As I am now fairly embarked in a trade which absorbed so many of my most vigorous years, I suppose the reader will not be loth to learn a little of my experience in the alleged "cruelties" of this commerce. Why does Captain Canot put "cruelties" in quotation marks?

1).He agrees with the reader that slave trading is a cruel business.

2).He doesn't think slave trading is cruel.

3).He thinks that being cruel to slaves is a good way to make sure they behave.