Mr. Pitt then rose. He deprecated the resolutions altogether. He denied
also the inferences which Mr. Dundas had drawn from the West Indian
documents relative to the Negro population. He had looked aver his own
calculations from the same documents again and again, and he would
submit them, with all their data, if it should be necessary, to the
House.
Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Fox held the same language. They contended also,
that Mr. Dundas had now proved, a thousand times more strongly than
ever, the necessity of immediate abolition. All the resolutions he had
read were operative against his own reasoning. The latter observed, that
the Slave-traders were in future only to be allowed to steal innocent
children from their disconsolate parents.
After a few observations by Lord Sheffield, Mr. Drake, Colonel Tarleton,
and Mr. Rolle, the House adjourned.
On the 25th of April it resumed the consideration of the subject. Mr.
Dundas then went over his former resolutions, and concluded by moving,
"that it should not be lawful to import any African Negroes into any
British colonies, in ships owned or navigated by British subjects, at
any time after the 1st of January, 1800.
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