de than
adopted.

I had not been long upon this journey when I was called back. Mr.
Wilberforce, always solicitous for the good of this great cause, was of
opinion that, as commotions had taken place in France, which then aimed
at political reforms, it was possible that the leading persons concerned
in them might, if an application were made to them judiciously, be
induced to take the Slave Trade into their consideration, and
incorporate it among the abuses to be done away. Such a measure, if
realized, would not only lessen the quantity of human suffering, but
annihilate a powerful political argument against us. He had a
conference, therefore, with the committee on this subject; and, as they
accorded with his opinion, they united with him in writing a letter to
me, to know if I would change my journey, and proceed to France.

As I had no object in view but the good of the cause, it was immaterial
to me where I went, if I could but serve it; and therefore, without any
further delay, I returned to London.

As accounts had arrived in England of the excesses which had taken place
in the city of Paris, and of the agitated state of the provinces through
which I was to pass, I was desired by several of my friends to change my
name. To this I could not consent; and, on consulting the committee,
they were decidedly against it.

I was introduced as quickly as possible, on my arrival at Paris, to the
friends of the cause there, to the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, the Marquis
de Condorcet, Messieurs Petion de Villeneuve, Claviere, and Brissot, and
to the Marquis de la Fayette. The latter received me with peculiar marks
of attention. He had long felt for the wrongs of Africa, and had done
much to prevent them. He had a plantation in Cayenne, and had devised a
plan, by which the labourers upon it should pass by degrees from slavery
to freedom! With this view he had there laid it down as a principle,
that all crimes were equal, whether they were committed by Blacks or
Whites, and ought equally to be punished. As the human mind is of such a
nature, as to be acted upon by rewards as well as punishments, he
thought it unreasonable, that the slaves should have no advantage from a
stimulus from the former. He laid it down therefore as another
principle, that temporal profits should follow virtuous action. To this
he subjoined a reasonable education to be gradually given. By
introducing such principles, and by making various regulations fo