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of the miserable Negroes; and allowed, with impunity, thus to destroy, may I not say, murder their fellow creatures by means so cruel as cannot be even related but with shame and horror.
When the vessels arrive at their destined port in the Colonies, the poor Negroes are to be disposed of to the planters, and here they are again exposed naked, without any distinction of sexes, to the brutal examination of their purchasers; and this, it may well be judged is to many of them another occasion of deep distress, especially to the females: Add to this, that near connections must now again be separated, to go with their several purchasers: In this melancholy scene mothers are seen hanging over their daughters, bedewing their naked breasts with tears, and daughters clinging to their parents; not knowing what new stage of distress must follow their separation; or if ever they shall meet again; and here what sympathy, what commiseration are they to expect; why indeed, if they will not separate as readily as their owners think proper, the whipper is called for, and the lash exercised upon their naked bodies, till obliged to part.
Can any human heart, that retains a fellow-feeling for the sufferings of mankind, be unconcerned at relations of such grievous affliction, to which this oppressed part of our species are subjected: God gave to man dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, &c. but imposed no involuntary subjection of one man to another.
The truth of this position, has of late been clearly set forth by persons of reputation and ability, particularly George Wallis, in his System of the Laws of Scotland, whose sentiments are so worthy the notice of all considerate persons, that I shall here repeat a part of what
he
