first was the evil of the Slave-trade, in consequence of which many thousand persons were every year fraudulently and forcibly taken from their country, their relations, and friends, and from all that they esteemed valuable in life.  The second was the evil of slavery itself, in consequence of which the same persons were forced into a situation, where they were deprived of the rights of men, where they were obliged to linger out their days subject to excessive labour and cruel punishments, and where their children were to inherit the same hard lot.  Now the question was, which of the two evils the commitee should select as that, to which they should direct their attention with a view of the removal of it; or whether, with the same view, it should direct its attention to both of them.

It appeared soon to be the sense of the commitee, that to aim at the removal of both would be to aim at too much, and that by doing this we might lose all.

The question then was, which of the two they were to take as their object.  Now in considering this question it appeared that it did not matter where they began, or which of them they took, as far as the end to be produced was the thing desired.  For, first, if the Slave-trade should be really abolished, the bad usage of the slaves in the colonies, that is, the hard part of their slavery, if not the slavery itself, would fall.  For, the planters and others being unable to procure more slaves from the coast of Africa, it would follow directly, whenever this great event should take place, that they must treat those better, whom they might then have.  They must render marriage honourable among them.  They must establish the union of one man with one wife.  They must give the pregnant women more indulgencies.  They must pay more attention to the rearing of their offspring.  They must work and punish the adults with less rigour.  Now it was to be apprehended that they could not do these things, without seeing the political advantages which would arise to themselves from so doing; and that, reasoning upon this, they might be induced to go on to give them greater indulgencies, rights, and privileges in time.  But how would every such successive improvement of their condition operate, but to bring them nearer to the state of freemen?  In the same manner it was contended, that the better treatment of the slaves in the colonies, or that the emancipation of them there, when fit for it, would of itself lay the foundation for the abolition of the Slave-trade.  For, if the slaves were kindly treated, that is, if marriage were encouraged among them; if the infants who should be born were brought up with care; if the sick were properly attended to; if the young and the adult were well fed and properly clothed, and not overworked, and not worn down by the weight of severe punishments, they would necessarily increase, and this on an extensive scale.  But if the planters were thus to get their labourers from the births on their own estates, then the Slave-trade would in time be no longer necessary to them, and it would die away as an useless and a noxious plant.  Thus it was of no consequence, which of the two evils the commitee were to select as the object for their labours; for, as far as the end in view only was concerned, that the same end would be produced in either case.