| OCR Text |
Show . h es may kneel, Full low at thy biddmg t y negro d heel. With the iron of bondage on spmt an ld 'be k · 1 sooner wou Yet know that the yan ee gil d "til thee! ' In fetters with them, t Il an I· n free om WI THE SLAVE SHIPS. ~ --That fatal, that perfidious bark, Built i' the eclipse, und rigged with cm·ses dark.' l\IJL'fON1S LYCIDAS~ The French ship Lc Rodcnr, with a crew of lW('nly·two men., and with one-hundred and sixty negro slaves, sailed from Donny in Africa, Apa·il, 1819. On approaching the line, a tcrriLic malady broke out-an obstinate disease of the eyes-contagious, and alto· : ether beyond the resources of medicine. 'It was aggnn·atcd by the scarcity of water among the slaves, (only lmlf a wine glass per clay being allowed to an indi\<idual,) and by the extreme impurity of the air in which they breathed. By the advice of the physician, they were brought upon deck occasirmally, but some of the poor wretches, locking themsch•es in each other's arms,lcaped overboard, in the hope which so universally prevails among them, of IJcing swiftly transp01·ted to their own homes in Africa, To check this, the captaiu ordered SC\'eral who were stopped in the attempt, to be shot, or hanged, bcfure their companions. The disease extended to the crew; nnd one after another were smitten with it, until only one remained unaffected. Yet even this dreadful condition did not preclude calculation: to save the expense of suppoa·tiug ~laves rcsdcrcd unsaleablc, and to obtain grounds for a claim against the underwriters, tliirty-$iX of the tugrou, having become blind, toere thrown into the sea and dt·ottmed !-(Speech of JJI. Benj. Constant, in the Chambe•· of Dep!tties, June 17, IS20.) In the midst of their dreadful fears lest the solitary individual, whose sight remained unaffected, rohould also be seized with the mal- |
