It was said that the poor
African, the slave of miserable oppression in his own country, was
wafted by it to an asylum in a Christian land; that the middle passage
was to the poor negro a perfect Elysium, infinitely happier than any
thing he had ever known in his own country. All this was said while
manacles, and handcuffs, and thumbscrews, and instruments to force
open the mouth, were a regular part of the stock for a slave ship, and
were hanging in the shop windows of Liverpool for sale.
For Clarkson's attention was first called to these things by observing
them in the shop window, and on inquiring the use of one of them, the
man informed him that many times negroes were sulky, and tried to
starve themselves to death, and this instrument was used to force open
their jaws.
Of Clarkson's labor in this investigation some idea may be gathered
from his own words, when, stating that for a season he was compelled
to retire from the cause, he thus speaks:--
"As far as I myself was concerned, all exertion was then over. The
nervous system was almost shattered to pieces. Both my memory and my
hearing failed me.
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