"There is not a Negro from the coast of Africa, who does not, in
this respect, possess a degree of magnanimity, which the soul of his sordid
master is too often scarce capable of conceiving. Fortune never exerted
more cruelly her empire over mankind, than when she subjected those nations
of heroes to the refuse of the gaols of Europe, to wretches who possess the
virtue neither of the countries they came from, nor of those they go to,
and whose levity, brutality, and baseness so justly expose them to the
contempt of the vanquished." And now, in 1770, in his Wealth of Nations, he
showed in a forcible manner (for he appealed to the interest of those
concerned) the dearness of African labour, or the impolicy of employing
slaves.
Professor Millar, in his Origin of Ranks, followed Dr. Smith on the same
ground. He explained the impolicy of slavery in general, by its bad effects
upon industry, population, and morals. These effects he attached to the
system of agriculture as followed in our islands. He showed, besides, how
little pains were taken, or how few contrivances were thought of, to ease
the labourers there.
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