US Presidency
1845

The merchandise is exchanged for slaves, the vessel is delivered up, her name obliterated, her papers destroyed, her American crew discharged, to be provided for by the charters, and the new or passenger crew put in command to carry back its miserable freight to the first contrivers of the voyage, or their employees in Brazil. During the whole progress of this tortuous enterprise it is possible that neither the American crew originally enlisted nor the passenger crew put on board in the Brazilian ports are aware of the nature of the voyage, and yet it is on these principally, ignorant if not innocent, that the penalties of the law are inflicted, while the guilty contrivers the charterers, brokers, owners, and masters; in short, all who are most deeply concerned in the crime and its rewards -for the most part escape unpunished. It will be seen from the examinations which have recently taken place at Rio that the subjects of Her Britannic Majesty as well as our own citizens are deeply implicated in this inhuman traffic.