The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade | Page 7

was widely
polluted by their domain. Hence, if we were to take the vast extent of
space occupied by these crimes and sufferings from the heart of Africa
to its shores, and that which they filled on the continent of America and
the islands adjacent, and were to join the crimes and sufferings in one
to those in the other by the crimes and sufferings which took place in
the track of the vessels successively crossing the Atlantic, we should
behold a vast belt as it were of physical and moral evil, reaching
through land and ocean to the length of nearly half the circle of the

globe.
The next view, which I shall take of this evil, will be as it relates to the
difficulty of subduing it.
This difficulty may be supposed to have been more than ordinarily
great. Many evils of a public nature, which existed in former times,
were the offspring of ignorance and superstition, and they were
subdued of course by the progress of light and knowledge. But the evil
in question began in avarice. It was nursed also by worldly interest. It
did not therefore so easily yield to the usual correctives of disorders in
the world. We may observe also, that the interest by which it was thus
supported, was not that of a few individuals, nor of one body, but of
many bodies of men. It was interwoven again into the system of the
commerce and of the revenue of nations. Hence the merchant--the
planter--the mortgagee--the manufacturer--the politician--the
legislator--the cabinet-minister--lifted up their voices against the
annihilation of it. For these reasons the Slave-trade may be considered,
like the fabulous hydra, to have had a hundred heads, every one of
which it was necessary to cut off before it could be subdued. And as
none but Hercules was fitted to conquer the one, so nothing less than
extraordinary prudence, courage, labour, and patience, could overcome
the other. To protection in this manner by his hundred interests it was
owing, that the monster stalked in security for so long a time. He
stalked too in the open day, committing his mighty depredations. And
when good men, whose duty it was to mark him as the object of their
destruction, began to assail him, he did not fly, but gnashed his teeth at
them, growling savagely at the same time, and putting himself into a
posture of defiance.
We see then, in whatever light we consider the Slave-trade, whether we
examine into the nature of it, or whether we look into the extent of it, or
whether we estimate the difficulty of subduing it, we must conclude
that no evil more monstrous has ever existed upon earth. But if so, then
we have proved the truth of the position, that the abolition of it ought to
be accounted by us as one of the greatest blessings, and that it ought to
be one of the most copious sources of our joy. Indeed I do not know,

how we can sufficiently express what we ought to feel upon this
occasion. It becomes us as individuals to rejoice. It becomes us as a
nation to rejoice. It becomes us even to perpetuate our joy to our
posterity. I do not mean however by anniversaries, which are to be
celebrated by the ringing of bells and convivial meetings, but by
handing down this great event so impressively to our children, as to
raise in them, if not continual, yet frequently renewed thanksgivings, to
the great Creator of the universe, for the manifestation of this his favour,
in having disposed our legislators to take away such a portion of
suffering from our fellow-creatures, and such a load of guilt from our
native land.
And as the contemplation of the removal of this monstrous evil should
excite in us the most pleasing and grateful sensations, so the perusal of
the history of it should afford us lessons, which it must be useful to us
to know or to be reminded of. For it cannot be otherwise than useful to
us to know the means which have been used, and the different persons
who have moved, in so great a cause. It cannot be otherwise than useful
to us to be impressively reminded of the simple axiom, which the
perusal of this history will particularly suggest to us, that "the greatest
works must have a beginning;" because the fostering of such an idea in
our minds cannot but encourage us to undertake the removal of evils,
however vast they may appear in their size, or however difficult to
overcome. It cannot again be otherwise than useful to us to be assured
(and this history will assure us of it) that in any work, which is a work
of righteousness, however small the beginning