of one of the crew with whom he had sailed, but that he escaped
by bribing the principal witness to disappear[A].

[Footnote A: Mr. Sampson, who was surgeon's mate of the ship in which
the captain had thus served as a mate, confirmed to me afterwards this
assertion, having often heard him boast in the cabin, "how he had
tricked the law on that occasion."]

The reader will see, the further I went into the history of this voyage,
the more dismal it became. One miserable account, when examined, only
brought up another. I saw no end to inquiry. The great question was,
what was I to do? I thought the best thing would be to get the captain
apprehended, and make him stand his trial either for the murder of
Thomas or of Charles Horseler. I communicated with the late Mr. Burges,
an eminent attorney, and the deputy town-clerk, on this occasion. He had
shown an attachment to me on account of the cause I had undertaken, and
had given me privately assistance in it. I say privately; because,
knowing the sentiments of many of the corporate body at Bristol, under
whom he acted, he was fearful of coming forward in an open manner. His
advice to me was, to take notes of the case for my own private
conviction, but to take no public cognizance of it. He said that seamen,
as soon as their wages were expended, must be off to sea again. They
could not generally, as landsmen do, maintain themselves on shore. Hence
I should be obliged to keep the whole crew at my own expense till the
day of trial, which might not be for months to come. He doubted not
that, in the interim, the merchants and others would inveigle many of
them away by making them boatswains and other inferior officers in some
of their ships; so that, when the day of trial should come, I should
find my witnesses dispersed and gone. He observed, moreover, that if any
of the officers of the ship had any notion of going out again under the
same owners[A], I should have all these against me. To which he added,
that if I were to make a point of taking up the cause of those whom I
found complaining of hard usage in this trade, I must take up that of
nearly all who sailed in it; for that he only knew of one captain from
the port in the Slave Trade, who did not deserve long ago to be hanged.
Hence I should get into a labyrinth of expense, and difficulty, and
uneasiness of mind, from whence I should not easily find a clew to guide
me.

[Footnote A: The seamen of the Alfred informed the pur