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 From the Rev. W. B. SPRAGUE, D.D. Sept. 1839 
 
 
 JSj^^gue Collection. Vol. 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2015 
 
 https://archive.org/details/essayonslaveryco00clar_2 
 
A N 
 
 E S S A Y 
 
 ON THE " ^ 
 
 SLAVERY AND COMMERCE 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HUMAN SPECIES, 
 
 PARTICULARLY 
 
 THE A F R r C A. N, 
 
 TRANSLAT ED FROM A 
 
 LATIN* DISSERTATION, 
 
 WHICH WAS HONOURED WITH 
 
 THE FIRST PRIZE 
 
 I N T H E 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE, 
 
 y 
 
 FOR THE YEAR 1785, -rl /Cl 
 
 ov \ C-l rr 
 
 WITH ADDITIONS. 
 
 Neque premendo alium me extulijje ve/wi.~ L ivy. 
 
 LONDON, printed: 
 PHILADELP HIA: 
 
 RE-PRINTED BY ^OSEPH CRUKSHANK, IN MARKET- STREET, BETWEEN 
 SECOND AND THIRD-STREETS. 
 
 M DCC Lxxxvr. 
 
TO THE 
 
 " RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 WILLIAM CHARLES GOLYEAR, 
 E A R'L OF P O R T M O R E, 
 VISCOUNT MILSINTOWN. 
 
 xMY LORD, 
 
 THE dignity of the fubjedl of this little Trea- 
 tife, not any perfuafion of its merits as a literary 
 compofition, encourages me to offer it to your 
 Lordfliip’s patronage. The caufe of freedom has 
 always been found fufficient, in every age and 
 country, to attradl the notice of the generous 
 and humane; and it is therefore, in a more pe- 
 culiar manner, worthy of the attention and fa- 
 vour of a perfonage,’ who holds a diftinguillied 
 rank in that illuftrious ifland, the very air of 
 which has been determined, upon a late invef- 
 tigation of its laws, to be an antidote againft 
 flavery. I feel a fatisfadllon in the opportunity, 
 which the publication of this treatife offords 
 me, of acknowledging your Lordfhip’s civilities, 
 which can only be equalled by the refpedl, with 
 which I am. 
 
 Your Lordfhip’s 
 much obliged, 
 
 and obedient fervant, 
 
 THOMAS CLARKSON. 
 
r vr 
 
 
 
 
 • ♦-' 
 
T H E 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 S the fubje^l of the following v/ork has fortunately 
 
 become of late a topick of eonverfation, I cannot 
 
 begin the preface in a manner more fatisfacfory to the 
 feelings of the benevolent reader, than by giving an ac- 
 count of thofe humane and worthy perfons, wdio have 
 endeavoured to draw upon it that fhare of the publick 
 attention which it has obtained. 
 
 Among the well difpofed individuals, of different na- 
 tions and ages, who have humanely exerted themfelves to 
 fupprefs the abje6l perfonal flavery, introduced in the ori- 
 ginal cultivation of the European colonies in the weftern 
 world, Bartholomew de las Cafas^ the pious bifhop of 
 Chiapa^ in the fifteenth century, feems to have been the 
 firft. This amiable man, during his refidence in SpatiiJlj 
 America^ was fo fenfibly affeded at the treatment which 
 the mifcrable Indians underwent, that he returned to 
 Spain] to make a*publick remonftrance before the cele- 
 brated emperor Charles the fifth, declaring, that heaven 
 would one day call him to an account for thofe cruelties, 
 which he then had it in his power to prevent. The 
 fpeech which he made on the occafion, is now extant, 
 and is a moft perfe«^ pidure of benevolence and piety. 
 
 But his intreaties, by the oppofition of avarice, were 
 rendered ineffedual: and I do not find by any books 
 which I have read upon the fubjed, that any other per- 
 fon interfered till the lafl century, when Morgan Godwyn, 
 a Briiijh dcrgym^iU, diftinguilhed himfelf in the caufe. 
 
 The prefent age has alfo produced fome zealons and 
 able oppofers of the colonial flavery. For about the mid- 
 dle of the prefent century, John Woolman and Anthony 
 Benezet^ two refpedable members of the religious fo- 
 .ciety called Quakers, devoted much of their time to the 
 fubjed. The former travelled through moft parts of 
 
 North 
 
VI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 North America on foot, to hold converfations with the 
 members of his own feci, on the impiety of retaining 
 thofe in a Rate of involuntary fervitude, who had never 
 given them offence. The latter kept a free fchool at 
 Fhiladelphia^ for the education of black people. He 
 took every opportunity of pleading in their behalf. He 
 publilhed feveral treatifes againft fiavery, * and gave an 
 hearty proof of his attachment to the caufe, by leaving 
 the whole of his fortune in fupport of that fchool, to 
 which he had fo generoufly devoted his time and atten- 
 tion w^hen alive. 
 
 Till this time it does not appear, that any bodies of 
 men had colleclively interefted themfelves in endeavour- 
 ing to remedy the evil. But in the year 1754, the reli- 
 gious fociety, called Quakers, publickly teflified their 
 fentiments upon the fubjecl, || declaring, that to live 
 in eafe and plenty by the toil of thofe, whom fraud 
 “ and violence had put into their power, w'as neither 
 confiftent with Chriftianity nor common juftice.’^ 
 Impreffed with thefe fentiments, many of this fociety 
 immediately liberated their fiaves; and though fuch a 
 meafure appeared to be attended w^ith confiderable lofs 
 to the benevolent individuals, who unconditionally pre- 
 fented them with their freedom, yet they adopted it with 
 pleafure: nobly confidering, that to poffefs a little, in 
 an honourable way, w^as better than to poffefs much, 
 through the medium of injuftice. ^heir example was 
 gradually followed by the reft. A general emancipation 
 of the fiaves in the poffeflion of Quakers, at length 
 took place; and fo eSedually did they ferve the caufe 
 w^hich they had undertaken, that they denied the claim 
 of memberfhip in their religious community, to all fuch 
 
 as 
 
 * A Defeription of Guinea, with an Inquiry into the Rife and Pro- 
 
 grefs of the Slave 'i'rade, &c. A Caution to Great Britain and 
 
 her Colonies, in a ihort Reprefentation of the calamitous State of 
 the enflaved Negroes in the Britilli Dominons. Befides feveral 
 fmaller pieces. 
 
 II They had cenfured the African Trade in the year 1727, but had 
 taken no publick notice of the colonial ilavery till this time. 
 
PREFACE. vil 
 
 as {hould hereafter oppofe the fuggeftions of juftice in 
 this particular, either by retaining flaves in their pofl'ef- 
 fion, or by being in any manner concerned in the Have 
 trade. 
 
 But though this meafure appeared, as has been ob- 
 ferved before, to be attended with confiderable lofs to 
 the benevolent individuals who adopted it, yet, as virtue 
 feldom fails of obtaining its reward, it became ultimate- 
 ly beneficial. Many of the flaves, who were thus un- 
 conditionally freed, returned without any folicitation to 
 their former mafters, to ferve them, at ftated wages^ as 
 free men. The work, which they now did, was found 
 to be better done than before. It was found alfo, that 
 a greater quantity was done in the fame time. Hence 
 iefs than the former number of labourers »was fufficient. 
 From thefe, and a variety of other circumflances, it ap- 
 peared, that their plantations were ccnfiderably more 
 profitable, when worked by free men, than when w^ork- 
 ed, as before, by flaves; and that they derived there- 
 fore, contrary to their expedations, a confiderable ad- 
 vantage from their benevolence. 
 
 Animated by the example of the Quakers, ' the mem- 
 bers of other feds began to deliberate about adopting 
 the fame meafure. Some of thofe of the church of 
 England, of the Roman Catholicks, and of the Pref- 
 byterians and Independants, freed their flaves in Penn- 
 fylvania. It was agitated in the fynod of the Prefoyte- 
 ans, to oblige their members to liberate their flaves. 
 The queflion was negatived by a majority of but one 
 perfon, as I am informed; and this oppofition feemed to 
 arife rather from a diflike to the attempt of forcing'fuch 
 a meafure upon the members of that community, than 
 from any other confideration. I have the pleafure of 
 being credibly informed, that the manumiflion of flaves, 
 or the employment of free men in the plantations, is 
 now daily gaining gfound in North America. Should 
 flavery be aboliflied there, (and it is an event, which, 
 from thefe circumflances, we may reafonably exped to 
 be produced in time) let it be remembered, that the 
 Quakers will have had the merit of its abolition. 
 
 . Nor 
 
viii P 11 E F A C E. 
 
 Nor have their brethren here been lefs afliduous in 
 the caufe. As there are happily no Haves in this country, 
 fo they have not the had fame opportunity of (hewing 
 their benevolence by a general emancipation. They 
 have not however omitted to (hew it as far as they have 
 been able. At their religious meetings they have regu- 
 larly inquired if any of their members are concerned 
 in the iniquitous African trade. They have appointed 
 a committee for obtaining every kind of information on 
 the fubjecf, with a view to its fuppreffion, and, about 
 three or four years ago, petitioned parliament on the 
 occafion for their interference and fupport. I am forry 
 to add, that their benevolent application was ineffedual, 
 and that the reformation of an evil, produdive of con- 
 fequences equally impolitick and immoral, and generally 
 acknowledged to have long difgraced our national cha- 
 racter, is yet left to the unfupported efforts of piety, 
 morality and juflice, againlt intereft, violence and op- 
 prellion; and thefe, I blulh to acknowledge, too flrong- 
 ly countenanced by the legiflative authority of a coun- 
 try, the bafis of whofe government is liberty. 
 
 Nothing can be more clearly fliewn, than that an in- 
 exhauftible mine of wealth is negleCted in Africa^ for 
 the profecution of this impious traffick; that, if proper 
 meafures were taken, the revenue of this country might 
 be greatly improved, its naval flrength increafed, its 
 colonies in a more flourifhing ficuation, the planters 
 richer, and a trade, which is now a fcene of blood and 
 defolation, converted into one, which might be profe- 
 cuted with advantage and honour. 
 
 Such have been the exertions of the Quakers in the 
 caufe of humanity and virtue. They are ftill profecut- 
 ing, as far as they are able, their benevolent defign ; 
 and I fliould flop here and praife them for thus continu- 
 ing their humane endeavours, but that I conceive it to 
 be unneceffary. They are aCling confidently with the 
 principles of religion. They will find a reward in their 
 own confciences; and they will receive more real plea- 
 fure from a Tingle reflection on their conduCl, than they 
 can poflibly experience from the praifes of 'an hod of 
 WTiters. 
 
IX 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 In giving this fhort account of thofe humane and 
 worthy perfons, who have endeavoured to reflore to 
 their fellow creatures the rights of nature, of which 
 they had been unjuflly deprived, I fhould feel myfelf 
 unjuft, were I to omit two zealous oppofers of the colo- 
 nial tyranny, confpicuous at the prefent day. 
 
 The firft is Mr. Granville Sharp. This Gentleman 
 has particularly diftinguiftied hirnfelf in the caufe of 
 freedom. It is a notorious fact, that, but a few years 
 fince, many of the unfortunate black people, who had 
 been brought from the colonies into this country, were 
 fold in the metropolis to merchants and others, when 
 their mafters had no farther occafion for their fervices; 
 though it was always underftood that every perfon was 
 free, as foon as he landed on the Britifli Ihore. In con- 
 fequence of this notion, thefe unfortunate black people, 
 refuted to go to the new mafters, to whom they were 
 configned. They were however feized, and forcibly 
 conveyed, under cover of the night, to fliips then lying 
 in the Thames^ to be retranfported to the colonies, and 
 to be delivered again to the planters as merchantable 
 goods. The humane Mr. Sharpe, was the means of 
 putting a ftop to this iniquitous traffick. Whenever he 
 gained information of people in fuch a fituation, he 
 caufed them to be brought on fhore. At a confiderable 
 expence he undertook their caufe, and was inftrument- 
 al in obtaining the famous decree in The cafe of Somer- 
 fett, that as foon as any perfon whatever fet his foot in 
 this country, he came under the prote6lion of the Bri- 
 tijh laws, and was confequently free. Nor did he inter- 
 fere lefs honourably in that cruel and difgraceful cafe, 
 in the fummer of the year 1781, when an hundred and 
 thirty two negroes, in their paftage to the colonies, were 
 thrown into the fea alive, to defraud the underwriters; 
 but his pious endeavours were by no means attended 
 with the fame fuccefs. To enumerate his many laud- 
 able endeavours in the extirpation of tyranny and op- 
 prefiion, would be to fwell the preface into a volume: 
 fuffice it to fay, that he has written feveral books on the 
 B fubje^V, 
 
x: PREFACE. 
 
 fubje(5l:, and one particularly, which he diflinguifhes by 
 the title of vl Limitation of flavery,’^ 
 
 The lecond is the Rev. James Ramfay. This gentle- 
 man refided for many years in the WeJLIndies., in the 
 cierical office. He perufed all the colonial codes of law, 
 with a view to find if there were any favourable claufes, 
 by which the grievances of flaves could be redrefled; 
 but he was feverely difappointed in his purfuits. He 
 pubiifined a treatife, fince his return to England, called 
 Jxii Efay on the T.reatment and Converfion of African Slaves 
 in the BritipD Sugar Colonies^ which I recommend to the 
 perufal of the humane reader. This work refledls great 
 praife upon the author, fince, in order to be of fervice 
 to this fingularly opprefifed part of the human fpecies, 
 he compiled it at the expence of forfeiting that friend- 
 Ihip, which he had contradled with many in thofe parts, 
 during a feries of years, and at the hazard, as I am cre- 
 dibly informed," of fuffering much 'in his private pro- 
 perty, as well as of fubjedting himfelf to the ill will and 
 perfecution of numerous individuals. 
 
 This Eflay on the Treatment and Converfion of African 
 Slaves^ contains fo many important truths on the colo- 
 nial flavery, and has come fo home to the planters, (be- 
 ing written by a perfon who has a thorough knowledge 
 of the fubjecl) as to have occafioned a confiderable 
 alarm. Within the lad eight months, two publications 
 have exprefsly appeared againfi: it. One of them is in- 
 titled Cur for y Rvcmarks on Mr. Ramfay’s Ellay;’’ the 
 
 other an Apology for Ncgroe Slavery.^* On each of thefe 
 I am bound, as writing on the fubject, to make a few 
 remarks. 
 
 The curfory remarker infinuates, that Mr. Ramfay’s 
 account of the treatment is greatly exaggerated, if not 
 wholly falfe. To this I fliali make the following reply. 
 I have the honour of knowing feveral difinterefted gen- 
 tlemen, who have been acquainted w^ith the Wefi: Indi- 
 an iflands for years. I call them difinterefted, becaufe 
 they have neither had a concern in the African trade, 
 nor in the colonial flavery; and I have heard tnele unani- 
 
 moufly 
 
XI 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 nioufly aflert, that Mr. Ramfayh account is fo far from 
 being exaggerated, or taken from the mod dJifary pic- 
 tures that he could find, that it is abfolutely below the 
 truth; that he mult have omitted many imlances of cru- 
 elty, which he had feen himfelf; and that they only 
 wondered, how he could have written with fo much mo- 
 deration upon the fubjett. They allow the Curfory Re- 
 marks to be excellent as a compufition, but declare that 
 ic is perfectly devoid of truth. 
 
 But the curfory remarker does not depend fo much 
 on the circumltances which he has advanced, (nor can 
 he, fince they have no other exiltence than in his own 
 brain) as on the inftrument detradion,^ This he has ufed 
 with the utmofi: virulence through the whole of his pub- 
 lication, artfully fuppofing, that if he could bring Mr. 
 Ramjay’s reputation into difpute, his work would fall of 
 courfe, as of no authenticity. 1 fubmit this fimple que- 
 ftion to the reader. When a writer, in attempting to 
 filence a publication, attacks the charader of its author, 
 rather than the principles of the work itfelf, is it not a 
 proof that the work itfelf is unqueflionable, and that 
 this writer is at a lofs to find an argument againft it? 
 
 But there is fomething fo very ungenerous in this 
 mode of replication, as to require farther notice. For 
 if this is the mode to be adopted in literary difputes, 
 what writer can be fafe? Or who is there, that will not 
 be deterred from taking up his pen in the caufe of vir- 
 tue? There are circumftances in every perfon’s life, 
 w'hich,* if given to the publick in a malevolent manner, 
 and without explanation, might eflentially injure him in 
 the eyes of the world; though, w.ere they explained, 
 they would be even reputable. The curfory remarker 
 has adopted this method of difpute; but Mr. Ramfay 
 has explained himfelf to the fatisfadion of all parties, 
 and has refuted him in every point. The name of this 
 curfory remarker is Tobin : a name, which 1 feel myielf 
 obliged to hand dowm with deteftation, as far as I am 
 able ; and wdth an hint to future waiters, that they will 
 do themfelves more credit, and ferve more effedually 
 the caufe which they undertake, if on fuch occafions 
 
xli PREFACE. 
 
 they attack the work, rather than the character of the 
 writer, who affords them a fubjed for their lucubrati- 
 ons. 
 
 Nor is this the only circumflance, which induces me 
 to take fuch particular notice of the Curfory Remarks. 
 I feel it incumbent upon me to refcue an injured perfon 
 from the cruel afperfions that have been thrown upon 
 him, as I have been repeatedly informed by thofe, who 
 have the pleafure of his acquaintance, that his cFarader 
 is irreproachable. I am aifo interefted myfelf. For if 
 fuch detradion is paffed over in filence, my own repu- 
 tation, and not my work, may be attacked by an ano- 
 nymous hireling \f\ the caufe of: flavery. 
 
 The 'Apology for Negroe Slavery is almofl too defpica- 
 ble a compofition to merit a reply. I have only there- 
 fore to obferve, (as is frequently the cafe in a bad caufe, 
 or where v^riters do not confine themfelves to truth) that 
 the work refutes itfelf. This writer, fpeaking of the 
 have-trade, afferts, that people are never kidnapped on 
 the coafl of Africa, In fpeaking of the treatment of 
 haves, he afferts again, that it is of the very mildefl 
 nature, and that they live in the mofl comfortable and 
 happy manner imaginable. To prove each of his alfer- 
 tions, he propofes the following regulations. . That the 
 ftealing of haves from Africa Ihould be felony. That 
 the premeditated 'murder of a have by any perfon on 
 board, htould come under the fame denomination. That 
 when haves arrive in the colonies, lands fhould be al- 
 lotted for their provifions, in proportion to their number^ 
 or commiifioners Ihould fee that a fiifficient quantity of 
 found %vholefome provifions is purchafed. That they 
 hiould not work on Su?idays and other holy-days. That 
 extra labour, or 7iight-work, out of crop, fhould be pro- 
 hibited. That a limited number of ftripes fhould be in- 
 hided' upon them. That they hiould have annually a 
 fuit of clothes. That old infirm haves fhould be properly 
 cared for^ &C.- — -Now it can hardly be conceived, that 
 if this author had tried to injure his caufe, or contra- 
 did himfelf, he could not have done it in a more effec- 
 tual manner, than by this propofal of thefe falutary 
 
 regulations. 
 
Xlll 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 regulations. For to fay that Haves are honourably ob- 
 tained on the coaft; to fay that their treatment is of the 
 mildeft nature, and yet to propofe the above-mentioned 
 regulations as neceifary, is to refute himfelf more clear- 
 ly, than I confefs myfelf to be able to do it: and I have 
 only to requeft, that the regulations propofed by this 
 writer, in the defence of flavery, may be confidered as 
 fo many proofs of the aifertions contained in my own 
 w^ork. 
 
 I fhall clofe my account with an obfervation, which 
 is of great importance in the prefent cafe. Of all the 
 publications in favour of the Have-trade, or the fubfe- 
 quent Havery in the colonies, there is not one, which 
 has not been written, either by a chaplain to the African 
 fadories, or by a merchant, or by a planter, or by a 
 perfon whofe intereft has been conneded in the caufe 
 which he has taken upon him to defend. Of this de- 
 fcription are Mr. Tobin^ and the Apologiji for Negroe Sla- 
 •very. While on the other hand thofc, who have had as 
 competent a knowledge of the fubjed, but not the fame 
 viterefi as themfelves, have unanimouHy condemned it; 
 and many of them have written their fentiments upon 
 it, at the hazard of creating an innumerable hoH: of 
 enemies, and of being fubjeded to the moH: malignant 
 oppofition. Now, which of thefe arc we to believe on 
 the occafidn ? Are we to believe thofe, who are parties 
 concerned, who are interefted in the pradice? — But the 
 queftion does not admit of a difpute. 
 
 Concerning my owm work, it feems proper to obferve, 
 that when the original Latin Diflertation, as the title 
 page exprefies, was honoured by the Univerfity of Cam- 
 bridge with the firfl: of their annual prizes for the year 
 1785, I was waited upon by fome gentlemen of refped- 
 ability and confequence, who requefted me to publifh it 
 in EngliHi. The only objedion v;hich occurred to me 
 was this; that having been prevented, by an attention 
 to other ftudies, from obtaining that critical knowledge 
 of my own language, which was neceflary for an Eng- 
 iifh compofition, I w^as fearful of appearing before the 
 publick eye-: but that, as they flattered me with the 
 
 hope. 
 
XIV 
 
 P R‘ £ F A C E. 
 
 hope, that the publication of it might be of ufe, I would 
 certainly engage to publifli it, if they would allow me to 
 poftpone it for a little time, till I was more in the habit 
 of v/riting. They replied, that as the publick attention 
 was now excited to the cafe of the unfortunate Africans^ 
 it would be ferving the caufe w'ith double the effed, if 
 it were to be publifhed within a few months. This ar- 
 gument prevailed. Nothing but this circumftance could 
 have induced me to offer an Engiifh compofition to the 
 infpedlion of an hoft of criticks: and I truft therefore 
 that this circumftance will plead much with the benevo- 
 lent reader, in favour of thofe faults, which he may 
 find in the prefent w^ork. 
 
 Having thus promifed to pubiifti it, I was for fome 
 time doubtful from which of the copies to tranflate. 
 There were two, the original, and an abridgement. 
 The latter (as thefe academical compofitions are gene- 
 rally of a certain length) was that which was fent down 
 to Cambridge, and honoured with the prize. I was 
 determined however, upon coufulting with my friends, 
 to tranflate from the former. This has been faithfully 
 done with but few * additions. The reader will pro- 
 bably perceive the Latin idiom in feveral paffages of the 
 work, though I have endeavoured, as far as I have been 
 able, to avoid it. And I am fo fenfible of the difadvantages 
 under which it muft yet lie, as a tranllation, that 1 wifli 
 I had written upon the fubjed, without any reference at 
 all to the original copy. 
 
 It will perhaps be afked^ from what authority I have 
 collected thofe fads, which relate to the colonial flavery. 
 1 reply, that I have had the means of the very beft of 
 information on the fubjed; having the pleafure of being 
 acquainted with many, both in the naval and military 
 departments, as well as with feveral others, who have 
 been long acquainted w'ith America and the WeJlAndian 
 
 iflands. 
 
 * The inftance of the Dutch colonifts at the Cape, In the frft 
 part of the Effay; the defeription of an African battle, in the fe- 
 cond; and the poetry of a negroe girl in the third, are the only 
 confiderable additions that have been made. 
 
/ 
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 iflands. The fa£ls therefore which I have related, are 
 compiled from the difinterefted accounts of thefe gentle- 
 men, all of whom, 1 have the happinefs to fay, have 
 coincided, in the minuted manner, in their defcriptions. 
 
 It muft be remarked too, that they w^ere compiled, not 
 from what thefe gentlemen heard, while they were refi- 
 dent in thofe parts, but from what they actually faw. 
 Nor has a fingle inftance been taken from any book 
 whatever upon the fubje£t, except that from CorJidtraiU 
 ons fur la Colonk dc St. Dominigue^ in the latter part of - 
 Chap, ix, and this book was publilhed in France^ in the 
 year 1777, by authority. 
 
 I have now the pleafure to fay, that the accounts of 
 thefe difinterefted gentlemen, whom I confulted on the 
 occafion, are confirmed by all the books which I have 
 ever perufed upon flavery, except thofe which have been 
 written by merchants^ planters^ <&c. They are confirm- 
 ed by Sir Hans Sloands Voyage to Barbadoes; Griffith 
 Hugheses Hiftory of the fame ifland, printed 1750; an 
 Account of North America, by Fhomas Jefferies^ 1761 ; 
 all Benezefs works, &c. &c. and particularly by Mr. 
 Ramfay's Effay on the Treatment and Converfion of the 
 African Slaves in the Britifh Sugar Colonies; a work 
 which is now firmly eftablifhed ; and, I may add, in a 
 I very extraordinary manner, in confequence of the con- 
 troverfy which this gentleman has fuftained with the 
 Curfory Remarker^ by which feveral fads which were 
 mentioned in the original copy of my own work, before 
 the controverfy began, and which had never appeared 
 in any work upon the fubjed, have been brought to 
 light. Nor has it received lefs fupport from a letter, 
 publifhed only laft week, from Capt. J. S. Smith*, of 
 the Royal Navy, to the Rev. Mr. Hill; on the former 
 1 of w’hom too high encomiums cannot be beftowed, for 
 1 (landing forth in that noble and difinterefted manner, 
 i in behalf of an injured charader. 
 
 I have how only to folicit the reader again, that he 
 will make a favourable allowance for the prefent work, 
 not only from thofe circumftances which I have menti- 
 oned, but from the confideration, that only two months 
 
 are 
 
xvi PREFACE* 
 
 are allowed by the Univerfity for thefe their annual 
 compofitions. Should he however be unpropitious to 
 my requeft, I muft confole myfelf with the rcfledion, 
 (a reflection that will always afford me pleafure, even 
 amidft the cenfures of the great,) that by undertaking 
 the caufe of the unfortunate Africans^ I have under- 
 taken, as far as my abilities would permit, the caufe of 
 injured innocence. ^ 
 
 / 
 
 London, June ift, 1786. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
C O N T E N T S, 
 
 PARTI. 
 
 The Hiflory of Slavery, 
 
 C HAP. I. Introdudion. — Divifion of flavery into 
 voluntary and involuntary. — The latter the fubject 
 of the prefent work. — Chap. II. The firfl clafs of in- 
 voluntary (laves among the ancients, from war. — Con- 
 
 jedure concerning their antiquity.-: Chap. III. The 
 
 fecond clafs from piracy. — Short hiflory of piracy.- ~~ 
 The dance karpoea. — Confiderations from hence oh the 
 
 former topick. Three orders of involuntary (laves 
 
 among the ancients. — Chap. IV. Their perfonal treat- 
 ment. — Exception in iEgypt. — Exception at Athens.: — 
 Chap. V. The caufes of fuch treatment among the an- 
 cients in general. — Additional caufes among the Greeks 
 and Romans. A refutation of their principles. — Re- 
 
 marks on the writings of iEfop. — Chap. VI. The an- 
 dent (lave-trade. — Its antiquity. — ^gypt the firll: mar- 
 ket recorded for this fpecies of traffick. Cyprus the 
 
 fecond. — The agreement of the v/ritings of Mofes and 
 " Homer on the fubjed. — The univerfal prevalence of the 
 trade. — Chap. VII. The decline of this commerce and 
 Havery in Europe. — The caufes of their decline.- — Chap. 
 Vlll. Their revival in Africa. — Short hiflory of their 
 
 revival. Five clafies of involuntary (laves among' the 
 
 moderns. — Cruel inftance of the Dutch colonifts at the 
 Cape. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 The African Commerce or Slave-Trade. 
 
 CHAP. I. - The hjflory of mankind from their firfl 
 fituation to a ftate of government. — Chap. II. An ac- 
 count of the firfl governments.- — Chap. III. Liberty a 
 natural right.— — ^^That of government adventitious.— 
 C Govern- 
 
xviii C O N E N T S. 
 
 Government, its nature. — Its end. — Chap. IV. Man- 
 kind cannot be confidered as property. An objedion 
 
 anfwered. ^Chap. V. Divifion of the commerce into 
 
 two parts, as it relates to thole who fell, and thofe who 
 purchafc the human fpecies into llavery. — I'he right of 
 the I’ellers examined with refped to the two orders of 
 African Haves, “ of thofe who are publickly feized by 
 ‘‘ virtue of the authority of their prince, and of thofe, 
 who are kidnapped by individuals. — Chap. VI. Their 
 right with refped to convids. — From the proportion of 
 
 the punillimenc to the offence. From its objed and 
 
 end. — Chap. VII. Their right with refped to prifoners 
 of war. The jus captivitatis, or right of capture ex- 
 
 plained. — Its injuilice. — Farther explication of the right 
 
 of capture, in anfwer to fome fuppofed objedions. 
 
 Chap. VIII. Additional remarks on 'the two orders that 
 were firft mentioned. — The number which they annually 
 contain. — A defcription of an African battle.-- Additi- 
 onal remarks on prifoners of war. — On convids. — Chap. 
 IX. The right of the purchafers examined. ■ ■ ■ Conclu- 
 fion. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 The Slavery of tlie Africans in the European Colonies. 
 
 CHAP. I. Imaginary fcene in Africa. — Imaginary 
 converfation with an African. — His ideas of Chrifliani- 
 
 ty.' A Defcription of a body of Haves going to the 
 
 fhips. — Their embarkation. — Chap. II. Their treatment 
 
 on board. The number that annually perifh in the 
 
 voyage. — Horrid inftance at fea. — Their debarkation in 
 the coloiiics. — Florrid inftance on the ftiore. — Chap. III. 
 The condition of their pofterity in the colonies. — The 
 lex nativitatis explained. — Its injuftice. — Chap. IV. The 
 feafoning in the colonies. — The number that annually 
 die in the feafoning — The employment of the furvivors. 
 — The colonial difcipline.—Its tendency to produce cru- 
 elty. — Horrid inftance of this effed. — Immoderate la- 
 bour, and its confequences. — Want of food and its con- 
 fcquences. — Severitity and its confequences. — The for- 
 lorn 
 
XIX 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 lorn fituation of flaves. — An appeal to the memory of 
 Alfred. — Chap. V. ^ The contents of the two preceding 
 chapters denied by the purchafers.— Their firft argument 
 refuted. — Their fecond refuted. — Their third refuted. — 
 Chap. VI. Three arguments, which they bring in vindi- 
 cation of their treatment, refuted. Chap. VII. The 
 
 argument, that the Africans are an inferiour link of the 
 chain of nature, as far as it relates to their genius, re- 
 futed. — The caufes of this apparent inferiority. — Short 
 diflertation on African genius. — Poetry of an African 
 girl. — Chap. VIII. The argument, that they are an infe- 
 riour link of the chain of nature, as far as it relates to 
 colour, &c. refuted. — Eamination of the divine writings 
 in this particular. — Diflertation on the colour. — Chap. 
 
 IX. Other arguments of the purchafers examined. 
 
 Their comparifons unjuft. Their aflertions, with re- 
 
 fpe£l to the happy fitutation of the Africans in the colo- 
 nies, without foundation.— Their happinefs examined 
 
 with refped to inanumifTion. — With refpedt to holy-days. 
 —Dances, &c. — An eftimate made at St. Domingo. — 
 Chap. X. The right of the purchafers over their flaves 
 refuted upon their own principles. — Chap. XL Dreadful 
 arguments againfl this commerce and flavery of the hu- 
 man fpecies. — How the Deity feems already to punifli us 
 for this inhuman violation of his laws. — Conclufion.% 
 
 
 A N 
 
I 
 
 E S 
 
 ON THE 
 
 Slavery and Commerce 
 
 O F T H E ' " 
 
 HUMAN SPECIES. 
 
 In three parts. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 THE HISTORY OF SLAVERY. 
 
 ■ I ^ ^ . 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 W HEN civilized, as well as barbarous nations, 
 have been found, through a long fucceflion of 
 ages, uniformly to concur in the fame cuftoms, there 
 feems to arife a prefumption, that fuch cuftoms are not 
 only eminently ufeful, but are founded alfo on the princi- 
 ples of juftice. Such is the cafe with refpeft io S/averj^: 
 it has had the concurrence of all the nations, which hif- 
 tory has recorded, and the repeated pradice of ages 
 from the remoteft antiquity, in its favour.. Here then is 
 an argument, deduced from the general confent and 
 agreement of mankind, in favour of the propofed fub- 
 ject: but alas! when we reflecl that the people, thus re- 
 duced to a flate of fervitude, have had the fame feelings 
 
 with 
 
 . ‘je 
 
 A N 
 
 A 
 
22 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 ■with ourfelves; when we refle6i: that they have had the 
 fame propenfities to pleafure, and the fame averfions from 
 pain; another argument feems immediately to arife in op- 
 pofition to the former, deduced from our own feelings 
 and that divine fympathy, which nature has implanted 
 in our breafts, for the mofl: ufeful and generous of pur- 
 pofes. To afeertain the truth therefore, where tw’ofuch 
 oppofite fources of argument occur; where the force of 
 cuftom pleads ftrongly on the one hand, and the feelings 
 of humanity on the other; it is a matter of much import- 
 tance, as the diginity of human nature is concerned, and 
 the rights and liberties of mankind will be involved in 
 its difeuflion. 
 
 It will be neceffary, before this point can be determin- 
 ed, to confult the Hiftory of Slavery, and to lay before 
 the reader, in as concife a manner as pollible, a general 
 view of it from its earlieft appearance to the prefent day. 
 
 The firft, whom we fliall mention here to have been 
 reduced to a ftate of fervitude, may be comprehended 
 in that clafs, which is ufually denominated the Mercena- 
 ry. It confiflied of free-born citizens, who, from the 
 various contingencies of fortune, had become fo poor, 
 as to have recourfe for their fupport to the fervice of the 
 rich. Of this kind were thofe, both among the Egyp- 
 tians and the Jews, who are recorded in the * facred 
 writings, f The Grecian ^.hetes alfo wxre of this diferip- 
 tion, as well as thofe among the Romans, from whom 
 the clafs receives its appellation, the || Mercenarily 
 
 We may obferve of the above-mentioned, that their 
 fituation was in many inftances fimilar to that of our own 
 
 fervants. 
 
 ♦ Genefis, Ch. 47. Leviticus xxv. v. 39. 40. 
 
 \ The Tketes appear very early in the Grecian Hiftory. Od. Ho- 
 mer. , A . 642. 
 
 (1 The mention of thefe is frequent among the daffies; they were 
 called in general niercenarii, from the circumftances of their hirCy as 
 “ quibus, non male prscipiunt, qui ita jubent uti, ut merce?iariis, 
 
 operam exigendam, jufta proebenda. Cicero de off.” But they 
 are fometimes mentioned in the law books by the name of liberty from 
 the circumftances of their birthy to didinguiih them from the alieniy 
 or foreigners, as Juftinian. D. 7. 8. 4.— Id. 21. i. 25. &c. &c. &c. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 23 
 
 fervants. There was an exprefs contra(n: between the 
 parties: they could, moft of them, demand their dif- 
 charge, if they were ill ufed by their refpe6live mafters 5 
 and they were treated therefore with more humanity than 
 thofe, whom we ufually dilfinguifh in our language by 
 the appellation of Slaves. 
 
 As this clafs of fervants was compofed of men, who 
 had been reduced to fuch a fituation by the conringences 
 of fortune, and not by their own mifcondud; fo there 
 was another among the ancients, compofed entirely of 
 thofe, who had fuffered the lofs of liberty from their own 
 ^imprudence. To this clafs may be reduced the Grecian 
 Frcdigals^ w'ho were detained in the fervice of their cre- 
 ditors, till the fruits of their labour were equivalent to 
 their debts ; the delinquents^ who were fentenced to the 
 oar; and the German enthufiajis^ as mentioned by Ta- 
 citus, who w'ere fo immoderately charmed with gaming, 
 as, when every thing elfe was gone, to have flaked their 
 liberty and their very felves. ‘‘ The lofer,^’ fays he, 
 ‘‘ goes into a voluntary fervitude, and though younger 
 and flronger than the perfon with whom he played, 
 patiently fuffers himfelf to be bound and fold. Their 
 “ perfeverance in fo bad a cuttom is fliled honour.— 
 The flaves, thus obtained, are immediately exchanged 
 ‘‘ away in commerce, that the winner may get rid of 
 ‘‘ the fcandal of his victory.” 
 
 To enumerate other inftances, would be unnecefTary: 
 it will be fufficient to obferve, that the fervants of this 
 clafs were in a far more wretched fituation, than thofe 
 of the former; their drudgery was more intenfe; their 
 treatment more fevere; and there was no retreat at plea- 
 fure, from the frowns and lafhes of their defpotick ma- 
 flers. ' 
 
 Having premifed this, we may now proceed to a gene- 
 ral divifion of flavery, into voluntary and involuntary. 
 The voluntary will comprehend the two claffes, which 
 we have already mentioned; for, in the firfl inftance, 
 there was a contraEi^ founded on confent\ and in the fe- 
 cond, there was a choice of engaging or not in thofe 
 pradlices, the knowm confequences of which were fervi- 
 tude. 
 
24 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 tude. The involuntary^ on the other hand, will compre- 
 hend thofe, who were forced, without any fuch condition 
 or choice^ into a fituation, which as it tended to degrade 
 a part of the human fpecies, and to clafs it with the bru- 
 tal, mud have been, of all human fituations, the moft 
 wretched and infupportable. Thele are they, whom we 
 fhail confider foley in the prefent work. ' We fhall there- 
 fore take our- leave of the former, as they were mention- 
 ed only, that we might date the queflion with greater 
 accuracy, and be the better enabled to reduce it to its 
 proper limits. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 ' The firfl that will be mentioned, of the involuntary^ 
 were prifoners of ^var.* “ It was a law, eftablilhed from 
 time immemorial among the nations of antiquity, to 
 oblige thofe to undergo the feverities of lervitude, 
 ‘‘ whom victory had thrown into their hands,” Con- 
 formably with this, \VQ find all the Eaftern nations unani- 
 mous in the pradice. The fame cultom prevailed among 
 the people of the Well; for as the Helots became the 
 Haves of the Spartans, from the right of conquefl only, 
 fo prifoners of war were reduced to the fame fituation 
 by the reft of the inhabitants of Greece. By the fame 
 principles that actuated thefe, were the Romans alfo in- 
 fluenced. Their Hiftory will confirm the fad: for how 
 many cities are recorded to haVe been taken; how many 
 armies to have been vanquiflied in the field, and the 
 wretched furvivors, in both inftances, to have been 
 « doomed to fervitude? It remains only now to obferve, in 
 Ihewing this cuflom to have been univerfal, that all thofe 
 nations which afiifted in overturning the Roman Empire, 
 though many and various, adopted the fame meafures ; 
 for we find it a general maxim in their polity, that 
 whoever ihould fall into their hands as a prifoncr of war, 
 Ihould immediately be reduced to the conSition of a 
 Have. 
 
 Xenoph. L. 7. fin. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 25 
 
 It may here, perhaps, be not unworthy of remark, 
 that the involuntary were of greater antiquity than the 
 voluntary Haves. The latter are firft mentioned in the 
 time of Pharaoh: they could have arifen only in a Hate 
 of fociety; when property, after its divifion, had become 
 fo unequal, as to multiply the wants of individuals; and 
 when government, after its eftablifhment, had given fe- 
 curity to the poflelTor by the punifiiment of crimes. — 
 Whereas the former feem to be dated with more propri- 
 ety from the days of Nimrod; who gave rife probably 
 to that infeparable idea of vidory and fervitude^ which we 
 find among the nations of antiquity, and which has ex- 
 ifted uniformly fince, in one country or another, to the 
 prefent day.* 
 
 Add to this, that they might have arifen even in a 
 flate of nature, and have been coeval with the .quarrels 
 of mankind. 
 
 C H A P. III. 
 
 But it was not vidlory alone, or any prefuppofed right, 
 founded in the damages of war, that afforded a pretence 
 for invading the liberties of mankind : the honourable 
 light, in which piracy was confidered in the uncivilized 
 ages of the world, contributed not a little to the Jlavery 
 of the human fpecies. Piracy had a very early beginning. 
 “ The Grecians,’^ f fays T^hucydides, in their primi- 
 “ tive (late, as well as the contemporary'barbarians, who 
 inhabited the fea coaffs and illands,' gave themfelves 
 wholly to it ; it was, in fliort, their only profeflion 
 and fupport."’ The writings of Homer are fufEcient 
 of themfelves to elfabliflt this account. They fliew it to 
 have been a common pradlice at fo early a period as that 
 of the Trojan war; and abound with many lively de- 
 fer iptions 
 
 * “ Proud Nimrod lirft the bloody chace began, 
 
 ‘‘ A mighty hunter, and his pray was man.” 
 
 P o ?E. 
 
 I Thucvclides. L. i. Tub initio. 
 
 D 
 
26 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 fcriptions of it, which, had they been as groundlefs as 
 they are beautiful, would have frequently fpared the figh 
 of the reader of fenfibiiity and reflexion. 
 
 The piracies, w^hich v/ere thus pradifed in the early 
 ages, may be confidered as publick or private. In the 
 former, wdinle crews embarked for the f benefit of their 
 refpeftive tribes. They made defcents on the fea coafis, 
 carried off cattle, furprifed whole villages, put many of 
 the inhabitants to the fword, and carried others into 11a- 
 verv. 
 
 j 
 
 In the latter, individuals only were concerned, and the 
 emolument was their own. Thefe landed from their Ihips, 
 and, going up into the country, concealed themfelves in 
 the woods and thickets; where they waited every op- 
 portunity of catching the unfortunate lliepherd or huf- 
 bandman alone. In this fituation they Tallied out upon 
 him, dragged him on board, conveyed him to a foreign 
 market, and fold him for a Have. 
 
 To this kind of piracy Ulyffes alludes, in oppofitionto 
 the former, which he had been juft before mentioning, 
 in his queftion to Eumoeus. 
 
 Did pirates wait, till all thy friends were gone, 
 
 ‘‘ To catch thee fingly with thy flocks alone; 
 
 “ Say, did they force thee from thy fleecy care, 
 
 “ And from thy fields tranfport and fell thee here?’^ 
 
 But no piQure, perhaps, of this mode of depredation, 
 is equal to that, with which + Xenophon prefents us in 
 the fimple narrative of a dance. He informs us that the 
 Grecian army had concluded a peace with the Paphlagoivi- 
 ans, aud that they entertained their embaffadors in con- 
 fequence with a banquet, and the exhibition of various 
 feats of adivicy. “ When the Thracians,” fays he, had 
 
 performed the parts allotted them in this entertainment, 
 “ fome iEnianian and Magnetian foldiers rofe up, and, 
 
 “ accoutred 
 
 I 'idem. — “ the flrongefi,” fays he, “ engaging in thefe 
 
 adventures. 
 
 Homer. Odyfs. L. 15. 385. 
 f Xenoph. L- 6 . mb initio. 
 
OF THE Human Spicies. 27 
 
 accoutred in their proper arms, exhibited that dance, 
 which is called Karp(Ea. The figure of it is thus. One 
 of them, in the charadder of an Imfbandman, is feen 
 to till his land, and is oblerved, as he drives his plough, 
 to look frequently behind him, as if apprehenfive of 
 danger. Another immediately appears in fight, in the 
 “ charadter of a robber. The Imfbandman, having feen 
 “ him previoufly advancing, fnatches up his arms. A 
 battle enfues before the plough. Ihe whole of this 
 performance is kept in perfedf time with the mufick of 
 the flute. At length the robber, having: got the bet- 
 ter of the hufbandman, binds him, and drives him off 
 ‘‘ with his team. Sometimes it happens that the huh 
 ‘‘ bandman fubdues the robber: in this cafe the feene is 
 only reverled, as the latter is then bound and driven 
 off by the former.’^ 
 
 It is fcarcely necelfary to obferve, that this dance was 
 a reprefentation of the general manners of men, in the 
 more uncivilized ages of the world ; fnewing that the 
 hufbandman and fliepherd lived in continual alarm, and 
 that there were people in thofe ages, who derived their 
 pleafures and fortunes from kidnapping Ttnd e njl avi ng thm 
 fellow creatures. 
 
 We may now take notice of a circumftance in this nar- 
 ration, which will lead us to a review of our firfl afferti- 
 on on this point, “ that the honourable light, in which 
 ‘‘ piracy was confidered in the times of barbarifm, xon- 
 tributed not a little to the Jlavery of the haman fpe- 
 cies.” The robber is reprefented here as frequently 
 defeated in his attempts, and as reduced to that deplora- 
 ble fituation, to which he w^as endeavouring to bring 
 another. This fhews the frequent difficulty and danger 
 of his undertakings: people would not tamely refign their 
 lives or liberties, without a flruggle. They were fome- 
 times prepared; were fuperior often, in many points 
 of view, to thefe invaders of their liberty;^ there were 
 an hundred accidental circumflances frequently in their 
 favour. Thefe adventurers therefore required all the 
 fkill, ftrength, agility, valour, and every thing, in fliort, 
 that may be luppofed to conflitute heroifm, to ccnducl 
 . them 
 
^8 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 them with fuccefs. Upon this idea piratical expeditions 
 fir ft came into repute, and their frequency afterwards, 
 together with the danger and fortitude, that were infepara- 
 bly conneded with them, brought them into fuch credit 
 among the barbarous nations of antiquity, that of all 
 human profeiiions, piracy was the moft honourable. * 
 
 The notions then, which were thus annexed to pira- 
 tical expeditions, did not fail to produce thofe confe- 
 quences, which we have mentioned before. They af- 
 forded an opportunity to the views of avarice and 
 ambition, to conceal themfelves under the mafk of vir- 
 tue. They excited a fpirit of enterprize, of all others 
 the moft irrefiftible, as it fubfifted on the ftrongeft prin- 
 ciples of aftion, emolument and honour. Thus could 
 the vileft of paftions be gratified with impunity. Peo- 
 ple were robbed, ftolen, murdered, under the pretended 
 idea that thefe were reputable adventures: every enor- 
 mity in fnort w^as committed, and dreffed up in the ha- 
 biliments of honour. 
 
 But as the notions of men in the lefs barbarous ages, 
 w’hich followed, became more corredfed and refined, 
 the pradice of piracy began gradually to difappear. It 
 had hitherto been fupported on the grand columns of 
 emclument and honour. When the latter therefore was 
 removed, it received a confiderable fhock; but, alas! it 
 had ftill a pillar for its fupport! avarice^ which exifts 
 in all ftates, and which is ready to turn every invention 
 to its own ends, ftrained hard for its prefervation. It 
 had been produced in the ages of barbarifm ; it had 
 been pointed out in thofe ages as lucrative, and under 
 this notion it was continued. People were ftill ftolen; 
 many were intercepted (fome, in their purfuits of plea- 
 fure, others, in the difeharge of their feveraJ occupati- 
 ons) by their own countrymen ; wTiO previoufly laid in 
 w^ait for them, and fold them afterwards for (laves ; while 
 others feized by merchants, who traded on the dilierent 
 coafts, were torn from their friends and ccnneclions, 
 
 and 
 
 * Thucydides. L. r. Tub initio. Sextus Empiricus. 
 
 Schol. dec. dec. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 29 
 
 and carried into flavery. The merchants of Theflaly, 
 if we can credit * Ariftophanes who never fpared the 
 vices of the times, were particularly infamous for the' 
 latter kind of depredation; the Athenians were notori- 
 ous for the former; for they had pradifed thefe robbe- 
 ries to fuch an alarming degree of danger to individuals, 
 that it was found neceflary to enadt a f law, which pu.- 
 nifhed kidnappers with death. — But this is fufficient for 
 our prefent purpofe ; it will enable us to aflert, that there 
 were two clafies of involuntary flaves among the ancients, 
 “ of thofe who were taken publickly in a ftate of war, 
 “ and of thofe who were privately ilolen in a ftate of 
 “ innocence and peace.” We may now add, that the 
 children and delcendents of thefe compofed a third. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 It will be proper to fay fomething here ‘concerning 
 the fttuation of the unfortunate men, who w’ere thus 
 doomed to a life of fervitude. To enumerate their va- 
 rious employments, and to defcribe the miferies which 
 they endured in confequence, either from the feverity, 
 or the long and conftant application of their labour, 
 would exceed the bounds we have propofed to the pre- 
 fent work. We ftiall confine ourfclves to their perfonal 
 treatment^ as depending on the power of their mafters, 
 and the protection of the law. Their treatment, if con- 
 fiJered in this light, will equally excite our pity and ab- 
 horrence. They ,were beaten, ftarved, tortured, mur- 
 dered at diferetion: they were dead in a civil fenfe; 
 they had neither name nor tribe; were incapable of a 
 judicial procefs; were in lliort without appeal. ' Poor 
 unfortunate men! to be deprived of all pofTible protec- 
 tion! to luffer the bittereft of injuries without the pof- 
 fibility of redrefs! to be condemned unheard ! 'to' be 
 
 murdered 
 
 * Aridoph. Pint. Aft. 2. Scene 5. 
 t Zenoph. L.’ i. 
 
30 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 murdered with impunity! to be confidered as dead in 
 that ftate, the very members of which they were fup- 
 porting by their labours! 
 
 Yet fuch was their general htuation; there were two 
 places however, where their condition, if confidered in this 
 point of view, was more tolerable. The ^Egyptian (lave, 
 though perhaps of all others the gieateft drudge, yet if 
 he had time to reach the * temple of Hercules, found a 
 certain retreat from the perfccution of his mailer ; and 
 he received additional comfort from the refledlion, that 
 his life, whether he could reach it or not, could not be 
 taken with impunity. Wife and falutary law! how of- 
 ten mull it have curbed the infolence of power, and 
 flopped thofe pafTions in their progrefs, which had other- 
 W’ife been deflruclive to the flave! 
 
 But though the perfons of Haves were thus greatly 
 fecured in jEgypt, yet there was no place fo favourable 
 to them as Athens. They were allov/ed a greater liber- 
 ty of fpeech; f they had their convivial meetings, their 
 amours, their hours of relaxation, pleafantry,^ and mirth; 
 they w^ere treated, in fliort, with fo much humanity in ge- 
 neral, as to occahon that obfervation of Demollhenes, in 
 his fecond Philippick, that the condition of a flave, * 
 at Athens, was preferable to that of a free citizen, 
 
 ‘‘ in many other countries.” But if any exception hap- 
 pened (which was fometimes the cafe) from the general 
 treatment defcribed; if perfecution took the place of 
 lenity, and made the fangs of fervitude more pointed 
 than before, | they had then their temple, like the 
 ^Egyptian, for refuge; wdiere the legiflature was fo at- 
 tentive, as to examine their complaints, and to order 
 them, if they were founded in jullice, to be fold to 
 ■another mafler. Nor was this all: they had a privilege 
 
 infinitely 
 
 * Herodotus. L. 2. JJ3. 
 
 f Atq id 11c VOS mircmini, Homines fervulos. 
 
 “ Potare, amare, atq ad ccnam condicere. 
 
 Licet hoc Athcnis. 
 
 “ Plautus. Sticho. 
 
 ± Arifioph. Korte. Eupoiis. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 31 
 
 infinitely greater than the whole of thefe. They tvere 
 allowed an opportunity of working for themfeves, and 
 if their diligence had procured them a fum equivalent 
 with their ranfom, they could immediately, on paying 
 it down, * demand their freedom for ever. This law 
 was, of all others, the mofl important; as the profpedl 
 of liberty, which it afforded, muft have been a conti- 
 nual fource of the moft pleafing refle<ftions, and have 
 greatly fweetened the draught, even of the mofl bitter 
 llavery. 
 
 Thus then, to the eternal honour of -^gypt and 
 Athens, they were the only places that we can find, 
 where Haves were confidered with any humanity at all. 
 The reft of the world feemed to vie with each other, in 
 the debafement and oppreffion of thefe unfortunate peo- 
 ple. They ufed them with as much feverity as they 
 chofe; they meafured their treatment only by their own 
 paffion and caprice; and, by leaving them on every oc- 
 cafion, without the poffibilitv of an. appeal, they render- 
 kd their fituation the moft melancholy and intolerable, 
 that can poflibly be conceived. 
 
 C H A P. V. 
 
 , As we have mentioned the barbarous and inhuman 
 r treatment that generally fell to the lot of Haves, it may 
 not be amifs to inquire into the various circumftances 
 by which it was produced. 
 
 The firft circumftance, from whence it originated, 
 was the commerce', for if men could be confidered as 
 pojjeffions^ if, like cattle^ they could be bought and fold^ 
 it will not be difficult to fuppofe, that they could be 
 
 held 
 
 ♦ To this privilege Plautus alludes in his Qa[ma^ where he intro- 
 duces a Have, fpcaking in the following manner. 
 
 “ Quid tu me vero libertate territas? 
 
 “ Quod fi tu nolis, filiufquc ctiam tuus 
 Vobis invitisy atq amborum ingratiis, 
 
 “ Uns lihella liber fieri. 
 
32 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 held' in the fame confideration, or treated in the fame 
 manner. The commerce therefore, which was begun 
 in the primitive ages ot the world, by claiTing them with 
 the brutal fpecies, and by habituating the mind to con- 
 fider the terms of brute and Jlave as Jynonhnous^ foon 
 caufed them to be viewed in a low and defpicabie light, 
 and as greatly inferiour to the human fpecies. Hence 
 proceeded that treatment, which might not unreafona- 
 bly be fuppofed to arife from fo low an eftimation. 
 
 ' They were tamed, like beads, by the flings of hunger 
 and the lafh, and their education was dire<ded to the 
 fame end, to make them commodious inflruments of 
 labour for their pofTeffors. 
 
 This treatment^ which thus- proceeded in the ages of 
 barbarifm, from the low eftimation, in which flaves were 
 unfortunately held from the circumftances of the com- 
 merce, did not fail of producing, in the fame inllant, 
 its own effect. It deprefled their minds; it numbed their 
 faculties; and, by preventing thofe fparks of genius 
 from blazing forth, which had otherwife been confpi- 
 cuous; it gave them the appearance of being endued 
 with inferior capacities than the reft of mankind. This 
 effedl of the treatment had made fo confiderable a pro- 
 grefs, as to have been a matter of obfervation in the 
 days of Homer. 
 
 ♦ For half his fenfes Jove conveys away, 
 
 Whom once he dooms to fee the fervile day. 
 
 Thus then did the ccnunerce^ by clafling them originally 
 with brutes^ and the confequent treatment, by cramping 
 their abilities and hindering them from becoming conipicu- 
 ous, give to thefe unfortunate people, at a very early pe- 
 riod, the moft unfavourable appearance. The rifing ge- 
 nerations, who received both the commerce and treat- 
 ment from their anceftors, and who had always been ac- 
 cuftomed to behold their effects, did not coniider thefe* 
 effe^s as incidental: they judged only from what they faw^; 
 they believed the appearances to be real\ and hence arofe 
 
 Homer. Odyf. P. 322. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 33 
 
 the combined principle, that Haves were an Inferiour or- 
 der of men, and perfedly void of underjianding. Upon 
 this principle it was, that the former treatment began to 
 be fully confirmed and eftablifhed; and as this principle 
 was handed down and diffeminated, fo it became, in fuc- 
 ceeding ages', an excufe for any feverity, that defpotifiu 
 might fugged. 
 
 We may obferve here, that as all nations had this ex- 
 cufe in common, as arifing from the circumjimices above- 
 mentioned, fo the Greeks firft, and the Romans after- 
 wards, had an additional excufe^ as arifing from their own 
 vanity* 
 
 The former having conquered Troy, and having united 
 themfelves under one common name and intereft, began, 
 from that period, to didinguifh the reft of the world by 
 the title of barbarians; inferring by fuch an appellation, 
 * that they were men who were only noble in their 
 own country; that they had no right, from their na- 
 ture^ to authority or command; that, on the contrary, 
 fo low were their capacities, they were dejiined by na- 
 ‘‘ ture to obey^ and to live in a ftate of perpetual drudgery 
 and fubjugation.” Conformable with this opinion was 
 the treatment, which was accordingly preferibed to a bar^ 
 barian. The philofopher Ariftotle himfelf, in the advice 
 which he gave to his pupil Alexander, before he went 
 upon his ATiatick expedition, f intreated him to ufe 
 the Greeks^ as it became a general^ but the barbarians^ 
 as it became a majter ; confider, fays he, the Yormer 
 ‘‘ friends and domefiicks\ but the latter, as brutes and 
 plants inferring that the Greeks, from the fuperiori- 
 ty of their capacities, had a natural right to dominion, and 
 that the reft of the world, from the inferiority of their 
 own, were to be confidered and treated as the irrational 
 part of the creation. 
 
 Now, if we confider that this was the treatment, which 
 they judged to be abfolutely proper for people of this 
 defeription, and that their Haves were uniformly thofe, 
 
 whom 
 
 AriHotle. Polit. Ch. 2. et infeq. 
 t Plutarch, de Fortun. Alexand. Orat. i. 
 K 
 
34 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 'whom they termed barbarians \ being generally fuch, as 
 were either kidnapped from Barbary^ or purchafed from 
 the barbarian conquerors in their 'wars with one another; 
 we fhall immediately fee, with what an additional excufe 
 their own vanity had furniflied them for the fallies of ca- 
 price and paflion. 
 
 To refute thefe cruel fentiments of the ancients, and 
 to fhew that their flaves were by no means an inferiour 
 order of beings than themfelves, may perhaps be con- 
 fidered as an unneceffary talk; particularly, as having 
 fhewn, that the caufes of this inferiour appearance were 
 incidental^ arifing, on the one hand, from the combined 
 effeds of the treatment and commeree^ and, on the other, 
 from vanity and pride^ we feem to have refuted them al- 
 ready. But we trufl that fome few' obfervations, in vin- 
 dication of thefe unfortunate people, will neither be un- 
 acceptable nor improper. 
 
 How then fliall we begin the refutation? Shall 'w^e fay 
 with Seneca, who faw many of the flaves in queftion. 
 What is a knight^ or a libertine^ or a Jlavef Are they 
 “ not names, alTumed either from injury or ambhionf'^ 
 Or, fliall we fay with him on another occafion, “ Let us 
 “ confider that he, whom we call our Have, is born in 
 the fame manner as ourfelves; that he enjoys the fame 
 fky, with all its heavenly luminaries ; that he breathes, 
 that he lives, in the fame manner as ourfelves, and, 
 in the fame manned, that he expires/’ Thefe con- 
 fiderations, we coiifefs, would furnifh us with a plentiful 
 fource of arguments in the cafe before us ; but we de- 
 cline their alliftance. How then fliall we begin? Shall 
 v/e enumerate the many inftances of fidelity, patience, 
 or valour, that are recorded of the fervile race? Shall 
 w'e enumerate the many important fervices, that they 
 rendered both to the individuals and the. community, un- 
 der whom they lived? Here would be a fecond fource, 
 from whence we could collect fufficient materials to fhew, 
 that there was no inferiority in their nature. But wx de- 
 cline to ufe them. We fliall content ourfelves with fome 
 few inftances, that relate to the genius only: we fhall 
 mention the names of thofe of a fervile condition, whofe 
 
 writings, 
 
^ OF THE Human Species. ^ 35 
 
 writings, have efcaped the wreck of time, and having 
 been handed down even to the prefent age, are now to 
 be feen, as fo many living monuments, that neither the 
 Grecian, nor Roman genius, was fuperiourto their own. 
 
 The firft, whom we fhall mention here, is the famous 
 .^fop. • He was a Phrygian by birth, and lived in the 
 time of Croefus, king of Lydia, to whom he dedicated 
 his fables. The writings of this great man, in what- 
 ever light v.^e confider them, will be equally entitled to 
 our admiration. But we are well aware, that the very 
 mention of him as a writer of fables, may depreciate 
 him in the eyes of fome. To fuch we fliall propofe a 
 queftion, ‘‘ Whether this fpecies of writing has not been 
 more beneficial to mankind; or whether it has not 
 produced more important events, than any other?” 
 With refpecl to the firft confideration, it is evident 
 that thefe fables, as confifting of plain and fimple tranf- 
 adions, are particularly eafy to be underftood; as con- 
 veyed in images, they pleafe and feduce the mind; and, 
 as containing a morale eafily deducible on the fide of 
 virtue ; that they afford, at the fame time, the mod 
 weighty precepts of philofophy. Here then are the two 
 grand points of compofition, a manner of expreflion 
 to be apprehended by the lowed capacities, and * 
 (what is confidered as a vidory in the art) an happy 
 conjundion of utility and pleafure.’’ Hence Quintili- 
 an recommends them, as fingularly ufeful, and as ad* 
 mirably adapted, to the puerile age; as a jud gradation 
 between the language of the nurfe and the preceptor, 
 and as furnifhing maxims of prudence and virtue, at a 
 time when the fpeculative principles of philofophy are 
 too difficult to be undcrdood. Hence alfo having been 
 introduced by mod civilized nations into their fydem of 
 education, they have produced that general benefit, to 
 which we at fird alluded. Nor have they been of lefs 
 confequence in maturity ; but particularly to thofe of infe- 
 riour capacities, or little erudition, whom they have fre- 
 quently 
 
 * Omne tulit punctum, qui mifcuit utile dtilci. Horace. 
 
On the Slavery and Commerce ^ 
 
 quently ferved as a guide to conduct them in life, and 
 as a medium, through which an explanation might be 
 made, on many and important occafions. 
 
 With refpect to the latter confideration, which is eali- 
 ly deducible from hence, we fnall only appeal to the 
 w^onderful effect, w’hich the fable, pronounced by De- 
 mofthenes againft Philip of Macedon, produced among 
 his hearers; or to the fable, which wasfpoken by Men e- 
 nius Agrippato the Roman populace; by which an illite- 
 rate multitude were brought back to their duty as citi- 
 zens, w'hen no other fpecies of oratory could prevail. 
 
 To thefe truly ingeniolis^ and FJnlofcphical works of 
 ^fop, we fliall add thofe of his imitator Phsedrus, which 
 in purity and elegance of ftyle, are inferiour to none. 
 We fliall add alfo the Lyrick Poetry Alckman, which 
 is no fervile compofition ; the fublime Morals of Epidte- 
 tus, and the incompiarable comedies of Terence. 
 
 Thus then does it appear, that the excufe which was 
 uniformly ftarted in defence of the treatment of haves, 
 had no foundation whatever either in truth or juffice. 
 The inflances that we have mentioned above, are fuf- 
 ficient to fliew, that there was no inferiority, either in 
 their nature^ or their underftandings : and at the fame 
 time that they refute the principles of the ancients, they 
 afford a valuable leffon to thofe, wdio have been accuf- 
 tomed to form too precipitate a judgment on the abilities 
 of men: for, alas! how often has fecret anguijh depreffed 
 the fpirits of thofe, whom they have frequently cenfur- 
 ,ed, from their gloomy and dejedted appearance! and 
 liow often, on the other hand, lias their judgment re- 
 fulted from their own vanity and pride! 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 We proceed now to the confideration of commerce: 
 in confequence of which, people, endued with the fime 
 feelings and faculties as ourfelves, were made fubjed: to 
 the laws and limitations of pojfeffwn. 
 
 This 
 
^ OF THE Human Species. 37 
 
 This commerce of the human fpecies was of a very- 
 early date. It was founded on the idea' that men were 
 property^ and, as this idea was coeval with the firft or- 
 der of in^ooiuntary haves, it muff have arifen, (if the 
 date, w’hich we previouhy affixed to that order, be right) 
 in the firfl; practices of barter. The Story of Jofeph, as 
 recorded in the facred writings, whom his brothers fold 
 from an envious fufpicion of his future greatnefs, is an 
 ample teflimony of the truth of this conjecture. It (hews 
 ■ that there were men, even at that early period, who 
 travelled up -and down as merchants, colledting not only 
 balm, myrrh, fpicery, and other wares, but the human 
 fpecies alfo, for the purpofes of traffick. The initant 
 determination of the brothers, on the firfl fight of the 
 merchants, io /ell him^ and the immediate acquiefcence 
 of thefe, who purchafed him for a foreign market, prove 
 that this commerce had been then eflabliffied, not only 
 in that part of the country, where this tranfadlion hap- 
 pened, but in that alfo, whither the merchants were then 
 travelling with their camels, namely, iEgypt: and they 
 fhew farther, that, as all cuffoms require time for their 
 eflablifhment, fo it muff have exifled in the ages, pre- 
 vious to that of Pharaoh; that is, in thofe ages, in 
 which we fixed the firft date of irrcoliiniary fervitude. 
 This commerce then, as appears by the prefent inftance, 
 exifted in the earliefl practices of barter, and had de- 
 fended to the jffilgyptians, through as long a period or 
 time, as was fufficient to have made it, in the times al- 
 luded to, an eflabliffied cuflom. Thus was ^gypt, in 
 thofe days, the place of the greateft refort; the grand 
 emporium of trade, to which people were driving their 
 ' merchandize, as to a centre; and thus did it afford, 
 among other opportunities of traffick, the firft market 
 that is recorded, for the fale of the human fpecies. 
 
 This market, which was thus fupplied by the conflant 
 concourfe of merchants, who reforted to it from various 
 parts, could not fail, by thefe means, to have been con- 
 fiderable. It received, afterw^ards, an additional fuppiy 
 from thofe piracies, which vit mentioned to have exiffed 
 in the uncivilized ages of the world, and wdn'ch, in fadt, 
 
 it 
 
3S On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 it greatly promoted, and encouraged; and it became, 
 from thd'e united circumilances, -fo famous, as to have 
 been known, within a few centuries from the time of 
 Pharaoh, both to the Grecian colonies in Afia, and the 
 Grecian iflands. Homer mentions Cyprus and ikgypt 
 as the common markets for flaves, about the times of 
 the Trojan war. Thus Antinous, offended with Ulyffes, 
 threatens to fend him to * one of thefe places, if he 
 does not inflantly depart from his table. The fame poet 
 alfo, in his -j- hymn to Bacchus, mentions them again, 
 but in a more unequivocal manner, as the common mar- 
 kets for flaves. He takes occafion, in that hymn, to 
 defcribe.the pirates method of fcouring the coaft, from 
 the circumflance of their having kidnapped Bacchus, 
 as a noble youth, for whom they expeded an immenfe 
 ranfom. The captain of the vefl'el, having dragged him 
 on board, is reprefented as addrelfing himfelf thus, to 
 the fteerfman: 
 
 Haul in the tackle, hoift aloft the fail, 
 
 Then take your helm, and watch the doubtful gale! 
 
 To mind the captive prey, be our’s the care, 
 
 ‘‘ While you to ^gypt or to Cyprus fleer,* 
 
 ‘‘ There lliall he go, unlefs his friends he’ll tell, 
 
 Whofe ranfom-gifts will pay us full as well.” 
 
 It may not perhaps be confidered as a digreffion, to 
 mention in few words, by itfelf, the wonderful concor- 
 dance of the writings 'of Mofes and Homer with the cafe 
 before us: not that the former, from their divine autho- 
 rity, want additional fupport, but becaufe it cannot be 
 unpleafant to fee them confirmed by a perfon, who, be- 
 ing one of the earlieft writers, and living in a very re- 
 mote age, Was the firfl that could afford us any additional 
 proof of the circumftances above-mentioned. iEgypt 
 is reprefented, in the firfl book of the facred writings, 
 as a market for flaves, and, in the \ fecond, as famous 
 
 Horn. Odyfl*. L. 17. 448. 
 t L. 26. 
 
 i Exodus. Ch. I. 
 
 for 
 
OF THE Human Species. 39 
 
 for the feverity of its fervitude. | The fame line, which 
 we have already cited from Homer,' conveys to us the 
 fame ideas. It points it out as a market for the human 
 fpecies, and by the epithet of “ bitter ( J which 
 
 epithet is peculiarly annexed to it on this occafion) al- 
 ludes in the ffrongeft manner to that feverity and rigour, 
 of which the facred hiftorian tranfmitted us the firfl; ac- 
 count. 
 
 But, to relMrn. Though iEgypt was the firfl market 
 recorded for this fpecies of trafiick;. and though iEgypt, 
 and Cyprus afterwards, were particularly diflinguifhed 
 for it, in the times of the Trojan war; yet they were 
 not the only places, even at that period, where men were 
 bought and fold. The Odyfl'ey of Homer fliews that it 
 was then praclifed in many of the iflands of the ^goean 
 fea; and the Iliad, that it had taken place among thofe 
 Grecians on the continent of Europe, who had embark- 
 ed from thence on the Trojan expedition. This appears 
 particularly at the end of the feventh book. A fleet is 
 defcribed there, as having jufl: arrived from Lemnos, 
 with a fupply of wine for the Grecian camp. The mer- 
 chants are defcribed alfo, as immediaetly expofing it to 
 fale, and as receiving in exchange, among other articles 
 of barter, “ a number of flavesJ’ 
 
 It will now be fufficient to obferve, that, as other 
 flares arofe, and as circumflances contributed to make 
 them known, this cuflom is difcovered to have exifled 
 among them; that it travelled oyer all Afia; that, it 
 ■fpread through the Grecian and Roman world ; was in 
 ufe among the barbarous nations, which overturned the 
 Roman empire; and was pra6lifed therefore, at the fame 
 period, throughout all Europe. ' 
 
 C H A P. 
 
 f Vide note ifl. page 3^, 
 
 f This ftrikes us the more forcibly, as it is ftiled, heaufiful and 
 welt watered^'’ in all other paffages where it is mentioned, but this. . 
 
40 
 
 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 This Jlavery and commerce^ which had continued for 
 lo long a time, and which was thus pradifed in Europe 
 at fo late a period as that, which fucceeded the grand 
 revolutions in the weftern world, began, as the northern 
 nations were fettled in their conquefts, to decline, and, 
 on their full eftablifliment, v/ere abolifhed. A differ- 
 ence of opinion has arifen refpeding the caufe of their 
 abolition; fome having aflerted, that they were the ne- 
 ceffary confequences of the feudal fjjleiu; while others, 
 fuperiour both in number and in argument, have main- 
 tained that they were the natural effects of Chri/iianity* 
 The mode of argument, which the former adopt on this 
 occafion, is as follows. The multitude of little States, 
 which fprang up from one great one at this ^ra, oc- 
 cafioned infinite bickerings and matter for contention. 
 “ There was not a ftate or feignory, which did not want 
 all the hands they could mufler, either to defend their 
 own right, or to difpute that of their neighbours. 
 “ Thus every man was taken into the fervice: whom 
 ‘‘ they armed they muft trufl: and there could be no 
 trufl 'but in free men. Thus the barrier between the 
 two natures was thrown down, and flavery was no 
 more heard of in the 
 
 That^this was not the neceffary ccnfequence of fuch a 
 fituation, is apparent. The political ffate of Greece, 
 in its early hiflory, was the fame as that of Europe, 
 when divided, by the feudal fyflem, into an infinite 
 number of fmall and independent kingdoms. There 
 was the fame matter therefore for contention, and the 
 fame call for all the hands that could be muflered: the 
 Grecians, in fhort, in the heroick^ were in the fame fitu- 
 ation in thefe refpeefs as the feudal barons in the Gothick 
 times. Had this therefore been a neceffary effect, there 
 had been a ceffation of fervitude in Greece, in thofe 
 ages, in which we have already fhewn that it exifted. 
 
OF THE Human Species. . ' 41 
 
 But with refpeft to ChriJUanity^ many and great are 
 the arguments, that it occafioned fo defirable an event. 
 It taught, that all men were originally equal; that the 
 ‘‘ Deity was no refpeder of perfons, and that, as all 
 “ men were to give an account of their adlions here- 
 after, it was neceflary that they fhould be free.” Thefe 
 doctrines could not fail of having their proper influence 
 on thofe, who firfl: embraced Chrijiiamty ^ from a con- 
 vidion of its truth; and on thofe of their defcendents 
 afterwards, who, by engaging in the crufades^ and ha- 
 zarding their lives and fortunes there, fhewed, at leaft, 
 an attachment to that religion. We find them accord- 
 ingly actuated by thefe principles: we have a pofitive 
 proof, that the feudal fyftem had no fhare in the honour 
 of fupprelTing flavery, but that Chrijiianity was the only 
 caufe; for the greateft part of the charters which were 
 granted for the freedom of fiaves in thofe times (many of 
 which are ftill extant) v/ere granted, pro amore Dei^ 
 ‘‘ pro mercede animce** They were founded, in Ihort, 
 on religious confiderations, that they might procure 
 “ the favour of the Deity, which they conceived thein- 
 felves to have forfeited, by the fubjugation of thofe, 
 “ whom they found to be the objeds of the divine be- 
 nevolence and attention equally with themfelves.” 
 Thefe confiderations, which had thus their firfl; origin 
 in Chrijiianity ^ began to produce their effedls, as the 
 different nations were converted; and procured that 
 general liberty at lafl:, which, at the dole of the twelfth 
 century, was confpicuous in the weft of Europe. What 
 a glorious and important change! Thofe, who would 
 have had otherwife no hopes, but that their miferies 
 would be terminated by death, were then freed from 
 their fervile condition ; thofe, who, by the laws of war, 
 would have had otherwife an immediate profpect of fer- 
 vitude from the hands of their imperious conquerors, 
 w’ere then exchanged; a cuftom, which has happily de- 
 fcended to the prefent day. Thus, ‘‘ A numerous clafs 
 of men, who formerly had no political exiftence, and 
 were employed merely as inftruments of labour, be- 
 “ came ufeful citizens, and contributed towards, aug- 
 
 F menting 
 
4'2 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 meriting the force or riches of the fociety, which 
 “ adopted them as members*/’ and thus did the greater 
 part of the Europeans, by their condudl on this occa- 
 fion, aflert not only liberty for themfelves but for their 
 fellow-creatures, alfo. 
 
 CHAP VIII. 
 
 But if men therefore, at a time when under the in- 
 fluence of religion they exercifed their ferious thoughts, 
 aboliflied llavery, how impious muft they appear, who 
 revived it; and what arguments will not prefent them- 
 felves againfl: their conduct! * The Portugueze, within 
 two centuries after its fuppreflion in Europe, in imita- 
 tion of thofe piracies^ which we have fhewn to have 
 exifted in the uncivilized ages of the world, made their 
 defcents on Africa, and committing depredations on 
 the coaft, -[• firjl carried the wretched inhabitants into 
 flavery. 
 
 This practice, however trifling and partial it might 
 appear at firft, foon became ferious and general. A 
 melancholy inftance of the depravity of human nature ; 
 
 as 
 
 * The following Ihort hiflory of the African fervitiide, is taken 
 from Aftley’s Colleftion of Voyages, and from the united teftimonies 
 of Smyth, Adanfon, Bofman, Moore, and others, who were agents 
 to the different fadories eftabllilied there; who refided many years 
 in the country; and publiihed their refpedive hiftories at their re- 
 turn. Thefe writers, if they are partial at all, may be confidered 
 as favourable rather to their own countrymen, than the unfortunate 
 Africans. 
 
 j We would not wiffi to be underftood, that flavery was unknown 
 in Africa before the piratical expeditions of the Portuguefe, as it ap- 
 pears from the Nubians Geography^ that both the flaveiy and com- 
 merce had been eftablilfied among the natives with one another. 
 We mean only to affert, that the Portuguefe were the firft of the 
 Europeans^ who made their piratical expeditions, and lliewed the way 
 to that Jlaveryy which now makes fo difgraceful a figure in the weftern 
 colonies of the Europeans. In the term “ Europeans,” wherever it 
 ftiall occur in the remaining part of this firft differtation, we 
 include the Portuguefe, and thofe nations only, who followed their 
 exagiple. 
 
OF THE Human Species, 43 
 
 as it Hiews, . that neither the laws nor religion of any 
 country, however excellent the forms of each, are fuf- 
 ficient to bind the confciences of fome; but that there 
 are always men, of every age, country, and perfuafion, 
 who are ready to facrifice their deardl principles at the 
 ihrine ol gain. Our own anceftors, together with the 
 Spaniards, French, and moft of the maritime powers of 
 Europe, foon followed the piratical example; and thus 
 did the Europeans, to their eternal infamy, renew a cuf- 
 tom, which their o%un anceftors had fo lately exploded, 
 from a confcientioujnefs of its impiety. 
 
 The unfortunate Africans, terrified at thefe repeated 
 depredations, fled in confufion from the coaft, and 
 fought, in the interiour parts of the country, a retreat 
 from the perfecution of their invaders. But, alafS, they 
 were miferably difappointed! There are few retreats, 
 that can efcape the penetrating eye of avarice. The 
 Europeans ftill purfued them; they entered their rivers; 
 failed up into the heart of the country ; furprized the 
 unfortunate Africans again ; and carried them into 
 llavery. 
 
 But this condud:, though fuccefsful at firft, defeated 
 afterwards its own ends. It created a more general alarm, 
 and pointed out, at the fame inftant, the beft method of 
 fecurity from future depredations. The banks of the 
 rivers were accordingly deferted, as the coafts had been 
 before ; and thus were the Chriftian invaders left with- 
 out a profped of their prey. 
 
 In this fituation however, expedients were not want- 
 ing. They now formed to themfelves the refolution of 
 fettling in the country; of fecuring themfelves by forti- 
 fied pofts; of changing their fyftem of force into that 
 of pretended liberality; and of opening, by every fpe- 
 cies of bribery and corruption, a communication with 
 the natives. Thefe plans were put into immediate exe- 
 cution. The Europeans ereded their * forts; landed 
 
 their 
 
 ♦ The Portuguefe erected their fird fort at D'Elminay in the year 
 748T, about forty years atter Alonzo Gonzales had pointed the 
 Southern Africans out to his countrymen as articles of commerce. 
 
44 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 their merchandize; and endeavoured, by a peaceable 
 deportment, by prefents, and by every appearance of 
 munificence, to feduce the attachment and confidence 
 of the Africans. Thefe fchemes had the defired effedl. 
 The gaudy trappings of European art, not only caught 
 their attention, but excited their curiofity: they dazzled 
 the eyes and bewitched the fenfes, not only of thofe, 
 to whom they were given, but of thofe, to whom they 
 were fliewn. Thus follow*ed a Ipeedy intercourfe with 
 each other, and a confidence, highly favourable to the 
 views of avarice or ambition. 
 
 It was now time for the Europeans to embrace the 
 opportunity, which this intercourfe had thus afforded 
 them, of carrying their fchemes into execution, and of 
 fixing them on fuch a permanent foundation, as fhould 
 fecure them future fuccefs. They had already difeover- 
 ed, in the different interviews obtained, the chiefs of 
 the African tribes. They paid their court therefore to 
 thefe, and fo compleatly intoxicated their fenfes with the 
 luxuries, which they brought from home, as to be able 
 to feduce them to their defigns. A treaty of peace and 
 commerce was immediately concluded: it was agreed, 
 that the kings, on their part, fhould, from this period, 
 fentence prijoners cf *ivar and conviBs to European fer- 
 'uitude ; and that the Europeans fliould fupply them, in 
 return, with the luxuries of the north. This agreement 
 immediately took place; and thus begun that commerce^ 
 which makes fo confiderable a figure at the prefent 
 day. 
 
 iBut happy had the Africans been, if thofe only, who 
 had been juflly convi^ed of crimes, or taken in a juft 
 war, had been fentenced to the feverities of fervitude! 
 How many of thofe miferies, wEich afterwards attended 
 them, had been never known; and how would their 
 hiftory have faved thofe fighs and emotions of pity, 
 
 , which muft now ever accompany its perufal. The Eu- 
 ropeans, on the eftablifhment of their weftern colonies, 
 required a greater number of flaves than a ftridl adhe- 
 rence to the treaty could produce. The princes there- 
 fore had only the choice of relinquiihing the commerce, 
 
 or 
 
OF THE Human Species. 45 
 
 or of confenting to become unjuft. They had long ex- 
 perienced the emoluments of the trade; they had ac- 
 quired a tafte for the luxuries it afforded; and they now 
 beheld an opportunity of gratifying it, but in a more 
 extenfive manner. Avarice therefore, which was too 
 powerful for jujiice on this occafion, 'immediately turned 
 the fcale: not only thofe, who w^ere fairly convided of 
 offences, were now fentenced to fervitude, but even 
 thofe who were fiifpeded. New crimes w^ere invented, 
 that new punifliments might fucceed. Thus was every 
 appearance foon conftrued into reality; every lliadow 
 into a fubftance; and often virtue into a crime. 
 
 Such alfo was the cafe with refpecl to prifoners of war. 
 Not only thofe were now delivered into llavery, who 
 were taken in a ftate of publick enmity and injuf- 
 tice, but thofe alfo, who, confeious of no injury what- 
 ever, wTre taken in the arbitrary Ikirmifhes of thefc 
 venal fovereigns. War was no\v made, not as former- 
 ly, from the motives of retaliation and defence, but for 
 the fake of obtaining prifoners alone, and the advan- 
 tages refulting from their fale. If a fliip from Europe 
 came but into fight, it w’as now confidered as a fufficient 
 motive for a war, and as a fignal only for an inftantane- 
 ous commencement of hoffilities. 
 
 But if the African kings could be capable of fuch 
 injuftice, wdiat vices are there, that their confciences 
 would refirain, or what enorm.itics, that we might not 
 expect to be committed? When men once confent to be 
 unjuft, they lofe, at the fame inftant with their virtue, 
 a confiderable portion of that fenfe of fliame, which, 
 till then, had been found a fuccefsful protector againft 
 the fallies of vice. From that awful period, almofl eve- 
 ry expectation is forlorn: the heart is left unguarded: 
 its great protector is no more: the vices therefore, 
 which fo long encompaffed it in vain, obtain an eafy vic- 
 tory: in crouds they pour into the defencelefs avenues, 
 and take poffeffion of the foul: there is nothing now 
 too vile for them to meditate, too impious to perform. 
 Such was the fituation of the defpotick fovereigns of 
 Africa. They had once ventured to pafs the bounds of 
 
 virtue. 
 
4^ On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 virtue, and they foon proceeded to enormity. This was 
 particularly confpicuous in that general condudl, which 
 they uniformly obferved, after any unfuccefsful conflidt. 
 Influenced only by the venal motives of European traf- 
 fick, they firfl made war upon the neighbouring tribes, 
 contrary to every principle of juflice; and if, by the 
 flight of the enemy, or by other contingencies, they 
 were difappointcd of their prey, they made no hefita- 
 tion of immediately turning their arms againfl their 
 ow’n fubjecls. The hrft villages they cam.e to, were al- 
 ways marked on this occafion, as the firfl objecls of 
 their avarice. They were immediately furrounded, were 
 afterwards fet on fire, and the wretched inhabitants 
 feized, as they were efcaping from the flames. Thefe, 
 confining of whole families, fathers, brothers, hufbands, 
 wives, and children, were inflantly driven in chains to 
 the merchants, and configned to fia^^'ery. 
 
 To thefe calamities, which thus arofe from the tyran- 
 ny of the kings, we may now fubjoin thofe, which arofe 
 from the avarice of private perfons. Many were kid- 
 napped by their own countrymen, who, encouraged by 
 the merchants of Europe, previoufly lay in wait for 
 them, and fold them afterwards for flaves; wdiile the 
 feamen of the different fliips, by every poffible artifice, 
 enticed others on board, and tranfported them to the 
 regions of fervitude. 
 
 As thefe practices are in full force at the prefent day, 
 it appears tliat there are four orders of involuntary flaves 
 on the African continent; of* convids ; of prijoners of 
 <war ; of thofe, who are publickly feized by virtue of 
 the authority of their prince; and of thofe, who are 
 privately ki flapped by individuals. 
 
 It remains only to obferve on this head, that in the 
 fale and purchafe of thefe the African comuierce or 
 
 Slave 
 
 * In the ancient fervitude, we reckoned convius among the volun- 
 t2r,' Have?, becanfe they had it in their power, by a virtuous con- 
 duct, to have avoided fo melancholy a fituation; in the African, we 
 incbide them in the involuntary, becaufe, as virtues are frequently 
 confi:rued into crimes, from the venal motives of the tralBck, no 
 perfon whateVer poirelTes fuch a pover or choke. 
 

 OF THE Human Species. 47 
 
 Slave Trade confifts; that they are delivered to the mer- 
 chants of Europe in exchange for their various commo- 
 dities ; that thefe tranfport them to their colonics in the 
 weft, where their Jlavery takes place; and that a fifth 
 order arifes there, compofed of all fuch as are born to 
 the native Africans, after their tranfportation and flave- 
 ry have commenced. 
 
 Having thus explained as much of the hiftory of 
 modern fervitude, as is fufficient for the profecution of 
 our defign, we fliould have clofed our account here, 
 but that a work, juft publiftied, has furnifhed us v^ith 
 a fingular anecdote of the colonifts of a neighbouring 
 nation, which we cannot but relate. The learned * au- 
 thor, having defcribed the method which the Dutch co- 
 lonifts at the Cape make ufe of to take the Hottentots 
 and enflave them, takes occafion, in many fubfequent 
 parts of the work, to mention the dreadful effeds of 
 the practice of flavery; which, as he juftly remarks, 
 leads to all manner of miidemeanours and wicked- 
 nefs. Pregant women,’’ fays he, “ and children in 
 their tenderedft years, were not at this time, neither 
 ‘‘ indeed are they ever, exempt from the effeds of the 
 “ hatred and fpirit of vengeance conflantly harboured 
 “ by the colonifts, with refped to the j Bofhies-man 
 “ nation; excepting fuch indeed as are marked out to he 
 “ carried away into bondage.** 
 
 “ Does a colonift at any time get fight of a Bofhies- 
 “ man, he takes fire immediately, and fpirits up his 
 horfe and dogs, in order to hunt him with more ar- 
 ‘‘ dour and fury than he would a wolf, or any other 
 “ wnld heaft? On an open plain, a few colonifts on 
 horfe back are always fure to get the better of the 
 greateft number of Bolhies-men that can be brought 
 'ogether; as the former always keep at the diftance 
 
 of 
 
 * Andrew Sparrman, M. D. profeflbr of Phyfick at Stockholm, 
 rdlow of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Sweden, and infpec’- 
 tor of its cabinet of natural hillory, whofe voyage was tranflated 
 into Englilh, and publilbed in 1785. 
 
 t Bolhies-man, or mid Hottentot, 
 
48 On the Slavery and Commerce* 
 
 “ of about an hundred, or an hundred and fifty paces 
 (juft as they find it convenient) and charging their 
 “ heavy fire-arms with a very large kind of (hot, jump 
 off their horfes, and reft their pieces in their ufual 
 manner on their ramrods, in orders that they may fhoot 
 “ with the greater certainty; fo that the balls difcharged 
 ‘‘ by them will fometimes, as I have been aflured, go 
 “ through the bodies of fix, feven, or eight of the ene- 
 my at a time, efpecially as thefe latter know no better 
 
 than to keep clofe together in a body.” 
 
 “ And not only is the capture of the Hottentots con- 
 fidered by them merely as a party of pleafure, but in 
 cold blood they deftroy the bands which nature has 
 knit between their hufbands, and their wives and 
 children, &c.” 
 
 With what horrour do thefe paflagcs feem to ftrike us! 
 What indignation do they feem to raife in our breafts, 
 when we refleft, that a part of the human fpecies are 
 confidered as game^ and that parties of pleafure are made 
 for their deflrudion! The lion does not imbrue his claws 
 in blood, unlefs called upon by hunger, or provoked 
 by interruption; whereas the mercilefs Dutch, more fa- 
 vage than the brutes themfelves, not only murder their 
 fellow-creatures without any provocation or neceflity, 
 but even make a diverfion of their fufferings, and enjoy 
 their pain. 
 
 End of the Firjl Part* 
 
 PART 
 

 PART II. 
 
 T H E 
 
 AFRICAN COMMERCE, 
 
 O R 
 
 SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 A s we explained the Hiftory of Slavery in the firft 
 part of this Effay, as far as it was iieceflary for 
 our purpofe, we fhall now take the queftion into confi- 
 deration, which we propofed at firft as the fubjed of our 
 inquiry, viz. how far the commerce and flavery of the 
 human fpecies, as revived by fome of the nations of Eu- 
 rope in the perfons of the unfortunate Africans, and as 
 revived, in a great meafure, on the principles of anti- 
 quity, are confiftent with the laws of nature, or the 
 common notions 'of equity, as eftabliflied among men. 
 
 This queftion refolves itfelf into two feparate parts for 
 difcuftion, into the African commerce {^as explained in the 
 hiftory of flavery ) and the fubfequent flavery in the colo- 
 nies^ as founded en the equity of the commerce. The for- 
 mer, of courfe, will be firft examined. For this pur- 
 pofe we fliall inquire into the rife, nature, and defign of 
 government. Such an inquiry will bq particularly ufeful 
 in the prefent place ; it will afford us that general know- 
 ledge of fubordination and liberty, which is neceffary 
 in the cafe before us, and will be found, as it were, a 
 fource, to which we may frequently refer for many and 
 valuable arguments. 
 
 G 
 
 It 
 
50 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 It appears that mankind were originally free, and that 
 they poffeffed an equal right to the foil and produce of 
 the earth. For proof of this, we need only appeal to 
 the divine writings ; to the golden age of the poets, which, 
 like other fables of the times, had its origin in truth; 
 and to the inftitution of the Saturnalia^ and of other 
 fimilar feftivals; all of which are fo many monuments 
 of this original equality of men. Hence then there was 
 no rank, no diflindion, no fuperiour. Every man wan- 
 dered where he chofe, changing his refidence, as a fpot 
 attracted his fancy, or fuited his convenience, uncon- 
 trouled by his neighbour, unconnected with any but his 
 family. Hence alfo (as every thing was common) he 
 colleded what he chofe, without injury, and enjoyed 
 without injury what he had colleded. Such was the 
 firft fituation of mankind ; * a ftate of dijfociation and 
 independence. 
 
 In this diffociated ftate it is impoflible that men could 
 have long continued. The dangers to which they muft 
 have frequently been expofed, by the attacks of fierce 
 and rapacious beafts, by the prcedatory attempts of 
 their own fpecies, and by the difputes of contiguous 
 and independent families; thefe, together with their in- 
 ability to defend themfelves, on many fuch occafions, 
 muft have incited them to unite. Flence then was focie- 
 iy formed on the grand principles of prefervation and de- 
 fence: and as thefe principles began to operate, in the 
 different parts of the earth, where the different families 
 had roamed, a great number of thefe focieties began to 
 be formed and eftab^^hed ; which, taking to themfelves 
 particular names from particular occurrences, began to 
 be perfedlly diftincl from one another. 
 
 As the individuals, of whom thefe focieties were com- 
 pofed, had affociated only for their defence, fo they ex- 
 perienced, at firft, no change in their condition. They 
 
 were 
 
 This Goncliifion concerning the diflociated flate of mankind, is 
 confirmed by all the early writers, with whofe deferiptions of primi- 
 tive times no other conclufion is reconcilcable. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 51 
 
 were flill independent and free; they were ftill without 
 difcipline or laws; the had every thing ftill in common; 
 they purfued the fame manner of life; wandering only, in 
 herds ^ as the earth gave them or refufed them fuftenance, 
 and doing, as a puhlick body^ what they had been accuf- 
 tomed to do as individuals before. This was the exadt 
 fituation of the * Getse and Scythians, of the f Lybians 
 and Goetulians, of the \ Italian Aborigines, and of the 
 (I Huns and Alans. They had left their original ftate of 
 dijjociation^ and had ftepped into that, which has been 
 juft defcribed. Thus was the fecond fituation of men a 
 ftate of independent fociety. 
 
 Having thus joined themfelves together, and haring 
 formed themfelves into feveral large and diftind bodies, 
 they could not fail of fubmitting foon to a more confide- 
 rable change. Their numbers muft have rapidly increaf- 
 ed, and their focieties, in proccfs of time, have become 
 fo populous, as frequently to have experienced the want 
 of fubfiftence, and many of the commotions and tumults 
 of inteftine ftrife. For thefe inconveniences howxver 
 there were remedies to be found. Agriculture would fur- 
 nifti them with that fubfiftence and fupport, which the 
 earth, from the rapid increafe of its inhabitants, had be- 
 come unable fpontaneoufly to 'produce. An ajjlgnation 
 of property would not only enforce an application, but ex- 
 cite an emulation, to labour ; and government would at 
 once afford a fecurity to the acquifitions of the induftri- 
 ous, and heal the inteftine diforders of the community, 
 by the introdudion of Laws. 
 
 Such then were the remedies, that were gradually ap- 
 plied. The focieties^ which had hitherto feen their mem- 
 bers, undiftinguiftied either by authority or rank, ad- 
 mitted now of magiftratical pre-eminence. They were 
 divided into tribes; to every tribe was allotted a particu- 
 laf diftrid for its fupport, and to every individual his 
 
 particular 
 
 * Jiiftin. L. 2. C. 2. t Salluft. Bell. Jug. 
 
 t Salluft. Bell. Catil. 
 
 il Ammianus Marcelliniis. L. 31. C. 2. ct infeq. 
 
52 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 particular fpot. * The Germans, who confifled of many 
 and various nations, w^ere exadlly in this fituation. — 
 They had advanced a hep beyond the Scythians, Goetu- 
 lians, and thofe, whom we defcribed before; and thus 
 was the third fuuation of mankind a hate of fubordinate 
 Jociety. 
 
 CHAP II. 
 
 As we have thus traced the fituation of man from un- 
 bounded liberty to fubordination, it will be proper to 
 carry our inquiries farther, and to confider, who firft 
 obtained the pre-eminence in thefe primcBval focieties^ 
 and by what particular methods it was obtained, 
 
 There where only tw^o ways, by which fuch an event 
 could have been produced, by compulfion or confent,-- 
 When mankind firft faw the neceflity of government, it 
 is probable that many had conceived the defire of rul- 
 ing. To be placed in anew fituation, to be taken from 
 the common herd, to be the firft, diftinguiftied among 
 men, were thoughts, that muft have had their charms. 
 Let us fuppofe then, that thefe thoughts had worked fo 
 iinufually on the paffions of any particular individual, 
 as to have driven him to the extravagant Jefign of ob- 
 taining the pre-eminence by force. How could his de- 
 fign have been accomplifiied? Hov/ could he forcibly 
 have ufurped the jurifdicLon at a time, when, all being 
 equally free, there was not a fingle perfon, wLofe afiift- 
 ance he could command ? Add to this, that, in a ftate 
 of univerfal liberty, force had been repaid by force, and 
 the attempt had been fatal to the ufurper. 
 
 As e?npire then could never have been gained at firft 
 by ccmpuJfion^ fo it could only have been obtained by 
 confent ; and as men w^ere then going to make an import- 
 ant facrifice, for the fake of their mutual happinefs, fo 
 he alone could have obtained it, (not whole ambitim 
 
 had 
 
 * Agri pro Numero Cultorum ab univerHs per vicos occ.upantur, 
 quos mox inter fe fecundum dignationem partiimtur. Tacitns. C. 
 26. de Mor. Germ, 
 
OF THE Human Species. 53 
 
 had greatly diftinguiihed him from the reft) but in 
 whofe wifdom^ jujiice^ prudence^ and 'virtue^ the whole 
 community could confide. 
 
 To confirm this reafoning, we fhall appeal, as before, 
 to fads ; and fhall confult therefore the hiftory of thofe 
 nations, which having juft left their former ftate of in- 
 dependent fociety^ were the very people that eftablifhed 
 fubordinaiicn and government. 
 
 The commentaries of Caefar afforded us the following 
 accounts of the ancient Gauls. When any of their 
 kings, either by death, or depofition, made a vacancy 
 in the regal office, the whole nation was immediately 
 convened for the appointment of a fucceflbr. In thefe 
 national conventions were the regal offices conferred. 
 Every individual had a voice on the occafion, and eve- 
 ry individual was free. The perfon upon whom the 
 general approbation appeared to fall, was immediately 
 advanced to pre-eminence in the ftate. He was uni- 
 formly one, whofe adions had made him eminent ; whofe 
 condud had gained him previous applaufe; whofe valour 
 the very aflembly, that eleded him, had themfelves wit- 
 iiefl'ed in the field; whofe prudence, wifdom and juftice,* 
 having rendered him fignally ferviceable, had endeared 
 him to his tribe. For this reafon, their kingdoms were 
 not hereditary; the fen did not always inherit the virtues 
 of the fire ; and they were determined that he alone 
 fhould poffefs authority, in whofe virtues they could con- 
 fide. Nor was this ail. So fenfible were they of the im- 
 portant facrifice they had made; fo extemely jealous 
 even of the name of fuperiority and power, that they 
 limited, by a variety of law's, the authority of the very 
 perfon, whom they had juft eleded, from a confidence 
 of his integrity; Ambiorix himfelf confeffing, “ that 
 ‘‘ his people had as much power over him, as he could 
 
 poffibly have over his people.” 
 
 The fame cuftom, as appears from Tacitus, prevailed 
 alfo among the Germans. They had their national, 
 councils, like the Gauls; in which the regal and ducal 
 offices were confirmed according to the majority of 
 voices. They eleded alfo, on thefe occafions, tiiofe only, 
 
 whom 
 
54 THE Slavery and Commerce 
 
 whom their virtue, by repeated trial, had unequivocally 
 diftinguiflied from the reft; and they limited their au- 
 thority fo far, as neither to leave them the power of in- 
 flicting imprifonment or ftripes, nor of exercifing any 
 penal jurifdidion. But as punifliment was neceffary in 
 a flate of civil fociety, ‘‘ it was permitted to the priefts 
 alone, that it might appear to have been inflided, by 
 the order of the gods, and not by any fuperiour au- 
 thority in man.” 
 
 The accounts which we have thus given of the anci- 
 ent Germans and Gauls, will be found alfo to be equally 
 true of thofe people, which had arrived at the fame flate 
 of fubordinate fociety. We might appeal, for a teflimony 
 of this, to the hiflory of the Goths ; to the hiflory of 
 the Franks and Saxons ; to the hiflory in fliort, of all 
 thofe nations, from which the different governments, now 
 ccnfpicuous in Europe, have undeniably fprung. And 
 we might appeal, as a farther proof, to the Americans, 
 who are reprelented by many of the moderns, from 
 their own ocular teflimony, as obferving the fame cuf- 
 toms at the prefent day. 
 
 It remains only to obferve, that as thefe cufloms pre- 
 vailed among the different nations defcibed, in their 
 early flate of fubordinate fociety, and as they were more- 
 over the cufloms of their refpedive anceflors, it appears 
 that they mufl have been handed down, both by tradi- 
 tion and ufe, from the firfl introdudion of govern- 
 meni. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 We may now deduce thofe general maxims concern- 
 ing fubordinatio7i^ and liberty^ which we mentioned to 
 have been effentialiy connedled with the fubjedl, and 
 which fome, from -ipcculation only, and without any al- 
 lufion to facts, have been bold enough to deny. 
 
 It appears fuTr, that liberty is a natural^ and govern- 
 ment an advetititioiis right, becaufe aU men were origi- 
 nally free. 
 
 It 
 
OF THE Human Species. 55 
 
 Ic appears fecondly, that government is a * co7itrad ; 
 becaufe, in thefe primoeval fubordinate focieties, we have 
 feen it voluntarily conferred on the one hand, and ac- 
 cepted on the other. We have feen it fubjed to various 
 reftridions. - We have feen its articles, which could 
 then only be written by tradition and ufe, as perfe6l and 
 binding as thofe, which are now committed to letters. 
 We have feen it, in fhort, partaking of the foederal na- 
 ture, as much as it could in a date, which wanted the 
 means of recording its tranfadions. 
 
 It 
 
 * The author has lately read a work, intitled Paley’s Moral and 
 Political Philofophy, which, in this one refpeft, favours thofe which 
 have been hinted at, as it denies that government was a contract. 
 
 No focial compact was ever made in fact,” — “ it is to fuppofe it 
 “ poflible to call favages out of caves and deferts, to deliberate 
 upon topicks, which the experience and ftudies, and the refine- 
 ments of civil life alone fuggefl:. Therefore no government In 
 the univerfe begun from this original.” But there are no grounds 
 for fo abfurd a fuppofition; for government, and of ccurfe the fo- 
 cial compact, does not appear to have been introduced at the time, 
 when families coming out of their caves and deferts, or, in other 
 words, quitting their former dijjociated Bate, joined themfelves to- 
 gether. They had lived a conhderable time in fociet^y like the Ly- 
 bians and Gcetulians before-mentioned, and had felt many of the 
 difadvantages of a want of difeipline and laws, before government 
 was introduced at all. The author of this ElTay, before he took 
 into confideration the origin of government, was determined, in a 
 matter of fuch importance, to be biafied by no opinion whatever, 
 and much lefs to indulge himfelf in fpecuiation. He was determined 
 folely to adhere to fact, and, by looking into the accounts left us of 
 thofe governments which were in their infancy, and, of courfe in 
 the leal! complicated ftate, to attempt to difeover their foundation : 
 he cannot fay therefore, that upon a very minute perufal of the ex- 
 cellent work before quoted, he has been fo far convinced, as to re- 
 tract in the lead from his fenciments on this head, and to give up 
 maxims, which are drawn from hiltorical fafts, for thofe, which are 
 the refult of fpecuiation. He may obferve here, that whether go- 
 vernment was a contraB or not, it will not afFe6l the reafoning of the 
 prefent ElTay; fince where ever the contraft is afterwards mention- 
 ed, it is inferred only that its obje6t was “ the happmefs of the peo- 
 ple,'* which is confefTcdly the end of government. Notwithftand* 
 ing this, he is under the necellity of inferting this little note, though 
 he almoft feels himfelf ungrateful in contradicting a work, which 
 has afforded him fo much entertainment. 
 
56 On the Slavehy and Commerce 
 
 It appears, thirdly, that the grand obje6l of the con- 
 irad^ is the happinefs of the people; becaufe they ’gave 
 the fupremacy to him alone, who had been confpicuous 
 for the fplendour of his abilities, or the integrity of his 
 life : that the power of the multitude being directed by 
 the wifdom and jujiice of the prince, they might expe- 
 rience the moft effedual protection from injury, the 
 highell advantages of fociety, the greateft poffible hap- 
 pinefs. 
 
 C H A P. IV. 
 
 Having now collected the materials that are neceflary 
 for the profecutian of our defign, we fhall immediately 
 enter upon the difeuffion. 
 
 If any man had originally been endued with power, 
 as with other faculties, fo that the relt of mankind had 
 difeovered in themfelves an innate necejfity of obeying 
 this particular perfon; it is evident that he and his de- 
 feendants, from the fuperiority of their nature, would 
 have had a claim upon men for obedience, and a natural 
 right to command: but as the right to empire is adven- 
 titious ; as all were originally free; as nature made every 
 man’s body and mind his ov)n; it is evident that no jull 
 man can be configned to Jlavery^ without his own con- 
 fent. 
 
 Neither can men, by the fame principles, be confi- 
 dered as lands, goods, or houfes, among poUeJfons. It 
 is necelTary that all property Ihould be inferiour to its 
 pofejfor. But how does the fuive differ from his majier^ 
 but by chance f For though the mark, with which the 
 latter is pleafed to brand him, Ihews, at the firil fight, 
 the difference of their fortune ; what mark can be found 
 in his nature^ that can warrant a diffinclion? 
 
 To this confideration we fhall add the following, that 
 if men can juflly become the property of each other, 
 their children, like the offspring of cattle, muff inherit 
 their paternal lot. Now, as the aCtions of the father 
 and the child muff be thus at the foie difpofal of their, 
 common mafter, it is evident, that the authority of the 
 
 one, 
 
OF THE Human Species. 57 
 
 one, as a parent^ and x\\t duty of the other, as a chiid^ 
 mull be inftantly annihilated; rights and obligations, 
 which, as they are founded in nature, are implanted in 
 our feelings, and are eftabliihed by the voice of God, 
 muff contain in their annihilation a folid argument to 
 prove, that there cannot be any property whatever in 
 the human fpectes. 
 
 We may confider alfo, as a farther confirmation, that 
 it is impoifible, in the nature of things, that liberty can 
 be bought or fold! It is neither faleable^ nor purchajable* 
 For if any one man can have an abfolute property in the 
 liberty of another, or, in other words, if he, who is 
 called a mafter^ can have a juft right to conimand the 
 adions of him, who is called a Jlave^ it is evident that 
 the latter cannot be accountable for thofe crimes, which 
 the former may order him to commit. Now as every 
 reafonable being is accountable for his actions, it is 
 evident, that fuch a right cannot jufily exift, and that 
 human liberty, of courfe, is beyond the polTibility either 
 of fale or purcha/e. Add to this, that, whenever you 
 fell the liberty of a man, you have the power only of 
 alluding to the body: the mind cannot be confined or 
 bound : it will be free, though its manfion be befet with 
 chains. But if, in every fale of the human fpecies^ you 
 are under the neceffity of confidering your fiave in this 
 abflracled light; of alluding only to the body, and of 
 making no allufion to the mind ; you are under the ne- 
 celTity alfo of treating him, in the fame moment, as a 
 hruie^ and of abufing therefore that nature, which can- 
 not otherwife be confidered, than in the double capacity 
 of foul and body. 
 
 But foine perfon, perhaps, will make an objeclion to 
 one of the former arguments. If men, from the fu^ 
 periority of their nature, cannot be confidered, like 
 “ lands, goods, or houfes, amon^ poffeflions, fo neither 
 can cattle: for being endued with life, motion, and 
 
 fenfibilicy, they are evidently fuperiour to thefe^’ 
 
 But this objeclion will receive its anfwer from thofe ob- 
 fervations which have been already made; and wdll dif- 
 cover the true reafon, why cattle are juflly to be efti- 
 H mated 
 
58 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 mated as property. For firft, the right to empire over 
 brutes, is natural and not adventitious^ like the right 
 to empire over men. There are, fecondly, many and 
 evident figns of the inferiority of their nature; and 
 thirdly, their liberty can be bought and fold, becaufe, 
 being void of reafon, they cannot be accountable for their 
 adions. 
 
 We might flop here for a confiderable time, and de- 
 duce many valuable leffons from the remarks that have 
 been made, but that fuch a circumftance might be con- 
 fidered as a digreffion. There is one, however, which, 
 as it is fo intimately connefted w-ith the fubjc6l, we can- 
 not but deduce. We are taught to treat men in a dif- 
 ferent manner from brutes, becaufe they are fo manifeft- 
 ly fuperiour in their nature ; vve are taught to treat brutes 
 in a different manner from ffones, for the fame reafon; 
 and thus, by giving to every created thing its due re- 
 fped, to anfwer the views of Providence, which did 
 not create a variety of natures without a purpofe or de- 
 fign. 
 
 But if thefe things are fo, how evidently againft rea- 
 fon, nature, and every thing human and divine, muff 
 they ad, who not only force men into Jlavery^' againfl 
 their owm cenfent^ but treat them altogether as brutes^ 
 and make the natural liberty of man an article of pub- 
 lick commerce! and by what arguments can they poffi- 
 bly defend that commerce, which cannot be carried on, 
 in any fingle inftance, without a flagrant violation of the 
 laws of nature and of God? 
 
 C II A P. V. 
 
 That we may the more accurately examine the argu- 
 ments that are advanced on this occafion, it will be pro- 
 per to divide the commerce into two parts; firft, as it 
 relates to thofe who fell^ and fecondly, as it relates to 
 thofe v/ho -pur chafe ^ the human fpecies into flavery. To 
 the former part of which, having given every previous 
 and neceffary information in the hiftory of fervitude, 
 we Ihall immediately proceed. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 59 
 
 Let us inquire firft, by what particular right the Viher- 
 ties of. the harmlefs people are invaded by the prince. 
 By the right of empire f it will be anfwered; “ be- 
 “ caufe he poffelfes dominion and power by their own 
 ‘‘ approbation and confent.’^ But fubjefls, though un- 
 der the dominion, are not the property^ of the prince. 
 They cannot be confidered as his pojjejftons. Their na- 
 tures are both the fame; they are both born in the fame 
 manner; are fubje<^ to the fame diforders; mull apply 
 to the fame remedies for a cure; are equally partakers 
 of the grave: an incidental diftindlion accompanies them 
 
 through life, and this is all. 
 
 We may add to this, that though the prince poffelfes 
 dominion and power, by the confent and approbation of 
 his fubjecls, he poffelfes it only for the moll falutary 
 ends. He may tyrannize, if he can: he may alter the 
 form of his government: he cannot, however, alter its 
 nature and end. Thefe will be immutably the fame, 
 though the whole fyflem of its adminiftration fhould 
 be changed; and he will be ftill bound to defend the 
 lives and properties of his fubjeds, and to make them 
 
 Does he defend thofe therefore, whom he invades at 
 diferetion with the fword? Does he protect the property 
 of thofe, whofe houfes and effects he configns at difere- 
 tion to the flames? Does he make thofe happy, whom 
 he feizes, as they are trying to efcape the general devafl- 
 ation, and compels with their wives and families to a 
 wretched fer^oitude? He acts furely, as if the ufe of em- 
 pire confilled in violence and oppreffion; as if he, that 
 was mofl exalted, ought, of neceffity, to be moff un- 
 juft. Here then the voice of nature and juftice is againfl 
 him. He breaks that law of nature^ which ordains, 
 that no juft man fliall be given into flavery, againft 
 his own confent d"* he violates the firft \^.sn oi juftice^ 
 as eftabliflied among men, ‘‘that.no perfon fiiall do 
 “ harm to another without a previous and fufftcient pro- 
 “ n)ocation;” and he violates alfo the facred condition of 
 empire^ made with his anceftors, and neceffarily urider- 
 , flood in every fpecies of government, “ that, the power 
 
 “ of 
 
6o On the Slavery And CoiviMERCE 
 
 of the multitude being given up to the wifdom and 
 “ juftice of the prince, they may experience, in return, 
 ‘‘ the mold effeftual protection from injury, the high- 
 “ eft advantages of fociety, the greater poffible happi- 
 
 But if kings then, to whom their own people have 
 granted dominion and power, are unable to invade the 
 liberties of their harmlefs fubje6ts, without the higheft 
 injujiice) how can thofe private perfons be juflified, who 
 treacheroufly lie in wait for their fellow-creatures, and 
 fell them into flavery? What arguments can they poffi- 
 bly bring in their defence ? What treaty of empire can 
 they produce, by which their innocent victims ever re- 
 figned to them the lead: portion of their liberty f In vain 
 will they plead the antiquity of the cuftom; in vain will 
 the honcurable light, in which piracy w^as confidered in 
 the ages of barbarifm, afford them an excufe. Impious 
 and abandoned men! ye invade the liberties of thofe, 
 who, (with relpecl to your impious felves) are in a ftate 
 of nature^ in a ftate of original dijjociaiion^ perfectly in- 
 dependent^ perfedly free. 
 
 It appears then, that the two orders of flaves, which 
 have been mentioned in the hiftory of the African fer- 
 vitude, of thofe wlio are publickly feized by virtue of 
 the authority of their prince; and of thofe, who are 
 privately kidnapped by individuals,’’ are colleded by 
 means of violence and opprellion ; by means, repugnant 
 to nature^ the principles of government^ and the common 
 notions of equity^ as eftablilhed among men. 
 
 C H A P. VI. 
 
 We come now to the third order of involuntary Haves, 
 to convi6ls.” The only argument that the fellers ad- 
 vance here, is this, that they have been found guilty 
 of offences, and that the punifhinent is juft.” But 
 before the equity of the fentence can be allowed, two 
 qiieftions muft be decided, whether the punifhinent is 
 proportioned to the offence, and what is its particular ob-r 
 jcct and endf 
 
 <k 
 
 To 
 
OF THE Human Species. 6r 
 
 To decide the firil, we may previoufly obferve, that 
 the* African fervitude comprehends baniJJment^ a depri- 
 vation of liberty^ and many corporal fufferings. 
 
 On banijhment^ the following obfervations will fuffice. 
 Mankind have- their .attachments. They have a 
 particular regard for the fpot, in which they were born 
 and nurtured. Here it was, that they firfl drew their 
 infant-breath: here, that they were cheriflied and fup- 
 ported: here, that they palfed thofe fcenes of childhood, 
 which, free from care and anxiety, are the happidtTn 
 the life of man; fcenes, which accompany them through 
 life; which throw themfelves frequently into their 
 thoughts, and produce the mofl agreeable fenfations. 
 Thefe then are weighty confiderations ; and how great 
 this regard is, may be evidenced from our own feelings ; 
 from the teflimony of fome, who when remote from 
 their country, and in the hour of danger and diftrefs, 
 have found their thoughts unufually di reded, by fome 
 impuife or other, to their native fpot; and from the ex- 
 ample of others, who, having braved the (forms and ad- 
 verfities of life, either repair to it for the remainder of 
 their days, or defire even to be conveyed to it, when 
 exiflence is no more. 
 
 But feparately from thefe their local, they have alfo 
 their perfonal attachments; their regard for particular 
 men. There are ties of blood; there are ties of friend- 
 fliip. In the former cafe, they muff of neceflity be at- 
 tached: the conffirution of their nature demands it. In 
 the latter, it is impofTible to be otherwife; fince friend- 
 fliip is founded on an harmony of temper, on a concord- 
 ance of fentiments and manners, on habits of confi- 
 dence, and a mutual exchange of favours. v 
 
 We may now mention, as perfedly diflind both from 
 their local and perfonal, the national attachments of man- 
 kind, their regard for the whole body of the people, 
 among whom they were born and educated. This re- 
 gard is particularly confpicuous in the condud of fuch, 
 as, being thus nationally conneded, refide in foreign 
 parts. How anxioufly do they meet together! how much 
 do they enjoy the fight of others of their countrymen, 
 
 whom 
 
62 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 whom fortune places in their way! what an eagernefs do 
 they (hew to ferve them, though not born on the lame 
 particular fpot, though not connnedted by confanguinity 
 or friendfiiip, though unknown to them before! Neither 
 is this affedion wonderful, fince they are creatures of 
 the fame education; of the fame principles; of the fame 
 manners and habits; calf, as it were, in the fame mould; 
 and marked with the fame impreflion. 
 
 If men therefore are thus feparately attached to the 
 feveral objefts defcribed, it is evident that a feparate ex- 
 clufion from either mull afford them confiderable pain. 
 What then muff be their fufferings, to be forced for ever 
 from their country, which includes them all? Which 
 contains the fpot^ in which they were born and nur- 
 tured; which contains their relations and friends'^ which 
 contains the whole body of the people^ among whom 
 they were bred and educated. In thefe fufferings, which 
 arife to men, both in bidding, and in having bid, adieu 
 to all that they efteem as dear and valuable, banijhment 
 connfls in part; and we may agree therefore with the 
 ancients, without adding other melancholy circumftances 
 to the account, that it is no inconfiderable punifhment 
 of itfelf. 
 
 With refpeCt to the lofs of liberty^ which is the fecond 
 confideration in the punifhment, it is evident that men 
 bear nothing worfe ; that there is nothing, that they lay 
 more at heart; and that they have fliewn, by many and 
 memorable iniiances, that even death is to be preferred. 
 How’ many could he named here, who, having fuffered 
 the lofs of liberty^ have put a period to their exifiience! 
 How many, that have willingly undergone the hazard 
 of their lives to deftroy a tyrant! How many, that have 
 even gloried to perilli in the attempt! How many bloody 
 and publick wars have been undertaken (not to mention 
 the numerous Jervlle infurreefions, v/ith which hiflory is 
 ftained) for the caufe of freedom! 
 
 But if nothing is dearer than liberty to men, with 
 wliich, the barren rock is able to afford its joys, and 
 without which, the glorious fun fliines upon them but in 
 vain, and all the fvveets arid delicacies of life are tafle- 
 
 lefs 
 
OF THE Human Species. 63 
 
 iefs and unenjoyed ; what punifhment can be more fevere 
 than the lofs of fo great a bleffing ? But if to this depri^ 
 vation of liberty^ we add the agonizing pangs of banijh- 
 merit ; and if to the complicated flings of both, we add 
 the inceflant Jlripes^ wounds^ and miferies^ which are un- 
 dergone by thofe, who are fold into this horrid fervitude\ 
 what crime can we poflibly imagine to be fo enormous, 
 as to be worthy of fo great a punifhment? 
 
 How contrary then to reafon, juflice, and nature, 
 mufl thofe adl, who apply this, the feverefl of human 
 punifhments, to the mofl infignificant offence! yet fuch 
 is the cuflom with the Africans: for, from the time, in 
 which the Europeans firfl intoxicated the African princes 
 with their foreign draughts, no crime has been com- 
 mitted, no fhadow of a crime devifed, that has not im- 
 mediately been punifhed with ferviiude. 
 
 But for what purpofe is the punifhmebt applied? Is it 
 applied to amend the manners of the criminal,’ and thus 
 I render him a better fubj eel ? No, for if you banifh him, 
 he can no longer be a fubje^l, and you can no longer 
 therefore be folicitous for his morals. Add to this, that 
 if you banifli him to a place, where he is to experience 
 the hardfhips of want and hunger (fo powerfully does 
 
 I humrer compel men to the perpetration of crimes) you 
 f force him rather to corrupt, than amend his manners, 
 
 and ro be wicked, when he might otherwife be jufl. 
 
 Is it applied then, that others may be deterred from 
 the fame proceedings, and that crimes may become lefs 
 frequent? No, but that avarice may be gratified; that 
 the prince may experience the emoluments of the falc: 
 
 II for, horrid and melancholy thought! the more crimen 
 |l li’s fubjeds commit, the richer is he made; the more 
 
 abandoned the fubjedl, tlie happier is the prince! 
 
 Neither can we allow that the punifhment thus applied, 
 tends in any degree to anfwer the publick happinefs\ for 
 if men can be Sentenced to flavery, right or wrong ; if 
 fhadows can be turned into fubflances, and virtues into 
 crimes ; it is evident that none can be happy, becaufe 
 none can be fccure. 
 
 But 
 
64 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 But If the punifliment is infinitely greater than the of- 
 fence, (which has been fhewn before) and if it is in- 
 flicted, neither to amend the criminal, nor to deter 
 others from the fame proceedings, nor to advance, in 
 any degree, the happinefs of the publick, it is fcarce ne- 
 ceflary to obferve, tiiat it is totally unjuft, fince it is re- 
 pugnant to 7‘eafon^ the didates of nature^ and the very 
 principles of government. 
 
 CHAP. VIL 
 
 We come now to the fourth and laft order of flaves, 
 to prifoners of war. As the fellers lay a particular ftrefs 
 on this order of men, and infer much, from its antiquity y 
 in fupport of the juftice of their caufe, we fliall examine 
 the principle, on which it fubfifted among the ancients. 
 But as this principle was the fame among all nations, 
 and as a citation from many of their hiftories would not 
 be lefs tedious than unneceflary, we fliall feled the ex- 
 ample of the Romans for the confideration of the cafe. 
 
 The law, by which prifoners of war were faid to be 
 fentenced to fervitude, was the * law of nations. It was 
 fo called from the univerfal concurrence of nations in the 
 cuftom. It had tw'o points in view, the perfons of the 
 capturedy and their effeds ; both of which it immediate- 
 ly fentenced, wdthouc any of the ufual forms of law, to 
 be the property of the eaptors. 
 
 The principle, on which the law w^as eftabliflied, was 
 the right of capture. When any of the contending par- 
 ties had overcome their opponents, and were about to 
 deftroy them, the right was confidered to commence; 
 a right, which the vidors conceived themfelves to have, 
 to recall their fwords, and, from the confideration of 
 having faved the lives of the vanquiflied, when they 
 could have taken them by the laws of war, to commute 
 
 blood 
 
 Jure Gentium fervi noftri funt, qui ab hoflibus capiumur. Jiifti- 
 nian, L. i. 5. 5. i. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 65 
 
 blood for fervice. Hence the Roman lawyer, Pomponius, 
 deduces the etymology of Jlave in the Roman language. 
 * ‘^'They were called fervi^ fays he, from the follow- 
 ing circumhance. It was ufual with our command- 
 ers to take them prifoners, and fell them: now this 
 circumflance implies,^ that they muft have been pre- 
 vioufly prefervedy and hence the name.^* Such then 
 was the right of capture. It was a right, which the circuni- 
 flance of takingthc vanquifhed, that is, ol preferring them 
 alive, gave the conquerors to their perfons. By this 
 right, as always including the idea of a previous prefer- 
 vation from death, f the vanqujflied were laid to be jlaves\ 
 and, ‘‘ as all flaves,’^ fays Juflinian, are themfelves 
 in the power of others, and of courfe can have no- 
 thing of their own, fo their effeds follow’ed the con- 
 dition of their perfons, and became the property of 
 the captors.” 
 
 To examine this right, by which the vanquifhed were 
 faid to be Haves, we fhall ufe the words of a celebrated 
 Roman author, and apply them to the prefent cafe. I 
 If it is lawful,” fays he, to deprive a man of his 
 life, it is certainly not inconfiftent with nature to rob 
 “ him;” to rob him of his liberty. We admit the con- 
 clufion to be juft, if the fuppofttion be the fame : we allow, 
 
 ' if men have a right to commit that, which is confidered as 
 I a greater crime, that they have a right, at the fame inftant, 
 to commit that, which is confidered as a lefs. But what 
 fliall we fay to the hypothefisf We deny it to be true. The 
 voice of nature is againft it. It is not lawful to kill, but on 
 necejfity. Had there been a neceflity, w'here had the 
 wretched captive furvived to be broken wdth chains and 
 fervitude? The very act of faving his life is an argument 
 to prove, that no fuch neceflity exifted. The conclufion 
 
 I is 
 
 Servorum appcilatio ex eo fluxit, quod imperatores noftri captivo's 
 vendere, ac per hoc.fervare, nec occidere folent. 
 
 t Nam five vifcoribus jure captivitatis ferviffent, &c. Juflin, L. 4. 
 3. ct pafTiin apiid fcriptores antiquos. 
 
 f Nequc eft contra naturam fpoliare eum, ft poftis, quern honc- 
 ftuin eft necare. Cicero de offidis. L. 3. 6. 
 
66 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 is therefore falfc. The captors had no right to the lives 
 of the captured, and of' courle none to their liberty: 
 they had no right to their bloody and of courle none to 
 their fervice. Their right therefore had no foundation 
 in juflice. It was founded on a principle, contrary to 
 the law of nature, and of courfe contrary to that law, 
 which people, under different governments, are bound 
 to obferve to one another. 
 
 It is fcarce neceffary to obferve, as a farther teftimony 
 of the injullice of the meafure, that the Europeans, af- 
 ter the introdudion of Chrillianity, exploded this prin- 
 ciple of the ancients, as frivolous and falfe; that they 
 fpared the lives of the vanquifhed, not from the fordid 
 motives of avarice^ but from a confcientioufnefs, that 
 homicide could only be juflified by necejj%ty\ that they 
 introduced an exchange .oi prifoners, and, by many and 
 wife regulations, deprived war of many of its former 
 horrours. 
 
 But the advocates for flavery, unable to defend them- 
 felves again ft thefe arguments, have fled to other re- 
 fources, and, ignorant of hiftory, have denied that the 
 right of capture was the true principle, on which flavery 
 fubfifted among the ancients. ‘ They reafon thus. “ The 
 learned Grotius, and others, have confidered flavery as 
 the juft confequehce of a private war, (fuppofing the 
 war to be juft and the opponents in a ftate of nature,) 
 upon the principles of reparation and punifhment. Now 
 as the law of nature, which is the rule of condud to 
 individuals in fuch a fituation, is applicable to members 
 of a different community, there is reafon to prelume, 
 that thefe principles were applied by the ancients to their 
 prifoners of war ; that their effeds were confifcatecf by 
 the right of reparation^ and their perfons by the right of 
 pU7iijhment'^ 
 
 But fuch a prefumption is falfe. The right of capture 
 was the only argument, that the ancients adduced in 
 their defence. Hence Polybius; What-muft they, 
 
 (the Mantinenfes) fuller, to. receive the punifhment 
 
 they deferve? Perhaps it wdll be faid, that they mufi 
 “ be fold^ when they are taken ^ with their wives and 
 
 children 
 
OF TPiE Human Species. 67 
 
 children into Jlavery : But this is not to be confidered 
 as a punifliment, fince even thofe fufFer it, by the laws 
 of war, who have done nothing that is bafe.’^ The 
 truth is, that both the offending and the offended parties, 
 whenever they were victorious, infliCled llavery alike. 
 But if the offrending party infliCled flavery on the perfons 
 of the vanqifhed, by what right did they inflict it? It 
 mufl: be anfwered from the prefumption before- menti- 
 oned, by the right of’ reparation^ or of puniffment d* 
 an anfwer plainly abfurd and contradictory, as it fuppofes 
 the nggrejfor to have a rights which the injured only could 
 poflfels. 
 
 Neither is the argument lefs fallacious than the pre- 
 fumption, in applying thefe principles, which in a 
 war could belong to the publick only, to the perfons of 
 the individuals that were taken. This calls us again to 
 the hiftory of the ancients, and, as the rights of repa- 
 ration and punifliment could extend to thofe only, who 
 had been injured, to feleCl a particular inftance for the 
 confideration of the cafe. 
 
 As the Romans had been injured w’ithout a previous 
 provocation by the conduCl pf Hannibal at Saguntum, 
 we may take the treaty into confideration, which they 
 made with the Carthaginians, when the latter, defeated 
 at Zama, fued for peace. It confifted of three articles. 
 * By the firit, the Carthaginians were to be free, and to 
 enjoy their own conftitution and laws. By the fecond, 
 they were to pay a confiderable fum of money, as a 
 reparation for the damages and expence of the war: and, 
 by the third, they were to deliver up their elephants and 
 fliips of war, and to be fubjeCl to various reftriCfions, as 
 a punifliment. With thefe terms they complied, and the 
 war was hnilhed. 
 
 Thus 
 
 * I. Uc liberi fuis legibus viverent. Livy, L. 30. 37. 
 
 2. Decern millia talentLim argenti ciefcripta penfionibus ccquis in 
 annos quinquaginta folverent. Ibid. 
 
 3. Ec naves rofiratas, pragter decern triremes, traderent, elephan- 
 tofque, quos haberent domicos ; neque domarent alios : Bellum neve 
 in Africa, neve extra Africain, injului F. R. gererent, &c. Ibid. 
 
63 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 Thus then did the Romans make that diftin6lion be- 
 tween private and publick war, which was neceflary to 
 be made, and which the argument is fallacious in not 
 fuppoiing. The treafury of the vanquiflied was marked 
 as the means of reparation^ and as this treafury was fup- 
 plied, in a great meafure, by the impofition of taxes, 
 and was, wholly, the property of the publick^ fo xht publick 
 made the reparation that was due. The elephants alfo, and 
 Jhips of war^ which were marked as the means of punijh- 
 ment^ yNtxt publick property ; and as they were confiderable 
 inflruments of fecurity and defence to their pofleflbrs, 
 and of annoyance to an enemy, fo their lofs, added to 
 the reftricfions of the treaty, operated as a great and 
 publick punifliment. But with refpeft to the Carthagini- 
 an prifoners, who had been taken in the war, they were 
 retained in fervitude: not upon the principles of repara- 
 tion and punijhment^ becaufe the Romans had already re- 
 ceived, by their own confeffion in the treaty, a fufficient 
 fatisfaclion : not upon thefe principles, becaufe they were 
 inapplicable to individuals: the legionary foldier in the 
 fervice of the iujured, who took his prifoner, was not 
 the perfon, to whom the injury had been done^ any more 
 than the foldier in the fervice of the aggreffors, who 
 was taken, w^as the perfon, who had committed the of- 
 fence: but they w^ere retained in fervitude by the right of 
 capture \ becaufe, when both parties had fent their mili- 
 tary into the field to determine the difpute, it w^as at the 
 private choice of the legionary foldier before-mentioned, 
 whether he would fpare the life of his conquered oppo- 
 nent, w'ben he was thought to be entitled to take it, if 
 he had chofen, by the laws of war. 
 
 To produce more inftances, as an illuftration of the 
 fubjedl, or to go farther into the argument, would be 
 to trefpafs upon the patience, as well as underflandi ng 
 of the reader. In a fate of nature^ where a man is 
 fuppofed to commit an injury, and to be unconneded 
 with the reft of the world, the ad: is private^ and the 
 right, which the injured acquires, can extend only to 
 himfelf: but in a fate of fociety^ where any member or 
 members of a particular community give offence to thofe 
 
OF THE Human Species. 69 
 
 ot another, and they are patronized by the hate, to 
 which they belong, the cafe is altered; the acl becomes 
 immediately piblick^ and the publick alone are to expe- 
 rience the confequences of their injuftice. For as no 
 particular member of the community, if confidered as 
 an individual, is guilty, except the perfon, by whom the 
 injury was done, it would be contrary to reafon and 
 judice, to apply the principles of reparation and punijh- 
 ment^ which belong to the people as a colledive body, 
 to any individual of the community, who Ihould happen 
 to be taken. Now, as the principles of reparation and 
 punijhment are thus inapplicable to the prifoners, taken 
 in a publick war, and as the right of capture^ as we have 
 fliewn before, is infufficient to intitle the victors to the 
 fervice of the vanquilhed, it is evident that Jlavery can- 
 not judly exift at all, fince there are no other maxims, 
 on which it can be founded, even in the mod equitable 
 wars. 
 
 But if thefe things are fo; if davery cannot be de- 
 fended even in the mod equitable wars, what arguments 
 will not be found againlt that fervitude, which arifes 
 from thofe, that are unjujif Which arifes from thofe 
 African wars, that relate to the prefent fubjedl? The 
 African princes, corrupted by the merchants of Europe, 
 feek every opportunity of quarrelling with one another. 
 Every fpark is blown into a dame; and war is under- 
 taken from no other confideration, than that of procuring 
 [laves: while the Europeans, on the other hand, happy 
 in the quarrels which they have thus excited, fupply 
 them with arms and ammunition for the accomplifhment 
 of their horrid purpofe. Thus has Africa, for the fpace 
 of two hundred years, been the feene of the mod ini- 
 quitous and bloody wars; and ttius have many thoufands 
 of men, in the mod iniquitous manner, been fent into 
 fervitude. 
 
 C H A P. 
 
7 ° 
 
 On the Slavery and ComiMErce 
 
 C H a' P. VIII. 
 
 We fliall beg leave, before we proceed to the argu- 
 ments of the purchafers,' to add the following obfervati- 
 ons to the fubftance of the three preceding chapters. 
 
 As the two orders of ' men, of thofe who are privately 
 kidnapped by individuals, and of thofe who are pub- 
 lickly feized by virtue of the authority of their prince, 
 compofe together, at leaft, * nine tenths of the African 
 {laves, they cannot contain, upon a moderate computa- 
 tion, lefs than ninety thoufand men annually tranfport- 
 ed: an immenfe number, but eafily to be credited, when 
 we redecl that thoufands are employed for the purpofe 
 of flealing the unwary, and that thefe diabolical prac- 
 tices are in force, fo far has European injujlice been 
 fpread, at the diflance of a thoufand miles from the fac- 
 tories 
 
 * The total annual, exportation from Africa, is eflimated here at 
 100,000 men, two thirds of whom are exported by the Britiili mer- 
 chants alone. This cdimate is lefs than that which is iifually made, 
 and has been publiilied. The author has been informed by difintereded 
 people, who were in mod of the Wed India idands during the late 
 war, and who converfed with many of the mod intelligent of the 
 negroes, for the purpofe of inquiring by what methods they had ori- 
 ginally been reduced to davcry, - that they did not find even two in 
 twenty, who had been reduced to that fituation, by any other means 
 than thofe mentioned above. The author, defirous of a farther 
 confirmation of this circumdance, dopped the prefs till he had writ- 
 ten to another friend, who had refided twenty years in the Wed-In- 
 dies, and whofe opinion he had not yet adced. The following is 
 an extracl.from the anfwer. “ I do not among many hundreds re- 
 ‘‘ collcft to have feen but one or two daves, of thofe imported 
 “ from Africa, who had any fears to drew, that they had been in 
 war. They are generally fuch as are kidnapped, or fold by their 
 “ tyrants, after the d.edruflion of a village. In lliort, I am firmly 
 “ of opinion, that crimes and war together do not furniili one dave 
 in an hundred of the numbers introduced into the European colo- 
 ‘‘ nies. Of confequence the trade itfelf, were it podible to I'up- 
 pofe convidfs or prifonsrs of war to be judly fentenced to fervi- 
 tilde, is accountable for ninety-nine in every hundred daves whom 
 “ it fupplies. It is an infult to the publick, to attempt to palliate 
 the mstnod of procuring them.” 
 
OF THE Human Species. 71 
 
 tones on the coaft. [lave merchants^ among whom 
 
 a quantity of European goods is previcufly divided, tra- 
 ' vel into the heart of the country to this amazing diftance. 
 Some of them attend the various ^markets, that are efta- 
 blilhed through fo large an extent of territory, to pur- 
 chafe the kidnapped people, whom the Jlave-hunters are 
 continually bringing in; while the reft, fubdividing their 
 merchandize among the petty fovereigns with whom 
 they deal, receive, by an immediate exertion of fraud 
 and violence, the ftipulated number. 
 
 Now, will any man aftert, in oppofition to the argu- 
 ments before advanced, that out of this iinmenfe body 
 of men, thus annually colle6fed and tranfported, there 
 is even one^ over whom the original or fublequent feller 
 can have any power or right? Whoever aflercs this, in 
 the firft inftance, muft contradict his own feelings, and 
 muft confider himfelf as a juft objeCl of prey, whenever 
 any daring invader fliall think it proper to attack him. 
 And, in the fecond inftance, the very idea which the 
 African princes entertain of their villages, as parks or 
 refervoirs^ flocked only for their own convenience, and 
 of their fubjecls, as wild beajis^ whom they may purfue 
 and take at pleafure, is fo fliocking, that it need only 
 be mentioned, to be inftantly reprobated by the rea- 
 der. 
 
 The order of flaves, which is next to the former in 
 refpecl to the number of people w^hom it contains, is 
 that of prifoners of war. This order, if the former 
 ftatement be true, is more ihconfiderable than is gene- 
 rally imagined; but w'hoever reflecls on the prodigious 
 Daughter that is conilantly made in every African fi^ir- 
 mifn, cannot be otherwife than of this opinion; he will 
 find, that where ten are taken, he has every reafon to 
 prefume that an hundred perifh. In forne of thefe fkir- 
 mifiies, though they have been begun for the exprefs pur- 
 pofe of procuring flaves^ the conquerors have fuffered 
 but few of the vanquifhed to efcape the fury of the fword ; 
 and there have not been wanting inftances, where they 
 have been fo incenfed at the refiftance they have found, 
 that their fpirit of vengeance has entirely got the better 
 
7 2 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 of their avarice, and they have murdered, in cool blood, 
 every individual, without diferimination, either of age 
 or fex. 
 
 * The following is an account of one of thefe fkir- 
 milhes, as deferibed by a perfon, who \^as witnefs to the 
 feene. I was fent, with leveral others, in a fmall 
 
 floop up the river Niger, to purchafe flaves : we had 
 fome free negroes with us in the pradice; and as the 
 ‘‘ veffels are liable to frequent attacks from the negroes 
 on one fide of the river, or Moors on the other, they 
 are all armed. As we rode at anchor a long way up 
 ‘‘ the river, we obferved a large number of negroes in 
 huts by the river’s fide, and for our own fafety kept 
 a wary eye on them. Early next morning we faw 
 from our maft-head a numerous body approaching, 
 with apparently but little order, but in clofe array. 
 They approached very fall, and fell furioully on the 
 inhabitants of the town, who feemed to be quite 
 furprizedy but neverthelefs, as foon as they could get 
 together, fought ftoutly. They had fome fire-arms, 
 but made very little ufe of them, as they came directly 
 to clofe fighting with their fpears, lances, and fabres. 
 ‘‘ Many of the invaders were mounted on fmall horfes; 
 
 and both parties fought for about half an hour with 
 ‘‘ the fiercefl animofity, exerting much more courage 
 and perfeverance than I had ever before been witnefs 
 “ to amongfl them. The women and children of the 
 town cluftered together to the water’s edge, running 
 flirieking up and down with terrour, waiting the event 
 
 “ of 
 
 * The writer of the letter of which this is a faithful cxtra6l, and 
 who was known to the author of the prefent EiTay, was a long time 
 on the African coafl. Fie had once the misfortune to be lliipwrecked 
 there, and to be taken by the natives, who conveyed him and Jiis 
 companions a confiderable w^ay up into the country. The hardlliips 
 which he underwent in the march, his treatment during his captivity, 
 the fcencs to which he was witnefs, while he refided among the in- 
 land Africans, as well as while in the African trade, gave occafion 
 to a feries of very interefting letters. Thefe letters were fent to the 
 author of the prefent ElTay, with liberty to make what ufe of them 
 he chofe, by the gentleman to whom they were written. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 
 
 “ of the combat, till their party gave way and took to 
 the water, to endeavour to fwiin over to the Barbary 
 ‘‘ fide. They were clofely purfucd even into the river 
 “ by the vigors, who, though they came for the pur- 
 “ pofe of getting flaves^ gave no quarter, their cruelty 
 even prevailing over their avarice. They made no pri- 
 foners, but put ail to the fword without mercy. Hor- 
 rible indeed was the carnage of the vanquifhed on 
 this occafion, and as we were within two or three 
 hundred yards of them, their cries and fhrieks affect- 
 ed us extremely. We had got up our anchor at the 
 beginning of the fray, and now ftood clofe in to the 
 fpot, where the viftors having followed the vanquifh- 
 ed into the water, were continually dragging out and 
 murdering thofe, whom by reafon of their wounds 
 they eafily overtook. The very children, whom they 
 took in great numbers, did not efcape the maffacre. 
 “ Enraged at their barbarity, we fired our guns loaden 
 with grape-fhot, and a volley of fmall arms among 
 them, which effectually checked their ardour, and 
 obliged them to retire to a diflance from the fhore; 
 from whence a few round cannon fhot foon removed 
 “ them into the woods. The whole river was black 
 over with the heads of the fugitives, who were fwim- 
 ming for their lives. Thefe poor wretches, fearing 
 us as much as their conquerors, dived when we fired, 
 and cried mofl lamentably for mercy. Having now 
 ‘‘ effectually favoured their retreat, we ftood back- 
 wards and forwards, and took up feveral that were 
 wounded and tired. All whofe wounds had difabled 
 them from fwimrning, were either butchered or 
 drowned, before we got up to them. With a juftice 
 “ and generofity, never I believe before heard of among 
 flavors^ we gave thofe their liberty whom we had 
 ‘‘ taken up, fctting them on fliore on the Barbary fide, 
 among the poor refidue of their companions, who 
 “ had furvived the {laughter of the morning.’' 
 
 We fliall make but two remarks on this horrid in- 
 ftance of African cruelty. It adds, firfl, a confiderable 
 weight to the flatements that have been made ; and 
 
 K confirms, 
 
74 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 confirms, fecondly, the conclufions that were drawn rn 
 the preceding chapter. For if we even allow the right 
 of capture to be juft and the principles of reparation 
 and punifiiment to be applicable to the individuals of 
 a community, yet would the former be unjuft, and the 
 latter inapplicable, in the prefent cafe. Every African 
 war is a robbery; and we may add, to our former ex- 
 preflion, ''when "we faid, that thus have many thou- 
 fands of men, in the moft iniquitous manner, been 
 fent into fervitude,’^ that we believe there are few 
 of this order, who are not as much the examples of 
 injuftice, as the people that have been kidnapped; and 
 who do not additionally convey, when we confider them 
 as prifoners of war, an ‘idea of the moft* complicated 
 fcene of murder. , ' v 
 
 The order of convl6ls^ as it exifts almoft folely among 
 thofe princes, whofe dominions are contugious to the 
 European factories, is from this circumftance fo incon- 
 fiderable, when compared with either of the preceding, 
 that we fliould not have mentioned it again, but that 
 we were unwilling to omit’ any additional argument 
 that occurred againft it._ 
 
 It has been .Ihewn atready, that the punifliment of 
 flavery is 'infti'ded from no other motive, than that of 
 gratifying the of the prince, a confideration fo 
 deteftable, as to be fufficient of itfelf to prove it to be 
 unjuft; and that it is fo difproportionate, from its Jiature^ 
 to the offence, as to afford an additional proof of its 
 injuftice. We (hall add now, as a fecond argument, its 
 difproportibn from its continuance : and we (liall derive a 
 third from the confideration, that, in civil fociety, every 
 violation of die laws of the community is an offence 
 againft the JiaU. * 
 
 Let us fuppofe then an African prince, difdaining for 
 once the idea of emolument: let us fuppofe him for once 
 ' ■ inflamed 
 
 + Were this not the cafe, the government of a country could 
 have no right to take cognizance of crimes, and punilh them, but 
 every individual, if injured, would have a right to punilk the ag- 
 greffor with his own hand, which is contrary to the notions of al 
 civilized men, whether among the ancients or the moderns. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 75 
 
 inflamed with the love of his country, and refolving to 
 punifh from this principle alone, “ that by exhibiting an 
 example of terrour, he may preferve that happinefs of 
 the publick^ which he is bound to fecure and defend 
 by the very nature of his contra<5l; or, in other words, 
 that he may anfwer the end of government/’ If ac- 
 tuated then by this principle, he Ihould adjudge flavery 
 to an offender, as a juft punifliment for his offence, for 
 whofe benefit muft the convi(ft labour ? If it be anfwer- 
 ed, “ for the benefit of the ftate,” we allow that the 
 punifliment, in whatever light it is confidered, will be 
 found to be equitable : but if it be anfwered, for the 
 benefit of any individual whom he pleafes to appoint^* 
 we deny it to be juft. The * ftate alone is confidered 
 to have been injured, and as injuries cannot pojfihly he 
 transferred^ the ftate alone can juftly receive the advan- 
 tages of his labour. But if the African prince, when 
 he thus condemns him to labour for the benefit of an 
 unoffended individual^ fliould at the fame time fentence 
 him to become his property ; that is, if he fliould make 
 the perfon and life of the convid at the abfolute difpofal 
 of him, for w^hom he has fentenced him to labour; it 
 is evident that, in addition to his former injuftice, he 
 is ufurping a power, which no ruler or rulers of a ftate 
 can poffefs, and which the great Creator of the univerfe 
 never yet gave to any order whatever of created beings. 
 That this reafoning is true, and that civilized nations 
 have confidered it as fuch, will be beft teftified by their 
 practice. We may appeal here to that flavery^ which 
 is now adjudged to delinquents, as a punifliment, among 
 many of the ftates of Europe. Thefe delinquents are 
 fentenced to labour at the oar^ to work in mines^ and on 
 fortifications^ to cut and clear rivers^ to make and repair 
 roads^ and to perform other works of national utility. 
 They are employed, in fliort, in the publick work; be- 
 
 caufe, 
 
 * This fame notion is entertained even by the African princes, 
 who do nof permit the perfon injured to revenge his injury, or to 
 receive -he convid as his flave. But if the very perfon who has 
 been injured, docs not poffefs him, much Icfs ought any other per- 
 Ion whatfoever. 
 
76 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 caufe, as the crimes they have committed are confidered 
 to have been crime.s againft the publick, no individual 
 can juftly receive the emoluments of their labour; and 
 they are neither fold^ nor made capable of being trans- 
 ferred^ becaufe no government whatfoever is invefted 
 with fuch a power. 
 
 Thus then may that flavery, in which only the idea of 
 labour is included, be perfedlly equitable, and the de- 
 linquent will always receive his punifhment as a many 
 whereas in that, which additionally includes the idea of 
 property^ and to undergo which, the delinquent muff 
 previoufly change his nature, and become a brute^ there 
 is an inconfillency, which no arguments can reconcile, 
 and a contradidion to every principle of nature, which 
 a man need only to appeal to his own feelings immedi- 
 ately to evince. And w'e will venture to aflert, from 
 the united obfervations that have been made upon the 
 fubjed, in oppofuion to any arguments that may be 
 advanced, that there is fcarcely one of thofe, who are 
 called African convidls, on whom the prince has a 
 right to inflict a punifliment at all; and that there is no 
 one whatever, whom he has a power of fentencing to 
 labour for the benefit of an unoffended individual, and 
 much lels whom he has a right to fell. 
 
 * Having now fully examined the arguments of the 
 fellers^ and having made fuch additional remarks as were 
 neceffary, we have only to add, that W’e cannot fuffici- 
 ently exprefs our deteftation at their conduct. Were the 
 reader coolly to refle<ft upon the cafe of but one of the 
 unfortunate men, w^ho are annually the victims of ava- 
 rice^ and confider his fituation in life, as a father, an 
 hufband, or a friend, we are fure, that even on fuch a 
 partial reflection, he miifl experience confiderable pain. 
 What then muff be his feelings, when he is told, that, 
 
 fince 
 
 * There are indances on the African continent, of parents felling 
 their children. As the daves of this defeription are fo few, and are 
 fo irregularly obtained, we did not think it worth our while to con- 
 dder fhem as forming an order, and, as God never gave the parent 
 a power over his child to make him r.iiferable, we triifl that any far- 
 ther mention of them will be unneceaary. 
 
OF THE Human Species. - 77 
 
 fince the flave-trade began, j nine millions of men have 
 been torn from their deareft connections, and ibid into 
 ilavery. If at this recital his indignation fliould arife, 
 let him confider it as the genuine production of nature*, 
 that file recoiled at the horrid thought, and that Ihe ap- 
 plied inftantly a torch to his breaft to kindle his refent- 
 ment; and it, during his indignation, flie Ihould awaken 
 the figh of fympathy, or feduce the tear of cominifera- 
 tion from his eye, let him confider each as an additional 
 argument againit the iniquity of the fellers. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 It remains only now to examine by what arguments 
 thofe, who receive or purchafe their fellow-creatures into 
 flavery, defend the commerce. Their firfl plea is, that 
 they receive thofe wnth propriety, who are convicted 
 “ of crimes, becaufe they are delivered into their hands 
 by their own maglJiratesJ*^ Bat what is this to you 
 receivers^ Have the unfortunate convlds been guilty of 
 injury to youf Have they broken your treaties? Have 
 they plundered your (hips? Have they carried your wives 
 and children into flavery, that you Ihould thus retaliate? 
 Have they offended you even by word or gefture ? 
 
 But if the African convicts are innocent with refpedt 
 to you; if you have not even the ffadow of a claim 
 upon their perfons; by what right do you receive them? 
 “ By the laws of the Africans/’ you will fay; by 
 which it is pofitively allowed.” — But can laws alter 
 the nature of vice? They may give it a fanclion perhaps: 
 it will kill be immutably the fame, and, though dreffed 
 in the outward habiliments of honour, will {fill be intrlu’^ 
 fically bafe. 
 
 But alas! you do not only attempt to defend your- 
 felves by thefe arguments, but even dare to give your 
 adions the appearance of lenity, » and affume merit from 
 your bafenefs! and how firlt ought you particularly to 
 blufli, w'hen you affert, “ that prifoners of war are only 
 “ purchafed from the hands of their conquerors, to de- 
 liver them from death.'' Ridiculous defence! can the 
 
 moft 
 
 f Abbe Raynal, Hift. Phil. vol. 4. P. 154. 
 
yS On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 mod credulous believe it? You entice the Africans to 
 war; you foment their quarrels; you fupply them with 
 arms and ammunition, and all — from the motives of be- 
 nevolence, Does a man fet fire to an houfe, for the pur- 
 pofe of refcuing the inhabitants from the flames? But 
 if they are only purchafed, to deliver them from death; 
 why, when they are delivered into your hands, as pro- 
 testors, do you torture them with hunger? Why do you 
 kill them with fatigue? Why does the whip deform their 
 bodies, or the knife their limbs? Why do you fentence 
 them to death? to a death, infinitely more excruciating 
 than that from which you fo kindly faved them? What 
 anfwer do you make to this? for if you had not hu- 
 manely preferved them from the hands of their conquer- 
 ors, a quick death perhaps, and that in the fpace of a 
 moment, had freed them from their pain ; but on ac- 
 count of your favour and benevolence,, it is known, that 
 they have lingered years in pain and agony, and have 
 been fentenced, at laft, to a dreadful death for the moft 
 mfignificant offence. 
 
 Neither can we allow the other argument to be true, 
 on which you found your merit; ‘‘ that you take them 
 from their country for their own convenience; be- 
 caufe Africa, fcorched with inceffant heat, and fub- 
 ‘‘ je6t to the moft violent rains and tempefls, is unwhole- 
 fome, and unfit to be inhabited.” Prepofterous men! 
 do you thus judge from your own feelings? Do you thus 
 judge from your own conftitution and frame? But if you 
 fuppofe that the Africans are incapable of enduring their 
 own climate, becaufe you cannot endure it yourfelves; 
 why do you receive them into flavery? Why do you not 
 meafure them here by the fame ftandard? For if you 
 are unable to bear hunger and thirfl, chains and impri- 
 fonment, wounds and torture, why do you not fuppofe 
 them incapable of enduring the fame treatment? Thus 
 then is your argument turned againfi; yourfelves. But 
 confider the anfwer which the Scythians gave the iEgypti- 
 ans, when they contended about the antiquity of their 
 original, * That nature, when file firfl: diftinguifhed 
 
 ‘‘ countries 
 
 JuOin. L. 2. C. L 
 
OF THE Human Species. 79 
 
 countries by different degrees of heat and cold, tern- 
 pered the bodies of animals, at the fame inflant, to 
 endure the different fituations: that as the climate of 
 Scythia was feverer than that of ^gypt, fo were the 
 bodies of the Scythians harder, and as capable of en- 
 tluring the feverity of their atmofphere, as the ^gyp- 
 tians the temperatenefs of their own ” 
 
 But you may fay perhaps, that, though they are ca- 
 pable of enduring their own climate, yet their fituation 
 is frequently uncomfortable, and even wretched: that 
 Africa is infeffed with locufts, and infe(^s of various 
 kinds; that they fettle in fwarms upon the trees, deffcroy 
 the verdure, confume the fruit, and deprive the inhabi- 
 tants of their food. But the fame anfwer may be ap- 
 plied as before; “ that the fame kind Providence, who 
 tempered the body of the animal, tempered alfo the bo- 
 dy of the tree; that he gave it a quality to recover the 
 bite of the locufl, which he fent; and to reaffume, in a 
 fliort interval of time, its former glory.’^ And that fuch 
 is the cafe experience has fhewn: for the very trees that 
 have been infeffed, and ftripped of their bloom and ver- 
 dure, fo furprizingly quick is vegetation, appear in a 
 few days, as if an infe^l had been utterly unknown. 
 
 We may add to thefe obfervations, from the teffimony 
 of thofe who have written the Hiftory of Africa from 
 their owm infpedfion, that no country is more luxurious 
 in profpects, none more fruitful, none more rich in herds 
 and flocks, and none, where the comforts of life can be 
 gained with fo little trouble. 
 
 But you fay again, as a confirmation of thefe your 
 former arguments, (by which you would have it under- 
 wood, that the Africans theinfelves are fenfible of the 
 goodnefs of your intentions) that they do not appear 
 to go with you againff their will.” Impudent and 
 bafe aflertion! Why then do you load them with chains? 
 Why keep you your daily and nightly 'watches? But 
 alas, as a farther, though a more melancholy proof, of 
 the - falfehood of your aflertions, how many, when on 
 board your fliips, have put a period to their exiftence? 
 How many have leaped into the fea? How many have 
 
 pined 
 
00 
 
 Om the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 pined to death, that, even at the expence of their lives, 
 thev might fly from your benevolencef 
 
 Do you cali them obftinate then, becaufe they refufe 
 your favours? Do you call them ungrateful, becaufe 
 they make you this return? How much rather ought 
 you receivers to blufh! How much rather ought you 
 receivers to be conlidered a? abandoned and execrable; 
 who, when you ufurp the dominion over thofe, who are 
 as free and independent as yourfelves, break the firfl 
 law of juflice, which ordains, that no perfon fhall do 
 harm to another, without a previous provocation 
 who ofl’end againfl: the dictates of nature, which com- 
 mands, ‘‘ that no juft man fhall be given or received 
 into flavery againft his own confent;” and who vio- 
 late the very laws of the empire that you affume, by 
 configning your fubjedls to mifery. 
 
 Now, as a famous Heathen philofopher obferves, from 
 whofe 'mouth you fhall^be convicted, * there is a con- 
 fiderable difference, whether an injury is done, during 
 any perturbation of mind, which is generally fliort 
 and momentary; or whether it is done with any pre- 
 vidus meditation and dehgn; for, thofe crimes, which 
 proceed from any fuclden commotion of the mind, 
 are lefs than thofe, which are ftudied and prepared,’’ 
 how great and enormous are your crimes to be con- 
 fidei-ed, who plan your African voyages at a time, when 
 vour rsafon is found, and vour fenfes are aw^ake; who 
 cooilv'and deliberately equip your veflels; and who fpend 
 veai s, and even lives, in the traffick of human liberty. 
 
 But if the arguments of thofe, who fell or deliver 
 men into flavery, (as we have flmwn before) and of thofe, 
 who rceeive or pur chafe them, (as v/e have now fhewn) 
 are wholly falfe; it is evident tliat this commerce^ is not 
 only beyond the pofTibility of defence, but is juftly to 
 be accounted wicked, and juflly impious, fince it is 
 contrary to the priciples of law and government^ the 
 didates of reafon^ the common maxims of equity^ the 
 law’s of nature, the admonitions of confcience^ and, in 
 fliort, the Vv’hole dodrinc of natural religion. 
 
 PART 
 
 * Cicero de Ofiiciis. L. i. C. 8. 
 

 PART III. 
 
 THE 
 
 SLAVERY OF THE AFRICANS 
 
 H aving confined ourfelves wholly, in the fecond 
 part of this Eflay, to the confideration of the com- 
 merce^ w’e fhall now proceed to the confideration of the 
 Jlavery that is founded upon it. As this ilavery will be 
 confpicuous in the treatment^ which the unfortunate Afri- 
 cans uniformly undergo, when they are put in the hands 
 of the recerjcrs^ we fliall defcribe the manner in which 
 they are accuftomed to be ufed from this period. 
 
 To place this in the cleared, and mod confpicuous 
 point of view, we fhall throw a confiderable part of our 
 information on this head into the form of a narrative: 
 we fhall fuppofe ourfelves, in fhort, on the continent of 
 Africa, and relate a fcene, which, from its agreement 
 with unquedionable facts, might not unreafonably be 
 prefumed to have been prefented to our view, had we 
 been really there. 
 
 And fird, let us turn our eyes to the cloud of dud 
 that is before us. It feems to advance rapidly, and, ac* 
 companied with difmal fhrieks and yellings, to make 
 the very air, that is above it, tremble as it rolls along. 
 What can pofhbly be the caufe? Let us inquire of that 
 
 IN THE 
 
 EUROPEAN COLONIES. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 L 
 
 melancholy 
 
82 On the Slavery and Comme^rce 
 
 melancholy African, who feems to walk dejected near 
 the ihore; whofe eyes are ftedfaftly fixed on the ap- 
 proaching object, and whofe heart, if we can judge 
 from the appearance of his countenance, rauft be great- 
 ly agitated. 
 
 “ Alas!’’ fays the unhappy African, the cloud that 
 that you fee approaching, is a' train of wretched Haves. 
 They are going to the Ihips behind you. They are 
 ‘‘ deftined for the Englifli colonies, and, if you will 
 “ ftay here but for a little time, you will fee them pafs. 
 ‘‘ They were lafl: night drawn up upon the plain which 
 ‘‘ you fee before you, where they were branded upon 
 the breafi: with an hot iron\ and when they had un- 
 dergone the whole of the treatment which is cuftom- 
 ary on thcfe occafions, and which I am informed 
 ‘‘ that you Engliihmen at home ufe to the cattle which 
 you buy, they were returned to their prifon. As I 
 have lome dealings v*^ith the members of the factory 
 “ which you fee at a little diftance, (though thanks to 
 “ the Great Spirit, I never dealt in the liberty of my 
 fellow creatures) I gained admittance there. I learn- 
 ed the hiftory of fome of the unfortunate people, 
 w'hom 1 faw confined, and will explain to you, if my 
 eye fliould catch them as they pafs, the real caufes of 
 their fervitude.” 
 
 Scarcely were thefe words fpoken, when they came 
 diftindfly into fight. They appeared to advance in a 
 long column, but in a very irregular manner. There 
 were three only, in the front, and thefe were chained 
 together. T he reft that followed feemed to be chained 
 by pairs, but by prefiing forward, to avoid the lafti of 
 the drivers, the breadth of the column began to be 
 greatly extended, and ten or more were obferved 
 abreaft. 
 
 While we were making thefe remarks, the intelligent 
 African thus refumed his difcourfe. “ The firft three 
 ‘‘ whom you obferve, at the head of the train, to be 
 chained together, are prifoners of war. As foon as 
 the fiiips that are behind you arrived, the news was dif- 
 patched into the inland country; when one of the 
 
 petty 
 
0^ THE Human Species. ' 83 
 
 petty kings immediately affembled' his fubje^ls, and 
 “ attacked a neighbouring tribe. The wretched people, 
 though they were furprized, made a formidable re- 
 fiftance, as they refolved, almoft all of them, rather 
 “ to lole their lives, than furvive their liberty. The 
 perfon whom you fee in the middle, is the father of 
 ‘‘ the two young men, who are chained to him on each 
 fide. His wi{^ and two of his children were Idhed 
 in the attack, and his father being wounded, and, on 
 “ account of his age, incapable of fervitude^ was left 
 ‘‘ bleeding on the foot where this tranfaclion happen- 
 ed.” 
 
 “ With refpecl to thofe who are now palfing us, and 
 are immediately behind the former, I can give you 
 ‘‘ no other intelligence, than that fome of them, to 
 about the number of thirty, w^ere taken in the fame 
 fkirmilh. Their tribe was faid to have been numerous 
 before the attack; thefe however are all that are left alive. 
 But with refped to the unhappy man, who is now 
 ‘‘ oppofite to us, and v/hom you may diftinguilh, as he 
 is now looking back and wringing his hands in de- 
 fpair, I can inform you with more precifion. He is 
 “ an unfortunate convict. He lived only about five 
 days journey from the factory. He went out with 
 his king to hunt, and was one of his train; but, 
 through too great an anxiety to afford his royal ma- 
 (ter diverfion, he roufed the game from the covert 
 rather fooner than was expected. The king, exaf- 
 perated at this circumftance, fentenced him to flavery. 
 His wife and children, fearing Idt the tyrant fliould 
 extend the punifument to themfelves, which is not un~ 
 ufua!^ fled diredly to the woods, where they were 
 “ all devoured.” 
 
 The people, w^hom you fee clofe behind the un- 
 ‘‘ happy convicl, form a numerous body, and reach a 
 ‘‘ confiderable way. They fpeak a language, v/hich no 
 perfon in this part of Africa can underftand, and their 
 features, as you perceive, are fo different from thofe 
 “ of the reft, that they almoft appear a diftintl race of 
 “ men. From this circumftance I recoiledt them. They 
 
84 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 are the fubjeQs of a'very diftant prince, who agreed 
 with the Jla’ve merchants^ for a quantity of fpirituous 
 liquors^ to furnifti him with a flipulated number of 
 flaves. He accordingly furrounded, and fet fire to 
 one of his own villages in the night, and feized thefe 
 people, who were unfortunately the inhabitants, as 
 they were efcaping from the flames. 1 firfl: faw them 
 as the merchants were driving them in, about two 
 days ago. They came in a large body, and were 
 tied together at the neck w'ith leather thongs, which 
 permitted them to walk at the diflance of about a 
 ‘‘ yard from one another. Many of them were loaden 
 ‘‘ with elephants teeth, wTiich had been purchafed at the 
 fame time. All of them had bags, made of fkin, 
 upon their fhoulders; for as they were to travel, in 
 their way from the great mountains, through barren 
 fands and inhofpitable w^oods for many days together, 
 they were obliged to carry w'ater and provifions with 
 them. Notwithftanding this, many of them periflied, 
 ‘‘ fome by hunger, but the greatefl number by fatigue, 
 as the place from whence they came, is at fuch an 
 amazing diflance from this, and the obflacles, from 
 the nature of the country, fo great, that the journey 
 could fcarcely be completed in feven moons.” 
 
 When this relation was finifhed, and we had been 
 looking fledfaflly for fome time on the croud that was 
 going by, w'e lofl flght of that peculiarity of feature, 
 which we had before remarked. We then difeovered 
 that the inhabitants of the depopulated village had all of 
 them paflTcd us, and that the part of the train, to which 
 wx were now oppofite, was a numerous body of kid- 
 napped people. Here we indulged our imagination. 
 We thought we beheld in one of them a father, in ano- 
 ther an hufband, and in another a fon, each of whom 
 was forced from his various and tender connexions, and 
 without even the opportunity of bidding them adieu. 
 While we were engaged in thefe and ether melancholy 
 reflexions, the whole body of flaves had entirely pafled 
 US- \Ve turned almofl infenflbly to look at them again, 
 when we difeovered an unhappy man at the end of the 
 
 train, 
 
OF THE Human Species. 85 
 
 train, who could fcarcely keep pace with the reft. His 
 feet feemed to have fuffered much from long and con- 
 ftant travelling, for he was limping painfully along. 
 
 This man, refumes the African, has travelled a 
 conftderable way. He lived at a great diftance from 
 “ hence, and had a large family, for whom he was dai- 
 ly to provide. As he went out one night to a neigh- 
 “ bouring fpring, to procure water for his thirfty chil- 
 ‘‘ dren, he was kidnapped by two Jlave hunters^ who 
 “ fold him in the morning to fome country merchants 
 for a bar of iron, Thefe drove him with other flaves, 
 “ procured almoft in the fame manner, to the neareft 
 market, where the Englifh merchants, to whom the 
 ‘‘ train that has juft now paiTed us belongs, purchafed 
 ‘‘ him and two others, by means of their travelling 
 ‘‘ agents, for 2 l piftoL His wife and children have been 
 long waiting for his return. But he is gone for ever 
 “ from their fight: and they muft be now difconfolate, 
 as they muft be certain by his delay, that he has fal- 
 “ len into the hands of the Chrijlians, 
 
 And now, as 1 have mentioned the name of ChrU 
 flians^ a name, by which the Europeans diftinguifli 
 ‘‘ themfeives from us, I could wifli to be informed of 
 the meaning which fuch an appellation may convey. 
 They conftder themfeives as men^ but us unfortunate 
 Africans, whom they term Heathens^ as the beafts that 
 ferve us. But ah! how dift'erent is the facl! What is 
 Qhriftianity ^ but a fyftem of murder and opprejjlonf 
 The cries and yells of the unfortunate people, who 
 are now foon to embark for the regions of fervitude, 
 ‘=* have already pierced my heart. Have you not heard 
 “ me figh, while we have been talking? Do you not fee 
 the tears that now trickle down my cheeks? and yet 
 ‘‘ thefe hardened Chriftians are unable to be moved at 
 “ all: nay, they will icourge them amidft their groans, 
 and even fmile, while they are torturing them to death. 
 ‘‘ Happy, happy Heathenifm ? which can deteft the vices 
 of Chriftianitv, and fed for the diftreftes of man- 
 kind.’’ 
 
8(5 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 But” we reply, You are totally miftakenr Cy^r^ 
 tianity is the moll perfect and lovely of moral fyllems. 
 It blelTes even the hand of perfecution itfelf, and re- 
 turns good for' evil. But the people againft whom 
 you fo jultly declaim, are not Chriftians, They are 
 infidels. They are monjiers. They are out of the 
 common courfe of nature. Their countrymen at home 
 are generous and brave. They fupport the fick, the 
 lame, and the blind. They fly to the fuccour of the 
 diflrelfed. They have noble and (lately buildings for 
 the foie purpofe of benevolence. They are in (hort, 
 of all nations, the moft remarkable for humanity and 
 jullice.” 
 
 But why then,” replies the honed African, do 
 they fuffer this? Why is Africa a fcene of blood and 
 defolation? Why are her children wreded from her, 
 to adminider to the luxuries and greatnefs of thofe 
 “ whom they never offended? And why are thefe dif- 
 mal cries in vain?” 
 
 ‘‘ Alas!” we reply again, “ can the cries and groans, 
 with which the air now trembles, be heard acrofs this 
 “ extenfive continent? Can the fouthern winds convey 
 them to the ear of Britain? If they could reach the 
 generous Englifhman at home, they would pierce his 
 heart, as they have already pierced your own. He 
 would fympathize with you in your didrefs. He 
 would be enraged at the conduct of his countrymen, 
 and redd their tyranny.”- - 
 
 But here a (liriek unufually loud, accompanied with a 
 dreadful rattling of chains, interrupted the difcourfe. 
 The wretched Africans were jud about to embark: they 
 had turned their face to their country, as if to take a 
 lad adieu, and, with arms uplifted to the (ky, were 
 making the very atmofphere refound with their prayers 
 and imprecations. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 
 
 37 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The* foregoing fcene, though it may be faid to be 
 imaginary, is ftri6Uy confident with fad. It is a fcene, 
 to which the reader himfelf may have been witnefs, if 
 he has ever vifited the place, where it is fuppofed to lie; 
 as no circumftance whatever has been inferted in it, for 
 which the fulled and mod undeniable evidence cannot 
 be produced. We (hall proceed now to defcribe, in 
 general terms, the treatment which the wretched Afri- 
 cans undergo, from the time of their embarkation. 
 
 When the African daves, who are colleded from va- 
 rious quarters, for the purpofes of fale, are delivered 
 over to the receivers^ they are conduded in the manner 
 above defcibed to the drips. Their fituation on board 
 is beyond all defcription: for here they are crouded, 
 hundreds 6f them together, into fuch a fmall compafs, 
 as would fcarcely be thought fufficient to accommodate 
 twenty, if confidered as free men. This confinement 
 foon produces an effed, that may be eafily imagined. It 
 generates a peftilential air, which, co-operating with bad 
 provifions, occafions fuch a ficknefs and mortality among 
 them, that not lefs than * twenty thoufand are generally 
 taken oiF in every yearly tranfportation. 
 
 Thus confined in a peftilential prifon, and almoft en- 
 tirely excluded from the chearful face of day, it remains 
 for the fickly furvivors to linger out a miferable ex- 
 iftencc, till the voyage is finifhed. But are no farther 
 evils to be expeded in the interim, particularly if we 
 add to their already wretched fituation, the indignities 
 
 that 
 
 * It is iiniverfally allowed, that at leaft one fifth of the exported 
 : negroes perifh in the paflage. This eftimate is made from the time 
 ' in which they arc put an board, to the time when they are difpofed 
 I of in the colonies. The French are fuppofed to lofe the greateft 
 I number in the voyage, but particularly from this circumftance, be- 
 1 caufe their Have ihips are in general fo very large, that many of the 
 ilaves that have been put on board fickly, die before the cargo can 
 be completed. 
 
88 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 that are daily offered them, and the regret which they 
 mud: conftantly feel, at being for ever forced from their 
 connexions? Thefe evils are but too apparent. Some 
 of them have refolved, and, notwithhanding the threats 
 of the receivers, have carried their refolves into executi- 
 on, to Ifarve themfelves to death. Others, when they 
 have been brought upon deck for air, if the lead: oppor- 
 tunity has offered, have leaped into the fea, and termi- 
 nated their miferies at once. Others, in a fit of defpair, 
 have attempted to rife, and regain their liberty. But 
 here what a fcene of barbarity has conftantly enfued. — 
 Some of them have been inftantly killed upon the fpot; 
 fome have been taken from the hold, have been bruifed 
 and mutilated in the mod: barbarous and fliocking man- 
 ner, and have been returned bleeding to their compani- 
 ons, as a fad example of refiftance; while others, tied 
 to the ropes of the fhip, and mangled alternately with 
 the whip and knife, have been left in that horrid fituatl- 
 on, till they have expired. 
 
 But this is not the only inhuman treatment which they 
 are frequently obliged to undergo; for if their fhould be 
 any neceffity, from tempeifuous weather, for lightening 
 the diip; or if it fliould be prefumed on the voyage, that 
 the provifions will fall fhort before the port can be made, 
 they are, many of them, thrown into the fea, without 
 any compun(^fion of mind on the part of the receivers, 
 and without any other regret for their lofs, than that 
 which infpires. Wretched furvivorsl what muff 
 
 be their feelings at fuch a fightl how mud: they tremble 
 to think of that fervitude which is approaching, when 
 the very dogs of the receivers have been retained on 
 board, and preferred to their unolfending countrymen. 
 But indeed fo lightly are thefe unhappy people elfeemed, 
 that their lives have been even taken away upon fpecu- 
 lation : there has been an inftance,* within the laft five 
 
 years, 
 
 * This inftance happened in a ihip, commanded by one Coiiing- 
 wood. On the 29th of November, 1781, fifty four of them were 
 thrown into the fea alive; on the 30th forty-two more; and in about 
 three days afterwards, twenty-fix. Ten others, who were brought 
 
 upon 
 
OF THE Human Species; ' 89 
 
 years, of one hundred and thirty -two of them being 
 thrown into the fea, becaufe it was fuppofed that, by 
 this tricky their value could be recovered from the in- 
 fur ers. 
 
 But if the fliip fliould arrive fafe at its deftined port, 
 a circumftance which does not always happen, (for fome 
 have been blown up, and many loft) the wretched Afri- 
 cans do not find an alleviation of their forrow. Here 
 they are again expofed to fale. Here they are again fub- 
 je£ted to the infpeftion of other brutal receivers^ who 
 examine and treat- them with an inhumanity, at which 
 even avarice ftiould blufh. To this mortifying circum- 
 ftance is added another, that they are picked out, as the 
 purchafer pleafes, with out any confideration whether 
 the wife is feparated from her hufband, or the mother 
 from her fon: and if thefe cruel inftances of feparation 
 fliould happen; if relations, when they find themfelves 
 about to be parted, fliould cling together; or if filial, 
 conjugal, or parental affedion, fliould detain them but 
 a moment longer in each other’s arms, than thefe fecond 
 receivers fliould think fuflicient, the lafli inftantly fevers 
 them from their embraces. 
 
 We cannot clofe our account of the treatment, which 
 the wretched Africans undergo while in the hands of the 
 firji receivers^ without mentioning an inftance of wanton 
 barbarity, which happened fome time ago; particularly 
 as it may be inferted w'ith propriety in the prefent place, 
 and may give the reader a better idea of the cruelties, 
 to which they are continually expofed, than any that he 
 may have yet conceived. To avoid making a miftake, 
 we fliall take the liberty that has been allowed us, and 
 
 M tranfcribe 
 
 upon the deck for the fame pnrpofe, did not v/ait to be hand-cufFcd, 
 but bravely leaped into the Tea, and iliared the fate of their com- 
 panions. It is a fact, that the people on board this iTiip had not 
 been put upon lliort allowance. The excufc which this execrable 
 wretch made on board for his condud, was the following, “ that if 
 “ the Jlaves, who were then Jickly, had died a natural deaths the lojs would 
 “ have been the owners; but as the^ \\>erc thrown alive into the fea, it 
 “ would fall upon the underwriters d' 
 
<|0 On THE Slavery and Commerce 
 
 tranfcribe it from, a little manufcript account, with which 
 we have been favoured by a * perfon of the ftndefl in- 
 tegrity, and who was at that time in the place where the 
 tranfacHon happened. “ Not long after,'’ fays he, 
 (continuing his account) the perpetrator of a cruel 
 murder, committed in open day light, in the mod 
 publick part of a town, which was the feat of govern- 
 “ raent, efcaped every other notice than the curfes of a 
 few of the more humane v/itneffes of his barbarity. 
 An officer of a Guinea ffiip, who had the care of a 
 number of new haves, and was returning from the 
 falc-yard to the velTel with fuch as remained unfold, 
 obferved a flout fellow among them rather flow in his 
 ‘‘ motions, which he therefore quickened with his rattan. 
 The (lave foon afterwards fell down, and was raifed 
 by the fame application. Moving forwards a few 
 yards, he fell down again; and this being taken as a 
 proof of his fullen perverfe fpirit, the enraged officer 
 “ furioully repeated his blows till he expired at his feet. 
 ‘‘ The brute coolly ordered fome of the furviving haves 
 to carry the dead body to the water’s fide, where with- 
 “ out any ceremony or delay, being thrown into the fea, 
 the tragedy was fuppofed to have been immediately 
 finihied by the not more inhuman fharks, with which 
 the harbour then abounded. Thefe voracious fifh 
 were fuppofed to have followed the vehels from the 
 coaft of Africa, in which ten thoufand haves were 
 imported in that one feafon, being allured by the 
 flench, and daily fed by the dead carcahes thrown 
 overboard on the voyage.” 
 
 If 
 
 This gentleman is at prefent rehdent in England. The author of 
 this Effay, applied to him for fome information on the treatment of 
 haves, fo far as his own knowledge was concerned. He was fo obli- 
 ging as to furnilk him with the written account alluded to, interfperf- 
 ed only with fuch inhances, as he himfelf could undertake to anfwer 
 for. The author, as he has never met with thefe inhances before, 
 and as they are of fuch high authority, intends to tranfcribe two or 
 three of them, tind infert them in the fourth chapter. They will be 
 found in inverted commas. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 91 
 
 If the reader fliould obferve here, that cattle are bet- 
 ter protected in this country, than haves in the colonies, 
 his obfervation will be juft. The beaft which is driven 
 to market, is defended by law from the goad of the dri- 
 ver; whereas the wretched African, though an human 
 being, and whofe feelings receive of courfe a double 
 poignancy from the power of reflexion, is unnoticed in 
 this refpecl in the colonial code, and may be goaded and 
 and beaten till he -expires. 
 
 We may now take oqr leave of the jirji receivers. 
 Their crime has been already eftimated; and to reafon 
 farther upon it, would be unneceftary. For where the 
 conducl of men is fo manifeftly impious, there can be no 
 need, either of a fingle argument or a refledlion; as 
 every reader of fenfibility will anticipate them in his own 
 feelings. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 When the wretched Africans are thus put into the 
 hands of the fecond receivers., they are conveyed to the 
 plantations, where they are totally confidered as cattle^ 
 or beafts of labour ; their very children, if any fhould be 
 born to them in that fituation, being previoully deftined 
 to the condition of their parents. But here a queftion 
 arifes, which will interrupt the thread of the narration 
 for a little time, viz. how far their defeendants, who 
 compofe the fifth order of Haves, are juftly reduced to 
 fervitude, and upon what principles the receivers defend 
 their conducl. 
 
 Authors have been at great pains to inquire, why, 
 in the ancient fervitude, the child has uniformly follow- 
 ed the condition of the mother. But we conceive that 
 they would have faved themfelves much trouble and have 
 done themfelves more credit, if inftead of endeavouring 
 to reconcile the cuftom with heathen notions, or their 
 own laboured conjeclures, they had fhewn its inconfift- 
 ency with reafon and nature, and its repugnanev to com- 
 mon juftice. Suffice it to fay, that the whole theory of 
 the ancients, with refpecl to the defeendants of flaves, 
 
 may 
 
92 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 may be reduced to this principle, “ that as the parents, 
 by becoming property^ were wholly confidered as cat- 
 ‘‘ tle^ their children, like the progeny of cattle^ inherited 
 their parental lot.’’ 
 
 Such alfo is the excufe of the tyrannical receivers be- 
 fore-mentioned. They allege, that they have purchafed 
 the parents, that they can fell and difpofe of them as 
 they pleafe, that they poffefs them under the fame laws 
 and limitations as their cattle, and that their children, 
 like the progeny of thefe, become their property by 
 birth. 
 
 But the abfurdity of the argument will immediately 
 appear. It depends wholly on the fuppofition, that the 
 parents are brutes, if they are brutes^ we fliall inftantly 
 ceafe to contend: if they are jnen, which we think it 
 not difficult to prove, the argument mufi: immediately 
 fall, as w^e have already fhewn that there cannot juftly 
 be any property whatever in the human fpecies. 
 
 It has appeared alfo, in the fecond part of this Eflay, 
 that as nature made every man’s body and mind his 
 own.^ fo no jufi perfon can be reduced to flavery againffc 
 his own confent. Do the unfortunate offspring ever con- 
 fe?it to be Haves? — They are Haves from their birth. — 
 Are they guilty of crimes, that they lofe their freedom? 
 —They are Haves when they cannot fpeak — Are their 
 parents abandoned? The crimes of the parents cannot 
 juffly extend to the children. 
 
 d’hus then muff the tyrannical receivers^ who prefume 
 to fentence the children of Haves to fervitude, if they 
 mean to difpute upon the juftice of their caufe; cither 
 allow them to have been brutes from their birth, or to 
 have been guilty of crimes at a time, when they were 
 incapable of offending the King of Kings. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 But to return to the narration. When the wretcheff 
 Africans are conveyed to the plantations, they are con- 
 fidered as beafts of labour., and are put to their refpec- 
 
 tive 
 
OF THE Human Species. 93 
 
 tive work. Having led, in their own country, a life of 
 indolence and eafe» where the earth brings forth fpon- 
 taneoufly the comforts of life, and fpares frequently the 
 toil and trouble of cultivation, they can hardly be ex- 
 pecled to endure the drudgeries of fervitude. Calcula- 
 tions are accordingly made upon their lives. It is. con- 
 jedured, that if three in four furvive what is called the 
 feafoning^ the bargain is highly favourable. This feafon- 
 ing is faid to expire, when the two firft years of their 
 fervitude are completed : It is the time which an African 
 mufl take to be fo accuifomed to the colony, as to be 
 able to endure the common labour of a plantation, and 
 to be put into the gang. At the end of this period the 
 calculations become verified, * t^jjenty thoujand of thofe, 
 wdio are annually imported, dying before the feafoning 
 is over. This is furely an horrid and awful confidera- 
 tion: and thus does it appear, (and let it be remember- 
 ed, that it is the lowed calculation that has been ever 
 made upon the fcbjecl) that out of every annual fupply 
 that is fhipped from the coaff of Africa, | forty thoujand 
 lives are regularly expended, even before it can be 
 faid, that there is really any additional flock for the co- 
 lonies. 
 
 * One third ot the whole number imported, is often computed 
 CO be loll in the feafoning, which, in round ninnbers, will be 27000. 
 The lofs in the feafoning depends, in a great meafure, on two dr- 
 CLimflances, viz. on the number of what are called refufe flaves that 
 (ire imported, and on the quantify of new lands in the colony. In 
 the French windward idands of Martinico, and Guadaloupe, which 
 are cleared and highly cultivated, and in our old fmall iflands, one 
 fourth, including refufe Haves, is conlidered as a general proporti- 
 on. But in St. Domingo, where there is a great deal of new Land 
 annually taken into culture, and in other colonies in the fame litua- 
 tion, the general proportion, including refufe Haves, is found to 
 be one third. This therefore is a lower cHimate than the former, 
 and reduces the number to about 230C0. We may obferve, that 
 this is the common cHimatc, but we have reduced it to 20000 to 
 make it free from all objeflion. 
 
 ■\ Including the number that perifh on the voyage, and in the fea- 
 foning. It is generally thought that not half the number purchafed 
 can be confidered as an additional Hock, and of couiTe that 50,000 
 are confumed within the nrH two years from their embarkation. 
 
94 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 When the feafoning is over, and the furvivors arc 
 thus enabled to endure the ufual talk of flaves, they are 
 Confidered as real and fubftantial fupplies. * From this 
 period therefore we (hall deferibe their fituation. 
 
 They are fummoned at five in the morning to begin 
 their work. This w^ork may be divided into two kinds, 
 the culture of the fields, and the colledion of grafs for 
 cattle. The laft is the mod laborious and intolerable 
 employment; as the grafs can only be collected blade 
 by blade, and is to be fetched frequently twice a day 
 at a confiderable diflance from the plantation. In thefe 
 two occupations they are jointly taken up, with no other 
 intermilTion than that of taking their fubfiflence twice, 
 till nine at night. They then feparate for their refpec- 
 tive huts, when they gather fficks, prepare their fupper, 
 and attend their families. This employs them till mid- 
 night, when they go to reft. Such is their daily way of 
 life for rather more than half the year. They are fifteen 
 hours, including two intervals at meals, in the fervice 
 of their mafters; they are employed three afterwards in 
 their own neceftary concerns; five only remain for fleep, 
 and their day is finiflied. 
 
 During the remaining portion of the year, or the 
 time of crop, the nature, as well as the time of their 
 employment, is confiderably changed. The whole gang 
 is generally divided into tuo or three bodies. One of 
 thefe, befides the ordinary labour of the day, is kept 
 in turn at the mills, that are ccnftantly going, during 
 the whole of the night. This is a dreadful encroach- 
 ment 
 
 That part of the account, that has been hitherto given, ex- 
 tends to all the Europeans and their colonies, who are concerned 
 in this horrid practice. But we are forry that we mufl now make a 
 diflinction, and coniine the remaining part of it to the colonifts of 
 the BritiOi Weft India iflands, and to thofe of the fouthern pro- 
 vinces of No'th America. As the employment of flaves is differ- 
 ent in the two parts of the world lalt mentioned, we fhall content 
 ourfelves with deferibing it, as it exifts in one of them, and we 
 ihall- afterwards annex fuch treatment and fuch confequences as are 
 applicable to both. We have only to add, that the reader muft 
 not confider our accounts as univerfaHy, but only generally, true. 
 
Of THE Human Species. 95 
 
 ment upon their time of reft, which was before too 
 fliort to permit them perfectly to refrefh their wearied 
 limbs, and adually reduces their fleep, as long as this 
 fealon lafts, to about three hours and an half a night, 
 upon a moderate * computation. Thofe who can keep 
 their eyes open during their nightly labour, and are 
 willing to refift the drowfinefs that is continually coming 
 upon them, are prefently worn out; while fome of 
 thofe, who are overcome, and who feed the mill be- 
 tween alleep and awake, fuft'er, for thus obeying the 
 calls of nature, by the f lofs of a limb. In this man- 
 ner they go on, with little or no refpite from their work, 
 till the crop feafon is over, when the year (from the time 
 of our firft defcription) is completed. 
 
 I To fupport a life of fuch unparalleled drudgery, we 
 fhould at leaft expe(ft to find, that they were comforta- 
 bly clothed, and plentifully fed. But fad reverfel they 
 have fcarcely a covering to defend themfelves againft the 
 inclemency of the night. Their provifions are frequent- 
 ly bad, and are always dealt out to them with fuch a 
 fparing hand, that the means of a bare livelihood arc 
 not placed within the reach of four out of five of thefe 
 unhappy people. It is a fadt, that many of the diforders 
 of flaves are contradfed from eating the vegetables, 
 which their little fpots produce, before they are fuffici- 
 ently ripe: a clear indication, that the calls of hunger 
 are frequently fo prefling, as not to fuffer them to wait, 
 till they can really enjoy them. 
 
 This fituation, of a want of the common neceffaries 
 of life, added to that of hard and continual labour, 
 muft be fufficiently painful of itfelf. How then muft 
 
 the 
 
 * This computation is made on a fuppofition, that the gang is 
 divided into three bodies; we call it therefore moderate, becaufe 
 the gang is frequently divided into two bodies, which mull there- 
 fore fet up alternately every other night. 
 
 f An hand or arm being frequently ground off. 
 
 ^ The reader will fcarcely believe it, but it is a fad, that a flave’s 
 annual allowance from his mailer, for provifions, clothing, medi- 
 cines when fich, dec. is limited, unon an average, to thirty Ihill- 
 ings. 
 
g6 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 the pain be fliarpencd, if it be accompanied with feve- 
 rity ! if an unfortunate have does not come into the field 
 exactly at the appointed time, if, drooping with fick- 
 nefs or fatigue, he appears to work unwillingly, or if 
 the bundle of grafs that he has been colleding, appears 
 too finall in the eye of the overfeer, he is equally fure 
 of experiencing the whip. This inflrument erafes the 
 fkin, and cuts out fmail portions of the fiefli at almofl 
 every flroke; and is fo frequently applied, that the 
 fmack of it is all day long in the ears of thofe, who 
 are in the vicinity of the plantations. This fe verity of 
 mafters, or managers, to their flaves, which is confider- 
 ed only as common difcipline, is attended with bad ef- 
 fedls. It enables them to behold inflances of cruelty 
 without commiferation, and to be guilty of them with- 
 out remorfe. Hence thofe many ads of deliberate mu- 
 tilation, that have taken place on the flighted: occanons: 
 hence thofe many ads of inferiour, though fliocking, bar- 
 barity, that have taken place without any occafion at 
 all: * the very flitting of ears has been confidered as an 
 operation, fo perfedly devoid of pain, as to have been 
 performed for no other reafon than that for which a 
 brand is fet upon cattle, as a mark of property. 
 
 But this is not the only effed, which this feverity pro- 
 duces: for while it hardens their hearts, and makes them 
 infenfible of the mifery of their fellow-creatures, it be- 
 gets a turn for wanton cruelty. As a proof of this, we 
 {hall mention one, among the many initances that occur, 
 where ingenuity has been exerted in contriving modes of 
 
 torture. 
 
 ^ “ A boy having received fix flaves as a prefent from his father, 
 “ immediately flit their ears, and for the following reafon, that as 
 “ his father was a whimfical man, he might claim them again, iin- 
 “ lefs they were marked.” We do not mention this infiance as a 
 confirmation of the paffage to which it is annexed, but only to Ihew 
 how cautious we ought to be in giving credit to what may be ad- 
 vanced in any work written in defence of flavery, by any native of 
 the colonies: for being trained up to feenes of cruelty bom his 
 cradle, he may, confiftently with his own feelings, reprefent that 
 treatment as mild, at which we, who have never been ufed to fee 
 them, fliould abfolutely Ihudder. 
 
OF THE Human Species, 97 
 
 torture. An iron coffin,' with holes in it, was kept by 
 a certain colonift, as an auxiliary to the laffi. In this 
 the poor vidim ol the inafter’s refentnient w’as in- 
 clofed, and placed fufficientiy near a fire, to occafion 
 ‘‘ extreme pain, and confequently fnrieks and groans, 
 until the revenge of the maker was fatiated, without 
 ‘‘ any other inconvenience on his part, then a tempora- 
 ry fufpenfion of the Have’s labour. Had he been flog- 
 ged to death, or his limbs mutilated, the interefl of 
 the brutal tyrant would have fuffered a more irrepara- 
 ble lefs. 
 
 In mentioning this inltance, we do not mean to in- 
 “ finuate, that it is common. We know that it was re- 
 probated by many. All that we w'ould infer from it 
 is, that where men are habituated to a fyftcm of fe- 
 verity, they become wantonly cruel^ and that the mere 
 “ tpleration of fuch an inftrument of torture, in any 
 country, is a clear indication, that this wretched clafs 
 of men do not there enjoy the protedion of a?iy laws^ that 
 may be pretended to have been enaded in their favour. 
 Such then is the general fituation of the unfortunate 
 Africans. They are beaten and tortured at difcretion. 
 They are badly clothed. They are miferably fed. Their 
 drudgery is intenfe and inceflant, and their reft ffiort. 
 For fcarcely are their heads reclined, fcarcely have their 
 bodies a refpite from the labour of the day, or the cruel 
 hand of the overfeer, but they -are fummoned.to renew 
 their forrows. In this manner they go on from year to 
 year, in a ftate of the lowefl degradation, without a Tingle 
 law to prote<T them, without the poffibility of redrefs, 
 without a hope that their fituation will be changed, un- 
 lefs death ffiould terminate the fcene. 
 
 Having defcribed the general fituation of thefe un- 
 fortunate people, we fhali now take notice of the com- 
 mon confequences that are found to attend it, and relate 
 them feparately, as they refult either from long and pain- 
 ful labour^ a want of the common neccffiiries of life, or 
 continual feverity. 
 
 Opprefted by a daily taffi of fuch immoderate labour 
 as human nature is utterly unable to perform, many of 
 
 N them. 
 
9^ On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 them run away from their mafters. They fly to the re- 
 celfes of the mountains, where they choofe rather to 
 live upon any thing that the foil affords them, nay, the 
 very foil itfelf, than return to that happy fituation^ which 
 is reprefented by the receivers^ as the condition of a 
 flave. 
 
 It fometimes happens, that the manager of a moun- 
 tain plantation, falls in with one of thefe; he immedi- 
 ately feizes him, and threatens to carry him to his for- 
 mer mailer, unlefs he will confent to live on the moun- 
 tain and cultivate his ground. When his plantation is 
 put in order, he carries the delinquent home, abandons 
 him to all the fuggeflions of defpotick rage, and accepts 
 a reward for his honejly. The unhappy wretch is chain- 
 ed, fcourged, tortured; and ail this, becaufe he obeyed 
 the dilates of nature, and wanted to be free. And 
 who is there, that would not have done the fame thing, 
 in the fame fuuation? Who is there, that has once 
 known the charms of liberty, that wmuld not fly from 
 defpotifm? i^nd yet, by the impious laws of the recei- 
 vers^ the * abfence of fix months from the lalh of t) ran- 
 ny is death. 
 
 But this law is even mild, when compared with another 
 againfl; the fame offence, which w^as in force fometime 
 ago, and which we fear is even nom in force, in fome 
 of thofe colonies which this account of the treatment 
 comprehends. Advertifements have frequently ap- 
 peared there, offering a reward for the apprehending 
 of fugitive flaves either alive or dead. The following 
 inflance was given us by a perfon of unquellionable 
 veracity, under whofe own obfervation it fell. As he 
 was travelling in one of the colonies alluded to, he 
 
 obferved 
 
 * In this cafe he is confidered as a criminal againfl the flate. The 
 marflMi, an officer anhvering to our ffieriff, fuperintends his executi- 
 on, and the mafter receives the value of the Have from the publick 
 treafury. We may obferve heie, that in all cafes where the delin- 
 quent is a criminal of the flate, he is executed, and his value is re- 
 ceived in the fame manner. He is tried and condemned by two or 
 three juflices of the peace, and without any intervention of ajwry. 
 
OF THE liaiMAN SPECIES. 99 
 
 obferved fome people in purfuit of a poor wretch, 
 “ who was feeking in the wildernefs an afylum from his 
 ‘‘ labours. He beared the dilcharge of a gun, and foon 
 afterwards flopping at an houfe for reirefhment, the 
 ‘‘ head of the fugitive, flill reeking with blood, was 
 brought in and laid upon a table with exultation, 
 “ The produclion of fuch a trophy was the proof required 
 by law to entitle the heroes to their reward.’* Now- 
 reader determine if you can, who were the mofl ex- 
 ecrable ; the rulers of the flate in authorizing murder, 
 or the people in being bribed to commit it. 
 
 This is one of the common confequences of that im- 
 moderate fhare of labour, which is impofed upon them; 
 nor is that, which is the refuk of a fcanty allowance of 
 food, lefs to be lamented. The wretched African is 
 often fo deeply pierced by the excruciating fangs of hun- 
 ger, as almofl to be driven to defpair. What is he to do 
 in fuch a trying fituation? Let him apply to the receivers, 
 Alas! the majelly of receiverjlnp is too facred for the ap- 
 peal, and the intrufion would be fatal. Thus attacked 
 on the one hand, and fhut out from every pofTibility of 
 relief on the other, he has only the' choice of being 
 Ifarved, or of relieving his neceflities by taking a fmall 
 portion of the fruits of his own labour. Horrid crime! to 
 be found eating the cane, which probably his own hands 
 have planted, and to be eating it, becaufe his neceflities 
 were prdfing ! This crime however is of fuch a magni- 
 tude, as always to be accompanied with the whip; and 
 fo unmercifully has it been applied on fuch an occafion, 
 as to have been the caufe, in wet weather, of the delin- 
 quent’s death. But the fmart of the w^hip has not been 
 the only pain that the wretched Africans have experi- 
 enced. Any thing that paflTion could feize, and convert 
 into an inflirument of punifiiment, has been ufed; and, 
 horrid to relate! the very knife has not been overlooked 
 in the fit of phrenzy. Ears’ have been flit, eyes have 
 been beaten out, and bones have been broken ; and fo 
 frequently has this been the cafe, that it has been a mat- 
 ter of conilanc lamentation with difintercited people, 
 
 who 
 
100 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 who out' of curiofity have attended the * markets to ! 
 
 which thefe unhappy people weekly refort, that they ^ 
 
 have not been able to turn their eyes on any group of 
 them whateverj but they have beheld thefe inhuman j 
 marks of paffion, defpotifm, and caprice. 
 
 But thefe inftances of barbarity have not been able to 
 deter them from fimilar proceedings. And indeed, how 
 can it be expected that they fliould? They have hill the 
 fame appetite to be fatisfied as before, and to drive them 
 to defperation. They creep out clandeftinely by night, 
 and go in fearch of food into their mafter’s, or fome 
 neighbouring plantation. But here they are almoft 
 equally fure of fulfering. The w'atcliman, who will be 
 puniflied himfelf, if he neglects his duty, frequently 
 feizes them in the fad. No excule or intreaty will avail; 
 he muff punifli them for an example, and he muft punifh 
 them, not with a flick, nor with a whip, but with a ■ 
 
 cutlafs. Thus it happens, that thefe unhappy flaves, if • 
 
 they are taken, are either fent away mangled in a barba- 
 rous manner, or are killed upon the fpot. 
 
 We may now mention the confequences of the feveri- 
 ty. The wretched Africans, daily fubjeded to the lafh, 
 and unmercifully whipt and beaten on every trifling oc- 
 cafion, have been found to refifl their oppofers. Un- 
 pardonable crime! that they fhould have the feelings of 
 nature! that their breads fhould glow with refentment 
 on an injury! that they fnould be fo far overcome, as to 
 refift thofe, whom they are under no obligation to cbey^ and 
 w’hofe only title to their fervices confifls in a ‘violation of the 
 rights of men! 'What has been th.e confequences ? But here 
 let us fpare the feelings of the reader, (we vvifli we could 
 fpare our owri) and let us only fay, without a recital of 
 the cruelty, that they have been murdered at the diferetion 
 of their maflers. For let the reader obferve, that the life 
 of an African is only valued at a price, that would 
 
 fcarcely 
 
 Particularly in Jamaica. Thafc obfervations were made by dif- 
 interefted people, who were there for three or four years during 
 the late war. 
 
OF THE Human Species. ioi 
 
 fcarcely purchafe an horfe; that the mafter has a power 
 of murdering his Have, if he pays but a trifling fine; 
 and that the murder muff be attended with uncommon 
 circumftances of horrour, if it even produces an inqui- 
 ry- 
 
 immortal Alfred! father of our invaluable conflituti- 
 on! parent of the civil bleflings we enjoy! how ought 
 thy laws to excite our love and veneration, who hafl for- 
 bidden us, thy poflerity, to tremble at the frown of ty- 
 rants! how ought they to perpetuate thy name, as ve- 
 nerable, to the remotefl ages, who has fecured, even 
 to the meaneft fervant, a fair and impartial trial! blow 
 much does nature approve thy laws, as confiftent with 
 her own feelings, while fhe ablolutely turns pale, trem- 
 bles, and recoils, at the inflitutions of thefe receivers! 
 Execrable men! you do not murder the horfe, on which 
 you only ride; you do not mutilate the cow, which on- 
 ly affords you her milk; you do not torture the dog, 
 which is but a partial fervant of your pleafures: but thefe 
 unfortunate men, from whom you derive your very 
 pleafures and your fortunes, you torture, mutilate, mur- 
 der at difcretion! Sleep then you receivers^ if you can, 
 while you fcarcely allow thefe unfortunate people to reft 
 at all! feafl if you can, and indulge your genius, while 
 you daily apply to thefe unfortunate people the flings 
 of feverity and hunger! exult in riches, at which even 
 avarice ought to fhudder, and which humanity muff 
 detefl! 
 
 C II /i ■ P. V. 
 
 Some people may fuppofe, from the melancrioly ac- 
 count that has been given in the preceding chapter, that 
 we have been abfolutely dealing in romance: that the 
 fcene exhibited is rather a dreary picture of the imagina- 
 tion, than a reprefeiuation of fa£l. Would to heaven, 
 for the honour of human nature, that this were really 
 the cafe! We wifh we could fay, that we have no tefli- 
 mony to produce for any of our affertions, and that our 
 
 defciiption 
 
102 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 defcription of the general treatment of Haves has been 
 greatly exaggerated. 
 
 But the receivers^ notwithftanding the ample and dif- 
 interelted evidence, that can be brought on the occafion, 
 do not admit the defcription to be true. They fay firft, 
 ‘‘ that if the flavery were fuch as has been now repre- 
 fenced, no human being could poffibly fupport it 
 long/’ Melancholy truth! the wretched Africans ge- 
 nerally perilh in their prime. Let them reflecl upon the 
 prodigious fupplies that are annually required, and their 
 argument will be nothing lefs than a confellion, that the 
 flavery has been juftly depicted. 
 
 They appeal next to every man’s own reafon, and 
 defire him to think ferioufly, whether felf-interefl: 
 will not always reflrain the mafter from acts of cruel- 
 ty to the Have, and whether fuch accounts therefore, 
 as the foregoing, do not contain wdthin themfelves, 
 their own refutation.” We anfwer, “ No.” For if 
 this reflraining principle be as powerful as it is imagin- 
 ed, why does not the general condud: of men aflbrd 
 us a better pidure? What is imprudence, or what is 
 vice, but a departure from every man’s own intereft, 
 and yet thefe are the chara(^erifl;icks of more than half 
 the world? 
 
 — But, to come more clofely to the prefent cafe, felf- 
 intereft will be found but a weak barrier againfl: the fallies 
 ot pajfion: particularly where it has been daily indulged 
 in its greatefl: latitude, and there are no laws to reflrain 
 its calamitous effeefs. If the obfervation be true, that 
 palTion is a fliort madnefs, then it is evident that lelf- 
 interefl, and every other confideration, mufl be lofl, fo 
 long as it continues. We cannot have a flronger inflance 
 of this, than in a circu inflance related in the fecond 
 part of this Eflay, that though the Africans have 
 gone to war for the ex:>refs purpofc of procuring flaves, 
 yet fo great has been their refentment at the refiflance 
 they have frequently found, that their paJTion has entirely 
 got the better of their intereft^ and they have murdered 
 all without any diferimination, either of age or fex.” 
 Such may be prefumed 'to be the cafe wdth the no lefs 
 
 favage 
 
OF THE Human Species. loj 
 
 favage receivers, ImprdTed with the moft haughty and 
 tyrannical notions, eafily provoked, accuftomed to in- 
 dulge their anger, and, above all, habituated to fcenes 
 of cruelty, and unawed by the fear of laws, they will 
 hardly be found to be exempt from the common fail- 
 ings of human nature, and to fpare an unlucky Have, 
 at a time when men of a cooler temper, and better 
 regulated pafiions, are fo frequently blind to their own 
 intereft. 
 
 But if pajpon may be fuppofed to be generally more 
 than a balance for intereft^ how muff the fcale be turn- 
 ed in favour of the melancholy pi6lure exhibited, when 
 we refled that felf-prefervadon additionally fteps in, and 
 demands the mofl: rigorous feverity. For when we con- 
 fider that where there none inafter, there are ffty flaves; 
 that the latter have been all forcibly torn from their 
 country, and are retained in their prefent fituation by 
 violence; that they are perpetually at war in their hearts 
 with their oppreflbrs, and are continually cherifhing the 
 feeds of revenge; it is evident that even avarice herfelf, 
 however cool and deliberate, however free from paf- 
 fion and caprice, muft: facrihce her own fordid feelings, and 
 adopt a fyilem of tyranny and opprefTion, which it muft 
 be ruinous to purfue. 
 
 Thus then, if no pidure had been drawn of the fitua* 
 tion of flaves, and it had been left folely to every man's 
 fober judgment to determine, what it might probably 
 be, he would conclude, that if the fituation were jiifl:- 
 ly defcribed, the page muft be frequently ftained with 
 ads of uncommon cruelty. 
 
 It remains only to make a reply to an objedion, that 
 is ufually advanced againft particular inftances of cruel- 
 ty to Haves, as recorded by various writers. It is faid 
 that fome of thefe are fo inconceivably, and beyond 
 “ all example inhuman, that their very excefs above the 
 common meafure of cruelty fhews them at once ex- 
 aggerated and incredible.” But their credibility^ fhali 
 be eftimated by a fuppofition. Let us fuppofe that the 
 following inftance had been recorded by a writer of the 
 highcft reputation, that the mafter of a fhip,. bound 
 
 t© 
 
104 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 “ to the weftern colonies with haves, on a prdumption 
 that many of them would die, fele<fted an hundred 
 and thirty two of the mod hckly, and ordered them 
 to be thrown into the Tea, to recover their value from 
 the infurers, and, above all, that the fatal order was 
 put into execution.” What would the reader have 
 thought on the occafion? Would be have believed the 
 fad? Ic would have furely daggered his faith; becaufe 
 he could never have heard that any one man ever w^as, and 
 could never have fiippofed that any one man ever could 
 be, guilty of the murder of fuch a 7iumber of his fellow 
 creatures. But when he is informed that fuch a fad as 
 this came before * a court of judice in this very coun- 
 try^ that it happened within the lad five years; that 
 hundreds can come forwards and fay, that they heard 
 the melancholy evidence with tears; what bounds is he 
 to place to his belief? The great God, who looks down 
 upon all his creatures with the fame impartial eye, feems 
 to have infatuated the parties concerned, that they might 
 bring the horrid circumdance to light, that it might be 
 recorded in the annals of a publick court, as an authen- 
 tick fpecimen of the treatment which the unfortunate 
 Africans undergo, and at the fame time, as an argu- 
 ment to fliew, that there is no fpecies of cruelty, that is 
 recorded to have been exercifed upon thefe wretched 
 people, fo enormous that it may not readily be believed* 
 
 C II A P. VI. 
 
 If the treatment then, as before deferibed, is con- 
 firmed by reafon,. and the great credit that is due to 
 difintereded writers on the fubjecl; if the unfortunate 
 Africans are ufed, as if their flefh were done, and their 
 vitals brafs; by what arguments do you receivers defend 
 your conduct? 
 
 You 
 
 The aTion was brought by the owners againft the under-wri- 
 ters, to recover the value of the murdered flaves. It was tried at 
 Guildhall. 
 
(DF TtiE Human Species. 105 
 
 You fay that a great part of your favage treatment 
 confills in punifhment for real offences, and frequently 
 for fuch offences, as all civilized nations have concurred 
 in punifhing. The firft charge that you exhibit againfl 
 them is fpecifick, it is that of theft. But how much 
 rather ought you receivers to blufli, who reduce them 
 to fuch a fuuation ! who reduce them to the dreadful 
 alternative, that they mull; either Jieal or perijh! How 
 much rather ought you receivers to be confidered as rob- 
 bers yourfelves, who caufe thefe unfortunate people to 
 be Jiolen! And how much greater is your crime, who 
 are robbers of human liberty! 
 
 The next charge which you exhibit againfl them, is 
 general, it is that of rebellion ; a crime of fuch a lati- 
 tude, that you can impofe it upon almofl every adion, 
 and of fuch a nature, that you always annex to it the 
 mofl excruciating pain. But what a contradidlion is this 
 to common fenfe! Have the wretched Africans formally 
 refigned their freedom? Have you any other claim upon 
 their obedience, than that of force? If then they are 
 your fubjedts, you violate the laws of government, by 
 making them unhappy. But if they are not your fub- 
 jecls, then, even though they fliould refift your proceed- 
 iUgs, they are not rebellious. 
 
 But what do you fay to that long catalogue of of- 
 fences, which you punifh, and of which no people but 
 yourfelves take cognizance at all? You fay that the wif- 
 dom of legiflation has inferted it in the colonial laws, 
 and that you punifh by authority. But do you allude 
 to that execrable code, that authorifes murderf that 
 tempts an unofFended perfon to kill the Have, that ab- 
 hors and flies your fervice? that delegates a power, 
 which no hoft of men, which not all the world, can 
 polTefs?-' — 
 
 Or, — What do you fay to that daily unmerited feve- 
 rity^ which you confider only as common difcipline? 
 Here you fay that the Africans are vicious, that they are 
 all of them ill-diTpofed, that you muft of necefhty be 
 fevere. But can they be welhdifpofed to their oppreff- 
 ors? In their own country they were jufl, generous, 
 O hofpitable : 
 
io6 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 hofpitable: qualities, which all the African hiftorians al^ 
 low them eminently to pofiefs. If then they are vicious, 
 they muft have contra^Ied many of their vices from your- 
 felves; and as to their own native vices, if any have 
 been imported with them, are they not amiable, when 
 compared with yours? 
 
 Thus then do the excufes, which have been hitherto 
 made by the receivers^ force a relation of fuch circum- 
 flances, as makes their condu<^ totally inexcufable, and, 
 inftead of diminifliing at all, highly aggravates their 
 guilt. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 We come now to that other fyftem of reafoning, 
 which is always applied, when the former is confuted; 
 ‘‘ that the Africans are an inferiour link of the chain of 
 nature, and are made for flavery.^’ 
 
 This aflertion is proved by two arguments; the firfl: 
 of which was advanced alfo by the ancients, and is 
 drawn from the inferiority of their capacities. 
 
 Let us allow then for a moment, that they appear to 
 have no parts, that they appear to be void of under- 
 flanding. And is this wonderful, when you receivers 
 deprefs their fenfes by hunger? Is this wonderful, when 
 by inceflant labour, the continual application of the lafh, 
 and the mofl inhuman treatment that imagination can 
 devife, you overwhelm their genius, and hinder it from 
 breaking forth? — No, — You confound their abilities by 
 the feverity of their fervitude: for as a fpark of fire, if 
 cruflied by too great a weight of incumbent fuel, cannot 
 be blown into a flame, but fuddenly expires, fo the hu- 
 man mind, if deprefled by rigorous fervitude, cannot 
 be excited to a difplay of ihofe faculties, which might 
 otherwife have llione with the brighteft luflre. 
 
 Neither is it wonderful in another point of view. For 
 what is it that awakens the abilities of men, and diftin- 
 guilhes them from the common herd? Is it not often the 
 amiable hope of becoming ferviceable to individuals, or 
 the ffate? Is it not often the hope of riches, or of pow- 
 
OF THE Human Species. 107 
 
 er? Is it not frequently the hope of temporary honours, 
 or a lading fame? Thefe principles have all a wonderful 
 elfed upon the mind* They call upon it to exert its 
 faculties, and bring thofe talents to the publick view, 
 which had otherwife been concealed. But the unfortu- 
 nate Africans have no fuch incitements as thefe, that 
 they Ihould (hew their genius. They have no hope of 
 riches, power, honours, fame. They have no hope but 
 this, that their niiferies will be foon terminated by 
 death. 
 
 And here we cannot but cenfure and expofe the mur- 
 murings of the unthinking and the gay; who, going on 
 in a continual round of plealure and profperity, repine 
 at the .will of Providence, as exhibited in the Ihortnefs 
 of human duration. But let a weak and infirm old age 
 overtake them: let them experience calamities: let them 
 feel but half the miferies which the wretched Africans 
 undergo, and they .will praife the goodnefs of Provi- 
 dence, who hath made them mortal; who hath prefcrib- 
 ed certain ordinary bounds to the life of man ; and who, 
 by fuch a limitation, hath given all men this comforta- 
 ble hope, that how^ever perfecuted in life, a time will 
 come, in the common courfe of nature, when their fuf- 
 ferings will have an end. 
 
 Such then is the nature of this fervitude, that we can 
 hardly exped to find in thofe, who undergo it, even the 
 glimpfe of genius. For if their minds are in a continu- 
 al (fate of depreflion, and if they have no expedations 
 in life to awaken their abilities, and make them eminent, 
 we cannot be furprized if a fulien gloomy flupidity fhculd 
 be the leading mark in their charrcier; or if they fhould 
 appear inferiour to thofe, who do not only enjoy the in- 
 valuable bleffings of freedom, but have every profped 
 before their eyes, that can allure them to exert their fa- 
 culties. Now, if to thefe confiderations we add, that 
 the wretched Africans are torn from their country in a 
 flate of nature, and that in general, as long as their 
 flavery continues, every obllacle is placed in the way of 
 their improvement, we fhall have a fufficient anfwer to 
 any argument that may be drawn from the inferiority of 
 their capacities. 
 
io8 On the Slavery and Commerce ^ 
 
 It appears then from the circumftances that have been 
 mentioned, that to form a true judgment of the abilities 
 of thefe unfortunate people, we muft either take a ge- 
 neral view of them before their llavery commences, or 
 confine our attention to fuch, as, after it has commenced, 
 have had any opportunity given them of fhewing their 
 genius either in arts or letters. If, upon fuch a fair and 
 impartial view, there lliould be any reafon to fuppofe, 
 that they are at all inferiour to others in the fame fitua- 
 tion, the argument will then gain fome of that w^eight 
 and importance, which it wants at prefent. 
 
 In their own country, where we are to fee them firft, 
 we muft exped that the profpe£t will be unfavourable. 
 They are moflly in a favage flate. Their powers of mind 
 are limited to few objects. Their ideas are confequently 
 few. It appears, however, that they follow the fame 
 mode of life, and exercife the fame arts, as the ancef- 
 tors of thofe very Europeans, who boaft of their great 
 fuperiority, are defcribed to have done in the fame un- 
 cultivated date. This appears from the Nubian’s Geo- 
 graphy, the writings of Leo, the Moor, and all the fub- 
 fequent hiftories, which thofe, who have vifited the Afri- 
 can continent, have written from their own infpe6fion. 
 Elence three conclufions; that their abilities are fufficient: 
 for their fituation ; — that they are as great, as thofe of 
 other people have been, in the fame ftage of fociety ; — 
 and that they are as great as thofe of any civilized peo- 
 ple whatever, when the degree of the barbarifm of the 
 one is drawn into a comparifon w^ith that of the civiliza- 
 tion of the other. 
 
 Let us now follow them to the colonies. They are 
 carried over in the unfavourable fituation defcribed. It 
 is obferved here, that though their abilities cannot be 
 effimated high, from a want of cultivation, they are 
 yet various, and that they vary in proportion as the na- 
 tion, from which they have been brought, has advanced 
 more or lefs in the fcale of focial life. This obfervation, 
 \vhich is fo frequently made, is of great importance: for ^ 
 if their abilities expand in proportion to the improve- 
 ment 
 
OF THE Human Species. 109 
 
 ment of their ftate, it is a clear indication, that if they 
 were equally improved, they would be equally ingeni- 
 ous. 
 
 But here, before we confider any opportunities that 
 may be afforded them, let it be remembered that even 
 their mod poliflied fnuation may be called barbarous, 
 and that this circumftance, fhouid they appear lefs do- 
 cile than others, may be confidered as a fufficient anfwer 
 to any objection that may be made to their capacities. 
 Notwithdanding this, when they are put to the mechani- 
 cal arts, they do not difcover a want of ingenuity. — 
 They attain them in as fliort a time as the Europeans, 
 and arrive at a degree of excellence equal to that of their 
 teachers. This is a fad, aimed univerfally known, and 
 affords us this proof, that having learned with facility 
 fuch of the mechanical arts, as they have been taught, 
 they are capable of attaining any other, at lead, of the 
 fame clafs, if they diouid receive but the fame indruc- 
 tion. 
 
 With refped to the liberal arts, their proficiency is 
 certainly lefs; but not lefs in proportion to their time 
 and opportunity of dudy; not lefs, becaufe they are lefs 
 capable of attaining them, but becaufe they have feldom 
 or ever an opportunity of learning them at all. It is yet 
 extraordinary that their talents appear, even in fome of 
 thefe fciences, in which they are totally uninftruded. 
 Their abilities in mufick are fuch, as to have been ge- 
 nerally noticed. They play frequently upon a variety of 
 indrurnents, without any other aliidance than their own 
 ingenuity. They have alfo tunes of their own compofi- 
 tion. Some pf thefe have been imported among us; 
 are now in ufe; and are admired for their fprightlinefs 
 and eafe, though the ungenerous and prejudiced impor- 
 ter has concealed their original. 
 
 Neither are their talents in poetry lefs confpicuous. 
 Every occurrence, if their fpirits arc not too greatly de- 
 preffed, is turned into a fong. I hefe fongs are faid to 
 be incoherent and nonfenfical. But this proceeds prin- 
 cipally from two caufes, an improper conjundion of 
 words, arifing from an ignorance of the language in 
 
 which 
 
no 
 
 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 which they compofe; and a wildnefs of thought, arifing 
 from the different manner, in which the organs of rude 
 and civilized people will be (truck by the fame objeft. 
 And as to their want of harmony and rhyme, which is 
 the lail objection, the difference of pronunciation is the 
 caufe. Upon the whole, as they are perfedly confiftent 
 with their own ideas, and are ftridly mufical as pro- 
 nouheed by themfelves, they afford us as high a proof 
 of their poetical powers, as the works of the moft ac- 
 knowledged poets. 
 
 But where thefe impediments have been removed, 
 where they have received an education, and have known 
 and pronounced the language with propriety, thefe de- 
 feds have vaniflied, and their productions have been lefs 
 objectionable. For a proof of this, we appeal to the 
 writings of an * African girl, who made no contemp- 
 tible appearance in this fpecies of compofition. She was 
 kidnapped when only eight years old, and, in the year 
 1761, was tranfported to America, where fhe was Ibid 
 with other (laves. She had no fchool education there, 
 but receiving feme little inftruction from the family, 
 with whom (he was fo fortunate as to live, (he obtained 
 fuch a knowledge of the Engli(h language within (ixteen 
 months from the time of her arrival, as to be able to 
 fpeak it and read it to the aftonifhment of thofe who 
 heard her. She foon afterwards learned to w’rite, and, 
 having a great inclination to learn the Latin tongue, (he 
 was indulged by her maffer, and made a progrefs. Her 
 Poetical works were publilhed with his permiffion, in the 
 year 1773. They contain thirty-eight pieces on different 
 fubjeds. We (hall beg leave to make a (liort extrad 
 from two or three of them, for the obfervation of the 
 reader. 
 
 From 
 
 ^ Phillis Wheatley, negro Have to Mr. John Wheatley, of Bo- 
 flon, in Nevv-England. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 
 
 m 
 
 * From an Hymn to the Evening. 
 
 “ Fill’d with the praife of him who gives the light, 
 “ And draws the fable curtains of the night, 
 
 “ Let placid {lumbers footh each weary mind, 
 
 “ At morn to wake more heav’nly and refin’d; 
 
 “ So iliall the labours of the day begin, 
 
 “ More pure and guarded from the fnares of lin. 
 
 &c. &c. 
 
 From an Hymn to the Morning. 
 
 “ Aurora hail! and all the thoufand dies, 
 
 “ That deck thy progrcfs through the vaulted Ikies! 
 “ The morn awakes, and wide extends her rays, 
 
 ‘‘ On ev’ry leaf the gentle zephyr plays. 
 
 ‘‘ Harmonious lays the feather’s race refume, 
 
 “ Dart the bright eye, and Ikake the painted plume. 
 — " &c. &c. 
 
 From Thoughts on Imagination. 
 
 Now here, now there, the roving fancj flies, 
 
 “ Till fome lov’d objeft ftrikes her wand’ring eyes, 
 
 “ Whofe filken fetters all the fenfes bind, 
 
 ‘‘ And foft captivity involves the mind. 
 
 Imagination ! 
 
 * Left it Ihould be doubted whether thefe Poems are genuine, 
 we lhall tranfcribe the names of thofe, who figned a certificate of 
 their authenticity. 
 
 His Excellency Thomas Hutchinfon, Governor. . 
 
 The Honourable Andrew Oliver, Lieutenant Governor. 
 
 The Hon. Thomas Hubbard, 
 The Hon. John Erving, 
 
 The Hon. James Pitts, 
 
 The Hon. Harrifon Gray, 
 The Hon. James Bowdoin, 
 John Hancock, Efq. 
 
 Jofeph Green, Efq. 
 
 Richard Carey,. Efq. 
 
 The Rev. Cha. Chauncy, D. D. 
 The Rev. Mather Byles, D. D. ' 
 The Rev. Ed. Pemberton. D. D: 
 The Rev. Andrew Elliot, D. D. 
 The Rev. Sam. Cooper, D. D. 
 The Rev. bamuel Mather, 
 
 The Rev. John Moorhead, 
 
 Mr. John Wheatley, her Mafter. 
 
Ill On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 Imagination! who can fing thy force, 
 
 “ Or who dcfciibe the fwiftnefs of thy courfe? 
 Soaring through air to find the bright abode, 
 
 ^ h’ em{5^n-eal palace of the thund’ring God, 
 
 We on thy pinions "“can furpafs the wind, 
 
 And leave the rolling univerfe behind : 
 
 From fiar to flar the mental optiefis rove, 
 Meafure the fkies, and range the realms above. 
 There in one view we grafp the mighty whole, 
 Or with new worlds amaze th’ unbounded foul. 
 &c. &c. 
 
 Such is the poetry which we produce as a proof of 
 our affertions. How far it has fucceeded, the reader 
 may by this time have determined in his own mind. — 
 We (hall therefore only beg leave to accompany it with 
 this obfervation, that if the authorefs -was deftgned for 
 flavery^ (as the argument muft confefs) the greater part 
 of the inhabitants of Britain mud lofe their claim to 
 freedom. 
 
 To this poetry we (hall only add, as a farther proof 
 of their abilities, the Profe compofitions of Ignatius 
 Sancho, who received fome little education. His letters 
 are too wxll known, to make any extraft, or indeed any 
 farther mention of him, necelTary. If other examples 
 ol African genius (hould be required, fuffice it to fay, 
 that they can be produced in abundance; and that if we 
 were allo-wed to enumerate inftances of African grati- 
 tude, patience, fidelity, honour, as fo many inftances of 
 good fenfe, and a found underftanding, w'e fear that thou- 
 fands of the enlightened Europeans would have occafion 
 to blufh. 
 
 But an objedion w^ill be made here, that the two per- 
 fons whom we have particularized by name, are prodi- 
 gies, and that if we were to live for many years, we 
 Ihould fcarcely meet with two other Africans of the fame 
 defeription. But we reply, that confidering their fitua- 
 tion as before deferibed, two perfons, above mediocrity 
 in the literary way, are as many as can be expedled with- 
 in a certain period of years; and farther, that if thefe 
 
OF THE Human Species. I£3 
 
 are prodigies, they are only fuch prodigies as every day 
 would produce, if they had the fame opportunities of 
 acquiring knowledge as other people, and the fame ex- 
 pedations in life to excite their genius. This has been 
 conftantly and folemnly aiferted by the pious Benezet, | 
 whom we have mentioned before, as having devoted a 
 confiderable part of his time to their inftruftion. This 
 great man, for we cannot but mention him with vene- 
 ration, had a better opportunity of knowing them than 
 any perfon whatever, and he always uniformly declared, 
 that he could never find a difference between their capa- 
 cities and thofe of other people; that they were as ca- 
 pable of reafoning as any individual Europeans; that 
 they were as capable of the higheft intellectual attain- 
 ments; in fhort, that their abilities w^ere equal, and that 
 they only wanted to be equally cultivated, to afford fpe* 
 cimens of as fine productions. 
 
 Thus then does it appear from the teflimony of this 
 venerable man, whofe authority is fufficient of itfelf to 
 filence all objections againfl African capacity, and from 
 the initances that have been produced, and the obferva- 
 tions that have been made on the occafion, that if the 
 minds of the Africans were unbroken by flavery; if they 
 had the fame expectations in life as other people, and 
 the fame opportunities of improvement, they would be 
 equal, in all the various branches of fcience, to the Eu- 
 ropeans, and that the argument that dates them to 
 “ be an inferiour link of the chain of nature, and de- 
 figned for fervitude,” as far as it depends on the in- 
 feriority of their capacities^ is wholly malevolent and 
 falfe. * 
 
 t In the Preface. 
 
 * As to Mr. Hume’s afTertion-s with refpecl: to African capacity, 
 we have pafTed them over in filence, as they have been fo admirably 
 refuted by the learned Dr. Beattie, in his EfTay on Truth, to which 
 we refer the reader. The whole of this admirable refutation ex- 
 tends from p. 458, to 4^4. 
 
 ■ C H A P, 
 
1 14 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 The fecond argument, by which it is attempted to be 
 proved, “ that the Africans are an inferiour link of the 
 
 chain of nature, and are defigned for flavery,” is 
 drawn from colour, and from thofe other marks, which 
 diftinguifli them from the inhabitants of Europe. 
 
 To prove this w^ith the greater facility, the receivers 
 divide in opinion. Some of them contend that the Afri- 
 cans, from thefe circumdances, are the defcehdants of ^ 
 Cain: others, that they are the pofterity of Ham; and 
 that as it was declared by divine infpiration, that thefe 
 fliould be fervants to the reft of the world, fo they are 
 defigned for flavery; and that the reducing of them to 
 fuch a fituation is only the accomplifiiment of the will 
 of heaven: while the reft, confidering them from the 
 fame circumftancCwS as a totally diftinft fpecies of men, 
 conclude them to be an inferiour link of the chain of 
 nature, and deduce the inference defcribed. 
 
 To anfvver thefe arguments in the cleareft and fulleft: 
 manner, we are under the necelfity of making two fup- 
 pofitions, firft, that the fcriptures are true; fecondly, 
 that they are falfe. 
 
 If then the fcriptures are true, it is evident that the 
 pofterity of Cain were extinguilhed in the flood. Thus 
 one of the arguments is no more. 
 
 With’refped to the curfe of Ham, it appears alfo that 
 it was limited; that it did not extend to the pofterity of 
 all his fons, but only to the f defeendants of him who 
 was cabed Canaan: by which it was foretold that the 
 Canaanites, a part of the pofterity of Ham, fliould ferve 
 the pofterity of Shem and Japhet. Now how does it 
 appear that thefe wretched Africans are the defeendants 
 of Canaan? — By thofe marks, it will be faid, wdiich dif- 
 tinguifh them from the reft of the world.- -But where 
 
 are 
 
 * Genefs, ch. iv. 15. 
 t Genefis, ch. ix. 25, 26, 27. 
 
I OF THE Human Species. 115 
 
 are thefe marks to be found in the divine writings? In 
 I what page is it faid, that the Canaanites were to be 
 known by their colour^ iheir features^ \Sxt\x form ^ or the 
 very hair of their heads, which is brought into the ac- 
 count? But alas! fo far are the divine writings from 
 
 giving: any fuch account, that they Ihew the affcrtion to 
 be falfe. They fhew that the | defcendants of Gu(h 
 were of the colour, to which the advocates for llavery 
 allude; and of courfe, that there was no fuch limitation 
 of colour to the pofterity of Canaan, or the inheritors 
 of the curfe. 
 
 Suppofe we fliould now fhew, upon the moft undeni- 
 able evidence, * that thofe of the wretched Africans, 
 
 who 
 
 :j: Jeremiah fays, ch. xiii. 23, Can the ^Ethiopian change his co- 
 lour, or the leopard his fpots?” Now the word, which is here 
 ^ Mthiopian, is in the original Hebrew the dejcendant of 
 
 “ (‘uflj,” which Ikews that this colour was not confined to the de- 
 fcendants of ^anaan, as the advocates for flavery affert. 
 
 * It is very extraordinary that the advocates for flavery ikould 
 confider thofe Africans, whom they call negroes, as the defcend- 
 ants of ''anaan, when few hiflorical fadts can be fo well afcertained, 
 as that out of the defcendants of the four fons of Ham, the defcend- 
 ants of Canaan were the only people, ('if we except the Carthagini- 
 ans, who were a colony of Canaan, and were afterwards ruined) 
 who did not fettle in that quarter of the globe. Africa was incon- 
 trovertibly peopled by the pollerity of the three other fons. We 
 cannot iTiew this in a clearer manner, than in the words of the 
 learned Mr. Bryant, in his letter to Mr. Granville Sharp on this fub- 
 jedt. 
 
 ‘‘ We learn from fcripture, that Ham had four fons, Chus, Mizra- 
 iviy Phut, and Canaan, Gen. x. 5, 6. Canaan occupied P-aleJline, and 
 “ the country called by his name: Mizraim, Egypt: but Phut paffed 
 “ deep into Africa, and, I believe, moft of the nations In that part of the 
 “ world are defcended from him; at leaft more than from any other 
 perfon.” Jofephiis fays, ‘‘ that Phut ^vas the founder of the nations 
 in Libya, and the people were from him called Phuty." Antiq. L. i, 
 c. 7. “ By Lybia he underftands, as the Greeks did, Africa in gc- 
 
 “ neral; for the paticular country called LyMa Proper, was peopled 
 “ by the Lubim, or Lehabim, one of the branches from Mizraim. 
 “ Chrcn. Pafchale, p. 29. 
 
 “ The fons of Phut fettled in Mauritania, where was a country 
 called Phutia, and a river of the like denomination. Mauritanian 
 
 “ Fluviius 
 
ii6 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 who are Tingled out as inheriting the curfe, are the de- 
 feendants of Cufli or Phut; and that wx (hould Ihew 
 farther, that but a fingle remnant of Canaan, which was 
 afterwards ruined, was ever in Africa at all, — Here all 
 is confternation. 
 
 But unfortunately again for the argument, though 
 wonderfully for the confirmation that the feriptures are 
 of divine original, the whole prophecy has been com- 
 pleted. A part of the defeendants of Canaan were 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water, and became tri- 
 butary and fubjedt to the Ifraelites, or the defeendants 
 of Shem. The Greeks afterwards, as well as the Ro- 
 mans, who were both the defeendants of Japhet, not 
 only fubdued thofe who wxre fettled in Syria and Pale- 
 fline, but purfued and conquered all fuch as were then 
 remaining. Thefe were the Tyrians and Carthaginians : 
 
 the 
 
 Fluvius urque ad pr^efens Tempus Phut dicitur, omnifq; circa eimi 
 Regio Phutenfis. Hieron. Tradit. Hebroeae.— Amnem, quern vocant 
 Fwt” Pliny, L. 5. c. 1 Some of this family fettled above AEgypt, 
 near Ethiopia, and were ftyled I’roglodyts. Syncellus, p. 47. 
 Many of them palled inland, and peopled the Mediterranean 
 “ country.*' 
 
 ‘‘ In procefs of time the fons of Chus alfo, (after their expulfion 
 from Egypt) made fettlements upon the Tea coaft of Africa, and 
 came into Mauritania. Hence we find traces of them alfo in the 
 “ names of places, fuch as Churis, ' liujares, upon the coaft ; and 3 
 river Chufa, and a city Cotta, together wiih a promontory, Cotis,, 
 ‘‘ in Mauritania, all denominated from Chiis', who at different times, 
 “ and by different people, was called C/iwr, Cuth, Cofi, and Cotfr.— 
 “ The river Ciifa is mentioned by Pliny, Lib. 5. c. 1. and by Ptolo- 
 “ ?ny.” 
 
 ‘‘ Many ages after thefe fettlements, there was another eruption 
 of the Cufbites into thefe parts, under the name of Saracens and 
 ‘‘ Moors, who over-ran Africa, to the very extremity of Mount Atlas. 
 ‘‘ They palfed over and conquered Svain to the north, and they ex- 
 tended therafelves fouthward, as I faid in mv treatife, to the rivers 
 “ Senegal and Gambia, and as low as the Gold Coaft. I mentioned this, 
 becaufe I do not think that they proceeded much farther: moft of 
 “ the nations to the fouth being, as I imagine, of the race of Phut. 
 
 The very country upon the river Gambia on one fide, is at this day 
 “ called Phiita, of which Bluet, in his liiftory of Juba Ben Solomon, 
 
OF THE Human Species* 117 
 
 the former of whom w^ere ruined by Alexander and the 
 Greeks, the latter by Scipio and the Romans. 
 
 It appears then that the fecond argument is wholly 
 inapplicable and falle: that it is falfe in its application^ 
 becaufe thofe, who were tlie objects of the curfe, were 
 a totally diftindi: people: that it is falle in its proofs be- 
 caufe no fuch diftinguilhing marks, as have been fpeci- 
 fied, are to be found in the divine writings: and that, if 
 the proof could be made out, it would be now inappli- 
 cable^ as the curfe has been long completed. 
 
 With refpedf to the third argument, we muft now fup- 
 pofe that the fcriptures are falfe; that mankind did not 
 all fpring from the fame original; that there are different 
 fpecies of men. Now what muft we juftly conclude 
 from fuch a fuppofitlon? Muft we conclude that one fpe- 
 cies is inferiour to another, and that the inferiority de- 
 pends upon their colour^ or their features^ or their form? 
 — No — We muft now confult the analogy of nature, 
 and the conclufion v/ill be this: that as fhe tempered 
 
 the bodies of the different fpecies of men in a different 
 degree, to enable them to endure the refpedlive climates 
 of their habitation, fo flie gave them a variety of colour 
 and appearance with a like benevolent defign.” 
 
 To lum up the whole. If the fcriptures are true, it 
 is evident that the poflerity of Cain are no more; that 
 the curfe of Ham has been accomplifhed; and that, as 
 all men were derived from the fame flock, fo this vari- 
 ety of appearance in men muff either have proceeded 
 from fome interpofition of the Deity; or from a co-ope- 
 ration of certain caufes, which have an effect upon the 
 human frame, and have the power of changing it more 
 or lefs from its primitive appearance, as they happen to 
 be more or lefs numerous or powerful than thofe, which 
 adled upon the frame of man in the firll feat of his ha- 
 bitation. If from the interpofition of the Deity, then 
 we mull conclude that he, who bringeth good out of 
 evil, produced it for their convenience. If, from the 
 co-operation of the caufes before related, what argu- 
 ment may not be found againfl any fociety of men, who 
 fhould happen to diifer, in the points alluded to, from 
 ourfelves ? 
 
ii8 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 If, on the other hand, the fcriptures are falfe, then it 
 IS evident, that'there was neither fuch a perfon as Cain^ 
 nor llam^ nor Canaan ; and that nature beftowed fuch 
 colour, features, and form, upon the different fpecies of 
 men, as were befl adapted to their fituation. 
 
 Thus, on which ever fuppofition it is founded, the 
 whole argument muft fall. And indeed it is impoffible 
 that it can hand, even in the eye of common fenfe. — 
 For if you admit the form of men as a juftification of 
 flavery, you may fubjugate your own brother: if fea- 
 tures^ then you muft quarrel with all the world: if co- 
 lour^ where are you to ftop? It is evident, that if you 
 travel from the equator to the northern pole, you will 
 find a regular gradation of colour from black to white. 
 Now if you can juftly take him for your Have, who is 
 of the deepeft die, what hinders you from taking him 
 alfo, who only differs from the former but by a lhade. 
 Thus you may proceed, taking each in a regular fuccef- 
 fion to the poles. But who are you, that thus take into 
 flavery fo many people? Where do you live yourfelf? 
 Do you live in Spain^ or in France, or in Britainf If in 
 either of thele countries, take care left the whiter natives 
 of the north fhould have a claim upon yourfelf. — But the 
 argument is too ridiculous to be farther noticed. 
 
 Having now filenced the whole argument, we mi^ht 
 immediately proceed to the difcuftion of other points, 
 without even declaring our opinion as to which of the 
 fuppofitions may be right, on which it has been refuted; 
 but we do not think ourfelves at liberty to do this. The 
 prefent age would rejoice to find that the fcriptures had 
 no foundation, and would anxioufly catch at the writings 
 of him, who fliould mention them in a doubtful man- 
 ner. We fhall therefore declare our fentiments, by 
 afierting that they are true, and that all mankind, how- 
 ever various their appearance, are derived from the fame 
 flock. 
 
 To prove this, we fhall not produce thofe innumera- 
 ble arguments, by which the fcriptures have flood the 
 tefl of ages, but advert to a fingle fact. It is an uni- 
 verfal law, obfervable throughout the whole creation, 
 
 that 
 
OP THE Human Species. ' 119 
 
 that if two animals of a different fpecies propagate^ their 
 offspring is unable to continue its own fpecies. By this ad- 
 mirable law, the different fpecies are preferved diflindl; 
 every poffibility of confufion is prevented, and the world- 
 is forbidden to be over-run by a race of monflers. Now, 
 if we apply this law to thofe of the human kind, who 
 «re faid to be of a diftinct fpecies from each other, it 
 immediately fails. The mulattoe is as capable of conti- 
 nuing his owm fpecies as his father; a clear and irrefra- 
 gable proof, that the f fcripture account of the creation 
 is true, and that God, who hath made the world, 
 hath made of * one blood all the nations of men that 
 ' dwell on all the face of the earth.” 
 
 But if this be the cafe, it will be faid that mankind 
 were originally of one colour; and it will be afked at 
 the fame time, what it is probable that the colour was, 
 and how they came to affume fo various an appearance? 
 To each of thefe we fliall make that reply, which we 
 conceive to be the moft rational. 
 
 As mankind v^ere originally of the fame flock, fo it 
 is evident that they were originally of the fame colour. 
 But how fhall we attempt to afcertain it? Shall w^e Eng- 
 lijhmen fay, that it w’as the fame as that which we now 
 find to be peculiar to ourfelves? — No — This would be 
 a vain and partial confidcration, and would betray our 
 
 judgment 
 
 t- When America was firfl: difcovered, it was thought by fome, 
 that the fcripture account of the creation was falfe, and that there 
 were different fpecies of. men, becaufe they could never fuppofe 
 that people, in fo rude a ftate as the Americans, could have tranf- 
 ported Lhemfelves to that continent from any parts of the known 
 v/orld. This opinion however was refuted by the celebrated Cap- 
 tain Cooke, who Ihewed that the trajed between the continents of 
 Afia and America, was as Ikort as fome, which people in as rude 
 a ftate have been actually known to pafs. This affords an excellent 
 caution againft an ill-judged and hally cenfure of the divine writ- 
 ings, becaufe every difficulty which may be flatted, cannot be in- 
 flantly cleared up. 
 
 * The divine writings, which affert that all men were derived 
 from the fame flock, fhew alfo, in the fame inflance of Cuflj, p. 115, 
 that fome of them had changed their original complexion. 
 
120 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 judgment to have arifen from that falfe fondncfs, uhich 
 habituates us to fuppofe, that every thing belonging to 
 ourfelves is the pcrfe^left ahd the belt. Add to this, 
 that we Ihould always be liable to a juft reproof from 
 every inhabitant of the globe, w'hole colour was differ- 
 ent from our own; becaufe he would juftly fay, that he 
 had as good' a right to imagine that his own was the pri- 
 mitive colour, as that of any other people. 
 
 How^ then fhall wc‘ attempt to afeertain it? Shall we 
 look into the various climates of ' the earth, fee the co- 
 lour that generally prevails in the inhabitants of each, 
 and apply the rule? This will be certainly free frorh par- 
 tiality, and w^iil afford us a better profped of fuccefs: 
 for as every particular diftri(ft has its particular colour, 
 fo it is evident that the complexion of Noah and his 
 fons, from whom the reft of the world were defeended, 
 was the fame as that, which is peculiar to the country, 
 which was the feat of their habitation. This, by fuch a 
 mode of decifion, will be found a dark olive; a beauti- 
 ful colour, and a juft medium betw'een white and black. 
 That this was the primitive colour, is highly probable 
 frorh the obfervations that have been made; and, if ad- 
 mitted, will afford a valuable leffon to the Europeans, 
 to be cautious how they deride thofe of the oppofite 
 complexion, as there is great reafon to prefume, that 
 the pur eft * white is as far removed from the primitive 
 colour as the deepeft black. 
 
 We come now to the grand queftion, which is, that 
 if mankind were originally of this or any other colour, 
 how came it to pafs, that they ftiould wear fo various an 
 appearance? We reply, as we have had occafion to fay 
 before, either by tke interpofition of the Deity ; or by a co- 
 operation of certain caufes^ which have an effect upon the 
 human frame^ and have the power of changnig it more or 
 
 lefs 
 
 * The following are the grand colours difcernible in mankrnd, 
 between which there are many Ihades ; 
 
 White p C Copper 
 
 > — Olive — < 
 
 Brown 
 
 Black 
 
OF THE Human Species. iii 
 
 lefs from its primitive appearance^ as they are more or lefs 
 numerous or powerful than thoje^ which aded upon the 
 frame of man in the Jirft feat of his habitation. 
 
 With refpecl to the Divine interpofition, two epochs 
 have been afligned, when 'this difference of colour ha^ 
 been imagined to have been fo produced* The firft is 
 that, which has been related, when the curfe was pro- 
 nounced on a branch of the poflerity of Ham, But this 
 argument has been already refuted; for if the particular 
 colour alluded to were afligned at this period, it was 
 affigned to the defendants ot Canaan^ to diftinguifli them 
 from thofe of his other brothers, and was therefore limited 
 to the former. But the defendants of * Cujh^ as we 
 have fliewn before, partook of the fame colour; a clear 
 proof, that it was neither affigned to them on this occa- 
 fion, nor at this period. 
 
 The fecond epoch is that, when mankind were dif- 
 perfed on the building of Babel, It has been thought^ 
 that both national features and colour might probably have 
 been given them at this time, becaufe thefe would have 
 affifted the confufion of language, by caufing them to 
 difperfe into tribes, and would have united more firmly 
 the individuals of each, after the difperfion had taken 
 place. But this is improbable: firft, becaufe there is 
 great reafon to prefume that Mofes, who has mentioned 
 the confufion of language, would have mentioned thefe 
 circumftances alfo, if they had acfually contributed to 
 bring about fo fingular an event: fcondly, becaufe the 
 confufion of language was fufficient of itfelf to have 
 accomplifhed this; and we cannot fuppofe that the Deity 
 could have done any thing in vain: and thirdly, becaufe, 
 if mankind had been difperfed, each tribe in its peculiar 
 hue, it is impoffible to conceive, that they could have 
 wandered and fettled in fuch a manner, as to exhibit 
 that regular gradation of colour from the equator to 
 the poles, fo confpicuous at the prefent day. 
 
 Thefe 
 
 * See note, p. 115. To this we may add, that the reft of the 
 defeendants of Ham, as far as they can be traced, are now alfo black, 
 as well as many of the defeendants of %hem. 
 
122 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 Thcfe are the only periods, which there has been even 
 the (hadow of a probability for alligning; and we may 
 therefore conclude that the preceding obfervaiions, to- 
 gether with fuch circumflances as will appear in the pre- 
 fenc chapter, will amount to a dernonflration, that the 
 difference of colour was never cauled by any interpofi- 
 tion of the Deity, and that it muff have proceeded there- 
 fore from, that incidental co-operation of caufes^ which has 
 been before related. 
 
 What thefe caufcs are, it is out of the power of human 
 wifdom pofitiveiy to affert: there are fadls, how'ever, 
 vdiich, if properly weighed and put together, v.'ill throw 
 ccnfiderable light upon the fubjecl. Thefe we fliall fub- 
 mit to the perufal of the reader, and fhall deduce from 
 them fuch inferences only, as almoft every perfon muff 
 make in his own mind, on their recital. 
 
 The firff point, that occurs to be afcertained, is. 
 
 What part of the fkin is the feat of colour?*’ The 
 old anatomiffs ufually divided the fkin into two parts, 
 or lamina; the exteriour and thinneff, called by the 
 Greeks Epidermis^ by the Romans Ciiticula^ and hence 
 by us Cuticle; and the interiour, called by the former 
 Derma^ and by the latter Cutis ^ or true fkin. Hence they 
 muff neceffarily have fuppofed, that, as the true fkin w^as 
 in every refpeft the fame in all human fubjeds, however 
 various their external hue, fo the feat of colour muff 
 have ex'ffed in the Cuticle^ or upper furface. 
 
 Malphigi, an eminent Italian phyfician, of the laft 
 century, w’as the firff perfon who difeovered that the 
 fkin was divided into three lamina, or parts; the Cuticle^ 
 the true fiin^ and a certain coagulated fubffance fituated 
 between both, which he diffinguifhed by the title of 
 Mucofum Corpus \ a title retained by anatomiffs to the 
 prefent day: which coagulated fubffance adhered fo firm- 
 ly to the Cutic'e^ as, in ail former anatomical preparations, 
 to have come off with it, and, from this circumffance, to 
 have led the ancient anatomiffs to believe, that there were 
 but two lamina, or divifible portions in the human fkin. 
 
 This difeovery v/as fufficient to afeertain the point in 
 queffion: for it appeared afterw'ards that the Cudicle^ 
 
 when 
 
OF THE Human Species. 123 
 
 'when divided according to this difcovery from the other 
 lamina, was femi-tranfparent; that the cuticle of the 
 blacked negroe was of the fame tranTparency and colour, 
 as that of the pured white; and hence, the true /kins 
 of both being invariably the fame, that the mucofutn 
 corpus was the feat of colour. 
 
 rhis has been farther confirmed by all fubfequent 
 anatomical experiments, by which it appears, that, what- 
 ever is the colour of this intermediate coagulated fub- 
 llance, nearly the fame is the apparent colour of the up- 
 per furface of the fkin. Neither ran it be otherwife ; 
 for the Cuticle^ from its tranfparency, mud necedarily 
 tranfmit the colour of the fubdance beneath it, in the 
 fame manner, though not in the fame degree, as the 
 cornea tranfmits the colour of the iris of the eye. This 
 tranfparency is a matter of ocular demondration in white 
 people. It is confpicuous in every bludi; for no one 
 can imagine, that the cuticle becomes red, as often as 
 this happens: nor is it lefs difcoverable in the veins, 
 which are fo eafy to be difcerned ; for no one can fup- 
 pofe, that the blue dreaks, which he condantly fees in 
 the faired complexons, are painted, as it were, on the 
 furface of the upper fkin. From thefe, and a variety 
 of other * obfervations, no maxim is more true in phy- 
 fiology, than that on the mucojum corpus depends the colour 
 of the human body', or, in other w^ords, that the mucofum 
 corpus being of a different colour in different inhabitants 
 of the globe, and appearing through the cuticle or upper 
 furface of the fkin, gives them that various appearance, 
 which drikes us fo forcibly in contemplating the human 
 race. 
 
 As this can be incontrovertibly afcertained, it is evi- 
 dent, 
 
 * Difeafes have a great efFccl upon the mucofum corpus^ but parti- 
 cularly the jaundice, which turns it yellow. Hence, being tranfmitted 
 through the cuticle, the yellow appearance of the whole body. — 
 But this, even as a matter of ocular dcmon^b'ation, is no' confined 
 folely to white people; negroes themfelves, while afFecled with thefe 
 or other diforders, changing their black colour for that which the 
 difeafe has conveyed to the mucous fubftancc. 
 
J24 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 dent, that whatever caufes co-operate in producing this 
 different appearance, they produce it by acting upon the 
 mucofum corpus^ which, from the almoft incredible man- 
 ner in which the * cuticle is perforated, is as acceffible 
 as the cuticle itfelf. Thefe caufes are probably thofe 
 various qualities of things, which, combined with the 
 influence of the fun, contribute to form what we call 
 climate. For when any perfon confiders, that the mucous 
 fubflance, before-mentioned, is found to vary in its co- 
 lour, as the climates vary from the equator to the poles, 
 his mind mufl; be inftantly ftruck with the hypothehs, 
 and he mufl adopt it without any hefitation, as the 
 genu'ne caufe of the phenomenon. 
 
 This fact, | of the variation of the mucous fuhjlance ac- 
 cording to the fiiuation of the platCy has been clearly afcer- 
 tained in the numerous anatomical experiments that have 
 been made; in w^hich, fubjeds of all nations have come 
 under confideration. The natives of many of the king- 
 doms and Ifles of Afta^ are found to have their corpus 
 mucojum black. Thofe of Africa^ fituated near the line, 
 of the fame colour. Thofe of the maritime parts of the 
 fame continent, of a dufky brown, nearly approaching 
 to it; and the colour becomes lighter or darker in pro- 
 portion as the diftance from the equator is either greater 
 or lefs. iTe Europeans are the faireft inhabitants of the 
 world. Thofe fituated in the mofl: fouthern regions of 
 Europe, have in their corpus mucofum a tinge of the dark 
 hue of their African neighbours: hence the epidcmick 
 complexion, prevalent among them, is nearly of the co- 
 lour of the pickled Spanifli olive; while in this country, 
 and thofe fituated nearer the north pole, it appears to be 
 nearly, if not abfolutely, white. 
 
 Thefe 
 
 * The cutaneous pores are fo exceiliv^ely fmall, that one grain of 
 fand, (according to Dr. Lewenhoeck’s culculations) would cover 
 many hundreds of them. 
 
 f We do not mean to infinuate that the fame people have their corpus 
 mucofum fenfibly vary, as often as they go into another latitude, but 
 that the fad is true only of different people, who have been lon^ 
 eftabliffed in different latitudes. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 125 
 
 Thefc are * fa£ls, which anatomy has eftablifhed ; and 
 we acknowledge them to be fuch, that we cannot dived 
 ourfelves of the idea, that climate has a confiderable 
 fliare in producing a difference of colour. Others, we 
 know, have invented other hypothefes, but all of them 
 have been inftantly refuted, as unable to explain the dif- 
 ficulties for which they were advanced, and as abfolutely 
 contrary to fa£t; and the inventors themfelves have been 
 obliged, almoft as foon as they have propofed them, 
 to acknowledge them deficient. 
 
 The only objedion of any confequence, that has ever 
 been made to the hypothefis of climate^ is this, that peo- 
 ple wider the Jame parelleis are not exadly of the fame colour* 
 But this is no objedion in fad: for it does not follow 
 that thofe countries, which are at an equal diftance from 
 the equator, ihould have their climates the fame. In** 
 deed liotning is more contrary to experience than this. 
 Climate depends upon a variety of accidents. High 
 mountains, in the neighbourhood of a place, make it 
 cooler, by chilling the air that is carried over them by 
 the winds. Large fpreading fucculent plants, if among 
 the produdions of the foil, have the fame effed: they 
 afford agreeable cooling fiiades, and a moift atmofphere 
 from their continual exhalations, by which the ardour of 
 the fun is confiderably abated. While the foil, on the 
 other hand, if of a fandy nature, retains the heat in an 
 uncommon degree, and makes the fummers confidera- 
 bly hotter than thofe which are found to exift in the 
 fame latitude, where the foil is different. To this prox- 
 imity of what may be termed burning fands^ and to the 
 fulphurous and metallick particles, which are continual- 
 ly exhaling from the bowels of the earth, is afcribed 
 the different degree of blacknefs, by which fome African 
 nations are diftinguifhable from each other, though un- 
 der the fame parallels. To thefe obfervations, we may 
 
 add, 
 
 * We beg leave to return our thanks here to a gentleman, emi- 
 nent in the medical line, who furniihed us with the abovementioned 
 
 fa6ls. 
 
126 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 add, that though the inhabitants of the fame parallel 
 are not exadly of the fame hue, yet they differ only 
 by fhades of the fame colour; or, to fpeak with more 
 pr^cifion, that there are no two people, in fuch a fuu- 
 ation, one of whom is white, and the other black. 
 To'^fum up the whole-- — Suppofe we were to take a 
 common globe; to begin at the equator; to paint every 
 country along the meridian line in fucceffion from thence 
 to the poles; and to paint them with the fame colour 
 which prevails in the refpeftive inhabitants of each, we 
 fhould fee the black, with which we had been obliged 
 to begin, infenfibly changing to an olive, and the olive, 
 through as many Intermediate colours, to a white: and 
 if, on the other hand, we fhould complete any one of 
 the parallels accarding to the fame plan, we fhould fee 
 a difference perhaps in the appearance of fome of the 
 countries through which it ran, though the difference 
 would confifl wholly in fhades of the fame colour. 
 
 The argument therefore, which is brought againfl the 
 hypothecs, is fo far from being an objection, that we 
 fliall confider it as one of the firfl arguments in its fa- 
 vour: for if climate has really an influence on the mu- 
 cous fuhftance of the body, it is evident, that w'e muff 
 not only expert to fee a gradation of colour in the inha- 
 bitants from the equator to the poles, but alfo * differ- 
 ent fliades of the fame colour in the inhabitants of the 
 fame parallel. 
 
 To this argument, we fliail add one that is incontro- 
 vertible, which is, that w-hen the black inhabitants of 
 Africa are tranfplanted to colder^ or the white inhabitants 
 of Europe to hotter climates, their children, born there^ 
 
 are 
 
 * Suppofe we were to fee two nations, contiguous to each other, 
 of black and white inhabitants in the fame parallel, even this would 
 be no objedion, for many circumllances are to be confidered. A 
 black people may have wandered into a white, and a whi,e people 
 into a black latitude, and they may not have been fettled there a fuf- 
 ficient length of time for fuch a change to have been accomplilhed 
 in their complexion, as that they Ihould be liKC the old ellablilhed 
 inhabitants of the parallel, into wh eh the^ have la ely come. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 127 
 
 are of a different colour from themfeLvesy that is, lighter 
 in the firlf, and darker in the fecond initance. 
 
 As a proof of the firft, we lhall give the words of the 
 Abbe Raynal, in his admired publication. * “ The 
 children,’’ fays he, which they, (the Africans')' 
 
 “ create in America^ are not fo black as their parents 
 “ were. After each generation the difference becomes 
 more palpable. It is polfible, that after a numerous 
 fucceliion of generations, the men come from Africa 
 would not be diftinguiflied from thofe of the country, 
 into which they may have been tranfplanted.” 
 
 This circumftance we have had the pleafure of hear- 
 ing confirmed by a variety of perfons, who have been 
 witneffes of the fadl; but particularly by many f intelli- 
 gent Africans, who have been parents themfelves in 
 America, and who have declared that the difference is fo 
 palpable in the northern provinces, that not only they 
 themfelves have conftantly obferved it, but that they 
 have heard it obferved by others. 
 
 Neither is this variation in the children from the co- 
 lour of their parents improbable. T.he children of the 
 blackeji Africans are | born white. In this hate they con- 
 tinue for about a month, when they change to a pale 
 yellow. In procefs of time they become brown. Their 
 fkin flill continues to increafe in darknefs with their age, 
 till it becomes of a dirty, fallow black, and at length, 
 after a certain period of years, glofl’y and fhining. Now, 
 if climate has any influence on the mucous fubftance of 
 
 the 
 
 * Juflamond’s Abbe Raynal, v. 5. p. 193. 
 
 t The author of this EfTay made it his bufinefs to inquire of the 
 moft intelligent of thofe, whom he could meet with in London, as 
 to the authenticity of the fact. All thofe from America alTured him 
 that it was ftrictly true; thofe from the Weft-Indies, that they had 
 never obferved it there; but that they had found a fenfible differ- 
 ence in themfelves fince they came to England. 
 
 \ This circumftance, which always happens, fhews that they are 
 defcended from the fame parents as ourfelves; for had they been a 
 diftinct fpecies of men, and the blacknefs entirely Ingrafted in their 
 conftitLition and frame, there is great rcafon to prefume, that their 
 children would have been born black. 
 
128 On the Slavery* and ComivIerce 
 
 the body, this variation in the children from the colour 
 of their parents is an event, which muff be reafonably 
 expeded': for being born white, and not having equally 
 powerful caufes to ad upon them in colder, as their pa- 
 rents had in the hotter climates which they left, it n)uft 
 neceffarily follow, that the fame effed cannot poflibly 
 be produced. 
 
 Hence alfo, if the hypothefis be admitted, may be 
 deduced the reafon, why even thofe children, who have 
 been brought from their country at an early age into cold- 
 er regions, have been * obferved to be of a lighter co- 
 lour than thofe who have remained at home till they ar- 
 rived at a ftate of manhood. For having undergone 
 fome of the changes which we mentioned to have at- 
 tended their countrymen from infancy to a certain age, 
 and uaving been taken away before the reft could be 
 completed, thefe farther changes, which would have 
 taken place had they remained at home, feem either to 
 have been checked in their progrefs, or weakened in 
 their degree, by a colder climate. 
 
 We come now to the fecond and oppofite cafe; for a 
 proof of which we fhall appeal to the words of Dr. Mit- 
 chell, in the Philofophical Tranfaclions. f The Spani- 
 ards who have inhabited America under the torrid zone 
 for any time, are become as dark coloured as our na- 
 live Indians of Virginia^ of which, / myfelj have been 
 a voitnefs\ and were they not to intermarry with the 
 Europeans^ but lead the fame rude and barbarous lives 
 with the Indians, it is very probable that, in a fuccef- 
 “ fion of many generations, they would become as dark 
 in complexion.” 
 
 To this inftance we fhall add one, which is mentioned 
 by a I late writer, who defcribing the African coaft, and 
 
 the 
 
 This obfervation was communicated to us by the gentleman in 
 the medical line, to whom we returned our thanks for certain anato- 
 mical fafts. 
 
 t Philof. Tranf. No. 476. fed:. 4. 
 
 ^ Treatife upon the Trade from Great Britain to Africa, by an 
 African merchant. 
 
OF THE Human Species. ^ 129 
 
 the European fettlcments there, has the following paflage. 
 ‘‘ There are feveral other fmall Fortugueje fettleinents, 
 and one of fome note at Mitomba^ a river in Sierra 
 ‘‘ Leon, The people here called Fortugucfe, are princi- 
 pally perfons bred from a mi.^ture of the firll Fortu- 
 guefe difcQverers with the natives, and now become, 
 “ in ihtu complexion and woolly quality their hair, per- 
 feet negroes^ retaining however a fmattering of the 
 Fortuguefe language.^’ 
 
 Thefe fads, with refped to the colonifts of the Euro- 
 peans^ are of the higheft importance in the prefent cafe, 
 and deferve a ferious atteniion. For when we know to 
 a certainty from whom they are defeended; when we 
 know that they were, at the time of their tranfplanta- 
 tion, of the fame colour as thofe from whom they feve- 
 rally fprung; and when, on the other hand, we are cre- 
 dibly informed, that they have changed it for the native 
 colour of the place which they now inhabit; the evi- 
 dence in fupport of thefe fads is as great, as if a perfon, 
 on the removal of two or three families into another 
 climate, had determined to afeertain the circumflance ; 
 as if he had gone with them and watched their children; 
 as if he had communicated his obfervations at his death 
 to a fuccelTor; as if his fuccelfor had profecuted the 
 plan, and thus an uninterrupted chain of evidence had 
 been kept up from their firfl removal to any determined 
 period of fucceeding time. 
 
 But though thefe fads feem fufficient of themfelves to 
 confirm our opinion, they are not the only fads which 
 can be adduced in its fapport. It can be fnewn, that 
 the members of the very fame family,, when divided 
 from each other, and removed into different countries, 
 have not only changed their family complexion, but that 
 they have changed it to as many diferent colours as they 
 have gone into different regions of the world. We can- 
 not have, perhaps, a more llrikirig inflance of this, 
 than in the Jezvs, Thefe people are fcattered over the 
 face of the whole earth. 'Fhey have preferved them- 
 felves diflind from the red of the world by their religi- 
 on; and, as they never intermarry with any but thofe of 
 
 11 their 
 
130 O!^ THE Slavery and Commerce 
 
 their own fed, fo they have no mixture of blood in their 
 veins, that they fhould differ from each other: and yet 
 nothing is more true, than that the * E?2glijh Jew is 
 white, the Fortiigueje fwarthy, the Armenian olive, and 
 the .irabian copper; in fhort, that there appear to be as 
 many different fpecies of Jevjs^ as there are countries 
 in which they refide. 
 
 To thefe fads we (hall add the following obfervation, 
 that if we can give credit to the ancient hiftorians in ge- 
 neral, a change from the darkefl black to the purefl 
 white muff have adualiy been accomplifhed. One in- 
 ftance, perhaps, may be thought fufficient. | Herodotus 
 relates,, that the Colcbi were blacky and that they had 
 crifped hair, Thefe people were a detachment of the 
 JEthiopian army under Sefofiris^ who follow'ed him in his 
 expedition, and fettled in that part of the world, where 
 Colchis is ufually reprefented to have been fituated. Had 
 not the fame author informed us of this circumftance, 
 w^e fhould have thought it + ftrange, that a people of 
 this defcription fliould have been found in fuch a lati- 
 tude. Now, as they were undoubtedly fettled there, 
 and as they were neither fo totally deflroyed, nor made 
 any fuch rapid conquefls, as that hiftory fhould notice 
 the event, there is great reafon to prefume, that their 
 dcfcendants continued in the fame, or fettled in the ad- 
 jacent country; from whence it will follow, that they 
 muft have changed their complexion to that, which is 
 obfervable in the inhabitants of this particular region at 
 the prefent day ; or, in other words, that the black in~ 
 
 habitant 
 
 * We mean fuch only as are natives of the cour tries which wc 
 mention, and whofe anceftors have been fettled there for a certain 
 period of time. 
 
 I Herodotus. Euterpe, p. 80. Editio Stcphani, printed 1570. 
 f This circLimdance confirms what we faid in a former note, p. 
 126, that even If two nations were to be found in the fame parallel, 
 one of whom was black, and the other white, it would form no ob- 
 jeflion. againfl; the hypothefis of climate, as one of them might have 
 been new fettlers from a diftant country. 
 
OF TH^ Human Sprcus. 131 
 
 habitant of Colchis mull have been changed into the * 
 fair Circajfian, 
 
 As we liave now fliewn it to be highly probable, from 
 the fads which have been advanced, that climate is the 
 I caufe of the difference of colour which prevails in the 
 I different inhabitants of the globe, we fliall now fnew its 
 probability from fo fimilar an effed produced on the mu- 
 cous fubjiance before-mentioned by fo fimilar a caufe, that 
 thaugh the fad does not abfoluteiy prove our conjedure 
 to be right, yet it will give us a very lively conception 
 of the manner, in w'hich the phseiioaienon may be canf- 
 ed. 
 
 This probability may be fliewn in the cafe of freckles^ 
 which are to be feen in the face of children, but of fucli 
 only, as have the thinned and moil: tranfparent fkins, 
 and are oCcafioned by the rays of the fun, liriking forc- 
 ibly on the mucous fubftance of the face, and drying the 
 accumulating fluid. This accumulating fluid, or per- 
 fpirable matter, is at firfl colourlefs ; but being expofed 
 to violent heat, or dried, becomes brown. Hence, the 
 mucofum corpus being tinged in various parts by this 
 brown coagulated fluid, and the parts fo tinged appear- 
 ing through the cuticle^ or upper furface of the fldn, 
 arifes that fpotted appearance, obfervablc in the cafe re- 
 cited. 
 
 Now, if we were to conceive a black {kin to be an 
 univerfal freckle, or the rays of the fun to ad fo uni- 
 verfally on the mucous fubjiance of a perfon’s face, as to 
 produce thefe fpots fo contiguous to each other that they 
 fliould unite, we flaould then fee, in imagination, a face 
 fimilar to thofe, which are daily to be feen among black 
 people: and if we were to conceive his body to be ex- 
 pofed 
 
 Suppofe, without the knowledge of any hiftorian, they had 
 made fuch contiderable conquefts, as to have fettled themfelves at 
 the diftanceof 1000 miles in any one direction from Colchis, ftill they 
 muft have changed their colour. For had they gone in an Eaflern or 
 Weftern diredion, they muft have been of the fame colour as the 
 CircaJJians', if to the north, whiter; if to the fouth, of a copper. 
 There are no people within that diflance of Colchis, who are black. 
 
132 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 pofed or aded upon in the fame manner, we fhould then 
 fee his body affuming a fimilar appearance; and thus we 
 fhould fee the whole man of a perfed black, or refem- 
 bling one of the naked inhabitants of the torrid zone. 
 Now as the feat of freckles and of blacknefs is the fame; 
 as their appearance is fimilar; and as the caufe of the 
 hrfl is the ardour of the fun, it is therefore probable 
 that the caufe of the fecond is the fame: hence, if we 
 fubffitute for the word fu?i” what is analogous to it, 
 the word climate, the fame effe6l may be fuppofed to be 
 produced, and the conjecture to receive a fandion. 
 
 Nor is it unlikely that the hypothefis, which confiders 
 the caufe of freckles and of blacknefs as the fame, may 
 be right. For if blacknefs is occafioned by the rays of 
 the fun ffriking forcibly and univerfally on the mucous 
 fiihflance of the body, and drying the accumulating fluid, 
 we can account for the different degrees of it to be found 
 in the different inhabitants of the globe. For as the 
 quantity of perfpirable fluid, and the force of the folar 
 rays is fucceflively increafed, as the climates are fuccef- 
 fively warmer, from any given parallel to the line, it 
 follows that the fluid, with which the mucous fubftance 
 -will be ftained, will be fucceffively thicker and deeper 
 coloured; and hence, as it appears through the cuticle, 
 the complexion fucceffively darker; or, what amounts 
 to the fame thing, there will be a difference of colour in 
 the inhabitants of every fuccefhve parallel. 
 
 From thefe, and the whole of the preceding obferva- 
 tions on the fubjecf, we may conclude, that as ail the 
 inhabitants of the earth cannot be otherwife than the 
 children of the fame parents, and as the difference of 
 their appearance muff have of courfe proceeded from 
 incidental caufes, thefe caufes are a combination of thofe 
 qualities, wliich we call cH?iiate\ that the blacknefs of 
 the- Africans is fo far ingrafted in their conflitution, in 
 a courfe of many generations, that their children wholly 
 inherit it, if brought up in the flime fpot, but that it is 
 not fo abfolutely interwoven in their nature, that it can- 
 not be removed, if they are born and fettled in another; 
 that 'Noah and his fons were probably of an dive com- 
 plexion ; 
 
OF THE Human Species. 133 
 
 plexion; that tbofe of their defcendants,” who went far- 
 ther to the fouth, became of a deeper olive or copper‘d 
 while thofe, who went (till farther, became of a deeper 
 copper or black; that thofe, on the other hand, who 
 travelled farther to the north, became lefs olive or brown^ 
 while thofe who went ftill farther than the former, became 
 lefs brown or white ; and that if any man were to point 
 out -\ny one of the colours which prevails in the human 
 complexion, as likely to furnifh an argument^ that the 
 per^ple of fuch a complexion were of a different fpecies 
 from the reft, it is probable that his own delcendants, 
 if removed to the climate to which this complexion is 
 peculiar, would, in the courfe of a few generations, de- 
 generate into the fame colour. 
 
 Having now replTed to the .irgument, “ that the Africans 
 
 are an inferiour link of the chain of nature,’’ as far 
 as it depended on their capacity and colour^ we fhall now 
 only take notice of an expreftion, which the receivers 
 before-mentioned are pleafed to make ufe of, that they 
 “ are made for flavery.” 
 
 Had the Africans been viade for flavery^ or to become 
 the property of any Ibc'ety of men, it is clear, from the 
 obfervations that nave been made in the fecond part of 
 this Eftay, that they muft have been created devoid of 
 reafon:. but this is contrary to faef. It is clear alfo, that 
 there nnift have been many and evident figns of the /«- 
 feriority of tbeirnaiure^ and that this fociety of men muft: 
 have had a natural right to their dominion: but this is 
 equally falfe. No fuch figns of inferiority are to be found 
 in the one, and the right to dominion in the other is 
 incidental: for in what volume of nature or religion is 
 it written, that one fociety of men Ihould breed Jlaves 
 for the benefit of another? Nor is it lefs evident that 
 they wou'd have wanted many of thofe qualities which 
 they have, and which brutes have not: they would have 
 wanted that fpirit of liberty^ that * fenfe of ignominy and 
 
 Jhame^ 
 
 * There are a particular people among thofe tranfporteci from 
 Africa to the colonies, who immediately on receiving punifhm'ent, 
 deftroy. themfelves. This is a fad which the receivers are unable to 
 contradict. 
 
134 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 jhame^ which fo frequently drives them to the horrid 
 extremity of finifliing their own exiftence. Nor would 
 they- have been endowed with a contemplative power ; for 
 fuch a po-ver would -have been unneccflary to people in 
 fuch a htuation ; or rather, its only ufe could have been to 
 incrcale their pain. . We cannot fuppofe therefore that 
 God has made an order of beings, with fuch mental 
 qualities and pow’ers^ for the foie purpofe of being ufed 
 as beajis^ or inflruments of labour. And here, what a 
 dreadful argument prefents itfelf againft you receivers? 
 For if they have no underftandings as you confefs, then 
 is your condud; impious, becaufe, as they cannot per*, 
 celve the intention of your punifhment, your feverities 
 cannot make them better. But if, on the other hand, 
 they have had underftandings, (which has evidently ap- 
 peared) then is your conduct equally impious, who, by 
 deftroying their faculties by the feverity of your difci- 
 piine, have reduced men, who had once the power of 
 rcafon, to an equality with the brute creation. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 The reader may perhaps think, that the receivers have 
 by this time expended all their arguments, but their 
 ftore is not fo eafily exhaufted. They are well aw^are 
 that juftice, nature, and religion, w'ill continue, as they 
 
 have ever uniformly done, to oppofe their conduct. 
 
 This has driven them to exert their ingenuity, and has 
 occaftoned that multiplicity of arguments to be found 
 in the prefent queftion. 
 
 Thefe arguments are of a different complexion from 
 the former. Thev confift in comparing the ftate of 
 Jlaves with that of fome of the claffes of free men, and 
 in certain fcenes of felicity, which the former are faid 
 to enjoy. 
 
 It is affirmed that the punifliments which the Africans 
 undergo, are lefs fevere than the military ; that their 
 life is happier than that of the Englifh peafant; that they 
 have the advantages of raanumilfion j that they have 
 
 their 
 
OF THE Human- Species. 1*5 
 
 their little fpots of ground, their holy-days, their daiicesj 
 in fhortj that their life is a fcene of feftivity and mirth, 
 and that they are much happier in the colonies than ifi 
 their own country. 
 
 Thcfe reprefentations, which have been made out 
 with much ingenuity and art, may have had their weight 
 with the unwary; but they will never pafs with men of 
 confideration and fenfe, who are accuftomed to eftitnate 
 the probability of things, before they admit them to be 
 true. Indeed the bare affertion, that their fituaticJn is 
 even comfortable, contains its own refutation, or at 
 lead leads us to fufped that the perfon, who aflerted it, 
 has omitted fome important confiderations in the ac-^ 
 count. Such we (hall (hew to have been actually the 
 cale, and that the reprefentations of the receivers^ when 
 ftripped oi their glofly ornaments, are but empty de- 
 clamation. 
 
 It is faid, firft, of military punijlments^ that they are 
 more fevere than thofe which the Africans undergo. — 
 But this is a bare affertion without a proof. It is hot 
 fhewn even by thofe, who affert it, how the fad can be 
 made out. We are left therefore to draw the compari- 
 fon ourfelves, and to fill up thofe important confiderati- 
 ons, which we have juft faid that the receivers had omit- 
 ted. 
 
 That military punifhments are fevere we confefs, but 
 we deny that they are feverer than thofe with which they 
 are compared. Where is the military man, whofe ears 
 have been flit, whofe limbs have been mutilated, or 
 whofe eyes have been beaten out? But let us even allow, 
 that their punifhments are equal in the degree of their 
 feverity : flill they muff lofe by comparifon. The foldier 
 is never punifhed but after a fair and equitable trial, and 
 the decifion of a military court; the unhappy African, 
 at the difcertion of his Lord. The one * knows what 
 particular condud will conflitute an offence; the other 
 
 has 
 
 * The articles of war are frequently read at the head of every 
 regiment in the fervice, Hating thofe particular aflions which arc to 
 be confidered as crimes. 
 
OJL,AVJbKY iVJNi> V-.UM M t, RC E 
 
 has no fuch information, as he, is wholly at the difoofal 
 of paflion and caprice, which may impofe upon any ac- 
 tion, how'ever laudable, the appellation of a crime. The 
 former has it of courfe in his power to avoid a punifh- 
 ment; the latter is never fafe. The former is piinifhed 
 for a real, the latter, often, for an imaginary fault. 
 
 Now will any perfon aifert, on comparing the whole 
 of thofe circumflances together, which relate to their 
 refpe6live punifhments, that there can be any doubt, 
 which of the two are in the word fituation, as to their 
 penal fyileins? 
 
 With rcfpecl to the declaration, that the life of an Afri- 
 can in the colonies is happier than that of an EnglifI? 
 peafant, it is equally falfe. Indeed we can fcarcely with- 
 hold our indignation, when we confider, how fhame- 
 fully the fituation of this latter dafs of men has been 
 mifreprefented, to elevate the former to a date of ficli- 
 tious happinefs. If the reprefentacions of the receivers 
 be true, it is evident that thofe of the mod approved 
 writers, who have placed a confiderable fhare of hap- 
 pinefs in the cottage, have been midaken in their opini- 
 on ; and that thole of the rich, who have been heard to 
 figh, and envy the felicity of the peafant^ have been 
 treacherous to their own fenfations. 
 
 But which are we to believe on the occafion? Thofe, 
 who endeavour to drefs vice in the habit of virtue, or 
 thofe, who derive their opinion from their own feelings? 
 The latter are furely to be believed; and we may con- 
 clude therefore, that the horrid pidure which is given 
 of the life of i\\t peafant, has not fo jud a foundation as 
 the receivers would lead UwS to fuppofe. For has he no 
 pleafure in the thought, that he lives in his own country, 
 and among his relations and friends? That he is adually 
 free, and that his children will be the fame? That he 
 can never be fold as a bead? That he can fpeak his mind 
 without the fear of the lajhf That he cannot even be 
 druck with impunity^ And that he partakes, equa.ly 
 with his fuperiours, of the proteciion of the iawf — Now, 
 there is no one of thefe advantages which the African 
 podedes, and no one, w'hich the defenders of davery 
 take into their account. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 137 
 
 Of the other comparifons that are ufually made, we 
 may obferve in general, that, as they confift in compa- 
 ring the iniquitous praftice of flavery with other iniquit- 
 ous practices in force among other nations, they can 
 neither raife it to the appearance of virtue, nor exte- 
 nuate its guilt. The things compared are in thefe in- 
 ftances both of them evils alike. They call equally for 
 redrefs, and are equally difgraceful to the * governments 
 which fuffer them, if not encourage them, to exift. 
 To attempt therefore to juftify one fpecies of iniquity, 
 by comparing it with another, is no j unification at all; 
 and is fo far from anfwering the purpofe, for which the 
 comparifon is intended, as to give us reafon to fufpe6:, 
 that the comparer has but little notion either of equity 
 or honour. 
 
 W e come now to thofe fcenes of felicity, which flaves 
 are faid to enjoy. The firfl advantage which they are 
 faid to experience, is that 6f manumijjion* But here the 
 advocates for flavery conceal an important circumflance. 
 They expatiate indeed on the charms of freedom, and 
 contend that it muft be a blefling in the eyes of thofe, 
 upon whom it is conferred. We perfectly agree with 
 them in this particular. But they do not tell us that 
 thele advantages are confined; that they are confined to 
 fome favourite domejiick ; that not one in an hundred en- 
 joy them; and that they are never extended to thofe, 
 who are employed in the cultivation of the fields as long 
 as they can work. Thefe are they, who are moft to be 
 pitied, who are deftined to perpetual drudgery; and of 
 whom no one whatever has a chance of being freed from. 
 
 S his 
 
 * We cannot omit here to mention one of the cuftoms, which has 
 been often brought as a palliation of flavery, and which prevailed 
 but a little time ago, and we are doubtful whether it does not pre- 
 vail now, in the metropolis of this country, of kidnapping men for 
 the fervice of the Eafl-India Comp^any. Every fubjeft, as long as 
 he behaves well, has a right to the proteflion of government; and 
 the tacit permiflion of fuch a fcene of iniquity, when it becomes 
 known, is as much a breach of duty in government, as the condu6t 
 of thofe fubje<^s, who, on other occafions, would be termed, and 
 puniflied as, rebellious. 
 
138 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 his fituation, till death either releafes him at once, or 
 renders him incapable of continuing his former la- 
 bour. And here let it be remarked, to the difgrace of 
 the receivers^ that he is then made free, not as a re- 
 
 ward for his paji fervices^ but, as his labour is then of 
 little or no value, to jfave the * tax» 
 
 With the fame artifice is mention alfo made of the lit- 
 tle fpots, or gardens^ as they are called, which Haves are 
 fald CO po'flefs from the liberality oi the receivers. But peo- 
 ple mud not be led away by agreeable and pleafant 
 founds. They niuft not fuppofe that thefe gardens are 
 made for flowers ; or that they are places of amufement^ 
 in which they can fpend their time in botanical rcfearches 
 and delights. Alas they do not furnifli them with a 
 theme for fuch pleafing purfuits and fpeculations! They 
 mufl be cultivated in fhofe hours, which ought to be 
 appropriated to -f reft; and they muft be cultivated, not 
 for an amufement, but to make up, if it be pojfihle^ the 
 great deficiency in their weekly allowance of provifions. 
 Hence it appears, that the receivers have no merit what- 
 ever in fuch an appropriation of land to their unfortunate 
 Haves: for they are either under the neceflity of doing 
 this, or of loflng them by the jaws of famine. And it 
 is a notorious ta6l, that, with their weekly allowance, 
 and the produce of their fpots together, it is often with 
 the greateft difficulty that they preferve a wretched ex- 
 iftence. 
 
 The third advantage which they are fald to experience, 
 is that of holy-days^ or days of refplte from their ufual 
 difeipline and fatigue. This is certainly a great indul- 
 gence, 
 
 Tlie expences of every parilTi are defrayed by a poll-tax on negroes, 
 to fave which they pretend to liberate thofe who are paft labour; 
 but they Hill keep them employed in repairing fences, or in doing 
 fome trifling work on a fcanty allowance. For to free a field- 
 negroe, fo long as he can work, is a maxim, which, notwithftanding 
 the numerous boaHcd manumiflions, no mafter ever thinks of adopting 
 in the colonies. 
 
 I They mufl: be cultivated always on a Sunday, and frequently in 
 thofe hours which Ihould be appropriated to Jleep, or the wretcheci- 
 pofleiTors muH be inevitably Jiarved. 
 
OF THE Human Specus. 139 
 
 gence, and ought to be recorded to the immortal honour 
 oF the receivers. We wiili we could exprefs their libe- 
 rality in thofe hand Tome terms, in which it deferves to be 
 reprefented, or applaud them fufficiently for deviating 
 for once from the rigours of fervile difcipline. But we 
 confefs, that we are unequal to the tailc, and muft there- 
 fore content ourfelves with oblerving, that while the 
 horfe has one day in /even to refrefli his limbs, the happy 
 African has but one in * Jifty-two^ as a relaxation from 
 his labours. 
 
 With refped to their dances^ on which fuch a particular 
 flrefs has been generally laid, we fear that people may 
 have been as lhamefully deceived, as in the former in- 
 llances. For from the manner in which thefe are gene- 
 rally mentioned, we fhould almoft be led to imagine, 
 that they had certain hours allowed them for the purpofe 
 of joining in the dance, and that they had every comfort 
 and convenience, that the people are generally fuppofed 
 to enjoy on fuch convivial occafions. But this is far from 
 the cafe. Reafon informs us, that it can never be. If 
 they wilh for fuch innocent recreations, they muR enjoy 
 them in the time that is allotted them for fleep; and fo 
 far are thefe dances from proceeding from any uncom- 
 mon degree of happinefs, which excites them to convivi- 
 al fociety, that they proceed rather from an uncommon 
 depreflion of Ipirits, which makes them even facrificc 
 their f reft, for the fake of experiencing for a moment 
 
 a more 
 
 * They are allowed in general three holy-days at Chridmas, but 
 in Jamaica they have two alfo at Eafter, and two at Whitfuntide: To 
 that on the larged fcale, they have only feven days in a year, or one 
 day in fifty-two. But this is on a fuppofition, that the receivers do 
 not break in upon the afternoons, which they are frequently too apt 
 to do. If it iTiouId be faid that Sunday is an holy-day, it is not true; 
 it is fo far an holv-day, that they do not work for their maders; 
 but fuch an holy-day, that if they do not employ it in the cultivation 
 ©f their little fpots, they mud be ftmved. 
 
 t I hefe dances are ufually in the middle of the night; and fo de- 
 firoiis are thefe unfortunate people of obtaining bat a joyful hour, 
 that they not only often give up their deep, but add to the labours 
 of the day, by going feveral miles to obtain it. 
 
140 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 a more joyful oblivion of their cares. For fuppofe any 
 one of the receivers^ in the middle of a dance, were to 
 addrefs his flaves in the following manner: Africans! 
 
 “ I begin at lall to feel for your fituation; and my con- 
 fcience is feverely hurt, whenever I reflect that I have 
 «« been reducing thofe to a flate of mifery and pain, 
 who have never given me offence. You feem to be 
 fond of thefe exercifes, but yet you are obliged to 
 take them at fuch unfeafonable hours, that they im- 
 ‘‘ pair your health, w'hich is fufflciently broken by the 
 intolerable fhare of labour which I have hitherto im- 
 pofed upon you, I will therefore make you a propofal. 
 Will you be content to live in the colonies, and you 
 (hall have the half of every week entirely to your- 
 felves? or will you choofe to return to your miferable, 
 
 wretched country?^’ But what is that w^hich ftrikes 
 
 their ears? Which makes them motionlefs in an inflant? 
 
 Which interrupts the feftive fcene? their country? 
 
 tranfporting found! Behold! they are now flying 
 
 from the dance: you may fee them running to the fhore, 
 and, frantick as it were with joy, demanding with 
 open arms an inflantaneous paflage to their beloved na- 
 tive plains. 
 
 Such are the colonial delights^ by the reprefentation of 
 which the receivers w'ould perfuade us, that the Africans 
 are taken from their country to a region of conviviality 
 and mirth; and that like thofe, who leave their ufual 
 places of refidence for a fummer’s amufement, they are 
 conveyed to the colonies — to hathe^ — to dance^ — to keep 
 holy-day^ — to be jovial. — But there is fomething fo truly 
 ridiculous in the attempt to impofe thefe fcenes of feli- 
 city on the publick, as fcenes which fall to the lot of 
 flaves, that the receivers mufl have been driven to great 
 extremities, to hazard them to the eye of cenfure. 
 
 The lafl point that remains to be confidered, is the 
 fliameful affertion, that the Africans are much happier in t 
 the colonies.^ than in their own country* But in what does 
 this fuperiour happinefs confift? In thofe real fcenes, it j 
 mufl; be replied, which have been juft mentioned; for j 
 thefe, by the confelTion of the receivers, conftitute the ] 
 
 happinefs j 
 
OF THE Human Species. 141 
 
 happinefs they enjoy. — But it has been fliewn that thefc 
 have been unfairly reprefented; and, were they realized 
 in the moft extenfive latitude, they would not confi in 
 the faft. For if, upon a recapitulation, it confifts in the 
 pleafure of mamniiiffion^ they furely mult have paffed their 
 lives in a much more comfortable manner, who like 
 the Africans at home^ have had no occahon for fuch a be- 
 nefit at all. But the receivers^ we prefume,* reafon upon 
 this principle, that we never know the value of a blef- 
 fmg but by its lofs. This is generally true : but would 
 any one of them make himfelf a [lave for years, that he 
 might run the chance of the pieafures of manumijjtonf 
 Or that he might tafte the charms of liberty with a 
 greater relijhf Nor is the aflertion lefs ialfe in every other 
 confideration. For if their happinefs couhfts in the few 
 holy-days^ which in the colonies they are permitted to enjoy 
 what muff be their fituation in their own country^ where 
 the whole year is but one continued holy day. or ceffati- 
 on from difeipline and fatigue? — If in the poffeirion oj a 
 mean and contraded fpot^ what mud be their fituation, 
 where a whole region is their own, producing almofl 
 fpontaneoufly the comforts of life, and requiring for its 
 cultivation none of thofe hours, which fliould be appro- 
 priated to Jleep? — If in the pieafures of colonial dance, 
 what mull it be in their own country, where they may 
 dance for ever; where there is no dated hour to inter- 
 rupt their felicity, no intolerable labour immediately to 
 fucceed their recreations, and no overfeer to receive 
 them under the difeipline of the lafh? — If thefe therefore 
 are the only circumdances, by which the adertion can 
 be proved, we may venture to fay, w^ithout fear of oppo- 
 fition, that it can never be proved at all. 
 
 But thefe are not the only circumdances. It is faid 
 that they are barbarous at home. — But do you receivers 
 civilize them? — Your unwillingnefs to convert them to 
 Chridianity, becaufe you fuppofe you mud ufe them 
 more kindly when converted, is but a bad argument 
 in favour of the facl. 
 
 It is affirmed again, that their manner of life, and 
 their fituation is fuch in their own country, that to fay 
 
 they 
 
142 JOn the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 they are happy is a jeft. * But who are you, who 
 “ pretend to judge of another man’s happinefs? That 
 “ hate which each man, under the guidance ot his ma- 
 ker, forms for himfclf, and not one man for another ? 
 To know what conftitutes mine or your happinefs, is 
 the foie prerogative of him who created us, and call 
 “ us in fo various and different moulds Did your flaves 
 ever complain to you of their unhappinefs, amidfl 
 their native woods and defarts ? Or, rather, let me 
 afk, did they ever ceafe complaining of their condition 
 under you their lordly mafters? Where they fee, in- 
 deed, the accomodations of civil life, but fee them all 
 pafs to others, themfelves unbenehted by them. Be 
 ‘‘ fo gracious then, ye petty tyrants over human free- 
 dom, to let your flaves judge for themfelves, 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 mifery makes fo large a 
 part.” 
 
 But fince you fpeak with fo much confidence on the 
 fubjc6f, let us afk you receivers again, if you have ever 
 been informed by your unfortunate flaves, that they had 
 no connexions in the country from which they have for- 
 cibly been torn away: or, if you will take upon you to 
 affert, that they never figh, when they are alone; or 
 that they never relate to each other their tales of mifery 
 and woe. But you judge of them, perhaps, in an hap- 
 py moment, when you are dealing out to them their 
 provifions for the week; and are but little aware, that, 
 though the countenance may be cheered with a moment- 
 ary fmile, the heart may be exquifitely tortured. Were 
 you to iliew us, indeed, that there are laws, fubjedt to 
 no evafion, by which you are obliged to clothe and feed 
 them in a comfortable manner; were you to fhew us 
 
 that 
 
 Biihop of Gloucefler’s fermon, preached before the fociety for 
 the propagation of the gofpel, at the anniverfary meeting, on the 
 2ift of February, 1766. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 143 
 
 that they are * proteded at all; or that even one in a 
 ihoufand of thofe mafters have f fuffered death, who have 
 been guilty of premeditated murder to their flaves, you 
 would have a better claim to our belief; but you can 
 neither produce the inftances nor the laws. The people, 
 of whom you fpeak, are Jlaves^ are your own property^ 
 are wholly at your own difpofal\ and this idea is fufficient 
 to overturn your affertions of their happinefs. 
 
 But we fliall now mention a circumftance, which, in 
 the prefent cafe, will have more weight than all the ar^' 
 guments which have hitherto been advanced. It is an 
 opinion, which the Africans univerfally entertain, that, 
 as foon as death lhall releafe them from the hands of their 
 oppreffors, they lhall immediately be wafted back to 
 their native plains, there to exift again, to enjoy the 
 fight of their beloved countrymen, and to fpend the. 
 whole of their new exiftence in fcenes of tranquillity 
 and delight : and fo powerfully does this notion operate 
 upon them, as to drive them frequently to the horrid 
 extremity of putting a period to their lives. Now if 
 thefe fuicides are frequent, (which no perfon can deny) 
 what are they but a proof, that the lituation of thofe 
 who deftroy themfelves muft have been infupportabiy 
 wretched: and it the thought of returning to their coun^ 
 try after death, when they have experienced the colonial joys\ 
 conftitutes their fupreme felicity, what are they but a 
 proof, that they think there is as much difference be- 
 tween the two fituations, as there is between miferv 
 and delight? . ' 
 
 Nor 
 
 6 
 
 * There is a law, (but let the reader remark, that it prevails but 
 in one of the colones,) againft mutilation. It took its rife from the 
 frequency of the inhuman praflice. But though a mafter cannot there 
 chop off the limb of a Have with an axe, he may yet work, fiarve# 
 and beat him to deatn with impunity. 
 
 j- Two inlfances are recorded by the receivers^ out of about 
 j tkoujand^ where a white man has fuffered death for the murder of a 
 negroe; but the receivers do not tell us, that thefe fuffered more 
 becaufe they were the pefls of fociety, than becaufc the mwder of 
 flaves was a crime. 
 
144 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 Nor is the aflertion of the receivers lefs liable to a 
 refutation in the inftance of thofe, who terminate their 
 own exigence, than of thofe, whom nature releafes from 
 their pcrfecutlons. They die with a fmile upon their 
 face, and their funerals are attended by a vaft concourfe 
 of their countrymen, with every poflible * demonftrati- 
 on of joy. But why this unufual mirth, if their departed 
 brother has left an happy place? Or if he has been taken 
 froiu the care of an indulgent mailer, who confulted 
 his pleafures, and adminiftered to his wants? But alas, 
 it ariles from hence, that he has gone to his happy country: 
 a circumflance, fufficient of itfelf, to filence a myriad 
 of thofe fpecious arguments, which the imagination has 
 been racked, and will always be racked to produce, in 
 favour of a fyflem of tyranny and oppreflion. 
 
 It remains only, that we fliould now conclude the 
 chapter with a fact, which will fliew that the account, 
 which we have given of the fituation of flaves, is ftricUy 
 true, and will refute at the fame time all the arguments 
 which have hitherto been, and may yet be brought by 
 the receivers^ to prove that their treatment is humane. 
 In one of the weflern colonies of the Europeans, -f fix 
 hundred and fifty thoufand flaves were imported within 
 an hundred years; at the expiration of which time, 
 their whole poflerity were found to amount to one hun- 
 dred and forty thoufand. This fa6l will afcertain the 
 treatment of itfelf. For how fliamefully mult thefe un- 
 fortunate people have been oppreffed? What a dreadful 
 havock mull famine, fatigue, and cruelty, have made 
 among them, w'hen we confider, that the defcendants 
 
 of 
 
 * A negroe-funeral is confidered as a curious fight, and is attend- 
 ed with finging, dancing, mufick, and every circumflance that can 
 fhew the attendants to be happy on the occafion. 
 
 t In 96 years, ending in 1774, 800,000 flaves had been imported 
 into the French part of St. Domingo, of which there remained only 
 290, ^ 00 in ?774. Of this lafl number only ‘40,000 were creoles, 
 or natives of the ifland, i. e. of 650,000 flaves, the whole poflerity 
 were 140000. Coiijiderationsjur la Colonie de St. Dommgue, publifhed 
 by authority in 1 777. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 145 
 
 of fix hundred and fifty thoufand people in the prime of 
 life, gradually imported within a century, are lefs nu- 
 merous than thole, which only * ten thoufand would 
 have produced in the fame period, under common ad- 
 vantages, and in a country congenial to their conlli- 
 tutioris? 
 
 But the receivers have probably great merit on the oc- 
 cafion. Let us therefore fet it down to their humanity. 
 Let us fuppofe for once, that this incredible wafte of 
 the human fpecies proceeds from a benevolent defign; 
 that, fenlible of the miferies of a fervile Hate, they re- 
 folve to wear out, as fall as they polTibly can, their un- 
 fortunate Haves, that their miferies may the fooncr end, 
 and that a wretched pollerity may be prevented from 
 lharing their parental co: aition. Now, whether this is 
 the plan of reafoning which the receivers adopt, we can- 
 not take upon us to decide; but true it is, that the 
 elFe£l produced is exadly the fame, as if they had reafon- 
 cd wholly on this benevolent principle. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 We have now taken a furvey of the treatment which 
 the unfortunate Africans undergo, when they are put 
 into the hands of the receivers. This treatment, by the 
 four firll chapters of the prefent part of this Eflay, ap- 
 pears to be wholly infupportable, and to be fuch as no 
 human being can apply to another, without the impu- 
 tation of fuch crimes, as Ihould make him tremble. — 
 But as many arguments are ufually advanced by thofe 
 
 T who 
 
 * Ten thoufand people under fair advantages, and in a foil'conge- 
 nial to their conllitutions, and where the means of fubfiftence are 
 cafy, iTiould produce in a century i6o,cx50. This is the proportion 
 in which the Ainericans increafed; and the Africans in their own 
 country increafe in the fame, if not in a greater proportion. Now 
 as the climate of the colonies is as favourable to their health as that 
 of their own country, the caufes of the prodigious decreafe in the 
 one, and increafe in the other, will be more confpicuous. 
 
14^ On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 who have any interefi: in the praflice, by which they 
 would either exculpate the treatment, or diminilh its 
 feverity, we allotted the remaining chapters tor their 
 difcutTion. In thefe we confidered the probability of 
 fuch a treatment againft the motives of interefi; the 
 credit that was to be given to thofe difinterefled writers 
 on the fubjecl, w’ho have recorded particular in fiances 
 of barbarity; the inferiority of the Africans to the hu- 
 man fpecies; the comparifons that are generally made 
 with refpecl to their fituation ; the pofitive fcenes of feli- 
 city which they are faid to enjoy, and every other argu- 
 ment, in fliort, that we have found to have ever been 
 advanced in the defence of flavery. Thefe have been 
 all confidered, and we may venture to pronounce, that, 
 inftead of anfwering the purpofe for which they were 
 intended, they ferve only to bring fuch circumftances 
 to light, as clearly fliew, that if ingenuity were racked 
 to invent a fituation, that would be the moft diftrefling 
 and infupportable to the human race; it could never in- 
 vent one, that would fuit the defcription better, than 
 the colonial flavery. 
 
 If this then be the cafe, and if flaves, notwithftand- ' 
 ing all the arguments to the contrary, are exquifitely 
 miferable, wt afk you receivers, by what right you re- 
 duce them to fo wretched a fituation? 
 
 You reply, that you bicy them\ that your money con- 
 llitutes your right, and that, like all other things which 
 you purchafe, they are wholly at your own difpofal. 
 
 Upon this principle alone it was, that we profeffed to 
 view your treatment, or examine your right, when we 
 faid, that * the queflion refolved itfelf into two feparate 
 ‘‘ parts for difcuflion; into the African commerce, as 
 ‘‘ explained in the hiflory of flavery, and the fubfequent . 
 “ flavery in the colonies, as founded on the equity of the 
 commerce,*^ Now% fince it appears that this com- 
 merce, upon the fullefl invefligation, is contrary to f ./ 
 The principles of law and government, the di dates of ^ 
 reafon, the common mamm of equity, the laws of nature, t 
 
 “ the i 
 
 * • * Page 49* t Page 8o. 
 
OF THE Human Spe:cies. 147 
 
 the admonitions of conjcience^ and^ in Jhort^ the whole 
 
 doBrine of natural religion f it is evident that the rights 
 v/hich is founded upon it, muft be the fame; and that if 
 thofe things only are lawful in the fight of God, which 
 are either virtuous in themfelves, or proceed from vir- 
 tuous principles, you have no right over them at all. 
 
 You yourfelves alfo confefs this. For when we afk 
 you, whether any human being has a right to fell you, 
 you immediately anfwer. No; as if nature revolted at 
 the thought, and as if it was fo contradidlory to your 
 own feelings, as not to require confideration. But who 
 are you, that have this exciufive charter of trading in 
 the liberties of mankind? When did nature, or rather 
 the Author of nature, make fo partial a diftindlion be- 
 tween you and them? When did He fay, that you fhould 
 have the privilege of felling others, and that others 
 fhould not have the privilege of felling you? 
 
 Now fince you confefs, that no perfon whatever has a 
 right to difpofe of you in this manner, you mufl con- 
 fefs alfo, that thofe things are unlawful to be done to 
 you, which are ufually done in confequence of the fale. 
 Let us fuppofe then, that in confequence of the com- 
 merce you were forced into a fhip; that you were con- 
 veyed to another country; that you were fold there; 
 that you were confined to inccflant labour; that you 
 were pinched by continual hunger and thirll ; and fub- 
 jedt to be whipped, cut, and mangled at difcretion, and 
 all this at the hands of thofe, whom you had never of- 
 fended; would you not think that you had a right to 
 refift their treatment? Would you nor refift it with a fafe 
 confcicnce? And would you not be furprized, if your 
 refiftance fhould be termed rebellion? — By the former 
 premifes you mufl anfwer, Yes. — Such then is the cafe 
 with the wretched Africans, They have a right to refift 
 your proceedings. They can refift them, and yet they 
 cannot juftly be confidered as rebellious. For though 
 w^e fuppofe them to have been guilty of crimes to one 
 another; though we fuppofe them to have been the moft 
 abandoned and execrable of men, yet are they perfedlly 
 innocent with refpeft to you receivers,. You have no 
 
 right 
 
14.8 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 right to touch even the hair of their heads without their 
 own confent. It is not your money, that can inveft you 
 with a right. Human liberty can neither be bought nor 
 fold. Every lalh that you give them is unjuft. It is a 
 lafli againft nature and religion, and will furely ftand re- 
 corded againft you, fince they are ail, with refpedt to 
 your impious felves, in a ftate of nature ; in a ftate of ori- 
 ginal diffociation; perfectly free. 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 Having now confidered both the commerce and Jlavery^ 
 it remains only to colle£t fuch arguments as are fcattered 
 in different parts of the work, and to make fuch addi- 
 tional remarks, as prefent themfelves on the fubjecl. * 
 
 And firft, let us afk you, who have ftudied the law of 
 nature, and you, who are learned in the law of the land, 
 if all property muft not be inferiour in its nature to its 
 poffeffor, or, in other words, (for it is a cafe, which 
 every perfon muft bring home to his own breaft) if you 
 fuppofe that any human being can have a property in 
 yourjelvesf Let us alk you appraifers, who fcientifically 
 know the value of things, if any human creature is equi- 
 valent only to any of the trinkets that you wear, or at 
 moft, to any of the horfes that you ride : or in other 
 words, if you have ever confidered the moft coftly things 
 that you have valued, as equivalent to yourjelvesf Let 
 us afk you rationalifts, if man, as a realonable being, is 
 not accountable for his adions, and let us put the fame 
 queftion to you, who have ftudied the divine writings? 
 Let us afk you parents, if ever you thought that you 
 poffeffed an authority as fuch, or if ever you expeded a 
 duty from your fons ; and let us afk you fons, if ever 
 you felt an impulfe in your own breads to obey your pa- 
 rents. Now, if you fliould all anfwer as w*e could wifh, 
 if you fhould all anfwer confidently with reafon, nature, 
 and the revealed voice of God, w^hat a dreadful argument 
 will prefent itfelf againft the commerce and flavery of the 
 human fpecies, whe-n we refled, that no man whatever . 
 
 can 
 
OF THE Human Species. 149 
 
 can be bought or reduced to the fituation of a flave, 
 hut he muji injlantly become a hrute^ he muji mftantly be 
 reduced to the va-lue of thofe things^ which were made for 
 his own ufe and convenience ; he muft infiantly ceafe to be 
 accountable for his actions, and his authority as a parent^ 
 and his duty as a fon^ mufi be inftanily no more,, ' 
 
 Neither does it efcape our notice, when we are fpeak- 
 ing of the fatal wound which every focial duty muft re- 
 ceive, how confiderably Chriftianity iuffers by the con- 
 du6t of you receivers. For by profecuting this impious 
 commerce, you keep the Africans in a ftate of perpetual 
 ferocity and barbarifm; and by profecuting it in fuch a 
 manner, as muft reprefent your religion, as a fyftem of 
 robbery and oppreftion, you not only oppofe the propa- 
 gation of the gofpel, as far as you are able yourfelves, 
 but throw the moft certain impediments in the way of 
 others, who might attempt the glorious and important 
 tafk. 
 
 Such alfo is the effedl, which the fubfequent flavcry 
 in the colonies muft produce. For by your inhuman 
 treatment of the unfortunate Africans there, you create 
 the fame infuperable impediments to a converfion. For 
 how muft they deteft the very name of Chrijitans, w^hen 
 you Chriftians are deformed by fo many and dreadful 
 vices? How muft they deteft that fyftem of religion, 
 which appears to refift the natural rights of men, and 
 to give a famftion to brutality and murder? 
 
 But, as we are now mentioning Chriftianity, we muft 
 paufe for a little time, to make a few remarks on the 
 arguments which are ufually deduced from thence by the 
 receivers^ in defence of their fyftem of oppreftion. For 
 the reader may readily luppofe, that, if they did not he- 
 ft tate to bring the Old Teftament in fupport of their 
 barbarities, they would hardly let the New efcape 
 them. 
 
 St. Paul, having converted Oncfimus to the Chriftian ' 
 faith, w'ho was a fugitive Have of Philemon^ fent him 
 back to his mafter. This circumftance has furnifhed the 
 receivers wdth a plea, that Chriftianity encourages flave- 
 ry. But they have not only ftrained the oaffages which 
 
150 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 they produce in fupport of their aflertions, but are ig*" 
 norant of hiftoricai fads. The benevolent apoftle, in 
 the letter which he wrote to Philemon, the mafter of 
 Oneftmus, addreffes him to the following elFed: ‘‘ I fend 
 him back to you, but not in his former capacity, * not 
 now as a fervant, hut above a fervant, a brother be- 
 loved. In this manner I befeech you to receive him, for 
 though I could enjoin you to do it, yet I had rather it 
 ‘‘ fhould be a matter of your own will, than of neceJfityP 
 It appears that the fame Oneftmus, when he was fent 
 back, was no longer a [lave, that he was a minifter of 
 the gofpel, that he was joined with Hychicus in an eccie- 
 fiallical commiflion to the church of the Colojfians, and 
 was afterwards bifhop of Ephefus, If language there- 
 fore has any meaning, and if hiflory has recorded a fad 
 which may be believed, there is no cafe more oppofite to 
 the dodrine of the receivers, than this which they pro- 
 duce in its fupport. 
 
 It is laid again, that Chridianity, among the many 
 important precepts w'hich it contains, does not furnifli us 
 with one for the abolition of flavery. But the reafon is 
 obvious. Slavery at the time of the introdudion of the 
 gofpel w'as univerfally prevalent, and if Chriflianity had 
 abruptly declared, that the millions of flaves fliould have 
 been made free, who were then in the world, it would 
 have been univerfally rejeded, as containin^r dodrines 
 that were dangerous, if not deflrudive, to fociety. In 
 order therefore that it might be univerfally received, it 
 never meddled, by any pofitive precept, with the civil 
 inftirutions of the times: but though it does not exprefs- 
 ly fay, that “ you lliall neither buy, nor tell, nor pof- 
 fefs a flave,’' it is evident that, in its general tenour, 
 it fufficiently militates againfl the cuftom. 
 
 The firfl dodrine which it inculcates, is that of bro- 
 therly love. It commands good will towards men. It 
 enjoins us to love our neighbours as ourfelves, and to 
 do unto all men, as we would that they Ihould do unto 
 us. And how can any man fulfil this fcheme of univerlal 
 
 benevolence, 
 
 ^ Epifi. to Philemon. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 151 
 
 iPenevolence, who reduces an unfortunate perfon againft 
 his wilU to the moji inf uppor table of all human conditi- 
 ons; who confiders him as his private property ^ and 
 treats him, not as a brother, nor as one of the fame pa- 
 rentage with himfelf, but as an animal of the brute cre^ 
 ationf 
 
 But the moft important dodrine is that, by which we 
 are alfured that mankind are to exift in a future ftate, 
 and to give an account of thofe actions, which they have 
 feverally done in the flefti. This ftriRes at the very root 
 of llavery. For how can any man be juftly called to an 
 account for his actions, whofe adions are not at his own 
 difpofalf This is the cafe with the * proper have. His 
 liberty is abfolutely bought and appropriated ; and if the 
 purchafe is jufl and equitable^ he is under the necejfity of 
 perpetrating any crime, which the purchafer may order 
 him to commit, or, in other words, of ceafing to be 
 accountable for his actions, 
 
 Thefe dodrines therefore are fufEcient to (hew, that 
 ilavery is incompatible with the Chriftian fyftem. The 
 Europeans confidered them as fuch, when, at the clofe 
 of the twelfth century, they relifted their hereditary 
 prejudices, and occafioned its abolition. Hence one, 
 among many other proofs, that Chriftianity was the pro- 
 dudion of infinite wifdom; that though it did not take 
 fuch exprefs cognizance of the wicked national inftitu- 
 tions of the times, as fhould hinder its reception, it fhould 
 yet contain fuch dodrines, as, when it fliould be fully 
 eftablifhed, would be fufficient for the abolition of them 
 all. 
 
 Thus then is the argument of you receivers ineffedual, 
 and your condud impious. For, by the profecution of 
 
 this 
 
 * The Jfrimn flave is of this defeription; and we could wlfh, in all 
 our arguments on theprefent fubjeft, »o be under flood as having fpoken 
 only of proper Jlaves. The Have who is condemned to the oar, to 
 the fortifications, and other publick works, is in a different predica- 
 ment. His liberty is not appropriated, and therefore none of ihofe 
 confequences can be juflly drawn, which have been deduced in the 
 prefent cafe. 
 
152 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 this wicked flavery and commerce, you not only oppofe 
 the propagation of that gofpel which was ordered to be 
 preached unto every creature, and bring it into con- 
 tempt, but you oppofe its tenets aifo: firft, becaufe you 
 violate that law of univerfal benevolence^ which was to 
 take away thofe hateful diftindions of Jew and Gentile, 
 Greek and Barbarian, bond and free, which prevailed 
 when the gofpel was introduced; and fecondly, becaufe, 
 as every man is to give an account of his actions hereaf- 
 ter, it is neceflary that he Ihould be free. 
 
 Another argument yet remains, which, though nature 
 will abfolutely turn pale at the recital, cannot poflibly 
 be omitted. In thofe wars, which are made for the fake 
 of procuring flaves, it is evident that the conteft muft 
 be generally obftinate, and that great numbers muft be 
 flain on both Tides, before the event can be determined. 
 This we may reafonably apprehend to be the cafe: and 
 we have * fhewn, that there have not been wanting in- 
 ftances, where the conquerors have been fo incenfed at 
 the refiftance they have found, that their fpirit of ven- 
 geance has entirely got the better of their avarice, and 
 they have murdered, in cool blood, every individual, 
 without difcrimination, either of age or fex. From thefc 
 and other circumftances, we thought we had fufficient 
 reafon to conclude, that, where ten were fuppofed to be 
 taken, an hundred, including the vitfors and vanquifti- 
 ed, might be fuppofed to perifli. Now, as the annual 
 exportation from Africa confifts of an hundred thoufand 
 men, and as the two orders, of thofe who arc privately 
 kidnapped by individuals, and of thole, who are pub- 
 Iickly feized by virtue of the authority of their prince, 
 compofe together, at leaft, nine-tenths of the African 
 flaves, it follows, that about ten thoufand confift of con- 
 victs and prifoners of war. The laft order is the moft 
 numerous. Let us fuppofe then that only fix thoufand 
 of this order are annually fent into fervitude, and it 
 will immediately appear that no lefs than fivity thoufand 
 
 people 
 
 See the defcription of an African battle, p. 72. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 153 
 
 people annually perifh in thofe wars, which are made 
 only for the purpofe of procuring Haves. But that this 
 number, which we believe to be by no means exagge- 
 rated, may be free from all objedion, we will include 
 thofe in the eftimate, who die as they are travelling to 
 the fhips. Many of thefe unfortunate people have a 
 journey of one thoufand miles to perform on foot, and 
 are driven like fheep through inhofpitable woods and de- 
 ferts, where they frequently die in great numbers, from 
 fatigue and want. Now if to thofe, who thus perifh on 
 the African continent, by war and travelling, we fubjoin 
 * thofe, who afterwards perifh on the voyage, and in 
 the feafoning together, it will appear that, in every 
 yearly attempt to fupply the colonies, an hundred thou- 
 fund mufl perifh, even before one ufcful individual can 
 be obtained. 
 
 Gracious God! how wicked, how beyond all exam- 
 ple impious, muft be that fervitude, which cannot be 
 carried on without the continual murder of fo many and 
 innocent perfonsl What punifhment is not to be expect- 
 ed for fuch monftrous and unparalleled barbarities! For 
 if the blood of one man, unjuflly fhed, cries with fo 
 loud a voice for the divine vengeance, how fhall the cries 
 and groans of an hundred thoufand men, annually mur- 
 dered^ afcend the celefliaj manfions, and bring down 
 that punifhment, which fuch enormities defervel But 
 do we mention punifhment? Do we allude to that pu- 
 nifhment, which fhall be infliCted on men as individuals, 
 in a future life? Do we allude to that awful day, which 
 {hall furely come, when the mafter fhall behold his mur- 
 dered negroe face to face? When a train of mutilated 
 Haves fhall be brought againfl him? When he fliall Hand 
 confounded and abafhed? Or, do wt allude to that pu- 
 nifhment, which may be infliCled on them here, as mem- 
 bers of a wicked communiry ? For as a body politick, 
 if its members are ever fo numerous, may be confidered 
 as an whole, acting of itfelf, and by itfelf, in all affairs 
 U in 
 
 ^ Thedoweft computation is 40,000, fee p. 93. 
 
154 On the Slavery and Commerce 
 
 in which it is concerned, fo it is accountable, as fuch, 
 for its condud; and as thefe kinds ot polities have only 
 their exiftence here, fo it is only in this world, that, as 
 filch, they can be punifhed. 
 
 “ Now, whether we confider the crime, with refped 
 to the individuals immediately concerned in this moil 
 ‘‘ barbarous and cruel trarfick, or whether we confider 
 it as * patronized and encouraged by the laws of the 
 land, it prefents to our view an equal degree of cnor- 
 mity. A crime, founded on a dreadful pre-eminence 
 in wickednefs, — a crime, which being both of indi- 
 viduals and the nation, muff fometime draw down 
 upon us the heavieft judgment of Almighty God, who 
 made of one blood all the fons of men, and who gave to 
 all equally a natural right to liberty; and who, ruling \ 
 all the kingdoms of the earth with equal providen- i 
 ‘‘ tial juftice, cannot fufFer fuch deliberate, fuch mon- 
 “ ftrous iniquity, to pafs long unpunifhed. f 
 
 But alas! he feems already to have interfered on the 
 occafion 1 The \ violent and fupernatural agitations of 
 all the elements, which, for a feries of years, have pre- 
 vailed in thofe European fettlements, where the unfortu- 
 nate Africans are retained in a date of flavery, and 
 which have brought unfpeakable calamities on the inha- 
 bitants, and publick Ioffes on the ffates to which they 
 feverally belong, are fo many awful vifitations of God ' 
 
 for 
 
 * The legiflatiire has fquandered away more money in the profe- 
 cution of the flave trade, within twenty years, than in any other 
 trade whatever, having granted from the year 1750, to the year 
 1770, the fum of 300,000 pounds. ; 
 
 I Sermon preached before the Univerfity of Cambridge, by the ^ 
 Rev. Peter Peckard. 
 
 f The rtrft noted earthquake at Jamaica, happened June the 7th J 
 1692, when Port Royal was totally funk. This was fucceeded by 
 one in the year ^697, and by another in the year 1722, from which 
 time to the prefenr, thefe regions of the globe feem to have been 
 feverely vifited, but particularly during the laft fix or feven years. 
 
 See a general account of the calamities, occafioned by the late tre- 
 mendous hurricanes and earthquakes in the Wcft-Indian iflands, by 
 Mr. Fowler. 
 
OF THE Human Species. 155 
 
 for this inhuman violation of his laws. And it is not 
 perhaps unworthy of remark, that as the fubjects of 
 Great-Britain have two thirds of this impious commerce 
 in their own hands, fo they have fuffered in the fame 
 proportion, or * more feverely than the reft. 
 
 How far thefe misfortunes may appear to be a£ls of 
 providence, and to create an alarm to thofe who have been 
 accuftomed to refer every effedt to its apparent caufe; 
 who have been habituated to flop there, and to overlook 
 the finger of God, becaufe it is llightly covered under 
 the veil of fecondary laws, we will not pretend to deter- 
 mine? but this we will affert with confidence, that the 
 Europeans have richly deferved them all; that the tear of 
 fympathy, which can hardly be reftrained on other me- 
 lancholy occafions, feems to forget to flow at the relation 
 of thefe; and that we can never, with any fhadow of 
 juftice, wifh profperity to the undertakings of thofe, 
 whofe fuccefs muft be at the expence of the happinefs of 
 millions of their fellow-creatures. 
 
 But this is fufficient. For if liberty is only an ad- 
 ventitious right; if men are by no means fuperiour to 
 brutes ; if every focial duty is a curfe ; if cruelty is high- 
 ly to be efleemed ; if murder is flricHy honourable, and 
 Chriflianity is a lye; then it is evident, that the African 
 flavery may be purmed, without either the remorfe of 
 confcience, or the imputation of a crime. But if the 
 contrary of this is true, which reafon muft immediately 
 evince, it is evident that no cuftom eftablifhed among 
 men was ever more impious; fince it is contrary to rea~ 
 fon^ jujlice, nature^ the principles of law and government^ 
 the whole dodrine^ in jhort^ of natural religion^ and the 
 revealed voice oj God, 
 
 * The many fhips of war belonging to the BritilK navy, which 
 were loft with all their crews in thefe dreadful hurricanes, will fuf- 
 ficiently prove the fafl. 
 
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