Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-08-14
WHOLE NO. 67O:

tuition. shall never forget his manner aDd ap.
pearance he assured me he was old, that the 10.
/ luence Of Mr.. Webster was great; that the con:
| test would occtpy yeers Of severe labor that hs
could not expect to live long enough to get the pub
lie attention turned to It. drew up a series OF
resolutions ON the subject, stating what believed
to he the established law Of Stations, and the con,
stitutonal duty resting upon Congress, to absfais
from uH support Of Mis slave trade. They were
prepared with much caution and .ethdy. They
were submitted to Mr.. lams, for his considera.
ton. He approved the n. | presented them to
this House. They may be found a. length on the
Journal of this body for the 2lst March. lo42.-
They denied in the most emphatic language the
right of the executive, or of Congress- or of ths
Government, to involve the people OF the fre9
States in war to maintain q commerce IN human
Hesh. To that doctrine | still adhere /; reiterste
the sentiment; | tell the President and the Sen.
ate that war IN support Of the slave trade either
1fTicdn or american, will not be sanctioned by the
people, by any civilized or Christian nation. .
The scenes which followed the presentation OF
my resolutions called public attention to the sub:
iect. The press spoke out the people reflected
a1d discussed the subject and t9e
q time the senate became silett In regard
to it. The British Minister ceased to be cajo!ed or
misled to the support Of this American slave
trade",F and for a time believed the downward
tendency of our Government toward its present
position was stayed Great Britain pursued q
steady and Christian course using her best Efforts
to suppress this commerce. She induced France,
and Russia. and Austria, and Prussia, to unite
with her in granting to the avmed vessels OF each
nation, while cruising within certain degteeo OF
latitude, the African coast, to search the sus
pected ships Of the others, for the purpose OF detect
ing those engaged in this pratical slavetrade Lord
Aberdeen appropriately styled it "a holy dhfatcf.
but our Government refused to become party to
this arrangement. and thereby brought upon itoclf
the well founded suspicion of encouraging the
slave trade. It was notorious among the nations
OF the earth that we were maintaining an Americdn
slave trade. Both were founded or denial of the
law of nature, the rights of humanity both rest,
ed upon the same inhdelity to God and to fnanEihd
All men saw, and all men TOW feel, that it is most
inconsistent for us to.man tain and encourage this
slave trade upon our own coast. and condemn as
pirates those engaged in the same trade dpan the
African coast.
Our present Secretary of State vFds then Minis.
ter at Paris, and he as representative 5 our Coy
ernment, wrote and spoke and used his entire lu'
huence against the qulntuple treaty referred toI
and as 1t became more generally known that we Ia
vored the 4frican well as American slave trade
pirates frequenting the African coast adopted our
flag as it wo uld protect them from search when
near the African coast
In July 1912 Lord Ashburton arrived in this city,
Minister Penipotentary Of the British Crown,
specially appointed and authorized to treat with
our Government on pending difficulties. Mr.
Webster, Secretary OF State, in his first of6cisl
communication with his Lordship, dated Augut
l, lS43 before alludiug to any other matters en-
tered into a long and elaborate arguments to in.
duce his L0rdship to enter into some treaty regu'
lations for securing those engaged in our Ameri-
can slave trade from sustaining loss when their
ships happen to be wrecked on British islands,
or driven by of weather into British ports,
lie mentioned the two cases of the Creole and
Enterprise, to which have referred and urged
tie proprety of making provision for securing
slave.dealers when thus unfortunate The propo-
siton, if adopted, would have been repeal of the
tenth article of the treaty of Ghent, by which
both Governments had hound themselves to ''uss
their best enaeayorS TO entirely abolish the trofc m
slares." 1t would have reversed that covenant.
and bound them TO use their best endeayors 70
support the traffic in slaves"
Thus Sir, our own records, the record6, Of
Great Britain, bear proof TO the efforts of our
nation, in favor of this traffic in slaves in favor
Of providing, by treaty stipulatiun for its permsS
nent protection and encouragement Would, sir.
that this record expunged from existence
hat this disgrace Of Our nation could be botted
from the moral universe. But thanks to Lord
thanks to the British nation for their
ldherance to christianity, and their resistance Of
this heathenish, barbarous commerce in the bod.
les of women and children. Lord Ashbrffcn re:
fused to enter upon such negotiation, ahd thereby
saved our nation from the proposed disgrace and
bringing the power of truth and Of Christianity TO-
bear upon Mr.. Webster, be obtained further stip'
uaton from our Government against this COM
ed in the treaty of Ghent.
But no sooner had this solemn covens been
entered into, than all other and collateral inhuen-
ces of the Executive were exerted for the protec-
on and encouragement of this African we'll %
American commerce.
All now present rccollect the case Of the Amis-
ted, the Spanish slave ship. Her cargo had been
imported from Africa in June lS40 for the Cuban
market. The Amistad took ftty-three of these
people on board at Havana, with the inten-
ion of carrying them TO Principe. on the
outh side Of that island. Those ignorant Afri.
ur Secretary of State, our Executive and of those
Spanish pirates and obaying the Divinity whirh
prompted each heart. they stood forth in the Dig
lity with which God clothed them. By the physl
cal power with which they were endowed, they
asserted their God given prerogatives of Liberty.
rhe Captain and cook endeavored 10 carry out the
doctrine of our Senate but the negroesJ By the
lin light of their own normal natures. pronounced
he men who attempted to enforce such doctrinee,
,irdteS and the captain and cook we're trlsd, coa
emned, and executed in less time than have 90:
upied in relating the incident They then took
,ossesaion of the ship, sent the crew on Shore and
rected the two slave dealers whom they retaihed
o navigate the ship tc!Nfrica They were betrayed,
he pirates directing the ships course to our own
hore,
AS soon as they came Within tire iurisdictioh' OF
he United States, they Wero GrTesfe9 BY authority
# the Government-lnstead I'd Of being Hospitality
entertained, they were placed on trial. and the
spanish pirates SET free. The Executive. with all
hese facts before him, senta national ship of war
o the coast Of Connecticut, with orders to take
bese victims of the African slave trade on Board
!, the earliest possible moment aftsf ths court
hodid refuse to give them their liberty, and to
transport them bach to Cuba at the expense Of
ur people and delirey them OUSr TO The pirates
,ho claimed Mtm.
But thanks to our Judiciary. it had not then be-
ONE so corrupt as to declare that "Africans Hare
o ,iqhis that aohae men are b6a,td To- respect"
hey ordered the African sgt free;' and the
xecutive was defeated. But Mr.. Polk Me-
ierce and MI Buchanan have had the consuu,
ate elirontcry repeatedly to advise Congre.s to
those Spanish pirates from the pockets
tFor fourteen years. claims Government IN bshAf
the slave Enterprise Creole
But