They prescribed a form of
muster-rolls, which they were to see and sign in the presence of the
clearing officer. They regulated their food, both as to kind and
quantity; and they preserved them from many of the impositions to which
they had been before exposed.
From the time when Mr. Wilberforce gave his first notice this session to
the present, I had been variously employed, but more particularly in the
composition of a new work. It was soon perceived to be the object of our
opponents, to impress upon the public the preference, of regulation to
abolition. I attempted, therefore, to show the fallacy and wickedness of
this notion. I divided the evils belonging to the Slave Trade into two
kinds. These I enumerated in their order. With respect to those of the
first kind, I proved that they were never to be remedied by any acts of
the British parliament. Thus, for instance, what bill could alter the
nature of the human passions? What bill could prevent fraud and violence
in Africa, while the Slave Trade existed there? What bill could prevent
the miserable victims of the trade from rising, when on board the ships,
if they saw an opportunity, and felt a keen sense of their oppression?
Those of the second I stated to admit of a remedy, and after making
accurate calculations on the subject of each, I showed that those
merchants who were to do them away effectually, would be ruined by their
voyages.
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