A. D. 1788. 141 



attention of parliament to that fubjedl: and it was fuppofed, that Mr. 

 Pitt, the prime minifter, was alfo a friend to the meafure. In confe- 

 quence of thefe favourable appearances, and of the difcuflion which the 

 queflion had undergone throughout the whole country, one hundred 

 and three petitions were prefented to the houfe of commons by the 

 friends of the unfortunate Africans, among whom were the corporation 

 of London, and moft of the other principal corporations and communi- 

 ties in England and Scotland, praying for an abolition of the flave 

 trade *. On the other fide, when the parliament took up the bufinefs, 

 petitions from Liverpool, from London, from the agent for Jamaica, 

 and from a proprietor of a brafs manufadtory, prayed for continuing 

 the trade as it was f , 



February ii'" — The king in council direded the committee of 

 council for trade and plantations to inquire into the flate of that 

 part of Africa whence the flaves are brought, the manner of obtaining 

 them, the tranfportation and fale of them, and the effeds of the flave 

 trade upon the colonies and the general commerce of the kingdom. And 

 the committee, having accordingly made inquiries of every one they 

 could find, acquainted with the circumftances of the flave trade, and 

 having alfo got anfwers from the governors, afl'emblies, &c. in the Wefl- 

 Indies concerning the flate of flavery, and of the produce and trade of 

 the iflands, &c. next year drew up a large report, which they addreflTed 

 to the king. From this copious fource I am enabled to lay before the 

 reader the following authenic information upon thofe interefling fub- 

 jedts J. 



The Negroes are generally defcribed by thofe, who may be prefumed 

 to be moft impartial, as a mild and inoffenfive race§, where they have 

 no intercourfe with Europeans. They have great abundance of rice of 

 a quality fuperior to that of Carolina ||, corn of various kinds, pep- 



* Among thofe petitiofts there was ohe from the 28" of March 1789, yet, as the fafts contain- 



Briftol, though that city, as well as London, is ed in it (excepting one table of imports from the 



one of the three chief feats of the flave trade. Weil-Indieb) are brought no lower than the be- 



f A flave-merchant appeared at the bar of the ginning of the year 1788, this appears to be the 



houfe of lords, with his eyes full of tears, and a proper place for introducing them, 

 countenance fraught with horror, and faid, ♦ My f This charadler of the Negroes has the fupport 



' lords, I am ruined, if you pafs this bill. I have of, apparently, the father or hiftory, l^Sre V. i, f>, 



'■ riflvcd thirty thoufand pounds upon the trade 55J of Leo Africanus, who traveled through a 



' this year. It is all I have been able to gain by great part of Africa about the year ijc6, of Mr. 



' my induftry, and, if I lofe it, I muft go to the Park, who lately e.'iplored the banks of the River 



' hofpital.' — Could this miferable man not em- Niger, and many others. 



ploy his thirty ihevfand poonds in fome more un- {| Several of the gentlemen examined by the 



exceptionable line of bufinefs ? Could he not live committee aflerted, that the African rice was the 



upon fuch a fortune without any bufinefs ? I fay belt they had ever feen. It grows on dry ground, 



TiOthing of the inconfiftency of fuch a man being and is more hearty or fubllaiitial than the fwamp 



confidered as an objeft of compaffion by thofe, rice of America and the Oriental countries. At 



who could fteel their hearts agairift feehng for the Sierra Leona from 700 to 1,000 tuns of it ufed 



niifery brought upon the unoffending Africans by to be purchafed annually for the (hipping and fac- 



Ihis very man in the profecution of the trade, tories at prices varying from 2/ to lo/" a hundred* 



which was the objeft of confideration. weight. 



X Though the Report was not completed till 



S3 



