which could voluntarily isolate itself for near a lifetime amid the pestilential swamps of a burning climate, trafficking in human flesh, exciting wars, bribing and corrupting ignorant negroes; totally without society, amusement, excitement or change; living, from year to year, the same dull round of seasons and faces; without companionship, save that of men at war with law; cut loose from all ties except those which avarice formed among European outcasts who were willing to become satellites to such a luminary as Don Pedro? I have always replied to the question, that this African enigma puzzled me as well as those orderly and systematic persons, who would naturally be more shocked at the tastes and prolonged career of a resident slave-factor in the marshes of Gallinas.

"I heard many tales on the coast of Blanco's cruelty, but I doubt them quite as much as I do the stories of his pride and arrogance. I have heard it said that he shot a sailor for daring to ask him for permission to light his cigar at the puro of the Don. Upon another occasion, it is said that he was traveling the beach some distance from Gallinas, near the island of Sherboro, where he was unknown, when he approached a native hut for rest and refresh ment. The owner was squatted at the door, and, on being requested by Don Pedro to hand him fire to light his cigar, deliberately refused. In an instant Blanco drew back, seized a carbine from one of his attendants, and slew the negro on the spot. It is true that the narrator apologized for Don Pedro, by saying that to deny a Castilian fire for his tobacco was the gravest insult that can be offered him; yet, from my knowledge of the person in question, I cannot believe that he carried etiquette to so frightful a pitch, even among a class whose lives are considered of trifling value except in market. On several occasions, during our subsequent intimacy, I knew him to chastise with rods, even to the brink of death, servants who ventured to infringe the sacred limits of his seraglio. But, on the other hand, his generosity was proverbially ostentatious, not only among the natives, whom it was his interest to suborn, but to the whites who were in his employ, or needed his kindly succor. I have already alluded to his mental culture, which was decidedly soigné for a Spaniard of his original grade and time. His memory was remarkable. I remember one night, while several of his employés were striving unsuccessfully to repeat the Lord's prayer in Latin, upon which they had made a bet, that Don Pedro joined the party, and taking up the wager, went through the petition without. faltering. It was, indeed, a sad parody on prayer to hear its blessed accents fall perfectly from such lips on a bet; but when it was won, the slaver insisted on receiving the slave which was the stake, and immediately bestowed him in charity on a captain who had fallen into the clutches of a British cruiser!

"Such is a rude sketch of the great man-merchant of Africa, the Rothschild of slavery, whose bills on England, France, or the United States, were as good as gold in Sierra Leone and Monrovia !"

The great slave-mart of Gallinas has since been destroyed by the colonists and cruisers, as narrated in a subsequent chapter.

CHAPTER XIX.

OPERATIONS OF THE CRUISERS UNDER THE ASHBURTON TREATY.

The American Squadrons from 1847 to 1851.-More captures.-U. S. brig Perry-cruises off the southern coast.-Capture of a slaver with 800 slaves, by an English cruiser.— Abuses of the American flag.-The Lucy Ann captured.-Case of the Navarre.-Capture by the Perry of the Martha of New York-her condemnation.-Case of the Chatsworth of the Louisa Beaton.-The Chatsworth seized and sent to Baltimoreis condemned as a slaver.-State of the slave-trade on the southern coast.-Importance of the squadron.-The Brazilian slave-trade diminishes.

WE now return to the operations of the American cruisers. In 1847, the

sloop-of-war Jamestown proceeded to the African station, under Commodore Bolton, and the frigate United States was relieved. The year following, the commodore was relieved by the Yorktown, Commodore Cooper. In 1849, the squadron was assigned to Commodore Gregory, and consisted of the sloops-ofwar Portsmouth, John Adams, Dale, Yorktown, and the brigs Bainbridge, Porpoise and Perry. Three or four slavers were captured, and the entire coast closely watched.

In 1851, the Germantown, Commodore Lavalette, relieved Commodore Gregory. He made an active cruise for two years, when the frigate Constitution, Commodore Mayo, arrived to take command of the squadron, consisting of the sloops-of-war Marion and Dale and the brig Perry.

Of these squadrons, that of 1850 and 1851 contributed largely toward suppressing the trade and the abuses of the American flag. The efficient commander of the Perry, Andrew H. Foote, in his work entitled "Africa and the American Flag," published in 1854, has given the results of his cruising operations on the southern coast, a region seldom before visited by American cruisers. We are also indebted to his work for reliable information in regard to Liberia, the Maryland Colony, and other subjects connected with Africa.

The object of the cruise was "to protect the lawful commerce of the United States, and to prevent the flag and citizens thereof from being engaged in, the slave-trade, to carry out in good faith the treaty stipulations with England, and to act in concert with British cruisers, so far as instructions permitted.”

Information was received at Benguela, that five days previous to the arrival of the Perry, an English cruiser had captured, near this place, a brig, with eight hundred slaves on board. In this case, it appeared that the vessel came from Rio de Janeiro, under American colors and papers, with an American captain and crew; and had been, when on the coast, transferred to a Brazilian captain and crew, the Americans having gone on shore with the papers. The captured slaver was sent to the island of St. Helena for adjudication.

After remaining three days at Benguela, where neither fresh water nor provisions could be procured, the Perry weighed anchor and ran down the coast, examining all intermediate points and boarding several vessels during the

passage to Loanda. This city is the capital of Loango, and the most flourishing of the Portuguese establishments on the African coast.

In a letter announcing the arrival of the vessel, and her reception by the authorities, the Navy Department was informed that an English steamer had arrived, having recently captured a slaver, the bark Navarre, which had sailed from Rio de Janeiro to St. Catharine's, where she had fitted up for a slave cargo, and received a Brazilian captain and crew. When boarded by the English steamer, the slaver had American colors flying; and on being told by the commander that her papers were forged, and yet that he could not search the vessel, but must send her to an American cruiser, the captain then ordered the American colors to be hauled down, and the Brazilian to be hoisted, declaring that she was Brazilian property, sent the Brazilian captain and crew on deck, and gave up the vessel.

The commander of the Perry also informed the Navy Department that, soon after his arrival at Loanda, he had received from various sources information of the abuse of the American flag in connection with the slave-trade; and inclosed copies of letters and papers addressed to him by the British commissioner, and the commander of an English cruiser, which gave authentic information on the subject.

He suggested that as the legitimate commerce of the United States exceeded that of Great Britain and France, on the coast south of the equator, and the American flag had been used to cover the most extensive slave-trade, it would seem that the presence of one or two men-of-war, and the appointment of a consul, or some public functionary at that place, were desirable.

In reference to vessels ostensibly American, which had been engaged in the slave-trade, a British officer, on the 21st of March, 1850, in a letter inclosing a list of American vessels which had been boarded by the cruiser under his command, stated that all the vessels had afterwards taken slaves from the coast, and, with the exception of the "Lucy Ann,"* captured with five hundred slaves on board by a British steamer, had escaped. The registers, or sea-letters, of these vessels appeared to be genuine; and he being unable to detect any inaccuracies in their papers, his duty to the American flag had ceased. The vessels in his list had been boarded by himself; but the senior officer of the division was referred to, "who could give a list of many more, all of which would have been good prizes to an officer having the right of search; " for he was well assured that they went over to that coast, fully fitted and equipped for the slavetrade.

On the 25th of March, the commander requested the English captain to

The "Lucy Ann," when captured, was boarded fifty or sixty miles to leeward, or north of Loanda. She had an American flag flying, although her papers had been deposited in the consul's office at Rio. The English boarding officer, who was not allowed to see any papers, suspecting her character, prolonged his visit for some time. As he was about leaving the vessel, a cry or stifled groan was heard issuing from the hold. The main hatches were apparently forced up from below, although a boat was placed over them, and the heads of many people appeared. Five hundred and forty-seven slaves were found in the hold, almost in a state of suffocation. The master then hauled down the American flag, declared the vessel to be Brazilian, and gave her up.

give him a detailed account of the circumstances attending the capture of the bark Navarre, by her B. M. steamer Fire Fly.

He asked for this information, as the Navarre was boarded when under American colors, although displaying Brazilian colors when captured.

In reply, the English captain informed him that the slave bark Navarre, seized under the Brazilian flag, on the 19th instant, had the American ensign flying at the time she was boarded. The boarding officer having doubts of her nationality, in consequence of her papers not appearing to be regular, he himself, although ill at the time, considered it his duty to go on board, when, being convinced that her papers were false, he informed the person calling himself master of her, that it was his duty to send him to the American squadron, or in the event of not falling in with them, to New York. The master immediately went on deck and ordered the mate to haul down the American ensign to throw it overboard-and to hoist their proper colors. The American ensign was hauled down and thrown overboard by the mate, who immediately hoisted the Brazilian ensign. A man then came on deck from below, saying that he was captain of the vessel; that she was Brazilian property, and fully fitted for the slave-trade; which the person who first appeared acknowledged, stating that he himself was a Brazilian subject. Having obtained this from them in writing, the person who first called himself captain having signed it, and having had the signing of the document witnessed by two officers, he opened her hatches, found all the Brazilian crew below, slave-deck laid, water filled, provisions for the slaves, and slave-shackles.

On the 6th of June, 1850, at three o'clock in the afternoon, a large ship with two tiers of painted ports was made to windward, standing in for the land toward Ambriz. At four o'clock the chase was overhauled, having the name "Martha, New York," registered on her stern. The Perry had no colors flying. The ship, when in range of the guns, hoisted the American ensign, shortened sail, and backed her main-topsail. The first lieutenant, Mr. Rush, was sent to board her. As he was rounding her stern, the people on board observed, by the uniform of the boarding officer, that the vessel was an American cruiser. The ship then hauled down the American, and hoisted Brazilian colors. The officer went on board, and asked for papers and other proofs of nationality. The captain denied having papers, log, or any thing else. At this time something was thrown overboard, when another boat was sent from the Perry, and picked up the writing-desk of the captain, containing sundry papers and letters, identifying the captain as an American citizen; also indicating the owner of three-fifths of the vessel to be an American merchant, resident in Rio de Janeiro. After obtaining satisfactory proof that the ship Martha was a slaver, she was seized as a prize.

The captain at length admitted that the ship was fully equipped for the slave-trade. There were found on board the vessel one hundred and seventysix casks filled with water, containing from one hundred to one hundred and fifty gallons each; one hundred and fifty barrels of farina for slave-food; several sacks of beans; slave-deck laid; four iron boilers for cooking slave

provisions; iron bars, with the necessary wood-work, for securing slaves to the deck; four hundred spoons for feeding them; between thirty and forty muskets, and a written agreement between the owner and captain, with the receipt of the owner for two thousand milreis.

There being thirty-five persons on board this prize, many of whom were foreigners, it was deemed necessary to send a force of twenty-five men, with the first and second lieutenants, that the prize might be safely conducted to New York, for which place she took her departure that evening.

Soon after the Martha was discovered, she passed within hailing distance of an American brig, several miles ahead of the Perry, and asked the name of the cruiser astern; on being told, the captain, in despair, threw his trumpet on deck. But on a moment's reflection, as he afterwards stated, he concluded, notwithstanding, that she must be an English cruiser, not only from her appearance, but from the knowledge that the Perry had left for Porto Praya, and could not in the mean time have returned to that part of the coast. Therefore, finding when within gun-shot of the vessel, that he could not escape, and must show his colors, ran up the American ensign, intending under his nationality to avoid search and capture. The boarding-officer was received at the gangway by a Brazilian captain, who strongly insisted that the vessel was Brazilian property. But the officer, agreeably to an order received on leaving the Perry, to hold the ship to the nationality first indicated by her colors, proceeded in the search. In the mean time, the American captain, notwithstanding his guise as a sailor, being identified by another officer, was sent on board the Perry. He claimed that the vessel could not lawfully be subjected to search by an American man-of-war, while under Brazilian colors. But on being informed that he would be seized as a pirate for sailing without papers, even were he not a slaver, he admitted that she was on a slaving voyage; adding, that had he not fallen in with the Perry, he would, during the night, have shipped eighteen hundred slaves, and before daylight in the morning been clear of the coast.

Possession was immediately taken of the Martha, her crew put in irons, and both American and Brazilian captains, together with three or four cabin passengers, (probably slave-agents,) were given to understand that they would be. similarly served, in case of the slightest evidence of insubordination. The accounts of the prize crew were transferred, the vessel provisioned, and in twenty-four hours after her capture, the vessels exchanged three cheers, and the Martha bore away for New York.

She was condemned in the U. S. District Court. The captain was admitted to bail for the sum of five thousand dollars, which was afterwards reduced to three thousand he then escaped justice by its forfeiture. The American mate was sentenced to the penitentiary for the term of two years; and the foreigners, who had been sent to the United States on account of the moral effect, being regarded as beyond our jurisdiction, were discharged.

The writing-desk thrown overboard from the Martha, soon after she was boarded, contained sundry papers, making curious revelations of the agency of