d so fearful
of the consequences, that they set sail in the night, lest the negroes
should know when they depart from their native shores.

And here the scene becomes almost too harrowing to dwell upon. But we
must not allow our nerves to be more tender than our consciences. The
poor wretches are stowed by hundreds, like bales of goods, between the
low decks, where filth and putrid air produce disease, madness and
suicide. Unless they die in _great_ numbers, the slave-captain does not
even concern himself enough to fret; his live stock cost nothing, and he
is sure of such a high price for what remains at the end of the voyage,
that he can afford to lose a good many.

The following account is given by Dr. Walsh, who accompanied Viscount
Strangford, as chaplain, on his embassy to Brazil. The vessel in which
he sailed chased a slave-ship; for to the honor of England be it said,
she has asked and obtained permission from other governments, to treat
as pirates such of their subjects as are discovered carrying on this
guilty trade north of the equator. Doctor Walsh was an eyewitness of
the scene he describes; and the evidence given, at various times, before
the British House of Commons, proves that the frightful picture is by
no means exaggerated.

"The vessel had taken in, on the coast of Africa, three hundred and
thirty-six males, and two hundred and twenty-six females, making in all
five hundred and sixty-two; she had been out seventeen days, during
which she had thrown overboard fifty-five. They were all inclosed under
grated hatchways, between decks. The space was so low, and they were
stowed so close together, that there was no possibility of lying down,
or changing their position, night or day. The greater part of them were
shut out from light and air; and this when the thermometer, exposed to
the open sky, was standing, in the shade on our deck, at eighty-nine
degrees.

"The space between decks was divided into two compartments, three feet
three inches high. Two hundred and twenty-six women and girls were
thrust into one space two hundred and eighty-eight feet square; and
three hundred and thirty-six men and boys were crammed into another
space eight hundred feet square; giving the whole an average of
twenty-three inches; and to each of the women not more than thirteen
inches; though several of them were in a state of health, which
peculiarly demanded pity.--As they were shipped on account of different
individual