to beget apprehensions in the most thoughtful of those
people, that we look upon them as a lower race, not
worthy of the same care, nor liable to the same rewards
and punishments as ourselves. Nevertheless it
may with truth be said, that both amongst those who
have obtained their freedom, and those who remain
in servitude, some have manifested a strong sagacity
and an exemplary uprightness of heart. If this
hath not been generally the case with them, is it
a matter of surprize? Have we not reason to make
the same complaint of many white servants, when discharged
from our service, though many of them have had much
greater opportunities of knowledge and improvement
than the blacks; who, even when free, labour under
the same difficulties as before: having but little
access to, and intercourse with, the most reputable
white people, they remain confined within their former
limits of conversation. And if they seldom complain
of the unjust and cruel usage they have received,
in being forced from their native country, &c. it is
not to be wondered at; it being a considerable time
after their arrival amongst us, before they can speak
our language; and, by the time they are able to express
themselves, they have great reason to believe, that
little or no notice would be taken of their complaints:
yet let any person enquire of those who were capable
of reflection, before they were brought from their
native land, and he will hear such affecting relations,
as, if not lost to the common feelings of humanity,
will sensibly affect his heart. The case of a
poor Negroe, not long since brought from Guinea, is
a recent instance of this kind. From his first
arrival, he appeared thoughtful and dejected, frequently
dropping tears when taking notice of his master’s
children, the cause of which was not known till he
was able to speak English, when the account he gave
of himself was, “That he had a wife and children
in his own country; that some of these being sick and
thirsty, he went in the night time, to fetch water
at a spring, where he was violently seized and carried
away by persons who lay in wait to catch men, from
whence he was transported to America. The remembrance
of his family, friends, and other connections, left
behind, which he never expected to see any more, were
the principal cause of his dejection and grief.”
Many cases, equally affecting, might be here mentioned;
but one more instance, which fell under the notice
of a person of credit, will suffice. One of these
wretched creatures, then about 50 years of age, informed
him, “That being violently torn from a wife and
several children in Guinea, he was sold in Jamaica,
where never expecting to see his native land or family
any more, he joined himself to a Negroe woman, by
whom he had two children: after some years, it
suiting the interest of his owner to remove him, he
was separated from his second wife and children, and
brought to South Carolina, where, expecting to spend
the remainder of his days, he engaged with a third