ms of sorrow and woe, are reduced below the privileges of
the ox, the horse, the hound, and various other domestic animals;--in
respect to sustenance, toil, and severity of chastisement, if not
quarters and raiment!--As an aggregate people, they, nor their
ancestors, never disturbed thy repose, with fire or sword, or the
cannon's deathly roar. _They are, nevertheless, virtually prisoners of
war_:--not by a war in defence of human life, but generally, by _a
hideous sacrilegious war_, waged (among the African kings) for the
plunder of human souls, human flesh, _blood and bones_, to be exchanged
as articles of merchandize, for contemptible gewgaws, implements of war,
distilled spirits, tobacco, &c. The booty thus gained by the savage
despots and man-hunters of Africa, had its assumed sale and exportation
been impracticable, might possibly have been consigned to the same
purposes there as it is now here (_slavery_) or annihilated by massacre;
but most probably would have been sought with much less avidity. If
these commodities were _obtained_ at the sacrifice of justice, and the
natural rights of man, upon no other terms can our laws permit them to
be indefinitely _retained_, by their present _possessors_, who are the
substantial _successors_ and assigns of the original captors.[17]

54. To return from this lengthy excursion, I must acknowledge, (however
ludicrous it may seem to those who are _hardened_ to such things by
repetition,) that the tragedy of a company of men, women and children,
pinioned and bound together with chains and ropes, without accusation of
crime, and driven as beasts of the harness, through the metropolis of
that country, of which I had hitherto indulged both pleasure and pride,
in the consciousness of being a _native citizen_, and, of having
commenced my life coevally with its constitutional organization;
occurring at the precise hour of the convocation of the guardians of its
liberties; produced a new era in my sensations. Disinclination, as well
as the delay incurred, prevented my visit to the congressional hall on
that day.--And I devoted several succeeding days to the purpose of
delineating on paper, a faithful copy of the impressions and sentiments
which involuntarily pervaded my _full_ heart and agitated mind. Those
memoirs have furnished some materials for this essay.

55. One evening while writing notes concerning the occurrence just
mentioned, a lad, sitting in the same room with me, was stu