Was it not
folly to wait for the stream to run down before we crossed the bed of its
channel? Alas! we might wait for ever. The river would still flow on. We
should be no nearer the object, which we had in view, so long as the step,
which could alone bring us to it, was not taken.
He would now proceed to the civilization of Africa; and as his eye had just
glanced upon a West Indian law in the evidence upon the table, he would
begin with an argument, which the sight of it had suggested to him. This
argument had been ably answered in the course of the evening; but he would
view it in yet another light. It had been said, that the savage disposition
of the Africans rendered the prospect of their civilization almost
hopeless. This argument was indeed of long standing; but, last year, it had
been supported upon a new ground. Captain Frazer had stated in his
evidence, that a boy had been put to death at Cabenda, because there were
those who refused to purchase him as a slave. This single story was deemed
by him, and had been considered by others, as a sufficient proof of the
barbarity of the Africans, and of the inutility of abolishing the
Slave-trade.
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