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for the importation of 47,146 negroes. At a later period, (1793,) the whole number annually imported by all the European powers amounted to 74,000, of which 38,000 (or more than half) were imported by the British. These numbers are not overstated, they are given on the testimony of one who had in his possession, authentic lists of the entries, and who was himself averse to the abolition of the slave-trade. Who that reads this statement, "and having human feelings, does not blush and hang his head to think himself a man ?" Who that boasts the name of Briton, does not weep to think of the atrocious deeds of oppression and blood that stain the page of British history?

But now a thoughtful and intelligent young reader of the foregoing pages, may be supposed to start several questions :—

1. How were all these slaves procured?—were they captives of war, of crime, of debt, or of poverty, each of which has been assigned as a source of slavery

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2. How have they been employed, and how have they been treated, in their state of slavery?

3. Are their children free? and if not, whence arises the necessity of continuing to import fresh slaves every year?

The answers to each of these questions will furnish a distinct section.

1. How were the slaves procured?

It appears to have been among the barbarous customs of the African states, to retain for their own use, or to sell as slaves, captives taken in war. The Moors, who occupy the northern part of Africa, were among the most powerful and

formidable nations, and most frequently took captive the natives of neighbouring states. Hence Morocco was early resorted to as a mart for slaves. As the demand increased, and the captives of war did not afford a sufficient supply, condemned criminals were disposed of in like manner. Neither poverty nor debt have been assigned as causes of negro slavery, for exportation, though they sometimes became the causes of vassalage among themselves. How then has a supply for the astonishing demand been kept up? Could war and criminal judgments constantly stock the slave market with its annual tens of thousands? Alas! when the heart of man is so hardened by avarice, as to receive a price for his fellow-man, it is not likely to stumble or scruple at the guilt of any measure which may be deemed requisite for extending his lucrative traffic. Like the tiger, which, brought up on milder food, may appear harmless and gentle, but let him once taste the warm blood of a victim, and his cruel ferocious propensities break out beyond all bounds—nothing can restrain, nothing can satisfy him, but a constant repetition of his horrible repast:—so the heart of man once rendered callous by the sale or the purchase of a human victim, still cries "Give, give :" neither avarice nor cruelty knows a bound. When white men, bearing the Christian naine, found that a profitable commerce might be carried on by procuring slaves in Africa, and exporting them to the newly-formed colonies of the west, methods were easily devised for procuring a sufficient supply. Agents were stationed at different places along the coast, whose business it was to establish communications with the interior country, and to kidnap the unwary

natives, sometimes enticing them with a few paltry beads, or spirituous liquors, or gunpowder, and then abusing the moment of confidence, or of insensibility, to seize and convey them on board a slave ship; sometimes fomenting quarrels between different villages or states, in order to seize on the captives; sometimes bribing the negroes themselves to betray their neighbours, friends, and kindred; sometimes, without the shadow of a foundation, charging the head of a family with witchcraft, or some other crime, and by false accusation, and mock trials, condemning himself and all belonging to him to slavery; sometimes burning whole villages and towns, in order to surprise the helpless fugitives, while attempting to escape from the flames: these, and many other most inhuman atrocities, were constantly resorted to by those interested in maintaining and extending the accursed traffic. Its advocates, indeed, attempted to deny or palliate these statements, and even to prove that the slavetrade was a system of mercy, to men whom the ferocity or superstition of their countrymen had devoted to a terrible death; but investigation has uniformly confirmed the most horrible statements, and even brought new atrocities to light, on the part of the European slave-dealers. On the testimony of eye-witnesses of the first respectability, and who had conversed with the princes of Africa, we are assured that the wars between the states were entered upon wholly at the instigation of the whites, and for the purpose of procuring slaves. Tempted by the offers of European commodities, and especially by that curse of both hemispheres, spirituous liquors, with which the slave-traders and captains plied the petty sovereigns, they waged war

on each other, or even ravaged their own country, to procure cargoes of slaves in exchange for the trifles they so eagerly desired. The unhappy captives were brought often in a wounded state, and in the deepest affliction, often dying before they reached the shore. Instances might be multiplied, of the most horrible injustice and cruelty, but a specimen or two shall suffice. The king of Barbesin, one of the states, having been intoxicated by the French agent, consented to send out and seize hundreds of his own peaceful subjects, to meet the demands of the wily foreigners. He afterwards expressed a deep sense of his own crime, and bitterly reproached his christian seducers. At Calabar, two large African villages having been sometime at war, made peace with each other, and were about to ratify it by intermarriages, but some English captains perceiving that their trade would be stopped for awhile, contrived to sow new dissensions among the people. They succeeded in setting one village against the other, and themselves took a share in the contest, massacred many of the inhabitants of both villages, and carried away others as slaves. Instances of private treachery, are, if possible, yet more affecting. Incited by the hope of gain, or by the maddening influence of ardent spirits, the natives were induced to seize each other in the night, as they had opportunity; some were invited to the houses of their friends, and there treacherously detained and sold. Even parents, sons, and husbands, acted thus treacherously towards their nearest connexions. Often were the natives kidnapped while in their fields or gardens, and multitudes of little black children of both sexes, while

rambling in the fields or woods, pursuing the amusements of childhood, or perhaps employed in scaring birds from the fields of millet, were waylaid, and seized, perhaps by their nearest neighbours. A black trader kidnapped a girl and sold her; he was presently afterwards himself kidnapped, and sold. When he remonstrated with the captain who bought him—"What! will you buy me who am a great trader?" the reply was, "Yes, I will buy you, or her, or any body else, provided any one will sell you;" and accordingly both the trader and the girl were carried together to the West Indies and sold as slaves.

The following touching anecdote was given in evidence before the House of Commons: "I was on shore with my linguist for the benefit of my health. He conducted me to a spot where some of the countrymen were going to put a sucking child to death. I asked them why they murdered it. They answered, because it was of no value. I told them, in that case, I hoped they would make me a present of it. They answered, that if I had any use for the child, then it was worth money. I first offered them some knives, but that would not do; they, however, sold the child to me for a mug of brandy. It proved to be the child of a woman whom the captain of our ship had purchased that very morning. We carried it on board; and judge of the mother's joy when she saw her own child put on board the same ship, her child whom she concluded was murdered—she fell on her knees and kissed my feet."—In what a light does this anecdote place this detestable trade!

A son had sold his own father, for whom he obtained a large price, for as the father was rich in

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