Having now done with the argument of expediency, he would consider the
proposition of his right honourable friend Mr. Dundas; that, on account of
some patrimonial rights of the West Indians, the prohibition of the
Slave-trade would be an invasion of their legal inheritance. He would first
observe, that, if this argument was worth any thing, it applied just as
much to gradual as to immediate abolition. He had no doubt, that, at
whatever period we should say the trade should cease, it would be equally
set up; for it would certainly be just as good an argument against the
measure in seventy years hence, as it was against it now. It implied also,
that Parliament had no right to stop the importations: but had this
detestable traffic received such a sanction, as placed it more out of the
jurisdiction of the legislature for ever after, than any other branch of
our trade? In what a situation did the proposition of his honourable friend
place the legislature of Great Britain! It was scarcely possible to lay a
duty on any one article, which might not in some way affect the property of
individuals. But if the laws respecting the Slave-trade implied a contract
for its perpetual continuance, the House could never regulate any other of
the branches of our national commerce.
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