It was then said, in reply, that the natural barbarity of the natives was alone sufficient to render their country a scene of carnage.
This was triumphantly instanced in the king of Dahomey.

But his honourable friend Lord Muncaster, then in the House, had proved in his interesting publication, which had appeared since, called Historical Sketches of the Slave-trade and of its Effects in Africa, addressed to the People of Great Britain, that the very cruelties of this king, on which so much stress had been laid, were committed by him in a war, which had been undertaken expressly to punish an adjacent people for having stolen some of his subjects and sold them for slaves.
He had shown also last year, that kings were induced to seize and sell their subjects, and individuals each other, in consequence of the existence of the Slave-trade.
He had shown also, that the administration of justice was perverted, so as to become a fertile source of supply to this inhuman traffic; that every crime was punished by slavery; that false accusations were made, to procure convicts; and that even the judges had a profit on the convictions.
He had shown again, that many acts of violence were perpetrated by the Europeans themselves.

But he would now relate others, which had happened since.

The captain of an English vessel, lying in the river Cameroons, sent his boat with three sailors and a slave to get water.

A Black trader seized the latter, and took him away.