Rum and Slaves

Horowhenua Chronicle, 17 November 1916, Page 2

Rum and Slaves

uosmvs ANCIENT TRAiK. Students of Connecticut history will iind interest in the story recently pubI lishedi telling of a schooner bd!ng chartered in (Boston at a cost of 80, OOOdol for the purpose of transporting a cargo of rum to the west coast of Africa, isaye the (Hartford (United States of America) "Courant." This rather innocent announcement carries with it a familiar story to those who have delved into the early history of snlavery in the North ns well as in the South; for, strange as it may appear, rum and. slaves were quite closely connected in the good old days. Boston and Medford rum played, a prominent part in the development of slavery, and no matter how reluctantly we may recall the fact Northern rum had much to do with the extension of slavery in the South. This ind'dent recalls the fact that many people iii this State as well as in Boston not only made snug fortunes for themselves, but left good' estates for others to enjoy after them, by sending rum to Africa to be exchanged for slaves, and then selling the slaves to the planters in the "Southern States. It is even asserted 1 on goodi authority, and it has never been contradicted, that the saintly and brilliant President Stiles of Yale College once sent a barrel of rum to Africa to be exchanged for a slave. Tlrs happened when the Rev Mr Stiles was a pastor at Newport, B.I.; the exchange was made and the slave brought to him for his use. Slavery in those days was recognised in this State and it was not until 1784 that the first effective steps were taken to abolish the institution. It may surprise many of our readers to learn that at one time upward of 3000 negroes were held as slaves in Connecticut. Thei thrifty Boston

traders went further than the Connecticut men. They bought sugar from •J si ma. oa, turned it into rum at (Boston and Medford, sent the rum back to the west coast of Africa, and exchanged it for black men, whom they jammed) below decks, transported them to .Jamaica and then traded them for more sugar to be made into more rum to be traded for more slaves. And so tlie traffic continued. That th:s traffic was quite profitable and that the triangular method of dealing in sugar, rum and slaves founded some large Boston fortunes is only a matter of history. It is also recorded by wrdtfrs that Connecticut men previous to the eighteenth century accumulated handsome fortunes in selling slaves to planters on the States where slavery reached its great est growth. >S!ave traders were almost always ashamed of their vocation, the trade was usually carried on in a clandestine manner, and a steady agitation was earned on against the business. When the business of supplying slaves to the South reached a point in Boston where it had to be abandoned the shOps that were formerly used by the traders were turned into whaling vessels, and New Bedford reaped the benefit of the change. At one time tnere were as many as 106 large sailing vessels going out of 2s ew Bedford touching all parts of the world in quest of whales. This industry probably resulted in more actual profit to the shrewd whalers than the traffic in human bodies and ruin. While the slave trade is now as dead as witchcraft, it seems that the testis for Boston rum "still survives on the west coast of Africa. Perhaps it is. as one New York paper facetiously remarked the other day, the only reminder that Boston retains of the vanished glories of the days of her maritime supremacy.