k, many of them could not stand. After enjoying
for a short time the unusual luxury of air, some water was brought; it
was then that the extent of their sufferings was exposed in a fearful
manner. They all rushed like maniacs towards it. No entreaties, or
threats, or blows, could restrain them; they shrieked, and struggled,
and fought with one another, for a drop of this precious liquid, as if
they grew rabid at the sight of it. There is nothing from which slaves
in the mid-passage suffer so much as want of water. It is sometimes
usual to take out casks filled with sea-water as ballast, and when the
slaves are received on board, to start the casks, and re-fill them with
fresh. On one occasion, a ship from Bahia neglected to change the
contents of their casks, and on the mid-passage found to their horror,
that they were filled with nothing but salt water. All the slaves on
board perished! We could judge of the extent of their sufferings from
the afflicting sight we now saw. When the poor creatures were ordered
down again, several of them came, and pressed their heads against our
knees, with looks of the greatest anguish, with the prospect of
returning to the horrid place of suffering below."

Alas! the slave-captain proved by his papers that he confined his
traffic strictly to the south of the Line, where it was yet lawful;
perhaps his papers were forged; but the English officers were afraid to
violate an article of the treaty, which their government had made with
Brazil. Thus does cunning wickedness defeat benevolence and justice in
this world! Dr. Walsh continues: "With infinite regret, therefore, we
were obliged to restore his papers to the captain, and permit him to
proceed, after nine hours' detention and close investigation. It was
dark when we separated, and the last parting sounds we heard from the
unhallowed ship, were the cries and shrieks of the slaves, suffering
under some bodily infliction."

I suppose the English officers acted politically right; but not for the
world's wealth, would I have acted politically right, under such
circumstances![B]

[Footnote B: Dr. Walsh's book on Brazil was published in 1831. He says;
"Notwithstanding the benevolent and persevering exertions of England,
this horrid traffic in human flesh is nearly as extensively carried on
as ever, and under circumstances perhaps of a more revolting character.
The very shifts at evasion, the necessity for concealment, and the
desperate haza