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Show xvi P R E F A C L. bound, as writing on the fubjee1:, to make a few remarks. The cur:fory remarker infinu~tcs, that Mr. Ramfay"s account of the treatment is greatly exaggerated, if not wholly falfe. To this I {hall make the following reply. I have the honour of knowing feveral difinterefted gentlemen, who have been acquainted with the Wefi Indian iflands for years. I call them difinterefted, becaufe they have neither had a concern in the African trade, nor in the colonial flavery : and I have heard thefe unanimoufly a!Tert, that Mr. Ra11yay"s account is fo far from being exaggerated, or taken from the mofi dreary piCJ:ures that he could find, that it is abfolutely below the truth ; that he mufi have omitted many inftances of cruelty, which he had feen himfelf; and that they only wondered, how he could have written with fo much moderation upon the fubjeCJ:. They allow the Curfory Remarks to be excellent as a compofition, but declare that it is perfectly devoid of truth. But the cur:fory remarker does not depend fo much on the circumftances which he has advanced, (nor can he, fince they hav~ P R E F A C E. xvii have no other exiflencc than in his own brain) as on the inftrument detra8ion. This he has ufed with the utmoft virulence through the whole of his publication, artfully fuppofing, that if he could bring Mr. Ra11ijay's reputation into difpute, his work would fall of courfe, as of no authenticity. I fubmit this fimplc queftion to the reader. \Vhen a writer, in attempting to filence a publication, attacks the charaCJ:cr of its author, rather than the principles of the work itfelf, is it not a proof that the work itfelf is unqueflionable, and that this writer is at a lofs to find an argument againll: it? But there is fomcthing fo very ungenerous in this mode of replication, as to re" quire farther notice. For if this is the mode to be adopted in literary difputes, what writer can be f.1fe? Or who is there that will not be deterred from taking up hi~ pen in the caufe of virtue? There are circumfiances in every perfon's life, which, if given to the publick in a malevolent manner, and without explanation, might e!Tentially injure him in the eyes of the world; b though, |
