of the government apprehend such negroes, to avoid the penalties imposed by the laws, the proprietors disclaim them, and some agent of the executive demands a delivery of the same to him, who may employ them as he pleases, or effect a sale by way of a bond, for the restoration of the negroes when legally called on so to do; which bond, it is understood, is to be forfeited, as the amount of the bond is so much less than the value of the property....  There are many negroes ... recently introduced into this state and the Alabama territory, and which can be apprehended.  The undertaking would be great; but to be sensible that we shall possess your approbation, and that we are carrying the views and wishes of the government into execution, is all we wish, and it shall be done, independent of every personal consideration.

    I have, etc.[87]

This “approbation” failed to come to the zealous collector, and on the 5th of July he wrote that, “not being favored with a reply,” he has been obliged to deliver over to the governor’s agents ninety-one illegally imported Negroes.[88] Reports from other districts corroborate this testimony.  The collector at Mobile writes of strange proceedings on the part of the courts.[89] General D.B.  Mitchell, ex-governor of Georgia and United States Indian agent, after an investigation in 1821 by Attorney-General Wirt, was found “guilty of having prostituted his power, as agent for Indian affairs at the Creek agency, to the purpose of aiding and assisting in a conscious breach of the act of Congress of 1807, in prohibition of the slave trade—­and this from mercenary motives."[90] The indefatigable Collector Chew of New Orleans wrote to Washington that, “to put a stop to that traffic, a naval force suitable to those waters is indispensable,” and that “vast numbers of slaves will be introduced to an alarming extent, unless prompt and effectual measures are adopted by the general government."[91] Other collectors continually reported infractions, complaining that they could get no assistance from the citizens,[92] or plaintively asking the services of “one small cutter."[93]

Meantime, what was the response of the government to such representations, and what efforts were made to enforce the act?  A few unsystematic and spasmodic attempts are recorded.  In 1811 some special instructions were sent out,[94] and the President was authorized to seize Amelia Island.[95] Then came the war; and as late as November 15, 1818, in spite of the complaints of collectors, we find no revenue cutter on the Gulf coast.[96] During the years 1817 and 1818[97] some cruisers went there irregularly, but they were too large to be effective; and the partial suppression of the Amelia Island pirates was all that was accomplished.  On the whole, the efforts of the government lacked plan, energy, and often sincerity.  Some captures of slavers were made;[98] but, as the collector at Mobile wrote, anent certain cases, “this was owing rather to accident, than any well-timed arrangement.”  He adds:  “from the Chandalier Islands to the Perdido river, including the coast, and numerous other islands, we have only a small boat, with four men and an inspector, to oppose to the whole confederacy of smugglers and pirates."[99]