For instance, in 1819 a Venezuelan privateer, secretly
fitted out and manned by Americans in Baltimore, succeeded in capturing
several American, Portuguese, and Spanish slavers, and appropriating the
slaves; being finally wrecked herself, she transferred her crew and
slaves to one of her prizes, the "Antelope," which was eventually
captured by a United States cruiser and the 280 Africans sent to
Georgia. After much litigation, the United States Supreme Court ordered
those captured from Spaniards to be surrendered, and the others to be
returned to Africa. By some mysterious process, only 139 Africans now
remained, 100 of whom were sent to Africa. The Spanish claimants of the
remaining thirty-nine sold them to a certain Mr. Wilde, who gave bond to
transport them out of the country. Finally, in December, 1827, there
came an innocent petition to Congress to _cancel this bond_.[149] A bill
to that effect passed and was approved, May 2, 1828,[150] and in
consequence these Africans remained as slaves in Georgia.
On the whole, it is plain that, although in the period from 1807 to 1820
Congress laid down broad lines of legislation sufficient, save in some
details, to suppress the African slave trade to America, yet the
execution of these laws was criminally lax. Moreover, by the facility
with which slavers could disguise their identity, it was possible for
them to escape even a vigorous enforcement of our laws.
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