Wilberforce most forcibly recommended itself to his mind. The
great and happy change to be expected in the state of her inhabitants was,
of all the various benefits of the abolition, in his estimation the most
extensive and important. He should vote against the adjournment; and he
should also oppose every proposition, which tended either to prevent, or
even to postpone for an hour, the total abolition of the Slave-trade.
Mr. Pitt having concluded his speech (at about six in the morning), Sir
William Dolben, the chairman, proposed the following questions. The first
was on the motion of Mr. Jenkinson, "that the chairman do now leave the
chair." This was lost by a majority of two hundred and thirty-four to
eighty-seven. The second was on the motion of Mr. Dundas, "that the
abolition should be gradual;" when the votes for gradual exceeded those for
immediate by one hundred and ninety-three to one hundred and twenty-five.
He then put the amended question, that "it was the opinion of the
committee, that the trade ought to be gradually abolished." The committee
having divided again, the votes for a gradual abolition were two hundred
and thirty, and those against any abolition were eighty-five.
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