ease of their negroes might be
effected by an improved system of legislation; and that in the result
the Slave Trade would be no longer necessary.

A sudden abolition, also, would occasion dissatisfaction there. Supplies
were necessary for some time to come. The negroes did not yet generally
increase by birth. The gradation of ages was not yet duly filled. These
and many defects might be remedied, but not suddenly.

It would cause, also, distress there. The planters, not having their
expected supplies, could not discharge their debts; hence their slaves
would be seized and sold. Nor was there any provision in this case
against the separation of families, except as to the mother and infant
child. These separations were one of the chief outrages complained of in
Africa. Why, then, should we promote them in the West Indies? The
confinement on board a slave-ship had been also bitterly complained of;
but, under distraint for the debt of a master, the poor slave might
linger in a gaol twice or thrice the time of the Middle Passage.

He again stated his abhorrence of the Slave Trade; but as a resource,
though he hoped but a temporary one, it was of such consequence to the
existence of the country, that it could not suddenly be withdrawn. The
value, of the imports and exports between Great Britain and the West
Indies, including the excise and customs, was between seven and eight
millions annually; and the tonnage of the ships employed about an eighth
of the whole tonnage of these kingdoms.

He complained that in the evidence the West Indian planters had been by
no means spared. Cruel stories had been hastily and lightly told against
them. Invidious comparisons had been made to their detriment; but it was
well known that one of our best comic writers, when he wished to show
benevolence in its fairest colours, had personified it in the character
of the West Indian. He wished the slave might become as secure as the
apprentice in this country; but it was necessary that the alarms
concerning the abolition of the Slave Trade should, in the mean time, be
quieted; and he trusted that the good sense and true benevolence of the
House would reject the present motion.

Mr. Matthew Montagu rose and said a few words in support of the motion;
and after condemning the trade in the strongest manner, he declared,
that as long as he had life he would use every faculty of his body and
mind in endeavouring to promote its abolition.

Lord John