Thus this champion of the merchants, this
advocate for the health and happiness of the slaves in the middle passage,
lost nearly a hundred and sixty of the unhappy persons committed to his
superior care, in a single voyage!
The evidence, on which I have now commented, having been delivered, the
counsel summed up on the seventeenth of June, when the commitee proceeded
to fill up the blanks in the bill. Mr. Pitt moved that the operation of it
be retrospective, and that it commence from the tenth instant. This was
violently opposed by Lord Penrhyn, Mr. Gascoyne, and Mr. Brickdale, but was
at length acceded to.
Sir William Dolben then proposed to apportion five men to every three tons
in every ship under one hundred and fifty tons burthen, which had the space
of five feet between the decks, and three men to two tons in every vessel
beyond one hundred and fifty tons burthen, which had equal accommodation in
point of height between the decks. This occasioned a very warm dispute,
which was not settled for some time, and which gave rise to some beautiful
and interesting speeches on the subject.
Pages:
498
499
500
501
502
503
504
505
506
507
508
509
510
511
512
513
514
515
516
517
518
519
520
521
522