Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 6.djvu/108

 274 WORKMEN AND HEROES quired into the authorities for the statements laid before him, and became not onlv convinced of, but impressed with, the paramount duty of abolishing so hate- ful a traffic. Occasional meetings of those who were alike interested were held at his house ; and in May, i 787, a committee was formed, of which Wilberforce became the Parliamentary leader. Early in 1788 he gave notice of his intention to bring the subject before the House ; but, owing to his severe indisposition, that task was ultimately undertaken by Mr. Pitt, who moved and carried a reso- lution, pledging the House in the ensuing session to enter on the consideration of the subject. Accordingly, May 12, 1789, Mr. Wilberforce moved a series of resolutions, founded on a report of the Privy Council, exposing the iniquity and cruelty of the traffic in slaves, the mortality which it occasioned among white as well as black men, and the neglect of health and morals by which the natural in- crease of the race in the West India islands was checked ; and concluding with a declaration that if the causes by which that increase was checked were removed, no considerable inconvenience -would result from discontinuing the importation of African slaves. Burke, Pitt, and Fox supported the-resolutions. Mr. Wilber- force's speech was distinguished by eloquence and earnestness, and by its unan swerable appeals to the first principles of justice and religion. The consideration of the subject was ultimately adjourned to the following session. In that, and in two subsequent sessions, the motions were renewed ; and the effect of pressing such a subject upon the attention of the country was to open the eyes of many who would willingly have kept them closed, yet could not deny the existence of the evils so forced on their view. In 1792 Mr. Wilberforce's motion for the abolition of the slave trade was met by a proposal to insert in it the word " grad- ually ; " and, in pursuance of the same policy, Mr. Dundas introduced a bill to provide for its discontinuance in 1800. The date was altered to 1796, and in that state the bill passed the Commons, but was stopped in the Upper House by a proposal to hear evidence upon it. Mr. Wilberforce annually renewed his ef- forts, and brought every new argument to bear upon the question which new discoveries, or the events of the times, produced. In 1799 the friends of the measure resolved on letting it repose for awhile, and for five years Mr. Wilber- force contented himself with moving for certain papers ; but he took an oppor- tunity of assuring the House that he had not grown cool in the cause, and that he would renew the discussion in a future session. On May 30, 1804, he once more moved for leave to bring in his bill for the abolition of the slave trade, in a speech of great eloquence and effect. He took the opportunity of making a powerful appeal to the Irish members, before whom, in consequence of the Union, this question was now for the first time brought, and the greater part of whom supported it. The decision showed a majority of 1 24 to 49 in his favor ; and the bill was carried through the Commons, but was again postponed in the House of Lords In 1805 he renewed his motion ; but on this occasion it was lost in the Commons by over-security among the friends of the measure. But when Mr. Fox and Lord Granville took office in 1806, the abolition was brought forward by the ministers, most of whom supported it, though it was not