He believed, however, that it was upon the whole a losing concern; in
the same manner as the lottery would be a losing adventure to any company
who should buy all the tickets. Here and there an individual gained a large
prize, but the majority of adventurers gained nothing. The same merchants,
too, had asserted that the town of Liverpool would be ruined by the
abolition. But Liverpool did not depend for its consequence upon the
Slave-trade. The whole export-tonnage from that place amounted to no less
than 170,000 tons; whereas the export part of it to Africa amounted only to
13,000. Liverpool, he was sure, owed its greatness to other and very
different causes; the Slave-trade bearing but a small proportion to its
other trades.
Having gone through that part of the subject which related to the slaves,
he would now answer two objections which he had frequently heard started.
The first of these was, that the abolition of the Slave-trade would operate
to the total ruin of our navy, and to the increase of that of our rivals.
For an answer to these assertions, he referred, to what he considered to be
the most valuable part of the report, and for which the house and the
country were indebted to the indefatigable exertions of Mr.
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