r the
protection and comforts of the slaves, he thought he could prove to the
planters, that there was no necessity for the Slave Trade; that the
slaves upon all their estates would increase sufficiently by population;
that they might be introduced gradually, and without detriment, to a
state of freedom; and that then the real interests of all would be most
promoted. This system he had began to act upon two years before I saw
him. He had also, when the society was established in Paris, which took
the name of "The Friends of the Negroes," enrolled himself a member of
it.

The first public steps taken after my arrival in Paris were at a
committee of the Friends of the Negroes, which was but thinly attended.
None of those mentioned, except Brissot, were present. It was resolved
there, that the committee should solicit an audience of Mr. Necker; and
that I should wait upon him, accompanied by a deputation consisting of
the Marquis de Condorcet, Monsieur de Bourge, and Brissot de Warville:
secondly, that the committee should write to the president of the
National Assembly, and request the favour of him to appoint a day for
hearing the cause of the Negroes; and thirdly, that it should be
recommended to the committee in London to draw up a petition to the
National Assembly of France, praying for the abolition of the Slave
Trade by that country. This petition, it was observed, was to be signed
by as great a number of the friends to the cause in England, as could be
procured. It was then to be sent to the committee at Paris, who would
take it in a body to the place of its destination.

I found great delicacy as a stranger in making my observations upon
these resolutions, and yet I thought I ought not to pass them over
wholly in silence, but particularly the last. I therefore rose up, and
stated that there was one resolution, of which I did not quite see the
propriety; but this might arise from my ignorance of the customs, as
well as of the genius and spirit of the French people. It struck me that
an application from a little committee in England to the National
Assembly of France was not a dignified measure, nor was it likely to
have weight with such a body. It was, besides, contrary to all the
habits of propriety in which I had been educated. The British Parliament
did not usually receive petitions from the subjects of other nations. It
was this feeling which had induced me thus to speak.

To these observations it was replie