Star.
London, England, 1822-03-20 00:00:00

AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.

• It is revolting to humanity, and a disgrace to civilized nations
of the present day, to hear the numerous and well-authenticated
statements concerning this most nefarious traffic in slaves. Por-
tugal blushes not to carry it on in the face of the world; France
and Spain, seemingly, with little disguise; while America is said
to do so under the cloak of the French flag. The following in-
famous cases, illustrating the shameful extent to which France
has carried these enormities, and the horrors attending it, have
lately transpired, and may he scrupulously relied upon as authen-
tic :—The ship Le Rodeur, of Havre, 200 tons burthen, having
a crew of twenty-two men, sailed from that port on the 24th
of January, 1819, fur Africa, and arrived in good health in the
liver Calaharon the 14th of March. They shipped a cargo of
sl.:ves, and set sail on the 6th of April for the West Indies; but,
in a fortnight after their departure, they discovered that the
negroes, who, to the number of 16. t, were crowded together in
the bold and between decks, were afflicted with the opthalmla,
which spread with alarming rapidity. At this time they were
alluwaei half-a-pint of water each per day, which quantity was
afterwards reduced to half a wine glass. The vessel was now
near the Equator. The surgeon advised that the poor negroes,
who had hitherto remained shut up in the hold, shniati be brought
on deck to breathe the air. But it became necessary to discon-
tinue this salutary expedient, because many of them, to avoid a
renewal of their sufferings, threw themselves into the sea, locked
in each others arms. The disease soon became general, and spread
to the crew. The sufferings of the people and the number of
the blind augmented every day, so that the Captain and crew,
already alarmed by an apprehended revolt among the negroes,
were further in alarm lest they should be unable to reach the
West Indies, if the only sailor who had escaped the contagion,
and on whom their whole hope rested, should become blind, like
his miserable companions, as had actually happened to the Leon,
a Spanish vessel, fallen in with by the Redeur, the whole of
whose.crew having become blind, were under the necessity of
giving up the direction of their ship, and entreating the assist-
ance of the Rodeur ; but the calamities were so great on both
sides that the one vetr.el could not assist the other. The Rodeur
reached Guadaloupe on the 21st June, in a most deplorable con-
dition ; three days after, the only sailor who had withstood the
contagion, and whom Paovinritcr seemed to have kindly pre-
served to guide the rest, was now attacked. Of the negroes,
59 had beCome perfectly blind, 12 had lost an eye, and 14 had
their sight greatly impaired. Of the crew, 12, including the
surgeon, lost their sight entirely ; the rest either lust an eye or
had their sight irreparably injured. The Captain is said to have
lavished his attentions on the negroes and sailors, in the *midst'of
the greatest danger, with a zeal and devotedness exceeding all
praise. It Is, however, asserted on the contrary, and upon good
authority, that the Captain caused several negroes, who were
hindered from throwing themselves overboard, 'o be shot and
hanged, 'in the hope of deterring the rest from similar conduct.
But even this excessive severity proved unavailing, and it became
necessary to confine the slaves entirely to the hold during the
remainder of the passage. Further, that above 30 of the slaves,
who had lost their sight, were thrown into the sea, as an unsale-
able commodity, to save the expense of maintaining them till
their arrival at Guadaloupe, without the chance of a retuosee-
While by prudently throwing them overboard, not only was
this certain loss avoided, and more room given to the rest, but
ground was also laid for a claim on the Underwriters, brwhont
the cargo was insured; and who are said to have allowed the
claim, and made good to the inhuman adventurers the value of
the slaves thus destroyed. Indeed, so much satisfaction, it ap-
pears, had been given by the Captain in these transactions, that
he was dispatched early in the next year ott a similar voyage.
The above facts being all well known, both in France as well as
ha Guadeloupe, are beyond the power of contradiction.
The following case is given on authority still less quecionable
Oa the 4th of March, 1820, a vessel was boarded by the Tartar,
Baglisk frigate, commanded by Sir Gg011(16 COWEN, which
proved to be French. The master pretended he had been plun-
dered of his slaves, and that none remained on hoard. - It being
observed, however, that he was much agitated, the hold was
ordered to be searched : iu doing this a sailor, who struck a
cask very tightly closed up, heard, as he thought, the voice of
an expiring human being. The cask was immediately opened,
when two girls, of 12.0 r 14 years, were found inclosed, on the
brink of suffocation, and rescued front certain death. On fur-
ther search, they discovered a negra man jammed in between
two water casks, under an emit-Tont or platform of boards,
resting upon his body. The people of the Tartar were at a loss
to conjecture how the rest of the slaves had been disposed of,
since no Inure could he discovered on board : bet at length
they recollected, and now reepilected with horror, that when
they began the chase of • the French vessel they had seen several
ereytcnho: e beellitie•gsr-
etateds ilno:tdionugbptaishtattherhe inn tnhieasendaer, inofvit•hh:esbh, t‘hv
were enclosed and left to perish, in order to elide the detection
of their piratical proceedings; for it appealed the slaves
.bad
been forcibly seized and carried off. It wAs now
.inipossdilej
however, to ascertain the fact, u the chase had, no doubt pur-
posely, led them many leagues to Ireo aid, so that before they
could have beaten back to look fur them so far to windward,
there would not have be, a a probability of falling in with these
floating coffins, much lest of finding the wretched ere !tures ta-
closed in them liia gives even if they had discovered them.