ht forward in this session. The introduction of it was a direct
violation of the faith of the other house. It was unjust, when an
assurance had been given that the question should not be agitated till
next year, that this sudden fit of philanthropy, which was but a few
days old, should be allowed to disturb the public mind, and to become
the occasion of bringing men to the metropolis with tears in their eyes
and horror in their countenances, to deprecate the ruin of their
property, which they had embarked on the faith of parliament.

The extraordinary part which the Lord Chancellor Thurlow took upon this
occasion, was ascribed at the time by many who moved in the higher
circles, to a shyness or misunderstanding which had taken place between
him and Mr. Pitt on other matters; when, believing this bill to have
been a favourite measure with the latter, he determined to oppose it.
But whatever were his motives (and let us hope that he could never have
been actuated by so malignant a spirit as that of sacrificing the
happiness of forty thousand persons for the next year to spite the
gratification of an individual), his opposition had a mischievous
effect, on account of the high situation in which he stood; for he not
only influenced some of the Lords themselves, but, by taking the cause
of the slave-merchants so conspicuously under his wing, he gave them
boldness to look up again under the stigma of their iniquitous calling,
and courage even to resume vigorous operations after their disgraceful
defeat. Hence arose those obstacles which will be found to have been
thrown in the way of the passing of the bill from this period.

Among the Lords who are to be particularly noticed as having taken the
same side as the Lord Chancellor in this debate, were the Duke of
Chandos and the Earl of Sandwich. The former foresaw nothing but
insurrections of the slaves in our islands, and the massacre of their
masters there, in consequence of the agitation of this question. The
latter expected nothing less than the ruin of our marine. He begged the
house to consider how, by doing that which might bring about the
abolition of this traffic, they might lessen the number of British
sailors; how, by throwing it into the hands of France they might
increase those of a rival nation; and how, in consequence, the flag of
the latter might ride triumphant on the ocean. The Slave Trade was
undoubtedly a nursery for our seamen. All objections against it in