[78] Dec. 4, 1852: _House Exec. Doc._, 32 Cong. 2 sess. I. pt. 2, No. 1, p. 293. [79] _Ibid._, 34 Cong. 1 sess. I. pt. 3, No. 1, p. 5. [80] _Ibid._, 34 Cong. 3 sess. I. pt. 2, No. 1, p. 407. [81] Commander Burgess to Commodore Wise, Whydah, Aug. 12, 1857: _Parliamentary Papers_, 1857-8, vol. LXI. _Slave Trade_, Class A, p. 136. [82] _House Exec. Doc._, 35 Cong. 1 sess. II. pt. 3, No. 2, p. 576. [83] _Ibid._, 35 Cong. 2 sess. II. pt. 1, No. 2, pp. 14-15, 31-33. [84] _Senate Exec. Doc._, 36 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 1, p. 24. The Report of the Secretary of the Navy, 1859, contains this ambiguous passage: "What the effect of breaking up the trade will be upon the United States or Cuba it is not necessary to inquire; certainly, under the laws of Congress and our treaty obligations, it is the duty of the executive government to see that our citizens shall not be engaged in it": _Ibid._, 36 Cong. 1 sess. III. No. 2, pp. 1138-9. [85] _Senate Exec. Doc._, 36 Cong. 2 sess. III. pt. 1, No. 1, pp. 8-9. [86] _Statutes at Large_, XII. 40. [87] _Confederate States of America Statutes at Large_, 1861, p. 15, Constitution, Art. 1, sect. 9, Sec.Sec. 1, 2. [88] From an intercepted circular despatch from J.P. Benjamin, "Secretary of State," addressed in this particular instance to Hon. L.Q.C. Lamar, "Commissioner, etc., St. Petersburg, Russia," and dated Richmond, Jan. 15, 1863; published in the _National Intelligencer_, March 31, 1863; cf. also the issues of Feb. 19, 1861, April 2, 3, 25, 1863; also published in the pamphlet, _The African Slave-Trade: The Secret Purpose_, etc. The editors vouch for its authenticity, and state it to be in Benjamin's own handwriting. [89] L.W. Spratt of South Carolina, in the _Southern Literary Messenger_, June, 1861, XXXII. 414, 420. Cf. also the Charleston _Mercury_, Feb. 13, 1861, and the _National Intelligencer_, Feb. 19, 1861. [90] Captain Gordon of the slaver "Erie;" condemned in the U.S. District Court for Southern New York in 1862. Cf. _Senate Exec. Doc._, 37 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 1, p. 13. [91] _Ibid._, pp. 453-4. [92] _Statutes at Large_, XII. 132, 219, 639; XIII. 424; XIV. 226, 415; XV. 58, 321. The sum of $250,000 was also appropriated to return the slaves on the "Wildfire": _Ibid._, XII. 40-41. [93] _Statutes at Large_, XII. 368-9. [94] _Senate Exec. Doc._, 37 Cong. 2 sess. I. No. 1, pp. 453-4. [95] _Statutes at Large_, XII. 531. [96] For a time not exceeding five years: _Ibid._, pp. 592-3. [97] By section 9 of an appropriation act for civil expenses, July 2, 1864: _Ibid._, XIII. 353. [98] British officers attested this: _Diplomatic Correspondence_, 1862, p. 285. [99] _Report of the Secretary of the Navy_, 1866; _House Exec. Doc._, 39 Cong. 2 sess. IV. p. 12.