The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 12, 11.60.

may-care style, drink plenty of liquor, are patro-
nised by cut-throat number one and his set, and are
often labelled " first-rate fellows." They are not
at all debarred from society here. Entirely unprin-
cipled they are, of course; and some of them look
as though they would cut your throat for a trifle.
At home, after a successful voyage, they revel for a
season on the sweets of their labour, and in fast
society they are often guns of heavy calibre. I
have one case in my mind of one of these gentry
who has made a large number of successful voyages
as a captain, who, upon his return, flourishes as a
very prince of good fellows in New York society.
He spends his money freely, and, of course, classes
some high birds of the ton amongst his friends. I
have known persons assuming to be respectable,
class this man amongst their friends, and speak of
him as though they were honoured by his friend-
ship. All for a taste of the blessed influences of
money.
Class number three is the full-blown cut-throat.
The looks of this class would damn them. The
vilest of the vile, there is of course no occupation
too bad for them. Slaving has become their legiti
mate business only because piracy is unsafe. On
all men-of-war there are some who go to fill the
ranks of this delectable class. They are generally
penitentiary and Australian convicts, and are fami-
liarly known among respectable sailors as " beach-
combers." Desperadoes, they are the very men
sought for by slave captains, as being especially
fitted for their mission. Here, in this trade, they
have a full opportunity of gratifying their licen-
tiousness and giving full reign to their passions,
which make them a curse on God's fair earth. So-
ciety would be blessed if this foul scum was
skimmed off into our penitentiaries ; the miasma
arising from it would not then get beyond their
stone walls. Enough of the personnel of the
slaver.

If we cannot manage the fever with the success
with which the English and French do it would be
well to re-organise our naval medical corps, and
fill its ranks with materiel professionally compe-
tent to deal with a disease which is not at all ter-
rible. The real reason of this absence from the post
of duty has been kept in the background. It is to
allow a large class of self-styled " chivalrous gentle-
men" to luxuriate in idleness and pleasure at their
country's expense. Such a thing as returning an
equivalent for salary received, in shape of duty, has
not been thought of; two ideas on this score would
probably burst the head of many of our naval
magnates. "The Coast" station has been one
rather sought after than otherwise by our naval
officers. And why not ? Three months of each
year were set apart for a stay at Madeira, and
this timc was often prolonged indefinitely. Three
months at that beauteous island would be an
era in any person's lifetime ; it would be a bright
spot in life's desert. Who would not bear a
few months' exile to the dreary coast, for the privi-
lege of living a season in a clime of perpetual
spring, in a land where the air is always fragrant
with the scent of the ever-blooming flower, and the
luscious fruit of the tropics and temperate climes
are always to be had—a land of glorious scenery
and associations, whose very name, like its own
shining cascades, is most musical ? This, with the
charms of fine society, would do much towards
effecting a cure of the fever. Add to the yearly
episode at Madeira the frequent calls and long stop-
pages at the Canaries, Cape de Verdes, and St.
Helena, and it will be seen that the time spent by
a vessel on the coast was very short indeed. Usually
not more than two or three vessels were there at a
time. _ -

The loose and indeterminate nature of the instruc-
tions given to our naval officers goes for to render
the treaty inoperative. The evil of discretionary
power exerted in these men operates most injuri-
ously at times. It is oftentimes a mere matter of
will with a commanding officer as to whether the
effective force under his command shall or shall not
render efficient aid toward suppressing the traffic.
That will is too often exerted on the side of selfish
inefficiency. Again, on the other hand, a willing
officer is often kept in check by instructions from
head-quarters, which arc of this nature—" Do so
and so," saith the magnate, " but if you do so and
so, look out for yourself." Unless positive convic-
tion follows the capture of a slaver, the officer cap-
turing that slaver lays himself liable to a civil suit
and damages ; he is consequently afraid to take a
vessel unless she has her cargo of flesh and blood
aboard.

Under the present very unsatisfactory laws (very
satisfactory to the slaver) for the suppression of
the slave trade, it is almost impossible to detect a
slaver, unless she has her cargo aboard. Disguise
is so easy that no difficulty is experienced in find-
ing avenues of escape. For instance, the palm oil
trade is the great blind and favourite disguise of
the slaver. Receiving his papers, say at New York
(for five-sixths of the slave ships sail from that port),
he takes in a large number of casks, for the osten-
sible purpose of having them filled with palm oil.
These he fills at New York with water for ballast.
The law requires only a certain number of water
casks in vessels trading to the coast. But the slaver
stands ready with his excuse; those casks are for
palm oil. Now, it is a well-known fact on this coast
that real palm oil casks are brought out in staves,
put together, and whitewashed inside and out just
before receiving the oil. This is what is called the
" cask dodge."

THE PALM OIL DODGE.
A word as to this palm oil trade,for it bears strongly
on our subject. The greatest ignorance prevails on
th, subject in common with other African affairs.
This is supposed to be in a most flourishing condi-
tion, and to employ a large amount of tonnage in
its export. Such is not the case, and such reports
onlyoriginate with the slave-trading interest, whose
wish it is to mislead the public mind. A few large
trading vessels per year could carry off all of the oil
produced on the whole coast; and I may add, in this
connection, that the English naval officers attached
to this station know of but three legal traders in
this business. Contrary to supposition, there is no
competition between the English and Americans in
this trade, for there are few or no English vessels
engaged in it. If palm oil be the principal article of
export, and there arc but three legal traders on the
coast engaged in that trade, and those traders are
American, what on earth do the great number of
vessels which crowd those seas, all flying the Ame-
rican flag? All of them are assumed traders in palm
oil. VEssels supposed to be engaged in this trade,
upon examination are generally found to have clear-
ance papers from New York for eight or nine
months, when any one outside of the New York
Custom-house ought to know that under the most
favourable circumstances it would require from 15
to 18 months to get together a sufficiency of oil to
freight an ordinary- sized vessel. The oil is obtained
very slowly, and at the date of my writing
is not
to be bad. Let Government instruct its able officials
at tie New York Custom-house to distinguish be-
tween oil cask staves and water casks, and it will
have done one commendable thing.

- -
reception of her cargo: With this evidence against .Y
her, the flag officer took her in charge, investigated
her case, and released her. The sequel I have made
known : shortly after she received her cargo, and
had nearly made her escape. A sharp-eyed Eng-
lishman, however, knew the " nature of the beast,"
and was on his track, gave chase, and 200 miles at
sea (an unusual distance to make a capture) over-
hauled and took her, making for the Englishman a
nice pile of prize money. Multiply 888 by 25, the
amount received per head for captured slaves, and
you have the nice little pile which slipped through
the hands of the Americans. It need not for a
moment be supposed that the Americans got the
laugh on them, for perhaps they did not. I omitted
to mention that the sweet-scented captain of the
Orion—a man, Morgan by name, the same indivi-
dual who was mate of her at the time of her cap-
ture on her former cruise—said to the boarding
British officer at the time of his capture, " It is like
a game at cards—we have played high, but you
(the English) have beaten us:at our own game." I
am most happy to state for the benefit of his New
York friends that the gentleman Morgan and his
equally gentlemanly associates, the first and second
mates, are now in iron and provided with quarters
on board of an American man-of-war. They will
soon be on their way to New York, when an oppor-
tunity will offer to give them a public reception as
martyrs to the principle of right of search. I be-
lieve it is claimed that there was a violation of that
principle upon the occasion of the capture of the
Orion. The nasty Britishers ought to be made to
mind their own business.

AFTER CAPTURE,
we make the best disposition of the slaves captured,
sending them to Liberia, and delivering them up to
that republic, which converts them into passable
colonists, who in time aid the work of civilising and
redeeming West Africa. The English send their
captures to the West Indies as " apprentices," and
it is a discussed point as to whether their condition
as such is any better than in actual slavery. The
English say, " Yes, it is infinitely better ;" their
haters say, " Nay, it is no better." But we have to
do with the trade, and not with its afterclaps. The
West Indies is near home, and people in the United
States ought to be able to judge of the merits of the
apprentice system.