Daily national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1854, 1854-01-04


that event to have occurred ON the 26th oil Au-
gust, A. d. 1889, instead of lS40.
On page 13 the report admits that they were
landed at Havana on the I2th June 1889, NJ
the court decided, and then asserts that sthey
must have been fourteen months IN Cuba"
The apparent intention Of making tho false
statement that they were taken possession OF
in 1910 was to lay the foundation Of this false
conclusion that these negroes had been in Gu
ba fourteen months, instead Of sixteen days, as
the testimony shows Were this assertion true,
It would show that the negroes had not been
imported 80 recently as the court snpposed, and
would have led to the conclusion that the
Judges may have mistaken the proofs on other
points But, to effect this object, it was neces.
sary to start off with palpabe fasehood
Why, sir, ns heretofore stated, the claim of
Montez and Ruiz was filed in the District
Court Of Connecticut on the 29th August, 1889,
being only tv0 months aud scUeniesa days from
the time the negroes were first landed in Cuba,
while the report asserts that they were four
teen months in Cuba
Sir, COLL the attention Of the Chairman Of
the COMMITTEES on Foreign Affairs to this mis-
representation Of his predecessor. ask him
to explain this aagrant falsehood, and show MS
how it occurred.
!, sir, entertain no unkind feelings towards
the author Of that report but surely it is my
duty to place these matters accurately upon
the record of our debates, that those who come
after us shall be able to understand this sub
jeot.
And, sir, this is the report to which the Pres
ident refers US for gulde--a report bearing
upon its face such obvious misrepresentation; !;
and will remark here, that for this purpose,
ak.a IL, rlrntb f,
was designed, or occurred through heignorance
or inattention of the author; for put which
construction upon it you please and it will be
acknowledged on oil hands that the report is
unworthy Of confidence.
1t were probably useless to follow this report
further, for the purpose Of satisfying this body
Of its real character; but see that this claim
is to live 80 long as the Slave Power has infu-
ence in this Government; and desire to show
our successors the craftsmanship the views en-
tertained by the author of this report and now
quoted by the President as an authority to
guide intelligent members Of this body in the
discharge Of their official duties.
The report urges that the permits" to
which referred in the opening of my remarks,
were conclusive eridence showing these Afri-
cans to have been ladinos," that il legal
slaves This Committee will bear in mind that
these certificates were given by the proper Off
Ger, and showed that Montez and Ruiz had
paid the duties requisite to authorize them to
carry ffty-two legal sldpes from Havana to
Principe But the idea that such permits were
evidence, to any extent, as between them and
the negroes, or was even admissible testimony
to show that these negroes Were slaues, is a
proposition too absurd to require argument be-
fore any tribunal Yet, when the author OF
this report goes further, and argues that these
permits were conclusive evidence, and that no
proof of fraud could be permitted to show that
Montez and Ruiz attempted to transport free
men under those permits, instead of legal slaves,
the position besomes ridiculous, and sets all ar
gument at defiance. The mere statement of
the proposition is probably the most perfect
refntation that can be given to it, and such was
the opinion of the Supreme Court. Yet. this
report gravely attempts to show that the court
erred in permitting evidence to be given that
Montez and Ruiz iraudulently attempted to
transport recently-imported Africans, under o
permit to transport legal siaUes. Now, sir, if
the decisions of the Supreme Court are TO be
questioned and examined in this body, insist
il shall be done in style more lawyer like and
more scientific than has been done in that re-
port. But the author appears to have been ap-
prehensive that this House and nation might
recognise that well known principle ofinterna-
tional law, which has for ages existed and been
acknowledged by all civilized Governments,
that no slaUe can be held as such ,cifhia the ju-
rtsdicfion Of free lars. Under this rule, when
the Amistad arrived within our waters--when
she came within the jurisdiction Of our laws
these people we're free and would have been
free, even il held as slaves in Cuba, agreeably
To her laws.
| will here add, that it is an admitted
principle, that the laws of every Government
not only extend over all the harbors, bays, and
rivers, OF such nation, but the jurisdiction of
those laws extend a marine league into the sea.
Thus, when a foreign ship comes within ma
rine league of our shores, our revenue officers
enter on board, examine her bills Of lading,
and take all necessary measures 10 prevent
fraud upon our revenue our health officers go
on board, and examine her bills OF health; our
pilots enter on board, conduct the vessel into
port, and demand their legal fees In short,
our laws take jurisdiction of the ship and crew.
Now, sir, when the Amistad came within our
jurisdiction, when our laws spread their @gs
over the people on board, il was matter Of
course that those people were as frco TO go
where they pleased, as were Montez and Ruiz.
Indeed, those Spaniards were themselves re.
stored to liberty by the force OF our laws and
the negroes, had they been held as legal slaves
in Cuba, under Spanish laws, would have been
as free, the moment they came within our ju-
risdiction, as were Montez and Ruiz. This
rule was recognised in England during the
reign OF Queen Elizabeth and on the conti-
mont il was acknowledged and enforced ut
even an earlier day, and think, was never
doubted nor denied until tho year ls40 when
-. l. Al
tons declaring that ship driven into the port
of friendly Power by stress of weather, or
other unavoidable accident carries with her
the laws of the Government from whence she
sailed, and all tho relations Of the people on
board, which existed under the laws OF such
Government. In other words, the substance Of
tho resolutions was that slave ship when
driven into a friendly port by stress Of weather,
may hold her slaves in the same manner as
she would in the port from which she sailed.
The author Of the report quotes these resolu-