The other member, Mr. Gascoyne, had said that his constituents, if the
trade were abolished, could not employ their capitals elsewhere. But
whether they could or not, it was the duty of that House, if they put
them into a traffic which was shocking to humanity and disgraceful to
the nation, to change their application, and not to allow them to be
used to a barbarous purpose. He believed, however, that the merchants of
Liverpool would find no difficulty on this head. All capitals required
active motion; it was in their nature not to remain passive and
unemployed; they would soon turn them into other channels. This they had
done themselves during the American war; for the Slave Trade was almost
wholly lost, and yet they had their ships employed, either as transports
in the service of government or in other ways.
And as he now called upon the House not to allow any conjectural losses
to become impediments in the way of the abolition of the Slave Trade, so
he called upon them to beware how they suffered any representations of
the happiness of the state of slavery in our islands to influence them
against so glorious a measure. Admiral Barrington had said in his
testimony, that he had often envied the condition of the slaves there.
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