THOUGHTS, &c.
I know of no subject, where humanity and justice, as well as public and
private interest, would be more intimately united than in that, which
should recommend a mitigation of the slavery, with a view afterwards to
the emancipation of the Negroes, wherever such may be held in bondage.
This subject was taken up for consideration, so early as when the
Abolition of the slave trade was first practically thought of, and by
the very persons who first publicly embarked in that cause in England;
but it was at length abandoned by them, not on the ground _that Slavery
was less cruel, or wicked, or impolitic, than the slave trade_, but for
other reasons. In the first place there were not at that time so many
obstacles in the way of the Abolition, as of the Emancipation of the
Negroes. In the second place Abolition could be effected immediately,
and with but comparatively little loss, and no danger. Emancipation, on
the other hand, appeared to be rather a work of time. It was beset too
with many difficulties, which required deep consideration, and which, if
not treated with great caution and prudence, threatened the most
alarming results. In the third place, it was supposed, that, by
effecting the abolition of the slave trade, the axe would be laid to the
root of the whole evil; so that by cutting off the more vital part of
it, the other would gradually die away:--for what was more reasonable
than to suppose, that, when masters could no longer obtain Slaves from
Africa or elsewhere, they would be compelled individually, by a sort of
inevitable necessity, or a fear of consequences, or by a sense of their
own interest, _to take better care of those whom they might then have in
their possession_? What was more reasonable to suppose, than that the
different legislatures themselves, moved also by the same necessity,
_would immediately interfere_, without even the loss of a day, _and so
alter and amend the laws_ relative to the treatment of Slaves, as to
enforce that as a public duty, which it would be thus the private
interest of individuals to perform? Was it not also reasonable to
suppose that a system of better treatment, thus begun by individuals,
and enforced directly afterwards by law, would produce more willing as
well as more able and valuable labourers than before; and that this
effect, when once visible, would again lead both masters and legislators
on the score of interest to treat their slaves still more like men; nay,
at length to give them even privileges; and thus to elevate their
condition by degrees, till at length it would be no difficult task, and
no mighty transition, _to pass them_ to that most advantageous situation
to both parties, _the rank of Free Men?_
These were the three effects, which the simple measure of the abolition
of the slave trade was expected to produce by those, who first espoused
it, by Mr.
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