A day would come, when every
member would have an opportunity of stating his opinion; and he wished it
might be discussed with a proper spirit on all sides, on fair and liberal
principles, and without any shackles from local and interested
considerations.
With regard to the inquiries instituted before the commitee of privy
council, he was sure, as soon as it became obvious that the subject must
undergo a discussion, it was the duty of His Majesty's ministers to set
those inquiries on foot, which should best enable them to judge in what
manner they could meet or offer any proposition respecting the Slave-trade.
And although such previous examinations by no means went to deprive that
house of its undoubted right to institute those inquiries, or to preclude
them, they would be found greatly to facilitate them. But, exclusive of
this consideration, it would have been utterly impossible to have come to
any discussion of the subject, that could have been brought to a conclusion
in the course of the present session. Did the inquiry then before the privy
council prove a loss of time? So far from it, that, upon the whole, time
had been gained by it.
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