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‘True humanity consists not in a squeamish ear. It consists not in starting or shrinking at such tales as these, but in a disposition of heart to relieve misery. True humanity appertains rather to the mind than to the nerves, and prompts men to use real and active endeavours to execute the actions which it suggests.’ I know not who is the author of this passage. It is the quotation of a quotation from Wilberforce's Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, p. 38, 3d Edition.

‘The village is attacked in the night; if deemed needful, to increase the confusion, it is set on fire, and the wretched inhabitants, as they are flying naked from the flames, are seized, and carried into slavery.’ Wilberforce's Letter, p. 11.

‘Abundance of little blacks of both sexes are also stolen away by their neighbours, when found abroad on the roads, or in the woods, or else in the engans, or cornfields, where they are kept all day to scare the small birds that come in swarms to feed on the millet.’ Barbot's Travels—Astley. vol. ii. p. 256.

‘A battle is fought; the vanquished seldom think of rallying; the whole inhabitants become panic-struck, and the conquerors have only to bind their slaves, and carry off their plunder and victims.’ Parke.

‘The Slatees are forced to keep them constantly in irons, and watch them very closely, to prevent their escape. They are commonly secured by putting the right leg of one, and the left of the other, into the same pair of fetters. By supporting the fetters with a string, they can walk, though very slowly. Every four slaves are likewise fastened together by the necks, with a strong rope of twisted thongs; and in the night, an additional pair of fetters is put on their hands, and sometimes a light iron chain passed round their necks.’

‘During this day's travel two slaves, a woman and a girl, belonging to a Slatee of Bala, were so much fatigued, that they could not keep up with the coffle; they were severely whipped, and dragged along till about three o'clock in the afternoon, when they were both affected with something, by which it was discovered that they had eaten clay. This practice is by no means uncommon among the negroes, but whether it arises from a vitiated appetite, or from a settled intention to destroy themselves, I cannot affirm. Parke

‘We accordingly set out together, and travelled with great expedition through the woods, until noon, when one of the Sorawolli slaves dropped the load from his head, for which he was smartly whipped. The load was replaced; but he had not proceeded above a mile before he let it fall a second time, for which he received the same punishment. After this he travelled with great pain until about two o'clock, when we stopped to breathe a little, by a pool of water, the day being remarkably hot. The poor slave was now so completely exhausted, that his master was obliged to release him from the rope, for he lay motionless on the ground. Parke, p. 346, 7.

‘During a wearisome peregrination of more than five hundred British miles, exposed to the burning rays of a tropical sun, these poor slaves, amidst their own infinitely greater sufferings, would commiserate mine; and frequently, of their own accord, bring water to quench my thirst, and at night collect branches and leaves to prepare me a bed in the wilderness.” Parke, p. 356, 7.

When the scuttles are obliged to be shut, the gratings are not sufficient for airing the rooms. He (Dr. Trotter) never himself could breathe freely, unless immediately under the hatchway. He has seen the slaves drawing their breath with all those laborious and anxious efforts for life, which are observed in expiring animals, subjected by experiment to foul air, or in the exhausted receiver of an air pump. He has also seen them, when the tarpawlings have been inadvertently thrown over the gratings, attempting to heave them up, crying out in their own language, “We are dying.” On removing the tarpawlings and gratings, they would fly to the hatchway, with all the signs of terror and dread of suffocation. Many of them he has seen in a dying state, but some have recovered by being brought hither, or on the deck; others were irrecoverably lost by suffocation, having had no previous signs of indisposition.

Nearly the same accounts, as the above, are given by Messrs. Falconbridge, Wilson, Claxton, Morley, Town, and Hall. The slaves are described as dejected when brought on board; as having not so much room as a man in his coffin; as being in a violent perspiration or dew sweat; as complaining of heat; as fainting in consequence of it; and as going below at night apparently well, but found dead in the morning. Abridgment of the Evidence taken before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, in 1790 and 1791, p. 11.

Such are the scenes going on in the slave vessels, from the time of the receipt of the slaves on board, to that of their arrival in their destined ports; during which time it may be supposed that a considerable loss, from mortality and suicide, has taken place.

The different evidences have given an account of this loss for their own voyages, as far as they could recollect it. The total number purchased appears to be 7904, and of the lost 2053. Hence more than a fourth perished.

The causes of the above mortality are described by Mr. Falconbridge to be sudden transitions from heat to cold, a putrid atmosphere, wallowing in their own excrements, and being shackled together, but particularly to a diseased mind: to thinking so much of their situation, says another; to melancholy, says a third; and to grief, says a fourth, for being carried away from their friends and country. Abstract of the Evidence, &c.

Others determine to destroy themselves, but effect their purpose in different ways.

Of these, some refuse sustenance and die. In the ships of surgeons Falconbridge, Wilson, and Trotter, and of Messrs. Millar and Town, are instances of their starving themselves to death. In all these they were compelled, some by whipping, and others by the thumb-screw, and other means, to take their food, but all punishment was ineffectual; they were determined to die. In the very act of chastisement, Mr. Wilson says, they have looked up at him, and said, with a smile, “Presently we shall be no more.” Abstract of the Evidence &c.

Flogging did not commence with us till about the latitude 28°. It was talked of long before, but was withheld by the above-mentioned consideration. It no sooner made its appearance but it spread like a contagion. Wantonness, misconception, and ignorance, inflicted it without an appearance of remorse, and without fear of being answerable for the abuse of authority. This barbarous charge to the officers I myself heard given—‘You are now in a Guinea ship—no seaman, though you speak harshly, must dare to give you a saucy answer— that is out of the question; but if they look to displease you, knock them down.’ Stanfield's Letters. Appendix to his poem entitled the Guinea Voyage.

The vessel, as Mr. Falconbridge aptly and emphatically observes, was like a slaughter-house—blood, filth, misery, and disease. The chief mate lay dying, calling out for that comfort and assistance he had so often denied to others. He was glad to lay hold of me to bring him a little refreshment—no one else to take the smallest notice of his cries. The doctor was in the same condition, and making the same complaint. The second mate was lying on his back on the medicine-chest; his head hanging down over one end of it, his hair sweeping the deck, and clotted with the filth that was collected there; and in this unnoticed situation he died soon after I came on board.

On the poop the appearance was still more shocking—the remainder of the ship's crew stretched in the last stage of their sickness, without comfort, without refreshment, without attendance. There they lay, straining their weak voices with the most lamentable cries for a little water, and not a soul to afford them the smallest relief.

The chief mate, whom we brought off the coast, died soon; the second mate soon after: their united duties devolved upon me. While the latter was in his illness, he got up one night, made a noise, tumbled some things about the half-deck, untied a hammock, and played some other delirious but innocent tricks. The captain, being a little recovered at that time, came out, and knocked him down. I do not at this time remember the weapon, but I know his head was sadly cut, and bleeding—in short he was beat in a most dreadful manner; and, before the morning, he was dead. This man had not been many weeks on the coast, and left it in remarkably good health.

‘Observing their extreme agitation, I was led particularly to notice their conduct, as influenced by the terror of being torn from each other, and I may truly say, that I witnessed a just and faithful representation of.....the distressed mother! and such as might bid defiance even to the all-imitative powers of a Siddons! for the fears of the parent, lest she should be separated from her children, or these from each other, were anxious and watchful beyond all that imagination could paint, or the most vivid fancy pourtray. When any one approached their little group, or chanced to look towards them with the attentive eye of a purchaser, the children, in broken sobs, crouched nearer together, and the tearful mother, in agonizing impulse, instantly fell down before the spectator, bowed herself to the earth, and kissed his feet; then, alternately clinging to his legs, and pressing her children to her bosom, she fixed herself upon her knees, clasped her hands together, and, in anguish, cast up a look of humble petition, which might have found its way even to the heart of a Caligula!—and, thus, in Nature's truest language, did the afflicted parent urge the strongest appeal to his compassion, while she implored the purchaser, in dealing out to her the hard lot of slavery, to spare her the additional pang of being torn from her children;—to forbear exposing her to the accumulated agonies which would result from forcing those asunder, whom the all-wise disposer of events had bound together by the most sacred ties of nature and affection. Pinckard's Notes on the West Indies, Vol. III. p. 357.

But a nearer and more particular view of the manner of working may be necessary to those who have never seen a gang of Negroes at their work:

‘When employed in the labour of the field, as, for example, in holeing a cane piece, i. e. in turning up the ground with hoes into parallel trenches, for the reception of the cane plants, the Slaves of both sexes, from twenty, perhaps, to four score in number, are drawn out in a line, like troops on a parade, each with a hoe in his hand; and close to them in the rear is stationed a driver, or several drivers, in numbers duly proportioned to that of the gang. Each of these drivers, who are always the most active and vigorous Negroes on the estate, has in his hand, or coiled round his neck, from which by extending the handle it can be disengaged in a moment, a long, thick, and strongly platted whip, called a cart whip, the report of which is as loud, and the lash as severe, as those of the whips in common use with our waggoners, and which he has authority to apply at the instant when his eye perceives an occasion, without any previous warning. Thus disposed, their work begins, and continues without interruption for a certain number of hours, during which, at the peril of the drivers, an adequate portion of land must be holed.

‘As the trenches (continues our Author) are generally rectilinear, and the whole line of holers advance together, it is necessary that every hole or section of the trench should be finished in equal time with the rest; and if any one or more Negroes were allowed to throw in the hoe with less rapidity or energy than their companions in other parts of the line, it is obvious that the work of the latter must be suspended; or else, such part of the trench as is passed over by the former, will be more imperfectly formed than the rest. It is therefore the business of the drivers not only to urge forward the whole gang with sufficient speed, but sedulously to watch that all in the line, whether male or female, old or young, strong or feeble, work as nearly as possible in equal time, and with equal effect. The tardy stroke must be quickened, and the languid invigorated, and the whole line made to dress, in the military phrase, as it advances. No breathing time, no resting on the hoe, no pause of languor, to be repaid by brisker exertion on return to work, can be allowed to individuals: all must work, or pause together.’ Wilberforce's Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 3d Edit. p. 66.

‘The corporal punishment of slaves is so frequent, that instead of exciting the repugnant sensations, felt by Europeans on first witnessing it, scarcely does it produce, in the breasts of those long accustomed to the West Indies, even the slightest feeling of compassion. The lady I have above alluded to appears of good natural disposition, and in no degree disposed to general cruelty; but the frequency of the sight has rendered her callous to its common influence upon the feelings. Being one morning at her house, while sitting in conversation, we suddenly heard the loud cries of a negro suffering under the whip. Mrs. --- expressed surprise on observing me shudder at his shrieks, and you will believe that I was in utter astonishment to find her treat his sufferings as matter of amusement. It proved that the punishment proceeded from the arm of the lady's husband, and fell upon one of her own slaves; and, can you believe that on learning this, she exclaimed with a broad smile, ‘Aha! it will do him good! a little wholesome flagellation will refresh him.—It will sober him.—It will open his skin, and make him alert. If Y--- was to give it them all, it would be of service to them!’

‘I could not compliment the lady upon her humanity. The loud clang of the whip continued, and the poor imploring negro as loudly cried, ‘Oh Massa, Massa—God a'mighty—God bless you Massa! I beg you pardon! Oh! Massa, Oh! I beg you pardon! Oh! God a'mighty—God bless you!’— Still the whip sounded aloud, and still the lady cried ‘Aye, it's very necessary!’ Pinckard's Notes on the West Indies, Vol. II. p. 192.

‘As for the punishments of Owners, when General T. saw the shameless and cruel flogging, on the public parade, of two very decent women, who, while waiting at table where he was visiting, had been ordered by their mistress, in spite of his expostulations, to go with the jumper (or public flogger,) to receive a dozen, each stroke of which brought flesh with them, we do not find that the incident excited any surprise or attention in any one but the General himself. If such could be the treatment sanctioned by public opinion, and general feeling, of decent young women, publicly and in the face of day, what consideration would be likely to be paid to the comforts and feelings of the field Negroes, who are regarded as a far inferior race to the domestics, especially when there are no officious bystanders to witness what may take place?’ Wilberforce's Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 3d Edit. p. 68.

‘A gentleman (Mr. Ross, as appeared in evidence), while he was walking along heard the shrieks of a female, issuing from a barn or outhouse: and as they were much too violent to be excited by ordinary punishment, he was prompted to go near and see what could be the matter. On looking in he perceived a young female had up to a beam by her wrists entirely naked, and in the act of involuntary writhing and swinging, while the author of her torture was standing below her with a lighted torch in his hand, which he applied to all parts of her body, as it approached him.’ Fox's speech from report of the debate, on a motion for the abolition of the Slave Trade, on the 18th and 19th of April, 1791.

‘But though the mind be naturally led to the Africans, as the greatest sufferers, yet, unless the Scripture be a forgery, it is not their cause only that I am pleading, but the cause of my Country. Yet let me not here be misconceived. It is not that I expect any visible and supernatural effects of the Divine vengeance; though, not to listen with seriousness to the accounts which have been brought us of late years from the Western hemisphere, as to a probable intimation of the Divine displeasure, would be to resolve to shut our ears against the warning voice of Providence. To mention no other particulars, a disease new in it's kind, and almost without example destructive in it's ravages, has been for some time raging in those very colonies which are the chief supporters of the traffic in human beings; a disease concerning which we scarcely know any thing, but that it does not affect the Negro race, and that we first heard of it after the horrors of the Slave Trade had been completely developed in the House of Commons, but developed in vain.’ Wilberforce's Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 3d Edit. p. 163.