New York Daily Tribune

The late high price of slaves in Cuba has given quite a new stimulus to the African slave trade; but the business is not without its risks. There have been of late an unusual number of captures on the coast of Cuba, and similar operations seem to be going on along the coast of Africa. Four slavers waiting for cargoes have recently been captured by one British cruiser, while another cruiser has released a cargo of slaves and burned the vessel on which they were embarked. The greatest difficulty which the English now encounter in the suppression of this trade is in the assumption of the American flag by the vessels engaged in it—vessels which, though American built, have lost by sale their American character. In fact, it is only by cooperation from this country, in furnishing vessels and supplies, that the business continues to be carried on. Here in New-York, we are happy to believe that the parties concerned in fitting out these vessels are mostly foreigners; but, according to a paragraph which is going the rounds of the papers, the vessels lately captured on the coast of Cuba were not only built with Eastern capital but had Eastern men on board when they were taken. Nothing would contribute more to the suppression of this infamous traffic than to bring in public notice the persons concerned in it. If these statements are true, the precise facts ought to be published. By whom were those vessels built, and by whom were they sold to the slave traders, and who were the Americans on board when they were captured? The efficacious American law, public opinion at least, may still be relied upon to treat and punish the guilty parties in the slave trade.