I conceived too, that, if I chose to go on as
before, and to enter into conversation with them on the subject of the
abolition of the Slave Trade, I might be able, by having such an
assemblage of persons daily, to gather all the arguments which they
could collect on the other side of our question, an advantage which I
should one day feel in the future management of the cause. With respect
to the line, which I should pursue in the case of remaining in the place
of my abode and in my former habits, I determined never to start the
subject of the abolition myself--never to abandon it when started--never
to defend it but in a serious and dignified manner--and never to
discover any signs of irritation, whatever provocation might be given
me. By this determination I abided rigidly. The King's Arms became now
daily the place for discussion on this subject. Many tried to insult me,
but to no purpose. In all these discussions I found the great advantage
of having brought Mr. Falconbridge with me from Bristol; for he was
always at the table; and when my opponents, with a disdainful look,
tried to ridicule my knowledge, among those present, by asking me if I
had ever been on the coast of Africa myself, he used generally to reply,
"But I have. I know all your proceedings there, and that his statements
are true." These and other words put in by him, who was an athletic and
resolute-looking man, were of great service to me. All disinterested
persons, of whom there were four or five daily in the room, were
uniformly convinced by our arguments, and took our part, and some of
them very warmly. Day after day we beat our opponents out of the field,
as many of the company acknowledged, to their no small notification, in
their presence. Thus, while we served the cause by discovering all that
could be said against it, we served it by giving numerous individuals
proper ideas concerning it, and of interesting them in our favour.

The second effect which I experienced was, that from this time I could
never get any one to come forward as an evidence to serve the cause.
There were, I believe, hundreds of persons in Liverpool, and in the
neighbourhood of it, who had been concerned in this traffic, and who had
left it, all of whom could have given such testimony concerning it as
would have insured its abolition. But none of them would now speak out.
Of these, indeed, there were some, who were alive to the horrors of it,
and who lamented that it shou