be
attributed to them, but it is greatly to be lamented that this blemish
should in so great a degree nullify our endeavours."[35]

78. ~Responsibility of the Government.~ Not only did the government thus
negatively favor the slave-trade, but also many conscious, positive acts
must be attributed to a spirit hostile to the proper enforcement of the
slave-trade laws. In cases of doubt, when the law needed executive
interpretation, the decision was usually in favor of the looser
construction of the law; the trade from New Orleans to Mobile was, for
instance, declared not to be coastwise trade, and consequently, to the
joy of the Cuban smugglers, was left utterly free and unrestricted.[36]
After the conquest of Mexico, even vessels bound to California, by the
way of Cape Horn, were allowed to clear coastwise, thus giving our flag
to "the slave-pirates of the whole world."[37] Attorney-General Nelson
declared that the selling to a slave-trader of an American vessel, to be
delivered on the coast of Africa, was not aiding or abetting the
slave-trade.[38] So easy was it for slavers to sail that corruption
among officials was hinted at. "There is certainly a want of proper
vigilance at Havana," wrote Commander Perry in 1844, "and perhaps at the
ports of the United States;" and again, in the same year, "I cannot but
think that the custom-house authorities in the United States are not
sufficiently rigid in looking after vessels of suspicious
character."[39]

In the courts it was still next to impossible to secure the punishment
of the most notorious slave-trader. In 1847 a consul writes: "The slave
power in this city [i.e., Rio Janeiro] is extremely great, and a consul
doing his duty needs to be supported kindly and effectually at home. In
the case of the 'Fame,' where the vessel was diverted from the business
intended by her owners and employed in the slave trade--both of which
offences are punishable with death, if I rightly read the laws--I sent
home the two mates charged with these offences, for trial, the first
mate to Norfolk, the second mate to Philadelphia. What was done with the
first mate I know not. In the case of the man sent to Philadelphia, Mr.
Commissioner Kane states that a clear prima facie case is made out, and
then holds him to bail in the sum of _one thousand dollars_, which would
be paid by any slave trader in Rio, on the _presentation of a draft_. In
all this there is little encouragement for exertion."[40