Page:Substance of the speech of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, in the House of Lords.djvu/13

 such an article in his instructions, had he considered the Slave Trade as contrary to the benign dictates of the Christian religion. Queen Anne, in her most gracious speech of June 6th, 1712, from the throne of the very House in which I have now the honour of addressing your Lordships, mentions this essential advantage in favour of Great Britain.

Now, my Lords, I have ever understood the speech of the Sovereign to be the speech of the Minister; I am therefore to suppose that the then Ministry considered the Assiento Contract, as a matter of the highest advantage to the Queen and her subjects, and an article to be insisted upon, in consequence of the glorious termination of the war. But a reference to the speech itself may serve to dissipate any doubts which may arise in your Lordships minds. In one passage Queen Anne says—"The apprehension that Spain and the West Indies might be united to