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

THE PROFITS

of the traffic are so enormous that were the risk of
capture and casualty thrice what it now is, there
would not be found wanting numerous vessels
manned by desperate men to engage in it. Although
the law now makes the trade piracy, slave traders
know full well that there is no risk of life attend-
ing their nefarious pursuit, if so done under the flag
of the United States. Let a single instance be
pointed out where the penalty due to piracy has
been inflicted upon the slaver. And if there be no
risk of life attending slaving, when the chances of
gain are so great, why not risk a little money for
the sake of that great salvation which lies in the
root of all evil P If this be not scriptural or Whate-
Han logic, it certainly is in accordance with the
creed of a very large class of persons in our country.
I may state with safety that the average profit,
over and above all expenses, upon each negro landed
upon the coast of Cuba, is between 300 and 400 dols.
lam taking the average of a cargo. Let us put it
at the lowest mark-300 dols. It does not require
the intellect of a Newton to calculate the profits
that must accrue to the safe landing of a cargo of
negroes. One thousand negroes would give a return
of at least 300,000 dols.—a sufficient sum to set all
parties concerned "upon their legs." Well can those
parties afford to born their fine vessels ; well can
the Cuban, after such a magnificent return upon his
invested capital, afford to go to New York and have
a grand splurge; and the "merchant prince,"--he,
too, can be more princely still.
. .

The bait of profit is certainly a tempting one ;
where there is no penalty who would not bite ?

THE WHYS AND WHEREFORES

will necessitate somewhat lengthy explanations—
will necessitate the utterance of truths that can but
be most unpalatable to many. As they are truths, I
trust that such persons will be able to digest them.
To one class of persons, who are always seeking to
find some new horror in the slave question to shriek
about, I do not address those truths, even though
in their mouths they may be as sweet as honey ; to
another class, who dislike any revelation of the
horrors of the traffic with an exceeding great dis-
like, I do not address myself, for the sweetness in
the mouth of one may be bitterness in the belly of
another. I wish a hearing with reasonable, mwle-
rate, thinliing people alone.
Why-should the traffic be perpetuated ? Have we
not for years kept a national police force standing
before the very portals of Slave Land ? Yes, and
no. Nominally we have, and in reality we have
nsov
out—why
t.pressi
o ye i
Has t Greatss t
. Britain, with her strong anti•
hook
proclivities,l lent her hand to the work of
slitovreldry's‘s name still on record
Vh no t henbl o t
in the
the
thingue
w
oferinie ?WeshAaYIIING lIE see.T TRADE.
ITlhEelclaSviNoNs for TAKEN FOR ST
the suppression of the African slave
trade are nearly valueless and inoperative. The com-
pact entered into between Great Britain and the
United States, in the year
ton h
1842,
tstipulates that a
80 guenitsedshsaltlatbeee
havekep not useuaelolayskt.eptUstnhtaitl
of late of
eu t hcomplement. The British force has averaged for the
past 15 years 19 vessels and 148 guns. Let it bee
said, however, to the credit and honour of the Go-
vernment of our country of that day, that it first led
the way by legislation to the abolition of the slave-
trade. It even went further—a proposal was made
by the Secretary of State, by direction of the Pre-
sident, in accordance with a resolution of the House
of Representatives, to even allow the right of
search. This proposition was rejected by the
British Government.
but that force has not been efficiently W e have not only detailed an insufficient hereto-
fore,em-
ployed. A large portion of the time of our national
vessels, detailed for this service, has been spent by
them in places of pleasantness foreign to their field
of duty. Madeira, the Cape de Verdes, and the
Canaries have been the favourite places of resort.
I have now in my mind a late instance of a flag-
ship of the United States African squadron lying
for eight months at a time at a port in one of the
above-named group of islands. The great bugbear
of African fever has been constantly paraded as a
post of duty.
sufficient excuse for this absence from