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39999065018051

Benezet, Anthony, 1713-17

A caution to Great

Britain and her colonies

CAUTI O N

T O

REJT BRITAIN

AND

HER COLONIES,

IN A

SHORT REPRESENTATION

OF THE

CALAMITOUS STATE of the

ENSLAVED NEGROES

IN T H E

BRITISH DOMINIONS,

A NEW EDITION.

By ANTHONY BENEZET*

PHILADELPHIA Printed: LOND ON Reprinted and Sold by JAMES PHILLIPS, in Georoe-Yard, Lombard-Street. 1785*

/y ' 7jp< t ■

C 3 1

A U T I O N, &c>

T a time when the general rights and liberties of mankind, and the prefer- vation of thofe valuable privileges tranfmit- ted to us from our anceftors, are become fo much the fubjecls of univerfal confidera- tionj can it be an inquiry indifferent to any, how many of thofe who diftinguifh them- felves as the Advocates of Liberty, remain infenfible and inattentive to the treatment of thoufands and tens of thoufands of our fellow- men, who, from motives of avarice, and the inexorable decree of tyrant cuftom, are at this very time kept in the moll deplorable ftate of Slavery, in niany parts of the Britijh Dominions ?

The intent of publifhing the following fheets, is more fully to make known the aggravated iniquity attending the practice of the Slave-trade; whereby many thoufands of our fellow- creatures, as free as ourfelves by nature, and equallv with us the fubjects of

A a Chrifo

[ 4 3

Chrift's redeeming Grace, are yearly brought into inextricable and barbarous bondage; and many, very many, to miferable and untime- ly ends.

The Truth of this lamentable Complaint is fo obvious to perfons of candour, under whofe notice it hath fallen, that feveral have lately publifhed their fentiments thereon, as a matter which calls for the moft ferious conlideration of all who are concerned for the civil or re- ligious welfare of their Country. How an evil of fo deep a dye, hath fo long, not only paffed uninterrupted by thofe in Power, but hath even had their Countenance, is indeed furprifingj and charity would fuppofe, muft in a great meafure have arifen from this, that many perfons in government, both of the Clergy and Laity, in whofe power it hath been to put a Hop to the Trade, have been unac- quainted with the corrupt motives which give life to it, and with the groans, the dying groans., which daily afcend to God, the common Father of mankind, from the broken hearts of thofe his deeply oppreffed creatures : other- wife the powers of the earth would not, I think I may venture to fay could not, have fo long authorized a practice fo inconfiftent with every idea of liberty and jufiice, which, as the learned James Fojier fays, Bids that God, which is the God and Father of the Gen- tiles, unconverted to Chriftianity, moji daring

and

I 5 J

and bold defiance; and fpurns at all th$ prin- ciples both of natural and revealed Religion.

Much might juftly be faid of the temporal evils which attend this practice, as it is de- finitive of the welfare of human fociety, and of the peace and profperity of every country, in proportion at it prevails. It might be alfo fhewn, that it deftroys the bonds of natural affection and jntereft, whereby mankind in general are united; that it introduces idlenefs, difcourages marriage, corrupts the youth, ruins and debauches morals, excites continual ap- prehenfions of dangers, and frequent alarms, to which the Whites are neceffarily expofed from fo great an increafe of a People, that, by their Bondage and Gppreffions, become natural enemies, yet, at the fame time, are filling the places and eating the bread of thofe who would be the Support and Security of the Country. But as thefe and many more reflections of the fame kind may occur to a confiderate mind, I fhali only endeavour to fhew, from the nature of the Trade, the plenty which Guinea affords to its inhabitants, the barbarous Treatment of the Negroes, and the Obfervations made thereon by Authors of note, that it is inconfiftent with the plaineft Precepts of the Gofpel, the dictates of reafon, and every common fentiment of humanity.

A3 la

[ 6 ]

In In Account of the European Settlements in America, printed in London, 1757* the Author, fpeaking on this Subject, fays: ' The f Negroes in our Colonies endure a Slavery f more complete, and attended with far worfe

* circumstances than what any people in their

* condition Suffer in any other part of the

* world, or have fuffered in any other period

* of time : Proofs of this are not wanting. ( The prodigious waSte which we experience c in this unhappy part of our Species, is a c full and melancholy Evidence of this Truth. f The Ifland of Barhadoes (the Negroes upon

* which do not amount to eighty thoufand) € notwithstanding all the means which they f ufe to encreafe them by Propagation, and

* that the Climate is in every refpect (except

* that of being more wholfome) exactly re- ' femhling the Climate from whence they *• come 1 notwithstanding all this, Barbadoes € lies under a neceffity of an annual recruit of

* five thoufand flaves, to keep up the flock at \ the number I have mentioned. This pro-

* digious failure, which is at leaft in the fa,me ' proportion in all our Iflands, Shews demon - s> flratively that fome uncommon and unfup- ' portable Hardship lies upon the Negroes, ' which wears them down in fuch a furprifing < manner; and this, I imagine, is principally

* the exceffive labour which they undergo/ In an Account of part of Nortb-America, publifhed by Thomas J effery, 176 1, fpeaking

of

[73

of the ufage the Negroes receive in the Weft- India Iflands, he thus expreffes himfelf : < It « is impoffible for a human heart to reflect 4 upon the fervitude of thefe dregs of man- 4 kind, without in fome meafure feeling for 4 their mifery, which ends but with their

c iives. Nothing can be more wretched

4 than the condition of this People. One 4 would imagine, they were framed to be 4 the difgrace of the human fpecies: banifhed « from their Country, and deprived of that 4 bleffing, Liberty, on which all other nations « fet the° greateft value, they are in a manner « reduced to the condition of beafts of bur-

< den. In general a few roots, potatoes ef-

< pecially, are their food; and two rags, « which neither fkreen them from the heat

* of the day, nor the extraordinary coolnefs « of the night, all their covering; their fleep € very fhort; their labour almoft continual;

* they receive no wages; but have twenty i lafhes for the finalleft fault/

A confiderate young perfon, who was lately in one of our Weft-India Iflands, where he obferved the miferable fituation of the Ne- groes, makes the following remarks: * I meet 4 with daily exercife, to fee the treatment « which thefe. miferable wretches meet with ' from their matters, with but few exceptions. « They whip them moft unmercifully, on I fmall occafions; they beat them with thick

A 4 * Clubs,

[8]

* Clubs, and you will fee their Bodies all ' whaled and fcarred: in fhort, they feem to 4 fet no other value on their lives than as they

* coft them fo much money; and are not

* reftrained from killing them, when angry, ' by a worthier confideration than that they

* lofe fo much. They a£t as though they did c not look upon them as a race of human

* creatures, who have reafon, and remem- i brance of misfortunes ^ but as beafts, like f oxen, who are ftubborn, hardy, and fenfe- < lefs, fit for burdens, and defigned to bear

* them. They will not allow them to have c any claim to human privileges, or fcarce, c indeed, to be regarded as the work of God.

* Though it was confiftent with the juftice of

* our Maker to pronounce the fentence on c our common parent, and through him on

* all fucceeding generations, That he and they

* Jhould eat their bread by the fweat of their

* brow; yet does it not ftand recorded by the

* fame Eternal Truth, That the Labourer is

* worthy of his Hire? It cannot be allowed in

* natural juftice, that there fliould be a fervi-

* tude without condition : A cruel endlefs

* fervitude. It cannot he reconcileable to

* natural juftice, that whole nations, nay, ' whole continents of men, fhould be de-

* voted to do the drudgery of life for others,

* be dragged away from their attachments of

* relations and focieties, and made to ferve f the appetites and pleasures of a race of men,

* whofe

[ 9 1

' whofe fuperiority has been obtained by aft € illegal force/

A particular account of the treatment thefe unhappy Africans receive in the Weft-Indies was lately publifhed, which, even by thofe who, blinded by intereft, feek excufes for the Trade, and endeavour to palliate the cruelty exercifed upon them, is allowed to be a true, though rather too favourable reprefentation of the ufage they receive, which is as follows, viz, t The iniquity of the Slave-trade is greatly aggravated by the inhumanity with which the Negroes are treated in the Plan- tations, as well with refpect to food and clothing, as from the unreafonable labour which is commonly exacted from them. To which may be added the cruel chaftife- ments they frequently furrer, without any other bounds than the will and wrath of their hard tafk-mafters. In Barbadoes, and fome other of the Iflands, fix pints of Indian corn and three herrings are reckoned a full weeks allowance for a working flave, and in the Syftem of Geography it is faid, That in Jamaica the owners of the Negroe-Jlaves fet ajide for each a parcel of ground, and allow them Sundays to manure it, the produce of which, with fometimes a few herrings, or f other falt-fifh, is all that is allowed for their ' fuPport, Their allowance for clothing in f the Iflands is feldopi more than fix yards of

* ofenbrigs

[ IO ]

ofenbrigs each year: And in the more north-* ern Colonies, where the piercing wefterly winds are long and fenfibly felt, thefe poor Africans fufFer much for want of fufficient clothing, indeed fome have none till they are able to pay for it by their labour. The time that the Negroes work in the Weft- Indies, is from day-break till noon; then again from two o'clock till dufk: (during which time they are attended by overfeers, who feverely fcourge thofe who appear to them dilatory) and before they are fufFered to go to their quarters, they have frill fome- thing to do, as collecting of herbage for the horfes, gathering fuel for the boilers, &c. fo that it is often half paft twelve before they can get home, when they have fcarce time to grind and boil their Indian corn; whereby it often happens that they are called again to labour before they can fatisfy their hunger. And here no delay or excufe will avail, for if they are not in the Field immediately upon the ufual notice, they muft expecl; to feel the Overfeer's Laih. In crop-time, (which lafts many months) they are obliged (by turns) to work moft of the night in the boiling-houfe. Thus their Owners, from a deli re of making the great- eft gain by the. labour of their flaves, lay heavy Burdens on thern, and yet feed and clothe them very fpari.ngly, and fome fcarce feed or clothe them at all, fo, that the poor

6 creatures

[ II ]

creatures are 'obliged to fhift for their living in the beft manner they can, which occafions their being often killed in the neighbouring lands, ftealing potatoes, or other food, to fatisfy their hunger. And if they take any thing from the plantation they belong to, though under fuch preffing want, their owners will correct them feverely, for taking a little of what they have fo hardly laboured for, whilft they themfelves riot in the great- eft luxury and excefs. — It is a matter of aftonifhment, how a people, who, as a na- tion, are looked upon as generous and hu- mane, and fo much value themfelves for their uncommon fenfe of the Benefit of Liberty, can live in the practice of fuch extreme op- prefiion and inhumanity, without feeing the inconfiftency of fuch conduft, and without feeling great Remorfe: nor is it lefs amazing to hear thefe men calmly making calcula- tions about the ftrength and lives of their ; fellow-men; in Jamaica, if fix in ten, of the new imported Negroes furvive the feafoning, : it is looked upon as a gaining purchafe: And ; in moft of the other plantations, if the f Negroes live eight or nine years, their labour f is reckoned a fufficient compenfation for ( their coft.— — If calculations of this fort ' were made upon the ftrength and labour of * beafts of burden, it would not appear fo € ftrange; but even then a merciful man would ' certainlv ufe his beaft with more mercy than

• is

[ 12 ]

* is ufually fliewn to the poor Negroes. — Will

* not the groans of this deeply afflicted and

* opprefled people reach Heaven, and when

* the cup of iniquity is full, muft not the

* inevitable confequence be pouring forth of

* the judgments of God upon their oppreffors.

* But, alas! is it not too manifeft that this

* oppreffion has already long been the object ( of the divine difpleafurej for what heavier

* judgment, what greater calamity can befall

* any people, than to become a prey to that

* hardnefs of heart, that forgetfulnefs of God,

* and infenfibility to every religious impref-

* lion; as well as that general depravation of

* manner^, which fo much prevails in the

* Colonies, in proportion as they have more or

* lefs enriched themfelves, at the expence of

* the blood and bondage of the Negroes.'

The fituation of the Negroes in our South- ern provinces on the Continent, is alfo feel- ingly fet forth by George Whitfield, in a Letter from Georgia, to the Inhabitants of Mary /and, Virginia, North and South-Carolina > printed in the Year 1739, of which the fol- lowing is an extract : * As I lately paffed 4 through your provinces, in my way hither,

* I was fenlibly touched with a fellow-feeling

* of the miferies of the poor Negroes. Whe-

* ther it be lawful for Chrtjlians to buy flaves,

* and thereby encourage the Nations from

* whom they are bought, to be at perpetual

*\ war

[ 13 ]

* war with each other, I mall not take upon c me to determine; fure I am, it is finful, « when bought, to ufe them as bad, nay worfe 1 than as though they were brutes; and what- « ever particular exception there may be, (as

* I would charitably hope there are fome) I \ fear the generality of you, that own Negroes,

* are liable to fuch a charge; for your flaves, « I believe, work as hard, if not harder, than « the horfes whereon you ride. Thefe, after ■ they have done their work, are fed and

* taken proper care of 5 but many Negroes, « when wearied with labour, in your planta-

* tions, have been obliged to grind their own « corn, after they return home. Your dogs

* are careffed and fondled at your table; but

* your flaves, who are frequently ftiled dogs c or beafts, have not an equal privilege; they € are fcarce permitted to pick up the crumbs

* which fall from their mailer's table. — Not < to mention what numbers have been given

* up to the inhuman ufage of cruel tafk- « mafters, who, by their unrelenting fcourges, « have ploughed their backs, and made long « furrows, and at length brought them even € to death. When paffing along, I have view- « ed your plantations cleared and cultivated,

* many fpacious houfes built, and the owners ? of them faring fumptuoufly every day, my ' blood has frequently almoft run cold within

* me, to confider how many of your flaves had \ neither convenient food to eat, or proper

* raiment

[ H

1-

raiment to put on, notwithstanding moft bf the comforts you enjoy. were folely owing to' their indefatigable labours, — The Scripture fays, Thou /halt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, Does God take care for oxen ? and will he not take care of the Negroes alio? undoubtedly he will. — Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miferies that mail come upon you: Behold the proviiion of the poor Negroes, who have reaped down your fields, which is by you denied them, crieth ; and the cries of them which reaped, are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabbath. We have a remark- able inftance of God's taking cognizance of, and avenging the quarrel of poor flaves, 2 Sam. xxi. i. There was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the Lord: And the Lord a?ifwered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody houfe* becaufe he Jlew the Gibeonites. Two things are here very remarkable: Firft, Thefe Gibeonites were only hewers of wood and drawers of water, or in other words, flaves like yours. Secondly, That this plague was fent by God many years after the injury, the caufe of the plague, was committed. And for what end were this and fuch like examples recorded in holy Scriptures ? with- out doubt, for our learning. — For God is the fame to-day as he was yefterday, and will continue the fame for ever. He does"

/ c not

[ 15 1

* not reject the prayer of the poor and defti* « tute; nor difregard the cry of the meaner!

* Negro. The blood of them fpilt for thefe « many years in your refpedtive provinces will « afccnd up to heaven againft you/

Some who have only feen Negroes in an abject ftate of flavery, broken-fpirited and dejected, knowing nothing of their fituation in their native country, may apprehend, that they are naturally infenfible of the benefits of Liberty, being deftitute and miferable in every refpe<ft, and that our fuffering them to live amongft us (as the Gibeonites of old were permitted to live with the Israelites) though even on more oppreffive terms, is to them a favour; but thefe are certainly erroneous opi- nions, with refpedfc to far the greater!: part of them: Although it is highly probable that in a country which is more than three thoufand miles in extent from north to fouth, and as much from eaft to weft, there will be barren parts, and many inhabitants more uncivilized and barbarous than others ; as is the cafe in all other countries : yet, from the moft authen- tic accounts, the inhabitants of Guinea appear, generally fpeaking, to be an induftrious, hu- mane, fociable people, whofe capacities are naturally as enlarged, and as open to improve- ment, as thofe of the Europeans; and that their Country is fruitful, and in many places well improved, abounding in cattle, grain and

fruits*

[ i6 ]

fruits. And as the earth yields all the year round a frefh fupply of food, and but little clothing is requilite, by reafon of the con- tinual warmth of the climate; the neceffaries of life are much eafier procured in moil parts of Africa, than in our more northern climes. This is confirmed by many authors of note^ who have refided there; among others, Af. Adanfon, in his account of Goree and Senegal \ in the year 1754, fays, * Which way foever

* I turned my eyes on this pleafant fpot, I ' beheld a perfect image of pure nature; an

* agreeable folitude, bounded on every fide by ' charming landfcapes, the rural fituation of

* cottages in the midft of trees; the eafe and

* indolence of the Negroes reclined under the

* fhade of their fpreading foliage; the fimpli- 6 city of their drefs and manners; the whole

* revived in my mind the idea of our firft 1 parents, and I feemed to contemplate the

* world in its primitive flate: They are, gene-

* rally fpeaking, very good-natured, fociable € and obliging. I was not a little pleafed with

* this my firft reception ; it convinced me$

* that there ought to be a confiderable abate-

* ment made in the accounts I had read and

* heard every where of the favage character of 1 the Africans. I obferved, both in Negroes ' and Moors, great humanity and fociablenefs,

* which gave me ftrong hopes, that I mould € be very fafe amongft them, and meet with

• the

ft if> ]

' the fuccefs I defired, in my enquiries after

* the curiofities of the country.'

William Bo/man, a principal Factor for the Dutch, who refided -fixteen years in Guinea, fpeaking of the natives of that part where he then was, fays, ' They are generally a good c fort of people, honed in their dealings;' others he defcribes as ' being generally friendly 4 to ftrangers, of a mild converfation, affable, 6 and eafy to be overcome with reafon.' He adds, ' That fome Negroes, who have had 6 an agreeable education, have manifested a

* brightnefs of under {landing equal to any of f us.' Speaking of the fruitfuinefs of the country, he fays, e It was very populous, € plentifully provided with corn, potatoes and

* fruit, which grew clofe to each other; in

* fome places a foot-path is the only ground ' that is not covered with them; the Negroes 6 leaving no place, which is thought fertile,

* uncultivated; and immediately after they ■ have reaped, they are fare to fow again.' Other parts he defcribes, as c being full of

* towns and villages; the foil very rich, and

* fo well cultivated, as to look like an entire 6 garden, abounding in rice, com, oxen, and

* poultry, and the inhabitants laborious.'

William Smith, who was fent by the Afri- can Company to vilit their fettlements on the <poaft of Guinea, in the year 1726, gives much

B the

[ i8 1

the fame account of the country of Delmina and Cape Corfe, &c. for beauty and goodnefs, and adds, ' The more you come downward 4 towards that part, called Slave- Coafiy the 4 more delightful and rich the foil appears/ Speaking of their difpofition, he fays, < They

* were a civil, good-natured people, induf-

* trious to the laft degree. It is eafy to perceive

* what happy memories they are bleffed with,

* and how great progrefs they would make in

* the fciences, in cafe their genius was cul-

* tivated with ftudy.' He adds, from the in-, formation he received of one of the Factors, who had refided ten years in that country,

* That the difcerning natives account it their

* greateft unhappinefs, that they were ever 4 vifited by the Europeans. — That the Chrif- ' tians introduced the traffick of Slaves ; and

* that before our coming they lived in peace.*

Andrew Brue, a principal man in the French Factory, in the account he gives of the great river Senegal, which runs many hundred miles up the country, tells his readers, * The farther

* you go from the Sea, the country on the ' river feems more fruitful and well improved. 4 It abounds in Guinea and Indian corn, rice,

* pulfe, tobacco, and indigo. Here are vaft

* meadows, which feed large herds of great c and fmall cattle; poultry are numerous, as 4 well as wild fowl.' The fame Author, in his travels to the fouth of the river Gambia,

expreflea

f 19 ]

exprefTes his furprize, f to fee the land fo well

* cultivated; fcarce a fpot lay unimproved;

* the low grounds, divided by fmall canals, 9 were all fowed with rice; the higher ground f planted with Indian corn, millet, and peas

* of different forts: beef and mutton very ' cheap, as well as all other neceffaries of life.' The account this Author gives of the difpo- fition of the natives, is, * That they are gene-

* rally good-natured and civil, and may be

* brought to any thing by fair and foft means/ Artus, fpeaking of the fame people, fays,

* They are a fmcere, inofFenfive people, and 6 do no injuftice either to one another, or € ftrangers.'

From thefe Accounts, both of the good Difpofition of the Natives, and the Fruitful- nefs of moil parts of Guinea, which are con- firmed by many other Authors, it may well be concluded, that their acquaintance with the 'Europeans would have been a happinefs to them, had thofe laft not only bprne the name, but indeed been influenced by the Spirit of Ghrijiianity ; but, alas ! how hath the Conduct of the Whites contradicted the Precepts and Example of Omit? Inftead of promoting the End of his Coming, by preach- ing the Gofpel of Peace and Good-will to Man, they have, by their practices, contri- buted to enflame every noxious paffion of * corrupt nature in the Negroes; they have

B z incited

'[ 20 ]

incited them to make war one upon another, and for this purpofe have furnifhed them with prodigious quantities of ammunition and arms, whereby they have been hurried into confulion, bloodshed, and all the extremities of temporal mifery, which muft neceffarily beget in their minds fuch a general detefta- tion and fcorn of the Chrijiian name, as may deeply affect, if not wholly preclude, their belief of the great Truths of our holy Reli- gion. Thus an infatiable deiire of gain hath become the principal and moving caufe of the raoft abominable and dreadful fcene, that was perhaps ever acted upon the face of the earth; even the power of their Kings hath been made fubfervient to anfwer this wicked purpofe; inftead of being Protectors of their people, thefe Rulers, allured by the tempt- ing bait laid before them by the European Factors, &c. have invaded the Liberties of their unhappy fubjects, and are become their OppreiTors.

Divers accounts have already appeared in print, declarative of the fhocking wickednefs with which this Trade is carried on; thefe may not have fallen into the hands of fome of my readers, I (hall, therefore, for their information, felect a few of the moft remark- able inftances that I have met with, (hewing the method by which the Trade is commonly managed all along the African coaft.

Francis

[ 2X ]

Francis Moor, Factor to the African Com- pany, on the river Gambia, relates, * That « when the King of Barfalli wants goods, &c.

< he fends a meffenger to the Englijh Governor « at James's Fort, to defire he would fend up ' a iloop with a cargo of goods; which (fays

* the author) the Governor never fails to do :

* Againft the time the veffel arrives, the King e plunders fome of his enemies towns, felling ' the people for fuch goods as he wants.^ —

* If he is not at war with any neighbouring ' King, he falls upon one of his own towns,

< and makes bold to fell his own miferable c fubjecis/

2V. Brue9 in his account of the Trade, &c. writes, ' That having received a quantity of c goods, he wrote to the King of the country, ' That if he had a fufrkient number of Haves,

< he was ready to trade with him. This c Prince (fays that author) as well as other

* Negroe Monarchs, has always a fure way € of fupplying his deficiencies by felling his « own fubjeds.— The King had recourfe to 4 this method, by feizing three hundred of

* his own people, and fent word (to Br lie,)

* that he had the flaves ready to deliver f6r

* the goods/

The Mifery and Bloodfhed, confcquent to the Slave-trade, is amply fet forth by the fol- lowing extrafts of two voyages to the coaft

B 3 of

of Guinea for flaves. The firft in a veffel from Liverpool, taken verbatim from the original manufcript of the Surgeon's journal, viz.

* Sestro, December the 29th, 1724. No

* trade to-day, though many Traders come ' on board; they inform us, that the people

* are gone to war within land, and will bring

* prifoners enough in two or three day's : in

* hopes of which we flay.

* The 30th. No trade yet, but our Traders € came on board to-day, and informed us, ' the people had burnt four towns of their

* enemies, fo that to-morrow we expect flaves ' off. Another large mip is come in: Yefter-

* day came in a large Londoner,

* The 31ft. Fair weather, but no trade € yet : We fee each night towns burning ; f but we hear the Sejiro men are many of

* them killed by the inland Negroes, fo that ' we fear this war will be unfuccefsful.

* The 2d January. Laft night we faw a 4 prodigious fire break out about eleven

* o'clock, and this morning fee the town of

* Sejiro burnt down to the ground, (it con- ' tained fome hundreds of houfes) fo that we f find their enemies are too hard for them at

* prefent, and confequently our trade fpoiled

* herej fo that about £qvqii o'clock we

1 weighed

[ n 1

* weighed anchor, as did likewife the three

* other veflels, to proceed lower down.'

The fecond relation, alfo taken from the original manufcript journal of a perfon of credit, who went Surgeon on the fame ac- count in a veffel from New-Tork to the coafl of Guinea, about nineteen years paft, is as follows, viz*

' Being on the coafl at a place called

* Bafalia, the Commander of the veffel, ac- c cording to cuftom, fent a perfon on fhore ' with a prefent to the King, acquainting ' him with his arrival, and letting him know, ' they wanted a cargo of flaves. The King ' promifed to furnifli them with flaves j and ' in order to do it, fet out to go to war againft

* his enemies, defigning alfo to furprize fome

* town, and take all the people prifoners :

* Some time after, the King {^nt them word,

* he had not yet met with the defired fuccefs, ' having been twice repulfed, in attempting

* to break up two towns ; but that he flill

* hoped to procure a number of flaves for

* them; and in this defign he perfifled till € he met his enemies in the field, where a

* battle was fought, which lafted three days ;

* during which time the engagement was fo ' bloody, that four thoufand five hundred

* men were flain on the fpot.' The perfon, that wrote the account, beheld the bodies as

B 4 they

I 24 ]

they lay on the field of battle. ? Think (fays

* he in his journal) what a pitiable fight it

* was, to fee the widows weeping over their c loft hufbands, orphans deploring the lofs ' of their fathers, &c. &c\*

Thofe who are acquainted with the Trade agree, that many, Negroes on the fea-coait, who have been corrupted by their intercourfe and converfe with the European Factors, have learnt to flick' at. ho aft of cruelty for gain, Thefe make it a practice to ileal abundance of little Blacks of both {exes, when found on the roads or in the fields, where their parents keep them all day to watch the corn, &c. Some authors fay, the Negroe Factors go fix or {even hundred miles up the country with goods, bought from the Europeans, where markets of _ men are kept in the fame manner as thofe of beafls with us. When the poor ilaves, whether brought from far or near, come to the fea-fhore, they are flripped naked, and flriftly examined by the European Surgeons, both men and women, without the leafl diflinftion or modefty; thofe which are approved as good, are marked with a red- hot iron with the fhip's mark; after which they are put on board the veffels, the men being fhackled with irons two and two to- gether. Reader, bring the matter home, and confider whether any fituation in life can be more completely miferable than that of

thofe

[ 25 1

thofe diftreffed captives. When we reflect, that each individual of this number had fome tender attachment which was broken by this cruel feparation; fome parent or wife, who had not an opportunity of mingling tears in a parting embrace; perhaps fome infant or aged parent whom his labour was to feed and vigilance protect; themfelves under the dreadful apprehcniion of an unknown per- petual flavery ; pent up within the narrow confines of a veffel, fometimes fix or ftvcn. hundred together, where they lie as clofe as poffible. Under thefe complicated diftreffes they are often reduced to a ftate of defpera- tion, wherein many have leaped into the fca, and have kept themfelves under water till they were drowned; others have ftarved themfelves to death, for the prevention whereof fome mailers of veffels have cut off the legs and arms of a number of thofe poor defperate creatures, to terrify the reft. Great numbers have aifo frequently been killed, and fome deliberately put to death under the greater! torture, when they have attempted to rife, in order to free themfelves from their prefent mifery, and the flavery defigned them. An inftance of the laft kind appears particularly in an account given by the mafter of a veffel, who brought a cargo of flaves to Barbadoes ; indeed it appears fo irreconcileable to the common dictates of humanity, that one would doubt the truth

of

[ 26 ]

of it, had it not been related by a ferioils perfon of undoubted credit, who had it from the captain's own mouth. Upon an enquiry, What had been the fuccefs of his voyage? he anfwered, * That he had found it a diffi- ? cult matter to fet the negroes a fighting

* with each other, in order to procure the ' number he wanted ; but that when he had ' obtained this end, and had got his verlel f filled with flaves, a new difficulty arofe

* from their refufal to take food; thofe def-

* perate creatures chufing rather to die with

* hunger, than to be carried from their native

* country.' Upon a farther inquiry, by what means he had prevailed upon them to fore- go this defperate refolution ? he anfwered, ' That he obliged all the negroes to come ' upon deck, where they periifted in their

* refolution of not taking food, he caufed his ' failors to lay hold upon one of the moft

* obftinate, and chopt the poor creature into

* fmall pieces, forcing fome of the others to € eat a part of the mangled body; withal

* fwearing to the furvivors that he would

* ufe them all, one after the other, in the

* fame manner, if they did not confent to ' eat/ This horrid execution he applauded as a good acl:, it having had the defired eifec"t, in bringing them to take food,

A fimilar cafe is mentioned in Ajileys Collection of Voyages, by John Atkins, Sur- geon

[ *7 1

geon on board Admiral Ogles fquadron, c Of

* one Harding*, mafter of a veffel, in which c feveral of the men-flaves, and a woman-

* Have, had attempted to rife, in order to

* recover their liberty: fome of whom the

* mafter, of his own authority, fentenced to

* cruel death ; making them firffc eat the ( heart and liver of one of thofe he killed,. « The woman he hoifted by the thumbs;

* whipped and flamed with knives before the

* other flaves, till ihe died.'

As deteftable and mocking as this may ap- pear to fuch, whofe hearts are not yet hard- ened by the practice of that cruelty, which the love of wealth, by degrees, introduced! into the human mind; it will not be ftrange to thofe who have been concerned or employ- ed in the Trade. Now here arifesji neceffary query to thofe who hold the balance and fword of juftice; and who mull account to God for the ufe they have made of it. Since our Englijb law is fo truly valuable for its juftice, how can they overlook thefe barbarous deaths of the unhappy Africans without trial, or due proof of their being guilty, of crimes adequate to their punijhment ? Why are thofe mafter s of vejfels, fwho are often not the mojl tender and confederate of men) thus fuffered to be the fovereign arbiters of the lives of the miferable Negroes-, and allowed, with impu- nity, thus to dejlroy, ?nay I not fay} murder

their

t 0 3

their fellow -ere attires, and that by means fo cruel, as cannot be even related but with Jhame and horror ?

When the veffels arrive at their deftined port in the Colonies, the ,poor Negroes are to be difpofed of to the planters ; and here they are again expofed naked, without any diftinc- tion of fexes, to the brutal examination of their purchafers ; and this, it may well be judged, is to many of them another occalion of deep diftrefs, especially to the females. Add to this, that near connections muft now again be feparated, to go with their feverai purchafers: In this melancholy fcene Mothers are feen hanging over their Daughters, be- dewing their naked breafts with tears, and Daughters clinging to their Parents $ not knowing what new ftage of diftrefs muft follow their feparation, or if ever they iliall meet again: And here what fympathy, what commiferation are they to exped:? why in- deed, if they will not feparate as readily as their owners think proper, the whipper is called for, and the lafh exercifed upon their naked bodies, till obliged to part.

Can any human heart, that retains a fellow- feeling for the Sufferings of mankind, be unconcerned at relations of fuch grievous affliction, to which this oppreffed part of our Species are fubje&ed : God gave to man

dominion

[ 29 ]

dominion over the fifli of the fea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, &c. but impofed no involuntary fubjeclion of one, man to another.

The Truth of this Pofition has of late been clearly fet forth by perfons of reputation and ability, particularly George Wallis, in his Syftem of the Laws of Scotland \ whofe fen- timents are fo worthy the notice of all con- federate perfons, that I fhall here repeat a part of what he has not long fmce published, concerning the African Trade, viz. ' If this

* Trade admits of a moral or a rational jufti- ' flcation, every crime, even the moft atro- ' cious, may be justified: Government was f inftituted for the good of mankind. Kings,

* Princes, Governors, are not proprietors of

* thofe who are fubjecled to their authority, < they have not a right to make them mifer- ' able. On the contrary, their authority is ' veiled in them, that they may, by the juft

* exercife of it, promote the Happinefs of f their people: Of courfe, they have not a c right to difpofe of their Liberty, and to fell

* them for flaves : Befides, no man has a

* right to acquire or to purchafe them; men ? and their Liberty, are not either faleable or

* purchafeable : One therefore has no body

* but himfelf to blame, in cafe he mall ' find himfelf deprived of a man, whom he

* thought he had, by buying for a price,

s made

[ 30 J

* made his own; for he dealt in a Trade

* which was illicit, and was prohibited by € the moft obvious dictates of humanity. For

* thefe reafons, every one of thofe unfortunate € men, who are pretended to be Haves, has I a right to be declared free, for he never

* loft his Liberty, he could not lofe it; his

* Prince had no power to difpofe of him: c of courfe the fale was void. This right

* he carries about with him, and is entitled

* every where to get it declared. As foon,

* therefore, as he comes into a country, in € which the Judges are not forgetful of their

* own humanity, it is their duty to remember € that he is a man, and to declare him to be

* free. — This is the Law of Nature, which € is obligatory en all men, at all times, and

* in all places.— Would not any of us, who ' fhould be fnatched by Pirates from his 6 native land, think himfelf cruelly abufed* i and at all times intitled to be free ? Have

* not thefe unfortunate Africans, who meet ! with the fame cruel fate, the fame right? f. are not they men as well as we ? and have

* they not the fame feniibility? Let us not5

* therefore, defend or fupport an ufage, which i is contrary to all the Laws of Humanity/

Francis. Jluichinfony alio in his Syftem of Moral Philofophy, fpeaking on the fubject of Slavery, fays, * He who detains another by 1 force in flayer^ is ajways bound to prove

< his

[ p }

c his title. The Slave fold, or carried away

' into a diftant country, mufl not be obliged

* to prove a negative, that he never forfeited € his Liberty. The violent poffeffor muft, in '■ all cafes, (hew his title, efpecially where the € old proprietor is well known. In this cafe c each man is the original proprietor of his c own Liberty: The proof of his lofing it s muft be incumbent on thofe, who deprived

* him of it by force. Strange, (fays the fame '. author) that in any nation, where a fenfe of 6 Liberty prevails, where the Cbri/iian religion

* is profefTed, cuftom and high profpect of

* gain can fo ftupify the confciences of men,

* and all fenfe of natural juftice, that they can

* hear fuch computation made about the value

* of their fellow-men and their Liberty, ' without abhorrence and indignation,'

The noted Baron Montefquieu gives it, as his opinion, in his Spirit of Laws, page 348, '■ That nothing more aftimilates a man to a

* beaft than living amongft freemen, himfelf I a flave; fuch people as thefe are the natural 4 enemies of fociety, and their number muft

* always be dangerous/

The Author of a pamphlet, lately printed in London, entitled, An EJfay in Vindication of the continental Colonies of America, writes,

* That the bondage we have impofed on the i Africans, is absolutely repugnant to juftiee.

* That

[ 32 I

£ That it is highly inconfiftent with civil

4 policy: Firfty as it tends to fupprefs all

' improvements in arts and fciences; without

€ which it is morally impoffible that any

* nation fhould be happy or powerful. Se-

* condly, as it may deprave the minds of the

* freemen ; fteeling their hearts againft the

* laudable feelings of virtue and humanity.

* And, laftly, as it endangers the community

* by the deilructive effects of civil com mo-? 6 tions: need I add to thefe (fays that author) € what every heart, which is not callous tor 4 all tender feelings, will readily fuggeft; that € it is fhocking to humanity, violative of every

* generous fentiment, abhorrent utterly from

* the Chriftian Religion: for, ^ Monte f qui eu i very jufrly obferves, We mufi fuppo/e them € not to be men, or a Jufpicion would follow

* that we ourfehes are not Chriflians. •

* There cannot be a more dangerous maxim,

* than that neceffity is a plea for injuftice.

* For who (hall fix the degree of this necef-

* fity? What villain fo atrocious, who may « not urge this excufe? or, as Milton has

* happily expreffed it,

* *_. — -. ____ And with necejjity%

* The tyrant's plea, excufe his devlijh deed.

? That our Colonies want people, is a very

* weak argument for fo inhuman a violation

* of juftiee, — Shall a civilized, a Chriftian 1 nation encourage Slavery, becaufe; the bar-

€ barous.

C 33 1

* baroiis, favage, lawlefs African hath done k it? Monftrous thought! To what end do>

* we profefs a religion whofe dictates we £o < flagrantly violate? Wherefore have we that

* pattern of goodnefs and humanity, if we

* refufe to follow it ? How long mall we c continue a practice, which policy rejects,

* juftice condemns, and piety difluades ? Shall

* the Americans perlift in a conduct, which f cannot be justified; or perfevere in oppref- ' fion from which their hearts muft recoil? 6 If the barbarous Africans mall continue to

* enflave each other, let the dsemon flavery

* remain among them, that their crime may

* include its own punifhment* Let not

* Chriftians, by adminiflering to their wick- \ ednefs, confefs their religion to be a ufelefs € refinement, their profeffion vain, and them-

* felves as inhuman as the favages they deteft.'

y antes Fqfter, in his Difcourfes on Natural Religion and Social Virtue, alfo fhews his juft indignation at this wicked practice, which he declares to be a criminal and outrageous viola* tion of the natural right of mankind. At page 156, 2d vol. he fays, ' Should we have

* read concerning the Greeks or Romans of

* old, that they traded, with view to make

* flaves of their own fpecies, whdfn they

* certainly knew that this would involve in 6 fchemes of blood and murder, of deftroy- s ing or enilaving each other, that they even

C * foment-

34

fomented wars, and engaged whole nations and tribes in open hoftilities, for their own private advantage; that they had no detefta- tion of the violence and cruelty, but only feared the ill fuccefs of their inhuman en- terprifes; that they carried men like them- felves, their brethren, and the offspring of the fame common parent, to be fold like beafts of prey, or beafts of burden, and put them to the fame reproachful trial of their foundnefs, ftrength and capacity for greater bodily fervice; that quite forgetting and renouncing the original dignity of human nature, communicated to all, they treated them with more feverity and ruder difcipline, than even the ox or the afs, who are void of underftanding.— Should we not, if this had been the cafe, have naturally been led to defpife all their pretended refine- ments of morality; and to have concluded, that as they were not nations deftitute of politenefs, they muft have been entire Strangers to Virtue and Benevolence^

f But, notwithftanding this, we ourfelves (who profefs to be Cbriftians9 and boaft of the peculiar advantage we enjoy, by means of an exprefs revelation of our duty from Heaven) are in effect, thefe very untaught and rude -Heathen countries. With all our fuperior light, we inftil into thofe, whom we call favage and barbarous, the moft

( defpicable

m

f 25 3

defpicable opinion of human nature. We, to the utmoft of our power, weaken and dirTolve the univerfal tie, that binds and unites mankind. We practife what we ihould exclaim againft, as the utmoft excefs of cruelty and tyranny, if nations of the world, differing in colour and form of government from ourfelves, were fo poffef- fed of empire, as to be able to reduce us to a ftate of unmerited and brutifh fervitude, Of confequence, we facriflce our reafon, our humanity, our Chriftianity, to an unnatural fordid gain. We teach other nations to defpife and trample under foot, all the obli- gations of focial virtue* We take the moil: effectual method to prevent the propagation of the Gofpel, by reprefenting it as a fcheme of power and barbarous oppreffion, and an enemy to the natural privileges and fights of men.

6 Perhaps all that I have now offered, may be of very little weight to reftrain this enor* mity, this aggravated iniquity. However* I fhall ftill have the fa tis faction, of having entered my private proteft againft a practice, which, in my opinion, bids that God, who is the God and Father of the Gentiles un- converted to Chriftianity, moft daring and bold defiance, and fpurns at all the principles, both of natural and revealed Religion .'

C 2 How

[ 3* ]

How the Britijh nation firft came to be concerned in a pra&ice, by which the rights and liberties of mankind are fo violently infringed, and which is fo oppofite to the apprehenlions Englifhmen have always had of what natural juftice requires, is indeed furprifing. It was about the year 1563, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that the Englijh firft engaged in the Guinea Trade; when it appears, from an account in Hill's Naval Hiftory, page 293, That when Captain Hawkins returned from his firft voyage to .Africa, that generous fpirited Princefs, at- tentive to the intereft of her fubjefts, fent for the Commander, to whom fhe expreffed her concern left any of the African Negroes fhould be carried off without their free confent, de- claring it would be detejiable, and call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the undertakers.. Captain Hawkins promifed to comply with the Queen's injunction: neverthelefs, we find in the account, given in the fame Hiftory, of Hawkins's fecond voyage, the author ufing thefe remarkable words, Here began the horrid fraclice of forcing the Africans into jlavery.

Labat) 2l Roman Miffionary, in his account of the Ifles of America, at page 114, of the 4th vol. mentions, that Lewis the 13th, Father to the prefent French King's Grand- father, was extremely uneafy at a Law by which all the Negroes of his Colonies were

to

r 37 ]

to be made flaves ; but it being ftrongly urged to him, as the readieft means for their Converfion to Ghrifiianity > he acqui- efced therewith.

And although we have not many accounts of the impreffions which this piratical inva- fion of the rights of mankind gave to ferious minded people, when firft engaged in; yet it did not efcape the notice of fome, who might be efteemed in a peculiar manner as watchmen in their day to the different focie- ties of Chriflians whereunto they belonged. Richard Baxter, an eminent preacher amongft the Nonconformijls, in the laft century, well known and particularly efteemed by moft of the ferious Pre/byterians and Independents, in his Chrijlian Directory, moftly wrote about an hundred Years ago, fully £hewTs his detefta- tion of this pradice in the following words :

* Do you not mark how God hath followed

* you with plagues ? And may not confcience ( tell you, that it is for your inhumanity to ' the fouls and bodies of men ? — To go as

* pirates and catch up poor Negroes, or peo-

* pie of another land, that never forfeited

* Life or Liberty, and to make them Slaves 6 and fell them, is one of the worft kind of « Thievery in the world; and fuch perfons « are to be taken for the common Enemies ? of mankind; and they that buy them, and I ufe them as beafts, for their meer com-

C 3 < modity.

[ 3« J

How the Britijh nation firft came to be concerned in a pra&ice, by which the rights and liberties of mankind are fo violently infringed, and which is fo oppofite to the apprehenfions Englijhmen have always had of what natural juftice requires, is indeed furprifing. It was about the year 1563, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, that the Englijh iirit engaged in the Guinea Trade; when it appears, from an account in Hill's Naval Hiftory, page 293, That when Captain Hawkins returned from his firft voyage to Africa, that generous fpirited Princefs, at- tentive to the intereft of her fubjefts, fent for the Commander, to whom fhe expreffed her concern left any of the African Negroes fhould be carried off without their free confent, de- claring it would be deteftable, and call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the undertakers. Captain Hawkins promifed to comply with the Queen's injunction: neverthelefs, we find in the account, given in the fame Hiftory, of Hawkins's fecond voyage, the author ufing thefe remarkable words, Here began the horrid practice of forcing the Africans into Jlavery.

Labat) a Roman Miffionary, in his account of the Ifles of America* at page 114, of the 4th vol. mentions, that Lewis the 13th, Father to the prefent French King's Grand- father, was extremely uneafy at a Law by which all the Negroes of his Colonies were

to

ii

[ 37 ]

to be made flaves ; but it being ftrongly urged to him, as the readieft means for their Converfion to Chrijlianity, he acqui- efced therewith.

And although we have not many accounts of the impreffions which this piratical inva- fion of the rights of mankind gave to ferious minded people, when firft engaged in; yet it did not efcape the notice of fome, who might be efteemed in a peculiar manner as watchmen in their day to the different focie- ties of Chrijiians whereunto they belonged. Richard Baxter, an eminent preacher amongft the Nonconformijls, in the laft century, well known and particularly efteemed by moil of the ferious Prefbyterians and Independents, in his Chrijiian Directory, moftly wrote about an hundred Years ago, fully fhewTs his detefta- tion of this pra&ice in the following words : ■« Do you not mark how God hath followed g you with plagues ? And may not conference ' tell you, that it is for your inhumanity to ' the fouls and bodies of men? — To go as 6 pirates and catch up poor Negroes, or peo-

* pie of another land, that never forfeited

* Life or Liberty, and to make them Slaves s and fell them, is one of the worft kind of « Thievery in the world; and fuch perfons « are to be taken for the common Enemies ? of mankind; and they that buy them, and f ufe them as beafts, for their meer com-

C 3 < modity^

r 3§ 3

modity, and betray, or deftroy, or neglect

* their fouls, are fitter to be called devils than

* Chriftians. It is an heinous fin to buy them,

* unlefs it be in charity to deliver them.— — - s Undoubtedly they are prefently bound to

* deliver them; becaufe by right the man is

* his own; therefore no man elfe can have a 1 jufl: title to him/

We alfo find George Fox, a man of exem- plary piety, who was the principal inflrument In gathering the religious fociety of people called Quakers, expreffing his concern and fellow-feeling for the bondage of the Negroes: In a difcourfe taken from his mouth, in Barbadoes, in the Year 1671, fays, ' Confi-

* der with yourfelves, if you were in the

* fame condition as the Blacks are, — who

* came ftrangers to you, and were fold to you € as Haves. I fay, if this mould be the con-

* dition of you or yours, you wrould think it

* hard meafure: Yea, and very great bondage

* and cruelty. And, therefore, confider fe-

* rioufly of this, and do you for and to them,

* as you would willingly have them, or any € other to do unto you, were you in the like

* flaviih condition; and bring them to know

* the Lord Chrift.' And in his journal, page 431, fpeaking of the Advice he gave his friends at Barbadoes %: he fays, * I defired alfo* c that they would caufe their Overfeers to deal

* mildly and gently with their Negroes, and

j riot

[ 39 3

4 not to ufe cruelty towards them, as the

« manner of fome had been; and that after

* certain years of fervitude they mould make

* them free/

In a book printed in Leverpool, called The Leverpool Memorandum- book, which contains, among other things, an account of the Trade of that port, there is an exadt lift of the veffels employed in the Gui?iea Trade, and of the number of Slaves imported in each veffel, by which it appears, that in the year 1753, the number imported to America, by veffels belonging to that port, amounted to upwards of Thirty Thoufand j and from the number of Veffels employed by the African Company in London and Brijlol, we may, with fome degree of certainty conclude, there is, at leaft, One Hundred Thoufand Negroes purchafed and brought on board our mips yearly from the coaft of Africa, on their account. This is confirmed in Anderfons Hiftory of Trade and Commerce, printed in 1764, where it is faid, at page 68 of the Appendix, c That England fupplies her Ame-

* rican Colonies with Negro-flaves, amount- 1 ing in number to above One Hundred

* Thoufand every year/ When the veffels are full freighted with flaves, they fet out for our plantations in America, and may be two or three months on the voyage, during which time, from the filth and ftefich that is

C 4 among

I 40 I }

among them, diftempers frequently break out* which carry oft a great many, a fifth, a fourth, yea, fometimes a third of them; fo that taking all the flaves together that are brought on board our mips yearly, one may reasonably fuppofe, that at leaft ten thoufand of them die on the voyage. And in a printed account of the State of the Negroes in our plantations, it is fuppofed that a fourth part, more or lefs, die at the different Iflands, in what is called the feafoning. Hence it may be prefumed, that, at a moderate computation of the Haves, who are purchafed by our African merchants in a year, near thirty thoufand die upon the voyage and in the feafoning. Add to this, the prodigious number who are killed in the incurfions and inteftine wars, by which the Negroes procure the number of flaves wanted to load the veffels. How dreadful then is this Slave-Trade, whereby fo many thoufands of our fellow-creatures, free by nature, endued with the fame rational faculties, and called to be heirs of the fame falvation with us, lofe their lives, and are truly, and properly fpeak- ing, murdered every year ! For it is not neceflary, in order to convict a man of murder, to make it appear, that he had an intention to commit murder. Whoever does, by unjuft force or violence, deprive another of his Liberty; and, while he has him in his power, reduces him, by cruel treatment, to fuch a condition as evidently endangers hjs

life*

life, and the event occafions his death, Is actually guilty of murder. It is no lefs (hock- ing to read the accounts given by Sir Hans Sloane, and others, of the inhuman and un- merciful treatment thofe Blacks meet with, who furvive the feafonings in the Iflands, often for tranfgreffions, to which the punifhment they receive bears no proportion. « And the

* horrid executions, which are frequently

* made there upon difcovery of the plots laid ? by the Blacks, for the recovery of their ' liberty -y of fome they break the bones, ' whilft alive, on a wheel; others they burn

* or rather roaft to death j others they ftarve

* to death, with a loaf hanging before their 6 mouths/ Thus they are brought to expire, with frightful agonies, in the moft horrid tortures. For negligence only they are un- mercifully whipped, till their backs are raw, and then pepper and fait is fcattered on the wounds to heighten the pain, and prevent mortification. Is it not a caufe of much for- row and lamentation, that fo many poor crea- tures mould be thus racked with excrucia- ting tortures, for crimes which often their tormentors have occafioned? Muft not even the common feelings of human nature have fuffered fome grievous change in thofe men, to be capable of fuch horrid cruelty towards their fellow-men ? If they deferve death, ought not their judges, in the death decreed

them,

I 42 ]

them, always to remember that thefe their hapleis fellow-creatures are men, and them- felves profefiing Chriflians? The Mofaic law teaches us our duty in thefe cafes, in the merciful provifion it made, in the punifhment of tranfgreffors, T> enter, xxv. 2. And it fiall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge jhall caufe him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, accord- ing to his fault, by a certain ijwnber; Forty jiripes he may give him, and not exceed. And the reafon rendered is out of refpect to human nature, viz. Left if he fhould exceed* and beat him above thefe, with many ftrifes, then thy Brother fhould feem vile unto thee» firitains boaft themfelves to be a generous, humane people, who have a true fenfe of the importance of Liberty; but is this a true character, whilft that barbarous, favage Slave- Trade, with all its attendant horrors, receives countenance and protection from the Legifla- ture, whereby fo many Thoufand lives are yearly facrificed? Do we indeed believe the truths declared in the Gofpel? Are we per- fuaded that the threatenings, as well as the promifes therein contained, will have their accompliihment? If indeed we do, muft we not tremble to think what a load of guilt lies upon our Nation generally, and individually, fo far as we in any degree abet or countenance this aggravated iniquity ?

[ 43 1

We have a memorable Inftance in hiftory, which may be fruitful of Inftrudtion, if timely and properly applied; it is a quota- tion made by Sir John Temple, in his hiftory of the Irifh rebellion, being an obfervation out of Giraldus Cambrenfis, a noted author, who lived about fix hundred years ago, con- cerning the caufes of the profperity of the Englifi undertakings in Ireland, when they conquered that Ifland, he faith, • That a fy-

* nod, or council of the Clergy, being then « affembled at Armagh, and that point fully 1 debated, it was unanimoufly agreed, that

* the fins of the people were the occafion of < that heavy judgment then falling upon

* their nation ; and that efpecially their f buying of Englijhmen from merchants and ■f pirates, and detaining them under a moil

c miferable hard bondage, had caufed the

* Lord, by way of juft retaliation, to leave f them to be reduced, by the Englifh, to the f fame ftate of flavery. Whereupon they

* made a publick act in that council, that all ( the Englijh, held in captivity throughout

* the whole land, fhould be prefently re- f ftored tp their former Liberty/

I {hall now conclude with an extract from $.n addrefs of a late author to the merchants, and others, who are concerned in carrying on the Guinea Trades which alfo, in a great

rneafure,

[ 44 1

fneafure, is applicable to others, who? for the love of gain, are in any way concerned In promoting or maintaining the captivity of the Negroes •

€ As the bufinefs, you are publickly carry- € ing on before the world, has a bad afpedt,

* and you are fenfible moft men make objec- f tion againft it, you ought to juftify it to

* the world, upon principles of reafon,

* equity, and humanity; to make it appear,

* that it is no unjuft invafion of the perfons,

* or encroachments on the rights of men; or

* for ever to lay it afide.— But laying afide

* the refentment of men, which is but of

* little or no moment, in comparifon with < that of the Almighty, think of a future ' reckoning: confider how you fhall come

* off in the great and awful Day of account.

* You now heap up riches, and live in plea- ' fure; but, oh! what will you do in the end

* thereof? and that is not far off: what, if

* death fhould feize upon you, and hurry you

* out of this world, under all that load of

* blood-guiltinefs that now lies upon your

* fouls ? The gofpel exprefly declares, that « thieves and murderers fhall not inherit the

* kingdom of God. Confider, that at the

* fame time, and by the fame means, you € now treafure up worldly riches, you are

* treafuring up to yourfelves wrath againft

* the

[ 45 1

8 the day of wrath, and vengeance that lhall < come upon the workers of iniquity, unlefs « prevented by a timely repentance.

* And what greater iniquity, what crime

* that is more heinous, that carries in it more '■ complicated guilt, can you name than that, i in the habitual, deliberate praftice of which

* you now live? How can you lift up your 8 guilty eyes to heaven ? How can you pray c for mercy to him that made you, or hope « for any favour from him that formed you,

* while you go on thus grofly and openly to « difhonour him, in debafmg and deftroying

* the nobleft workmanfhip of his hands in ' this lower world? He is the Father of men; « and do you think he will not refent fuch

* treatment of his offspring, whom he hath

* fo loved, as to give his only begotten Son,

< that whofoever believeth in him, might not

* perifh, but have everlafting life ? This love « of God to man, revealed in the gofpel, is a « great aggravation of your guilt; for if God

< fo loved us, we ought alfo to love one ano-

* ther. Ton remember the fate of the Servant 9 « who took hold of his fellow -fervant, who « was in his debt, by the throaty and cajl him 6 into prifon: Think then, and tremble to € think, what will be your fate, who take « your fellow-fervants by the throat, that

* owe you not a penny, and make them

* prifoners for life,

< Give

[ 46 ]

* Give yourfelves leave to reflect impar- tially upon, and coniider the nature of, this Man-Trade, which, if you do, your hearts mud needs relent, if you have not loft all fenfe of humanity, all pity and companion towards thofe of your own kind, to think what calamities, what ha-» vock and deftruclion among them, you have been the authors of for filthy lucre's fake. God grant you may be fenfible of your guilt, and repent in time!'

T

*' I N I S,

BOOKS Printed and Sold by J. Phillips, George- Yard, Lombard-Street,

ESSAY on the Treatment and Con- version of AFRICAN SLAVES in the British Sugar Colonies. By J. Ramsay, Vicar of Tefton in Kent, who relided many Years in the Weft-Indies. In One Volume, Octavo. Price 5s. bound, or 4s. in Boards,

Historical Account of GUINEA, its Situation, Produce, and the general Dif- pofition of its Inhabitants. With an Inquiry into the Rise and Progress of the SLAVE TRADE, its Nature and lamenta- ble Effects. Alfo a Republication of the Sentiments of feveral Authors of Note on this interefting Subject: Particularly an Extract of a Treatife written by Granville Sharpe. By Anthony Benezet. In One Volume Octavo. Price 2s. 6d. ftitched.

THOUGHTS on the Slavery of the NEGROES. Price 4d.

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