Page:The West Indies, and Other Poems.djvu/87

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��Kote ^. Page .56, line 15. — Wheji Sharpe on proud Sri' tannia's charter d shore, &c. — Granville Sharpe, Esq. af- ter a struggle of many years, against authority and prece- dent, established in our courts of justice the law of the Constitution, that there are no slaves in England, and that the fact of a neairo beina; found in this country is of itself a proof that he is a freeman.

Note ♦. Page 51, line 1. — When Clarkson his victorious course began. — No panegyric which a conscientious writer can bestow, or a good man may receive, will be deemed ex- travagant for the modest merits of Mr Clarkson, by those who are acquainted with his labours. — See his History of the Abolition^ &c., two volumes, lately published.

Note 5. Ibid., line 8. — The new Las Casas of a ruin'd race. — The author of this poem confesses himself under many obligations to Mr Wilberforce's eloquent letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, addressed to the Free- holders of Yorkshire, and published in 1 807, previous to the decision of the question. Las Casas has been accu- sed of being a promoter, if not the original projector, of the Negro Slave Trade to the West Indies. The Abbe Gregoire some years ago published a defence of this great and good man against the degrading imputation. The following, among other arguments which lie advances, are well worthy of consideration.

The Slave Trade between Africa and the West Indies commenced, according to Herrera himself, the first and

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