Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/246

236 ON THE SLAVE TRADE.

EADING in the newſpapers the ſpeech of Mr. Jackſon in congreſs, againſt meddling with the affair of ſlavery, or attempting to mend the condition of ſlaves, it put me in mind of a ſimilar ſpeech, made about one hundred years ſince, by Sidi Mehemet Ibrahim, a member of the Divan of Algiers, which may be ſeen in Martin's account of his conſulſhip, 1687. It was againſt granting the petition of the ſect called Erika, or Puriſts, who prayed for the abolition of piracy and ſlavery as being unjuſt.—Mr. Jackſon does not quote it; perhaps he has not een it. If, therefore, ſome of its reaſonings are to be found in his eloquent ſpeech, it may only ſhew that men's intereſts operate, and are operated on, with ſurpriſing ſimilarity, in all countries and climates, whenever they are under ſimilar circumſtances. The African ſpeech, as tranſlated, is as follows: "Alla Biſmillah, &c. God is great, and Mahomet is his prophet.

"Have theſe Erika conſidered the conſequences of granting their petition? If we ceaſe our cruiſes againſt the Chriſtians, how ſhall we be furniſhed with the commodities their countries produce, and which are ſo neceſſary for us? If we forbear to make ſlaves of their people, who, in this hot climate, are to cultivate our lands? Who are to perform the common labours of our city, and of our families? Muſt we not then be our own ſlaves? And is there not more compaſſion and more favour due to us Muſſulmen, than to thoſe Chriſtian dogs?—We have now above fifty thouſand ſlaves in and near Algiers. This