He had a plantation in Cayenne, and had devised a
plan, by which the labourers upon it should pass by degrees from slavery
to freedom! With this view he had there laid it down as a principle,
that all crimes were equal, whether they were committed by Blacks or
Whites, and ought equally to be punished. As the human mind is of such a
nature, as to be acted upon by rewards as well as punishments, he
thought it unreasonable, that the slaves should have no advantage from a
stimulus from the former. He laid it down therefore as another
principle, that temporal profits should follow virtuous action. To this
he subjoined a reasonable education to be gradually given. By
introducing such principles, and by making various regulations for the
protection and comforts of the slaves, he thought he could prove to the
planters, that there was no necessity for the Slave Trade; that the
slaves upon all their estates would increase sufficiently by population;
that they might be introduced gradually, and without detriment, to a
state of freedom; and that then the real interests of all would be most
promoted. This system he had began to act upon two years before I saw
him. He had also, when the society was established in Paris, which took
the name of "The Friends of the Negroes," enrolled himself a member of
it.
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