d the slave-trade were only
mock-earnest after all--a mere political pretence--a ruse against the
republicanism of America. Yes; some of these rough fellows knew it, to
be sham--knew, too, that the sums annually expended by Great Britain on
the barbaric luxuries of an idle court would have been sufficient to
have stopped slave-dealing over the whole world--but that, instead, this
profuse waste only created slaves--white slaves, and a far greater
number than all the blacks that ever crossed the Atlantic. Yes; many of
these rough fellows had wit enough to understand such matters; and it
is, therefore, less to be wondered at that they should fall into this
life of reckless outlawry. Moreover, success once obtained there would
be no outlaws on the further side. The rich skipper would take rank
among merchant-princes there. He would go into the best company--and be
well entertained. No matter that his hand was stained with blood and
his brow stamped with guilt. Kings, princes, and emperors of our day
are similarly branded, but for all that, the dainty white hand of woman
is contented to grasp theirs in the cordial embrace of amity and
approval. With such high examples before the world no wonder there are
slavers--no wonder there should be pirates. It is only singular there
are not more of them.

Joyful and jolly were the crew of the _Pandora_ when they beheld the
cutter hull down upon the horizon, and saw that she abandoned the chase.
Their labour would now be of the easiest kind, for a run across the
Atlantic, from the Gulf of Guinea to the Brazils, is one of the easiest
of voyages to the seaman. The trade-winds blow almost constantly in his
favour. The trim vessel sweeps smoothly along, and the sails but rarely
require shifting. It is more like floating with the current of some
gentle stream, than making way across the broad billowy bosom of the
Atlantic.

Alas! smoothly as we ran, it was far from being a pleasant period of
existence to me. I was called upon to witness a scene of constant
suffering, daily--ay, hourly--my heart was wrung with pain, for there
was not an hour in which some agonising spectacle did not transpire
among the wretched denizens of the "half-deck."

I need not here describe the ordinary sufferings of the slave-ship.
They are recorded in many books; and I believe the most heartrending
tales that have been told are not a whit exaggerated. My own experience
convinces me that most of the