OUR COMMERCE WITH AFKICA. 373 



blood is spilt, a prize-crew is put on board, and 

 the vessel is sent to Sierra Leone for adjudica- 

 tion. The horrors of this voyage in comparison 

 with the notorious middle passage may be stated 

 thus : according to the resolution above quoted, 

 the loss on the Sierra Leone passage is from 

 one sixth to one half, or from seventeen to fifty 

 per cent. ; and by returns from the British consuls 

 in the Brazils, the loss on 47,258 slaves em- 

 barked in Africa for the Brazils was 3,524, or 

 rather more than eight per cent. 



Comment upon these facts would be super- 

 fluous ; they are conclusive as to the cruelty of 

 the present means employed in what is called put- 

 ting down the slave-trade. On the grounds of 

 humanity alone, then, we are bound either to 

 declare the slave trade piracy, or to legalise it. 

 The guilt of the increased suffering of the un- 

 happy victims consequent on their being stowed 

 in smuggling vessels certainly lies at our door ; 

 and abhorring as I do the slave-trade, and 

 aware as I am of the baneful effects it produces 

 throughout the whole Continent of Africa, I 

 would prefer seeing it legalised rather than the 

 present ineffectual system of prevention should 

 be continued. 



