ad been instituted by His
Majesty's Ministers, (he meant the examination by a committee of privy
council,) should be brought to such a state of maturity as to make it
fit that the result of it should be laid before the house. That inquiry,
he trusted, would facilitate their investigation, and enable them the
better to proceed to a decision which should be equally founded on
principles of humanity, justice, and sound policy. As there was not a
probability of reaching so desirable an end in the present state of the
business, he meant to move a resolution to pledge the house to the
discussion of the question early in the next session. If by that time
his honourable friend should be recovered, which he hoped would be the
case, then he (Mr. Wilberforce) would take the lead in it; but should it
unfortunately happen otherwise, then he (the Chancellor of the
Exchequer) pledged himself to bring forward some proposition concerning
it. The house, however, would observe, that he had studiously avoided
giving any opinion of his own on this great subject. He thought it wiser
to defer this till the time of the discussion should arrive. He
concluded with moving, after having read the names of the places from
whence the different petitions had come, "That this house will, early in
the next session of parliament, proceed to take into consideration the
circumstances of the Slave Trade complained of in the said petitions,
and what may be fit to be done thereupon."

Mr. Fox began by observing, that he had long taken an interest in this
great subject, which he had also minutely examined, and that it was his
intention to have brought something forward himself in parliament
respecting it; but when he heard that Mr. Wilberforce had resolved to
take it up, he was unaffectedly rejoiced, not only knowing the purity of
his principles and character, but because, from a variety of
considerations as to the situations in which different men stood in the
house, there was something that made him honestly think it was better
that the business should be in the hands of that gentleman than in his
own. Having premised this, he said that, as so many petitions, and these
signed by such numbers of persons of the most respectable character, had
been presented, he was sorry that it had been found impossible that the
subject of them could be taken up this year, and more particularly as he
was not able to see, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer had done, that
ther