Mr. (afterwards Lord) Grenville would not detain the house by going into a question which had been so ably argued; but he should not do justice to his feelings, if he did not express publicly to his honourable friend, Mr. Wilberforce, the pleasure he had received from one of the most masterly and eloquent speeches he had ever heard; a speech which, while it did honour to him, entitled him to the thanks of the House, of the people of England, of all Europe, and of the latest posterity.  He approved of the propositions as the best mode of bringing this great question to a happy issue.  He was pleased, also, with the language which had been held out with respect to foreign nations, and with our determination to assert our right of preventing our colonies from carrying on any trade which we had thought it our duty to abandon.

Aldermen Newnham, Sawbridge, and Watson, though they wished well to the cause of humanity, could not, as representatives of the city of London, give their concurrence to a measure which would injure it so essentially as the abolition of the Slave Trade.  This trade might undoubtedly be put under wholesome regulations, and made productive of great commercial advantages; but, if it were abolished, it would render the city of London one scene of bankruptcy and ruin.  It became the house to take care, while they were giving way to the goodness of their hearts, that they did not contribute to the ruin of the mercantile interests of their country.

Mr. Martin stated that he was so well satisfied with the speech of the honourable gentleman who had introduced the propositions, and with the language held out by other distinguished members on this subject, that he felt himself more proud than ever of being an Englishman.  He hoped and believed that the melancholy predictions of the worthy aldermen would not prove true, and that the citizens of London would have too much public spirit to wish that a great national object (which comprehended the great duties of humanity and justice) should be set aside, merely out of consideration to their own private interests.

Mr. Dempster expected, notwithstanding all he had heard, that the first proposition submitted to them would have been to make good out of the public purse all the losses individuals were liable to sustain from an abolition of the Slave Trade.  This ought to have been, as Lord Penrhyn had observed, a preliminary measure.  He did not like to be generous out of the pockets of others.  They were to abolish the trade, it was said, out of a principle of humanity.  Undoubtedly they owed humanity to all mankind; but they also owed justice to those who were interested in the event of the question, and had embarked their fortunes on the faith of parliament.  In fact he did not like to see men introducing even their schemes of benevolence to the detriment of other people; and much less did he like to see them going to the colonies, as it were upon their estates, and prescribing