Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1854-09-02
Qbe 1Dolnnesian.
From the New York Tribune.


The traffic Of Europeans in negro slaves was
fully established before the colonization of the Uni
ted States, and had existed half century before
the discovery Of America. AS early as l44I
Portuguese ships sailed as far south as Cape Ban.
co IN Africa, and returned with Moors-not ne
groes-and these Moors were treated as strangers
of distinction from whom important information
could be obtained. And in l443, Antony Con-
zales, who had brought them to Portugal, was
commanded to restore them to their native homes
ne did So, and the Moors gave him not only gold,
but " black Moors" with curIed hair for their ran
som. 1t was thus that negro slaves were intro
duced into Europe and negroes Immediately be-
came lucrative traffic from this beginning, and
"abounded in the city of Seville before the en-
terprlse of Columbus was conceived.
The maritime adventures of those DAYS. were
bgots in religion and pirates in design. They re-
garded the wealth of the countries they might dis
cover their rightful plunder and the inhabitants
If inhdels, as their slaves. Indians from Hispan-
lola were imported into Spain-the coasts of Amer
lea, like the coast of Africa were visited by ships
in search of cargoes of human flesh, and all the
convenient harbors of the Atlantic frontier of the
United States, have been entered by slave ships in
pursuit of ship loads of Indians. Even the glory
of Columbus himself, did not escape the STAN
for he enslaved five hundred native Americans and
sent them to Spain to be publicly sold at Seville.
The practice of thus kidnapping and selling the
natives of North America into foreign bondage,
continued for nearly two centuries. Even the ar
tices of the early New England confederacy, class
persons among the spoi!s Of war, and the scaniy
remnants Of several tribes, including the orphan
offspring of Dg Philip bimself, were all doomed
to the hard destiny Of perpetual bondage.
The English traffic in negro slaves began in
1862. John Hawkins, in the prosecution of COM
merclal enterprise, visited Sierra Leone 10 trade
with the natives and while there, by seductive
descriptions of the genial climate and productive
ness of the New World, he persuaded some of
them to go there with him. The night previous to
his sailing, hostile tribe made an attack upon
them, and he, with his crew, repulsed the assa-
ants, captured many and TOOK them along as pris-
oners. He sailec 10 HispanoIa, (Hayt) and there
finding profitable market, he sold into servitude
not only the prisoners he had taken, but also the
natives he had seduced by liberal offers and at
tractve representations to accompany him from
Sierra Leone. Hawkins returned to England, anu
a complaint was preferred against him for this bar
barous act; but he successfully excused himself,
and even escaped censure, by pleading that he had
taken these natives from heathenish barbarsm and
placed them under the blessed influences of Chris
tlanity. The returns of this first English negro
trafhcing voyage were so rich in sugar. ginger and
pearls, that the second voyage of Hawkins, in 1867
was under The protection Of Queen Elizabeth, she
sharing in the profits thereof. The negoes were
forcibly seized, their towns burned and the most
fend-Ike atrocities committed, and in the hazards
profits and crimes thereof the sovereign of Eng
land participated.
1t Is noteworthy fact that, at one time or an
other every Christian potentate and Government
has sanctioned the slave trade between Africa and
America, save only the Pope of Rome. Leo X,
whose pontifcate a continuous carnival, de-
clared that, " not the Christian religion ony, bat
nature herself cries out against the state of Sla
Sery;" and Paul III, in 1887, imprecated a curse
on the Europeans who should ensIave Indians or
any other class of men," Spanish vessels, sailing
OH a voyage of discovery, were each attended by
a Roman priest, TO prevent kidnapping. Xmenes,
the celebrated Franciscan inqulsltOr of Ferdinand
and Isabella, refused 10 sanction the introduction
Of negroes into Hispanioa but the reason assigned
for his refusal was, that the favorable climate
would so largely increase their numbers as TO lead
10 successful revolt. severe retrbution long
lfterward manifested his ssgacIty, for HayIl,
Hispaniola.) the first spot in America that receiv
ed African slaves, the first to set The example
Of African liberty
The first attempt to traffic in African slaves by
the American coomisis occurred in 1915. A ship
owned by Thomas Keyser and James Smith, the
latter a member Of the church in Boston, sailed
: for Guinea to trade for negrors," and returned
with a cargo of human beings. The cry of 'mal
throughout Massachusetts the act was officially
as expressly contrary to the law Of
God and the law of the country )" and after ad-
vice with the Elders of the Church, the represen-
tives of the people bearing -" witness against the
heinous crime of man stealing" 1t lrGs ordered
that - the negroes be restored at the public
charge" to their native country, with letter ex-
pressing the Indignation of the General Court at
the wrong
J, nj tod
from the first in Virginia. In 1919, the King or
tercd one hundred disSolute persons, in prison, to
be transported thtber and distributed among the
planters as servants. Oppression ensued, and men
who had been transported at expense of eight
or ten pounds were often sold at forty Ur sixty
pounds. The supplying of white servants became
regular business, and there was class OF per
sons in England called "spintS," whose business
was to delude young people, servants and lders,
into embarking for America, as Tor land OF spon-
taneous plenty. These servants came to be an ar
tice of traffic-they were sold in England to be
and in Virginia were re-sold to the
highest bidder. Like negroes, they were to be Pur-
chased on ship-bOard men buy horses at far.
So usual was this traffic with EngliShnen that the
Scots who were taken in the field of Dunbar were
sent into involuntary servitude in New-Eng land I;
the royaist prisoners Of the battle of Worcester,
the leaders IN the insuTectIon OF Penruddock,
were Sulpptu 10 AuleIICd dS SLAVES tAnu W l"O',
thousand of the gallant partisans of the Duke of
were transported as felons to America,
and influential courtlerS, with rival importantly,
scrambled for them as for msrchantable commod-
lty.
This state of labor-this inhuman trade in the
flesh and blood of Engishmen, readily admitted
into the American colonies the introduction of AT
rican servitude. And in the month of August,
1920, fourteen months after the first representative
assembly of Virginia, four months before the
Plymouth colony landed in America, more than
century after the last vestges of hereditary slavery
had disappeared from English society and the Eng
Iish Constitution, and six years alter the Commons
of France had uetitioned for the emancipation of
& n....k LIZ, c-ar, GuInaa ar,.nrnd