xxiv 
ADDENDA. 
Slave Trade must have forced itself in a very particular manner on his 
attention; namely, his stay of several months at Pisania, then a con- 
siderable factory of slaves ; his long residence with his friend Karfa Taura, 
a slave merchant; and his laborious and painful journey with the caravan 
of slaves from Kamalia to the coast. Yet no mention occurs in these 
Travels of any inquiries made or information collected with regard to the 
nature or effects of the commerce in question ; nor is this important topic 
once alluded to except in a single passage, which apparently had no other 
object than to damp the ardour, and discourage the efforts, of the friends 
of the Abolition. 
The writer would have consulted his own ease, and acted more conformably 
to those rules of prudence which have been too often practised by writers 
of biography, had he avoided the mention of this topic. But he had under- 
taken to write Mr. Park's Life, not to compose his Panegyric. In performing 
this duty he conceived himself bound to exhibit, as far as was in his power, a 
just and perfect delineation of his character and conduct ; and he would have 
violated this obligation by the suppression of any important truth. Many 
obvious considerations might have deterred him from alluding to the only 
incident in Mr. Park's life, which casts the slightest shade over the amiable 
and excellent character of that distinguished traveller. But the general 
impression which the publication of his Travels produced during the discus- 
sions on the Slave Trade, and the reports, then prevalent, as to Mr. Edwards's 
share in that Publication, are facts, which no person acquainted with the 
history of those times will deny to be true; and, in the judgment of the 
editor, they were important.* A fair and candid statement of the circumstances 
attending the composition of that Work, was due to the public, and indeed to 
Mr. Park himself; against whom it is well known that strong prejudices have 
existed in the minds of a numerous class of individuals who are warmly 
attached to the cause of the Abolition. The editor entertained some hopes 
that, by placing this transaction in a just point of view, and shewing in what 
degree Mr. Park's conduct naturally arose out of the peculiar circumstances of 
• That the question relating to Mr. Edwards's concern in the publication of these Travels 
•was thought of importance by Mr. Park's family, isapparent from theirtransmittingto the 
editor, among the papers which were to serve as materiaisfor the Memoir, the Correspond- 
ence with Sir William Young, together with an examination of this question by Park's 
hrother in-law, Mr. Buchanan. 
