LIFE OF MUNGO PARK. 
XXV 
It is a remarkable circumstance, that while the sup- 
posed opinions of Park have always been appealed to by 
the advocates of the Slave Trade, his facts have as con- 
stantly been relied on by their opponents ; and that in the 
various discussions which have taken place upon that 
such an illustration of the influence under which this work was composed, that it 
deserves to be transcribed. After a description of the state of slavery in Africa, 
which the author represents as a sort of necessary evil, deeply rooted in the habits 
and manners of that country (but without in the least alluding to the great aggrava- 
tion of the evil arising from the European Slave Trade), the author concludes his 
remarks as follows : " Such are the general outlines of that system of slavery 
which prevails in Africa ; and it is evident, from its nature and extent, that it 
" is a system of no modern date. It probably had its origin in the remote ages 
" of antiquity, before the Mahomedans explored a passage across the Desert. 
" How far it is maintained and supported by the Slave Traffic which, for two 
'* hundred years, the nations of Europe have carried on with the natives of the 
*' coast, it is neither within my province, nor in my power, to explain. If my 
" sentiments should be required concerning the effect which a discontinuance 
" of that commerce would produce on the manners of the natives, I should have 
" no hesitation in observing, that in the present unenlightened state of their 
" minds, my opinion is, the eiFect would neither be so extensive nor beneficial as 
" many wise and worthy persons fondly expect." (Park's Travels, p. 297.) 
On reading this passage, it is impossible not to be struck both with the opinion 
itself and the manner in which it is expressed. The proposition, literally taken, 
is a mere truism, undeniably just, but of no practical value or importance. For, 
who doubts that the probable good effects of the Abolition may have been over- 
i"ated by men of warm and sanguine benevolence ? Or, who would assert, that 
such exaggerations ought to have any weight in argument, except as inducements 
to greater caution and deliberation ?— But, the evident intention of the passage 
is, to convey a meaning beyond what ** meets the ear"; to produce an impression 
on the reader, independent of any proofs or principles by which his opinion 
ought to be governed ; and to insinuate, what it is not thought proper to assert, 
that the zeal manifested in favour of the Abolition originaled solely in ignorance 
and enthusiasm. 
VOL. II. e 
