Page:Thorpe (1819) A commentary on the treaties.pdf/62

58 after that has been concluded, the allied Powers can easily be induced to declare, that it shall be considered piracy to carry on, directly or indirectly any species of trade in slaves, and that all persons detected in purchasing or procuring Africans as slaves, by themselves or others, on any account whatsoever, shall be prosecuted and punished as pirates by every nation indiscriminately that shall seize them, and that all nations are bound to seize and punish them wheresoever found; then and not until then, will Africa be liberated or made susceptible of receiving the advantages of civilization, or be enabled to contribute reciprocally to the improvement of other nations : after this most desirable object has been effected, all necessity for treaties, ships of war, and Commission Courts will cease; then, and not until then, will a most burthensome, unlimited, and useless expense, under various pretences of abolishing the slave trade, cease to England.

The question, of the absolute necessity of an universal abolition has been long since determined, and made national; it rests now solely with his Royal Highness the Prince Regent’s ministers to carry it into effect, and through the executive alone can it be finally accomplished: the Nation paralized, on discovering the delusions that had been practised, by those who so long professed benevolence