802 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

American State Trials

As the American passed by the sufferers, the Spaniard stopped and saved them. However, the prisoner's guilt must outweigh all these considerations. We cannot dispense mercy; that is the attribute of a higher power. You and I, gentlemen, are bound to do our duty according to the law, and we would be false to our oaths, our country, and our God if we were to shut our eyes to the force of the testimony before us.

The concluding part of the charge was very favorable to Portana, Velasquez, and Ferrer. No participation whatsoever, Judge Story remarked, was proven against Portana. The only circumstance against the second was the statement of Perez that he was with him (Perez) when the money was buried. The third, Ferrer, was evidently a servant and an African. Although set down in the ship's papers as free, that fact was by no means conclusive. Vessels going on a slaving voyage would never carry a native African with them as a slave because that circumstance would subject them to capture by the English or other cruisers. Therefore, there was every reason to believe that Ferrer, although described as a free black, was in reality a slave.

Judge Story, in the course of his charge, made the following remarks in relation to the slave trade. This inhuman traffic, he said, had long been the reproach of Christendom. It had been carried on with as much zeal by England and America as by the French and Spanish. Although Christianity had blessed us with its light for 1800 years, it was only very recently that this species of commerce had been wholly abolished. He could not agree with the remarks made by both counsel for the defense regarding the conduct of the United States in connection with this matter. The Constitution had never sanctioned the slave trade. It met an existing state of things, passed an act taxing the trade, and enabled Congress to prohibit it altogether at the expiration of 20 years. It did this in 1788, and in 1806 a prospective act was passed to take effect in January 1807, declaring the slave trade forever abolished in this country. He was not aware that the traffic had been carried on during the first 20 years.

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