73]

The method of introducing Negroes was simple. A slave smuggler says:
"After resting a few days at St. Augustine, ... I agreed to accompany
Diego on a land trip through the United States, where a _kaffle_ of
negroes was to precede us, for whose disposal the shrewd Portuguese had
already made arrangements with my uncle's consignees. I soon learned how
readily, and at what profits, the Florida negroes were sold into the
neighboring American States. The _kaffle_, under charge of negro
drivers, was to strike up the Escambia River, and thence cross the
boundary into Georgia, where some of our wild Africans were mixed with
various squads of native blacks, and driven inland, till sold off,
singly or by couples, on the road. At this period [1812], the United
States had declared the African slave trade illegal, and passed
stringent laws to prevent the importation of negroes; yet the Spanish
possessions were thriving on this inland exchange of negroes and
mulattoes; Florida was a sort of nursery for slave-breeders, and many
American citizens grew rich by trafficking in Guinea negroes, and
smuggling them continually, in small parties, through the southern
United States. At the time I mention, the business was a lively one,
owing to the war then going on between the States and England, and the
unsettled condition of affairs on the border."[74]

The Spanish flag continued to cover American slave-traders. The rapid
rise of privateering during the war was not caused solely by patriotic
motives; for many armed ships fitted out in the United States obtained a
thin Spanish disguise at Havana, and transported thousands of slaves to
Brazil and the West Indies. Sometimes all disguise was thrown aside, and
the American flag appeared on the slave coast, as in the cases of the
"Paz,"[75] the "Rebecca," the "Rosa"[76] (formerly the privateer
"Commodore Perry"), the "Dorset" of Baltimore,[77] and the "Saucy
Jack."[78] Governor McCarthy of Sierra Leone wrote, in 1817: "The slave
trade is carried on most vigorously by the Spaniards, Portuguese,
Americans and French. I have had it affirmed from several quarters, and
do believe it to be a fact, that there is a greater number of vessels
employed in that traffic than at any former period."[79]

62. ~Apathy of the Federal Government.~ The United States cruisers
succeeded now and then in capturing a slaver, like the "Eugene," which
was taken when within four miles of the New Orleans bar.[80] Pre