Page:Dick Sands the Boy Captain.djvu/266

 23S DICK SAXDS, THE BOY CAPTAIN. thus thc iirst nucleus of any African slaves that entered Western Europ>e since the commencement of the Christian era. The majorîty, however, of thèse Musulmans were members of wealthy familles, who were prepared to pay almost any amount of moncy for their rclease; but po ransom was exorbitant enough to tempt the Portuguese to surrendcr them ; more prccious than gold were the strong arms that should work the resources of thcîr young and rising colonies. Thus baulked in their purpose of effecting a direct ransom of their capturcd relatives, the Mussulman families next subniittcd a proposition for exchanging them for a larger numbcr of African negroes, whom it would be quîte easy to procure. The Portuguese, to whom the pro- posai was in cvcry way advantageous, eagerly accepted the offer ; and in this way the slave-trade was origînated in Europe. By thc end of thc sîxteenth centur}- this odious traffic had become permanently established ; in principle it contaîned nothing répugnant to the scmi-barbarous thought and cus- toms thcn existing ; ail thc great states recognized it as the most effectuai mcans of colonizincf the islands of the New World, especiàlly as slaves of negro blood, well acclimatizcd to tropical heat, were able to survive where white mcn must havc perishcd by thousands. The trans- port of slaves to the American colonies was consequently rcgularly effcctcd by vcsscls spccially built for that purpose, and large dépôts for this branch of commerce were esta- blished at varions points of the African coast. The "goods " cost comparatively little in production, and the profits were enormous. Yct, after ail, howevcr indispensable it mîght be to com- plote the foundationof the trans-atlantic colonies, there was nothing to justify this shameful barter of human flesh and blood, and thc voice of philanthropy bcgan to be heard in protestation, calling upon ail European governments, in the name of mercy and common humanity, to decree the aboli- tion of the trade at once. In 1751, the Quakers put themselves at the head of the abolitionist movement in North America, that very land