n afterwards, which was full of flattery, and in
which, after having paid high compliments to the general force of my
arguments, and the general justice and humanity of my sentiments on this
great question, which had made a deep impression upon his mind, he had
found occasion to differ from me, since we had last parted, on particular
points, and that he had therefore less reluctantly yielded to the call of
becoming a delegate,--though notwithstanding he would gladly have declined
the office if he could have done it with propriety.

At length the council began their examinations. Mr. Norris, Lieutenant
Matthews, of the navy, who had just left a slave-employ in Africa, and Mr.
James Penny, formerly a slave-captain, and then interested as a merchant in
the trade, (which three were the delegates from Liverpool) took possession
of the ground first. Mr. Miles, Mr. Weuves, and others, followed them on
the same side. The evidence which they gave, as previously concerted
between themselves, may be shortly represented thus: They denied that
kidnapping either did or could take place in Africa, or that wars were made
there, for the purpose of procuring slaves. Having done away these wicked
practices from their system, they maintained positions which were less
exceptionable, or that the natives of Africa generally became slaves in
consequence of having been made prisoners in just wars, or in consequence
of their various crimes. They then gave a melancholy picture of the
despotism and barbarity of some of the African princes, among whom the
custom of sacrificing their own subjects prevailed. But, of all others,
that which was afforded by Mr. Morris on this ground was the most
frightful. The king of Dahomey, he said, sported with the lives of his
people in the most wanton manner. He had seen at the gates of his palace,
two piles of heads like those of shot in an arsenal. Within the palace the
heads of persons newly put to death were strewed at the distance of a few
yards in the passage which led to his apartment. This custom of human
sacrifice by the king of Dahomey was not on one occasion only, but on many;
such as on the reception of messengers from neighbouring states, or of
white merchants, or on days of ceremonial. But the great carnage was once a
year, when the poll tax was paid by his subjects. A thousand persons at
least were sacrificed annually on these different occasions. The great men,
too, of the country cut off a few heads