officer, reached the deck, but Rush said that the ship had made herself a legal prize as a pirate by throwing away her papers. The writing-desk had been picked up and its contents discovered meantime. The American captain, though disguised as a common sailor, was identified. He finally admitted that she was a slaver and that she was to have taken on board 1,800 slaves that night.
The Martha and all her crew were sent to New York, where the ship was condemned. Her captain was released on $3,000 bail, which he at once forfeited. The mate was not well taken care of by the slavers, for he was sent to prison for two years.
The farce which our courts played regularly in those days was exhibited in this case, for the percentage payable to the slaver captain on an ordinary cargo of slaves landed — say four hundred — was $12,000. Rarely, if ever, was a greater bail than $5,000 exacted.
And it is to be further noted that when Foote captured the Martha he had "her crew put in irons," but "both American and Brazilian captains, together with three or four cabin passengers [probably slaveagents] were given to understand that they would be similarly served in case of the slightest evidence of insubordination!" They lived in the cabin.
Foote declares that the yellow fever, that has carried off its tens of thousands of white men, was generated from dead slaves in the slavers at Rio de Janeiro in 1849. He is right beyond question. It is a fact that may even now give us pause. The sufferings of the slaves were avenged on the white race with merciless severity. There is a universal law of compensation.
