Columbia EmWftp mtbe(£ttpoflfto|t)rk THE LIBRARIES SELIGMAN LIBRARY OF ECONOMICS I SUMMARY VIEW OF THB SLAVE TRADE, PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES A B 0 L I T I O N. L O N D O N: Printed by'^ Phillips, George Yard, Lombard-ftreet. M,DCC,LXXXVII. s U M MARY VIEW OF THE SLAVE TRADE, PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES OF ITS ABOLITION. I. Slaves are acquired by Means of War. Observation. '"J"'HESE wars are, for the moft part, entered into by the parties concerned, without any previous in¬ jury on either fide, and for no other motive, than to furnifh Haves for the Europeans, by whom they have been fupplied with arms and A-^ ammu- [ 4 ] nition, and frequently bribed, for the purpofe. During fome of thefe wars, *he vidtors have been fo incenfed at the refiftance they have found, that their fpirit of vengeance has entirely prevailed over their avarice, and, though they have engaged in the conflict for the exprefs pur¬ pofe of procuring Haves, they have been known to murder every individual, without difcrimina- tion either of age or fex. II. Slaves are acquired in Confequence of Crimes. Observation.— Before the flave-trade com¬ menced, criminals were punifhed in Africa, much in the fame manner as thofe among other nations in the fame ftage of fociety; but fince the intro¬ duction of this trade, a!l crimes have been pu- niihed with flavery. Every artifice has been ufed by the prince to entice the fubjedt to be¬ come a criminal. Adts, formerly efteemed in¬ nocent, have been deemed crimes, for the fake of inflidting the punifhment. New diftindtions have alio been made in crimes, that additional punilhments might fucceed. The offender, in cne inftance, .forfeits his own freedom; in a fe- ' cond, .[ 5 ] cond, that of the male part of his family, together with his own: in a third, the whole family fuf- fer j and, in a fourth, the relations of the offender as far as they can be traced. And thus many thoufands of innocent perfons have been e'eri- ifigned to.flavery. III. Slaves are acquired by Virtue of the Right of Empire in the Prince, . Observation. —The prince confiders his villages, as fo many parks or refervoirs, flocked for his own. luxury and ufe. When the black- broker tempts him with his merchandize, arid crimes and war have not furnifhed him with a number adequate to the demand, he feizes cer¬ tain villagers, who are put into chains, and led, whole families together, to the {hips. This is particularly the cafe with the King of Dahomy, who rules his fubjeftS with fuch de- fpotic fway,. as to apprehend no refiftance, on their part, to his meafures. However, in other parts of the country, the mode of feizing them is a little varied. The A 3 king' [ 6 ] king goes with his guards to one of his villages in the night; he furrounds it, and fets it on lire; the pror villagers, flying in confternation from the flames, fall into the hands of their tyrant. This mode, therefore, differs from the former in this refpecl only, that many are terribly burnt on the occafion, and others perifh. IV. Slaves are acquired by Kidnapping. Observation. -Slave-hunters, confift- ing of the natives, are employed in the inland country to kidnap the unwary. They lie in wait frequently in the rice-fields, to carry off all fuch as may be ftationed there for the purpofe of driving the birds from the grain. They lie in wait alfo at the fprings of water, to which the natives refort to quench their thirfir, and in thickets by the fides of creeks, to fall upon thofe folitary beings, who fifh there either for amufe- ment or for food : but their principal ftation is in the long grafs, by the fide of particular path¬ ways, which are cut from one village to another, from which they fpring out upon their prey, and fecure it. But [ 7 3 But the natives are not the only people Con¬ cerned in thefe iniquitous practices. The Bri- tifh traders have enticed the natives to the Ihore for the purpofes of trade; they have tempted them there with bifcuits, with brandy, and other lpirits ; and, having made them intoxicated, they have forced them on board, and failed off with them to the Colonies. Thefe are the various methods by which Haves have been.ufually obtained; and fo fuccefsful have thefe practices been, that many millions of people, fince the introduction of the trade, have been actually put on board European Ihips, and con- figned to flavery. Many of the Haves, acquired by thefe me¬ thods, have been brought 1200 miles from .the inland country, and have been obliged to pafs through inhofpitable woods and defarts, where thoufands of them have died through fatigue and • third:. . The annual exportation from Africa, confifts ■ of about one hundred thoufand people. Of thefe, more than 20,000 die on their voyage, from clofe . confinement and other caules, and at leaftthat number in the feafoning; fo that if to thefe we A 4 add [ 8 ] add the number that.die In the different warsj and thole that perilh in the long and fatiguing march before-defcribed, it will appear that about gn hundred thoufand are annually murdered} even be¬ fore the planter can fay he has any additional flock for his plantation. Of thofe that furvive the voyage and feafoning, it may be faid, that being fubje&ed in many in- ftances to the moft cruel and defpotic treatment, they perilh in a few years; and fcarcely a veftige is to be found, that an hundredth part of.this im- menfe body of people, annually enflaved upon the coaft, had ever been in txijlence. ■ The author, from whom thefe oblervations are moftly taken, and whofe* book treats of the injuflhe and inhumanity of the Have-trade, is now pre¬ paring a fequel to the faid work, comprehending * An fifty on the Slavery and Commerce of the Hum'aii Speties, particularly the African, tranftted from a Latin Dif- fertation, which was honduted with the iirft priie in the uni- verfity of Cambridge, for the year 17S5, with additions. By T. Clarkfon. . the • t 9 ] {he impolicy of it, and the confequentfcs that are likely to arife from its. abolition. The work is divided into two parts. PARTI. I. Africa has two forts of commodities to offer, viz. the froduilms of its foil _ and negroe- jlaves. As it is impoflible that we can trade fuccefs- fully in bpth of- them at the-fame time, (one of them having hitherto proved an infuperable impe¬ diment to the other) the queftion is, in which of the two it is moft politic to deal. The one is replete with mifery and deftruffion to the human race, and' is beneficial but to a few individuals ; wliereas the other, confift.ing of cot- ■ tori, indigo, tobacco, rice,- coffee, fpices, drugs, mahogany, dying woods, wax, ambergris, honey, ivOry, gold, &c. would-be'of national advantage, as it would amply repay us for the Ms of Ame¬ rica, break the monopoly of the Dutch, be the cheapeft market for raw materials for Our manu-, fafturers, open a new and extenfivd market for our [ ta ] part’d. The firft fection contains an account of /even plantations, which have wanted no fupplies for fome years. But it muft be obferved, that on thefe plantations the negroes were treated with humanity, and population was encouraged. In¬ deed on one of them, where the treatment was fuperior to that of the reft, the numbers increafed fo much, that the plantation was overftocked. The author flaws, from thefe inftances, that if a planter treats his Haves well, and encourages population, they miijl increafe. But that, if the feme plantation falls into the hands of an avari¬ cious and unfeeling man, it muft go back in a few years, and require fupplies. He then ftates, that if the Have trade is abo- liflied, the planters will be obliged to treat their Haves with humanity, and encourage population; and, of courfe, that the iflands can never be in want of cultivators. He then goes into the various caufes of the diminution of Haves in the colonies; and fhews, that all thefe caufes will be removed if the Have- trade is abslilhed. One i J 3 3 One of them is this; When a Have