and a sense of injury on
the other. Hence the passions would be let loose, and a state of perpetual
enmity would follow.

He needed only to go to the accounts of those who defended the system of
slavery, to show that it was cruel. He was forcibly struck last year by an
expression of an honourable member, an advocate for the trade, who, when
he came to speak of the slaves, on selling off the stock of a plantation,
said, that they fetched less than the common price, because they were
damaged.--Damaged!--What! were they goods and chattels? What an idea was
this to hold out of our fellow-creatures. We might imagine how slaves were
treated, if they could be spoken of in such a manner. Perhaps these unhappy
people had lingered out the best part of their lives in the service of
their master. Able then to do but little, they were sold for little! and
the remaining substance of their sinews was to be pressed out by another,
yet more hardened than the former, and who had made a calculation of their
vitals accordingly.

As another proof, he would mention a passage in a pamphlet, in which the
author, describing the happy situation of the slaves, observed, that a good
Negro never wanted a character. A bad one could always be detected by his
weals and scars. What was this but to say, that there were instruments in
use, which left indelible marks behind them; and who would say, that these
were used justly?

An honourable gentleman, Mr. Vaughan, had said, that setting aside slavery,
the slaves were better off than the poor in this country. But what was it
that we wished to abolish? Was it not the Slave-trade, which would destroy
in time the cruel distinction he had mentioned? The same honourable
gentleman had also expressed his admiration of their resignation; but might
it not be that resignation, which was the consequence of despair?

Colonel Tarleton had insinuated, that the petitions on the table had been
obtained in an objectionable manner. He had the honour to present one from
his constituents; which he would venture to say had originated with
themselves; and that there did not exist more respectable names in the
kingdom, than those of the persons who had signed it. He had also asserted,
that there was a strong similitude in their tenour and substance, as if
they had been manufactured by the same persons. This was by no means to be
wondered at. There was surely but one plain tale to tell; and it was not
surprising, that it had