goods which the factor would give him for
these three hundred slaves; but the factor refusing to trust him, as he
was already in the company's debt, and perceiving that this refusal had
put the King much out of temper, he proposed that he should give him a
licence for taking so many more of his people, as the goods he still
wanted were worth but this the King refused, saying "_It_ might occasion
a disturbance amongst his subjects."[B] Except in the above instance,
and some others, where the power of the Negroe Kings is unlawfully
exerted over their subjects, the slave-trade is carried on in Guinea
with some regard to the laws of the country, which allow of none to be
sold, but prisoners taken in their national wars, or people adjudged to
slavery in punishment for crimes; but the largeness of the country, the
number of kingdoms or commonwealths, and the great encouragement given
by the Europeans, afford frequent pretences and opportunities to the
bold designing profligates of one kingdom, to surprize and seize upon
not only those of a neighbouring government, but also the weak and
helpless of their own;[C] and the unhappy people, taken on those
occasions, are, with impunity, sold to the Europeans. These practices
are doubtless disapproved of by the most considerate amongst the
Negroes, for Bosman acquaints us, that even their national wars are not
agreeable to such. He says,[D] "If the person who occasioned the
beginning of the war be taken, they will not easily admit him to ransom,
though his weight in gold should be offered, for fear he should in
future form some new design against their repose."

[Footnote A: Collection vol. 2. p. 29.]

[Footnote B: Note, This Negroe King thus refusing to comply with the
factor's wicked proposal, shews, he was sensible his own conduct was not
justifiable; and it likewise appears, the factor's only concern was to
procure the greatest number of slaves, without any regard to the
injustice of the method by which they were procured. This Andrew Brue,
was, for a long time, principal director of the French African factory
in those parts; in the management of which, he is in the collection said
to have had extraordinary success. The part he ought to have acted as a
christian towards the ignorant Africans seems quite out of the question;
the profit of his employers appears to have been his sole concern. At
page 62, speaking of the country on the Senegal river, he says, "It was
very populou