Daily national era., 1854-01-13
For the National Era.
THE LEGAL TENURE OF SLAVERY.
LETTER VIII.
OF SLAVE PROPERTY DERIVED FROM AN
ILLEGAL SLAVE TRADE-CoNTlNUED

ILLEGAL SLAVE TRADG-CosrlNUEp
10 The Friends of dnssriean Liberty:
The States bordering on the Gulf Of Mexico
arc notorionsly implicated in the smuggling of
slaves, to an unknown but very considerable ex-
tent MIR. Middleton Of South Carolina, in
1919, declared, in q speech in Congress, that
thirteen thousand Africans were annually
smuggled into the Southern Statesu Mr.. Mer-
Ger Of Virginia, in a speech in Congress, some
time afterward, declared that acargoes of Az
rican slaves were smnggled into the South to
a deplorable extent" Mr. Wright of Mary-
land in speech in Congress, estimated the
number annually imported, at fifteen thou
sand.o President Van Buren stated, in his
Message, in 1897, that naval force had been
employed in preventing the importation Of
slaves. The New Orleans papers in 1929 re-
corded the fact OF frequent and extensive SNUG
Cling In 1889 slave ship was captured and
carried into Savannah.* After sham trial of
the importers, they were acquitted, and the
cargo OF slaves distributed among the planters!
The numbers Of plantation slaves at the extreme
South who cannot speak English, and who ex-
hibit all the characteristics of native Africans.
reveal the general fact Of an extensive and con,
stantly continued importation from Africa.
Estimating the importations since 1908, a
period Of As years, at only 10000 PER annum,
the amount is 100000. Adding to these their
natural increase, wc have large population of
slaves the product Of commerce probib;ted
by Congress in 1907 It would hardly be
decent to say that these are legally held in
Slavery. They are held, nevertheless and the
courts that recognise the legality Of American
Slavery make no discrimination between them
and other slaves. They must not complain if
others refuse to discriminate and account the
tenure By which the whole are held to be no
better than that by which this particular por
ton Of them are held. Or, if discrimination
be made, it will devolve on the shareholders,
especially those Of tho far South, to show from
which of the two classes their slaves are derived.
In closing this examination Of the legal ten
ure OF American Slavery, as founded upon the
African slave trade, submit single remark
The legal tenure of Slavery we are told,
Is Identical with the legal tenure Of chattcl
property in general. This is what the Amcri-
can Slave Code makes it, This s what the
Southern Legislatures and Courts Of Law de-
fue it to be. This is what Mr.. Clay and
Southern statesmen in general have described
and claimed it to be.
Very we'll gentlemen: have il your own
Way. ! take you on your own ground By
the law OF chattel property, the holder thereof
forfcits his title whenever it appears that those
from whom he derived il obtained the property
by robbery or theft And this is precisely the
predicament Of your titles to your slaves, who
were all obtained by that process.
COMMENCEMENT OF COLONIAL SLAVERY
ILLEGAL.
We have been searching after the legal
foundations Of American Slavery, but they have
thus far eluded our detection. Not the slight.
est vestige Of legality has been found in the
African slave trade, from its beginning to the
present time. IL was never legalizcd by the
British Government. The successful estab-
lishment Of this fact by VIM. Pitt in the Brit
ish Parliament, as we have seen, led to the
acts for its suppression by both the British and
American Governments: for the struggle was
simultaneous on both sides Of the Atlantic. and
the logical victory there was felt and acknowl-
edged here IL was never legaIized by the
colonicsrbnt the neglect Of the mother country
10 suppress il was always cause Of colonial
complaint. And the courts that now maintain
the legality Of American Slavery make no dis.
tinction between slaves imported before and
since the prohibitory act, taking effect in 1908.
They say, in their practice that the legal ten
ure Of Slavery is the same in both cases! A
legal tenure that may be thus described, and
that is thus upheld, stands self lfconvicted Of
legal identity with piracy and crime and must
accordingly be adjudged mil and void, when
ever tho claim comes before a righteous and
impartial tribunal.
To this il may DO objected, that our histori-
cal view Of the African slave trade embraced
only that which was prosecuted under the Brit
ish flag; whereas the first Introduction Of
slaves into the present limits of the United
States was by Dutch vessel under the Dutch
flag, and the traffic may have been duly legal
ized by the Dutch Government.
The answer TO this objection ie easy, and Il
is twoicld First That Dutch importation was