e 27th of July. On that day week, Wilberforce
was carried to his grave in Westminster Abbey. "We laid him," writes
Macaulay, "side by side with Canning, at the feet of Pitt, and within
two steps of Fox and Grattan." He died with the promised land full in
view. Before the end of August Parliament abolished slavery, and the
last touch was put to the work that had consumed so many pure and noble
lives. In a letter of congratulation to Zachary Macaulay, Mr. Buxton
says: "Surely you have reason to rejoice. My sober and deliberate
opinion is that you have done more towards this consummation than any
other man. For myself, I take pleasure in acknowledging that you have
been my tutor all the way through, and that I could have done nothing
without you." Such was the spirit of these men, who, while the struggle
lasted, were prodigal of health and ease; but who, in the day of
triumph, disclaimed, each for himself, even that part of the merit
which their religion allowed them to ascribe to human effort and
self-sacrifice.

London: July 11, 1833.

Dear Hannah,--I have been so completely overwhelmed with business for
some days that I have not been able to find time for writing a
line. Yesterday night we read the India Bill a second time. It was a
Wednesday, and the reporters gave hardly any account of what passed.
They always resent being forced to attend on that day, which is their
holiday. I made the best speech, by general agreement, and in my own
opinion, that I ever made in my life. I was an hour and three-quarters
up; and such compliments as I had from Lord Althorp, Lord Palmerston,
Lord John Russell, Wynne, O'Connell, Grant, the Speaker, and twenty
other people, you never heard. As there is no report of the speech,
I have been persuaded, rather against my will, to correct it for
publication. I will tell you one compliment that was paid me, and which
delighted me more than any other. An old member said to me: "Sir, having
heard that speech may console the young people for never having heard
Mr. Burke." [A Tory member said that Macaulay resembled both the Burkes:
that he was like the first from his eloquence, and like the second from
his stopping other people's mouths.]

The Slavery Bill is miserably bad. I am fully resolved not to be dragged
through the mire, but to oppose, by speaking and voting, the clauses
which I think objectionable. I have told Lord Althorp this, and have
again tendered my resignation. He hinted that he