by observing, that it was now sixteen years since the discussion of this important subject had commenced; and surely sufficient time had been given to consider it in all its bearings and relations. The cause which he had undertaken, he should never desert as long as he had a head to understand, a heart to feel, or a tongue to deliver his opinions. He regarded it as one of the greatest honours of his life, that he had been the cause of the original agitation of this most interesting question. It had been his good fortune, in the course of all the discussions upon it, on former occasions, to meet with the support (with a few exceptions) of all that is good and great in the various characters of whom that house was composed; to have enlisted on his side whatever is estimable in talent, in humanity, and in virtue. The honourable member then moved, that the house do resolve into a committee, to consider of the propriety of the introduction of a bill for the abolition of the slave trade, within a time to be limited.

Mr. Fuller contended that the situation of the negroes in the West India colonies was equal, or even superior, to the condition of the labouring poor in this country. It was not true, he asserted, that they felt themselves miserable under English masters: the reverse was the case. He had letters in his possession which assured him of the fact, which, he said, was also confirmed by his own experience. The way of punishingnegroes for offences was to threaten them with transportation to their own country. He had himself made trial of this mode of punishment, and had found it effectual. He admitted it to be true, that all law was set aside in Africa, and that for witchcraft, and other

accusationsequally ridiculous, thousands of victims were banished their country. The negroes were not even divested of these foolish notions, when established in the West Indies; for, upon his own estate, he had been obliged to hang a ne gro for having killed four others on an imputation of witchcraft. It was contended, that no attempt had been made to keep up the stock of negroes. This was not a fair statement. The attempt had been made by several respectable individuals; but without adequate success. He himself had directed his attention to the same object; but he was satisfied that, owing to the impossibility of procuring a sufficient number of female negroes, the stock could not be kept up, without fresh importations. The slave trade, he admitted, was not moral in its nature or origin; but he thought that it arose out of the peculiar circumstances of Afri

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If it could be rendered more palatable, if rules for diminishing its severity could be adopted, he 'should be happy to give them his cordial support. But as he did not think the abolition of the trade a practicable object, he should vote against the motion.

Mr. Barham could by no means admit the force of the arguments founded on the cruelties said to be practised on the negroes in our colonies; for he was convinced that the facts themselves were in general either false, or very greatly exaggerated. He did not mean to deny the truth of the position, that undue power will be abused; but this abuse appeared to him to be checked by two of the strongest motives inherent in the human mind-self-interest, and self-preservation ;-self-interest, in as far as it was universally acknowledged,

that on the prosperity of the slave depended the prosperity of the master; self-preservation, in as far as persons, whatever power they may legally have, cannot exert it with any great degree of violence and oppression, over those in whose physical power they so completely are, and know they must continue. That they had not done so, was fully proved by the conduct of the slaves themselves; who, instead of availing themselves of the many opportunities of successful insurrection, which had lately presented themselves, had exposed their lives, and shed their blood, in defence of their masters. His chief objection to the plan of abolition was, that it would completely fail of its purpose, and only substitute for the present trade a contraband trade; under the protection of foreign flags, indeed, but carried on by the same persons, in the same ships, with the same capital, and to the same extent as it now was. Mr. Barham stated, that he had formerly objected to the measure upon other grounds also; and particularly, because he thought it would interfere with other means which, he conceived, offered a better chance of success. Such means, he supposed, parliament must have had in view, when a vote was passed in favour of a gradual abolition-not an abolition to take place at some given period, how ever remote; but an abolition to be effected by a series of measures all tending to the same purpose.— The importation of slaves, on the one hand, might have been ren, dered onerous and unprofitable, by always fettering and loading it up to the utmost point which it would bear without producing the contraband trade. On the other hand, the demand might have been less, ened by taking out of the scale all un

settled lands, the opening of which chiefly creates it. These lands, indeed, could not have been resumed, without a fair compensation to the owner: but the expense would not have been considerable; and, what was more important, it would fall where it ought-on the public, who requires the sacrifice, and not on the individual of whom there is no justice in separately requiring it. The demand might be further lessened by exciting and assisting the colonies to remove whatever causes tend to obstruct the natural increase; and, finally, by altering and improving the nature of slavery itself. Such were the grounds on which he had formerly voted against the abolition of the trade; and if the situation of the colonies had remained unchanged, he should now have pursued the same steps. But the state of the West India islands was materially altered. At present, there was no reason to apprehend a contraband trade. But little temptation was now offered to spcculators at home, to embark in a trade of distant and hazardous establishment. The situation of foreign countries gave no great reason to suppose they would be very forward in its protection; and the state of the colonies, reduced as their profits were, was not such as to present any great encourage ment. By these considerations, his chief objections to the project of abolition were removed; and, from causes no less obvious, his hope from the measures before alluded to had entirely vanished. The hon. member concluded a speech, in which he displayed much liberality of opinion and soundness of argu ment, by voting for the motion.

Mr. William Smith also sup. ported the motion. Although no difference of opinion on the nature

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of the slave trade appeared to prevail when it came under discussion, yet he could not but regard it as extraordinary, that notwithstanding twelve years had elapsed since parliament had resolved, in the most solemn manner, that this nefarious traffic should be abolished, not one step had been taken towards the execution of an object so universally acknowledged to be desirable. Could any proposition, he asked, be more simple than this, that the practice of buying and selling men and their posterity to slavery was inconsistent with the character of an enlightened and christian country? If it were said, that negroes were subject to transportation for the most trivial offence, or that some were bred for slavery, still he would ask, supposing the information to be true, whether it was consistent with the civilized character of this country to sanction such a system? There could only be one answer given. As to the assertion, that it was the custom of the native princes of Africa to sell their prisoners of war to slavery, and if the persons on the coast did not humanely purchase them for our merchants, those prisoners would be murdered, he considered it an idle tale. And here he could not but remark, that although it was stated that witchcraft was a fruitful source of slavery in Africa, it did not appear that any of those humane mer chants, or their humane agents, ever made any attempt to remove that delusion. As Christians, as men, as Britons, he called on the house to interpose and give its zealous concurrence to an object that involved the interest of so many thousands of our fellow creatures; of those who possessed a common nature with us, and were equally entitled to the rights of humanity.

Yet, towards them, what was the conduct of the trade? To treat them like beasts of burthen, to put them out of the protection of the law! It was quite absurd, whatever might be said on the subject, to suppose that any law could protect a slave against his master. It was quite impracticable, considering the power which the master had in the West Indies, and the mode of administering the laws. The slave was not in fact an accountable being. He could have no property in any thing, who had no property in himself. He had no instructor to let him know what the law was. He knew not how to ob tain redress when aggrieved. He could not be bound by any law. To his master he might be bound by gratitude and affection, and it was happy where he was; but there could be no tie of duty upon him, for there was an incurable defect in the title that held him. There was a right inherent in the slave to abstract himself from such a title, while it was the master's interest to make him work, and ensure his servitude. These two relations were at variance. There was no relation between the two, to regulate which the laws of morality could apply. To attempt to legislate for them would be absurd.

The motion, he flattered himself, would meet unanimous support; and he hoped that every West India planter would evince the same generous promptitude as the hon. member who had preceded him in the debate, to abolish this nefarious and universally execrated traffic.

After a few words from general Tarleton, in opposition to the measure, Mr. Manning rose, and expressed his expectation, that, if parliament should determine on the immediate abolition of the trade, it

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would be felt that the merchants and others connected with West India property, who might lose by such a measure, would be entitled to compensation. If parliament had changed its mind, as to the expediency or justice of this traffic, it would be unjust to allow those who had embarked their capital upon the faith of parliament, to suffer any pecuniary loss. He called for this consideration upon the same principle as that which was uniformly acted upon, where any pub. lie measure was productive of injury to the property of individuals. As no such indemnity appeared to be connected with this motion, and as he was adverse to the immediate abolition of the trade, he should move for the order of the day. Several other members having briefly expressed their opinion on the question, the house divided upon the motion of Mr. Manning, which was lost by a considerable majority. Mr. Wilberforce's motion was of course carried, and leave given to bring in a bill for the abolition of the slave trade, within a time to be limited.

The bill passed through all its stages, without producing any discns sion in which the leading members of the house, whose eloquence upon former occasions shone with such uncommon lustre, took any distinguished share. It may be proper, in order to give a general conception of the arguments which Mr. Wilberforce thought it necessary to notice, to present a short out line of his reply, upon the second reading of the bill.

He denied that any of his state ments rested, as had been insinuated, on light grounds, or had been produced with a view to deceive the house. He repeated, with additional force of reasoning, many of

his original arguments in favour of the abolition of the trade. He quoted from Mr. Park's Travels into the Interior of Africa, several passages, to show that the arguments of the abolitionists are founded in the justest views of policy, as well as the most enlarged ideas of introducing knowledge, humanity, and religion into that. vast continent. Arguing at some length on the practicability of keeping up the stock of negroes, independently of importation, he showed, that for a long series of years, particularly for the last twelve, the proportion of the deaths and births of the negroes was gradually becoming more favourable. This statement was verified by several authorities, particularly by Dr. Anderson, who had had the care of 4000 negroes. By good management, their numbers, he was convinced, might be kept up in all our islands. In illustration of this idea, he stated that he was enabled to affirm, on the authority of Mr. King, the late American minister, one of the most respectable men alive, that in ten years, from 1791 to 1801, the American negroes had increased, in such a proportion, as to hold out a fair prospect of doubling their numbers in twentyfour or twenty-five years. It being ascertained that such a rapid increase was obtained in America, he saw no reason to think that our West India negroes might not only keep up their numbers, but might positively increase to a great degree: for the climate of America was so far from being more favourable, that the dews and exhalations had been found to be injurious to the health of the negroes, who had been accustomed to a dry and hot climate. Mr. Wilberforce, after illustrating this point, laid before

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the house, on the positive information of the American minister, the very satisfactory prospect of the probable abolition of the slave trade in the United States, at no very remote period. At present, in all the states, with the exception of South Carolina, the importation of negroes was prohibited; and in 1808, when the powers on this point, now vested in the particular states, should cease, there was every reason to believe that congress would take up the business, and abolish the slave trade for ever. He congratulated the house on this prospect, and urged it as an additional argument for taking the lead in the great work of humanity, policy, and justice.

Although this very important bill passed the house, on the third reading, by a majority of 36 votes in favour of the measure; yet, as the period of the session was so considerably advanced, and the number of members so small at the last discussion of this great and interesting question, it was thought proper, in the house of lords, to defer the consideration of this subject to an early period of the ensuing session of parliament. A motion of lord Hawkesbury to this effect was carried, and the bill was consequently lost for this session. Thus terminated, for the present, the discussion of a question equally involving the character of this country, and the interests of the whole negro population of our West India colonies.--When it is considered, that sixteen years have elapsed since the abolition of this odious and nefarious traffic was first agitated in parliament, that it is now no less than twelve years since the legislature solemnly decreed its abolition, and that various steps have been repeatedly, but in

vain, resorted to, in order to carry the will of parliament into effect,to what praise, under such discouraging circumstances, is the undiminished zeal, the unabated ar dour of Mr. Wilberforce entitled! Session after session, when it was imagined that every topic connected with this discussion was entirely exhausted, he inspired a fresh interest in the subject, by the discovery of new arguments, or by reviving those which had been re-. peatedly advanced, but with a vigour of colouring which even heightened their original force. No procrastination, no evasion, no sophistry could ever divert his mind from the steady pursuit of the great object to which his exertions have been unremittingly directed. Determined, if such an end could be accomplished by the strenuous, humane, and manly efforts of an individual, to raise from bondage and degradation a race of beings whom avarice, fraud, and tyranny have condemned to abject servitude, he has displayed a degree of zeal and perseverance, which nothing but his ardent piety could have fostered and invigorated during so long a period of doubtful exertion. That he may be ultimately successful in the great cause which he has undertaken to support, is a wish which we express with a sincerity not inferior to his own.

When the new administration was formed, it was universally expected that their attention would be immediately directed to the im provement and augmentation of the military force of the empire. The dissatisfaction expressed in parlia ment at the mode in which the public force had been organized by the late ministry, was supposed to have contributed very materially

to