Excerpt from Simon: The Story of a Negro Slave in Brazil
The coasts of the continent of Africa, whose interior is almost entirely unknown to us, which are washed by the waves of the Atlantic ocean, ever since the terrible traffic with human beings began, have been its inexhaustible source. All the seafearing nations of Europe have a share in the blame, and have assisted in the commission of a crime, in which they saw nothing culpable, for they denied to the unfortunate black man both human dignity and human rights. They considered him an article of trade, out of which commerce might derive a legitimate profit, as out of any other wares. It can hardly be told to what extremes of brutality and cruelty men permitted themselves to go in this nefarious business.
Only late, very late, Europeans came to a recognition of their duty, and the Englishmen, who themselves had engaged in slave trade for a long time, began to set its bounds. Their men of war cruised in African waters on the lookout for slave ships, and unrelenting punishment was inflicted upon every one captured. But in spite of the careful watch of the British cruisers, the cruel traffic with human beings was not stopped.
In the face of great danger, the enormous profit at that time connected with the business, led American ships, especially South American and Brazilian vessels, to risk the attempt, to bring their "ebony," as they called the stolen negroes, through the lines in safety. There the truth of the Holy Scriptures was again illustrated, that "the love of money is the root of all evil."
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
