Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/227

, took a different shape and color. Captain Knox, an adverse witness, had maintained that slaves lay during the night in tolerable comfort. And yet he confessed that in a vessel of one hundred and twenty tons, in which he had carried two hundred and ninety slaves, the latter had not all of them room to lie on their backs. How comfortably, then, must they have lain in his subsequent voyages, for he carried afterwards, in a vessel of one hundred and eight tons, four hundred and fifty, and in a vessel of one hundred and fifty tons, no less than six hundred slaves. Another instance of African deception was to be found in the testimony of Captain Frazer, one of the most humane captains in the trade. It had been said of him that he had held hot coals to the mouth of a slave to compel him to eat.

But upon whom did the cruelties thus arising out of the prosecution of this barbarous traffic fall? Upon a people with feeling and intellect like ourselves. One witness had spoken of the acuteness of their understanding; another of the extent of their memories; a third of their genius for commerce; a fourth of their proficiency in manufactures at home. Many had admired their gentle and peaceable disposition, their cheerfulness, and their hospitality. Even they, who were nominally slaves in Africa, lived a happy life. A witness against the abolition had described them as sitting and eating with their masters in the true style of patriarchal simplicity and comfort. Were these, then, a people incapable of civilization? The argument that they were an inferior species had been proved to be false.

Mr. Wilberforce, after showing in a very lucid manner, and by incontestable arguments, that the abolition of the trade in question, instead of being an injury, would be a lasting benefit to the West India islands, concluded by declaring that, interested as he might be supposed to be in the final event of the question, he was comparatively indifferent as to the present decision of the house upon it. Whatever they might do, the people of Great Britain, he was confident, would abolish the slave-trade when, as would soon happen, its injustice and cruelty should be fairly laid before them. It was a nest of serpents, which would never have existed so long, but for the darkness in which they lay hid. The light of day would now be let in on them, and they would vanish from the sight. For himself, he declared that he was engaged in a work which he would never abandon. The consciousness of the justice of his cause would carry him forward, though he were alone; but he could not but derive encouragement from considering with whom he was associated. Let us not, he said, despair. It is a blessed cause; and success ere long will crown our exertions. Already we have gained one victory. We have obtained for these poor creatures the recognition of their human nature, which for a while was most shamefully denied them. This is the first fruit of our efforts. Let us persevere, and our triumph will be complete. Never, never will we [sic]disist till we have wiped away this scandal from the Christian name; till we have released ourselves from the load of guilt under which we at present labor; and till we have extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic, which our posterity, looking back to the