The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-07-22

slaves, and had been regularly bought, shipped,
and manacled, just in the regular way, as prsc-
ticed on the coast for many year.
The account the negroes gave of themselves
leaves, indeed, no doubt of the fact. The irons
with which they had been msnacled were on
board, and many of them retained the marks on
their wrists and ankles. They were about 20
10 all, but 100 had left before the EthiOpe fell
In with the ship. One of the men said that the
greater part had been brought down from the
interior, and bought by the Frenchmen in the
usual way. Others had gone on board as labor
ers, he himself among the number, and had
been suddenly seized. put in irons, and slowed
away In the hold. By these means were the
emlgrants obtained, who, but for the mutiny,
were destined to develop their faculties by
contact with civilization in the Island of Re-
union, late Bourbon. The account given by
them OF the massacre itself was, that it arose
from the cook stabbing one of the people who
had gone to the galley to get something to eat;
but there can be little doubt that the deed was
premeditated, and that the cooks violence, even
II true, was only the signal for rising.
Inc sequel OF this story is ridiculous enough,
and we only relate it as a specimen of the man
ner in which the chief OF the French naval
squadron on the West Coast of Africa interprets
international usages and respects foreign au-
thorities. Capt. Croft had been requested by
the French Consul to go and recapture the Re.
gina Cteli and be did SO; but M. Simon, the
captain of the lost ship, put off in an open boat
when he saw the Ethiope approach; and when
the Regina CGti was captured, he demanded
that she should be Immediately given up %
him, on the ground that she had never been out
of his possession, inasmuch as he was in the
neighborhood, end had moreover demanded %
men of the Liberan Government to help him
in the recovery. The answer naturally was, that
the Ethiope had captured the vessel, and must
have salvage. The French captain refused to
pay any, or come to any settlement, and, as the
Regina Cell had been taken into Monrovia, he
called on the French naval force to interfere,
and the last we hear of the matter is, that two
dispatches have been addressed to the President
of the Republic of Liberia, couched in the
phraseology of which Europe has lately had
more than one specimen. The demand is, that
captain Simon, of the French ship Regina
vessel illegally seized by the English packet
ship Ethiope, and brought into the roads of
Monrovia :" and, furthermore, that the MUIR
derers be sppreEendeG and delivered up.
1t will hardly be believed that it is desired
| also to make the EHiope responsible for the
damage which the rebeious slaves did on
board. But the style of the "Chief of the Staff
of the French Naval Division" is .he point most
worthy of attention. With Just scorn of so
plebeiau fuuctionary as the President of
Republic, he thus expresses himself: Il de
clare that the capture has been arbitrary ille-
gal, and valueless, and order that Captain Simon
be Immediately replaced in possession of his
ship. l also insist that the murderers of the
crew Of the Regina Cell be arrested and de-
livered to the commander of the ReRaudin"
This, however, is but pendant to the origi.
nal history, which is the mutiny of number of
kidnapped slaves, bought, carried on board,
chained in the usual way, and destined to be
transported to the French plantations under the
name Of voluntary emigrsnts." That the sys-
tenn is nothing more than the slave trade under
another name cannot be doubted. That the
immigration Of Africans and Asiatics into thin
ly-peopled colonies is desirable, we have always
upheld, and even this French scheme might
have been 30 worked as to be a blessing both
to Africa and the Antilles
The various races which have been intro
duced into the British possessions have of late
years prospered and been productive of pros
perity to the others. The Coolies in the Mauri-
thus and Demerara, the Chinese in Australia,
and even large bodies of Negroes introduced
into different islands, have had no reason to re-
greet the change in their lott and we hope that
this kind of emigration will continue and in
crease. But nothing is more likely to check
really healthy supply of labor than such nefa-
rions traffic as has now been exposed. We
trust tina. the French Government will no lon
ger hesitate to discountenance proceedings
which are able now to boast the Imperial ap-
probation.