He believed, on the other hand, that they
would abolish it also. Mr. Necker, the minister of France, was a man of
religious principle; and, in his work upon the administration of the
finances, had recorded his abhorrence of this trade. He was happy also
to relate an anecdote of the king of France, which proved that he was a
friend to the abolition; for, being petitioned to dissolve a society,
formed at Paris, for the annihilation of the Slave Trade, his majesty
answered, that he would not, and was happy to hear that so humane an
association was formed in his dominions. And here, having mentioned the
society in Paris, he could not help paying a due compliment to that
established in London for the same purpose, which had laboured with the
greatest assiduity to make this important subject understood, and which
had conducted itself with so much judgment and moderation as to have
interested men of all religions, and to have united them in their cause.
There was another topic which he would submit to the notice of the
House, before he concluded. They were perhaps not aware that a fair and
honourable trade might be substituted in the natural productions of
Africa, so that our connexion with that continent in the way of
commercial advantage need not be lost.
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