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CHAP. X.
Whether it be true, as some say, that the Natives of Africa are happier in the European Colonies than in their own Country.
Slaves well used in Africa.
If there be any of the slaves happier in the colonies than they were at home, they must be such as were formerly slaves in their own country; and if so, the African must be shewn to be more oppressive than the colonial slavery.
This, however, is so far from being the case, that, as Mr. H. Ross observes, though on another occasion, any comparison between the state of the two is an [1] insult to common sense. The slaves in Africa are mentioned by Mr. Towne as never ill used by their own people. They are treated, says Mr. Keirnan, as Europeans treat people of their own family. They are described again by Hall and Dalrymple as eating and drink-
- ↑ Some have even gone so far as to say that they are happier than the labouring poor of this country: but it has been most amply refuted by Woolrich, Captain Wilson, Jeffreys, Rees, Dean of Middleham, and H. Ross, the latter of whom, though he compared the different circumstances in their respective situations at the request of the Committee, prefaced it by saying, that any comparison between the state of the two was an insult to common sense.
ing
