One of them is intitled "_Cursory Remarks_ on Mr.
Ramsay's Essay;" the other an "_Apology for Negroe Slavery_." On each of these I am bound, as writing on the subject, to make a few remarks.
The _cursory remarker_ insinuates, that Mr.Ramsay's account of the treatment is greatly exaggerated, if not wholly false.

To this I shall make the following reply.

I have the honour of knowing several disinterested gentlemen, who have been acquainted with the West Indian islands for years.

I call them disinterested, because they have neither had a concern in the _African_ trade, nor in the _colonial_ slavery: and I have heard these unanimously assert, that Mr.
_Ramsay's_ account is so far from being exaggerated, or taken from the most dreary pictures that he could find, that it is absolutely below the truth; that he must have omitted many instances of cruelty, which he had seen himself; and that they only wondered, how he could have written with so much moderation upon the subject.

They allow the _Cursory Remarks_ to be excellent as a composition, but declare that it is perfectly devoid of truth.
But the _cursory remarker_ does not depend so much on the circumstances which he has advanced, (nor can he, since they have no other existence than in his own, brain) as on the instrument _detraction_.