"[143] In some cases, one man would smuggle in the Africans and
hide them in the woods; then his partner would "rob" him, and so all
trace be lost.[144] Perhaps 350 Africans were officially reported as
brought in contrary to law from 1818 to 1820: the absurdity of this
figure is apparent.[145] A circular letter to the marshals, in 1821,
brought reports of only a few well-known cases, like that of the
"General Ramirez;" the marshal of Louisiana had "no information."[146]
There appears to be little positive evidence of a large illicit
importation into the country for a decade after 1825. It is hardly
possible, however, considering the activity in the trade, that slaves
were not largely imported. Indeed, when we note how the laws were
continually broken in other respects, absence of evidence of petty
smuggling becomes presumptive evidence that collusive or tacit
understanding of officers and citizens allowed the trade to some
extent.[147] Finally, it must be noted that during all this time
scarcely a man suffered for participating in the trade, beyond the loss
of the Africans and, more rarely, of his ship. Red-handed slavers,
caught in the act and convicted, were too often, like La Coste of South
Carolina, the subjects of executive clemency.[148] In certain cases
there were those who even had the effrontery to ask Congress to cancel
their own laws.
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