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The defeat which we had just sustained, was a matter of great triumph to
our opponents. When they considered the majority in the House of Commons in
their favour, they viewed the resolutions of the committee, which have been
detailed, as the last spiteful effort of a vanquished and dying animal, and
they supposed that they had consigned the question to eternal sleep. The
committee, however, were too deeply attached to the cause, vanquished as
they were, to desert it; and they knew also too well the barometer of
public feeling, and the occasion of its fluctuations, to despair. In the
year 1787 the members of the House of Commons, as well as the people, were
enthusiastic in behalf of the abolition of the trade. In the year 1788 the
fair enthusiasm of the former began to fade. In 1789 it died. In 1790
prejudice started up as a noxious weed in its place. In 1791 this prejudice
arrived at its growth. But to what were these changes owing?--To delay;
during which the mind, having been gradually led to the question as a
commercial, had been gradually taken from it as a moral object. But it was
possible to restore the mind to its proper place. Add to which, that the
nation had never deserted the cause during this whole period.
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