OUR COMMERCE WITH AFRICA. 371 



fifth resolution of the select committee of the 

 House of Commons on the settlements of Sierra 

 Leone and Fernando Po : — 



" Resolved, That it is the opinion of this com- 

 mittee, that the situation of the Mixed Commis- 

 sion Court at Sierra Leone for the adjudication of 

 captured slaves is highly inconvenient for that 

 purpose, considering that the slaves are captured 

 chiefly at the distance of eight or twelve hundred 

 miles to the eastward, and that as a current con- 

 stantly sets from west to east, the captured ships 

 are sometimes eight or nine weeks, and on an 

 average upwards of five weeks, on their passage 

 from the place of capture to Sierra Leone ; occa- 

 sioning a loss of the captured slaves amounting 

 to from one siMh to one half of the wJwle number y 

 while the survivors are generally landed in a mi- 

 serable state of weakness and debility." 



I have before attempted to show the ingenious 

 method by which the slave-vessel is enticed out 

 . of port : the chase and the capture are but addi- 

 tional proofs of the cruelty of the present system. 

 The slaver is descried from the mast-head, and 

 the cruiser makes all sail in chase. If she is near 

 the port she has left, she tries to regain it, pitch- 

 ing the slaves overboard in their fetters to es- 



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