Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1845-04-26


as to the best mode Of suppesns the evil deserve your
deliberate consideration they will receive doubt not that
| Of the British Government.
at il also worthy Of consideration whether any other me
sues than hoss existing necessary to give greater
efficacy to the just and humane policy Of laws which al
ready provide for the restoration Africa Of slaves captured at
sea Ly American cruisers From time to time provision has
been made by this Government for their comfortable support
and maintenance, during limited period after their restoa-
ton and Il is much to be regretted that this liberal policy
HAS not been adopted by Great Britain As is seems to
that the policy has adopted calculated rather to perpe
tae than to suppress the trade by enng very large inter-
ests in its favor Merchants and capitalists furnish the
Of carrying manufactures for which the negroes
exchanged the products Of her workshops the slaves
when captured instead Of being returned back their homes
transferred to her colonial possessions in the West Indies
and made the Of swelling the of their products
by system Of apprenticeship for tenn of years and the Of
and who capture the vessels receive the whole
number of slaves many pounds sterling per capita by way
of bounty
"It must be obvious that while these large interests are
enlisted in favor of Its continuance it will Ne difficult if not
impossible suppress the nefarous traffic and that its re-
suits would be- in effect but continuance Of the slavetrade
in another and cruel form for be but of
little difference the African whether he is from his
country and transported to the West Indies slave, the
regular Of the trade captured by cruiser transfer
red to the place, and made to perform tn. labor
under the Of apprentice which present the
practical operation of the policy adopted.
cit is to be hoped that her Britannia Majesys Government
WILL upon review Of all the circumstances stated in these
Dispatches adopt efficient for the suppression
the trade which she has long attempted put down.
with Gas yeti little success, and with the
The fear Of mourning denunciations for daring on
this high matter to speak the words of mere sober
ness and truth, will not deter us from saying to the
country what it ought to hear. The is an in
Ifnitely solemn and high one, before which vanish
in our own bosoms great part of the merely local
feelings 1t is one of the few maters--if, indeed,
there be any other at all-where it seems to us that
men may allow themselves to fell and to act ma
tionally, as citizens of the world; not even then,
certainly upon any crude and rash ideas Of that sort
of philanthropy which oftenest assumes the name
for purposes unsafe on all sides; but with wise
and true benefcence, that is ready in cause like
this to make any temporary sacrifice that can be
safely made to the removal of human wo as pitt
able as this.
Britain, againsi whom these reproaches are d.
rected BY the late Presldenis Message, has, a
every body knows thus Ear captured nearly all ,h'
savers that ever have been captured probably a
least ten times as many as both France and our
selves together have caught. We ourselves
have never, we think, seized above five or six in
ALL This superior success she has attained in part
| by the much greater force that she has employed
fnrf ho nj he l,ru al
which this is done but no doubt also in no small part
through the very means which Mr.. TYLER de-
nounces-the bounty which she gives her sailors
for every capture they make. To stimulate her
ships to the service she pays from her pocket SO
much head for every captured slave.
As to the subsequent disposal charged by the
Ex-President to be so cruelty and wrongfully made
of the captives, all these very hasy charges have
been abundandy exploded in the statements made
in Parliament by Sir RoBERT PEEL and others.
These we gave few days since, received by the
Great Western.
These inculpations of others are, however, made
still more unwarrantable by the facts set forth
in the documents themselves upon which Mr.. TY-
LER POUNDS them. 1t is true that in these charges
he but copies the dispatches of Mr.. WISE; but
those dispatches repeatedly declare also that it is
chiefly by means and under cover of our flag that
this iniquious traffic is now increasing. How, is
easily seen. The United States claim for their flag
an absolute and unconditional exemption from
search Well, they having in all only few vessels
Of war along the wide extent of African coast the
savers can Of course in comparative safety assume
our flag; which can, besides, be al once exchanged
for another should one Of our cruisers come upon
them. But it further appears that at present the
save-dealers find it expedent to go firther-to get
real American vessels, and preserve for them the
seeming proofs Of their original character and ma
tionaty, even W hen these have in truth been lost
by a sale or other mode of transfer. BY these
means they can pass unframed through British
cruisers, or b., searched only at that hazard of an
apparent vo alton Of our flag which it is serious to
run. The grounds taken, however, will be best
explained by the following extract from Mr.. WisE's
despatch of the l lth October last:
elf understand the position taken by Government, it
Is that the flag Of the United States shall be positive proec
ton to their vessels and that any Power attempts to
exercise the authority search vessel sailing under that flag
Il must be at its peril That is say if the vessel belongs
TO the United Satc and under their ag is under any
circumstances when there slaves themselves found
on board case for rcparaen. If the vessel belongs not
the United States, be under false coors il is Of
which the United States win not take cognizance The Earl
Of Aberdeen understand yields the point that where the
vessel is found on visit (which yneaps nrac,cali ~ 80 e