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CHAPTER III.

 

EFFECT OF THE SLAVE TRADE UPON AFRICA.

isaiah Xlii. 22. But This Is A People Robbed And Spoiled; They Are All Of Them Snared In Holes, And They Are Hid In Prison Houses, They Are For A Prey, And None Delivereth, For A Spoil, And None Saith, Restore.

 

In forming an estimate of the evils of the slave trade, its disastrous influence upon Africa itself has not been, in this country, duly considered.

While it has been the duty of Christian nations to give to the benighted inhabitants on that continent the gospel, and its blessed, civil, social, and domestic institutions, they have, instead, entailed upon them a series of the worst evils and calamities that can afflict mankind.

Besides the sufferings, and fearful waste of human life, to which we have referred, the slave trade has stood for centuries as a barrier to the moral and social improvement of the people. It has shut out the light of knowledge, the refining and elevating influences of civilization, and the precious truths and glorious hopes of Christianity. It has paralyzed industry, discouraged agriculture, prevented the establishment of commercial relations