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Sir William Yonge censured the harsh language of Sir Samuel Romilly, who
had applied the terms rapine, robbery, and murder to those, who were
connected with the Slave-trade. He considered the resolution of Mr. Fox as
a prelude to a bill for the abolition of that traffic, and this bill as a
prelude to emancipation, which would not only be dangerous in itself, but
would change the state of property in the islands.
Lord Henry Petty, after having commented on the speeches of Sir S. Romilly
and Lord Castlereagh, proceeded to state his own opinion on the trade;
which was, that it was contrary to justice, humanity, and sound policy, all
of which he considered to be inseparable. On its commencement in Africa the
wickedness began. It produced there fraud and violence, robbery and murder.
It gave birth to false accusations, and a mockery of justice. It was the
parent of every crime, which could at once degrade and afflict the human
race. After spreading vice and misery all over this continent, it doomed
its unhappy victims to hardships and cruelties which were worse than death.
The first of these was conspicuous in their transportation. It was found
there, that cruelty begat cruelty; that the system, wicked in its
beginning, was equally so in its progress; and that it perpetuated its
miseries wherever it was carried on.
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