Public Leger, Volume 1, Number 36, Richmond, Wayne County, 13 November 1824 — Page 1

PUBLIC LEGER.

[DUMBER M.]

rUHTtP AND PUBLISHED EVERT SATURDAY BT EDMUND S. BUXTON, Front street, opposite the Richmond Hotel. THfc PItK.K or THIS PAPER |, Tiro Dollars for fifty-two numbers, to be paid In advance; Two Dollars and fifty Cents if paid within (he year, r Three Dollars, if not paid be* fare (he expiration of the yaar*.—payment in ad* ranee being to t be mutual interest orboth partiee, that mode is solicited. I Jfo subscription taken for lets than sht months, and If tliscontinued nntil all arrearages are Ifniilnre to notify R discontinuance at tbe exnirajrfkionofthe time sobseribed for, trill be considered plm new engagement. Umw All Letter) to the Editor mutt have the pottage , the# uilt not he otteilMi TERMS OP ADVERTISING. (fifteen Hoes, or less, for three insertions One Dol* V lar—each continuance Twenty-fire cents. Larger advertisements in tbe same proportion. from the New-Tork Observer. STATE OP THE SLAVE TRADE. By the politeness of otfr correspondent in Liverpool, we have been favoured with uie eighteenth report of the directors of lie African Institution, read at the annual Meeting in London, on the 11th of May, pjLthii document contains full and recent pniaUigence respecting the Slave Trade in jail Wirt* of the world the following abstract Mitot be uninteresting to our readers. IlMweport commences with n brief view ■jfte present state of the trade under the ■■brent dags of Netherlands, Spain, PorBal, France, Sweden, and the United Kites. Netherlands.— ln December, 1832, a eatv was signed at Brussels, giving to ie British cruisers a right to seize Dutch lips, not only when they have slaves actuly on board, but when they are found in Stain limits, with an outfit and equipment fjnich show them to be intended for the (five Trade. This is an important con* efsion, as it will give the cruisers advanta* ;cs which are indispensable to their sue* ess. Notwithstanding, however the good isposjtipn manifested in ns treaty, the British commissioner at urinam complains that the Dutch author* ies are very far from being cordial in ieir efforts to abolish the trffiac. Slaves re still introduced in grent numbers into he colony of Surinam, and no efforts are iade to prevent it. “I cannot perceive, l ’ ays the commissioner, “in any of the Surihm officers of his Netherlands majesty, Ither civil or military,the slightest appearance of any peremptory orders in the &oij/We spirit of the treaty. So far from cordially co-operating with me, if any good ias been effected since I have been here, it ins been effected only by the most irksome >nd Continuous importunity oh my part. Spain.— The Spanish government have lassed a law that all captains, masters, and ilots of Spanish vessels, who purchase Heroes on the coUBt of Africa, or introduce tern into any part of the Spanish monarhy,or are found with slaveson board, shall eep their vessels and be sentenced to ten

tare hard labor on the public works.— otwithstanding this Inw however, the let(rs ofthe British commissioners at Havana learly show that nothing has been effecrnlly done to prevent the importation of aves into the island of Cuba. The exe* ution of the law is not committed to any articular department; no reward is oflerd to the informer, neither the judge nor nv one else derives any advantage from ringing offenders to punishment, while n the other hand almost every man in the land is interested in the continuation of ie contraband traffic* Under these cirumstences the law will probably remain mere dead letter. The commissioners :ate, that the representations which they aye made, upon various occasions, to the hies authority of the island, have been ntirely useless. “We have been always ell received,” they say, “aad redress, ns r as it was practicable,has been promised ut the illicit Slave Trade increases, and is aily carried on more systematically.” The importation’ of slaves into Cuba is hieflv effected under the French and Wtugues flags. But, notwithstanding he risk ß attending it, and the penal inflicions denounced against it, the Spanish flag Iso is still employed; “and in proportion o the risks,” says the report, “the desperate audacity of the criminals appears to ft ve increased. They go strongly armed, "and in capturing some of them there lia6 een a severe conflict with the British boats, “tended by the loss of lives, and involving loir of murder and piracy.” In six Spanish ships were condemned

-——* friendly to th 4 jjxßv pursuits or a An, rniENPLT to THOUOHT, AIVD TO r*AC*.”— Couper.

''■?' RICHMOND, imWE COUNTY, INDIANA, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1334.

for slave trading at Sierra Leone, aud In 1833, several more were detained by tbe British cruisers. Portuoal. —The Portuguese agreed siteral years since to confine their Slate Trade to that part of the African codd which lies south of the equator. Dari g the year 1823, however, thirteen sbn?ships, having on board upwards of t?pO slaves, were condemned at Sierra Leofie, for trading In slaves north of the line,—• Some of the cases Involved perjuries witm out end, and atrocities of the most outrage-* ous and revolting kind, and implicated in the guilt attending them, Portuguese functionaries on the coast of Africa of the very highest class. In tbe case of one vessel, It was fully proved that the Governor of Bissao was himself an interested participator in the illegal traffic; some of /the slaves being his property, and entered in the memoranda as shipped and recessed from his official residence. The examinations In this case developed the most cwnplicated tissue of fraudulent expedients ! for defeating tbe ends of justice; arming them, fabricated log*books, and schedules pointing out the bribes by which the connivance of the judge, Governor, &c. wVs to he secured at the port of discharge ru Brazil. The following case will serve aS an illustration of the cruelties to which the slaves were subjected: The Portuguese schooner boat, San Jose X-I la fa, belonging to a lady of Prince’s Island, the daughter of Gomez, formerly the Governor and still a member of the gover* ing Junta of that Island though only of the burden of seven tons, was sent to Calabar for slaves. Thirty slaves were purchased, and, having been put on board the boat, it made sail for Prince’s Island, But the voyage proved tedious; provisions began to fail, and the allowance of food was reduced to one yam daily for two slaves. At last the provision* and water wholly failed. Ten slaves perished; and the whole must have shared their fate, had not

4km ——c* Mt Weis tm €>wt*Jwr,wftel llHrffTg been six weeks at sea. The surviving slaves were in the most deplorable state of emaciation and wretchedness. Nor was this to be wondered at; for, besides their privations, they were manacled together, and cooped up in a vessel of only seven tons burden; having no shelter but what was afforded by the space between the water casks and the deck a space of seven inches! The British government have earnestly pressed upon Portugal the necessity of a more vigorous enforcement of her laws and treaties, hut apparently with little effect. Some new articles, similar to those adopted by Spain and the Netherlands, for enlarging the power of cruisers have been proposed, but they have not yet been rati* Brazil. —ln 1823,28,246 slaves were imported into Rio de laneiro alone, from the coast of Africa. The number embarked had been 31,240, —3,484 having died on the passage. In one vessel containing 492 slaves, 194 had died; in another,con* 1 tabling 631, 313 had died; in a third,containing 418, 215 had died; &c. &c. The number imported into Bahai, in the same year was upwards of 8,000. France.— The conduct of France in regard to the suppression of the Slave Trade is more hypocritical than that of Spain, and Portugal. For the sake of avoiding the charge of inhumanity, the government in their official communications,denounced the trade as odious and abominable, and profess to be sincerely and actively engaged in bringing offenders to punishments, while at the same time, it U perfectly obvious for their unwillingness to adopt reaily efficient measures that they are not cordial In their professions. The British ministers at Paris, in a remonstance to the French government, says, “It is clearly ascertained, by inquiries made on the spot, and on the adjacieftt coast by the British cruisers, that the number of slave cargoes taken out of the river Bonny, in a single year, amounted actually to 190; and a similar return from the river Calabar, for the like period, made a total for that river alone of 162.” The report blbo says, “It can show, that from the single port ofNantz,no fewer than 30 slave-ships were fitted out, in the course of only a few months of the year 1823, openly with scarcely an attempt at concealment, and with the fiill knowledge and participation of multitudes in that port! Abundant evidences is also furnished by the report that slave-ships under the French flag actually

swarm upon the African coast; that they carry on the trade there with perfect impunity being visit and evsro by French crol sera without molestation; and that in consequence of their immunity from British capture, they not only protect extensive interests properly French bat shelter the criminal adventures of other nations from punishment. Yesjn the face of these facts the French government professes to be sin* rerely endeavoring to suppress tbe SlaveTrade, arid in answer to remonstrances of the British government, tbe French minister the effrontery, to say, “these are only infractions, such as no government An altogether prevent; —-and perhaps I might not he impossible for me to discovr, even in England itself, more or less reent instances of this nature. The French ovemment has hewn neither less active nor h?s Severe than the English. The mcasres which it ha* twMFare such as it has j idged necessary to ensure, in the most eff sctoal manner, the execution of its own arihngements with regard to an object, the importance of which it duly appreciates.” In answer to the insinuation here thrown out respecting England, the report remarks, “notone instance of Slate-Trading under the English flag has been detected during the last ten years, while the instances of French Slave Trading have been absolutely innumerable” [to be concluded next week.]

Es tract from a “ Communication on the improvement of government, 1 * read before tbe American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, in presence of Gen. La Fayette By Crahlss 1.1GERSOLt. “Our enviable associate Gen. La Fayette has enjoyed the singular happiness of sharing their fortunes for the half centary of their existence. Disciple of Franklin, intimate of his legitimate successor, for many years the president of this society, who carried into the presidency of the country, the benevolent, economical, just and daataiw— mE-Akm philosophy.of the age—he has uniformly, under all vicisitudes in both worlds, maintained it from the first, till rewarded by the brilliant present: when part of his requital is a popular coronation, to which the triumph of old or any modern pageant bears but a faint resemblance. For cold and cheerless is bespoken and organized pomp. No spectacle is either physically or morally comparable in magnificence to that of a rejoicing nation. No government can rouse a people like their own awakening. No tr jasury can afford the means, no ordinance can produce the effects of the gratuitous ostentation of ati unanimous people. Amflrica does not forget the romantic forthcoming of the most generous consistent and heroic of the knights of the old world to the rescue of the new. Sh 6 has always dwelt delighted on the constancy of the nobleman who could renounce titles and wealth, for more historical and philanthropic honours; the commander renouncing power, who never shed a drop of blood for conquest or vain glory. She has often trembled, but never blushed, for her oriental champion, when tried by the alternate caresses and rage of the most terrific mobs, and imposing monarchs. She knows that his hospitable mansion was tbe shrine at which her citizens in France consecrated their faith in independence.

Thither did all her valiant youth retort, And from hit memory infinme their breasts To matchless valor, and adventures high. Invited to revisit the scenes of his first eminence, the very idolatry of the welcome abounds with redeeming characteristic! of self-government. A squadron of steamboats brought him to the shore. A steamboat of larger dimentions than the ships of war to which, in the time of Henry the Great, those of all the rest of Europe veiled their flags, has been a vehicle of his pleasures—emblematic of the enterprise, nobility, abundance, comfort and equality of the country which the last time our distinguished guest assisted at a meeting of this society, July, 1785, was poor, in debt, feeble and uncertain of its destiny. A population more numerous, homogeneous, and incomparably more intelligent than that of England, when Louis the Fourteenth with half a million of regular soldiers, was chased to the gardens of Versailles; better housed, clothed, and fed than any other; stand forth, in mass, more than ten million strong, covering 2,000 miles square of territory, a martial and a lofty nation, without any impulse of government, displaying their happiness, their strength aud their gratitude, by a national

[VOLUME /.]

jubilee to signalize the arrival of their guest. Tbe sons of sires whom be led to battle in calamitous resistance to a trifling tax are ready to lavish their last cent to make him welcome. An industrious pen* pie, who earn their daily bread by labour* suspend all occupation but rejoicing with him. His volantary escort consists of larger bodies of well equipped troops than could be raised throughout the revolution. Hundreds of thousands of enthusiasts, of all sexes, ages, and conditions, are daily and nightly thronged together in his train* without disorder, confusion, or crime.-- --" Lrantefi ami prous societies, the female sex, all ages, the church, the. professions* the Various trades, the swarms of innumerable schools, city corporations, tbe magistrates of four and twenty'sovereign states, and of the adult empire of their Unionall business laid aside—the courts of jus* tice shut—party and avarice, and every other passion hashed—from every pjiyftto dwelling and public edifice, pour put jto swell the perfectly placid and regulated current that heats upon its bosom. —Not a chieftain reeking from reckless victory, sparkling with the trophies of ruffian war* drenched with tears of blood, incensed by vulgar adulation—No: But a simple individual, without authority, power, patronage, or recent exploit, venerable with age, mellowed by misfortunes——who hat nothing hut his blessings to give in return* whose merits are remote recollections, whose magic is disinterestedness, —proved by a long fife of temperate consistency, to be worthy of this homage in the commemoration of Independence. The man of whom no instance is known of selfishness of dangerous abuse—whose sword itself wat the gift of the founder ofthe temple of concord—with such a man, as the representotive of their persecuted but triumphant cause, sedate and thinking people Uiyu vent to their enthusiasm. They raise nit® before the world as an image, & hear him through illumjtuateilxitie.fi and. wide!* cjuL flvHtea regions, all redolent with festivity and every device of hospitality and rintel“ tainment, where, when their independdhee was declared, there was little else fhgn wilderness and war.

It is the poetry of history —this popular congratulation. I|s most rational, and doubtless acceptable, the predominating essence, is its pure, spontaneous popularity. If a fault may be found, it is when tho American original is tinged by a mistaken mixture of European imitation, otherwise* the universal hallelujah of peace and prosperity, whose music is full ofthe finest moral. It will sound with encouragement and admonition along the vast spine of mountains that binds the American continents, from the frozen ’ ocean to the streights of Magellan. It will pervade the Pacific. It will cross the Atlantic.— Wheresoever it reaches, proclaiming independence;—startling enthroned monarches; reproaching how many that suf. vive dethroned 1 Not a child but must understand the lesson. Europe and America are covered with the wrecks of warlike potentates and principalities, unable* with prodigious means, to resist the storms* which the serene pilot ofthe rights of man has weathered with his little venture of despised integrity. ,• “Who that feels but shares the present benediction 1 Who that thinks hut appreciates its value! If this world's favour* have any price, what can exceed this reward! If there be any philosophy in history, what can teach like this! Cordial* glorious, and formidable, are the free sym[tathies of an independent nation. Cheer* ngis this national acclaim to Americawarning to Europe—full oi promise to mankind and posterity. It is the religion of Eolltics* proving the voice of the people to e the voice of God.” _ INFORMATION WANTED, OF THOMAS G. ROBERTSON who acted as Clerk for the suhsoriberm Richmond He cam* from Vergennes, in the state of Vermont,to the we*lern country, olid for tome time acted a* a schoolmaster in Burlington, Kv. he was recommended hf Lewi* Riddle, Esq. to W. D. Jones, Esq. ai\d Mr. Thomas Matthewsof Cincinnati, ami by them to the subscriber. A suit is depending between John Scott and the subscriber, in the Circuit Court of Wavue county, in which his testimony will he of importance- If he should tee this advertisement and come to this place, all his Menses will be pniA by the subscriber. Any person giving the subscriber information of him, will confer a Invor. JAMES MAGUIRE. Richmond,lndiana, Oct. S3, .9M. Mw (ws-The Reporter, Lexinstoni Louisville Advos* ti*r Frankfort Argus ( Cincinnati Advertiser, Village Register; Western Censor, and the Indiana Rak public;.*,, will pleosc insert the above three tua% and *eu4 their accents to this oflke.