Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1824-05-11


transfer completed, than In defiance of
the declaration made, by which the king
oil France had prohibited the slave trade
TO hrs subjects, thai trade was instantly
renewed and extended in all directions.
The ordinary eXcitemenls to lhe native
chiefs, had produced more Extraordinary
horrors. In the short space oil single
year, after the change of flags, the ad,
joining countries, though previously
Hourishlng IN peace and abundance, ex-
hlblted but one irighliul spectacle OK mi
sery and devastation. How indeed could
1t be otherwise, when we contemplate
the means employed in the pursuit of
this detesed traffic. Bands of plumber
ers went forth ON every side. Towns
and villages were surrounded in the
night and set on iirs-lhe miserable in.
babiants, flying to escape the flames,
either met death III hopeless resistance
TO he ASSISTANTS, or a,ere seized, carried
away, and sold into inlerminable slavery
and exile. BY day, The peaceful labor
ers in the held met the same melancholy
fate. Rufians approached them by
stealth, seized, gagged nd bound them,
and hurried them away L the slave ships.
Others were dragged b,iore the tribu-
mails OF the country, cc,sed Of pretend
cd and impossible Crlmss, in order that
they and their families uIght be enslav-
ed and transported, upder color of pub
lie justice. No sooner did The settle
mems revert Ia the dominion of France,
than the work OF rapIne, carnage and
desolallon commenc cd /; every opening
prospect OF improv, men, was blasted /;
thousands Of miserable capt., es Of every
! age and sex were crowded inoIthc pes
ticDtial holds oil the slave ships, sub
lected 10 all the well known horrors of
the middle psssaHe, IN order 10 be trans
ported 10 the American settlements. -
. There, such OF them as survive the hor-
rors OF the voya4,e, are doomed TO pass
their lives IN severe and unIemit,iHg la
Dor, exacted from them by the iaerciltss
lash, in the hands Of an uniee ling driver.
Nor is this melancholy picture appli-
cable 10 the French scitl. mems only,
he same devastating and Distressing
effects nave oeen and still are, produced
by the trade along all the shores oil
northern Africa as well as that part south
OF the line. ln1eed, trade seems 10 be
, increasing, and that rapidly; aud we fear
that the policy OF the American Con-
gress, Ia extending the horrors OF slave
ry over he immense western territories
under her jurlsdic ion, will add 30 small
incentive to the more vigorous and ex-
| ended prosecution OF this abum unable
trA iiic.
Goeerno Sir Charles Mccarthy, in a
letter dated January l4th, 1922, says
that more slaves were lAhan from the
coast III 1921 than il $3.50, aud that the
trade was evidently increasing. He
adds" Captain Lux IN the month OF
October, asceftalned upon good suthori-
| ", that the number Of carEoes taken out
OF Bonny, from July in the preceding
year, up 10 tnai tin.e, was actually one
hundred and ninety. A similar return
from Calabar, for the like period, made
total of one hundred and slxty-two,"
Sir George Collier, commodore of the
brllish squadron cruising off he coast o!
africa Tor the detection oil vessels en-
piDycd in the Illegal traffic, in repor,
| 10 the Board Of Admiralty, dated De.
! cember 27.h, 1921, says, " Witnessing
as have, for The Last three years, the
slave trade, in all lis horrors, it would
give me the sincerest satisfaction if |
could with truth repor, thal ii was roali.
dec lining--but il did 50, should ouiy
inisledd their lordsbips, and as | think
| compromise my own character" 81
is true that certain persons have aban-
doned the trade entirely, and others have
protested aud even engaged to confine ii
within certain Limits, bui Notwithstanding
this, my full persuasion is that this inia-
NOUS traffic in amount is no less than i.
was; and numoeress opportunities OF
personal observation justify my saying
that in the manner Of conducting il, its
cruelty and brutality canno, be surpass-
ed"
The Reverend Samuel Bacon, late
agent OF the American Colonization So
ciety, writing to the Secretary OF the Ma
w, the Goth March, 1920, says, The
slave trade is carried Oh briskly IN this
neighborhood. Had the authority so
10 do, could take vessel, lying within
the floating Of one tide, say twenty five
miles from US in the Shebar, under .ime-
rican colors, taking in cargo OF slaves"
The following extracts from the re-
port of a committee to whom was refer
red SO much of the Presidents Message
as relates to the slave trade, will confirm
the t,reyoino