t new forces and inspiration do we need," Lord
Rosebery asks, for the great task our nation has before it? This is a
deep and far-reaching question. The answer to it should be sought and
earnestly enquired after by every man and woman among us, who is worthy
of the name of a true citizen.

My last word must be on behalf of the Natives. When, thirty years ago, a
few among us were impelled to take up the cause of the victims of the
modern white slavery in Europe, we were told that in our pleadings for
principles of justice and for personal rights, we ought not to have
selected a subject in which are concerned persons who may deserve pity,
but who, in fact, are not so important a part of the human family as to
merit such active and passionate sympathy as that which moved our group.
To this our reply was: "We did not _choose_ this question, we did not
ourselves deliberately elect to plead for these persons. The question
was _imposed upon us_, and once so imposed, we could not escape from the
claims of the oppressed class whose cause we had been called to take up.
And generally, (we replied,) the work of human progress has not
consisted in protecting and supporting any outward forms of government,
or the noble or privileged classes, but in undertaking the defence of
the weak, the humble, of beings devoted to degradation and contempt, or
brought under any oppression or servitude."

It is the same now. My father was one of the energetic promoters of the
Abolition of Slavery in the years before 1834, a friend of Clarkson and
Wilberforce. The horror of slavery in every form, and under whatever
name, which I have probably partly inherited, has been intensified as
life went on. It is my deep conviction that Great Britain will in future
be judged, condemned or justified, according to her treatment of those
innumerable coloured races, heathen or partly Christianized, over whom
her rule extends, or who, beyond the sphere of her rule, claim her
sympathy and help as a Christian and civilizing power to whom a great
trust has been committed.

It grieves me to observe that (so far as I am able to judge) our
politicians, public men, and editors, (with the exception of the editors
of the "religious press,") appear to a great extent unaware of the
immense importance of this subject, even for the future peace and
stability of our Empire, apart from higher interests. It _will_ be
"imposed upon them," I do not doubt, sooner or later, as it ha