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"Herald on Amistad Trial," New York Morning Herald, 21 Nov., 1839.
Amistad Trial
Hartford, Tuesday Evening,
Dear Sir: -- The plot begins to thicken, and the whole affair promises to become
very beautifully intricate and involved. There will be no opposition on the part
of the Spanish owners, but there are already parties enough on the spot and questions
enough raised to occupy the attention of the court for a fortnight, in the way the
lawyers have procrastinated the proceedings today.
First and foremost, the seven negroes are here, supported by three lawyers and three
dozen abolitionists, headed by Dr. Madden, J. Leavitt, and Professor Gibbs. They
claim, first, that they are free man and not property; and ought not to be held in
custody at all. They claim, further, that they were captured in New York and ought
to be taken there adjudicated.
Then Captain Henry Green is here, supported by Governor Ellsworth, with a claim for
salvage, founded on the fact of his having sold the Africans of the Amistad some
provisions before the capture by Lieutenant Meade.
Mr. Holabird, the District Attorney, is here, with a libel on the Amistad and cargo
in behalf of the government.
Senor Vega, the Spanish consul living at Boston, is here in behalf of the Spanish
government.
Two or three officers of the brig Washington are here, with a libel on the Amistad
and the slaves, claiming salvage for rescuing the property.
On the opening of the court at 10 o’clock this morning, the judge inquired if the
gentlemen were ready to go on with the case. There was a considerable pause, each
party seeming reluctant to move. At length Mr. Baldwin, the counsel for the blacks,
offered a plea against the jurisdiction of the court. The plea set forth that the
blacks were natives of Africa, and were not and never had been slaves, and ought
to be dismissed; and further, that the Amistad was seized in the waters of New York,
and not liable to trial here. The plea stated generally the facts alleged by the
friends of the blacks, in respect to the circumstances connected with the purchase
and shipment of the negroes at Havana.
Mr. Isham, one of the counsel for the officers of the brig Washington, the libellants
of the vessel and slaves, objected to the reception of the plea on the ground that
the real parties in the case were Messers. Ruiz and Montez, the owners of the slaves,
and the libellants. Lieutenant Gedney and the other claimants for salvage asked of
the owners pay for saving their property.
Mr. Baldwin replied that the claim of the gentleman was most extraordinary. These
individuals are held in custody as property, and the libellant comes into court and
asks pay for seizing and reducing these men again to bondage, as for a meritorious
act. Although the gentlemen who ask for salvage, claim it on the ground that these
persons are property, we are not allowed to prove the contrary. What will be the
consequence of this course? If they are not found to be property, they must be immediately
discharged, as it is not pretended that they are criminals. If we cannot show that
they are not property, then their most sacred rights are violated. They must be allowed
to show that their arrest was unjust, illegal and cruel . We can have no redress
unless this course is permitted to us. The whole proceedings against the Africans
are founded on the libel of Lieut. Gedney, and if they cannot interpose a plea to
the jurisdiction of the court here, it cannot be done at all, and if not, their rights
must inevitably be sacrificed. These individuals stand before this court, precisely
in the light of the subjects of any other nation.
Mr. Isham, said that there was no question between the claimants for salvage, and
the Spanish owners of the slaves. Ruiz and Montez admit that these men are slaves
-- are property, and the libellants ask to be paid for saving them. The counsel for
the Africans have nothing to do with it.
The District Attorney suggested that it was not competent for the counsel for the
Africans to interpose a plea, as they were not the defendants in the case, and no
third person could put in a plea under any circumstances.
Mr. Baldwin, rejoined -- if the gentlemen hope to avoid a hearing on the merits of
this case, by interposing these technical objections, they will find themselves mistaken.
They must and will be discussed, and the courts of this country must hear them. They
cannot avoid it.
The judge said the plea would be received, but the only question permitted to be
discussed, would be the locality of the capture of the Amistad. The Court was not
aware that the plea required any answer.
If it does, said Mr. Isham, we traverse every thing -- we deny that there are any
negroes or any schooner, or any thing else.
Mr. Green, of Sagharbor, was called to prove the position of the schooner at the
time of the capture. He swore that that vessel was only 30 rods from the shore, and
he swore to several other queer things before he finished. He affirmed thart Bannah
spake English so that he could readily understand him, and told him that there were
400 doubloons in the trunk found on shore.
Uriah Meade testified to precisely the same facts which he had affirmed to on the
previous trial, touching the position of the Amistad, and the circumstances of the
capture, and which have been before published.
Dr. Sharp, surgeon of the Washington, corroborated the evidence of Lieutenant Meade;
and Capt. Mather, of the cutter, and the collector of the Port of New London, who
went down to examine the locality , agreed that the schooner must have been at least
one hundred and twenty rods from the shore.
The District Attorney here introduced Bannah in order to show that the testimony
of Green was unworthy of credit.
The poor fellow was a good deal alarmed, but he became eventually pacified, and gave
pertinent answers to some of the questions. He recollected Green, but did not recollect
that he told him there were four hundred doubloons in the trunk, Every person who
heard the examination of the negro was satisfied that Green was blessed with a very
convenient memory. Bannah says he knew of three doubloons, and plenty white dollar
-- no more. He says Antonio, the cabin boy, gave him a little money to keep, and
he tied it up in a stocking.
The introduction of the black produced a great deal of merriment in the court. The
crowd of spectators left their seats, and huddled around the witness, and it was
difficult to preserve order. Whenever a question was put to Bannah that he could
not comprehend, he would appeal to Antonio, who was present, and the abolitionists
would volunteer to help the matter out. We shall have some rare disclosures from
this fellow, if the abolitionists do not get an opportunity to tamper with him.
The testimony in respect to the locality of the Amistad at the time of the capture,
was not concluded when the court adjourned.
