39 
are conducted with a spirit of ferocity and revenge 
unknown before # ; for such is the horrible nature of 
the slave-trade, that wherever its operations extend, 
there is not a valuable quality in the human heart 
which it does not destroy or debase,—nor is there 
* We have no desire to conceal the fact, that slavery existed 
previously on the island. The prisoners taken in battle were 
generally detained in that capacity ; but the treatment they met 
with was mild; and in some of the provinces it was usual to 
adopt them into the family of the master, and no difference of 
treatment was made between them and the other branches of it. In 
other cases, many circumstances operated to enforce lenient con¬ 
duct towards the slaves. The conviction that the fortune of war 
might possibly (and in point of fact it often did) place the owner 
of a slave in a state of captivity himself, acted as a principle of 
self-love, and insured to that slave such treatment, as he him¬ 
self would expect, should he unfortunately fall into the hands of 
his enemies: and besides, from the continual intermarriages 
between the different tribes, it frequently happened, that a slave 
could find near relations even amongst his master’s friends, who 
would not fail to interfere, in case he were ill-treated. The 
hope also of returning to his province, either by escape, re-cap¬ 
ture, or exchange, all of which frequently took place, softened 
the rigour of the servitude, and rendered it supportable. 
But not so the slave-trade. A slave-ship or plantation is a 
“ bourne from whence no traveller returns”—a bottomless pit, 
where hope never comes—a vortex that has swallowed up myri¬ 
ads of victims; and, we fear, will continue to do so, till civilized 
Europe has learned the first principles of justice and humanity ! 
Every feeling mind must rejoice to hear that the enlightened 
(though swarthy) monarch of Madagascar has determined upon 
the entire abolition of the trade throughout the island. Let 
Frenchmen blush to find those they call savages more open to 
conviction, and more ready in the acknowledgment of the claims 
of humanity, than themselves. 
