The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1840-12-12
Mr.. JOHN q. ADAMS moved the following re-

hers be appointed with liberty to send for persons and
papes ascertain and report TO this House whether
the printed House document Of the last session, No.
1856 has been falsiod materially differing from the
manuscript transmitted by the President of the Uni
led States and il SO, by whom the said Justification
vas made
Mr. ADAMS said that his immediate motive in
oaerng this resolution was TO do justice to an officer
n the Government in the Department of State EN-
ployed in the character o. translator, Mr. Gree
nough
This document, No. 1856 of the last session of Con
,ess was a message from the President OF the Uni
1e States, containing documents in relation TO the
ca,aure OF certain African negroes in vessel called
IN aAmisad ]" message Of the 18th day of April
$40 In that document there two papers-be-
ia certificates granted at the Havana, in the shape
II passports for certain number of African negroes ;
III in The document transmitted u this House. this
amer was given, in the first place. in the Spanish Ian
lrae-and then in the translation made by Mr.
Ersenouch The amount of the certificate (see page
AZ was give permission for the shipment Of forty
nine negros adlnos to 60 TO Puerto Principe by
IA i AZ the Spanish words meaning negroes intro
r4d into the island as slaves prior TO the prohibition
al the slave trade
There was also second certificate to the three ne
,,o women, in the same words negras ladinas."
me words OF the document, printed under the
,rer Of this House, wide page 4s,) were. grant
omission 10 torty-nine sound negroes" That was
,he translation which had been presented to this
uonse by It's printer, of the words negros ladinos"
IN cprtifcate--anu, III tne Others inc WOIus
"ncgras ladlnas hau peeh nimiariy TRANSLATOR aS
sound negro women.
This document one of great interest to large
n,rtion of the People; and though no extra number
,d been printed by order of the House, yet so deep
.s The interest taken in the matter at the time that
a,'y II he document was reprinted in New York by
som. o the individuals who undertook to betriend the
unfortunate persons who remained in confinement on
matters which were TO be finally adjudcaed by the
Suoreme Court Of the United States.
,eh Fat
Nav last there was note appended to the uansla-
hon 81 grant permission to forty nine sound ne
rroesn &c Ii was to be found at page 80 OF the re-
print and was in the following words:
Sound negroes This is fraudulent transla-
uon-See the original Spanish document, page 90
There the phrase is negros iadiaos, which, as is
well known means nsgros long settled in Cuba, and
,,elimaed there and introduced before lS20-a term
ttsuy lnappicablc to Bosdis negros recently i'm
,,tsl See deposition in District Court by DR. Mad
len British Superintendent Of liberated Africans at
Havana And yet the officers of tho United States
Court have procured translation of the passport in
which negros LADrNos' is made to read " sound me-
croesm And this is contained in public document
transmitted to Congress by the President of the mi
ted States and published by authority ofhe House Of
representatives.!
The document, Mr.. A. continued, was not trans
mted in this form to this House, The document was,
he presumed, the Clerks table and there it would
be seen that instead of the word sound" negroes
the Spanish word " ladinos" was used-that was to
say the Spanish word was given in the translation
well as in the original. Now, not only had this in
States and TO the translator in the Department Of
State but he Mr. Al held in his hand paper con-
tanning review, by Judge William Jay of New York,
Of the proceedings of the Government of the United
States in relation TO these men. Those proceedings
were reviewed with great severity. He (Mr Al
would not undertake to say now with how much JUS
lice that review had been made He would say only,
and he appealed to all gentlemen present who knew
III
New York. to sustain the assertion that there not
more honorable man in the United States; he was
the son of one Of the greatest patriots of Reyo
luton.
In the review Of the proceedings of the Government
the of the Amistad, after stating other OBJ
ctons to the proceedings of the present Adminstra
ton in relation thereto and after commenting upon
the fraud committed at the Havana, in describing
these persons iadnos slaves when In fact, they
we're not so, Judge Jay proceeds to state;
From the Havana fraud, let turn to extra
ordinary Justification of papers, perpetrated probably
IN the Department Of State -
He does not saw, remarked Mr. A. that it ,eas done
in the Department Of State. 1t not done there,
and my object is TO show where it was DONE Judge
Jay then proceeds j
81 have proof that either the President Mr..
Forsyth was prvy to it. 1t has been stated by the
Rev. Mr. Leavitt that the original permit to Ruiz is on
file in the United States Clerks Office in New Haven
e nueva iadinos.' This is rendered in the official
translation submitted to Congress, grant permits
sion to forty-nine SOUND NEGROES Thus passport
for Africans imported prior 1920 is, by State
nancy, converted into bill Of health for forty mine
negroes belonging to Don Jose Ruiz Now is this
translation blunder, or fraud Observe that iadi-
is used in the permit substantve-as the spe-
cifc of class of men the translator has made
an adjective, although there is no substantive which
iqualifes This is awkward; but the awkwardness
vanshes the mement we examine the professed copy
of the original permit in the Congressional documents.
The copy reads concedo licencia cuercnta y nueva
negros adinos This Interpolation of negroS, if ac-
ciiena is certainly less convenient than extraor-
jpary since renders the translation, at least gram
matca by furnishing substantive to which the adj
Jecve sound may apply, But how came the trans
lator to suppose that lddinos the Spanish for
sound or healthy Did the dictionaries mslead hint
In the great dictionary Of the Spanish Academy is the
following
'' LtDINo- FL que sabc otra lengua enguas
adcmas de la surja Aherius patria inguG peritus.'
One who is acquainted with language foreign from
his own country.
The dictionary of Nunes Taboado gives the de-
hnlon in French
=" L,DMo- liable dams une langue.'
:" EscLAvo LApINo Esclave qui est dams I'm pave
depuis un an
We thus find that the original meaning of the term
IS, one who speaks foreign language and hence we
understand why, when applied to an imported African,
means one who has been long enough IN the coun-
Try, speak Spanish and the legal presumption is
that no Africans have been brought into Cuba since
The slave trade prohibited the conventional mean
ng in that island is, African slave imported before
The pr ohibition Of the trade.
Now as these permits the only evidence that
the Africans ofthe Amistad siares, and they
alone could justify the Government in surrendering
them, the importance of conceaing in the translation
the fraud of the Havana officer is obvious If caimed
ildiHos there was abundant evidence, besides the
admission of Ruiz himself that they Bozals. But,
clamed merely sound negroes, there proof
that they diseased at the date of the permits"
Now continued Mr.. A.. / say my immediate mo-
tive the justification Of the President of the United
States and the translator of the Department of State