oquence, but now for the first time informed of all the horrors of
it, were to address their lordships upon it, and he was sure, that they
would instantly determine that it should cease. But the continuance of
it had rendered cruelty familiar to us; and the recital of its horrors,
had been so frequent, that we could now hear them stated without being
affected as we ought to be. He intreated their lordships, however, to
endeavour to conceive the hard case of the unhappy victims of it; and as
he had led them to the last stage of their miserable existence, which
was in the colonies, to contemplate it there. They were there under the
arbitrary will of a cruel task-master from morning till night. When they
went to rest, would not their dreams be frightful? When they awoke,
would they not awake--

--only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all; but torture without end
Still urges?--

They knew no change, except in the humour of their masters, to whom
their whole destiny was entrusted. We might, perhaps, flatter ourselves
with saying, that they were subject to the will of Englishmen. But
Englishmen were not better than others, when in possession of arbitrary
power. The very fairest exercise of it was a never-failing corrupter of
the heart. But suppose it were allowed that self-interest might operate
some little against cruelty; yet where was the interest of the overseer
or the driver? But he knew it would be said, that the evils complained
of in the colonies had been mitigated. There might be instances of this;
but they could never be cured, while slavery existed. Slavery took away
more than half of the human character. Hence the practice, where it
existed, of rejecting the testimony of the slave: but, if this testimony
was rejected, where could be his redress against his oppressor?

Having shown the inhumanity, he would proceed to the second point in the
resolution, or the injustice of the trade. We had two ideas of justice,
first, as it belonged to society by virtue of a social compact; and,
secondly, as it belonged to men, not as citizens of a community, but as
beings of one common nature. In a state of nature, man had a right to
the fruit of his own labour absolutely to himself; and one of the main
purposes, for which he entered into society, was that he might be better
protected in the possession of his rights.