nce wherever it
could be had; and being now always on the watch, I was frequently
falling in with individuals, from whom I gained something. My object was
to see all who had been in Africa, but more particularly those who had
never been interested, or who at any rate were not then interested, in
the trade. I gained accordingly access very early to General Rooke; to
Lieutenant Dalrymple, of the army; to Captain Fiddes, of the engineers;
to the reverend Mr. Newton; to Mr. Nisbett, a surgeon in the Minories;
to Mr. Devaynes, who was then in parliament, and to many others; and I
made it a rule to put down in writing, after every conversation, what
had taken place in the course of it. By these means, things began to
unfold themselves to me more and more, and I found my stock of knowledge
almost daily on the increase.

While, however, I was forwarding this, I was not inattentive to the
other object of my pursuit, which was that of waiting upon members
personally. The first I called upon was Sir Richard Hill. At the first
interview he espoused the cause. I waited then upon others, and they
professed themselves friendly; but they seemed to make this profession
more from the emotion of good hearts, revolting at the bare mention of
the Slave Trade, than from any knowledge concerning it. One, however,
whom I visited, Mr. Powys, (the late Lord Lilford,) with whom I had been
before acquainted in Northamptonshire, seemed to doubt some of the facts
in my book, from a belief that human nature was not capable of
proceeding to such a pitch of wickedness. I asked him to name his facts.
He selected the case of the hundred and thirty-two slaves who were
thrown alive into the sea to defraud the underwriters. I promised to
satisfy him fully upon this point, and went immediately to Granville
Sharp, who lent me his account of the trial, as reported at large from
the notes of the short-hand writer, whom he had employed on the
occasion. Mr. Powys read the account. He became, in consequence of it,
convinced, as, indeed, he could not otherwise be, of the truth of what I
had asserted, and he declared at the same time that, if this were true,
there was nothing so horrible related of this trade, which might not
immediately be believed. Mr. Powys had been always friendly to this
question, but now he took a part in the distribution of my books.

Among those whom I visited was Mr. Wilberforce. On my first interview
with him, he stated frankly, that the