ders. This was obvious from the scholiast of
Aristophanes, whom he quoted. It was clear, therefore, that the Slave
Trade, if murder was forbidden, had been literally forbidden also.

The learned counsel, too, had admonished their lordships, to beware how
they adopted the visionary projects of fanatics. He did not know in what
direction this shaft was shot; and he cared not. It did not concern him.
With the highest reverence for the religion of the land, with the
firmest conviction of its truth, and with the deepest sense of the
importance Of its doctrines, he was proudly conscious, that the general
shape and fashion of his life bore nothing of the stamp of fanaticism.
But he begged leave, in his turn, to address a word of serious
exhortation to their lordships. He exhorted them to beware how they were
persuaded to bury, under the opprobrious name of fanaticism, the regard
which they owed to the great duties of mercy and justice, for the
neglect of which (if they should neglect them) they would be answerable
at that tribunal, where no prevarication of witnesses could misinform
the judge; and where no subtlety of an advocate, miscalling the names of
things, putting evil for good and good for evil, could mislead his
judgment.

At length the debate ended: when the bill was lost by a majority of
sixty-eight to sixty-one, including personal votes and proxies.

I cannot conclude this chapter without offering a few remarks. And,
first, I may observe, as the substance of the debates has not been given
for the period which it contains, that Mr. Wilberforce, upon whom too
much praise cannot be bestowed for his perseverance from year to year,
amidst the disheartening circumstances which attended his efforts,
brought every new argument to which either the discovery of new light,
or the events of the times, produced. I may observe also, in justice to
the memories of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, that there was no debate within
this period, in which they did not take a part; and in which they did
not irradiate others from the profusion of their own light; and thirdly,
that in consequence of the efforts of the three, conjoined with those of
others, the great cause of the abolition was secretly gaining ground.
Many members who were not connected with the trade, but who had yet
hitherto supported it, were on the point of conversion. Though the
question had oscillated backwards and forwards, so that an ordinary
spectator could have discovered n