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"The Africans." New York Morning Herald, 21 Oct., 1839: 2.
The Africans
New Haven, Oct. 17
DEAR SIR:--The contest respecting the Africans of the Amistad, is now narrowed down
to a single point. The only question is, whether they are slaves according
to the laws of Spain. The decision of Judge Thompson, that it was competent for the
Spaniards to show properly in the negroes, put an end to all the minor vexations
and embarrassing questions with which the Abolitionists sought to surround the matter,
and left it free from all difficulty, and susceptible to easy and satisfactory adjustment
by the District Court. The Spanish owners have gone to Havana after evidence to show
that they have a legally acquired title Negroes as property; and the Abolitionists
are laboring with might and main in the hope of collecting testimony to prove them
free men, who were introduced into Havana, in violation of the laws of Spain,
and reduced to bondage in the face of the express prohibition of the Queen. This
is the simple point at issue, and all the efforts of the parties litigant are directed
to it.
The Abolitionists have three interpreters--the two Coveys from the Buzzard, and one
named John Gerry, who was at Hartford during the trial--engaged in obtaining the
statements of the negroes. They all have now been subjected to an examination, and
the interpreters have had tact enough to make their several stories corroborate with
each other in most of the prominent and material facts. But it is apparent to an
unprejudiced observer, that the answers of the negroes are framed to suit the views
or wishes of the interrogator, without reference to the truth. They concur in stating
that they were embarked in the same vessel from Lambro, but their accounts of the
voyage, and the subsequent transactions, are confused and unsatisfactory. In fact,
the best interpreter, Covey, speaks English so imperfectly that Gerry is frequently
required to interpret his lingo, and by the time the speech is done into intelligible
English, it has lost its original character entirely. I doubt very much whether any
of their stories are to be depended upon at all. They frequently contradict each
other and themselves and very soon become weary of the examination, and answer carelessly
and at random.
During the examination of Sinqua, it became necessary to take his deposition, and
Professor Gibbs undertook to ascertain whether the fellow understood the nature of
an oath. He was asked whether he knew that there was a God. Sinqua replied, “No--I
don’t know any thing about it--I never saw him.”--The query was put in a different
shape several times, with a similar result; but after a number of leading questions,
the interrogatory was put in this form, “Don’t God know whether you tell truth or
falsehood?” To this he replied in the affirmative, and the oath was administered.
Garrah, or as most of the savages pronounce it, Grobah, gives a different
account of himself, and tells a new story every time he is examined. He is a shrewd,
sharp fellow, and when he ascertains what answers are wanted, he shapes his replies
accordingly. He told me through the interpreter that he came over from Africa in
a large vessel, with a great number of others, men, women and children. The vessel
was large, and the slaves had plenty of room. They were chained hand and foot. They
were fed abundantly with rice, but kept short of water. They frequently had more
rice given them than they wanted, but they were flogged if they did not eat it all.
The vessel was about three months in reaching Havana. He says the cook of L’Amistad
told them they were to be killed and eaten, and they killed him to save their own
lives. The negroes did not know which of the three white men was the Captain of the
Amistad, and they intended to kill them all in order to be sure of the right one.
Garrah says he likes the people of this country much, but he wishes, after learning
the English language a little better, to go to Sierra Leone. He was asked
why he was pleased with the people here, and his reply was, because they loved God,
and had no slaves. This was Covey’s interpretation, reinterpreted by
John Gerry. Now, when it is considered that this savage cannot speak or understand
a single word of English, except tobac and how do? and that he has
no conception of a Deity, the reader can form his own opinion of the correctness
of the interpretation, and the degree of credence that is to be given to the representations
of the blacks, obtained in this roundabout way.
Garrah and Kimbo were examined at the same time, and at first they seemed
disposed to answer directly and without equivocation; but they soon discovered what
was expected by the abolitionists, and it was curious to observe their artful management.
They affected to misunderstand the question, and made irrelevant replies. When interrogated
respecting the murder of the cook and captain, although they had both previously
spoken of the circumstances with perfect freedom, they soon took the cue from
the different questions put to them by several gentlemen, and both said positively
and peremptorily that they were asleep at the time of the revolt, and knew nothing
of the transaction. When pressed on this point by those who do not enter into all
the views of the abolitionists they became incommunicative and sulky, and Kimbo stalked
out of the room, muttering and grumbling. Garrah started to follow, saying he wanted
his dinner. Col. Pendleton said he had eaten his dinner not an hour before. The savage
said he had eaten two dinners, but he wanted three, and no information
could be extracted from him.
I mention these unimportant and apparently trifling details, in order to support
the view I have taken, that evidence of any kind can be manufactured from
the negroes; and to caution the public against attaching too much importance to their
representations.
