r authentic publications of
this kind, it appears that it was the unwarrantable lust of gain, which
first stimulated the Portugueze, and afterwards other Europeans, to
engage in this horrid traffic. By the most authentic relations of those
early times, the natives were an inoffensive people, who, when civilly
used, traded amicably with the Europeans. It is recorded of those of
Benin, the largest kingdom in Guinea,[A]_That they were a gentle, loving
people_; and Reynold says,[B] "_They found more sincere proofs of love
and good will from the natives, than they could find from the Spaniards
and Portugueze, even tho' they had relieved them from the greatest
misery_." And from the same relations there is no reason to think
otherwise, but that they generally lived in peace amongst themselves;
for I don't find, in the numerous publications I have perused on this
subject, relating to these early times, of there being wars on that
coast, nor of any sale of captives taken in battle, who would have been
otherwise sacrificed by the victors:[C] Notwithstanding some modern
authors, in their publications relating to the West Indies, desirous of
throwing a veil over the iniquity of the slave trade, have been hardy
enough, upon meer supposition or report, to assert the contrary.

[Footnote A: Collection, vol. 1, page 202.]

[Footnote B: Idem, page 245.]

[Footnote C: Note, This plea falls of itself, for if the Negroes
apprehended they should be cruelly put to death, if they were not sent
away, why do they manifest such reluctance and dread as they generally
do, at being brought from their native country? William Smith, at page
28, says, "_The Gambians abhor slavery, and will attempt any thing, tho'
never so desperate, to avoid it_," and Thomas Philips, in his account of
a voyage he performed to the coast of Guinea, writes, "_They, the
Negroes, are so loth to leave their own country, that they have often
leaped out of the canoe, boat, or ship, into the sea, and kept under
water till they were drowned, to avoid being taken up_."]

It was long after the Portugueze had made a practice of violently
forcing the natives of Africa into slavery, that we read of the
different Negroe nations making war upon each other, and selling their
captives. And probably this was not the case, till those bordering on
the coast, who had been used to supply the vessels with necessaries, had
become corrupted by their intercourse with the Europeans, and w