And there is a
large class of men captured in battle, and a host of those
condemned to death by savage superstition, whose lives can be
saved only by their exportation, which, indeed, is the African
form of transportation. "We believe," says the Abbe Proyart
(1776), "that the father sells his son and the prince his
subjects; he only who has lived among them can know that it is
not even lawful for a man to sell his slave, if he be born in the
country, unless he have incurred that penalty by certain crimes
specified by law."
It will be objected that any scheme of the kind must be so
involved in complicated difficulties that it cannot fail to
degenerate into the old export slave-trade. This I deny.
Admitting that such must at first be its tendency, I am persuaded
that the details can so be controlled as to secure the use
without the abuse. Women and children, for instance, should never
be allowed on board ship, unless accompanying husbands and
parents. Those who speak some words of a foreign tongue, English,
French, Spanish, or Portuguese, and on the eastern coast
Hindostani, might lead the way, to be followed in due time by the
wilder races. Probably the best ground for the trial would be the
Island of Zanzibar, where we can completely control its
operations.
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