I am convinced, that the prefent Parliament are too much a wake to the zeal and true interests of Great Britain, not to pay proper attention to the encouragement and protection that has been given to the Weft India Colonies, and to the African Trade, fince their first establishment. It would take up too much of the time of this Honourable House to go fully into the authority; I will therefore confine myself to a few, and being very much unaccustomed to speaking in public, I must crave the permiffion of the Honourable Committee, to call in the aid of written information, and to request of the Clerk to read occafionally, fuch parts of the feveral Acts and Refolutions, as apply most immediately to the subject of debate. The acts and declarations of the British Legislature, that are most material to the queftion before the Honourable House, may very properly be claffed under these different heads, viz.

ift. Such as declare the faid Colonies, and the Trade thereof, advantageous to Great Britain, and therefore entitled to her protection and encouragement.

2dly. Such as authorize, protect, and encourage, the Trade to Africa, as advantageous in itfelf, and neceflary to the welfare and existence of the Sugar Colonies.

3dly. Such as promote and fecure loans of money to the Proprietors at the faid Colonies, either from British fubjects or from Foreigners.

The feveral Acts are as follow, viz.

In the First Clafs, are the following, viz.

15 Car. II. cap. 7. 22 & 23 Car. II. cap. 26. 7 & 8 W. cap. 22. 9 & 10 W. III. cap. 23. 3 & 4 Ann. 6 Ann. cap. 30. 6 Geo. II. cap. 13. 12 Geo. II. cap. 30. 27 Geo. III. cap. 27.

In the Second Clafs are the following, viz.

1662 Cha. II. 1672 cap. 2. 9 & 10 Will. & Mary, cap. 26. 5 Geó. III. cap. 44. 20 Geo. III. cap. 65. 27 Geo. III. cap. 27.

In the Third Clafs are the following, viz.

5 Geo. II. cap. 7. 13 Geo. III. cap. 14. 14 Geo. III. cap. 79.

If there is, Mr. Chairman, any dependence whatever to be placed upon the Acts of the British Legiflature, the few authorities I have quoted, will, I am perfuaded, operate upon the minds of the unprejudiced Members of this Honourable House, and of the community at large, in fo forcible a manner, as to afford every reasonable hope for the most perfect fecurity to our properties. They appear to me, Sir, unanswerable, and even to preclude the neceffity of ufing any farther argument upon the fubject; but as we have experienced a want of candour on the part of our opponents, that could hardly have been expect→ ed, I must once more trefpafs on the goodness of the Honourable Committee, by requefting their attention to the encouragement and protection that have been given to the Weft India Colonies, and to the African Trade, from the reign of Charles II. down to the prefent times, and especially during the reign of Queen Anne.

That reign, Mr. Chairman, which may very well be called the Auguftan age of Great Britain, was diftinguished by the appearance of the most enlightened characters in all departments, that ever any country produced; many of them remarkable for their piety and learning, and whofe writings will live for ages, after the wretched productions of the miferable fchifmatics of the present day are buried in oblivion. Yet, Sir, we do not find in the Parliamentary Hiftory of thofe days, or in any other writings that we know of, the leaft tendency to fuch wild and deftructive doctrines as the prefent. No, Mr. Chairman, they were referved for this age of novelty and innovation; and from the temper and difpofition of a certain defcription of people, which are amply manifefted by the publications of the moft inflammatory and dangerous tendency with which our daily papers are crowded, I am perfectly fatisfied that the queftion before this Honourable House, is only an introduction to greater evils. The Weft Indies, Sir, is the moft vulnerable part of our dominions, and being at a diftance, and having no interest in Parliament, is of course the most likely to become an eafy object of prey to artful and designing men, However, Mr. Chairman, our brethen in those Islands being the fons of Britons, and their forefathers having carried across the Atlantic Ocean all the rights and privileges that pertain to British subjects, you may reft perfectly fatisfied that they will not tamely fubmit to being robbed of every thing that is near and dear, to

P 3

them,

them. The abolishing the African Slave Trade, will be an abfolute breach of the compact that ties the colonies to the mother country, and being founded on juftice, and contrary to the fpirit and meaning of the laws of England, will meet with univerfal refiftance. I am, Sir, perfectly well acquainted with the temper and difpofitions of the inhabitants of our West India iflands; they poffefs abilities, having in general received the best education this country affords, and having a lively and juft fenfe of their own rights and privileges. I confider it my duty, as a moft hearty well-wifher to the true interefts of this country and its colonies, to inform this Honourable House, that it is not in the power of Great Britain to prevent the introduction of Negroes into the British West India Islands.

A ferious attention to the feveral Acts I have mentioned, and to the many other authorities with which our books are filled, muft fully convince every unprejudiced Member of this Honourable Houfe, and the community at large, that the laws in exiftence have given as perfect fecurity to the lives and fortunes of his Majefty's fubjects in the Weft India Iflands, as they do to his fubjects in Great Britain; and that their property cannot be meddled with or diminished in any fhape whatever, without full and ample compenfation. If Great Britain, Sir, is in a fituation to purchase the fee fimple of the property in all our Islands, I, for one, have no manner of objection to the making of a bargain; but, Sir, how is the value to be eftimated? Why, by a jury of the vicinity, agreeable to the prin-ciples of the laws of England and of the Colonies; for I can affure the Honourable Committee, that we are not at all in a difpofition to have that material point afcertained by the difcretionary opinions of the Honourable Gentleman's friends in the Old Jewry. However, Sir, to speak more feriously upon the fubject, have not this Honourable Houfe before them full and fatisfactory information of every circumftance with regard to our West India Colonies? Do not the Report of the Committee of Privy Council, and that immenfe body of evidence that was taken before a Committee of this Honourable House, and which now lie on your table, tell you moft pofitively, that our prefent ftock of Negroes cannot be kept up without an importation from Africa, and that if the Africa. Trade is abolifhed, there is an end of every (pecies of improvement in all our Iflands? How are the proprietors of lands in the ceded

Inlands,

Inlands, which were purchased of Government under fpecific conditions of fettlement, to be indemnified? and what is to become of an Honourable Friend of mine, now a Member of this Honourable House, and fitting near me, who with another Gentleman and myself, purchased the lands that were granted by the Crown to General Monckton, in the island of St. Vincent, in the year 1773 or 1774, in confequence of the Addrefs of the Houfe of Commons of that day to his Majefty, and as a reward for that gallant General's military fervices? The American war, which immediately fucceeded our purchafe, prevented our making any progrefs in the fale of thefe lands until the year 1784. Our fales then commenced, and went on brifkly until the year 1788, when it was first known that a plan was in agitation for abolishing the African Slave Trade. Since that period, Sir, we have done little or nothing, and we have 1500 acres of the land on hand, which will be of no value whatever if the prefent question is carried.

Will any Gentleman, either in or out of Parliament, pretend to fay, that we have not a juft and equitable claim, upon the Government of this country, for full and ample compenfation? However, Sir, waving for a moment the unfashionable doctrine of colonial rights, how can compenfation be made to the many thousand manufacturers, who at prefent find employment in providing the numberlefs articles, that are daily wanted for the ufe and confumption of the West India Islands, and who must sooner or later experience the distress and inconveniences that must attend the prefent phrenzy, if the colonies are fuffered to go to ruin. Is there a fhoe, is there a ftocking, is there a hat, or is there a yard of cloth of any kind, used by the Inhabitants of our Islands, that are not manufactured in Great Britain Nay the very implements of husbandry, and provifions and luxuries that are neceffary for the confumption of our tables, go from this country, and that at a confiderable expence of fresh commiffions and insurance, every fhilling of which centers in Great Britain. Is not the whole furplus revenue of our eftates spent here, and are not our children educated in this country, and inftructed in those principles of affection and loyalty, that have ever made them confider ( their home? And let me, Sir, be permitted t inveterate of our foes, if we ever have or rebellion, forfeited in the fmalleft

ritain as

and protection, which as fons of Britain, and fubjects of the fame good and gracious Sovereign, we are most unquestionably intitled to. I maintain, Sir, that we have not: and therefore as a Colonist and in the name of the British WestIndia Colonies, I demand of the Parliament of Great Britain, that fupport and protection, which, upon the principles of good policy and faith, they are in duty bound to afford us, in common with the reft of his Majefty's loyal fubjects. There is ftill, Mr. Chairman, a confideration attending the queftion now before this Honourable Houfe, of full as much importance as any I have mentioned, and that is the fatal effects a diminution of our trade would have upon the navigation of Great Britain. Does it not appear, Sir, by the evidence now lying on our table, that the Weft-India trade is confidered a moft excellent nursery for feamen, and that in all the wars we have of late been engaged in, have been found to be the most active, and useful body of men, in his Majefty's navy? For my part, Sir, confidering the navy as our best and most natural defence, I am one of those who think, that feamen ought to be made, by all poffible means; and upon that principle, Sir, I contend that the trade to Africa fhould meet with every encouragement that this country can give it. Indeed I am fo great an enthusiast for the increase of our navigation and feamen, that while I have the honour of being a Member of this Houfe, I never will give my confent to any meafure, be it at what it will, that can poffibly tend to the leffening of our number of feamen one man, no'Sir, not one man; and this I hold to be found conftitutional doctrine, and those who are of a different opinion, I will ever confider as ignorant of the true interefts of Great Britain, and enemies to its welfare and profperity.

Mr. VAUGHAN. I rife, Mr. Chairman, for the first time of fpeaking in this Houle, to remove fome prejudices refpecting the Colonies, the conduct and circumftances of which have been involved in the queftion relative to the Slave Trade, and complicated with it by the Honourable Gentleman, who has brought forward the question, and by others. The treatment

of