t it was
a profitable branch of commerce, and ought not to be discontinued on
account of the idle dreams of benevolent enthusiasts. They have argued
before the House of Commons, that others would enslave the negroes, if
the English gave it up--as if it were allowable for one man to commit
a crime because another was likely to do it! They tell how merciful it
is to bring the Africans away from the despotism and wars, which
desolate their own continent; but they do not add that the white man
is himself the cause of those wars, nor do they prove our right to
judge for another man where he will be the happiest. If the Turks, or
the Algerines saw fit to exercise this right, they might carry away
captive all the occupants of our prisons and penitentiaries.

Some of the advocates of this traffic maintained that the voyage
from Africa to the slave-market, called the Middle Passage, was an
exceedingly comfortable portion of existence. One went so far as to
declare it "the happiest part of a negro's life." They aver that the
Africans, on their way to slavery, are so merry, that they dance and
sing. But upon a careful examination of witnesses, it was found that
their singing consisted of dirge-like lamentations for their native
land. One of the captains threatened to flog a woman, because the
mournfulness of her song was too painful to him. After meals they
jumped up in their irons for exercise. This was considered so necessary
for their health, that they were whipped, if they refused to do it.
And this was their dancing! "I," said one of the witnesses, "was
employed to dance the men, while another person danced the women."

These pretences, ridiculous as they appear, are worth about as much as
any of the arguments that can be brought forward in defence of any part
of the slave system.

The engraving on the next page will help to give a vivid idea of the
Elysium enjoyed by negroes, during the Middle Passage. Fig. A represents
the iron hand-cuffs, which fasten the slaves together by means of a
little bolt with a padlock.

[Illustration: Iron Hand-Cuffs]

[Illustration: Iron Shackles]

[Illustration: Thumb-Screw and Speculum Oris]

B represents the iron shackles by which the ancle of one is made fast
to the ancle of his next companion. Yet even thus secured, they do often
jump into the sea, and wave their hands in triumph at the approach of
death. E is a thumb-screw. The thumbs are put into two rounds holes at
the top; by t