He had heard a good deal about kidnapping and other barbarous practices. He
was sorry for them. But these were the natural consequences of the laws of
Africa; and it became us as wise men to turn them to our own advantage. The
Slave-trade was certainly not an amiable trade. Neither was that of a
butcher; but yet it was a very necessary one.
There was great reason to doubt the propriety of the present motion. He had
twenty reasons for disapproving it. The first was, that the thing was
impossible. He needed not therefore to give the rest. Parliament, indeed,
might relinquish the trade. But to whom? To foreigners, who would continue
it, and without the humane regulations, which were applied to it by his
country-men.
He would give advice to the house on this subject in the words, which the
late Alderman Beckford used on a different occasion: "Meddle not with
troubled waters: they will be found to be bitter waters, and the waters of
affliction." He again admitted, that the Slave-trade was not an amiable
trade; but he would not gratify his humanity at the expense of the
interests of his country; and he thought we should not too curiously
inquire into the unpleasant circumstances, which attended it.
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