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Clarkson, Thomas, 1760-1846

"The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808) Volume II"

On a certain evening they
notified their determination to the traders; and told them, that, if they
continued obstinate, they would put it into execution the next morning. In
this they kept their word. They brought sixty-six guns to bear upon the
town; and fired on it for three hours. Not a shot was returned. A canoe
then went off to offer terms of accommodation. The parties however not
agreeing, the firing recommenced; more damage was done; and the natives
were forced into submission. There were no certain accounts of their loss.
Report said that fifty were killed; but some were seen lying badly wounded,
and others in the agonies of death, by those who went afterwards on shore.
He would now say a few words relative to the Middle Passage, principally to
show, that regulation could not effect a cure of the evil there. Mr. Isaac
Wilson had stated in his evidence, that the ship, in which he sailed, only
three years ago, was of three hundred and seventy tons; and that she
carried six hundred and two slaves. Of these she lost one hundred and
fifty-five. There were three or four other vessels in company with her, and
which belonged to the same owners.


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