d,
and afflicted it. The wound, which these had produced, was rendered still
deeper by those cruel disappointments before related, which arose from the
reiterated refusal of persons to give their testimony, after I had
travelled hundreds of miles in quest of them. But the severest stroke was
that inflicted by the persecution, begun and pursued by persons interested
in the continuance of the trade, of such witnesses as had been examined
against them; and whom, on account of their dependent situation in life, it
was most easy to oppress. As I had been the means of bringing these forward
on these occasions, they naturally came to me, when thus persecuted, as the
author of their miseries and their ruin. From their supplications and wants
it would have been ungenerous and ungrateful to have fled[A]. These
different circumstances, by acting together, had at length brought me into
the situation just mentioned; and I was therefore obliged, though very
reluctantly, to be borne out of the field, where I had placed the great
honour and glory of my life.

[Footnote A: The late Mr. Whitbread, to whom one day in deep affliction on
this account I related accidentally a circumstance of this kind, generously
undertook, in order to make my mind easy upon the subject, to make good all
injuries, which should in future arise to individuals from such
persecution; and he repaired these, at different times, at a considerable
expense. I feel it a duty to divulge this circumstance, out of respect to
the memory of one of the best of men, and of one, whom, if the history of
his life were written, it would appear to have been an extraordinary honour
to the country to have produced.]

CHAPTER VII.

_Continuation from July 1794 to July 1799--Various motions within this
period._

I purpose, though it may seem abrupt after the division which has hitherto
been made of the contents of this volume, to throw the events of the next
five years into one chapter.

Mr. Wilberforce and the members of the committee, whose constitutions had
not suffered like my own, were still left; and they determined to persevere
in the promotion of their great object; as long as their health and their
faculties permitted them. The former, accordingly, in the month of February
1795, moved in the House of Commons for leave to bring in a bill for the
abolition of the Slave-trade. This motion was then necessary, if, according
to the resolution of that House, the Slave-