THE CONDITION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE--WANT OF SUITABLE CRUISERS--HEALTH
OF THE VESSEL--NAVY SPIRIT RATION--PORTUGUESE COMMODORE--FRENCH
COMMODORE--LOANDA--LETTER FROM SIR GEORGE JACKSON, BRITISH
COMMISSIONER, ON THE STATE OF THE SLAVE-TRADE--RETURN TO PORTO PRAYA.
After parting company with the Portuguese vessel, the Perry ran down to
Loanda, from whence a letter, dated the 17th of April, was addressed
to a gentleman in a prominent station at Washington, communicating in
effect the following views and information:
“The slave-trade has received an effectual check within the past year.
Only one suspected American vessel has been seen on the south coast,
since the capture of the Chatsworth.
“In a letter from Sir George Jackson, British commissioner at Loanda,
addressed to Lord Palmerston, which was shown to the commander of the
Perry, it is stated that the present state of the slave-trade arises
from the activity of British cruisers, the co-operation of part of
the American squadron on the southern coast within the year, and
its capture of two or three slavers bearing the flag of that nation,
together with the measures adopted by the Brazilian government; and
also that it may be said that the trade on this southern coast is now
confined to a few vessels bearing the Sardinian flag.
“The British commander-in-chief has expressed himself equally sanguine
as to the state of the trade; and is of the opinion that the continued
presence of our vessels, in co-operation with the English, will tend to
depress, if not effectually break up the traffic.
“The impression was entertained previously to joining this squadron,
that the orders of our government--giving such narrow latitude to the
commanders--superadded to the difficulty of getting a slaver condemned
in the United States courts, that had not slaves actually on board,
were almost insuperable obstacles to the American squadron’s effecting
any thing of consequence towards the suppression of this iniquitous
traffic, or even preventing the use of our flag in the trade. But
observation and experience have entirely changed these views, and
led to the conclusion that if even the commodore had a small-sized
steamer--which is here wanted more than on any other station--in
which he might visit the cruisers at points along the line of the
slave-coast, that we should no more hear of a slaver using the American
flag, than we do now of his using the British flag. Notwithstanding
our legal commerce here exceeds that of Great Britain or France, yet
the United States have not had, for a period of more than two years
previous to the arrival of this vessel, an American man-of-war, an
American consul, or a public functionary of any kind, on the southern
coast of Africa. In consequence, the slave-trade has been boldly
carried on under the American flag, while American legal traders have
been annoyed, both by the interferences of foreign cruisers at sea, and
custom-house restrictions and exactions in port.
“Checked as the slave-trade is for the time being, if vigilant cruising
were to be relaxed, or the coast left without a man-of-war, this trade
would soon revive; and even if with Brazil it should be suppressed,
then with Cuba it would break out, with greater virulence than ever, in
the Bight of Benin. Hence the importance of well-appointed cruisers for
its suppression, to say nothing of their agency in the vindication of
our commercial rights in the protection of legal traders.
“Eight smaller vessels, carrying the same number of guns, two of which
should be steamers, would not add materially to the expense, as coal
at Loanda may be purchased at ten dollars the ton, while they would
prove much more efficient than the vessels composing the present
squadron. These cruisers might each be assigned two hundred miles of
the slave-coast, having their provisions replenished by a store-ship
and flag-steamer; and once during the cruise--which should never
exceed twenty months--run into the trades, or to St. Helena, for the
purpose of recruiting the health of officers and men. The health of the
squadron under the present sanitary regulations, is as good as that
on any other station. This vessel, although in constant and active
service, with her boats, after cruising for the last sixteen months,
has not had a death on board. The Perry has served out no grog; and if
Congress would only do the navy in general the kindness to abolish the
whisky ration, which is ‘evil, and only evil, and that continually,’
all men-of-war, in health, comfort, morals, discipline and efficiency,
would be benefited. The climate has been urged as an objection to the
continuance of the squadron. This, as has been shown, is a groundless
objection; and were it not, it is an unmilitary objection, as the navy
is bound to perform all service, irrespective of danger to health and
life, which the honor and interests of the country require. It would
be a reflection on the chivalry of the service, to suppose that the
African squadron could not be well officered. Withdraw the squadrons on
the coast of Africa, and not only would Liberia suffer materially, but
the legal trade in ivory, gum-copal, palm-oil, copper and caoutchouc,
now in process of development along the line of coast, would soon be
broken up, and the entire coast handed over to the tender mercies of
piratical slave-traders.”
Portuguese, English and French men-of-war were lying at Loanda. The
Portuguese commodore had been uniformly attentive and courteous in
official and social intercourse. The navy-yard was freely offered
for the service of the vessel. One evening, on falling in with the
commodore at sea, the Perry beat to quarters; and the first intimation
given of the character of the vessel she met, was by the flag-ship
running across her stern, and playing “Hail Columbia.” In the last
interview, the commodore alluded to our correspondence with the British
officers, and expressed his gratification at the results. The French
commodore was an intelligent, active officer, whose squadron had made
several captures. He often expressed the wish that the Perry would
visit his friends, the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Bushnell, at
the Gaboon Mission, whom he regarded as being, in all respects, highly
creditable representatives of American benevolence and culture. The
character of the intercourse with the British commissioner may be
inferred from a letter to be introduced hereafter. The attentions of
the British consul, and in particular his politeness in furnishing
news and information from England, were highly appreciated. The agent
of the large and respectable house in Salem, Massachusetts, extended a
liberal hospitality to the American officers. The governor-general of
the province of Angola was a distinguished general in the Portuguese
service, and supported great state. He offered, in the complimentary
style of his country, the palace and its contents to the officers of
the Perry. Salutes had been exchanged with the garrison and all the
commodores on the station. The attentions extended to a small cruiser,
were the tribute paid to the only representative of a great and highly
respected nation.
Loanda, with its seventeen thousand inhabitants, numerous
fortifications, palace, churches and cathedral, its houses, many
being of stone, spacious and substantial, standing as it does on
an eminence, presents an impressive appearance, reminding one of a
somewhat dilapidated Italian city; while the frequent passing of a
palanquin, supported by two stout negroes, in which the movement is
agreeably undulating, recalls the eastern luxury of locomotion. But the
wealth and prosperity of Loanda have been dependent on the slave-trade.
In the year eighteen hundred and forty-eight, the amount of goods
entered for the legal trade, amounted to about ninety thousand dollars;
and at the same time, there were smuggled goods for the purposes
of the slave-trade, amounting to the sum of eight hundred thousand
dollars.[10]
On the 17th of May, the Perry took final leave of St. Paul de Loanda,
leaving a letter addressed to the commander of any U. S. cruiser on the
coast, and receiving from the British commissioner, a letter expressing
his views on the subject of the slave-trade, and of the agencies in
operation for its suppression. After cruising a day or two off Ambriz,
she bid adieu to the south African coast, and made all sail for the
island of St. Helena.
The letter addressed to the commander of any U. S. cruiser, was to the
following purport:
“Nothing has occurred to interrupt the cordial and harmonious
co-operation with the British men-of-war, during the present cruise on
the southern coast.
“The agent of the American House at Loanda asserts, that the presence
of our cruisers has had a salutary effect upon his interests. Formerly
there were many vexatious detentions in the clearance of vessels,
prohibitions of visiting vessels, &c., which are now removed. Having no
consul on the coast, he says that the interests of the House are liable
to be jeopardized on frivolous pretexts, in case that a man-of-war is
known to be withdrawn for any length of time.”
The letter of Sir George Jackson, the commissioner, received on leaving
Loanda, says:
“I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
7th instant, in which, referring to my official position and long
residence here, you request my opinion on the past and present state
of the slave-trade, and of the measures respectively adopted for its
suppression.
“From the time I left your magnificent and interesting country, I have
been mostly engaged as H. M. commissioner in the mixed courts at Sierra
Leone, Rio de Janeiro, and for the last five years nearly, at this
place; but in all that long period, the present is the first occasion
when I could have answered your inquiry with any satisfaction. When you
did me the honor of calling upon me, on your first arrival here, in
March, 1850, I welcomed you with those feelings of pleasure, which the
recollection of kindnesses received in your country will ever excite in
my breast at the sight of an American; but I was far from anticipating
those benefits, in a public point of view, in a cause in which we both
take so deep an interest, which, I am happy to say, have resulted from
your appearance, and that of other vessels of the U.S. Navy, on this
coast, which soon followed you. During the four years preceding your
arrival, I did not see, and scarcely heard of one single American
officer on this station. The Marion and the Boxer did, indeed, if I
recollect right, anchor once or twice in this harbor, but they made no
stay in these parts. What was the consequence?
“The treaty of Washington proved almost a dead letter, as regarded
one of the contracting parties. And the abuse of the American flag
became too notorious, in promoting and abetting the slave-trade, to
make it necessary for me to refer further to it--more particularly in
addressing one who, himself, witnessed that abuse when at its height.
“The zeal and activity displayed by yourself and brother officers,
and the seizures which were the results of them, at once changed the
face of things. The actual loss which the traffic has sustained, and
still more the dread of those further losses which they anticipated,
on seeing the U. S. squadron prepared to confront them at those very
haunts to which they had been accustomed to repair with impunity,
and determined to vindicate the honor of their insulted flag, which
they had too long been allowed to prostitute, struck terror into
those miscreants on both sides of the Atlantic. And from the date
of those very opportune captures, not a vessel illicitly assuming
American colors has been seen on the coast; and, as it was upon the
abuse of that flag, aided by the facility which the system of granting
sea-letters afforded, that the slave-traders have mainly relied for
the prosecution of their nefarious traffic, the suppression of that
abuse by the joint exertions of Her Majesty’s squadron with that of
the United States, has given a blow to the slave-trade which, combined
with the change of policy on that subject on the part of the Brazilian
government, will, I hope and believe, go far, if not to extinguish it
altogether, at least very materially to circumscribe its operations.
“The effect of what I have above stated has, as you know, for some time
past, shown itself very sensibly at this place: money is exceedingly
scarce--slaves hardly find purchasers. Failures of men who have
hitherto figured as among the chief merchants of this city, have
already occurred, and others are anticipated, and a general want of
confidence prevails.
“We must not, however, allow ourselves to be deceived either by our own
too sanguine expectations, or the interested representations of others.
The enemy is only defeated, not subdued; on the slightest relaxation
on our part, he would rally, and the work would have to be commenced
_de novo_. Nor, I should say, from my knowledge of the Brazils, must
we reckon too confidently on the continuance of the measures which the
Imperial Government appears now to be adopting. Giving the present
administration every credit for sincerity and good intentions, we must
not shut our eyes to the proofs, which have hitherto been so frequent
and so overwhelming, of the power of the slave-trade interest in
that country. We must act as if we still wanted the advantage of her
co-operation; and in this view it is, that I cannot too forcibly insist
on the absolute necessity of the continuation of our naval exertions,
which, so far from being diminished, ought as far as possible, I
conceive, to be still further increased, till this hideous hydra shall
be finally and forever destroyed. Then when its last head shall be
cut off, colonization, which till then, like other plans, can only be
regarded as auxiliary to the great work, may step in and prosper, and
commerce, dipping her wings in the gall of the slain monster, shall
rise triumphant.
“It would not be becoming in me, in addressing an American citizen, to
do more than to testify to the mischiefs occasioned by the system I
have already alluded to, of granting sea-letters; but I should hope,
upon due investigation it would be found very practicable to deny such
letters to vessels sailing to the coast of Africa, without at all
interfering with the interest or freedom of licit trade.
“I have thus, very imperfectly, I fear, complied with your
request--purposely abstaining from a detailed recapitulation of those
occurrences which, if they took place in these parts, you have yourself
been an eye-witness to; or with which, if they happened in a more
remote quarter, you have had opportunities of being made acquainted,
from better sources than I can command.
“I cannot, however, quit this subject without indulging in a feeling
of gratification, if not of exultation, at the singular coincidence,
or rather, I should say, contrast, between my present employment, and
that which occupied me for four years in the United States.
“I was then associated with your distinguished countryman, Langdon
Cheeves, engaged in appraising the value of human beings like
ourselves--regarded as mere goods and chattels. I have been since that
time chiefly occupied in restoring that same unhappy class to freedom
and to their natural rights, and in giving effect to that increasing
and disinterested perseverance in this righteous cause, on the part of
my government and country, which will form one of the brightest pages
in its history. Glad am I to think that the United States are disposed
to join heart and hand with Great Britain in so blessed an undertaking;
and oh, that I could hear my _ci-devant_ and much respected colleague
sympathize with me in this feeling, and know that his powerful voice
and energies were exerted in the same cause!”
The run of the Perry to St. Helena occupied eight days. On approaching
the island it was distinctly seen at the distance of sixty-four miles.
After making a short, but an exceedingly interesting visit, the vessel
sailed, making a passage of nine days to Monrovia; and from thence
proceeded to Porto Praya, arriving on the 30th of June.
[10] Parliamentary reports, 1850. H. L. evidence.