He hoped
and believed that the melancholy predictions of the worthy aldermen
would not prove true, and that the citizens of London would have too
much public spirit to wish that a great national object (which
comprehended the great duties of humanity and justice) should be set
aside, merely out of consideration to their own private interests.
Mr. Dempster expected, notwithstanding all he had heard, that the first
proposition submitted to them would have been to make good out of the
public purse all the losses individuals were liable to sustain from an
abolition of the Slave Trade. This ought to have been, as Lord Penrhyn
had observed, a preliminary measure. He did not like to be generous out
of the pockets of others. They were to abolish the trade, it was said,
out of a principle of humanity. Undoubtedly they owed humanity to all
mankind; but they also owed justice to those who were interested in the
event of the question, and had embarked their fortunes on the faith of
parliament. In fact he did not like to see men introducing even their
schemes of benevolence to the detriment of other people; and much less
did he like to see them going to the colonies, as it were upon their
estates, and prescribing rules to them for their management.
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