But it
appeared to him to have been the intention of Providence, from the very
beginning, that one set of men should be slaves to another. This truth was
as old as it was universal. It was recognized in every history, under every
government, and in every religion. Nor did the Christian religion itself,
if the comments of Dr. Halifax, bishop of Gloucester, on a passage in St.
Paul's epistle to the Corinthians were true, show more repugnance to
slavery than any other.
He denied that the slaves were procured in the manner which had been
described. It was the custom of all savages to kill their prisoners; and
the Africans ought to be thankful that they had been carried safe into the
British colonies.
As to the tales of misery in the Middle Passage, they were gross
falsehoods; and as to their treatment in the West Indies, he knew
personally that it was, in general, indulgent and humane.
With regard to promoting their increase by any better mode of treatment, he
wished gentlemen would point it out to him. As a planter he would thank
them for it. It was absurd to suppose that he and others were blind to
their own interest. It was well known that one Creole slave was worth two
Africans: and their interest therefore must suggest to them that the
propagation of slaves was preferable to the purchase of imported Negros, of
whom one half very frequently died in the seasoning.
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