bours, and of
the fruits of them. And if, in doing this, I should be more minute for a
few pages than some would wish, I must apologize for myself by saying that
there are others, who would be sorry to lose the knowledge of the
particular manner in which the foundation was laid, and the superstructure
advanced, of a work, which will make so brilliant an appearance in our
history as that of the abolition of the Slave-trade.

The commitee having dispersed five hundred circular letters, giving an
account of their institution, in London and its neighbourhood, the Quakers
were the first to notice it. This they did in their yearly epistle, of
which the following is an extract:--"We have also thankfully to believe
there is a growing attention in many, not of our religious Society, to the
subject of Negro-slavery; and that the minds of the people are more and
more enlarged to consider it as an aggregate of every species of evil, and
to see the utter inconsistency of upholding it by the authority of any
nation whatever, especially of such as punish, with loss of life, crimes
whose magnitude bears scarce any proportion to this complicated iniquity."

The General Baptists were the next; for on the twenty-second of June,
Stephen Lowdell and Dan Taylor attended as a deputation from the annual
meeting of that religious body, to inform the commitee, that those, whom
they represented, approved their proceedings, and that they would
countenance the object of their institution.

The first individual, who addressed the commitee, was Mr. William Smith,
the present member for Norwich. In his letter he expressed the pleasure he
had received in finding persons associated in the support of a cause, in
which he himself had taken a deep interest. He gave them advice as to their
future plans. He promised them all the cooperation in his power: and he
exhorted them not to despair, even if their first attempt should be
unsuccessful; "for consolation," says he, "will not be wanting. You may
rest satisfied that the attempt will be productive of some good; that the
fervent wishes of the righteous will be on your side, and that the blessing
of those who are ready to perish will fall upon you." And as Mr. Smith was
the first person to address the commitee as an individual after its
formation, so, next to Mr. Wilberforce and the members of it, he gave the
most time and attention to the promotion of the cause.

On the fifth of July, the commitee opened a