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52 he without encouragement from a higher source. He declared that he pledged himself to the task, "not because I saw any reasonable prospect of success in my new undertaking, but in obedience, I believe, to a higher power. And I can say, that both at the moment of this resolution, and for some time afterwards, I had more sublime and happy feelings than at any former period of my life."

In the prosecution of his work, Clarkson visited every person in London and the vicinity, who had been connected with the slave trade, or who had visited Africa; and he also inspected the slave ships, and informed himself upon every point touching the iniquity he had grappled with. The startling facts which he had accumulated, aroused many to the enormity of the evil, and especially Mr. Wilberforce, who at once coöperated with Mr. Clarkson, and through life rendered his name illustrious by his devotion to the cause of human liberty.

Soon after, a committee of twelve gentlemen was formed for the purpose of bringing the evils of slavery more fully before the British nation, and to organize a society for its entire abolition. At the head of this committee stood Granville Sharp, whom Clarkson justly styled, "the father of the cause in England." To promote their object, public meetings were held, treatises, showing the evils of the slave trade, were widely circulated, and many petitions were sent to Parliament, praying for the abolition of the traffic.