was presently counted out,
the discussion would not have been worth recording, were it not for the
opportunity which it gave of displaying the practical and moderate
wisdom of Wilberforce himself, who joined in the opposition to Lord
Percy's motion. "The enemies of abolition had," he said, "always
confounded abolition with emancipation. He and his friends had always
distinguished between them; and not only abstained from proposing
emancipation, but were ready to reject it when proposed by others. How
much soever he looked forward with anxious expectation to the period
when the negroes might with safety be liberated, he knew too well the
effect which the long continuance of abject slavery produced upon the
human mind to think of their immediate emancipation, a measure which at
the present moment would be injurious both to them and to the colonies.
He and those who acted with him were satisfied with having gained an
object which was safely attainable."

And they had reason to be satisfied. For the good work thus done was not
limited by the extent of the British dominions, vast as they are. The
example of the homage thus paid by the Parliament and the nation to
justice and humanity was contagious; the principle on which the bill was
founded and was carried being such that, for mere shame, foreign
countries could hardly persist in maintaining a traffic which those who
had derived the greatest profit from it had on such grounds renounced;
though our ministers did not trust to their spontaneous sympathies, but
made the abolition of the traffic by our various allies, or those who
wished to become so, a constant object of diplomatic negotiations, even
purchasing the co-operation of some by important concessions, in one
instance by the payment of a large sum of money. The conferences and
congresses which took place on the re-establishment of peace gave them
great facilities for pressing their views on the different governments.
And Lord Liverpool's instructions to Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of
Wellington, as plenipotentiaries of our government,[163] show the keen
interest which he took in the matter, and the skilful manner in which he
sought to avail himself of the predominant influence which the exertions
and triumphs of this country had given her with every foreign cabinet.
Though Portugal was an ally to whom we regarded ourselves as bound by
special ties, as well as by the great benefits we had conferred on her,
yet, as sh