YOUNG, William.

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The Speech of Sir William Young, Bart. Delivered in Parliament on the Subject of the Slave-Trade, April 19, 1791. First edition of this anti-abolition speech against Wilberforce's motion to outlaw the Atlantic slave trade. Young denounces the motion for supposedly sacrificing "a considerable portion of British commerce and [as] an ultimate surrender of the British colonies" (p. 9). The Atlantic slave trade was not banned until 16 years later.Wilberforce's motion was "to prevent the further importation of African Negroes into the British Colonies and Plantations" (p. 5). Sir William Young (1749-1815), second Baronet, was a slaver who later became Governor of Tobago. He argued that "by ameliorating the condition of the slaves, their numbers would increase by natural propagation and, in time, the trade from Africa to the islands would die a natural death without intervention by act of parliament. However, Young's reform plans were naive and utopian" (ODNB).

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