that the
report on the table was a weak and imperfect report, but would not these
have the advantage of its weakness and imperfection? It was strange, when
his honourable friend, Mr. Wilberforce, had said, "Weak and imperfect as
the report may be thought to be, I think it strong enough to bear me out in
all my propositions," that they, who objected to it, should have no better
reason to give than this, "We object, because the ground of evidence on
which you rest is too weak to support your cause." Unless it were meant to
say (and the meaning seemed to be but thinly disguised) that the house
ought to abandon the inquiry, he saw no reason whatever for not going
immediately into a committee; and he wished gentlemen to consider whether
it became the dignity of their proceedings to obstruct the progress of an
inquiry, which the house had pledged itself to undertake. Their conduct
indeed seemed extraordinary on this occasion. It was certainly singular
that, while the report had been five weeks upon the table, no argument had
been brought against its sufficiency; but that on the moment when the house
was expected to come to an ultimate vote upon the subject, it should be
thought defective, contradictory, unconstitutional, and otherwise
objectionable. These objections, he was satisfied, neither did nor could
originate with the country gentlemen; but they were brought forward, for
purposes not now to be concealed, by the avowed enemies of this noble
cause.

In the course of the discussion, which arose upon this subject, every
opportunity was taken to impress the house with the dreadful consequences
of the abolition. Mr. Henniker read a long letter from the King of Dahomey
to George the First; which had been found among the papers of James, first
Duke of Chandos, and which had remained in the family till that time. In
this, the King of Dahomey boasted of his victory over the King of Ardrah,
and how he had ornamented the pavement and walls of his palace with the
heads of the vanquished. These cruelties, Mr. Henniker said, were not
imputable to the Slave-trade. They showed the Africans to be naturally a
savage people, and that we did them a great kindness by taking them from
their country. Alderman Sawbridge maintained that, if the abolition passed,
the Africans, who could not be sold as slaves, would be butchered at home;
while those, who had been carried to our islands, would be no longer under
control. Hence insurrections, and th