The New York herald., 1872-11-14


step to attain that is to have thoroughly
competent Secretary of the Treasury.
The East African Slave Trade and
England.
England is just now deeply moved by the
daily revelations about the East African slave
trade, to which DR.. Livingstone letters have
called attention. With the laudable desire of
suppressing the horrible traffic in human
beings the English government proposed to
several European Powers the adoption Of con-
certed action in new crusade against slave
trading. For reasons unexplained the Powers
addressed refused to join England in the work.
while expressing deep sympathy with it's OBJ
ject. The cause Of this apparent contradiction
may, perhaps, be traced to the fact that Eng
land, by virtue Of treaty with the Sultan of
Zanzibar, has been the regulator or pro-
tector of the infamous traffic which DR.. Liv-
ingstone has so eloquently denounced. Now
that light has been let in on this dark spot, the
press of England as well as the government
make loud professions of their detestation Of a
scandalous traffic which has been carried on
of British officials without eliciting any Of the
hypocritical horror which is now professed
We shall not, however, look too closely into
the motives Of England if she will put down,
in the name Of humanity, the infamous and
accursed trading in the blood Of the wretched
Africans which is carried on at the very door
Of her dominions. The picture Of misery and
suffering which we gave few days ago in the
case Of the slave dhow captured bya British
cruiser has quickened the sentiment Of disgust
and detestation with which all right-thinking
men regard the abandoned wretches who for
sake of profit inaict such untold misery on
their fellow men. But, while we applaud the
action Of England in the East we demand
that she shall prove the sincerity of her pro-
fessions by putting down in the South Sea
slave traffic as infamous as that which is the
curse Of Africa. While English philanthro-
pists are making an exhibition of their
humanity, and denouncing with fervid elo-
quence The enormities c6hfmitted BY tie Arab
traders it is notorious that English ships,
cleared from British ports, authorized by the
officials of the British Crown, are fitted out
for 'labor cruises" in the Southern Sea.
What this euphemis,n 'labor cruise means
we may learn from the account of the trial Of
the captain and crew Of the brig Carl in
Sydney. This brig was seized at Levuka,
FIJI, by Her Majesty's war ship Cossack, on
the information of her owner certain
Mr.. Murray. This man had fitted
or,<k k1,o h,1t in Eol, a.,
natives was happily wounded. The avarice of
the captain and crew was excited, and they
neglected the owner in the hope that he would
die, SO that they might be able to take all the
profit Of the cruise. Having reached Levuka
the owner, in fit of resentment, turned
Queens evidence against the captain and crew.
The story, as he tells it, is one Of the most
shocking in the annals of crime. Sailing in
to the Solomon group the ''labor cruisers
anchored off Santa Anna. Numbers of peace
full natives came around in their canoes to
trade; suddenly the ruffians on board cast
heavy pieces Of iron into the frail canoes and
sunk them, picking up as many of the natives
as they could, and drowning quite large
number. This scene was repeated at every
anchorage. At Bourgainville they captured
seventy men in this manner, but these were
not willing to submit, and, attempting to escape
from the hold, the crew began an indiscrimi-
nate slaughter, firing down into the hold
until they had murdered seventy of
the captives and mortally wounded
twenty more. In the morning the bodies
Of the victims were cast into the
sea, and, horrible to relate, these British
sailors tied the feet of the wounded
men and cast them also into the sea with
their dead comrades. This is only tame
recital Of some of the facts sworn to in q
court of justice and supported by the damning
testimony furnished by the bullet marks and
blood stains in the ships hold. Such crimes
are the natural outcome of the system of
'labor cruising" which is permitted by British
law, and until this foul stain is wiped from
the English flag we hope that the English
orators and writer's will not waste all their elo-
quence in condemning the crimes of the Arab
slave dealers. Our government ought not to
remain an Idle spectator of the outrages against
humanity committed by the English slave
dealers in the Fiji group, and we would sug-
gest to General Grant the propriety of request
ing the assistance Of the European Powers in
suppressing the infamous traffic in blood
which England permits under the innocent
title of elabor cruising
President Thiers' Message.
The executive message of President
Thiers was received in the French Leg
islative Assembly and read to the men,
bers yesterday The main points Of the
important paper Of State reached us by
telegram from Paris last night, and