times. Its perfect pattern is to the nation, and, indeed, to the age in which he lives, a benefactor of the highest order, and of the most extensive influence, Conversant with all that is to be gathered of authority and of use in history, he applies the lessons of times past to the advantage of the present and of the future, not with the servility of a copyist, but with an adaptation analogous to that by which the judicious translator infuses the spirit of a dead language into the genius and idiom of that in which he writes. He estimates not, and still less does he adopt, measures without attentively surveying all their relations and connections, and looking forwards to all their possible consequences. Provident of future danger, the occasion of which he knows must have its embryo and its infancy, he is watchful to arrest its progress, and, if possible, to extirpate its germ. Leniter in modo, fortiter in re, the object he pursues is constantly in view, the steps by which he attains it often imperceptible. His ends are grand and striking, his means simple and unobtrusive. Single projects he imparts, and skilfully distributes their execution; but the train is in his own mind, and his connecting thread can be traced only in the accomplishment of his purpose. In the public benefit centre all his aims, but he has studied human nature, and, since fallible men must be his instruments and his materials, his projects of reform are not extravagant or impracticable, and his progress is rather sure than rapid: with him the lesser object must always give way to the greater, and that which is distant and doubtful to that which is at hand and certain.That such statesmen have existed, and do still exist, I am willing to believe; but an attentive perusal of the records of our own nation, during the last twenty or thirty years, will perhaps induce us to more than doubt, whether our leading men have been formed after this model, or our affairs directed after these principles. Posterity, when they read this portion of our history, will be ready to exclaim, "What patient endurance, what

persevering spirit in the people: what 66 generous contributions of the opulent, and magnanimous sacrifices of the poor; what "vast suns raised and expended, and yet "what rescurces perpetually displayed; "what examples of valour, discipline, and "ardour in fleets and armies: what inindividual heroism in both! plendour of cloquence

stance "Then

bar; what talents the conflicts of tions for power; e and of attack,

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to protect, displace, or restore successive "administrations!" But will not they who read of these most perilous times also exclaim, "What a lamentable deficiency of "sagacity in discerning, wisdom in plan"ning, vigour and decision in executing, "great measures of state; in peace what

improvidence, in war what imbecility of "council; what fluctuating principles of "state policy and of political economy; "what devotion to private, what dereliction "of public, views; what juggling for pow "er, tricks for popularity, intrigues for "place, crimes for wealth, and rancour in "the recriminations of parties! Brave,

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high spirited, intelligent and opulent na"tion; it has been thy fate, in the most momentous period of thy history, although blest with an admirable constitu"tion of government, to suffer a weak and "inefficient at least, if not a flagitious ad"ministration of it, and to pay full dearly "for thy confidence!"-Such, I fear, will be the impartial judgment of posterity upon the history, and particularly upon the state policy of the times in which we live; and I have introduced the topic that I may draw a conclusion, inevitable if these premises are just-that upon this great question, the ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE, we derive no trust-worthy light from the authority and opinions either of ministers or their oppo

nents.

To abolish a slave trade, or to set free a slave, be it where or when it may, is a proposition, the bare mention of which recommends it to the free people of this kingdom; and no small pains have been taken to interest them in the question. In parliament, therefore, for the sake of currying popularity, the abolition has been supported by the leaders on both sides with much ability, ingenious argument and bril liant rhetoric: but we know not that the question has ever undergone the calm, dis criminating serutiny of a state council, or if it have so done, what has been the result. Judging from the past, even this high authority, if obtained, might fail to create conviction in those who chuse to examine before they act; but, in the present instance, it is worth considering, what ends are to be answered by thus throwing upon the people the conduct of a question which is specially one of high state policy, demanding the union of every channel of information which can possibly centre in a wise, provident, and penetrating administration; a subject particularly unfitted for mere popular discussion, and unquestionably one upon which the people, if they regard their own interests, will be wary in deliberation and slow in decision.

Little as we know, in this instance, of the collective sentiments of our successive State Cabinets, yet, observing that the speeches of our prominent public men have, with few exceptions, been all in favour of abolition, at the same time that the question has been left to the fortune ef desultory debate in parliament, and to the influence of the popular cry out of doors, we have some reason to conclude, either that gentlemen have one language for the House of Commons, and another for his Majesty's Council Chamber, or (what is more probable), that the subject has one appearance in calin, well informed, deliberate discussion, and another in warm and cratorical debate, and that, although the passions may be enthusiastically enlisted in one place, the reason cannot be substantially convinced in another. And yet there should be no such trimming conduct nor uncertainty of opinion among ministers: the matter is of high importance, and has been long be fore them. If Abolition, attentively considered in all its bearings, cannot be reconciled to true policy, it is neither just nor humane, and ministers should have the candour and resolution to say so; and had the Cabinet otherwise decided, a manly and vigorous administration would give to the cause they had embraced, a steady and collective support.-Are we, then, the people of this kingdom, called upon eventually to assume all the responsibility of this experiment, that if it should fail of producing the good effects we have fondly imagined, and on the contrary should entail upon the West India Colonies the fatal consequences against which we have been repeatedly warned, we may the more patiently sustain the burthens which inevitably await us? The first of these must be that indemnification which the justice of the British nation will not deny to the sufferers; to those who, contrary to their consent and in conteinpt of their frequent and earnest remonstrance, shall have experienced the reversal of a system of legislation, upon the faith of which they have built their all; a system recognised, sustained, and confirmed for a century and a half, and from which have sprung up, grown and flourished colonial establishments, often pronounced by the legislature to have been highly advantageous to the trade, navigation, and prosperity of the mother country;" and which, by this "wheel of the course of justice" shall have been involved in destruction? But, though this be no light matter, (for the property embarked in the West India Colonies is little less than one hundred millions), yet it sinks in comparison with the considération of the sacrifice to be made of that large pro

66

cay.

portion which the colonial intercourse contributes to the revenue, trade, and navigation of the kingdom; a sacrifice which must, in the first instance, unquestionably look for its counterbalance out of the remaining resources of the public; although those should be found in the end all inadequate to the object, and the fabric of the national prosperity thus the sooner hasten to its deAre we in such a conjuncture to be toid, that this measure was peculiarly conceded to the earnest and almost unanimous wishes of the people, whose humane purpose was manifest, and that we are therefore chearfully to swallow the fruits of our own planting, how bitter soever they may be? If such is the responsibility we are to assume, let us look about us -In what manner has. this subject been introduced to us, and whatis the information we possess concerning it? The question was first, I believe, started in France. A society called the "Friends of the Blacks" began to assemble there in the years that immediately preceded the revolution, when schemes for reform in every department of morals and legislation were constructed, and those wild notions avowed which not only occasioned, but marked with indelible disgrace and horror the revolutionary tumults and massacres of that country. The "Friends of the blocks" were successful, as they doubtless would consider it; for the French slave trade was stopped, and the negroes in their colonies set free. Anarchy and devastation in all their colonies, and utter ruia to Saint Domingo, by far the richest and most flourishing among them or in the world, ensued. The Blacks and Mulattoes contended for superiority; the blacks prevailed; the Mulattoes first, and next the Whites, were murk red; and, finally, the Blacks have, by their excesses and their internal quarrels, nearly exterminated themselves.And here, too, let us not omit to remark, that the question has been made the business of Association; we are all of us aware of the unwearied diligence with which, at a considerable expense, publications have been disseminated, urging the people of this kingdom to petition for aholition, and even to forbear the use of colonial productions till it be obtained. How few of us are there who are competent judges of, the truth and value of the facts and reasonings which we read in these publications! What do we, for the most part, know of Africa or the West Indies? We have no slaves here; but we have ranks and degrees, very distant from each other, and very dif-. ferently accommodated; and we know that this is right. In various distant countries

there are other and inferior ranks and degrees, perhaps suited to the nature and circumstances of those countries and their inhabitants; and may not this be right too? If a man, kind and humane, were to be born and nursed in a palace, experiencing there all the gratifications of luxury, and entirely ignorant of what was passing in the world, and suddenly, with all his benevolent emotions about him, were to witness the toilsome occupations and scanty accommodations of our labouring peor, would he not conclude that they were oppressed and miserable, and be an advocate for lifting them out of their condition? Yet, in so doing, he would not benefit the community, nor eventually those very poor, however he might gratify his personal feelings. We are liable to the same imposition when we take a superficial view of slavery, of which we know so little, although it be a condition of life, inevitable, in the present state of things, of a very large portion of mankind.

We see around us every day various evils springing up and gaining ground, of the effects of which we are well able to form a competent judgment, and which are fair objects of political remedy. The yearly increase of the vagrant Poor few instance, who have no at tractive or stimulative tie with society, and who live a burthen to themselves and to the public, is an evil of this sort. Why are not our Associations bent with the same zeal for the remedy of these proximate and obvious disorders, as for those remote and more unquestionable? Why do not subscriptions for these purposes pour in from every quarter? Are we purposely diverted, by interesting and romantic pursuits, from those of a more homely nature upon which our every day experience might prove troublesome? Or, is it our main object to obtain the reputation and self-complacent conviction of benevolence, and professing ourselves to be champions in that cause, do we look for a speedier and more brilliant triumph in a Quixotic expedition, of which we may be left to tell the story, and to paint in imaginary colours the terrors and the difficulties, then in a conflict with an adversary who comes to our door and challenges us to fight in the open field and in day light, with a ring around us of our neighbours, who can see and fairly esti mate the relative force and means of the combattants?But, in the publications I lave mentioned, no room is left to you for doubt or hesitation; every thing there asserted is professed to be proved beyond controversy. If the argument of an oppoment be noticed it is a miserable sophism,

"it adds insult and injury to crime *;" and you are told, not as declamation, but as the result of a critical discrimination, that "the Slave Trade is a traffic which con"demns a whole quarter of the world to increasing and ferocious warfare; which an"nually exterminates more men than fall during the bloodiest campaign of Europoan hostilities, and regularly transports every six months, in circumstances of unparalled accen, more innocent persons "that suffer in a century from the oppres"sion of all the tyrannies of the world, *" I give you the words of an able and acute writer, to whose ingenious remarks upon this subject I am not afraid to refer you, and he acts consistently in announcing these and such like assertions with all the authority of admitted facts; for, I will venture to say, that they are not and cannot be proved, and yet, that less than their incontrovertible proof should not induce you to risk, by your interference, the destruction of the colonies. -But, the very persons who write thus, know that every one of there positions is, upon the most respectable and impartial authority, denied and controverted; and that it stands upon most credible testimony of fact and observation; that the slave trade ris not the cause but the cret of the present uncivilised and barbarous state of a great part of Africa; that, considering the condition of that country, and the alternative that must happen if this trade were discontinued, so far from meriting the charge of exterminating lives, it tends rather to preserve them, and that, relatively to the state of society in Africa, to its governments and habits, the annual transport of a part of its inhabitants to the West Indies, and their labour and condition there, do not add to, but alleviate, the general mass of misery and ailliction which the negroes endure.-As it is my aim rather to induce you to pause, 'to doubt, and to inquire, than, either in this short Address to present you with a summary of the argument on a subject so extensive, or to demand, as others have done, your implicit confidence in my assertions, I will refer you to Leo Africanus, Bruce, and Park, as the best authorities ancient and modern, respecting those parts of Africa which are most frequented for the purposes of the slave trade; and you will find that, from the times of Leo Africanus (about A. D. 1492) down to those of Park, the Africans are little if at all changed in mauners, habits and civilization, and, that the wars

* Edinburgh Review, No. 8.

which the Slave Trade has been said exclusively to cause or to aggravate, occurred as frequently, with the same characters of terocity, and upon provocations as frivolous, in the latter part of the fifteenth century.— Mr. MALTHUS, a writer, whose deep and careful investigation of the interesting subject of population, has excited general attention and approbation, gives us the following, among other observations, upon "the "checks to population in Africa."

"The

parts of Africa visited by Park, are de"scribed by him as neither well cultivated "nor well peopled. He found many ex"teasive and beautiful districts entirely des❝titute of anhabitams, and in general, the "borders of the different kingdoms were " either very thinly peopled or deserted. The sway Lanks of the Cumbia, the Senegal, and other rivers towards the coast, appeared to be unfavourable to population, "from being unhealthy; but other parts were list of this description, and it was not possible, he says, to behold the wonderful fertility of the soil, the vast herds of carte proper boia for hibour and food, and reflect on the means which presented "themselves for vast inland navigation, "without lamenting that a country so aban"dantly gifted by nature, should remain in "its present savage and neglected state."The causes of this neglected state, how

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ever, clearly appear in the description "which Park gives of the general habits of the Negro nations. In a country divided into a thousand petty states, mostly independent and jealous of each other, it is natural to imagine, he says, that wars frequently originate from very frivolous pro"vocations. The wars of Africa are of two "kinds; one called Killi, that which is

openly avowed, the other Tegria, plun

dering or stealing; these latter are very common, particularly, about the beginning of the dry season, when the labours "of harvest are over, and provisions are plentiful; these plundering excursions always produced speedy retaliation.➖➖➖➖ "The insecurity of property arising from "this constant exposure to plunder, must necessarily have a most baneful effect on industry. The deserted state of the frontier provinces, sufficiently proves to what a degree it operates; the nature of the cli mate is unfavourable to the exertions of "the Negro nations, and as there are not

forty, he says, most of them become grey"haired and covered with wrinkles, and but "few of them survive the age of fifty-five or sixty. Buffon attributes this shortness. "of life to the premature intercourse of the sexes, and to very early and excessive debauchery; without attributing too much to this cause, it seems agreeable to the "analogy of nature to suppose, that as the "natives of hot climates arrive much earlier at maturity than the inhabitan's of colder countries, they should also perish earlier. Polygamy is universaly allowed among the Negro nations; and, consequently, without a greater superabundance "of women than we have reason to suppose,

many will be obliged to live unmarried. "This hard ship will probably fail principal"ly on the slaves, who, according to Park, 86 are three to one to the freemen. A mas"ter is not permitted to sell his domestic "slaves, nor those born in his own honse,

except in case of famine, to support him"self and family. We may imagine, "therefore, that h will not suffer them to "increase beyond the employment he has "for them: The slaves which are pur

would, of course, be deprived of them "without scruple; few, or no women pro"bably remain in a state of strict celibacy, "but in proportion to the number married, "the state of society does not seem to be "favourable to increase.—Africa has been "at all times the principal market of slaves: "the drains of its population in this way "have been great and constant, particularly "since their introduction into the European "colonies; but, perhaps, as Dr. Franklin' observes, it would be difficult to find the

"years and mines are frequent. Among "the four principal causes of slavery in "Africa, he mentions famine next to war; ." and the express permission given to mas"ters of families to sell their domestic "slaves for the support of their families,

which they are not allowed to do on any "less urgent occasion, seems to imply the "not unfrequent recurrence of severe want. During a great scarcity which lasted for three years in the countries of the Gambia, great numbers of people became slaves. Park was assured by Dr. "Lairdly, that at that time many freemen came and begged, with great earnestness, to be put upon his slave chain to save "them from perishing with hunger. While "Park was in Manding a scarcity of provisions was severely felt by the poor, as the following circumstance painfully con"vinced him. Every evening during his 66 stay he observed several women come to "the Mansa's house, and receive each of "them a certain quantity of corn;

Observe that boy,' said the Mansa to him, pointing to a fine child about 5 years of age, his mother has sold him to me for "40 days provision for herself and the rest "of her family. I have bought another "boy in the same manner.' In Suosecta a

small Jallonka village, Mr. Park was in*formed by the master, that he could fur"nish no provisions, as there had lately

been a great scarcity in that part of the country. He assured him, that before "they had gathered in their present crops, "all the inhabitants of Kullo had been for

29 days without tasting corn, during "which time they had supported themselves "entirely on the yellow powder, which is "found in the pous of the nitta, so called by

the natives, a species of mimosa, and " upon the seeds of the bamboo cane, which "when properly pounded and dressed tasted σε very much like rice. It may be said,

દ

perhaps, that as, according to Park's ac"Count, much good land remains unculti"vated in Africa, the dearths may be attri"buted to a want of people; but, if this ἐσ were the case, we can hardly suppose that "such numbers would yearly be sent out of the country. What the Negro nations really want is security of property, and its general concomitant, industry; and, "without these an increase of people would only greatly aggravate their distresses. If, in order to fill up those parts that appear"ed to be deficient in inhabitants, we were "to suppose a high bounty given on chilέσ dren, the effects would probably be, the great increase of wars, the increase of the

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exportation of slaves, and a great increase "of misery, but little or no real increase of "population." I have given this

long extract, because the book of Mr. Malthus, although so instructive upon the present state of Africa, is written without the most distant reference to the subject of Abolition. It is an ingenious illustration of the principle, which has been sanctioned by many eminent writers on Political Economy, that in every country the population is, on an average, proportioned to the means, of subsistence. But, the statement of Mr. Malthus (connected as it is with the well known fact, that the wars which Park declares to be the primary cause of Slavery in Africa, are at this day neither more frequent, more atrocious, nor more lightly undertaken than they were in the same districts three or four hundred years ago),scems to me to lead to a conviction that the abandonment of the Slave Trade would, under such circumstances, no more benefit Africa than the drawing an impenetrable line of circumvallation around it, would benefit a garrisoned town, already overstocked with inhabitants. The purchase of the Negroes on their own coast, their passage to the West Indies, and their labour and treatment there, are always to be considered relatively to these leading features of the State of S5ciety in Africa. Here, however, has been found much matter of pathetic appeal to the passions, and the occasion has not been thrown away by a want of ability and dili gence in the use of it. But, that may be grievous to individuals, ignorant of the fate they are to encounter, which is, upon the whole, beneficial to the cause of humanity; and, until the Negro nations shall be submitted to governments under which proper ty is secure, and freedom invariably valuable, the evils they now endure are not the worst which it may be their lot to encounter.As to the general treatment of slaves in the West Indies (for while men are men there muist exist instances of abuse there), the advocates for Abolition of the present day, seem not to build much on that part of the investigation; sensible perhaps, that the more correct and compleat the information obtained in this instance may be, the more it must tend to lessen the effect of their former high wrought pictures, and to convict ther of much past erroneous or injurious aspersion. It is an inconsistency hardly worth noticing among the many which have becn advanced on this subject, that, while the planters are told, "The advocates for "the Abolition of the Slave Trade most