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I 
 

SOME 
 
 Historical Account 
 
 O F 
 
 GUINEA, 
 
 Its Situation, Produce and the general Dil- 
 pofition of its Inhabitants. 
 
 WITH 
 
 An inquiry into the Rife and Progrefs of the 
 Slave-Trade, its Nature and lament- 
 able Effects. 
 
 ALSO 
 
 A Re-publication of the Sentiments of feve- 
 ral Authors of Note, on this interefting 
 Subject ; particularly an Extratt of a 
 Treatife, by Granville Sharp. 
 
 — \ — 
 
 By Anthony Benezet, 
 
 A els xvii. 24, 26. God that ??iade the World hath 
 
 made of one Blood all Nations of Men, for to dwell on all 
 the Face of the Earth, and hath determined the Bounds 
 of their Habitation, 
 
 Eccles* viii. 1 1 . Becaufe Sentence again/1 an evil Work is 
 not executed fpeedily, therefore the Heart of the Sons of 
 Men is fully fei in them to do Evil, 
 
 Deut . xxxii. 34. Is not this laid up in Store with me and 
 fealed up among my Treafure. To vie belongtth Vengeance 
 and Recomptnce, their Foot fl?all Jlide in due Time, for the 
 Day of their Calamity is at Hand ; and the Things that 
 fhall come upon them make hafte. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : Printed by Joseph Cruk- 
 
 shank, in Third- dree t, oppofite the Workhoufc. 
 
 M,DCC>LXXI. 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 A 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 G E NE RAL account of Guinea ; 
 particularly t h of e parts on the rivers Sene- 
 gal and Gambia. Page I 
 
 C H A P. II. 
 
 Account of the Ivory-Coaft, the Gold-Coaft 
 and the Slave- Coaft. 17 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of the kingdoms of Benin, Kongo and An- 
 
 1 S ola - 35 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Guinea, firfl dif covered and fid) due d by the 
 Arabians. The Portuguefe make defcents 
 on the coaft and carry off the natives. Qp- 
 prejfon of the Indians ; De la Cafa pleads 
 their caufe. 41 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 TheJLngliih'sfrf} trade to the coafl of Guinea : 
 Violently carry offfome of the Negroes. 5 2 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Slavery more tolerable under Pagans and 
 
 Turks 
 
CONTENTS- 
 
 Turks than in the colonies. As chriflianity 
 prevailed ancient Jlavery declined. 63, 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Montefquieu's fentiments of Jlavery. Mor- 
 gan Godwyn's advocacy on behalf of Ne- 
 groes and Indians ', &c. 7 2 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Grievous treatment of the Negroes in the colo- 
 nies, &c. 85 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 Dejire of gain the true motive of the Slave trade. 
 Mi/reprefentation of the flate of the Negroes 
 in Guinea. 96 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 State of the Government in Guinea, &c. 105 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 Accounts of the cruel methods ufed in carrying on 
 of the Slave trade, &c. 1 1 1 
 
 CHAP. XIL 
 
 Ext rafts of fever a I voyages to the coafl ofGv\~ 
 
 nea, &c. 118 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Numbers of Negroes, yearly brought from 
 
 Guinea, by the Englifli, &c. 128 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 Obfervations on the fituation and difpcfition of 
 the Negroes in the northern colonies, &c. 132 
 
 CHAP. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Europeans capable of bearing reafonable la- 
 bour in the Weft Indies, &c. 141 
 
 Extracts from Granville Sharp'/ reprefenta- 
 - tions, &c. 
 
 Sentiments of fever al author s 9 viz. George 
 Wallace, Francis Hutchefon, and James 
 Fofter. 
 
 Extracts of an addrefs to the affembly of Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Extraft of the bifbop of GloucefterV fermon. 
 
 ERRATUM. 
 
 Page 6 line 19. For four or five thoufand miles, 
 read three or four thoufand. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 T 
 
 "'HE flavery of the Negroes 
 having, of late, drawn the 
 attention of many ferious minded 
 people ; feveral tracts have been 
 publilTied fetting forth its inconfif- 
 tancy with every chriftian and mo- 
 ral virtue, which its hoped will 
 have weight with the judicious ; 
 efpecially at a time when the liber- 
 ties of mankind are become fo 
 much the fubject of general atten- 
 tion. For the fatisfaction of the 
 ferious enquirer who may not have 
 the opportunity of feeing thofe 
 tracts, and fuch others who are 
 ilncerely defirous that the iniquity 
 of this practice may become effec- 
 tually apparent, to thofe in whofe 
 
 power 
 
C-ffl 3. 
 
 power it may be, to put a ftop to 
 any farther progrefs therein ; it is 
 propofed, hereby, to republifh the 
 molt material parts of faid tracts ; 
 and in order to enable the reader to 
 form a true judgment of this mat- 
 ter, which, tho' fo very important, 
 is generally difregarded ; or fo art- 
 fully mifreprefented by thofe whofe 
 antereft leads them to vindicate it, 
 as to bias the opinions of people 
 otherwife upright ; fome account 
 will be here given of the diffe- 
 rent parts of Africa, from which 
 the Negroes are brought to Ame- 
 rica; with an impartial relation 
 from what motives the Europeans 
 were firft induced to undertake, 
 and have fince continued this ini- 
 quitous traffic. And here it will 
 not be improper to premife, that 
 
 tho' 
 
[ *» T 
 
 tno* wars ariiino; from the common 
 ravity of human nature, have 
 pened, as well among the Ne- 
 csas other nations and the weak 
 ibmetimes been made captives 
 to the ftrong; yet nothing ap- 
 pears, in the various relations of 
 the intercourfe and trade, for a 
 long time, carried on by the Eu- 
 ropeans, on that coaft, which 
 would induce us to believe, that 
 there is any rearfoundation for 
 that argument, fo commonly ad- 
 vanced, in vindication of that trade 
 viz. u That the flavery of the Ne- 
 " groes took its rife from a deftre, 
 " in the par chafers, tofavethe lives 
 " ofJv<b of them as were taken cap « 
 f* fives in ivar, who would otherivi/c 
 11 have been facrificcd to the impla- 
 ¥.. cable revenge of their conquerors!' 
 
 A 
 
[ iv ] 
 
 A plea which when compared with 
 the hiftory of thofe times, will ap- 
 pear to be deftitute of Truth ; 
 and to have been advanced, and 
 urged, principally byfuch as were 
 concerned in reaping the gain of this 
 infamous traffic, as a paliation of 
 that, againft which their own reafon 
 and confcience, mull have raifed 
 fearful objections. 
 
Some Hiftorical Account &c; 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 GUINEA affords an e&fy Living 
 
 to its Inhabitants, with but little Toil. 
 The Climate agrees well with the Natives;, 
 but extreamly un^ealthful to the Europe- 
 ans. Produces Provifions in the greateft 
 Plenty. Simplicity of their Houfholdry. 
 The Coaft of Guinea defcribed from the 
 River Senegal to the Kingdom of Angola. 
 The Fruitfulnefs of that Part lying on 
 and between the two oreat Rivers Sena- 
 gal and Gambia. Account of the diffe- 
 rent Nations fettled there. Order of Go- 
 vernment amongft the Jalofs. Good Ac- 
 count of fome of the Fuiis. The*Mandi- 
 gos ; their ManagementjGovernment, &c« 
 Their Woriliip. . M. Adanfon's Account 
 of thofe Countries. Surprizing Vegetati- 
 on. Pleafant Appearance of the Country. 
 He found the Natives very fcciable and 
 obliging. 
 
 "H E N the Negroes are confidered 
 barely in their preient abject ftate 
 of flavery, broken spirited and deje&ed * 
 
 a&d 
 
( * } 
 
 and too eafy credit is given to the account* 
 we frequently hear or read of their barba- 
 rous and favage way of living in their own 
 country ; we mall be naturally induced to> 
 look upon them as incapable of improve- 
 ment, deftitute, miferable, and infenfible of 
 the benefits of life ; and that our permitting 
 them to live amongft us, even on the molt 
 oppreffive terms, is to them a favour \ but 
 on impartial enquiry, the cafe will appear to, 
 be far otherwife; wefhallfind that there is 
 fcarce a country in the whole world, that 
 is better calculated for affording the neceflary 
 comforts of life to its inhabitants, with lefs 
 foiicitude and toil, than Guinea, j^nd that 
 notwithfianding the long converfe of many 
 of its inhabitants with' (often) the worft of 
 the Europeans, they ftiil retain a great deal 
 of innocent fimplicity ; and when not ftirred 
 up to revenge from the frequent abufesthey 
 have received from the Europeans in general ; 
 manifeii themfelves to be a humane, fociable 
 people, whofe faculties are as capable of im- 
 ement as thofe of other people ; and 
 that their ceconomy and government is, in 
 many refpecrs, commendable. Hence it ap- 
 pears they might have lived happy, if not 
 diftu-rbed by the Europeans ; more efpecially^ 
 if thefelaft had ufed fuch endeavours as their 
 chiiilianprofeffion requires, to communicatq 
 to the ignorant Africans that fuperior 
 
 knowledge 
 
( 3 ) 
 knowledge which providence had favoured 
 them with. In order to fet this matter in 
 its true light, and for the information of 
 thofe well minded people who are defirous 
 of being fully acquainted with the merits of 
 a ca,ufe, whichis of theutmoft confequence;. 
 as therein the lives and happinefs of thou- 
 fands and hundreds of thoufands of our fel- 
 low men have fallen, and are daily falling a 
 facrifice to felfifh avarice, and ufurped pow- 
 er, I will here give forue account of the fe-. 
 veral divifions of thofe parts of Africa, from 
 whence the Negroes are brought, with a 
 fummary of their produce ; the difpofition 
 of their refpeftive inhabitants ; their im- 
 provements, &c &c. extra&ed from authors, 
 of credit ; moftly fuch as have been principal 
 officers in the Englifh, French and Dutch 
 factories, and who refided many years in 
 thofe countries. But firft it is neceffary to. 
 premife, as a remark generally applicable to 
 the whole coaft of Guinea, " That the AU 
 " mighty who has determined and appointed the 
 " bounds of the habitation of men on the face of 
 " the earth" in the manner that is moft con- 
 ducive to the well being of their different 
 natures and difpoiitions has fo ordered it 
 that altho' Guinea is extreamly unhealthy * 
 to 
 
 * Gentleman s Magazine", S7ip'/>Iemen7 9 "iy6^. ~ Extra, 1 of a 
 letter wot e from the ijand of Senegal by Mr. Borne 
 praciithner of phyfc there, to Dr. BrockUJby of London. 
 
 « To 
 
( 4 ) 
 to the Europeans, of whom many thou- 
 fands have met there with a miferable and 
 
 untimely 
 
 " To form a juft idea of theunhealthinefs of the cli- 
 " mate, it will be neceflary to conceive a country extend- 
 " ing three hundred leagues eaft, and more to the 
 i ( north and fouth. Thro' this country feveral large 
 « c rivers empty themfelves into the fea ; particular- 
 (< \y the Sanaga, Gambia and Sherbro ; thefe du- 
 c < ring the rainy months, which begin in July, and 
 << continue till O&ober, overflow their banks and lay 
 f * the whole flat country under water ; and indeed,. 
 " the very fudden rife of thefe rivers is incredible, 
 <•' to perfons who have never been within the tropicks 
 cc and are unacquainted with the violent rains that 
 • s fall there. At Galem, nine hundred miles from 
 " the mouth of the Sanaga, lam informed that the 
 << Waters rife one hundred and fifty feet perpendicular 
 " from the bed of the river. This information I re- 
 " ceived from a gentleman, who was furgeon's mate- 
 «< to a party fent there, and the only furvivor of three 
 " captains command, each confuting of one captain, 
 " two lieutenants, one enfign, a furgeon's mate, three 
 ■f ferj cants, three corporals and fifty privates. 
 
 " When the rains are at an end which ufually- 
 « happens in October, the intenfe heat of the Sua 
 " foon dries up the waters, which lie on the higher 
 «« parts of the earth, and the remainder forms lakes 
 << of fta^nated waters, in which are found all forts 
 fr of dead animals : Thefe waters every day decreafe 
 " till at laft they are quite exhaled and then the ef- 
 < c flavia that arifes is almoft infuppor table. At this 
 «<< feafon, the winds blow fo very hot from oif the 
 < land, that I can compare them to nothing but the 
 % * heat proceeding from the mouth of an oven. This 
 '< occafions the Europeans :o be forely vexed with bi- 
 
 ♦< 1 
 
( 5 ) 
 untimely end, yet it is not fo with the Ne- 
 groes who enjoy a good date of health -j- and 
 are able to procure to themfelves a comfort- 
 able fubfiftance; with much lefs care and toil 
 than is neceflary in our more northern cli- 
 mate ; which laft advantage arifes, not only 
 from the warmth of the climate, but alfo' 
 from the overflowing of the rivers, where- 
 by the land is regularly moiftned and ren- 
 dered extremely fertile ; and being in many 
 places improved by culture, abounds with 
 grain and fruits, cattle, poultry, &c. The 
 earth yields all the year a frefh fupply of 
 food : Few clothes are requilite and little 
 art neceflary in making them ; or in the 
 conftruction of their houfes, which are very 
 
 fimple, 
 
 (t lious and putrid fevers. From this account you 
 " will not be furprized, that the total lofs of Britlfh 
 " fubjects in this ifland only, amounted to above two 
 " thoufand fivehundred in the fpace of three years 
 " that I was there, in fuch a putrid rnoift air as 1 have 
 " defcribed. 
 
 f James Barbot, agent general to the French Af- 
 rican company, in his account of Africa, page 105, 
 fays, " The natives are feldom troubled with any 
 «' diftempers, being little afFedled with the unhealthy 
 " air; in tempeftuous times they keep much within 
 " doors, and when expofed to the weather their fkins 
 €i being fuppled and pores clofed by daily anointing 
 << with palm oyl, the weather cail make but little ina- 
 m predion on them." 
 
( 6 ) 
 Ample, principally calculated to defend them 
 from the tempeftuous feafons and wild 
 beads ; a few dry reeds covered with matts 
 ferve to: their beds. Thee irniture, 
 
 except what belongs to cookery- gives the 
 women but little trouble ; the moveables of 
 the greajteft among them amounting only to 
 a few earthen pots, feme wooden utenfils 
 and gourds or calabaflies ; from thefe laft 5 
 which grow almoflT naturally over their huts y 
 to which they afford an agreeable fhade? 
 they are abundantly ftock't with: good clean 
 veifels for moft houfhold ufe, being of dif- 
 ferent iizes, from half a pint tofeveral gal- 
 lons. 
 
 That part of Africa from which the Ne- 
 groes are fold to be carried into flavery, 
 commonly known by the name of Guinea, 
 extends along the coaft fAflgf or-fiw thoufand 
 miles. Beginning at the river Senegal, fitu- 
 ate about the 17 th degree of north latitude, 
 being the nearelt part of Guinea, as well to 
 Europe, as to North America ; from thence 
 to the river Gambia, andinafoutherlycourfe 
 to cape Sierra Lecna, comprehends a coaft 
 of about feven hundred Miles ; being the 
 fame tracl for which Queen Elizabeth grant- 
 ed charters to the the firft traders to that 
 coaft: From Sierra Leona, the land of Gui- 
 nea takes a turn to the eaftward, extending 
 that courfe about fifteen hundred miles, in- 
 cluding 
 
( 7 ) 
 eluding thofe feveral divifions known by the 
 name of the Grain Coafl ; the Ivory Coaft ; the 
 Gold Coafl and the Slave Coafl, with the large 
 kingdom of Benin. From thence the land runs 
 fouthward along the coaft about twelve 
 hundred miles, which contains the kingdoms 
 of Congo and Angola ; there the trade fot 
 flaves ends. From which to the fouther- 
 moft cape of Africa, called the cape of Good 
 Hope, the country is fettled by CafFers and 
 Hottentots : Who have never been concern* 
 ed in the making or felling Haves. 
 
 Of the parts which are above defcribed, 
 the firft which prefents itfelf to view, is that 
 fituate on the great river Senegal, which is 
 fatd to be navigable more than a thoufand 
 miles, and is by travellers, defcribed to be 
 very agreeable and fruitful. Andrew Brue 
 principal fa£tor for the French African com- 
 pany, who lived fixteen years in that coun- 
 try, after defcribing its fruitfulnefs and 
 plenty, near the Sea, adds J " th^ farther 
 " you go from the Sea, the country on the 
 " river feems the more fruitful and well im- 
 " -proved ; abounding with Indian corn, 
 " pulfe, fruit &c. Here are vaft meadows, 
 " which feed large herds of great and fmall 
 " cattle, and poultry numerous : The vil- 
 " lages that lie thick on the river, fhew the 
 " country is well peopled." The fame au- 
 tho r 
 
 J Aftley's coUca. vol. sf page 46. 
 
( 8 ) 
 thor in the account of a voyage he made up 
 the river Gambia, the mouth of which lyes 
 about three hundred miles fouth of the Se- 
 negal, and is navigable about fix hundred 
 miles up the country, fays Jj " That he was 
 H furprized to fee the land fo well cultiva- 
 " ted ; fcare a fpot lay unimproved, the 
 " lowlands, divided by fmall canals, were 
 c < all fowed with rice &c. the higher ground 
 " planted with millet, indian corn and 
 " peafe of different forts ; their beef excel- 
 " lent ; poultry plenty and very cheap as 
 " well as all other neceifaries of life." Fran- 
 cis Moor, who was fen t from England about 
 the year 1735, in the fervice of the African 
 company, and refided at James fort on the 
 river Gambia, or in other factories on that 
 river about five years, confirms the above 
 account of the fruitfulnefs of the country. 
 William Smith who was fent in the year 
 172 6, by the African company, to furvey their 
 fettlements thro'outthe whole coaft of Gui- 
 nea, f fays, " The country about the Gam- 
 " bia is pleafant and fruitful ; provifions of 
 c - all kinds being plenty and exceeding 
 " cheap." The country on and between 
 the two abovementioned rivers is large and 
 extenfive, inhabited principally hj thefe 
 three Negro nations known by the name of 
 Jalofs, Fulis andMandingos. The Jalofs 
 
 poffefs 
 
 "| Aitley's Collection ot voyages, vol. 2, page 86. 
 f William Smka's voyage to Guinea, page 31, 34. 
 
( 9 ) 
 pofiefs the middle of the country, The Full*; 
 principal fettlement is on both fides of the 
 Senegal; great numbers of thefe people are 
 aifo mixed with the Mandingos ; which laft 
 are moftly fettled on both fides the Gambia. 
 The Government of the Jalofs is reprefented 
 as under a better regulation than, can be ex- 
 peeled from the common opinion we enter- 
 tain of the Negroes, We are told in the Col-. 
 " lection, * That the King has under him fe- 
 " veralminiftersof ftatewho affift him in the 
 " exercife of juftice. The grand Jerafo is the 
 M chief juftice thro 5 allthe King's dominions, 
 * andgoesin circuitfromtimetotimetohear 
 " complaints and determine controveriies. 
 cs The King's treafurer exercifes the fame em- 
 " ployment, and has under him Alkairs, who 
 " are governors of towns or villages. 
 cc That the Kondi or vice Roy goes the circuit 
 " with the chief juftice both to hear caufes 
 " and infped- into the behaviour of the AU 
 " kadi or chief magiftrate of every village in 
 " their feveral diftrictsf." Vafconcetti an 
 author mentioned in the collection fays, 
 * £ The ancienteft are preferred to be the 
 " Prince's counfei/crs, who keep always a- 
 " bout his perfon, and the men of moft 
 4C judgment and experience are the judges? 1 
 
 c m 
 
 ■' Aftley's Collocaon, vol. 2, pag$ 35? 
 
( io ) 
 
 fbe FziUs are fettled on both fides of the ri- 
 ver Senegal : Their country which is very- 
 fruitful and populous, extends near four 
 hundred miles from eaft to weft. They are 
 generally of a deep tawny complexion, ap- 
 pearing to bear fome affinity with the Moor's, 
 wbofe country Xhey join on the north : 
 They are good farmers and make great har- 
 veft,ofcorn, cotton, tobacco &c, and breed 
 great numbers of .cattle of all kinds. Bartholo- 
 mew Stibbs, (mentioned by Fr : Moor J in his 
 account of that country fays, \ " They were 
 *' a cleanly i decent ;, indujlrious -people and very 
 Ci affable" Put the moft particular account 
 we have cf thefe people is from Francis 
 Moor himfelf, who fays jj, " Some of thefe 
 *■* Fuli blacks who dwell on- both fides the 
 f* river Gapnbia, are in fubjeclion to the 
 " Mandingos, arnongft whom they dwell, 
 Y having been probably driven out of their 
 Ci country, by war or famine. They have 
 " chiefs of their own, who rule with much 
 cc moderation. Few of them will drink brandy 
 €; or any thing flronger than water and fu- 
 * 6 gar, being ftricl mahometans. Their 
 ." form of government goes on eafy, be- 
 " caufe the people are of a good quiet dif- 
 ^ pofition and fo well inftrufted in what is 
 
 " right 
 
 % Moor's travels into diftant parts of Africa, page 
 fp%. |1 Ibid, page 21. 
 
( ** ) 
 
 * right, that a man who does ill is the a- 
 rc bomination of all, and nOne will fupport 
 " him againft the chief. In thefe countries 
 
 * the natives are not eoveteous of land, 
 ** defiling no more than what they ufe ; and 
 " as they do not plough with horfes and 
 
 * cattle they can ufe but very little, there- 
 u fore the Kings are willing to give the 
 " Fulis leave to live in their country and 
 ? cultivate their lands. If any of their 
 #c people are known to be made flaves, all 
 " the Fulis will join to redeem them ; they 
 " alfo fupport the old, the blind and lame a- 
 " mongft themfelves, and as far as their abi- 
 m litiesgo,they fupply the neceffities of the 
 
 * Mandingos, great numbers of whom they 
 c< have maintained in famine. The anther 
 from his own observations fays, " They were 
 " rarely angry, that he never heard them 
 
 * abufe one another/' 
 
 The Mandingos are faid by A. Brue before 
 mentioned, " To be the moft numerous 
 " nation on- the Gambia, befides which 
 " numbers of them are difperfed over all 
 " thefe countries ; being the moft rigid ma- 
 64 hometansamongft the Negroes, they drink 
 " neither wine nor brandy, and are politer 
 M than the other Negroes. The chief of the 
 " trade goes thro' their hands. Many are 
 " induftrious and laborious, keeping their 
 " ground well cultivated and breeding a 
 C 2 " good 
 
( " ) 
 
 11 good ftock of cattle, f Every town has 
 '< an Alkali, or Governor, who has great 
 " power ; for moft of them having two 
 cc common fields of clear ground, one for 
 " corn and the other for rice, the Alkali 
 " appoints the labour of all the people. 
 " The men work the corn ground, and 
 " the women and girls the rice ground, 
 u and as they all equally labour, fo he e- 
 " qually divides the corn amcngft them ; 
 * c and in cafe any are in want, the others 
 * c fupply them. This Alkali decides all 
 4C quarrels, and has the firft voice is. all 
 " conferences in town affairs." Some of 
 thefe Mandigos who are fettled at Galern^ 
 far up the river Senegal, can read and write 
 arabic tolerably, and are a good hofpitable 
 people, who carry on a trade with the In- 
 land nations. u | They are extreamly pa*. 
 * c pulous in thofe pares, their women be- 
 " ing fruitful, and they not fuffering r any 
 " perfon amongft them, but fuch are guil- 
 " ty of crimes, to be made Haves." We are 
 told, from Jobfon," |] That the mahometan 
 u Negroes fay their prayers thrice a day. Each 
 ". village has a prieft who calls them to their 
 4i duty. It's furprizing (fays the author) as 
 " well as commendable, to fee the modefty, 
 
 " attentiou 
 
 f Aftley's Collet, vol. 2, page 269. 
 % Aftley'sColtefl:. vol. 2, page 73,. 
 \ Ibid. 296. 
 
( i3 ) 
 p attention and reverencethey obferve du- 
 " ring their worfhip. He afked fome cf their 
 " priefts the purport of their prayers and cere 
 " monies ; their anfwer always was", "That 
 ■" they adored God, byproflratingthemfelvesbe- 
 " fore him ;that by humbling themf elves, theyac- 
 H knowledged their own infignifitancy ; andfar- 
 " ther entreated him to forgive their faults, and 
 " to grant thorn all good and neceffary things, as 
 cc well as deliverance fromeviL" Jobfon takes 
 notice of feveralgoodqualkes inthefe Negroe 
 priefts; j particularly their great fobriety. 
 They gain their- livelihood by keeping 
 fchool, for the education of the children* 
 The boys are taught to read and write. 
 They not only teach fchool, but rove a- 
 bout the country ; teaching and inftruct- 
 ing ; for which the whole country is o- 
 pen to them m r and .they have a free re- 
 courfe thro' all places, tho' the Kings 
 may be at war with one another. 
 
 The three forementioned nations, practice 
 feveraltrades, as fmiths, potters, fadlers, and 
 weavers, Their fmiths particularly work 
 neatly in gold and filver, and make knives, 
 hatchets, reaping hooks, fpadesand fhares 
 to cut iron, &c. &c. Their potters make 
 neat tobacco pipes, and pots to boil their 
 food. Some authors fay, that weaving is 
 their principal trade ; this is done by the 
 wQaiea and girls, who fpin and weave very 
 C 3 - . . fine 
 
( 14 ) 
 fine cotton cloth, which they die blue or 
 black. | F. Moor fays the Jalofs particu- 
 larly, make great quantities of the cotton 
 cloth; their pieces are generally 27 yards 
 long and but about 9 inches broad ; their 
 looms being very narrow ; fhefe they few 
 neatly together, fo as to fupply the ufe of 
 broad cloth. 
 
 It was in thefe parts of Guinea, that M. 
 Adanfon, correfpondant of the royal aca- 
 demy of fciences at Paris, mentioned in 
 fome former publications, was employed 
 from the year 1 749, to the year 1753, whol- 
 ly in making natural ' Mi&pbilofophical obfer- 
 vations, on the country about the rivers 
 Senegal and Gambia. Speaking of the great 
 heats on Senegal, he fays, " J It is to them 
 that they are partly indebted for the fer- 
 tility of their lands, which is fo great, 
 that with little labour and care, there is 
 no fruit nor grain but grow in great plen- 
 ty." 
 
 Of the foil on the Gambia, he fays, " || It 
 is rich and deep, and amazingly fertile ; 
 it produces fpontaneoufly, and almoft 
 without cultivation, all the neceffaries of 
 life 5 grain, fruit, herbs, and roots. E- 
 
 very 
 
 f F. Moor, 28. 
 
 1 M. Adaufon's voyoge to Senegal &c. page ~ 
 
 J idem, page 164. 
 
( 15 ) 
 " very thing matures to perfection, and is 
 " excellent in its kind." * One thing 
 which always furprifed him, was the prodigi- 
 ous rapidity, with which the fap of trees re- 
 pair any lofs they may happen to fuftain in 
 that country ; " and I was never (fays he) 
 more aftoniihed, than when landing four 
 days after the locufts had devoured 
 all the fruits and leaves, and even the 
 buds of the trees, , to find the trees co- 
 vered with new leaves ; and they did not 
 feerri me to have fuffered much." f" It 
 was then, (fays the fame author?) J the fifh 
 feafon ; you might fee them in fhoals 
 approaching towards land. Some of thofe 
 fhoals were fifty fathom fquare, and the 
 fifh crowded together in fuch a manner 
 as to roll upon one another, without be- 
 ing able to fwim. As foon as the Negroes 
 perceive them coming towards land, they 
 jump into the water, with a bafketin one 
 hand, and fwim with the other. They 
 need only to plunge and to lift up their 
 bafket, and they are fure to return load- 
 ed with fifh." Speaking of the appear- 
 ance of the country, and of the difpofition 
 of the people, he fays, j| " Which way foever 
 I turned mine eyes on this pleafant fpot, 
 I beheld a perfect image of pure nature ; 
 
 " an 
 
 * M. Adanfon, page, 162. 
 
 % Idem page, 171, |j Ibid page, 54. 
 
( *« ) 
 
 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, re- 
 clined under the (hade of their fpreading 
 foliage ; the fimplicity of their drefs and 
 manners ; the whole revived in my mind 
 the idea of our firft parents, and I feemed 
 to contemplate the world in its primitive 
 H ftate. They are generaly 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 abatement 
 made in the accounts I had read and heard 
 every where of the favage character of the 
 Africans ■. I obferved both in Negroes and 
 Moors, great humanity and fociablenefs ; 
 which gave me ftrong hopes, that 1 fhould 
 be very fafe amongft them, and meet with 
 the fuccefs I defired, in my enquiries after 
 the curiofities of the country " * He 
 was agreeably amufed with the converfation 
 of the Negroes, their fables, dialogues, and 
 witty ftories with which they entertain each 
 other alternately, according to their cuftoiDo 
 Speaking of the remarks which the natives 
 made to him, with relation to the ftars and 
 flanets, he fays " It is amazing, that fuch 
 
 cc 
 
 * Adaafon, page, 252; ibid, 
 
( '7 ) 
 
 " a rude and iUeterate people, iliould reafon 
 
 " fo pertinently in regard to thofe heavenly 
 
 " bodies ; there is no manner of doubt, but 
 
 " that with proper inftruments, and a good 
 
 " will, they would become excellent aftrono- 
 
 " mers" 
 
 C H A 'P. II. 
 
 THE Ivory Coaft ; its foil and pro- 
 duce. The character of the natives mif- 
 reprefented by fome authors. Thefe mif- 
 reprefentations occafioned by the Europe- 
 ans having treacheroufly carried off many 
 of their people. John Smith furveyor to 
 the African company, his obfervations there- 
 on. John Snock's remarks. The Gold 
 Coaft and Slave Coaft, thefe have the 
 mod European Factories ; and furnifh the 
 greateft number of flaves to the Europeans* 
 Exceeding fertile. The country of Axim ; 
 and of Ante. Good account of the Inland 
 people. Great fiihery, Extraordinary trade 
 for flaves. The Slave Coaft. "The kingdom 
 of Whidah. Fruitful and pleafant. The 
 natives kind and obliging. Very popu- 
 lous. Keep regular markets and fairs. 
 Good order therein. Murder, adultery and 
 thf ft feverely punifhed. The kings reve- 
 nues « 
 
( 18 ) 
 nues. The principal people have an 
 idea of the true God, Commendable 
 care of the poor. Several fmall govern- 
 ments depend on plunder and the /lavs 
 trade. 
 
 THAT part of Guinea, known by the 
 name of the Grab?, and Ivory Coaft 9 
 come, next in courfe. This coaft extends 
 about 500 miles. The foil appears by ac- 
 count to be in general fertile, producing 
 abundance jof rice and roots; indigo and 
 cotton £ it cultivation and tobac- 
 
 co would be exedient if carefully manufac- 
 tured ; fifh in great plenty, their flocks 
 greatly in s . ,d tft es are loaded 
 
 with fruit. They make a cotton cloth 
 which fells well on the Coaft. In a word the 
 country is rich ad the commerce advanta- 
 geous and mighc be greatly augmented by 
 fuch as would cultivate the friendihip of the 
 natives ; thefe are reprefented by fome writ- 
 ers as a rude, treacherous people ; whilft feve- 
 ral other authors of credit give them a very 
 different character ; reprefenting them as 
 fenjibh) courteous and the fair eft traders on the 
 coaft of Guinea. In the collection they are 
 faid * to be averfe to drinking to excefs^ and 
 fuch at do are feverely punilhed by the kings 
 
 order : 
 
 Colleft. 2- vol. page, 560. 
 
( 19 ) 
 order : on inquiry why. there is fuch a disa- 
 greement in the character given of thefe 
 people, it appears, thattho' they are natural- 
 ly inclined to be kind toflrangers, with whom 
 they are fond of tradings yet the frequent 
 injuries done them by Europeans, has occafi- 
 oned their being fufpicious andfhy\ the fame 
 caufe has been the occafion of the ill treat- 
 ment they have fometimes given to inno- 
 cent Grangers, who have attempted to trade 
 with them. As the Europeans have no fet- 
 tlement on this part of Guinea, the trade is 
 carried on by fignals from the fhips ; on the 
 appearance of which the natives ufually 
 come on board, in their canoes, bringing 
 their gold-duft, ivory, &c. which has given 
 opportunity to fome villainous Europeans, to 
 carry them off with their effe&s, or retain 
 them on board till a ranfom is paid. It is 
 noted by fome that fince the European voy- 
 agers have carried away feveral of thefe 
 people, their miftruft is fo great, that it is ve- 
 ry difficult to prevail on them to come on 
 board. William Smith remarks ^"Aswe paft 
 " along this coaft, we very often lay be- 
 " fore a town and fired a gun for the na- 
 " tives to come off^ but no foul came 
 " near us ; at length we learnt, by fome 
 " fhips that were trading down the coaft 
 
 that 
 
 * W. South,. page, in. 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 " that the natives came feldom on board 
 " an Englifh fhip, for fear of being de- 
 " tained or carried off; yet at laft fome 
 ct ventured on board ; but if thefe chanced 
 ct to fpy any arms, they would all immedi- 
 " ately take to their canoes and make the 
 " beft of their way home. They had 
 " then in their poffeflion one Bejamin Crofs, 
 " the mate of an Englifh veffel, who was 
 " detained by them to make reprifals for 
 cc fome of their men, who had formerly 
 M been carried away by fome Englifh veffel.'* 
 In the Collection we are told, * This villa- 
 inous cuflom, is too often praflifed, chiefly by the 
 Briflol and Liverpool fhips\ and is a great de- 
 triment to the flave hade on the Windward 
 Coafl. John Snock mentioned in B of man f when 
 on that coaft wrote, u We caft anchor, but 
 u not one Negro coming on board, I went on 
 " fhore, and after having ftaid awhile on 
 " the ftrand, fome Negroes came to me ; and 
 " being defirous to be informed why they 
 " did not come on board, I was anfwered, 
 " that about two months before the Englifh 
 4C had been there with two iarge veffels, 
 u and had ravaged the country, deftroyed 
 u all their canoes, plundered their houfcs 
 " and carried oft fome of their people ; up- 
 
 " on 
 
 * Aftley's colle&ion, vol. 2 pare, 475, 
 
 f W. Bofman's difcription cf Guinea p. 440, 
 
( *} ) 
 
 c < on which the remainder fled to the inland 
 a country, where moft of them were at 
 " that time ; fo that there being not much 
 * to be done by us, we were obliged to 
 cc return on board. * When I enquired 
 ?* after their wars with other countries, 
 " they told me, they were not often trou- 
 " bled with them ; but if any difference 
 ? happened, they chofe rather to end the 
 " difpute amicably than to come to arms. f 5> 
 He found the inhabitants civil and good 
 natured. Speaking of the king of Rio Se/lro, 
 lower down the coaft, he fays, " He was a 
 " very agreeable, obliging man, and that 
 *• all his fubjecls are civil, as well as very 
 M laborious in agriculture and the purfuits 
 " of trade." Marchais fays, |j " That 
 u though the country is very populous, 
 " yet none of the natives (except criminals) 
 " are fold for flaves." Vail! ant never 
 heard of any fettlement being made by 
 the Europeans on this part of Guinea ; and 
 Smith remarks, § " That thefe coafts, which 
 " are divided into feveral little kingdoms, 
 Ci and have feldom any wars, is the reafon 
 44 the flave trade is not fo good here as on 
 the Gold and Slave Coafts where the Eui o- 
 D peans 
 
 # W. Bofman's defcription of Guinea, page, 439. 
 f Ibid. 441. || Aftley's collection 2 vol. page, 565. 
 § Smith's voyage to Guinea, 112* 
 
 u 
 
( 22 ) 
 
 * peans have feveral forts and factories/ 
 A plain evidence this, that it is the inter- 
 courfe with the Europeans and their fettle- 
 ments on the co^fl which gives life to the 
 Have trade. 
 
 Next adjoining to the Ivory Co aft > are 
 thofe called the Gold Coaft and the Slave 
 Coaft ; authors are not agreed about their 
 bounds ; but their extent together along 
 the coaft, may be about five hundred miles. 
 And as the policy, produce and oeconomy 
 of thefe two divisions of Guinea are much 
 the fame, I fhall defcribe them together. 
 
 Here theEuropeans have the greateft num- 
 ber of forts and factories, from whence, by 
 means of the Negro faftors, a trade is car- 
 ried on above feven hundred miles back 
 in the Inland country ; whereby great num- 
 bers of flaves are procured, as well by means 
 of the wars which arife amongft the Ne- 
 groes, or are fomented by theEuropeans, as 
 thofe brought from the back country. Here 
 we find the natives more reconciled to the En- 
 ropean manners and trade ; but, at the fame 
 time, much more inured to war, and ready to 
 afiift the European traders, in procuring 
 loadings for the great number of veffels 
 which come yearly on thofe coafts for flaves. 
 This part of Guinea is agreed by hiftori- 
 ans to be, in general, extraordinary fruitful 
 and agreeable) producing (according to the 
 
 difference 
 
( n ) 
 
 difference of the foil) vaft quantities of rice 
 and other grain ; plenty of fruit and 
 roots ; palm wine and oyl, and fifli in great 
 abundance; with much tame and wild cattle. 
 Bofman, principal factor far the Dutch at 
 D'Elmina, fpeaking of the country of Axim, 
 which isfituate towards the beginning of the 
 Gold Co aft, | fays, " The Negro inhabi- 
 c tants are generally very rich, driving a 
 c great trade with the Europeansfor gold : 
 That they are induftrioufly employed 
 either in trade, fifhing, or agriculture; 
 but chiefly in the culture of rice, which 
 grows here, in an incredible abun- 
 dance, and is tranfported hence all over 
 the Gold Coaft. The inhabitants in lieu 
 returning full fraught with millet, jamms 
 potatoes and palm oyl. The fame author 
 fpeaking of the country of Ante, fays^ 
 1 This country, as well as the Gold Cbaft, 
 abounds with hills, enriched with extra- 
 ordinary high and beautiful trees ; its 
 valleys, betwixt the hills, are wide and 
 exteniivc, producing in great abundance 
 very good rice, millet, jamms, potatoes, 
 and other fruits, all good in their kind, 
 He adds, " In fhort it is aland that yields 
 c its manurersas plentiful a crop as they can 
 ' wifli, with great quantities of palm wine and 
 
 *D 2 " oyl, 
 
 f Boimaivs '.leicnptioii of the coail of Guinea, p, 5. 
 t Idem, p. 
 
ti 
 
 ( M ) 
 ^ C oyl, befides being well farniflied with all 
 " forts of tame, as well as wild beafts ; but 
 " that the laft fatal wars had reduced it to 
 
 a miferable condition, and dripped it of 
 
 moft of Its inhabitants.'* The adjoining 
 country of Fetu, he fays, |] was formerly 
 {6 powerful and populous, that it ftruck 
 " terror into all the neighbouring nations ; 
 " but it is at prefent, fo drained by continu- 
 " al wars, that it is entirely ruined ; there 
 " does not remain inhabitants fufficient to 
 ". till the country ; tho' it is fo fruitful and 
 C S pleafant that it may be compared to the 
 " country of Ante, juft before defcribed ; 
 " frequently, fays that author, when walk- 
 " ing thro' it before the laft war, I have 
 cc lea; it abound with fine well built and po- 
 " pulous towns, agreeably enriched with 
 Ci vaft quantities of corn, cattle', palm \ 
 4i and oyl. The inhabitants \ 
 " themfelves without any difdndior 
 " griculture, fome fow corn, others prefs 
 " oyl and draw wine from palm trees, with 
 " both which it is plentifully flored," 
 
 William Smith gives much the fame ac- 
 count of the before mentioned parts of the 
 Gold Coaft, and adds, " Th& count: 
 ci bout D'Elmina and Cape Coaft, ism 
 " the fame for beauty and gooduefs, but 
 « more populous ; and the nearer we come 
 
 " towards 
 
 | Boimaa, p. 41. 
 
( «s ) 
 
 cs towards the Slave-Coaft, the more de- 
 *« lightful and rich all the countries are, 
 " producing all forts of trees, fruits, roots 
 " and herbs, that grow within the torrid 
 " Zone." J. Barbot alfo remarks, f with 
 reCpect to the countries of Ante and A- 
 dom, " That the foil is very good, and 
 " fruitful in corn and other produce, which 
 " it affords in fuch plenty, that befides 
 " what ferves for their own ufe they always 
 " export great quantities for fale ; they 
 " have a comnetent number of cattle, both 
 M tame and wild ; and the rivers abundant- 
 " ly ftored with fifh ; fo that nothing -is 
 " wanting for the fupport of life, and to 
 " make it eafy." In the Collection its faid,| 
 " That the Inland people, on that part of 
 " the coaft, employ themfelves in tillage 
 " and trade, and fupply the market with 
 " corn, fruit and palm wine ; the country 
 " producing fuch vaft plenty of indian corn, 
 " that abundance is daily exported, as well 
 w by Europeans as Blacks reforting thither 
 u from other parts.". " Thefe Inland peo- 
 " pie are faid to live in great union and 
 " friendfhip, being generally well temper- 
 M ed, civil and tradable; not apt to 
 " feed human blood, except when much 
 " provoked; and ready toaffiftone another/' 
 D 3 In 
 
 -j* John Barbot's defcription of Guinea, p. 154,- 
 i Aftley's Collection, z, vol. p. 535. 
 
( 26 ) 
 
 In the Collection % it is faid, " That the 
 " fiihing bufinefs is efteemed on the Gold 
 
 * Coafl next to trading ; that thofe who 
 " profefs it are more numerous than thofe 
 " of other employments. That the greateft 
 
 * number of thefe are at Kommendo, Mina 
 
 * andKormantin ; from each of which pla- 
 
 * ces, there goes out every morning, (Tuef- 
 " day excepted, which is the Fetifh day, or 
 ■* day of reft,) five, fix and fometimes eight 
 <* hundred canoes, from 13 to 14 feet long, 
 " who fpread themfeives two leagues at 
 Ki fea, each fiiherman carrying in his canoe 
 *' a fword, with bread, water, and a little 
 " fire, on a large ftone, to roaft fifh. Thus 
 " they labour till noon, w r hen the fea breeze 
 <c blowing frelh, they return on the ihore, 
 " generally laden with fifh 5 a quantity of 
 ** which the Inland inhabitants come down 
 * c to buy, which they fell again at the 
 " country markets*" 
 
 William Smith f fays" The country about 
 ^ Acra, where the Engliih and Dutch have 
 *< each a ftrong fort^ is very delightful, and 
 M the natives courteous and civil to ftrangers. 
 " He adds, " That this place feldomVaiis 
 
 * of an extraordinary good trade from the 
 " Inland country j. efpecially for Haves, 
 
 " wha 
 > ■ t . ■ ■ i ' *.k 
 
 j| Collection, vol. 2. page 640, 
 t WiUiaiii Smith, p. i^y. 
 
( 2 7 ) 
 C6 whereof feveral arefuppofed to come fiortt 
 " very remote parts \ becaufe it is not un- 
 M common to find aMalayenortwo amongft 
 
 * a parcel of other flaves : The Malay* 
 " people are originally natives' of Mallacca, 
 « in the Eaft Indies, fituate feveral thoufand 
 " miles from the Gold Coaft." They dif- 
 fer very much from the Guinea Negroes y 
 being of a tawny complexion, with long 
 black hair, 
 
 Moft parts of the Slave Coafts are repre- 
 fented as equally fertile and pleafant with 
 the Gold Coaft : The kingdom of Whidali 
 has been particularly noted by travellers. J 
 William Smith and Bofman agree,. " That 
 <c it is one of the moft delightful countries 
 ** in the world. The great number and va- 
 44 riety of tall, beautiful and fhady trees* 
 " which feem planted in gxoves ; the ver- 
 
 * dant fields every where cultivated, and no 
 " otherwise divided than by thofe groves, 
 " and in fome places a fmall foot path ; to- 
 " gether with a great number of villages, 
 " contribute to afford, the rnoft delightful 
 w profped ; the whole country being a line 
 " eafy and almoft imperceptible afcent, for 
 " the fpace of 40 or 50 miles from the fea» 
 " That the farther you go from the fea, the 
 ft the more beutiful and populous the coun-- 
 " try appears.. Th^t the natives were kind 
 
 - : ■■.-, " and 
 
 % Smith; p. 1^4, "Boimaji; p. 316. 
 
( • » ) 
 " and obliging, and fo induftrious, that- 
 " no place which was thought fertile could 
 " efcape being planted, even within the 
 " hedges, which inclofe their villages. And 
 " that the next day after they had reaped 
 " they fowed again." 
 
 Snelgrave alfo fays, " The country ap- 
 " pears full of towns and villages, and be- 
 " ing a rich foil and well cultivated, looked 
 " likean entire garden." In the Collection * 
 the hufoandry of the Negroes is defcribed 
 to be carried on with great regularity ; the 
 " rainy feafon approaching they go into the 
 u fields and woods, to fix on a proper place 
 " for fowing ; and, as here is no property in 
 " ground, the king's licence being obtain-- 
 " ed, the people go out in troops, and firft 
 " clear the ground from bufhes and weeds 
 '- which they burn. The fields thus cleared 
 " they dig it up a foot deep and fo let it 
 ** remain for eight or ten days, till the reft 
 " of their neighbours have difpofed their 
 " ground in the fame manner. They then 
 " confult about fowing, and for that end 
 " affemble at the king's court, the next 
 " Fetiih day. The king's grain muft be 
 u fown firft. They then go again to the 
 " field, and give the ground a fecond 
 " digging, and fow their feed. Whilft 
 
 " the 
 
 * Colle&ion, 2 v©l. page, 651. 
 
( *9 ) ' 
 cc 'the king or governour's land is fov/- 
 < ; ing, he fends out wine* and flefh ready 
 " drefied, enough to ferve the labourers. 
 " Afterwards they in like manner fow the 
 " ground allotted for their neighbours, as 
 " diligently as that of the king ; by whom 
 €< they are alfo feafted ; and fe continue to 
 " work in a body for the publick benefit, 
 " till every man's ground is tilled and fow- 
 " ed. None but the king and a few great 
 " men are exempted from this labour. Their 
 •" grain foon fprouts out of the ground. 
 " When it is about man's height and be- 
 <; gins to ear, they raife a wooden houfe in 
 M the centre of the field, covered with ftraw, 
 " in which they fet their children to watch 
 " their corn and fright away the birds." 
 
 Bofmnn * fpeaks in commendation of 
 the civility, kindnefs and great induitry of 
 the natives of Whydah; this is confirmed by 
 Smith f who fays, " The natives here feem to 
 w be the moft gentleman like Negroes in 
 " Guinea, abounding with good manners 
 k * and ceremony to each other. The infe- 
 " rior pay the utmoft deference and refpecfc 
 cl to the fuperior ; as do wives to their 
 u hufbands, and children to their parents. 
 4C All here are naturally induftrious and find 
 4C contiant employment : the men in agri- 
 
 " culture, 
 
 ♦ £ofaa*p. ?*7* t Smith p. 195. 
 
( 3* ) 
 culture, and the worn. tiniii'givtS 
 
 weaving cotton. The men, whole chief 
 talent lies in husbandry, are unacquainted 
 with arms ; otherwife being a numerous 
 people, they could have made a better 
 defence againft the king of Dahome, who 
 fubdued them without much trouble." 
 * Throughout the Gold Coaft there are 
 regular markets in all villages, furniihed 
 with provifions and merchandize, held 
 every day in the week, except Tuefday j 
 whence they fupply not an Jy the inha- 
 bitants, but the European Ships. The 
 Negro 'women are very expert in buying 
 and felling, and extrearnly induiirious j 
 for they will repair daily to market, from 
 a confiderable diftance, loaded like pack 
 horfes, with a child, perhaps, at their 
 back, and a heavy burden on their Leads* 
 After felling their wares, they buy nfii and 
 other neceiiaries and return Lomeioaded as 
 they came. 
 
 " | There is a market held at Sabi, every 
 fourth day ; alfo a weekly one in the pro- 
 vince of Aplogua, which is fo reforteel to y 
 that there" are ufhally five or fix thoufand 
 merchants. Their markets are fo well 
 regulated and governed, that feldom any 
 diforder happens ; each fpecies of mer- 
 chandize 
 
 Cclteft. 2. vol p. 657 f Colieft. 3. vol. p. ai. 
 
( 3* ) 
 
 # chandize and merchants have a feparate 
 f place allotted them by thcmfelves. The 
 ¥ buyers may haggle as much as they will, 
 " but it mull be without noife or fraud. 
 " To keep order the king appoints a judge, 
 -" who with four officers v, ell armed, iafpecls 
 ¥ the Markets, hear all complaints, and in a 
 " fummary way decides all differences ; he 
 *' has power to feize and fell as flaves all 
 ■" who are catched in ftealing, or difturb- 
 " ing the peace. In thefe markets are to 
 " be fold men, women, children, oxen, 
 4 1 fheep, goats and fowls of all kinds: Eu- 
 " ropean cloths, linen and woollen ; print- 
 
 # ed callicos, filk, grocery ware, china, gold 
 " duft, iron in bars, oy. in a word moft forts 
 " of European goods : as well as the pro- 
 
 " duce of Africa and Afia. They have 
 
 " other markets refembling our fairs, once 
 -" or twice a year, to which all the country 
 " repair, for they take care to order the 
 " day fo in different governments as not to 
 f* interfere with each other. 3 '' 
 
 With refpect to government, William 
 Smith fays, " f That the Gold Coaft and 
 " Slave Coafts are divided into different dif- 
 cc triers, fome of which are governed by 
 " their chiefs or kings ; the others being 
 
 # more of the nature of a commonwealth, 
 
 " are 
 
 ^_^ ._ 1 1 - i - - 
 
 f Smith -p.. 1 93, 
 
( 5 2 ) ' 
 C£ are governed by fome of the principal 
 " men, called Caboceros, who Bofman fays, 
 4; are properly denominated civil fathers; 
 " whole province is to take care of the well- 
 4C fare of the city or village and to appeafe 
 " tumults." But this order of government 
 has been much broken fince the coming of 
 the Europeans, Both Bofman and Barbot 
 mention murthcr and adultery to be fever ely pa- 
 nifoed on the Coafl^ frequently by death ; and 
 robbery by a fine proportionable to the goods 
 fiolen. 
 
 The income of fome of the king's is large. 
 Bofman fays, " That the king of Whydah's 
 " revenues and duties on things bought and 
 44 fold are coniiderable ; he having the tithe 
 44 of all things fold in the market, or im- 
 4t ported in the country/ ' f Both the 
 abovementioned authors fay, fix tax on 
 fiavesfbippedoffin this king's dominions ^ in fome 
 years amounts to near twenty t hoi if and pounds. 
 BoTman tells us, " The Whydah Negroes 
 4C have a faint idea of a true God, afcribing 
 cc to him the attributes of almighty power 
 4C and omniprefence ; but God, they fay, is 
 " too high to condefcend to think of man- 
 4C kind, wherefore he commits the govern* 
 4t ment of the world to thofe inferior dre- 
 " ties which they worfhip," Some authors 
 
 fay 
 
 t Bofinaa 337. Barbot. p. 335. 
 
( 33 ) 
 fay the wifeft of thefe Negroes are feniible of 
 their miftake in this opinion, but dare not 
 forfake their old religion, for fear of the po- 
 pulace riling and killing them ; this is con- 
 firmed by William Smith who fays, " That 
 * ; all the natives of this coaft believe there is 
 " one true God, the author of them and all 
 " things ;and that they have fome apprehen- 
 * c fion of afutureftate ;and that almofl every 
 u village has a grove, or public place of wor- 
 * c fhip,to which the principal inhabitants, on 
 " a fetday, refort to make their offerings/* 
 In the Collection * it is remarked as an ex- 
 cellency in the Guinea government, w That 
 " however poor they may be in general, 
 " yet there are no beggars to be found 
 " amongft them ; which is owing to the 
 * c care of their chief men, whofe province 
 " it is to take care of the welfare of the 
 " city or village ; it being part of their office 
 " to fee that fuch people may earn their 
 " bread by their labour ; fome are fet to 
 " blow the fmith's beilow T \s, others to prefs 
 " palm oyl, or grind colours for their matts 
 " and fell provifion in the markets. The 
 " young men are lifted to ferve as foldiers, 
 " fo that they fuffer no common beggar." 
 Bofman afcribes a further reafon for this 
 good order, viz. " That when a Negro* 
 E finds 
 
 * Aftley's CoJk#. 2 vol. page 619. 
 
( 34 ) 
 " finds he cannot fubfift, he binds himfelf 
 cc for a certain fum of money, and the 
 " mafter to whom he is bound, is obliged 
 ?? to find him neceffaries : that the matter 
 " fets him a fort of talk, which is not in the 
 " leaft flavifh, being chiefly to defend his 
 " mafter on occafions ; or in fowing time 
 " to work as much as he himfelf pleafes. f " 
 Adjoining to the kingdom of Whydah, 
 are leveral fmall governments, as Coto, 
 great and fmall Popo, Ardrah, &c. all fitu- 
 ate on the Slave Coaft, where the chief trade 
 for flaves is carried on. Thefe are govern- 
 ed by their refpettive kings, and follow 
 much the fame cuftoms with thofe of Why- 
 dah ; except that their principal living is or) 
 plunder, and the Have trade* 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 f Bofinau, p. 119. 
 
( 35 ) 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 THE kingdom of Benin. Its extent. 
 
 Efteemed the mod potent in Ganiea. 
 Fruitfulnefs of the foil. Good difpofition 
 of the people. Order of government. 
 Punifhment of crimes. Large extent of 
 the town of Great Benin. Order main- 
 tained. The natives honeft and charitable. 
 Their religion. The kingdoms of Kong§ 
 and Angola. Many of the natives profefs 
 chriftianity. The country fruitful. Dif- 
 pofition of the people. The adminiftrati- 
 on ofjuftice. The town of Leango. Slave 
 trade carried on by the Portuguese. Here 
 the flave trade ends. 
 
 'EXT adjoining to the Slave Coaft, is the 
 kingdom of Benin, which though it 
 extends but about 1 70 miles on the Sea, yet 
 fpreads fo far inland as to be efteemed the 
 moll potent kingdom in Guinea. By Ac- 
 counts the foil and produce appears to be, in 
 a great meafure, like thofe before defcribed; 
 and the natives reprefented as a reafonable 
 good natured people : Artusfays * " They 
 U are a fincere, inoffenfive people, and do 
 
 " no 
 
 m Collect. 3, vol. page 228. 
 
( 3* ) 
 " no lnjuitice either to one another or te* 
 " ftrangers." William Smith -j- confirms 
 this account, and fays, " That the inhabi- 
 " tarits are generally very good natured 
 cc and exceeding courteous and civil. When 
 *.* the Europeans make them prefents, which 
 " in their coming thither to trade they 
 " always do, they endeavour to return them 
 " doubly." 
 
 Bofman tells us, J " That his countrymen 
 c * the Dutch, who were often obliged to 
 Ci to truft them till they return the next 
 " year, were fure to be honeftly paid their 
 " whole debts. 
 
 There is in Benin a confiderable order in 
 government. Theft, murther and adultery 
 being feverely punifhed. Barbot fays, * " If 
 " a man and a woman of any quality be 
 rprifed in adultery, they are both put to 
 <£ death, and their bodies are thrown on a 
 " dunghill, and left there a prey to wild 
 M beafts." He adds, " The feverity of 
 " lav/ in Benin againii adultery jj amongft 
 
 " all 
 
 f Smith, p. 228. % W. Bofman, p. 405. 
 
 * Barbot, p. 237. 
 
 j| By this account of the punifliment inflicted on 
 adulterers in this and other parts of Guinea, it ap- 
 pears the Negroes are not infenfible of the flnfulnefs of 
 iiich pracliies. How ftrange mud it then appear to the 
 
 furious 
 
( 37 ) 
 " all orders of people, deters them from 
 " venturing ; fo that it is but very feldoni 
 " any perfons are punifhed for that crime." 
 Smith fays, " Their towns are governed by 
 " officers appointed by the king, who have 
 " power to decide in civil cafes, and to raife 
 " the publick taxes ; but in criminal cafes 
 " they muft fend to the king's court, which 
 " is held at the town of Oedo or Great Be- 
 " nin. This town which covers a large ex- 
 " tent of ground, is about fixty miles from 
 
 " the 
 
 ferious minded amongft thefe people, (nay how incon- 
 fiilent is it with every divine and moral law, amongft 
 ourfelves,) that thofe chriftian laws which prohi- 
 bit fornication and adultery, are in none of the 
 Englifh governments extended to them : but that they 
 are allowed to cohabit and feparate at pleafure i And 
 that even their mafters think fo lightly of their mar- 
 riage engagements, that when it fuits with their inte- 
 reft, they will feparate man from wife, and children 
 from both, to be fold, in different, and even diftant 
 parts ; without regard to their fometimes grievous 
 lamentations; whence it has happened, that fuch of 
 thofe people who are truely united in their marriage 
 covenant,. and in affection to one another, have been 
 driven to fuch defperation as either violently to des- 
 troy themfelves, or gradually to pine away, and die 
 with mere grief. It is amazing, that w hi Iff the clergy 
 of the eftablifhed church, are publickly expreffinga con- 
 cern, that thefe oppreffed people mould be made ac- 
 quainted with the chriflian religion; they fhould be thus, 
 fuffered, and even forced fo flagrantly to infringe one, 
 cf the principle injunctions, of our holy religion L 
 
( 3^ ) 
 « the Sea." * Barbot tells us, " That it con- 
 u tains thirty flreets, twenty fathom wide, 
 " and almoft two miles long, commonly 
 €Q extending in a ftraight line from one gate 
 " to another; that the gates are guarded 
 
 * by foldiers ; that in thcie ftreets markets 
 " are held every day of cattle, ivory, cotton 
 " and many forts of European goods. This 
 u large town is divided into feveral wards 
 " or diftricts, each governed by its refpcc- 
 c - tive king of a ftreet, as they call them ; 
 c; to adminifter juftice, and to keep good 
 " order. The inhabitants are very civil and 
 cc good natured, condefcending to what the 
 t; Europeans require of them, in a civil 
 " way." The fame author confirms what 
 has been faid by others of their juftice in 
 the payment of their debts ; and adds, 
 " That they above all other Guineans are 
 <€ very honeft andjufl in their dealings, and 
 
 * they have fuch an aversion for theft, that 
 <c by the law of the country it is punifhed 
 " with death." We are told by the fame 
 author, f " That the king of Benin is 
 44 ^bie upon occafion to maintain an army 
 " of a hundered thoufand men ; but that 
 46 for the molt part, he does not keep thirty 
 " thoufand." William Smith fays, " The 
 
 natives 
 
 * J. Barbot, page 358. 359, i Barbot, r>. 569, 
 
( 39 ) 
 c natives are all free men ; none but fo 
 c reigners can be bought and fold there, f 
 c They are very charitable, the king as well 
 ' as his fubjecb." Bofman confirms this, J 
 and fays, u The king and great lords fubfift 
 c feveral poor at their place of refidence on 
 1 charity, employing thofe who are fit for 
 c any work, and the reft they keep for 
 6 God's fake, fo that here are no beggars/' 
 
 As to religion thefe people believe there 
 s a God the efficient caufe of all things, but 
 ike the reft of the Guineans they are fuper« 
 ftitioufly and idolatrouily inclined. 
 
 The laft divifion of Guinea-frorn which 
 flaves are imported ; are the kingdoms of 
 Kongo and Angola, thefe lye to the fouth 
 of Benin, extending with the intermediate- 
 land about twelve hundered 'miles on the 
 Coaft. Great numbers of the natives of 
 both thele kingdoms profefs the chriftian 
 religion, which was long fince introduced 
 by the Portuguefe, who made early fettle- 
 ments in that country. 
 
 In the Collection it is faid, that both in 
 Kongo and Angola the foil is in general 
 fruitful, producing great plenty of grain, 
 Indian corn and fuch quantities of rice that 
 it hardly bears any price, with fruits, roots 
 and palm oyl in plenty. 
 
 The 
 ^— r r t 
 
 t W' Smith, p, 369 J Bofman, p. 409; 
 
( 40 ) 
 
 The natives are generally a quiet people 
 who difcover a good underftanding, and 
 behave in a friendly manner to ftrangers, 
 being of a mi!d converfation, affable and 
 eafily overcome with" reafon. 
 
 In the government of Kongo, the king 
 appoints a judge in every particular divifion, 
 to hear and determine difputes and civil 
 caufes ; the judges imprifon and releafe, or 
 impofe fines according to the rule of cuftora; 
 but in weighty matters every one may ap- 
 peal to the king, before whom all criminal 
 caufes are brought, in which he giveth fen- 
 tence; but feldom condemneth to death. 
 
 The town of Leango ftands in the midft 
 of four lordlhips, which abound in corn r 
 fruit &c. Here they make great quantities 
 of cloth of divers kinds very fine and curi- 
 ous ; the inhabitants are feldom idle : they 
 even make needle work caps as they walk in 
 the ftreets. 
 
 The Have trade is here principally ma- 
 naged by the Portuguefe ; who carry the 
 trade far up into the inland countries. They 
 are faid to fend off from thefe parts fifteen 
 thoufand flaves each year. 
 
 At Angola, about the ioth degree of fouth 
 latitude ends the trade for flaves. 
 
 C'H A P. 
 
( 4i ) 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE ancienteft accounts of the 
 
 Negroes, is from the Nubian Geography, 
 and the writings of Leo the African. 
 Some account of thofe authors. The 
 Arabians pafs into Guinea. The innocen- 
 cy and fimplicityof the natives. They 
 are fubdued by the Moors. Heli Ifchia 
 fhakes off the Moorifli yoke. The Por- 
 tuguefe make the finft defcent in Guinea ; 
 from whence they carry off fome of the 
 natives : More incurfions of the like kind, 
 ThePortuguefe ereft the firft fort atD'EI- 
 mina : They begin the flave trade. Cada 
 Mofto's teftimony. Anderfon's account 
 to the fame purport. Dela Gaza's concern 
 for the relief of the oppreffed Indians. 
 Goes over into Spain to plead their cauie, 
 His fpeech before Charles the fifth. 
 
 TH E moft ancient account we have of 
 the country of the Negroes, particu- 
 larly that part fituate on and between the 
 two great rivers of Senegal and Gambia, is 
 from the writings of two ancient authors, 
 one an Arabian and the other a Moor. The 
 
 firft 
 
( r- ) 
 
 firft | wrote in Arabic about the twelfth cen- 
 tury. His works printed in that language 
 at Rome, were afterwards tranflated in- 
 to Latin and printed at Paris, underthe pa- 
 tronage of the famous Thuanus, chancellor 
 of France, with the title of Geographica 
 NubienJiSt containing an account of all the 
 nations lying on the Senegal and Gambia. 
 The other wrote by John Leo, J a Moor 
 born at Granada, in Spain, before the 
 Moors were totally expelled from that king- 
 dom. He refided in Africa ; but being on 
 a voyage from Tripoli to Tunis, was taken 
 by fome Italian Corfairs, who finding him 
 poffeffed of feveral Arabian books, beiides 
 his own manufcripts, apprehended him to be 
 a man of learning* and as fuch prefented him 
 to Pope Leo the ioth. This Pope en- 
 couraging him, he embraced the Romifh re- 
 ligion ; and his description of Africa was 
 published in Italian. From thefe writings 
 we gather, that after the mahometan religi- 
 on had extended to the kingdom of Moroc- 
 co, fome of the promoters of it, croffingthe 
 iandy defarts of Numedia, which feparates 
 that country from Guinea, found it inhabi- 
 ted by men, who tho' under no regular 
 government and deftitute of that knowledge 
 the 
 
 f Sec travels into different parts of Africa by rr. 
 Moor, with a letter tp the pubiiflur. 
 i Ibid. 
 
( 43 ) 
 the Arabians were favoured with, lived in 
 content and peace. The firft author parti- 
 cularly remarks, " That they never made 
 44 war or travelled abroad ; but employed 
 " themfelves in tending their herds, or la- 
 44 bouring in the ground. J : Leo fays p. 
 " 6$. That they lived in common, having 
 44 no property in land, no tyrant nor fupe- 
 " rior lord, but fupported themfelves in an 
 44 equal ftate, upon the natural produce of 
 44 the country, which afforded plenty of 
 44 roots, game and honey. That ambition 
 " or avarice never drove them into foreign 
 44 countries to fubdue or cheat their neigh- 
 46 bours. Thus they lived without toil or 
 44 fuperfluities." " The ancient inhabi- 
 4C tants of Morrocco who wore coats of mail, 
 44 and ufed fwords and fpears headed with 
 44 iron, coming amongft thefe harmlefs and 
 4C naked people, foon brought them under 
 44 fubjeftion, and divided that part of Guinea 
 44 which lies on the rivers Senegal and Gam- 
 44 bia into fifteen parts ; thofe were the fif- 
 44 teen kingdoms of the Negroes, over which 
 44 the Moors prefided and the common peo- 
 44 pie were Negroes. Thefe Moors taught 
 44 the Negroes the mahometan religion and 
 44 arts of life ; particularly the ufe of iron, be- 
 44 fore unknown to them : About the 14th. 
 44 century, a native Negro called Helilfchia 
 44 expelled the Moorilh conquerors; but the 
 
 44 ti 
 
« 
 
 ( 44 ) 
 the Negroes threw off theyokeof a foreign 
 " nation, they only changed a Libyan for a Ne- 
 " groemafter. Heli Ifchia himfelf becoming 
 " king, led the Negroes on to foreign wars 
 4 < andeftabli&edhirnfelf in power over a very 
 c< large extent of country." Since Leo's time, 
 the Europeans have had very littleknowledge 
 cfthofepartsofAfrica;nor do they know what 
 became of his great empire* It is highlyproba- 
 blethat it broke into pieces, and that the na- 
 tives again refumed many of their ancient 
 cuftoms ; for in the account publifhed by 
 William Moor, in his travels on the river 
 Gambia, we find a mixture of the Moorifli 
 and mahometan cuftoms, joined with the 
 original fimplicity of the Negroes. It ap- 
 pears by accounts of ancient voyages, col- 
 lected by Hackluit, Purchafe and others, 
 that it was about fifty years before the dif- 
 covery of America, that the Portuguefe at- 
 tempted to fail round cape Bojadorwhichlays 
 between their country and Guinea ; this af- 
 ter divers repulfes, occafioned by the violent 
 currents, they effected ; when landing on the 
 weftern coafts of Africa they foon began to 
 make incurfions into the country and to feize 
 and carry off the native inhabitants. As 
 early as the year 1434, Alonzo Gonzales, 
 the firft who is recorded to have met with 
 the natives, being on that coaft, purfued 
 
 and 
 
( 45 ) 
 and attacked a number of them, when fome 
 were wounded, as was alfo one of the Por- 
 tuguefe, which the author records, as the 
 firtt blood fpilt by chriftians in thofe parts. 
 Six years after, the fame Gonzales again at- 
 tacked the natives, and took twelve prifon- 
 ers ; with whom he returned to his vef- 
 fels ; he afterwards put a woman on fliore, 
 in order to induce the natives to redeem the 
 prifoners ; but the next day 150 of the in- 
 habitants appeared on horfes and camels, 
 provoking the Portuguefe to land, which 
 they not daring to venture, the natives dis- 
 charged a volley of ftones at them, and 
 went off. After this the Portuguefe ftill 
 continued to fend veffels on the coaft of A- 
 frica, particularly we read of their falling on 
 a village, whence the inhabitants fled and 
 being purfued, 25 were taken. " He that 
 M ran beft^ fays the author •, taking the moft : 
 " in their way home they killed fome of 
 " the natives, and took fifty- five more pri- 
 f* foners. f Afterwards Dinifanes Dagra- 
 " ma, with two other veffels landed on the 
 " ifland Arguin, where they took 54 Moors; 
 " then running along the cGaft 80 leagues 
 f* farther they atfeveral times took 50 {laves; 
 " but here feven of the Portuguefe were kill- 
 cc ed. Then beingjoinedby feveralothervef- 
 " fels, Dinifanes propofed to deftroy the 
 F " ifland 
 
 f Colle&ion, vol. 1, page 13. 
 
( 4< ) 
 £ < ifland, to revenge the lofs of the feven Por- 
 ** tuguefe, ofwhich the Moor's beingappriz- 
 " ed fled ; fo that no more than 1 2 were found 
 c< whereof only four could be taken ; the 
 cc reft being killed, as alfo one of the Por- 
 " tuguefe." Many more captures of this 
 kind, on the coaft of Barbary and Guinea, 
 are recorded to have been made in thofe ear- 
 ly times by the Portuguefe j who in the 
 year 1481, erected their fir ft for tat D'Elmina 
 on that coaft, from whence they foon open- 
 ed a trade for flaves with the Inland parts of 
 Guinea. 
 
 From the foregoing accounts it is un- 
 doubted that the practice of making flaves 
 of the Negroes, owes it origin to the early 
 incurfions of the Portuguefe on the coaft of 
 Africa, folely from an inordinate delire of 
 gain ; this is clearly evidenced from their 
 own hiftorians, particularly Cada Mofto a- 
 boutthe year 1455, who writes, " * That 
 cc before the trade was fettled for purchaf- 
 " ing flaves from the Moors at Arguin, 
 <c fometimes four, and fometimes more Por- 
 €C tuguefe veffels, were ufed to come to that 
 cc gulf, well armed, and landing by night 
 V would furprife fome fiftiermen's villages ; 
 " that they even entered into the country 
 cc and carried off Arabs of both fexes, whom 
 " they fold in Portugal." And alfo " That 
 
 " the 
 
 c 
 
 * Colle&ion, vol. 1. page, 576. 
 
( 47 ) 
 
 u rfie Portuguefe and Spaniards fettled on 
 " four of the Canary iflands, would go 
 * to the other ifland, by night, and feize 
 cc fome of the natives of both fexes, whom 
 " they fent to be fold in Spain." 
 
 After the fettlement of America thofe de- 
 valuations and the captivating the miferable 
 Africans greatly increafed. 
 
 Anderfon in his hiftory of trade and com- 
 merce, at page 336, fpeaking of what paflf- 
 £din theyeari5o8, writes" That the Spani- 
 *< ardshadbythis time found that the mifer- 
 u able Indian natives, whom they had made 
 <c to work in their mines and fields, were not 
 " fo robuft and proper for thofe purpofes, 
 \ %c as Negroes, brought from Africa; where- 
 1 ^ *< fore they, about that time, began to im- 
 " port Negroes for that end into Hifpaniola, 
 " from the Portuguefe fettlements, on the 
 " Guinea coafts; and alfo afterwards for their 
 cc fugar works ;" This oppreffion of the In- 
 dians, had, even before this time, rouzed 
 the zeal, as well as it did the compaflion of 
 fome of the truly pious of that day ; parti- 
 cularly that of Bartholomew Delas Cafas, 
 bifhop of Chapia ; whom a defire of being 
 inftrumental towards the converfion of the 
 Indians, had invited into America. It is ge- 
 nerally agreed, by the writers of that age, 
 that he was a man of perfect difintereftednefs, 
 and ardent charity ; being affected with this 
 F, 1 ^ fad 
 
( 43 ) 
 fad fpe6tacle, he returned to the court of 
 Spain, and there made a true report of the 
 matter ; but not without being ftrongly op- 
 pofed by thofe mercenary wretches, who 
 had enflaved the Indians ; yet being flrong 
 and indefatigable, he went to and fro, be- 
 tween Europe and America, firmly deter- 
 mined not to give over his purfuit, but with 
 his life. After long folicitation and innu- 
 merable repulfes, he obtained leave to lay 
 the matter before the Emperor Charles the 
 fifth, then King of Spain. As the con- 
 tents of the fpeech he made before the King 
 in council, are very applicable to the cafe of 
 the enflaved Africans, and a lively evidence 
 that the fpirit of true piety fpeaks the fame 
 language in the hearts of faithful men, in 
 all ages, for the relief of their fellow crea- 
 tures, from oppreilion of every kind, I think 
 it may not be improper, here to tranfcribe 
 the moft interefiing parts of it. <; I was, 
 " fays this pious bifhop, one of the firft who 
 " went to America ; neither curioi'ky, nor 
 6i intereft prompted me to undertake fo 
 " long and dangerous a voyage, the faving 
 " the fouls of the heathen was my fole ob- 
 " jech Why was I not permitted, even at 
 " the expence of my blood, to ranfom fo 
 " many thoufand fouls, who fell unhappy 
 " victims to avarice or luft ? I have been 
 " an eye witnefs to fuch cruel treatment of 
 
 " the 
 
a 
 
 a 
 
 ( 49 ) 
 ff the Indians, as is too horrid to be menti" 
 
 u oned at this time, It is faid that bar" 
 
 cc barous executions were neceflary to pu - 
 " nifli or check the rebellion of the Ameri- 
 " cans ; — but to whom was this owing ? 
 " did not thofe people receive the Spaniards 
 " who firft came amongft them with gentle- 
 " nefs and humanity ? Did they not fhew 
 more joy, in proportion, in lavishing 
 treafure upon them, than the Spaniards 
 di<4 greedinefs in receiving it ? — but our 
 avarice was not yet fatisfied ; — tho' they 
 gave up to us their land and their riches, 
 " we would tear from them their wives, their 
 
 " children and their liberties. To black- 
 
 " en thefe unhappy people, their enemies 
 " aflert, that they are fcarce human crea- 
 " tures ; — but it is we that ought to blufh, 
 for having been lefs men, and more bar- 
 barous than they.- What right have 
 
 we to enflave a people who are born free 
 and whom we difturbed, tho' they never 
 
 offended us ? They arereprefentedas 
 
 a ftupid people, addicted to vice ; — but 
 have they not contracted moft of their 
 vices from the example of the chriftians ? 
 And as to thofe vices peculiar to them- 
 felves 5i have not the chriftians quickly ex- 
 ceeded them therein ? Neverthelefs it 
 mud be granted, that the Indians ftili re- 
 main untainted with many vices ufual a- 
 F 3 " mongft. 
 
 a. 
 
( 5* ) 
 
 mongft the Europeans ; fuch as ambition, 
 blafphemy, treachery, and many like 
 monfters, which have not yet took place 
 with them ; they have fcarce an idea of 
 them ; fo that in effect, all the advantage 
 we can claim, is to have more elevated 
 notions of things, and our natural facul- 
 ties more unfolded and more cultivated 
 
 than theirs. Don't let us flatter our 
 
 corruptions, nor voluntarily blind our- 
 felves ; all nations are equally free*; one 
 nation has no right to infringe upon the 
 freedom of any other ; let us do towards 
 thefe people as we would have them to 
 have done towards us, if they had land- 
 ed upon our fhore, with the fame fuperi- 
 ority of ftrength. And indeed, why 
 fhould not things be equal on both fides ? 
 How long has the right of the ftrongeft 
 been allowed to be the balance of juftice? 
 What part of the gofpel gives a fancHon 
 to fuch a do&rine ? In what part of the 
 whole earth did the apoitles and the firft pro- 
 mulgators of the gofpel ever claim aright o- 
 ver thelives, thefreedom, or thefubftance 
 of the Gentiles ? What a ftrange method 
 this of propagating the gofpel, that holy 
 law of grace, which from being flaves to 
 Satan, initiates us into the freedom .of 
 
 the children of God ! Will it be poffi- 
 
 ble for us to infpire them with a love to 
 
 « its 
 
( 51 ) 
 
 ** its dictates, while they are fo exafperat- 
 " ed at being difpoffefled of that invaluable 
 cc blefling, Liberty ? The apoftles fubmitted 
 ft to chains themfelves, but loaded no maa 
 " with them* Chrift came to free not to 
 
 « enflave us.- Submifliqrv to the faith 
 
 " he left us, ought to be a voluntary act^ 
 " and fhould be propagated by perfuafion, 
 " gentlenefs and reafon.** 
 
 " At my firft arrival in Hifpaniola, add- 
 4C ed the biftiop, it contained a million of 
 " inhabitants, and now (viz. in the fpace 
 " of about twenty years) there remains fcarce 
 " the hundredth part of them ;- — thoufands 
 •* have perifhed thro 5 want, fatigue, merci- 
 u lefs punifhment, cruelty and barbarity. 
 " If the blood of one man unjuftly fhed, 
 " calls loudly for vengeance, how ftrong 
 " mull be the cry of that offo many unhap- 
 " py creatures which is fhedding daily ? M — 
 The good bifhop concluded his fpeech, with 
 imploring the king's clemency for fubje&s 
 fo unjuftly oppreifed ; and bravely declared, 
 that heaven would one day call him to an 
 account, for the numberlefs acts of cruelty 
 which he might have prevented. The king 
 applauded the bifliop's zeal ; promifed to 
 fecond it ; but fo many of the great ones 
 had an intereft in continuing the oppreflion, 
 that nothing was done ; fo that all the In- 
 dians in Hifpaniola, except a few who 
 
 had 
 
( 5* ) 
 had hid themfelves in the moft inacceflible 
 mountains, weredeflroyed. 
 
 CHAP. V, 
 
 Firft account of the Englifh trading 
 
 to Guinea. Thomas Windham and feve- 
 ral others go to that coaft. Some of the 
 Negroes carried of by the Englifh. Queen 
 Elizabeth's charge to captain Hawkins re- 
 fpecting the natives : Neverthelefs he 
 goes on the coaft and carries off fome of 
 the Negroes. Patents are granted. The 
 king of France objects to the Negroes be- 
 ing kept in flavery : As do the college of 
 Cardinals at Rome. The natives, anin- 
 offenfive people j corrupted by the Euro- 
 peans. The fentiments of the natives 
 concerning the Have-trade, from William 
 Smith : Confirmed by Andrew Brue and 
 James Barbot. 
 
 IT was about the year 1551, towards the 
 latter end of the reign of king Edward 
 the fixth, when fome London merchants 
 fent out the firft Englifh fhip, on a trading 
 voyage to the coaft of Guinea ; this was foon 
 ellow ed by feveral ethers to the fame parts; 
 
 but. 
 
( 53 ) 
 but the Englifh not having then any planta- 
 tions in the Weft Indies, and consequently 
 no occafion for Negroes, fuch {hips traded 
 only for gold, Elephants teeth and Guinea 
 pepper. This trade was carried on at the 
 hazard of loiing their fhips and cargoes, if 
 they had fallen into the hands of the Portu- 
 guefe, who claimed an exclufive right of 
 trade, on account of the feveral fettlements 
 they had made there. * In the year 1 553, we 
 find captain Thomas Windham trading along 
 the coaft with 140 men, in three fhips, and 
 failing as far as Benin, which lies about 
 3000 miles down the coaft, to take in aload of 
 pepper, j- Next year John Lock traded a- 
 long the coaft of Guinea, as far as D'Elmina, 
 when he brought away confiderable quanti- 
 ties of gold and ivory. He fpeaks well of 
 the natives, and fays, J " That whoever 
 " will deal with them muft behave civilly, for 
 " they will not traffic if ill ufed" In 1555, 
 William Towerfon traded in a peaceable 
 manner with the natives, who made com- 
 plaint to him of the Portuguefe, who were 
 then fettled in their caftle at D'Elmina, fay- 
 ing, " They were bad men, who made them 
 " flaves if they could take them, putting irons on 
 " their legs." 
 
 Thi s 
 
 * Aftley's Colle&ion, vol. 1 page, 139. * 
 \ Collection vol. 1. p. 148. 
 \. Ibid. 157. 
 
( 54 ) 
 This bad example of the Portuguefe, was 
 foon followed by fome evil difpofed Englifh- 
 men, for the fame captain Towerfon relates^ 
 " f That in the courfe of his voyage, he 
 * 4 perceived the natives, near D'Elmina, un- 
 * willing to come to him, and that he was 
 M at laft attacked by them j which he un- 
 u derftood was done in revenge for the 
 " wrong done them, the year before, by 
 " one captain Gainfh, who had taken away 
 " the Negro captain's fon, and three others* 
 " with their gold &c. this caufed them to 
 " join the Portuguefe, notwkhftanding. 
 ** their hatred of them, againfl the Eng- 
 " liftw" The next year captain Towerfon 
 brought thefe men back again ; w r hereuporr 
 the Negroes fhew'd him much kmdneis. | 
 (Quickly after this another inftance of the 
 ?4me kind occurred, in the cafe of captain 
 George Fenner, who, being on the coaft 
 •with three veffels, was alfo attacked by the 
 Negroes, who wounded feveral of his peo- 
 ple, and violently carried three of his men 
 to their town. The captain fent a meffen- 
 ger, offering any thing they defired for the 
 ranfom of his men ; but they refufed to de- 
 liver them, letting him know, - " That 
 " three weeks before, an Engltjb Jbip which 
 
 " came 
 
 f Colle&ion, vol. i. p. 148, 
 % Ibid. 157. 
 
( 5$ ) 
 € < came in the road, had carried off three of 
 " their people, and that tilt they were brought 
 " again they would not reflore his men, even the? 
 " they foould give their three fhips to releafe 
 " them." It was probably the evil conduct 
 of thefe and fome other Englishmen, which 
 was the occafion of what is mentioned in 
 Hill's naval hiftory, viz. " That when cap- 
 " tain Hawkins returned from his firft voy- 
 " age to Africa, Queen Elizabeth lent for 
 " him, when flie exprefTed her concern, 
 " leaft any of the African Negroes Ihould 
 " be carried off without their free confent ; 
 ." which (he declared would be deteftable., 
 " and would call down the vengeance of 
 " heaven upon the undertakers." Hawkins 
 made great promifes, which neverthelefs he 
 did not perform, for his next voyage to the 
 coaft appears to have been principally cal- 
 culated to procure Negro flaves ; in order 
 to fell them to the Spaniards in the Weft In- 
 dies ; which occafioned the fame author to 
 ufe thefe remarkable words. " Here bega?z 
 " the horrid 'practice of forcing the Africans in- 
 iQ toflavery, an injuflice and barbarity, which, 
 €Q fo fure as there is vengeance in heaven for 
 " the worfl of crimes will fometime be the de- 
 " flrudion of all who ad or who encourage it." 
 This captain Hawkins, afterwards fir John 
 Hawkins, feems to have been the firft Eng- 
 lishman who gave public countenance to this 
 
 wicked 
 
( 5<* ) 
 wicked traffic : For Anderfon before menti- 
 oned, at page 461, fays, " That in the 
 44 year 1562, captain Hawkins, aflifted by 
 " fubfcription of fundry gentlemen, now 
 44 fitted out three fhips, and having learnt 
 4C that Negroes were a very good commodi- 
 44 tyin Hifpaniola, he failed to the coaft of 
 44 Guinea, took in Negroes, and failed with 
 44 them for Hifpaniola, where he fold them, 
 44 and his Englifh commodities, and loaded 
 44 his three veffels with hides, fugar and 
 44 ginger, &c. with which he returned 
 44 home, anno. 1563, making a profperous 
 44 voyage." As it proved a lucrative bufi- 
 nefs, the trade was continued both by 
 Hawkins and others, as appears from the na- 
 val chronicle, page 55, where it is faid, 
 44 That on the 18th of O&ober, 1564, cap- 
 44 tain John Hawkins with, two fhips of 700 
 44 and 140 tuns failed for Africa, that on 
 44 the 8th December they anchored to the 
 " fouth of Cape Verd, where the captain 
 44 manned the boat, and fent eighty men in 
 44 armour, in the country ; to fee if they 
 44 could take fome Negroes, but the natives 
 44 flying from them, they returned to their 
 44 fhips, and proceeded farther down the 
 44 coaft ; here they ftaid certain days, fend- 
 44 ing their men afhore, in order, as theau- 
 44 thor fays, to burn and fpoil their towns 
 « and take the inhabitants. The land they 
 
 44 obferved 
 
( 57 ) 
 cc observed to be well cultivated, there be- 
 " ing plenty of grain and fruit of feveral 
 " forts, and the towns prettily laid out. On 
 " the 25th., being informed by the Por.tu- 
 xi guefe, of a town of Negroes called Bym- 
 " ba, where there was not only a quantity 
 " of gold, but 140 inhabitants, they refolv- 
 " ed to attack it, having the Portuguefe for 
 * c their guide ; but by mifmanagement 
 €Q they took but ten Negroes, having feven 
 " of their own men killed and 27 wounded, 
 " They then went farther down the coaft, 
 " when having procured a number of Ne- 
 <Q groes, they proceeded to the Weft Indies, 
 ic where they fold them to the Spaniards/* 
 And in the fame naval chronicle, at page 76', 
 it is faid, " That in the year 1567, Francis 
 " Drake, before performing his voyage 
 " round the world, went with fir John 
 " Hawkins, in his expedition to the coaft 
 " of Guinea, where taking in a cargoe of 
 " flaves, they determined to fteer for the 
 " Carribee Iilands." How queen Elizabeth 
 fuffered fo grievous an infringement of the 
 rights of mankind to be perpetrated by her 
 fubjecls ; and howfhe was perfuaded about 
 the 30th year of her reign, to grant patents 
 for carrying on a trade from the north part 
 of the river Senegal, to an hundred leagues 
 beyond Siera Leona, which gave rife to the 
 prefeut African company, is hard to account 
 G for, 
 
( 58 ) 
 
 for, any otherwife than to have arifen from 
 the mifreprefentation made to her of the fi- 
 tuation of the Negroes, and of the advan- 
 tages, it was pretended, they would reap from 
 being made acquainted with the chriftian 
 religion. This was the cafe of Lewis the 
 13th, king of France, who Labat, in his 
 account of the ifles of America, tells us, 
 44 Was extreamly uneafy at a law by which 
 44 the Negroes of his colonies were to be 
 4C made flaves ; but it being ftrongly urged 
 u to him, as the readied means for their 
 46 conversion to chriftianity, he acquiefed 
 44 therewith." Nevertheless, fome of the 
 chriftian powers did not fo eafily give way 
 in this matter, for we find, M f That cardie 
 46 nal Cibo, one of the Pope's principal mi- 
 4i nifters of ftate, wrote a letter on behalf 
 44 of the college of cardinals or great coun- 
 44 cil at Rome, to the miffionaries in Congo, 
 44 complaining that the pernicious and abo- 
 w minable abufe of felling flaves was yet con- 
 44 tinued ; requiring them to remedy the 
 44 fame if poffible, but this the miffionaries 
 Ci law little hopes of accomplishing, byrea- 
 4C fon that the trade of the country lay 
 4C wholly in flaves and ivory." 
 
 From the foregoing accounts, as well as o- 
 ther authentick publications of this kind, it 
 appears that, it was the luft of unwarrantable 
 
 gain, 
 
 t Collection, vol. 3. page 164. 
 
( 59 ) 
 
 gain, which firft ftimulated the Portuguefe, 
 and afterwards other Europeans, to engage 
 in this horrid trafiick. By the moft authen- 
 tick relations of thofe early times the natives 
 were an inoffenfive people, who when civil- 
 ly ufedv traded amicably with the Europe- 
 ans. Its recorded of thofe of Benin, the 
 largeil: kingdom in Guinea, f That they 
 were a gentle loving people, and Reynold fays, 
 ts I They found more fincere proofs of love and 
 " good will from the natives, than they, could 
 U find f torn the Spaniards and Portuguefe, even 
 " tho* they had relieved them from the greatefl 
 £* tnifery" And from the fame relations 
 there is no reafon to think otherwife but 
 that they generally lived in peace amongft 
 .themfelves ; for I don't find, in the nume- 
 rous publications I have perufed on this fub- 
 je£t, relating to thefe early times, of there be- 
 ing wars on thatcoaft, nor of any fale of cap- 
 tives taken in battle, who would have been 
 otherwife facrificed by the victors * : Not- 
 G 2 withftanding 
 
 f Collection, vol. i. page 202. 
 
 % J-dem. 245.. 
 
 # Note, this plea falls of itfelf, for if the Negroes 
 apprehended they ihould be cruelly put to death, if 
 they were not lent away, why do they manifeft fuch 
 reluctance and dread, as they generally do at being* 
 brought from their native country i William Smith ac 
 page 28, fays, M The Ganibians abhor Jlavejy; and 'will at- 
 li tempt apy thing* tho" finer fo defperate, to avoid it ," and 
 « omas 
 
c #> I 
 
 withftanding fome modern authors, in their 
 publications, relating to the Weft Indies, 
 defirous of throwing a vail over the iniquity 
 of the Have trade, have been hardy enough, 
 upon ineer fuppolition or report, to aflert 
 the contrary, 
 
 It was long after the Portuguefe had 
 made a practice of violently forcing the na- 
 tives of Africa into flavery, that we read of 
 the different Negroe nations making war up- 
 on each other, and felling their captives. 
 And probably this was not the cafe, till 
 thofe bordering on the coaft, who had been 
 ufed to fupply the veflels with nrceffaries, 
 had become corrupted, by their inter- 
 courfe with the Europeans, and were exci- 
 ted by drunkennefs and avarice to join them 
 in earning on thofe wicked fchemes ; by 
 which thofe unnatural wars were perpetrat- 
 ed ; the inhabitants kept in continual alarms; 
 the country laidwafte; and as William Moor 
 exprefles it, Infinite v.umbers f&ld into flavery ; 
 but that the Europeans are the principal caufe 
 of thefe devaluations, is particularly eviden- 
 ced by one, whofe connection with the trade 
 
 would 
 
 , . . - -.....■ 
 
 Thomas Philips in his account of a voyage he perform' 
 cd to the coait of Guinea, writes, " They, the Negroes* 
 M are Jc hath to leave their <re^i country ', that they have often 
 n leaped ent tf the canx, bmt or fl?ip into the fea, and kept 
 « e Widtr water I ill they wen-dr&MKJte avridtexg taken upz! ■ 
 
C 6i ) 
 
 would rather induce him to reprefent it in 
 the faireft colours, to wit, William Smith, 
 the perfon fent in the year 1726, by the A- 
 frican company to furvey their fettlements j 
 who, from the information he received of 
 one of the factors, who had refided ten 
 years in that country, fays, " f 7 hat the dif 
 4C cerning natives account it their great eft un- 
 " happinefs that they were ever vifited by the 
 
 u Europeans ." u That we chriftians intra- 
 
 M duced the traffick of /laves , and that before 
 u our coming they lived in peace?' 
 
 In the accounts relating to the A- 
 frican trade, we find this melancholy truth 
 farther afferted, by fome of the principal 
 directors in the different factories, particular- 
 ly^. Brue fays, " \ "That the Europeans were 
 " far from defiring to ad as peace-maker* a- 
 u mongft the Negroes, which would be afling 
 " contrary to their intereft, fmce the greater the 
 " wars the more /laves were procured" And 
 William Bofman alfo remarks, " |] That one 
 " of the former commanders gave large fums 
 " of money to the Negroes of one nation to induce 
 " them to attack fome of the neighbouring nati- 
 " ons, which occaftoned a battle which was 
 " more bloody than the wars of the Negroes ufu- 
 G 3 " ally 
 
 ■j- William Smith, page 266. 
 \ Collection 2 vol. p. 98. 
 \ Bofman p. 31* 
 
( 62 ) 
 
 ally are" This is confirmed by J. Bar* 
 bot, who fays, " That the country of 'D'El- 
 " mina, which was formerly very powerful and 
 populous, was in his timefo much drained of 
 its inhabitants, by the intefline wars, fo- 
 mented amongfl the Negroes by the Dutch y 
 that there did not remain enough inhabitants. 
 te till the country"^ 
 
 u 
 
 a 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( *3 ) 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 The conduct of the Europeans and 
 
 Africans compared. Slavery more tole- 
 rable amongft the ancients than in our co- 
 lonies. As chriftianity prevailed amongft 
 the barbarous nations, the inconfiftency 
 of Slavery became more apparent. The 
 charters of manumiffion, granted in the 
 early times of chriftianity, founded on an 
 apprehenfion of duty to God. The an- 
 cient Britons and other European nations, 
 in their original ftate, no lefs barbarous 
 than the Negroes. Slaves in Guinea ufed 
 with much greater lenity than the Ne- 
 groes are in the colonies. Note^ 
 
 How the Haves are treated in Algiers j as 
 alfo in Turkey. 
 
 SUCH is the woeful corruption of human 
 nature, that every practice which flat- 
 ters our pride and covetoufriefs, will find its 
 advocates ; this is manifeftly the cafe in the 
 matter before us ; the favagenefs of the 
 Negroes, in fome of their cuftoms, and par- 
 ticularly their deviating fo far from the feel- 
 ings of humanity, as to join in captivating 
 
 and 
 
( ^ ) 
 
 and felling each other, gives their inter eft ed 
 oppreflbrs a pretence for reprefenting them 
 as unworthy of liberty, and the natural 
 rights of mankind; but thefe fophifters 
 turn the argument full upon themfelves, 
 when they inftigate the poor creatures to 
 fuch jflbocking impiety, by every means that 
 fatanick fubtilty can fuggeft ; thereby 
 fhewing in their own conduct a more glaring 
 proof of the fame depravity, and, if there 
 was any reafoa in die argument, a greater 
 unfitness for the fame precious enjoyment; 
 for though iomc of the ignorant Africans 
 may be thus corrupted by their intercourfe 
 with the bafer of the European natives, and 
 the ufe of ftrong liquors, this is no excufe 
 for high profeffing chrifiians, (bred in a 
 civilized country, with fo many advantages 
 unknown to the Africans ; and pretending 
 to a fuperior degree of gofpel light.) Nor 
 can it juftify them in railing up fortunes to 
 themfelves, from the mifery of ethers, 
 and calmly projecting voyages for the fei- 
 zureof men, naturally as free as themfelves ; 
 and who, they know, are no otherwife to 
 be procured, than by fuch barbarous means, 
 as none but thofe hardned wretches who are 
 loft to every fenfe of chriftian companion, 
 can make ufe of. Let us diligently compare 
 and impartially weigh the iituation of thofe 
 f^norant Negroes, "and thefe enlightened 
 
 chriftiansj 
 
( *5 ) 
 
 chriftians ; then lift up the fcale and fay* 
 which of the two are the greater favagcs. 
 
 Slavery has been of a long time in prac- 
 tice in many parts of Alia ; it was alfo in 
 ufage among the Romans when that empire 
 fiourifhed ; but, except in fome particular 
 inliances, it was rather a reafonable fervitude, 
 no ways comparable to the unreafonable and 
 unnatural fervice extorted from theNegroes 
 in our colonies. A late learned author * 
 fpeaking of thofe times which fucceeded 
 the diffolution of that empire accquaints us, 
 that as chriftianity prevailed, it very much 
 removed thofe wrong prejudices and prac- 
 tices, which had taken root in darker 
 times : after the irruption of the northern 
 nations, and the introduction of the feu- 
 dal or military government; whereby the 
 moft extenfive power was lodged in a few 
 members of fociety, to the depreflion of the 
 reft; the common people were little better 
 than ilaves, and many were indeed fuch : 
 but as chriftianity gained ground, the gentle 
 fpirit of that religion, together with the doc- 
 trines it teaches, concerning the original 
 equality of mankind ; as well as the impar- 
 tial eye with which the almighty regards 
 men of every condition, and admits them to 
 a participation of his benefits ; fo far mani- 
 
 fefted 
 
 * See Robertfon's hiftory of Charles the "5th. 
 
( tt ) 
 
 fefted the inconfiftency of flavery with ehri{° 
 tianity, that to let their fellow chriftians at 
 liberty was deemed aa act of piety, high- 
 ly meritorious and acceptable to God. * 
 
 Accordingly 
 
 * In the years 13 15 and 13 18 Louis X and his 
 brother Philip, kings of France, ifiiied ordonances, 
 declaring, " That as all men were by nature free- 
 *' born, and as their kingdom was calied the kingdom 
 4i of Franks, they determined that it mould be lb in 
 " reality, as well as in name ; therefore they appoint- 
 " ed that enfranchifements mould be granted throu 3 
 u out the whole kingdom, upon juft and reasonable 
 " conditions." " T lefe edicts were carried into imme- 
 
 li diate execution within the royal domain." 
 
 €i ~ In England as the fpirit of liberty gained ground, the 
 M very name and idea of perfonal Servitude; without 
 4< any formal interpofition of the legislature to prohibit 
 *« it was totally banifhed." 
 
 " The effecls or fuch a remarkable change in the 
 ** condition of fo gr^at a part of the people, could not 
 f< fail of beino; confiderable and extenfive. The huf- 
 •"* bandman, mafter of his own induftry, and fecure of 
 " reaping for himfelf the fruits of his labour, became 
 " farmer of the fame field where he had formerly 
 •' been compelled to toil for the benefit of another. The 
 ■ *' odious name of mailer and of Have, the mo ft morti- 
 " fying and deprefling of all diftinclions to human 
 V nature, were abolifhed. New profpecls opened, 
 «< and new incitements to ingenuity and enterprife 
 «' prefented tnemfelves, to thofe who were emancipa- 
 «< ted. The expectation of bettering their fortune, as 
 << well as that of raffing themfelves to a more honor- 
 << able Condition, concurred in calling forth their 
 " activity and genius ; and a numerous clafs of men, 
 
 << who 
 
( <>! ) 
 Accordingly a great part of the charters 
 granted for the manumiffion or freedom of 
 flaves about that time, are granted pro amorc 
 Dei, for the love of God, fro mercede animtf^ 
 to obtain mercy to the foul. Manumiffion was 
 frequently granted on death bed, or by 
 latter wills. As the minds of men are at that 
 time awakened to fentiments of humanity 
 and piety, thefe deeds proceeded from reli- 
 gious motives* The fame author remarks, 
 That there are feveral forms of thofe manu- 
 miffions ftiil extent, all of them founded on. 
 religious confederations ; and in order to procure 
 the favour of God. Since that time the prac- 
 tice of keeping men in flavery gradually 
 ceafed amongft chriftians, till it was renewed 
 in the cafe before us. And as the prevalen- 
 cy of the fpirit of chriftianity caufed men to 
 emerge from the darknefs they then lay 
 under, in this refpeft ; fo it is much to be 
 feared, that fo great a deviation therefrom, 
 by the encouragement given to the flavery 
 of the Negroes in our colonies, if continued, 
 will by degrees reduce thofe countries which 
 fupport and encourage it j but more imme- 
 diately 
 
 " who formerly had no political exigence, and were 
 " employed merely as initruments of labour, became 
 " uieful citizens, and contributed towards augmenting 
 " the force or riches of the fociety which adopted 
 " them as members.'* William Robertfon's Hiflory 
 of Charles the 5th, 1 vol. p. 35. 
 
( <S8 ) 
 
 diately thofc parts of America which are ir* 
 the practice of it, to the ignorance and 
 barbarity of the darkeft ages. 
 
 If inftead of making flaves of the Negroes, 
 the nations who affume the name and cha~ 
 racier of chriftians, would ufe their endea- 
 vours to make the nations of Africa ac- 
 quainted with the nature of the'ehriftian 
 religion, to give them a better fenfe of the 
 true ufe of the bleffings of life, the more 
 beneficial arts and cuftoms would, by de- 
 grees, be introduced amongft them ; this 
 care probably would produce the fame ef- 
 fect upon them, w T hich it has had on the in- 
 habitants of Europe, (formerly as favage 
 and barbarous as the natives of Africa.) 
 Thofe cruel wars amongft the blacks would 
 be likely to ceafe, and a fair and ho- 
 norable commerce, in time, take place 
 throughout that vaft country. It was by 
 thefe means that the inhabitants of Eu- 
 rope, though formerly a barbarous people, 
 became civilized. Indeed the account Ju- 
 lius Csefar gives of the ancient Britains in 
 their ftate of ignorance is not fuch as flxould 
 make us proud of ourfelves, or lead us to 
 defpife the unpolifhed nations of the earth, 
 for he informs us, <c That they lived in many 
 " refpecb like our Indians, being clad with 
 " fkins, painting their bodies, &c." He 
 alfo adds, w That they brother with brother, 
 
 " and 
 
( *9 )■ 
 H and parents with children had wives in 
 " common," A greater barbarity than any- 
 heard of amongft the Negroes, Nor doth 
 Tacitus give a more honourable account of 
 the Germans, from whom the Saxons, our 
 immediate anceilors, fprung. The Danes, 
 who fucceeded them, (who may alfo be 
 numbered among our progenitors) were full 
 as bad, if not worfe. 
 
 It is ufual for people to advance as a pal- 
 liation in favour of keeping the Negroes in 
 bondage, that there are flaves in Guinea, and. 
 that thofe amongft us might be fo in their 
 own country ; but let fuch confider the in- 
 confiftency of our giving any countenance 
 to flavery becaufe the Africans, whom we 
 "efteem a barbarous and favage people, allow 
 of i t, and perhaps the more from our example. 
 Had the profeflors of chriftianity acted in- 
 deed as fuch, they might have been inftru- 
 mental to convince the Negroes of their er- 
 ror in this refpeci ; but even this, when 
 inquired into, will be to us an occafion of 
 bluihing, if we are not hardned to every 
 fenle or iharne, rather than a pafliatiori 
 of our iniquitous conduct, as it will appear 
 that the iiavery endured in Guinea, and 
 other parts of Africa, and in Alia, * is by 
 H no 
 
 * In the hiftory of the piratical dates of Barba y, 
 printed in 1750, faid to be wrote by a peribn who re- ' 
 
 fided 
 
( 70 ) 
 no means fo grievous as that in our colo- 
 nies* William Moor fpeaking of the natives 
 
 living 
 
 fidedat Algiers, in a public character, at page 265 the 
 author fays, " The world exclaims againft the Alge- 
 " rines for their cruel treatment of their ilaves, and 
 c< their employing even tortures to convert them to 
 €t mahometanifm : but this is a vulgar error, artfully 
 £t propagated for felfifti views. So far are their {laves 
 " from being ill ufed, that they mull have committed 
 M fome very great fault to fufFer any punifhment. 
 ■•* Neither are they forced to work beyond their 
 *' ilrength, but rather fpared left they fhould fall fick. 
 €Q Some are fo pleafed with their ntuation that they 
 *i will not purchafe their ranfom, though they arc 
 €i able." It's the fame generally through the maho- 
 metan countries, except in feme particular inftances, 
 as that of Muley Ifnmael late emperor of Morocco, 
 who being naturally barbarous, frequently ufed 
 both his fubjects and flaves with cruelty. Yet 
 even under him the ufage the flaves met with was, 
 in general, much more tolerable than that of the Ne- 
 groe flaves, in the Weft Indies. Captain Braithwaite, 
 an author of credit, who accompanied conful general 
 Ruffe), in a congratulatory ambaffy to Muley Ifnmael's 
 iticceflb-r, upon his acceffion to the throne, fays, " The 
 *\ the fituation of the chriftian flaves in Morocco 
 «' was not near fobad asreprefented, — That it was true 
 tc they were kept at labour by the late emperor, but 
 «« not harder than our daily labourers go through. — 
 " Mafters of fnips were never obliged to work, nor 
 " fuch at had but a fmall matter of money to give 
 «« the Alcaide. — Whenfick they had a religious houfe 
 < c appointed for them to go to, where they were well 
 " attended : and whatever money, in charity was 
 
 " feat 
 
( 71 ) 
 Jiving on the river Gambia, f fays, Ci That 
 <c fome of the Negroes have many hoiife 
 * ; flaves, which is their greateft glory ; 
 " that thofe Haves live fo well and eafy, 
 " that it is fometimes a hard matter to 
 4C know the flaves from their mailers or 
 " miftreffes. And that though in fome 
 " parts of Africa, they fell their flaves born 
 " in the family, yet on the river Gambia 
 * c they think it a very wicked thing/ 1 
 The author adds, u He never heard of but 
 " one, that ever fold a family flave, except 
 " for fuch crimes as they would have been 
 " fold for, if they had been free. ,, And in 
 Aftley's collection fpeakingof thecuftoms of 
 the Negroes in that large extent of country 
 
 further 
 
 4i Cent them by their fr rends in Europe, was their 
 •' own." Eraithwaite's revolutions of Morocco. 
 
 Lady Montague, wife of the Englifh arobaflador, at 
 Conftantinople, in her letters vol. 3. page 20 writes, 
 " I know you ex peel: I fhould fay fomething particular 
 " of the {laves; and you will imagine me half a 
 <* Turk, when I don't fpeakof it with the fame hor- 
 i: ror other Chriitians have done before me; but I 
 '* cannot forbear applauding the humanity of the 
 * ; Turks to thefe creatures, they are not ill ufed, and 
 " their flavery, m my opinion, rs no worfe than fervi- 
 " tude all over the world. It's true they have no 
 " wages, but they give them yearly cloaths to a high- 
 " er value than our falaries to our ordinary Jt> 
 " vants." 
 
 t W. Moor, p. 30. 
 
( 72 ) 
 
 further down the Coalt particularly dcnomi^ 
 nated the Ceaft of Guineajt is faid,f " They 
 have not many Haves on the Coaii, 
 none but the king or nobles are permitted 
 to buy or fdi any, (q that they are allow- 
 ed only what are neceflary for their fami- 
 lies,, or tilling the ground*?' the fame 
 author adds, " That they generally life their 
 " JIaves welt 7 andfeldom correct them. 97 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 Montefquieu 3 fentimenrs on flave- 
 
 ry. Moderation enjoined by the Mo- 
 faic law in the puniihment of offenders. 
 Morgan Godwyn's account of the con- 
 tempt and grievous rigour exercifed 
 upon the Negroes in his time. Account 
 from Jamaica relating to the inhuman 
 treatment of them (here. Bad effefts 
 attendant oh Have keeping ; as well to. 
 the mailers as the naves. Extracts from 
 fcveral laws relating to Negroes. Rich- 
 ard Baxter's fentiments on flave keeping. 
 
 THi\T celebrated civillian Montefquieu, 
 in his treatife on the fpirit of laws, on 
 the article of Ilavery fays, " // is neither 
 
 " 7 : 
 
 f CollcSion 2 vol. p. 647. 
 
( 73 ) 
 
 €c ufeful to the majler nor /lave ; to the flave^ 
 C6 becaufe he can do nothing through principle 
 " (or virtue,) to the majler becaufe he con- 
 " trails with his /lave all forts of bad habits , 
 " infenfibly accuftoms himfelf to want all 
 " moral virtues, becomes, haughty, hafly, hard 
 " hearted, pajfionate, voluptuous and cruel. 
 The lamentable truth of this affertion was 
 quickly verified in the Englilh plantations. 
 When the pra&ice of Have keeping was in- 
 troduced, it foon produced its natural 
 effe&s ; it reconciled men ofotherwife good 
 difpofitions to the mod hard and cruel 
 meafures. It quickly proved what under 
 the law of Mofes was apprehended would 
 be the confequence of unmerciful chaftife- 
 ments. Deut. xxv. 2. " And it /hall be if 
 " the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that 
 " the judge /hall cau/e him to lie down, and to 
 " be beaten before his face, according to his 
 u fault, by a certain number ; forty ftripes he 
 u may give him and not exceed" And the 
 reafon rendered is out of relpeft to human 
 nature, viz. " Left if he /hould exceed and 
 " beat him above the/e with many ftripes, then 
 " thy brother fhould feem vile unto thee" As 
 this effect foon followed the caufe, the cruel- 
 eft meafures were adopted, in order to make 
 the moft of the poor wretches labour; and in 
 the minds of the mafters fuch an idea was 
 excited of inferiority in the nature of thefe 
 H 3, their 
 
( 74 ) 
 their unhappy fellow creatures, that they 
 loon efteemed and treated them as beafts of 
 burden : pretending to doubt, and fome 
 of them, even prefuming to deny, the 
 efficacy of the death of Chrift extended to 
 them.^ Which is particularly noted In a 
 book intitled the Negroes and Indian's advc- 
 cate, dedicated to tlie then Archbifhop of 
 Canterbury : wrote fo long fince as in the 
 year 1680, by Morgan Godwyn, thought to 
 be a clergyman of the church of England. 
 * The fame fpirit of fympathy and zeal which 
 
 ftirred 
 
 m — ^— — ^— ■ 1 ■ 
 
 * There is a principle which is pure placed in the 
 human mind, which in different places and ages hatb 
 jhad different names ; it is however, ptiFe, and pro- 
 ceeds from God. — It is deep and inward, confined to. 
 no forms of religion, nor excluded from any, where 
 the heart ftancs in perfect fincerity. In whomfoever, 
 this takes root and grows, of what nation foever they 
 become brethren in the beft fenfe of the expreffion. 
 Ufing ourfelves to take ways which appear mod eafy 
 to us, when inconfiftent with ' that purity which is 
 without beginnings we thereby fet up a government of 
 our own, and deny obedience to him whcfe fervice is 
 rue liberty. He that has a fervant, made fo wrong- 
 fully, and knows it to be fo, when he treats him other- 
 wife than a free man, when he reaps the benefit of his 
 labour, without paying "him fuch v ages as are reason- 
 ably due to free men for the like fervice ; thefe things, 
 though done in calmnefs, without any fhew of difor- 
 der, do yet deprave the mind, in like manner and with 
 as great cerrainty, as prevailing cold congeals water. 
 Thefe fteps taken by mailers, and their cbndfiic? fink- 
 ing the minds of their children, whilft young, leave 
 leis room for that which is good to work upon them. 
 
 The 
 
( 75 > 
 ftirred up the good Biihop of Chapia to 
 plead with fo much energy the kindred caufe 
 
 of 
 
 The cuftoms of their parents, their neighbours and the 
 people with whom they converfe, working upon their 
 minds ; and they from thence conceiving wrong ideas 
 of things, and modes of conduct, the enterance into 
 their hearts became in a great meafure ihut up againft 
 the gentle movings of uncreated purity. 
 
 From one age to another the gloom grows thicker 
 and darker, till error gets eftablifhed by general opini- 
 no ; that whoever attends to perfect goodnefs and re- 
 mains under the melting influence of it, finds a path 
 unknown to many, and fees the neceflrty to lean up 
 on the arm of divine itrength* and dwell alone, or 
 with a few, in the right,, committing their caufe to 
 him, who is a refuge to his people. Negroes are our 
 fellow creatures, and their prefent condition among 
 its requires our ferious confideration. We know not: 
 the time when thole fcales, in which mountains are 
 weighed may turn. The parent of mankind is gracious ; 
 his care is over his imalleft creatures ; and a multi- 
 tude of men efcape not his notice ; and though many 
 of them are trodden down and defpifed, yet he remem- 
 bers them. He fecth their affliction, and looketh upon 
 the fpreading increafmg exaltation of the opprelfor. 
 He turns the channel of power, humbles the molt 
 liaughty people, and gives deliverance tothe oppreiTed* 
 at iuch periods as are conMent with his infinite juftice 
 and goodnefs. And wherever gain is preferred to 
 equity, and wrong things publickly encouraged, to 
 that degree that wickecineis takes root, and fpreads- 
 wide anrjngit the inhabitants of a country, there is a 
 real caufe for forrow to all fuch, whofe love to man- 
 kind (lands on a true principle, and wifely confider the 
 end and event of things." > Confideration on keeping' 
 Negroes, by John Woolman, part 2 p. 50. 4 
 
( 7* ) 
 of the Indians of America, an hundred and 
 fifty years before, was equally operating 
 about a century paft on the minds of fome of 
 the well difpofed of that day, amongft others 
 this worthy clergyman, having been an eye 
 witnefs of the oppreffion and cruelty exer- 
 cifed upon the Negro and Indian flaves, 
 endeavoured to raife the attention of thofe 
 in whofe power it might be to procure them- 
 relief j amongft other matters in his addrefs 
 to the Archbifhop, he remarks in fubftance^ 
 " That the people of the of ifland Barbadoes 
 " were not content with exercifing the 
 — ** greateft hardnefs and barbarity upon the 
 " Negroes, in making the moft of their 
 " labour, without any regard to the calls of 
 " humanity ; but that they had fufFered fuch 
 " a flight and undervalument to prevail in 
 " their minds, towards thefe their opprefled 
 " fellow creatures, as to difcourage any ftep 
 " being taken whereby they might be made 
 " acquainted with the ehriftian religion* 
 " That their conduct towards their Haves 
 " was fuch as gave him reafon to believe, 
 " that either they had fiiffered a fpirit of 
 " infidelity, a fpirit quite contrary to the 
 " nature of the gofpel, to prevail in them, 
 " or that it muft be their eftablifhed opinion, 
 " that the Negroes had no more fouls than 
 " beafts; that hence they concluded them 
 * to be neither fufceptible of religious im- 
 
 44 prefiions, 
 
( 77 ) 
 « c preiHons, nor fit objecls for the redeeming 
 *< grace of God to operate upon. That 
 " under this perfuafion and from a difpoli- 
 " tion of cruelty, they treated them 
 " with far left humanity than they did 
 " their cattle : for fays he, they do not 
 Ci ftarve their horfes, which they expect 
 " fhould both carry and credit them on the 
 " road ; nor pinch the cony, by whofe milk 
 • c they are fuftained, which yet to their 
 cc eternal flume, is too frequently theJot and 
 " condition of thofe poor people, from whofe 
 " labour their wealth and livelihood doth 
 " wholly arife ; not only in their diet, but in 
 " their cloathing and overworking fome of 
 " them even to death; which is particularly 
 * c the calamity of the moft innocent and iabo- 
 Ci rious ; but alio in tormenting and whip- 
 " ping them almoft and fometimes quite to 
 death, upon even fmall mifcarriages. He 
 apprehends it was from this prejudice 
 again ft the Negroes that arofe thofe fuper- 
 cilious checks and frowns he frequently 
 met with, when ufing innocent argu- 
 ments and perfuafions in the way of his 
 duty as a minifter of the gofpel, to labour 
 H for the convincement and converfion of 
 Cq the Negroes ; being repeatedly told, with' 
 ** fpiteful fcOilings, (even by fome efteem- 
 '< ed religious,) that the Negroes were no 
 4 < more fufceptible of receiving benefit, by 
 
 becoming 
 
 .% 
 
( 73 ) 
 " becoming members of the church, thaf* 
 " their dogs and bitches ; the ufual anfwer 
 " he received when exhorting their mailers 
 4C to do their duty in that refpeel, being, 
 4C What thefe black dogs be made chriflians ; 
 **'' what they be made like us, with abundance 
 " more of the fame ? Neverthelefs* he re- 
 4C marks that the Negroes were capable, 
 4C not only of being taught to read and 
 cc write, &c. but divers of them eminent 
 " in the management of bufinefs. He de- 
 " clares them to ha_Y£ an equal right with 
 " us to the merits of Chrift ; of which, if 
 45 through neglect or avarice they are de- 
 " prived, that judgment which was dc- 
 4C nounced againft wicked Ahah, muft 
 4C befal us : Our life fhall go for theirs. The 
 " lofs of their fouls will be required at our 
 6C hands, to whom God hath given fo bleffed 
 " an opportunity of being infh umental to 
 «' their folvation." 
 
 He complains, " That they were foffer- 
 4C ed to live with their women in no 
 " better way than dii eel fornication ; no 
 <c care being taken to oblige them to conti- 
 " nue together when married ; but that 
 44 they were fuffered at their will, to leave 
 4C their wives and take to other women. I 
 " fhall conclude this fympathizing clergy- 
 4C ma^s observations with an inftance he 
 44 gives, to fliew that not only difcou- 
 
 " ragements 
 
C 79 ) 
 €i ragements and feoffs, at that time 
 " prevailed in Barbadoes, to eftablifh an 
 " opinion that the Negroes were not capa- 
 " bleof religious impreflions; but that even 
 " violence and great abufes were ufed to 
 " prevent any thing of that kind taking 
 " place. It was in the cafe of a poor Negro, 
 * 4 who having at his own requeft, prevail- 
 " ed on a clergyman to adminifter baptifm 
 * c to him, on his return home, the trutifh 
 " overfeer took him to taik, giving him to 
 " underftand that, that was no fundays 
 " work for thofe of his complexion, that he , 
 " had other bufinefs for him, the neglect 
 u whereof fhould coft him an afternoon's 
 ■* c baptifm in blood, as he in the morning 
 " had received a baptifm with water, (theie 
 " fays the parfon were his own words,) 
 " which he accordingly made good, of 
 " which the Negroe complained to him, 
 & and he to the governor : neverthelefs, 
 " the poor miferable creature was ever af- 
 " ter fo unmercifully treated by that inhu- 
 " man wretch, the overfeer, that to avoid 
 " his cruelty, betaking himfelfto the woods, 
 " he there perifhed." This inftance is ap- 
 plicable to none but the cruel perpetrator, 
 and yet it is an inftanceof what, in a greater 
 or lefs degree, may frequently happen when 
 thofe poor wretches are left to the will of 
 fuch brutiih inconfiderate creatures as thofe 
 
 overfeers 
 
C Bo ) 
 *overfeflte often are. This is confirmed m 
 a Hi/lory of Jamaica wrote in thirteen let- 
 ters, about the year 1 740, by a perfon then 
 •r.efiding in that ifland who writes, as 
 follows," " I ihall not now ester upon the 
 queftion whether the flavery of the Ne- 
 groes be agreeable to the laws of nature 
 or not, though it feexns extreamly hard 
 they fhould be reduced to ferve and toil 
 for the benefit of others, without the leaft 
 advantage to themfelv.es. Happy Britannia 
 whereflavery is never known;whereliber- 
 ty and freedom chears every misfortune, 
 here (fays the author \) we can boaft of no 
 fuch bleffing ; wg have at leait ten flaves 
 to one freeman. I incline to touch the 
 hardfhips which thefe poor creatures 
 fuffer, in the tendered manner, from 
 a particular regard which I have to 
 many of their mailers ; but I cannot con- 
 ceal their fad circumftances uitirely: the 
 moft triviaj error is punhlied with terri- 
 ble whipping. I have feen fome of thern 
 treated in that cruel manner, for no other 
 reafo.n but to fatisfy the brutifh pleafure 
 of an overfeer, who has their punifhrnent 
 moftly at his difcretion. I have feen their 
 bodies all in a gore of blood, the fkia 
 torn off their backs with the cruel whip ; 
 beaten pepper and fait rubbed in the 
 w T ounds, and a large ftick of fealing wax 
 
 " dropped 
 
( 8i ) 
 ** dropped Ieifurely upon them.dPlt is no 
 "" wonder, if the horrid pain of fuck inhu- 
 man. tortures incline them to rebel. Molt 
 <4 of thefe ilaves are brought from the coaft 
 cs of Guinea : When they firft arrive, it's 
 ? obferved they are fimple and very inno- 
 " cent creatures ; but foon turn to be 
 " roguifh enough : And when they come to 
 * be whipt, urge the example of the whites 
 H for an excufe of their faults. 
 
 Thefe accounts of the deep depravity of 
 mind attendant on the practice of flavery,. 
 verify the truth of Montefquieu's remarks of 
 its pernicious effects. And altho' the fame- 
 degree of oppoiltion to inftructing the Ne- 
 groes may not now appear in the iflands as 
 formerly ; efpecially fmce the fociety ap- 
 pointed for propagating the Gofpel have 
 poffefTed anumber ot Negroesin oneof them; 
 rieverthelefs the fituation of thefe oppreffed 
 people is yet dreadful, as well to themfelves, 
 as in its confequences to their hard tafk-maf- 
 ters, and their offspring, as muft be evident 
 to every impartial peribn who is acquainted 
 with the treatment they generally receive, 
 or with the laws which from time to time 
 have been made in the colonies, with refpecfc 
 to the Negroes ; fome of them being abfolute- 
 ly inconfrftant with reafon, and fhocking 
 to humanity. By the 329th ad of the ai- 
 fcmblyof Barbadoes, page 125, it is enact-- 
 I ed 
 
V ( 02 ) 
 
 cd. " "Hfcit if any Negroe or other (lave tin" 
 " der punifhment, by his mafter or his or* 
 * c der, for running away, or any other 
 ** crime or mifdemeanors, towards his faid 
 -" mafter, unfortunately fhail fuffer in life 
 * c or member, (which feldom happens,) no 
 ** perfon whatibever fliall be liable to any 
 •" fine therefore. But if any man fihall, of 
 " wantonnefs, or only of bloody mindednefs or 
 C€ cruel intention, willfully kill a Negro or other 
 f* /lave of his own, he/hall pay into the publick 
 H treafury, fifteen pounds flerling" Now that 
 the life of a man fhould be fo lightly valued, 
 as that fifteen pounds fhouid be judged a 
 fufficient indemnification of the murder of 
 a man, even when it is avowedly done will- 
 fully* wantonly, cruelly or of bloody mindednefs ^ 
 is a tyranny hardly to be parrelleFd ; never- 
 thelefs human laws cannot make void the 
 righteous law of God, or prevent the inqui- 
 sition of that awful judgment day, when, 
 P* at the hand of every man? s brother the life of 
 cc man /hall be required" By the law of 
 South-Carolina, the perfon that killeth a 
 Negro is only fubject to a fine or twelve 
 months imprifonment : It is the fame in 
 moft, if not all the Weft-Indies. And by an 
 aft of the affembly of Virginia, (4 Ann.Ch. 
 49. fed. 27. p. 227.) After proclamation is 
 is iffued againft flaves. " That run away 
 w and lie out, it is lawful for airy perfon what- 
 
 " fever 
 
C «$ ) 
 
 € * foever to kill and deflroy fitch flavtt, by fucff 
 u ways and means, as he, fhe or they /hall 
 u think fit, without accufation or impeachment 
 * c of any crime for the fame"* And left .pri- 
 vate intereft ihould incline the planter to 
 mercy, it is provided, " That every flavefo 
 " killed in furfuance of this ad,fhall be paid 
 « for by the pub lick"' 
 
 It was doubtlefs, a like fenfe of fympathy 
 with that expreffed by Morgan Godwyn 7 
 before mentioned, for the opprefle4 Negroes, 
 and like zeal for the caufe of religion, fo ma- 
 nifeftly trampled upon in the cafe of the 
 Negroes, which induced Richard Baxter, an 
 eminent preacher amongft the diffenters in 
 the laft century, in his chriflian directory, to 
 exprefs himfelf as follows, viz. " Do you 
 " 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 pi- 
 
 " rates and catchup poor Negroes, or people 
 " of another land, that never forfeited life 
 " or liberty, and to make them flaves, and 
 " fell them, is one of the worft kinds of 
 " thievery in the world ; and fuch perfons, 
 9 are to be taken for the common enemies 
 tc of mankind, and they that buy them and 
 " ufe them as beads for their meer commodi- 
 4i ty, and betray, or deftroy, orneglecft their 
 
 " fouls 
 
 I 2 
 
( 8 4 ) 
 
 cc fouls, are fitter tobe calleddevrls incarnate 
 <c than chriftians : It is an henious fin to buy 
 " them, unlefs it be in charity to deliver 
 <c them. Undoubtedly they are prefently 
 " bound to deliver them, becaufe by righ$ 
 " the man is his own, therefore no man elfc 
 " can have a juft title to him. 9 ' 
 
 CHAP, 
 
( 85 ) 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 Griffith Hughes's account of the 
 
 number of Negroes in Barbadoes. 
 Cannot keep up their ufual number with- 
 out a yearly recruit. Excefilve hard- 
 ihips wears the Negroes down in a fur- 
 piiiing manner. A fervitude without a 
 condition, inconfifiantwithreafon and na- 
 tural juftice. The general ufags the^ Ne- 
 groes meet with in the Weft Indies. In- 
 human calculations of the ftrength and 
 lives of the Negroes. Dreadful confe- 
 quences which may be expected from the 
 cruelty exercifed upon this oppreiTed 
 part of mankind* 
 
 "¥TE are told by Griffith Hughes, rec- 
 |T|/ tor of St. Lucy in Barbadoes, in 
 his natural hiftory of that iiland, printed in 
 the year 1750, " That there was between. 
 " fixty five and feventy thoufand Negroes, 
 iC at that time, in the ifiand, tho 5 formerly 
 " they had a greater number: That in or- 
 V der to keep up a neceffary >er, they 
 
 cc v/ere obliged to have a yearly fupply from 
 rica : That the hard labour, and often" 
 
 want 
 
( 8<J ) 
 " want of necefiaries, which thefe unhappy 
 
 " creatures are obliged to undergo, deftroy a 
 " greater number than are bred there/ 5 He 
 adds, " That the capacities of their minds 
 44 in common affairs of life are but little in- 
 4i ferior, if at all, to thofeof the Europeans. 
 44 If they fail in fome arts, he fays, it may 
 " be owing more to their want of education 
 u and the depreilion of their fpiriis by 11a- 
 4i very, than to any want of natural abili- 
 u ties.' 5 This deftruction of the human 
 fpecies, thro' unnatural hardfhips, and want 
 of neceffary fupplies, in the cafe of the Ne- 
 groes is farther confirmed in an account of 
 the European fettlements in America, printed 
 London, 1757, where it is faid,par. 6. chap, 
 nth. " The Negroes in our colonies en- 
 " durcaflavery more compleat, and attend- 
 44 ed with far worfe circumftances, than 
 what any people in their condition fufier 
 in any ether part of the world 
 or have fuffered in any other period of 
 44 time : Proofs of this are not wanting. 
 44 The prodigious wafte which we experience 
 46 in this unhappy part of our fpecies, is a 
 44 full and melancholy evidence of this 
 " truth. The ifland of Barbadoes (chc Ne- 
 4i groes upon which do not amount to eigh- 
 4; ty thoufand) notwithftanding all the 
 i; means which they ufe to encrea/e 1: 
 w by propagation, and that the climat 
 
 44 hi 
 
 u 
 
 U 
 
( 37 ) 
 C< in every refpect (except that of being 
 " more wholefome) exactly refembling the 
 u climate from whence they come ; not- 
 " withftanding all this, Barbadoeslies under 
 " a neceffity of an annual recruit of five 
 <c thoufand flaves, to keep up the flock at 
 * c the number I have mentioned. This pro- 
 iC digious failure, which is at leaft in the 
 *' fame proportion in all our iilands, fhews 
 " demonftrativelythatfome uncommon and 
 • c unfupportable hardfhip lies upon the Ne- 
 " groes, which wears them down in fuch a 
 " furprifing manner/' 
 
 In an account of part of North America, 
 publifhedby Thomas Jeffery 1761, the au- 
 thor fpeaking of the uiage the Negroes re- 
 ceive in the Weft India iilands, fays, " It is 
 " irnpoflible for^a hitman heart to reflect up- 
 " on the fervitude of thefe dregs of man- 
 " kind, without in fome meafure feeling for 
 " their mifery, which ends but with their 
 
 " lives. Nothing can be more wretched 
 
 " than the condition of this people. One 
 " would imagine, they were framed to be 
 " the difgrace of the human fpecies, banifh- 
 " ed from their country, and deprived of 
 c; that blefiing liberty, on which all other 
 " nations fet the greateft value ; they are in 
 ci a meafure reduced to the condition of 
 " beafls of burden. In general a few roots, 
 " potatoes efpecially, are their food, and 
 
 two 
 
( 88 ) 
 
 tc two rags, which neither fcreen them from 
 " the heat of the day, nor the extraordinary 
 " coolnefs of the night, all their covering; 
 u their fleep very fhort ; their labour almoft 
 " continual: they receive no wages, but 
 " have twenty lafhes for the fmalleft fault. 51 
 A thoughtful perfon, who had an opportuni- 
 ty of obferving the miferable condition of 
 the Negroes, in one of our Weft India 
 iflands, writes thus, " I met with daily ex- 
 " ercife * to fee the treatment which thofe 
 " miferable wretches met with, from their 
 u matters ; with but few exceptions. They 
 " whip them moll unmercifully on fmali 
 <c occafions : you will fee their bodies all 
 " whaled and fcarred ; in fliort, they feem 
 ic to kt no other value on their lives, than 
 " as they coft them fo much money, and are 
 " reft rained from killing them, when angry, 
 " by no worthier consideration, than that 
 " they lofe fo much. They act as though they 
 " did not look upon them as a race of hu- 
 ff man creatures, who have reafon, and re- 
 " membrance of misfortunes ; but as b 
 " like oxen, who are ftubborn, ha j arid 
 " fenfelefs ; fit for burdens and deiigned to 
 " bear them: they wont allow theni 
 u have any claim to human privnege 
 *• fcarce indeed, to be regarded as the 
 " of God. Thousrh it wa c: .liftent 
 
 *' the juftice of our muker to pro:: 
 
 . « - 
 
C 89 ) 
 
 ^ the fentence on our common- parent', 
 64 and through him on all fucceeding genera- 
 " tions, That he and they Jhould eat theh 
 44 bread by the fweat of their brows : yet does 
 14 it not Hand recorded by the fame eternal 
 0i truth, That the labourer is worthy of his 
 4; hiret It cannot be allowed, in natural 
 44 juftice, that there ftiouid be a fervi- 
 " tude without condition, a cruel, endlefs, 
 44 fervitude. It cannot be reconcileable to 
 44 natural juftice, that whole nations, nay 
 44 whole continents of men, fhould be de- 
 44 voted to do the drudgery of life for others* 
 " be dragged away from their attachments 
 " of relations and focieties, and be- made to 
 44 ferve the appetite and pleafure of a race 
 44 of men, whofe fuperiority has been ob- 
 44 tained by illegal force. 
 
 Sir Hans Sloan in the introduction to his 
 natural hiftory of Jamaica in the account he 
 gives of the treatment the Negroes met with 
 there, fpeaking of the punifhments infli&ed 
 on them, fays, page 56 u For rebellion the 
 44 punifhment is burning them by nailing 
 44 them down on the ground, with crook- 
 44 ed fticks on every limb, arid then apply- 
 ing the fire by degrees from the feet and 
 hands, burning them gradually up to the 
 head, whereby their fains are extrava- 
 gant. For crimes of a lefs nature, gelding 
 or chopping oiFhalpthe foot with an axe, 
 
 44 Tor 
 
 u 
 
( 90 J 
 
 ** For negligence, they are ufually 
 
 " whipped by the overfeers with lance-wood 
 
 " fwitches. — After they are whipped 
 
 " till they are raw, fome put on their fkins 
 " pepper and fait to make them fmart ; at 
 " other times their matters will drop melted 
 * wax on their fkins, and ufe feveral very 
 " exquifife torments" 7 In that iiland the 
 owners of the Negroe flaves, fet afide to 
 each a parcel of ground, and allow them half 
 a day at the latter end of the week, which 
 with the day appointed, by the divine in- 
 junction, to be a day of reft and fcrvice to 
 God, and which ought to be kept as fuch, 
 is the only time allowed them to manure 
 their ground. This with a few herrings, 
 or other fait fifh, is what is given for their 
 fupport. Their allowance for cloathing in 
 the ifland is feldom more than fix yards of 
 oznabrigs each year. And in the more 
 northern colonies, where the piercing weft- 
 eriy winds are long and fenfibly felt, thefe 
 poor Africans fufier much for want of fuili- 
 cient cloathing, indeed fome have none till 
 they are able to pay for it by their labour. 
 The time that the Negroes work in the 
 eft Indies, is from day break till noon; 
 then again from two o'clock till dark, (dur- 
 ing which time they are attended by over- 
 feers who feverely fcourge thofe who appear 
 to them dilatory,) and before they are dif- 
 fered 
 
( 91 ) 
 fered to go to their quarters, they have ftilt 
 fornething to do, as collecting herbage for 
 the horfes, gathering fewel for the boilers,, 
 &c. fo that it is often paft twelve before they 
 can get home ; when they have fcarce time 
 to grind and boil their Indian corn : whereby 
 if their food was not prepared the evening 
 before, it fometimes happens, that they 
 are called again to labour before they cau 
 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 expe£t to feel the overfeers lafh. 
 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 defire of making the greateit 
 gain by the labour of their flaves, lay heavy 
 burdens on them, and yet feed and cloath 
 them very fparingly, and fome fcarce feed or 
 cloath them at all ; fo that the poor creatures 
 are obliged to fhift for their living in the befc 
 manner they can ; which occaiions their 
 being often killed in the neighbouring lands, 
 ftealing potatoes or other food, to fatisfy 
 their hunger, And if they tak^ any thing 
 from the plantation they belong to, though 
 under fudb pi lg want, their owners will 
 ft them feverely, for taking a little of 
 they have fo hardly laboured for; 
 Selves riot in the greateit 
 luxury 
 
( 9* ) 
 luxury and excefs. It is a matter of afto- 
 nifhment how a people who, as a nation, are 
 looked upon as generous and humane, and 
 fo much value themfelves for their uncom- 
 mon fenfe of the benefit of liberty, can live 
 in the practice of fuch extreme oppreflion 
 and inhumanity, without feeing the incon- 
 fiftency of fuch conduct, and feeling great 
 remorfe. Nor is it lefs amazing to hear thele 
 men calmly making caculations 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 uegroes live 
 eight or nine years, their labour 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 certainly ufe hisbeaft 
 with more mercy than is ufually fliewn to 
 the poor Negroes. Will not the groans, the 
 dying groans, of this deeply afflicted and op- 
 preffed people reach heaven, and when the 
 cup of iniquity is full, mud not the inevit- 
 able confequence, be the pouring forth of the 
 judgments of God upon their oppreffors ? 
 But alas ! is it not too manifeft that this op- 
 preflion has already long been the object of 
 the divine difpleaiuie? For what heavier 
 
 judgment, 
 
( 93 ) 
 judgment, what greater calamity can befal 
 any people v than to become "fubject to that 
 hardnefs of heart, that forgetfulnefs of God, 
 and infenfibility to every religious irapref- 
 fion ; as well as that general depravation of 
 manners, which fo much prevails in thefe 
 colonies, in proportion as they have more 
 or lefs enriched themfelves at the expence of 
 the blood and bondage of the Negroes. 
 
 It is a dreadful confideration, as a late 
 author remarks, that out of the flock of 
 eighty thoufand Negroesin Barbadoes, there 
 die every year five thoufand more than are 
 born in that ifland ; which failure is probably 
 in the fame proportion in the other iilands. 
 In effect this people is under a necejfity of being 
 entirely renewed every fixteen years. And 
 what muft we think of the management of 
 a people, who far from increaiing greatly, 
 as thofe who have no lofs by war ought to 
 do, muft in fo fhort a time as fixteen years, 
 without foreign recruits, be entirely con- 
 fumed to a man. Is it not a chriftian doc- 
 trine, that the labourer /* worthy of his hire ? 
 .and hath not the Lord by the mouth of his 
 prophet pronounced " wo unto that man who 
 46 buildeth his houfe by unrighteoufnefs, and his 
 " chambers by wrong* ^' ; ho ufes his neighbours 
 " fervice without wages, andgiveth him nought 
 " for his work ?" And yet the poor Negroe 
 flaves are conftrained, Jike the beafts, by 
 K beating 
 
( 94 ) 
 beating to work hard without hire or recom- 
 mence, and receive nothing from the hand 
 -or their unmerciful matters, but fuch a 
 wretched proviiion as will fcarce fupport 
 .them under their fatigues. The intolerable 
 .hardships many of the flaves undergo is fuifi- 
 ciently proved by the fhortnefs of their lives* 
 And who are thefe miferable crea- 
 tures that receive fuch barbarous treatment 
 irom the planters? Can we reftrain our 
 juft indignation when we confider that they 
 .are undoubtedly his brethren ! his neigh- 
 bours ! the children of the fame father ; andfome 
 of thofe for 'whom Chrift died^ as truly as for the 
 planter himfelf. Let the opulent planter or 
 merchant prove that his Negroe Have is^not 
 Lis brother ; or that he is not his neighbour^ 
 in the fcripture fenfe of thefe appellations ; 
 and if he is not able to dp fo, hoy/ will he 
 juftify the buying and felling of his brethren, 
 as if they were of no more confideration 
 than his cattle ? The wearing tl^m out 
 with continual labour, before they have 
 lived out half their days? The fevere whip- 
 ping and torturing them even to death, if 
 they reiift his infupportable tyranny; Let 
 the hardieft flave-holder look forward to 
 that tremendous day, when he muft give 
 an account to God of his ftewardfhip, and 
 let him ferioufly confider, whether at fuch a 
 time, he thinks, he Ihali be able to fatisfy 
 
 himfelf. 
 
(9$ ) 
 
 llimfelf, that any act of buying and felfingy 
 ar the fate of war, or the birth of children, 
 ia his houfe, plantation, or territories, or 
 any other circumftance whatever, can give 
 him fuch an abfolute property in the perfons 
 of men, as will juftify his retaining them as 
 Haves, and treating them as beafts. Let hin> 
 diligently eonlider whether there will not: 
 always remain to the Have a fuperior proper- 
 ty or right to the fruit of his own labour ? 
 and more efpecially to his own perfon, that 
 being which was given him by God, and 
 ¥,iiich none but the giver can juftly claim-, 
 
 C II A P. 
 
( 9* J 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 THE advantage which would 
 
 Jiave accrued to the natives of Guinea, if 
 the Europeans had acted towards them 
 agreeable to the dictates of humanity 
 and chriftanity. An inordinate defire of 
 gain in the Europeans-, the true occafioa 
 of the ilave trade. Notice of the mifre- 
 prenfations of the Negroes, by mod au- 
 thors, in order to palliate the iniquity of 
 the flave trade. Thofe mifreprefentations 
 refuted, particularly with refpecl to the 
 Hottentot Negroes. 
 
 o 
 
 FROM the foregoing accounts of the 
 natural difpofition of the Negroes, and 
 the fruitfulnefs of molt parts of Guinea, 
 which are confirmed by authors of can- 
 dour, who have wrote from their own 
 knowledge, it may well be concluded, that 
 the Negroes acquaintance with the Euro- 
 peans might have been a happinefe to them, 
 if thefe iaft had not only bore the name, 
 but had alfo acted the part of Chriftians, and 
 ufed their endeavours by example as well as 
 precept, to make them acquainted with the 
 
 glad 
 
( 97 ) 
 glad tidings of the gofpel ; which breathes 
 peace and good will to man, and with that 
 change of heart, that redemption from fin, 
 which chriftianity propofeth ; innocence 
 and love might then have prevailed, nothing 
 would have been wanting to compleat the 
 happinefs of the fimple Africans : but the 
 reverfe has happened; the Europeans for- 
 getful of their duty, as men, and chrif- 
 tians, have conducted in fo iniquitous a 
 manner, as muft neceffarily raife in the 
 minds of the thoughtful and well difpofed 
 Negroes, the utmoft fcorn and deteftation. 
 of the very name of chriftians. All other 
 confiderations have given way to an infati- 
 able defire of gain, which has been the 
 principal and moving caufe of the moll ini- 
 quitous and dreadful fcene that was, perhaps, 
 ever acted upon the face of the earth ; in- 
 Head of making ufe of that fuperior know- 
 ledge, with which the Almighty, the common 
 parent of mankind, had favoured them, to 
 strengthen the principle of peace and good 
 will in the breafts of the incautious Negroes; 
 the Europeans have, by their bad example, led 
 them into excefs of drunken nefs, debauch- 
 ery and avarice ; whereby every paffion of 
 corrupt nature being inflamed, they have 
 been eafily prevailed upon to make war, and 
 captivate one another ; as well to furnilh 
 means for the exeffes they had been habi- 
 K 3 tuated 
 
( 9^ ) 
 
 t dated to, as to fatify the greedy deiire 
 gain in their profligate employers ; who to 
 this intent have furnilhed them with prodi- 
 gious quantities of arms and amunition. 
 Thus they have been hurried into confufion, 
 diftrefs and all the extremities of temporal 
 mifery ; every thing, even the power of 
 their kings, has been made fubfervient to 
 this wicked purpofe, for inftead of being 
 protectors of their fubjects, fome of thole 
 rulers corrupted by the exceflive love of 
 fpirituous liquors, and the tempting baits 
 laid before them by the factors, have invad- 
 ed the liberties of their unhappy fubjects, and 
 are become their oppreffors. 
 
 Here it may be necefiary to obferve, that 
 the accounts we have of the inhabitants of 
 Guinea, are chiefly given by perfons engag- 
 ed in the trade, who, from felf interefted 
 views, have defcribed them in fuch colours 
 3s were leaft likely to excite compaffion and 
 refpeft, and endeavoured to reconcile fo 
 manifeft a violation of the rights of mankind 
 to the minds of the purchafers ; yet they 
 cannot but allow the Negroes to be pofeffed 
 of fome good qualities, though they contrive 
 as much as poffible to call a {hade over them. 
 A particular inftance of this appears in Ait- 
 ley's collection 2 vol. p. 73, where the au- 
 thor fpeaking of the Mandingo's fettled at 
 Galcm, which is fituated poo miles up the 
 
 Senegal, 
 
( 99. ) 
 Senegal, after faying that they carry on 2 
 commerce to all the neighbouring king- 
 doms, and amafs riches, adds, " That ex- 
 u cepting the vices peculiar to the blacks , they 
 u are a good fort of people, honeft, hofpi- 
 " tablejuft to their word, laborious, induf- 
 " trious and very ready to learn arts and 
 " fciences." Here it is difficult to imagine 
 what vices can be peculiarly attendant on a 
 people fo well diipofed as the author de- 
 scribes thefe to be. With refpect to the 
 charge fome authors have brought againft 
 them as being void of all natural affe&ion, 
 it is frequently contradi&ed by others: ia 
 the 2 voL of the collec. p. 275, and 629, 
 the Negroes of North Guinea, and the 
 Gold Coaft, are faid, to be fond of their Child- 
 wn, whom they love with tendernefs. And 
 Bofman fays p. 340, " Not a few in his 
 " country (viz. Holland) fondly imagine, 
 * that parents here fell their children ; men 
 M their wives, and one brother the other; 
 u but thofe who think fo deceive them- 
 " felves ; for this never happens on any 
 cc other account but that o'f neceffity, or 
 " fome great crime. " The fame is repeated 
 by J. Barbot, page 326, and alfo confirmed 
 by Sir Hans Sloan, in the introduction to his 
 natural hiftory of Jamaica ; where fpeaking 
 of the Negroes, he fays, " They are ufually 
 £ thought to be haters of their own 
 
 " children, 
 
( ioo > 
 
 44 children, and therefore 'tis believed that 
 44 they fell and difpofe of them toftrangers 
 44 for money ; but this is not true, for the 
 « Negroes of Guinea being divided into. 
 44 feveral captainfhips, as well as the Indians: 
 44 of America, have wars, and belides thofe 
 44 flain in battle, many prifoners are taken, 
 44 who are fold as flaves and brought thither;, 
 44 but the parents here although their child- 
 44 ren are flaves for ever, yet have fo great 
 46 love for them,, that no mailer dares fell, 
 44 or give away one of their little ones, 
 44 unlefs they care not whether their parents 
 44 hang themfelves or no." J. Barbot 
 fpeaking of the occafioa of the natives 
 of Guinea being reprefented as, a treacherous 
 people, afcribes it to the Hollanders (and 
 doubtlefs other Europeans,) ufurping autho- 
 rity, and fomenting divifions between the 
 Negroes. At page i io he fays, " It is well 
 " known that many of the European nations 
 44 trading amongft thefe people, have very 
 44 unjuftly and inhumanly, without any 
 44 provocation, flolen away, from time to 
 44 time, abundance of the people, not only 
 44 on this coaft, but almoft every where in 
 44 Guinea who have come on board their 
 u fhips in a harmlefs and confiding manner^ 
 44 thefe they have in great numbers car- 
 44 ried away, and fold in the plantations with 
 44 other flaves, which they had purchafed." 
 
 And 
 
( roi > 
 
 And although fome of the Negroes may Be 
 juflly charged with indolence and fuppinefs, 
 yet many others are frequently mentioned 
 by authors as a careful r , induflricus and even 
 laborious people. But nothing fhews more 
 clearly how unfafe it is to form a judgment 
 of diilant people from the accounts given 
 of them by travellers, who have taken but 
 a tranfient view of things,, than the cafe of 
 the Hottentots, viz. thofe feveral nations of 
 Negroes who inhabit the moft fouthern part 
 of Africa: thefs people are reprefented, by 
 feveral authors, w 7 ho appear to have very 
 much copied their relations one from the 
 other, as fo favage and barbarous as to have 
 little of human, but the fhape ; but thefe 
 accounts are ftrongly contradicted by others, 
 particularly Peter Kolben has given a cir- 
 cumfiantiai relation of the difpofition and 
 manners of thofe people, j He was a man 
 of learning, fen t from the court of Pruffia, 
 folely to make stftronomical and natural ob- 
 servations there; and havingno intereft in the 
 ilavery of the Negroes, had not the fame 
 inducement as moft other relators had, to 
 mlfreprefent the natives of Africa. He re- 
 iided eight years at and about the Cape 
 Good Hope, during which time he examin- ' 
 ed with great care into the cuftoms, manners 
 
 and 
 
 t See Kolben's account of the Cape of Good Hope, 
 
( 102 % 
 
 and opinions of the Hottentots; whence lie 
 fets thefe people in a quite different light'? 
 from what they appeared in former authors, 
 whom he corrects, and blames'for the falfe- 
 hoods they have wantonly told of them, at 
 p. 6 1 . he iays, " The detail we have in feve- 
 " ral authors, are for themoft part made up 
 " of inventions and hearfays, which gener- 
 " ally prove faife."— Neverthelefs, he allows 
 they are juftly to be blamed for their floth. 
 — The love- of liberty and indolence is their all : 
 compulfion is death to them. While nc-eejfity oblige? 
 the m to work, they are very tractable, obedient 
 and faithful ; but when they have got enough 
 to fatisfy the -prefent want, they are deaf to all 
 further entreaty. He alfo faults them for 
 their naftinefs, the effefts of Goth, and for 
 their Jove of drink ; and the practice of 
 ibme unnatural cuftoms, which long ufe lias 
 eiiablifhed amongft them; which neverthe- 
 lefs, from the general good difpofition of 
 thefe people, there is great reafon to believe 
 they might be perfuaded to refrain from ; 
 if a truly chriitian care had been exten- 
 ded towards them; he fays,. " They 
 u are eminently diflinguiflied by ma- 
 ** ny virtues, as their mutual benevQ- 
 " lence, friendfhip and hofpitality ; they 
 " breathe kindnefs and good will, to one 
 t€ - another ; and feek all opportunities of 
 " obliging. Is a Hottentots afliflance re- 
 quired 
 
i i*Z ) 
 
 quired by one of his countrymen, foe 
 " runs to give it ; Is his advice afked he 
 f* gives it with fincerity. Is his countryman 
 ■P in want, he relieves him to the utmoft of 
 cC his power."*' Their hofpitallity ^extends 
 even to European ftrangers : in travelling 
 through the Cape countries, you meet with 
 a chearful and open reception, in whatfo 
 ever village you come to. In fliort he fays, 
 p. 339, "The integrity of the Hotten- 
 " tots ; their ftrictnefs and celerity in the 
 iC execution of juftice, and .their charity ar,e 
 " equalled by few nations. In alliances their 
 " word is f acred; there being hardly any thing, 
 " they look upon as a fuller crime than breach jpf 
 45 engagements. Theft and adultery they fu- 
 " nijh with death** They firmly believe 
 there is a God, the author of all things, 
 whom they call the God of gods : but it 
 does not appear that they have an jnftitution 
 of worfhip dire&ly regarding this fupreme 
 Deity. When preffed.on this article, they 
 excufe themfelves by a tradition, " That 
 " their firfl parents fo grievoufly offended 
 " this great God, that he curfed them and their 
 " foflerity with hardnefs of hectrt ; fo that 
 u they know little about him, and have lefs in- 
 U dination to ferve him" (As -has been al- 
 ready remarked,) Thefe Hottentots are the 
 only Negroe nations bordering on the fea, 
 we read of 3 who are not concerned in mak- 
 ing 
 
( «>4 3 
 ing or keeping flaves. Thofe flaves mrtde 
 ufe of by the Hollanders at the Cape, are 
 brought from other parts of Guinea. Num- 
 bers of thefe people told the author, " That 
 •* c the vice they faw prevail amongft chrif- 
 c; tians ; their avarice, their envy and hat- 
 " red of one another ; their reftlefs difcon- 
 * c tented tempers, their lafcivioufnefs and 
 c< injuftice, were the things that principally 
 " kept the Hottentots from hearkening to 
 u chriftianity." 
 
 Father Tachard a Trench jefuit famous 
 for his travels in the Eaft Indies, in his ac- 
 count of thefe people, fays, " The Hotten- 
 *V tots have more honefty, love and libera- 
 " lity for one another, than are almoil any 
 • 4C where feen amongft chriftianSh." 
 
 CHAP. 
 
( ">5 ) 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 Man-flealing efteemed highly cri- 
 minal and punifliable by the laws of 
 Guinea : No Negroes allowed to be fold 
 for Slaves there but thofe deemed prifon- 
 ersofwar, or in puniftiment for crimes. 
 Some of the Negroe rulers, corrupted by 
 the Europeans, violently infringe the laws 
 of Guinea. The king of Barfailay noted 
 in that refped. 
 
 BY an enquiry into the laws and cuftoms 
 formerly in ufe and ftill in force 
 amongft the Negroes, particularly on the 
 Gold Coaft, it will be found, that provifioh 
 was made for the general peace, and for the 
 iafety of individuals ; even in W. Bofman's 
 time, long after the Europeans had eftablifh- 
 ed the Have trade, the natives were not 
 publicly enflaved, any otherwife than in 
 punifhment for crimes ; when prifoners of 
 war ; or by a violent exertion of the power 
 of their corrupted kings. Where any of the 
 natives were llolen, in order to be fold to 
 the Europeans, it was done fecretly, or at 
 ieafi only connived at by thofe in power; 
 I* this 
 
( ?o6 ) 
 this appears from Barbot and Bofman's ac- 
 count of the matter, both agreeing tha£ 
 Man-ftealing was not allowed on the 
 Gold Coaft. The firft, f fays, « Kidnap- 
 " P? n £ or flealing of human creatures is pu- 
 " nijhed there^and even fometimes with death!* 
 AndW.Bofman, whofe long refidence on 
 the coaft, enabled him to fpeak with 
 certainty, fays } " That the laws were ft- 
 " vere again]} murder ■, thievery a?td adul- 
 CQ tery" and adds," That -"man-ftealing was 
 " puniftjed on the Gold Coaft with rigid 
 " feverity, and fometimes with death itfelf** 
 Hence it may be concluded, that the fale 
 of thegreateft part of the Negroes to the 
 Europeans is fupported by violence, in defi- 
 ance of the laws, through the, knavery of 
 their principal men*, who, (as is too often 
 the cafe with thofe in European countries) 
 under pretence of encouraging trade, and 
 cncreafing the public revenue, difregard the 
 dictates of juftice, and trample upon thofe 
 liberties which they are appointed to pre- 
 ferve. 
 
 Fr. Moor alfo mentions, Man-ftealing as 
 being difcountenanced by the Negroe Go- 
 vernments 
 
 \ Barbot, page 303. * % Bofman, page 143. 
 
 * Note. B arbor, page 270 fays, the trade of flaves 
 is in a more peculiar manner the bufinefs of kings, rich 
 men and prime, merchajus, exclufrveof the inferior fort 
 ofblacks. 
 
( ™1 ) 
 
 rnments on the river Gambia, and fpeaks 
 of the ihflaving the peaceable inhabitants, 
 as a violence, which only happens un- 
 der a corrupt adminiftration of juftice ; 
 he fays, " * The kings of that country 
 "■'' generally advife with their head men, 
 w icarcely doing any thing of confequence, 
 "" without confulting them firft, except 
 u the king of Barfailay, who being fubje£t 
 * 4 to hard drinking is very abfolute. It is 
 " to this king's infatiable thirft for brandy, 
 u that his- Subjects freedoms and fami- 
 " lies are in io precarious a fituation j" 
 " JWhenever this king wants goods or 
 " brandy, he fends a meffenger to the Eng- 
 ""lilh Governor at James Fort, to defire he 
 "' would fend a floop there with a cargo ; 
 " this ne r jus^ being not at all unwelcome^ the 
 " Governor fends accordingly ; againit the 
 cc arrival of the Hoop, the King goes and 
 " ranfacks fome of his enemies towns, 
 " feizing the people, and felling them for 
 ** fuch commodities as he is in want of, 
 c; which commonly is brandy, guns, pow- 
 " der, balls, piftols and cutlaifes for his at- 
 " tendants and foldiers ; and coral and fil- 
 " ver for his wives and concubines; in cafe 
 w he is not at war with any neighbouring 
 " king, he then falls upon one of his own 
 " towns, which are numerous, and ufes 
 " them in the fame manner; " He often 
 
 goes 
 
 Moor, page 61, % Idem, page 46, 
 
' ( io8 ) 
 
 " goes with fome of his troops by a 
 " town in the day time, and returning in 
 " the night, fets fire to three parts or it, and 
 " putting guards at the fourth, there feizes 
 " the people as they run out from the fire, 
 " he ties their arms behind them, and 
 " marches them either to Joar or Cohone,. 
 " where he fells them to the Europeans." 
 
 A. Brue, the French diredfor gives 
 much the fame account, and fays,* "That 
 " having received goods he wrote to the 
 " King, that if he had a fufficient num- 
 " ber of flaves, he was ready to trade. 
 " with him. This prince, as well as the 
 " other Negroe monarchs, has always a, 
 " fureway of fupplying his deficiences, by 
 " felling his own fubjecls, for which they 
 " feldom want a pretence. The King had 
 " recourfe to this method by feizing three 
 " hundred of his own people, and fent word 
 " to the director that he had the flaves rea- 
 " dy to deliver for the goods." It feems,, 
 the King wanted double the quantity of 
 goods, which the fadlor would give him 
 for thefe three hundred flaves ; but the fac- 
 tor refufing to trufthim, as he w r as already, 
 in the company's debt, and perceiving that 
 this refufal had put the king much out of 
 temper, he propofed that he fhould give him 
 a licence for taking fo many more of his 
 people, as the goods he flill wanted were 
 
 worth ; 
 
 & Collect Vol. II. page 29. 
 
( 109 ) 
 Worth ; but this the King refufed, faying, 
 " It might occafion a disturbance amongft 
 " his fubjecb."* Except in the above in- 
 ftance, and fome others, where the power 
 of the Negroe Kings are unlawfully exerted 
 oyer their fubje&s ; the flave trade is carried 
 on in Guinea with fome regard to the laws 
 of the country, which allow of none to be 
 fold but prifoners taken in their national 
 wars, or people adjudged to flavery in pu- 
 niftiments for crimes ; but the largenefs of 
 
 the 
 
 * Note. This Negroe king, thus refufing to com- 
 ply with the Factor's wicked propofai, fliews, he was 
 fenfible his own conduct was not juftifiable ; and it 
 likewife appears the Factor's only concern was to pro- 
 cure the greateft number of flaves, without any re- 
 gard to the injuftice of the method, by which they 
 were procured. This Andrew Brue, was, for a long 
 time, principal director of the French African factory 
 in thofe parts ; in the management of which, he is in 
 the collection faid to have had extraordinary fuccefs. 
 The part he ought to have acted as a Chriftian towards 
 the ignorant Africans feems quite out of the queftion; 
 the profit of his employers appears to have been his 
 fole concern ; at page 62, fpeaking of the country on 
 the Senegal river, he fays, " It was very populous, 
 " the foil rich, and if the people were industrious, 
 " they might, of their own produce, carry on a vc- 
 cc ry advantageous .trade with ftrangers ; there being 
 " bui few things in which they could be excelled ; 
 •' but (he adds) // is to be hoped the Europeans ivill 
 *' let them into the fecr-ei V A remark unbecoming ha- 
 manlty, much more chrifuanity ! 
 
( no ) 
 
 the country, the number of kingdoms or 
 commonwealths, and the great encourage- 
 ment given by the Europeans, afford fre- 
 quent pretences and opportunities to the 
 bold defigning profligates of one kingdom 
 to furprize and feize, not only upon thofe 
 of a neighbouring government, but alfo the 
 weak and helplefs of their own ;* and the 
 unhappy people taken on thofe occafions, 
 are, with impunity, fold to the Europeans, 
 Thefe practices are doubtlefs difapproved of 
 by the moil confiderate amongft the Ne- 
 groes, for Bofman acquaints us, that even 
 their national wars are not agreeable to- 
 fuch. He faysf " If the perfon who occa- 
 " fioned the beginning of the war be taken, 
 cc they will not eafily admit him to ranfom, 
 " though his weight in gold fhould be of- 
 " fered, for fear he fliould, in future, form 
 " fome new defign againft their repofe." 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 * This inhuman practice is particularly defcribed 
 byBrue, in Collect. Vol. II. page 98, where he fays, 
 w That fome of the natives, are, on all occafions, 
 M endeavouring to furprize and carry off their- coun- 
 « try people. They land (fays he) without noife, 
 * and if they find a lone cottage without defence, they 
 ■- furround'it, and carry off all the people and effects 
 •« to their boat, and immediately reimbark." This 
 feems to be moftly praftifed by fome Negroes who 
 dwell en the fea coaft. 
 
 f Bofman, p. J 55* 
 
( "I ) 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 An account of the Hiocking inhu- 
 manity ufed in the carrying on of the 
 flave trade, as deferibed by factors of diffe- 
 rent nations, viz. By Francis Moor on 
 the river Gambia, and by John Barbot, 
 A. Brue and William Bofman thro' the 
 coaft of Guinea. Note. Of the large reve- 
 nues arifing to the kings of Guinea from 
 the Have trade. 
 
 FIRST Francis Moor, factor for the Eng- 
 lifh African company on the river 
 Gambia, f writes, " That there is a num- 
 " ber of Negro traders called joncoes or 
 iC merchants, who follow the flave trade, as 
 " a bufinefs, their place of refidence is fa 
 " high up in the country, as to be fix 
 *' weeks travel from James Fort, which is 
 * fituate at the mouth of that river. Thefe 
 46 merchants bring down elephants teeth, 
 " and in fome years two thoufand flaves, 
 " moll of which they fay, are prifoners 
 m taken in war* They buy them from the 
 
 " different 
 
 t Moor, page 28 > 
 
( II* ) 
 
 6 different princes, who take them ; many 
 8 of them are Bumbrongs and Petcharies ; 
 c nations, who each of them have different 
 c languages, and are brought from a vaft 
 1 way inland. Their way of bringing them 
 1 is tying them by the neck, with leathern 
 6 thongs, at about a yard diitance from each 
 c other, thirty or forty in a firing, having 
 c generally a bundle of corn or elephants 
 c teeth upon each of their heads. In their 
 c way from the mountains, they travel thro' 
 ' very great woods, where they cannot for 
 6 fome days get water ; fo they carry in fkin 
 c bags enough to fupport them for a time. 
 ' I cannot, (adds Moor) be certain of the 
 c number of merchants who follow this 
 c trade, but there may, perhaps, be about 
 c an hundred, who go up into the inland 
 1 country, with the goods which they buy 
 1 from the white men, and with them pur- 
 ' chafe, in various countries, gold, flaves, 
 c and elephants teeth. Befides the flaves 
 ' which the merchants bring down, there 
 c are many bought along the river : Thefe 
 6 are either taken in war, as the former are, 
 ' or men condemned for crimes ; cr elfepeo- 
 c pleftolen, which is very frequent. — Since the 
 flave trade has been ufed all punifhments 
 are changed into flavery ; there being an 
 advantage on fuch condemnation," they 
 
 « ; Jlrain 
 
( "i > 
 
 €c ft rain for crimes very hard, in order to get the 
 " benefit of felling the criminal" 
 
 John Barbot, the French factor, in his 
 account of the manner by which the flaves 
 are procured, fays, " f The flaves fold by 
 " the Negroes, are for the moft part prifon- 
 f ers of war, or taken in the incurfions 
 cc they make in their enemies territories ; 
 u others are ftolen away by their neigh- 
 u bours, when found abroad, on the road, 
 cc or in the woods y, or elfe in the corn 
 & fields, at the time of the year when their 
 " parents keep them there all the day to 
 cc fcare away the devouring fmall birds." 
 Speaking of the tranfattions on that part of 
 Guinea, called the Slave Coaft, where the 
 Europeans have the moft factories, and 
 from whence they bring away much the 
 greateft number of flaves, the fame author 
 and alfo Bofman * fays, " The inhabitants 
 " of Coto do much mifchief in ftealing thofe 
 " flaves they fell to the Europeans from the 
 
 " upland country. That the inhabitants 
 
 " of Popo, excell the former, being en- 
 " do wed with a much larger fliare ofcou* 
 cc rage, they rob more fuccefsfully, by 
 " which means they increafe their riches 
 " and trade :" The author particularly re- 
 marks, 
 
 f John Barbot, page 47, 
 • Bofman, page 3 10, 
 
( "4 ) 
 marks, " That they are encouraged in this'' 
 " fraElice by the Europeans ; fometimes it 
 " happens according to the fuccefs of their' 
 " inland excurfions, that they are able to 
 cc furniih two hundred Haves or more in a 
 <c few days.'* And he fays, ** |- The blacks 
 " ofFida, or Whydah are fc expeditious in 
 " trading for Haves, that they can deliver a: 
 
 " thoufand every month/' " If there 
 
 " happens to be no ftock of Haves there, 
 " the factor muft truft the blacks with his 
 cl goods to the value of one hundred and 
 " fifty, or two hundredpounds, which goods 
 " they carry up into the inland country 
 u to buy flaves at all markets *, for above 
 
 "fix 
 
 f Barbot, page 326. 
 
 * When the great income which arifes to the Ne- 
 groe kings on the Slave-Coaft, from the flaves brought 
 thro' their feveral governments to be (hipped onboard - 
 the European veffels, is considered, we have no caufe 
 to wonder that they give fo great a countenance to ' 
 that trade, William -Bofman fays, page 337. '• That 
 H each Jhip <mhieh comes to Whydah to trade, reckoning one 
 " with another either by toll, trad: or cujiom, pays 
 ** about four hundred pounds and fometimes fifty Jhips 
 '* come hither in a year.'* Barbot confirms the fame and 
 adds, page 350. u That in the neighbouring kingdom of 
 " Ardah the duty to the king is the value cf feventy or eighty 
 " flaves for each trading jhip ." Which is near half as 
 much more as at Whydah, nor can the Europeans 
 concerned in the trade with any degree of propriety 
 blame the African Kings for countenancing it, while 
 
 they 
 
.( "S ) 
 * c fix hundred miles up the country, were 
 « ; they are kept like cattle in Europe ; the 
 " flaves fold there being generally prifoners 
 " of war, taken from their enemies like 
 " other booty, and perhaps fome few fold 
 u by their own country men, in extream 
 6C want or upon a famine, as alfo fome as a 
 " puniihment of henious crimes." So far 
 Barbot's account, that given by William 
 Bofman is as follows, " j| When the Haves 
 u which are brought from the inland coun- 
 tries, come taWhydah, they are put in 
 c < prifon together, when we treat concern- 
 " ing buying them, they are all brought out 
 €C together in a large plain, where, by our 
 " furgeons, they are thoroughly examined, 
 " and that naked, both men and women, 
 " without the leaft diftinflion or modefty.* 
 ; Thofe 
 
 they continue to fend veffels on purpofe, to take in the 
 fiaves which are thus ftolen, and that they are permit- 
 ted under the fan&ion of national laws to fell them 
 to the colonies, 
 
 || Bofman, page 340. 
 
 * Note from the above account of the indecent and 
 {hocking manner in which the unhappy Negroes are 
 treated, it is reafonable fprperfons unacquainted with 
 thefe people to conclude them to be void of that natu- 
 ral modefty, fo becoming a reafonable creature; but 
 thofe who have had intercourfe with the blacks in 
 thefe northern colonies know that this would be a 
 wrong conclufion ; for they are indeed as fufceptible 
 4>f. modefty and flume as other people-. It is the xm* 
 
 parallel'd 
 
( IKS ) 
 
 " Thofe which are approved as good are fet 
 " on one fide ; in the mean while a burning 
 6i iron, with the arms or name of the com- 
 " pany, lies in the fire, with which ours are 
 " marked on the breaft. When we have a- 
 " greed with the owners of the flaves, they 
 " are returned to their prifons, where from 
 " that time forward they are kept at our 
 " charge, coft us two pence a day, each 
 " Have, w r hich ferves to fubfift them like cri- 
 4C minals on bread and water j fo that to 
 
 " fave 
 
 parellel'd brutality to which the Europeans have by 
 long cuftora been inured, which urgeth them, without 
 blufhing, to act fo fhameful a part. Such ufage is 
 certainly grievous to the poor Negroes, particularly the 
 women ; but they are flaves, and muft fubmit to this, 
 or any other abufe that is offered them, by their cruel 
 tafk-mafters, or expeel tobe inhumanly tormented in- 
 to acquiefcence. That the blacks are unaccuftomed 
 t® fuch brutality, appears from an inftance mention- 
 ed in Aftley's Collection, vol. 2. page 201. viz. 
 " At an audience which Cafseneuve had of the king 
 c< of Congo, where he was ufed with a great deal of 
 «' civility by the blacks, fome flaves were delivered 
 « c to him. The king obferving Cafseneuve (according 
 W to the cuftom of the Europeans) to handle the 
 < c limbs of the flaves, burft out a laughing, as did 
 «< the great men about him ; the faclor afking the 
 * c interpreter the occafion cf their mirth, was told 
 <( it proceeded from his fo nicely examining the flaves. 
 " Neverthelefs the King was fo 'afoamed of it that he deji- 
 " red him for dscaicfs fake to do Min a more private man* 
 " rier. 
 
( "7 ) 
 %c fave charges, we fend them on board our 
 " fhips the very firft opportunity, before 
 <c which their mafters flrip them of all they 
 cc have on their backs,, fo that they come on 
 " board ft ark naked, as well women as 
 46 men. In which condition they are obliged 
 " to continue, if the mafter of the fhip is not 
 " fo charitable (which he commonly is) as to 
 " beftow fomething on them to cover their 
 " nakednefs. Six or feven hundred are 
 < ; -fometimes put onboard a veflel, where 
 cc they lie as clofe together as its poflible for 
 ** them to be crowded," 
 
 M CHAP- 
 
( xr-8 ) 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 jExtrads of feveral Journals of 
 
 Voyages to the coaft of Guinea for Slaves, 
 whereby the extreme inhumanity of that 
 traffick.is defcribed. Melancholy account 
 of a fhip blown up on that coaft with a 
 great number of Negroes on board. In- 
 fiances of Clocking' barbarity perpetrate^ 
 by mafters of veffels towards their flaves. 
 Inquiry why thefe fcandalous infringe- 
 ments both of divine and human laws are 
 overlooked by the government. 
 
 TH E mifery and bloodfhed attendant 
 on the Have trade, is fet forth by the 
 -following extracts of two voyages to the 
 .coaft of Guinea, for flaves. The firft in a 
 veffel from Liverpool, taken verbatim from 
 the original manufcript of the Surgeon's 
 Journal, viz. 
 
 " Seftro, December the 29th, 1724, No 
 " trade to day, though many traders come 
 •" on board ; they informed us, that the 
 <c people are gone to war within land, and 
 & will bring prifoners enough in two or 
 « three days, in hopes d£ which we ftay." 
 
 The 
 
( **? ) 
 
 The 30th. " No trade yet, but our tra- 
 ** ders came on board to day, and informed 
 c; us the people had burnt' four towns of 
 " their enemies, fo that to-morrow we ex- 
 •* peel flaves off: another large fliip is come 
 «* in. Yeftei day came in a large Londoner ." 
 
 The 31ft.- " Fair weather, but no trade 
 " yet ; we fee each night towns burning, 
 
 * but we hear the Seftro men are many of 
 " them killed by the inland Negroes, fo 
 
 -** that we fear this war will be unfuccefs- 
 
 * ful." 
 
 The 2d of January, " Laft night we fa-w 
 " a prodigious fire break out about eleven 
 cc o'clock ; and this morning fee the town 
 " of Seftro burnt down to the ground ; (it 
 " contained fome hundreds of houfes)fo that 
 " we find their enemies are too hard for 
 " them at prefent, and confequently our 
 " trade fpoiled here ; therefore, about feven 
 " o'clock we weighed anchor, as did like- 
 " wife the three other veffels, to proceed 
 " lower down." 
 
 Thefecond relation, alfo taken from the 
 original manufcript Journal of a perfon of 
 < redit, who went furgeon on the fame trade, 
 inaveflel from New-York, about twenty 
 years paft, is as follows ; viz. w Being on the 
 " coaft, the Commander of the veffel, ac- 
 ci cording to cuitorn, fent a perfon on fhore 
 46 with a prefent to the King, acquainting 
 
 " him 
 
( 1M ) 
 
 44 him with his arrival, and letting him 
 M know, they wanted a cargo of flaves. The* 
 " King promifed to furniflu them with- 
 4C flaves ; and, in order to do it, fet out ta 
 ic go to war againft his enemies ; defigning 
 " to furprife fome town, and take all the 
 iC people prifoners : Some time after, the 
 " king fent them word, he had not yet met 
 " with the defired fuccefs ; having been 
 " twice repulfed, in attempting to break up 
 44 two towns ; but that he ftill hoped to pro- 
 " cure a number oi flaves for them ; and in 
 " this defign he perfifted till he met his ene- 
 " mies in the field ; where a battle was 
 ic fought, which lafted three days, during 
 " which time the engagement wasfo bloody, 
 " that four thoufand five hundred men 
 * c were flain on the fpot." The perfon who 
 wrote the account beheld the bodies as 
 they lay on the field of battle. " Think 
 " (fays he in his Journal) what a pitiable 
 " fight it was to fee the widows weeping 
 4i over their loft hufbands, orphans deplor- 
 " ing the lofs of their fathers, &c. &c" In 
 the 6th Vol. of Churchill's collection of Voy- 
 ages, page 219, we have the relation of a 
 voyage performed by Captain Philips, in a 
 fhipof45o tuns, along the coaft of Guinea, 
 for elephants teeth, gold, and Negro flaves, 
 intended for Barbadoes ; in which he fays* 
 that they took " feven hundred flaves o?i 
 
 " board. 
 
( til ) 
 
 ' board, the men being all put in irons two 
 
 £ < by two fhackled together to prevent their 
 
 6 mutinying or fvvimming afhore. That the 
 
 6 Negroes are fo loath to leave their own 
 
 " country, that they often leap out of the 
 
 " canoe, boat, or (hip, into the fea, and keep 
 
 . " under water till they are drowned to a- 
 
 " void being taken up, and faved by the 
 
 " boats which purfue them." — They 
 
 had about twelve Negroes who willingly 
 -drowned themfelves ; others ftarved them- 
 
 felves to death. Philips was advifed 
 
 to cut off the lesrs and arms of fome to ter- 
 
 o 
 
 rify the reft, (as other. Captains had done) 
 but this he refufed to>do : From the time of 
 his taking the Negroes an board too his ar- 
 rival at Barbadoes, no lefs than three hun- 
 dred and twenty died of various difeafes.* 
 
 Reader 
 
 # The following relation is infer ted at the requefi of tie 
 Author^ 
 
 THAT I may contribute all in my power towards 
 the Good of Mankind, by infpiring any indi- 
 viduals with a fuitable abhorrence of that deteftablc 
 practice of trading in our fellow- creatures, and in 
 fome meafure atone for my neglect of duty as a 
 Chriftian, in engaging in that wicked traffic, I offer 
 v to their ferions confideration fome few occurrences 
 of which I was- an. eye-witnefs. That being flxuck 
 with the wretched and affecting fcene they may foo- 
 ter that humane principle, which is th^ noble and 
 diftinguifhed characteristic of man, and improve rt 
 to the benefit of their children's children., Abo as 
 

 ( *** } 
 
 Reader, bring the matter home to thy own 
 heart, and confider whether any fituation can 
 be more completely miferable than that of 
 
 theft 
 
 About the year 1749, I failed from Liverpool to- 
 the coafl of Guinea : Some time after our arrival I 
 was ordered to go up the country a confiderabls 
 dillance ; upon having notice from one of the Ne- 
 groe Kings, that he had a parcel of flaves to diipofe 
 of ; I received my inftruetions, and went, carrying 
 with me an account of fuch goods we had on board 
 to exchange for the flaves we intended to purchafe. 
 Upon being introduced, I prefented him with a 
 fmall cafe of EngHJb fpirits, a gun, and fome trifles, 
 which having accepted, and underftood by an In- 
 terpreter what goods we had, the next day was ap- 
 pointed for viewing the flaves ; we found about twa 
 hundred confined in one place. But here how fhali 
 I relate the affecting fight I there beheld ! How can 
 I fufficiently defcribe the filent forrow which appear- 
 ed in the countenance of the afflicted father, and 
 the painful anguiih of the tender mother, expecting 
 to be forever feparated from their tender offspring; 
 the diitreiTed maid wringing her hands in prefage of 
 isr future wretchednefs, and the genera] cry of the 
 -innocent from a fearful apprehenfion of the perpetu- 
 al flavery to which they were doomed ! Under a 
 fenfe of my offence to God, in the perfon of his 
 creatures ; I acknowledge I purchafed eleven, who I 
 conducted tyed, two and two to the fhip. Being 
 but a fmall vefTel, (ninety ton) we fcon purchafed 
 our cargo, confiding of one hundred and feventy 
 flaves, whom thou may'fl: Reader range in thy view, 
 as they were fhackied two and two together, pent up 
 within the narrow confines of the main deck, with the 
 
 complicated 
 
( m I 
 
 thefe diftreffed captives. When we refledr 
 that each individual of this number had pro- 
 bably fome tender attachment, which was 
 broken by this cruel reparation ; fome pa- 
 rent or wife who had not an opportunity oS 
 mingling tears in a parting embrace^ per-* 
 
 haps* 
 
 complicated diftrefs-of ficknefs, chains and contempts > 
 deprived of every fond and focial tie, and in a great 
 meafure reduced to a ftate of.defperation. We had' 
 not been a fortnight at fea, before the fatal confer 
 quence of this deipair appeared ; they formeda defign 
 of recovering their natural right, Liberty, by rif- 
 ing and murdering every man on board, but the good^ 
 nefs of the Almighty rendered their fcheme. abortive,, 
 and his mercy fpared us to have time to repent. The 
 plot was difcovered ; the Ringleader ty'd by the two 
 thumbs over the barricade door, at fun>rife received 
 a number of lafhes* in this fituation he remained till 
 fun-fet, expofed to the in f alts and barbarity of the 
 brutal crew of failors^ with full leave to exercife their 
 cruelty at pleafure. The confequenee of this was,, 
 that next morning the miferable fufferer was found 
 dead, flead from the fhoulders to the waift. The next 
 victim was a youth, who, from too ftrong a fenfe ef 
 his milery refufed nourishment, and died ; difregard- 
 ed and unnoticed, till the hogs had fed on part of his 
 flefli. Will not Chriftianity blufh at this impious fa- 
 crilege ? May the relation of it ferve to call back the 
 ftruggling remains of humanity, in the hearts of thofe 
 who from a love of wealth, partake in any degree of 
 this oppreiTive gain, and have fuch an effect on the 
 minds of the fincere, as may be productive of peace s 
 the happy effect of true repentance for paft tranfgre (li- 
 ons, and a refolution to renounce all connexion with ic 
 for the time to come. 
 
C r*4 1 
 
 haps feme infants, or aged parents, whom 
 his labour was to feed, and vigilance protect; 
 themfelves under the moft dreadful appre- 
 henflon of an unknown perpetual flavery ; 
 confined within the narrow limits of a vef- 
 fel, where often feveral hundred lie as clofe 
 as pollible : Under thefe aggravated diftref- 
 fes, they are often reduced to a fiate of 
 dJfpair, in which many have been 
 frequently killed and feme deliberately, 
 put to death under the greateft torture, 
 when they have attempted to rife in order 
 to free themfelves from prefent mifery and 
 the flavery defigned them*. Many accounts 
 of this nature might be mertioned, indeed 
 from the vail number of veffels employed in 
 the trade, and the repeated relations in the 
 public prints of Negroes riling on board the 
 veffeis from Guinea, its more than probable 
 that many fuch inftances occur every year. 
 I fhall only mention one example of this 
 kind, by which the reader may judge of 
 the reft ; its in Aitley's Colleftion 2 vol. 
 p. 449, .related by John Atkins, furgeon on 
 board Admiral Ogle's fquadron, of one 
 " Harding, mailer of a veffel in which feve- 
 " ral of the men Haves and a woman flave 
 " had attempted to rife, in order to recover 
 " their liberty ; fome of whom the matter, 
 * of his o\v;; authority, fentenced to cruel 
 " death, making them firft cat the heart 
 
 " and 
 
I *fi T 
 
 € * and liver of one of thofe he had killed 
 4C The woman he hoifted by the thumbs, 
 " whipped and flafhed with knives before 
 " the other flaves till fee died."* As de~ 
 
 teftable 
 
 # A memorable inftance of fome of the dreadful eP 
 feds of the flave- trade, happened about five years pail, 
 on a fhip from this port, then at anchor about three; 
 miles from {tore, near Acra Fort, on the coaft of Gui^ 
 jiea. They had purchafed between four and five hun- 
 dred Negroes, and were ready to fail for the Weft- 
 Indies. Its cuftomary on board thofe veffels to keep 
 the men fhackled two by two, each by one leg to a 
 fmall iron bar ; thefe are every day brought on the 
 deck, for the benefit of air, and leaft they fhould at- 
 tempt to recover their freedom, they are made faft to 
 two common chains, which are extended on each fide 
 the main deck : The women and children are 36ofe. 
 This was the fituation of the flaves onboard this vefi 
 fel, when it took fire, by means of a perfon who was 
 drawing fpirits by the light of a la™p ; the cafk burft- 
 ing, the fire fpfead withfo much violence, that in a- 
 bout ten minutes, the failors apprehending it impoflP 
 ble to extinguish it, before it could reach a large 
 quantity of powder they had on board, concluded it 
 neceffary to caft themfelves into the fea, as the only 
 chance of faving their lives ; and firft, they endea- 
 voured to loofe the chains by which the Negroe men 
 were faftened to the deck, but in the confufion the key 
 being mi fling, they had butjuft time to- loofe one of 
 the chains by wrenching the ftaple; when the vehe- 
 mence of the fire fo encreafed, that they all, but one 
 man, jumped over board, when immediately the five 
 having gained the powder, the veffel blew up with all 
 the fiaves who remained. faftened to the one chain, and; 
 
 fach- 
 
[ 126 J 
 
 teftable and Shocking as this may appear,, 
 to fuch whofe hearts are not yet hardened 
 by the practice of that cruelty, which the 
 love of wealth by degrees introduceth into" 
 the human mind ; it will not be ftrange. to 1 
 thole who have been concerned or employed 
 in the trade. 
 
 Now here arifes a necefiary qu^ery to thofe 
 who hold the balance of juftice, and who 
 muft be accountable to God for the life they 
 have made of it ; that as the principles on 
 which the Britifh conftitution is founded,, 
 are fo favourable to the common rights of 
 mankind, how it has happened that the laws 
 which countenance this iniquitous traffic, 
 have obtained the fanction of the legislature j 
 and that the executive part of the govern- 
 ment fliould fo long Aiut their ears to con- 
 tinual 
 
 fuch others as had not followed the faiiors examples. 
 There happened to be three Portuguefe veffels in fight, 
 who, with others from the fhore, putting out their 
 boats, took up about two hundred and fifty of thole 
 poor fouls who remained alive ; of which number about 
 fifty died on fhore, being moftly of thole who v. tie 
 "were fettered together by iron (hackles, which as they 
 jumped into the fea, had broke their legs, and thefe 
 fractures being inflamed, by fo long a (truggle in the 
 fea probably mortified, which occaiionei the death of 
 every one that was fo wounded. The two hundred re- 
 maining alive, were foon difpofed of, for account of 
 the owners to other purchasers. 
 
c 127 : 
 
 tinual reports of the barbarities perpetrated 
 againft this unhappy people, and leave the 
 trading fubje&s at liberty to trample on the 
 moft precious rights of others, even with- 
 out a rebuke. Why are the matters of vef- 
 fels thus fuffered to be the fovereign arbiters 
 of the lives of the miferable Negroes, and al- 
 lowed with impunity, thus to deftroy (may 
 I not properly fay to murder) their fellow 
 .creatures, and that by means fo cruel, as 
 cannot be even related but with ihame and 
 ;Jiprror» 
 
 CHAP. 
 
[ 12B ] 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 Ufage of the Negroes, when they 
 
 arrive in the Weft-Indies. An hundred 
 thoufand Negroes brought from Guinea 
 every year to the Englifh Colonies. The 
 number of Negroes who die in the paffage 
 and feafoning. Thefe are, properly fpeak- 
 ing, murdered by the profecution of this 
 infamous traffic: Remarks on its dreadful 
 effefts and tendency. 
 
 WHEN the veflels arrive at their de- 
 flined port in the colonies, the poor 
 Negroes are tobedifpofed off to the .plant- 
 ers, and here they are again expofed naked, 
 without any diftinction of fexes, to the bru- 
 tal examination of their purchafers ; and 
 this, it may well be judged, is to many an- 
 other occafion of deep diftrefs. Add to this, 
 that near connections muft now again be fe- 
 parated to go with their feveral purchafers^ 
 this muft be deeply affecting to all, but fuch 
 whofe hearts are feared by the love of gain. 
 Mothers are feen hanging over their daugh- 
 ters, bedewing their naked breafts with 
 tears, and daughters clinging to their pa- 
 rents, 
 
[ 129 1 
 rents, not knowing what new ftage of dif* 
 trefs muft follow their feparatien, or whe- 
 ther they fhall ever meet again. And here 
 what fympathy ! What commiferation do 
 they meet with ! Why, indeed, if they will 
 not feparate as readily as their owners think 
 proper, the Whipper is called for, and the 
 lafh is exercifed upon their naked bodies, 
 till obliged to part. Can any human heart, 
 v/hich is not become callous by the praclife 
 of fuch cruelties, be unconcerned, even at 
 the relation of fuch grievous affliction, to 
 which this opprefledpart of our fpecies are 
 fubjeded. 
 
 In a book printed in Liverpool, called, 
 The Liverpool Memorandum^ which contains 
 amongft other things, an account of the 
 trade of that port, there is an exact lift of 
 the veflels employed in the Guinea trade, 
 and of the number of flaves imported in each 
 veflel ; by which it appears, that in the year 
 1753, tk e num ber imported to America by 
 one hundred and one veflels belonging to 
 that port, amounted to upwards of thirty 
 thoufand, and from the number of vefiels 
 employed by the African company, in Lon- 
 don and Briftol, we may, with fome de- 
 gree of certainty, conclude, there are one 
 Hundred thoufand Negroes purchafed and 
 brought on board our fhips yearly from the 
 coaft of Africa. This is confirmed in Ander- 
 
 N fon's 
 
r ?3* i 
 
 ibn'shiftory of Trade and Commerce, late- 
 ly printed j where it is faid,* " that Eng- 
 " land fupplies her American colonies with 
 M Negroe flaves, amounting in number to 
 " above one hundred thoufand every year." 
 When the veffels are full freighted with 
 flaves, they fail for our plantations in Ame- 
 rica, and may be two or three months in the 
 voyage, during which time, from the filth 
 and {tench that is among them, diftempers 
 frequently break out, which carry off com- 
 monly a fifth, a fourth, yea fometimes a 
 third or more of them : fo that taking all the 
 flaves together, that are brought on board 
 our fhips yearly, one may reafonably fup- 
 pofe that atleaft ten thoufand of them die on 
 the voyage. And in a printed account of 
 the ftate 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 flaves 
 who are purchafed by our African mer- 
 chants in a year, near thirty thoufand difc 
 •upon the voyage and in the feafoning. Add 
 to this, the prodigious number who are 
 •killed in the incuriions and inteftine wars, 
 by which the Negroes procure the number 
 of flaves wanted to load the veffels. How 
 
 dreadful 
 _ .-■■-■ . . • 
 
 • Appendix to Aadcrfon"'* Hiftory, page 63. 
 
t Hi I 
 
 dreadful then is this ilave-trade, whereby 
 fo many thoufands of our fellow creatures, 
 free by nature, endued with the fame rati- 
 onal faculties, and called to be heirs of the 
 fame falvation with us, lofe their lives, and 
 are truly and properly fpeaking murdered 
 every year; for it is not neceffary in order 
 to convict a man of murder, to make it ap- 
 pear, that he had an intention to commit 
 murder. Whoever does, by unjuft force or 
 violence, deprive another of his liberty, and 
 while he hath him in his power, continues 
 fo to opprefs him, by cruel treatment as e- 
 ventually to occafion his death, is actually 
 guilty of murder. It is enough to make 
 a thoughtful perfon tremble, to think what 
 a load of guilt lies upon our nation on thjs 
 account, and that the blood of thoufands of 
 poor innocent creatures murdered every 
 year in the profecution of this wicked trade, 
 cries aloud to Heaven for vengeance. Were 
 we to hear or read of a nation that deftroye^ 
 every year, in fome other way, as many 
 human creatures as perifh in this trade, we 
 ihould certainly conuder them as a very 
 bloody barbarous people. If it be alledged, 
 that the legislature hath encouraged and 
 Hill does encourage this trade. It is anfvver- 
 ed, that no legislature, on earth, can alter the 
 nature of things, fo as to make that to be 
 eight which is contrary to the law of God, 
 N 2 th<? 
 
( »'J* ) 
 
 the fupreme legiflator and governor of the 
 the world, and oppofeth the promulgation 
 of the gofpel of peace on earth? and good will 
 to man. Injuftice may be methodized and 
 eftablifhed by law, but ftill it will be injuftice 
 as much as it was before, though its being 
 fo eftablifhed, may render men more infenfl- 
 ble of the guilt, and more bold and fecure 
 in the perpetration of it. 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 Obfervations on the difpofitioa 
 
 and capacity of the Negroes : Why 
 thought inferior to that of the Whites; . 
 Affecting inftances of the flavery of the 
 Negroes. Reflexions thereon. 
 
 DOUBTS may arife in the minds of 
 of fome, whether the foregoing ac- 
 counts relating to the natural capacity and 
 good difpofition of the inhabitants of Gui- 
 nea, and of the violent manner in which 
 they are faid to be torn from their native 
 land, is to be depended upon on j as thofs 
 
 Negroes* 
 
( *33 ) 
 
 Negroes, who are brought to us, are not 
 heard to complain, nor do but feldom ma- 
 nifeft fuch a docility and quicknefs of parts, 
 as is agreeable thereto. But thofewho make 
 thefe objections, are delired to note the ma- 
 ny difcouragements the poor Africans labour 
 under when brought from their native land. 
 Let them confider, that thofe affli&ed ftran- 
 gers, though in an enlightened ' Chriftian coun- 
 try ', have yet but little opportunity or en- 
 couragement to exert and improve their na^ 
 tural talents : They are conftantly employed 
 in fervile labour, and the abje<5t condition in 
 which we fee them, naturally raifes an idea 
 of a fuperiority in ourfelves ; whence we are 
 apt to look upon them as an ignorant and 
 contemptible part of mankind . Add to this, 
 that they meet with very little encourage- 
 ment of freely converiing with fuch of the 
 Whites, as might impart inftru£Uon to them. 
 It is a fondnefs for wealth, for authority or 
 honour which prompts moft men, in their 
 endeavours to excel ; but thefe motives can 
 have little influence upon the minds of the 
 Negroes; few of them having any reafon- 
 able profpecl of any other than a ftate of fla- 
 very ; fo that, though their natural capaci- 
 ties were ever fo good, they have neither in- 
 ducement or opportunity to exert them to 
 advantage : This naturally tends to deprefs 
 their minds* and fink their fpirits into ha- 
 N 3 bits 
 
( 134 3 
 bits of idlenefs and floth, which they would ^ 
 in all likelihood, have been free from, had 
 they flood upon an equal footing with 
 the white people. They are fuffered, with 
 impunity, to cohabit together, without be- 
 ing married, and to part, when folemnly en- 
 gaged to one another as man and wife ; 
 notwithftanding the moral and religious 
 Jaws of the land, ftrictly prohibiting fuch 
 practices. This naturally tends to beget ap- 
 preheniion in the moft thoughtful of thole 
 people, that we look upon them as a lower 
 race, not worthy of the fame care, nor liable 
 to the fame rewards and punifhments as our- 
 ielves. Neverthelefs it may with truth be 
 faid, that both amongft thofe who have ob- 
 tained their freedom, and thofe who re- 
 main in fervitude, fome have manifefted a 
 ftrong fagacity and an exemplary upright- 
 nefs of heart. If this hath not been gene- 
 rally the cafe with them, is it a matter of fur- 
 prize ? Have we not reafon to make the 
 iame complaint of many white fcrvants, 
 when difcharged from our fervice, though 
 many of them have had much greater op- 
 portunities of knowledge and improvement 
 than the blacks ; who even, when free, la- 
 bour under the fame difficulties as before, 
 having but little accefs to, and intercourfe 
 with the moft reputable white people ; they 
 remain confined within their former limits 
 
 of 
 
( *35 ) 
 of converfation. And if they feldom com- 
 plain of the unjuft and cruel ufage they have 
 received in being forced from their native 
 country, &c* it is not to be wondered at j 
 it being a confiderable time after their arrival 
 amongft us, before they can fpeak our lan- 
 guage ; and, by the time they are able to 
 exprefs themfelves, th^y have great reafon 
 to believe, that little or no notice would be 
 taken of their complaints, yet let any per- 
 fon enquire of tliofe who were capable of re- 
 flection before they were brought from their 
 native land, and he will hear fuch affe&ing 
 relations, which, if not loft to the common 
 feelings of humanity, willfenfibly affect his 
 heart. The cafe of a poorNegroe, not long 
 lince brought from Guinea, is a recent in- 
 ftance of this kind. From his firft arrival, 
 he appeared thoughtful and dejefted, fre- 
 quently dropping tears when taking notice 
 of his mailer's children, the caufe of which 
 was not known till he was able to fpeak En- 
 glifh, when the account he gave of himfelf 
 was, u That he had a wife and children in 
 " his own country \ that fottie of thcfe be- 
 " ing lick and thirfty, he went, in the night 
 " time, to fetch water at a fpring, where 
 ¥ he was violently feized and carried away 
 f € by perfons, who lay in wait to catch men, 
 " from whence he was tranfported to Ame- 
 " rica. The remembrance of his family, 
 
 friends 
 
( Hf ) 
 
 ' E friends and other connections-, left behind^, 
 " which he never expected to fee any more, 
 " were the principal caufe of his dejection 
 " and grief." Many cafes equally affecting 
 might be here, mentioned, but one more in- 
 flate which fell under the notice of a per- 
 fon of credit will fuffice. One of thefe wretch- 
 ed creatures, then about 50 years of age, 
 informed him, " That being violently torn 
 " from a wife and feveral children in Gui- 
 " nea, he was.fold in Jamaica, where never 
 " expeding to fee his native land or family 
 " any more, he joined himfelf to a Negroe 
 " woman, by whom he had two children ; 
 " after fome years, it fuiting the intereft 
 " of his owner to remove him, he was fe- 
 " parated from this fecond wife and child* 
 " ren, and brought to South-Carolina, 
 ' where, expecting to fpend the remainder 
 of his days, he engaged with a third wife, 
 by whom he had another child ; but here 
 the fame confequence of one man. being 
 fubjed to the .will and pleafure of another 
 " man occurring, he was feparated from 
 *' this laft wife and child, and brought in- 
 *' this country, where be remained a ilave. 
 Canany,whofemindisnot rendered quite 
 obdurate by the love of wealth, hear thefe 
 relations, without being deeply touched 
 with fympathy and forrow j and doubt- 
 iefs the cafe of many,\ery many of thefe af- 
 * ' Aided 
 
 a 
 
 a 
 
[ r-37 1 
 flicled people, upon enquiry would be found 
 to be attended with circumftances equally 
 tragical and aggravating. And, if we en- 
 quire ofthofe Negroes who were brought 
 away from their native country when child- 
 ren, we fliall find moil of them to have been 
 llolen away when abroad from their pa- 
 rents, on the roads, in the woods, or watch- 
 ing their corn-fields. Now, you that have 
 fiudied the book of confeience, and you 
 that are learned in the law, what will you 
 fay to fuch deplorable cafes. When, and 
 how have theie oppreffed people forfeited 
 their liberty ? Does not juftice loudly call 
 for its being reftored to them ? Have they 
 not the fame right to demand it as any of us 
 fhould have,. if we had been violently fnatcK- 
 ed by Pyrates from our native land ? Is it 
 not the duty of every difpenfer of juftice, 
 whois not forgetful of his own humanity, 
 to remember, that thefe are men, and to de- 
 clare them free ? Where inltances of fuch 
 cruelty frequently occur, and are neither 
 enquired into, nor redreifed by thofewhofe 
 duty it is* to fe.ek judgment \ and relieve the op** 
 prejed, Ifaiahi. 17. What can be expected 
 but that the groans and cries of thefe fuffer/- 
 ers will reach Heaven, and what fliall we do 
 when God rifeth up and when he vifitethj What 
 will ye anfwer him ? Did not he that made 
 tJiem, make, us ^ and 4id,mt one faflnon us in 
 the.vjomb. Job xxxi. 14. CHAP., 
 
<3< 
 
 C H A P. XIV. 
 
 The Expediency of a general 
 
 freedom being granted to the Negroes 
 confidered. Reafons why it might be pro- 
 ductive of advantage zndfafety to the Co- 
 lonies. 
 
 IT is fcarce to be devoted, but that the 
 foregoing accounts will beget in the' 
 heart of the considerate readers, an earneft 
 defire to fee a flop put to this complicated 
 evil, but the objection with many is, What 
 fhall be done with thofe Negroes already 
 imported and born in our families i Mult 
 they be fen t to Africa? That would be to 
 f xpofe them in a ftrange land to greater dif- 
 ficulties than many of them labour under at 
 ■prefent- To fet them fuddenly free here, 
 ■would be, perhaps, attended with no lets 
 difficulty ; for undisciplined as they are in 
 religion and virtue, they might give a loofe 
 to thofe evil habits, which the fear of a m af- 
 ter would have retrained* Thefe are objec- 
 tions w T hich weigh with many well difpofed 
 people, and it muft be granted thefe are dif- 
 ficulties in the way j »or can any general 
 
 change 
 
( J 39 ) 
 change be made or reformation effe&ed 
 without fome ; but the difficulties are not 
 fo great but that they may be .furmounted. 
 If the government was fo confiderate of the 
 iniquity and danger attending on this prac- 
 tice as to be willing to feek a remedy, doubt- 
 lefs, the Almighty would blefs this good 
 intention, and fuch methods would be 
 thought of, as would not only put an end 
 to the unjuil oppreilion of the Negroes, but 
 might bring them under regulations that 
 would enable them to become profitable 
 members of fociety. For the furtherance of 
 which, the following propofals are offered 
 to coniideration ; to be improved by thofe 
 in whofe power it is to remedy this mighty 
 evil. In the firlt place, let all farther impor- 
 tation of Haves be abfolutely prohibited, and 
 as to thofe already purchafed, or born among 
 us, after ferving fo long as fhall be adequate 
 to the money paid, or the charge of bring- 
 ing Jthem up, which may be decided by courts 
 of juitice, let them by law be declared free. 
 Let every Have thus fet free, be enrolled in 
 the county couris, and obliged to be a re- 
 fident daring acei tain number of years with- 
 in the laid county, under the care of the 
 overleers of the poor. Thus being, in fome 
 ■fort, itiii under the direction of governors 
 and the notice of thofe who were formerly 
 acquainted with them, they would be oblig- 
 ed 
 
( M° ) 
 ed to act the more circumfpe&ly, and maTce 
 proper ufe of their liberty, and their child- 
 ren would have an opportunity of obtaining 
 fuch inftru&ion as is neceffary to the com- 
 mon occafionsof life, and thus both parents 
 and children might gradually become ufeful 
 members of the community. And further, 
 where the nature of the country would per- 
 mit as certainly the uncultivated condition 
 of our fouthern and moft weftern colonies 
 eafily would ; fuppofe a fmall tract of land 
 were afligned to every Negroe family, and 
 they obliged to live upon and improve it, 
 (when not hired out to work for the white 
 people) this would encourage them to exert 
 rheir abilities and become induftrious fub- 
 jecls. Hence both planters and tradefmen 
 would be plentifully fupplied with chearfufr 
 and willing minded labourers, much vacant 
 land w r ould be cultivated ; the produce of 
 the country be juftly encreafed ; the taxes 
 for the fupport of government leffened, to 
 individuals by the encreafe of taxables. And 
 the Negroes, inftead of being an object of 
 Terror*, as they certainly muft be to the go- 
 vernments 
 ^* - !■ 
 
 * The hard ufage the Negroes meet with in the 
 plantations, and the great difproportion between them 
 and the white people, will always be a juft caufe of 
 terror In Jamaica andfome parts of South-Caroli- 
 ea, it is fuppoied that there are fifteen blacks to one 
 white. 
 
C Mi ) 
 vernments where their numbers are great, 
 would become interefted in their fafety and 
 welfare. 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 Anfwer to a miftaken opinion, that 
 
 the warmth of the climate in the Weft- 
 Indies will not permit white people to la- 
 bour there. No complaint of difability 
 in the whites in that refpect in the fettle- 
 ment of theiflands. Idlenefs and difeafes 
 .. prevailed as the ufe of flaves encreafed* 
 The great advantage which might accrue 
 to the Britifh nation, if the flave trade 
 was entirely laid afide, and a fair and 
 friendly commerce eftablifhed through, 
 the whole coaft of Africa. 
 
 IT is frequently offered as an argument 
 in vindication of the ufe of Negroe flaves* 
 That the warmth of the climate in the Weft 
 Indies, will not permit white people to la- 
 bour in the culture of the land ; but upon 
 an acquaintance with the nature of the cli- 
 mate, and its effe&s upon fuch labouring 
 O white: 
 
( *fr 1 
 
 white people as are prudent and moderate 
 in labour and the ufe of fpirituous liquors^ 
 this will be found to be a miftaken opinion* 
 Thofe iflands were, at firft, wholly cultivat- 
 ed by white men ; the encouragement they 
 then met with for a long courfe of years 
 was fuch as occafioned a great encreafe of 
 people. Richard Ligon, in his hiftory of 
 Barbadoes, where he rciided from the year 
 1647 to 16505 about 24 years after itfrfirfi 
 fettlement, writes, " that there was thea 
 
 * fifty thoufand fouls on that ifland, be- 
 
 * fides Negroes ; and that though the wea- 
 cl ther was very hot, yet not io fcalding,. 
 " but that fervants, both Chiiftians and 
 
 * flaves laboured ten hours a day." By 
 cither accounts we gather, that the white 
 people have fince decreafed to lefs than one 
 half the number which was there at that 
 time ; and by relations of the firft fettle- 
 ftients of the other iflands, we do not meet 
 with any complaints of unfitnefs in the white 
 people for labour there, before flaves were 
 introduced. The ifland of Hifpaniola, which 
 is one ofthelargeft of thofe iflands, was at 
 firft planted by the Bucaneers, a fet of har- 
 dy laborious men, who 1 continued io for a 
 long courfe of years, till following the ex- 
 ample of their neighbours in the purchafe 
 and ufe of Negroe Slaves, idlenefs and ex- 
 cefs prevailing, debility and difeafe aatural- 
 
 l 7 
 
( M3 > 
 ly fueceeded, and have ever fince conti^ 
 nued. If, under proper regulations, liber- 
 ty was proclaimed through the colonies, the 
 Negroes, from a dangerous grudging half 
 fed flaves, might become able willing mind- 
 ed Labourers* And if there was not a fuffi- 
 cient number of thefe t^ do> the neceffary 
 work, a competent number of labouring 
 people might be procured from Europe, 
 which affords numbers of poor diftreffed ob- 
 jects, wha> if not overlooked, with proper 
 ufage, might, in feveral refpects, better an- 
 fwer every good purpofe in performing the 
 neceffary labour in the iflands than the flaves 
 now do* 
 
 A farther confiderable advantage might 
 accrue to the Britifh nation in general, if 
 the flave trade was laid afide, by the cultiva- 
 tion of a fair, friendly and humane com- 
 merce with the Africans, without which 
 it is not poffible the inland trade of that 
 country fhould ever be extended to the de- 
 gree it is capable of; for while the fpirit of 
 butchery and making flaves of each other 
 is promoted by the Europeans amongft the 
 Negroes, no mutual confidence can take 
 place ; nor will the Europeans be able to 
 travel with fafety into the heart of their 
 country to form and cement fuch commer- 
 cial friendfhips and alliances as might be 
 neceffary to introduce the arts and fciences 
 
 amongft 
 
( x 44 ) 
 amongft them, and engage their attention: 
 to inftruciion in the principles of the Chri- 
 ftian religion, which is the only fure foun- 
 dation of every focial virtue. Africa has a- 
 bout ten tho-ufand miles of fea coaft, and 
 extends in depth near three thoufand miles 
 from e^ft to weft, and as much from north 
 to fouth ; ftored with vaft treafures of mate- 
 rials neceflary for the trade and manufac- 
 tures of Great-Britain, and from its climate 
 and the fruitfulnefs of its foil, capable, un- 
 der proper management, of producing, in 
 the greateft plenty, moft of the commodities 
 which are imported into Europe from thofe 
 parts of America fubjecl to the Englifh Go- 
 vernment,^* and as in return they would 
 take our manufactures, the advantages of 
 this trade would foon become fo great, 
 that it is evident this fubjeft merits -the re- 
 gard and attention of the government, 
 
 • See note page, 109. 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 FROM A 
 
 ^, REPRESENTATION 
 
 OF THE 
 
 IN JUSTICE 
 A 
 
 AND 
 
 DANGEROUS TENDENCY 
 
 OF TOLERATING 
 
 SLAVERY, 
 
 O R 
 
 Admitting the leaft Claim of private Pro- 
 perty in the Perfons of Men in England, 
 
 By GRANVILLE SHARP. 
 
 LONDON: Printed M DCCLXIX. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: Re-printed by Joseph Cruk- 
 jhank, in Third-ftreet, oppofxte the Work-iioufe. 
 M DCC LXXI. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 The occafion of this Treatr 
 All Perfons during their refidsnce 
 in Great-Britain arefubjetls ; and as 
 
 fuch, bound to the laws and under 
 the Kings prote&ion. By the Eng- 
 lijlo laws, no man, of -what condition 
 
 foever, to be imprifoned, or any way 
 deprived of his Liberty without a 
 legal procefs. The danger of Sla- 
 very taking place in England. Pre- 
 vails in the Northern Colonies, not' 
 tvithftanding the people s plea in fa- 
 vour of 'Liberty '. Advertifements in 
 the New-York Journal for the f ale 
 of Slaves. Advertifements to the 
 
 famepurpofe in the public. prints in 
 England. The danger of confining 
 any perfon without a legal warrant, 
 lnftances of that nature. Note. 
 Ext rati of fever al American law 
 Refections thereon. 
 
EXTRACT, &c. 
 
 SOME perfons refpeclable in the law, 
 having given it as their opinion, 
 u That a /lave , by coming from the Weft-Indies 
 " to Great-Britain or Ireland, either with or 
 " without his mafter, doth not become free, or 
 u that his mafter f s property or right in him is 
 
 *' not thereby determined or varied; and 
 
 " that the mafter may legally compel him to re- 
 
 " turn again to the plantations" This 
 
 caufes our Author to remark, that thefe 
 Lawyers, by thus ftating the cafe, merely 
 on one fide of the queftion, (I mean in fa- 
 vour of the mafter) have occafioned an un- 
 juft prefumption and prejudice, (plainly in- 
 con fiftent with the laws of the realm) and a- 
 gainft the other fide of the queftion ; as 
 they have not fignified that their opinion 
 was only conditional and not abfolute, and 
 muft be underftood on the part of the maf- 
 ter, " that he can produce an authentic agree- 
 ment 6r contrad in writing, by which it jbatl 
 appear, that thefaidflave hath voluntary bound 
 him/elf without compuljion or illegal durefs" 
 Page 5. Indeed there are many inftances of 
 perfons being freed from flavery by the laws 
 
 of 
 
( 4 ) 
 
 of England, but (God be thanked) there is 
 neither law nor even a precedent, (at leaft I 
 have not been able to find one) of a legal 
 determination to juftify a matter in claim- 
 ing or detaining any perfon whatfoever as a 
 ilavein England, who has not voluntarily- 
 bound himfeif as fuch by a contract in writ- 
 ing. 
 
 Page 20. An Englifli fubjeft cannot be 
 made a Have without his own free confent* 
 
 but : a foreign Have is made a fubjecfe 
 
 with or without his own confent ; there 
 needs no contract for this purpofe as in the 
 ether cafe ; nor any other aft or deed what- 
 foever, but that of his being landed in Eng- 
 land ; for according to a ftatute of 3a d Hen- 
 ry, VIII. c. 16. Se6t. 9. u Every alien orftran- 
 " gtr* born out of the King's obeifance, not beings 
 4C denizen, which now or hereafter floall come, 
 [* into this realm, or elfewhere within the 
 " King*s dominions, fhall, after the faid frfi 
 cc of September next coming, be bounden by and 
 " unto the laws and ftatutes of this realm, and 
 * to aUandfngular the contents of the fame" 
 
 Now k muit be obferved, that though, 
 this law makes no diftinftion of bond Or free y 
 neither of colours or complexions, whether 
 of black, brown, or white, for " every alien 
 " orflranger (without exception) are bounden. 
 w by and unto the law, &c." 
 
 This binding or obligation, is properly 
 
 expreiibci 
 
C 5 3 
 
 exprefied by the Englifh word Ligeance, (a 
 Ligando) which may be either perpetual or 
 temporary. Wood 6. i. c. 3. p. 37. but one 
 of thefe is indifpenfably due to the Sovereign 
 from all ranks and conditions of people, 
 their being bounden unto the laws, (upoQ, 
 which the Sovereign's right is founded) ex- 
 prefles and implies this fubje&ion to the laws, 
 and therefore to alledge, that an alien is not 
 a fubject, becaufe he is in bondage, is not 
 only a plea without foundation, but a con- 
 tradiction in terms, for every perfon who 
 in any refpect is in fubje&ion to the laws, 
 muft undoubtedly be a fubjeft. 
 
 I come now to the main point c< that 
 
 every man, woman, or child, that now is, or 
 hereafter Jhall be an inhabitant or refiant of this 
 kingdom of England, dominion of Wales, or 
 town of Berwick upon 'Tweed" is, in fome 
 refpect or other, the King's fubject, and as- 
 fuch, is abfolutely fecure in his, or her per* 
 fona I liberty, by virtue of a ftatute, 31ft Car* 
 II. ch. 11, and particularly by the 1 2 th Sect* 
 of the fame (wherein fubjecls of all condi- 
 tions are plainly included.) 
 
 TIal act is exprefsly intended for the bet- 
 ter fecuring the liberty of the fubject, and for 
 prevention of imprisonment beyond the 
 leas. It contains no diftinction of " natural 
 born, naturalized, denizen, or alien fubjefl, nor 
 $f white or black, freemen or even of bond men,'* 
 
 (except 
 
( 6) 
 
 (except in the cafe already mentioned of a 
 contract in writings by which it fhall appear, 
 that the /aid /lave have voluntarily bound him- 
 felf without compuljion or illegal durefs) allowed 
 by the 13th Seel, and the exception likewiie 
 in the 14th Seel, concerning felons, but they 
 are all included under the general titles of 
 " thefubjett, any of the faid fubjefts," every 
 fuch perfen, &c. Now the definition of the 
 word " perfon ry in its relative or civil capaci- 
 ty (according to Wood. b. i.e. 11. p. 27) 
 is either the King or a fubjefi. Thefe are the 
 only capital diflinclions that can be made ; 
 though the latter confifls of a variety of de- 
 nominations and degrees. 
 
 But if I were even to allow, that a Negroe 
 flave is not a fubjecfl, (though I think I have 
 clearly proved that he is)" yet it is plain, that 
 fuch an one ought not to be denied the be- 
 nefit of the King's court, unlefs the flave- 
 holder fhall be able to prove likewife, that 
 he is not a Man, becaufe every man may be 
 free to fue for and defend his right in our 
 toufts 9 fzyt aflat- 20th Ed w. III. Ch. 4. and 
 elfewhere according to law. And no win of 
 what eflate or condition that he be, {\\9t can 
 be no exception whatfoever) fhall be put out 
 $f land or tenement, nor taken nor rmprifoned, 
 riGr difmherited, nor put to death, without being 
 brought in anfwer by due procefs of the law. 
 28th Edw. III. Ch. 3. No man therefore, cf 
 
 what 
 
..( 7 ) 
 
 what eft ate or condition that he be, can law- 
 fully be detained in England as a flave, be- 
 caufe we have no law, whereby a miximay be 
 condemned, to flavery, without his own con*- 
 fent, (for even convidted felons muft, " m 
 open court pray to be tranfported") fee Habeas 
 Corpus act, Seel. 14. and therefore there 
 cannot be any u dueprocefs of the law" terjd- 
 ing to fo bafc a purpofe : It follows, there- 
 fore, that every man who prefumes to de- 
 tain any per/on whatsoever as a flave, other- 
 wife than by virtue of a written contract, acts 
 manifeftly without " due procefs of the law" 
 and consequently is liable to the flaves 
 *i adion of falfe imprifonment" becaufe 
 " every man may be free to fu s e 9 &c. fo that 
 the flave-holder cannot avail himfelf of his 
 imaginary property, either by the afliftance 
 of the common law, or of a court of 
 equity, {except it appears that the faid /lave 
 has voluntary bound himfelf without com- 
 fulfion, or illegal durefs) for in both, his fuit 
 will certainly appear both unj#ft and indefen- 
 fible. The former cannot afftft him, becaufe 
 the ftatute iaw at prefent is fp f ar from fup- 
 pofinsf any man inaftate of flavery, that it 
 cannot even permit fuch a ftate, except in 
 the two cafes mentioned in the 1 3th and 1 4th 
 Seftion of the Habeas Corpus aft ; and the 
 courts of equity likewife muft neceflarily 
 decide againft him, becaufe his mere merce- 
 nary 
 
( 8 ) 
 
 nary plea, of private property, cannot, equit- 
 ably in a cafe between (man and man?)fan& in 
 competition with thzt fuperior property which 
 every man mull neceffarily be allowed to 
 have in his own proper per/on. 
 
 How then is the flave-holder to fecure 
 what he efteems his property? Perhaps he will 
 endeavour clandeftinely to feize the fuppofed 
 flave in order to tranfport him, (with or 
 without his confent) to the colonies, where 
 fuch property it allowed: But let him take 
 care what he does, the very attempt is pu- 
 nifhable, and even the making over his pro* 
 perty to another for that purpofe, renders 
 him equally liable to the fevere penalties of 
 the law, for a bill of fale may certainly be 
 included under the terms expreffed in the 
 Habeas Corpus act, 12th Se£t. viz. " Any war- 
 rant or writing for Juch commitment, detainer^ 
 imprifonment or tranfportation, &c" It is alfo 
 dangerous for a counfellor or any other perfon 
 toadvife" (fee the ad " fhallbeadvifing") fuch 
 proceedings by faying, " that a mafter may 
 legally compel him, (the liave) to return again 
 to the plantations" Like wife an Attorney, 
 Notary-public, or any other perfon, who 
 fliall prefume to draw up, negotiate, or even 
 towitnefs a bill of fale, or other inftrument, 
 for fuch committment, ire. offends equally 
 againft the law, becaufe, " All, or aw per- 
 fon or perfons that fhall frame > contrive Writt^ 
 
 feal 
 
( 9 ) 
 
 feat or counter Jign any warranty or writing for 
 fitch commitment, detainer , imprijmment or tranf- 
 portation, er Jhall be adviftng, aiding or affiji- 
 ing in the fame ■, or any of them" are liable to 
 all the penalties of the aft. " And the Plain- 
 fffil in every fuch a6lion, foall have judgment to 
 recover his treble cofls, befides damages ; %vhich' 
 damages fo to be given , Jhall not be lefs tlmnfivg 
 hundred founds ;" fo that the injured may 
 have ample fatisfaction for their fufferings ; 
 and even a judge may not direct or inflruefc 
 a jury contrary to this flatute whatever his 
 private opinion may be concerning property 
 in Haves ; becaufe, no order or command, nor 
 no injunction, is allowed to interfere with 
 this golden act of liberty. 
 
 I have before obferved, that the ge- 
 neral term, " every Alien, 3 ' includes all 
 flrangers wkatfiever, and renders them fub* 
 jefi to the King and the laws during their re- 
 fidence in this kingdom ; and this is certain- 
 ly true, whether the aliens be Turks, Moors, 
 Arabians, Tartars, or even favages from any 
 part of the world. — Men are rendered ob- 
 noxious to the laws by their offences, and 
 not by the particular denomination of their 
 rank, order, parentage, colour or country, 
 and therefore, though we xhould fuppofe, 
 that any particular body of people whatfoe- 
 ^ver were not known, or had in confidera- 
 iion by the legiflature at the different times 
 B when 
 
( " ) 
 when the fevere penal laws were made, yet 
 no man can reafonably conceive, that fuck 
 men are exempted on this account from the 
 penalties of the faid laws, when legally con- 
 victed of having offended againft them. 
 
 Laws calculated for the moral purpofe of 
 preventing opprefiion, are likewife ufually 
 fuppofed to be everlafting,, and to make up 
 a part of our happy conftitution ; for which 
 reafon, though the kind of oppreffion to be 
 guarded againft, and the penalties for of- 
 fenders are minutely defcribed therein, yet 
 the perfons to be protected are comprehend- 
 ed in terms as general as poflible ; that " no 
 ferfon who now is, or hereafter flmll be an in- 
 habitant or rejiant in this kingdom, (fee Habe- 
 as Corpus a<3:, Seel. 12th) may feem to be 
 excluded from protection. The general 
 terms of the feveral ftatutes before cited are 
 lb full and clear, that they admit of no ex- 
 ception whatfoever, for all perfons, (Ne- 
 groes as well as others) muft be included in 
 the terms ; " the fubjeft ; — nofubjed of this 
 realm that now is, or hereafter fhall be an in- 
 habitant,^, any fubjeft ; every fuch ferfon, fee 
 Habeas Cor. act. Alfo, every man may be 
 free to fue,&c. 20th Edward III. Cap. 4, and 
 no man, of what eflate or condition than he be, 
 fhall be taken nor imprifoned. &c. True juf- 
 tice makes no refpeft of perfons, and can 
 never deny to any one that blefling . to 
 
( M ) 
 
 which all mankind have an undoubted right, 
 their natural liberty : Though the law makes 
 no mention of Negroe flaves, yet this is 
 nojuft argument for excluding them from 
 the general protection of our happy confti- 
 tution. 
 
 Neither can the objection, that Negroe 
 flaves were not " had in confideration or 
 contemplation" when thefe laws Were 
 made, prove any thing againfl them ; but, 
 on the contrary, much in their favour ; for 
 both thefe circumftances are ftrong prefump- 
 tive proofs, that the practice of importing 
 flaves into this kingdom, and retaining them 
 as fuch, is an innovation entirely foreign to 
 the fpirit and intention of the laws now in 
 force. 
 
 -Page 79- A toleration of flavery, is, 
 
 in effeft, a toleration of inhumanity ; for 
 there are wretches in the world, who make 
 no fcruple to gain, by wearing out their 
 flaves with continual labour, and a fcanty 
 allowance, before they have lived out half 
 their natural days. 'Tis notorious, that 
 this is too often the cafe in the unhappy coun- 
 tries where flavery is tolerated. 
 
 See the account of the European fettle- 
 ments in America, Part VI. Chap. u. con- 
 cerning the c c mifery of the Negroes, great 
 wafle of them, &c. which informs us, not 
 only of a moft fcandalous profanation of the 
 B 2 Lord's 
 
[ 12 ] 
 
 Lord's day, but alfo, of another abomlnati" 
 on, which muft be infinitely more heinous 
 in the fight of God, viz. oppreilion caiTied 
 to fuch excefs, as to be even deftruciive of 
 the human fpecies. 
 
 At prefent the inhumanity of conftrained 
 labour in excefs, extends no farther in Eng- 
 land, than to our beafts, as poft and hack- 
 ney horfes, fand affes, &c. 
 
 But thanks to our laws, and not to the 
 general good difpofition of mailers* that 
 It is fo, for the wretch, who is bad enough 
 to mal-treat a helplefs beaft, would not fparc 
 his fellow man, if he had him as much in 
 his power* 
 
 The maintenance of civil liberty, is there- 
 fore, abfolutely neceffary to prevent an en- 
 creafe of our national guilt, by the addition 
 of the horrid crime of tyranny. — Notwith- 
 ftanding that the plea of neceflity cannot 
 here be urged, yet this is no reafon why 
 an increafc of the practice is not to be feared.. 
 Our North America colonies afford us a 
 melancholy inftance to the contrary ; — for 
 though the climate in general is fo whole-* 
 fome and temperate, that it will not autho- 
 rife this plea of neceflity for the employment 
 of Haves, any more than our own, yet the 
 pernicious practice of flave-holding is be- 
 come almoft general in thofe parts. At New- 
 York, for initance, the infringement on ci- 
 vil 
 
£ H 1 
 
 vil or domeftic liberty is become notorious, 
 notwithftanding the political controverfies 
 of the inhabitants in praife of liberty ; but 
 no panegyrick on this fubjeft (howfoever 
 elegant in itfelf) can be graceful, or edify- 
 ing from the mouth, or pen of one of thofe 
 provincials ; becaufe men, who do not fcru- 
 ple to detain others in flavery, have but a 
 very partial and unjuftclaim to the prote&ion 
 of the laws of liberty ; and indeed it too 
 plainly appears, that they have no real re- 
 gard for liberty, farther than their own 
 private interefts are concerned ; and (confe- 
 quently) that they have fo little deteftation 
 for defpotifm and tyranny, that they do not 
 fcruple to exercife them whenever their ca- 
 price excites them, or their private intereft 
 feems to require an exertion of their power 
 over their miferable flaves. 
 
 Every petty planter, who avails himfelf 
 of the fervice of flaves, is an arbitrary mo- 
 narch, or rather a lawlefs Bafhaw in his own 
 territories, notwithftanding that the imagi- 
 nary freedom of the province wherein he re- 
 fides, may feem to forbid the obfervation. 
 
 The boafted liberty of our American co- 
 lonies, therefore, has fo little right to that 
 facred name, that it feems to differ from the 
 arbitrary power of defpotic monarchs, only 
 in one circumftance, viz. that it is a many- 
 headed monfter of tyranny, which entirely fub- 
 B 3 verts 
 
I 14 1 
 
 "verts our moft excellent conftitution, becauCr 
 liberty and flavery are fa oppofite to eacli 
 ether, that they cannot fubfift in the fame 
 community. " Political liberty (in mild or 
 * c well regulated governments) makes civil li~ 
 " berty valuable ; and whofoever is deprived 
 " of the latter i is deprived alfe of the former" 
 This obfervation of the learned Montefquieu^ 
 Ihope, fufticiently juftifies my cenfure of 
 the Americans for their notorious violation 
 
 of civil liberty. The New- York Journal, 
 
 or, The General Advertifer, for Thurfday, 
 aid October 1767, Gives Notice, by Adver- 
 tisement of no lefs than eight different per^ 
 fons who have efcaped from flavery, or are 
 put up to public fale for that horrid pur- 
 pofe. 
 . That I may demonftrate the indecency of 
 fuch proceedings in a free country, I fhall 
 take the liberty of laying fome of thefc Ad- 
 vertifements before my readers, by way of 
 example. 
 
 Ci To be SOLD for Want of Employment, 
 65 A likely firong active NegroeMan, of 
 " about 24 years of age, this country born, 
 " (N.B. A natural born fubjecl) underftands 
 " moft of a Baker* s trade and a good deal 
 " of farming bufinefs, and can do all forts 
 " ofhoufe-work:— Alfo, A healthy Negroe 
 " Wench, of about 21 years old, is a tole- 
 " cable Cook, and capable of doing all forts 
 
 « of 
 
( 15 ) 
 " of houfe-work, can be well recommend- 
 " ed for her honefty and fobriety : She has 
 M a female child of nigh three years old,. 
 " which will be fold with the Wench if re- 
 " quired, &c" Here is not the leaft confi- 
 deration or fcruple of confcience for the in- 
 humanity of parting the mother and young 
 child. From the ftile, one would fuppofe the 
 Advertifement to be of no more importance 
 than if it related merely to the fale of a cow 
 and her calf, and that the cow fhouid be fold 
 with or without her calf according as the 
 purchafer fhouid require. — But not only 
 Negroes, but even American Indians are de- 
 tained in the fame abominable flavery in our 
 colonies, though there cannot be any rea- 
 fonable pretence whatfoever, for holding 
 one ofthefe as private property; for even, 
 if a written contra£t fhouid be produced as 
 a voucher in fuch a cafe, there would ftill 
 remain great fufpicion, that fome undue ad- 
 vantage had been taken of the Indians igno- 
 rance concerning the nature of fuch a bond. 
 V Run away 9 on Monday the 2 ift inftant, 
 
 "from J— n T ^Efq; of Weft-Che ft er 
 
 u County, in the province of New-Tor k 9 
 " An kidian flave, named Abraham, he 
 w may have changed his name, about 23 
 " years of age, about five feet five inches.'* 
 Upon the whole, I think, I may, with 
 juftice conclude, that thofe Advertifements 
 
 difcover 
 
( 16 ) 
 
 difcover a fhamelefs proftitution and in- 
 fringement on the common and natural 
 rights of mankind. — But hold ! perhaps the 
 Americans may be able, with too much 
 juftice, to retort this fevere reflection, and 
 may refer us to news-papers publifhed even 
 in the free city of London, which contain 
 Advertifements, not lefs difhonourable than 
 their own. See Advertifement in the Pub- 
 lic Ledger of 3 1 ft December, 1761. 
 « For SAL E, 
 
 " A healthy Negroe GIRL, aged a- 
 " bout fifteen years; fpeaks good Engli£h r 
 " works at her needle, wafhes well, does 
 " houihold work, and has had the fmall- 
 " pox. By J. W. &c;' 
 
 Another Advertifement, not long ago r 
 offered a reward for flopping a female Have 
 who had left her miftrefs in Hatton-garden. 
 And in the Gazetteer of 18th April 1769, 
 appeared a very extraordinary Advertife- 
 ment, M 7 ith the following title. 
 
 " Horfes, TimWiJky, and black Boy, 
 " To be Sold, at the Bull and Gate Inn, 
 " Holborn, A very good Tim Wifty, little 
 " the worfe for wear, &c." afterwards " a 
 u Chefnut Gelding" — Then, A very good grey 
 " Mare"— and laft of all, (as if of the leaft 
 confequence)" A well ?nade good tempered Black 
 " Boy, he has lately had the fmall-pox, and 
 M will be fold to any gentleman. Enquire 
 *' as above." Another 
 
( '7 ) 
 Another Adveitifemcnt in the fame pa* 
 per, contains a very particular defcription 
 
 of a Negroe man, called Jeremiah —- , 
 
 H and concludes as follows : — Whoever de^ 
 
 " delivers him to Capt. M U y, oa 
 
 " board the Elizabeth at Prince's flairs, Ro« 
 f? therhithe, on or before the 31ft inftant, 
 44 fhall receive thirty Guineas Reward, or 
 44 ten Guineas for fuch intelligence as fliall 
 " enable the Captain or his Mailer, effectu- 
 " ally to fecure him. The utmoft fecrecy 
 " may be depended on." It is not on ac- 
 count of ftiame, that men, who are capable 
 of undertaking the defperate and wicked 
 employment of kidnappers, are fuppofed to 
 be tempted to fuch a bufinefs, by a promife, 
 u of the utmoft fancy." But this mull be from 
 afenfeof the unlawfulnefs of the act propof- 
 ed to them, that they may have lefs reafoi* 
 to fear a profecution. And as fuch a kind of 
 people are fuppofed to undertake any thing 
 for money, the Reward of thirty Guineas 
 was tendered at the top of the Advertife- 
 ment in capital letters. No man can be fafe, 
 be he white or black, if temptations to break 
 the laws are fo fhamefully publifhed in our 
 news-papers. 
 
 A Creole Black Boy^ is alfo offered to fale in 
 the Daily Advertifer of the fame date. 
 
 Beiides thefe inftances, the Americans 
 may perhaps taunt us with the fhameful 
 
 treatment 
 
( Iff ) 
 
 treatment of a poor Negroe fervant, who 
 not long ago was put up to Tale by public auc- 
 tion, together with the effects of his bank- 
 rupt mailer. Alfo, that the prifons of 
 
 this free city have been frequently proftitut- 
 ed of late by the tyrannical and dangerous 
 practice of confining Negroes, under the 
 pretence of flavery, though there has beeit 
 no warrants whatfoever for their commit- 
 ments 
 
 This circumftance of confining a matt 
 without a warrant, has fo great a refem- 
 blance to the proceedings of a Popifii inqui- 
 fition, that it is but too obvious what dan- 
 gerous practices fuch fcandalous innovations' 
 (if permitted to grow more into ufe) are li- 
 able to introduce; No perfon can be fafe, 
 if wicked and defigning men have it in their 
 power, under the pretence of private pro- 
 perty as aflave, to throw a ir^an clandeftine- 
 ly without a warrant into goal, and to con- 
 ceal him there, until they can conveniently 
 difpofe of him. 
 
 A free man may be thus robbed of his li- 
 berty, and carried beyond the feas, with- 
 out having the leaft opportunity of making 
 his cafe known ; which fhould teach us how 
 jealous we ought to be of all imprifonments 
 made without the authority, or previous 
 examination of a civil magiftrate. 
 
 The diftinctiun of colour will, in a fhort 
 
 time, 
 
( *9 ) 
 
 time, be no prote&ion againft fuch outra- 
 ges, efpecially, as not only Negroes, but 
 Mullatoes, and even American Indians, 
 (.which appears by one t of the Advertife^ 
 ments before quoted) are retained in flavery 
 in our American colonies; for there are 
 many honeft weather-beaten Englifhmen, 
 who have as little reafon to boaft of their 
 complexion as the Indians. And indeed the 
 more northern Indians, have no difference 
 from us in complexion, but fuch as is occa- 
 sioned by the climate or different way of 
 living. The plea of private property, there- 
 fore, cannot by any means juftify a private 
 commitment of any perfon whatfqever to 
 to prifon, becaufe of the apparent danger 
 and tendency of fuch an innovation. This 
 dangerous practice of concealing in prifon, 
 was attempted in the cafe of Jonathan 
 Strong; for the door-keeper of the P«lt--y 
 C — pt — r (or fome perfon who afted for 
 him) abfolutely refufed for two days to per- 
 mit this poor injured Negro to be feen or 
 fpoke with, though a perfon went on pup- 
 pofe both thofe days to demand the fame* 
 
 J All laws ought to be founded upon the 
 
 principle of " doing as one would be done by" 
 and indeed this principle feems to be the ve- 
 ry bafis of the Englifh conftitution, for 
 what precaution could poffibly be more ef- 
 fectual for that jpurpofe, than the right w t e 
 
 enjoy 
 
( 20 ) 
 
 ^njoy of being judged by cur Peers, credi- 
 table perfons of the vicinage ; efpecially, as 
 we may likewife claim the right of except- 
 ing againft any particular juryman, who 
 might he fufpected of partiality. 
 
 This law breathes the pure fpirit of liber- 
 ty, equity and focial love ; being calculated 
 to maintain that confideration and mutual 
 regard, which one perfon ought to have for 
 another howfoever unequal in rank or fta- 
 tion. 
 
 But when any part of the community, 
 under the pretence of private property ,is de- 
 prived of this common privilege, 'tis a vio- 
 lation of civil liberty, which is entirely in- 
 confiftentwith the focial principles of a free 
 itate. 
 
 True liberty protects the labourer, as well 
 as his Lord ; prefcrves the dignity of hu- 
 man nature, and feldom fails to render a 
 province rich and populous; whereas, on 
 the other hand, a toleration of flavery is the 
 higheft breach of focial virtue, and not only 
 tends to depopulation, but too often renders 
 the minds of both matters and flaves utter- 
 ly depraved and inhuman, by the hateful 
 extremes of exaltation and depreffion. 
 
 If fuch a toleration fhould ever be gener- 
 ally admitted in England, (which God for- 
 bid) we fhall no longer deferve to be efteem- 
 cd a civilized people ; becauie, when the 
 
 cuftora 
 
.1 2I } 
 
 <uftoms of uncivilized nations, and the'tiim 
 ized cuflems which dij grace our own colonics** 
 are become fo familiar, as to be permitted 
 amongft us with impunity, we ourfelvcs 
 muft infenfibly degenerate to the fame de- 
 cree of bafenefs with thofe from whom 
 fuch bad cuftoms were derived, and may 
 tpo foon have the mortification to fee the 
 hateful extremes of tyranny and flavery /of- 
 fered under every roof?* 
 
 Then muft the happy medium of a well 
 regulated liberty be neceflarily compelled to 
 find fhelter in fome more civilized country, 
 where focial virtue, and that divine precept v 
 " Thou fh alt love thy neighbour as thyfelf" are 
 better underftood. 
 
 An attempt to prove the dangerous ten- 
 dency, injuftice and difgrace of tolerating 
 flavery amongft Englishmen, would in any 
 former age have been efteemed as fuperflu- 
 ous and ridiculous, as if a man fhould un- 
 dertake in a formal manner to prove, that 
 darknefs is not light. 
 
 Sorry am I, that theJepravity of the pre- 
 sent age has made a demonftration of this 
 kind neceffary. 
 
 Now that I may fum up the amount of 
 
 what has been faid in a fingle fentence, I 
 
 fhall beg leave to conclude in the words of 
 
 the great fir Edward Coke, which though 
 
 C fpoken 
 
=" 
 
 r M ] 
 
 ipokcn on a difFerent occafion, are yet ap- 
 plicable to this, fee Rufhworth's Hift. Col. 
 An. 1628. 4. Caroli. fol. 540. 
 
 " It would be no honour to a king or 
 " kingdom, to be a king of bondmen or 
 >' Haves, the end of this would be both de- 
 " decus -J- and damnum \ both to king and 
 Ci kingdom, that in former times have been 
 &i fo renowned/' 
 
 Note, at page 63. According to the laws 
 of Jamaica printed at London in 1756. " If 
 ."■ any Have having been one whole year in 
 u this ifland, (fays an aci, N° 64, claufe 5. 
 fi* p. 114) fhall run away, and continue ab- 
 <c fent from his owners fervice for the fpace 
 <c of thirty days, upon complaint and proof 
 *' &c« before any two juftices of the peace, 
 46 and three freeholders, &c. it fhall and 
 u may be lawful for fuch juftices and free- 
 " holders to order fuch flave to be punifhed 
 £ g h y cutting off one cf the feet offuch/lave^ or 
 " infli6t fuch other corporal punifhment as 
 " they Jh 'all think Jit." Now that 1 may in- 
 form my readers what corporal punifhments 
 are fometimes thought fit to be inflicted, I 
 will refer to the teftimony of fir Hans Sloan, 
 (fee voyage to the iflands of Madeira, Barba- 
 does, &c. and Jamaica, with the natural hif- 
 tory of the laft of thefe iflands, &c. London 
 
 1707.0 
 f Diigrace. % Lois- 
 
( n ) 
 
 tfoj 9 Introduction, p. 56, and 57.) " The 
 Ct punifhment for crimes of Haves (fays he) 
 " are ufually for rebellions burning them, by 
 
 * nailing them down on the ground with 
 
 * crooked flicks, on every limb, and then 
 " applying the fire by degrees from the feet 
 65 and hands, burning them gradually up 
 ** to the head, whereby their fains are ex- 
 4C travagant ; for crimes of a lefler nature- 
 ** gelding, or chopping off half the fool with. 
 •* an axe. Thefe puniihments are fuffered 
 
 w by them with great conflancy.- -For 
 
 " negligence, they are ufually w r hipped by 
 cc the overfeers with lance-wood fwitches, 
 " till they be bloody, and feveral of the 
 " fwitches Woken, being firfl tied 
 
 " their hands in the mill houfes.— ^ A 
 
 '* ter they are whipped till they are raw, 
 w fome put on their fkins jpepper and fait, 
 i4 to make them fmart ; at other times their 
 64 mailers will drop melted wax on their 
 &i fkins, and ufe feveral very exquijite torments " 
 Sir Hans adds, " Thefe puniihments are 
 " fometimeS merited by the blacks, who are 
 f a very perverfe generation of people, and 
 ** though they appear very harfh, yet are 
 cc fcarcs equal to fome of their crimes, and 
 " inferior to what puniihments other Euro- 
 ff pean nations inflict on their fiaves in the 
 ri iLuiUi.dks, as may be feen by Moquet, 
 
 * and other travellers/' Thus fir Hans Sloan 
 
 endeavours 
 
( M ) 
 endeavours to excufethofe fhocking cruel tics r 
 but certainly in vain : becaufe no crimes 
 whatfoever can merit fuch fevere punifh- 
 ments, untefs I except the crimes of thole 
 who devife and inflict them. Sir Hans Sloan 
 indeed, mentions rebellion, as the principal 
 crime, and certainly it is very juitly efteeiri- 
 ed a moil heinous crime, in a land of liber- 
 ty, where government is limited by equita- 
 ble and juft laws, if the fame are tolerably 
 well obferved ; but in countries where ar- 
 bitrary power is exercifed with fuch intolera- 
 ble cruelty, as is before defcribed, if refin- 
 ance be a crime, it is certainly the moft nafc- 
 tural of all others. 
 
 But the j 9th claule of the 3.8th act, 
 would indeed on a flight perufal induce us 
 to conceive, that the punifiiment for rebelli- 
 on is not fo fevere as it is represented by fir 
 Hans Sloan ; becaufe a flave, though deem* 
 ed rebellious, is thereby condemned to no 
 greater punifhment thantranfportation. 
 verthelefs if the claufe be thoroughly confi- 
 dered we {hall find no reafon to commend 
 the mercy of the legiflatufe ; for it only 
 proves, that the Jamaica law-makers will 
 not fcruple to charge the flighteft and molt 
 natural offence* with the moft opprobrious 
 epithets ; and that a poor flave who per- 
 haps has no otherwife incurred his matter's 
 
 difpleafure 
 
( *5 ) 
 
 difpleafure than by endeavouring (upon the 
 juft and warrantable principles of felf-prefer- 
 vation) to efcape from his matter's tyranny, 
 without any criminal intention whatfoever, 
 is liable to be deemed rebellious, and to be ar- 
 raigned as a capital offender. " For every 
 <c Have, and flaves that (hall run away and con- 
 " tinue butfor the fpace of twelve months, ex- 
 u cept fuch fla ve or flaves as fhall not have been 
 " three years in this ifland, lhall be deemed 
 M rebellious ," &c. (fee act 38, claufe 19. p. 60.) 
 Thus we are enabled to define what a Weft 
 Indian tyrant means by the word rebellious. 
 But unjuft as this claufe may kem^ yet it is 
 abundantly more merciful and confideratfc 
 than a fubfequent act againft the fame poor- 
 miferable people, becaufe the former affigns 
 no other punifhment for perfons fo deemed 
 rebellious than that they, " Shall be tranf* 
 ported by order of two juftices and three 
 freeholders," &c. whereas the latter fpares 
 not the blood of thefe poor injured fugitives: 
 For by the 66th a£t, a reward of 50 pound 
 is offered to thofe who, " fhall kill or bring 
 " in alive any rebellious /laves ," that is, any 
 of thefe unfortunate people whom the law 
 has " deemed rebellious " as above ; and this 
 premium is not only tendered to commifil- 
 oned parties (fee 2d. claufe) but even to any 
 jjrivate" hunt er y flave or other per/on " (fee 3d. 
 
 claufe.) 
 
L 26 ] 
 
 Thus it is manifeflv that the law treats thefe* 
 poor unhappy men with as little ceremony 
 and confideration, as if they were merely 
 wild beads. But the innocent blood that is 
 fhed in confequence of fuch a deteftable law,, 
 muft certainly call for vengeance on the 
 murderous abettors and actors of fuch de- 
 liberate wickednefs: And though many of 
 the guilty wretches fhould even be fo hard- 
 ened and abandoned as never afterwards to* 
 be capable of iincere remorfe, yet a time will 
 undoubtedly come, when they will fhudder 
 with dreadful apprehenlions, on account of 
 the infufficiency of ib wretched an excufe, 
 as that their poor murdered brethren were.-, 
 by law " deemed rebellious " But bad as 
 thefe laws are, yet, in juftice to the free- 
 holders of Jamaica, I muft acknowledge, 
 that their laws are not near fo cruel and in- 
 human as the laws of Barbadoes and Vir- 
 ginia, and feem at prefent, to be much 
 more reafonable than they have formerly 
 been, many very oppreflive laws being now 
 expired, and others lefs fevere enacted in 
 their room* 
 
 But it is far otherwifein Barbadoes ; for 
 by the 329th aft, p. 125. " If any Negro- 
 " or other Have, under punifhment by his 
 "matter, or his order, for running away, 
 " or any other crimes, or mifdemeanors to- 
 
 " wards 
 
( *7 ) 
 " wards his faid mailer, unfortunately {half 
 " fuffer in life, or member, (which feldorn 
 ** happens) (but it is plain by this law that 
 " it does fometimes happen) no per/on what- 
 ** ever pall be liable to any fine, therefore, but if 
 ** any man pall, of wantonnefs, or only ofbloo- 
 *** dy mindednefs •, or cruel intention, wilfully 
 w kill a Negro or other fiave of his own" — Now 
 the reader, to before, will naturally ex- 
 pert, that feme very fevere punifhment 
 muft in this cafe be ordained, to deter, the 
 wanton, bloody minded, and cruel wretch from 
 wilfully killing his fellow creatures ; but 
 alas! the Barbadian law-makers have been 
 fo far from intending to curb fuch aban- 
 doned wickednefs, that they have absolute- 
 ly made this law on purpofe to fkreen thefe 
 enormous crimes from the juft indignation 
 of any righteous perfon, who might think 
 himfelf bound in duty to profecute a bloody 
 minded villain ; they have, therefore, pre- 
 fumptuouflytakenupon them to giveafanfti- 
 on, as it were, bylaw, to the horrid crime 
 of wilful murder ; and have accordingly or- 
 dained, that he who is guilty of it in Barba~ 
 does, though the aft fho'ald be at tended with, 
 all the aggravating circumftances before- 
 mentioned, " fhall pay into the publick treafu- 
 ry (no more than) fifteen pounds fterling ;" but 
 if he fhall kill another man's, he ihall pay to 
 
 the 
 
( 28 ) 
 the owner of the Negro, double the value* 
 and into the public treafury, twenty fvs 
 found s flerling, and he fhall further, by the 
 next jufticeof the peace, be bound to his 
 good behaviour, during the pleafure of ths 
 governor and council, and not be liable to 
 any other punifbment or forfeiture for thefame*. 
 
 Themoft confummate wickednefs, Ifup* 
 pofe, that any body of people, under ths 
 fpecious form of a legiflature were ever guil* 
 ty of: This ad contains feveral other claufes 
 which are fhocking to humanity, though 
 too tedious to mention here. 
 
 According to an act of Virginia (4 Anne 
 ch. 49. fee, 37. p. 227.) " after proclamation 
 " is iflued againft flavesthatrun away and lie 
 " out, it is lawful for any perfon whatfoe- 
 " ver, to kill and dejlroy fuch flaves by fuch 
 " ways and means as he, fhe, or they fhall think 
 "fit, without accufation or impeachment of 
 " any crime for the fame," &c And left 
 private intereft fhould incline the planter to 
 mercy, (to which we muft fuppofe fuch peo- 
 ple can have no other inducement) it is pro- 
 vided and enacted in the fucceeding claufe, 
 (N° 38.) " That for every /lave killed, in pur- 
 " fuance of this aft, or put to death by law, 
 a the mafter, or owner of^xuch Have, fhall 
 <* be paid by the public"^ 
 
 AlfO; 
 
( ^ ) 
 
 Alfo by an act of Virginia (9 Geo. I. ch. 4. 
 feci. 18. p. 343) it is ordained, " That, 
 u where any iiave fliall hereafter be found 
 * notorioufly guilty of going abroad in the 
 " night, or running away, and lying out, 
 " and cannot be reclaimed from fuch difor- 
 " derly courfes by the common method of 
 •* puniihment, it (hall and may be lawful, 
 " to and for the court of the county upon 
 " complaint and proof thereof to them made 
 • 6 by the owner of fuch Have, to order and 
 " direct every fuch Have to be puniihed by 
 " difmembering er any other way, not touch- 
 " ing life, as the faid county court Jhdil 
 " think fit:' 
 
 I have already given examples enough of 
 the horrid cruelties which are fametimes 
 thought jit on fuch occafions. But if the in- 
 nocent and moft natural ad of " running a- 
 " way" from intolerable tyranny deferves 
 fuch relentlefs feverity, what kind of puniih- 
 ment have thefe law-makers themfelves to 
 expect hereafter, on account of their own 
 enormous offences ; alas ! to look for mercy 
 (without a timely repentance) will only be 
 another inftance of their grofs injuftice! 
 ic Havingt heir confciences feared wit h a hot iron" 
 they feem to have loft all app.rehenfions 
 that their fiaves are men, for they fcruple 
 not to number them with beafts. See an 
 
 act 
 

 ( 30 / 
 act of Barbadoes, (N° 333. p. 128.) itrtitled* 
 € " An act for the better regulating oiautcriefy 
 ? in open market/' here we read of " Ne- 
 " groes, cattle, coppers, and fills, and other 
 " chattels, brought by execution to open 
 7 market to be outcried," and thefe (as if 
 all of equal importance) are ranged together 
 u in great lets or numbers to he fold" 
 
 - — —Page 70. In the 329 act of Barba* 
 does (p.- 122) it is aflerted, that, " brutifh 4 
 " flaves defer ve not, for the bafenefs of their 
 ** condition, to he tried by a legal trial of 
 u twelve men of their peers or neighbourhood, 
 " which neither truly can be rightly done, 
 * as the fubjetts of England" are ;* ; (yet 
 ilaves alio are fubjecls of England, whilft 
 they remain within the Britiih dominions, 
 notwithfeandbgthisinfinuution to the con-" 
 irary) " nor is execution to be delay'd to- 
 w wards them, in cafe of fuch horrid crimes 
 " committed/ 5 &c. 
 
 A fimilar do&rine is taught in an act of 
 Virginia, (9 Geo. L ch. 4. feci. 3. p. 339.) 
 wherein it is ordained/' that every flave com-- 
 44 mitting fuch offence as by the laws ought 
 ** to bepunithed by death or lois of member, 
 ■* (hall be forthwith committed to thecommon- 
 " goal of the county, &c. And the fheriff of 
 w fuch county, upon fuch commitment, fhall 
 *' forthwith certify the fame, with the caufe 
 
 " thereof^ 
 
C 33 1 
 
 £< thereof, to the governor or commander ia. 
 * c chief, &c. who is thereupon defired and im- 
 " powered to iflue a commiffion of oyer and 
 €C terminer ; Tofuch perfons as he fli all think fit ; 
 " which perfons, forthwith after the receipt of 
 " fuchcommiffion,areimppweredandrequir- 
 cc <ed. to caufethe offender to be publicly ar- 
 " raigned andtried, &c. without the folerani- 
 f s ty of ajury,&Co Now let usconflder the dan- 
 gerous tendency of thofe laws. As Englifh- 
 men, we flrenuoufly contend for this abfo- 
 jute and immutable neceffity of trials by ju- 
 ries : but is not the fpirlt and equity of 
 this old Englifh do&rine entirely loft, if we 
 partially confine that juftice to ourfelves a- 
 lone, when we have it in our power to ex* 
 tend it to others ? The natural right of all 
 mankind muft principally juftify our infill- 
 ing upon this neceffary privilege in favour 
 of ourfelves in particular, and therefore if 
 we do not allow that the judgment of an 
 impartial jury is indifpenfably neceffary in 
 all cafes whatsoever, wherein the life of 
 man is depending, w r e certainly undermine 
 the equitable force and reafon of thofe laws, 
 by which we ourfelves are prcleBed^ and con- 
 sequently are unworthy to be efteemed, ei- 
 ther Chriftians or Englifhmen. 
 
 Whatever right the members of a pro- 
 vincial affembly may have to enad bye laws,> 
 
 for 
 
( 3^ ) 
 for particular exigences among themfelves^ 
 yet in fo doing, they are certainly bound in 
 xiuty to their fovereign, to obferve mod 
 firictly, the fundamental principles of that 
 conftitution, which his -majefty is fworn to 
 maintain ; for wherefoever the bounds of 
 the Britifh empire are extended, there the 
 common law of England muft of courfe take 
 place, and cannot be fafely fet afid.e by any 
 private law whatfoever, becaufe the intro- 
 duction of an unnatural tyranny muft necef- 
 farily endanger the king's dominions. The 
 many alarming infuiTeftions of flaves in the 
 feveral colonies, are fufficient proofs of this. 
 The common law of England ought there- 
 fore to be fo eftablifhed in every province, 
 as to include the refpective bye laws of each 
 province ; inftead of being by them excluded 
 which latter has been too much the cafe. 
 
 Every inhabitant of the Britifli colonies, 
 black as well as white, bond as well as free, 
 are undoubtedly the kings fubj efts , during 
 their refidence within the limits of the king's 
 dominions, and as fuch, are entitled toper- 
 fonal protection, however bound in fervice 
 to their refpective matters. Therefore, when 
 any of thefe are put to death, " without the 
 " folemnity of 'a jury" I fear that there is too 
 much reafoa to attribute the guilt. of murder ^ 
 to every perfou concerned in ordering the 
 
 fame,. 
 
r S3 i 
 
 lame, or in confeating thereto ; and all A 
 pcrfons are certainly refponfible to the ki> 
 and His laws,* for the lofs of afubjecl. The 
 horrid iniquity, injuftice, and dangerous 
 tendency of the feveral plantation laws, 
 which I have quoted, are ib apparent, that 
 it is unneceffary for me to apologize for the 
 freedom with which I have treated them. If 
 fiich laws are not abfolutely neceffary For the 
 government of Haves, the law-makers muft 
 unavoidably allow themfelves to be the mod 
 cruel and abandoned tyrants upon earth, or 
 perhaps, that ever were on earth. On the 
 other hand, if it be faid, that it is impofii- 
 bie to govern {laves without fiich inhuman 
 feverity and defccftablq injuftice, the fame 
 will certainly be an invincible argument a- 
 gainft the leaft toleration of fiavery amongil 
 chriftians, becaufe the temporal profit of the ' 
 planter or mailer, however lucrative, can- 
 not compensate the forfeiture of his ever- 
 lafting welfare, or (at leaft I may be allow- 
 ed to fay) the apparent danger of fuch a for- 
 feiture. 
 
 Oppreffion is a mod grievous crime; and 
 the cries of thefe much injured people 
 (though they are only poor ignorant hea- 
 thens) will certainly reach heaven ! The 
 fcriptures (which are the only true foundation 
 of all laws) denounce a tremendous judg- 
 ment againli tlae man who fhould offend e- 
 D ven 
 

 ( 34 ) 
 tren one little one; " It were better for hiite' 
 " (even the merciful Saviour of the world 
 4t hath himfelf declared) that amillftone were: 
 " hanged about his neck and he call into 
 * c the lea, than that he fhould offend one of 
 ** thefe little ones. 5 ' Luke, xvii. 2. Who 
 then lhall attempt to vindicate thofe inhu- 
 man eftablilhments of government, under 
 which, even our own countrymen fo griev- 
 oufly offend and opprefs, (not merely one, or 
 a few little ones, but) an irnmenfe multi- 
 tude of theA 9 women, children, and the chil- 
 dren of their children, from generation to ge- 
 neration ? May it not be faid with like 
 juftice^ it were better for the Englifh nation 
 that thefe American dominions had never 
 exifted, or even that they fhould have been 
 junk into the lea, than that the kingdom of 
 Great-Britain fhould be loaded with the 
 horrid guilt of tolerating fuch abominable 
 wickednefs ! In fhort, if the king's prerogative 
 is not fpeedily exerted for the relief of his 
 majefly's opprefled and much injured fub- 
 ie&s in the Britifh colonies (becauic to relieve 
 ZIm ftibjett from the oppreffion of petty ty- 
 rants, is the principal ufe of the royal prero- 
 gative, as well as the principal and mofl na- 
 tural means of maintaining the fame) and for 
 I he extenfion of the Britifh conftitutibn to 
 thoft diflant colonics whether in the Eall 
 
 or 
 
} 35) 
 /eft Indies, it muft inevitably he allow- 
 ed, that great fliare of this enormous guilt 
 will certainly reft on this fide the water. 
 
 I hope this hint will be taken notice of by 
 thofe whom it may concern ; and that the 
 freedom of it will be excufed, as from a ley- 
 al and difmtereJJed advifer. 
 
 D i 
 
Extracts from the wri tines of fcve 
 
 cV 
 
 ral noted Authors, on the Subject of the 
 Slavery of the Negroes, viz. George Wal- 
 lace, Francis Hutchefon, 'James Fofter. 
 
 GEORGE W A L L I S, in his ftf- 
 tcm of the principles of the laws of Scot- 
 land, fpeaking of the flavery of the Negroes 
 in our colonies, fays " We all know that 
 they (the Negroes) are purchafed from their. 
 Princes, who pretend to have aright todif- 
 pofe of them, and that they are, like other 
 commodities, tranfported by the merchants 
 who have bought them, into America, in or- 
 der to be expofed to fale. If this trade ad- 
 mits of a moral or a rational juftification, 
 every crime, even the moft atrocious, may 
 be jollified- Government was inftituted 
 for the good of mankind ; kings-, princes, 
 governors, are not proprietors of thofe who 
 arc fubject to their authority ; they have 
 not; a right to make them miferable. On the 
 contrary, their authority is vefted in them, 
 they may, by the juft exercife of it, 
 the happinefs of their people. Of 
 v have not a right to difpofe of 
 tlieii liberty, them for flaves. Be- 
 
 tides, 
 
( 37 ) 
 fides, no man has a right to acquire 
 purchafe them; msnand their liberty are not 
 (in commcrcio) they are not either faleable or 
 purchafable. One, therefore, has nobo- 
 dy but himfelf to blame, in cafe he fliall nnd 
 himfelf deprived of a man, whom he 
 thought he had, by buying for a price, 
 made his own ; for he dealt in a trade 
 which was illicit, and was prohibited by 
 the moft obvious dictates of humanity. For 
 thcfe reafons every one of thofe unfortunate 
 men who are pretended to be flaves, has a 
 right to be declared to be free, for he never 
 loft his liberty ; he could not lofe it ; his 
 prince had no power to difpofe of hiin. Qf 
 courfe the fale was ipfojure void. This rijg 
 he carries about with him, and is entitled e 
 very 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 remem- 
 ber that he is a man, and to declare him to 
 be free. I know it has been faid, that que- 
 flions concerning the ftate of perfons ought 
 to be determined by the law of the country 
 to which they belong ; and that, therefore., 
 one who would be declared to be a Have ia 
 America , ought, in cafe he fhould happen 
 to be imported into Britain^ to be adjudged 
 % according to the law of America to be a 
 flave ) a doctrine than which nothing can be 
 
 more 
 
C 33 ) 
 
 more barbarous. Ought the judges of any- 
 country, out of refpecr to the law of ano- 
 ther, to (hew no refpecV to their kind, and 
 ? humanity j out of refpect to a law, 
 which is in no fort obligatory upon them, 
 ought they to difregard the law of nature, 
 which is obligatory on all men at all times, 
 and in all places : Are any laws fo binding 
 as the eternal laws of juftice ? Is it doubtful, 
 whether a judge ought to pay greater regard 
 to them, than to thofe arbitrary and inhu- 
 man ufages which prevail in a diftant land ? 
 Aye, but our colonies would be ruined if 
 flavery was abolifhed. Ee it f ; would it 
 BOt from thence follow, that the bulk of 
 mankind ought to be abufed, that our pockets 
 may be filled with money, or our mouths 
 with delicacies ? The purfes of highwaymen 
 would be empty in cafe robberies were to- 
 tally abolifhed ; but have men aright to ac- 
 quire money by going out to the highway ? 
 Have men a right to acquire it by rendering 
 their fellow creatures miferable ? Is it law- 
 ful to abufe mankind, that the avarice, the 
 vanity, or the paffions of a few may be gra- 
 tified r No ! There is fuch a thing as juftice, 
 to which the moft facred regard is due. It 
 ought to be inviolably obferved. Have not 
 thefe unhappy men a better right to their li- 
 berty, and to their happinefs, than our A- 
 merican merchants have to. the profits which 
 they make by torturing their kind? Let 
 
 thereto 
 
( 39 ) 
 
 therefore our colonies be ruined, but let us 
 not render fo many men miferable. Would 
 
 not any of us, who fhould be fnatched 
 
 by pirates from his native land, think him- 
 felf cruelly abufed, and at all times entitled 
 to be free. Have not thefe unfortunate Afri- 
 cans ^ who meet with the fame cruel fate, 
 the fame right ? Are not they men as well 
 as we, and have they not the fame fenfibili- 
 ty ? Let us not, therefore, defend or fup- 
 port a ufage which is contrary to all the 
 laws of humanity. 
 
 But it is falfe, that either we or our co- 
 lonies would be ruined by the abolition of 
 ilavery. It might occafion a ftagnation of 
 bufinefs for a fhort time. Every great al- 
 teration produces that effeft ; becaufe man- 
 kind cannot, on a fudden, find ways of dif- 
 pofing of themfelves and of their affairs : 
 But it would produce many happy effe&s. 
 It is the flavery which is permitted in Ameri- 
 ca that has hindered it from becoming fo 
 foon populous as it would otherwife 
 have done. Let the Negroes free, and in a 
 few generations, this vail and fertile conti- 
 nent would be crowded with inhabitants j 
 learning, arts, and every thing would flou- 
 rifh amongft them ; inflead of being inha- 
 bited by wild beafts, and by favages, it 
 would be peopled by philofophers, and by 
 men/- 
 
 Francis 
 
C 4* ) 
 
 Francis Hutchefon profeflbr of philofphy, 
 at theuniverfity of Glafcow, in Ymfyjlem of 
 moral philofophy, page 211, fays, " He who 
 detains another by force in flavery, is always 
 bound to prove his title. The flave fold or 
 carried into a diftant country muft not be 
 obliged to prove a negative, that he never 
 forfeited his liberty. The violent poffeffor 
 muft in all cafes foew his title, efpecially 
 where the old proprietor is well known. In 
 this cafe each man is the original proprietor 
 of his own liberty. The proof of his loiing 
 it muft be incumbent on thofe who deprive 
 him of it by force. The Jewifh laws had 
 great regard to juftice, about the fervitude 
 of Hebrews^ founding it only on confent or 
 fome crime or damage, allowing them al- 
 ways a proper redrefs upon any cruel treat- 
 ment ; and fixing a limited time for it, un~ 
 lefs upon trial the fervant inclined to prolong 
 it. The laws about foreign flaves had ma- 
 ny merciful provifions againft immoderate 
 feverity of the mafters. But under chrifti- 
 anity, whatever lenity was due from an He- 
 brew towards his country man muft be due 
 towards all ; fince the diftinclions of nati- 
 ons are removed, as to the point of huma- 
 nity and mercy, as well as natural right, 
 nay fome of thefe rights, granted over fo- 
 reign flaves may juftly be deemed only fuch 
 indulgences, as thofe of poligamy and di- 
 vorce^ 
 
( 41 ) 
 
 vorce, granting only external impunity in 
 fuch practice, and not fufficient vindication 
 of them in confcience." 
 
 P a g e ?5> l t>s P^aded that, u In fome 
 barbarous nations unlefs the captives were 
 brought far flaves they would all be mur- 
 thered. They therefore owe their lives, 
 and all they can do, to their purchasers ; and 
 fo do their children, who would not other- 
 wife have come into life : But this whole 
 plea is no more than that of the negotium uti- 
 le geflum^ to which any civilized nation is 
 bound by humanity, 'tis a prudent expen- 
 five office done for the fervice of others with- 
 out a gratuitous intention ; and this founds 
 no other right than that to full compenfati- 
 on of all charges and labour employed for 
 the benefit of others. 
 
 Afet of inaccurate popular phrafes, blind 
 us in thefe matters, captives owe their 
 lives, and all to the purchafers, fay they. 
 Juft in the fame manner, we, our nobles, 
 2nd princes, often owe our lives to mid- 
 vaves, chirurgcons, phyficians,dn\ one who 
 was the means of preferring a man's life h 
 not therefore entitled to make him a Have, 
 and fell him as a piece of goods. Strange 
 that in any nation where a fcnCe of liberty 
 prevails, where the chriftian religion is pro- 
 fefled, cuftom and high profpecb of gain 
 can {o ftupify the conscience of men, and 
 
 al 
 
C 42 > 
 
 all fenfe of natural juftice, that they cart 
 hear fuch computations made about the va- 
 lue of their fellow-men, and their liberty, 
 without abhorrence and indignation. 
 
 James Fojter, T). D. in his difcourfes on na- 
 tural religion and jocial virtue, alfo fhews his 
 juft indignation at this wicked practice, 
 which he declares to be ''a criminal and out- 
 rageous violation of the natural right of man- 
 kind." At page 156, 2 vol. he fays, " Should 
 we have read concerning the Greeks or Ro- 
 mans of old, that they traded, with view to 
 make fiaves of their own fpecies, whom they 
 certainly knew that this would involve in 
 fchemes of blood and murther, of deftroyr 
 ing, or enflaving each other, that they even 
 fomented wars, and en^ap-ed who!? Q&tyQRJ 
 and tubes in open hoftilities, for their pwn 
 private advantage ^ that they had no detef- 
 tation of the violence and cruelty ; but on- 
 ly feared the ill fuccefs of their inhuman en- 
 terprifes ; that they carried men like them- 
 felves, their brethren, and the off-fpring 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 great- 
 er bodily fervice ; that quite forgeting, and 
 renouncing, the original dignity of hi:: 
 nature, communicated to all, they treated 
 them with more feverity and ruder difci- 
 
 plinCj 
 
( 43 ) 
 
 pline, than £ven thee* or the afs> who are 
 
 -void of under]} anding fhould we not if 
 
 this had been the cafe, have naturally been 
 led to defpife all their pretended refinements of 
 morality ; and to have concluded, that as 
 they were not nations deftitute of politenefs, 
 they mull have been entire Ji rangers to virtue 
 and benevolence. 
 
 But, notwithstanding this, we ourfelves 
 (^vho profefs to be chriflians, 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 fuperiof 
 light, we inftil into thofe, whom we call fa- 
 •vage and barbarous, the moft defpicable o- 
 pinion of human nature. We, to the ut- 
 moft of our power, weaken and diffolve the 
 univerfal tie, that binds and unites mankind. 
 We practice what we fhould exclaim againft, 
 as the utmoiiexcefs of cruelty and tyrann r , 
 if nations of the world, differing in colour, 
 and form of government from ourfelves, 
 were fo pofleffed of empire, as to be able to 
 reduce us to a ftate of unmerited and bra- 
 tiih fervitude. Of confequence we facri- 
 fice our reaibn, our humanity, our chriiH- 
 anity to an unnatural fordid gain. We 
 teach other nations to defpife and trample 
 under foot, all the obligations of fecial vir- 
 tue. We take the moft cffo&ual method 
 
 to 
 
( 44 ) 
 to prerent the propagation of the gofpel, 
 by reprefenting it as afcheme of power and 
 barbarous oppreffion, and an enemy to the 
 natural privileges and rights of men. 
 
 Perhaps all, that I have now offered, may 
 be of very little weight to reftrain this enor- 
 mity, this aggravated iniquity. However 
 I dill have the fatisfacrioa, of having enter- 
 ed 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. 
 
 EXTRACT 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 From an ADDRESS 
 
 I :; the 
 
 VIRGINIA GAZETTE, 
 
 of March 19, 1767. 
 
 Mr. RIND, 
 
 PERMIT me, in your paper, to addreis 
 the members of our affembly, on two 
 points, in which the public intereft is very 
 nearly concerned. 
 
 The abolition of flavery and the retriev- 
 al of fpecie in this colony, are the fubjeccs en 
 which I would befpeak their attention. ■ 
 
 Long and ferious reflections upon the na- 
 ture and confequences of flavery have con- 
 vinced me, that it is a violation both of jlif- 
 tice and religion ; that it is dangerous to 
 the fafety of the community in which it 
 prevails ; that it is deftru&ive to the growth 
 of arts and fciences ; and laftly, that it pro- 
 duces a numerous and very fatal train of 
 vices, both in the flave, and in his matter. 
 
 To prove thefe aflertions, fliali be the pur- 
 pofe of the following effay. 
 
 That flavery then is a violation of juftice, 
 E will 
 
( 45 ) 
 will plainly appear, when we confider what 
 juftice is. It is truly and limply defined, 
 as by Jujliman, conftans et perpetua voluntas^ 
 ejus fuunv cuique tribuendi ; a conftant endea- 
 vour to give every man his right. 
 
 Now. as freedom is unqueftionably the 
 birthright of all mankind, Africans as well 
 as Europeans, to keep the former in a ftate 
 of flavery, is a con'ftant violation of that 
 right, and therefore of juftice. 
 
 The ground on which the civilians, who 
 favour flavery, admit it to be juft ; namely, 
 confent, force and birth, is totally difputa-' 
 ble. For furely a man's own will and con- 
 fent, cannot be allowed to introduce fo im- 
 portant an innovation into fociety as flave- 
 ry, or<to make himfelf an outlaw, which is 
 really the ftate of a Have, fince neither con- 
 senting to, nor aiding the laws of the fociety, 
 in which he lives, he is neither bound to o- 
 bey them, nor entitled to their protection. 
 * To found any right in force, is to frus- 
 trate ail right, and involve every thing in 
 cdnfufion, violence and rapine. With thefe 
 two the laft muft fall, fince if the parent 
 cannot juftly be made a flave, neither can 
 riie child be born in flavery. " The law of 
 nations, fays b^ron Montefquieu, has doom- 
 ed prifoners to flavery, to prevent their be- 
 ing flain ; the Roman civil law, permitted 
 debtors whom their creditors might treat 
 
 in; 
 
( ¥ ) 
 
 ill, to fell themfelves. And the law of n^ 
 t-ure requires that children, whom their 
 parents being flaves cannot maintain, 
 fhould be Haves like them. Thefe reafons of 
 fche civilians are not juft, it is not true that 
 a captive may be flain, unlefs in a cafe of 
 abfolute neceffity ; but if he hath been re- 
 duced to flavery, it is plain that no fuch ne- 
 ceffity exifted, fincehe was not flain. It is 
 Hot true that a free man can fell himfelf, for 
 fale fuppofes a price, but a flave and his pro- 
 perty becomes immediately that of his maf- 
 ter, the Have can therefore receive no 
 price, nor the mailer pay, &c. And if a 
 man cannot fell himfelf, nor a prifoner of 
 war be reduced to flavery, much lefs can his 
 child." Such are the fentiments of this il- 
 luftrious civilian ; his reafonings, which I 
 have been obliged to contract, the reader in- 
 terefted in this fubject, will do well-to con- 
 fult at large. 
 
 Yet even thefe rights of impoikig flavery^ 
 queftionable, nay refutable as they are, we 
 have not to authorize the bondage of the 
 Africans. For neither do they confent to be 
 our flaves, nor do we purchafe them of their 
 conquerors. The Britifh merchants obtain 
 them from Africa by violence, artifice and 
 treachery, with a few trinkets to prompt 
 thofe unfortunate****peop!e to enflave one 
 another by force or ilratagem. Purchafe 
 
 them 
 
( 47 ) 
 them indeed they may, under the authori- 
 ty of an act of the Britifh parliament. An 
 act entailing upon the Africans, with whom 
 we are not at war, and over whom a Britifh 
 parliament could not of right aflume even a 
 ihadow of authority, the dreadful curfe of 
 perpetual flavery, upon them and their chil- 
 dren for ever. There cannot he in nat 
 there is not in all kijlory, an in fiance in which 
 every right of men is more flagrantly violated. 
 The laws of the antients never authorized 
 the making Haves, but of thofe nations 
 whom they had conquered ; yet they were 
 heathens and we are chriitians. They were 
 milled by a monftrous religion, di veiled of 
 humanity, by a horrible and barbarous vvor- 
 fhip ; we are direfted by the unerring pre- 
 cepts of the revealed religion we pofleis, en- 
 Kghtned by its wifdom, and humanized by 
 its benevolence ; before them were gods de- 
 formed with paffions, and horrible for eve- 
 ry cruelty and vice ; before us is that in- 
 comparable pattern of meeknefs, charity, 
 love and juftice to mankind, which fo tran- 
 icendently diftinguifhed the founder of chri- 
 ftianity and his ever amiable doclrines. 
 
 Reader, remember that the corner ftone 
 of your religion is to do unto others as you 
 would they ihould do unto you ; afk then 
 your own heart whether it would not ab- 
 hor any one, as the mod outrageous viola- 
 tor 
 
( 48 ) 
 tor of that and every other principle of right, 
 juftice and humanity, who fhould make a 
 flave of you and your pofterity for ever. 
 Remember that God knoweth the heart, lay 
 not this flattering unction to your foul, that 
 it is the cuftom of the country ; that you 
 found it fo : that not your will but your ne- 
 ceffity confents. Ah! think how little fuck 
 an excufe will avail you in that awful day, 
 when your Saviour fhall pronounce judg- 
 ment on you for breaking a law too plain to 
 be mifunderftbod, too facred to be violated* 
 If we fay we are chriftians, yet act more in- 
 humanly and unjuftly than heathens, with 
 what dreadful juftice muft this fentence of 
 our bleffed Saviour fall upon us : " Not e- 
 very one that faith unto me Lord, Lord, 
 fhall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but 
 he that doth the will of my father which is 
 in heaven." (Matthew vii. 21.) Think 
 a moment how much your temporal, your 
 eternal welfare depends upon an abolition 
 of a practice, which deforms the image of 
 your God, tramples on his revealed will,. 
 infringes the moil facred rights, and vio* 
 lates humanity. 
 
 Enough I hope has been afferted to prove 
 that flavery is a violation of juftice and re- 
 ligion ^ That it is dangerous to thq fafety 
 of the ftate in which it prevails, may be as 
 fafely afferted.. 
 
 What 
 
( 49 ) 
 
 What one's own experiencehas not taught^ 
 that of others muft decide. From hence 
 does hiftory derive its utility ; for being, 
 when truly written, a faithful record of the 
 tranfactions of mankind, and the confe- 
 quences that flowed from them, we are thence 
 furnilhed with the means of judging what 
 will he the probable effect of tranfactions fi- 
 milar among ourfelves. 
 
 We learn then from hiftory, that flavery, 
 wherever encouraged, has fooner or later 
 been productive of very dangerous commo- 
 tions. I will not trouble my reader here 
 with quotations in fupport of this affertion, 
 but content myfelf with referring thofe who- 
 may be dubious of its truth, to the hiftories 
 of Athens ', Lacedemon, Rome* and Spain. 
 
 How long, how bloody and destructive 
 was the conteit between the Moorifh flaves, 
 and the native Spaniards ? and after almoft 
 deluges of blood had been flied the Spaniards 
 obtained nothing more, than driving them 
 into the mountains. Lefs bloody in- 
 deed, tho J not lefs alarming have been the 
 infurreclioris in Jamaica ; and to imagine 
 that we fhall be for ever exempted from this 
 calamity, which experience teaches us to be 
 infeparable from flavery, fo encouraged, is 
 an infatuation as aftonifhing as it will be 
 furely fatal. &c, &c. 
 
 EXTRACT 
 
EXTRACT 
 
 O F A 
 
 S E R M O N, 
 
 PREACHED BY THE 
 
 BISHOP of GLOUCESTER, 
 
 ESefore the Society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel, at their anniverfary 
 . meeting, on the 21 ft of February, 17^6. 
 
 FROM the free-favages I now come 
 (the laft point I propofe to confider) to 
 the favages in bonds- By thefe I mean the 
 vaft multitudes yearly ftolen from the oppo- 
 fite continent, and facrificed by the colo- 
 nifts to their great idol, the God of Gain. 
 But what then, fay thefe fincere worfhip- 
 pers of Mammon, they are our own property, 
 which we offer up. Gracious God! to talk 
 (as in herds of cattle) of property in rational 
 creatures ! creatures endowed with all our 
 faculties, pofleffing all our qualities but that 
 of colour j our brethren both by nature and 
 
 grace. 
 
- ( 5i ) 
 grace, ftiocks all the feelings of humanity, 
 and the dictates of common fenfe. But, a- 
 las! what is there in the infinite abufes of 
 fociety which does not fhock them ? Yet 
 nothing is more certain in itfelf, and appa- 
 rent to all, than that the infamous traffic 
 for flaves directly infringes botk divine andr 
 human law. Nature created man free;, 
 and grace invites him to *iffert his freedom. 
 In excufe of this violation, it hath been 
 pretended, that though indeed thefe mife- 
 rable outcafts of humanity be torn from* 
 their homes and native country by fraud 
 and violence, yet they thereby become the; 
 happier, and their condition the more eligi- 
 ble. But who are You, who pretend to 
 judge of another man's happinefs ? That: 
 ftate, which each man, under the guidance 
 of his maker, forms for himfelf; and not 
 one man for another. To know what con- 
 stitutes mine or your happinefs, is the fole 
 prerogative of him who created us, and caft 
 us in fo various and different moulds. Did 
 your flaves ever complain to you of their 
 unhappinefs amidil their native woods and 
 defarts ? Or, rather, let me aik, did they 
 ever ceafe complaining of their condition 
 under you their lordly mailers ? where they 
 fee, indeed, the accommodations of civil 
 life, but fee them all pafs to others, them- 
 felves, unbenefited by them. Be fo graci- 
 ous 
 
( ft ) 
 
 T)us then, ye petty tyrants over Iranian free- 
 dom, to let your Haves judge for themfeves, 
 what it is which makes their own happinefs. 
 And then fee whether they do not place it 
 in the return to their own country, rather 
 than in the contemplation of your grandeur, 
 of which their miicry makes ib large a part. 
 A return lb pafilonately longed for, that 
 defpairing of happinefs here, that is, of e- 
 fcaping the chains of their cruel talk mailers, 
 they confole themfelve^s with feigning it to 
 be the gracious reward of heaven in their 
 future ftate ; which I do not find their 
 haughty mafters have as yet concerned them- 
 felvcs to invade. The lefs hardy indeed 
 wait for this felicity till overwearied nature 
 lets them free ; but the more refolved have 
 recourfe even to felf- violence, to force a fpec- 
 dier pafTage. 
 
 But it will be Hill urged, that though 
 what is called human happinefs be of fo fan- 
 taftic a nature, that each man's imagination 
 creates it for himfelf, yet human mifery is 
 more fubftantial and uniform throughout 
 all the tribes of mankind. Now, from the 
 worll of human miieries, the favage Africans 
 by thefe forced emigrations, are intirely fe- 
 cured, fuch as the being perpetually hunted 
 down like beafts of prey or profit, by their 
 more favage and powerful neighbours — In 
 
 truth, 
 
C 53 ) 
 truth, a bleffed change ! — from beincr hi 
 ed to being caught. But who are they that 
 nave fet on foot this general Hunting? 
 Are they not thefe very civilized vio- 
 lators of humanity themfelves ? who temps 
 the weak appetites, and provoke the wild 
 paffions of the fiercer lavages to prey udoh 
 the reft" 
 
 THE E N P, 
 
I N D E X. 
 
 A 
 /ID ANSON (M.) his account of the country 
 yj^ on the rivers Senegal and Gambia, 14. Extra- 
 ordinary fertility, ibid. Surprising vegetation, 
 15. Beautiful afpecl of the country, 16. Good 
 difpofition of. the natives, ibid. 
 AAvcrtifements in the New-Tori journal 9 for the fale of 
 fiaves, part ii. 14. Alfo in the news papers of 
 London, p. ii. 16. 
 Africa, that part from whence the Negroe fiaves are 
 brought; how divided, 6. Capable of a -confider- 
 able trade, 143. 
 Alien, (every) or ftranger coming within the kings 
 
 dominion becomes a fubjecl, p. ii, 4. 
 Ancienteft account of the Negroes, 41. Were thca 
 
 a fimple innocent people, 43. 
 Angola, a plentiful country, 39. Character of the 
 natives, 40. Government, ibid. 
 B 
 
 BARB ADO E S, (laws of) refpefting Negroe 
 fiaves, p. ii, 26. 
 Barbot, [John) agent general of the French African 
 company, his account of the Gold-Goaf, 25. Of the 
 S lave- Goaf , 27. 
 Bofman [William) principal factor for the Dutch, af: 
 D'Elmina, his account of the Gold-Goaf, 23. Of 
 the Slave-Goaf. 27. 
 Brae [Andrew) principal factor of the French African 
 company, his account of the country on the river 
 Senegal, 7. And on the river Gambia, 8. 
 
 Benin 
 
The I N d ex. 
 
 . 'kingdom of^ goccl characre%k>f the na 
 Pimifhment of crimes, ;6. Order of government," 
 . Largcnefs and order of the city of Grem 
 
 • ol- 
 Britain; (ancient] in th€ : r ordinal Rate no lefs barba- 
 rous than the 4ft 68. 
 Baxter [Richard) his teftimony again ft flaverv, 8;. 
 C ' 
 
 CORRUPTION of fome of the kings of 
 Guinea, 107. 
 
 D 
 
 DE la Cafa (bifhop of Chap: a) his concern for the 
 ms, 47. His fpeech to Charles the 
 emperor cf Germany aod king of Spain, 48. Pro- 
 digious deftruvfrion of the Indians in Hifpaniola, yt* 
 r, in every man, its effe&s on thole 
 ■who obey its dictates, 14. 
 E 
 
 ELIZABETH (queen) her caution to cap- 
 tain Hawkins, not to enflave any of the Ne- 
 • groes, 55. 
 
 h, their firft trade on the coaft of Guinea, 52. 
 Europe. v-; are the principal caufe of the wars which. 
 
 fubfift amongft the Negroes, 61 . 
 Engliih laws, allows no man, of what condition fo- 
 ever to be deprived of his liberty, without a legal 
 procefs, p.ii, 6. The danger of confining any pericn 
 without a warrant, p. ii, 18. 
 F 
 
 FISHING, a confiderablebufmefs on the Gui- 
 nea coaft, 26. How carried 
 
 his teftimony againft llavery, p. ii, 42. 
 Negroes good farmers, 10. Thofeon xhz Gam- 
 bia particularly recommended for their induftry and 
 good behaviour, ; 
 
 . (king of) objects to the Negroes, in his domi- 
 nions, being reduced to a ftate of flavery, 58. 
 
 G 
 
The I n d E x* 
 
 A* A MB I A (rCer) 8, 14. 
 
 VJ Cloacejier bifliop of) extras of his fermon, p. 
 ii, 50. 
 
 Godivyn [Morgan) his plea in favour of the Kegroes 
 and Indians, 75. Complains of the cruelties ex- 
 ercifed upon flaves, 76. A falfe opinion prevailed 
 in his time, that the Negroes were not objecls of re- 
 deeming grace, 77. 
 
 Gold-Coaft, has feveral European factories, 22 J 
 Great trade for ilaves, 22. Carried on far in the 
 inland country, ibid. Natives more reconciled to 
 the Europeans ; and Raore diligent in procuring 
 flaves, 22. Extraordinary fruitful and agreeable, 
 22, 25. The natives induflrious, 24. 
 
 Great-Britain, all perfons during their reildence there 
 are the king's fubjecls, p. ii, 4. 
 
 Guinea, extraordinary fertile, 2. Extreamly unheal- 
 thy to the Europeans, 4. But agrees well with 
 the natives, ibid. Prodigious raiiing of waters,. 
 ibid. Hot winds, ibid. Surprising vegetation, 1.5. 
 H 
 
 HA IV KJ N S (captain) lands on the coaft of 
 Guinea and feizes on a number of the natives,, 
 which he fells to the Spaniards, 5-. 
 
 Hottentots mifreprefented by authors, 10 1. True ac- 
 count given of thefe people by Kolben, 102. 
 Love of liberty and floth their prevailing paffions, 
 302. Diftinguiftied by feverai virtues, 103. Firm 
 in alliances, ibid. Offended at the vices pre-domi- 
 nant among ft chriftians, 104. Make nor keep no 
 flaves, ibid. 
 
 Hughei (Griffith) his account of the number of Ne- 
 groes in Barbadoes, 85. Speaks well of their na- 
 tural capacities, 86. 
 
 Hufbandry of the Negroes, carried on in common,. 
 28. 
 
 Hutcbefon (Francis) his declaration againft fiave:\v 
 p. ii, 40. 
 
 V JALOF 
 
The Index. 
 I 
 
 J A L F (Negroes) their government, 9. 
 Indians grievoufly oppreffed by the Spaniards, 47. 
 Their caufe pleaded by Bartholemew De la Cafa, 
 
 48. 
 
 Inland people good account of them, 25. 
 
 Ivory Coajiy fertile, &c. 18. Natives falfely repre- 
 fented to be atreacherous people, ibid. Kind when 
 •well ufed, 19. Have no European factories amongft 
 them, 21. And but few wars ; therefore few flaves 
 to be had there, 22. 
 
 Jury, Negroes tried and condemned without the fo- 
 lemnity of a jury, p. ii. 30. Highly repugnant 
 to the Englifh conftitution, p. ii. 32. Dangerous 
 to thofe concerned therein, ibid. 
 L 
 
 LAWS, (in Guinea) fevere againft man-ftealing 
 and other crimes, 106. 
 M 
 
 MA N D 1 G E (Negroes) a numerous nation, 
 11. Great traders, ibid. Laborious, 11. Their 
 government, 13. Their worfhip, ibid. Manner of 
 tillage, ibid. At Galem they fuffer none to be made 
 Haves, but criminals, 20. 
 Malayensy (a black people) fometimes fold amongft 
 
 Negroes, brought from very diftant parts, 27. 
 Markets regularly kept on the Gold and Slav e-Coafts, 30. 
 Montefquieu his fentiments on flavery, 72. 
 Moor [Francis) factor to the African company, his 
 account of the flavetradeon the river Gambia, in. 
 Mofaic law merciful in its chaftifements, 73 % Has 
 refpecl: to human nature, ibid. 
 N 
 
 NATIONAL wars difapproved by the mofr 
 confiderate amongft the Negroes, no. 
 Negroes (in Guinea) generally a humane, fociable 
 people, 2. Simplicity of their way of living, £. 
 Agreeable in converfation, 16. Senfible of the da- 
 mage. 
 
The Index. 
 
 mage accruing to them from the flave trade, 6f. 
 Miireprefented by moft authors, 98. Offended at 
 the brutality of the European factors, 116. Shock- 
 ing cruelties exercifed on them by mafters of vef- 
 fels, 124. How many are yearly brought from 
 Guinea by the JEnglifn, 129. The numbers who 
 die on the paflage and in the feafoning, 1.20. 
 
 ffegroe flaves (in the colonies) allowed to cohabif and 
 ieparate at pleafure, 36. Great wafte of them, 
 thro' hard ufage in the iflands, §6. Melancholly 
 cafe of two of them, 236. Propofals for fetting 
 them free, 129. Tried and condemned without 
 the folemnity of a jury, p. ii. 30. 
 
 Negroes (free) difcouragement they meet with, 133. 
 P 
 
 PORTUGUESE carry on a great track for 
 flaves at Angola, 40. Make the firft incurfions 
 into Guinea, 44. From whence they carry off 
 fome of the natives, ibid. Beginners of the flave 
 trade, 46. Erect the firft fort at D'Elmina. 
 R 
 
 ROME (the college of cardinals at) complain 
 of the abufe offered to the Negroes in felling 
 them for flaves, 58. 
 
 S 
 
 SENEGAL (river) account of,. 7, 14. 
 Ship (account of one) blown up on the coaft of 
 Guinea with a number of Negroes on board, 125. 
 Slave trade how carried on, at the river Gambia, 
 in. And in other parts of Guinea, 113. At 
 Whidah, 115. 
 Slaves, ufed with much more lenity in Algiers and in 
 Turkey than in our colonies, 70, Likewife in 
 Guinea, 71. Slavery more tolerable amongft the 
 ancient Pagans than in our colonies, 6^. Declin- 
 ed as chriftianity prevailed, 65. Early laws in 
 France, for its abolifhment, 66. Ifputanend to 
 would make way for a very extenfiYe trade thro' 
 
 Africa/ 
 

 The Inde x. 
 
 Africa. 143. The danger of flavery taking place 
 in England, p. ii, 20. 
 
 fir Hans) his account of the inhuman and ex- 
 travagant pumihments inflicted on Negroes, 89. 
 
 {William) furveyor to the African company, . 
 his account of the Ivory-Coaft, 20. Of the Gold- 
 Coaft, 24. 
 
 U 
 
 VI RG I N I A (laws) refpectlng Negroe flaves,. p. 
 ii. 28. 
 
 ria (addrefs to the affembly) fetting forth the 
 inicuitv and danger of flavery, p. ii, 45. 
 W 
 \J7JLLIS {George) his teftimony againft flave- 
 V V ry, p. ii, 36. 
 
 r, white people able to perform the necefTa- 
 ry work there, 141. 
 
 ■ h (kingdom of) agreeable and fruitful, 27. 
 Fatives treat one another with refpetf, 29. 
 

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