warmly against it. At
any rate, I determined to give it this construction. But, alas! I was
wholly ignorant of this subject; and, what was unfortunate, a few weeks
only were allowed for the composition. I was determined, however, to
make the best use of my time. I got access to the manuscript papers of a
deceased friend, who had been in the trade. I was acquainted also with
several officers who had been in the West Indies, and from these I
gained something. But I still felt myself at a loss for materials, and I
did not know where to get them; when going by accident into a friend's
house, I took up a newspaper then lying on his table. One of the
articles which attracted my notice, was an advertisement of ANTHONY
BENEZET'S _Historical Account of Guinea_. I soon left my friend and his
paper, and, to lose no time, hastened to London to buy it. In this
precious book I found almost all I wanted. I obtained, by means of it, a
knowledge of, and access to, the great authorities of Adanson, Moore,
Barbot, Smith, Bosman, and others. It was of great consequence to know
what these persons had said upon this subject. For, having been
themselves either long resident in Africa, or very frequently there,
their knowledge of it could not be questioned. Having been concerned
also in the trade, it was not likely that they would criminate
themselves more than they could avoid. Writing too at a time when the
abolition was not even thought of, they could not have been biassed with
any view to that event. And, lastly, having been dead many years, they
could not have been influenced, as living evidences may be supposed to
have been, either to conceal or exaggerate, as their own interest might
lead them, either by being concerned in the continuance of the trade, or
by supporting the opinions of those of their patrons in power, who were
on the different sides of this question.

Furnished then in this manner, I began my work. But no person can tell
the severe trial which the writing of it proved to me. I had expected
pleasure from the invention of the arguments, from the arrangement of
them, from the putting of them together, and from the thought in the
interim that I was engaged in an innocent contest for literary honour.
But, all my pleasure was damped by the facts which were now continually
before me. It was but one gloomy subject from morning to night. In the
day-time I was uneasy. In the night I had little rest. I sometimes never
closed my eye