Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-08-11
Horrible Traffic In circassiau Women.
Correspondence Of the London Post

There has been lately an unusually Lar,
number Of Circsssians going about the streets
| of Constantinople Many Of them no doubt
belonged to the deputation which came 20
petition the Porte that their country might be
| taken under the suIerainty Of the Sultan. A
considerable portion, however, Of the Circas-
slams now in the capital have quite another
mission than a political one 70 fulfill They
are here as slave dealers, charged with the
disposal of the numerous parcels Of Circsssian
girls that have been for some time past pour
Ing into this market Perceiring that when
the Russians shall have re occupied the coast
| OF the Caucasus this traffic in white siaSes
| VIII be over, the circassian dealers have re-
| doubled their efforts ever since the com. /.
mencement OF the peace conferences to intro
| duce into Turkey the greatest possible num-
Der OF women while the opportunity Of doing
| so lasted
They have been SO successful, notwithstand
| ing the prohibition Of the trade by the Port.
and the presence Of so many Of Her Msjssty's
ships in the Black Sea, that never, perhap.
at any former period, was white human fesh
| so cheap as il is at this moment. There is an
absolute glut in the market, and dealers are
obliged to throw away their goods, owing 20
the extent Of the supply, which in many in
stances has been brought by steam under the
British flag. In former times a good mid
ding" Circassisn girl was thought cheap at
f100. but at the present moment the same de-
scriptiOn Of goods may be had for f5i In
fact, the creatures are eating their heads of,
and must be disposed Of at any sacrifice,
however alarming. Independently Of al DO.
litical, humane and Christian objections 20
this abominable state of things, there are sew
eral practical ones which have even forced
themselves on the attention Of the Turks
With low prices a low class Of purchases
come into the market.
slava 1;r
sure of being bought into good family, where
not only good treatment, but often rank and
fortune awaited her; but at the present low
rates she may be taken by any huckster who
never thought Of keeping a slave before An
other evil is that the temptation to possess a
Circassian girl at such low prices is so great
in the minds Of the Turks shat many who can
not afford to keep several slaves have been
sending their blacks to market, in order to
make room for a newly purchased white girl.
The consequence is that numbers Of black
women, after being as many as eight or ten
years in the same hands, have laJely been con
signed to the broker for disposal. Not few
of those wretched creatures are In q state
quite unit for being sold.
L have il on the authority Of a respectable
slave broker that at the present moment there
have been thrown on the market unlsuGly
large number Of negresses Ia the family WY,
some of them even tleves of psshas am mea
Of rank He finds them so unstable that be
has been obliged to decline receiving any
more. A single observation will explain the
reason of this, which might appear strange
when compared with the value that is attached
even to an unborn black baby in some slave
countries. In COnstsntinople il is evident
that there is very large number Of negressss
living, and having habitual intercourse witt
their mssters-yet il is a rare thing 10 see 4
niutatto What becomes Of the progeny of
such intercourse L have no hesitation la
saying that II is got rid of by infs1ticide, and
that there is hardly a family in Stsmboul
where infanticide is not practiced in such
cases as a mere matter Of course, and without
the least remOrse or dread,