ported the resolutions. Mr. Wilberforce's speech was
distinguished by eloquence and earnestness, and by its unanswerable
appeals to the first principles of justice and religion. The
consideration of the subject was ultimately adjourned to the
following session. In that, and in two subsequent sessions, the
motions were renewed; and the effect of pressing such a subject upon
the attention of the country was to open the eyes of many who would
willingly have kept them closed, yet could not deny the existence of
the evils so forced on their view. In 1792 Mr. Wilberforce's motion
for the abolition of the slave trade was met by a proposal to insert
in it the word "gradually;" and, in pursuance of the same policy,
Mr. Dundas introduced a bill to provide for its discontinuance in
1800. The date was altered to 1796, and in that state the bill
passed the Commons, but was stopped in the Upper House by a proposal
to hear evidence upon it. Mr. Wilberforce annually renewed his
efforts, and brought every new argument to bear upon the question
which new discoveries, or the events of the times, produced. In 1799
the friends of the measure resolved on letting it repose for awhile,
and for five years Mr. Wilberforce contented himself with moving for
certain papers; but he took an opportunity of assuring the House
that he had not grown cool in the cause, and that he would renew the
discussion in a future session. On May 30, 1804, he once more moved
for leave to bring in his bill for the abolition of the slave trade,
in a speech of great eloquence and effect. He took the opportunity
of making a powerful appeal to the Irish members, before whom, in
consequence of the Union, this question was now for the first time
brought, and the greater part of whom supported it. The decision
showed a majority of 124 to 49 in his favor; and the bill was
carried through the Commons, but was again postponed in the House of
Lords. In 1805 he renewed his motion; but on this occasion it was
lost in the Commons by over-security among the friends of the
measure. But when Mr. Fox and Lord Granville took office in 1806,
the abolition was brought forward by the ministers, most of whom
supported it, though it was not made a government question in
consequence of several members of the cabinet opposing it. The
attorney-general (Sir A. Pigott) brought in a bill, which was passed
into a law, prohibiting the slave trade in the conquered colonies,
and excluding British subj