Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-11-26
The Frigate Niagara at st. Vincent.

St Vincent (Oct. 23) correspondent Of
the London Times writes as follows
Sir The United States steam frigate Nj
agars, Capt Chauncey, arrived at thi. port
Africans recently rescued by the Udited States
brig Dolphin from the slave brig Echo. After
cOaling she proceeds at once to her destination.
have been kindly permitted to see a private
letter from DR.. Rainey, who is the special
agent of the Government Of the United States,
to a friend in England, in which he says:
The Echo took on board 455 Kabenda One
hundred and forty-one died on the passage,
eight died after the capture, IS died in Charles,
ton, and 81 have died on board our frigate.
We received on board 27l of these 226 were
men and boys, 43 girls and women, and two
infants. Consequently 2l4 only remain, and
many of these, doubtless, will die before we
reach the coast. But one woman has died of
the whole lost-a fact illustrative Of the greater
fOEtitude Of the female sex Yet their number
being smaller, and our nation being gallant in
all cases, their treatment has been somewhat
better than that Of the men. Thus, 24I, or
considerably more than half of these poor crea-
lures, have died-a sad commentary on the
trafic, and paralleled perhaps only in the in
ternai trade OF Coolies 1t is poor apology
for the defective yet yaunted civilization Of
the times that human beings can be murdered
thus Wholesale, merely to crafty the bestial
eupidity Of the lowest knayes that disgrace the
great privilege Of human free agency :
" They are extremely filthy, and much pro.
fer nudity to dress. We have adopted the
plan Of having large hose turned on them
twice per week, with strong men at the en-
gine. They appear we'll enough satisfied with
the bath, but cannot, even by the Lash. which
we are compelled to employ freely, be made to
observe any other sanitory or decent habit 1t
requires good large crew Of men to keen the
spar deck, where they are located, clean.
When clothing was put on them in Charles
ton: OF which the negro slaves in the city con-
trlbuted several dray loads, they Immediately
tore II oH and rolled in the sand, and basksd in
the sun. ., r
II know but few cases in which they mani
fest any sympathy for one another except to
help scratch each others backs They give no
attention or sympathy whatsoever to the sick
AID dying When one is dead, the BODY NAV
he among them IN immdiate contact, yet unno-
ticed. But as soon as the soul has fled. thew
steal the blanket Of the deceased and most nm
ceremoniously proceed to appropriate his bread
spoon. and bag. During the process of bnriai
they never manifest the slightest concern. A
more stolid, brutslized, pitisble set Of beings I
never beheld '. -F7. o..
- Al OF them take medicine without word
of objection. yet whenever one sickens he ia
almost certain to die. We found them with
scuryy, diarrhea, and opthalmia, and relieved
very mach Of the former and latter They
have now also catarrh, ipauenza, scuryy. and
chronic diarrhea. 1t is wholly impossible 10
intelligently diagnose their symptoms, or 10
provide tor them as one could wish. We have
given them all the aid that money literally
expended and directed by intelligent Christian
sympathies could dictate. But they are set
OF poor. miserable beings, who will probably
soon relapse into their, old state. am salts
fed that they would have been much happier
rs slaves in America; but the curse would be
upon us, for slavery always operates far more
tsadYautageeusly on the white owners than
on tho Ne gtoee lnemselVes ..-. eu1 Z