The Sun.
London, England, 1858-09-21 00:00:00

THE SUN.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 1858.

THE Government of the United States seem to
have seriously resolved on the suppression of the
Slave Trade. We heartily rejoice at the cheering
intelligence that a vessel of the United States'
navy has captured a slaver with 314 Africans, the
miserable survivors of 455, who had been embarked
some weeks previously at the Congou River, some
thirty per cent. of the original freight having
succumbed to the horrors of the middle passage !
The unknown master tried every expedient to
avoid inconvenient inquiries. He first attempted
to escape by sheer speed, but, finding that the
pursuer had decidedly the heels of him, and that he
must eventually be overhauled, he determined to
brazen it out, hoping that the intruder on his
speculation might be merely a British cruiser,
against whom the American Standard would be a
certain protection—" The Stars and Stripes" were
elevated, but in vain. The persevering intruder
was not so easily got rid of. The " tarnation
Britisher," as she was fondly imagined to be, clung
to the quarry, and, in the language of the P.R.,
would not be denied.

The commander, whoever he might be—for it ap-
pears that no one was willing to assume the enviable
position before a real " Statesman"—manifestly
hoped that he could have escaped by resorting to
an indefinite amount of bluster and "bunkum," and
holding the journals of America in terrorem over
the English captain. All his calculations were,
however, upset, by finding that he had a genuine
Yankee to deal with, whose commission was authen-
ticated by Uncle SAM himself ! He then found
that he was, to all intents and purposes, " a gone
coon." There was no remaining subterfuge, and a
motley crew—Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish,
and even English, but (so the story runs) no Am:-
ricans—surrendered at discretion.

The absurdity of the restriction on the right of
visitation, and even of search, was thus clearly
exposed. The vessel was not American, and had
not even an American seaman on board ; and yet
by the false and fraudulent use of the American
flag she could set the English navy at defiance,
and treat with contumely every demand for
explanation. There could not have been a stronger
illustration of the inauspicious results of the
unfortunate jealousy manifested by Brother
JONATHAN. The discredit on his flag in per-
mitting it to cover " a multitude of sins," was
far greater then the toleration of a fair and
straightforward investigation of the titre by which
that flag was displayed at the masthead of a
suspected slaver.

But the Americans arc now clearly in earnest,
and we hail with satisfaction the accession of such
powerful auxiliaries. The captured slaver,
the "General Putnam," alias " The Echo," could
not have been more roughly treated had
she fallen into the hands of one of her Britannic
Majesty's ships. She was taken with her living
freight into Charleston, where there is a local law,
the reverse of that so powerfully laid down
by Lord MANSFIELD in this country. Here
the mere contact with our sacred soil con-
fers freedom on the quondam slave. There,
the dust of Carolina is laden with fetters
and shackles. The free man of colour becomes a
slave when he sets his foot on the territory, and the
only question is as to who shall be his master—
" The man and the brother" in whose veins circu-
lates the smallest fraction of the proscribed blood
had better embark in " a plague ship or take
permanent quarters ida lazaretto" than associate
even for a moment with the most clamorous advo-
cate for liberty and equality in South Carolina.

It was perhaps fortunate that the captain of the
Dolphin, possibly without thoroughly understand-
ing the nature of the legal difficulty that might
arise, steered for Charleston. There were unques-
tionably judges who might have given full effect
to the claim put forward on behalf of the
State, to take and sell the ezptives for its
own pecuniary use. Had this view of the
case been adopted, it is manifest that the captives
would have profited but little. They would have
had American in place of Cuban masters.
And possibly there would not have been much to
choose between the two. Indeed, if the doctrine
had been affirmed, it would have enabled the trade
to have been conducted at a much cheaper rate,
although under a different aspect. It only requires
that there should be a thorough understanding be-
tween
the masters of the captors and of the slavers
to give handsome profits to both, and keep up an
ample supply of healthy niggers in the market.
The plea put in by the United States' attor-
ney proved the sincerity of our transatlantic
cousins. The artful dodge was at. once_ set

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