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Clarkson, Thomas, 1760-1846

"The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839)"


3. That the trade so carried on, had necessarily a tendency to occasion
frequent and cruel wars among the natives; to produce unjust convictions
and punishments for pretended or aggravated crimes; to encourage acts of
oppression, violence, and fraud, and to obstruct the natural course of
civilization and improvement in those countries!
4. That Africa in its present state furnished several valuable articles
of commerce, which were partly peculiar to itself, but that it was
adapted to the production of others, with which we were now either
wholly or in great part supplied by foreign nations. That an extensive
commerce with Africa might be substituted in these commodities, so as to
afford a return for as many articles as had annually been carried
thither in British vessels: and, lastly, that such a commerce might
reasonably be expected to increase, by the progress of civilization
there.
5. That the Slave Trade was peculiarly destructive to the seamen
employed in it; and that the mortality there had been much greater than
in any British vessels employed upon the same coast in any other service
or trade.
6. That the mode of transporting the slaves from Africa to the West
Indies necessarily exposed them to many and grievous sufferings, for
which no regulations could provide an adequate remedy; and that in
consequence thereof a large proportion had annually perished during the
voyage.


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