The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1864-06-04


The APgaelles Case.
l. All the nations of Christendom and
the Jeh. Davis conspiracy to bOOt) are now
| united in condemnation and Introduction of
| the overseas or African Slave-Trade.-
| By our laws, and those of most civilized
| nations, 1t Is denounced as Piracy, the
most heinous, abhorrent, execrable Of fel-
onies.
II. This country has honorably combined
with all the great maritime nations Of Eu-
rope in league which has for it's avowed
and sole end the extirpation of this infa-
nous traffic, and has, throughout the last
thirty or forty years, spent many millions
of dollars and sacrificed many precious
lives TO secure this end.
Ill. Spain, through her remaining Amer
lean possession, is the only existing refuge
of this inhuman trade. Her laws condemn
! it; her Government has bound itself by
| treaties to suppress it; yet slaves, TO the
average number Of some ten thousand per
| annum, are still clandestinely shipped
! from tie western coast Of Africa and run
| into one or another of the smaller ports of
Cuba, where theVare readily smuggled out
OF sight among eager. slaveholding plant
ers, through the purchased connivance of
| corrupt officials. 1t is currently understood
that the Governor General (for the time be-
| inGl of the island receives q doublOOn per
| head as hush-money for every slaveceo
landed, averaging $l7O,oO0 gross for each
year OK his administration. And this com.
plicity OF Spanish officials, including their
Chief, has been a subject of frequent and
just complaint from the Governments
earnestly seeking to extinguish the Slave
Trade.
| Nv. The late Governor General. Jose
Concha, notoriously held al least one hand
constantly behind his back for these bribes;
his successor in office, Gen. Dulce, endeav-
| n IN OF toi hat$a A,.l
SO great is the profit on buying slaves in
Africa at less than $50 per head. and selling
them in Cuba at $3.50. that the trade can
| never be broken up while ii shall continue
| TO be countenanced and connived at by the
Spanish officials ruling that island.
| V. Late last year, large British built
! steamship was taken to Cadiz, there trans
| ferred to Spanish owners. put under the
| Spanish flag, and cleared Tor the Spanish
| isle Of Fernando Po. on the African coast,
ostensibly for lawful commerce. But at
| Fernando Po she was rapidly cleared of
her cargo and crowded with slaves, some
twelve hundred in number, with which
she made all speed for Cuba, landing them
last November on the coast of the district
| whereof Col. Jose Augustin Arguelles was
| Lieut.. Governor.
| vi. Col. Don Jose Augustin Arguelles
appears to have had turn for business
which would have distinguished the most
questionably, the slave traders supposed
| they had ''made the thing all right with
him, or they would have landed their cargo
| in some other district-the range for selec-
tioh being by no means narrow. But he
first cheated them by seizing their negroes
and denouncing their entry to the Govern
or General, whereby he earned and receiv-
ed a gratuity of fifteen thousand hard dol.
lars. Next, he sold to planters one hum
dred and forty of the negroes at 500 to
$3.50 per head, whereby he cleared over
$lOO, 600 mOfe-nOt greenbacks, but real,
hard Spanish dollars. And next he clear
ed himself, obtaining leave of absence for
twenty days in order to visit this city, whi-
fther he pretended that he was coming with
intent to buy the Spanish journal, La Gro
MICA. ,As =.
VII. I.Arguelles had covered his tracks
pretty well, though not well enough. He
had bribetl the priest of Colon to Sell him
| the official register of his parish, which he
| brought away or destroyed, and to substi
tute for tt forged one, recording the death
and burial of the one hundred and forty
one Africans whom he had sold. But he
had not been long gone when the fraud
was somehow exploded; there was a gen.
eral row and diplomatic tangle; the up
shot Of all which was the tracking him TO
this city and his surrender and extradition,
| by order Of President Lincoln and Secre-
tary Seward, by whose direction Marshal
i Murray arrested and conveyed him to a
| Spanish vessel in the harbor, which at once
put of for Cuba. And there Col. Jose Au-
gustin Arguelles is very certain to be
| treated to new and striking lesson in the
art of selling officially dead negroes at
the rate Of 500 to $50 per head. e"A
Of course, we are glad the rascal is sure
of his deserts, and especially glad that
4 other ex otic scoundrels have received q
warning that q mere escape u this country
| will not secure them impunity in their
1 crimes. We have . good many more gen.
tlemen of his class sOjourning among US
1 already than we want, and would be happy
TO see the number safely diminished. And
Iyet-and yet-we should greatly prefer to
see these matters regulated by law than by
I executive dictum. We hold up both hands
for q law authorizing the President to ex-
trude and surrender fugitive felOns 1T his
discretion; but doing il without law il quite
another matter. Does Gov. Seward hap
pen to remember the case Of the Bambers7
IN. Y. Tribune. ~
II COLORADO TERRITORY SOON 10 BE THE
u STATE or CoLORADO.-Of the several new
States to be admitted into the Union, Col
4 orado il the one to which the loyal people
look with great confidence and hope. Here
has been the only Legislature in the nstion
without . single Copperhead to disgrace ita
habits. t4- Ha
\ That she will BE- ready to adopt the pro
vision Of the Enabling act forever prOhib-
iting slavery is without question, and q
this II the test ~ to whether she will enter
the loyal sisterho0d or moi, there can scarce.
tly be doubt that she will = once accept
the privilege. a ra4 ,a nE8 .4nsa ~
u Aside from the duty the loyal people o.