ronage of the Duke of
Gloucester, as president, and of the friends to the African cause,
particularly of such as were in parliament, and as belonged to the
committee for the abolition of the Slave-trade.]

CHAPTER IV.

_Continuation from July 1791 to July 1792--Author travels round the kingdom
again--Object of his journey--People begin to leave off the use of
sugar--to form committees--and to send petitions to Parliament--Motion made
in the House of Commons for the immediate abolition of the trade--Debates
upon it--Abolition resolved upon, but not to commence till 1796--Resolution
taken to the Lords--Latter determine upon hearing evidence--Evidence at
length introduced--Further hearing of it postponed to the next session._

The defeat which we had just sustained, was a matter of great triumph to
our opponents. When they considered the majority in the House of Commons in
their favour, they viewed the resolutions of the committee, which have been
detailed, as the last spiteful effort of a vanquished and dying animal, and
they supposed that they had consigned the question to eternal sleep. The
committee, however, were too deeply attached to the cause, vanquished as
they were, to desert it; and they knew also too well the barometer of
public feeling, and the occasion of its fluctuations, to despair. In the
year 1787 the members of the House of Commons, as well as the people, were
enthusiastic in behalf of the abolition of the trade. In the year 1788 the
fair enthusiasm of the former began to fade. In 1789 it died. In 1790
prejudice started up as a noxious weed in its place. In 1791 this prejudice
arrived at its growth. But to what were these changes owing?--To delay;
during which the mind, having been gradually led to the question as a
commercial, had been gradually taken from it as a moral object. But it was
possible to restore the mind to its proper place. Add to which, that the
nation had never deserted the cause during this whole period.

It is much to the honour of the English people, that they should have
continued to feel for the existence of an evil which was so far removed
from their sight. But at this moment their feelings began to be
insupportable. Many of them resolved, as soon as parliament had rejected
the bill, to abstain from the use of West Indian produce. In this state of
things a pamphlet, written by William Bell Crafton, of Tewksbury, and
called "A Sketch of the Evidence, with a Recommendation