an 'imposition.'
And what if the ladies had found it out in the
night 'in the dead waistand middle of the night'
what would have been the consequence ! What
fits they might have had, and what high-sterricks
gone into ! had they waked in the dark and . seen
a colored something, right there in the berths !
Or what if one of them had stuck out her lily
hand or her alabaster foot and touched naked col
or oh, she might have run ' crazy and ravin dis
tracted !' . :
On what pretext were these ugly monsters thrust
in there? Why forsooth, they had purchased
tickets of admission and had paid for them ! But
then they concealed their color. It was a fraud
upon the captain. He thought all was white and
fair. They were ugly colored women, and he
thought they were ladies as pale as a diaper. It
was an imposition. We are opposed to mobs.
We would go far to ' prevent' them, in the abstract.
But their may be cases. We appeal to a candid
public are there no limitations ? Is the law on
adequate remedy in all cases ? Our wives and
daughters, they may want to travel and to what
are they to be exposed ? The fairest and most del
icate of them may sleep in the same apartment
all night, with colored women !
But the imposition was detected, i he captain
traced it to this Bunum. He was a real ' gentle
man,' said the Courier's Correspondent. " No
boat or captain stood, in his estimation, higher."
He told Buffum " he had no objection to m being
with the colored women, and had he asked the
favor, he would have put them in a room by them
selves, where they might have slept together."
Was he not a gentleman f And the ladies, in
whose approving presence he uttered this piece of
gentlemanship were they not real ladies t Oh
they were real prime.
And they had a mob too, a salt water mob.
' At this moment,' says the Courier's friend, ' the
crowd began to get large (' property and standing'
doubtless) and the excitement to increase' (' tre
mendous public excitement, Buckingham s lnend
Patriot would call it) and many began to fear the
result that is, fear they should lay hold ot Mr.
Buflum and the colored women and throw them
overboard ! The mob always 'jcars the result.'
It always tries to prevent itself, and if it can't, it
'cars the result.
Mr. Garrison was there. He tried to speak,
but they would not allow it. Some sea Atherton
or Cushman put the previous question into his
mouth and stopped him. They put it to vote right
away, and voted that the whole crew was ' disgust
ed.' The disgust was very general 77 to 23.
' They showed conclusively,' says the beautiful
correspondent of the magnanimous Courier, by
their vote and actions, for they would not allow
Mr. Garrison to speak a word, that they held
him and his party in this transaction in utter de
testation.' Mr. Buckingham is all for freedom of
debate a detester of Athertonism andCushman
ity but that is in Congress and in a case of par
ty. As a Whig he is for it when a Van Buren
partizan applies the gag. There he is for free dis
cussion, right of petition, &c. Sec. ' Circumstan
ces alter cases.' He endorses fully this instance
of f&ggety- Let him never open his mouth
against it in Congress again. He would gag free
discussion there, if he had occasion. He Would
outherod Cushman in forestalling debate.
But they put it to vote this beautiful boat's
crew without a moment's debate or considera
tion, nnd they stood disgusted, 77 to 23 just about
the true Congress majority. And at what were
they disgusted ? Why that three defenceless wo
men were sheltered by that boat's ribs, instead of
shivering on deck, amid the tarred cordage, expos
ed to the mercies of the night sea winds and per
adventure a tempest. . They were in comfort and
at rest, having, no doubt, thanked God, with tears
of gratitude for so unexpected a shelter. Their
gentle-hearted sisters were 1 disgusted' at this.
Oh the beautiful ladies the gentle and sympa'
thetic fine ladies ! Oh the gentlemanly gentlemen
thatvvould thrust woman out of doors, at night,
upon the sea ! Oh the fair sex that would nestle
and snore away in their snug cabins, while their
unhappy sisters had to face the scowl of night,
and the sea's rude breath on the naked deck! Oh
the beautiful sweethearts that could sleep amid
scenes like this ! Oh the magnanimous captain !
to deny to woman the shelter which humanity, in
its barbarian state, would not deny a dog. Shel
ter for the night a night at sea-when cut off
from mankind and on the perilous deep, a pirate
might dream of kindness with an ample cabin
for all with his mercenary pay in his pocket.
Why did the unfeeling brute want those women
to shiver on deck, that night ? Why ! But to grat
ify those elegant souled ladies ! They could not
sleep if their colored sisters slept; they could not
enjoy their cabin unless the unhappy colored ones
were exposed on deck. They must colonize the
colored woman and send her by herself to the cold
deck, the boat's Africa where she might repose
free of the Christian prejudice below.
A real American scene. A demonstration ol
tjie barbarity, the injustice, the meanness, the cru-
Ity of the American people. Wc call their atten
tion to their portrait their' picture. We hold up
this boat scene as a mirror. Let them see in it
their reflected character and likeness by sea and
land. We illustrate Colonization by this spirit,
that would drive out those colored women from
their sheltered berths, to sleep on the planked deck,
covered by the night sky, only it lacks the mock
ery of getting their consent.' A ship's deck, for
a warm berth, and a keen, sleepless, sea night, for
the rocked repose of tke cabin, is the proffer of
Colonization to the colored people. If the illus
tration is deficient, it is in this that Colonization
does not stop at the deck. , It throws them over
board jnto the deep of returnless Africa. It ban
ishes them beyond its own walks and limits, where
they can never again cross its path. The narrow
ship affords no such ' bourne' such ' undiscover
ed country' as this.
Those may argue gravely on scenes and trans
actions like this who can. We have not the ar
gument, the spirit, or the time to do it. We speak
of it as it strikes us. We feel at it, in some mea
sure we trust, as uncalloused humanity ought to
feel. We wish we. could express our feelings in
words fitted to the occasion.
The (New School) General Assembly of the Pres
byterian Church in the U. S. of America.
Reported for the New York Observer.
The Slavery Question. .
Wednesday Morning, May 22. The House
having gone into interlocutory meeting on the me
morials on the subject of slavery. ( ,,--,,..
Dr. Hill observed that the discussion had, thus
far,1 all been on one side ; ' it was with extreme re
luctance that any of the Southern brethren felt
themselves called upon to say a single word. The
vantage ground was all on the .other side, ror
one he was ready that the question be taken now,
without another word being spoken ; but it more
should be said, they must though they did not
wish it, offer some things in reply. : '.
Mr. Rankin hoped they would do so. :
Dr. Hill said they did not desire it ; they only
wished to hear nothing more on the other side.
Mr. Stewart said he was desirous of offering
a few remarks, but neither he nor the brethren
who thought with him, were anxious for a pro
tracted discussion.
Dr. Hill moved that further discussion be sus
pended. Mr. Stewart objected to this as being nothing
other than the previous question in disguise; and
the Assembly had expunged the previous question
from the rules of the proceedings. He wished to
discuss thi3 qnestion in a pacific spirit, the spirit
of a Christian, and he wanted his slaveholding
brethren to hear him patiently. If he was in er
ror, he wanted to get out of it as soon as possible.
They had no desire to fasten their opinions upon
others : but if they were wrong they wanted to be
put tight. No man was richer for having an er
ror on board, but morally poorer for every error
he held. If he was in error let the Southern
brethren point it out and endeavor to convince him.
But in a great advisory body like this, it was im
possible to act to any good end, unless brethren
were willing to hear, to advise, to compare and for
bear. If the Southern brethren had reasons to
produce, he hoped he had sufficient candor to
weigh them. But he held it no argument to say,
"1 shall secede without conference;" "I do not
wish to hear you ;" " If you speak I will go away ;"
while language like this was held, some great er
ror lay between them ; and it never would be
purged out by such a course, It had been said
in the outset ot this discussion that the Assembly
resembled a ship which was in a storm on her
beam ends, and to discuss this question ' was like
calling a conference on dock to solve, some nice
and abstruse nautical problem. ;,.
Some impatience was here mnnifested : it was
asked what was the 'question ? and remonstrance
was made against long prefaces and circumlocu
tory speeches but others thought it best to allow
the amplest latitude. It wpuld be the height of
impolicy to take any other course. Mr. Lurry
here asked for a pause and an interval ol prayer.
The suggestion wa3 agreed to, and Dr. Wisner
engaged in prayer. -.
Mr. Stewart thanked Mr. Curry for what he
had done, and said it was in prayer that the chief
nope or me abolitionists lay. He had long be
lieved if this great evil and great sin was ever
to be abolished, deliverance must come out of Zi-
on it must be affected by the praying men and
praying women of America. It had been from
the beginning a religious undertaking, and its
great aim was to purge out sin from the 'churches
and from tjie world.': ; , I
But it was often asked, and by good men, what
good will the action of this body do ? Our South
ern brethren have made up iheir minds that slave
ry is a Bible institution, and we think differently ;
what good will it do to make a declaration of our
opinions? .To illustrate the reasonableness of
such a question he supposed a case that one of
our Presbyteries should have made up their minds
that marriage was not a divine' institution or of
moral obligation, and held to the propriety of pro
miscuous concubinage : ought not the Assembly
to express its opinion of such a course of conduct
and sentiment? Would it do for the members of
that Presbytery to say, we have ' made up our
minds on the question ; we consider our view as
the Scriptural view, and we don't wish the matter
debated ; it we go with you it 13 on this principle.
Ought the assembly to yield to such an argument,
and to remain silent ? Or suppose another PreS'
bytery held the drinking of ardent spirit to be a
Christian virtue that intemperance was a virtue;
and in consequence some of the ministers and el
ders became drunkards; and another held the com
munity of goods in such a sense os to appropriate
whatever they could lay their hands upon ; and
when the case was brought up, was the Assem
bly to be told that it must pass no resolution, ex
press no opinion, make no recommendation ?
Could the Assembly stand still under the weight
even of one such Presbytery? Nay, would not a
single church of such a character ruin any body
with which it was allowed to hold good standing?
And was it not now continually thrown in the face
of himself and his companions, " Ah, you are in
fellowship with a church that holds that the buy
ing and selling of hnnr.an beings is no sin; that
it is right to live on unreqited labor." Questions
of morals had nothing to do with acres and miles ;
on these questions the church, though spread all
over the land, was' one vast integrality. And
what was now the character of the Presby
tarian church ? it was, as to moral questions, a
pliant body. In a slave-holding region it was a
slaveholding church, in a temperance region it
went for temperance ; it graduated its opinion by
degrees of latitude and longitude. Thus Christ's
kingdom must be pie-bald and speckled, one thing
in one place, and another in another.
But to return to the point from which he had
been about to start when interrupted. The con
dition of this body had been likened by the glow
ing and iruitlul imagination ot a brother.to thatol
a ship on her beam ends, and on the point of found
ering the heavens covered with black and low
ering clouds the winds howling yawning gulfs
opening all around, and the crew with the pros
pect of immediate death before their eyes; and
the idea of discussing the question of slavery at
this time, had been compared to the assembling of
the crew, under such, circumstances, to settle some
nice and difficult nautical question, touching the
stars, 'prcspecting some new chronometer, for the
invention of which the learned Savans and astron
omers at Paris had offered a premium of 100,000
francs Dr. Cox here observed with a smile that
the brother's imagination had wonderfully helped
his. ' But Mr. Stewart thought it might rather
be compared to calling the creV to consider how
the ship might be lightened ? what was her cargo ?
and if it was found that her loading consisted of
lead and millstones, 'whether it would not be best to
throw the lead overboard, or some of the millstones?
If it was hoped to save this Presbyterian church
from ruin, slavery must be thrown overboard.
Throw it over as on abstraction ; throw it ; over
as a fact; throw it over in every form and shape
it could assume. He would beg and entreat with
tears, and conjure with mighty supplications,', all
slave-holding Christians to give up this sin agninst
which their fathers testified- -in ISIS. At that
time, the South had only asked time and space to
wind up the system and bring it peaceably to an
end ; and the church had said go, and do it with
all convenient speed. The whole church had ut
tered one unanimous Amen. The North and the
South, Old School and New School, all of one
mind. So he and his brethren had learned Christ,
and so they now wished to do.
And now he wanted to say a word as to the rea
son that the church had been divided, and this
portion was assembled where he now found it.
He had evidence as to the true reason. Dr. Bax
ter in 1S37 wrote a letter in which he declared
that one of the great causes of the act of the ex
cision was a desire to get rid of a body of men
who abhorred slavery and held it to be a sin ; nnd
he thougt it had effected much for the South.
So when Dr. Spring who had lately been preach
ing in his own pulpit to acrowded auditory against
abolition and abolitionists, when present in Wash
ington City at a meeting of the Colonization Soci
ety, had told that society and the meeting assem
bled, in substance, that the excision had been ef
fected in order to prevent the church from being
submerged in the anti-slavery influence. And
now what has the church done since ISIS towards
removing this sin? What had these 19 years
produced? the discovery that slavery was no
sin at all : that it was a bible institution, as much
as the relation between man and wife ; and that
it was to abide forever! Like sinners who put
off their repentance to some future day, and after
a long time find out that they have nothing to re
pent, of, so the church had found that in the mat
ter of slavery she has nothing to fepent of, save
now and then the starving or whipping of a slave
or two to death. But what had slavery done, for
this body? As the church had refused to turn
slavery out, slavery (admitting this body to be the
true Presbyterian church) had turned the church
out of doors; at least out of that place where it
sat previous to 1827, Slavery had evicted it
from its seat. But there was a place where , the
church-banners were flying, where they were
cheerfully admitted and welcomed who held slave
ry to be-a Bible institution.
Man. Adam Smith says " Man is an animal
that makes bargains ; no other animal does this ;
one dog does not change a bone with another."
But the slave laws forbid the laboring portion
of the community to make bargains; the produ
cers of property ore the very ones selected for this
proscription. Will not Adam Smith's works be
proscribed as incendiary ? He evidently proves
that slavery is an outrage ti pon the nature o( man
ihat it reduces men to a level with brute aninv
als. Friend of Man. ......
Confession of Faith.
A confession of faith for the Hopewell Presbyl
ery, o. Jt will answer equally well for pro
slavery churches as lar north as Canaan, JN. H.
preamble. -
Whereas, Certain fanatical heretics have risen
up, boldly, in the northern churches, " teaching
for doctrines the commandments" of God, in op
position to our principles ol " expediency whole
some slave code and " delicate domestic relations.'
1 herelore we wish to come out and " separate our
selves ' Irom them and " touch not the "damn
ing iniquity." '" "
Art. 1. We believe that all men arc totally
depraved, but the negroes are so much below tota
depravity, that they ought not to be suffered tore
main in any civilized or christian nation, But
should be prepared, by withholding knowledge
and trade, be made willing by persecution, to be
come "missionaries to civilize and christianize
heathen '"Africa." "For if we suffei them to be
educated here, they will be respectable enough to
stay here, and not go to Africa.
Art. 2. We believe that "slavery is an evil,"
but it is "right" and " sanctioned by the bible,
and therefore, " under present circcumstances,"" a
blessing." And any attempt to denounce it as a
sin, shall be met with infallible flagellation.
Art. 3. We believe that " the slaves should
be educated before they are set free," but " it would
be dangerous to educate them," therefore, they
should be prohibited all knowledge by law.
Art. 4. We believe that " emancipation should
be gradual," but " all attempts at emancipation,
partial or general, immediate or remote, we will
resist to the bitterest extremity ; and it is our in
flexible determination that as far as in us lies,
slavery shall be perpetual."
Art. 5. We believe in the marriage relation,
but" what God hath joined together" slaveholders
may put asunder whenever they please, for any
cause, or without any cause, provided they have
the least particle ot Alncan blood in their veins.
Art. b. We believe that the decalogue is a uni
versally and morally binding rule of conducj, but
the seventh command.nent, we think, is a " rhe
torical flourish," which the God of heaven came
:Iown to write on tables of stone, for the amuse
ment of Moses and Israel ; the former a reckless
hypocritical preacher of abolitionism and amalga
mation, and the successful leader of two and a
half millions of runaway slaves ; all which were
the legitimate consequences of that deluded fa
natical female, Pharaoh's daughter, in taking up
that miserable outcast of a slave, and teaching
him to read and write.
Art. 7. We believe that it is our duty to sustain
that wholesome and convenient law, which makes
t " penal for any colored person to resist or lift
lis hand against a white person" even should they
violate the innocent members of our church, whom
we fellowship, and whom God has declared " the
temples of the Holy Ghost."
Art: 8. We believe that all should "search
the scriptures" and " grow in knowledge daily,"
but all attempts of the slaves to learn, or of the
whites to teach them to read or write, should be
punished, " for the first offence, whipping, the sec
ond, death." ' '' ' ' 1
Art. 9. We believe with our divine, the Rev.
Rufus W. Bailey, that " the slave is the most suit
able subject to receive 'divine grace," " as the
church recerds show a greater proportion of slaves
than Ireemen. But the testimony of all the col
ored members of our churches ought not to be
equal in law to one white infidel, or papist. "
Art. 11). We believe that ii these good chris
tian brethren, our " slaves,' were allowed ; to read
the bible,' they would appstatize : If paid for their
nmrt." ' l!lor wntllt Vionnnif ullia " vnnrnKnnilo nnfl
thieves : and if their wives and children were se
cured to them by law, " they would be discontent
ed and run away and leave them ;" and if we
should cease to whip, and cat-haul them, "they
would cut our throats, and murder our families."
Art. 11. We believe with the above divine,
that " liberating the slaves would be like letting a
wild animal out of a cage among dogs, to be wor
ried and mangled by them," but any speech, pam
phlet, or paper, calculated to , persuade the white
people of this christian nation to treat black men
as well as white dogs treat black dogs, is incen
diary in the highest degree. " And if there be
any stray goat of a minister among us, tainted
with the blood-hound principles of abolitionism, let
him be ferctted out, silenced, and excommunicat
ed, and left to the public to dispose of him in oth
er respects," i. e. lynch him.
Art. 12. We believe furthermore, with our
divine, R. W. Bailey, that " the slaves have been
compensated a hundred fold for the injury done
them by the. human slave dealer! Daily praise
is given to God for that providence which made
them slaves in a christian land !" but the coloni
zation society is a pure and benevolent institution
to send thein back to hqathen Africa.
Art. 13. We believe with that philanthropic
statesman, our brother, the Hon. Isaac Hill, in
his late message to his white slaves in New Hamp
shire, ." that the abolitionists have probably retird
ed emancipation by their ill-directed efforts half a
century," and also with our brother the Hon. " Pa
triarch McDuffie," that slavery is the corner-stone
of our republican edifice but abolitionists for
perpetuating , it for fifty years, "ought to .suffer
death without benefit of clergy."
Art. 14." We believe that " the Ethiopian"
cannot " change his skin," but we have changed
it from black to yellow, and even white but we
will not change our disposition to do thorn any
good, we are so accustomed and determined to
obey " human laws" and " public opinion" and
" present, circumstances." .
Art. 15. We believe that " the knowledge of
the Lord shall cover the earth, and "all shall
know him," and to this end ministers should
" preach the gospel to . every crenture," but ; " ,1ri
this republic there are two millions of heathen,
and in some respects in a worse condition. The
negroes ore destitute of the gospel and ever will
be under the present state of things." '
Gov. Finney, in hit pooch, for College in Liberia.
Art. . 16. We, believe in " the fellowship of
saints and in the holy sacrament," but we have no
fellowship with colored people, and if they wish
to come to meetings and to the sacrament, thev
must sit in the " niggers' seats," and wait until afl
the rest have been served.
Art. 17. We believe that " we should obey
God rather than man," but we should not " love
our neighbor as ourselves," and " do good unto
all," even " that which we would they should do
unto us," to " remember them that are in bonds os
bound with them," and " not be many masters,"
" but give unto our servants that which is just
and equal," where the " laws" and " public opin
ion" forbid it.
Art. IS. We believe with the venerable Dr.
Beecher, that God will bear robbing " two hun
dred years longer," because he is long suffering,
and " not willing that any should perish," there-
lore we must enlarge our borders and market, by
conquering Texas, and hell must also enlarge her
borders -to receive millions more of her prey. '
Art. 19. We believe that " God has heard
the groaning," and seen the affliction of his col
ored people in America, but he dare not "come
down to deliver them" so long as we threaten to
divide the church," " dissolve the Union," and
practise lynch law ! ! D.WELCH..
From the Pennsylvania Freeman
Jamaica The Slave Trade.
A recent letter from Mitchell Thompson, an
officer on board Her Majesty's ship Sappho, dated
Port Royal, Jamaica and addressed to our lnend
Lewis C. Gunn, speaking, of the slave emancipa
tion in Jamaica, says : " Many efforts have been
made to prostrate the fruits of this blessed work, .
but they have all been ineffectual. There are two
lasses at work, one chiefly by presenting matters
n the worst light the other, the proprietors of
the soil, by opposing every liberal and generous
measure ol the home government, ouch has
been the result here on the prison bill framed at
home in behalf of the emancipated blacks both
branches of the colonial government, Executive
and Legislative, have stood in open array against
So at this moment Jamaica really possesses
no government save that of England. The general
opinion is that this will be made a crown colony.
Like madmen the planters talk of taking arms,
with 200,000 blacks and 100,000 persons of color
against them. All however is peace and quiet
ness the emancipation works well, all things con-
dered. Let the praise be given to our Heavenly
Father!"
THE SLAVE THADE.
On this subject the writer has the following :
I have just finished a small pamphlet, on the
subject of missions for Africa and the slave-trade,
n which 1 have not spared your country ; you
re deeply deeply implicated. Almost the halt
f the vessels employed in this trade, and furnish
ed to either the Spaniards or Portuguese, are from
America, and seem to have been built ot Baltimore,
from which place they sail, chartered for some
port in Cuba, with lumber, which lumber is conver
ted into slave decks, on their arrival at the destined
port. To this now is added coppers, casks and
food, wilh the necessary slave irons, and now also
is added the requisite number of Spaniards, as
part complement of the ship's company. With
American papers and flag they escape our cruisers,
as the accession to the right of mutual search has
not been made by America. Thus they proceed
to the coast, where at' Capede Verd, Princes, or
St. Thomas's, papers and flag are changed for
Portuguese, or if not, the vessel makes the effort
on her own responsibility. To show that this is
the case, in the month of Sep'ember last we gave
chase to and boarded the Dolphin Schooner, Cap
tain Spright, from Baltimore, (last from Havan
nah,) with skive irons, coppers, casks, decks, &c,
crew part American, and part Spanish, having
American papers, and flag. He knew he was
safe and immediately said that he was for the coast.
Since we saw you we have taken 7 or 800 slaves,
and we learn from the Captaains that Texas is the
best marl."
The writer further states that a shoit time be
fore the date of his letter, (March,27th,) the Sap
pho captured a crew of slaves, one of whom was a
native American, and who was sold to the slave
traders at or near Liberia.
In this connection we copy from a late London
paper the following extract from a letter of an of
ficer on board the British man-of-war Pelican, now
engaged in efforts to prevent the slave trade. It is
enough to make an American hang his head for
shame.
" The Portuguese schooner Magdalena, which
we lately captured, had on board 320 slaves. The
captain of this vessel informed us that an Ameri
can schooner, the Octavia, of Baltimore, under
Spanish colors, having been sold to a Spaniard in
the river Nun, had' sailed on the same day that ho
did, with 220 slaves, and that they had parted
company only the preceding night. We made all
sail in the supposed direction of the Octavia and
captured her the next day at noon. Shehad 220
slaves and a crew of 13 men. Both of our prizes
had very fair slave decks, two feet and a half in
height and the negroes were all pretty healthy.
They were sent to Sierra Leone. The Dolphin
took posession of five beautiful empty brigs the
other day at Lagos, and sent them to Sierra
Leone. The only flag under which slavery can
be actually carried on with impunity, is the A
merican ! ' '"'
" Thus a vessel is built or fitted out in an Amer
ican port, gets American papers, runs to Cuba, is
sold ; the American with a mixed crew, and the
Spanish captain as 'passenger run her across to
the West Coast of Africa under American colors,
and as we are not allowed by the jealous Yankees
to search their vessels, she remains at anchor until
the slaves are ready ; a fictitious bill of sale is
made out by which" the Spaniards or Portuguese
become purchasers of the vessel, and the Yankee
a passenger; a favorable opportunity presents' it
self, the slaves are shipped under the Portuguese
flag, and then the vessel takes her chance of es
cape. The Octavia had no papeis except a bill of
the above descriptioiij and hoisted the Spanish flag
merely because the captain was a Spaniard. The
American who sold the Octavia was a passepger
in the Magdalen."