New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1854-07-07
Withdrawal Of the African Squadron

Withdrawal of the African Squadron.
BY the 9Th section of the Ashbnrton treatN
the United States Government is required I
maintain n squadron Of eighty guns to assist j.
the blockade of the western coast of Africa fot
the prevention Of the slave trade. The Senat@
Committee on Foreign Relations, notlong since,
reported in favor of abrog ting this section and
withdra wing the squadron, on the ground tha
its services amount to merely a dead letter
and have no considerable effect in suppressing
the slave trade. Many objections have beer
urged against this proposition. but it is proba
Bile that It will be adopted BY Congress. With
out casting any imputaticn upon the officers IL
command Of the vessels or upon the efficiency Of
the vessels and crews, we must say that we have
long been satisfied that they are entirely in.
capable Of accomplishing the objects intended,
and Of no sort Of use in that employment. In
deed, any one who will pay the least attention
to it may assure himself that if England and
the United States were to combine the whole
strength Of their fleets upon the coasts of Afric.
they could not thereby entirely put an end to
this internal traffic.
How could it be possible to guard, with any
reasonable number of cruisers, sea coast
thousands of miles in extent--almoSt any point
of which is capable Of affording depot for the
trade--so effectually as to prevent swift sailing
clippers, or perhaps steamers, from obtaining
their human cargoes and escaping under cover
of night 4 The systematic manner in which
their plans are laid and executed, the secrecy
and CELEBRITY of their operations, and that almost
al oan l,,nl bicb Al,
commission of evil deeds--probably because
Satan looks after his own--woud insure n very
considerable share of success against the bes,
armed blockade which could be established
And the occasional seizure and con6scation OF
slave ship--which under the present state Of
shiDgs is q very rare occurrence--would but add
she zest of excitement and danger to an employ
ment which now has hardly that attraction
an increase Of force to operate upon the presenr
system would certainly not diminish the traffic,
but would result in more extensive preparations
for carrying it on.
We by no means advocate the discrimination
of all efforts to destroy this inhuman and
abominable traffic. it is o common object Of
humanity, and more perhaps TO be desired BY
our own nation than by any other upon earth,
that it should be put an end to; but the pre-
sent system has been proved inefficient, and
better can be and should be devised and mi
in force
We think the proposition Of writer in thu
Washington Union good one. viz: 10 establs3t
chain If settlements like Liberia along the
African coast, aud thus erect between the slave
trader and his victims an impossible barrier
Liberia is the best evidence of the excellence Of
this idea. Nowhere within her Jurisdiction car,
the slave factor establish himself, and any Mt
tempt to carry on his business would be visited
with the seyerest punishment. The consequence
OF this is that the slave trade is forever ended
along that portion of the coast of Africa. No
feasible scheme appears to us so likely to insure
success as the formation of an extended line OF
settlements similar in character to that Of Lii
IBERIA along the whole range of coast where the
trafic is carried on. We do not doubt that
many objections could be urged, and many OBJ
stacles pointed out in the way of such an under.
taking, but the benefits which would result
from its success would fully warrant the expert.
ment.
Our Government should certainly take the
first step towards the adoption of some new plan
Of action in the matter by withdrawing her use-
less squadron from the African waters--useless
because there Our Navy is not so extensive,
and the requirements of our commerce so few
thai we can afford to have large number of
vessels of war engaged in an employment which
brings to the nation neither honor protection
nor profit, any more than if their crews and
guns were Quakers, and the former made ii
their sole business TO catch monkeys and ex
change trinkets with the natives for their staple
produce, roots, nuts, etc
6 HARD LABoR."-We have received com.
munieatlen from this individual. which is no
doubt very good, but we have not taken the
trouble to read it, inasmuch as we don't believe
$ Hard Labor is the writer's real name: and
We shall not publish it, because we don't wish
to get the credit of and be responsible for