To allFriendsto LIBERTY.
Fellow Subjects,
IT is to you I dedicate this Treatise, and beg your protection of the same, hoping it will meet with a kind reception.
The approbation men of character and sense have given the following Work, has made me venture it into your hands: And I hope in the perusal you will keep in view the Author, I am certain you cannot then fail of making great allowances. I am aNorth-Briton!And when you know that, it alone may be judged by some, sufficient to brand me with the hateful name ofTory, and thereby condemn this Dissuasion. But let me inform you (for there is no general rule without an exception) that I am a most sincere well-wisher to the common cause ofLiberty, bothpersonalandconstitutional; then you will, give me a place in the list of your staunch Friends, and accept of this Attempt, as intended to be a mean of abolishing one great part ofSlaveryhere.
If there is any merit in endeavouring to set free fromBondageour fellow creatures, and in trying to promote the good and welfare of any nation, province, country, or individual, surely I may claimit; for my sincere endeavour is to these purposes: And if I should happen to miss my aim, I shall sit down satisfied with the merit of a good intent.
Readers, I have but one favour to ask of you, which is, to peruse this Performance with an open unbiassed mind; overlooking any defects you may observe in these sheets, knowing they are the hasty and undigested thoughts of the Author, put together with more good intent than ability; after this you may either reject or practise, according to your own consciences, and the light of this Treatise, if there is any to be found in it.Enslavingyour fellow men, and using and massacring them as they do in theWest-Indiesand Southern Provinces,is a matter of too great importance to be only slightly thought of. And as I hope you have thehumanityofBritons, and thatlove of Liberty, with which every trueEnglishmanis, or ought to be possessed of, you will not countenance it, but declare yourselves as I do,well-wishers of the British Empire, and consequently enemies toSlavery.
Accept then, Friends and Brethren in one common cause, this small token of that love and veneration which I bear to freedom, (for no country can be called free where there is one Slave) and give me leave to subscribe myself,
Your Friend andhumble Servant,James Swan.