The noble earl (Westmoreland) had asked what would be the practical effect
of the abolition of the Slave-trade. He would inform him. It would do away
the infamous practices, which took place in Africa; it would put an end to
the horrors of the passage; it would save many thousands of our
fellow-creatures from the miseries of eternal slavery; it would oblige the
planters to treat those better, who were already in that unnatural state;
it would increase the population of our islands; it would give a death-blow
to the diabolical calculations, whether it was cheaper to work the Negros
to death and recruit the gangs by fresh importations, or to work them
moderately and to treat them kindly. He knew of no event, which would be
attended with so many blessings.
There was but one other matter, which he would notice. The noble baron
(Hawkesbury) had asserted, that all the horrors of St. Domingo were the
consequence of the speculative opinions, which were current in a
neighbouring kingdom on the subject of liberty. They had, he said, no such
origin. They were owing to two causes; first, to the vast number of Negros
recently imported into that island; and, secondly, to a scandalous breach
of faith by the French legislature.
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