continent, were, in fact, insurrections of slaves battling for personal freedom.
The same state of tilings has existed even in England. A few centuries since, Saxons were bought and sold in Ireland and Koine. At one time slaves and cattle were a kind of currency in the land; and down to the period of the Reformation, human beings were "marketable commodities."
In the light of these facts, how ignorant and idle is it to regard the children of Africa as the subjects of a peculiar curse, because, in the mysterious providence of God, they have participated in the miseries and the sufferings of a cruel system, which has existed from the dawn of history, in every quarter of the globe, among every people under the sun.[1]
9. the cause of the slave trade, and of negro slavery in christian countries.
It was the discovery of America, and the development of the treasures of the 'New World, which led to all the accumulated horrors of the slave trade, and the dreadful barbarities of INTegro shivery, in Christian lands. The system took its rise in the sixteenth century. Since then the shameful fact has been witnessed, by earth and by heaven, of men, civilized men, men born and reared in Christian lands and raider Christian influences, tearing their fellow-creatures from home, and friends, and country; carrying them across the
- ↑ With reference to the general prevalence of the system of slavery, see a very able article in the "Life and Remains of Rev. B.B. Edwards, D.D.," late of Andover Theological Seminary.
