After this the hearing of evidence on the resolution of the House of
Commons was resumed; and seven persons were examined before the close of
the session.
CHAPTER VI.
_Continuation from July 1793 to July 1794--Author travels round the kingdom
again--Motion to abolish the foreign Slave-trade renewed in the
Commons--and carried--but lost in the Lords--further proceedings
there--Author, on account of his declining health, obliged to retire from
the cause._
The committee for the abolition could not view the proceedings of both
Houses of Parliament on this subject during the year 1793, without being
alarmed for the fate of their question. The only two sources of hope, which
they could discover, were in the disposition then manifested by the peers
as to the conduct of the Earl of Abingdon, and in their determination to
proceed in the hearing of evidence. The latter circumstance indeed was the
more favourable, as the resolution, upon which the witnesses were to be
examined, had not been renewed by the Commons. These considerations,
however, afforded no solid ground for the mind to rest upon. They only
broke in upon it, like faint gleams of sunshine, for a moment, and then
were gone.
Pages:
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415