If the present mode of carrying on the
trade received the countenance of that house, the poor unfortunate African
would have occasion doubly to curse his fate. He would not only curse the
womb that brought him forth, but the British nation also, whose diabolical
avarice had made his cup of misery still more bitter. He hoped that the
members for Liverpool would urge no further opposition to the bill, but
that they would join with the house in an effort to enlarge the empire of
humanity; and that, while they were stretching out the strong arm of
justice to punish the degraders of British honour and humanity in the East,
they would with equal spirit exert their powers to dispense the blessings
of their protection to those unhappy Africans, who were to serve them in
the West.
Mr. Beaufoy entered minutely into an examination of the information, which
had been, given by the witnesses, and which afforded unanswerable arguments
for the passing of the bill. He showed the narrow space, which they
themselves had been made to allow for the package of a human body, and the
ingenious measures they were obliged to resort to for stowing this living
cargo within the limits of the ship.
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