The question was, not whether there was not some evil attending
the Slave-trade, but whether by the measure now before them they should
increase or diminish the quantum of human misery in the world. He believed,
for one, considering the internal state of Africa, and the impossibility of
procuring the concurrence of foreign nations in the measure, that they
would not be able to do any good by the adoption of it.
As to the impolicy of the trade, the policy of it, on the other hand, was
so great, that he trembled at the consequences of its abolition. The
property connected with this question amounted to a hundred millions. The
annual produce of the islands was eighteen millions, and it yielded a
revenue of four millions annually. How was this immense property and income
to be preserved? Some had said it would be preserved, because the Black
population in the islands could be kept up without further supplies. But
the planters denied this assertion; and they were the best judges of the
subject.
He condemned the resolution as a libel upon the wisdom of the law of the
land, and upon the conduct of their ancestors. He condemned it also,
because, if followed up, it would lead to the abolition of the trade, and
the abolition of the trade to the emancipation of the slaves in our
colonies.
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