Seward to Lord Lyons, on March 22, 1862, it is said that the last slave-smuggler was the Wanderer, already described. Possibly-in fact, very likely— small parties were brought over from Cuba after she landed her cargo, but she was the last regular slaveship to come to our coasts. The blockade of the Confederate ports by the Federal ships, however, in 1861 ended all slave-smuggling here. Nevertheless the smuggling of slaves into the Spanish colonies in America was carried on for a long time after our civil war ended. The trade is called smuggling because during all the weary years after 1820-the weary years during which so many negroes were thrown overboard that every wave of the sea in the Middle Passage became a mound over a body that had been tortured to death-during all those years the laws of Spain prohibited the traffic. Mr. Seward, in view of the fact that this infamous traffic has been carried on by persons resident in other countries, including the United States," was prepared to open negotiations for a convention with Her Majesty's Government that should be worthy of the civilizations of the age. The shams of previous administrations, and the clap-trap about the right of search and the sacredness of our flag, were to come to an end, and they did end in a treaty that was concluded at Washington on April 7, 1862. To give it effect, Congress made two appropriations of $900,000 each. The days when an American cruiser, out of fifteen months' service in the African squadron, would spend no more than fifteen days on the slave-coast, as really happened under the sham, were now at an end. The days when American naval officers were to go through the forms of executing the laws, while hampered by the Department, were also at an end. There were, indeed, slavers afloat thereafter. While the market existed, and such enormous profits were to be made, even the severest measures could, perhaps, but repress. By a treaty made with Great Britain on February 17, 1863, the limits of the territory wherein the mutual right of search existed were greatly extended. Even as late as 1870, Great Britain and the United States had to strengthen still further their agreement for the suppression of the trade, because a few slavers were yet on the high seas. It was not until about 1886 that the Spaniards (and some American citizens) ceased to own slaves in Cuba, but the slave-trade began its death throes-it for the first time felt a real strangling pressure on its throat-when this treaty was made. Detailed stories of some of the slavers owned in New York but trading to Cuba are to be had by the student in sufficient number. For instance, George Howe, M.D., told the story of his experience in "The Last Slave-Ship," in Scribner's Magazine for July, 1890. The story of how Appleton Oaksmith, written also Oaks Smith), the son of an honored poetess, disgraced his name by trying to get away for a slaver voyage in the whaler bark Augusta is told in Government documents. This is a particularly interesting story from the fact that Oaksmith was prosecuted by Mr. Stewart L. Woodford, late United States Minister to Spain, then just beginning his public career by serving as an assistant to the United States District Attorney in New York City. It brings the slave-trade close down to the present day, so to speak, when we re member that the well-known diplomat of 1898 began his public career by prosecuting a slaver. But all of these stories must be omitted in order to emphasize that of a slaver whose fate marked the end of the heinious traffic. In the summer of 1860, Captain Nathaniel Gordon, of the ship Erie, took his vessel to Havana and there completed an outfit for the slave-trade that he had begun buying in New York. Gordon was a citizen of Portland, Me., and had made already, it was said, three slave voyages. On leaving Havana he went directly to the Congo River, and sailed forty-five miles up into the interior. There he discharged a cargo of liquor, and having prepared his ship for her return cargo of slaves he came down near the mouth of the stream, where on the afternoon of August 7, 1860, he brought on board the slaves, and "thrust them, densely crowded, between the decks, and immediately set sail for Cuba." The slaves numbered eight hundred and ninety, of whom but one hundred and seventy-two were men. The women numbered one hundred and six, and the remainder were boys and girls. Gordon was one of those slavers who carried children because it was safer to carry them. They would but flinch and scream when he tortured them; they would never strike back. As it happened the United States warship Mohican was fifty miles off shore next morning, and the Erie, while crowding sail for Havana, was seen and captured. The negroes were taken to Liberia and landed, while the Erie and Gordon were sent to New York for trial. The ship was soon disposed of. She had been taken with the slaves on board, and even in 1860 |