After supper I accompanied him to his apartment, and at my
request he dictated to me an argument in favour of the negro who was then
claiming his liberty, in an action in the Court of Session in Scotland. He had
always been very zealous against slavery in every form, in which I, with all
deference, thought that he discovered 'a zeal without knowledge.' Upon one occasion,
when in company with some very grave men at Oxford, his toast was, 'Here's to
the next insurrection of the negroes in the West Indies.' His violent prejudice
against our West Indian and American settlers appeared whenever there was an
opportunity. Towards the conclusion of his 'Taxation no Tyranny', he says, 'how
is it that we hear the loudest YELPS for liberty among the drivers of
negroes?'
Boswell's Life of Johnson, eds. Hill & Powell, Vol III, pp. 200-207
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