The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Volume IIClarkson, Thomas
History
The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Volume II
Clarkson, Thomas
Slave trade -- Africa
Lord Grenville then read the resolution of the Commons. This resolution, he
said, stated first, that the Slave-trade was contrary to humanity, justice,
and sound policy. That it was contrary to humanity was obvious; for
humanity might be said to be sympathy for the distress of others, or a
desire to accomplish benevolent ends by good means. But did not the
Slave-trade convey ideas the very reverse of this definition? It deprived
men of all those Comforts, in which it pleased the Creator to make the
happiness of his creatures to consist,--of the blessings of society,--of
the charities of the dear relationships of husband, wife, father, son, and
kindred,--of the due discharge of the relative duties of these,--and of
that freedom, which in its pure and natural sense was one of the greatest
gifts of God to man.
It was impossible to read the evidence, as it related to this trade,
without acknowledging the inhumanity of it, and our own disgrace. By what
means was it kept up in Africa? By wars instigated, not by the passions of
the natives, but by our avarice. He knew it would be said in reply to this,
that the slaves, who were purchased by us, would be put to death, if we
were not to buy them. But what should we say, if it should turn out, that
we were the causes of those very cruelties, which we affected to prevent?
But, if it were not so, ought the first nation in the world to condescend
to be the executioner of savages?
Another way of keeping up the Slave-trade was by the practice of
man-stealing. The evidence was particularly clear upon this head. This
practice included violence, and often bloodshed. The inhumanity of it
therefore could not be doubted.
The unhappy victims, being thus procured, were conveyed, he said, across
the Atlantic in a manner which justified the charge of inhumanity again.
Indeed the suffering here was so great, that neither the mind could
conceive nor the tongue describe it. He had said on a former occasion, that
in their transportation there was a greater portion of misery condensed
within a smaller space, than had ever existed in the known world. He would
repeat his words; for he did not know, how he could express himself better
on the subject. And, after all these horrors, what was their destiny? It
was such, as justified the charge in the resolution again: for, after
having survived the sickness arising from the passage, they were doomed to
interminable slavery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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