It appears, my Lord, that a trade is opened, with the sanction, and now under the protection of parliament, between the subjects of Great Britain and the natives or inhabitants of Africa. The medium of this trade on the one hand are, manufactures, goods, wares, and other merchandize: on the other, captive Negroes, or slaves; which, for these commodities, are given in barter and exchange. It will be allowed, I presume, my Lord, that these British traders, or merchants, have an absolute property in their merchandize; to truck and to traffic with this merchandize is the legal institution of the trade: it will be absurd then to deny, that they have not an equal interest in the thing received, as they had in the thing given. To avoid this dilemma then, the objection recurs; that, in Africa they may have an interest, in America they may have the same, in Europe they have none: but assertion without proof, is argument without weight. Where is the law that has drawn this line of distinction? Is there any act of parliament, or clause of an act of parliament, that has fixed and described the zones or climates wherein property in Negroes may be held, or where it may not be held? Until I am better informed, my Lord, I must take for granted, that no such law exists; and if no such law does exist, the manifest conclusion is, that where property is once legally vested, it must legally remain; until altered or extinguished by some power co-equal to that which gave it[4]. But as it may perhaps be to the purpose, my Lord, to try the force and effect of these acts of trade referred to, I will, with your Lordship’s indulgence, state a case or two, whereby their operation in this country might be felt and perceived.