h they may be connected, are not the same thing. The idea of the
House seems to me, if I rightly comprehend it, that the two things are
to be combined: that is to say, that the trade is gradually to decline,
and to cease entirely at a determinate period. To make the abolition
gradual, the regulations must operate as a strong discouragement. But it
is much to be feared that a trade continued and discouraged, and with a
sentence of death passed upon it, will perpetuate much ill blood between
those who struggle for the abolition and those who contend for an
effectual continuance.

At the time when I formed the plan which I have the honor to transmit to
you, an abolition of the slave trade would have appeared a very
chimerical project. My plan, therefore, supposes the continued existence
of that commerce. Taking for my basis that I had an incurable evil to
deal with, I cast about how I should make it as small an evil as
possible, and draw out of it some collateral good.

In turning the matter over in my mind at that time and since, I never
was able to consider the African trade upon a ground disconnected with
the employment of negroes in the West Indies, and distinct from their
condition in the plantations whereon they serve. I conceived that the
true origin of the trade was not in the place it was begun at, but at
the place of its final destination. I therefore was, and I still am, of
opinion that the whole work ought to be taken up together, and that a
gradual abolition of slavery in the West Indies ought to go hand in hand
with anything which, should be done with regard to its supply from the
coast of Africa. I could not trust a cessation of the demand for this
supply to the mere operation of any abstract principle, (such as, that,
if their supply was cut off, the planters would encourage and produce an
effectual population,) knowing that nothing can be more uncertain than
the operation of general principles, if they are not embodied in
specific regulations. I am very apprehensive, that, so long as the
slavery continues, some means for its supply will be found. If so, I am
persuaded that it is better to allow the evil, in order to correct it,
than, by endeavoring to forbid what we cannot be able wholly to prevent,
to leave it under an illegal, and therefore an unreformed existence. It
is not that my plan does not lead to the extinction of the slave trade,
but it is through a very slow progress, the chief effect of which