It was surely not any slight degree of
expediency, nor any small balance of profit, nor any light shades of
probability on the one side, rather than on the other, which would
determine them on this question. He asked pardon even for the supposition.
The Slave-trade was an evil of such magnitude, that there must be a common
wish in the committee at once to put an end to it, if there were no great
and serious obstacles. It was a trade, by which multitudes of unoffending
nations were deprived of the blessings of civilization, and had their peace
and happiness invaded. It ought therefore to be no common expediency, it
ought to be nothing less than the utter ruin of our islands, which it
became those to plead, who took upon them to defend the continuance of it.
He could not help thinking that the West India gentlemen had manifested an
over great degree of sensibility as to the point in question; and that
their alarms had been unreasonably excited upon it. He had examined the
subject carefully for himself; and he would now detail those reasons, which
had induced him firmly to believe, not only that no permanent mischief
would follow from the abolition; but not even any such temporary
inconvenience, as could be stated to be a reason for preventing the House
from agreeing to the motion before them; on the contrary, that the
abolition itself would lay the foundation for the more solid improvement of
all the various interests of those colonies.
Pages:
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272
273
274
275
276
277
278