The Truth of this Position has of late been clearly set forth by persons of reputation and ability, particularly _George Wallis_, in his System of the Laws of _Scotland_, whose sentiments are so worthy the notice of all considerate persons, that I shall here repeat a part of what he has not long since published, concerning the _African_ Trade, _viz._ ‘If this Trade admits of a moral or a rational justification, every crime, even the most atrocious, may be justified: Government was instituted for the good of mankind. Kings, Princes, Governors, are not proprietors of those who are subjected to their authority, they have not a right to make them miserable. On the contrary, their authority is vested in them, that they may by the just exercise of it, promote the Happiness of their people: Of course, they have not a right to dispose of their Liberty, and to sell them for slaves: Besides, no man has a right to acquire or to purchase them; men and their Liberty, are not either saleable or purchaseable: One therefore has no body but himself to blame, in case he shall find himself deprived of a man, whom he thought he had, by buying for a price, made his own; for he dealt in a Trade which was illicit, and was prohibited by the most obvious dictates of humanity. For these reasons, every one of those unfortunate men, who are pretended to be slaves, has a right to be declared free, for he never lost his Liberty, he could not lose it; his Prince had no power to dispose of him: of course the sale was void. This right he carries about with him, and is entitled every where to get it declared. As soon, therefore, as he comes into a country, in which the Judges are not forgetful of their own humanity, it is their duty to remember that he is a man, and to declare him to be free.—This is the Law of Nature, which is obligatory on all men, at all times, and in all places.—Would not any of us, who should be snatched by Pirates from his native land, think himself cruelly abused, and at all times intitled to be free? Have not these unfortunate _Africans_, who meet with the same cruel fate, the same right? are not they men as well as we? and have they not the same sensibility? Let us not, therefore, defend or support an usage, which is contrary to all the Laws of Humanity.’