In
this manner, machinery of somewhat clumsy build and varying pattern was
provided for the carrying out of the national act.
61. ~Evidence of the Continuance of the Trade.~ Undoubtedly, the Act of
1807 came very near being a dead letter. The testimony supporting this
view is voluminous. It consists of presidential messages, reports of
cabinet officers, letters of collectors of revenue, letters of district
attorneys, reports of committees of Congress, reports of naval
commanders, statements made on the floor of Congress, the testimony of
eye-witnesses, and the complaints of home and foreign anti-slavery
societies.
"When I was young," writes Mr. Fowler of Connecticut, "the slave-trade
was still carried on, by Connecticut shipmasters and Merchant
adventurers, for the supply of southern ports. This trade was carried
on by the consent of the Southern States, under the provisions of the
Federal Constitution, until 1808, and, after that time, clandestinely.
There was a good deal of conversation on the subject, in private
circles." Other States were said to be even more involved than
Connecticut.[69] The African Society of London estimated that, down to
1816, fifteen of the sixty thousand slaves annually taken from Africa
were shipped by Americans. "Notwithstanding the prohibitory act of
America, which was passed in 1807, ships bearing the American flag
continued to trade for slaves until 1809, when, in consequence of a
decision in the English prize appeal courts, which rendered American
slave ships liable to capture and condemnation, that flag suddenly
disappeared from the coast.
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