ht. I thought he was going
to return God thanks publicly for our miraculous escape. "Are you
quite certain," said the mate, "that the cargo is insured?" "I am,"
replied the captain: "every slave that is lost must be made good by
the underwriters. Besides, would you have _me_ turn my ship into a
hospital for the support of blind negroes? They have cost us enough
already; do your duty." The mate picked out the thirty-nine negroes
who were completely blind, and, with the assistance of the rest of
the crew, tied a piece of ballast to the legs of each. The miserable
wretches were then thrown into the sea!'"

Tears glistened in the eyes of the children during the perusal of
this melancholy account, and Emma, covering her face with her hands,
wept aloud.

"Poor, poor people!" exclaimed George; "oh! how glad I am that the
English have no slaves; those wicked captains and sailors deserve
to be hanged for treating them so cruelly."

GRANDY. "'Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.' These wicked men will
one day be called to an awful account for the cruelties exercised on
their hapless brethren; and not _they_ alone, but also the
purchasers of these wretched slaves, who, when possessed of them,
still caused them to groan in bondage and misery; without once
considering that negroes also are the work of God's hands, and are
made immortal equally with themselves, notwithstanding their
different complexion; for 'God is no respecter of persons,' and He
takes as much interest in the soul of a poor negro as in that of the
greatest white potentate on the earth."

MR. BARRAUD. "The glory of one of our celebrated navigators is
tarnished, by not merely a participation in, but by being actually
the originator of, the slave-trade in the English dominions. Sir
John Hawkins was the first Englishman who engaged in the
slave-trade; and he acquired such reputation for his skill and
success on a voyage to Guinea made in 1564, that, on his return
home, Queen Elizabeth granted him by patent, for his crest, a
_demi-moor_, in his proper color, bound with a cord. It was in those
days considered an honorable employment, and was common in most
other civilized countries of the world: it was the vice of the age:
therefore we must not condemn Sir John Hawkins individually, for it
is probable that he merely regarded it as a lucrative branch of
trade, and, like the rest of the world at that period, did no
consider it as in the slightest degree repugnant to ju