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

THE SLAVER ECHO.

(From the Charleston Mercury.)
" The real name of the captured brig is the
General Putnam. These letters are partially
erased and 'covered over by those of the assumed
name Echo, and would doubtless have been restored
had success crowned the enterprise in which she-
was engaged when taken. She is of Baltimore
build, say 280 tons burthen, and, it is believed, was
formerly a packet in the coffee trade between that
port and Rio. On the 6th of March last she
cleared from New Orleans with a captain, two
mates, eight seamen, a cook, steward, and one pas-
senger. On the sth of July she shipped is cargo of
455 slaves on the West Coast of Africa, at Kabenda,
situated in lat. 5.30 south, long. 12.20 east. It is in
Lower Guinea, in the southern part of the district
of Loango, and not far from the River Congo or
Zaire. These slaves were purchased in a circuit of
500 miles, and assembled at a barracoon near the
point of shipment. The brig set sail with them,
and in 47 days made the; trip, reaching the point of
destination on the morning of the 21st instant.
In this space of time 141 negrocs had died,
leaving but 314 alive. A bay on ' Cape Verde,'
one of the keys on the north coast of Cuba, lat.
23.40, long. 80.20, was the landing-place, where
the Echo was detected by the Dolphin. The offi-
cers of the Dolphin left the harbour of Sagua la
Grande the day before, and while cruising west-
ward in search of slavers perceived the Echo at
daylight in the distance, bearing the British flag,
and running down the coast a-head of the Dolphin
in the same direction. No suspicion was excited.
The brig entered a bay ; the Dolphin ran on her
course, and in good time came in view of the bay
and the Echo. The captain of the slaver now lost
his presence of mind, supposing he was suspected
and pursued, and suddenly hauled off from the
coast. It was then observed that a number of
launches near the shore had their sails set to come
out to the brig. This verified the suspicion excited
by her strange movement, and the Dolphin gave
chase to the flying vessel, still bearing the British
flag. Blank cartridges were fired, and it became
evident that the pursuer gained. The slaver spread
all her canvas in vain, and, finding herself about to
fall into the clutches of the cruiser, thought to be
British, hauled down the flag and ran up the stars
and stripes.
" The Dolphin followed suit, displaying her true
colours, and brought her to with a few shotted guns
fired after her. She was boarded by Lieut. Brad-
ford and 16 men, and surrendered at discretion. No
papers were found, but a signal of a black cross on a
white ground, which had probably just been used to
notify the party on shore by previous agreement.
The crew (19 in slumber) professed to be all passen-
gers, without captain or officers ; but Lieut. Maffitt
selected the person who appeared to be at the head
of the enterprise and took him aboard the Dolphin,
with a sick seaman and comrade to tend him. Ths
rest were brought here by Lieut. Bradford. It
seems that the captain and those men were not sent
to Charleston on board the Catawba from Key
West; as Was expected, but are now on their way
to Boston in the Dolphin. The names of 18, except-
ing the captain, are as follow :—Dominica de la
Piene, Juan Brevcra' Jose Francisco, R. I. Bates,
John Basco, Alex. Rodgers, Frank Cleary, John E,
Capell, Arch:Scott, George Plaken, Antonio A lmera ,
Thomas Under, Antonia Somez, Jose de Jave Vital
de Miranda, Antonio Milanaoish, William Henry
Seno, Jose Gonzalez Seno. One is a Greek, one an
Italian ; some of them are Portuguese, some Spa-
niards, and some English. Some of them talk about
New York, but none now admit that they are Ame-
ricans, or have a whereabouts in this country.
These smugglers are a desperate-looking set of fel-
lows. Under the laws of 1819 and 1820 they will
be tried for their lives as pirates sailing on an Ame-
rican bottom under the American flag. They were
committed to gaol on Saturday afternoon. Their
trials will take place at Columbia, South Carolina,
before his Honour Judge Wayne, Circuit Judge
James Connor, United States' District Attorney,
prosecuting officer. The Court begins to sit the
fourth Monday in November.
" Being curious to see the cargo and arrange-
ment of the Echo, we obtained a permit from l;r.
W. C. Itavenel, the pert physician, and with
one or two others accompanied Licat. Bradford
in a small boat from the wharf. Upon clambering
up the side of the brig a strange and startling sight
presented itself—a deck covered with native Afri-
cans in a state of complete nudity, with rare in-
stances of a narrow strip of rag an inch wide round
the waist. These people were seated for the most
part with their legs stretched out flat, or drawn up
in front, or doubled up ; some squatted on their feet
and hands. A few were standing about and a few
wa
y.y. ing dTolve majorityn. Noneml-veeriee tied or
young,
tfangst
aepdp
ai nr e
natni3v.
from 8 to 16 years of age, some e younger and
older—searel
them were ab eboolideie'di,loglovoedvesliz' eodN,earnd27si; goSoodilleseoa:oef•
but the greater part were half-grown children only,
weak and worn. Many wire emaciated, and showed
plainly the effects of their long and crowded passage
in a confined ship. A few were evidently ill, and
soon to die. All were pure black in colour except
the dropsical, whose skins were tawny from dis-
ease. Their hair is very shorts and crisp. Those
who were well appeared curious and pleased, some
of them ogling, and giggling, and chattering, and
others smoking tobacco out of short clay pipes with
cane stems, just as our own ncgroes do. Those that
were thin and sick lookeddullaiidb
in theirrutish,but
there was nothing wild or ferocious
aspect. They looked amiable and docile, and

readily obeyed the commands of the person who
had charge of them. They are great thieves, how-
ever, and appropriate whatever they can on every
occasion. There were 246 male and 60 female
Africans, who were kept separate on deck and in
the hold., --The men and boys were kept on
the forward deck and in the forward hold, which
latter is 55 feet long, 19 feet wide in the broadest
part and narrow at the head, and 44 inches high,
the floor being formed of loose boards, moveable at
pleasure. The hold for the women and girls is be-
hind this. It is of the same height, 12 feet long,
and 19 wide. Under this temporary flooring are
stored the provisions, consisting of rice, peas, and
water to drink. Their food is boiled like hoppin-
john; put in buckets twice a-day, at 10 and 4
o'clock, and placed in the midst of circles of eight
or ten each, and well guarded to prevent the strong
negrocs from taking more than their share, al-
though all are liberally allowed. A pint of
water is given to each morning and evening.
Most of them sleep 'on deck, being placed in close
order, spoon fashion, on their sides, and not permitted
to turn or move during the night. At daylight they
are dashed with buckets of water -to wash
them off. They. sing songs, clapping their hands
and rocking their bodies in time, and these songs
have a great resemblance to some of our negro
spiritual. Several of the negro fellows exercise au-
thority. very much after the manner of our drivers,
with airs of authority and ridiculous gesticulation
and grimaces. Others were cooking the ' big pot'
like good fellows, and with old breeches on, too,
obtained from the sailors. The captain of the hold
understands their lingo, and says they, arc very
averse to going back to kfrica, as the United States
law requires. Our coast resembles that they come
from, and the group of pines opposite the city on
the south looks to them like the cocoanut trees of
their native Africa.

" Yesterday, under the direction of the United
States' civil officers, the negroes, 306 in number,
were taken by the steamer Gen. Clinch and con-
veyed to Castle Pinckney, in our harbour, where
they will be guarded by a detachment from the gar-
rison at Fort Moultrie. As they passed the plank to
gain the deck they presented a strange and affect-
ing sight, many of them being reduced to mere
skeletons by the suffering and privations of the
voyage. Several were in a dying condition, a few
dropsical, and a goodly number apparently in
health. They were visited on Saturday by Major
Macbeth and several aldermen."
The Charleston papers are still discussing the
question of what shall be done with these poor
wronged creatures. There can be but one answer
to this question. The law makes it impeaative upon
the President to remove them beyond the limits of
the United States, and tho News, quoting the law,
very justly says
" Under the latter clause the President must re-
move these Africans to some point in Africa, pro-
bably Liberia, where, under charge of an agent,
they- will be taken care of at the expense of the
United States, until they can provide for them-
selves and determine on where they will go. In_
the meantime their support will be at Government
cost, under the charge of its officials, and they will
unquestionably be sent, as promptly as possible, in
a vessel of war to Africa.
" It is evident that the Government officials here
have no discretion, and have simply to perform their
duty under the above act. Proper respect should
be paid alike to their action and motives. Nor
should a Christian humanity be shocked by the
inevitable return of these Africans to their own
country, as every care will be taken of them. They,
cannot be permitted to be enslaved, nor would it
be either politic or proper that they Should be
turned loose in the United States as freemen. They
are savagos, whose condition on their return to
Africa will be materially ameliorated.
" If the Echo had first come into the hands of the
State authorities, the crew, ship, and negroes would
have been disposed of under the State Act of 1835,
which is very severe • but now, although the vessel
and Africans are within the waters of the State,
they came here under federal capture and authority,
and must remain so, subject to federal disposal
under federal laws, and cannot be brought under
State jurisdiction. No conflict of jurisdiction can
properly occur."

IR.ELAND.

• DUBLIN, MONDAY MORNING.
RUMOURED PRESS PROSECUTION.

According to one of the provincial papers, the
recent outrageous sayings and., doings of the lay
and clerical sympathisers with the martyred Tip-
perary assassins have attracted the attention of the
Government ; but, if the following statement be
correct, it would appear that the law officers are
about to aim the blow, not at the principal per-
formers in the Ncnagh drama, but at a journal re-
cently established in Tipperary, and which has
distingnished itself as the persevering assertor of
the innocence of the Cormacks. The Carlow Sen-
tinel of Saturday says :
" The Government have adopted measures to try
the :question, how far it may be lawful for Mr.
Daniel O'Donoghue, M.P., and Father Kenyon, to
promulgate sentiments subversive of social order in
Tipperary, and to -bring the administration of. jus'-;
Lice into disrepute. A prosecution has 'been corn-
menced against a journal lately established in Tip-
perary as the organ of the malcontents, in which
appeared several articles and communications,
charging the law officers of the Crown, the Judge,
and Mr. Gore Jones, R.M., with the murder of the
brothers Cormack ; masked under the forms of law,
and thus exciting the minds of the peasantry and
endangering the public tranquillity. We feel for
the unfortunate journalist who has been made
the tool of designing men, whose object
is to mar that prosperity which has dawned
on the country, and which they foresee is
calculated to 'destroy, the prestige they en-
joyed as agitators, and to uproot that baneful in-
fluence which they cxercised over an ignorant mul-
titude. The Government were left no alternative
but to submit to the fearful charges preferred
against them, or to bring the orators into court to
prove their allegations or to pay the pehalty of the-,
offence committed against the administrators of the
law."