Pitt, now no more, had exerted his vast powers on many subjects to the
admiration of his hearers; but on none more successfully than on the
subject of the abolition of the Slave-trade. He proved, after making an
allowance for the price paid for the slaves in the West Indies, for the
loss of them in the seasoning, and for the expense of maintaining them
afterwards, and comparing these particulars with the amount in value of
their labour there, that the evils endured by the victims of the traffic
were no gain to the master, in whose service they took place. Indeed Mr.
Long had laid it down in his History of Jamaica, that the best way to
secure the planters from ruin would be to do that, which the resolution
recommended. It was notorious, that when any planter was in distress, and
sought to relieve himself by increasing the labour on his estate by means
of the purchase of new slaves, the measure invariably tended to his
destruction. What then was the importation of fresh Africans but a system,
tending to the general ruin of the islands?
But it had often been said, that without fresh importations the population
of the slaves could not be supported in the islands.
Pages:
449
450
451
452
453
454
455
456
457
458
459
460
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473