The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade | Page 8

Rotheram, of Kendal; and Mr. Campbell Haliburton, of
Edinburgh. The news which Mr. Haliburton sent was very agreeable.
He informed us that, in consequence of the great exertions of Mr.
Alison, an institution had been formed in Edinburgh, similar to that in

London, which would take all Scotland under its care and management,
as far as related to this great subject. He mentioned Lord Gardenston as
the chairman; Sir William Forbes as the deputy chairman; himself as
the secretary; and Lord Napier, professor Andrew Hunter, professor
Greenfield, and William Creech, Adam Rolland, Alexander Ferguson,
John Dickson, John Erskine, John Campbell, Archibald Gibson,
Archibald Fletcher, and Horatius Canning, esquires, as the committee.
The others were, the reverend J. Bidlake, of Plymouth; Joseph Storrs,
of Chesterfield; William Fothergill, of Carr End, Yorkshire; J. Seymour,
of Coventry; Moses Neave, of Poole; Joseph Taylor, of Scarborough;
Timothy Clark, of Doncaster; Thomas Davis, of Milverton; George
Croker Fox, of Falmouth; Benjamin Grubb, of Clonmell in Ireland; Sir
William Forbes, of Edinburgh; the reverend J. Jamieson, of Forfar; and
Joseph Gurney, of Norwich; the latter of whom sent up a remittance,
and intelligence at the same time, that a committee, under Mr. Leigh, so
often before mentioned, had been formed in that city[A].
[Footnote A: On the removal of Mr. Leigh from Norwich, Dr.
Pretyman, precentor of Lincoln and a prebend of Norwich, succeeded
him.]
But the committee in London, while they were endeavouring to
promote the object of their institution at home, continued their
exertions for the same purpose abroad within this period.
They kept up a communication with the different societies established
in America.
They directed their attention also to the continent of Europe. They had
already applied, as I mentioned before, to the King of Sweden in favour
of their cause, and had received a gracious answer. They now attempted
to interest other potentates in it. For this purpose they bound up in an
elegant manner two sets of the Essays on the Slavery and Commerce of
the Human Species and on the Impolicy of the Slave-trade, and sent
them to the Chevalier de Pinto, in Portugal. They bound up in a similar
manner three sets of the same, and sent them to Mr. Eden (now Lord
Auckland), at Madrid, to be given to the King of Spain, the Count

d'Aranda, and the Marquis del Campomanes.
They kept up their correspondence with the committee at Paris, which
had greatly advanced itself in the eyes of the French nation; so that,
when the different bailliages sent deputies to the States General, they
instructed them to take the Slave-trade into their consideration as a
national object, and with a view to its abolition.
They kept up their correspondence with Dr. Frossard of Lyons. He had
already published in France on the subject of the Slave-trade; and now
he offered the committee to undertake the task, so long projected by
them, of collecting such arguments and facts concerning it, and
translating them into different languages, as might be useful in
forwarding their views in foreign parts.
They addressed letters also to various individuals, to Monsieur Snetlage,
doctor of laws at Halle in Saxony; to Monsieur Ladebat, of Bourdeaux;
to the Marquis de Feuillade d'Aubusson, at Paris; and to Monsieur
Necker. The latter in his answer replied in part as follows: "As this
great question," says he, "is not in my department, but in that of the
minister for the Colonies, I cannot interfere in it directly, but I will give
indirectly all the assistance in my power. I have for a long time taken
an interest in the general alarm on this occasion, and in the noble
alliance of the friends of humanity in favour of the injured Africans.
Such an attempt throws a new lustre over your nation. It is not yet,
however, a national object in France. But the moment may perhaps
come; and I shall think myself happy in preparing the way for it. You
must be aware, however, of the difficulties which we shall have to
encounter on our side of the water; for our colonies are much more
considerable than yours; so that in the view of political interest we are
not on an equal footing. It will therefore be necessary to find some
middle line at first, as it cannot be expected that humanity alone will be
the governing principle of mankind."
But the day was now drawing near, when it was expected that this great
contest would be decided. Mr. Wilberforce on the nineteenth of March
rose up in the House of Commons, and desired the resolution to be read,
by which the house stood pledged to take the Slave-trade into their

consideration in the then session. He then moved that the house should
resolve itself into a committee of the whole