ce they came, or clandestinely get on Board the
Transports in such a manner as would not be in his Power to
prevent--in either of which Cases an inevitable Loss would ensue
to the proprietors--But as the Business was now conducted they
had at least a Chance for Compensation--Sir Guy concluded the
Conversation on this subject by saying that he Imagined that the
mode of Compensating as well as the Amount and other points with
respect to which there was no provision made in the Treaty, must
be adjusted by the Commissioners to be hereafter appointed by the
two Nations."[522]

Washington admitted that slavery was wrong but he never did much to
curb its growing power, contenting himself with a deprecation much
like this expressed in the letter to Lafayette, April 5, 1783.

"The scheme, my dear Marqs., which you propose as a precedent to
encourage the emancipation of the black people of this Country
from that state of Bondage in wch. they are held, is a striking
evidence of the benevolence of your Heart. I shall be happy to
join in so laudable a work; but will defer going into a detail of
the business, till I have had the pleasure of seeing you."[523]

In 1786 Washington wrote the Marquis:

"The benevolence of your heart, my dear Marquis, is so
conspicuous on all occasions, that I never wonder at any fresh
proofs of it; but your late purchase of an estate in the colony
of Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves on it, is a
generous and noble proof of your humanity. Would to God a like
spirit might diffuse itself generally, into the minds of the
people of this country. But I despair of seeing it. Some
petitions were presented to the Assembly at its last session, for
the abolition of slavery, but they could scarcely obtain a
reading. To set the slave afloat at once would, I really believe,
be productive of much inconvenience and mischief, but by degrees
it certainly might and assuredly ought to be effected; and that
too by legislative authority."[524]

Addressing Robert Morris in 1786, Washington said:

"I hope that it will not be conceived, from these observations,
that it is my wish to hold the unhappy people who are the subject
of this letter, in slavery. I can only say that there is not a
man living who wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a plan