on any occasion, where the House was called upon to
divide. I must observe also, that there was such an enthusiasm among the
members at this time, that there appeared to be the same kind and degree of
feeling, as manifested itself within the same walls in the year 1788, when
the question was first started. This enthusiasm too, which was of a moral
nature, was so powerful, that it seemed even to extend to a conversion of
the heart: for several of the old opponents of this righteous cause went
away, unable to vote against it; while others of them staid in their
places, and voted in its favour.

On the twenty-seventh of February Lord Howick moved, that the House resolve
itself into a committee on the bill for the abolition of the Slave-trade.
Sir C. Pole, Mr. Hughan, Brown, Bathurst, Windham, and Fuller opposed the
motion; and Sir R. Milbank, and Mr. Wynne, Barham, Courtenay, Montague,
Jacob, Whitbread, and Herbert (of Kerry), supported it. At length the
committee was allowed to sit _pro forma_, and Mr. Hobhouse was put into the
chair. The bill then went through it, and, the House being resumed, the
report was received and read.

On the sixth of March, when the committee sat again, Sir C. Pole moved,
that the year 1812 be substituted for the year 1807, as the time when the
trade should be abolished. This amendment produced a long debate, which was
carried on by Sir C. Pole, Mr. Fuller, Hiley Addington, Rose, Gascoyne, and
Bathurst on one side; and by Mr. Ward, Sir P. Francis, General Vyse, Sir T.
Turton, Mr. Whitbread, Lord Henry Petty, Mr. Canning, Stanhope, Perceval,
and Wilberforce on the other. At length, on a division, there appeared to
be one hundred and twenty-five against the amendment, and for it only
seventeen. The chairman then read the bill, and it was agreed that he
should report it with the amendments on Monday. The bill enacted, that no
vessel should clear out for slaves from any port within the British
dominions after the first of May 1807, and that no slave should be landed
in the colonies after the first of March 1808.

On the sixteenth of March, on the motion of Lord Henry Petty, the question
was put, that the bill be read a third time. Mr. Hibbert, Captain Herbert,
Mr. T.W. Plomer, Mr. Windham, and Lord Castlereagh spoke against the
motion. Sir P. Francis, Mr. Lyttleton, Mr. H. Thornton, and Mr. Barham,
Sheridan, and Wilberforce supported it. After this the bill was passed
without a division[A].

[F