e had been long aware
how much self-interest could pervert the judgment; but he was not
apprized of the full power of it, till the Slave Trade became a subject
of discussion. He had always conceived that the custom of trafficing in
human beings had been incautiously begun, and without any reflection
upon it; for he never could believe that any man, under the influence of
moral principles, could suffer himself knowingly to carry on a trade
replete with fraud, cruelty, and destruction; with destruction indeed,
of the worst kind, because it subjected the sufferers to a lingering
death. But he found now, that even such a trade as this could be
sanctioned.

It was well observed, in the petition from the University of Cambridge
against the Slave Trade, "that a firm belief in the providence of a
benevolent Creator assured them that no system, founded on the
oppression of one part of mankind, could be beneficial to another." He
felt much concern, that in an assembly of the representatives of the
country, boasting itself zealous, not only for the preservation of its
own liberties, but for the general rights of mankind, it should be
necessary to say a single word upon such a subject; but the
deceitfulness of the human heart was such, as to change the appearances
of truth, when it stood in opposition to self-interests. And he had to
lament that even among those, whose public duty it was to cling to the
universal and eternal principles of truth, justice, and humanity, there
were found some who could defend that which was unjust, fraudulent, and
cruel.

The doctrines he had heard that evening ought to have been reserved for
times the most flagrantly profligate and abandoned. He never expected
then to learn that the everlasting laws of righteousness were to give
way to imaginary, political, and commercial expediency; and that
thousands of our fellow-creatures were to be reduced to wretchedness,
that individuals might enjoy opulence, or government a revenue.

He hoped that the House, for the sake of its own character, would
explode these doctrines with all the marks of odium they deserved; and
that all parties would join in giving a death-blow to this execrable
trade. The royal family would, he expected, from their known
benevolence, patronize the measure. Both Houses of Parliament were now
engaged in the prosecution of a gentleman accused of cruelty and
oppression in the East. But what were these cruelties, even if they
could be