--Resolutions of the committee for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade.--Establishment of the Sierra Leone Company.]
It was a matter of deep affliction to us to think, that the crimes and
sufferings inseparable from the Slave Trade were to be continued to
another year. And yet it was our duty, in the present moment, to
acquiesce in the postponement of the question. This postponement was not
now for the purpose of delay, but of securing victory. The evidence, on
the side of the abolition, was, at the end of the last session, but half
finished. It was impossible, for the sake of Africa, that we could have
then closed it. No other opportunity might offer in parliament for
establishing an indelible record in her favour, if we were to neglect
the present. It was our duty, therefore, even to wait to complete it,
and to procure such a body of evidence, as should not only bear us out
in the approaching contest, but such as, if we were to fail, would bear
out our successors also. It was possible, indeed, if the inhabitants of
our islands were to improve in civilization, that the poor slaves might
experience gradually an improved treatment with it; and so far testimony
now might not be testimony for ever; but it was utterly impossible,
while the Slave Trade lasted, and the human passion continued to be the
same, that there should be any change for the better in Africa; or that
any modes, less barbarous, should come into use for procuring slaves.
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