hich
has for some time been persisted in, to obtain an act of our
Legislature, to abolish so very important and necessary a branch of
commercial interest, must have been crushed at once, had not the
insignificance of the zealots, who vainly took the lead in it, made
the vast body of planters, merchants and others, whose immense
properties are involved in that trade, reasonably enough suppose, that
there could be no danger. The encouragement which the attempt has
received, excites my wonder and indignation; and though some men of
superior abilities have supported it, whether from a love of temporary
popularity, when prosperous; or a love of general mischief, when
desperate, my opinion is unshaken.

"To abolish a statute which in all ages God has sanctioned, and man
has continued, would not only be robbery to an innumerable class of
our fellow-subjects, but it would be extreme cruelty to the African
savages, a portion of whom it saves from massacre, or intolerable
bondage in their own country, and introduces into a much happier
state of life; especially now, when their passage to the West Indies,
and their treatment there, is humanely regulated. To abolish this
trade, would be to

'---- shut the gates of mercy on mankind.'"

One of the first steps of Clarkson and his associates, was the
formation of a committee of twelve persons, for the collection and
dissemination of evidence on the subject.

* * * * *

The contest now began in earnest, a contest as sublime as any the
world ever saw.

The Abolition controversy more fully aroused the virtue, the talent,
and the religion of the great English nation, than any other event or
crisis which ever occurred.

Wilberforce was the leader of the question in Parliament. The other
members of the Anti-slavery Committee performed those labors which
were necessary out of it.

This labor consisted principally in the collection of evidence with
regard to the traffic, and the presentation of it before the public
mind. In this labor Clarkson was particularly engaged. The subject
was hemmed in with the same difficulties that now beset the
Anti-slavery cause in America. Those who knew most about it, were
precisely those whose interest it was to prevent inquiry. An immense
moneyed interest was arrayed against investigation, and was determined
to suppress the agitation of the subject. Owing to this powerful
pressure, many who were in possession of f