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 he went over to Paris, where he stayed nearly six months, endeavouring to persuade the French government, then in the throes of revolution, to abolish the slave trade. He met with little success, though the Marquis de la Fayette and Mirabeau supported him. To the latter Clarkson wrote a letter, containing from sixteen to twenty pages, every other day for a month, to bring the entire facts of the case before him. Another instance of Clarkson's indefatigable perseverance occurred after his return from France in his search for a sailor whose evidence was considered of the greatest importance. Not knowing whether the man was dead or alive, and ignorant of his name as well as of his whereabouts, Clarkson boarded all the ships belonging to the navy at Deptford, Woolwich, Chatham, Sheerness, and Portsmouth. He at length discovered the man on board the fifty-seventh vessel which he had searched, in Plymouth harbour. During the autumn of 1790 Clarkson again travelled through the country for the purpose of securing further witnesses to give evidence in behalf of the abolition of the slave trade before the parliamentary committee, the hearing of which finally closed on 5 April 1791. On 19 April in the same year Wilberforce's motion for stopping the future importation of slaves from Africa, though supported by Pitt, Fox, and Burke, was lost after two nights' debate by 163 to 88. Though terribly disheartened, the efforts of the little band of philanthropists were not relaxed, and Clarkson again travelled through the country in order to keep up the agitation. In July 1794 his health completely gave way, and he was obliged to retire from his work. He had spent most of his little fortune, and, accordingly, Wilberforce started a subscription among his friends. In Wilberforce's ‘Life’ (1838, ii. 51–5) some correspondence is published on the subject which it would have been better to have left undisturbed. After an absence of nine years Clarkson returned to his duty on the committee, and in the latter part of 1805 once more made a journey through the country, which met with extraordinary success. At length the bill for the abolition of the slave trade was introduced by Lord Grenville in the House of Lords on 2 Jan. 1807, and received the royal assent on 25 March following. But the struggle was not quite finished. In 1818 Clarkson had an interview with the Emperor of Russia at Aix-la-Chapelle, to secure his influence with the allied sovereigns at the approaching congress in favour of the suppression of the slave trade throughout their dominions. In England the struggle had to be continued for the abolition of slavery in the West India islands, and in 1823 the Anti-slavery Society was formed, Clarkson and Wilberforce being made vice-presidents of the society. It was not until August 1833 that the Emancipation Bill was passed, which made freedmen of some 800,000 slaves and awarded 20,000,000l. as compensation to their owners. Clarkson was unable to take a very active share in the closing part of this movement, as his health was now worn out. Cataract formed in both his eyes, and for a short time he became totally blind, but in 1836 he regained his sight by means of a successful operation. On 15 April 1839 he was admitted to the freedom of the city of London. This ceremony took place at the Mansion House, out of regard to his age and infirmities, instead of at the Guildhall. His last appearance on a public platform was at the Anti-slavery Convention held at the Freemasons' Hall in June 1840, when he presided and made a short address. Haydon's picture of this scene is now in the National Portrait Gallery, where there is also a portrait of Clarkson by De Breda. His bust, by Behnes, is in the Guildhall. During the latter years of his life Clarkson resided at Playford Hall, near Ipswich, where he died on 26 Sept. 1846, in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He was buried at Playford on 2 Oct. following. Clarkson never joined the Society of Friends. His wife, Catherine, who survived him, was the daughter of William Buck of Bury St. Edmunds. Their only son, Thomas, one of the Thames police magistrates, was killed in a carriage accident on 9 March 1837, in his fortieth year.

Clarkson was not the first to call the attention of the country to the criminality of slavery, but it is almost impossible to overrate the effect of his unceasing perseverance in the cause. Before he entered on the crusade slaveholding was considered, except by a chosen few, as a necessary part of social economy; it was due largely to Clarkson's exertions that long before his death it had come to be regarded as a crime. Wordsworth addressed to him a sonnet, beginning ‘Clarkson, it was an obstinate hill to climb,’ ‘on the final passing of the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, March 1807.’ A monument has been erected to his memory on the hill above Wade's Mill, on the Buntingford road.

Clarkson published the following works: 1. ‘An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, particularly the African, translated from a Latin Dissertation which was honoured with the first prize in the University of Cambridge for the year 1785. With Additions,’ London, 1786, 8vo; 2nd edition, enlarged, London, 1788, 8vo. 2. ‘An Essay on the Impolicy of the African Slave