University of California Berkeley 
 


A 
 
 C A U T I O N 
 
 T O 
 
 GREAT: BRITAIN 
 
 AND 
 
 HER COLONIES* 
 
 IN A 
 
 SHORT REPRESENTATION 
 
 OF T H fi 
 
 CALAMITOUS STATE of the 
 
 ENSLAVED NEGROES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 BRITISH DOMINIONS. 
 
 A NEW EDITION. 
 
 I 
 
 BY ANTHONY IBENEZET, 
 
 PHILADELPHIA Printed: LONDON Reprinted and 
 Sold by JAMES PHILLIPS, in GEORGE-YARD, 
 LOMBARD-STREET. 1785; 
 
E 
 
 c s i 
 
 i :] % 
 
 CAUTION, &c. 
 
 AT a time when the general rights and 
 liberties of mankind, and the prefer- 
 vation of thofe valuable privileges tranfmit- 
 ted to us from our anceftors, are become 
 fo much the fubjects of univerfal confidera- 
 tion; can it be an inquiry indifferent to any, 
 how many of thofe who difHnguifh them- 
 felves as the Advocates of Liberty, remain 
 infenfible and inattentive to the treatment of 
 thoufands and tens of thoufands of our fellow- 
 men> who, from motives of avarice, and the 
 inexorable decree of tyrant cuftom, are at 
 this very time kept in the moft deplorable 
 ftate of Slavery, in many parts of the Britifo 
 Dominions ? 
 
 f \ , ^ ^ M)T 
 
 The intent of 1 publifliing the following 
 meets, is more fully to make known the 
 aggravated iniquity attending the pradlice of 
 the Slave-trade; whereby many thoufands of 
 our fellow-creatures, as free as ourfelves by 
 nature, and equally with us the fubjecSs of 
 
 A 2 Chrfft'a 
 
[ 4 ] 
 
 Chrift's redeeming Grace, are yearly brought 
 into inextricable and barbarous bondage; and 
 many, very many, to miferable and untime- 
 ly ends. 
 
 The Truth of this lamentable Complaint is 
 fo obvious to perfons of candour, under whofe 
 notice it hath fallen, that feveral have lately 
 published their fentiments thereon, as a matter 
 which. calk for the moft ferious confideration 
 of .all who are concerned for the civil or re- 
 ligious welfare of their Country. How an 
 evil of fo deep a dye, hath fo long, not only 
 pafled uninterrupted by thofe in Power, but 
 hath even had their Countenance, is indeed 
 furprifing; and charity would fuppofe, muft 
 in a great meafure have arifen from this, that 
 many perfons in government, both of the 
 Clergy and Laity, in whofe power it hath been 
 to put a flop to the Trade, have been unac- 
 quainted with the corrupt motives which give 
 life to it, and with the groans, the dying groans, 
 which daily afcend to God, the common 
 Father of mankind, from the broken hearts 
 of thofe his deeply opprefled creatures : other- 
 wife the powers of the earth would not, I 
 think I may venture to fay could not, have 
 fo long authorized a practice fo inconfiftent 
 with every idea of liberty and juftice, which, 
 as the learned James Fq/ter fays, Bids that 
 God> 'which is the God and Father of the Gen- 
 tiles, unconverted to Chriftianity, moft daring 
 
 and 
 
[ 5 J 
 
 and bold defiance; and fpurns at -all the prin- 
 ciples both of natural and revealed Religion. 
 
 :'4\j\ iJisjri:;^ , ;rl 'no gnbfeoi ,iOttjA 
 ^ -? Much might juftly be faid of the temporal 
 evils which attend this practice, as it is de- 
 flrudlive of the welfare of human fociety, and 
 of the peace and profperity of every countfy* 
 in proportion at it prevails. It tnight be alfo 
 {hewn, that it deftroys the bonds of natural 
 affedtion and intereft, whereby mankind in 
 general are united; that it introduces idlenefs^ 
 difcourages marriage, corrupts the youth, ruins 
 and debauches morals, excites continual ap- 
 prehenfions pf dangers, and frequent alarms, 
 to 'which the Whites are neceffanly expofed 
 from fo great ah increafe of a People, that, 
 by their Bondage and Oppreffions, become 
 natural enemies, yet, at the fame time, are 
 filling the places and eating the bread of thofe 
 who would be the Support and Security of 
 the Country. But as thefe and many mor 
 reflections of the fame kind may occur to a 
 confiderate mind,/! {hall only endeavour to 
 {hew, from the nature of the Trade, the plenty 
 which Guinea affords to its inhabitants, the 
 barbarous Treatment of the Negroes, and the 
 Obfervations made thereon by Authors of note, 
 that it is inconfiftent with the plaineft Precepts 
 of the Gofpel, the dictates of reafon, and every 
 common fentiment of humanity. 
 
 * - -- ' >J nM r >j-' l\ ' '1 
 
 A 3 In 
 
[ 6 ] 
 
 In an Account of the European Settlements 
 in America, printed in London, 1757, the 
 Author, fpeaking on this Subjedt, fays: ' The 
 ' Negroes in our Colonies endure a Slavery 
 
 * more complete, and attended with far worfe 
 f circumftances than what any people in their 
 ? condition fuffer in any other part of the 
 
 * world, or have fuffered in any other period 
 
 * of time : Proofs of this are not wanting. 
 
 * The prodigious wafte which we experience 
 f in this unhappy part of our Species, is a 
 
 full and melancholy Evidence of this Truth. 
 ' The Ifland of Barbadoes (the Negroes upon 
 
 * which do not amount to eighty thoufand) 
 *- notwithstanding all the means which they 
 
 * ufe to encreafe them by Propagation, and 
 
 * that the Climate is in every refpeft (except 
 that of being more wholfome) exaftly re- 
 fembling the Climate from whence they 
 come; notwithstanding all this, Barbadoes 
 lies under a neceffity of an annual recruit of 
 five thoufand flaves, to keep up the flock at 
 the number \ have mentioned, This pro- 
 
 * digious failure, which is at leaft in the fame 
 < proportion in all our Iflands, fhews demon- 
 
 * ftratively that fome uncommon and unfup- 
 
 * portable Hardfhip lies upon the Negroes, 
 
 * which wears them down in fuch a furprifing 
 manner; and this, I imagine, is principally 
 the exceffive labour which they undergo/ 
 In an Account of part of North-America> 
 published by Thorna* J e ff er y* I 7 6l fpeaking 
 
 of 
 
C 7 I 
 
 of the ufage the Negroes receive in the Weft- 
 India Iflands, he thus exprefles himfelf : It 
 is impoflible for a human heart to reflect 
 upon the fervitude of thefe dregs of man- 
 kind, without in fome meafure feeling for 
 their mifery, which ends but with their 
 
 lives. Nothing can be more wretched 
 
 than the condition of this People. One 
 would imagine, they were framed to be 
 the difgrace of the human fpecies : banifhed 
 from their Country, and deprived of that 
 blefling, Liberty, on which all other nations 
 ' fet the greateft value, they are in a manner 
 reduced to the condition of beafts of bur- 
 den. In general a few roots, potatoes cf- 
 
 * pecially, are their food ; and two rags, 
 ' which neither ikreen them from the heat 
 < of the day, nor the extraordinary coolnefs 
 
 * of the night, all their covering; their fleep 
 
 * very fhort; their labour almoft continual ; 
 ( . they receive no wages; but have twenty 
 
 * lafhes for the fmalleft fault.' 
 
 A confiderate young perfon, who was lately 
 in one of our Weft-India Iflands, where he 
 obferved the miferable fituation of the Ne- 
 groes, makes the following remarks : * I meet 
 
 * with daily exercife, to fee the treatment 
 ' which thefe miferable wretches meet with 
 
 * from their matters, with but few exceptions. 
 
 * They whip them moft unmercifully, on 
 c finall occafions; they beat them with thick 
 
 A 4 > Clubs, 
 
r * 3 
 
 * ^Clubs, and you will fee their Bodies all 
 f . whaied and Scarred: in fliort, they feem to 
 f fet no other value on their lives than as they 
 
 * colt them fo much money; and are not 
 f retrained from killing them, when angry, 
 f by a worthier confi deration than that they 
 f lofe fo much. They aft as though they did 
 5 .not look upon them as a race of human 
 
 * creatures, who have reafon, and remem- 
 
 * brance .of misfortunes; but as beafts, like 
 
 * oxen, who $re ftubborn, hardy, and fenfe- 
 f lefs, iit for burdens, and defigned to bear 
 f them. They will not allow them to have 
 
 * any .claim to human privileges, or fcarce, 
 
 * indeed, to be regarded as the work of God, 
 5 Though it was confiftent with the juftice of 
 f our Maker to pronounce the fentence on 
 ' jour common parent, and through him on 
 
 * all fucceeding generations, That he and they 
 f Jhould eat their bread by the fweat of their 
 
 * brow, yet does it not fiand recorded by the 
 * fame Eternal Truth, 'That the Labourer is 
 < 'worthy of his Hire? It cannot be allowed in 
 
 * natural juftice, that there fliould be a fervi- 
 
 * tude without condition : A cruel endlefs 
 
 * feryitude. It cannot be reconcileable to 
 1 natural juftice, that whole nations, nay, 
 
 * whole continents of men, ihould be de- 
 
 * voted to do the drudgery of life for others, 
 f be dragged away from their attachments of 
 f relations and focieties, and made to ferve 
 the appetites and pleafures of a race of men, 
 
 * whofe 
 
[ 9 1 
 
 * whofe fuperiority has been obtained by an 
 
 * illegal force/ 
 
 A particular account .of the treatment thefe 
 unhappy Africans receive in the Weft-Indies 
 was lately publifhed, which, even by thofe 
 who, blinded by intereft, feek excufes for the 
 Trade, and endeavour to palliate the cruelty 
 exercifed upon them, is allowed to be a true, 
 though rather too favourable reprefentation of 
 the ufage they receive, which is as follows, 
 viz. ' The iniquity of the Slave-trade is 
 ' greatly aggravated by the inhumanity with 
 ' which the Negroes are treated in the Plan- 
 ' tations, as well with refpecl: to food and 
 
 * clothing, as from the unreafonable labour 
 ' which is commonly exacted from them. 
 ( To which may be added the cruel chaftife- 
 
 * ments they frequently fuffer, without any 
 
 * other bounds than the will and wrath of 
 f their hard ta{k-mafters. In Barbadoes, and 
 '* fome other of the Iflands, fix pints of Indian 
 9 corn and three herrings are reckoned a full 
 ' weeks allowance for a working flave, and in 
 
 * the Syftem of Geography it is faid, "That in 
 
 * Jamaica the owners of the Negroe-Jlaves fet 
 
 * ajide for each a parcel of ground, and allow 
 c them Sundays to manure it, the produce of 
 which, with fometimes a few herrings, or 
 
 * other falt-fifh, is all that is allowed for their 
 fappwt. Their allowance for clothing in 
 
 * the Iflands is feldom more than fix yards of 
 
 * ofenbrigs 
 
[ 10 ] 
 
 * ofenbrigs each year : And in the more north- 
 ' ern Colonies, where the piercing wefterb 
 
 < winds are long and fenfibly felt, thefe poo 
 
 * Africans fuffer much for want of fufficien 
 c clothing, indeed fome have none till the; 
 
 * are able to pay for it by their labour. Th< 
 
 * time that the Negroes work in the Weft 
 Indies, is from day-break till noon; thei 
 
 * again from two o'clock till dufk: (durin 
 c which time they are attended by overfeers 
 
 * who feverely fcourge thofe who appear t< 
 
 * them dilatory) and before they are fufferei 
 
 * to go to their quarters, they have ftill fome 
 ' thing to do, as collecting of herbage for th 
 
 * horfes, gathering fuel for the boilers, &c 
 
 * fo that it is often half paft twelve befor 
 
 * they can get home, when they have fcarc 
 
 * time to grind and boil their Indian corn 
 ' whereby it often happens that they ar 
 
 * called again to labour before they can fatisf 
 
 * their hunger. And here no delay or excuf 
 
 * will avail, for if they are not in the FieL 
 
 * immediately upon the ufual notice, the 
 
 * muft expeft to feel the Overfeer's Lafh. Ii 
 ' crop-time (which lafts many months) the; 
 
 * are obliged (by turns) to work moft of th 
 
 * night in the boiling-houfe. Thus thei 
 ' Owners, from a delire of making the great 
 
 * eft gain by the labour of their flaves, la 
 ' heavy Burdens on them, and yet feed an> 
 
 < clothe them very fparingly, and fome fcarc 
 1 feed or clothe them at all, fo that the poc 
 
 creature 
 
[ II ] 
 
 * ; creatures are obliged to fhift for their living 
 
 * in the beft manner they can, which occafions 
 f their being often killed in the neighbouring 
 4 lands, ftealing potatoes, or other food f to 
 
 * fatisfy their hunger. And if they take any 
 
 * thing from the plantation they belong to, 
 though under lueh preffing want, their 
 
 < owners will correct them feverely, for taking 
 
 * a little of what they have fo hardly laboured 
 f for, whilft they themfelves riot in the great* 
 eft luxury and excefs. It is a matter of 
 aftonifhment, how a people, who, as a na- 
 ' tion, are looked upon as generous and hu- 
 4 mane, and fo much value themfelves for their 
 
 * uncommon fenfe of the Benefit of Liberty, 
 ' can live in the practice of fuch extreme op- 
 
 * preffion and inhumanity, without feeing the 
 
 * inconfiftency of fuch conduct, and without 
 
 * feeling great Remorfe : nor is it lefs amazing 
 to hear thefe men calmly making calcula- 
 
 < tions about the ftrength and lives of their 
 
 * fellow-men; in Jamaica, if fix in ten, of the 
 new imported Negroes furvive the feafoning, 
 ' it is looked upon as a gaining purchafe: And 
 in moft of the other plantations, if the 
 
 * Negroes live eight or nine years, their labour 
 
 * is reckoned a fufficient compenfation for 
 
 * their coft.< If calculations of this fort 
 
 * were made upon the ftrength and labour of 
 f beafts of burden, it would not appear fo 
 f ftrange; but even then a merciful man woulcl 
 
 * certainly ufe his beaft with more mercy than 
 
[ 12 ] 
 
 isufually fliewn to the poor Negroes. -r-Will 
 not the groans of this deeply afflicted and 
 opprefled people reach Heaven, and when 
 the cup of iniquity is full, muft not the 
 inevitable confequence be pouring forth of 
 the judgments of God upon their oppreffors. 
 But, alas! is it not too manifefl that this 
 oppreflion has already long been the object 
 of the divine difpleafurej for what heavier 
 judgment, what greater calamity can befall 
 any people,, than to become a prey to that 
 hardnefs of heart, that forgetfulnefs of God, 
 and infenfibility to every religious impref- 
 fion^ as well as that general depravation of 
 manners, which fo much prevails in the 
 Colonies, in proportion as they have more or 
 lefs enriched themfelves, at the expence of 
 *- the blood and bondage of the Negroes/ 
 
 The fituation of the Negroes in our South- 
 ern provinces on the Continent, is alfo feel- 
 ingly fet forth by George Whitfield, in a 
 Letter from Georgia, to the Inhabitants of 
 Maryland, Virginia, North and South -Carolina^ 
 printed in the Year 1739, of which the fol- 
 lowing is an extract : * As I lately paffed 
 
 * through your provinces, in my way hither, 
 < I was fenlibly touched with a fellow-feeling 
 
 * of the miferies of the poor Negroes. Whe- 
 ' ther it be lawful for Qhrijlians to buy flaves, 
 c and thereby encourage the Nations from 
 whom they are bought, to be at perpetual 
 
 ' war 
 
c i3 i '_. 
 
 war with each other, I (hall not take upon 
 me to determine; fure 1 am, it is finful, 
 when bought, to ufe them as bad, nay worfe 
 than as though they were brutes; and what- 
 ever particular exception there may be, (as 
 I would charitably hope there are fome) I 
 fear the generality of you, that own Negroes, 
 are liable to fuch a charge ; for your flaves, 
 I believe, work as hard, if not harder, than 
 
 * the horfes whereon you ride. Thefe, after 
 f they have done their work, are fed and 
 
 * taken proper care of; but many Negroes, 
 ' when wearied with labour, in your planta- 
 
 * tions, have been obliged to grind their own 
 
 * corn, after they return home. Your dogs 
 
 * are careffed and fondled at your table; but 
 your flaves, who are frequently ftiled dogs 
 or beafts, have not an equal privilege; they 
 are fcarce permitted to pick up the crumbs 
 which fall from their matter's table. Not 
 to mention what numbers have been given 
 up to the inhuman ufage of cruel tafk- 
 mafters, who, by their unrelenting fcourges, 
 have ploughed their backs, and made long 
 furrows, and at length brought them even 
 to death. When paffing along, I have view- 
 ed your plantations cleared and cultivated, 
 many fpacious houfes built, and the owners 
 of them faring fumptuoufly every day, my 
 blood has frequently almoft run cold within 
 me, to confider how many of your flaves had 
 neither convenient food to eat, or proper 
 
 c raiment 
 
t H 
 
 * raiment to put on, notwithstanding moft of 
 c the comforts you enjoy were folely owing to 
 
 * their indefatigable labours. The Scripture 
 
 * fays, Thou foalt not muzzle the ox that 
 
 * treadetb out the corn. Does God take care 
 ' for oxen ? and will he not take care of the 
 
 * Negroes alfo? undoubtedly he will. Go to 
 
 * now ye rich men, weep and howl for your 
 ' miferies that fhall come upon you: Behold 
 
 * the provifion of the poor Negroes, who have 
 ' reaped down your fields, which is by you 
 
 * denied them, crieth; and the cries of them 
 
 * which reaped, are entered into the ears of 
 
 * the Lord of Sabbath* We have a remafk- 
 ' able inftance of God's taking cognizance of, 
 ' and avenging the quarrel of poor flaves, 
 
 * 2 Sam. xxi. i. There was a famine in the 
 
 * days of David three years> year after year^ 
 c and David enquired of the Lord: And the 
 
 * Lord anfwered. It is for Saul, and for his 
 4 bloody houfe, becaufe he Jlew the Gibeonites. 
 
 * Two things are here very remarkable: Firft, 
 
 * Thefe Gibeonites were only hewers of wood 
 
 * and drawers of water, or in other words, 
 
 * flaves like yours. Secondly, That this plague 
 
 * was fent by God many years after the injury, 
 ' the caufe of the plague, was committed. 
 ' Arid for what end were this and fuch like 
 ' examples recorded in holy Scriptures? with- 
 
 * out doubt, for our learning. For God is 
 
 * the fame to-day as he was yefterday, and 
 
 * will continue the fame for ever. He does 
 
 ' not 
 
t is 1 
 
 * not rejeft the prayer of the poor and defii- 
 ' tutej nor difregard the cry of the meaneft 
 
 * Negro. The blood of them fpilt for thefc 
 
 * many years in your refpe&ive provinces will 
 
 * afcend up to heaven againft you/ 
 
 Some who have only feen Negroes in aiT 
 abjedt ftate of flavery, broken-fpirited and 
 dejedted, knowing nothing of their fituation 
 in their native country, may apprehend, that 
 they are naturally infeiifible of the benefits of 
 Liberty, being deftitute and miferable in every 
 refpedt, and that our fuffering them to live 
 amongft us (as the Gibeonltes of old were 
 permitted to live with the Israelites) though 
 even on more oppreffive terms, is to them a 
 favour ; but thefe are certainly erroneous opi- 
 nions, with refpedt to far the greateft part of 
 them : Although it is highly probable that in 
 a country which is more than three thoufand 
 miles in extent from north to fouth, and as 
 much from eaft to weft, there will be barren 
 parts, and many inhabitants more uncivilized 
 and barbarous than others ; as is the cafe in all 
 other countries : yet, from the moft authen- 
 tic accounts, the inhabitants of Guinea appear, 
 generally fpeaking, to be an induftrious, hu- 
 mane, fociable people, whofe capacities are 
 naturally as enlarged, and as open to improve- 
 ment, as thofe of the Europeans; and that 
 their Country is fruitful, and in many places 
 well improved, abounding in cattle, gram and 
 
 fruits* 
 
r & \ 
 
 fruits'. And as the earth yields all: the year 
 round a: freflv fupply of food> and but little 
 clothing is requifite,. by reafon of the con- 
 tinual warmth of the 1 climate; the neceflaries 
 of life are much eafier procured fn moft parts 
 of Africa, than in our more northern climes* 
 This is confirmed by many authors of note* 
 who have refided thefe; among others, M. 
 Adanfon, m his account of Goree and Senegal, 
 in the year 1754, fays, ' Which way foevei* 
 
 * I turned my eyes on this pl'eafant fp'ot, I 
 
 * 'behel'd a perfed: image of pure nature ; art 
 1 agreeable Iblitude, bounded on every 'fide by 
 
 * charming landfcapes, the rural fi tuition of 
 
 * cottages in the midft of trees; the eafe and 
 ' indolence of the Negroes reclined under the 
 r {hade of their fpreading foliage; the fimpli- 
 
 * city of their drefs and manners; the whole 
 ' revived in my mind the idea of our firft 
 c parents, and I feemed to contemplate the 
 ' world in its primitive ftate: They are, gert'e- 
 c rally fpeaking, very good-natured, fociable 
 and obliging. I was riot a little pleafed with 
 this my firft reception; it 'convinced* me, 
 ' that there ought to be 'a confidbrable abate'- 
 
 * ment made in the accounts I h^d'read and 
 r heard every where of the favage character of 
 
 * the Africans. I obferved, both in Negroes 
 f and Moors, great humanity and fociablenefs, 
 
 * which gave me ftrong hopes, that I fhould 
 '* be very fafe amongft them, and meet with 
 
 S ' the 
 
[ 17 3 
 
 < the fuccefs I defired, in my enquiries after 
 the curiofities of the country.' 
 
 William Bofman, a principal Faftor for the 
 Dutch, who refided fixteen years in Guinea, 
 fpeaking of the natives of that part where he 
 then was, fays, * They are generally a good 
 
 * fort of people, honeft in their dealings;' 
 others he defcribes as * being generally friendly 
 ' to ftrangers, of a mild converfation, affable, 
 
 * and eafy to be overcome with reafon/ He 
 adds, * That fome Negroes, who have had 
 ' an agreeable education, have manifefted a 
 ' brightnefs of underftanding equal to any of 
 ' us/ Speaking of the fruitfulnefs of the 
 country, he fays, c It was very populous, 
 
 * plentifully provided with corn, potatoes and 
 fruit, which grew clofe to each other; in 
 fome places a foot-path is the only ground 
 that is not covered with them; the Negroes 
 leaving no place, which is thought fertile, 
 uncultivated; and immediately after they 
 have reaped, they are fure to fow again/ 
 
 Other parts he defcribes, as * being full of 
 towns and villages; the foil very rich, and 
 fo well cultivated, as to look like an entire 
 
 * garden, abounding in rice, corn, oxen, and 
 ' poultry, and the inhabitants laborious/ 
 
 William Smith, who was fent by the Afri- 
 can Company to vifit their fettlements on the 
 coaft of Guinea, in the year 1726, gives much 
 
 B the 
 
the fame account of the country of Delmina 
 and Cape Corfe, &c. for beauty and goodnefs, 
 and adds, ' The more you come downward 
 ' towards that part, called Slave-Coaft, the 
 
 * more delightful and rich the foil appears.' 
 Speaking of their difpofition, he fays, * They 
 
 * were a civil, good-natured people, induf- 
 
 * trious to the laft degree. It is eafy to perceive 
 ' what happy memories they are bleffed with, 
 
 * and how great progrefs they would make in 
 
 * the fciences, in cafe their genius was cul- 
 
 * tivated with ftudy.' He adds, from the in-* 
 formation he received of one of the Fadtors, 
 who had refided ten years in that country, 
 
 That the difcerning natives account it their 
 greateft unhappinefs, that they were ever 
 vifited by the Europeans. That the Chrif- 
 tians introduced the traffick of Slaves; and 
 that before our coming they lived in peace/ 
 
 Andrew Brue, a principal man in the French 
 Fadtory, in the account he gives of the great 
 river Senegal* which runs many hundred miles 
 up the country, tells his readers, ' The farther 
 
 * you go from the Sea, the country on the 
 
 * river feems more fruitful and well improved. 
 
 * It abounds in Guinea and Indian corn, rice, 
 
 * pulfe, tobacco, and indigo. Here are vaft 
 c meadows, which feed large herds of great 
 
 * and fmall cattle; poultry are numerous, as 
 well as wild fowl/ The fame Author, in 
 his travels to the fouth of the river Gambia^ 
 
 exprefles 
 
^ [ '9 ] 
 
 exprefles his furprize, * to fee the land fb well 
 ' cultivated; fcarce a fpot lay unimproved 5 
 f the low grounds, divided by fmall canals, 
 
 * were all fowed with rice; the higher ground 
 ' planted with Indian corn, millet, and peas 
 
 * of different forts: beef and mutton very 
 ' cheap, as well as all other neceffaries of life.' 
 The account this Author gives of the difpo- 
 fition of the natives, is, * That they are gene- 
 ' rally good-natured and civil, and may be 
 
 * brought to any thing by fair and foft means/ 
 Artus, fpeaking of the fame people, fays, 
 
 * They are a fincere, inoffenfive people, and 
 
 * do no injuftice either to one another, or 
 c ftrangers.' 
 
 From thefe Accounts, both of the good 
 Difpofition of the Natives, and the Fruitful- 
 nefs of moft parts of Guinea, which are con- 
 firmed by many other Authors, it may well 
 be concluded, that their acquaintance with 
 the Europeans would have been a happinefs 
 to them, had thofe laft not only borne the 
 name, but indeed been influenced by the 
 Spirit of Chriftianity ; but, alas ! how hath 
 the Conduct of the Whites contradicted the 
 Precepts and Example of Chrift? Inftead of 
 promoting the End of his Coming, by preach- 
 ing the Gofpel of Peace and Good-will to 
 Man, they have, by their practices, contri- 
 buted to enflame every noxious paffion of^^ 
 corrupt nature in the Negroes; they have } 
 
 B z incited / 
 
incited them to make war one upon another, 
 and for this purpofe have furnifhed them 
 with prodigious quantities of ammunition and 
 arms, whereby tney have been hurried into 
 confufion, bloodshed, and all the extremities 
 of temporal mifery, which muft necefTarily 
 beget in their minds fuch a general detefta- 
 tion and fcorn of the Cbriftian name, as may 
 deeply affed:, if not wholly preclude, their 
 belief of the great Truths of our holy Reli- 
 gion. Thus an infatiable defire of gain hath 
 become the principal and moving caufe of 
 the moft abominable and dreadful fcene, that 
 was perhaps ever afted upon the face of the 
 earth; even the power of their Kings hath 
 been made fubfervient to anfwer this wicked 
 purpofe j inftead of being Protectors of their 
 people, thefe Rulers, allured by the tempt- 
 ing bait laid before them by the European 
 Fadtors, &c. have invaded the Liberties of 
 their unhappy fubjedts, and are become their 
 
 Divers accounts have already appeared in 
 print, declarative of the {hocking wickednefs 
 with which this Trade is carried on; thefe 
 may npt have fallen into the hands of fome 
 of my readers, I fhall, therefore, for their 
 information, feledt a few of the moft remark- 
 able inftances that I have met with, /hewing 
 the method by which the Trade is commonly 
 managed all along the African coaft, 
 
 Francis 
 
t *' 3 
 
 Francis Moor, Faftor to the African Com- 
 pany, on the river Gambia, relates, * That 
 when the King of Earfalli wants goods, &c. 
 he fends a meffenger to the Engli/h Governor 
 at James's Fort, to defire he would fend up 
 a floop with a cargo of goods ; which (fays 
 the author) the Governor never fails to do : 
 Againft the time the veflel arrives, the King 
 plunders fome of his enemies towns, felling 
 the people for fuch goods. as he wants. 
 If he is not at war with any neighbouring 
 King, he falls upon one of his own towns, 
 and makes bold to fell his own miferable 
 fubjedts.' 
 
 N. Brue, in his account of the Trade, 
 writes, ' That having received a quantity of 
 goods, he wrote to the King of the country, 
 That if he had a fufficient number of Haves, 
 he was ready to trade with him. This 
 Prince (fays that author) as well as other 
 Negroe Monarchs, has always a fure way 
 of fupplying his deficiencies by felling his 
 own fubjeds. The King had recourfe to 
 
 * this method, by feizing three hundred of 
 ' his own people, and fent word (to Brue,) 
 
 that he had the flaves ready to deliver for 
 ' the goods.* 
 
 The Mifery and Bloodfhed, confequent'tp 
 the Slave-trade, is amply fet forth by the fol- 
 lowing extracts of two voyages to the coaft 
 
 B 3 of 
 
[ 22 ] 
 
 of Guinea for flaves. The firft in a veffel from 
 Liverpool, taken verbatim from the original 
 manufcript of the Surgeon's journal, viz. 
 
 k .M'b v) .:rr. :'!' 
 
 * SESTRO, December the 29th, 1724. No 
 
 c trade to-day, though many Traders come 
 on board; they inform us, that the people 
 ' are gone to war within land, and will bring 
 * prifoners enough in two or three days : in 
 ' hopes of which we ftay. 
 
 ' The 30th. No trade yet, but our Traders 
 ' came on board to-day, and informed us, 
 
 * the people had burnt four towns of their 
 
 * enemies, fo that to-morrow we expeft flaves 
 off. Another large ihip is come in : Yefter- 
 
 * day came in a large Londoner. 
 
 ' * The 3 1 ft. Fair weather, but no trade 
 ' yet: We fee each night towns burning; 
 'but we hear the Seftro men are many of 
 ' them killed by the inland Negroes, fo that 
 
 * we fear this war will be unfuccefsful. 
 
 The ad January. Laft night we faw a 
 
 * prodigious fire break out about eleven 
 
 * o'clock, and this morning fee the town of 
 ' Sejlro burnt down to the ground, (it con- 
 ' tained fome hundreds of houfes) fo that we 
 ' find their enemies are too hard for them at 
 ' prefent, and confequently our trade fpoiled 
 
 * here; fo that about feven o'clock we 
 
 * weighed 
 
I 23 ] 
 
 < weighed anchor, as did likewife the three 
 ' other veflels, to proceed lower down/ 
 
 The fecond relation, alfo taken from the 
 original manufcript journal of a perfon of 
 credit, who went Surgeon on the fame ac- 
 count in a veffel from New-Tork to the coafl 
 of Guinea, about nineteen years paft, is as 
 follows, viz. 
 
 ' Being on the coaft at a place called 
 ' Bafalia, the Commander of the veffel, ae- 
 ' cording to cuftom, fent a perfon on fhore 
 6 with a prefent to the King, acquainting 
 
 * him with his arrival, and letting him know, 
 ' they wanted a cargo of flaves. The King 
 
 * promifed to furnifli them with flaves ; and 
 
 * in order to do it, fet out to go to war againft 
 ' his enemies, defigning alfo to furprize fome 
 
 * town, and take all the people prifoners : 
 ' Some time after, the King fent them word, 
 ' he had not yet met with the defired fuccefs, 
 
 * having been twice repulfed, in attempting 
 'to break up two towns; but that he ftifl 
 ' hoped to procure a number of flaves for 
 ' them; and in this defign he periifted till 
 
 * he met his enemies in the field, where a 
 
 < battle was fought, which lafted three days ; 
 ' during which time the engagement was fo 
 
 * bloody, that four thoufand five hundred 
 
 * men were flain on the fpot.' The perfon, 
 that wrote the account, beheld the bodies as 
 
 B 4 they 
 
[ 24 ] 
 
 they lay on the field of battle. ' Think (fays 
 *,he in his journal) what a pitiable fight it 
 ' was, to fee the widows weeping over their 
 : ;lort hufbands, orphans deploring the lofs 
 A of their fathers, &c. &c.' 
 
 Thofe who are acquainted with the Trade 
 agree, that many Negroes on the fea-coaft, 
 who have been corrupted by their intercourfe 
 and converfe with the 'European Faftors, have 
 learnt to flick at no aft of cruelty for gain* 
 Thefe make it a pradice to fleal abundance 
 of little Blacks of both fexes, when found on 
 die roads or in the fields, where their parents 
 keep them all day to watch the corn, &c* 
 Some authors fay, the Negroe Factors go fix 
 or feven hundred miles up the country with 
 'goods, bought from the Europeans, where 
 markets of men are kept in the fame manner 
 as thofe of beafts with us. When the poor 
 flaves, whether brought from far or near, 
 come to the fea-fhore, they are flapped 
 naked, and flridlly examined by the European 
 Surgeons, both men and women, without 
 the leaft diflinftion or modefly; thofe which 
 are approved as good, are marked with a red- 
 hot iron with the fhip's mark; after which 
 they are put on board the veflels, the men 
 being fhackled with irons two and two to* 
 gether. Reader, bring the matter home, 
 and confider whether any fituation in life can 
 be more completely miferable than that of 
 
 thofe 
 
[ 25 I 
 
 thofe diftrefled captives. When we refleft, 
 that each individual of this number had fome 
 tender attachment which was broken by this 
 cruel reparation; fome parent or wife, who 
 had not an opportunity of mingling tears in 
 a parting embrace; perhaps fome infant or 
 aged parent whom his labour was to feed 
 and vigilance proteft; themfelves under the 
 dreadful apprehenfion of an unknown per- 
 petual flavery; pent up within the narrow 
 confines of a veffel, fometimes fix or feven 
 hundred together, where they lie as clofe as 
 poffible. Under thefe complicated diftreffes 
 they are often reduced to a ftate of defpera- 
 tion, wherein many have leaped into the fea, 
 and have kept themfelves under water till 
 they were drowned; others have ftarved 
 themfelves to death, for the prevention 
 whereof fome mafters of veffels have cut oflf 
 the legs and arms of a number of thofe poor 
 defperate creatures, to terrify the reft. Great 
 numbers have alfo frequently been killed, 
 and fome deliberately put to death under the 
 greateft torture, when they have attempted 
 to rife, in order to free themfelves from 
 their prefent mifery, and the flavery defigned 
 them. An inftance of the laft kind appears 
 particularly in an account given by the 
 mafter of a veffel, who brought a cargo of 
 flaves to Barbadoes\ indeed it appears fo 
 irreconcileable to the common dictates of 
 humanity, that one would doubt the truth 
 
 of 
 
[ 26 ) 
 
 of it, had it not been related by a feriouS 
 perfon of undoubted credit, who had it from 
 the captain's own mouth. Upon an enquiry* 
 What had been the fuccefs of his voyage? 
 he anfwered, ' That he had found it a diffi- 
 
 * cult matter to fet the negroes a fighting 
 c with each other, in order to procure the 
 '. number he wanted; but that when he had 
 ' obtained this end, and had got his veflel 
 
 * filled with flaves, a new difficulty arofe 
 
 * from their refufal to take food; thofe def- 
 
 * perate creatures chufing rather to die with 
 
 * hunger, than to be carried from their native 
 
 * country/ Upon a farther inquiry, by what 
 means he had prevailed upon them to fore- 
 go this defperate refolution ? he anfwered, 
 
 * That he obliged all the negroes' to come 
 
 * upon deck, where they perfifted in their 
 ' refolution of not taking food, he caufed his 
 
 * failors to lay hold upon one of the moft 
 
 * obftinate, and chopt the poor creature into 
 ' fmall pieces, forcing fome of the others to 
 ' eat a part of the mangled body; withal 
 ' fwearing to the furvivors that he would 
 ' ufe them all, one after the other, in the 
 
 * fame manner, if they did not confent to 
 ' eat/ This horrid execution he applauded 
 as a good aft, it having had the deiired effe<5l, 
 in bringing them to take food. 
 
 c ;y- *' Lz&ifc ! iw#bv>A ot *&&& 
 
 A fimilar cafe is mentioned in Aft ley's 
 Collection of Voyages, by John Atkins, Sur- 
 geon 
 
t *7 ] 
 
 geon on board Admiral Ogle's fquadron, ' Of 
 
 * one Harding, matter of a veflel, in which 
 
 * feveral of the men-flaves, and a woman- 
 ' flave, had attempted to rife, in order to 
 
 * recover their liberty: fome of whom the 
 f mafter, of his own authority, fentenced to 
 ' cruel death j making them firft eat the 
 
 * heart and liver of one of thofe he killed. 
 
 * The woman he hoifted by . the thumbs; 
 c whipped and flafhed with knives before the 
 ' other flaves, till fhe died,' 
 
 As detectable and {hocking as this may ap<- 
 pear to fuch, whofe hearts are not yet hard- 
 ened by the practice of that cruelty, which 
 the love of wealth, by degrees, introduceth 
 into the human mind; it will not be ftrange 
 to thofe who have been concerned or employ- 
 ed in the Trade. Now here arifes^a neceflary 
 query to thofe who hold the balance and 
 fword of juftice; and who muft account to 
 God for the ufe they have made of it.; Since 
 our Englifo law is fo truly valuable for its 
 jujlice, bow can they overlook thefe barbarous 
 deaths of the unhappy Africans without trial, 
 or due proof of their being guilty, of crimes 
 adequate to their punijhment ? Why are thofe 
 majlers of vejfels, (who are often not the moji 
 tender and confiderate of men} thus fuffered 
 to be the fiver eign arbiters of the lives of the 
 miferable Negroes > and allowed, with impu- 
 nity, thus to dejlroy, may I not fay, murder 
 
 their 
 
their fellow-creatures, and that by mearts fo 
 cruel, as cannot be even related but with 
 Jhame and horror? 
 
 When the veflels arrive at their deftined 
 port in the Colonies, the poor Negroes are to 
 be difpofed of to the planters; and here they 
 are again expofed naked, without any diftinc- 
 tion of fexes, to the brutal examination of 
 their purchafersj and this, it may well be 
 judged, is to many of them another occafion 
 of de,ep diftrefs, efpecially to the females. 
 Add to this, that near connections muft now 
 again be feparated, to go with their feveral 
 purchafers: In this melancholy fcene Mothers 
 are feen hanging over their Daughters, be- 
 dewing their naked breafts with tears, and 
 Daughters clinging to their Parents; not 
 knowing what new ftage of diftrefs muft 
 follow their feparation, or if ever they mall 
 meet again: And here what fympathy, what 
 commiferation are they to exped: ? why in- 
 deed, if they will not feparate as readily as 
 their owners think proper, the whipper is 
 called for, and the la(h exercifed upon their 
 naked bodies, till obliged to part. 
 
 'aW-.V 1 * l i U> *{V, ; A s > VI" ;V~', 5.' ". "'-:' -^ : 
 
 Can any human heart, that retains a fellow* 
 feeling for the Sufferings of mankind, be 
 unconcerned at relations of fuch grievous 
 affli&ion, to which this opprefled part of our 
 Species are fubje&ed : God gave to man 
 
 dominion 
 
[ 29 3 
 
 dominion over the fifh of the fea, and over 
 the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, &c. 
 but impofed no involuntary fubjedion of one 
 man to another. 
 
 The Truth of this Pofition has of late 
 been clearly fet forth by perfons of reputation 
 and ability, particularly George Wallis, in his 
 Syftem of the Laws of Scotland, whofe fen- 
 timents are fo worthy the notice of all con- 
 fiderate perfons, that I (hall here repeat a part 
 of what he has not long fince publifhed, 
 concerning the African Trade, viz. * If this 
 
 * Trade admits of a moral or a rational jufti- 
 
 * fication, every crime, even the moft atro- 
 
 * cious, may be juftified: Government was 
 inftituted for the good of mankind. Kings, 
 
 * Princes, Governors, are qot proprietors of 
 
 * thofe who are fubjedted to their authority, 
 ' they have not a right to make them mifer- 
 
 * able. On the contrary, their authority is 
 vefted in them, that they may, by the juft 
 
 * exercife of it, promote the Happinefs of 
 
 * their peopje: Of courfe, they have not a 
 
 * right to difpofe of their Liberty, and to fell 
 them for flaves : Befides, no man has a 
 right to acquire or to purchafe them; men 
 and their Liberty, are not either faleable or 
 purchafeable : One therefore has no body 
 but himfelf to blame, in cafe he {hall 
 find himfelf deprived of a man, whom he 
 
 1 thought he had, by buying for a price, 
 
 ' made 
 
[ 30 J 
 
 .' - tj. . _ ^ ^ '. . 
 
 * made his own; for he dealt in a Trade 
 
 * which was illicit, and was prohibited by 
 
 * the moft obvious dictates of humanity. For 
 ' thefe reafons, every one of thofe unfortunate 
 f men, who are pretended to be flaves, has 
 
 * a right to be declared free, for he never 
 
 * loft his Liberty, he could not lofe it; his 
 c Prince had no power to difpofe of him: 
 
 of courfe the fale was void. This right 
 he carries about with him, and is entitled 
 every where to get it declared. As foon, 
 therefore, as he comes into a country, in 
 which the Judges are not forgetful of their 
 own humanity, it is their duty to remember 
 that he is a man, and to declare him to be 
 free. -This is the Law of Nature, which 
 
 * is obligatory on all men, at all times, and 
 
 * in all places. Would not any of us, who 
 fhould be fnatched by Pirates from his 
 
 * native land, think himfelf cruelly abufed, 
 
 * and at all times intitled to be free ? Have 
 f not thefe unfortunate Africans, who meet 
 
 * with the fame cruel fate, the fame right? 
 
 * are not they men as well as we ? and have 
 they not the fame fenfibility? Let us not, 
 
 * therefore, defend or fupport an ufage, which 
 1 is contrary to all the Laws of Humanity/ 
 
 Francis Hutchinfon, alfo in his Syfteni of 
 Moral Philofophy, fpeaking on the fubjecl: of 
 Slavery, fays, ' He who detains another by 
 
 * force in flayery, is always bound tp prove 
 
 'his 
 
[ 3' 3 
 
 * his title. The Slave fold, or carried away 
 into a diftant country, muft not be obliged 
 
 * to prove a negative, that he never forfeited 
 
 * his Liberty. The violent pofleflbr muft, in 
 
 * all cafes, (hew his title, efpecially where the 
 
 * old proprietor is well known. In this cafe 
 ' each man is the original proprietor of his 
 c own Liberty: The proof of his lofing it 
 
 * muft be incumbent on thofe r who deprived 
 
 * him of it by force. Strange, (fays the fame 
 
 * .author) that in any nation, where a fenfe of 
 
 * Liberty prevails, where the Chrlftian religion 
 
 * is profeffed, cuftom and high profpedt of 
 
 * gain can fo ftupify the confciences of men, 
 ' and all fenfe of natural juftice, that they can 
 ' hear fuch computation made about the value 
 
 * of their fellow-men and their Liberty, 
 
 * without abhorrence and indignation,' 
 
 The noted Baron Montefquieu gives it, as 
 his opinion, in his Spirit of Laws, page 348, 
 That nothing more affimilates a man to a 
 beaft than living amongft freemen, himfelf 
 a flave; fuch people as thefe are the natural 
 enemies of fociety, and their number muft 
 always be dangerous/ 
 
 The Author of a pamphlet, lately printed 
 in London, entitled, An E/ay in Vindication 
 of the continental Colonies of America, writes, 
 
 * That the bondage we have impofed on the 
 ' <4fricans> is atyblutely repugnant to juftice. 
 
 * That 
 
[ 3* 1 
 
 That it is highly inconfiftent with civil 
 
 * policy: Firft, as it tends to fupprefs all 
 c improvements in arts and fciences; without 
 
 * which it is morally impoffible that any 
 ' nation fhould be happy or powerful. Se- 
 4 condly, as it may deprave the minds of the 
 
 * freemen; fleeling their hearts againft the 
 
 * laudable feelings of virtue and humanity. 
 
 * And, laftly, as it endangers the community 
 ' by the deftrudtive effects of civil commo-r 
 tions : need I add to thefe (fays that author) 
 ' what every heart, which is not callous to 
 ' all tender feelings, will readily fuggeft; that 
 ' it is fhocking to humanity, violative of every 
 
 * generous fentiment, abhorrent utterly from 
 
 * the Ghriftian Religion : for, as Montefquieu 
 very juftly obferves, We muft fuppofe them 
 
 * not to be men, or a fufpicion would follow 
 
 * that we ourfehes are not Chriftians. 
 ' There cannot be a more dangerous maxim, 
 
 * than that neceffity is a plea for injuftice. 
 c For who fhall fix the degree of this necef- 
 
 * fity? What villain fo atrocious, who may 
 
 * not urge this excufe? or, as Milton has 
 
 * happily exprefled it, 
 
 < ... . .. . - - - And with, necejfity, 
 
 * The tyrant' s plea, excufe his devlijh deed* 
 
 ( That our Colonies want people, is a very 
 c weak argument for fo inhuman a violation 
 
 * of juftice. Shall a civilized, a Chriftian 
 
 * nation encourage Slavery, becau/e the bar- 
 
 ^ barous 
 

 [ 33 1 
 
 * barous, favage, lawlefs African hath done 
 it? Monftrous thought! To what end do 
 
 * we profefs a religion whofe dictates we fo 
 
 * flagrantly violate? Wherefore have we that 
 ' pattern of goodnefs and humanity, if we 
 
 * refufe to follow it ? How long fhall we 
 
 * continue a pradtice, which policy rejefts, 
 ' juftice condemns, and piety diffbades ? Shall 
 
 * the Americans perfift in a conduct, which 
 cannot be juftified; or perfevere in oppref- 
 ' fion from which their hearts muft recoil? 
 ' If the barbarous Africans fhall continue to 
 
 * enflave each other, let the daemon flavery 
 
 * remain among them, that their crime may 
 ' include its own punifhment. Let not 
 
 * Ghriftians, by administering to their wick- 
 
 * ednefs, confefS their religion to be a ufelefs 
 
 * refinement, their profeffion vain, and them- 
 
 * felves as inhuman as the favages they deteft/ 
 
 James Fofter, in his Difcourfes on Natural 
 Religion and Social Virtue, alfo {hews his juft 
 indignation at this wicked practice, \vhich he 
 declares to be a criminal and outrageous viola- 
 tion of the natural right of mankind. At 
 page 156, 2d vol. he fays, * Should we have 
 
 * read concerning the Greeks or Romans of 
 '- old, that they traded, with view to make 
 
 * flaves of their own fpecies, whom they 
 ' certainly knew that this would involve in 
 
 * fchemes of blood and murder, of deftroy- 
 
 * ing or enflaving each other; that they even 
 
 C < foment- 
 
[ 34 ] 
 
 fomented wars, and engaged whole nations 
 and tribes in open hoftilities, for their own 
 private advantage; that they had no detefta- 
 tion of the violence and cruelty, but only 
 feared the ill fuccefs of their inhuman en- 
 terprifes; that they carried men like them- 
 felves, their brethren, and the offspring of 
 the fame common parent, to be fold like 
 beafts of prey, or beafts of burden, and 
 put them to the fame reproachful trial of 
 their foundnefs, ftrength and capacity for 
 greater bodily fervice; that quite forgetting 
 and renouncing the original dignity of 
 human nature, communicated to all, they 
 treated them with more feverity and ruder 
 difcipline, than even the ox or the afs, who 
 are void of underftanding. Should we not, 
 if this had been the cafe, have naturally 
 been led to defpife all their pretended refine- 
 ments of morality; and to have concluded, 
 that as they were not nations deftitute of 
 politenefs, they muft have been entire 
 Strangers to Virtue and Benevolence? . 
 
 ' But, notwithftanding this, we ourfelves 
 (who profefs to be Chriftians, and boaft of 
 the peculiar advantage we enjoy, by means 
 of an exprefs revelation of our duty from 
 Heaven) are in effeft, thefe very untaught 
 and rude Heathen countries. With all our 
 fuperior light, we inftil into thofe, whom 
 we call favage and barbarous, the moft 
 
 ' defpicable 
 
f 35 ] 
 
 * defpicable opinion of human nature* We* 
 
 * to the utmoft of our power, weaken and 
 ' diflblve the univerfal tie, that binds and 
 ' unites mankind. We pradtife what we 
 
 * fhould exclaim againft, as the utmoft excefs 
 
 * of cruelty and tyranny, if nations of the 
 
 * world, differing in colour . and form of 
 ' government from ourfelves, were fo poffef- 
 ' fed of empire, as to be able" to reduce us to 
 ' a ftate of unmerited and brutifli fervitude* 
 
 * Of confequence, we facrifice our reafon, our 
 
 * humanity, our Chriftianity> to an unnatural 
 
 * fordid gain. We teach other nations to 
 ' defpife and trample under foot, all the obli- 
 
 * gations of focial virtue. We take the moft 
 
 * effectual method to prevent the propagation 
 ' f the Gofpel, by reprefenting it as a fcheme 
 
 * of power and barbarous oppreffion, and an 
 .' enemy to the natural privileges and rights 
 ' of men. 
 
 ".* i 
 
 ' Perhaps all that I have now offered, may 
 
 * be of very little weight to reftrain this enor- 
 c mity, this aggravated iniquity. However, 
 
 * I fhall ftill have the fatisfaftion, of having 
 ' entered my private proteft againft a practice, 
 
 * which, in my opinion, bids that God, who 
 ' is the God and Father of the Gentiles un- 
 s converted to Chriftianity, moft daring and 
 
 * bold defiance, and fpurns at all the principles, 
 
 * bath of natural and revealed Religion.' 
 
 %.;.. ./-- ^3 -1: ". - : \h ^-idv; 
 
 C z How 
 
[ 36 j 
 
 
 How the Britifh nation firft came to be 
 concerned in a praftiee, by which the rights 
 and liberties of mankind are fo violently 
 infringed, and which is fo oppofite to the 
 apprehenfions Englijhmen have always had 
 of what natural juftice requires, is indeed 
 furprifing. It was about the year 1563, in 
 the reign of Queen Elizabeth) that the Englijh 
 firft engaged in the Guinea Trade; when it 
 appears, from an account in Hill's Naval 
 Hiftory, page 293, That when Captain 
 Hawkins returned from his 'firft voyage to 
 Africa, that generous fpirited Princefs, at- 
 tentive to the intereft of her fubjefts, fent for 
 the Commander, to whom (he exprefled her 
 concern left any of the African Negroes fhould 
 be carried off without their free confent, de- 
 claring it 'would be detejlable, and call down the 
 vengeance of Heaven upon the undertakers. 
 Captain Hawkins promifed to comply with the 
 Queen's injunction: neverthelefs, we find in 
 the account, given in the fame Hiftory, of 
 Hawkins's fecond voyage, the author ufing 
 thefe remarkable words, Here began the horrid 
 practice of forcing the Africans into Jlavery. 
 
 Lab at, a Roman Miffionary, in his account 
 of the Ifles of America, at page 114, of the 
 4th vol. mentions, that Lewis the I3th, 
 Father to the prefent French King's Grand- 
 father, was extremely uneafy at a Law by 
 which all the Negroes of his Colonies were 
 
 to 
 
[ 37 1 
 
 to be made flaves ; but it being ftrongly 
 urged to him, as the readieft means for 
 their Converfion to Ghriftianity, he acqui- 
 efced therewith. 
 
 And although we have not many accounts 
 of the impreffions which this piratical inva* 
 iion of the rights of mankind gave to ferious 
 minded people, when firft engaged in; yet 
 it did not efcape the notice of fome, who 
 might be efteemed in a peculiar manner as 
 watchmen in their day to the different focie- 
 ties of Chrijlians whereunto they belonged. 
 Richard Baxter, an eminent preacher amongft 
 the Nonconformtfts, in the laft century, well 
 known and particularly efteemed by moft 
 of the ferious Pre/byterians and Independents, 
 in his Cbriftian Directory, moftly wrote about 
 an hundred Years ago, fully fhews his detefta- 
 tion of this practice in the following words : 
 Do you not mark how God hath followed 
 you with^plagues ? And may not confcience 
 tell you, that it is for your inhumanity to 
 the fouls and bodies of men? To go as 
 pirates and catch up poor Negroes, or peo- 
 ple of another land, that never forfeited 
 Life or Liberty, and to make them Slaves 
 and fell them, is one of the worft kind of 
 < Thievery in the world; and fuch perfoas 
 *> are to be taken for the common Enemies 
 
 * of mankind; and they that buy them, and 
 
 * ufe them as beafts, for their meer com- 
 
 C 3 ' modity, 
 
modity, and betray, or deftroy, or neglect 
 
 * their fouls, are fitter to be called devils than 
 
 * Ckriftians. It is an heinous fin to buy them, 
 
 * unlefs it be in charity to deliver them. 
 
 Undoubtedly they are prefently bound to 
 
 * deliver them; becaufe by right the man is 
 
 * his own; therefore no man elfe can have a 
 
 * juft title to him/ 
 
 We alfo find George Fox, a man of exem- 
 plary piety, who was the principal inftrurnent 
 in gathering the religious fociety of people 
 called Quakers, exprefiing his concern and 
 fellow-feeling for the bondage of the Negroes : 
 In a difcourfe taken from his mouth, in 
 Barbadoes, in the Year 1671, fays, ' Confi- 
 ' der with yourfelves, if you were in the 
 
 * fame condition as the Blacks are, who 
 f came ftrangers to .you, and were fold to you 
 
 * as flaves. I fay, if this mould be the con- 
 
 * dition of you or yours, you would think it 
 
 * hard meafure: Yea, and very great bondage 
 *. and cruelty. And, therefore, confider fe- 
 
 * rioufly of this, and do you for and to them, 
 
 * as you would willingly have them, or any 
 *- other to do unto you, were you in the like 
 
 * flavim condition; and bring them to know 
 the Lord Chrift/ And in his journal, page 
 431, fpeaking of the Advice he gave his 
 friends at Rarbadoes, he fays, c I defired alfo., 
 
 * that they would caufe their Overfeers to deal 
 
 * mildly and gently with their Negroes, and 
 
 ' not 
 
< not to ufe, cruelty towards them, as the 
 ' manner of &me Jh^ been; and that after 
 
 * certain years of fervituue they fhould make 
 
 them free/ 
 
 * ''**?j. y 
 
 In a book printed in Leverpool, called The 
 Lev erpool Memorandum- book, which contains, 
 among other things, an account of the Trade 
 of that port, there is an exaft lift of the 
 veffels employed in the Guinea Trade, and 
 of the number of Slaves imported in each 
 veffel, by which it appears, that in the year 
 1753, the number imported to America, by 
 veffels belonging to that port, amounted to 
 upwards of Thirty Thoufand ; and from the 
 number of Veffels employed by the African 
 Company in London and Brijlol, we may, 
 with fome degree of certainty conclude, 
 there is, at leaft. One Hundred Thoufand 
 Negroes purchafed and brought on board our 
 fhips yearly from the coaft of Africa, on 
 their account. This is confirmed in Anderjons 
 Hiftory of Trade and Commerce, printed ia 
 1764, where it is faid, at page 68 of the 
 Appendix, ' That "England fupplies her Ame- 
 
 * rican Colonies with Negro-flaves, amount- 
 
 * ing in number to above One Hundred 
 
 * Thoufand every year.' /When the veffels I 
 are full freighted with flaves,, they fet out for \ y 
 our plantations in America* and may be two J 
 or three months on the voyage, during 
 which time, from the filth and flench that is 
 
 C 4 among 
 
#mong them, diflempers frequently break out, 
 which carry off a great many, a fifth, a fourth, 
 yea, fometimes a third of them; fo that taking 
 all the flaves together that are brought on 
 board our fhips yearly, one may reasonably 
 jfuppofe, that at leaft ten thoufand of thera die 
 on the voyage. And in a printed account of 
 the State of the Negroes in our plantations, it 
 is fuppofed that a fourth part, more or lefs, 
 die at the different Iflands, in what is called 
 the feafoning. Hence it may be prefumed, 
 that, at a moderate computation of the flaves, 
 who are purchafed by our African merchants 
 in a year, near thirty thoufand die upon the 
 voyage and in the feafoning. Add to this, the 
 prodigious number who are killed in the 
 incurfioris and inteftine wars, by which the 
 Negroes procure the number of flaves wanted 
 to load the veflels. How dreadful then is this 
 Slave-Trade, whereby fo many thoufands of 
 our fellow-creatures, free by nature, endued 
 with the fame rational faculties, and called to 
 be heirs of the fame falvation with us, lofc* 
 their lives, and are truly, and properly fpeak- 
 ing, murdered every year ! For it is not 
 neceflary, in order to convict a man of 
 murder, to rnake it appear, that he had an 
 intention to commit murder. Whoever does, 
 by unjuft force or violence, deprive another 
 of his Liberty; and, while he has him in his 
 power, reduces him, by cruel treatment, to 
 fuch a condition as evidently endangers his 
 
 life, 
 

 ,[ 4' 1 -? 
 
 life; and the ^vent occafions his death, i$ 
 actually guilty of murder. It is no lefs ihockr 
 ing to read the accounts given by Sir Hans 
 Shane, and others, of the inhuman and un- 
 merciful treatment thofe Blacks meet with, 
 who furvive the feafonings in the Iflands, often 
 for tranfgreffions, to which the punifhment 
 they receive bears no proportion. * And the 
 c horrid executions, which are frequently 
 c made there upon difcovery of the plots laid 
 f by the Blacks, for the recovery of their 
 
 * liberty ; of fome they break the bones, 
 c whilft alive, on a wheel; others they burn 
 ' pr rather roaft to death ; others they ftarve 
 
 * to death* with a loaf hanging before their 
 ' rnouths.' Thus they are brought to expire, 
 with frightful agonies, in the moft horrid 
 tortures. For negligence only they are un- 
 mercifully whipped, till their backs are raw, 
 and then pepper and fait is fcattered on the 
 wounds to heighten the pain, and prevent 
 mortification. Is it not 2. caufe of much for- 
 row and lamentation, that fo many poor crea- 
 tures fhould be thus racked with excrucia- 
 ting tortures, ,for crimes which often their 
 tormentors have occafioned? Muft not even 
 the common feelings of human nature have 
 fuffered fome grievous change in thofe men, 
 to be capable of fuch horrid cruelty towards 
 their fellow- men ? If they defer ve death, 
 ought not their judges, ;n the death decreed 
 
 them. 
 
r 42 ] 
 
 them, always to remember that thefe their 
 Jiaplefs fellow-creatures are men, and them- 
 felves profeffing Cbriftians? The Mofaic law 
 teaches us our duty in thefe cafes, in the 
 merciful provifion it made in the punifhment 
 of tranfgreffors, Deuter. xxv. 2. And it 
 jhall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be 
 beaten, that the judge Jhall caufe him to lie 
 down, and to be beaten before his face, accord* 
 ing. to his fault, by a certain number - 3 Forty 
 Jtripes he may give him, and not exceed. And 
 the reafon rendered is out of refpedl to 
 human nature, viz. Left if he JJoould exceed^ 
 and beat him above thefe, with many Jlrifes, 
 then thy Brother fhould feem vile unto thee* 
 JBritains boaft themfelves to be a generous, 
 humane people, who have a true fenfe of 
 the importance of Liberty; but is this a true 
 character, whilft that barbarous, favage Slave- 
 Trade, with all its attendant horrors, receives 
 countenance and protection from the Legifla- 
 ture, whereby fo many Thoufand lives are 
 yearly facrificed? Do we indeed believe the 
 truths declared in the Gofpel? Are we per- 
 fuaded that the threatenings, as well as the 
 promifes therein contained, will have their 
 accomplifhment? If indeed we do, muft we 
 not tremble to think what a load of guilt lies 
 upon our Nation generally, and individually, 
 fo far as we in any degree abet or countenance 
 this aggravated iniquity ? 
 
 We 
 
.* 
 
 43 
 
 We have a memorable Inftance in hiftory, 
 which may be fruitful of Inftru&ion, if 
 timely and properly applied; it is a quota- 
 tion made by Sir John Temple, in his hiftory 
 of the Irijh rebellion, being an obfervation 
 out of Giraldus Cambrenjis, a noted author, 
 who lived about fix hundred years ago, con* 
 cerning the caufes of the profperity of the 
 Engli/h undertakings in Ireland, when they 
 conquered that Ifland, he faith, * That a fy- 
 ' nod, or council of the Clergy, being then 
 
 * aflembled at Armagh, and that point fully 
 
 < debated, it was unanimoufly agreed, that 
 
 * the fins of the people were the occalion of 
 f that heavy judgment then falling upon 
 ' their nation ; and that efpecially their 
 ' buying of Engli/lomen from merchants and 
 
 * pirates, and detaining them under a moft 
 miferable hard bondage, had caufed the 
 ' Lord, by way of juft retaliation, to leave 
 
 < them to be reduced, by the Engli/h, to the 
 
 * fame ftate of flavery. Whereupon they 
 ' made a publick aft in that council, that all 
 f the Englifh, held in captivity throughout 
 ' the whole land, fhould be prefently re- 
 f ftored $Q their former Liberty^ 
 
 J ftiall now conclude with an extract from 
 an addrefs of a late author to the merchants, 
 and others, who are concerned in carrying on 
 the Guinea Trade 5 which alfo, in a great 
 
 meafure* 
 
[ 44 ] 
 
 meafure, is applicable to others, who, for 
 the love of gain, are in any way concerned 
 in promoting or maintaining the captivity of 
 the Negroes. 
 
 * As the bufinefs, you are publickly carry-. 
 
 * ing on before the world, has a bad afpedl, 
 
 * and you are fenfible moft men make objeo 
 
 * tion againfl it, you ought to juftify it to 
 
 * the world, upon principles of reafon, 
 
 * equity, and humanity $ to make it appear, 
 ' that it is no unjuft invafion of the perfons, 
 
 * or encroachments on the rights of men ; or 
 
 * for ever to lay it afide. But laying afide 
 
 * the refentment of men, which is but of 
 ' little or no moment, in comparifon with 
 ' that of the Almighty, think of a future 
 '. reckoning: confider how you (hall come 
 ' off in the great and awful Day of account. 
 
 * You now heap up riches, and live in plea- 
 ' fure; but, oh! what will you do in the end 
 ' thereof? and that i& not far off: what, if 
 c death fliould feize upon you, and hurry you 
 c out of this world, under all that load of 
 ' blood-guiltinefs that now lies upon your 
 c fouls ? The gofpel exprefly declares, that 
 r thieves and murderers fhall not inherit the 
 
 * kingdom of God. Confider, that at the 
 ' fame time, and by the fame means, you 
 r now treafure up worldly riches, you are 
 
 * treafuring up to yourfelves wrath againft 
 
[ 45 1 1 . g 
 
 4 the day of wrath, and vengeance that fhall 
 
 * come upon the workers of iniquity, unlefs 
 
 * prevented by a timely repentance. 
 
 * And what greater iniquity, what crime 
 
 * that is more heinous, that carries in it more 
 ' complicated guilt, can you name than that, 
 
 * in the habitual, deliberate pradtice of which 
 
 * you now live? How can you lift up your 
 
 * guilty eyes to heaven ? How can you pray 
 c for mercy to him that made you, ! or hope 
 ' for any favour from him that formed you, 
 c while you go on thus grofly and openly to 
 
 * difhonour him, in debafing and deftroying 
 
 * the nobleft workmanfhip of his hands in 
 ' this lower world ? He is the Father of men \ 
 and do you think he will not refent fuch 
 
 * treatment of his offspring, whom he hath 
 f fo loved, as to give his only begotten Son, 
 
 * that whofoever believeth in him, might not 
 ' perifh, but have everlafting life? This love 
 of God to man, revealed in the gofpel, is a 
 
 * great aggravation of your guilt; for if God 
 
 * fo loved us, we ought alfo to love one ano- . $ 
 ' ther. Tou remember the fate of the Servant, 
 
 ' who took hold of his fellow -fervant, who 
 
 * was in his debt, by the throat, and caji him 
 ' into frifon; Think then, and tremble to 
 ' think, what will be your fate, 'who take 
 ' your fellow-fervants by the throat, that 
 
 * owe you not a penny, and make them 
 c prifoners for t life, 
 
 c Give 
 
 
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