Mr. Hobhouse said, that nothing could be so nefarious as
this traffic in blood. It was unjust in its principle. It was cruel in its
practice. It admitted of no regulation whatever. The abolition of it was
called for equally by morality and sound policy. Mr. Canning exposed the
folly of Mr. Dundas, who had said, that as Parliament had in the year 1787
left the abolition to the colonial assemblies, it ought not to be taken out
of their hands. This great event, he observed, could only be accomplished
in two ways; either by these assemblies, or by the Parliament of England.
Now the members of the assembly of Jamaica had professed, that they would
never abolish the trade. Was it not therefore idle to rely upon them for
the accomplishment of it? He then took a very comprehensive view of the
arguments, which had been offered in the course of the debate, and was
severe upon the planters in the House, who, he said, had brought into
familiar use certain expressions, with no other view than to throw a veil
over their odious system. Among these was--their right to import labourers.
But never was the word "labourers" so prostituted, as when it was used for
slaves.
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