But how would every
such successive improvement of their condition operate, but to bring them
nearer to the state of freemen? In the same manner it was contended, that
the better treatment of the slaves in the colonies, or that the
emancipation of them there, when fit for it, would of itself lay the
foundation for the abolition of the Slave-trade. For, if the slaves were
kindly treated, that is, if marriage were encouraged among them; if the
infants who should be born were brought up with care; if the sick were
properly attended to; if the young and the adult were well fed and properly
clothed, and not overworked, and not worn down by the weight of severe
punishments, they would necessarily increase, and this on an extensive
scale. But if the planters were thus to get their labourers from the births
on their own estates, then the Slave-trade would in time be no longer
necessary to them, and it would die away as an useless and a noxious plant.
Thus it was of no consequence, which of the two evils the commitee were to
select as the object for their labours; for, as far as the end in view only
was concerned, that the same end would be produced in either case.
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