[2] The American standard, at the commencement of those hostilities which terminated in the revolution, had these words upon it——An Appeal to Heaven!
[3] The Author here takes the liberty of making his acknowledgments to the reverend Jeremiah Belknap, D. D. of Boston, and to Zephaniah Swift, Esq. representative in congress from Connecticut, for their obliging communications; he hath occasionally made use of them in several parts of this Lecture, where he may have omitted referring to them.
[4] Dr. Belknap's answers to St. G. T.'s queries.
[5] Letter from Zephaniah Swift to St. G. T.
[6] The Constitution of Virginia, art. 7. declares, that the right of suffrage shall remain as then exercised: the act of 1723, c. 4 (edit. 1733,), sect. 23, declared, that no Negroe, mulattoe, or Indian, shall have any vote at the election of burgesses, or any other election whatsoever.—This act, it is presumed, was in force at the adoption of the constitution.—The act of 1785, c. 55 (edit. of 1794, c. 17,), also expressly excludes them from the right of suffrage.
[7] These arguments are, in fact, borrowed from the Spirit of Laws.
[8] "About the same time (the reign of queen Elizabeth) a traffic in the human species, called Negroes, was introduced into England, which is one of the most odious and unnatural branches of trade the sordid and avaricious mind of mortals ever invented.—It had been carried on before this period by Genoese traders, who bought a patent from Charles the fifth, containing an exclusive right of carrying Negroes from the Portuguese settlements in Africa, to America and the West Indies; but the English nation had not yet engaged in the iniquitous traffic.—One William Hawkins, an expert English seaman, having made several voyages to the coast of Guinea, and from thence to Brazil and the West Indies, had acquired considerable knowledge of the countries. At his death he left his journals with his son, John Hawkins, in which he described the lands of America and the West Indies as exceedingly rich and fertile, but utterly neglected for want of hands to improve them. He represented the natives of Europe as unequal to the task in such a scorching climate; but those of Africa as well adapted to undergo the labours requisite. Upon which John Hawkins immediately formed a design of transporting Africans into the western world; and having drawn a plan for the execution of it, he laid it before some of his opulent neighbours for encouragement and approbation. To them it appeared promising and advantageous. A subscription was opened and speedily filled up, by Sir Lionel Ducket, Sir Thomas Lodge, Sir William Winter, and others, who plainly perceived the vast profits that would result from such a trade. Accordingly three ships were fitted out, and manned by an hundred select sailors, whom Hawkins encouraged to go with him by promises of good treatment and great pay. In the year 1562 he set sail for Africa, and in a few weeks arrived at the country called Sierra Leona, where he began his commerce with the Negroes. While he trafficked with them, he found the means of giving them a charming description of the country to which he was bound; the unsuspicious Africans listened to him with apparent joy and satisfaction, and seemed remarkably fond of his European trinkets, food, and clothes. He pointed out to them the barrenness of the country, and their naked and wretched condition, and promised if any of them were weary of their miserable circumstances, and would go along with him, he would carry them to a plentiful land, where they should live happy, and receive an abundant recompence for their labours. He told them the country was inhabited by such men as himself and his jovial companions, and assured them of kind usage and great friendship. In short, the Negroes were overcome by his flattering promises, and three hundred stout fellows accepted his offer, and consented to embark along with him. Every thing being settled on the most amicable terms between them, Hawkins made preparations for his voyage. But in the night before his departure his Negroes were attacked by a large body from a different quarter; Hawkins, being alarmed with the shrieks and cries of dying persons, ordered his men to the assistance of his slaves, and having surrounded the assailants, carried a number of them on board as prisoners of war. The next day he set sail for Hispaniola with his cargo of human creatures; but during the passage, he treated the prisoners of war in a different manner from his volunteers. Upon his arrival he disposed of his cargo to great advantage; and endeavoured to inculcate on the Spaniards who bought the negroes the same distinction to be observed: but they having purchased all at the same rate, considered them as slaves of the same condition, and consequently treated all alike."
Hawkins having returned to England, soon after made preparations for a second voyage. "In his passage he fell in with the Minion man of war, which accompanied him to the Coast of Africa. After his arrival he began as formerly to traffic with the Negroes, endeavouring by persuasions and prospects of reward, to induce them to go along with him—but now they were more reserved and jealous of his designs, and as none of their neighbours had returned, they were apprehensive he had killed and eat them. The crew of the man of war observing the Africans backward and suspicious, began to laugh at his gentle and dilatory methods of proceeding, and proposed having immediate recourse to force and compulsion—but Hawkins considered it as cruel and unjust, and tried by persuasions, promises and threats, to prevail on them to desist from a purpose so unwarrantable and barbarous. In vain did he urge his authority and instructions from the Queen: the bold and headstrong sailors would hear of no restraints. Drunkenness and avarice are deaf to the voice of humanity. They pursue their violent design, and, after several unsuccessful attacks, in which many of them lost their lives, the cargo was at length compleated by barbarity and force.
"Hence arose that horrid and inhuman practice of dragging Africans into slavery, which has since been so pursued, in defiance of every principle of justice and religion. Had Negroes been brought from the flames, to which in some countries they were devoted on their falling prisoners of war, and in others, sacrificed at the funeral obsequies of the great and powerful among themselves; in short had they by this traffic been delivered from torture or death, European merchants might have some excuse to plead in its vindication. But according to the common mode in which it has been conducted, we must confess it a difficult matter to conceive a single argument in its defence. And though policy has given countenance and sanction to the trade, yet every candid and impartial man must confess, that it is atrocious and unjustifiable in every light in which it can be viewed, and turns merchants into a band of robbers, and trade into atrocious acts of fraud and violence." Historical Account of South-Carolina and Georgia. Anonymous. London printed in 1779—page 20, &c.
"The number of Negroe slaves bartered for in one year (viz. 1768), on the Coast of Africa from Cape Blanco, to Rio Congo, amounted to 104,000 souls, whereof more than half (viz. 53,000) were shipped on account of British merchants, and 6,300 on the account of British Americans." The Law of Retribution by Granville Sharpe, Esq. page 147. note.