Page:The African Slave Trade (Clark).djvu/43

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A DARK CATALOGUE.
39

immortal spirits hurried into the eternal world, by the hands of a boy under eighteen years of age, and he only one of a large member engaged in the same dreadful employment!"

Similar instances of superstition and cruelty are related by the Rev. George Chapman, writing from Coomassie, under date of January 2d, 1844, the Rev. Henry Wharton, another Wesleyan missionary, stationed in Ashantee, in 1846-7, and by the missionaries sent out by other denominations of Christians.

But I need not add to this dark catalogue of revolting crimes. Enough has been said to give a faint idea of the degraded condition of millions of our fellow-men upon the continent of Africa. For more extended accounts, in addition to the works already alluded to, I would refer the reader to the writings of Mungo Park, Bosman, Bowdich, Gray, Landers, and to the letters and journals of our missionaries.

The facts that we have stated are but specimens of the multitudes on record, many of which are more revolting than those which we have adduced.

Gladly would we avoid even an allusion that would excite a painful emotion, but the evils of this accursed trade, and its blighting influence on Africa, ought to be considered, particularly at the present time, by every American citizen. And, notwithstanding all that has been written, the half of the horrors of the system has not been told. There is