He would ask then, if we
were to leave to the importer no means of importation but by smuggling;
and if, besides all the present disadvantages, we were to load him with
all the charges and hazards of the smuggler, would there be any danger
of any considerable supply of fresh slaves being poured into the islands
through this channel? The question under these circumstances, he
pronounced, would not bear a dispute.
His honourable friend had also maintained, that it would be inexpedient
to stop the importations immediately, because the deaths and births in
the islands were as yet not equal. But he (Mr. Pitt) had proved last
year, from the most authentic documents, that an increase of the births
above the deaths had already taken place. This then was the time for
beginning the abolition. But he would now observe, that five years had
elapsed since these documents were framed; and therefore the presumption
was, that the black population was increasing at an extraordinary rate.
He had not, to be sure, in his consideration of the subject, entered
into the dreadful mortality arising from the clearing of new lands.
Importations for this purpose were to be considered, not as carrying on
the trade, but as setting on foot a Slave Trade, a measure which he
believed no one present would then support.
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