Writing too at a time when the
abolition was not even thought of, they could not have been biassed with
any view to that event. And, lastly, having been dead many years, they
could not have been influenced, as living evidences may be supposed to
have been, either to conceal or exaggerate, as their own interest might
lead them, either by being concerned in the continuance of the trade, or
by supporting the opinions of those of their patrons in power, who were
on the different sides of this question.
Furnished then in this manner, I began my work. But no person can tell
the severe trial which the writing of it proved to me. I had expected
pleasure from the invention of the arguments, from the arrangement of
them, from the putting of them together, and from the thought in the
interim that I was engaged in an innocent contest for literary honour.
But, all my pleasure was damped by the facts which were now continually
before me. It was but one gloomy subject from morning to night. In the
day-time I was uneasy. In the night I had little rest. I sometimes never
closed my eye-lids for grief. It became now not so much a trial for
academical reputation, as for the production of a work, which might be
useful to injured Africa.
Pages:
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229