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diff --git a/old/68337-h/68337-h.htm b/old/68337-h/68337-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 105f754..0000000 --- a/old/68337-h/68337-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1631 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html> -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - -<head> - <meta charset="UTF-8" /> - <title> - a Caution to great Britain and Her Colonies in a Short Representation of the Calamitous State of the Enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions, by AUTHOR—A Project Gutenberg eBook - </title> - <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover" /> - <style> - /* <![CDATA[ */ - body { - margin-left: 10%; - margin-right: 10%; - } - .x-ebookmaker body { margin: 0; } - - h1, h2 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; - page-break-before: avoid; - } - - h2 { - line-height: 2em; - font-size: xx-large; - } - h2.nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; } - - p { - margin-top: .5em; - margin-bottom: .5em; - text-align: justify; - text-indent: 1em; - } - - .hang { - text-align: justify; - text-indent: -1em; - padding-left: 1em; - } - - .inline { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; - } - - div.titlepage { - text-align: center; - page-break-before: always; - page-break-after: always; - } - - div.titlepage p { - text-align: center; - text-indent: 0; - font-weight: bold; - line-height: 1.5; - margin-top: 3em; - } - - /* === Required for epub breaks === */ - div.chapter { - clear: both; - margin-top: 10%; - page-break-before: always; - } - - hr { width: 35%; margin: 1% 32.5%; clear: both; } - hr.chap { width: 65%; margin: 5% 17.5%; } - .x-ebookmaker hr.chap { - visibility: hidden; - page-break-before: always; - } - @media print { - hr.chap { - visibility: hidden; - page-break-before: always; - } - } - - /* === Superscript size === */ - sup { font-size: 75%; } - - /* === Fonts === */ - .small {font-size: small;} - .medium {font-size: medium;} - .large {font-size: large;} - .xlarge {font-size: x-large;} - .smcap { font-variant: small-caps; } - .bold { font-weight: bold; } - .gesperrt1 { letter-spacing: 0.1em; margin-right: -0.1em; } - .gesperrt2 { letter-spacing: 0.2em; margin-right: -0.2em; } - .gesperrt4 { letter-spacing: 0.4em; margin-right: -0.4em; } - .gesperrt6 { letter-spacing: 0.6em; margin-right: -0.6em; } - .gesperrt8 { letter-spacing: 0.8em; margin-right: -0.8em; } - - /* === Alignment === */ - .mt3 { margin-top: 3%; } - .mt5 { margin-top: 5%; } - .mt10 { margin-top: 10%; } - .lh2 { line-height: 2em; } - .center { text-align: center; } - - /* === Page #s === */ - .pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 1%; - color: gray; - font-size: x-small; - text-align: right; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - font-variant: normal; - padding: 0 0.2em; - } - - blockquote { - margin-left: 2%; - margin-right: 2%; - font-size: smaller; - } - - /* === Poetry === */ - .center-container { text-align:center; } - - .poetry { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; - font-size: 90%; - padding-left: 3em; - } - - .stanza { margin: 0.75em auto; } - .stanza div.i0 { text-indent: -3em; } - .stanza div.i1 { text-indent: -2.5em; } - - .illowp30 { width: 30%; max-width: 22.5em; } - - /* === Transcriber's notes === */ - ul.spaced li { padding-top: 1%; } - - /* === Text drop caps === */ - p.drop-cap { text-indent: -1em; } - p.drop-cap:first-letter { - float: left; - font-size: 265%; - padding-right: 0.3em; - padding-left: 0.38em; - text-indent: 0; - line-height: 0.9em; - margin-top: -0.05em; - } - .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap { text-indent: inherit; } - .x-ebookmaker p.drop-cap:first-letter { - float: none; - font-size: inherit; - padding-right: inherit; - padding-left: inherit; - margin-top: inherit; - line-height: inherit; - } - - .transnote { - background-color: #E6E6FA; - border: 1px solid black; - color: black; - font-size: smaller; - padding: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 5em; - font-family: sans-serif; - } - - /* ]]> */ - </style> -</head> - -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of A caution to Great Britain and her colonies, by Anthony Benezet</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: A caution to Great Britain and her colonies</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Anthony Benezet</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: June 17, 2022 [eBook #68337]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Robert Tonsing and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAUTION TO GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES ***</div> - <div class="titlepage"> - <h1> - <span class="medium">A</span><br /> - <span class="gesperrt8">CAUTION</span><br /> - <span class="small gesperrt4">TO</span><br /> - <span class="gesperrt2"><i>GREAT BRITAIN</i></span><br /> - <span class="small gesperrt4">AND</span><br /> - <span class="xlarge"><span class="gesperrt4">HER COLONIES</span>,</span><br /> - <span class="small gesperrt2">IN A</span><br /> - <span class="large">SHORT REPRESENTATION</span><br /> - <span class="small gesperrt2">OF THE</span><br /> - <span class="medium">CALAMITOUS STATE of the</span><br /> - <span class="xlarge gesperrt2">ENSLAVED NEGROES</span><br /> - <span class="small gesperrt2">IN THE</span><br /> - <span class="large"><span class="gesperrt2">BRITISH DOMINIONS</span>.</span> - </h1> - - <div class="small"><b><span class="gesperrt2">A NEW EDITION</span>.</b></div> - - <img class="illowp30 mt3" src="images/bar.png" alt="" /> - - <div class="bold mt3"><span class="smcap">By</span>    <span class="gesperrt2">ANT</span>.    <span class="gesperrt2">BENEZET</span>.</div> - - <img class="illowp30 mt3" src="images/bar.png" alt="" /> - - <div class="center-container"> - <div class="hang bold mt3 inline" style="width: 20em;">PHILADELPHIA Printed: LONDON Reprinted and Sold by <span class="gesperrt2">JAMES PHILLIPS</span>, in - <span class="smcap">George-Yard, Lombard-Street</span>.    1784.</div> - </div> - </div> - - <hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - <div class="chapter"> - <h2 class="nobreak lh2" id="A_CAUTION_c"><span class="large">A</span><br /><span class="gesperrt6">CAUTION</span>,    &c.</h2> - </div> - - <p class="drop-cap">AT a time when the general rights and liberties of mankind, and the - preservation of those valuable privileges transmitted to us from our - ancestors, are become so much the subjects of universal consideration; - can it be an inquiry indifferent to any, how many of those who - distinguish themselves as the Advocates of Liberty, remain insensible - and inattentive to the treatment of thousands and tens of thousands of - our fellow men, who, from motives of avarice, and the inexorable decree - of tyrant custom, are at this very time kept in the most deplorable - state of Slavery, in many parts of the <i>British</i> Dominions?</p> - - <p>The intent of publishing the following sheets, is more fully to - make known the aggravated iniquity attending the practice of the - Slave-Trade; whereby many thousands of our fellow-creatures, as free - as ourselves by nature, and equally with us the subjects of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">4</span> Christ’s - redeeming Grace, are yearly brought into inextricable and barbarous - bondage; and many, very many, to miserable and untimely ends.</p> - - <p>The Truth of this lamentable Complaint is so obvious to persons of - candour, under whose notice it hath fallen, that several have lately - published their sentiments thereon, as a matter which calls for the - most serious consideration of all who are concerned for the civil or - religious welfare of their Country. How an evil of so deep a dye, hath - so long, not only passed uninterrupted by those in Power, but hath - even had their Countenance, is indeed surprising; and charity would - suppose, must in a great measure have arisen from this, that many - persons in government, both of the Clergy and Laity, in whose power it - hath been to put a stop to the Trade, have been unacquainted with the - corrupt motives which gives life to it, and with the groans, the dying - groans, which daily ascend to God, the common Father of mankind, from - the broken hearts of those his deeply oppressed creatures: otherwise - the powers of the earth would not, I think I may venture to say could - not, have so long authorized a practice so inconsistent with every - idea of liberty and justice, which, as the learned <i>James Foster</i> - says, <i>Bids that God, which is the God and Father of the</i> - Gentiles, <i>unconverted to</i> Christianity, <i>most daring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">5</span> and bold - defiance; and spurns at all the principles both of natural and revealed - Religion</i>.</p> - - <p>Much might justly be said of the temporal evils which attend this - practice, as it is destructive of the welfare of human society, and - of the peace and prosperity of every country, in proportion as it - prevails. It might be also shewn, that it destroys the bonds of natural - affection and interest, whereby mankind in general are united; that it - introduces idleness, discourages marriage, corrupts the youth, ruins - and debauches morals, excites continual apprehensions of dangers, and - frequent alarms, to which the Whites are necessarily exposed from so - great an increase of a People, that, by their Bondage and Oppressions, - become natural enemies, yet, at the same time, are filling the places - and eating the bread of those who would be the Support and Security - of the Country. But as these and many more reflections of the same - kind, may occur to a considerate mind, I shall only endeavour to shew, - from the nature of the Trade, the plenty which <i>Guinea</i> affords - to its inhabitants, the barbarous Treatment of the Negroes, and the - Observations made thereon by Authors of note, that it is inconsistent - with the plainest Precepts of the Gospel, the dictates of reason, and - every common sentiment of humanity.</p> - - <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">6</span></p> - - <p>In an Account of the <i>European</i> Settlements in <i>America</i>, - printed in <i>London</i>, 1757, the Author, speaking on this Subject, - says: ‘The Negroes in our Colonies endure a Slavery more complete, and - attended with far worse circumstances than what any people in their - condition suffer in any other part of the world, or have suffered - in any other period of time: Proofs of this are not wanting. The - prodigious waste which we experience in this unhappy part of our - Species, is a full and melancholy Evidence of this Truth. The Island - of <i>Barbadoes</i> (the Negroes upon which do not amount to eighty - thousand) notwithstanding all the means which they use to encrease them - by Propagation, and that the Climate is in every respect (except that - of being more wholesome) exactly resembling the Climate from whence - they come; notwithstanding all this, <i>Barbadoes</i> lies under a - necessity of an annual recruit of five thousand slaves, to keep up - the stock at the number I have mentioned. This prodigious failure, - which is at least in the same proportion in all our Islands, shews - demonstratively that some uncommon and unsupportable Hardship lies - upon the Negroes, which wears them down in such a surprising manner; - and this, I imagine, is principally the excessive labour which they - undergo.’ In an Account of part of <i>North-America</i>, published by - <i>Thomas Jeffery</i>, printed 1761,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">7</span> speaking of the usage the Negroes - receive in the <i>West-India</i> Islands, he thus expresses himself: - ‘It is impossible for a human heart to reflect upon the servitude of - these dregs of mankind, without in some measure feeling for their - misery, 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 disgrace of the human species: banished from their Country, - and deprived of that blessing, Liberty, on which all other nations - set the greatest value, they are in a manner reduced to the condition - of beasts of burden. In general a few roots, potatoes especially, are - their food; and two rags, which neither screen them from the heat - of the day, nor the extraordinary coolness of the night, all their - covering; their sleep very short; their labour almost continual; they - receive no wages, but have twenty lashes for the smallest fault.’</p> - - <p>A considerate young person, who was lately in one of our - <i>West-India</i> Islands, where he observed the miserable situation - of the Negroes, makes the following remarks: ‘I meet with daily - exercise, to see the treatment which these miserable wretches meet - with from their masters, with but few exceptions. They whip them most - unmercifully, on small occasions; they beat them with thick<span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">8</span> Clubs, - and you will see their Bodies all whaled and scarred: in short, they - seem to set no other value on their lives than as they cost them so - much money; and are not retrained from killing them, when angry, by - a worthier consideration than that they lose so much. They act as - though they did not look upon them as a race of human creatures, who - have reason, and remembrance of misfortunes; but as beasts, like oxen, - who are stubborn, hardy and senseless, fit for burdens, and designed - to bear them. They will not allow them to have any claim to human - privileges, or scarce, indeed, to be regarded as the work of God. - Though it was consistent with the justice of our Maker to pronounce - the sentence on our common parent, and through him on all succeeding - generations, <i>That he and they should eat their bread by the sweat - of their brow</i>; yet does it not stand recorded by the same Eternal - Truth, <i>That the Labourer is worthy of his Hire</i>? It cannot be - allowed in natural justice, that there should be a servitude without - condition: A cruel endless servitude. It cannot be reconcileable to - natural justice, that whole nations, nay, whole continents of men, - should be devoted to do the drudgery of life for others, be dragged - away from their attachments of relations and societies, and made to - serve the appetites and pleasures of a race of men, whose<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">9</span> superiority - has been obtained by an illegal force.’</p> - - <p>A particular account of the treatment these unhappy <i>Africans</i> - receive in the <i>West-Indies</i> was lately published, which, even - by those who, blinded by interest, seek excuses for the Trade, and - endeavour to palliate the cruelty exercised upon them, is allowed to - be a true, though rather too favourable representation of the usage - they receive, which is as follows, <i>viz.</i> ‘The iniquity of the - Slave-trade is greatly aggravated by the inhumanity with which the - Negroes are treated in the Plantations, as well with respect to food - and clothing, as from the unreasonable labour which is commonly - exacted from them. To which may be added the cruel chastisements - they frequently suffer, without any other bounds than the will and - wrath of their hard task-masters. In <i>Barbadoes</i>, and some other - of the Islands, six pints of <i>Indian</i> corn and three herrings - are reckoned a full weeks allowance for a working slave, and in the - System of Geography it is said, <i>That in</i> Jamaica <i>the owners - of the Negroe-slaves, set aside for each a parcel of ground, and - allow them</i> Sundays <i>to manure it, the produce of which</i>, - with sometimes a few herrings, or other salt-fish, <i>is all that is - allowed for their support</i>. Their allowance for clothing in the - Islands is seldom more than six yards of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">10</span> osenbrigs each year: And - in the more northern Colonies, where the piercing westerly winds are - long and sensibly felt, these poor <i>Africans</i> suffer much for - want of sufficient clothing, indeed some have none till they are able - to pay for it by their labour. The time that the Negroes work in the - <i>West-Indies</i>, is from day-break till noon; then again from two - o’clock till dusk: (during which time they are attended by overseers, - who severely scourge those who appear to them dilatory) and before - they are suffered to go to their quarters, they have still something - to do, as collecting of herbage for the horses, gathering fuel for - the boilers, <i>etc.</i> so that it is often half past twelve before - they can get home, when they have scarce time to grind and boil their - <i>Indian</i> corn; whereby it often happens that they are called again - to labour before they can satisfy their Hunger. And here no delay or - excuse will avail, for if they are not in the Field immediately upon - the usual notice, they must expect to feel the Overseer’s Lash. In - crop-time (which lasts many months) they are obliged (by turns) to - work most of the night in the boiling-house. Thus their Owners, from a - desire of making the greatest gain by the labour of their slaves, lay - heavy Burdens on them, and yet feed and clothe them very sparingly, and - some scarce feed or clothe them at all, so that the poor creatures<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">11</span> are - obliged to shift for their living in the best manner they can, which - occasions their being often killed in the neighbouring lands, stealing - potatoes, or other food, to satisfy their hunger. And if they take any - thing from the plantation they belong to, though under such pressing - want, their owners will correct them severely, for taking a little of - what they have so hardly laboured for, whilst they themselves riot in - the greatest luxury and excess.—It is a matter of astonishment, how - a people, who, as a nation, are looked upon as generous and humane, - and so much value themselves for their uncommon sense of the Benefit - of Liberty, can live in the practice of such extreme oppression and - inhumanity, without seeing the inconsistency of such conduct, and - without feeling great Remorse: Nor is it less amazing to hear these - men calmly making calculations about the strength and lives of their - fellow-men; in <i>Jamaica</i>, if six in ten, of the new imported - Negroes survive the seasoning, it is looked upon as a gaining purchase: - And in most of the other plantations, if the Negroes live eight or - nine years, their labour is reckoned a sufficient compensation for - their cost.——If calculations of this sort were made upon the strength - and labour of beasts of burden, it would not appear so strange; but - even then a merciful man would certainly use his beast with more mercy - than<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">12</span> is usually shewn to the poor Negroes.—Will not the groans of this - deeply afflicted and oppressed people reach Heaven, and when the cup of - iniquity is full, must not the inevitable consequence be pouring forth - of the judgments of God upon their oppressors. But, alas! is it not too - manifest that this oppression has already long been the object of the - divine displeasure; for what heavier judgment, what greater calamity - can befall any people, than to become a prey to that hardness of - heart, that forgetfulness of God, and insensibility to every religious - impression; as well as that general depravation of manners, which so - much prevails in the Colonies, in proportion as they have more or less - enriched themselves, at the expence of the blood and bondage of the - Negroes.’</p> - - <p>The situation of the Negroes in our Southern provinces on the - Continent, is also feelingly set forth by <i>George Whitfield</i>, in - a Letter from <i>Georgia</i>, to the Inhabitants of <i>Maryland</i>, - <i>Virginia</i>, <i>North</i> and <i>South-Carolina</i>, printed in the - Year 1739, of which the following is an extract: ‘As I lately passed - through your provinces, in my way hither, I was sensibly touched with - a fellow-feeling of the miseries of the poor Negroes. Whether it be - lawful for <i>Christians</i> to buy slaves, and thereby encourage the - Nations from whom they are bought, to be at perpetual<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">13</span> war with each - other, I shall not take upon me to determine; sure I am, it is sinful, - when bought, to use them as bad, nay worse than as though they were - brutes; and whatever particular exception there may be, (as I would - charitably hope there are some) I fear the generality of you, that - own Negroes, are liable to such a charge; for your slaves, I believe, - work as hard, if not harder, than the horses whereon you ride. These, - after they have done their work, are fed and taken proper care of; - but many Negroes, when wearied with labour, in your plantations, have - been obliged to grind their own corn, after they return home. Your - dogs are caressed and fondled at your table; but your slaves, who are - frequently stiled dogs or beasts, have not an equal privilege; they are - scarce permitted to pick up the crumbs which fall from their master’s - table.—Not to mention what numbers have been given up to the inhuman - usage of cruel task-masters, who, by their unrelenting scourges, have - ploughed their backs, and made long furrows, and at length brought - them even to death. When passing along, I have viewed your plantations - cleared and cultivated, many spacious houses built, and the owners - of them faring sumptuously every day, my blood has frequently almost - run cold within me, to consider how many of your slaves had neither - convenient food to eat, or proper<span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">14</span> raiment to put on, notwithstanding - most of the comforts you enjoy were solely owing to their indefatigable - labours.—The Scripture says, <i>Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that - treadeth out the corn</i>. Does God take care for oxen? and will he - not take care of the Negroes also? undoubtedly he will.—Go to now ye - rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you: - Behold the provision 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 remarkable instance of God’s taking cognizance of, and avenging - the quarrel of poor slaves, 2 Sam. xxi. 1. <i>There was a famine in - the days of</i> David <i>three years, year after year; and</i> David - <i>enquired of the Lord: And the Lord answered, It is for</i> Saul, - <i>and for his bloody house, because he slew the</i> Gibeonites. Two - things are here very remarkable: First, These <i>Gibeonites</i> were - only hewers of wood and drawers of water, or in other words, slaves - like yours. Secondly, That this plague was sent by God many years - after the injury, the cause of the plague, was committed. And for what - end were this and such like examples recorded in holy Scriptures? - without doubt, for our learning.—For God is the same to-day as he was - yesterday, and will continue the same for ever. He does not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">15</span> reject the - prayer of the poor and destitute; nor disregard the cry of the meanest - Negro. The blood of them spilt for these many years in your respective - provinces will ascend up to heaven against you.’</p> - - <p>Some who have only seen Negroes in an abject state of slavery, - broken-spirited and dejected, knowing nothing of their situation - in their native country, may apprehend, that they are naturally - insensible of the benefits of Liberty, being destitute and miserable - in every respect, and that our suffering them to live amongst us - (as the <i>Gibeonites</i> of old were permitted to live with the - <i>Israelites</i>) though even on more oppressive terms, is to them a - favour; but these are certainly erroneous opinions, with respect to - far the greatest part of them: Although it is highly probable that - in a country which is more than three thousand miles in extent from - north to south, and as much from east to west, there will be barren - parts, and many inhabitants more uncivilized and barbarous than others; - as is the case in all other countries: yet, from the most authentic - accounts, the inhabitants of <i>Guinea</i> appear, generally speaking, - to be an industrious, humane, sociable people, whose capacities are - naturally as enlarged, and as open to improvement, as those of the - <i>Europeans</i>; and that their Country is fruitful, and in many - places well improved, abounding in cattle, grain and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">16</span> fruits. And as - the earth yields all the year round a fresh supply of food, and but - little clothing is requisite, by reason of the continual warmth of the - climate; the necessaries of life are much easier procured in most parts - of <i>Africa</i>, than in our more northern climes. This is confirmed - by many authors of note, who have resided there; among others, <i>M. - Adanson</i>, in his account of <i>Goree</i> and <i>Senegal</i>, in the - year 1754, says, ‘Which way soever I turned my eyes on this pleasant - spot, I beheld a perfect image of pure nature; an agreeable solitude, - bounded on every side by charming landscapes, the rural situation of - cottages in the midst of trees; the ease and indolence of the Negroes - reclined under the shade of their spreading foliage; the simplicity of - their dress and manners; the whole revived in my mind the idea of our - first parents, and I seemed to contemplate the world in its primitive - state: They are, generally speaking, very good-natured, sociable and - obliging. I was not a little pleased with this my first reception; it - convinced me, that there ought to be a considerable abatement made in - the accounts I had read and heard every where of the savage character - of the <i>Africans</i>. I observed, both in Negroes and Moors, great - humanity and sociableness, which gave me strong hopes, that I should - be very safe amongst them, and meet with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">17</span> the success I desired, in my - inquiries after the curiosities of the country.’</p> - - <p><i>William Bosman</i>, a principal Factor for the <i>Dutch</i>, who - resided sixteen years in <i>Guinea</i>, speaking of the natives of - that part where he then was, says, ‘They are generally a good sort - of people, honest in their dealings;’ others he describes as ‘being - generally friendly to strangers, of a mild conversation, affable, - and easy to be overcome with reason.’ He adds, ‘That some Negroes, - who have had an agreeable education, have manifested a brightness of - understanding equal to any of us.’ Speaking of the fruitfulness of the - country, he says, ‘It was very populous, plentifully provided with - corn, potatoes and fruit, which grew close to each other; in some - 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 sure to sow again.’ - Other parts he describes, as ‘being full of towns and villages; the - soil very rich, and so well cultivated, as to look like an entire - garden, abounding in rice, corn, oxen, and poultry, and the inhabitants - laborious.’</p> - - <p><i>William Smith</i>, who was sent by the <i>African</i> Company to - visit their settlements on the coast of <i>Guinea</i>, in the year - 1726, gives much<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">18</span> the same account of the country of <i>Delmina</i> - and <i>Cape Corse</i>, &c. for beauty and goodness, and adds, ‘The - more you come downward towards that part, called <i>Slave-Coast</i>, - the more delightful and rich the soil appears.’ Speaking of their - disposition, he says, ‘They were a civil, good-natured people, - industrious to the last degree. It is easy to perceive what happy - memories they are blessed with, and how great progress they would make - in the sciences, in case their genius was cultivated with study.’ He - adds, from the information he received of one of the Factors, who had - resided ten years in that country, ‘That the discerning natives account - it their greatest unhappiness, that they were ever visited by the - <i>Europeans</i>.—That the <i>Christians</i> introduced the traffick of - Slaves; and that before our coming they lived in peace.’</p> - - <p><i>Andrew Brue</i>, a principal man in the <i>French</i> Factory, in - the account he gives of the great river <i>Senegal</i>, which runs - many hundred miles up the country, tells his readers, ‘The farther - you go from the Sea, the country on the river seems more fruitful and - well improved. It abounds in <i>Guinea</i> and <i>Indian</i> corn, - rice, pulse, tobacco, and indigo. Here are vast meadows, which feed - large herds of great and small cattle; poultry are numerous, as well - as wild fowl.’ The same Author, in his travels to the south of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">19</span> - river <i>Gambia</i>, expresses his surprize, ‘to see the land so well - cultivated; scarce a spot lay unimproved; the low grounds, divided - by small canals, were all sowed with rice; the higher ground planted - with <i>Indian</i> corn, millet, and peas of different sorts: beef - and mutton very cheap, as well as all other necessaries of life.’ - The account this Author gives of the disposition of the natives, is, - ‘That they are generally good-natured and civil, and may be brought - to any thing by fair and soft means.’ <i>Artus</i>, speaking of the - same people, says, ‘They are a sincere, inoffensive people, and do no - injustice either to one another or strangers.’</p> - - <p>From these Accounts, both of the good Disposition of the Natives, and - the Fruitfulness of most parts of <i>Guinea</i>, which are confirmed by - many other Authors, it may well be concluded, that their acquaintance - with the <i>Europeans</i> would have been a happiness to them, had - those last not only borne the name, but indeed been influenced by the - Spirit of <i>Christianity</i>; but, alas! how hath the Conduct of - the Whites contradicted the Precepts and Example of Christ? Instead - of promoting the End of his Coming, by preaching the Gospel of Peace - and Good-will to Man, they have, by their practices, contributed to - enflame every noxious passion of corrupt nature in the Negroes; they - have incited<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">20</span> them to make war one upon another, and for this purpose - have furnished them with prodigious quantities of ammunition and arms, - whereby they have been hurried into confusion, bloodshed, and all the - extremities of temporal misery, which must necessarily beget in their - minds such a general detestation and scorn of the <i>Christian</i> - name, as may deeply affect, if not wholly preclude, their belief of the - great Truths of our holy Religion. Thus an insatiable desire of gain - hath become the principal and moving cause of the most abominable and - dreadful scene, that was perhaps ever acted upon the face of the earth; - even the power of their Kings hath been made subservient to answer - this wicked purpose, instead of being Protectors of their people, - these Rulers, allured by the tempting bait laid before them by the - <i>European</i> Factors, <i>&c.</i> have invaded the Liberties of their - unhappy subjects, and are become their Oppressors.</p> - - <p>Divers accounts have already appeared in print, declarative of the - shocking wickedness with which this Trade is carried on; these may not - have fallen into the hands of some of my readers, I shall, therefore, - for their information, select a few of the most remarkable instances - that I have met with, shewing the method by which the Trade is commonly - managed all along the <i>African</i> coast.</p> - - <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">21</span></p> - - <p><i>Francis Moor</i>, Factor to the <i>African</i> Company, on the river - <i>Gambia</i>, relates, ‘That when the King of <i>Barsalli</i> wants - goods, <i>&c.</i> he sends a messenger to the <i>English</i> Governor - at <i>James</i>’s Fort, to desire he would send up a sloop with a - cargo of goods; which (says the author) the Governor never fails to - do: Against the time the vessel arrives, the King plunders some of his - enemies towns, selling the people for such 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 sell his own miserable subjects.’</p> - - <p><i>N. Brue</i>, in his account of the Trade, <i>&c.</i> writes, ‘That - having received a quantity of goods, he wrote to the King of the - country, That if he had a sufficient number of slaves, he was ready - to trade with him. This Prince (says that author) as well as other - Negroe Monarchs, has always a sure way of supplying his deficiencies - by selling his own subjects.—The King had recourse to this method, by - seizing three hundred of his own people, and sent word to <i>Brue</i>, - that he had the slaves ready to deliver for the goods.’</p> - - <p>The Misery and Bloodshed, consequent to the Slave-trade, is amply - set forth by the following extracts of two voyages to the coast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">22</span> of - <i>Guinea</i> for slaves. The first in a vessel from <i>Liverpool</i>, - taken <i>verbatim</i> from the original manuscript of the Surgeon’s - journal, <i>viz.</i></p> - - <p>‘<span class="smcap">Sestro</span>, <i>December</i> the 29th, 1724. No trade to-day, - though many Traders come on board; they inform us, that the people are - gone to war within land, and will bring prisoners enough in two or - three days: in hopes of which we stay.</p> - - <p>‘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, so - that to-morrow we expect slaves off. Another large ship is come in: - Yesterday came in a large <i>Londoner</i>.</p> - - <p>‘The 31st. Fair weather, but no trade yet: We see each night towns - burning; but we hear the <i>Sestro</i> men are many of them killed by - the inland Negroes, so that we fear this war will be unsuccessful.</p> - - <p>‘The 2d <i>January</i>. Last night we saw a prodigious fire break out - about eleven o’clock, and this morning see the town of <i>Sestro</i> - burnt down to the ground, (it contained some hundreds of houses) so - that we find their enemies are too hard for them at present, and - consequently our trade spoiled here; so that about seven o’clock we<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">23</span> - weighed anchor, as did likewise the three other vessels, to proceed - lower down.’</p> - - <p>The second relation, also taken from the original manuscript journal of - a person of credit, who went Surgeon on the same account in a vessel - from <i>New-York</i> to the coast of <i>Guinea</i>, about nineteen - years past, is as follows, <i>viz.</i></p> - - <p>‘Being on the coast at a place called <i>Basalia</i>, the Commander - of the vessel, according to custom, sent a person on shore with a - present to the King, acquainting him with his arrival, and letting - him know, they wanted a cargo of slaves. The King promised to furnish - them with slaves; and in order to do it, set out to go to war against - his enemies, designing also to surprize some town, and take all the - people prisoners: Some time after, the King sent them word, he had - not yet met with the desired success, having been twice repulsed, in - attempting to break up two towns; but that he still hoped to procure - a number of slaves for them; and in this design he persisted till he - met his enemies in the field, where a battle was fought, which lasted - three days; during which time the engagement was so bloody, that four - thousand five hundred men were slain on the spot.’ The person, that - wrote the account, beheld the bodies as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">24</span> they lay on the field of - battle. ‘Think (says he in his journal) what a pitiable sight it was, - to see the widows weeping over their lost husbands, orphans deploring - the loss of their fathers, <i>&c.</i> <i>&c.</i>’</p> - - <p>Those who are acquainted with the Trade agree, that many Negroes on the - sea-coast, who have been corrupted by their intercourse and converse - with the <i>European</i> Factors, have learnt to stick at no act of - cruelty for gain. These make it a practice to steal abundance of little - Blacks of both sexes, when found on the roads or in the fields, where - their parents keep them all day to watch the corn, <i>&c.</i> Some - authors say, the Negroe Factors go six or seven hundred miles up the - country with goods, bought from the <i>Europeans</i>, where markets of - men are kept in the same manner as those of beasts with us. When the - poor slaves, whether brought from far or near, come to the sea-shore, - they are stripped naked, and strictly examined by the <i>European</i> - Surgeons, both men and women, without the least distinction or modesty; - those which are approved as good, are marked with a red-hot iron with - the ship’s mark; after which they are put on board the vessels, the - men being shackled with irons two and two together. Reader, bring the - matter home, and consider whether any situation in life can be more - completely miserable than that of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">25</span> those distressed captives. When we - reflect, that each individual of this number had some tender attachment - which was broken by this cruel separation; some parent or wife, who - had not an opportunity of mingling tears in a parting embrace; perhaps - some infant or aged parent whom his labour was to feed and vigilance - protect; themselves under the dreadful apprehension of an unknown - perpetual slavery; pent up within the narrow confines of a vessel, - sometimes six or seven hundred together, where they lie as close as - possible. Under these complicated distresses they are often reduced to - a state of desperation, wherein many have leaped into the sea, and have - kept themselves under water till they were drowned; others have starved - themselves to death, for the prevention whereof some masters of vessels - have cut off the legs and arms of a number of those poor desperate - creatures, to terrify the rest. Great numbers have also frequently been - killed, and some deliberately put to death under the greatest torture, - when they have attempted to rise, in order to free themselves from - their present misery, and the slavery designed them. An instance of - the last kind appears particularly in an account given by the master - of a vessel, who brought a cargo of slaves to <i>Barbadoes</i>; indeed - it appears so irreconcileable to the common dictates of humanity, - that one would doubt the truth<span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">26</span> of it, had it not been related by a - serious person of undoubted credit, who had it from the captain’s own - mouth. Upon an inquiry, What had been the success of his voyage? he - answered, ‘That he had found it a difficult matter to set the negroes - a fighting with each other, in order to procure the number he wanted; - but that when he had obtained this end, and had got his vessel filled - with slaves, a new difficulty arose from their refusal to take food; - those desperate creatures chusing 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 forego this desperate resolution? - he answered, ‘That he obliged all the negroes to come upon deck, where - they persisted in their resolution of not taking food, he caused his - sailors to lay hold upon one of the most obstinate, and chopt the poor - creature into small pieces, forcing some of the others to eat a part - of the mangled body; withal swearing to the survivors, that he would - use them all, one after the other, in the same manner, if they did not - consent to eat.’ This horrid execution he applauded as a good act, it - having had the desired effect, in bringing them to take food.</p> - - <p>A similar case is mentioned in <i>Astley</i>’s Collection of Voyages, - by <i>John Atkins</i>, Surgeon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">27</span> on board Admiral <i>Ogle</i>’s - squadron, ‘Of one <i>Harding</i>, mailer of a vessel, in which several - of the men-slaves, and a woman-slave, had attempted to rise, in - order to recover their liberty; some of whom the master, of his own - authority, sentenced to cruel death; making them first eat the heart - and liver of one of those he killed. The woman he hoisted by the - thumbs; whipped and slashed with knives before the other slaves, till - she died.’</p> - - <p>As detestable and shocking as this may appear to such, whose hearts - are not yet hardened by the practice of that cruelty, which the love - of wealth, by degrees, introduceth into the human mind; it will not - be strange to those who have been concerned or employed in the Trade. - Now here arises a necessary query to those who hold the balance and - sword of justice; and who must account to God for the use they have - made of it. <i>Since our English law is so truly valuable for its - justice, how can they overlook these barbarous deaths of the unhappy - Africans without trial, or due proof of their being guilty, of crimes - adequate to their punishment? Why are those masters of vessels, (who - are often not the most tender and considerate of men) thus suffered to - be the sovereign arbiters of the lives of the miserable Negroes, and - allowed, with impunity, thus to destroy, may I not say, murder<span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">28</span> their - fellow-creatures, and that by means so cruel as cannot be even related - but with shame and horror?</i></p> - - <p>When the vessels arrive at their destined port in the Colonies, the - poor Negroes are to be disposed of to the planters; and here they are - again exposed naked, without any distinction of sexes, to the brutal - examination of their purchasers; and this, it may well be judged is - to many of them another occasion of deep distress, especially to - the females. Add to this, that near connections must now again be - separated, to go with their several purchasers: In this melancholy - scene Mothers are seen hanging over their Daughters, be-dewing their - naked breasts with tears, and Daughters clinging to their Parents; not - knowing what new stage of distress must follow their separation, or if - ever they shall meet again: And here what sympathy, what commiseration - are they to expect? why indeed, if they will not separate as readily - as their owners think proper, the whipper is called for, and the lash - exercised upon their naked bodies, till obliged to part.</p> - - <p>Can any human heart, that retains a fellow-feeling for the Sufferings - of mankind, be unconcerned at relations of such grievous affliction, - to which this oppressed part of our Species are subjected: God gave to - man<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">29</span> dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, - and over the cattle, <i>&c.</i> but imposed no involuntary subjection - of one man to another.</p> - - <p>The Truth of this Position has of late been clearly set forth by - persons of reputation and ability, particularly <i>George Wallis</i>, - in his System of the Laws of <i>Scotland</i>, whose sentiments are - so worthy the notice of all considerate persons, that I shall here - repeat a part of what he has not long since published, concerning the - <i>African</i> Trade, <i>viz.</i> ‘If this Trade admits of a moral or - a rational justification, every crime, even the most atrocious, may be - justified: Government was instituted for the good of mankind. Kings, - Princes, Governors, are not proprietors of those who are subjected - to their authority, they have not a right to make them miserable. On - the contrary, their authority is vested in them, that they may by the - just exercise of it, promote the Happiness of their people: Of course, - they have not a right to dispose of their Liberty, and to sell them - for slaves: Besides, no man has a right to acquire or to purchase - them; men and their Liberty, are not either saleable or purchaseable: - One therefore has no body but himself to blame, in case he shall find - himself deprived of a man, whom he thought he had, by buying for a - price,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">30</span> made his own; for he dealt in a Trade which was illicit, and - was prohibited by the most obvious dictates of humanity. For these - reasons, every one of those unfortunate men, who are pretended to be - slaves, has a right to be declared free, for he never lost his Liberty, - he could not lose it; his Prince had no power to dispose of him: of - course the sale was void. This right he carries about with him, and - is entitled every where to get it declared. As soon, 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 - should be snatched by Pirates from his native land, think himself - cruelly abused, and at all times intitled to be free? Have not these - unfortunate <i>Africans</i>, who meet with the same cruel fate, the - same right? are not they men as well as we? and have they not the same - sensibility? Let us not, therefore, defend or support an usage, which - is contrary to all the Laws of Humanity.’</p> - - <p><i>Francis Hutchinson</i>, also in his System of Moral Philosophy, - speaking on the subject of Slavery, says, ‘He who detains another by - force in slavery, is always bound to prove<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">31</span> his title. The Slave sold - or carried away into a distant country, must not be obliged to prove a - negative, that he never forfeited his Liberty. The violent possessor - must, in all cases, shew his title, especially where the old proprietor - is well known. In this case each man is the original proprietor of his - own Liberty: The proof of his losing it must be incumbent on those, - who deprived him of it by force. Strange, (says the same author) - that in any nation, where a sense of Liberty prevails, where the - <i>Christian</i> religion is professed, custom and high prospect of - gain can so stupify the consciences of men, and all sense of natural - justice, that they can hear such computation made about the value of - their fellow-men and their Liberty, without abhorrence and indignation.’</p> - - <p>The noted Baron <i>Montesquieu</i> gives it, as his opinion, in his - <i>Spirit of Laws</i>, page 348, ‘That nothing more assimilates a man - to a beast than living amongst freemen, himself a slave; such people as - these are the natural enemies of society, and their number must always - be dangerous.’</p> - - <p>The Author of a pamphlet, lately printed in <i>London</i>, entituled, - <i>An Essay in Vindication of the continental Colonies of</i> America, - writes, ‘That the bondage we have imposed on the <i>Africans</i>, is - absolutely repugnant to justice.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">32</span> That it is highly inconsistent with - civil policy: First, as it tends to suppress all improvements in arts - and sciences; without which it is morally impossible that any nation - should be happy or powerful. Secondly, as it may deprave the minds of - the freemen; steeling their hearts against the laudable feelings of - virtue and humanity. And, lastly, as it endangers the community by the - destructive effects of civil commotions: need I add to these (says that - author) what every heart, which is not callous to all tender feelings, - will readily suggest; that it is shocking to humanity, violative of - every generous sentiment, abhorrent utterly from the <i>Christian</i> - Religion: for, as <i>Montesquieu</i> very justly observes, <i>We - must suppose them not to be men, or a suspicion would follow that we - ourselves are not</i> Christians.——There cannot be a more dangerous - maxim, than that necessity is a plea for injustice. For who shall fix - the degree of this necessity? What villain so atrocious, who may not - urge this excuse? or, as <i>Milton</i> has happily expressed it, - </p> - - <div class="center-container"> - <div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="i0">‘—————————<i>And with necessity,</i></div> - <div class="i1"><i>The tyrant’s plea, excuse his dev’lish deed.</i></div> - </div> - </div> - </div> - - <p>‘That our Colonies want people, is a very weak argument for so - inhuman a violation of justice.—Shall a civilized, a <i>Christian</i> - nation encourage Slavery, because the barbarous,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">33</span> savage, lawless - <i>African</i> hath done it? Monstrous thought! To what end do we - profess a religion whose dictates we so flagrantly violate? Wherefore - have we that pattern of goodness and humanity, if we refuse to follow - it? How long shall we continue a practice, which policy rejects, - justice condemns, and piety dissuades? Shall the <i>Americans</i> - persist in a conduct, which cannot be justified; or persevere in - oppression from which their hearts must recoil? If the barbarous - <i>Africans</i> shall continue to enslave each other, let the dæmon - slavery remain among them, that their crime may include its own - punishment. Let not <i>Christians</i>, by administering to their - wickedness, confess their religion to be a useless refinement, their - profession vain, and themselves as inhuman as the savages they detest.’</p> - - <p><i>James Foster</i>, in <i>his Discourses on Natural Religion and - Social Virtue</i>, also shews his just indignation at this wicked - practice, which he declares to be <i>a criminal and outrageous - violation of the natural right of mankind</i>. At page 156, 2d - vol. he says, ‘Should we have read concerning the <i>Greeks</i> or - <i>Romans</i> of old, that they traded, with view to make slaves of - their own species, whom they certainly knew that this would involve - in schemes of blood and murder, of destroying or enslaving each - other, that they even<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">34</span> fomented wars, and engaged whole nations and - tribes in open hostilities, for their own private advantage; that - they had no detestation of the violence and cruelty, but only feared - the ill success of their inhuman enterprises; that they carried men - like themselves, their brethren, and the offspring of the same common - parent, to be sold like beasts of prey, or beasts of burden, and - put them to the same reproachful trial of their soundness, strength - and capacity for greater bodily service; that quite forgetting and - renouncing the original dignity of human nature, communicated to all, - they treated them with more severity and ruder discipline, than even - the ox or the ass, who are void of understanding.—Should we not, if - this had been the case, have naturally been led to despise all their - pretended refinements of morality; and to have concluded, that as they - were not nations destitute of politeness, they must have been <i>entire - Strangers to Virtue and Benevolence</i>?</p> - - <p>‘But, notwithstanding this, we ourselves (who profess to be - <i>Christians</i>, and boast of the peculiar advantage we enjoy, - by means of an express revelation of our duty from Heaven) are in - effect, these very untaught and rude <i>Heathen</i> countries. With - all our superior light, we instil into those, whom we call savage - and barbarous, the most<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">35</span> despicable opinion of human nature. We, - to the utmost of our power, weaken and dissolve the universal tie, - that binds and unites mankind. We practise what we should exclaim - against, as the utmost excess of cruelty and tyranny, if nations of - the world, differing in colour and form of government from ourselves, - were so possessed of empire, as to be able to reduce us to a state - of unmerited and brutish servitude. Of consequence, we sacrifice our - reason, our humanity, our <i>Christianity</i>, to an unnatural sordid - gain. We teach other nations to despise and trample under foot, all - the obligations of social virtue. We take the most effectual method - to prevent the propagation of the Gospel, by representing it as a - scheme of power and barbarous oppression, and an enemy to the natural - privileges and rights of men.</p> - - <p>‘Perhaps all that I have now offered, may be of very little weight to - restrain this enormity, this aggravated iniquity. However, I shall - still have the satisfaction, of having entered my private protest - against a practice which, in my opinion, <i>bids that God, who is the - God and Father of the</i> Gentiles <i>unconverted to</i> Christianity, - <i>most daring and bold defiance, and spurns at all the principles both - of natural and revealed Religion</i>.’</p> - - <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">36</span></p> - - <p>How the <i>British</i> nation first came to be concerned in a - practice, by which the rights and liberties of mankind are so - violently infringed, and which is so opposite to the apprehensions - <i>Englishmen</i> have always had of what natural justice requires, - is indeed surprising. It was about the year 1563, in the reign of - Queen <i>Elizabeth</i>, that the <i>English</i> first engaged in the - <i>Guinea</i> Trade; when it appears, from an account in <i>Hill</i>’s - Naval History, page 293, That when Captain <i>Hawkins</i> returned from - his first voyage to <i>Africa</i>, that generous spirited Princess, - attentive to the interest of her subjects, sent for the Commander, to - whom she expressed her concern lest any of the <i>African</i> Negroes - should be carried off without their free consent, <i>declaring it - would be detestable, and call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the - undertakers</i>. Captain <i>Hawkins</i> promised to comply with the - Queen’s injunction: nevertheless, we find in the account, given in the - same History, of <i>Hawkins</i>’s second voyage, the author using these - remarkable words, <i>Here began the horrid practice of forcing the</i> - Africans <i>into slavery</i>.</p> - - <p><i>Labat</i>, a <i>Roman</i> Missionary, in his account of the Isles - of <i>America</i>, at page 114, of the 4th vol. mentions, that - <i>Lewis</i> the 13th, Father to the present <i>French</i> King’s - Grandfather, was extremely uneasy at a Law by which all the Negroes of - his Colonies were<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">37</span> to be made slaves; but it being strongly urged to - him, as the readiest means for their Conversion to <i>Christianity</i>, - he acquiesced therewith.</p> - - <p>And although we have not many accounts of the impressions which this - piratical invasion of the rights of mankind gave to serious minded - people, when first engaged in; yet it did not escape the notice of - some, who might be esteemed in a peculiar manner as watchmen in - their day to the different societies of <i>Christians</i> whereunto - they belonged. <i>Richard Baxter</i>, an eminent preacher amongst - the <i>Nonconformists</i>, in the last century, well known and - particularly esteemed by most of the serious <i>Presbyterians</i> - and <i>Independents</i>, in his <i>Christian</i> Directory, mostly - wrote about an hundred Years ago, fully shews his detestation of this - practice in the following words: ‘Do you not mark how God hath followed - you with plagues? And may not conscience tell you, that it is for your - inhumanity to the souls and bodies of men?—To go as pirates and catch - up poor Negroes, or people of another land, that never forfeited Life - or Liberty, and to make them Slaves and sell them, is one of the worst - kind of Thievery in the world; and such persons are to be taken for - the common Enemies of mankind; and they that buy them, and use them as - beasts, for their meer commodity,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">38</span> and betray, or destroy, or neglect - their souls, are fitter to be called devils than <i>Christians</i>. - It is an heinous sin to buy them, unless it be in charity to deliver - them.——Undoubtedly they are presently bound to deliver them; because by - right the man is his own; therefore no man else can have a just title - to him.’</p> - - <p>We also find <i>George Fox</i>, a man of exemplary piety, who was the - principal instrument in gathering the religious society of people - called <i>Quakers</i>, expressing his concern and fellow-feeling for - the bondage of the Negroes: In a discourse taken from his mouth, in - <i>Barbadoes</i>, in the Year 1671, says, ‘Consider with yourselves, if - you were in the same condition as the Blacks are,—who came strangers - to you, and were sold to you as slaves. I say, if this should be the - condition of you or yours, you would think it hard measure: Yea, and - very great bondage and cruelty. And, therefore, consider seriously 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 slavish condition; - and bring them to know the Lord Christ.’ And in his journal, page 431, - speaking of the Advice he gave his friends at <i>Barbadoes</i>, he - says, ‘I desired also, that they would cause their Overseers to deal - mildly and gently with their Negroes, and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">39</span> not to use cruelty towards - them, as the manner of some had been; and that after certain years of - servitude they should make them free.’</p> - - <p>In a book printed in <i>Leverpool</i>, called <i>The Leverpool - Memorandum-book</i>, which contains, among other things, an account - of the Trade of that port, there is an exact list of the vessels - employed in the <i>Guinea</i> Trade, and of the number of Slaves - imported in each vessel, by which it appears, that in the year 1753, - the number imported to <i>America</i>, by vessels belonging to that - port, amounted to upwards of Thirty Thousand; and from the number of - Vessels employed by the <i>African</i> Company in <i>London</i> and - <i>Bristol</i>, we may, with some degree of certainty conclude, there - is, at least, One Hundred Thousand Negroes purchased and brought on - board our ships yearly from the coast of <i>Africa</i>, on their - account. This is confirmed in <i>Anderson</i>’s History of Trade - and Commerce, printed in 1764, where it is said, at page 68 of the - Appendix, ‘That <i>England</i> supplies her <i>American</i> Colonies - with Negro-slaves, amounting in number to above One Hundred Thousand - every year.’ When the vessels are full freighted with slaves, they set - out for our plantations in <i>America</i>, and may be two or three - months on the voyage, during which time, from the filth and stench - that is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">40</span> among them, distempers frequently break out, which carry - off a great many, a fifth, a fourth, yea, sometimes a third of them; - so that taking all the slaves together that are brought on board our - ships yearly, one may reasonably suppose, that at least ten thousand - of them die on the voyage. And in a printed account of the State of - the Negroes in our plantations, it is supposed that a fourth part, - more or less, die at the different Islands, in what is called the - seasoning. Hence it may be presumed, that, at a moderate computation - of the slaves, who are purchased by our <i>African</i> merchants in a - year, near thirty thousand die upon the voyage and in the seasoning. - Add to this, the prodigious number who are killed in the incursions - and intestine wars, by which the Negroes procure the number of slaves - wanted to load the vessels. How dreadful then is this Slave-Trade, - whereby so many thousands of our fellow-creatures, free by nature, - endued with the same rational faculties, and called to be heirs of the - same salvation with us, lose their lives, and are truly, and properly - speaking, murdered every year! For it is not necessary, in order to - convict a man of murder, to make it appear, that he had an intention - to commit murder. Whoever does, by unjust force or violence, deprive - another of his Liberty; and, while he has him in his power, reduces - him, by cruel treatment, to such a condition as evidently endangers - his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">41</span> life, and the event occasions his death, is actually guilty of - murder. It is no less shocking to read the accounts given by Sir - <i>Hans Sloane</i>, and others, of the inhuman and unmerciful treatment - those Blacks meet with, who survive the seasoning in the Islands, - often for transgressions, to which the punishment they receive bears - no proportion. ‘And the horrid executions, which are frequently made - there upon discovery of the plots laid by the Blacks, for the recovery - of their liberty; of some they break the bones, whilst alive, on a - wheel; others they burn or rather roast to death; others they starve to - death, with a loaf hanging before their mouths.’ Thus they are brought - to expire, with frightful agonies, in the most horrid tortures. For - negligence only they are unmercifully whipped, till their backs are - raw, and then pepper and salt is scattered on the wounds to heighten - the pain, and prevent mortification. Is it not a cause of much sorrow - and lamentation, that so many poor creatures should be thus racked - with excruciating tortures, for crimes which often their tormentors - have occasioned? Must not even the common feelings of human nature - have suffered some grievous change in those men, to be capable of - such horrid cruelty towards their fellow-men? If they deserve death, - ought not their judges, in the death decreed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">42</span> them, always to remember - that these their hapless fellow-creatures are men, and themselves - professing <i>Christians</i>? The <i>Mosaic</i> law teaches us our duty - in these cases, in the merciful provision it made in the punishment of - transgressors, <i>Deuter.</i> xxv. 2. <i>And it shall be, if the wicked - man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, - and to be beaten before his face, according to his fault, by a certain - number; Forty stripes he may give him, and not exceed.</i> And the - reason rendered is out of respect to human nature, <i>viz. Lest if he - should exceed, and beat him above these, with many stripes, then thy - Brother should seem vile unto thee. Britons</i> boast themselves to be - a generous, humane people, who have a true sense of the importance of - Liberty; but is this a true character, whilst that barbarous, savage - Slave-Trade, with all its attendant horrors, receives countenance - and protection from the Legislature, whereby so many Thousand lives - are yearly sacrificed? Do we indeed believe the truths declared in - the Gospel? Are we persuaded that the threatenings, as well as the - promises therein contained, will have their accomplishment? If indeed - we do, must we not tremble to think what a load of guilt lies upon our - Nation generally, and individually so far as we in any degree abet or - countenance this aggravated iniquity?</p> - - <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">43</span></p> - - <p>We have a memorable Instance in history, which may be fruitful of - Instruction, if timely and properly applied; it is a quotation made by - Sir <i>John Temple</i>, in his history of the <i>Irish</i> rebellion, - being an observation out of <i>Giraldus Cambrensis</i>, a noted author, - who lived about six hundred years ago, concerning the causes of the - prosperity of the <i>English</i> undertakings in <i>Ireland</i>, when - they conquered that Island, he saith, ‘That a synod, or council of the - Clergy, being then assembled at <i>Armagh</i>, and that point fully - debated, it was unanimously agreed, that the sins of the people were - the occasion of that heavy judgment then falling upon their nation; - and that especially their buying of <i>Englishmen</i> from merchants - and pirates, and detaining them under a most miserable hard bondage, - had caused the Lord, by way of just retaliation, to leave them to be - reduced, by the <i>English</i>, to the same state of slavery. Whereupon - they made a publick act in that council, that all the <i>English</i> - held in captivity throughout the whole land, should be presently - restored to their former Liberty.’</p> - - <p>I shall now conclude with an extract from an address of a late author - to the merchants, and others, who are concerned in carrying on the - <i>Guinea</i> Trade; which also, in a great<span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">44</span> measure, is applicable - to others, who, for the love of gain, are in any way concerned in - promoting or maintaining the captivity of the Negroes.</p> - - <p>‘As the business, you are publickly carrying on before the world, has - a bad aspect, and you are sensible most men make objection against - it, you ought to justify it to the world, upon principles of reason, - equity, and humanity; to make it appear, that it is no unjust invasion - of the persons, or encroachments on the rights of men; or for ever to - lay it aside.—But laying aside the resentment of men, which is but of - little or no moment, in comparison with that of the Almighty, think - of a future reckoning: consider how you shall come off in the great - and awful Day of account. You now heap up riches and live in pleasure; - but, oh! what will you do in the end thereof? and that is not far off: - what, if death should seize upon you, and hurry you out of this world, - under all that load of blood-guiltiness that now lies upon your fouls? - The gospel expresly declares, that thieves and murderers shall not - inherit the kingdom of God. Consider, that at the same time, and by - the same means, you now treasure up worldly riches, you are treasuring - up to yourselves wrath, against<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">45</span> the day of wrath, and vengeance that - shall come upon the workers of iniquity, unless prevented by a timely - repentance.</p> - - <p>‘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 practice of which you now live? How can you lift - up your guilty eyes to heaven? How can you pray for mercy to him that - made you, or hope for any favour from him that formed you, while you go - on thus grosly and openly to dishonour him, in debasing and destroying - the noblest workmanship of his hands in this lower world? He is the - Father of men; and do you think he will not resent such treatment of - his offspring, whom he hath so loved, as to give his only begotten Son, - that whosoever believeth in him, might not perish, but have everlasting - life? This love of God to man, revealed in the gospel, is a great - aggravation of your guilt; for if God so loved us, we ought also to - love one another. <i>You remember the fate of the Servant, who took - hold of his fellow-servant, who was in his debt, by the throat, and - cast him into prison</i>: Think then, and tremble to think, what will - be your fate, who take your fellow-servants by the throat, that owe you - not a penny, and make them prisoners for life.</p> - - <p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">46</span></p> - - <p>‘Give yourselves leave to reflect impartially upon, and consider the - nature of, this Man-Trade, which, if you do, your hearts must needs - relent, if you have not lost all sense of humanity, all pity and - companion towards those of your own kind, to think what calamities, - what havock and destruction among them, you have been the authors of - for filthy lucre’s sake. God grant you may be sensible of your guilt, - and repent in time!’</p> - - <div class="center bold mt5"><span class="gesperrt8">FINIS</span>.</div> - - <div class="center mt10"> - BOOKS Printed and Sold by <span class="smcap">J. Phillips</span>,<br /> - George-Yard, Lombard-Street.</div> - - <p>ESSAY on the <span class="smcap">Treatment</span> and <span class="smcap">Conversion</span> of AFRICAN - SLAVES in the <span class="smcap">British</span> Sugar Colonies. By <span class="smcap">J. Ramsay</span>, - Vicar of Teston in Kent, who resided many Years in the West-Indies. In - One Volume, Octavo. Price 5s. bound, or 4s. in Boards.</p> - - <p><span class="smcap">Historical Account</span> of <span class="gesperrt1">GUINEA</span>, its Situation, Produce, and - the general Disposition of its Inhabitants. With an Inquiry into - the <span class="smcap gesperrt2">Rise</span> and <span class="smcap gesperrt2">Progress</span> - of the SLAVE TRADE, its Nature and lamentable Effects. Also a Republication of the - Sentiments of several Authors of Note on this interesting Subject: - Particularly an Extract of a Treatise written by <span class="smcap gesperrt1">Granville - Sharpe</span>. By <span class="smcap gesperrt1">Anthony Benezet</span>. In One Volume Octavo. Price - 2s. 6d. stitched.</p> - - <p>THOUGHTS on the <span class="smcap">Slavery</span> of the NEGROES. Price 4d.</p> - - <div class="transnote mt5"> - <div class="large center"><b>Transcriber’s Notes:</b></div> - <ul class="spaced small"> - <li>Blank pages have been removed.</li> - <li>A few obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected, - otherwise archaic and inconsistent spellings have been left alone.</li> - </ul> - </div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CAUTION TO GREAT BRITAIN AND HER COLONIES ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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