" This
reasoning concerning the different tendencies of the two systems was
self-evident. But facts were not wanting to confirm it. Mr. Long had
remarked, that all the insurrections and suicides in Jamaica had been found
among the imported slaves, who, not having lost the consciousness of civil
rights, which they had enjoyed in their own country, could not brook the
indignities to which they were subjected in the West Indies. An instance in
point was afforded also by what had lately taken place in the island of
Dominica. The disturbance there had been chiefly occasioned by some runaway
slaves from the French islands. But what an illustration was it of his own
doctrine to say, that the slaves of several persons, who had been treated,
with kindness, were not among the number of the insurgents on that
occasion!
But when persons coolly talked of putting an end to the Slave-trade through
the medium of the West India legislatures, and of gradual abolition, by
means of regulations, they surely forgot the miseries which this horrid
traffic occasioned in Africa during every moment of its continuance. This
consideration was conclusive with him, when called upon to decide whether
the Slave-trade should be tolerated for a while, or immediately abolished.
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