But here an omission of three
words was discovered, namely, "country, territory, or place," which, if
not rectified, might defeat the purposes of the bill. An amendment was
immediately proposed and carried. Thus the bill received the last
sanction of the Peers. Lord Grenville then congratulated the House on
the completion, on its part, of the most glorious measure that had ever
been adopted by any legislative body in the world.

The amendment now mentioned occasioned the bill to be sent back to the
Commons. On the 24th, on the motion of Lord Howick, it was immediately
taken into consideration there, and agreed to; and it was carried back
to the Lords, as approved of, on the same day.

But though the bill had now passed both houses, there was an awful fear
throughout the kingdom lest it should not receive the royal assent
before the ministry was dissolved. This event took place the next day;
for on Wednesday, the 25th, at half past eleven in the morning, His
Majesty's message was delivered to the different members of it, that
they were then to wait upon him to deliver up the seals of their
offices. It then appeared that a commission for the royal assent to this
bill, among others, had been obtained. This commission was instantly
opened by the Lord Chancellor (Erskine), who was accompanied by the
Lords Holland and Auckland; and as the clock struck twelve, just when
the sun was in its meridian splendour to witness this august act, this
establishment of a Magna Charta for Africa in Britain, and to sanction
it by its most vivid and glorious beams, it was completed. The ceremony
being over, the seals of the respective offices were delivered up; so
that the execution of this commission was the last act of the
administration of Lord Grenville; an administration, which, on account
of its virtuous exertions in behalf of the oppressed African race, will
pass to posterity, living through successive generations in the love and
gratitude of the most virtuous of mankind.

Thus ended one of the most glorious contests, after a continuance for
twenty years, of any ever carried on in any age or country. A contest,
not of brutal violence, but of reason. A contest between those who felt
deeply for the happiness and the honour of their fellow-creatures, and
those, who, through vicious custom and the impulse of avarice, had
trampled under foot the sacred rights of their nature, and had even
attempted to efface all title to the divine image