ned
therein." Melville made a low bow, and then retired; and the Chancellor
having announced that the impeachment was dismissed, the lords and
commons retired to their respective chambers. A motion of thanks to the
managers was subsequently voted in the commons, and thus this business,
which had cost the country some thousands of pounds, ended. This
impeachment, however, was not without its moral effects: while the
impeachment of Hastings set limits to the exercise of a too arbitrary
power in India, that of Melville taught ministers to be more careful of
their public accounts at home.

THE SLAVE-TRADE QUESTION.

The glory of this session and this ministry was a blow struck at the
slave-trade. A bill was introduced by the attorney-general prohibiting,
under a strict penalty, the exportation of slaves from the British
colonies, after the 1st of January, 1807. This bill was carried, and
then Mr. Fox proposed that, as it was contrary to the principles of
justice, humanity, and sound policy, effectual measures should be taken
for putting an end to the slave-trade, in such a manner and at such
a period as might be deemed advisable. The mover of this motion
remarked:--"If during almost forty years I have enjoyed a seat in
parliament, I had been so fortunate as to accomplish this, and this
only, I should think I had done enough, and should retire from public
life with comfort, and conscious satisfaction that I had clone my
duty." This motion was carried by one hundred and fourteen votes against
fifteen; and a similar motion, made by Lord Grenville in the upper
house, was adopted by forty-one against twenty. The last step taken
on this subject during the present year was a joint address from both
houses, beseeching his majesty that he would take measures for obtaining
the concurrence of foreign powers, in the abolition of this abominable
traffic. That amiable philanthropist, Wilberforce, was delighted at the
success of his labours; and he expressed a hope that during next year he
and his coadjutors in this noble work would witness the termination
of all their toils and anxieties. On the fact that Fox was mainly
instrumental in carrying his wishes into effect, he writes:--"How
wonderful are the ways of God! Though intimate with Pitt all my life,
since earliest manhood, and he most warm for abolition, and really
honest, yet now my whole dependence is placed on Fox, to whom this life
has been opposed, and on Grenville to wh