But if this inestimable blessing was ever to be imparted to
them, the cause must be removed, which obstructed its introduction. In
short, no effectual remedy could be found but in the abolition of the
Slave-trade.
He then took a copious view of the advantages, which would arise both to
the master and to the slave, if this traffic were done away; and having
recapitulated and answered the different objections to such a measure, he
went to that part of the subject, in which he described himself to be most
interested.
He had shown, he said, last year, that Africa was exposed to all the
horrors of war; and that most of these wars had their origin in the
Slave-trade. It was then said, in reply, that the natural barbarity of the
natives was alone sufficient to render their country a scene of carnage.
This was triumphantly instanced in the king of Dahomey. But his honourable
friend Lord Muncaster, then in the House, had proved in his interesting
publication, which had appeared since, called Historical Sketches of the
Slave-trade and of its Effects in Africa, addressed to the People of Great
Britain, that the very cruelties of this king, on which so much stress had
been laid, were committed by him in a war, which had been undertaken
expressly to punish an adjacent people for having stolen some of his
subjects and sold them for slaves.
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