The African trader, the planter, and the West India merchant have united
their forces to defend the fortress, in which their supposed treasures lie.
Vague calculations and false alarms have been thrown out to the public, in
order to show, that the constitution and even the existence of this free
and opulent nation depend on its depriving the inhabitants of a foreign
country of those rights and of that liberty, which we ourselves so highly
and so justly prize. Surely in the nature of things and in the order of
Providence it cannot be so. England existed as a great nation, long before
the African commerce was known amongst us, and it is not to acts of
injustice and violence that she owes her present rank in the scale of
nations."
CHAPTER III.
_Continuation from July 1790 to July 1791--Author travels again throughout
the kingdom--Object of his journey--Motion in the House of Commons to
resume the hearing of evidence in favour of the abolition--List of all
those examined on this side of the question--Machinations of interested
persons, and cruel circumstances of the times previously to the day of
decision--Motion at length made for stopping all further importation of
Slaves from Africa--debates upon it--motion lost--Resolutions of the
committee for the Abolition of the Slave-trade--Establishment of the Sierra
Leone Company.
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