Page:Remarks upon the Situation of Negroes in Jamaica.pdf/21

 occaſions, to thoſe who have been purchaſed from the ſame cargo, and whom they emphatically diſtinguiſh by the appellation of ſhip-mates. A perſon of the ſame country to ſpeak the language, explain the nature of their expected ſervice, and how they are to act to avoid puniſhment, and extort indulgence, ſhould conſtantly attend theſe private ſales, (for public ones I have already reprobated, and given my reaſons) that they may not enter with diſtruſt into their new condition; and this idea ſeems to be no leſs founded upon juſtice than policy.

I could wiſh that every Guinea factor, every planter, every purchaſer of a ſlave, would ſeriouſly reflect upon his natural ſituation, and that he would not aſſume conſequence from power, nor oppreſſion from the means of diſtreſs: that every man who willingly, or is obliged through neceſſity to become an exile from his paternal ſoil, and who foregoes the conſtitutional birth-right of freedom, to ſink into a purchaſed ſlave would only reflect