ates 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