titution placed him in such a dilemma, he would risk all,
and, as public duty required, would exclaim with his last breath, "Fly
from the French constitution!" Fox here whispered that there was no loss
of friendship, but Burke rejoined--"Yes there is: I know the price of my
conduct; I have done my duty at the price of my friend; our friendship
is at an end!" Burke then addressing himself to the two great rivals,
Pitt and Fox, expressed a hope that whether they hereafter moved in the
political hemisphere, as two flaming antagonist meteors, or walked
like brethren hand-in-hand, they would preserve and cherish the British
constitution against innovation and new-fangled theories. Fox rose to
reply, but the tears trickled down his cheeks, and emotion for some
time impeded his utterance. He felt the loss of his friend: yet, on
recovering himself, while he made an eloquent appeal to the remembrance
of the past, and to the reciprocal affection which had subsisted between
them, as dear as that between father and son, he still gave utterance
to some bitter sarcasms, and repeated some of his objectionable remarks.
Rejoinders on both sides followed, and the dispute was renewed on the
11th of May, the house being again in committee on the Quebec Bill, but
no concessions were made on either side, and the connexion between these
illustrious men were dissolved for ever.

They stood aloof; the scars remaining--
Like cliffs which had been rent asunder.

The Quebec Bill, which had given rise to this dispute, was finally
carried through the house of commons, with some amendments, on the 18th
of May; and it subsequently passed the lords, though not without much
opposition, and obtained the royal assent at the close of the session.

SLAVE-TRADE ABOLITION BILL.

On the 18th of April, the evidence on the slave-trade being closed,
Mr. Wilberforce moved "for a bill to prevent the further importation of
African negroes into the British colonies." He introduced this motion
with a copious and convincing display of arguments in its favour,
grounded on the principles of justice, humanity, and Christianity, but
though it was supported by Pitt and Fox, self-interest prevailed:
the motion was negatived by one hundred and sixty-three against
eighty-eight. The advocates of humanity, however, completed at this time
the establishment of the Sierra Leone Company, by which they proposed to
introduce free labour and Christianity into Africa.