ious view of the advantages, which would arise both to
the master and to the slave, if this traffic were done away; and having
recapitulated and answered the different objections to such a measure, he
went to that part of the subject, in which he described himself to be most
interested.

He had shown, he said, last year, that Africa was exposed to all the
horrors of war; and that most of these wars had their origin in the
Slave-trade. It was then said, in reply, that the natural barbarity of the
natives was alone sufficient to render their country a scene of carnage.
This was triumphantly instanced in the king of Dahomey. But his honourable
friend Lord Muncaster, then in the House, had proved in his interesting
publication, which had appeared since, called Historical Sketches of the
Slave-trade and of its Effects in Africa, addressed to the People of Great
Britain, that the very cruelties of this king, on which so much stress had
been laid, were committed by him in a war, which had been undertaken
expressly to punish an adjacent people for having stolen some of his
subjects and sold them for slaves.

He had shown also last year, that kings were induced to seize and sell
their subjects, and individuals each other, in consequence of the existence
of the Slave-trade.

He had shown also, that the administration of justice was perverted, so as
to become a fertile source of supply to this inhuman traffic; that every
crime was punished by slavery; that false accusations were made, to procure
convicts; and that even the judges had a profit on the convictions.

He had shown again, that many acts of violence were perpetrated by the
Europeans themselves. But he would now relate others, which had happened
since. The captain of an English vessel, lying in the river Cameroons, sent
his boat with three sailors and a slave to get water. A Black trader seized
the latter, and took him away. He alleged in his defence, that the captain
owed him goods to a greater amount than the value of the slave; and that he
would not pay him.

This being told on board, the captain, and a part of his crew, who were
compelled to blacken their naked bodies that they might appear like the
natives, went on shore at midnight, armed with muskets and cutlasses. They
fired on the trader's dwelling, and killed three of his children on the
spot. The trader, being badly wounded, died while they were dragging him to
the boat; and his wife, being wounded also, di