Page:Newton's Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade.pdf/14

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AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE
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die abroad; and if they are not all Seamen, they are all our brethren and countrymen, subjects of the British Government.

The people who remain, on ship-board, upon the open coast, if not accustomed to the climate, are liable to the attack of an inflammatory fever, which is not often fatal, unless the concurrence of unfavourable circumstances makes it so. When this danger is over, I think they might, probably, be as healthy as in most other voyages; provided, they could be kept from sleeping in the dews, from being much exposed to the rain, from the intemperate use of spirits, and especially from women.

But, considering the general disposition of our Sailors, and the nature of the Slave Trade, these provisos are of little more significance, than if I should say, upon another occasion, that Great-Britain would be a happy country, provided, all the inhabitants were Wise, and Good. The Sailors must be much exposed to the weather; especially on the Windward Coast, where a great part of the cargo is procured by boats, which are often sent to the distance of thirty or forty leagues, and are sometimes a month before they return. Many vessels arrive upon the coast before the rainy

season,