The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1804-05-31 00:00:00

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many years before ever the present cetestion came to
4ie discussed in that I louse ; and those accounts
gave a very favourable description of the state of
Africa. The persons who published these accounts
were agents for carrying on the Slave Trade. One
of these stated, that the Princes in Africa used
sometimes to make inroads on their own subjects ;
and afterwards sell the very men whom they employ-
ed as assailants in doing so. No Man could deny but
that the Slave Trade owed its existence to practices
like these. A Mr. Moore, who wrote concerning
this part of Africa in 1740, and who was an Eng-
lishman, stated, that all the punishments in the
country were at that time commuted into slavery,
and that the kings and chieftains could at any
tune get Slaves by causing men to be charged
with particular crimes, and, after being convieted of
those, sell them. The old writers, who gave a de-
scription of this country before ever the trade
commenced, said, that the punishments for ci imes
were then very mild ; that they generally consisted
of banishment; and that after having been banished
for some time, they were permitted to come back
again. But alter the trade corn:to-aced, men were
banished for the lightest crimes ; trials and punish-
ment became more frequent, and punishments
were commuted to slavery. It ha.l been stated by
the advocates for the Slave Trade, that the coliditio..
of the negroes in Africa was so wretched, that it
was an eft of humanity to take them away : that
they were slaves before, and the taking them away
was only commuting one slavery for :mother. It
was then asked, what helm could they suffer from
the trade ? To this he would answer, that their
a:condition became totally changed ; that they were
dragged fur ever from their native spot ; that they
suffered such cruel hardships during their voyage as
frequently deprived them (Whitt; and that after being
landed in the %Vest Indies (if they survived the via; -
age), they were doomed to continual labours. 'their
condition was very different while they were slaves in
their own country. There, they often heel as well as
their mince's, from whom they could not be distin-
guished.. They were like the antient villain; or vas-
sals in this country ; they were not degraded ; they
were not ander the whip of a merciless tyrant ; but
were treated with mildness, provided they did a
service of a certain limited kind. All this was at
ratan' observable in the interior parts of Africa.
It was proved by the accounts of traveller., partici'.
larly of Mr. Parke, who says, that he could per-
ceive no difference between slaves and their masters.
It was evident then that they were better off than
any villains in Europe ever had been. And to argue
fig m the mere name of slave, and to say that the
es, edition of negroes was not altered, by their being
taken away to the West Indies, was to betray 211 tit..
the ignorance of the state of Africa. Another as-
sertion, equally unfounded, had been teed ; it was
that if negtoes were not taken away they would
6e massacred ' • and that such was a common prac-
tice along the coast. He would maintain that this
was a gross mistatement and exaggeration of a very
&lining fact. In one particular part of Africa, and
only at a particular time of the year, it was a
custom for some of the natives, at a kind of reli-
gious festival, to put to death all among them, who
happened to be superannuated, infirm, and helpless.
This was the tree state of the ease—and it must be a
full answer to the false statements that depended on
the testimony of only one or two partial witnesses.
It andel he pored, from the testimony of old, as
well as of recent witnesses. But, whatever force
the argument had, he wished to know if it could be
sufficient to justify a trade that gave rise to such in-
=enterable evils as were known to exist ? Another
argument of a blasphemous nature had been used by
some; it was, that the Slave Trade was authorised
by Scripture. To this it was hardly necessary to an-
swer. There was no comparison between the state
of West Indian slavery, and the servitude of antient
times. But could any authority justify the treat-
ment which Negroes received during the Middle
Pump? It was even said, that here they were
treated kindly and tenderly. Was it treating our
taliomereatures tenderly, to stow them so close in a
confined, dark, and frightful part of a ship, that
when they stretched their naked bodies on the deck,
a parson could not walk through them without tread-
ing upon them ; and that numbers of them were
eosin and dying in this dreadful situation ? At a
time when a Bill was brought into that Homo to re-
gulate the conveyance of ,eves in ships, it was op-
posed, on the ground that it would be ruinous
to the traders; it was stated, at the Bar, that
the trade could never be carried on, if two slaves
were Dot allowed for every ton. The regula-
tion far !Milan the amount of the tonnage
was, however, adopted ; and so far from its ruin-
ing or abolishing the trade, it served and in-
creased it, because it saved the lives of numbers
of wretches who otherwise would have perish-
ed. Now the House would have an opportunity
of judging what credit those men, who could
maie sues he statement% were entitled to in other
points. Is beillaito Imo stated, that the trade was
a nursery for eedilial. He should indeed be grieved
to think that the bulwark of this country—our navy,
should be unfilled fur its support to such an abo-
minabkepelllt of wickedness. But he was confident
that the alleNiimit was false ; for, instead of the
Slave Tra. Wog any benefit to our marine, it
would, as wiry, be 'ound to be a continual drain
upon it. Is a very shirt time it wore away the
men, who could never be preserved from the danger
of contagion. One fifth of the men employed in
slave-ships died on their passage every voyage.
Whereas, of the men employed in the West India
trade, ,hardly any died. These fads he stated on
the authority of a document furnished by the op-
ponents of the abolition. It had also been stated,
that the abolition would be injurious to our com-
merce and manufactures ; to this be would barely
answer, by stating, from a document before the
House" that only a thirty-fourth part of our exports
were sent to the Coast of Africa, and that no more
than one million of capital was employed in the
trade. Now, with regard to the West India
markets, it bad been asserted, that the stock
of labourers in the West Indies could not
be kept up if the trade was abolished, and
if the importation of negraes was to cease. He
deked the persons using such an argument to prove
that the population of ne.,r„ oes in the %Vest Indies
could nut be kept up. -In all other countries to
which the same race of me., had been sent, they
increased in population, and why cculd they not