ricans brought with them not only disorders, which
ravaged the plantations, but danger from the probability of insurrections.
He wished most heartily for the total abolition of the trade. He was
convinced, that it was both inhuman, unjust, and impolitic. This had always
been his opinion as an individual since he was capable of forming one. It
was his opinion then as a legislator. It was his opinion as a colonial
proprietor; and it was his opinion as an Englishman, wishing for the
prosperity of the British empire.

The Earl of Suffolk contended, that the population of the slaves in the
islands could be kept up by good treatment, so as to be sufficient for
their cultivation. He entered into a detail of calculations from the year
1772 downwards in support of this statement. He believed all the miseries
of St. Domingo arose from the vast importation of Africans. He had such a
deep sense of the inhumanity and injustice of the Slave-trade, that, if
ever he wished any action of his life to be recorded, it would be that of
the vote he should then give in support of the resolution.

Lord Sidmouth said, that he agreed to the substance of the resolution, but
yet he could not support it. Could he be convinced that the trade would be
injurious to the cause of humanity and justice, the question with him would
be decided; for policy could not be opposed to humanity and justice. He had
been of opinion for the last twenty years, that the interests of the
country and those of numerous individuals were so deeply blended with this
traffic, that we should be very cautious how we proceeded. With respect to
the cultivation of new lands, he would not allow a single Negro to be
imported for such a purpose; but he must have a regard to the old
plantations. When he found a sufficient increase in the Black population to
continue the cultivation already established there, then, but not till
then, he would agree to an abolition of the trade.

Earl Stanhope said he would not detain their lordships long. He could not,
however, help expressing his astonishment at what had fallen from the last
speaker; for he had evidently confessed that the Slave-trade was inhuman
and unjust, and then he had insinuated, that it was neither inhuman nor
unjust to continue it. A more paradoxical or whimsical opinion, he
believed, was never entertained, or more whimsically expressed in that
house. The noble viscount had talked of the interests of the planters: but
this wa