He had long felt for the wrongs of Africa, and had done much to
prevent them. He had a plantation in Cayenne, and had devised a plan, by
which the labourers upon it should pass by degrees from slavery to freedom.
With this view he had there laid it down as a principle, that all crimes
were equal, whether they were committed by Blacks or Whites, and ought
equally to be punished. As the human mind is of such a nature, as to be
acted upon by rewards as well as punishments, he thought it unreasonable,
that the slaves should have no advantage from a stimulus from the former.
He laid it down therefore as another principle, that temporal profits
should follow virtuous action. To this he subjoined a reasonable education
to be gradually given. By introducing such principles, and by making
various regulations for the protection and comforts of the slaves, he
thought he could prove to the planters, that there was no necessity for the
Slave-trade; that the slaves upon all their estates would increase
sufficiently by population; that they might be introduced gradually, and
without detriment, to a state of freedom; and that then the real interests
of all would be most promoted.
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