The second mode was kidnapping. He referred the House to various
instances of this in the evidence: but there was one in particular, from
which we might immediately infer the frequency of the practice. A black
trader had kidnapped a girl and sold her; but he was presently
afterwards kidnapped and sold himself; and, when he asked the captain
who bought him, "What! do you buy me, who am a great trader?" the only
answer was, "Yes, I will buy you, or her, or anybody else, provided any
one will sell you;" and accordingly both the trader and the girl were
carried to the West Indies, and sold for slaves.
The third mode of obtaining slaves was by crimes committed or imputed.
One of these was adultery. But was Africa the place, where Englishmen,
above all others, were to go to find out and punish adultery? Did it
become us to cast the first stone? It was a most extraordinary
pilgrimage for a most extraordinary purpose! And yet upon this plea we
justified our right of carrying off its inhabitants. The offence alleged
next was witchcraft. What a reproach it was to lend ourselves to this
superstition!--Yes: we stood by; we heard the trial; we knew the crime
to be impossible; and that the accused must be innocent: but we waited
in patient silence for his condemnation; and then we lent our friendly
aid to the police of the country, by buying the wretched convict, with
all his family; whom, for the benefit of Africa, we carried away also
into perpetual slavery.
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