St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1868-12-04
The Hanging Of Gordon. tie Stare
Trader.
BY EDWARD EVERETT HALE.
From the Atlantic Monthly for December.

From the Atlantic Monthly for December.
New York was the great centre where
the slavetraders of the world bought their
vessels. Havana was the great centre
where they laid their plans. Boston.
New Bedford. New London, Cadiz, Bar
celona. the Western Islands, and know
not where else. were the minor places i'll
the operation. The voyages were ar
ranged at Havana, the ships were partly
fitted in New York, thence they sLipped
to sea, picked up the rest OF thesr equip
mcnt and the right papers elsewhere il
New York would not answer, and brought
up on the Western Coast. ] have seen
the record which Mr.. Archibald, the
Engli-h Consul and Commissioner in
New York, kept of one hundred and
-eycnty-one of these vessels in three
years time. His secret agents boarded
them III New York Harbor. and described
them for him in detail, even down to
the brand of cigars which the captain
had in his cabin. Mr. Archibald sent
he description TO the Admiralty, an!
they TO the Coast. ''Let Inc 20 below
said an English officer, on board Shaver
in one of the African rivers. ''Iou 90
at your peril, said the captain brave il
the perfectly regular papers he had, i'll
the Stars and Stripes over his head, i'll
the new coat of paint he had taken at the
Western Islands, and i'll the fact, perhaps,
that, though he sailed a bark, lie was
now a brig "Iou 20 below at your
peril" Il will take the risk said the
/ Englshman Went below, .and found all
the slaveiittings, casks, cooking-stove,
/ hand-cuits and the rest, and OF course,
seized the vessel. The outwitted captain.
white with rage, ,swore between his clench
ed teeth, "Iou would not have known
me but for your bloody English Consul
in New York" Almost every man OF
the projectors was known to the English
government through this steady secret ser
vice. But they ali ran riot till Mr.. Lin
coin come in, and then one fine day one
Gordon was arrested for slave trading,
another day he was tried, and another
he was hanged
Yes, my friends, hc was hanged. |
know about what is called the sacredncss
of human life. For my part, L believe
a mans life is as sacred rs his liberty, and
no more SO. And believe when his
country requires either his life or
his liberty, she may use it, if She
takes the responsibility. In this case, |
am very glad my country took this re
-ponsibility. Whatever Gordon's life
may have been worth to him OF to his
friends, l think this country put it to Il
very good use when she hanged him. a
storm of protest was made against his
leath. Twenty-Five thousand people pc
titioned Abraham Lincoln to spare that
mans life, and Abraham Lincoln refused.
Gordon was hanged. And all through
he little ports and biz ports of the United
States it was known that a slave-trader
had been hanged. And, when that was
known, the American slave-tradc ended.
All up and down little African rivers
ihat you never heard the names o.. was
known that an American slave-trader
mad been hanged and cow"rdly pirates
trembled. and brave seaman checred,
when they heard it. Mothers ot!chlldrel
thanked such gods as they knew how tl
thank and slaves Shut up Iin barra-
coons, waiting for the voyage, got signal
i that something had happened which was
v to give them freedom. That something
: vas that Gordon was hanged. So fIr
| that little candle threw its beams.
: am told, and believe, that wher
/ that poor wretch was under sentence o
: death, his ''triends' kept him in liquor
5 to the moment of his death,-so anxiou:
-. were they lest he should complicate somC
n Of them by a confession. And when h'
) was dead they celebrated his death IN the
\ last great orgy of the slave-trade,-ln one
d drunken feast they held togeiher,-so
a rejoiced were they that they had escaped
0 his testimony. Such is the honor among
: thieves!