I sent messages to them by different persons. I met them in
all ways. I stated to them, that if there was nothing objectionable in
the trade, seeing it laboured under such a stigma, they had an
opportunity of coming forward and of wiping away the stain. If, on the
other hand, it was as bad as represented, then they had it in their
power, by detailing the crimes which attached to it, of making some
reparation or atonement, for the part they had taken in it. But no
representations would do. All intercourse was positively forbidden
between us; and whenever they met me in the street, they shunned me as
if I had been a mad dog. I could not for some time account, for the
strange disposition which they thus manifested towards me; but my
friends helped me to unravel it, for I was assured that one or two of
them, though they went no longer to Africa as captains, were in part
owners of vessels trading there; and, with respect to all of them, it
might be generally said, that they had been guilty of such enormities,
that they would be afraid of coming forward in the way I proposed, lest
any thing should come out by which they might criminate themselves. I
was obliged then to give up all hope of getting any evidence from this
quarter, and I saw but little prospect of getting it from those, who
were then actually deriving their livelihood from the trade: and yet I
was determined to persevere; for I thought that some might be found in
it who were not yet so hardened as to be incapable of being awakened on
this subject.
Pages:
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329