Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1858-06-05
GBe 9ailp SPg,
SATURDAY, JUNE S. 1888.
an. AfrIcnn sInrs Trame.

lowing eloquent and pertinent allusion to the
PROSTITUTION Of the American Gag, by vessels en-
g.Vpd in the inhuman traffic in African slaves.
While avowing himself ready to 60 with the
farthest in protecting our flag on the high seas
,,om violation by Great Britain or any other pow
a, our senator avOwed himself with equal ear
nestness in favor Of rigid execution by our gov
srument of its treaty obg atoms with Great Brit
ain, for the suppression Of the Infamous, pratt
cal slave traffic between Africa and Cuba. Sena
tor Wilson said
"Whne 1 am ready, Mr. President, to main
tain the doctrines laid down in the report ana
resolutions of the Committee on Foreign Ria
tons while am ready TO go to the extreme
verge of our rights to vindicate the honor OF the
country against these begerenl acts OF the ma
val forces Of Great Britain must avow here and
now nv deco modification aud shame that the
flag OF our country has been, and now rs prostI-
tinted with IMMUNITY by pirates engaged IN Inc
damning crime ofthe slave-trsde. confess, Mr..
President, that / read with feelings OF the deep
est modification the letter of Lord Napier to the
Secretary of State, in which he narrated the cap
ture by British vessels of more than twenty ships
engaged IL the unlawful and infamous slave trsf-
fc under cover OF the American flag. We are
Jealous of the rights and honor OF our nag we
should not we cannot, sy, we will not, permit
any power to violate it or tarnsh H.. Inc recent
acts of British officers have touched the nati"nal
heart and aroused the national PRIDE we are
indignant at these aggressive acts, and we de-
mand instant Teparation. That nag, the emoieh
of our sovereignty on the decks OF our shlps IN
every quarter Of the globe-that nag OF whose
honor we are so Jealous, has been, ana no" u.s.
pro;tituted, shsmelessly prosututed, oy pirates
slgagedin an nhuman traffic in the BODIES oil our
fello men These accused ships, launched In
our own ports in violation Of our own laws, hover
on the coasts of Africa and line the shores OF
Cuba, under the protecting folds OF the american
Aso Yes sir that flag, for the honor OF which
we are ready to peril the peace of the world, is
sh4melessly prostituted by men our own laws pro-
Dounce pirstes-prostituted to cover trat1c
our own laws pronounce piracy ); traffic which
the Christian and civilized world abhors-
This prostitution of the American fiagto cover
traffic abhorred OF man and sceursed of God, is
known throughout the world, and it has brought
dshonor upon the American name and the Amer
lean character The apathy and cold indifference
we have manifested at this prostitution Of our
Gag have made the world question the sincerity of
our hostility to the African slave traffic. Well
NAV the philanthropist and the Christian whose
sTmpathies embrace the children of misfortune
the bondsmen Of Africa. torn by an inhuman trait
6c from their native land, and condemned to
life OF unpaid toll doubt the sincerity of our de-
claratlOns of hostility TO the slave trade when We
witness this prostitution Of our flag, our indiffer
encs TO the humiliation it brings upon US, and
the efforts now making in this country to re-
peal our laws branding the traffic as piracy, to
surrogate the treaty by which we bound our
selves to co operate with England on the coast
of Africa for the suppression ot'the traffic, and tor
the re opening OF that prescribed trade.
l am ready, Mr.. President-I believe the peo-
pie | represent are Teady--tO maintain with in
flexible frmness the doctrine that American
vessels.on the high $685. in time of peace, bear
ing the American flag, remain under the juris
diction Of the country; and that any visitation,
modest alton. or detention by force, by any foreign
power, is in derogaton of the sovereignty Of the
United States. | am ready, and l believe the
people / represent ready, to use the whole
power Of the country, il necessary, TO repel and
redress any acts by any power. however great,
which shall violate the rights or honor of the
country on any deck ever which the American
flag waves. But demand, Mr.. President, and
the people I represent demand, that the govern
ment shall fulfill. in good faith, it's treaty obi
cation TO co operate with England in an honest
effort to suppress the slave trade We demand
that the country shall no longer be dishoHored
before the nations by the open and shameless
prostitution Of our flag to the prosecution of an
inhuman and accursed traffic.
Sir, if the Government is sincerely DESTROYS to
suppress the slave trade If it wishes TO fulfil its
treaty obligations; If means to redeem the
honor Of the nation, now furnished by allowing
the flag Of the Republic to be prostituted by pi'
ratee to cover their piracy on the coasts of Africa
and the shores of Cuba, let it at send to the
African coast, and TO the waters around Cuba,
vessels adapted to the work of breaking up the
commerce in the bodies aud souls of men, now
prosecuted under cover of the American flag. II
we have not ships adapted to that work, let
build them, at any cost, at the earliest moment,
and send them TO the seas now covered by pirate
crafts, over which waves the flag of the Repub.
lie. BY so acting, we can redeem the homer Of
the nation, now furnished, and demonstrate to
the world that the American Government SHOULD
execute its own laws and perform its own obiga-
tons, By its own means and its own power"
But if experience shall demonstrate the fact that
an honest and energetic effort on our part cannot
prevent the prostitution of our flag, cannot break
up the slave traffic under cover of our flag, then
it seems to me that justice, honor, and humanity
will alike demand that we enter into treaty obi
cations with England, under certain limitations
and restrictions. by which she shall yield the
right of visitation and search, and that we shall,
for a limited time, and within certain lines Of
latitude and of longitude, exercise the power OF
visitation to ascertain the character of suspicious
vessels sailing under our flag.
In this connection, it may be we'll to inquire II
it would not be as well to wait, before we suffer
our blood to boil in too great indignation the
late alleged British outIages, and ascertain, in
.the first place, whether some justification may
not exist for those acts in the already too motto.
Tious'practiee Of vsssels sailing under the Amer
lean flag while engaged in the internal traffic,
denounced in sueh truthful terms by our Senator,
above; and, in the second place, whether such
aggressive acts" shall not be Immediately disa.
vowed BY the British Government, should there
be no foundation for the suspicion thatethe yes
sells so searched by her officers were slavers.
Some allowance should certainly be made for the
Tact Of the existence of solemn treaty stipula.
tions between us and Great Britain, to put down
the foreign slave traffic, which it is openly ad-
mitted in Southern quarters is carried on by yes
sels, many ofthem skulking under the American
flag, as minated by Senator Wilson, to avoid
detection.
Indeed, it is well authenticated fact, that nu.
merous cArgoeG Of miserable human beings are
yearly landed upon the coast of Cuba, in spite
the mutual compact to suppress it and it is bu'
few weeks since the Southern newspapers, the
representatives and mouth-pieces OF the ultra
pro slavery sentiment.of the country, gloried in
the fact that ship-loads Of Affican negroes had
been landed upon our own shores, as slaves, With
out molestation or interference from our Govern
ment, thus making the latter doubly guilty in the
violation, not merely Of treaty obligations with
another power to suppress such traffic, but
in the gross violation Of the Constitution and
laws OF the country, which have solemnly in.
terdicted Il since lSOS The Charleston Is. CT
Mercury, no longer ago than May % last, copied
the following significant article from the Char
lottesyille (va.) Allocate, both papers being p.
liable opponents Of Southern sentiment. and also
reliable as to the facts announced:
M t-yt.