"[74]
The Spanish flag continued to cover American slave-traders. The rapid
rise of privateering during the war was not caused solely by patriotic
motives; for many armed ships fitted out in the United States obtained a
thin Spanish disguise at Havana, and transported thousands of slaves to
Brazil and the West Indies. Sometimes all disguise was thrown aside, and
the American flag appeared on the slave coast, as in the cases of the
"Paz,"[75] the "Rebecca," the "Rosa"[76] (formerly the privateer
"Commodore Perry"), the "Dorset" of Baltimore,[77] and the "Saucy
Jack."[78] Governor McCarthy of Sierra Leone wrote, in 1817: "The slave
trade is carried on most vigorously by the Spaniards, Portuguese,
Americans and French. I have had it affirmed from several quarters, and
do believe it to be a fact, that there is a greater number of vessels
employed in that traffic than at any former period."[79]
62. ~Apathy of the Federal Government.~ The United States cruisers
succeeded now and then in capturing a slaver, like the "Eugene," which
was taken when within four miles of the New Orleans bar.[80] President
Madison again, in 1816, urged Congress to act on account of the
"violations and evasions which, it is suggested, are chargeable on
unworthy citizens, who mingle in the slave trade under foreign flags,
and with foreign ports; and by collusive importations of slaves into the
United States, through adjoining ports and territories.
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