It may be
sufficient to say, that they harassed my constitution, and affected my
spirits daily. They were in my thoughts on my pillow after I retired to
rest, and I found them before my eyes when I awoke. Afflicting however as
they were, they were of great use in the promotion of our cause. For they
served, whatever else failed, as a stimulus to perpetual energy. They made
me think light of former labours, and they urged me imperiously to new. And
here I may observe, that among the many circumstances, which ought to
excite our joy on considering the great event of the abolition of the
Slave-trade, which has now happily taken place, there are few for which we
ought to be more grateful, than that from this time our commerce ceases to
breed such abandoned wretches; while those, who have thus been bred in it,
and who may yet find employment in other trades, will in the common course
of nature be taken off in a given time, so that our marine will at length
be purified from a race of monsters, which have helped to cripple its
strength, and to disgrace its character.
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