une at the west end of the metropolis, which was called,
_Scriptural Researches on the Licitness of the Slave Trade_. This they
had procured to be written by R. Harris, who was then clerk in a
slave-house in Liverpool, but had been formerly a clergyman and a
Jesuit. As they had maintained in the first instance, as has been
already shown, the humanity of the traffic, so, by means of this
pamphlet they asserted its consistency with revealed religion. That such
a book should have made converts in such an age is surprising; and yet
many, who ought to have known better, were carried away by it; and we
had now absolutely to contend, and almost degrade ourselves by doing so,
against the double argument of the humanity and the holiness of the
trade.

By these means, but particularly by the former, the current of opinion
in particular circles ran against us for the first month, and so strong,
that it was impossible for us to stem it at once; but as some of the
council recovered from their panic, and their good sense became less
biassed by their feelings, and they were in a state to hear reason,
their prejudices began to subside. It began now to be understood among
them, that almost all the witnesses were concerned in the continuance of
the trade. It began to be known also, (for Mr. Pitt and the Bishop of
London took care that it should be circulated,) that Mr. Norris had but
a short time before furnished me at Liverpool with information, all of
which he had concealed[A] from the council, but all of which made for
the abolition of it. Mr. Devaynes also, a respectable member of
parliament, who had been in Africa, and who had been appealed to by Mr.
Norris, when examined before the privy council, in behalf of his
extraordinary facts, was unable, when summoned, to confirm them to the
desired extent. From this evidence the council collected, that human
sacrifices were not made on the arrival of White traders, as had been
asserted; that there was no poll-tax in Dahomey at all; and that Mr.
Norris must have been mistaken on these points, for he must have been
there at the time of the ceremony of watering the graves, when about
sixty persons suffered. This latter custom moreover appeared to have
been a religious superstition of the country, such as at Otaheite, or in
Britain in the time of the Druids, and to have had nothing to do with
the Slave Trade[B]. With respect to prisoners of war, Mr. Devaynes
allowed that the old, the lame, and