And, first, the House, the nation, and all Europe were under great
obligations to Mr. Wilberforce for having brought this important subject
forward. He had done it in a manner the most masterly, impressive, and
eloquent. He had laid down his principles so admirably, and with so much
order and force, that his speech had equalled anything he had ever heard
in modern oratory, and perhaps it had not been excelled by anything to
be found in ancient times. As to the Slave Trade itself, there could not
be two opinions about it, where men were not interested. A trade begun
in savage war, prosecuted with unheard-of barbarity, continued during
the transportation with the most loathsome imprisonment, and ending in
perpetual exile and slavery, was a trade so horrid in all in
circumstances, that it; was impossible to produce a single argument in
its favour. On the ground of prudence, nothing could be said in defence
of it, nor could it be justified by necessity. It was necessity alone
that could be brought to justify inhumanity; but no case of necessity
could be made out strong enough to justify this monstrous traffic. It
was therefore the duty of the House to put an end to it, and this
without further delay.
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