Admiral Sir George Collier, in his report to the lords of admirality, dated September 6, 1820, stated, that "in the last twelve months not less than 60,000 Africans have been forced from their country, principally under the colors of France; most of whom have been distributed between the islands of Martinique, Guadaloupe, and Cuba. The confidence under which vessels navigate, bearing the French flag, has become so great, that I saw at Havana, in July last, no fewer than forty vessels fitting avowedly for the slave-trade, protected equally by the flags and papers of France and Spain. France has certainly issued her decrees against this traffic; but she has done nothing to enforce them. On the contrary, she gives to the trade all countenance short of public avowal.

"On this distressing subject, so revolting to every well regulated mind, I will add, that such is the merciless treatment of the slaves, by the persons engaged in the traffic, that no fancy can picture the horror of the voyage. Crowded together so as not to give the power to move; linked one to the other by the leg, never unfettered while life remains, or till the iron shall have fretted the flesh almost to the bone, forced under a deck, as I have seen them, not thirty inches in height; breathing an atmosphere the most putrid and pestilential possible; with little food, and less water; subject also to the most severe punishment at the caprice or fancy of the brute who may command the vessel; it is to me a matter of extreme wonder that any of these miserable people live the voyage through; many of them, indeed, perish on the passage, and those who remain to meet the shore, present a picture of wretchedness language cannot express."

The following singular and distressing circumstance occurred about the same time: The ship Le Rodeur, of 200 tons burthen, left Havre the 24th of January, 1819, for the coast of Africa, and reached her destination on the 14th of March following, anchoring at Bonny, on the river Calabar. The crew, consisting of twenty-two men, enjoyed good health during the outward voyage, and during their stay at Bonny, where they continued till the 6th of April. They had observed no trace of ophthalmia among the natives; and it was not until fifteen days after they had set sail on the return voyage, and the vessel was near the equator, that they perceived the first symptoms of this frightful malady. It was then remarked that the negroes, who, to the number of one hundred and sixty, were crowded together in the hold and between the decks, had contracted a considerable redness of the eyes, which spread with singular rapidity. No great attention was at first paid to these symptoms, which were thought to be caused only by the want of air in the hold, and by the scarcity of water which had already begun to be felt. At this time they were limited to eight ounces of water a day for each person, which quantity was afterwards reduced to the half of a wine glass. By the advice of M. Maignan, the surgeon of the ship, the negroes, who had hitherto remained shut up in the hold, were brought upon deck in succession, in order that they might breathe a purer air. But it became necessary to abandon this expedient, salutary as it

was, because many of those negroes, affected with nostalgia, threw themselves into the sea, locked in each others arms.

The disease which had spread itself so rapidly and frightfully among the Africans, soon began to infect all on board, and to create alarms for the crew. The danger of infection, and perhaps the cause which produced the disease, were increased by a violent dysentery, attributed to the use of rain water. The first of the crew who caught the infection was a sailor who slept under the deck, near the grated hatch which communicated with the hold. The next day a landsman was seized with ophthalmia; and, in three days more the captain and almost the whole crew were infected by it.

The sufferings of the people and the number of the blind augmented every day, so that the crew-previously alarmed by the apprehension of a revolt among the negroes were seized with the further dread of not being able to make the West Indies, if the only sailor who had hitherto escaped the contagion, and on whom their whole hope rested, should become blind like the rest. This calamity had actually befallen the Leon, a Spanish slaver which the Rodeur met with on her passage, and the whole of whose crew, having become blind, were under the necessity of altogether abandoning the direction of their ship. They entreated the charitable interference of the Rodeur; but the seamen of this vessel could not either quit her to go on board the Leon, on account of the cargo of negroes, nor receive the crew in the Rodeur, in which there were scarcely room for themselves. The difficulty of taking care of so large a number of sick in so confined a space, and the total want of fresh meat and of medicines, made them envy the fate of those who were about to become the victims of a death which seemed to them inevitable, and the consternation was general.

The Rodeur reached Gaudaloupe on the 21st of June, 1819, her crew being in a most deplorable condition. Three days after her arrival, the only man who, during the voyage, had withstood the influence of the contagion, and whom Providence appeared to have preserved as a guide to his unfortunate companions, was seized with the same malady. Of the negroes, thirty-nine had become perfectly blind, twelve had lost an eye, and fourteen were affected with blemishes more or less considerable. Of the crew, twelve lost their sight entirely, among whom was the surgeon; five become blind of one eye, one of them being the captain, and four were partially injured.

Such were the miseries of this voyage of iniquity, but the atrocities of it even transcended its miseries. It is stated among other things, that the captain caused several of the negroes who were prevented in the attempt to throw themselves overboard to be shot and hanged in the hope that the example might deter the rest from a similar conduct. But even this severity proved unavailing, and it became necessary to confine the slaves entirely to the hold during the remainder of the voyage. It is further stated, that upwards of thirty of the slaves who became blind were thrown into the sea and drowned upon the principle that had they been landed at Guadaloupe no one would have bought them, and that the proprietors would consequently have incurred

the expense of maintaining them without the chance of any return; while by throwing them overboard not only was this certain loss avoided, but ground was also laid for a claim on the underwriters by whom the cargo had been insured, and who are said to have allowed the claim and made good the value of the slaves thus destroyed.

In the memorial of the colonization society presented to congress in 1822, it was stated that official documents had been presented to government, from which it appeared that in 1821, two hundred thousand had been carried away from the coast of Africa.

The African institution reported that in 1822, 28,246 slaves were imported into Rio de Janeiro alone from the coast. The number embarked had been

31,240-3,484 having died on the passage.

In 1824, the same society reported that 120,000 were taken from Africa during that year.

In 1825, "there were," says Commodore Bullen, "in the river Bonny alone 2007 tons of shipping, 293 persons and 35 guns, under the flag of the French nation, employed in the speculation of human flesh."

In 1822, four slave vessels were taken on the river Bonny by a squadron under Sir Robert Mends, stationed by the British government on the coast of Africa to prevent the infraction of the laws for the abolition of the slave-trade. The vessels were Spanish and French. They had nearly 1300 slaves on board. A Spanish schooner, when taken possession of, had a lighted match hanging over the open magazine hatch. The match was placed there by the crew, before they leaped overboard and swam for the shore; it was seen by one of the seamen, who boldly put his hat under the burning wick and removed it. The magazine contained a large quantity of powder. One spark from the flaming match would have blown up 325 unfortunate victims lying in irons in the hold. These monsters in iniquity expressed their deep regret after the action that their diabolical plan had failed.

On board another of the vessels, Lieutenant Mildmay, the officer who captured her, observed a slave girl about twelve or thirteen years of age in irons, to which was fastened a thick iron chain, ten feet in length, that was dragged along as she moved. He ordered the girl to be instantly released from this fetter; and that the captain who had treated her so cruelly might not be ignorant of the pain inflicted upon an unprotected and innocent child, the irons were ordered to be put upon him.

The slaves in one of the vessels at the time of the capture, were found in the most wretched condition; some lying on their backs, others sitting on the bottom of the ships. They were chained to each other by the arms and legs; iron collars were placed round their necks. In addition to these provisions for confinement, they were fastened together by a long chain which connected several of the collars for their greater security in that dismal prison. Thumbscrews, to be used as instruments of torture, were also found in the vessel. From their confinement and sufferings, the slaves often injured themselves by beating, and vented their grief upon such as were next to them by biting and