The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1805-04-20 00:00:00

!I Us.

SLAVE TRAIM.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE BRITISH PRESS.

Si have frequently heard the following:Aut.
nient triumphantly uiged against the Abolition of
tee Slave Trade—" Are not the Negroes slaves in
their own country, in subjeaion to cruel, barbarous,
uncivilised, tyrants, from whom it is a kindness to
rescue them, and to transport them to the enjoy-
ment of comparative securest and happiness in the
West Indies ?" Here, however, the poverty of lan-
Fuage tends, in no small degree, to mislead our
judgment; and because what is called Slavery, ex-
ists in Africa, our colonial system, in all its parts,
it is assumed (extravagantly enough) to be lawful,
and even humane.
Bat let us compare these two states : and first, as
to their effeas. Does the population of Africa de-
crease? No : it increases so TApidly, that even the
murderous Slave Trade is thence annually supplied
with its 80,000 viaims ; independent of at least an
equal number which must almost necessarily be
sacrificed, in order that these may be procured.
Then, as to the nature of this servitude. Are
slaves in Africa subjeaed to the same compulsory
process, for the extraftion of their labour, as in the
West Indies? Or, are they subjeaed to the same
privation of every civil and political right? Let
this question be answered by an appeal to the writ-
ings of Slave Traders, and avowed Anti-Abolition-
ists. Mr. Moore, who was iii&Or to the Royal
African Company, in the River Gambia, about the
year 1730, thus expresses himself :
" Some people,' says he, " have a good many
House Slaves, which is their greatest glory, and
they live so well and easy, that it is sometimes a very
hard matter to hnow the Shirt: from their Mastert and
Mictreiso; they very often being better clothed,
especially the females, who have sometimes coral,
amber, and silver, about their wrists, to the value
of twenty or thirty pounds sterling. Many of the
slaves are born in their families. There is a whole
velege neat Boncoe, of 200 people, who are all the
wives, slaves, or children, of one man. 1 serer
loans of but one that ever sold a
_family slave, except for
such crimes a. would hare made them le be sold, had
the,/ been free. If there are many family slaves, and
the: of diem commits a crime, the Master cannot sell
him without the joint consent of the rest ; for, if he does,
t ey will all run away, and be protected by the
next kingdom to which they Ay."
Mr. Park fully confirms the statement of Mr.
Moore; and from him it fully appears, that al-
though what is called domestic slavery exists in
Africa ; yet the evils of the Slave Trade do not fall
with less weight upon domestic slaves than upon
freemen. Mr. Park not only describes the circurn-
staeces of the domestic slave to be so easy and com-
fortable, that, in every laborious occupation, " the
master and the save work together without any
distinaion of superiority ; but likewise admits
that he can only be sold t. foreigners, in cases which
would equally authorise the sale of freemen : such
as crimes, insolvency, capture in war, and witch-
craft." And he adds, what is very important to the
present argument, viz. " The master cannot sell
his domestic slave, without having first brought
him to public trial before the chief mess of the
rl Ice."—(Park's Trawls. p. 238.)
Innumerable testimonies to the same effea •
might easily be produced, which would ;ill go to
establish incontrovertibly the almost incalculable
distance which separates our system of colonial.
bondage from the domestic servitude of Africa.—
But, in Africa, let it further be it-membered, there
is no difference of colour between the master and
the slave. In the islands, on the contrary, the dif-
ference is so plain and obvious, that many West-In-
duns scruple not to avow their belief, that the Ne-
groes ate an inferior order of beings to their mas-
ters; a link in the chain which conneas the limo sa-
piens with the brute ; a nerves of oranennang, dif-
fering from their brethren of the woods only in
possessing the faculty of speech. Can we then
wonder,that, when even their claim to be considered
as human is questioned, they should not be treated
AS men, and snould be denied the common rights of
humanity ? Under such circumstances, they are,
naturally enough, excluded from the pale of that
sympathy, which a sense of a common nature, and
of a common extrattion, inspires—and which, in
minds not habitually regulated by religion, is the
greatest and surest source of benevolence, and the
best guard against the abuse of a despotic Authority.
I am unwilling to extend the paper to an immo-
derate length, but yet I cannot avoid remarking the
confirmation which my reasoring derives from what
has lateiy passed in St. Domiago. Had West In-
dian bondage been that mild system which it has
been represented to be ; is it supposeable that a
whole community should unite as one man, not
only in casting off the yoke, but in preferring ex-
termination, by the most cruel means, to submitting
again to wear it? But I forbear to enter on this
extensive field.
It was my intention to have said a few words in
reply to the arguments adduced to establish the im-
prallicability of abolishing the Slave Trade ; but I
must reserve what I have to say to a future oppor-
tunity ; only remarking, that it it were as true as it
is demonstrably false, that, in the event of our abo-
lishing the Trade, not one African the less will he
sold, I should still say, that the Slave Trade ought
not, for one moment, to be tolerated by this coun-
try. /t is founded In lqjslttee : it is fogered by Com-
mercial Avarice: it is &ossified in Biseit—lt is, iss
short, a peat& in which no Christian con have any

parlicipaften.
" Can't thou, and hoooue4 with a Christian's name,
Buy what is womati-born, and feel no shame !
Trade in the blood of innocence, and plead
Erpediestre as a warrant for the deed!
So clay the wolf, whom fatnine has made bu!d
To quit the finest, and invade the fold :
So may the ruffian, who with gho►tly glide,
Dagger in hat I, steak duce to your bed side ;
Not he, but ht. emergence, fined the dour ;
He found it ineonseni :tit to he tiour.
Has God then gieri its sweetness to the cane,
Unless his lies be trampled en—ln tan''
Built a bras. world, which canna yet subsist,
Unless his right to rule it be dismial!
Impudent blasphemy ! So Folly pleads.
And As'i.ce, swing iodic, with ease succeeds."
Your',., &c.
AN AZOLIT !MUST.
• See the examination of Mr. Penny, Mr. Matthew., and
Mr. 1341te11, before the Privy Council, aU of whom were slate
traders,

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5P01171,7G

NEWMARKET CRA'

Subscription Plate of
101 b. 3 yr olds Bst. _
olds 9st. 411,. 6 yr olds
Duke of Grattisies b. h Pic '
Mr. D. Radcliffe', b. g R.
Mr. Wardell's br. c. Copies,
General Gower', b. G by Go:
Mr. Williams's gr. c. Blue
Lord F. G. Osborne's b f. k.
Sir John Shelley's b. c. Skitiack, _
Mr. Craven's h. c Jockvs, S yrs old
Gen. Grosvenor's ch. f Humming Bird, I srs old
Mr R. Gondisson's roma f by Busslad, out of Admiral', dam,
2)n,.111
Mr. Lake's b. e Msmeloke, S yrs old
Mr. Abbey's b. g. Little Julio, 4 vrs old
The Judge could Saar but three.
Five to I against Pic Nic ; 6 to 4 against Rebel,
and 7 to 1 against Capias.
Sweepstakes of .20gs. each. Across the Flat.
1
Lord Foley's Captain Absolute, syr old, 11 .t. 51b. .
Sir J. Shelley's Julia, S yrs old, 7st I . 2
Mr. D. Radcliffe's Nitre, 4 yr old, 7st tells.
Lord Sackvilles Enchanter, syr n.d, 13.4. l Ylb.. 4
Mr Htswedh's Malta, `eat old, lot. 91b. •. 5
Five to 2 against Captain Absolute; 4 to I against
Julia ' • 2 to 1 against Enchanter.
D. of St. Alban's Merryman beat Gen. Grosve-
nor's Two Shoes, Bst. each. Across the Flat, 50gs.
6 to 4 on Merryman.
Lord Foley's Dimsdale, Bst. beat Mr. Wilson's
ditto, Bst. 91b. B. C. 2006...-2 to 1 against DiMs-
dale.
Mr. Wastell's Lumbago, B'st. beat Mr. Panton'i
Dilletanti, Bst. 31b. D. I. 50gs.— 5 to 4 on Lum-
bago.
Mr. Mellish's Eagle, 9st. 71b. rec. ft. fri,m Mr.
Howorth's Malta, sst Sib. Ab. M. 200 gs.

CANAL NAFIGATIO,V.

I.

On Wednesday last an experiment was made on
the Grand Junaion Canal, near to Berkhampstead,
in Hertfordshire, for :ascertaining the loss of time
which would be occasioned by reservoir- being used
adjnining to the lock of a canal. for saving a por-
tion of the water which would otherwise be let down
out of the higher level, or pound, of a canal into the
lower, on the passing of every rare, either upwards
or downwards. The result of this experiment was.
that one half of the water requisite to fill a lock may
be reserved each time with the loss of three minutes
and a half only in time ; as the barges, which are
usually five and a half minutes in passing, took up
only about nine minutes when this saving of water
was made. On this occasion, two side pounds, or
reservoirs, were construifted, each of the same su-
perficial area as the lock of the canal, which they
are near, and wherewith they conne.E', by means of
1 sluices, which pen the water as tight as possible,
either into or out of the lock. The first of these
side pounds has its bottom something less than half,
and its top somewhat more than three-fourths of the
height or depth of the lock, and consequently, on
opening its sluice as a barge came down, one quar-
ter of the water of the lock flowed into it, when its
sluice was again shut; the sluice of the second side
pound was then opened, and into this (its bottom
not being above half the height of the lock) about
another fourth part of the water of the lock flowed,
and was retained there by the shutting of the sluice ;
the remaining half of the water in the lock was dan
let down into the lower pound as usual. A barge
which was;going up then entered the lock, and, the
doors being shut, the sluices of the side pounds were
opened, and one half of the Ite;glit of we lock was
filled by the water therein reserved from the pa.sage
of the former barge ; the remaining half of the
lock was tilled in the usual way from the
upper pounJ, and thus only one lock-full of
water was consumed, or let down, by the pas-
sage of one barge down and another up the
canal, the lock :.iso remaining full for the passage
of did next barge downwards. Thew side pounds
possess the advantage of being used or not, accord-
ing as a dry or wet season may make a saving of
water necessary or not for the canal ; and seen to
offer a better expedient than do: ow hitt:erre+ adopt-
ed of seeitins for oo ~. that is, that iri a ch y rime, no
barge should pass a leek upwards till another barge
is arrived and ready to pass down with the sane
lock fall of water; for the locks are not allowed to
stand lull of water, on account of the extra lea',:age,
and of danger to the walls of the lock. Tv:o boats
heavily laden with flirts from the chalk-pits, intend-
ed for the potteries in Staffordshire, were the first
which passed upwards, using the side pounds.
These side pounds may, it seems, be construaed in
the space of a week or two, and will probably cost
about sixty pounds at each lock, of the usual dimen-
sions. From the above, it is probable that sew.ral
of these side pounds to the locks, will Le construaed
upon the Grand Junaion Canal ; and it is siogular
that the patent which Mr. Playfair took out for this
contrivance is within a tew weeks of expiring before
his invention should have attrafled the notice of a
company, whose canal is in some places su much in
want of water.

- - -
John WaUbe, for setting fire to a barn at Armi-
tage, in Staffordshire, was executed on Saturday
last in the front of the county gaol. Waltho lived
servant with Mr. Henney of Armitage, In the year
1789, aad, owing to his repeated negligence, a toal
was killed in the stable t when his service expired.
Mr. lienney stopped 51. out of his wages on that
account. Waltho frequently uttered expressions
indicative of revenge for this ; and on the night
the crime was committed he wa. seen in various
places, going and returning from the barn with ta
lighted candle in a lanthoin. though a clear, mnin-
lignt night ; the very moment alttr he had done
the ait be fled from that part of the country, and
an interval of nearly sixteen years elapsed previous
to his retura into it ; his almost first aCt attervrards
was to go to hi. tormer master.. and dern.ind the 5!.
w:tich had been retained by him. Mr. H. clew ed
him to sit down, and sent for the Cs/astable,
took him into custody. From the evidence addu-
ced as hit trial, not a doubt of his guilt could be en-
tertained ; and the Learned Judge, in pii%i.ing th! sea-
mote of death, observed, that in great ci inset,
though the person committing them might tor a
time elude the vigilance of jiistiee, yet an overruling
Providence, in the end, generally led hon. by some
indiscreet aft or other. to bet, 2Y
himielf, and meet
that punishment he had lung merited. The pt.sotter.
since his condemnation, had evinced mush penitence.

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I
INTRtLtGENCE. .; -
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\YEN MEETING, APHIS. 18.., .
..malb J
SOLD. M. for 2 jr olds, 6.E•0
. sib. 4 yr °kis Bst: 131 b. 3 ire
olds ~.d aged 9st. Sib. 4
.IC .K. 5 y.s old i
(.4).4, aged 1r s
AS 2 yrs old IP A 9,
6:5:,tv, out of traher*wrs old
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e 144.1, b• ituzz,,,i, tyri old z
r. ELzobetb, 4 yrs 141"
ikkiiiek, 2 yrs old hi-