Of the latter class many
were accused falsely, and of crimes which did not exist. He then read a
number of extracts from the evidence examined before the privy council,
and from the histories of those, who, having lived in Africa, had thrown
light upon this subject before the question was agitated. All these, he
said, (and similar instances could be multiplied,) proved the truth of
the resolution, that the African Slave Trade was contrary to the
principles of humanity, justice, and sound policy.
It was moreover, he said, contrary to the principles of the religion we
professed. It was not superfluous to say this, when it had been so
frequently asserted that it was sanctioned both by the Jewish and the
Christian dispensations. With respect to the Jews he would observe, that
there was no such thing as perpetual slavery among them. Their slaves
were of two kinds, those of their own nation, and those from the country
round about them. The former were to be set free on the seventh year;
and the rest, of whatever nation, on the fiftieth, or on the year of
Jubilee. With respect to the Christian dispensation, it was a libel to
say that it countenanced such a traffic. It opposed it both in its
spirit and in its principle; nay, it opposed it positively, for it
classed men-stealers, or slave traders, among the murderers of fathers
and mothers, and the most profane criminals upon earth.
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