First: That it is the object of British humanity to exalt the entire African race, and to accomplish it as a matter of genuine philanthropy in the most general and efficient manner.
It appears by parliamentary documents, that as cultivation, during some years past, has decreased in the British colonies, precisely in the same degree has the slave-trade of foreigners increased.
To ruin or deteriorate the British colonies is thus to encourage the horrors of the slave-trade, and to increase the sum of African suffering.
Therefore, it being the object of the British nation to abridge that suffering, and not to make a mere display of sensibility, if the proposed measures can be proved to be destructive of cultivation in the British colonies, their spirit must be pronounced to be contrary to the sentiments of the country.
And, Secondly: That having long since committed the crime of transporting the negroes to our West India colonies, it is expected by the British nation, that the welfare of future generations will be contemplated; and that, hereafter, a black society may be witnessed, possessing in itself the attributes, moral, intellectual, and political, of a civilized people.
So strongly does this sentiment pervade the nation, that it is common to hear the inquiry—“What are the negroes to do when free?” implying the belief that rash interference may have proceeded far to accomplish the object, but that judicious legislation has stopped short on the threshold.
If we were to make an appeal to Lord Bathurst, and to all who have taken an active part in the promotion of compulsory manumission, must they not acknowledge, that since the agitation of the subject in 1823, a considerable and perceptible change has taken place in public opinion, in consequence of the inquiry relative to free labour; and that the idea of having a free negro-peasantry labouring under a tropical climate for hire is impracticable and hopeless.
Does not, then, the whole question depend on free labour?
We cannot but infer, that when the relations and consequences of granting freedom to the negroes by compulsion are fully understood in all their widely-spreading effects, the opinion of the country will be as strongly expressed in reprobation, as Earl Bathurst pronounces it at present to be in approbation of the speedy adoption of the measure.
Without any disrespect it may be stated, that some of our ministers, who are upborne by the current of public applause, have had sufficient experience of the fickleness of popularity. Let us recall to mind the wise precept of Mr. Canning in 1819—“Speak not the will of the populace, but consult their benefit.”