New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1886-09-01
Slavery in tho British Colonies.

slavery In tho British Colonies
From the New York Sun.
The awful story received in London
from the Solomon islands q few days
ago about the merciless butchery Of
the unfortunate natives who resisted
Mr.. Popham, agent Of the Queensland
government, and the crew Of the
steamer Dick, who were at the islands
in search of native apprentices, /"
confirms the stories told by American
ship captains and not denied by
British papers about slavery in the
British colonies. The return Of the
man-of-war Opal "to revenge the
death OF the white kidnappers, subject
to her gracious majesty, the queen.
and the Smelling of the native villages
and the great destruction of innocent
lives, forms another historic picture
quite as dark as any ever painted by
Don Pedro Blanco in the swamps at
Gallinas, on the west coast of Africa.
The worst feature of this slave
trade, carried on under the guise of
apprenticeship, is that the British
people know all about it. The crimes
against humanity that have been
committed by the crews of vessels
sent out to secure recruits" have
been detailed often in court reports
in British and colonial papers. A
case in point occurred in 1884. The
Queensland schooner Stanley, having
q cargo of recruits on board, was in
%ho lot nj 81 IS Lok
becalmed in latitude 60 south and
longitude 153 east. The Kanakas
were in charge OF Mr.. McMurdo, the
government agent. They had been
captured by force and fraud among
the islands. Alot of the unfortunate
blacks was sick, and their companions,
seeing their condition, tried to in
duce Mr.. McMurdo to take them
back to their homes by pitiful signs,
gestures and the offer of q shell arm.
let, the only thing of value they pos
sessed. They were scorned. Some
tried to jump overheard. They were
whipped. On July LIST strong breeze
came on from the southwest, and
Capt. Davies, the master of the vessel,
cracked on all sail and carried it un-
til the square sail blew out OF the
bolt ropes, and few minutes later
found his vessel hard on shore on the
spur OF the coralledge known as Indis-
pensable reef. There they were l16
souls, at the mercy of the first great
storm that should arise, many leagues
from any shore, and one small boat
at hand that might carry a dozen.
There they stayed, too, for fitty-three
long days. An attempt was made to
build raft.
The natives could not understand
the orders of the white men; the whites
could not understand the explana-
tions or the oral appeals for mercy of
the blacks. Some fell sick and could
not work and were fogged for obstina-
cy. An ordinary three tailed cat "did
not take hold right" as Mr.. McMurdo
said, and he had one with FIVE tails
braided with strips of lead in it. Six
OF the blacks were thrashed-one OF
them to death. The Others were
sprinkled on their bleeding backs with
the salt spray of the ocean. Food
and water gave out. The natives we're
put on an allowance of a pint of water
a day. These blacks ordinarily drink
gallon and half in twenty-four
hours. On the short allowance they
dropped, went mad and died.
Finally the Sydney trader Venture
hove in sight. Fortunately no great
storm had arisen. Such as remained
alive, including about eighty OF the re.
cruits in all, were taken on board, the
recruits to be sent to Queensland,
where thoy became the slaves for three
years at least Of brutal masters; the
white men to go through mockery
Of a trial for manslaughter. These
facts were brought out in the trial.
Thirty years ago British frigates pa
trolled the coast OF Africa to capture
Portuguese slavers, who were as harsh
to their victims as circumstances de-
manded and no harsher. The blacks
were crowded into the hold under
sealed matches, they were whipped,
they were tortured to death, but only
to enforce obedience and secure the
safety OF the white masters. That
was just about what happened on In
dispensable reef in July and August,
1884. But it was rare, almost an un-
heard-of thing, for the slavers of thir-
ty years ago to shell the villages Of
their victims, numbering women and
children in1iscrimin atalv