When first the Abolition of the SLAVE-TRADE was agitated in England, the
friends of humanity endeavoured by two means to accomplish it.--To
destroy the Trade immediately by the interference of Government or by
the disuse of West-Indian productions: a slow but certain method. For a
while Government held the language of justice, and individuals with
enthusiasm banished sugar from their tables. This enthusiasm soon
cooled; the majority of those who had made this sacrifice (I prostitute
the word, but they thought it a sacrifice) persuaded themselves that
Parliament would do all, and that individual efforts were no longer
necessary. Thus ended the one attempt; and the duplicity with which Mr.
Wilberforce has been amused, and the Slave-Merchants satisfied, has now
effectually destroyed the other.
There are yet two other methods remaining, by which this traffic will
probably be abolished. By the introduction of East-Indian or Maple
Sugar, or by the just and general rebellion of the Negroes: by the
vindictive justice of the Africans, or by the civilized Christians
finding it their interest to be humane.
To these past and present prospects the following Poems occasionally
allude: to the English custom of exciting wars upon the Slave Coast that
they may purchase prisoners, and to the punishment sometimes inflicted
upon a Negro for murder, of which Hector St. John was an eye-witness.