lave-ship, under pretence of
buying something, and were taken away. At another time another relation
piloted a vessel down the river. He begged to be put on shore, when he came
opposite to his own town; but he was pressed to pilot her to the river's
mouth. The captain then pleaded the impracticability of putting him on
shore; carried him to Jamaica; and sold him for a slave. Fortunately,
however, by means of a letter, which was conveyed there, the man, by the
assistance of the governor, was sent back to Sierra Leone. At another time
another relation was also kidnapped. But he had not the good fortune, like
the former, to return.

He would mention one other instance. A son had sold his own father, for
whom he obtained a considerable price: for, as the father was rich in
domestic slaves, it was not doubted that he would offer largely for his
ransom. The old man accordingly gave twenty-two of these in exchange for
himself. The rest, however, being from that time filled with apprehensions
of being on some ground or other sold to the slave-ships, fled to the
mountains of Sierra Leone, where they now dragged on a miserable existence.
The son himself was sold, in his turn, soon after. In short, the whole of
that unhappy peninsula, as he learnt from eye-witnesses, had been desolated
by the trade in slaves. Towns were seen standing without inhabitants all
over the coast; in several of which the agent of the Company had been.
There was nothing but distrust among the inhabitants. Every one, if he
stirred from home, felt himself obliged to be armed.

Such was the nature of the Slave-trade. It had unfortunately obtained the
name of a trade; and many had been deceived by the appellation. But it was
war, and not trade. It was a mass of crimes, and not commerce. It was that
which prevented the introduction of a trade in Africa; for it was only by
clearing and cultivating the lands, that the climate could be made healthy
for settlements; but this wicked traffic, by dispersing the inhabitants,
and causing the lands to remain uncultivated, made the coast unhealthy to
Europeans. He had found, in attempting to establish a colony there, that it
was an obstacle, which opposed itself to him in innumerable ways; it
created more embarrassments than all the natural impediments of the
country; and it was more hard to contend with, than any difficulties of
climate, soil, or natural disposition of the people.

We would say a few words relative to t