extend violence and defolation to her very centre? Such were precifely the circumstances proved by the evidence before the privy council, particularly by those who had been moft converfant with the fubject, Mr. Wadftrom, captain Hill and doctor Sparrman. From them it appeared, that the kings of Africa were never induced to engage in war by public principles, by national glory, and leaft of all by the love of their people. They had converfed with thefe princes, and had learned from their own mouths, that to procure flaves was the object of their hoftilities. Indeed there was fcarcely a fingle perfon examined before the privy council, who did not prove that the flave trade was the fource of the tragedies continually acted upon that extenfive continent. Some had endeavoured to palliate this circumftance; but there was not one that did not more or lefs admit it to be true. By one it was called the concurrent cause, by the majority it was acknowledged to be the principal motive of the African wars.

Mr. Wilberforce proceeded to describe the mode in which the flaves were tranfported from Africa to the Weft Indies. This he confeffed was the most wretched part of the whole fubject. So much mifery condenfed in fo little room was more than the human imagination had ever before conceived. He would not accufe the Liverpool traders; he verily believed, that, if the wretchedness of any one of the many hundred negroes ftowed in each fhip could be brought before the view and remain in the fight of the African merchant, there was not one among them whofe heart would be strong enough to bear it. He called upon his hearers to imagine fix or feven

66

hundred of these victims chained two and two, furrounded with every object that was naufeous and difgufting, difeafed and ftruggling with all the varieties of wretchedness. How could they bear to think of fuch a fcene as this? Meanwhile he would beg leave to quote the evidence of Mr. Norris, delivered in a manner that fully demonftrated that intereft could draw a film over the eyes fo thick, that total blindness could do no more. "Their apartments," faid this evidence, are fitted up as much for their advantage as circumstances will admit. They have feveral meals a day, fome of their own country provifions, with the beft fauces of African cookery, and by way of variety another meal of pulfe, &c. according to European tafte. After breakfast they have water to wash themselves, while their apartments are perfumed with frankincenfe and lime-juice. Before dinner they are amused after the manner of their country; the fong and the dance are promoted, and games of chance are furnished. The men play and fing while the women and girls make fanciful ornaments with beads, with which they are plentifully fupplied." Such was the fort of train in which the Liverpool de-, legates gave their evidence before the privy council. What would the houfe think, when by the concurring teftimony of other witnesses the true hiftory was laid open? The flaves, who were fometimes defcribed as rejoicing in their captivity, were fo wrung with mifery at leaving their country, that it was the conftant practice to fet fail in the night, left they fhould be fenfible of their de parture. Their accommodations it feemed were convenient. The right ancle of one indeed was connected

with

with the left ancle of another by a fmall iron fetter, and, if they were turbulent, by another on the wrifts. The pulfe which Mr. Norris mentioned were horse beans, and the legiflature of Jamaica had ftated the fcantinefs both of water and provi-fion as a fubject that called for the interference of parliament. Mr. Norris talked of frankincenfe and lime-juice, while the furgeons defcribed the flaves as fo closely ftowed, that there was not room to tread among them, and while it was proved in evidence by fir George Yonge, that, even in a fhip that wanted two hundred of her complement, the stench was intolerable. The fong and the dance, faid Mr. Norris, are promoted. It would have been more fair perhaps, if he had explained the word promoted. The truth was that for the fake of exercife thefe miferable wretches, loaded with chains and oppreffed with disease, were forced to dance by the terror of the lafh, and fometimes by the actual use of it. "I," faid one of the evidences, "was employed to dance the men, while another perfon danced the women." Such was the meaning of the word promoted; and it might alfo be obferved with refpect to food, that inftruments was fometimes carried out in order to force them to eat, which was the fame fort of proof how much they enjoyed themfelves in this inftance alfo. With refpect to their finging, it confifted of fongs of lamentation on their departure, which while they fung they were always in tears, fo that one of the captains, more humane probably than the reft, threatened a woman with a flogging, because the mourn fulness of her fong was too painful for his feelings. That he might

not trust however too much to any fort of defcription, Mr. Wilberforce called the attention of the houfe to one fpecies of evidence which was infallible. Death was a witnefs that could not deceive them, and the proportion of deaths would not only confirm, but, if poffible, even aggravate our fufpicion of the mifery of the tranfit. It would be found upon an average of all the fhips upon which evidence had been given, that, exclufively of fuch as perifhed before they failed, not lefs than twelve and a half per cent. died in the paffage. Befide thefe the Jamaica report ftated that four and a half per cent. expired upon fhore before the day of fale, which was only a week or two from the time of their landing; one third more died in the feafoning, and this in a climate exactly fimilar to their own, and where, as fome of the witneffes pretended, they were healthy and happy. The difeafes however that they contracted on fhip-board, the aftringents and washes that were employed to hide their wounds, and make them up for fale, were a principal caufe of this mortality. The negroes, it fhould be remembered, were not purchased at first except in perfect health, and the fum of the different cafualties taken together produced a mortality of above fifty per cent.

Mr. Wilberforce added, that, as foon as he had advanced thus far in his inveftigation, he felt the wickednefs of the flave trade to be fo enormous, fo dreadful and fo irremediable, that he could ftop at no alternative fhort of its abolition. A trade founded in iniquity, and carried on with fuch circumstances of horror, must be abolished, let the policy be what it might, and he had

from

from this time determined, whatever were the confequences, that he would never reft till he had effected that abolition. His mind had indeed been haraffed with the objections of the Weft Indian planters, who had afferted that the ruin of their property must be the confequence of this regulation. He could not how ever help diftrufting their arguments. He could not believe that the Almighty Being, who forbad the practice of rapine and bloodshed, had made rapine and bloodshed neceffary to any part of his univerfe. He felt a confidence in this perfuafion, and took the refolution to act upon it. Light indeed foon broke in upon him; the fufpicion of his mind was every day confirmed by increafing information, and the evidence he had now to offer upon this point was decifive and complete. The principle upon which he founded the neceffity of the abolition was not policy, but juftice; but, though juftice were the principle of the measure, yet he trusted he fhould diftinctly prove it to be reconcileable with our trueft political intereft.

In the first place he afferted that the number of negroes in the Weft Indies might be kept up without the introduction of recruits from Africa; and to prove this he enumerated the various fources of the prefent mortality. The firft was the difproportion of the fexes, an evil, which, when the flave trade was abolished, muft in the course of nature cure it felf. The fecond was the diforders contracted in the transportation, and the confequences of the washes and mercurial ointments by which they were made up for fale. A third was exceffive labour joined with improper food; and a fourth the ex

treme diffolutenefs of their manners. Thefe would both of them be counteracted by the impoffibility of procuring farther fupplies. It was the intereft, they were told, of the mafters to treat their flaves with kindness and humanity; but it was immediate and prefent, not future and diftant intereft that was the great spring of action in the affairs of mankind. Why did we make laws to punish men? It was their intereft to be upright and virtuous. But there was a prefent impulfe continually breaking in upon their better judgment, an impulse, which was known to be contrary to their permanent advantage. It was ridiculous to fay that men would be bound by their intereft, when prefent gain or ardent paffion urged them. It might as well be afferted, that a stone could not be thrown into the air, or a body move from place to place, because the principle of gravitation bound them to the furface of the earth. If a planter in the Weft Indies found himself reduced in his profits, he did not ufually difpofe of any part of his flaves, and his own gratifications were never given up, fo long as there was a poffibility of any retrenchment in the allowance of his negroes. Mr. Wilberforce entered into a calculation in order to prove that in many of the islands, and particularly in Jamaica, there was an increase of population among the flaves actually begun, and he deduced from the whole that the births in that island at this moment exceeded the deaths by one thousand or eleven hundred per annum. Allowing however the number of negroes to decrease, there were other obvious fources that would infure the welfare of the West Indian islands; the wafte of labour which at present

pre

prevailed; the introduction of the plough and other machinery; the divifion of work, which in free and civilized countries was the grand fource of wealth; and the reduction of the number of domeftic fervants, of whom not lefs than from twenty to forty were kept in ordinary families. But, granting that all these fuppofitions were unfounded, that every one of thefe fuccedanea fhould fail; the planters would ftill be fecured and out of all question indemnify themselves, as was the cafe in every tranfaction of commerce, by the increafed price of their produce in the English market. The Weft Indians therefore, who contended against the abolition, were nonfuited in every part of the argument. Did they fay that fresh importation was neceffary? He had fhown that the number of flaves might be kept up by procreation. Was this denied? He afferted that the plough, horfes, machinery, domeftic flaves and all the other inevitable improvements would fupply the deficiency. Was it perfifted in that the deficiency could be no way fupplied, and that the quantity of produce would diminish? He then reverted to the unanswerable argument, that the increase of price would make up their lofs, and fecure them against every poffible mifcarriage.

Mr. Wilberforce proceeded to anfwer incidental objections. In the first place he afferted, that the African trade, inftead of being the nurfery of our failors, had been found to be their grave. A comparifon had with great industry been formed between the mufter-rolls of the flave fhips and thofe of the other branches of our commerce; and it had been found, that more failors had died in

one year in the slave trade, than in two years in all our other trades put together. Three thousand one hundred and feventy feamen had failed from Liverpool in 1787, and of thefe only fourteen hundred and twenty-eight had returned. Information upon the subject had lately been received from the governor of Barbadoes, who stated in the course of his narrative, that the "African traders at home were obliged to fend out their fhips very strongly manned, as well from the unhealthiness of the climate, as the neceffity of guarding the flaves; and, as they foon felt the burthen of the confequent expence, the mafters quarrelled immediately upon their arrival in the inlands with their feamen upon the moft frivolous pretences, and turned them on fhore, while many of these valuable fubjects, fometimes from ficknefs, and fometimes from the neceffity of entering into foreign employment for fubfiftence, were totally loft to their country." A farther objection that had been urged was, that if we abandoned the flave trade, it would only be taken up by the French; we should become the fufferers, and the evil would remain in its utmoft extent, This was indeed a very weak and fophiftical argument; and, if it would defend the flave trade, might equally be urged in favour of robbery, murder and every species of wickedness, which, if we did not practice, others would probably commit.

The objection however he believed had no foundation in fact. Mr. Necker, the prefent minifter of France, was a man of ability and religion, and in his work upon the adminiftration of the finances had actually recorded his abhorrence of the flave trade; and the king of France,

having

having lately been requested to diffolve a fociety formed for the exprefs purpose of the abolition, had anfwered that he could not comply with what was defired, and that he on the contrary rejoiced in the exiftence of fuch a fociety.

Mr. Wilberforce proceeded in his arguments to fhew, that no meafure sould in the prefent cafe be effectual, fhort of the entire abolition. The Jamaica report had recommended that no perfon fhould be kidnapped, or permitted to be made flaves contrary to the cuftoms of Africa. Might they not be reduced to this ftate unjustly, and yet by no means contrary to the cuftoms of Africa? Befide how could we diftinguish between the flaves juftly and unjuftly reduced to that condition? Could we difcover them by their phyfiognomy? If we could, was it believed, that the British captains would by any regulations in this country be prevailed upon to refuse all thofe, that had not been fairly, honeftly and uprightly enflaved? Those who were offered to us for fale, were brought, fome of them, three or four thousand miles, and exchanged like cattle from one hand to another, till they reached the coaft. What compenfation then could be made to the rejected flaves for their fufferings? The argument was equally valid as to their tranfportation. The profit of the merchant depended upon the number that could be crowded together, and the fhortness of the allowance. As to their ultimate fituation it would also remain. Slavery was the fource of all forts of degradation, and the condition of flavery could not even be meliorated, without put ting an end to the hope of farther reinforcements. In fine Mr. Wil

berforce called upon his hearers to make all the amends in their power for the mifchief they had done to the continent of Africa. He called upon them to recollect what Europe had been three centuries ago. În the reign of king Henry the Seventh the inhabitants of Bristol had actually fold their children as an article of merchandise. The people of Ireland had done the fame. Let then the fame opportunity of civilization be extended to Africa, which had done fo much for our own iflands. It might hitherto have been alledged in our excufe, that we were not acquainted with the enormity of the wickedness we fuffered; but we could no longer plead ignorance; it was directly brought before our eyes, and that houfe muft decide, and muft juftify to the world and their confciences the facts and principles upon which their decifion was formed.

Mr. Wilberforce moved twelve propofitions, upon which however he obferved that he did not mean to urge them to an immediate vote. They ftated the number of flaves annually carried from Africa, imported into the British Weft Indies, and entered in the cuftom houfe accounts; the number in the first of these articles amounting to thirty-eight thousand. They entered into the probable demerits of the perfons fold to flavery, the confequences produced upon the inhabitants of Africa, and the valuable and important commerce to that country which might be fubstituted in the room of the lave trade. They ftated the injury fuftained by the British feamen, and the fatal circumftances that attended the tranfportation to the flaves. They detailed the caufes of the mortality of the negroes, and enumerated the

different