He entreated every member to recollect, that on his vote that night
depended the happiness of millions; and that it was then in his power to
promote a measure, of which the benefits would be felt over one whole
quarter of the globe; that the seeds of civilization might, by the
present bill, be sown all over Africa: and the first principles of
humanity be established in regions where they had hitherto been excluded
by the existence of this execrable trade.
Lord Carysfort rose, and said, that the great cause of the abolition had
flourished by the manner in which it had been opposed. No one argument
of solid weight had been adduced against it. It had been shown, but
never disproved, that the colonial laws were inadequate to the
protection of the slaves; that the punishments of the latter were most
unmerciful; that they were deprived of the right of self-defence against
any White man; and, in short, that the system was totally repugnant to
the principles of the British constitution.
Colonel Phipps followed Lord Carysfort. He denied that this was a
question in which the rights of humanity and the laws of nature were
concerned. The Africans became slaves in consequence of the constitution
of their own governments.
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