Page:Substance of the speech of His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, in the House of Lords.djvu/7

 presented a petition from the Sierra Leone Company in favour of it. I beg, therefore, that the delay may be attributed to those who have actually produced it.

Having, on every occasion, when the subject of the Slave Trade has been mentioned in this House, declared, that I never would act but in the most open, honourable, and candid manner; and it being the intention of those Noble Lords with whom I have the honour to agree, to persevere firmly in their resistance of any plan of Abolition, I did not, although fully empowered, object to the Petitioners being heard by counsel at the bar. It is not my most distant intention to throw any censure upon the Noble Secretary of State, whose general conduct, during the present critical situation of Europe, has been such as to prove his affection to the King and country. To him I impute no blame upon the subject of the Petition in favour of the Bill; but far differently do I think of