Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-07-03

fifty Of their familics." G
Again, ON page 332, in speaking Of the natives v
amid tho slave factories Of the Gallipus, tho same a
author says: Il
"ln proportion ms these upstatt4 were educated
in slave trade under the inIuct 60 o.; opulcnt fac
tors, they grccdily acquired the habit OF hunting
their own kind. and abanduncd all other cccura
tious hut war and kidnapriue. As the country
was prolific and the trade profitable. the thousands
and tens of thousands annually sent abroad from
Unllinas soon began to exhaust the ucighborhoud
but the appetite for plumber was neither satiatcd
nor stopped 10y distance, when it became necessary
Tor the ncighhoring nations to extend their lornys
and hunts lar into the interior. Ia Il few years,
war rngod wherever the influence Of This river cx.
tended. The slave a,torics supplied the hunts.
men with powder, weapons, and onticing mcrehan
DISC, 50 that they lcarlcssly advanced against igno-
rant multiiudos, who, too silly to comprehend the
benefit OF alliance, fought the aggrossols singly,
and, Oh course, lecomo their PROV"
This condition Of property in mau is acquired
N Central and Eastern Africa 10y the same '",yo.
ross IF tar' US in Western. Shiek M%ohammod,
OF Tnnis, the great MVhammeuan traveller, dc,
scrlbcd thc slave expeditions Of Daiur and Wadai.
For the lull narrative, must refer the curious
student OF African slave law, if his philosophy is
at 'anIt III tho original Arabic, to De Perron's
trCuch version or to chapter nine Of st. Johns
English abridgeIucnt Of tue work. In those more
regular ana stable MohameGau Kingdoms, "A distin'
, guiShcd subject is commissioned 20 raise a ga2wak
or slave hunt and becomes. for the time, the sultan
OF his troop. This troop invales some Pagan con-.
muhity, named in the commission, sic2cs all who
: can be found, occasionally halts to divide and as
sign The spells, continues the hunt til, saiiatcl
with robbery and blood, the Chief drives home his
J horde OF human property, regularly acquired
under the African law. II the obstinate l'agaus
resist. of course they are slaughtered without
o mercy if, when surrounded, they yield with
" out resistance, the sultan takes the chief rs II
prisoner; treats him honOrably, gives him u dress
and afterwards libcratcs him but lie sic1es on
all the grown men, the youths, the women, and
- girls, leaving only the old people, and those who
dc not seem to DC in a state to undergo the iatigucs
n of u Journey" The author narratCs, with be
looming GOODNESS, tho horrors of these hunts says
N that. from the frequency of the commissions, the
market would be glutted, but that, from fatigue,
c exposure, and cruelty, but Il small portion OF the
Of natives survive, and leHo or still are able to reach
& Egypt. About the same conjunction seems TO
be felt by these hunters as by a boat load of Nan,
y tucket whalemen after their prey, or Il troop OF
prairie Indians in pursuit of n buffalo. or a United
n States marshal in chase of q fugitive slave. Stree
the destruction of the Egyptian market made 10y
e the 'fanatical folly" of the Turks in over
throwing the slave trade, these hunts are doubtless
d less profitable and indeed there is great danger
that, by the persevering efforts Of then aud
Christian Europe. even Africa, the hitherto inn
prcgnable refuge of the idea Of property in man,
may yield to the progress of Christian civilization,
1t may then be Il question whether this law OF
II property, alter IL snail nave been OVcrthiOWn IN
this its most ancient and faithful scat, will sur
vive in those ~countrioo that have thence derived
O it,
&c So in Bornou, Mr.. Denham, and more recently
DR.. Barth, describe the manner in which this
n condition as property" is acquired" by men
@ and women, according to the State. 1t so closely
10 resembles tho method described by the Mohamme e.
dan traveller, as 10 induce me to believe that this
State, Us well as others through which these gen
tlcmen travelled, acknowledge the same code and
bow to the same fundamental idea Of property
n. Usually, the execution of law is left 10 to the min
adj listers at least, strangers do not feel called on tt
m enforce it. But full examination has satisfied M
Mt me that illegal process" upon the coast of Guinei
DIS may be served as well by strangers as by nom
bers, or even Ministers of State, accordingl,
an find that, as commerc becomes dull, either iron
ms deficiency in its staple or the means of purchase
is the foreign slavers, with the alacrity OF true lay
and order men often lend themselves to cniorc
n. the laws of the land. Thus. often we find then
of stealing by night upon some delenccloss village
or and while the inhabitants are dreaming-some c
Of their pastimes and their loves, and some cspecia
mt ly those who feel the cares of State, OF the comm
hunt to supply the white mans ships-all ar
o seized bound, and driven to these ships and til
~ blaze of their empty dwellings lights the marc
u" "r that converts-and by methods long Sanc'ifcd b
~, African lava village of saYages into cargoes
'u valuable property. This method of CONVEX $40
was moro common when the early eaptives,
ms their condition of property" were brought
y. the American colonies and | cannot find that tn
c. legality of the mode, except by New England IA
ore natics," in an instance or two, was ever scriOusl
I'll questioned.
The method by which this "conditicn Of prore
us ty" was made to 'attaCh" to the transported \
en- ricans would be perfectly plain, but for the ia'
lin that some of them were not seized IN the hun
Do- either by regular State commissioners or on ind
re- yidual account but their condition" attached
Is them from the earliest infancy. 1t is found thi
an by the African CUSTOMS, as well as by those OF IL
'ty ancient States | have spoken of all children
an slave mothers are seized and held as property
How this is done has puzzled many Il wiser III;
'rn thaa |. and | may not have hit upon its legal sol
ny ton But my desire to relieve the doubts of tho
who trace their rights Of property to African Law
is has induced me to give the matter Il careful co
IN sideration.
icy By the slave laws Of our States, a slave c,
'a make no contract, and cannot unite in lawt
oo' marriage. In tue absence Of any accessible Coz
''o or decisions of the Eathiopic States, and in delt
"o cncc to the opinion Of the Senator before quoted
y. u iuler that "the condition. in which the slave
! " here held in this respect as in others, Nas '5roug
from Africa by his ancestors All the childre
'no then, of slave mothers, are, by African law. necc
sarily bastards and bastards, as all lawyers knt
= "a can have no father. The mother, being hcrs
~ but property, can have no interest IN the chill,
wv and the law permitting nc other parent, and foun
ling hospitals and asylums being unknown, it h
no protector. In this emery oncy, the master, "
having the lawful custody Of the mother, is
always constructively present and Is the O Iy o
80 who has a right to be present, is kindly auth,
lied by law to seize or make Il prisoner Of war
wv the child and as with all prisoners, it is siml
Jug a choice between death and Slavery. Were sa
marriages lawful, SO that the child could have
ncr- s""Ii - III - I'll nroI,LJ. dononl 500
what upon the demands of commerce. But DO
eIe thus destitute, the harmony of the African co
my becomes apparent in authorizing its immedia
ttos seizure, under the rules that regulate the int
49, 20 , ,
and mus we see tue senator was 700 el'iy u
h a dition of property" was in all cases, both by adu
rr and infants, acquired in the mother country.
IN The only puzzle is, how this African Law shot
roo be permitted to override the common law, or
tire law OF England III tue cUiohics' rs the SuiIem"
onial charters. Chief Justice Marshall socns