h the merchants of his own native realm had embarked in it; and as
they had preserved their character pure in this respect, he would do all
he could that it should not be sullied in the eyes of the generous
English nation, by taking up, in the case which had been pointed out to
him, such an odious concern.

By this time I had finished my _Essay on the Impolicy of the Slave
Trade_, which I composed from materials collected chiefly during my
journey to Bristol, Liverpool, and Lancaster. These materials I had
admitted with great caution and circumspection; indeed I admitted none
for which I could not bring official and other authentic documents, or
living evidences if necessary, whose testimony could not reasonably be
denied; and when I gave them to the world, I did it under the impression
that I ought to give them as scrupulously as if I were to be called upon
to substantiate them upon oath. It was of peculiar moment that this book
should make its appearance at this time. First, Because it would give
the lords of the council, who were then sitting, an opportunity of
seeing many important facts, and of inquiring into their authenticity;
and it might suggest to them, also, some new points, or such as had not
fallen within the limits of the arrangement they had agreed upon for
their examinations on this subject: and secondly, Because, as the
members of the House of Commons were to take the question into
consideration early in the next sessions, it would give them, also, new
light and information upon it before this period. Accordingly the
committee ordered two thousand copies of it to be struck off, for these
and other objects; and though the contents of it were most diligently
sifted by the different opponents of the cause, they never even made an
attempt to answer it. It continued, on the other hand, during the
inquiry of the legislature, to afford the basis or grounds upon which to
examine evidences on the political part of the subject; and evidences
thus examined continued in their turn to establish it.

Among the other books ordered to be printed by the committee within the
period now under our consideration, were a new edition of two thousand
of the DEAN OF MIDDLEHAM'S _Letter_, and another of three thousand of
FALCONBBIDGE'S _Account of the Slave Trade_.

The committee continued to keep ups, during the same period, a
communication with many of their old correspondents, whose names have
been already mentioned. But th