fpeakers of whom, alas! our fenate can now boaft. His pamphlet is a written fpeech; and, with most of the defects, retains many of the beauties which eminently diftinguish his oratory. His ftyle is eafy and flowing; rather clear than condensed; altogether free from bombaft, and, indeed, from any ornament of a falfe tafte; never failing to reach what it attempts, though it may not often point at the highest marks; varying with the nature of the topics, and, from being fo natural, void of what is called 'manner;' almost always animated, and its strength chiefly impaired by want of correcting and curtailing. It is the manner of one who has written little and fpoken much, who has always studied his fubject more than his oratory, who now makes a speech to his amanuenfis, and has it printed without a careful revifal. Such, indeed, we presume to be, in a good measure, the fact; and, even if verbal criticifm were not out of the question on this occafion, the unavoidable hafte in which we conceive the pamphlet must have been prepared, would be an ample excufe for many more inaccuracies than we have discovered in its compofition. We fhall extract one or two paffages which ftruck us in the perufal,-premifing that little more than the merits of the style can be estimated by any fuch fpecimens; for the chief excellence of the work confifts in the acutenefs with which the evidence is commented upon, the uniform foundness of the author's views, both on his own fubject and on questions incidentally connected with it, and the unabating vigilance which he fhews in taking up every little point that comes across him, and turning it to his object, without breaking down the body of his argument. These things can only be judged of by a perufal of the whole tract. The liveliness of manner, by which he keeps our attention awake for an unneceflary length of time on a very beaten subject, may be feen in fuch paffages as the following.

After citing various statements from Mr Long's History of Jamaica, to prove that this author viewed the negroes as a race of men radically inferior to the whites, he continues,

Such is Mr Long's portrait of the negro character; fuch was the ftate of contempt into which the whole race had fallen, in the estimation of those who had known them chiefly in that condition of wretchednefs and degradation into which a long continued courfe of flavery had depreffed them. Can any thing fhew more clearly, with what strong prejudices against the negro race, the minds not only of low uneducated men, but of a Weft Indian, whofe authority is great, and whofe name ftands high among his countrymen, were, fome years ago at least, infected? Confequently they prove with what fpirit and temper, even wellinformed men, among the colonists, entered on the confideration of the warious queftions involved in the large and complicated difcuffion concerning the abolition of the Slave Trade.

• But

But the fubject is of the very first importance in another view; for it is a truth fo clear, that it would be a mere waste of time to prove it in detail that our estimate of the intellectual and moral qualities, of the natural and acquired tempers, and feelings, and habits, of any clafs our fellow creatures, will determine our judgment as to what is necessary to their happiness, and ftill more as to the treatment they may reasonably claim at our hands. Now let it be remembered, the author, whose account of the Africans has been juft laid before you, was the very beft informed of thofe on whofe views and feelings, refpecting the negroes, our opponents would have had us entirely rely. Must not the reprefentations of fuch witneffes against the negroes be received with large abatement, and ought we not to lend ourselves to their fuggeftions with confiderable diffidence? What judgment would they be likely to form of the confideration to which, whether in Africa, on fhip-board, or in the West Indies, the negro flaves were entitled? By how fcanty a 'measure would their comforts be difpenfed to them! And when, in anfwer to our inquiries, we were affured that in these feveral fituations, their treatment was fufficiently mild and humane, and that due attention was paid to their wants and feelings, might we not reafonably receive thefe affurances with fome referve, on calling to mind that they proceeded from perfons whose estimate of fufficiency was drawn from their calculations of what was due to the wants and feelings, the pleasures and pains of a being little above the brute creation; not of a being of talents and paffions, of anticipations and recollections, of focial and domeftic feelings fimilar to our own?" p. 61. 62.

The above paffage alfo draws, from a well known topic, a new illuftration of the fubject, and fkilfully turns against the adverfary, fome of his own facts, in an unexpected way. The next example which we fhail take, places fome of the prevailing prejudices refpecting Africa in a new and ftrong light. He fhews, by a general historical sketch, that while other nations were communicating to each other the bleffings of civilization, and while no real progrefs was ever made by any one, except by intercourse with others, Africa was left to itself, and had only fuch a communication with the reft of the world as tended to perpetuate its barbarifm.

It may therefore be boldly affirmed, that the interior, to which may be added the western coaft of Africa to the fouth of the great defert, never enjoyed any of that intercourfe with more polished nations, without which no nation on earth is known ever to have attained to any high degree of civilization; and that, contemptuously as we and the "other civilized nations of Europe now fpeak of the Africans, had we been left in their fituation, we should probably have been not more civilized than themselves.

Let the cafe be put, that the interior of Africa had been made by the Almighty the cradle of the world-that iffuing thence, inftead of from the north-western part of Afia, the feveral ftreams of nations had

pervaded

pervaded and fettled the whole of that extenfive continent that the banks of the Niger, not lefs fertile than thofe of the Euphrates or the Nile, had been the feat of the firft great empire-that the kingdoms of Tombuctoo and Houffa had been the Affyria and Egypt of Africa, and that the arts and fciences had been communicated to a cluster of little independent ftates, and, under the fame favourable circumftances, had been carried to the fame heights of excellence as that which they attained in European Greece-that these had been however in their turn fwallowed up, together with the whole of that vaft continent, by the arms of a fingle nation, the Romans of Africa, under the shelter of whofe eftablished dominion the various nations throughout that spacious extent, enjoying the bleffings of civil order and fecurity, the natural confequence had followed, that in every quarter the arts and fciences had sprung up and flourished-Might not our northern countries have been then in the fame ftate of comparative barbarism in which Africa now lies? Might not fome African philofopher, proud of his fuperior accomplishments, have made it a queftion, whether thofe wretched whites, the very outcafts of nature, who were banished to the cold regions of the north, were capable of civilization? And thus, might not a Slave Trade in Europeans, aye, in Britons, have then been juftified by thofe fable reafoners, on precisely the fame grounds as those on which the African Slave Trade is now fupported?

However the laft fuppofition may mortify our pride, it will appear lefs monstrous to thofe who recollect, that not only in ancient times the wifeft among the Greeks confidered the barbarians, including all the inhabitants of our quarter of the earth, as exprefsly intended by nature to be their flaves; not only that the Romans regularly fold into flavery all the captives whom they took in the wars, by which on all fides they gradually extended their empire till it was almoft commenfurate with the then known world; but that our own island long furnished its share towards the supply of the Roman market. Even at a later period of our hiftory, we Englishmen have been the fubjects of a Slave Trade, for which it is remarkable that the city of Brittol was the grand emporium. That ancient city has now, I truft, for the lait time, retired from that guilty commerce. p. 80-82.

This address concludes as follows; and we quote the passage, rather for its eloquence, than for any signal novelty or correctness of reasoning which it exhibits.

But it is often rather in the way of a gradual decline, than of violent and fudden fhocks, that national crimes are punished. I muft frankly therefore confefs to you, that in the cafe of my country's profperity or decline, my hopes and fears are not the sport of every paffing rumour; nor do they rife or fall materially, according to the fucceffive reports we may receive of the defeats or victories of Bonaparte. This confideration opens the view into a wide field; and I must abftain from fo much as fetting my foot on it. I will only remark, that a country circumftanced in all refpects like this, under an aufpicious Providence,

and

and using our various refources with energy and wifdom, has no caufe whatever for defpondency. But he who has looked with any care into the page of hiftory, will acknowledge, that when nations are prepared for their fall, human inftruments will not be wanting to effect it; and, left man, vain man, fo apt to overrate the powers and achievements of human agents, should ascribe the fubjugation of the Romans to the confummate policy and power of a Julius Cæfar, their slavery shall be completed by the unwarlike Auguftus, and fhall remain entire under the hateful tyranny of Tiberius, and throughout all the varieties of their fucceffive mafters. Thus it is, that, moft commonly by the operation of natural caufes, and in the way of natural confequences, Providence governs the world. But if we are not blind to the course of human events, as well as utterly deaf to the plain inftructions of Revelation, we maft believe that a continued courfe of wickednefs, oppreffion, and cruelty, obftinately maintained in fpite of the fulleft knowledge and the loudeft warnings, muft infallibly bring down upon us the heaviest judgments of the Almighty. We may afcribe our fall to weak councils, or unskilful generals; to a factious and overburdened people; to ftorms which wafte our fleets; to diseases which thin our armies; to mutiny among our foldiers and failors, which may even turn against us our own force; to the diminution of our revenues, and the exceffive increase of our debt: men may complain on one fide of a venal miniftry, on the other of a factious oppofition; while, amid mutual recrimina tions, the nation is gradually verging to its fate. Providence will eafily provide means for the accomplishment of its own purposes. It cannot be denied, that there are circumftances in the fituation of this country, which, reasoning from experience, we muft call marks of a declining empire; but we have, as I firmly believe, the means within ourselves of arrefting the progrefs of this decline. We have been eminently bleffed; we have been long spared; let us not prefume too far on the forbearance of the Almighty. p. 349-351.

The bill for effecting the great object of Mr Wilberforce's public life, was at length brought into Parliament by the leading members of the late virtuous and enlightened administration, in both Houses. Lord Grenville introduced it to the Lords, and Lord Howick to the Commons, with the entire concurrence of almost all their colleagues. It was carried by the most triumphant majorities through every stage of its progress. On the chief division in the House of Commons, only sixteen members voted against the abolition, while two hundred and eighty-one gave their voices in its favour. The bill received the royal assent on the 27th of March, by commissioners; and it afforded some consolation to many persons, whose joy was damped, by reflecting that the most illustrious advocate of their cause did not live to share in this triumph, when they saw the chosen friends of Mr Fox, erecting the best monument to his memory, by accomplish

ing, before they laid down their offices, the work nearest his heart. *

We cannot suffer this occasion to pass away, without reminding the friends of the abolition, how much remains to be done, even after this great measure has received the sanction of a law. To see this statute strictly executed; to watch over all the evasions which slave traders may attempt; and to pursue every hint which may be received of connivance on the part of colonial officers, or of new rulers at home, adverse to the abolition, will be the indispensable duty of those zealous and upright persons, whose efforts have already triumphed over so many difficulties, and who have, in fact, only succeeded at last, because they found a government honestly favourable to their cause.

This truth they should always keep before their eyes, that the law which has just been made, will not execute itself. If left to the care of those who, by their stations, are bound to carry. its provisions into effect, it will encounter all the difficulties, from their prejudices and interests, which have so long retarded its enactment. A vigilant attention-a constant interferenceon the part of the government in the mother country, can alone give life to the letter of this statute in the colonies. Should the members of that government betray the sacred trust which their predecessors have left them, it will be no satisfaction to the community, that their names may then rise out of obscurity into universal execration. The duty of those who have wiped away from the character of the British nation, the foulest stain that ever sullied the fame of a generous people,-who have caused the slave trade to be proclaimed a crime by the law of the land,-requires one other effort,-that they shall see the sentence executed which they have obtained, and the practice put a stop to, which has at length been declared illegal.

Before taking leave of this great question, we may be permit ted to indulge in one reflexion of a very pleasing nature. It is not many months since the success of the abolition was contemplated, rather as highly desireable, than as greatly to be expected; and a few years ago, hardly any man looked for it. The measure has, no doubt, been carried through by the enlightened zeal of the late ministry. But there are predisposing causes to which the ultimate result must be ascribed. This is not, we apprehend, one of the cases where the wisdom of government has gone before the voice of the people,-where great statesmen, outstripping their age, have introduced changes, barely acquiesced in

for

* The late minifters gave the Royal affent to the bill half an hour before they retired. Lord Holland was one of the commiffioners.