By accounts from New York, we learn that several American slave vessels have been captured by the United States cruizers on the coast of Africa. The following extract from the official letter of Commander Bell gives a frightful picture of the sufferings of the unfortunate victims of this diabolic traffic found on board the American barque Pons, of Philadelphia. She had nine hundred and three slaves on board: "As I could not despatch her the evening of her capture, she kept company with us that night. that night. The next morning I regretted to learn that eighteen had died, and one jumped overboard. So many dying in so short a time was accounted for by the captain, in the necessity he had of thrusting below all who were on deck, and closing the hatches when he first fell in with us, in order to escape detection. The vessel had no slave deck, and upwards of eight hundred and fifty were piled, almost in bulk, on the water-casks below. These were males. About forty or fifty women were confined in one-half of the round-house cabin on deck : the other half of the cabin remained for the use of the officers. As the ship appeared to be less than 350 tons, it seemed impossible that one-half could have lived to cross the Atlantic. About 200 filled the spar deck alone, when they were permitted to come up from below, and yet the captain assured me that it was his intention to have taken 400 more on board, if he could have spared the time. The stench from below was so great, that it was impossible to stand more than a few moments near the hatchways. Our men, who went below from curiosity, were forced up sick in a few minutes ; then all the hatches were off. What must have been the sufferings of these poor wretches when the hatches were closed ! I am informed that very often in these cases the stronger will strangle the weaker ; and this was probably the reason why so many died, or rather were found dead the morning after the capture. None but an eye-witness can form a conception of the horrors these poor creatures must have endured in their transit across the ocean."

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