Our chief opponents of abolition in Parliament objected neither to the premises on which our reasonings concerning the West Indian population were grounded, nor to the conclusions which we drew from them. They acknowledged, as has been already stated, to the utmost extent, the guilt and cruelty of the Slave Trade. But they urged, that it would be fair to give the West Indians time for the completing of their gangs of Slaves, and for the subsiding of their prejudices; and as they warmed in argument, advancing in their positions, they contended, that from the facilities afforded by the local circumstances of the islands for smuggling, it would be found impracticable to abolish the Slave Trade without the aid of such regulations as could only be enacted by the West Indian Legislatures themselves. They trusted, however, the time would ere long arrive, when, by the general consent of all parties, this hateful traffic might be abandoned. A respite till the remainder of the century was alone asked, a period of eight years, and on the 1st of January 1801, the reign of justice and humanity was to commence, and a new and happier day was to begin to dawn on the wretched Negroes. Meanwhile, no new settlements were to be formed, a limited number of Slaves only was to be annually imported; and other regulations and measures were to be adopted, with a view to the general abolition of the Trade in human beings. Time would fail me, were I to attempt to lay before you in detail the various discussions which subsequently took place. It may be enough to state, that the Abolitionists apprehended, that if Parliament, acknowledging the foul injustice and cruelty of the African Slave Trade, should suffer it to continue for several years on any such weak and vague grounds as those of not shocking the prejudices, and acting contrary to the wishes of the West Indian proprietors, and on such other pleas as were urged by our opponents, when it had been distinctly proved by the greatest political authorities, who, differing on most other subjects, entirely concurred on this, that the measure so far from being ultimately injurious to the West Indians, would substantially and permanently promote their interests, it would be in vain that we should flatter ourselves that any determination to abolish the Slave Trade at the end of eight years would ever be adhered to. If obligations so powerful, if duties so clear and urgent, could be now so easily evaded, surely at the end of eight years some new pleas would be set up for the continuance of the trade, and the Abolitionists themselves would then be told, that, having formerly recognised the right of sacrificing the dictates of justice and humanity to considerations of expediency, they ought in common consistency to grant a new respite on the same or better grounds. Thus, period after period would be claimed from us, so long as ever the planters should choose to purchase, or as Africa should have victims to supply.