The proposition finally adopted was, "That it shall not be lawful to import any African negroes into any British colonies, in ships owned, or navigated by British subjects, at any time after the 1st day of January, 1796."

Nevertheless, the absolute prohibition of the trade did not take place till last year. Mr. Wilberforce has, however, lived to behold, and to participate in the triumph of his exemplary exertions.

SIR,

SPEECH, &c.

IN entering on the great business of this day, a business in itself of the first importance, and which, after having so long occupied publick attention, is, at this moment the subject of universal expectation and solicitude, it is natural to imagine that I must feel no small degree of diffidence and apprehension. It is, however, a satisfaction to me to reflect, that it will not be necessary for me to take up so much of the time of the house, as I have felt myself compelled to do on former occasions. For, besides that I might well be content to leave the task of enforcing the proposition I shall bring forward, to the greater abilities and more powerful eloquence of those by whom I have the honour to be supported, the whole of this subject has been already so thoroughly investigated; every part of it has been so canvassed and scrutinized, that it may be sufficient for me, now, merely to refer you to our past discussions, and to spare the house and myself the pain of a laborious and minute detail.

I have before had occasion to remark, that nothing has tended more to prevent the impartial and candid consideration of our arguments, than the indiscriminate censures which may have sometimes been really cast on the whole body of West Indians. There may have been those who, suffering their passions to hurry them to hasty and immature conclusions, have connected with the evils of the system, the personal character of every individual embarked in it, as being closely and inseperably associated. The charge, rashly preferred, has been indignantly repelled. Heat

and acrimony have prevailed on both sides, reproaches and invectives have been mutually retorted, parties have been formed with all their consequent effects of prejudice and bitterness; the West Indians in this state of things have grown incapable of listening dispassionately to the voice of reason, and many perhaps of the very best and most benevolent amongst them have been the most warm, because most conscious of the injustice of the accusations they deemed cast on them, and resenting and spurning at them with emotions of honest disdain.

The house will do me the justice to recollect, whatever may have been said to the contrary, that this is a language I have never held; nor have I been kept from it by motives of decorum or personal civility. It is a language to which, in my heart, I never assented, and which has always appeared to me not only injudicious and impolitick, but contrary to truth and justice, and to what abundant experience has taught us of the nature of the human mind. I the rather make this declaration at the outset of my speech, in order, that if in the course of what I shall say on a subject which cannot but excite the strongest emotions in every man who is not dead to the feelings of his nature, any over warm or too general expressions should escape me, it may be understood what are the cool deliberate opinions of my mind. I wish to speak the words of conciliation; I wish particularly to invite the gentlemen of the West Indies to accompany me in my progress. I call upon them to investigate with me, fully and fairly, the various evils arising from the slave trade, and those evils especially, which belong to the West Indies. If I can but bring them to do so, I am persuaded we shall agree in the result. I cannot but believe that they will acknowledge the defects of their own system, and deplore the evils with which it so abounds. For, sir, though I have acknowledged that there are many owners of slaves of benevolent tempers and generous hearts, who would be glad to use their absolute power for purposes of kindness and beneficence, yet this must not reconcile

us to the system of West India slavery itself, pregnant as it is with great and innumerable miseries. A Trajan and an Antoninus do not reconcile me to a despotick monarchy. We should distinguish in these cases between what belongs to the person, and what belongs to the system. We should rejoice indeed in a splendid exception to the ordinary character of tyrants; but not allow ourselves to be thereby seduced into an approbation of tyranny.

Yet, even under a Trajan and an Antoninus, the fatal effects of this system were but too discernible, though more flagrant and palpable under a Nero and a Caligula. An impartial West Indian, therefore, instead of being incensed by the frankness of my investigation, should rather join me in it, and assist me in tracing the mischiefs to their proper source. These will appear by no means greater than might be expected from considering the various circumstances of the present case. It has been justly remarked, that aristocracy is a worse form of government than monarchy, because the people are subject to many tyrants instead of one; but if this be true, what shall we say to the present case, where despotick power is not the privilege of high birth, or of extraordinary eminence, or wealth, or talents, but where it is an article to be bought at market, like any other commodity, by every man who has forty pounds in the world. There is often an elevation and liberality of mind, produced by the consciousness of superiour rank, and consequence, and authority, which serve in some degree, to mitigate the fierceness of unrestrained power, and counteract the evils of which it is naturally productive; but when it comes into the possession of the base and the vulgar, the evils will then be felt in their fullest extent. The causes of this we will not stop to examine, but the truth itself is important, and it bears directly on the present question. It suggests to us the wretched state of the slaves in the West Indies, where they are often liable to the uncontrolled domination of men of all ranks, understandings, and tempers; often, perhaps, of the most

ignorant and worthless, and meanest of the human race. This is no picture of the imagination, but the very sentiment which the scene itself impresses on the mind of a judicious observer. Every man, alə most, who can have a horse here, might be possessed of a slave there. Who is there that considers this, but must expect to find scenes of wretchedness and cruelty, on which it is impossible to look without in dignation and shame ?

But let us recollect, that this is not the whole of the present case. For, of the more opulent and more liberal West India proprietors, how many are there who are absent from their own estates, residing in this country, or in other parts of Europe? They send across the Atlantick declarations and directions dictated by the humanity of their own minds: but the execution of these must be left to persons of a description altogether different. This forms a very leading feature in the delineation of the present system, and I wish every gentleman to consider it in its various bearings and relations. It is not I only who make this remark, or the friends of the abolition of the slave trade; it was long ago strongly insisted on by Mr. Long, the historian of Jamaica. He pointed out the abuse; he specified the many evils which flowed from it; he stated that the insurrections had chiefly been found to break out among the slaves of absentee proprietors; he regretted that often the manager had an interest altogether distinct from that of the owner; that it was frequently his object to make large crops of sugar, regardless of the cruelties to be exercised on the slaves, or of the ruinous load of expense to be incurred in purchasing new slaves, to replace such as should be worn out by excessive labour; and then, at last, he concludes, they retreat like a rat from a house in flames, and go, with the credit of large crops on their backs, to another part of the island. The truth of these animadversions has been confirmed by the positive testimony of many respectable witnesses; they, conversed on the spot with the managers, and it was easy to be collected,

nay, sometimes it was frankly confessed that this was their main principle.

This alone would be sufficient to show, that the orders of the absentee planters, however good, will not be executed, and will be constantly operating to defeat the effects of their benevolence. But it is not necessary to dwell on this distinction of interest. Many causes concur to produce a difference of feelings. The very circumstance of being distinguished by their colour from the rest of the community, prevents this poor people from calling forth the feelings of sympathy. They are a marked species; they are looked upon as a different race of beings, and are not considered as having a title to the same humanity and tenderness, which the worst of men would allow to be the right of those whom they acknowledge to be their fellow creatures. Consider how in minds originally tender, the feelings will be blunted by habit; reckon up all these various circumstances and estimate their amount, and you will naturally conclude, that the situation of the slaves in the West Indies must indeed be deplorable.

I shall not here detail the particulars of their state, having done it so minutely on a former occasion: I then proved my assertions by the positive testimony of our own witnesses; by various circumstances and considerations arising out of the very nature of the case, or suggested by scrutinizing and laying together different assertions from our opponents. I then specified many general evils resulting from the nature of the system, and showed its tendency to render the state of the slave to be lamented in what regards his food, clothing, lodging, &c. Legal protection I showed he had none, and I shall be again ready to bring indisputable proof of the assertion, if it should be denied; but I would gladly spare myself the painful recital. I willingly pass over the detail of all those circumstances of degradation to which they are subjected; their being worked in the fields under the whip like cattle, instead of being treated like moral agents, capable of forecast and reflection; their being