But what was this but an acknowledgment of the manner, in which these
miserable beings, were treated? The trade was to be kept up, with all
its enormities, in order that there might be persons to consume the
refuse fish from Newfoundland, which was too bad for anybody else to
eat.
It had been said that England ought not to abolish the Slave Trade,
unless other nations would also give it up. But what kind of morality
was this? The Trade was defensible upon no other principle than that of
a highwayman. Great Britain could not keep it upon these terms. Mere
gain was not a motive for a great country to rest on, as a justification
of any measure. Honour was its superior; and justice was superior to
honour.
With regard to the emancipation of those in slavery, he coincided with
Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Pitt; and upon this principle, that it might be
as dangerous to give freedom at once to a man used to slavery, as, in
the case of a man who had never seen day-light, to expose him all at
once to the full glare of a meridian sun.
With respect to the intellect and sensibility of the Africans, it was
pride only, which suggested a difference between them and ourselves.
There was a remarkable instance to the point in the evidence, and which
he would quote.
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