About this time two others, men of great talents and learning, promoted
the cause of the injured Africans, by the manner in which they
introduced them to notice in their respective works.
Dr. Adam Smith, in his _Theory of Moral Sentiments_, had, so early as
the year 1759, held them up in an honourable, and their tyrants in a
degrading light. "There is not a Negro from the coast of Africa, who
does not, in this respect, possess a degree of magnanimity which the
soul of his sordid master is too often scarce capable of conceiving.
Fortune never exerted more cruelly her empire over mankind, than when
she subjected those nations of heroes to the refuse of the gaols of
Europe, to wretches who possess the virtue neither of the countries they
came from, nor of those they go to, and whose levity, brutality, and
baseness so justly expose them to the contempt of the vanquished." And
now, in 1776, in his _Wealth of Nations_ he showed in a forcible manner
(for he appealed to the interest of those concerned,) the dearness of
African labour; or the impolicy of employing slaves.
Professor Millar, in his _Origin of Ranks_, followed Dr. Smith on the
same ground. He explained the impolicy of slavery in general, by its bad
effects upon industry, population, and morals.
Pages:
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127