Was it not plain that she must suffer from it? that her savage
manners must be rendered still more ferocious? and that a trade of this
nature, carried on round her coasts, must extend violence and desolation to
her very centre? It was well known that the natives of Africa were sold as
goods, and that numbers of them were continually conveyed away from their
country by the owners of British vessels. The question then was, which way
the latter came by them. In answer to this question the privy council
report, which was then on the table, afforded evidence the most
satisfactory and conclusive. He had found things in it, which had confirmed
every proposition he had maintained before, whether this proposition had
been gathered from living information of the best authority, or from the
histories he had read. But it was unnecessary either to quote the report,
or to appeal to history on this occasion. Plain reason and common sense
would point out how the poor Africans were obtained. Africa was a country
divided into many kingdoms, which had different governments and laws. In
many parts the princes were despotic. In others they had a limited rule.
But in all of them, whatever the nature of the government was, men were
considered as goods and property, and, as such, subject to plunder in the
same manner as property in other countries.
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