A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade: Addressed to the freeholders and other inhabitants of YorkshireWilberforce, William
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A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade: Addressed to the freeholders and other inhabitants of Yorkshire
Wilberforce, William
Antislavery movements -- Great Britain; Slave trade -- Great Britain
It might indeed be presumed, that though no attack had yet been made on
the Slave Trade, such persons would be disposed to regard it with a
partial and indulgent eye. To it they had owed their fortunes; and, even
independently of all pecuniary interest, no man likes to own that he is
engaged in a way of life which is hateful and dishonourable, Still, if
it be not the express purpose of a narrative to deceive, the truth is
apt to break out at intervals, and the Advocates for Abolition might
therefore expect to find some indirect proofs, some occasional and
incidental notices of the real nature and effects of the Slave Trade.
They were at least entitled to claim the full benefit of any facts to
the disparagement of the Slave Trade, which should be found in this
class of writings; and where these earlier publications, of writers so
naturally biassed in favour of the Slave Trade, should exactly accord,
in what they might state to it’s disparagement, with other living
witnesses, several of them, men most respectable in rank and character,
and utterly uninterested either way in the decision of the question
concerning it’s abolition; men too, whose testimony was the result of
their own personal knowledge; the facts which should be thus proved,
would be established by a force of evidence, little short of absolute
demonstration.
[Sidenote: Modern valuable information.]
Lastly, there are several other printed accounts of Travels in Africa,
which contain much valuable information. The authors of the publications
here referred to, having visited Africa of late years, can scarcely
indeed be said to be so unexceptionably free, as those who wrote before
the Slave Trade had become a subject of public discussion, from all
bias, either from their connections, their interest, or their
preconceived opinions. No imputation, however, is hereby intended to be
thrown out against them. With the character of one of them, Dr.
Winterbottom, I have long been well acquainted, and it is such as must
alone entitle him to the full credit which he has universally obtained.
But Mr. Parke justly stands at the head of all African travellers. There
prevails throughout his work a remarkable air of authenticity, and to
all the facts which it contains, entire credit is due. At the same time,
I have heard, from persons who saw his original minutes, that they
contained several statements favourable to the views of the
Abolitionists, which are not inserted in the publication. His work,
however, must ever be read with avidity, from its containing that which
perhaps of all human spectacles is the most interesting, the exhibition
of superior energies, called into action by extraordinary difficulties
and dangers. Other publications concerning Africa have since appeared.
That of Golberry, was drawn up and published under the patronage of
Bonaparte, about the very time when the latter entered on his crusade
against the Blacks in St. Domingo; the Abolitionists may therefore claim
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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