The Daily Union

THE SLAVER,

In the Boston Atlas we find the subjoined letter from an officer of the Truxton, giving the particulars of the Spitfire's capture:

"U. S. BRIG TRUXTON,

"Off Sierra Leone River,

"March 29, 1845.

"Here we are in tow of her Britannic Majesty's steamer Ardent, with an American schooner our prize, and a Spanish brigantine, prize to the steamer captured in the Rio Pongas, one hundred miles to the northward. We had good information, when we left Monrovia, that there was a vessel in the Ponga, waiting a cargo; and on our arrival off the river, finding an English man-of-war steamer, arrangements were made to send a combined boat expedition to make captures for both vessels. They proceeded about fifty miles from the anchorage outside the bar, carrying English colors all the way. On coming in sight our little schooner ran up the American ensign to protect herself from any suspicion, when our own boats, after running alongside of her, changed their ensigns and produced the stripes and stars, much to the astonishment of those on board. She proved to be the Spitfire, of New Orleans, and ran a cargo of slaves from the same place last year--of only about 100 tons--but though of so small a size, stowed 346 negroes, and landed near Matanzas, Cuba, 339.

"Between her decks, where the slaves are packed, there is not room enough for a man to sit, unless inclining his head forward. Their food, half a pint of rice per day, with one pint of water. No one can imagine the sufferings of slaves on their passage across, unless the conveyances in which they are taken can be examined. Our friend had none on board, but his cargo of 300 were ready in a barracoon waiting a good opportunity to start. A good hearty negro costs but twenty dollars, or thereabout, and is purchased for rum, powder, tobacco, cloth, &c. They bring from three to four hundred dollars in Cuba. The English are doing everything in their power to prevent the slave trade, and keep a force of thirty vessels on this coast, all actively cruising. This large force is to be very much increased shortly.

"April 4th.--Our prize is all ready, and sails for Boston to-morrow under charge of Lieut. Reid, with all the necessary papers and documents to condemn her. I am glad that the ice has been broken, and that we have been the ship to do it.

"I have been frequently on shore here, and received every attention from the people--I mean the white residents. We are all well on board, including all those who were engaged in the boat expedition.

"It was expected that many would be taken down; but our good fortune has sent us here during the healthiest season of the year, and we have been favored every way since our arrival on the coast. We leave to-morrow also for the Cape de Verds, and a pleasure excursion among the Canary islands, returning to port Praya in fifty days from our departure. We are in great hopes that we have seen the last of the coast, as all are heartily tired of it and anxious to go home. Our prize may hasten us, as we believe the captain intends to defend himself."

Public attention being thus again drawn to the slave trade, and the manner in which it is carried on, some interest may attach to various items of intelligence which we are enabled to supply, having before us the Sierra Leone Watchman of February 19.

The first article under the editorial head refers to the case of the schooner Enganador, which was captured near the close of the last year by the British sloop of war Growler, having 300 slaves on board. When captured she had neither flag nor papers to show her nationality; but was represented to be Spanish. But it was ascertained that she had for some years been sailing out of Sierra Leone as the Sherbro', and belonged to a resident of that colony--one Daniel Coker. This man nominally sold her to one Thomas Caulker, by whom she was immediately transferred to a noted slave dealer at Sea-bar, named Luiz. No doubt was entertained that the sale to Caulker was merely a blind, and that Coker knew, when he made the sale, that Luiz was to be the real purchaser.

Among the negroes found on board the Enganador were three who had been formerly liberated from a slave vessel and taken to Sierra Leone; and their depositions are given, showing how they were again reduced to slavery. From these it appears that after living several years at Sierra Leone they were kidnapped, within the bounds of that colony itself, and sold to Luiz.

It is added that the slave traders at Sea-bar and in the river Gallinas had been much emboldened by the prosecution of Capt. Denman, in England, for his summary destruction of sundry barracoons, and openly asserted their determination to seek redress in the English courts if they were again molested in their operations.

Next follows a letter from the Rev. Wm. Raymond, the missionary who went from this country with the Africans of the Amistad. It is dated at the Mendi mission-house, Little Boon river, January 8, and gives a melancholy picture of Mr. Raymond's trials.

It seems that Mr. Raymond had been the bearer of a letter from the governor of Sierra Leone to the king of the Mendi country, by which that personage was greatly angered, as well as by various hostile demonstrations of the British against the slave establishments at Sea-bar; all which he imputed to the agency of Mr. Raymond. He said that if the English wanted to destroy the slave trade, they must destroy one half of Sierra Leone, for half of Sierra Leone was engaged in it, &c.

After much talk of this kind, in which the king inveighed bitterly against the English and their attempts to destroy the trade, he told Mr. Raymond that he must go, and finally gave him a written notification that he must "clear out" before the 7th of February.

This king bears the name of Henry Tucker, but it does not appear whether he is an African with an English name, or actually a white man. Mr. Raymond ascribes his conduct to the instigation of Luiz and other slave traders. His letter--which is addressed to the superintendent of the Wesleyan mission at Sierra Leone--asks for advice as to the course he had better pursue; whether he should go away or remain and trust to the aid he might receive from the men of war, &c.

The Watchman says that Commodore Jones had resolved to protect Mr. Raymond and suppress the traffic by all the means in his power; that he had burned the factory of Luiz at Sea-bar and several other establishments at Gallinas.

There is another letter from Mr. Raymond to his wife, but neither of them makes any mention of the Amistad Africans.