Its place was almost instantaneously
supplied by the Spanish flag, which, with one or two exceptions, was now
seen for the first time on the African coast, engaged in covering the
slave trade. This sudden substitution of the Spanish for the American
flag seemed to confirm what was established in a variety of instances by
more direct testimony, that the slave trade, which now, for the first
time, assumed a Spanish dress, was in reality only the trade of other
nations in disguise."[70]
So notorious did the participation of Americans in the traffic become,
that President Madison informed Congress in his message, December 5,
1810, that "it appears that American citizens are instrumental in
carrying on a traffic in enslaved Africans, equally in violation of the
laws of humanity, and in defiance of those of their own country. The
same just and benevolent motives which produced the interdiction in
force against this criminal conduct, will doubtless be felt by Congress,
in devising further means of suppressing the evil."[71] The Secretary of
the Navy wrote the same year to Charleston, South Carolina: "I hear, not
without great concern, that the law prohibiting the importation of
slaves has been violated in frequent instances, near St. Mary's."[72]
Testimony as to violations of the law and suggestions for improving it
also came in from district attorneys.
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