THE Children's Friend : FOR THE YEAR 1827. THE REV. W. CARUS WILSON, M.A RECTOR OF WHITTINGTON, VICAR OY TUNSTALL: And Chaplain to His Royal Migliness the Duke of Sumer. VOL IV. “Those that seek me early shall And me."...I'rov. vii, 17. KIRKBY LONSDALE: PRINTED AND SOLD BY A. FOSTER SOLD ALSO BY MESSRS. SEELEYS, FLEX STREET, NISBET, BERNER'S STREET, LONDON, AND ALL OTHER LOOKSELLERS. No. XXXVII.) JANUARY, 1827. (Vol. IV. THE SLAVE TRADE. It is well to look now and then at the miseries of others, in order that we may learn to pray for and pity them, and also to be thankful for our own greater blessings. There is no child in England, however poor, who if he looks, for instance, at the slaves, may not learn a useful lesson. Oh! the dreadful hor. rors of the slave trade! It makes one shudder to think of the heart-rending scenes which thousands of parents and children are called to witness. Few persons are at all aware of the extent to which the slave trade is carried on. It is stated, that fifty thousand poor creatures at the least are carried away from Africa every year to be made slaves ! And their sufferings in the ships, as they cross the sea, as well as on their coming to the place of slavery, are beyond belief. In one instance, a black having been seized and carried off to the coast to be put on board a ship, his mother hastened to offer a suin of money for his freedom. The white man took the money, but-awful to relateseized the mother, and two days after shipped both mother and son for America. The son, indignant at the outrage, stabbed himself, saying"thou white man, devourer of blacks, I cannot revenge myself on thee, but by depriving thee of my person !” Our English ships do all they can to prevent other ships taking poor Africans away: and when they have boarded the ships they have captured, they have of. ten witnessed the most shocking cruel. ties. On board one ship they found a girl about 12 years old in irons, to which was fastened a thick iron chain ten feet long, that was dragged along as she moved.' Orders were given for the child to be released ; and the irons were put upon the captain, in order that he might know the pain he had been inflicting upon a poor innocent child. When another Spanish ship full of slaves was taken, the captain was so enraged, that he ora dered a match to be put to some barrels of gunpowder to blow up the slaves; but a British seaman boldly put his hanıl under the burning wick and thus saveil the lives of 325 blacks. The slaves wero found in a wretched state ; some lying on their backs, others sitting on the bottom of the ships. They were chaineil to one another by the arms and legs ; and iron collars were placed round their necks, with a long chain connecting several of the collars together. Thumb screws to be used as a punishment, werc also found in the ship. From their confinement and sufferings, the slaves often injured themselves by beating ; anil vented their grief on such as were next them, by biting and tearing their flesh. Many of them had their arms grievously torn, and above 150 died soon after they were set at liberty. But I have a still more affecting tale to tell you. A slave vessel being boarded, a sailor happened to strike a cask which was tightly closed up; on which he heard a faint voice come from it, as of a poor creature just dying. The cask was opened; when two girls about 12 or 14 years old, in the last stage of be. ing suffocated, were found enclosed in it! It was known that there were others on board, though they could not finil them; and as in the chase of the vessel, they saw several casks floating past them, |