trary power would spoil the
hearts of the best; hence would arise tyranny on the one side, and a
sense of injury on the other. Hence the passions would be let loose, and
a state of perpetual enmity would follow.

He needed only to go to the accounts of those who defended the system of
slavery, to show that it was cruel. He was forcibly struck last year by
an expression of an honourable member, an advocate for the trade, who,
when he came to speak of the slaves, on selling off the stock of a
plantation, said that they fetched less than the common price, because
they were damaged. Damaged! What! Were they goods and chattels? What an
idea was this to hold out of our fellow-creatures! We might imagine how
slaves were treated, if they could be spoken of in such a manner.
Perhaps these unhappy people had lingered out the best part of their
lives in the service of their master. Able then to do but little, they
were sold for little! and the remaining substance of their sinews was to
be pressed out by another, yet more hardened than the former, and who
had made a calculation of their vitals accordingly.

As another proof, he would mention a passage in a pamphlet, in which the
author, describing the happy situation of the slaves, observed, that a
good negro never wanted a character; a bad one could always be detected
by his weals and scars. What was this but to say, that there were
instruments in use which left indelible marks, behind them; and who
would say that these were used justly?

An honourable gentleman, Mr. Vaughan, had said, that setting aside
slavery, the slaves were better off than the poor in this country. But
what was it that we wished to abolish! Was it not the Slave Trade, which
would destroy in time the cruel distinction he had mentioned? The same
honourable gentleman had also expressed his admiration of their
resignation; but might it not be that resignation which was the
consequence of despair?

Colonel Tarleton had insinuated that the petitions on the table had been
obtained in an objectionable manner. He had the honour to present one
from his constituents, which he would venture to say had originated with
themselves, and that there did not exist more respectable names in the
kingdom than those of the persons who had signed it. He had also
asserted, that there was a strong similitude in their tenour and
substance, as if they had been manufactured by the same persons. This
was by no means to be wondered at.