At length, the ninth, or the day fixed upon, arrived, when this important
subject was to be mentioned in the House of Commons for the first time[A],
with a view to the public discussion of it. It is impossible for me to give
within the narrow limits of this work all that was then said upon it; and
yet as the debate, which ensued, was the first which took place upon it, I
should feel inexcusable if I were not to take some notice of it.
[Footnote A: David Hartley made a motion some years before in the same
house, as has been shown in a former part of this work, but this was only
to establish a proposition, That the Slave-trade was contrary to the Laws
of God and the Rights of Man.]
Mr. Pitt rose. He said he intended to move a resolution relative to a
subject, which was of more importance than any which had ever been agitated
in that house. This honour he should not have had, but for a circumstance,
which he could not but deeply regret, the severe indisposition of his
friend Mr. Wilberforce, in whose hands every measure, which belonged to
justice, humanity, and the national interest, was peculiarly well placed.
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