The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1806-06-11 00:00:00

therntiwt, Ip33ltoct. Area( •tierial I.genetal reference, I
in which, shernil 'Ufa ;kis any mistake, am sore
there are Gewlemen who will be' certain to set rile
light. to the execution of this duty, lam happy •
to refl.& that whatever difference of 'wittier) might
have prevailed upon some points of this siihjeet, be-
ns een a few /members, and, at one time, (lollop-
pile, so as to defeat the measure, the opinion of
thfl. House upon this siihjett was, l will not say
uniform, for in that I may be contradierd
but as nearly unanimous as any thine of the
kind could be, " That the Slave Trade is con.
trary to theAwinciples of justice, policy, and hu-
manity." These, I believe, were the words of your
own resAUtier, ad.upted attcr hog art.l set lOUS de-
liberation s and they are these which I mean to
snhmit for the rosolutiou I shall propose this day.
Sorely, Sir, it doss not rewain yet to he argued,
that to c irry men by valence swat- to slaves y, in
distant countries, to use the etr.resvert of an illus-
trious man, now no mote (Mr, But h'-) a man dis-
tinguished in every way, mid is not•i ig more, that
for his great humanity, •• is not a traffic in the labour
of men, but in the men themselves." 1 with not nose
enter, for it would be unnecessary, into that explod
argument, that we di d rat mike the Negroes slaves, hut
found them already in that state, and condemned to it
for crimes. The nature of the crimes themselves
(witchcraft, in general) is a manifest pretext. dna a
mockery of all human reason. But supposing them
even to be real crimes, and such as men should be
condemned for, can there be any thing more de.
grading to sense, or disgusting to humanity, than to
think it honourable or justifiable in Great Bri-
tain to send out ships annually to assist in the
purposes of African police ? It has, I am told,
Wren asserted by an authority in the other House of
Parliament, that the trade is in itself so good a one,
that if it was not found already subsisting, it would
be right to create it. I certainly will not compare
the authority just alluded to with that of my
Honourable Friend (Nit-. Wilberforce), who, in the
efforts he has used in order to abolish this disho-
nottreble traffic, as well as in all his other put scits,
has always done Itirmeli so mush honour. I will
not compare that authority with that of a Right
Hon. Gentleman, now no mare (Mr. Pitt), whose
talents have always so justly been entitled to ad-
miration, and whom eloquence was never more
powerfully -displayed on any occasion, than in
opposition to this trode. not compare is
with that *Ea Noble Lord (Sidreiketli), one of your
predecessors, but not your immediate one, in the
chairs who, though be opposed the maimer in
which we wished to obtain an abolition, yet as to the
no man ewer enforced more strongly. or
with inure feeling, his utter detestation .1 it An )(her
Noble Lord also (Melville), who took a lead to cue.
stantly opposing our attempts at a total and inure-
diate abolition ; yet, in regal d to the principle, when
he prevailed in his measure of gradual abolition, re-
corded his opinion nn the Journals, by moving, that
the House considered the slave trade to be adverse
to policy, humanity, and jueice. Ido not, there•
fore, suppose, that there emi be above one, or per-
haps two Members in the House, who can objet
a condemnation of the nature of the node ; and shalt
next proceed to recall the House to what has been
its uniform, consistent, and unchangeable opinion-I
for the last eighteen years, during which we
ihould blush to have it seated, that not one step
Ila; yet been taken towards the Abolition of
the Trade. if, thee, we have never ceased to ex-
press our reprobation, surely the House must think
itself bound by its char aeler, and the consistency of
its proceedings, to condemn it nose. The first time
this measure was proposed, on the motion of my
Hoe. Friend, which was' in the year 1791, it was,
after a long and warm discussion. rejeCted. In
the following year. 179?, after the question had
been, during the interval, better considered, there
appeared to be a very strong disposition, generally,
to adopt it to the fulls but in the Committee, the
amnion for a gradual Abolition WaS carried. On
that occasion, when the most strenuous efforts
were made to specify the time when the .total
abolition should take place, there were several
divisions in the House about the number of years,
and Lord Melville, who was the leader and pro-
poser of the gradual abolition, could not venture to
push the period longer than eight years, or 11100,
when it was to be totally abolished. We are now
in the year 1306, and while surrounding nations are
reproaching us with negleet, not a single step has
yet been taken in it. Whets the question for a gra-
dual abolition was carried, there was no one could
suppose that the trade would last so long ; and in
the mean time we have suffered other nations
to take the led of us. Denmark, much to its ho-
nour, has abolished the trade ; or, if it could not
abolish it altogether, it has at least done
all it could, .for it has prohibited its boing carried
on in Danish ships, or by Danish sailors. I
own, that when I began to consider the subject,
early in the present Session, my opinion was, that
the total abolition of the whole might be carried
this year; but subsequent business intervened, in the
discussion of the military plant besides which there
was an abolition going forward in the foreign trade,
from our colonies, and it was thought right to carry
that measure first through, before we proceeded to
the other. That Bill has now passed into a Law,
and so far we have already succeeded ; but it was
then too late to carry it through the other house.
In this house, from a regard to the consistency of
its own proceeding, we could indeed expel no
great resistance; but the impediments that may be
opposed to it in another, would not leave sufficient
time to accomplish it. No alternative is therefore
now left, but to let it pass over for the present
session ; and it is to afford no ground for a sus-
picion that we have abandoned it altogether. that
we have recourse to the measure that I am now about
to propose. The motion will not mention any limi-
tation, either as to the time or manner of abolish-
ing the trade. There have been some hints indeed
entertained, and thrown out in some quarters, that
it would be a better measure to adopt something
that must inevitably lead to an abolition ; but after
twenty years of close attention which I have •paid
to tie subject, I cannot think any thing so effeenal
as a dire& law fur that purpose. The neat point
is, as to the time when the abolition shoald rake
piece ; for the same reasons or objetlionserbith led
to the gradual measure of 170, stay here occur
agan. That also I leave non ; but I have no hesi-
taiiaa to state, that with respect to that, my op.uioo