determined that the negroes should go free, and free they became, though nineteen of them, who were identified as active in the assault on the crew, were taken in custody on the charges of mutiny and murder preferred by the consul and the crew. But they were not replaced on the Creole.
To state the case of the slave-owners, we may quote the words of Henry Clay when he said that the Creole was carried to Nassau by "an act of mutiny and murder." and if the British authorities sanctioned "the enormity," "Americans would be virtually denied the benefits of the coastwise trade of their own country, because their vessels could not proceed in safety from one port to another with slaves on board." It is apparent that under the laws of the United States, as they then stood, Mr. Clay was entirely justified in what he said. But by the laws of Great Britain there was no such thing as property in man. "All men were born free," by her law, and the negroes who were held in slavery, contrary to their will, were justified in taking the lives of their masters in order to obtain their natural right. Having carried the brig into British waters, the slaves, under British laws, became free; and the result was that they all remained free except five who voluntarily continued the voyage to New Orleans.
It is perhaps worth mentioning here that Joshua R. Giddings, a member of the House from Ohio, prepared a number of resolutions on the subject in which he sustained the natural right of the negroes to liberty and to use force to obtain it. These resolutions he took to the House, introduced them, and gave notice that he would call them up for consideration. For
