most in the pursuits of philosophy and science, and established in all the blessings of civil society. We are in the possession of peace, of happiness, and of liberty. We are under the guidance of a mild and beneficent religion; and we are protected by impartial laws, and the purest administration of justice. We are living under a system of government, which our own happy experience leads us to pronounce the best and wisest which has ever yet been framed; a system which has become the admiration of the world. From all these blessings, we must for ever have been shut out, had there been any truth in those principles which some gentlemen have not hesitated to lay down as applicable to the case of Africa. Had those principles been true, we ourselves had languished to this hour in that miserable state of ignorance, brutality, and degradation, in which history proves our ancestors to have been immersed. Had other nations adopted these principles in their conduct towards us; had other nations applied to Great Britain the reasoning which some of the senators of this very island now apply to Africa; ages might have passed without our emerging from barbarism; and we who are enjoying the blessings of British civilisation, of British laws, and British liberty, might, at this hour, have been little superiour, either in morals, in knowledge, or refinement, to the rude inhabitants of the coast of Guinea.

If then we feel that this perpetual confinement in the fetters of brutal ignorance, would have been the greatest calamity which could have befallen us; if we view with gratitude and exultation the contrast between the peculiar blessings we enjoy, and the wretchedness of the ancient inhabitants of Britain; if we shudder to think of the misery which would still have overwhelmed us, had Great Britain continued to the present times to be the mart for slaves to the more civilized nations of the world, through some cruel policy of theirs, GOD forbid that we should any longer subject Africa to the same dreadful scourge, and preclude the light of

knowledge which has reached every other quarter of the globe, from having access to her coasts.

I trust we shall no longer continue this commerce, to the destruction of every improvement on that wide continent; and shall not consider ourselves as conferring too great a boon, in restoring its inhabitants to the rank of human beings. I trust, we shall not think ourselves too liberal, if, by abolishing the slave trade, we give them the same common chance of civilisation with other parts of the world, and that we shall now allow to Africa the opportunity, the hope, the prospect of attaining to the same blessings which we ourselves, through the favourable dispensations of Divine Providence, have been permitted, at a much more early period, to enjoy. If we listen to the voice of reason and duty, and pursue this night the line of conduct which they prescribe, some of us may live to see a reverse of that picture, from which we now turn our eyes with shame and regret. We may live to behold the natives of Africa, engaged in the calm occupations of industry, in the pursuits of a just and legitimate commerce. We may behold the beams of science and philosophy breaking in upon their land, which at some happy period in still later times, may blaze with full lustre; and joining their influence to that of pure religion, may illuminate and invigorate the most distant extremities of that immense continent. Then may we hope that even Africa, though last of all the quarters of the globe, shall enjoy at length in the evening of her days, those blessings which have descended so plentifully upon us in a much earlier period of the world. Then also will Europe, participating in her improvement and prosperity, receive an ample recompense for the tardy kindness, if kindness it can be called, of no longer hindering that continent from extricating herself out of the darkness which, in other more fortunate regions, has been so much more speedily dispelled.

--Nos primus equis oriens afflavit anhelis ;
Illic sera rubens accendit lumina vesper.

Then, sir, may be applied to Africa, those words originally used indeed with a different view: His demum exactis

Devenere locos lætos, et amana vireta
Fortunatorum nemorum, sedesque beatas ;
Largior hic campos Ether et lumine vestit
Purpuero:

It is in this view, sir,-it is an atonement for our long and cruel injustice towards Africa, that the measure proposed by my honourable friend most forcibly recomends itself to my mind. The great and happy change to be expected in the state of her inhabitants, is of all the various and important benefits of the abolition, in my estimation, incomparably the most extensive and important.

I shall vote, sir, against the adjournment; and I shall also oppose to the utmost every proposition, which in any way may tend either to prevent, or even to postpone for an hour, the total abolition of the slave trade: a measure which, on all the various grounds which I have stated, we are bound, by the most pressing and indispensable duty, to adopt.

MR. FOX'S SPEECH,

IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, ON A MOTION FOR AN INQUIRY INTO THE STATE OF THE NATION, MARCH THE 24TH, 1795.

INQUIRIES into the state of the nation by specifick motions, are, we believe, peculiar to the British senate. The practice, however, is perfectly congenial with the spirit of popular government; and if not employed as an instrument of faction, may sometimes be resorted to with decisive utility. By it, perhaps, more than any other mode of parliamentary proceeding, the real condition of a country is exposed to publick view, and that sort of information elicited which conduces to a just appreciation of the measures of a ministry. While in opposition, Mr. Fox delighted to indulge in these discussions. From the number and variety of topicks necessarily embraced by so extensive a range, they were well adapted to display the copiousness of his political intelligence, and supplied him with the best possible occasion of venting the fulness of his invective.

The motion of inquiry, which gave rise to the following speech, was made at a period singularly auspicious for an attack on the administration. In consequence of the recent disasters of the Allies on the Continent, and the utter disappointment of the sanguine expectations of success previously encouraged, the nation were sunk into the gloom of despondency, and the sourness of disgust. But, though supported by these intrinsick advantages, and by all the energy

of Mr. Fox's eloquence, the motion was suppressed by a considerable majority, which clung to the minister with unabated confidence.

This speech is a very superiour production. We have seen specimens of eloquence more carefully polished, more embellished by the ornaments of taste, and more resplendent with gorgeousness of imagery, but rarely one that claimed more fervor of declamation, more dexterity of argument, more amplification of knowledge, or a more striking exhibition of intellectual capacity.

MR. SPEAKER,

SPEECH, &c.

IN pursuance of the notice I gave on a former day, I now rise to make a motion, that this house do resolve itself into a committee of the whole house, to consider of the state of the nation. Such a motion has been often made in this house, and, I believe, it has been seldom unsuccessful. I admit some grounds ought always on such an occasion to be laid before the house; and unless some matter is brought forward to induce you to take such a step, unless the state and circumstances of the country call on you to enter on this inquiry, I do not expect they will agree to my motion.

If, in the course of what I shall have to state there may be many things in which I shall not have the good fortune to have the concurrence of the whole house, I am confident I shall be able to state one thing, on which there will not be one dissentient voice. In whatever light men may consider the present state of Europe, however much they may differ about the mode of conducting the present war, in whatever way they may view the situation of the publick mind in every part of the civilized world; whatever may be their sentiments on these different topicks, they will all agree in one conclusion with respect to this country, namely, that this is a time of all others,