He therefore asked his
honourable friend, whether the period he had looked to was now arrived?
whether the West Indies, at this hour, were, not in a state in which
they could maintain their population?
It had been argued, that one or other of these two, assertions was
false; that either the population of the slaves must be decreasing,
(which the abolitionists denied,) or, if it was increasing, the slaves
must have been well treated. That their population was rather increasing
than otherwise, and also that their general treatment was by no means so
good as it ought to have been, were both points which had been proved by
different witnesses. Neither were they incompatible with each other. But
he would see whether the explanation of this seeming contradiction would
not refute the argument of expediency, as advanced by his honourable
friend. Did the slaves decrease in numbers?--Yes. Then ill usage must
have been the cause of it; but if so, the abolition was immediately
necessary to, restrain it. Did they, on the other hand, increase?--Yes.
But if so, no further importations, were wanted. Was their population
(to take a middle course) nearly stationary, and their treatment neither
so good nor so bad as it might be?--Yes.
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