Page:The American Slave Trade (Spears).djvu/223

 After the matter had been fully discussed, Lord Palmerston said that the slaves taken from the "Encomium" and the "Comet" had been unlawfully freed because when they came within British jurisdiction British law recognized property in human beings. Therefore they would be paid for. Those of the "Enterprise" arrived when British soil and water were free, and would not be paid for. This decision was made in 1837. From that year property in man, as a feature of international law, "ceased and determined for ever."

Nevertheless, the question was to come up again. On October 25, 1841, the "Creole", under the command of Captain Robert Ensor, sailed from Richmond, Va., bound for New Orleans, having on board three white men as passengers, with the wife and child and a niece of the captain. In the hold were one hundred and thirty-five slaves for the New Orleans market. Two days later the "Creole" cleared the Capes and thereafter had a prosperous voyage until Sunday evening, November 7, 1841, when she was within about twelve hours' sail of Nassau.

Among the slaves was a man named Madison Washington, who was of unusual character. He had fled from slavery in Virginia some time before that, and by the underground railway had safely reached the free soil of Canada. But when there he remembered his wife away back on the old plantation, and out of love for her had returned to carry her to freedom also. He reached the plantation in safety, but before he could get away with the wife he was caught by the planter.

In those days the fate of these runaways was settled in advance. They were whipped unmercifully and then sold for the New Orleans market. To the