“I regret that I am now to die in the belief that the useless sacrifice of themselves of the generation of 1776, to acquire self-government and happiness to their country, is to be thrown away, by the unwise and unworthy passions of their sons, and that my only consolation is to be that I shall not live to weep over it. If they would dispassionately weigh the blessings they will throw away against an abstract principle, more likely to be effected by union than by scission, they would pause before they would perpetrate this act of suicide on themselves, and of treason against the hopes of the world. To yourself, as the faithful advocate of the Union, I tender the offering of my high esteem and respect.” CHAPTER III ILLEGAL TRAFFIC IN SLAVES Legislation against habits which by an evolution of sentiment have become moral issues is always followed by flagrant violations, for men are usually loth to acquiesce in things which they consider a curtailment of their livelihood. For a century and a half, the slave traffic had been an immense source of revenue for a large class of citizens. Despite the constitutional prohibition, the imposition of heavy fines and the offer of large rewards, the traffic in negroes continued to flourish--nor was it carried on with any great degree of surreptitiousness. Vessels intended for this purpose were built with a reference to speed and were probably the fleetest craft afloat. In the early years of the Union the revenue and naval forces were necessarily small and the coast a vast and sparsely inhabited one. Algerian pirates called for a part of their strength, and their energies were again directed against the British in 1812; pirates harassed commerce off the South Atlantic States and in the Gulf of Mexico--Lafitte establishing a kingdom at Barataria, an island in the lower Mississippi, from which sailed many piratical expeditions, and where a brisk trade in slaves was carried on. Though our naval force seemed inadequate it had been singularly successful against these outside adversaries. These preoccupations seem scarcely sufficient excuse for the flourishing condition of the illegal traffic in slaves. Money, politics, and indifference appear to have been a trinity that glossed over rottenness then as now. Obscure harbors and lonely shores were not always the destination of these hell-craft, but they sailed to and from the principal seaport towns. With scarcely an exception they were fitted up by New Englanders and New Yorkers and manned by down-east seamen; Rhode Island led with Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York as close seconds. The West Indies and Brazil offered a market, and some found their way into Southern ports, where, through the co-operation of an equally criminal class of Southerners, the unfortunate, contraband humans were sold.