Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/233

 of the globe; that the seeds of civilization might, by the present bill, be sown all over Africa; and tin: first principles of humanity be established in regions where they had hitherto been excluded by the existence of this execrable trade.

Mr. Pitt rose and said that from the first hour of his having had the honor to sit in parliament down to the present, among all the questions, whether political or personal, in which it had been his fortune to take a share, there had never been one in which his heart was so deeply interested as in the present; both on account of the serious principles it involved, and the consequences connected with it.

The present was not a mere question of feeling. The argument which ought in his opinion to determine the committee, was, that the slave-trade was unjust. It was therefore such a trade as it was impossible for him to support, unless it could be first proved to him that there were no laws of morality binding upon nations; and that it was not the duty of a legislature to restrain its subjects from invading the happiness of other countries, and from violating the fundamental principles of justice.

Several had stated the impracticability of the measure before them. They wished to see the trade abolished; but there was some necessity for continuing in it which they conceived to exist. Nay, almost every one, he believed, appeared to wish that the further importation of slaves might cease, provided it could be made out that the population of the West Indies could be maintained without it. He proposed, therefore, to consider the latter point; for, as the impracticability of keeping up the population there appeared to operate as the chief objection, he trusted that, by showing it to be ill founded, he should clear away all other obstacles whatever; so that, having no ground either of justice or necessity to stand upon, there could be no excuse left to the committee for resisting the present motion.

He might reasonably, however, hope that they would not reckon any small or temporary disadvantage which might arise from the abolition to be a sufficient reason against it. It was surely not any slight degree of expediency, nor any small balance of profit, nor any light shades of probability on the one side, rather than on the other, which would determine them on this question. He asked pardon even for the supposition. The slave-trade was an evil of such magnitude that there must be a common wish in the committee at once to put an end to it, if there were no great and serious obstacles. It was a trade by which multitudes of unoffending nations were deprived of the blessings of civilization, and had their peace and happiness invaded. It ought, therefore, to be no common expediency, it ought to be nothing less than the utter ruin of our islands which it became those to plead who took upon them to defend the continuance of it.

He could not help thinking that the West India gentlemen had manifested an over great degree of sensibility as to the point in question; and that their alarms had been unreasonably excited upon it. He had examined the subject carefully for himself; and he would now detail those reasons which had