Page:The American Slave Trade (Spears).djvu/240

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CHAPTER XIX

LATTER-DAY SLAVE SMUGGLERS

Notable Slave-ships that Plied between the African Coast and the United States just before the Civil War — When the Wanderer Carried the Flag of the New York Yacht Club to the Congo — Troubles of a Smuggler as described in his Letter-book — A Movement for Legally Reopening the Slave-trade — Dream of a Slave Empire.

The most remarkable evidence regarding the smuggling of slaves into the United States in the decade before the civil war is found in a series of letters copied from the letter-book of Charles A. L. Lamar, a citizen of Savannah and a member of a family of high social position. These letters were rescued from a paper mill by an unnamed writer and printed in the North American Review for November, 1886.

The first letter referring to the slave-trade was dated on October 31, 1857, and was written to Lamar's father. It says:

“You need give yourself no uneasiness about the Africans and the Slave-trade. I was astonished at some of the remarks in your letter; they show that you have been imbued with something more than the ‘panic' by your associations North and with Mrs, ——,

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