Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1860-08-31
The African slave Trade.

\
/ Our readers have probably noticed the e:
Htrac@Iwhch we have several times in the la
few weeks taken from the Southern papers, al
nouncing the arrival at various places in Lot
isianas Alabama and Georgia. Of small bodie
81. native Africans 1t is. uudoubtealy til
aEast.tlat within the last three years the nun
ber who have been elanaestinely brought int
the United States largely exceeds the aggre
gate of those Who haze been introduced int
thesropntry duriqg the tFeVty1e or ithirty PFC
ceding years The aWanderer showed hoy
safely the State and Federal laws cou I'd be vi
plated. aud demonstrated The. compatibility Q
i Georgia gentlemaD's position with slave
traders occupations; PERSISTENT efforts to hav'
been made to rnevpcns Ia tIr South tralR,
which was long;ago abandoned and denoaDces
by all right-Iuinded men. That these attempt,
have been in a measure succ essfui is q mattel
to be deeply regretted. but il is perhaps still
more to be deplored that the Journals tc
which we have alluded should have comment
ed with snch complacency upon acts which
are 50 disgraceful in themselves, and fraught
with such dangerous Consequences. The di-
rect Importation. of African slaves has been
hibitions of the law as by the force of public
opinion. It is a difficult irnot impossible thing
FOR the government to guard the creeks and
bays of thinly settled coast which stretches
from Cape Hatteras to the Rio del Norte.
Nine times out of ten SLAYER which has es-
capped the cruisers on the coast of Africa can
land her captives npon the seaboard of any of
the Southern States, and what could be done
now could have been done with equal fa-
cility at any previous period. 1t is owing al
together to the honest disposition which the
South has steadily manifested TO put an end
forever to the debasing trade, that the saverS
have seldom or never until lately sought to
dispose of their cargoes in the United States.
Those who may be willing to engage in so
disgraceful business were we'll aware of the
hostility of the Southern people to it, and
they knew that even if they brought any con-
number of Africans safely into the
country, the hazard of detection and punish
ment was far greater on land than on sea. The
dangers of slave voyage were over when
ship touched the shores of Cuba, but the risks
incurred by such vessel were multiplied and
the moment she cast anchor in our
savages would have been increased at the at
tempt to revive trade so abhorrent to, the
people, and as much earnestness and alacrity
for its suppression would have been displayed !
1T the South as 10 the North. 1t is not to be |
cared that public opi,iion has latterly, in the
Cotton States at all events undergone a great /
,hange, and that the re-opening of the slave
rade would not be opposed now with the
anne unanimity that it would have been five
'ears since. The tone in which the subject is
reated by the press and by public men in
hat .seetfon, fatieE than by any direct advo-1
acy Of such proposition on their part. forces
sssse eorefusie',,- aseaa us--If we are not mis-
aiken upon this point, then the consequences
: such state of things can be readily pre-
icted He need not be a prophet to foretel
he result of a general and open toleratien of +
he slave trade in any Of the Southern States
hen men can participate so notoriously as
,alnar did in slave expedition, and still es-
ape conviction and when slave dealers can
ravel unmolested on Southern railways and
vers with gangs of unciviized negroes.
e may assume that the slave trade with AT
ca will be re-opened and as freely prosecuted
> Ia ieSdilZeu bS ACt Vi SOOSTeSS. T1OW Tu-
.ous to the Confederacy, and how disastrous
) the South itself, the Inauguration of such
olicy would prove it is unnecessary to point t
ut. The Middle States would oppose it as I
Utterly as the extreme North. Maryland t
ould, undoubtedly, manifest as uncnmpro- l
using a hostility to the revival of the 7
ave trade as Maine; and in or out of the c
Tnion, the States which regard the traffic Q
18th such just adherence, would combine Q
ith the civilized world to demand and enforce
S suppression. If the Southern people are a
'ue to themselves and to the country, they |
i'll check at once, and with spirit and deter
ination, the miserable adventurers who, for 5
'rdd gain, are compromising their honor and !
lcir safety. If the Southern press is wise it
ill refrain from recording so triumphantlv,
,currences which move the indignation and c
sgust of the vast majority of Southerners
lemselves. To defend the institution of sfa- T
cry as it exits and always has existed among
), is one thing, but to countenance the slave q
ade, directly or indirectly, is totally differ T
1t matter; and we sincerely hope that those q
ho seem disposed to advocate such propo-
lion will be so promptly repudiated in every 0
larter, that we may never be called upon to T
scvss the measure as one which is seriously i
emplated.-BaittmoUe american. le