Abolition of the Slave Trade Speech
Delivered in the British House of Commons on May 12, 1789, presenting twelve resolutions against the transatlantic slave trade based on moral imperative and historical evidence.
Full Transcript
When I consider the magnitude of the subject which I am to bring before the House—a subject, in which the interests, not of this country, nor of Europe alone, but of the whole world, and of the largest portion of mankind, are so deeply involved—I confess the elevation of my mind is equal to the task.
The history of the slave trade is a history of unparalleled atrocity. Look at the Middle Passage—so much misery condensed in so little room is more than the human imagination had ever before conceived.
Let us not turn our eyes away from these horrors, nor try to excuse ourselves by claiming commercial expediency. Policy, Sir, is naturally the child of justice; it can never be separated from it.
Having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know. Sir, I lay these resolutions before the House, trusting to the justice and humanity of Parliament.
Defining Key Excerpts
"So much misery condensed in so little room is more than the human imagination had ever before conceived."
"Having heard all of this you may choose to look the other way, but you can never again say that you did not know."
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