the House, and proposed postponing the business till next session, they would have derived another advantage from his presence, because the hon. gentleman would doubtless have stated to the House in what view he saw the subject, and in a general way described the nature of the project he meant to propose next session. The opinion of the right hon. gentleman opposite to him, Mr. Fox said, he understood primâ facie, to be the same as his own. But what his intention was, they knew not; with what view, and for what object he meant to bring the subject forward, he had left them completely in the dark. The right hon. gentleman was pleased to observe, that it had been a very general opinion that the African Slave Trade should be put a stop to. Again, he had said, that others had not gone so far, but had given it as their opinion, that it required to be revised and regulated. Mr. Fox said, he had no scruple to declare, in the onset, that his opinion of this momentous business was, that the Slave Trade ought not to be regulated, but destroyed. To this opinion his mind was pretty nearly made up, and he was persuaded, that the more the subject was considered, the more his opinion would gain ground; and it would be admitted that to consider the subject in any other manner, and on any other principles than those of humanity and justice, was idle and absurd. If there were any such men, and he did not know but there were those, who, led away by local and interested considerations, thought the Slave Trade might still continue under certain modifications, those men were the dupes of error, and mistook what they thought their interest, for what he would undertake to convince them was not their interest;since nothing could be the true interest of any description of men that revolted against the principles of justice and humanity. He said he would not oppose the question, if other members thought it was best to let the consideration, important and pressing as it was, stand over to the next session; but he should have thought it still better if it had been brought on then. He again enumerated the superior advantages of an inquiry into such a subject, carried on within those walls over an inquiry carried on before the lords of the Council. In inquiries carried on in that House, they had the benefit of every circumstance of publicity, which was a most material benefit indeed, and which of all others made the manner of conducting the parliamentary proceedings of Great Britain the envy and admiration of the world. An inquiry there was better than an inquiry in any other place, however respectable the persons, before and by whom it was carried on. There, all that could be said for or against the abolition of the African Slave Trade might be uttered. In that House every relative fact would have been produced, no information would have been withholden, no circumstance would have been omitted that was necessary for elucidation, nothing would have been kept back. There were some objects of inquiry fitter for the privy council to investigate; but there was no public question so fit for them as for that House to inquire into; and the present was a question of public importance, and therefore peculiarly proper for investigation before that popular assembly. Mr. Fox said, he did not know any political question that could be considered in the abstract, or without a reference to the circumstances of the country. He declared he took up the present subject from principles not only of justice and humanity, but from an investigation of those principles, and a consequent conviction that there could be no regulation founded in those principles that would prove injurious to mere political considerations. Those mistaken men, therefore, who, led away by the delusive ideas of self-interest, thought otherwise, had only to hear the case fairly argued, to lead them to subscribe to the propriety of the maxim he had stated, and to own its truth in spite of the fallacies of those who argued from cold policy, and for what they called the prosperity of the country. Mr. Pitt declared, that nothing he had heard convinced him of the propriety of departing from the rule he had laid down for himself, of studiously avoiding to offer any opinion on the subject, till the time should arrive when it could be fully argued. The subject was broad and extensive, and ought to be examined in every point of view. It would have been utterly impossible to have come to any discussion of the subject which could have been brought to a conclusion in the course of the present session. Did the inquiry before the privy council, then, amount to a loss of time? so far from it, that, on the whole, time had been gained. He had moved the resolution, therefore, to pledge the House to bring on the discussion early in the next session, when they would have a full opportunity of considering every part of the subject; first, whether the whole of the Trade ought to be abolished, and, if so, how and when? If it should be thought that the Trade should only be put under certain regulations; what those regulations ought to be, and when they should take place? These were questions that must be considered; and therefore he had made his resolution as wide as possible. Lord Penrhyn said, there were two descriptions of men, one, those who where concerned in the African trade; the other, the planters, whose characters had been blackened, and whose conduct had been grossly calumniated; both wished anxiously that an inquiry might be instituted, conscious that the more their conduct was examined, the less they would be found to merit the opprobrium with which they had been loaded. The charges against the Slave Trade were either true or false. If true, the Trade ought to be abolished; if false, justice ought to be done to the characters of those who were concerned in it. stead of consulting that House, and giv ing them the opportunity of exercising their functions of deliberation and legis[lation, would modify the measures of governnient elsewhere, and bring down the edicts of the privy council to the House to register. He was one of those who wished for the abolition of the Slave Trade. He thought it ought to be abolished on principles of humanity and justice. If, however, opposition of interests should render its total abolition impossible, it ought to be regulated, and that immediately. The House need not send to the West Indies to know the opinions of the planters on the subject; they were to consider first of all, and abstracted from all political, personal, and local considerations, that the Slave Trade was directly contrary to the interests of humanity; and that the state of slavery, however mitigated, was a state so improper, so degrading, and so ruinous to the feelings and capacities of human nature, that it ought not to be suffered to exist. Protraction might raise hopes in the unfortunate people, whose freedom they were anxious to restore, that might produce infinite mischief, if suffered to remain long ungratified. They ought, therefore, as soon as possible, to go into an investigation of the subject, as well for the sake of the planters as the slaves, to prevent the dangers that might result from protraction, and in order to allay the hopes and fears that might have been excited on the one hand, or entertained on the other. Mr. Burke remarked, that the noble lord being a man of justice himself, had reasoned according to the dictates of his mind, and, conscious of his own integrity, was very naturally led to imagine, that other men were equally just and honourable. Undoubtedly, the African merchants and planters had a right to call for an investigation of their conduct, and their doing so, did them great credit. The Slave Trade ought to be inquired into; it ought to be fully and maturely considered; but he agreed with the Chancellor of the Ex- Mr. Gascoyne had no objection to the dischequer, that the subject could not be discussion standing over to the next session, cussed this session, and that it was right that ministers should inquire into its merits. His Majesty's ministers had done their duty, while that House, who had the petitions of the people on their table, had deferred an inquiry. If that House wished to preserve their functions, their understandings, their honour, and their dignity, he advised them to beware of committees of the privy council. If they suffered the business of the House to be done by such committees, they were abdicating their trust and character, and making way for an entire abolition of their functions, which they were parting with one after another. Thus "star after star goes out, and all is night." If that House neglected the petitions of its constituents, that House must be abolished, and the privy council substituted in its stead. What would prove the consequence? His Majesty's ministers, in provided it could not come on in the present, because he was persuaded that his constituents, who were more immediately concerned in the Trade, were men of such respectable characters, that they were above the reach of calumny, and might despise any imputation that ill-founded prejudice could cast upon them. Gentlemen might have observed, that not a single petition had been presented to the House against the measure, which the numerous petitioners, whose petitions had been received, prayed for. He thought it necessary to inform the House, that he had long since received three petitions against it; but upon consulting his Majesty's ministers, it had been deemed most advisable not to present them to the House, but to refer them to the privy council, who had the subject under their consideration, and who, he hoped, would print their re port, when they should have brought their inquiries to a conclusion, in order to enable all concerned, to form a judgment of what was proper to be done respecting the subject next session. He wished therefore to know how soon they would be able to print their report? With regard to the abolition of the Slave Trade, he thought it unnecessary, visionary, and impracticable; but he wished some alteration and modification of the Trade to be adopted. In considering the subject, however, he hoped the House would not forget the trade, commerce, and navigation of the country. Mr. Rolle said, he had received instructions from his constituents to inquire if the grievances alleged to result from the Slave Trade were founded, and if it should appear that they were, to assist in applying a remedy. He was glad the hon. member had put off the discussion till the next session, as it would give gentlemen an opportunity of considering the subject with more mature deliberation. Mr. Martin asked, supposing the slaves were treated ever so humanely, when they were carried to the West Indies, what compensation there was for their being torn from their nearest relations, and from every thing that was dear to them. He hoped that no political advantage, no national expediency, would weigh in the scale against the eternal rules of moral rectitude. When the subject therefore came to be fully discussed, he should think himself the wickedest wretch on earth, if he did not do every thing in his power to put a stop to the Slave Trade. islands, but to that intermediate state of tenfold misery which they suffered in their transportation from the coast of Africa to the West Indies. He was ready to call evidence to the bar to prove the fact. When put on ship-board, the poor unhappy wretches were chained to each other hand and foot, and stowed so close, that they were not allowed above a foot and a half each individual. Thus crammed together, like herrings in a barrel, they generated putrid disorders, and all sort of dangerous diseases; so that when their overseers came to look over them in the morning, they had daily to pick numbers of dead slaves out of their rows, and to unchain their carcasses from the bodies of their wretched fellow-sufferers, to whom they had been fastened. Nor was it merely to the slaves that the baneful effects of the contagion thus created was confined; it affected the ship's crew, and numbers of the seamen employed in the horrid traffic died every voyage. This called aloud for a remedy, and that remedy ought to be applied immediately. If they did not apply some remedy without delay, between the present session and the beginning of the next, 10,000 lives would be lost. He therefore wished this grievance to be taken into consideration, independent of the general question; and that some regulation, such as restraining the captains from taking above a certain number of slaves on board, according to the size of their vessels, obliging them to let in fresh air, and provide better accommodation for the slaves during their passage, and such other regulations as should suggest themselves to the House, should be adopted, Mr. Young thought it extremely proper that the consideration of the subject should go over to the next session. Sir W. Dolben said, that although the university of Oxford had not presented any petition for the abolition of the Slave Trade, they had instructed him to assist in attaining that desirable object, and with a piety becoming that venerable body, to propose, Lord Penrhyn said, that he only spoke by the distribution of religious books and for himself and his constituents, when he other means, the taking of some steps to-pressed for an immediate inquiry into the wards the improvement of the minds of the African slaves, and inculcating a due sense of their moral and religious duties. He did not intend, at present, to enter into the discussion of the abolition of the Trade but he wished to say a word or two on a matter that in his mind was a most crying evil, and called for an immediate remedy, and that was the intermediate state of misery suffered by the slaves. He neither alluded to their sufferings at home at the hands of their cruel countrymen, nor to their sufferings from their unfeeling masters, the planters in the West India Slave Trade. The African merchants felt their characters hurt, and therefore they had an undoubted right to call for an early investigation of the subject, that their reputation might be cleared from the ill-founded calumny which had been thrown upon it. With regard to the facts stated by the hon. baronet his argument proved too much, because the whole profit of the voyage of the captains employed in the Slave Trade arose from the number of negroes they could bring to the WestIndia market in good health; and therefore it was so much their interest to preserve them that it was not likely they should suffer them to generate mortal diseases in the manner described. Sir James Johnstone professed himself a friend to the abolition of the Slave Trade, and said that it was highly necessary that the House should, as soon as possible, come to some decision on the subject, as the news of the intention of the legislature to adopt some measures in their favour had reached the West-India islands, and unless ascertained, the poor creatures hopes might be raised too high, and bad consequences might follow. He had lately heard from the island of Grenada, and there the slaves were so full of the subject that the common exclamations among them were," Mr. Wilberforce for negro! Mr. Fox for negro! The Parliament for negro! God Almighty for negro!" Mr. Lorraine Smith was an advocate for the abolition of the Trade, and observed, that those gentlemen who admitted that some regulation was necessary, by implication admitted that some abuses did exist in that traffic, because of necessity, if regulations were proper, there must exist something that required regulation. Mr. Pitt said, he was almost certain that the committee of privy council would not be able to bring their inquiry to a conclusion in time to print their report before the session ended. Mr. Bastard said, the whole country had petitioned; and was it any satisfaction to the country to say, the committee of privy council are inquiring? Who knew any thing of what was doing by the committee of privy council, or what progress they were making? The inquiry ought to have been instituted in that House, and in the face of the public, that every body concerned might know what was doing. Petition after petition had been presented, and was it any answer fitting that House to say, "We cannot attend to your petition to-day; to-morrow we hope to have a holiday; and we must defer inquiring into the allegations of your petitions till next session." How reproachful was such a delay, when an hon. baronet had stated facts which were shocking to humanity, and called for an immediate remedy. The hon. baronet had offered to prove the facts at the bar of the House. He hoped, therefore, he would move, that a committee might be appointed to inquire into their existence, that a remedy might be applied before the sailing of the next ships to Africa; and that the House might know what time they had to spare for this purpose, he desired to learn how often in the year the ships employed in the Slave Trade sailed to Africa. Sir W. Dolben answered, that ships were sailing from the various ports of the kingdom to the ports of Africa ev ry fortnight. Mr. Whitbread professed himself a strenuous advocate for the abolition of the Slave Trade. Mr. Pelham said, that he had not suffi cient confidence in his own abilities and information, to bring forward a proposition on the Slave Trade, unless he thought that he should be honoured with the support and assistance of the House; but he had very maturely considered the subject, and had he not known, that the business was in the hands of an hon. gentleman, whose absence from the House, and the cause of it, no man lamented more sincerely than himself, he should have ventured to have proposed a plan for the regulation of the Slave Trade, that appeared to him likely to produce some salutary effects. Mr. Pitt declared, that he should be extremely happy, if he thought the circumstances of the House were such as to enable them to proceed to an immediate discussion of the subject; but as that did not appear, from the reasons he had before stated, to be the case, he could only assure the hon. gentleman, that the same motives that would induce him to oppose an inquiry into the subject early in the next session of parliament, would make him rejoice to receive any information and assistance in the interim from every gentleman who would so far favour him, and help to bring the matter to a point. Mr. Pelham said, that if it were judged improper to abolish the Slave Trade entirely, the sooner it should be regulated the better; and therefore, after what the right hon. gentleman had said, he would take an opportunity of submitting a proposition to the House on the subject in the course of the present session. The Resolution was agreed to nem.con. Debate in the Commons on the Petitions relative to the Government of Quebec.] May 18. Mr. Powys moved, that the Petition of the ancient and new subjects of his Majesty, the inhabitants of the province of Quebec, which was presented to the House on the 11th of March, might be again read. The same was accordingly read, setting forth, "That, after the conquest of the province of Canada by the arms of Great Britain, the Petitioners, in compliance with his Majesty's Proclamation, bearing date the 7th day of October 1763, settled and became established in the new-acquired colony of Quebec, in full reliance on the faith of the Crown of Great Britain, as expressed in that Proclamation, for the enjoyment of those laws, that freedom and security in Canada, which the principles of the English Constitution afforded in every part of the British dominions in America; and that the petitioners and the inhabitants of the province have cheerfully, on every occasion, obeyed the controlling powers of the Parliament of Great Britain, and with patience have suffered, during a period of anarchy and war, rather than wound his Majesty's feelings, or embarrass the Parliament with remonstrances and petitions, at a time when the safety of the nation made sacred every moment of public deliberation. The actions and conduct of the petitioners, when truly represented, will best express the sincerity of their loyalty and attachment to the Crown and Government of Great Britain; and that the petitioners look with concern on the burthen of Great Britain, and with great pain and commiseration they see the distresses of his Majesty's loyal subjects, who, driven from their estates, wealth, and possessions, are daily taking shelter in this British colony, though their unsettled and distressed situation may, for the present, hinder them from bringing forward their petitions and their claims: the House will readily perceive that a government similar, or superior, to that under which they were born, had lived, and were happy, must be considered, by those his Majesty's unfortunate subjects, as an affectionate proof of his Majesty's paternal care, and of the parliament's regard for them, and as the first comfort which, in relief to their distresses, can now be granted to them; and the more so, as it will be a blessing not merely granted to them, but extended to their children and posterity; and that the petitioners, fully persuaded that the welfare and happiness of all his Majesty's subjects are peculiarly objects of the serious and benign consideration of the Commons of Great Britain, they therefore beg the attention of the House to this their petition, and ardently request that the House will interpose in their favour for the repeal of the Quebec | Bill, allowing such privileges as are already granted to the Roman Catholic Religion, as being inadequate to the government of this extensive province, the cause of much confusion in our laws, and fraught with trouble and uneasiness to his Majesty's loyal subjects here, and that the House will be pleased to concur in establishing his Majesty's affectionate subjects of this province in the full enjoyment of their civil rights as British subjects, and in granting them a free elective house of assembly: in these hopes they presume to suggest, that clauses of the following import may be inserted in the Act of Parliament, which shall be made to confirm a free constitution to this country. 1st."That the House of representatives or assembly be chosen by the parishes, towns, and districts of the province, to be composed of his Majesty's old and new subjects, in such manner as to the wisdom of Parliament may seem most proper; that the assembly be triennial, and the members elected every three years. 2nd." That the council consist of not less than thirty members, and, in case of division on any measure before them, that no act shall be passed unless at least twelve members agree to carry the vote; that the appointment of the members may be during their residence in the province, and for life, yet subject to temporary leave of absence, as mentioned in the 11th ar ticle, and that they serve as counsellors without fee or reward. 3rd. "That the criminal laws of England be continued as at present established by the Quebec Act. 4th. That the ancient laws and customs of this country respecting landed estates, marriage settlements, inheritances, and dower, be continued, yet subject to be altered by the legislature of Quebec; and that owners may alienate by will, as provided by the tenth section of the Quebec Bill 5th. "That the commercial laws of England be declared to be the laws of this Province, in all matters of trade and commerce, subject to be changed by the legislature of Quebec, as in the preceding article. 6th. "That the Habeas Corpus Act, of the 31st of Charles 2, be made part of the constitution of this country. 7th. That optional juries be granted on all trials in courts of original jurisdiction, that they be regularly balloted for, and a |