1800.] 
From the ninth chapter of this book, 
it appears (ver. 1—-6), that on the 13th 
Adar the Jews, by order of the King of 
Perfia, gathered together in the cities 
throughout all the provinces of the em- 
pire, to lay hands on fuch as fought their 
hurt; that no man could withftand t»em, 
as all the rulers of the provinces, the lieu- 
tenants, deputies, and officers of the king, 
helped the Jews; that the Jews /iote all 
their enemies with the ftroke of the fword, 
and flaughter and defiruction ; and that in 
Shufhan alone the Jews flew and dejtroyed 
five hundred men. This teftival then was 
the annual commemoration of fome exten- 
five maflgcre patronized by the fovereign 
of Perfia. 
Uther fuppofes that this Perfian fove- 
reign, this Ahafuerus, was Darius the 
fon of Hyftafpes ; which is the more pro- 
bable, as Darius in fact divorced his firft 
wife, the daughter of Gobryas (Herodot. 
Polymnia, 2), in favour of Aroffa or Ha- 
daffah, the daughter of Cyrus, and the 
mother of Xerxes, to whom perhaps Eft- 
her (ii. v. 7), was narfe or handmaid. 
Now Darius alone, of all the Perfian kings, 
was, in faét, the author of a very exten- 
five maffacre (Thalia 79), and folemaly or- 
dained its yearly celebration*. 
The Jews in this very occafion were on 
the fide of power. Arioch, chieftain (Ju- 
dith i. 6) of the Elamites, a Jewith clan 
(Nehemiah vii. 12), was intrufted with the 
execution of this fevere meafure (Daniel 
ii. 14 and 15), and is known to have been 
on courteous terms with Daniel, and to 
have concerted with him (v. 24) various 
exemptions from the profcriptions The 
Jews therefore were confulted and em- 
ployed by Darius, and the other authors 
of the carnage. The idolatrous prieft- 
hood, often called Chaldeans (Daniel ii, 
10, and Herodot. Clio, 181), but fome- 
times Mages, who-had encouraged the Ba- 
bylonians to fupport the claims firft of 
Smerdis, then of fome younger defcendant 

? 
* Darius I. is called Ahafuerus alfo in Ezra 
{iv. 6), by a patronymic (Daniel ix. 1) me- 
tonomy. So Haman is marfhalled (Efther i. 
14), by the name Amadath or Admatha, 
which was (iii. 1) his father’s name. The 
Intaphernes of Grecian is probably the Ha- 
man of the Jewifh hiftory. Early in the 
. reign of Darius, and under a pretext of vio- 
lating the king’s domeftic privacy, Inta- 
phernes, with all his fons, were put to 
death (Herodot. Thalia 118 and 119). Thefe 
very circumitances are related of Eiaman (Eft- 
her vii. 8. and ix, 25.) 
On the Slave Trade. 315 
of Cyrus, in oppofition to Darius, were the 
chief fufferers; as the Perfian hiftorians 
afcribe an univerfal perfecution of this 
prieftty Order under Darius (Univerfal 
Hiftory, v. 399), to the influence of Zer- 
dufht and his feét, with whofe opinions 
thofe of the Jews were evidently in a na- 
tural alliance. The quarrels of the fire- 
worfhippers and idolaters in Perfia clofely 
refembled thofe of the Monotheifis and 
Polytheifts under the,kings of Ifrael and 
Judah. 
The Mageophonia, therefore, (for fo He- 
rodotus calls this deed of blood), is the 
event commemorated by the Jews in their 
yearly feaft of Purim. 
a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine, . 
SIR, 
Y inferting the following remarks on 
B the Slave-trade, in your valuable 
Magazine, you will much oblige 
Your humble fervant, 
York, March, 1800. C. CappE, 

READING lately the DUKE DE Lian- 
courRT’s Travels in America, I was 
much ftruck with the following account of 
a tranfaction to which he was an eye-wit- 
nefs, in the year 1796, in South Carolina. 
‘< In our journey,”’ he fays, ‘‘ we meta 
drove of negroes (you cannot ufe a more 
proper term), who were fent from Cam- 
bridge to the market of Charleftown. 
Their mafter, an advocate of Cambridge, 
one of the diftriéts of the ftate, has relin- 
quifhed his plantation to employ his money 
in fome other branch of bufinefs. Planters 
of {mall fortunes do this very often, and, 
from the high price of negroes, it is at 
prefent done more frequently-than at 
other times. ‘They were about one hun- 
dred in number, men, women, and chil- 
dren. The fale of the hufband is not ne- 
ceflarily connected with that of the wife, 
nor is the purchafer of the mother obliged 
to buy the child fucking at her breatt. 
The advantage of the buyer is the only 
binding law.”” Vol. i. p. 592. 
Now, Mr, Editor, for argument’s fake, 
I would admit, what the advocates for 
this traffic alledge, that the accounts of 
the cruelties exercifed on thefe people have 
been much exaggerated: that not only the 
‘planters, but their overfeers, and laft of 
alf, as they are emphatically ftyled, the 
flave-drivers, are all of them bound by 
intereft, if not by humanity, to allowthem _ 
fufficient food, not to beat unmercifully, 
or maim, or killa negro, at leaft, while he 
is able to work; admitting, I fay, all 
Sf{-2 this 






