THE CONDITION OF THE SLAVE-TRADE—WANT OF SUITABLE CRUISERS—HEALTH OF THE VESSEL—NAVY SPIRIT RATION—PORTUGUESE COMMODORE—FRENCH COMMODORE—LOANDA—LETTER FROM SIR GEORGE JACKSON, BRITISH COMMISSIONER, ON THE STATE OF THE SLAVE-TRADE—RETURN TO PORTO PRAYA.
After parting company with the Portuguese vessel, the Perry ran down to Loanda, from whence a letter, dated the 17th of April, was addressed to a gentleman in a prominent station at Washington, communicating in effect the following views and information:
“The slave-trade has received an effectual check within the past year. Only one suspected American vessel has been seen on the south coast, since the capture of the Chatsworth.
“In a letter from Sir George Jackson, British commissioner at Loanda, addressed to Lord Palmerston, which was shown to the commander of the Perry, it is stated that the present state of the slave-trade arises from the activity of British cruisers, the co-operation of part of the American squadron on the southern coast within the year, and its capture of two or three slavers bearing the flag of that nation, together with the measures adopted by the Brazilian government; and also that it may be said that the trade on this southern coast is now confined to a few vessels bearing the Sardinian flag.
“The British commander-in-chief has expressed himself equally sanguine as to the state of the trade; and is of the opinion that the continued presence of our vessels, in co-operation with the English, will tend to depress, if not effectually break up the traffic.
“The impression was entertained previously to joining this squadron, that the orders of our government—giving such narrow latitude to the commanders—superadded to the difficulty of getting a slaver condemned in the United States courts, that had not slaves actually on board, were almost insuperable obstacles to the American squadron’s effecting any thing of consequence towards the suppression of this iniquitous traffic, or even preventing the use of our flag in the trade. But observation and experience have entirely changed these views, and led to the conclusion that if even the commodore had a small-sized steamer—which is here wanted more than on any other station—in which he might visit the cruisers at points along the line of the slave-coast, that we should no more hear of a slaver using the American flag, than we do now of his using the British flag. Notwithstanding our legal commerce here exceeds that of Great Britain or France, yet the United States have not had, for a period of more than two years previous to the arrival of this vessel, an American man-of-war, an American consul, or a public functionary of any kind, on the southern coast of Africa. In consequence, the slave-trade has been boldly carried on under the American flag, while American legal traders have been annoyed, both by the interferences of foreign cruisers at sea, and custom-house restrictions and exactions in port.
“Checked as the slave-trade is for the time being, if vigilant cruising were to be relaxed, or the coast left without a man-of-war, this trade would soon revive; and even if with Brazil it should be suppressed, then with Cuba it would break out, with greater virulence than ever, in the Bight of Benin. Hence the importance of well-appointed cruisers for its suppression, to say nothing of their agency in the vindication of our commercial rights in the protection of legal traders.
“Eight smaller vessels, carrying the same number of guns, two of which should be steamers, would not add materially to the expense, as coal at Loanda may be purchased at ten dollars the ton, while they would prove much more efficient than the vessels composing the present squadron. These cruisers might each be assigned two hundred miles of the slave-coast, having their provisions replenished by a store-ship and flag-steamer; and once during the cruise—which should never exceed twenty months—run into the trades, or to St. Helena, for the purpose of recruiting the health of officers and men. The health of the squadron under the present sanitary regulations, is as good as that on any other station. This vessel, although in constant and active service, with her boats, after cruising for the last sixteen months, has not had a death on board. The Perry has served out no grog; and if Congress would only do the navy in general the kindness to abolish the whisky ration, which is ‘evil, and only evil, and that continually,’ all men-of-war, in health, comfort, morals, discipline and efficiency, would be benefited. The climate has been urged as an objection to the continuance of the squadron. This, as has been shown, is a groundless objection; and were it not, it is an unmilitary objection, as the navy is bound to perform all service, irrespective of danger to health and life, which the honor and interests of the country require. It would be a reflection on the chivalry of the service, to suppose that the African squadron could not be well officered. Withdraw the squadrons on the coast of Africa, and not only would Liberia suffer materially, but the legal trade in ivory, gum-copal, palm-oil, copper and caoutchouc, now in process of development along the line of coast, would soon be broken up, and the entire coast handed over to the tender mercies of piratical slave-traders.”
Portuguese, English and French men-of-war were lying at Loanda. The Portuguese commodore had been uniformly attentive and courteous in official and social intercourse. The navy-yard was freely offered for the service of the vessel. One evening, on falling in with the commodore at sea, the Perry beat to quarters; and the first intimation given of the character of the vessel she met, was by the flag-ship running across her stern, and playing “Hail Columbia.” In the last interview, the commodore alluded to our correspondence with the British officers, and expressed his gratification at the results. The French commodore was an intelligent, active officer, whose squadron had made several captures. He often expressed the wish that the Perry would visit his friends, the Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and Mr. Bushnell, at the Gaboon Mission, whom he regarded as being, in all respects, highly creditable representatives of American benevolence and culture. The character of the intercourse with the British commissioner may be inferred from a letter to be introduced hereafter. The attentions of the British consul, and in particular his politeness in furnishing news and information from England, were highly appreciated. The agent of the large and respectable house in Salem, Massachusetts, extended a liberal hospitality to the American officers. The governor-general of the province of Angola was a distinguished general in the Portuguese service, and supported great state. He offered, in the complimentary style of his country, the palace and its contents to the officers of the Perry. Salutes had been exchanged with the garrison and all the commodores on the station. The attentions extended to a small cruiser, were the tribute paid to the only representative of a great and highly respected nation.
Loanda, with its seventeen thousand inhabitants, numerous fortifications, palace, churches and cathedral, its houses, many being of stone, spacious and substantial, standing as it does on an eminence, presents an impressive appearance, reminding one of a somewhat dilapidated Italian city; while the frequent passing of a palanquin, supported by two stout negroes, in which the movement is agreeably undulating, recalls the eastern luxury of locomotion. But the wealth and prosperity of Loanda have been dependent on the slave-trade. In the year eighteen hundred and forty-eight, the amount of goods entered for the legal trade, amounted to about ninety thousand dollars; and at the same time, there were smuggled goods for the purposes of the slave-trade, amounting to the sum of eight hundred thousand dollars.[10]
On the 17th of May, the Perry took final leave of St. Paul de Loanda, leaving a letter addressed to the commander of any U. S. cruiser on the coast, and receiving from the British commissioner, a letter expressing his views on the subject of the slave-trade, and of the agencies in operation for its suppression. After cruising a day or two off Ambriz, she bid adieu to the south African coast, and made all sail for the island of St. Helena.
The letter addressed to the commander of any U. S. cruiser, was to the following purport:
“Nothing has occurred to interrupt the cordial and harmonious co-operation with the British men-of-war, during the present cruise on the southern coast.
“The agent of the American House at Loanda asserts, that the presence of our cruisers has had a salutary effect upon his interests. Formerly there were many vexatious detentions in the clearance of vessels, prohibitions of visiting vessels, &c., which are now removed. Having no consul on the coast, he says that the interests of the House are liable to be jeopardized on frivolous pretexts, in case that a man-of-war is known to be withdrawn for any length of time.”
The letter of Sir George Jackson, the commissioner, received on leaving Loanda, says:
“I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, in which, referring to my official position and long residence here, you request my opinion on the past and present state of the slave-trade, and of the measures respectively adopted for its suppression.
“From the time I left your magnificent and interesting country, I have been mostly engaged as H. M. commissioner in the mixed courts at Sierra Leone, Rio de Janeiro, and for the last five years nearly, at this place; but in all that long period, the present is the first occasion when I could have answered your inquiry with any satisfaction. When you did me the honor of calling upon me, on your first arrival here, in March, 1850, I welcomed you with those feelings of pleasure, which the recollection of kindnesses received in your country will ever excite in my breast at the sight of an American; but I was far from anticipating those benefits, in a public point of view, in a cause in which we both take so deep an interest, which, I am happy to say, have resulted from your appearance, and that of other vessels of the U.S. Navy, on this coast, which soon followed you. During the four years preceding your arrival, I did not see, and scarcely heard of one single American officer on this station. The Marion and the Boxer did, indeed, if I recollect right, anchor once or twice in this harbor, but they made no stay in these parts. What was the consequence?
“The treaty of Washington proved almost a dead letter, as regarded one of the contracting parties. And the abuse of the American flag became too notorious, in promoting and abetting the slave-trade, to make it necessary for me to refer further to it—more particularly in addressing one who, himself, witnessed that abuse when at its height.
“The zeal and activity displayed by yourself and brother officers, and the seizures which were the results of them, at once changed the face of things. The actual loss which the traffic has sustained, and still more the dread of those further losses which they anticipated, on seeing the U. S. squadron prepared to confront them at those very haunts to which they had been accustomed to repair with impunity, and determined to vindicate the honor of their insulted flag, which they had too long been allowed to prostitute, struck terror into those miscreants on both sides of the Atlantic. And from the date of those very opportune captures, not a vessel illicitly assuming American colors has been seen on the coast; and, as it was upon the abuse of that flag, aided by the facility which the system of granting sea-letters afforded, that the slave-traders have mainly relied for the prosecution of their nefarious traffic, the suppression of that abuse by the joint exertions of Her Majesty’s squadron with that of the United States, has given a blow to the slave-trade which, combined with the change of policy on that subject on the part of the Brazilian government, will, I hope and believe, go far, if not to extinguish it altogether, at least very materially to circumscribe its operations.
“The effect of what I have above stated has, as you know, for some time past, shown itself very sensibly at this place: money is exceedingly scarce—slaves hardly find purchasers. Failures of men who have hitherto figured as among the chief merchants of this city, have already occurred, and others are anticipated, and a general want of confidence prevails.
“We must not, however, allow ourselves to be deceived either by our own too sanguine expectations, or the interested representations of others. The enemy is only defeated, not subdued; on the slightest relaxation on our part, he would rally, and the work would have to be commenced de novo. Nor, I should say, from my knowledge of the Brazils, must we reckon too confidently on the continuance of the measures which the Imperial Government appears now to be adopting. Giving the present administration every credit for sincerity and good intentions, we must not shut our eyes to the proofs, which have hitherto been so frequent and so overwhelming, of the power of the slave-trade interest in that country. We must act as if we still wanted the advantage of her co-operation; and in this view it is, that I cannot too forcibly insist on the absolute necessity of the continuation of our naval exertions, which, so far from being diminished, ought as far as possible, I conceive, to be still further increased, till this hideous hydra shall be finally and forever destroyed. Then when its last head shall be cut off, colonization, which till then, like other plans, can only be regarded as auxiliary to the great work, may step in and prosper, and commerce, dipping her wings in the gall of the slain monster, shall rise triumphant.
“It would not be becoming in me, in addressing an American citizen, to do more than to testify to the mischiefs occasioned by the system I have already alluded to, of granting sea-letters; but I should hope, upon due investigation it would be found very practicable to deny such letters to vessels sailing to the coast of Africa, without at all interfering with the interest or freedom of licit trade.
“I have thus, very imperfectly, I fear, complied with your request—purposely abstaining from a detailed recapitulation of those occurrences which, if they took place in these parts, you have yourself been an eye-witness to; or with which, if they happened in a more remote quarter, you have had opportunities of being made acquainted, from better sources than I can command.
“I cannot, however, quit this subject without indulging in a feeling of gratification, if not of exultation, at the singular coincidence, or rather, I should say, contrast, between my present employment, and that which occupied me for four years in the United States.
“I was then associated with your distinguished countryman, Langdon Cheeves, engaged in appraising the value of human beings like ourselves—regarded as mere goods and chattels. I have been since that time chiefly occupied in restoring that same unhappy class to freedom and to their natural rights, and in giving effect to that increasing and disinterested perseverance in this righteous cause, on the part of my government and country, which will form one of the brightest pages in its history. Glad am I to think that the United States are disposed to join heart and hand with Great Britain in so blessed an undertaking; and oh, that I could hear my ci-devant and much respected colleague sympathize with me in this feeling, and know that his powerful voice and energies were exerted in the same cause!”
The run of the Perry to St. Helena occupied eight days. On approaching the island it was distinctly seen at the distance of sixty-four miles. After making a short, but an exceedingly interesting visit, the vessel sailed, making a passage of nine days to Monrovia; and from thence proceeded to Porto Praya, arriving on the 30th of June.