Arkansas true Democrat., 1857-07-21
The African Slave Trade

From Debows Review for July. '57.
 The African Slave Trade.
 Iron an able paper which appeared some weeks ago in the New York Herald. and which presented the material relating to the .l3ye trade, in succinct form, we shall rely. mainly, for what is said in the following article. Ii will be an invaluable adjunct to the other ste.ches on that subject which lately appeared i, the pages of the Review.
 LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES IN REGARD
 TO THE SLAVE TRADE.
 Though declared by Arv piracy, the United Sates courts consider the pursuit legal. By ,ba constitution the trade could rot be prohi- Lfed before 1908, but as early as 1764 Ameri- e,n vessels were forbidden to engage in it. and ;a 1900 fine and Imprisonment was made the ,,galty of serving on board a shaver Neither If these laws reach the Case of an American c;fzen carrying on the business on the coast If 4Iica, the prohibition reaching only to tfase employed upon slave ships. In 1909. ,Iepenaty of ting out a slaver in the United States was increased, but in ISIS it was laid mon the vessel, which was to be forfeited. the owner factor or master, to suffer also fine and inrrsonment. The Ashburton Treaty, in lsl2 bound Great Britain and the United States to maintain fleet on the coast of A irica for the sup EHtSsIOH Oi tue SidNe trade. LltLle or no good has resulted. A consideration of tbe statutes show that a merchant or factor may build and equip a vessel in any of our norris. knowing that she is to be a slayer with ogt the least apprehension of risk or dan ger, nroyided he does not intend himself directly to employ her in that capacity. Hence the present A1Irshing state of the slave trade in north eu lors.
 nF c VT rD TNE nrIr
 NUMBER OF SLAVES TAKEN FROM AFRICA
 The American slave trade, from the time of is inception in the first years of the discovery of America, has undergone great changes, both as regards the flag under which it has been cirticd on. and the nations that have been en- gagged in it. At first it was prosecuted almost exclusively by the Spaniards and Portuguese. who bought over few negroes to the Antilles and the newly settled districts of Brazil. The trade shortly after passed into the hands of the E -i>h, whose superior skill and energy as sailors and traders gave them advantage over the cavaliers of Spain, who, fresh from the Moolish wars, were then settling the countries oi tropical America. Bristol, in England, was for long time the principal seat of the slave trade, and Liverpool owed part of her early growth to the same profitable occupations Contracts were entered into by the English traders with the Spanish Government, and every effort mado to obtain monopoly of the trle in which they succeeded in great mea- sure. About one hundred and fifty years ago some euterprsirg French traders endeavored to compete with the English, but they have never been successful in securing any large portion of the African slave trade. The Eng li-h up 10 the beginning of the present century, were the great slave traders of the world. The first introduction of African slaves was ir 1G3O. by a Dutch vessel from Africa to Nir- gii4. Mr. Casey, in work uI on the slave tr4le, says that the "t trade in negro slaves to tan American colonies was too small before l11., to attract attention" In that year 5ll were imported into Charleston, and in 17G5- 'Gi those imported into Georgia numbered l t52. The imioratious up to the year 16U8 ncnJarel altogether 333,QoO.
 The statistics of the trade with Cuba and Brazil from the beginning of the present cen tgy to l6IO are 50 defective and unreliable that il would be utterly useless to givo them. Bs+.Ie-, so little attention was given to this l.rt of the subject till after the year 1893 by t.e aati-slavery society, and humaiitarans generally, that the returns were not full and perfect enough for publication. Under these Circumstances we have not included them; bat the number imported by both countries dQra. the period referred to could not have been less than million and half.
 We may State here Incidentally, that of the l7UooO slaves who were brought from the coast of Africa to the British West Indies up to the year 1877, only G6Q00O survive, show il- that there are not two living for every i've that were imported, while in the United States tie number of Africans s nearly eight or ten to 5ae oI those that were imported.
 Passing over the interval from the period when the slave trade was declared to be lira- cy to the year lSi0 we find that the number introduced into Brazil from that year to 1851, inclusive, was SIS G00, or little more than 3uQ00 year. During the same period the nunber imported into Cuba amounted to an avcra-eof about coco year. The following tables show the importAtious into Brazil and Cuoi from 1851 to l054
 Slaves