odious, and abominable creature; that I know how capable he is of acting frequently againft his reafon, and even against his moft immediate and most obvious intereft, that I do not with to fee him poffeffed of that power and authority, which can decide without control upon the fate of his fellow creature. If man were not cruel, flavery would never have been complained of in this world. Indeed, if man were not cruel, flavery would not exist." The Secretary at War fpoke to the following effect. "I fhould hardly have been induced to trouble the Houfe to-night, however defirous I might be to make a few observations upon this fubject; had it not been for fome of the observations of the Right Honourable Gentleman who has juft fat down. I agree with him in the refult of fome of his opinions, although I do not agree with him in the reasons which he has affigned for them, and that is the chief cause of my rifing now. I do not wish to continue the Slave Trade, as its opponents charge its advocates with wishing to continue it, until all the uncultivated land in the West Indies fhall be brought to a state of perfect cultivation. I have not the leaft hefitation in declaring, that if the queftion were now, Whether the Slave Trade fhould be immediately abolished, or be continued until all the land in the West Indies fhould be cultivated? the queftion would not occupy one moment more of my attention; certainly my alternative would be that of voting for the abolition. Having given this opinion as I feel it, and as I conceive gratuitoufly, I will ftate another which I think I am bound to give, namely, Whether I fhould vote for the Motion now before you, or leave it to the Legiflature of the Iflands, to whom, by the laft addrefs of this House upon that fubject, it feems to me to have been entrusted? I own that leaving it to their care feems to me to be the best mode that can be adopted by this Houfe at prefent. Having stated this opinion fhortly, I fhall presently affign fome reasons for adopting it.But as I differ from many Gentlemen who have spoken upon this fubject to-night, I fhall take notice fhortly of the manner in which the question has been argued. Much has been faid upon the interior fituation of Africa; I think that a question not very material for us to view in difcuffing this matter. It feems to me to be equally immaterial to fay much on the horrors of the Slave Trade, or on the general corruption and depravity which must neceffarily attend it. These are points fo clear, that nobody has lately attempted to difpute them, and they are fo glaring, that they can hardly be over-ftated. But then comes the general queftion of the Right Honourable Gentleman who fpoke laft: Are you, after having acknowledged the injuftice and inhumanity of the trade, to agree to its continuance?' which he he follows up by afking- Are you to fay I will rob, because another man will rob Upon this I cannot help obferving, that however, triumphant the mode might be in which thefe queftions were put, and whatever may be the foundness of that Right Honourabie Gentleman's judgment, the inftance he puts, does not appear to me applicable to the measure now before you. I allow that inafmuch as example operates, each perfon concerned in the trade incurs fome cenfure, because examples of this kind are not only in themfelves mifchievous, but have alío a tendency to encourage it in others. I do not believe it to be true that we might rely on any affurance that if we difcontinue the trade it would not be carried on by others.-All these points appear to me to be diftant from the main object of our difcuffion, and therefore I fhall now pass them by. I own it appears to me a little extraordinary that Gentlemen, and particularly the Honourable Member who fpoke laft, fhould endeavour to draw a line of distinction between the duty of this Houfe and its inclinations. "Let me remind them of their own principles, and their own practice; it is in the fame tone that they talk of this distinction and the policy of giving immediate freedom to the flaves in the Weft Indies. Why then, let me tell them, that by continuing that flavery, they are continuing that which they know to be a great hardship upon the flaves there; but what would their anfwer be? They would fay, We must fuffer it to be continued for by taking it fuddenly away we should create a greater evil than that which we propofed to remedy.' That is the real ftate of the cafe, and a choice of evils is the point at iffue. "The Right Honourable Gentleman who fpoke laft ftated roundly that this Houfe, by continuing this trade for any length of time, would be guilty of a flagrant breach of duty. Whether it be a flagrant breach of duty, or any breach of duty, I will take leave to fay is the whole queftion, and that is to be decided by a comparison of evils. The queftion will then be, whether, by ablishing the trade now, we are likely to create a greater evil than that which we would willingly remove; I fay our intereft is not any confideration at all with us except in a comparative fenfe; and that includes, not only the fafety of the whole of our islands, but alfo the happiness of the very people who now endure the hardthips of flavery in the West Indies. I fay, then, that if you take that courfe which, upon a view of all these points appears to you to be the best, there can be no line of difference drawn between your duty and your inclination, becaufe in that cafe you will have entirely performed your duty. I fhall, therefore, do now what I did on a former. 5 K occafion, No. 23. ** occafion, because no good reason has in my opinion been given for my doing otherwife; leave this to the care and diligence of the Legiflature of the Colonies. Gentlemen may afk, why do you not fix the period beyond which you will not allow this traffic to continue? I may be told that I am acting inconfiftently with my former principles, because I agreed to the last addrefs, confidering it as a notice to the planters to diminish the importation of negroes; that they have had full notice, and if they have not acted upon it, the fault is entirely their own, and they ought to have no farther time. To which I anfwer, if you confider the immediate abolition of the Slave Trade as a punishment upon thofe that are interested in its continuance, your reafoning is correct; but if you regard the abolition as a measure, not of punishment upon a few individuals, but for general policy, your reafoning is inconclufive; and in that view of the fubject, there is the fame reafon for continuing your notice as there was for giving it; for if the trade be now in the fame ftate as it was then, the reasons which made you then forbear from immediate abolition should induce you to forbear now. Those who with most eagerly for the abolition of this trade may have very good withes, but I do not know that their wishes will have the effect which they expect. If the planters go on in a fyftem for ameliorating the condition of the negroes, that will of itself have a good effect, however difcontented the advocates for the abolition of the Slave Trade may be. Upon the whole, in confidering this as I ought to confider every question, I afk myfelf how am I to do the greateft practical good?" And in that view I own I am inclined to truft for a while to the Colonial Affemblies by way of experiment. Had I no hopes of confiderable public advantage by doing fo, I own I fhould not be inclined to follow either the propofition which is now before us, or that which is recommended in its ftead; but I fhould follow the ideas of a man now no more; a man who left no part of the interefts of mankind unexamined, who brought with him more wifdom in difcuffing every fubject he attempted to investigate than any man I ever knew; I need not hardly fay I mean the late Mr. Burke. His idea was to take much of the power of legiflation upon this fubject out of the hands of the colonies, and to make many regulations within ourselves relative to our traffic on the coaft of Africa; by which he wished to ameliorate the condition of the negroe, and cause the Slave Trade to die a natural death. I may be afked, why do you not move fomething to that effect?' My answer is, I do not fee the probability of producing that defirable effect, or else I would with pleasure move it. I fay alfo that in point of fact, from whatever caufe, you have not fucceeded in your endea vours to abolish the trade; and that your notice to the planters has hitherto been infufficient, that there has been no good reafon affigned to-night why that notice should not be farther con tinued, and therefore I fhall vote against the prefent motion. If I could with a wish abolish the Slave Trade, defirable as that may be, yet ftill I fhould in the prefent ftate of the colonies fear the effect of it. What the probable effect would be I cannot fay with any degree of precifion; great apprehenfions are entertained, great evils might follow, and it is from that fear that my difficulty arifes. Something has been faid to-night tending to fhew that much of the oppofition to this motion proceeds from a general hatred to all innovation, arifing from an abhorrence which fo many of us feel towards the French principles; that indeed from that abhorrence proceeds a difpofition to oppofe every thing that tends to favour the freedom of mankind. So far is that idea from actuating me upon this occafion, that my hatred of French principles and French freedom would rather increase my hatred of the flavery of the negroes; for certainly no two things in human life can bear a greater resemblance to cach other, than the flavery of negroes and French freedom; and therefore it is not on account of any general principles I entertain against innovation, or against reform, that I oppofe this motion. "This is the view I have of the question. I was anxious to ftate my fentiments upon it, the more particularly as an attempt was made to diftinguish between our duty and our inclination. I fay the arguments offered to prove that diftinction, are not good in themfelves, and that the Gentlemen who have urged them cannot follow them up with effect. I have faid this to vindicate myself, and to vindicate this Houfe from the impu tation that our permanent intereft goes one way, and our duty directs us to another. I deny that; I fay my duty leads me to what I am now doing; I am confidering how I can beft fecure the happiness of millions, and I believe I am pursuing the best mode for that purpose, by trusting this subject, for a while at leaf, to the care and diligence of the Colonial Affemblies. I with it, however, to be understood, that I do not bind myself never at any future period, to vote for any measure like the prefent; that I may do, when it shall seem to me to be neceffary. I was most anxious of all to state what appeared to me to be my own justification for the part I take, and the juftification of the Houfe alfo, but which I fhould have forbore ftating, but for the warmth of the Right Honourable Gentleman who spoke laft, whofe erroneous reafoning, in fome parts of his fpeech, I can as easily excufe on fome occafions as I can admire the force of his arguments on others." Mr. Barham faid, that he fhould vote against the mo tion, not because he thought its tendency was to abolish the Slave Trade, but to perpetuate its exiftence. He thought fuch motions as thefe fpurred on inftead of difcouraging the traffic. He thought it extraordinary that Gentlemen who favoured motions of this defeription fhould complain of the continuance of the Slave Trade, and of the disappointment of their hopes in abolishing it, when their own conduct was the only cause of that difappointment. It was not his opinion that the Slave Trade fhould continue for an hour for the purpose of cultivating all the land in the iflands. He did not believe that the colonies would have the leaft objection to prohibiting the importation of negroes for cultivating the land, provided a compenfation was allowed to thofe who had purchafed land for the purpofe of cultivation. He was not a very confiderable proprietor of land of that defcription; but as far as he was intereffed, he was ready to forego any fhare of compenfation for himfelf; but neither himself nor any other perfon had a right to give a way the rights of others. It had been asked, when, if they had their withes, fhould the trade be allowed to ccafe? He for his own part wished it to ceafe as foon as poffible; and he defired that every reftriction fhould be had to leffen the fupply of, and to leffen the demand for, negroes; which he believed were the only means by which the trade could really be abolished. The laft period at which any fhips fhould fail to the coaft of Africa for flaves, he could not pretend to ftate; but in his confcience he believed, that if fuch motions as thefe were not perfisted in, the trade would in a very few years ceafe. Much had been urged to that Houfe about its abolishing the trade, but he wifhed Gentlemen to put to themselves one queftion, in order, if poffible, to fet the point at reft. The queftion was, whether the Houfe of Commons had the power to put an end to the Slave Trade without the affent of Colonial Affemblies? The Chancellor of the Exchequer obferved, that on account of what had fallen from fome Gentlemen in the course of the debate.on the principle of compenfation, he deemed it incumbent on him to fay a few words in explanation on that point. What he alluded to on that head, by no means referred to a general principle of compenfation; it related folely to lands, under certain circumftances, which were derived from the Crown in those islands for a valuable confideration—In those cafes, and where the conditions ftipulated for were faithfully performed by the grantees, he thought it fair that certain proportionate compenfations fhould be allowed: there were cafes, however, where lands were fo derived, but in that confideration on the part of the holders, or where the conditions ftipulated for |