Now it would naturally be asked, Was not
this captain also gibbered alive? Alas! although the execrable, barbarity
of the European exceeded that of the Africans before mentioned, almost as
much as his opportunities of instruction had been greater than theirs, no
notice whatsoever was taken of this horrible action; and a thousand similar
cruelties had been committed in this abominable trade with equal impunity:
but he would say no more. He should vote for the abolition, not only as it
would do away all the evils complained of in Africa and the Middle Passage;
but as it would be the most effectual means of ameliorating the condition
of those unhappy persons, who were still to continue slaves in the British
colonies.
Mr. Courtenay rose. He said, he could not but consider the assertion of Sir
William Yonge as a mistake, that the Slave-trade, if abandoned by us, would
fall into the hands of France. It ought to be recollected, with what
approbation the motion for abolishing it, made by the late Mirabeau, had
been received; although the situation of the French colonies might then
have presented obstacles to carrying the measure into immediate execution.
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