to
glory in the shame of trampling under foot the laws of reason, humanity,
and religion.

This motion, he said, came strongly recommended to them. The honourable
member who introduced it was justly esteemed for his character. He was
the representative, too of a noble county, which had been always ready
to take the lead in every public measure for the good of the community,
or for the general benefit of mankind; of a county, too, which had had
the honour of producing a Saville. Had his illustrious predecessor been
alive, he would have shown the same zeal on the same occasion. The
preservation of the unalienable rights of all his fellow-creatures was
one of the chief characteristics of that excellent citizen. Let every
member in that House imitate him in the purity of their conduct and in
the universal rectitude of their measures, and they would pay the same
tender regard to the rights of other countries as to those of their own;
and, for his part, he should never believe those persons to be sincere
who were loud in their professions of love of liberty, if he saw that
love confined to the narrow circle of one community, which ought to be
extended to the natural rights of every inhabitant of the globe.

But we should be better able to bring ourselves up to this standard of
rectitude, if we were to put ourselves into the situation of those whom
we oppressed. This was the rule of our religion. What should we think of
those who should say, that it was their interest to injure us? But he
hoped we should not deceive ourselves so grossly as to imagine that it
was our real interest to oppress any one. The advantages to be obtained
by tyranny were imaginary, and deceitful to the tyrant; and the evils
they caused to the oppressed were grievous, and often insupportable.

Before he sat down, he would apologize if he had expressed himself too
warmly on this subject. He did not mean to offend any one. There were
persons connected with the trade, some of whom he pitied on account of
the difficulty of their situation. But he should think most contemptibly
of himself as a man if he could talk on this traffic without emotion. It
would be a sign to him of his own moral degradation. He regretted his
inability to do justice to such a cause; but if, in having attempted to
forward it, he had shown the weakness of his powers, he must console
himself with the consideration, that he felt more solid comfort in
having acted up to sound public pr