. I was again denounced as a spy; and as one sent by
the English minister to bribe members in the Assembly to do that in a time
of public agitation, which in the settled state of France they could never
have been prevailed upon to accomplish. And as a proof that this was my
errand, it was requested of every Frenchman to put to himself the following
question, "How it happened that England, which had considered the subject
coolly and deliberately for eighteen months, and this in a state of
internal peace and quietness, had not abolished the Slave-trade?"

The clamour which was now made against the abolition, pervaded all Paris,
and reached the ears of the King. Mr. Necker had a long conversation with
him upon it. The latter sent for me immediately. He informed me, that His
Majesty was desirous of making himself master of the question, and had
expressed a wish to see my Essay on the Impolicy of the Slave-trade. He
desired to have two copies of it; one in French, and the other in English;
and he would then take his choice as to which of them he would read. He
(Mr. Necker) was to present them. He would take with him also at the same
time the beautiful specimens of the manufactures of the Africans, which I
had lent to Madame Necker out of the cabinet of Monsieur Geoffrey de
Villeneuve and others. As to the section of the slave-ship, he thought it
would affect His Majesty too much, as he was then indisposed. All these
articles, except the latter, were at length presented. The King bestowed a
good deal of time upon the specimens. He admired them; but particularly
those in gold. He expressed his surprise at the state of some of the arts
in Africa. He sent them back on the same day on which he had examined them,
and commissioned Mr. Necker to return me his thanks; and to say that he had
been highly gratified with what he had seen; and, with respect to the Essay
on the Impolicy of the Slave-trade, that he would read it with all the
seriousness, which such a subject deserved.

My correspondence with the Comte de Mirabeau was now drawing near to its
close. I had sent him a letter every other day for a whole month, which
contained from sixteen to twenty pages. He usually acknowledged the receipt
of each. Hence many of his letters came into my possession. These were
always interesting, on account of the richness of the expressions they
contained. Mirabeau even in his ordinary discourse was eloquent. It was his
peculiar talent to use su