Wesley Corpus

12. The natives of the kingdom of _Benin_ are a reasonable and good-natured people. They are sincere and inoffensive, and do no injustice either to one another or to strangers. They are eminently civil and courteous: if you make them a present, they endeavour to repay it double. And if they are trusted, till the ship returns the next year, they are sure honestly to pay the whole debt. Theft is punished among them, although not with the same severity as murder. If a man and woman of any quality, are taken in adultery, they are certain to be put to death, and their bodies thrown on a dunghill, and left a prey to wild beasts. They are punctually just and honest in their dealings; and are also very charitable: the King and the great Lords taking care to employ all that are capable of any work. And those that are utterly helpless they keep for God’s sake; so that here also are no beggars. The inhabitants of _Congo_ and _Angola_ are generally a quiet people. They discover a good understanding, and behave in a friendly manner to strangers, being of a mild temper and an affable carriage.----Upon the whole therefore the Negroes who inhabit the coast of _Africa_, from the river _Senegal_ to the Southern bounds of _Angola_, are so far from being the stupid, senseless, brutish, lazy barbarians, the fierce, cruel, perfidious Savages they have been described, that on the contrary, they are represented by them who have no motive to flatter them, as remarkably sensible, considering the few advantages they have for improving their understanding: as industrious to the highest degree, perhaps more so than any other natives of so warm a climate: as fair, just and honest in all their dealings, unless where white men have taught them to be otherwise: and as far more mild, friendly and kind to strangers, than any of our forefathers were. Our forefathers! Where shall we find at this day, among the fair-faced natives of _Europe_, a nation generally practising the justice, mercy, and truth, which are found among these poor _Africans_? Suppose the preceding accounts are true, (which I see no reason or pretence to doubt of,) and we may leave _England_ and _France_, to seek genuine honesty in _Benin_, _Congo_, or _Angola_.