The Sun.
London, England, 1853-05-12 00:00:00

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Increase in 1853

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In the New York Times of the 22d ult., the subjoined
information is given :
" We learn from a credible source that three • Portu-
guese captains and one Catalan merchant arrived from
Cuba by the Cherokee and Black Warrior steamers,
and are now in this city, making arrangements for dis- --
patching vessels to the coast of Africa, to engage in the
slave trade betweeq that coast and Cuba. They have
already contracted for three clippers to be built at
Baltimore, and are making other preparations in
this city. It is known that there are in this city
several mercantile houses extensively engaged in
the slave trade, and that half-a-dozen vessels have
recently left this, and other American ports, for the •
African coast. These vessels clear for some Cuban .
port, where they never arrive ; and being provided -
with false papers and sailing under the Ameri-
can flag, they succeed in reaching the coast, obtaining
cargoes of slaves, and landing them in Cuba, with the
connivance and complicity of the Spanish authorities.
Our correspondence from Havannah has contained im-
portant statements on this subject from time to time.
Our authorities would do well to exercise more than
ordinary vigilance in regard to vessels clearing for
Cuban ports."

In the same journal of the 23d ult. we find the
following letter from Matanzas, describing the -
landing of a large cargo of slaves on the Cuban -
coast, in open and flagrant violation of the treaties
with Great Britain, and giving a frightful picture
of the atrocities now committed by the Spaniards in
this inhuman and revolting traffic :
MATANZA Apil 2.
" I have already apprised you
of the successr of Don
Antonio Capo in landing a cargo of slaves at Guazima.
In my present letter I propose to supply you with some
If
the particulars of the business, and with the subse-
quent fate of the parties concerned in it.
"After getting his human freight fairly ashore at the
place I have mentioned, Capo presented himself at the
entrance of the harbour of Cardenas, with the American
colours at his mast-head, and signalled for a pilot.
Having procured one, the vessel was directed to the lee-
side of the Cayo Piedra, where it was run aground and
set fire to ; it was burning throughout an entire day ;
and all this was done with the knowledge and consent of
the authorities of Cardenas.
" Some 1,100 or 1,200 negroes were run in.' The
original cargo exceeded-7;300. About 200 perished in -
the course of the voyage, in consequence of attempts
to release themselves, three several efforts having been
made unsuccessfully. I need hardly tell you how strongly
Cuban feeling is excited by these transactions. The sub-
ject was at once brought to the notice of the British
Consul, who was informed with regard to the minutest
particulars by means of a negress, who was one of the
kidnapped, and who had been purchased by a friend '
of mine. The girl disclosed to three or four of us,
in secret session, all that had transpired on the
voyage ; and by dint of close inquiry we were enabled
to furnish the Consul not only with notes of the
information drawn from her, but with every detail
regarding the names of the partners in the enterprise, the
officers of the vessel, and the crew. The Consul acted
with the utmost promptitude. Taking with him the
Belgian and American consuls, he proceeded at once to
the palace and demanded an interview with the Captain-
General. He had previously armed himself with a copy
of the Cronica by way of a text ; and producing it, he
complained to his Excellency that that paper had in-
sulted him by publishing the grossest libels land false-
hoods respecting his conduct, and that his Excellency
ought to be aware that as British consul it was his duty
to be on the watch to see that the treaties of Spain with
his Government were executed to the very letter.
" Caned° said, in reply, that the publication had been
made in a foreign country, and that, however flagrant
the falsehood, he had no means of punishing it.
" The Consul persisted that it was not only in foreign
countries that the Spanish papers took such liberties.
His Excellency had only to turn to the Diario dc la
Marina to find similar slanders ; but while he (the Con-
sul) despised this insolent language, proper only to the
corrupt and infamous lips that uttered it, he could not
but grieve to see the slave trade flourish with unabated
success, and slaves daily land on the island.
It is not so, Senor Consul ; it is not so ;' answered
Canedo ; 'the trade is constantly decreasing ; not so
much on account of the vast expense your Government
is at in sustaining fleets to repress it, for I alone am
sufficient to insure that not a single negro now finds his
way into Cuba.'

'-' ' Then how is it,' proceeded the Consul, 'that only
two days ago 1,200 negroes were landed in the Siguapa,
at place called La Guazima ?'
" ' It is not possible,' replied the General.
"' As your Excellency doubts it,' said the Consul,
beckoning to two of the negroes who waited at the foot
of the stairs, ' here are two of the Africans landed
among the rest.'

" General Canedo affected to be overwhelmed with
surprise, and said he should have to take to hanging and
killing to put a stop to these outrages. The Consul in-
, formed him how many days the vessel had spent on the
voyage ; who the owners were, their relative shares, and
their residences ; the persons to whom the negroes had
been sold, and where they might be found ; not omitting
to mention the massacre of 200 en voyage; and they de-
manded that a commission should at once be named,
who should make a summary inquiry, and punish the
offenders with all the rigour of the law.
In consequence of this interview, Brigadier Morales
Ita,da was sent to this city by the Capt.-General as a com-
missioner to examine the case. He forthwith caused the
several armadores, ' or 0 wners of the ship, to be arrested.
I send you some of their names :—Dr. Aguabella Antonio
Muxua, an attorney, who recently married the widow of
Vega y Caceres, and so became a party interested ; Ara-
inabe, an ironfLunder ; N. Aguirre, a merchant ; Bar-
tolorne Caracas, an apothecary; and Don Francisco
Vinageras, brother of the Alcalde, and the only Creole
implicated. Each of these was interested to the extent
of $12,000, and was held to bail, notwithstanding the
law prohibits bail in criminal cases, to answer the
charge. Don Jose Baro, another partner, succeeded
in eluding the officers. The examination brought out
the atrocity of the affair in the broadest light. Capo
directed his course to a Portuguese (negro) colony on the
coast of Caffraria, and finding they had no negroes to
sell, he determined to fill his ship without being at the
expense of a purchase. He therefore took every possible
means to ingratiate himself with the inhabitants, and se-
cure their confience, awaiting an opportunity for a coup
de main. When the time struck him as favourable, the
whole population was bidden to a splendid feast on board
ship, and plied with drugged rum until the great
mass of them were completely stupified with their pota-
tions. Orders were then signalled to the crew to make
all sail, and when the unfortunate wretches recovered
their senses, they found themselves out of sight of shore,
and those of their company who had been more moderate
in their cups already secured in irons. Naturally enough,
they attempted the first thing to release themselves,
by rising on their kidnappers. But they possessed no
weapons, while the crew was large, and armed at all
points ; so that, notwithstanding repeated efforts to
liberate themselves, they were uniformly over-mastered.
These encounters were murderous. Large numbers:were
thrown overboard or cut to pieces with knife and sabre,
so that the loss of life during the trip was at least 200
persons. Of those who survived and whom the agents
of Government have received since the landing, are 100
at this moment in our hospital undergoing surgical
treatment for sabre cuts, stabs, and other wounds of
greater or less severity received from the kidnapping ruf-
fians who captured them. Many of the negroes are
Portuguese, and all of them are intelligent and above the
ordinary level of native Africans.

The Government inquiry, as was to be anticipated,
has ended in additional fraud and corruption. Neither
Capo, his brother, Dr. Giberga, who acted as surgeon of
the vessel, nor any of the crew, have been arrested. The
investigation was confined to the partners, some of whose
names I have given you ; and, after dragging along for
some time, was suddenly hushed up. The defendants
agreed to compromise their crime by delivering 300 of
the negroes to the Government, each culprit contri-
buting according to his interest in the venture.
Accompanied as it was with pecuniary considerations,
the bribe was irresistible. The bargain was at
once closed, Pavia, Governor of Matanzas, Mar-
cotegui, and Morales Rada, the three commissioners,
ratifying it on behalf of General Caned° ; and as the
affair was completed at the Colisseum, the bar-
gain is called the ' Treaty of the Colisseum,' out of
doors. The parties to this infamous transaction walk the
streets in insolent impunity, secure from all the conse-
quences of their crime. And why Y To use the language of
a distinguished Government official, incautiously dropped
soon after the arrest, the prosecution will not be per-
mitted to go to any great length, because the parties incul-
pated were Spaniards—that is, not Creoles. And this
is the result of the Consul's interference. It only
made the Insular Government a larger participant in the
profits of the iniquity than if the whole thing had
been permitted to go unheeded. Somefew of the negroes
were released, and the rest allowed to pass into the mass
of hopeless negro servitude.
RAILWAY TRAFFIC RETURNS.

THH RAlLWAY.—Traffic NORTHERN RAlLWAY.—raffic return fol
the week ending May 1, 1853 (283 miles) £16,766 16 6
Corresponding week last year (223/ miles) 12,227 3 2
LANCASHIRE AND YORKSHIRE RAILWAY.—Traffic re-
turn for the week ending May 8, 1853 .. •....t18,456 13 7
Corresponding week last year ..................... 16,352 0 1
CHESTER AND ITOLTHEAD RAILWAY.—Traffic return for
railway and steam-boats for the week ending
May 8, 1853 ........................................ £3,886 7 11
Corresponding week last year ..................... 3,127 7 5

£759 0 6

..............
CORK AND BANDON RAILWAY, Traffic return for the
week ending May 7, 1853
Corresponding week last year 1 k 209
11 4
4 5 10

CRIME IN NEW YORK AND IN LoNDON.—The number
of arrests last year were 40,000, in a population of say
300,000, giving a per tentage of 6.6 on the whole num-
ber of inhabitants. In London the returns of the me-
tropolitan police, for 1850, show 70,827 arrests, out of
a population of two millions and a half, giving a per
tentage of less than three on the whole number of inha-
bitants. Thus crimes are in New York rather more
than twice as frequent as in London. Indeed, if we
make proper allowance for the superior vigilance and
organisation of the metropolitan police of London, and
for the notorious inefficiency of our own police force, we
shall probably find that, in proportion to the population,_oz
i
there is in New York thrice as much crime as n L
don.—New York Herald.
Dispatches were received
ycsterd a,y at the Colonial-
office from the Governor-general of Canada. Dispatches
were also received from the Govern
ors of the Gambia
and the Gold Coast.