larence, Lord Abingdon,
and others. Lord Grenville and the Bishop of Rochester declined supporting
it. They alleged, as a reason, that they conceived the introduction of it
to have been improper pending the inquiry on the general subject of the
Slave-trade. This declaration brought up the Lords Stanhope and Lauderdale,
who charged them with inconsistency as professed friends of the cause. At
length the bill was lost. During these discussions the examination of the
witnesses was resumed by the Lords; but only two of them were heard in this
session[A].

[Footnote A: After this the examinations wholly dropped in the House of
Lords.]

After this decision the question was in a desperate state; for if the
Commons would not renew their own resolution, and the Lords would not
abolish the foreign part of the Slave-trade, What hope was there, of
success? It was obvious too, that in the former House, Mr. Pitt and Mr.
Dundas voted against each other. In the latter, the Lord Chancellor Thurlow
opposed every motion in favour of the cause. The committee therefore were
reduced to this;--either they must exert themselves without hope, or they
must wait till some change should take place in their favour. As far as I
myself was concerned, all exertion was then over. The nervous system was
almost shattered to pieces. Both my memory and my hearing failed me. Sudden
dizziness seized my head. A confused singing in the ears followed me,
wherever I went. On going to bed the very stairs seemed to dance up and
down under me, so that, misplacing my foot, I sometimes fell. Talking too,
if it continued but half an hour, exhausted me, so that profuse
perspirations followed; and the same effect was produced even by an active
exertion of the mind for the like time. These disorders had been brought on
by degrees in consequence of the severe labours necessarily attached to the
promotion of the cause. For seven years I had a correspondence to maintain
with four hundred persons with my own hand. I had some book or other
annually to write in behalf of the cause. In this time I had travelled more
than thirty-five thousand miles in search of evidence, and a great part of
these journeys in the night. All this time my mind had been on the stretch.
It had been bent too to this one subject; for I had not even leisure to
attend to my own concerns. The various instances of barbarity, which had
come successively to my knowledge within this period, had vexed, harasse