The distance the N.W. wind has to travel to this country,
and the opposition it meets with from those mountains, in a great measure
meliorates and destroys those penetrating qualities, which make this wind
so formidable to the Atlantic States. I have heard so many extraordinary
accounts of the South-western territory, that I have long made up my mind
to visit that country: two _trifling_ reasons alone prevented me;
viz. want of _time_ and _money_; and from some disagreeable
intelligence I have lately received from _Wells_, instead of climbing
the _Allegany,_ I apprehend I shall soon be obliged to cross the
_Atlantic;_ in which case, I shall have the pleasure of returning you
thanks in person for your obliging attention to my order concerning
the........... which I received by the Peggy.
At present I must content myself by assuring you of my being
Your obliged friend, &c.
_Philadelphia, September 13th, 1796._
DEAR SIR,
I write this in my way to Boston, where I am going to fulfil my engagement
with W - - , the particulars of which I informed you of in a former letter.
When I arrived at Newcastle, I had the mortification to find upwards of
one hundred irish passengers on board the packet.
For some time before I left Baltimore, our papers were full of a shocking
transaction, which took place on board an irish passenger ship, containing
upwards of three hundred. It is said, that, owing to the cruel usage they
received from the captain, such as being put on a _very scanty_ allowance
of water[Footnote: By a law of the United States, the quantity of water
and provision every vessel is obliged to take (in proportion to the length
of the passage and persons on board) is clearly defined. A master of a
vessel violating this law forfeits five hundred dollars.] and provision, a
contagious disorder broke out on board, which carried off great numbers;
and, to add to their distress, when they arrived in the Delaware, they
were obliged to perform quarantine, which, for some days, was equally
fatal.
The disorder was finally got under by the physicians belonging to the
Health Office. We had several of the survivors on board, who confirmed all
I had heard: indeed their emaciated appearance was a sufficient testimony
of what they had suffered. They assured me, the captain sold the ship's
water by the pint; and informed me of a number of shocking circumstances,
which I will not wound your feelings by relating.
It is difficult to conceive how a multitude of witnesses can militate
_against_ a fact; but more so, how three hundred passengers could
tamely submit to such cruelties, from a bashaw of a captain.
I am happy to inform you the Philadelphia Hibernian Society are determined
to prosecute this _flesh butcher_ for _murder_; As the manner of
carrying on this _trade_ in human flesh is not generally known in
England, I send you a few particulars of what is here emphatically called
a _white Guinea man_. There are vessels in the trade of Belfast,
Londonderry, Amsterdam, Hamburgh, &c., whose chief _cargoes_, on
their return to America, are passengers; great numbers of whom, on their
arrival, are _sold_ for a term of years to pay their passage; during
their servitude, they are liable to be _resold_, at the death or
caprice of their masters.
