Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/14

 I may be ſuppoſed to have gained ſome little knowledge; though, I fear, not ſufficient to give my arguments that force, which better talents and more induſtry would have a right to claim.

I ſhall not expoſe my ignorance by attempting to deſcribe the ſituation of theſe unhappy people, (who are now become the objects of public, or private compaſſion) when living in either a ſtate of eaſe or warfare in their own country; nor dwell upon the methods uſed to decoy or force them from thence; upon the hardſhips they encounter during the voyage; their want of food or exerciſe; the cruelties inflicted upon them, nor their treatment in the harboor, until the day of ſale; as theſe I have only obtained from oral information, and cannot therefore inſiſt upon as an honeſt evidence. What I myſelf have ſeen, I may with candour advance; and I ſhall think myſelf fortunate, if any remarks I may be able to make upon this melancholy ſubject may tend to open the eyes of the planter, and help to convince him, that, in the relative ſituation of maſter and ſlave, humanity is the foundation of intereſt,