New-York daily tribune., 1858-12-14

such acts as this his prestige can never recover
As there seems strong determination on the
par, of certain members .. Congress 10 press tue
Amist,d claim 10 decision at The present session
of Congress. and as the fact upon which il de.
pends occurred near twenty years ago, some oil our
readers may Ike little Information on the subject
In August le39, the brig Washington, COM
msnded by Lieut.. Gedney Of the Navy aud EN-
plo,ed in the Coast Survey, fell ID, near the east
end of Lorg Island, with Spsnish schooner WHICH,
upon boarding her. was found to be called the
Amistad. and TO have on board two Spsniards,
Ruez and Montez creole negro cabln-b"y,
with thirtv.eisht adult native Africans and four
children. Ruez and Montez claimed these Africans
.. their sayes. They stated that they mad pur'
chased them. with others to the number Of auy-
four, at Havana. and had shipped them III the
schooner for Principe in the island Of Cuba, some
three hundred miles from Havana. When four or
FIVE days out. the negroes rose, killed the captsn
ard cook, confined Ruez below, put two spanish
sailors adrift in boat, and placing Montez who
under pain of death 10 steer for Africa Montez
steered east in the taJ time. when the negroes
could Judge of the course of the vessel by the sun,
but in tte night put the schooner about and IN this
way st length brought her TO the point where she
then was. Ruez and Mcutez denounced the M
croes not only as slaves but being slaves pirates
and murderers, and claimed the AID and protection
Of the United States.
The Amistad. with those on board her, was
taken into New London The District Judge and
the United States Marshal were sent for by ex-
press ard hurried examination wGs bad, not on
shore. but on board the Washington, and, on the
testimony Of the two Spsnisrds and the cabin boy,
without any hearing of the parties charged or any
communication with them 81 the part Of the
Judge she thirty eight adult Africans were COM
mitted 90 jail on charge of murder on the high
seas the cabin-boy and the fo,T7 African Children
being also sent to jail as witaes'es-Raez ana
Monte7 being allowed to go free.
TIE prisoners were taken to Hartford in Sep
tember. and an attempt was there made to ebtain
an Indictment against shem; but the Grand Jury
having hsd Montez and Ruez before them, aud
being satisfied from the evidence that these negroes
were not slaves the property of Ruez and Nootez,
or any bedy else, but free native Africans, illegally
obtained on the coast of Africa, and receaty
brought to Havana contrary to the laws OF
Spain, refused TO find any bill against them.
Thereupon Ruez and Montez filed lbels in the
District Court, claiming the negroes as their
property, and praying the Court to order their
delivery 10 them or TO the Spanish ambassador.
The negroes, who by this time had obtained coun-
sci, replied that they were natives of Africa, born
free and still Of right free; that they had never
beca domiciled in Cuba, but had been kidnapped
in .aclr native country in April lc37, and carried
to Havana contrary to the Spanish law, and that,
being go held in durance, they had indicated their
liberty as lawfully they might. Afterward, the
Spanish Minister appeared and pursued the case on
behalf of Ruez and Montez, assisted by the United
States Attorney and the whole influence Of
lie Government; but after hearing the case,
the Court found the snswers of the negroes
true in all respects, and dismissed the claim
set up sgains them. An appeal was taken
to the Supreme Court which sustained, on
all points, the decree Of the Court below; where
upon the Africans thus pronounced free and guilt
less of any offense of which the United States had
any jurisdiction, were sent to Africa by the contri
buttons of their friends.
The modest proposition now urged upon the
people of the United States by Mr. Mason aud 9TH
ers is to pay 70 Spain, for the benefit of Ruez and
Montez or their representatives., the market value
which these free negroes would pave had, had
they actually been slaves, or which Ruez aud
Montez might have realized by holding them as
slayes had the negroes not yiDdicatsd their own
liberty. 1t is proposed to take hundred thousand
dollars, more or less, out Of the impoverished
Treasury of the United States, and to pay it over
by way Of consolation to two disappointed kidnap-
pers-dsspp pointed in their effort to reduce forty
odd free Africans to a state Of Slavery. Congress
hardly press this bill consistently without add
ing another clause Of indemnity for the disap
pointed freighters Of the Echo.