GENERAL HISTORY. 



[135 



points every independent nation is 

 entitled to judge and act for itself. 

 As to the circumstances of the 

 present case, it was first to be con- 

 sidered, that these could only 

 attach to the colonies of which 

 we had possession, not to those 

 which were not in our hands. 

 With respect to the former, the 

 noble baron argued as if the resti- 

 tution of her colonies to France 

 was. an act purely gratuitous on 

 our part. He confessed that he 

 never considered it as such. The 

 object of the negociations being a 

 general peace, the continental 

 powers, jealous of the colonial 

 possessions of Great Britain, would 

 never have allowed her to keep all 

 those of France. AVhen it is ar- 

 gued, that the abolition of the 

 Slave Trade ought to hare been 

 the condition of restitution, it is 

 contending that the abolition ought 

 to have been made the price of 

 peace, and that upon its refusal, 

 the continuation of the war must 

 have been the consequence ; but 

 were their Lordships' or the nation 

 prepared for such an alternative ? 

 His Lordship proceeded to show, 

 that the ministry had by no means 

 been neglectful of every real op- 

 portunity of abolishing the Slave 

 Trade which had occurred in other 

 countries; and he would not 

 admit that the concession made by 

 France was unimportant, though 

 not such as they could have wished, 

 and strusgled hard to obtain. He 

 came at length to the immediate 

 consideration of the motion, and 

 contended, that nothing could 

 more tend to frustrate the object 

 in view than acceding to it. 



Of the other speeches for and 

 against the motion it seems unne- 

 cessary to give any particulars. 



since every thing of argument had 

 been anticipated. The question 

 being put, a division tcok place, 

 when the numbers were, for the 

 motion 27, against it 62 : Majo- 

 rity S5. A protest against (he re- 

 jection was entered upon the 

 Journals, signed by the Dukes of 

 Sussex and Gloucester, and the 

 Lords Grey, Lauderdale, Grenville, 

 and Holland. 



A similar motion was made on 

 June 28, in the House of Com- 

 mons, by Mr. Horner, which was 

 negatived without a division. 



The subject was not as yet en- 

 tirely dismissed from the consi- 

 deration of parliament. On June 

 .jOth, the Marquis of Lansdowne 

 rose in the House of Lords to 

 move an address to the Prince 

 Regent relative to the Slave Trade. 

 He prefaced it with saying, that 

 he was one of those who thought 

 thatsome information ought to have , 

 been produced, and some opinion 

 given, on the omission to secure 

 this great object. But setting this 

 aside, every one must feel how 

 necessary it was that their Lord- 

 ships should follow up their pre- 

 vious address, and that they could 

 not quit the subject without ex- 

 pressing their regret at the failure 

 which had already taken place, 

 and their anxious desire as to what 

 might be done in future. If the 

 immediate abolition of this de- 

 tested traffic could not be pro- 

 cured, there might still be means 

 found of saving Africa from the 

 full extent of evil resulting from 

 it, and with which it was threat- 

 ened by the command the French 

 would acquire of the river Senegal, 

 and partly of the Gambia. After 

 some observations on this topic, 

 his Lordship concluded with mov- 



