But if the African kings could be capable of such injustice, what vices are there, that their consciences would restrain, or what enormities, that we might not expect to be committed?  When men once consent to be unjust, they lose, at the same instant with their virtue, a considerable portion of that sense of shame, which, till then, had been found a successful protector against the sallies of vice.  From that awful period, almost every expectation is forlorn:  the heart is left unguarded:  its great protector is no more:  the vices therefore, which so long encompassed it in vain, obtain an easy victory:  in crouds they pour into the defenceless avenues, and take possession of the soul:  there is nothing now too vile for them to meditate, too impious to perform.  Such was the situation of the despotick sovereigns of Africa.  They had once ventured to pass the bounds of virtue, and they soon proceeded to enormity.  This was particularly conspicuous in that general conduct, which they uniformly observed, after any unsuccessful conflict.  Influenced only by the venal motives of European traffick, they first made war upon the neighbouring tribes, contrary to every principle of justice; and if, by the flight of the enemy, or by other contingencies, they were disappointed of their prey, they made no hesitation of immediately turning their arms against their own subjects.  The first villages they came to, were always marked on this occasion, as the first objects of their avarice.  They were immediately surrounded, were afterwards set on fire, and the wretched inhabitants seized, as they were escaping from the flames.  These, consisting of whole families, fathers, brothers, husbands, wives, and children, were instantly driven in chains to the merchants, and consigned to slavery.

To these calamities, which thus arose from the tyranny of the kings, we may now subjoin those, which arose from the avarice of private persons.  Many were kidnapped by their own countrymen, who, encouraged by the merchants of Europe, previously lay in wait for them, and sold them afterwards for slaves; while the seamen of the different ships, by every possible artifice, enticed others on board, and transported them to the regions of servitude.

As these practices are in full force at the present day, it appears that there are four orders of involuntary slaves on the African continent; of [033]_convicts_; of prisoners of war; of those, who are publickly seized by virtue of the authority of their prince; and of those, who are privately kidnapped by individuals.

It remains only to observe on this head, that in the sale and purchase of these the African commerce or Slave Trade consists; that they are delivered to the merchants of Europe in exchange for their various commodities; that these transport them to their colonies in the west, where their slavery takes place; and that a fifth order arises there, composed of all such as are born to the native Africans, after their transportation and slavery have commenced.