ed in opinion from them on a
subject of so much difficulty as the present. He protested against a
debate, in which he could trace nothing like reason; but, on the
contrary, downright phrensy, raised perhaps by the most extraordinary
eloquence. The abolition, as proposed, was impracticable. He denied the
right of the legislature to pass a law for it. He warned the Chancellor
of the Exchequer to beware of the day, on which the bill should pass, as
the worst he had ever seen.

Mr. Milnes declared, that he adopted all those expressions against the
Slave Trade, which had been thought so harsh; and that the opinion of
the noble lord had been turned in consequence of having become one of
the members for Bristol. He quoted a passage from Lord Sheffield's
pamphlet; and insisted that the separation of families in the West
Indies, there complained of by himself, ought to have compelled him to
take the contrary side of the question.

Mr. Wilberforce made a short reply to some arguments in the course of
the debate; after which, at half-past three in the morning, the House
divided. There appeared for Mr. Wilberforce's motion eighty-eight, and
against it one hundred and sixty-three; so that it was lost by a
majority of seventy-five votes.

By this unfavourable division the great contest, in which we had been so
long engaged, was decided. We were obliged to give way to superior
numbers. Our fall, however, grievous as it was, was rendered more
tolerable by the circumstance of having been prepared to expect it. It
was rendered more tolerable, also, by other considerations; for we had
the pleasure of knowing, that we had several of the most distinguished
characters in the kingdom, and almost all the splendid talents of the
House of Commons[A], in our favour. We knew, too, that the question had
not been carried against us either by evidence or by argument; but that
we were the victims of the accidents and circumstances of the times. And
as these considerations comforted us, when we looked forward to future
operations on this great question, so we found great consolation as to
the past, in believing, that, unless human constitutions were stronger
than they really were, we could not have done more than we had done
towards the furtherance of the cause.

[Footnote A: It is a pity that no perfect list was ever made of this or
of any other division in the House of Commons on this subject. I can
give, however, the names of the following, memb