kly, and ordered them to be
thrown into the sea, to recover their value from the insurers, and,
above all, that the fatal order was put into execution." What would the
reader have thought on the occasion? Would he have believed the fact? It
would have surely staggered his faith; because he could never have heard
that any _one_ man ever was, and could never have supposed that any
_one_ man ever could be, guilty of the murder of _such a
number_ of his fellow creatures. But when he is informed that such a
fact as this came before a court[068] of justice in this very country;
that it happened within the last five years; that hundreds can come
forwards and say, that they heard the melancholy evidence with tears;
what bounds is he to place to his belief? The great God, who looks down
upon all his creatures with the same impartial eye, seems to have
infatuated the parties concerned, that they might bring the horrid
circumstance to light, that it might be recorded in the annals of a
publick court, as an authentick specimen of the treatment which the
unfortunate Africans undergo, and at the same time, as an argument to
shew, that there is no species of cruelty, that is recorded to have been
exercised upon these wretched people, so enormous that it may not
_readily be believed_.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 068: The action was brought by the owners against the
underwriters, to recover the value of the _murdered_ slaves. It was
tried at Guildhall.]

* * * * *

CHAP. VI.

If the treatment then, as before described, is confirmed by reason, and
the great credit that is due to disinterested writers on the subject; if
the unfortunate Africans are used, as if their flesh were stone, and
their vitals brass; by what arguments do you _receivers_ defend
your conduct?

You say that a great part of your savage treatment consists in
punishment for real offences, and frequently for such offences, as all
civilized nations have concurred in punishing. The first charge that you
exhibit against them is specifick, it is that of _theft_. But how
much rather ought you _receivers_ to blush, who reduce them to such
a situation! who reduce them to the dreadful alternative, that they must
either _steal_ or _perish_! How much rather ought you _receivers_
to be considered as _robbers_ yourselves, who cause these
unfortunate people to be _stolen_! And how much gre