the Spanish, and all the commercial nations, for the purpose of supplying with slaves their American colonies. All eagerly engaged in a branch of trade that held out such lucrative profits, as to stifle the feeble voice of compassion, and the unsupported claims of justice. In this manner the discovery of America has proved a most calamitous event to Africa; and has extended the slave trade to such a degree, as to call upon humanity, philosophy, and religion, to combine their exertions to abolish so destructive a custom.

America is the only Christian country where domestic slavery is tolerated in any considerable degree. May it be the glory of the present age to wipe away this reproach from our land. That the condition of the African is meliorated by removing him from his native wilds, to the cultivated fields of America, will appear to be false, upon an examination of the fact. In their own country, before their retreat was discovered by the European merchants, the savages of Africa lived in the exercise of that freedom and independence, which are natural to their state in society, and in the enjoyment of that repose and indolence which resulted from the warmth of their climate, and the fertility of their soil. Though destitute of the security of

a well regulated government, and exposed to all the distresses of frequent wars; yet from their innocence and simplicity of manners, they derived a felicity and tranquillity of mind, which are unknown to their barbarous oppressors, and which, perhaps, fall not so far short of the artificial pleasure of polished life as pride and vanity have pretended. Such was their situation in their own country; let us consider that in which they are placed by the slave trade. In order to realize the subject, let us contemplate the scene which is now taking place on the various parts of the earth. Let us extend our prospect at once to the whole globe, and comprehend in one view, all the miseries of this unhappy people.

From the ports of commercial nations, ships are constantly sailing to Africa, and the merchants at their ease, are coolly calculating the accumulation of wealth which will accrue to them, in proportion to the pain which they inflict on their fellow men.

On their arrival on the coast, the natives are filled with fears and apprehensions of danger. As far through the country as the name of the white people has been heard, so far the alarm is sounded. Actuated by the hopes of gain, many of the natives are induced to engage in the

trade, and become the instruments of reducing their wretched brethren to slavery. They procure by theft or purchase, and sell for a trifling compensation, persons of every age, sex, and condition. When their cargo is completed, the trader frequently closes the business, by detaining and carrying away those very natives who have furnished them with their slaves; a just punishment on them for their barbarity, but which evinces our African traders to be as void of good faith, as they are of humanity. When the traders escape the storms of the ocean, and the vengeance of the African, and arrive in the West-India islands, and those countries where there is a demand for their cargo, the sale of these unfortunate people complete their wretchedness! In distributing them through the plantations, no regard is paid to the tender ties of consanguinity, and the sacred bonds of friendship. They are compelled to undergo a severity of servitude, unparalleled in the annals of mankind. They are doomed, in the burning climes, beneath a meridian sun, to incessant labour and fatigue, when their strength is exhausted, and they totter under their burdens; the lash of the whip quickens them to the last exertion of expiring life. They are denied a sufficient respite from their labours to rest their

weary limbs, and enjoy the necessary relaxation of repose. Their scanty subsistence is insufficient to supply the calls of nature, and satisfy the cravings of hunger. Not only do their unfeeling masters deny them a participation of the fruits of their labour, but they subject them to torture and cruelty, which render life intolerable, and at which humanity shudders. For trivial offences they inflict upon them the most barbarous punishments. In these countries, nothing is more common than the sound of the whip, and the screams and lamentations of the defenceless slaves. When their bodies are gored with wounds, and the blood flows in streams, they are plunged into the ocean, whose salt waves sharpen the pains with the keenest agony. But these people do not always tamely submit to such unprovoked injuries; sometimes the voice of revenge is heard among them. They suddenly rush to arms, and retaliate upon their masters, all the cruelties they have received at their hands. Animated with fury, and hatred, they deal promiscuous destruction on all their foes, and the most horrible scenes of civil war are displayed. Whole families, enjoying the fairest prospects of affluence and happiness, are cut off at a stroke, and swept to the dust. The ignorant insurgents, after a short gratifi

cation of revenge, are vanquished, and subjected to a repetition of cruelties, beyond the power of language to describe. This unhappy people, exhausted by unremitting fatigue, depressed by the rigour of servitude, and debilitated by the severity of punishment, drag on a melancholy uncomfortable existence, strangers to the pleasures of life. Their only consolation is, that the extreme torments they suffer in this life, remove all apprehensions about a future state, and disarm death of those terrors which make such an impression upon the minds of the rest of mankind. To them the messenger of death is an angel of peace; and they believe they shall have a day of retribution in another existence in their native land. The funeral rites of a slave are performed by his brethren, with every mark of joy and gladness. They accompany the corpse with the sound of musical instruments. They sing their songs, and perform their dances around the grave, and indulge in mirth and pleasantry, upon an occasion which the rest of the human race contemplate with dread and anxiety.