The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1858-12-20


from the territory. BY means of letters confided
10 truSty emissary, whose instructions were TO
suller himself to be captured by the enemy, he
lured the Spaniards into an ambuscade and so
eiecually disposed of them, that they never
troubled him any more. The next hoax which
originated also at Savannah few years later, was
a scandalous report which was set afoat against
the Reverend CHARLES WESLEY the founder of
Methodism in this country, and by which his
reputation was, for a brief season. seriously
affected. The third, and greatest hoax of all,
was that which was perpetrated by certain incor-
rlSloie Georgia wags upon the credulous English
man, ARRowsMTH, during his celebrated night
journey, by rail, between Savannah and Augusta;
and now, we have the apochryphal story of the
yacht Wdnderer, and her select cargo of live Afri-
cans The Savannah Republican, which first an
nounced the landing of cargo of native Africans,
on the coast, or islands near Brunswick, still
stoutly expresses its belief in the fact but regrets
to learn that, although its statement is borne out
by many coToborative circumstances, ''there is
mo strictly legal proof that this unlawful deed
has been perpetrated.' The District Attorney
was, however, endeavorng to trace the origin of
the rumor, and had procured the arrest, on sus-
picion, of three persons who had arrived in Sa-
vannah by the Florida boat few days before. A
steam tug was also despatched to Brunswick, to
tow the Wanderer to Savannah; but the ship
master refused to surrender her to the authorities,
and the Collector of the Port of Darien, after
having visited the yacht, officially reported that
she presented no appearance of ever having had
slaves in her. The story of this yacht is, from
| first to last, curious one While she was in New
York last summer, the Federal authorities are said
to have been notified of her character; but as, on
investigation, it was found that she had moth
ing on board which justified the suspicion
that she was about to engage in unlawful traffic,
she was Immediately released. In July last, Cap
tain CoRRIE, her owner with a crew of picked
men, and having for chief officer, Captain Farm
HAM, of Texan, Californian, and Ncaraguan
notoriety, sailed from New York for the Port of
Trinidad. From thence, he went to st. Helena,
and, on leaving that island, steered for the Congo
river-ostensibly on voyage Of pleasure and OBJ
scrvation. The presence of this handsomely fitted
up, and fast sailing yacht on the African coast, is
said to have been highly gratifying 10 the officers
of Her Britannia Majesty's Frigate Medusa, with
whom visits were frequently exchanged, and a
round of festivities kept up during the whole
period that Captain CoRRIE remained off the mouth
of the river. However this may be, there does not
appear to have been any suspicion engendered in
the minds of the officers of the AeuSa with respect
to the character of the vessel that the object of
Captain CoRRIE in any wise different from that
which he stated it to be. After remaining on the
coast for some time, the Wanderer returned to St.
Helena and from thence, to the little port of
Brunswick, Georgia. where she is now moored.-
One of the suspicious circumstances attending the
temperance Of the yacht, in an American port,
is that she brings back regular clearance papers.
Captain CoRRIE accounts for this, by saying that,
coming direct home, as he did, from St. Helena,
where our Government has no Consul he could not
obtain any. He exhibits however, ''papers, which
"purport to be signed by the British officials at
st. Helena; but they lack the necessary seals"
Did then Captain CoRRIE take on board any Afri-
cans on the Congo river, and distribute them
among the Georgia plantations on his return, or
did he not? Such of the crew of the Wdnderer as
have been questioned on the subject, emphatically
declare that she returned as she went The builder,
ALSO Of the yacht, has expressed his belief that she
could never be engaged in carrying slaves herself,
though she might be used as a decoy, to lure the
cruisers off the track of some other vessel employed
in the trade The small tonnage of the yacht; hci
general untness for the slave traffic. and the state
ment made by the Collector of the Port of Darien
that she presents no evidences whatever of having
had slaves on board all tend to cast strong doubts
upon the truth of the rumors which have been sc
industriously circulated, and which have been
caught up, and sOlemnly commented upon, by
some Of the Northern journals as a practical ex
emplifcaton Of the fact, that the Southern States
were seriously bent upon re-opening the slave
trade, in defiance of public sentiment, and in di
rect violation of the laws of the UNITED STATES
1t was not many months ago, that we had equally
accurate reports of the landing of large cargo o
slaves in the interior of Mississippi. The details
of the Mississippi story were exceedingly minute
and crcumstantial. We were told that the SLAYER
entered Lake Borgne, from the Gulf of Mexico
and was met on the Lake by the small steamer
plying on Pearl river, which conveyed the negroe
| up that river, and scattered them among the plan
, tations, in the interior Of the State. We wer
, even assured that the whole process of distribution
: was known to quite number of persons, wh
were willing to testify TO the fact yet, no nov
believes that any occurrence of the kind tool
place. With respect to the yacht Wanderer, If, a
the Collector of the Port of Darien states, ther
are no evidences whatever of her having had ne
groes on board, his report ought to be taken a
conclusive; for it would have been impossible to in
port from Africa, in vessel of her size, four hun
. dred three hundred and fifty,-one hundred an
! ffty,-or even eighty slaves,-for the number ha
l been variously reported-without their leaving be
. hind them, sensible traces of their presence. 1t
e possible, however, that some half dozen African
. may really have been brought over in the Wan
' dere, either by way of bravado, for the pun
+ pose of defrayng the expenses of the voyage; br
3 the probability is much greater that the who
story is one of those ingenious hoaxes in whic
- the Georgians take so much delight 1t IS scarcel
a worth while to point out, in this connection, Il
v absurdity Of supposing that the slave trade wi
e ever be re-opened by the Southern States, viii
they continue to be members of the Federal Union
,e With but few exceptions, the whole of Il
IN Southern people are as strenuously opposed TO Il
~ traffic. as the people of the North and any sero,
e, attempts to revive it, would be vehemently d
,n nounced by the planters of the Gulf States,
of the citizens of Massachusetts, or Connecticut.
y