How far the several causes, I have enumerated, may respectively operate, I cannot say: the fact however is sure, that a great number of our Seamen perish in the Slave Trade. Few ships, comparatively, are either blown up, or totally cut off, but some are. Of the rest, I have known some that have lost half their people, and some a larger proportion. I am far from saying, that it is always, or even often, thus; but, I believe, I shall state the matter sufficiently low, if I suppose, that, at least, one fifth part of those who go from England to the Coast of Africa, in ships which trade for Slaves, never return from thence. I dare not depend, too much, upon my memory, as to the number of ships, and men, employed in the Slave Trade more than thirty years ago; nor do I know what has been the state of the trade since; therefore I shall not attempt to make calculations. But, as I cannot but form some opinion upon the subject, I judge it probable, that the collective sum of Seamen, who go, from all our ports, to Africa, within the course of a year, (taking Guinea in the extensive sense, from Goree or Gambia, and including the coast of Angola,) cannot be less than eight thousand; and if, upon an average of ships and seasons, a fifth part of these die, the annual loss is fifteen hundred. I believe those, who have taken pains to make more exact enquiries, will deem my supposition to be very moderate. Thus much concerning the first evil, the Loss of Seamen and Subjects, which the nation sustains, by the African Slave Trade. 2. There is a second, which either is, or ought to be, deemed of importance, considered in a political light. I mean, the dreadful effects of this trade, upon the minds of those who are engaged in it. There are, doubtless, exceptions, and I would, willingly, except myself. But, in general, I know of no method of getting money, not even that of robbery, for it, upon the highway, which has a more direct tendency to efface the moral sense, to rob the heart of every gentle and humane disposition, and to harden it, like steel, against all impressions of sensibility.