Nathan Clifford, The Slavers(Reindeer) — Opinion of the Court
“ Doubt cannot be entertained that the evidence of guilty purpose, from the inception of the voyage to the time when the vessel was compelled by stress of weather to sail for Newport, is abundantly sufficient to overcome every presumption of innocence to which any such voyage can be entitled, and to establish the truth of the charges under consideration as contained in the libel. ”
Nathan Clifford, The Slavers(Reindeer) — Opinion of the Court
“ Parties who have not appealed, are not entitled to be heard in this court, except in support of the decree in the court below. They cannot ask for a reversal in the appellate court, and consequently the only questions really before the court are those presented by the appellants as attaching creditors of the owner of the vessel. Appeal not having been taken by the claimant of the cargo, he must be understood as having acquiesced in the correctness of the decree entered by the Circuit Court; and it has already been stated that the owner of the vessel never made any claim. ”
Nathan Clifford, The Slavers(Reindeer) — Opinion of the Court
“ That the vessel being owned by a citizen of the United States, was by him at the time aforesaid, for himself as owner, fitted, equipped, loaded, and prepared in the port of New York, for the purpose of procuring negroes, mulattoes, or persons of color, from some foreign kingdom, place, or country, to be transported to some other port or place, to be held, sold, or otherwise disposed of as slaves, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided. ”
