It was in vain that the colonists of America protested against the practice of slave dealing.  The governors appointed by England were instructed to encourage it, and when the assemblies enacted laws to prohibit the inhuman traffic, they were annulled by the vetoes of the governors.  With such encouragement, the reckless and avaricious among the colonists engaged in the trade, and the slaves were purchased when brought to the colonies by those who were blind to the evil, or preferred present ease or profit to all future good.  Paley, the moralist, thought the American Revolution was designed by Providence, to put an end to the slave trade, and to show that a nation encouraging it was not fit to be intrusted with the government of extensive colonies.  But the planter of the Southern States have discovered, since made free by that revolution, that slavery is no evil; and better moralists than Paley, that the increase of slaves, and their extension over new regions, is the duty of every good democrat.  The men who lived in 1773, to whom America owes her liberty, did not think so.

Although resistance to the English policy of increasing the number of negro slaves in America agitated many minds in the colonies, opposition to the system of taxation was the principal source of action; and this opposition now centered in a determination to baffle the designs of Great Britain in respect to the duties on tea.  Seventeen millions of pounds of tea were now accumulated in the warehouses of the East-India Company.  The government was determined, for reasons I have before given, to assist this mercantile company, as well as the African merchants, at the expense of the colonists of America.  The East-India Company were now authorized to export their tea free of all duty.  Thus the venders being enabled to offer it cheaper than hitherto to the colonists, it was expected that it would find a welcome market.  But the Americans saw the ultimate intent of the whole scheme, and their disgust towards the mother country was proportionably increased.

INDEX.

  Abbott, Granville S., verses by, 111.

  Adams, Abigail, views on slavery, 227.

  Adams, John, views on slavery, 203;
    letter to Jonathan Sewall on emancipation, 207.

  Adams, Samuel, urges the consideration of the memorial of
      Massachusetts Negroes, 234.

  Adgai, see Crowther.

  Africa, described, 14;
    Negro tribes, 24, 25;
    Negro kingdoms, 26, 28, 31;
    natives engage in the slave-trade, 27;
    laws, 30, 56, 57;
    religion, 30, 81-84, 89, 90;
    war between the different tribes, 35-39;
    war with England, 41-43;
    patriarchal government, 50, 54, 55;
    villages described, 51, 52;
    architecture, 51-53;
    women reign in, 55, 56;
    marriage, 57, 58;
    polygamy, 58;
    status of the natives, 58,