The circulation of intelligence, although contributing to make many
friends, called forth the extraordinary exertions of enemies. Merchants,
and others interested in the continuance of the slave-trade, wrote
letters to the Archbishop of Aix, beseeching him not to ruin France;
which they said he would inevitably do, if, as the president, he were
to grant a day for hearing the question of the abolition. Offers of
money were made to Mirabeau, if he would totally abandon his intended
motion. Books were circulated in opposition to Mr. Clarkson's; resort
was had to the public papers, and he was denounced as a spy. The clamour
raised by these efforts pervaded all Paris, and reached the ears of the
king. M. Necker had a long conversation with his royal master upon it,
who requested to see the Essay, and the specimens of African
manufactures, and bestowed considerable time upon them, being surprised
at the state of the arts there. M. Necker did not exhibit the section of
the slave ship, thinking that as the king was indisposed, he might be
too much affected by it. Louis returned the specimens, commissioning M.
Necker to convey his thanks to Mr. Clarkson, and express his
gratification at what he had seen.

"No decided benefit appears at this time to have followed the visit: but
though much depressed by his ill success in France, Mr. Clarkson
continued his labours, till excess of exertion, joined to repeated and
bitter disappointments, impaired his health, and, after a hard struggle,
subdued a constitution, naturally strong and vigorous beyond the lot of
men in general, but shattered by anxiety and fatigue, and the sad
probability, often forced upon his understanding, that all might at last
have been in vain. Under these feelings, he retired in 1794 to the
beautiful banks of Ulleswater; there to seek that rest which, without
peril to his life, could no longer be delayed.

"For seven years he had maintained a correspondence with four hundred
persons; he annually wrote a book upon the subject of the abolition, and
travelled more than thirty-five thousand miles in search of evidence,
making a great part of these journeys in the night. 'All this time,' Mr.
Clarkson writes, 'my mind had been on the stretch; it had been bent too
to this one subject; for I had not even leisure to attend to my own
concerns. The various instances of barbarity, which had come
successively to my knowledge within this period, had vexed, harassed,
and afflict