Produced by The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) [Illustration: Paragraph 46. View of the Capitol of the United States, after the Conflagration in 1814.] AMERICAN SLAVE TRADE; OR, An Account of the Manner in which the Slave Dealers take Free People from some of the United States of America, and carry them away, and sell them as Slaves in other of the States; and of the horrible Cruelties practised in the carrying on of this most infamous Traffic: WITH REFLECTIONS on the Project for forming a Colony of American Blacks in Africa, and certain Documents respecting that Project. _By JESSE TORREY, Jun. Physician._ WITH FIVE PLATES. LONDON: REPRINTED BY C. CLEMENT, AND PUBLISHED BY J. M. COBBETT, 1, CLEMENT'S INN. 1822. PREFACE. "And he that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, shall surely be put to death." _Exodus xxi. 16._ 1. Throughout this work I have numbered the _paragraphs_, a practice which I find to be attended with numerous advantages. The work was published in Philadelphia in 1817. 2. The reader will perceive, that Mr. TORREY, the author of the work here presented to the public, has mixed his reflections with his narrative of facts. A different arrangement would have tended to clearness. But, as applicable to the English reader, there is a defect of greater importance; namely, the want of a description of the relative extent and situation of the Countries or States, in which this abominable slave trade is carried on. The author speaks of the _Middle States_, and the _Southern States_. He speaks of _Maryland_, of _Delaware_; and, then again, of _Georgia_, _Carolina_, _Mississippi_; but the English reader ought to be told, and have pretty clearly explained to him, how these several Countries lie with regard to each other; and, that he may judge of the magnitude of the evil, he ought to be informed over how large a part of the whole of the United States Slavery does actually extend. He ought further to be informed of the nature of the Governments, and of the laws, as far as these latter relate to Slavery. For, he must otherwise naturally be astonished to find that this dreadful traffic is carried on with impunity. He hears Mr. TORREY talk of Judges, Senators, Governors, Presidents, speaking against this traffic; and yet he finds it most vigorously carried on; and actually making a part of the internal trade of the Country; at which he is utterly astounded, so often hearing the _virtues_ of Republicans sounded in his ears, and being informed that Mr. JEREMY BENTHAM is actually engaged, at this moment, in the Southern Peninsula of Europe, to teach the art of Constitution-making upon the American plan. The book stands, therefore, in need of a Preface to explain these