New-York daily tribune., 1858-09-08

suits almost wholly of the treatment to which tney
had been subjected-not to mention the death on
the passage Of more than a third OF the whoie
number-were enough TO convince even the Chaiie'-
ton visitors that not one-half the horrors oi tio
middle passage had ever yet been told. Ana !e'
Captain Townsend the intelligent and wei-edu-
Gated citizen of Rhode Island, whom the hope oi
making fortune had enticed into taking charge oi
the vessel ss captain insists that these negroes were
particularly well treated, and that their voyage
with him across the Atlantic was quite paradise
compared to the miseres which they hHd pre-
yiously endured in the bsrrseO0ns OF their ATT
can captors. If such be the fact, 1t would seem
rather to stand in the way Of the idea suggested
in the Charleston papers that since the slave-trade
is not criminal in itself, but only criminal IN 'ne
present manner Of its conduct, being IN faet as
plainly sanctioned in the Bible as any other trahc'
il ought instead of being prohibited, to De regl-
lated. and the horrors to which the slaves are SUD
ected in their transportation To be thus got rld Oh
We might grant the possibility Of subecting Ameri
can vessels engaged in this trade to some sort OF
reguatons-though for our part we do not eA'
actly see why the same thirst for gain when mas
struggled against and, and it is alleged, has de-
feated the laws for suppresslng the siaVe-trade
should not be equally successful against laws Tor
It's regulation. To borrow al illustration IRON
parallel case. our laws here in New-York for the
regulation Of the liquor traffic have not been
less vigorously opposed nor less contemPluou'y
set at naught than our laws for its regulation. But
suppose our regulating system ever so successful IN
securing the humane treatment OF the negroes after
they have come into the hands Of our slsve-trad-
ing captains our laws do not extend to the coast
of Africa, nor can they in any way ameliorate the
horrors prscticed in the African barra'
coons while the negroes are detained there
awaiting transportation. Nor, after oil, does 1t
seem altogether certain that, after being trans
erred to Carolina plantation, the negroes would he
so much better of. At least We We're not little
struck with the fact that correspondent OF The
Charleston Mercury, who had seen these negroes,
after dwelling with good deal of emphasis on
their extremely bad plight, yet innocently adds IN
the course Of his narrative that many OF them,
especially with the aid of an old flannel shirt or
"trowsers looked as familiar as household or
"plantation slaves In many such the features
"and expression reminded US Of familiar faces at
"h0me." Ii would thus appear that, so far as ex-
terror appearances concerned, the chief differ
ence between a cargo of negroes fresh from the
starvation and misery of the middle passage,
and the familiar faces of Carolina plantation
and even household slaves, is derived from the fact
that the latter are rigged out, some with an old
flannel shirt and others with tattered pair OF
trowsers. If this be really the entire amount OF
the benefit to bc derived from transfer from be-
nighted Africa to Christian Carolina, We must be
permitted to doubt whether in merely physical
point of view the gain thus secured is sufficient
equivalent for the dangers and sufferings which at
tend voyage across the Atlantic, under even so
humane manager as Captain Townsend Of the
Putnam, not to say anything OF the preliminary
horrors in the African barracoons.