Page:The African Slave Trade (Clark).djvu/17

In another to John F. Mercer, Esq., he said;

"I never mean, unless some particular circumstance should compel me to it, to possess another slave by purchase; it being among my first wishes to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this country may he abolished by law."

In writing to Gen. Lafayette, he said:

"The benevolence of your heart, my dear Marquis, is so conspicuous on all occasions, that I never wonder at fresh proofs of it; but your late purchase of an estate in the colony of Cayenne, with a view of emancipating the slaves, 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 in this country."

These opinions, and many others that we might adduce, bearing against slavery as it existed at that period, bear, with augmented power, against the foreign traffic in slaves. Indeed, it was the influence of these very opinions, and the persevering efforts of these heroes, that secured the passage of the law for the abolition of the slave trade.

Having just emerged from the contest to secure American liberty, the inconsistency of upholding the slave traffic was too glaring not to be seen by every honest mind. And, at that time, under the tuition of the great American struggle, the hostility to slavery was national, and the pro-slavery spirit was local, and mainly confined to those having a pecuniary interest in slaves. The system was looked upon as a temporary domestic evil, rather