Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1845-01-21

Now, (said MIR. B.) assert, with perfect
knowledge OF the subject uponw which | am SPEAK
ing, that this species Of the slave trade, inlfo.
duccd BY The English Government, IN Inc iollli %
apprenticeship, is the more Prohtaoie 10 INC liia
ter, and more CALLING TO the slave, than any "I.ln
can possibly be imagined. Let us looh d. .,e
operation of il. II has been seen from The publ
cation made By DR.. Hall, that The Enslisii, N car,
rying on their slave trade, do not purchase lllc
negroes. as other slavers do, but they capture
them Under The English act abollshins the
slave trade, f7 is given 10 the captors Tor every
slave taken. They are taken in and condemned,
and then carried 10 Brazil and The West lnoies,
and sold as apprentices, for term OF seven years.
These moor creatures are taken 10 a country
whose laws they do not understand, and whose
Language thew Go not speak, and lor long lllhe
will be Incapable Of learning Who IS 10 see,
during their apprenticeship, that they are treated
wei, and care taken of them in sickness lie
master has no interest in them, but lot seven
years and his object will be to gel as inuch ou oi
them as possible, in the mean time, and incur as
little expense as possible in taking care OF them
And, when the apprenticeship expires, who IS TO
identify them, and see that they are discharged
may be told that a registry is provided for. but
what registry can protect them? Let me mus
trate: There is plantation with one hundred OF
these wild Africans upon il. Who can distin-
guish one from another? They will be so much
alike il will BE- impossible. A stranger had lust
as well undertake. after the lapse of seven years,
TO distinguish The different sheep in large mock.
Sir this is not speculation. The impossblily
Of The thing has been tested in our own courts
The following arc the facts in The case OF Inc
Antelope: A prvateer, called the Columbia, OH
the coast of Africa, captured an American yes
sci, from Bristol, in Rhode Island, from which
she took twenty-five Africans she captured seve-
raj Portuguese vessels, from which she also took
Africans, and she captured a Spanish vessel
called the Antelope, in which she also took con-
siderable number of Africans. All of The Air-
cans captured were shipped on board the Ante
lope. Thus freighted she was found lowering
near The coast Of the United States, was captured
By The revenue cutter Dallas, and taken into Sa-
vannah for adjudication. The Africans at The
time oil her capture, amounted 10 upwards OF two
hundred and eighty. Claims were set up to The
Africans by the Spanish and Portuguese vice
consuls respectively, and by the United States
The claim OF the United States, under the law
for the abolition of the slave trade, was sustained
as to The portion taken from the American vessel.
The residue were divided between the Spanish
and Portuguese claimants. About one-thiid OF
The negroes had died 1t was impossible to dis
linguish The several classes OF Africans; and The
court decided that the loss should be averaged
among the three different classes, and that six
teen should I've designated By LOT from the whole
number and delivered over 10 The Marshal oil The
United States, as fair proportion of The twenty
five proved 10 have been taken from the Amcri-
can vessel.
Now, Sir what will be the operation in prac--
tce? Whenever one Of these apprentices shall
become disabled, or die, they WILDE surc TO make
it oul that lie was one whose apprenticeship was
expiring whereas, The apprenticeship of such as
shall continue valuable will never expire. The
consequence will be, The master will always hold
The profitable, and gel rid Of such as may he 9th
erwise. And. repeat it will he The most profit,
able slavery which has ever been introduced; and
this is British philanthropy. Here Mr.. 3. was
cut short BY The fall OF the Chairman'~ hammer,
and he concluded By saying lai, a, his leisure he
sLould make a full report ui his argument.