The Sun.
London, England, 1845-10-08 00:00:00

THE SLAVE TRADE.

The following is an extract from a letter written by an
officer on board the squadron on the west coast of Africa,
dated July 26, 1845 :
" Here we are, on the most miserable station in the wide
world, nigger hunting—attempting an impossibility—the
; suppression of the slave-trade. We look upon the whole
affair out here as a complete humbug. You may make
' treaties in London, and send the whole combined squadrons
of England and France to this coast, and then you will not
have gained your object. So lung as a slave, worth only a
few dollars here, fetches 80/. or 1001. in America, men and
means will be found to evade the strictest blockade. The French
ships trouble themselves so little about the affair, that they
have never yet been known to take a prize. The absurdity of
blockail ing a coa ,t 2,000 miles in extent must be obvious to the
meanest capacity. Even if successful, you must be prepared
to continue the force for ever and a day, or your labour is
lost; for the moment the ships are removed the business
recommences. The market is the true centre to aim at; put
an end to that, and the supplies will not be required. The
loss of life and demoralising effect to our service are very
great, the climate and service being of that nature to pre-
vent the proper exercise of discipline, and ships are anything
hut men-of-war; and many officers acquire habits neither
beneficial to themselves nor ornamental to the navy. The
best method of suppressing the trade we may leave to spe-
culative theorists; but the naked fact of our exertions in
favour of the African :lave having increased his miseries to
an awful extent, with a❑ immense sacrifice of life, is uncon-
tradicted by the best-informed advocates of the slave mea-
sures—l mean men of practical information employed on the
coast. I will cite one or two instances within my own know-
ledge.
At the spot we are now blockading about 3,000
slaves have been collected by the agents for exportation, but
the difficulties to get them away have been so great, that
few have been known to be shipped for twelve months.
Provisions have been exhausted, and dreadful expedients,
if report be true, have been resorted to for subsistence.
Among others, and the least revolting, is driving them into
the woods every morning, like herds of swine, to pick berries.
Again, the slavers are obliged to make the most of any the
slightest opportunity that offers. Frequently the heavy surf
on the open coast beech prohibits the passage of ship's boats,
and sometimes also the native canoes; when this occurs, and
the slaver is anxins to run his cargo, the unfortunate devils
are dragged through the surf to the boats, anchored outside
by lines attached to their persons. Men, women, and chil-
dren are served in this way; you may imagine what numbers
must be drowned in such an operation. Prior to our inter-
ference
they could not afford to trifle with their lives in this
way, as the supply equalled the demand; prices were
low, and it was an object with the slaver to preserve all !
Lis cargo; the loss of a few slaves carried off the cream
of his profits. Now a few survivors will give a hand-
some return. Some of the vessels, apparently not much
larger than our coasting vessels, have been taken with hun-
dreds on board. Seeing is believing, but nothing less could
have convinced me it was possible to stow so many in the
space ; the slave-deck where they are packed is not three
feet high, sometimes it is merely a space between the beams
I and the water-casks. \Vh n a full vessel is taken we are
obliged to make use of the slaver's crew to pack them away.
At sunset this is done in the most clever manner, by the
Spaniards making them all lay on the same side and fitting
them in one by one, the projecting part of one body filling
up a corresponding hollow. Our men are not sufficiently
ekilail to do this. lam told long practice is required. As a
set-off to this we soine!imes catch a few lucky rascals and
liberate them at Sierra Leone; but you may see by the Par-
liamentary returns that the per centage is very small. The
station is now and has been considered healthy, although the
few ships we have as yet communicated with have afforded
a dead list of nine °dicers since our arrival, and men, 1.0
doubt, in proportion.

DESTRUCTIVE FlRE.—Yesterday afternoon, about
one o'clock, a fire broke out in the extensive premises of
Messrs. Kingwell and Wicks, wheelwrights and tire smiths,
situate at the back of those densely-populated streets, Crown-
street and Phoenix-street, Soho. The premises were well
stocked with timber, and there were a vast number of new
carts and vans as well as many for repair in the yard; the
latter, for the most part, were removed, but the whole of the
timber, &c., together with the extensive workshops, was
destroyed, notwithstanding the exertions of the firemen con-

fleeted with four or five —a
the brigade and the County and
West of England engines, which were promptly on the
spot. The fire, with the exception of some slight damage
to the shop of Mr. Dyson, wholesale picture-frame maker,
was fortunately confined to Messrs. Kingwell's premises.
The stock, worth 1,000/., is insured in the Licensed Vic-
tualler's.

Lord Farnham is to have the blue ribbon, vacant
by the death of the Marquis of Ely. Never was an honour
more worthily bestowed.—Herald.
GREAT PAIR CATTLE SHOW, &C., AT NEWARK,
U.S.—The exhibition of the Horticultural Society of the
State of New Jersey, and the Agricultural and Horticultural
Society of Essex county, at the city of Newark, last week,
was attended by a large number of ladies, gentlemen,
farmers, and gardeners The articles exhibited were in some
particulars of a high order of excellence. Grapes from the
garden of Mr. Field, equal to any ever seen, especially the
Syrian green grape, and the black Hamburg, were of the very
largest size and excellence. The peaches were of the highest
perfection, one of them measuring in circumference, one foot
and a qu irter of au inch.—Americanpaper.

EXTENSIVE SEIZURE OF GOODS BY TUE REVENUE
OeFicees.—The present time appears rife in the seizure of
goods of the most valuable description, by the officers of the
Customs, which have by some means been obtained by the
parties holding theta without payment of the proper duties
due thereon on importation into this country. A day or two
since notice was made of an extensive seizure of goods, con-
sisting of cameos, &c., and previous notice has been made of
the successful operations of two more of the Customs officers
in another quarter in the capture of a large quantity of
watches. If we be correctly informed, which there is not
the slightest reason to doubt, the officers alluded to will,
before they have completed their operations, make one of
the most extraordinary and extensive seizures of the
same valuable description of merchandise, and that in the
most circuitous manner which has been under notice for
a very considerable space of time. The first seizure made
by them was in London, which gave them a clue to a
further quantity at the port of Liverpool. Their informa-
tion in the second instance was so sure and unerring, that
they pounced upon the parties and the goods without the
slightest difficulty, and as if they were already to their
hands, although they met with desperate resistance from
the parties concerned—foreigners, we believe—and it was
ultimately found necessary to obtain the assistance of the
police before they were enabled to depart with their cap-
ture in safety, and to preserve them from being assailed
and severely injured. This further seizure at Liverpool led
to a variety and vast amount of information being fur-
nished to the same officers, which caused them to return
immediately to London, where they have since prosecuted
their searches and inquiries to a very wide extent, and
have succeeded in making several subsequent seizures of the
same article. In fact, by sonic means, these officers have,
from what we can understand, evidently got a clue which
will ultimately enable them to obtain possession of, and re-
store to the revenue, the largest amount of contraband
goods of this very valuable description which has hitherto
been heard of. In fact, the officers themselves speak in so
confident a manner of such an -extensive amount in view,
certain ultimately to be obtained, that to make mention of
it in our columns would appear like an exaggeration and
perfectly incredible. The extant of their wishes and expec-
tations will shortly be made evident, and it is much to be
hoped that they will meet with success, and thus destroy
what appears to be an organized gang of persons, who would
seem to have hitherto successfully- carried into effect their
well-concerted plans to defraud the revenue, and at the same
time inflict a vast amount of injury on a very important
branch of British trade and manufacture.

SMUGGLERS' REVENGE.-A letter from Heca7rtisurug.
(Hanover), dated the 25th tilt , in the Gazette_
naux, says :—" On the night of the
Flehrsberg, situated near Harburg, wa2l3tdhuelt.tte dvillage of
ful act of revenge. A little after twelve o'clock os,ccelnocekofsiaxdrmeaedn:
on his back a
dressed like Harburg sailors,
Custom-house port, not
large parcel, landed 'in front oefactlhie,c
far from .the conflux of
then
Sese and the Elbe. The
hastened to Flehrsberg,
_moment they
thet. court-yard of a house stand-
and entered precipitately
ing by itself. About a dozen of the Custom-house men
followed close atthem.
their heels, and they in fact entered the
gate together with
The moment all were inside
c at once closed, and a number of men
the walls' the gate"' ''sticks,beating them attacked the officers with
They then tore out their eyes, and mutilated them dread-
fully, after which they made off. A patrol that happened
to pass, hearing their groans, entered the yard, and re-
moved them to the hospital of Harburg, where they had
been paid every attention, though no hope is entertained
of saving their lives. Two men have been since arrested,
and they without hesitation acknowledged that they formed
part of a great number of smugglers who determined to en-
tice the Custom-house officers into a snare and take ven-
geance on them. They have, however, refused to state the
names of their accomplices. The packets were found in the
court-yard ; they were filled with sawdust."

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RAIN NEAR GLASGOW.—The quantity of rain which
fell at Yoker Lodge, five miles west of Glasgow, during the
month of Sept., 1845, was four inches 12-40ths ; and in Sept.,
1844, one inch 24-40ths.—G1asgow Argus.