The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1861-08-28

f9fm tie Rroetpille %. ~ Reearasr.
NNI MIANLE 2 s. AGR

fFEm the HF0cEDtlie u " ReSsTaeT.
THE MIDDLE PASSAGE.
Much has been written da9oriptive Of the horrors
OF the slave trade, and the gueriugs of the slave
curing the middle pRssege--that is, between the
shipment snd delivery of the live cargo. Little is
said, however, Of the sutfeTinEs Of emigrants on
their way from ports in the Old World to ports in
the New World. Silence on this head does not
ARISE from any want of cases deserving severe CEN
sure. Money, "the root of all evil" is TOO potent
and that which officials and portion Of the press,
toe, we fear, should condemn, is passed over in
silence, and thus vice and injustice perpetuated,
because se-n terest whispers that it Is better not
10 interfere.
Last week, in company with another gentleman
we visited a poor widow who, with five children,
had taken passage in the Culloden from Liverpool
to quebec. " hen we saw her she was at the Grand
Trunk depot, waiting the departure of the Brock
vile and Ottawa train, her destination being Penn
broke, near which her own parents reside From
TINS woman we learned that the Cuioden carried
between 500 and 400 passengers, among which were
number OF poor girls sent out by some Of the
IRISH Unions, several Of whom, if they follow viz
tuous ways hereafter, must do so from an innate
horror OF vice, the temptations to which thew were
| SUBJECT on shipboard being Of very trying de-
scrlpton, participated in, too by some of the Off
GERS of the ship. God help lone females during the
middle passage, when the ship is differed bv men
VINO care nothing for the purity and virtue OF their
| passengers.
As an instance OF the treatment received BIZ her
self, the poor woman stated that after being some
time at sea, her eldest boy, about niue or ten years
OF age, while on deck day, fell through an open
haichway (Which the emgrant agent had ordered
to be secured in LiverpOo) into the hold, and was
lifted up for dead; that he remained in an uncon-
sclous state for a number of days; that he
moved from her own charge, and she, the mother,
was not allowed to sec him; that the doctor never
| thoroughly examined the boy, and that at the end
of fourteen days, the first time the mouth was ex-
amined, II found that the tongue had been
nearly chewed through the mouth filed with
| blood, and the boy scarcely able to swallow a tea
! SDnDnful OF al tha
boy was given to her in such weak state to he
unable to walk, and consequently unfit to COM
mence long journey Of two or three hundred
miles, she herself having child at the breast and
three others to look after, with but little to
make her way to her destination, even though sup
| piled with line to MIR. Clemow at Ottawa to have
| her and her children forwarded to Pembroke.
The boy, when we saw him here, could not walk
half dozen steps without assistance and the acct
| dent having occurred through the negligence of
| the captain in not having the hatchway secured,
ought to have called forth some sympathy. The
poor mother should have been furnished with
| means to have the boy cared for, and attended to
on his journey to Pembroke. But no, the poor
| little sick boy was hurried forward among crowds
| of others, and the widowed mother left to battle
| her way in strange country, where no friend was
near to advise and help her in her trouble
| Another case of cruelty mentioned.
passenger, whose wife was unwell laid down in her
berth. Her husband laid himself down in the berth
| OF friend near her. One of the mates came down
and ordered the man out of the berth, although he
mad the sanction OF his friend for occupying it
The passenger told the mate this, and questioned
| his right to order him out under such crcum-
stances. The officer went on deck and brought
couple Of colored seamen down, dragged the passen-
ger out of the berth, carried him on deck, placed
him in irons, and kept him thus confined till the
following day. His wife, through fright occssoned
| by this treatment, prematureIy delivered
the child being either dead at birth or died soon
| after.
| The Government ought to issue strict orders to
| their enigraGt agents to inquire from the passen-
been done to them and if not, to bring the guilty
| to punishment. Especially should care be taken to
punish those who seek the ruin of poor, unfriendy
| females during the ''horrors'' of the "middle
| passage"