-';'" nllHM^H , vvlOS-ANCflfj- ,^OF-CAl!FO%, ^- " " s? \" ' ft 3 MEMOIRS or SIR THOMAS POWELL BUXTON, BART. LONDON : SroniswoonE and SHAW, New-street-Square. # MEMOIRS SIR THOMAS FOWELL BTJXTON, BARONET. WITH SELECTIONS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. EDITED BY HIS SON, CHARLES BUXTON, ESQ. " The longer I live, the more I am certain that the great difference between men, between the feeble and th powerful, the great and the insignificant, ii energy, immcible determination -a purpose once fixed, and then death or Tictory. That quality will do any thing that can be done In thii world; and no talenti, no eircumitancef, no opportunities, will make a two-legged creature a man without it" (Ertract qfa Letter from Sir T. Powell Burton.) LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1848. PREFACE. A GENERAL and very reasonable objection is made against memoirs written by near relatives, and yet tin- danger to be apprehended from their partiality is not perhaps quite so great as it might seem. At any rate it is not wholly avoided by transferring the ta-k to a stranger. It has been well observed, that u biographers, translators, editors, all, in short, who employ themselves in illustrating the lives or the writings of others, are peculiarly exposed to the disease of admiration."* Now a near relative may be especially liable to this infirmity ; but then he is especially on his guard against [it. He cannot eulogise : he must state facts, and leave the reader to draw conclusions for himself. The task of compiling my father's memoirs was placed in my hands by his executors, partly because those whose literary abilities would have pointed them out as fitted foi the task were not at leisure to under- take it ; and partly because it involved the perusal of a large mass of private papers, which could not well have been submitted to the inspection of any one not a member of his family. I could hardly refuse so in- teresting, though responsible, a duty. A considerable portion of this work relates to the Essays, vol. ii. p. 146. A 4 1 223106 Vlll PREFACE. emancipation of the slaves in the West Indies ; and I cannot help feeling some anxiety lest it may give a false prominence to my father's exertions in the accomplishment of that event, which was, in fact, achieved by the strenuous efforts of many men, working in very different spheres. It was not for me to attempt to write the history of that extensive movement. The object set before me was to show, as plainly as possible, what sort of person my father was, so that the reader should feel as if he had been one of his most intimate friends. I was bound, there- fore, to confine my narrative to his individual pro- ceedings, excluding whatever did not bear, directly or indirectly, on the elucidation of his character. Hence it has resulted that very slight notice is taken in these pages of the exertions of my father's coad- jutors, in achieving the downfall of British slavery. I cannot conclude without gratefully acknowledging the valuable contributions I have received from se- veral of my father's friends, the advice and assistance given by others, and the documents and papers put into my hands by those who were in intimate com- munication with him, before I was of an age to share in that privilege. March, 1848. 23. St. James's Place, London. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. 17861802. Notices of the Buxton family. Mr. Buxton of Earl's Colne. Birth of Thomas Fowell Buxton. Childhood. School days. His mother's influence. Abraham Plaistow. Bellfield. Earlham. Letters from Ear lham - - Pages 1 13 CHAPTER H. 18021807. Education in Ireland. Donnybrook. Emmett's rebellion. Dublin University. Correspondence. Engagement to Miss II. Gurney. Historical Society. Escape from shipwreck. Correspondence. Success at College. Invitation to represent the University in Parliament. His marriage - - 14 29 CHAPTER HI. 18071812. Enters Truman's Brewery. Occupations in London. Letter from Mr. Twiss. Correspondence. Death of Edward Buxton. Exertions in the Brewery - - 30 41 CHAPTER IV. 18121816. First speech in public. The Rev. Josiah Pratt. Increasing regard to religion. Dangerous illness. Its effect on his mind. Settles at Hampstead. Disappointments and anxieties. Reflections. Narrow escape. Letter to Mr. J. J. Gurney 4256 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. 1816, 1817. Adventure with a mad dog Distress in Spitalfields. Mr. Buxton's speech. Letters. Establishment of the Prison Dis- cipline Society. Death of Charles Buxton. Journey on the Continent. Letters. Incident at the Brewery. Book on Prison Discipline - - Pages 57 75 CHAPTER VL 1818, 1819. Election, 1818. Letter from Mr. J. J. Gurney. Thoughts on entering Parliament. Debate on the Peterloo riot. Burdett. Canning. Plunkett. Brougham. Wilberforce. Letter to Mr. Charles Buxton of Bellfield. First speech, on Criminal Law. Committees on Criminal Law and Prison Discipline. Letters - - - - - 7692 CHAPTER VTI. 1820, 1821. Election. Domestic afflictions. Letters. Cromer Hall. Priscilla Gurney. Correspondence. Speech on Criminal Law ...... 93116 CHAPTER VIII. 18211823. Chosen by Mr. Wilberforce as his successor in the slavery cause. Common confusion of " Slavery " with " Slave Trade." Previous impressions on Mr. Buxton's mind. Priscilla Gurney's dying words. He studies the subject. Long deliberations. Fear of servile revolt. Undertakes to advocate the question. Letters from Mr. Wilberforce. Reflections. Suttee. The Quakers' petition. Letter to Earl Bathurst. First debate on Slavery. Mr. Canning's amendments. Ame- liorations in the slave's condition recommended to the colonists. Letter to Sir James Mackintosh - - 117 136 CONTENTS. XI CHAPTER IX. 18231826. Excitement in the West Indies. The Negroes refuse to work. Severe measures. Death of Smith, a Missionary. The abo- litionists bitterly reproached. Mr. Button's plan. Interviews with Canning. Popular clamours. The Government draws back. Anxieties and doubts. Letter from Mr. J. J. Gurney. The debate. The Government gives way. Mr. Buxton attacks them. Encouragements from Mr. Wilberforce. Mr. Brougham's speech on Smith's case. Its effect on the country. Mr. Wilberforce retires. The small number of abolitionists in Parliament. Dr. Lushington. Mr. Macaulay. Mr. Buxton's policy. Free people of colour. Treatment of Mr. Shrewsbury. Debate. Deliberations. The London petition. Mr. D*-n man's motion. A year's pause Pages 137 160 CHAPTER X. 18221826. Cromer Hall. Shooting. A courteous poacher. The sporting professor. Mr. Buxton's delight in horses. His influence over the young. Maxims. Letter to a nephew. His love of a manly character. His gentleness. Shipwreck of a collier. Perilous exploit. His religious influence. Kindness to the poor. Letter on style. Correspondence. Martin's Act Letters on bravery, and on candour. Letter to a rlorgyman on his new house - 161 181 CHAPTER XI. 1826, 1827. The Mauritius Slave Trade. Mr. Byam and General Hall. Mr. Buxton studies and undertakes the question Touching incident. Debate. Committee of inquiry. Stormy election at Weymouth. Letters. Laborious investigations. Frightful nt tack of illness. Unexpected recovery - - 182 194 Xll CONTENTS. CHAPTER XII. 1827, 1828. Meditations. Mr. Simeon. Letter to Lord W. Bentinck. Suttee abolished. Mr. Buxton settles at Northrepps. Debate on Slavery. Mr. Buxton's reply. The free people of colour. Interview with Mr. Huskisson. Thoughts on his illness Pages ;i95 207 CHAPTER XHI. 1828, 1829. The Hottentots. Dr. Philip. Van Riebech's regrets. Miseries of the Hottentots. Dr. Philip's researches. Mr. Buxton's motion. The Government acquiesces. Letter from Dr. Philip. The Order in Council sent out. Letter to Mr. J. J. Gurney. The Hottentots set free. Alarms die away. Happy results. The Kat River settlement - 208219 CHAPTER XIV. 1829. Catholic Emancipation. Reflections. The Mauritius Slave Trade. Agreeable news. The Mauritius case revived. Letter to Mr. Twiss. The Government admit the existence of the Slave Trade at Mauritius. Its complete extinction. Mr. George Stephen. Mr. Jeremie - 220 231 CHAPTER XV. 1829, 1830. Letters. Mitigation of the penal code. Illness and death of his second son - 232241 CHAPTER XVI. 1830. The public begins to arouse itself with regard to Slavery. Increasing popularity of the subject. Gradual change in the views of the leaders. Mitigating measures despaired of. Determination to put down Slavery thoroughly and at once. Spirited meetings in London and Edinburgh. The Government outstripped by the abolitionists. Mr. Buxton's appeal to the electors. The cruelty of Slavery in its mildest form 242 253 CONTENTS. Xlll CHAPTER XVIL 1831. Religious meditations The Duke's declaration. Change of ministry. The Whig Government does not take up the subject of Slavery. Quakers' petition. Decrease of the slave popu- lation. Debate. The Government still tries to lead the colonists to adopt mitigating measures. Parliament dissolved. Letter from Bellfield. Letter to a son at college. Party at the Brewery. Anecdotes. Reflections on shooting. Death of Mr. North Correspondence - Pages 254 277 CHAPTER XVIH. 1832. Insurrection in Jamaica. Lords' committee. Letters to Lord Suffield. Speech at public meeting. Position of parties. State of the colonies. Policy of the Government. Debate, May 24. Mr. Buxton insists on dividing the House, Form- ation of the committee. Religious persecutions in Jamaica. Result of the committee. Letters - 278 300 CHAPTER XIX. 1833. Government undertakes the Slavery question. Lord Howick's resignation. Anxieties. Question of compensation. Agi- tation in the country. Delegates - - 301 318 CHAPTER XX. 1833. Debate, May 14. Mr. Stanley's speech. Resolutions passed. Blame attributed to Mr. Buxton. Letters. Bill brought in. Debate on apprenticeship. On compensation. Progress of the Bill through the House of Commons. Through the House of Lords. Passed. Letters - 3 1 9 338 CHAPTER XXI. IS 33, 1834. Letters. Good accounts from the West Indies. Baron Roths- child. Occupations of the Spring and Summer. Endeavours for the benefit of the Negroes. Mr. Trew. The day of freedom, August 1. 1834. Conduct of the Negroes. Letters 339358 XIV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXII. 1834, 1835. Inquiry into the treatment of Aboriginal tribes in British colonies. Address to the King on the subject. Caffre war. Abo- rigines' committee. Letters. Lord Glenelg's despatch. Visit from a Caffre chief. Mr. Buxton turns to the subject of the Slave Trade of foreign nations. An address to the King agreed to - - Pages 359373 CHAPTER XXHJ. 1835, 1836. Accounts from West Indies. Motion for committee of inquiry. Correspondence. Writings, January, 1836. Committee on apprenticeship, March, 1836. Letters. Letter from Mr. Johnston. Irish church questions Speech on Irish Tithe Bill, June, 1836 *' - 374393 CHAPTER XXIV. 1336. Scotland. Capercailzie. Letters. Habits of life at North- repps. Order. Love of poetry. His domestic character. Letters - - 394414 CHAPTER XXV. 1837, 1838. Aborigines' report Correspondence. Election. Defeat at Weymouth. Letters. Efforts to shorten the apprenticeship of the Negroes. Mr. Buxton's hesitation The apprentice- ship abolished - - 415 428 CHAPTER XXVI. 1838. New plan for the suppression of the Slave Trade. Laborious investigations. Collection of evidence. Letter to Lord Mel- bourne. Communications with the Government. Abstract of his views. Horrors of the trade. Capabilities of Africa 429440 CONTENTS. XV CHAPTER XXVTL 1838, 1839. Communications with Government, and with private individuals. African Civilization Society. Preparation of " the Slave Trade, and its Remedy" for publication. Departure for Italy Pages 441453 CHAPTER XXVIU. 1839, 184O. Journey through France and Italy. Mont Cenis in a snow storm. Rome. Italian field sports. Boar hunting. Shooting on the Numician Lake. Adventure with robbers. The Jesuits. St. Peter's and the Vatican. Prisons and hospitals of Rome - - - L.{ - ' "' 454^-482 CHAPTER XXIX. 1840. Prisons at Civita Vecchia. Italian banditti. Gasparoni. Illness. Naples. Pompeii. Prospect of a war between Naples and England. Excitement at Naples. Mr. Buxton returns to England - 483 513 CHAPTER XXX. JUNE, 1840, TO APRIL, 1841. Great public meeting in Exeter Hall. Prince Albert in the chair. Mr. Buxton created a Baronet. Preparations for the Niger Expedition, Agricultural Association. Ventilation of the ships. Sir Fowell Buxton's health begins to fail. " The friend of Africa." Public meetings. Letter to the Rev. J. W. Cunningham. Day of Prayer for the Expedition. Prince Albert's visit to the vessels. The Expedition sails. Letter to Captain Trotter - 514 528 CHAPTER XXXI. 1841. Correspondence. Journey to Scotland. Deer- stalking. Return home. The Niger Expedition, its successes and reverses. Good news from the Expedition. Account of its progress. XVI CONTENTS. Scenery of the Niger Treaty concluded with Obi. His intelligence and courage. The Attah of Eggarah. Sickness appears on board. The Model Farm. The Soudan and Wil- berforce sent down the river. The news reaches England Distress of Sir Fowell Buxton. The Albert proceeds up the river. Dense Population. Agricultural produce in the markets. Some slaves liberated. The Nufis. Increased sickness on board the Albert. It returns to the sea. Perilous descent of the river. Mortality on board. Death of Captain Bird Allen. Opinions of the Commissioners as to the Expe- dition - - Pages 529551 CHAPTER XXXn. 1843, 1844. Declining health. Efforts and views regarding Africa. The Model Farm broken up. Letter from the Bishop of Calcutta. Country pursuits. Planting. > Characteristic anecdotes 552570 CHAPTER XXXHI. 1843, 1844, 1845. Continued and increasing illness. Correspondence. Religious feelings His last illness, and death. Testimonials to his memory. Observations on his character, by the Rev. J. W. Cunningham - '-* - 571 598 APPENDIX TO CHAP. XVH. - - - 599603 LIFE OP SIR THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON, BART. CHAPTER I. 17861802. NOTICES OF THE BUXTON FAMILY. MR. BUXTON OF EARL'S COLNE. IHUII1 >| THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON. CHILDHOOD. SCHOOL DATS HIS MOTHER'S INFLUENCE. ABRAHAM PLAISTOW. BELLFIELD. K AIM. 1 1AM. LETTERS FROM EARLHAM. THE family from which Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was descended, resided, about the middle of the 16th century, at Sudbury in Suffolk, and subsequently at Coggeshall in Essex. At the latter place, William Buxton, his lineal ancestor, died in 1624. Thomas, the son of William Buxton, claimed and received from the Heralds' College, in 1634, the arms borne by the family of the same name, settled before 1478 at Tybenham in Norfolk, and now represented by Sir Robert Buxton, Bart. Isaac Buxton, a merchant, and the fifth in direct de- scent from William, married Sarah Fowell, an heiress ; connected with the family of the Fowells, of Fowels- coinbe in Devonshire.* From her was derived the name * See Burke's Extinct Baronetage. B 2 BIKTH OF THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON. CHAP. I. of Fowell, first borne by her eldest son, who married Anna, daughter of Osgood Hanbury, Esquire, of Holfield Grange in Essex. The first Thomas Fowell Buxton lived at Earl's Colne in the same county, but was residing at Castle Hedingham when his eldest son, Thomas Fowell, the subject of this memoir, was born, on the first of April, 1786. Mr. Buxton was a man of a gentle and kindly disposition, devoted to field sports, and highly popular in his neighbourhood, where he exercised hospitality on a liberal scale. Having been appointed High Sheriff of the county, he availed himself of the au- thority of his office to relieve the miseries of the prisoners under his superintendence, visiting them sedulously, notwithstanding the prevalence of the jail fever. He died at Earl's Colne in 1792, leaving his widow with three sons and two daughters.* The eldest boy, Thomas Fowell, was at this time six years old. He was a vigorous child, and early showed a bold and determined character. As an instance of this it may be mentioned, that when quite a child, while walking with his uncle, Mr. Han- bury, he was desired to give a message to a pig- driver who had passed along the road. He set off in pursuit ; and although one of his shoes was soon lost in the mud, he pushed on through lonely and * Anna, afterwards married to William Forster, Esq., of Bradpole in Dorsetshire. Thomas Fowell. Charles, married Martha, daughter of Edmund Henning, Esq., and died in 1817. Sarah Maria, died in 1839. Edward North, died in 1811. 17861802. HIS CHILDHOOD. 6 intricate lanes, tracking the driver by the footmarks of his pigs, for nearly three miles, into the town of Coggeshall ; nor did he stop until he had overtaken the man, and delivered his message. One who knew the boy well in his early days said of him, " He never was a child ; he was a man when in petticoats." At the age of only four years and a half, he was sent to a school at Kingston, where he suffered severely from ill-treatment ; and his health giving way (chiefly from the want of sufficient food) he was removed, shortly after his father's death, to the school of Dr. Charles Burney, at Greenwich, where his brothers afterwards joined him. Here he had none of the hardships to endure, to which he had been subjected at Kingston, and he found in Dr. liurney a kind and judicious master. Upon one occasion, he was accused by an usher of talking during school time, and desired to learn the collect, epistle, and gospel, as a punishment. When Dr. Journey entered the school, young Buxton appealed to him, stoutly denying the charge. The usher as strongly asserted it ; but Dr. Burney stopped him, saying, " I never found the boy tell a lie, and will not disbelieve him now." He does not appear to have made much pro- gress in his studies, and his holidays spent at Earl's Colne, where his mother continued to reside, left a deeper trace in his after life, than the time spent at school. Mrs. Buxton's character has been thus briefly described by her son : " My mother," he says, " was a woman of a very vigorous mind, and possessing many of the generous virtues in a very high demvc. She ii - 4 HIS MOTHEK'S INFLUENCE. CHAP. I. was large-minded about every thing; disinterested almost to an excess; careless of difficulty, labour, danger, or expense, in the prosecution of any great object. With these nobler qualities were united some of the imperfections, which belong to that species of ardent and resolute character." She belonged to the Society of Friends. Her husband being a member of the Church of England, their sons were baptized in infancy ; nor did she ever exert her influence to bring them over to her own persuasion. She was more anxious to give them a deep regard for the Holy Scriptures, and a lofty moral standard, than to quicken their zeal about the distinctive differences of religious opinion. Her system of education had in it some striking features. There was little indulgence, but much liberty. The boys were free to go where they would, and do what they pleased, and her eldest son especially was allowed to assume almost the position of master in the house. But, on the other hand, her authority, when exercised, was paramount over him, as over his brothers and sisters. On being asked by the mother of a large and ill-managed family, whether the revolutionary principles of the day were not making way among her boys, her reply was, " I know nothing about revolutionary principles : my rule is that imposed on the people of Boston, ' implicit obedience, unconditional submission.' ' Yet the cha- racter of her son Fowell was not without some strong touches of wilfulness. He has described himself, in more than one of his papers, as having been in his boyhood " of a daring, violent, domineering temper." When this was remarked to his mother, " Never 17861802. SCHOOL DAYS. 5 mind," she would say ; " he is self-willed now you will see it turn out well in the end." During one Christmas vacation, on her return home from a brief absence, she was told that " Master Fowell had behaved very ill, and struck his sister's governess." She therefore determined to punish him, by leaving him at school during the ensuing Easter holidays. Meanwhile, however, some dis- orderly conduct took place in the school, and two boys, who had behaved worst in the affair, were like- to remain there during the vacation. Mrs. Buxton felt the dilemma in which she was placed, and on the first day of the holidays she went to Greenwich and fairly told Fowell her difficulty ; end- ing by saying that, rather than subject him to the risk of being left alone with these boys, she was prepared to forfeit her word and allow him to come home with her other sons. His answer was, " Mother, never fear that I shall disgrace you or myself; my brothers are ready, and so is my dinner!" After such a reply the resolution of a less determined parent must have given way; but she undauntedly left him to his punishment. Her aim appears to have been, to give her boys a manly and robust character; and, both by precept and example, she strove to render them self-denying, and, at the same time, thoughtful for others. Long afterwards, when actively occupied in Lon- don, her son wrote to her: "I constantly feel, especially in action and exertion for others, the effects of principles early planted by you in my mind." He particularly alluded to the abhorrence of slavery B 3 6 ABRAHAM PLAISTOW. CHAP. I. and the slave trade, with which she had imbued him. His size and strength well fitted him for country amusements; and he early acquired a strong taste for hunting, shooting, and fishing, under the auspices of the gamekeeper, Abraham Plaistow. This game- keeper was one of those characters occasionally to be met with in the country, uniting straightforward honest simplicity with great shrewdness and humour. He was well-fitted to train his three young masters in those habits of fearlessness and hardihood, which their mother wished them to possess. His influence over them is thus described by Mr. Buxton, in a letter dated " Cromer Hall, August 23. 1825. " My father died when I was very young, and I became at ten years old almost as much the master of the family as I am of this family at the present moment. My mother, a woman of great talents and great energy, perpetually incul- cated on my brothers and sisters that they were to obey me, and I was rather encouraged to play the little tyrant. She treated me as an equal, conversed with me, and led me to form and express my opinions without reserve. This system had obvious and great disadvantages, but it was followed by some few incidental benefits. " Throughout life I have acted and thought for myself; and to this kind of habitual decision I am indebted for all the success I have met with. My * guide, philosopher, and friend,' was Abraham Plaistow, the gamekeeper ; a man for whom I have ever felt, and still feel, very great affection. He was a singular character : in the first place, this tutor of mine could neither read nor write, but his memory was stored with various rustic knowledge. He had more of natu- ral good sense and what is called mother- wit, than almost any person I have met with since : a knack which he had of 17861802. BELLFIELD. 7 putting every thing into new and singular lights made him, and still makes him, a most entertaining, and even intellectual companion. He was the most undaunted of men : I remember my youthful admiration of his exploits on horseback. For :i time he hunted my uncle's hounds, and his fearlessness was proverbial. But what made him particularly valuable were his principles of integrity and honour. He never said or did a thing in the absence of my mother of which she would have disapproved. He always held up the highest standard of integrity, and filled our youthful minds with sentiments as pure and as generous as could be found in the writings of Seneca or Cicero. Such was my first instructor, and, I must add, my best ; for I think I have profited more by the recollection of his remarks and admonition, than by the more k'urned and elaborate discourses of all my other tutors. He was our playfellow and tutor ; he rode with us, fished with us, shot with us upon all occasions."* Occasionally the holidays were passed by the children with their grandmother, either in London or at Bellfield, her country-house, near Weymouth.f * This faithful servant died in 1836. " The tears," said Mr. Hanbury, who visited him on his death-bed, " trickled down his goodly countenance while speaking of his rides long ago with his young master." The following inscription on a mural tablet, in Earl's Colne church- yard, erected by the contributions of his neighbours, speaks their sense of his worth : " To the memory of Abraham Flaistow, who lived for more than half a century servant and gamekeeper, in the families of Thomas Fowell Buxton, and Osgood Gee, E&qs. " or humble station, yet of sterling worth; Awaiting Hearen, but yet content on earth ; (Jn. lint, honest, simple-hearted, kind, sincere : Such was the man, to all our village dear ! tie liv'd in peace, in hope resign'd his breath. Go learn a Icuon from bli life and death." f Soon after her marriage with Mr. Buxton, they had visited this estate together, and she incidentally remarked to him, what a beautiful spot it would be for a country-seat. The next year, when she accom- panied him thither again, she found, to her astonishment, instead of mere fields and hedges, an elegant country-house, surrounded by lawns and gardens. B 4 8 BELLFIELD. CHAP. I. The formality of her life in town was rather un- palatable to them : even the exceptions to her rules were methodically arranged; her Sunday discipline, for example, was very strict, but on one (and only one) Sunday in the year, she gave the children the treat of a drive in the park ! A visit to Bellfield was more attractive, and there young Buxton spent many of the happiest hours of his boyhood. The house, which, at the death of his grandmother, became his own, is beautifully situated, commanding fine views of Weymouth Bay and the Island of Portland. To this spot he ever continued much attached, and his letters from thence always mention his great enjoy- ment of its beauties. Weymouth was at this period the favourite resort of George III., and the King and royal family frequently visited Mrs. Buxton. Her grandchildren always retained a vivid impression of the cordial kindness of their royal guests. At the age of fifteen, after spending eight years at Dr. Burney's, without making any great advances in learning, he persuaded his mother to allow him to reside at home; and there he remained for many months, devoting the chief part of his time to sporting, and the remainder to desultory reading. When no active amusement presented itself, he would some- times spend whole days in riding about the lanes, on his old pony, with an amusing book in his hand, while graver studies were entirely laid aside. At the same time his friends attempted to correct the boyish roughness of his manners by a system of ridicule and reproof, which greatly discouraged and annoyed him. It was indeed a critical time 1786180-2. IIAULHAM. 9 for his character; but the germ of nobler qualities lay below ; a genial influence was alone wanting to develop it; and, through the kindness of Provi- dence (as he used emphatically to acknowledge), tluit influence was at hand. Before this period he had become acquainted with John, the eldest son of Mr. Gurney, of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, with whose family his own was distantly connected, and, in the autumn of 1801, he paid his friend a visit at his father's house. Mr. Gurney had for several years been a widower. His family consisted of eleven children; three elder daughters (on the eldest of whom the charge of the rest chiefly devolved), the son whom we have men- tioned, a group of four girls nearer Fowell Buxton's age, and three younger boys. He was then in his sixteenth year, and was charmed by the lively and kindly spirit which pervaded the whole party, while he was surprised at finding them all, even the younger portion of the family, zealously occupied in self-education, and full of energy in every pursuit, whether of amusement or of knowledge. They received him as one of themselves, early appreciating his masterly, though still uncultivated mind ; while on his side, their cordial and encouraging welcome :ied to draw out all his latent powers. He at once joined with them in reading and study, and from this visit may be dated a remarkable change in the whole tone of his character : he received a stimulus, not merely in the acquisition of knowledge, but in the formation of studious habits and in- (a>ts; nor could the same influence fail 10 EARLHAM. CHAP. I. of extending to the refinement of his disposition and manners. Earlham itself possessed singular charms for their young and lively party. They are described at the time of his visit as spending the fine autumn after- noons in sketching and reading under the old trees in the park, or in taking excursions, some on foot, some on horseback, into the country round ; wan- dering homeward towards evening, with their draw- ings and the wild flowers they had found. The roomy old hall, also, was well fitted for the cheerful, though simple hospitalities, which Mr. Gurney de- lighted to exercise, especially towards the literary society, for which Norwich was at that time dis- tinguished. A characteristic anecdote of Mr. Gurney has been recorded. He was a strict preserver of his game, and accordingly had an intense repugnance to every thing bordering on poaching. Upon one occasion, when walking in his park, he heard a shot fired in a neigh- bouring wood he hurried to the spot, and his natu- rally placid temper was considerably ruffled on seeing a young officer with a pheasant at his feet, deliberately reloading his gun. As the young man, however, replied to his rather warm expressions by a polite apology, Mr. Gurney's wrath was somewhat allayed ; but he could not refrain from asking the intruder what he would do, if he caught a man trespassing on his premises. " I would ask him in to luncheon," was the reply. The serenity of this impudence was not to be resisted. Mr. Gurney not only invited him to luncheon, but supplied him with dogs and a game- 17861802. LETTERS FROM EAULUAM. 11 keeper, and secured him excellent sport for the re- mainder of the day.* Mr. Gurney belonged to the Society of Friends; but his family was not brought up with any strict regard to its peculiarities. He put little restraint on their domestic amusements ; and music and dancing were among their favourite recreations. The third daughter, afterwards the well-known Mrs. Fry, had indeed united herself more closely to the Society of Friends f ; but her example in this respect had not as yet been followed by any of her brothers or sisters. Such was the family of which Fowell Buxton might be said to have become a member, at this turning point of his life. The following letters were written to his mother during his visit to Earlham. - " My dear Mother, " Earlham, Oct. 1801. " I was very much pleased with all your last, excepting that jiart in which you mention the (to me at least) hateful subject of St. Andrew's.^ " It gives me pain to write, because it will you to read, that my aversion is, ever was, and ever will be invincible; nevertheless, if you command, I will obey. You will ex- claim, * How ungrateful, after all the pleasure he has had.' I'K'u.-Hire, great pleasure, I certainly have had, but not sufficient to counterbalance the unhappiness the pursuance of your plan would occasion me; but, as I said before, I will obey. 1 This anecdote, which is still fresh in the memory of several of Mr. (Junu-y's children, was borrowed by Hook, in his tale of Gilbert (iurney. f See Memoirs of the Life of Elizabeth Fry. Charles Gilpin, 1 847. | His mother had proposed to send him to the College at St. Andrew's. 12 LETTERS FROM EARLHAM. CHAP. I. " If 'you think fit, I shall return to Cromer on Wednesday. Northrepps is perfectly delightful. I have dined many times with Mr. Pym: a letter he has received from his brother in Ireland says, ' Nothing but speculation, pecu- lation, and paper exist in this unhappy country.' I am going to Lord Wodehouse's this morning, and to a ball at Mr. Kett's at night." " My dear Mother, "Earlham, Nov. 24. 1801. " Your letter was brought while I was deliberating whether to stay here, or meet you in London. The contents afforded me real joy. Before, I almost feared you would think me encroaching ; yet Mr. Gurney is so good-tempered, his daughters are so agreeable, and John so thoroughly de- lightful, and his conversation so instructive, which is no small matter with you I know, that you must not be surprised at my accepting your offer of a few days' longer stay in this country. Whilst I was at Northrepps, I did little else but read books of entertainment (except now and then a few hours Latin and Greek), ride, and play at chess. But since I have been at Earlham, I have been very industrious. The Prince * paid us a visit this morning, and dines here on Thursday. " Your affectionate son, T. F. BUXTON." " My visit here has completely answered," he says, with boyish, enthusiasm, in his last letter from Mr. Gurney's house. " I have spent two months as happily as possible ; I have learned as much (though in a different manner) as I should at Colne, and have got thoroughly acquainted with the most agreeable family in the world." In December 1801 he returned to Earl's Colne ; but * Prince William of Gloucester. 17661802. LETTERS FROM EARLHAM. 13 his mind never lost the impulse which it had received during his stay at Earlham. Many years afterwards he thus refers to this early friendship, which he places first in an enumeration of the blessings of his life. " I know no blessing of a temporal nature (and it is not only temporal) for which I ought to render so many thanks as my connexion with the Earlham family. It has given a colour to my life. Its influence was most positive and pregnant with good, at that critical period between school and manhood. They were eager for improvement I caught the infection. I was resolved to please them, and in the College of Dublin, at a distance from all my friends, and all con- trol, their influence, and the desire to please them, kept me hard at my books, and sweetened the toil they gave. The distinctions I gained at College (little valuable as distinctions, but valuable, because habits of industry, perseverance, and reflection, were neces- sary to obtain them), these boyish distinctions were exclusively the result of the animating passion in my mind, to carry back to them the prizes which they prompted and enabled me to win." 14 CHAP. II. CHAPTER II. 18021807. EDUCATION IN IRELAND. DONNYBROOK. EMMETT's REBELLION. DUBLIN UNIVERSITY. CORRESPONDENCE. ENGAGEMENT TO MISS H. GURNET. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ESCAPE FROM SHIP- WRECK. CORRESPONDENCE. SUCCESS AT COLLEGE INVI- TATION TO REPRESENT THE UNIVERSITY IN PARLIAMENT. HIS MARRIAGE. As there were reasons for expecting that her son would inherit considerable property in Ireland, Mrs. Buxton deemed it advisable that he should com- plete his education at Dublin ; and, accordingly, in the winter of 1802 he was placed in the family of Mr. Moore of Donnybrook, who prepared pupils for the University. It was shortly before the Christmas holidays that he took up his abode at Donnybrook, and he then found himself inferior to every one of his companions in classical acquirements ; but he spent the vacation in such close study, that on the return of the other pupils, he stood as the first among them. Late in life he thus recalls this period in a letter to one of his sons, then under the roof of a private tutor : " You are now at that period of life, in which you must make a turn to the right or to the left. You must now give proofs of principle, determination, and strength of mind, or you must sink into idleness, and acquire the habits and 18021807. DONNYBROOK. 15 character of a desultory, ineffective young man ; and if once you fall to that point, you will find it no easy matter to rise again. " I am very sure that a young man may be very much what he pleases. In my own case it was so. I left school, where I had learnt little or nothing, at about the age of fourteen. I spent the next year at home, learning to hunt and shoot Then it was, that the prospect of going to College opened upon me, and such thoughts as I have expressed in this letter occurred to my mind. I made my resolutions, and I acted up to them: I gave up all desultory reading I never looked into a novel or a newspaper I rave up shooting. During the five years I was in Ireland, I had the liberty of going when I pleased to a capital shooting place. I never went but twice. In short, I considered every hour as precious, and I made every thing bend to my determination not to be behind any of my companions, and thus I speedily passed from one species of character to another. I had been a boy fond of pleasure and idleness, reading only books of unprofitable entertainment I became speedily a youth of steady habits of application, and irresistible resolution. I soon gained the ground I had lost, and I found those things which were difficult and almost impossible to my idleness, easy enough to my industry ; and much of my happiness and all my prosperity in life have iv.-ulted from the change I made at your age. It all rests with yourself. If you seriously resolve to be energetic and industrious, depend upon it you will for your whole life have reason to rejoice that you were wise enough to form and to act upon that determination." From Donnybrook he writes to his mother, " Tell my Uncle Hanbury that no two clerks in his Brewhouse are together so industrious as I am, for I read morning, noon, and night." During his stay at this place, the country was disturbed by the breaking out of the " Kihvardcn 16 EMMETT'S REBELLION. CHAP. n. rebellion," instigated by the unfortunate Robert Emmett. To meet the danger, volunteer corps were hastily organised, one of which Mr. Buxton joined as a lieutenant. The current reports of the day are thus sketched by him in his letters to his mother : " Every body abuses the Lord Lieutenant. He received information from all parts of the kingdom that the rising was to take place on Saturday night, and all the preparation he made was to send 2500 men to take care of his house and family at the Park. The soldiers in Dublin had no ammunition. Colonel Littlehales, Mr. Marsden, and every officer of the Castle, were away from their posts ; and for two hours after the rising began, and while the rebels were murdering Lord Kilwarden, Colonel Brown, and all the soldiers they could catch, nothing was done by government. " After the first alarm, however, had subsided, the soldiers collected in small parties, and the rebels were soon put to the rout ; before morning, 10,000 pikes were taken, all the prisons in Dublin were filled with rebels, and from 200 to 300 are supposed to have been killed. Isaac and I watched last night at Donnybrook, with our pistols loaded, for it was expected that they would attack the outskirts. However, they did not come. A great many Lucan people were found dead in Dublin. Every noted rebel was seen going to Dublin on Saturday evening. The gardener and workmen say there were 500 rebels at Mr. North's gate that night. Only two mails came into Dublin on Sunday one was stopped at Lucan and another at Maynooth." " Dublin, August ?. 1803. " Dublin is in appearance perfectly quiet again, but the minds of the people are in rebellion. Pym, who goes by the name of Lord Sage, says this is by far a more dangerous rebellion than the last, as it is more concealed. The plan was for three bodies of 6000 men each to enter Dublin; one party to take the Castle, another the barracks, the other to spread about the city and murder every Protestant. Luckily 18021807. DUBLIN UNIVERSITY. 17 the hearts of all but about 6000 failed. The attack was to have commenced at two in the morning, but whiskey, which was given to keep up their spirits, made them begin their outrage the evening before at nine. They were opposed by seventeen yeomen, and these brave rebels, who were ivaily to sacrifice their lives for their liberty, after four rounds of firing, all ran away from this small body !* " The Lord-Lieutenant is abused by every loyal person. lYople who slept in the Castle on the night of the rising, say it must have been lost if the rebels had come." After remaining a year at Donnybrook, he paid another visit to Earlham. " We are most completely happy here," he writes to his mother ; " everything goes on well, and you need not fear that I am losing my time, for being with the Gurneys makes me ten times more industrious than any thing else would." In October, 1803, he returned to Dublin, and entered Trinity College as a fellow commoner. At that time there were four examinations annually in the Dublin University making in all fourteen during the college course of the fellow commoners. At each of these a " Premium " was given to the successful candidate in every division or class, if he had not already received one in the same year, in which case a certificate, which was equal to it in honour, was given instead. At the end of the college course a gold medal was also presented to those who, at each examination, had distinguished themselves in every subject (one failure being allowed). Mr. Buxton at once commenced his studies with great See Annual Register, 1803 ; and Maxwell's '' History of the Irish Rebellion," which gives an interesting account of Emmett's conspiracy, p. 410. C 18 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. II. vigour, and in his first examination obtained the se- cond place. This success appears to have surpassed his expectations, and he thus writes to his sister : Feb. 24. 1804. " I suppose you know how the exami- nations have ended very much indeed to my satis- faction, and I am now reading away for the next. My mother is in ecstasies about my being so near getting the premium." And in a letter to his mother he tells her, he is resolutely bent on getting it next time. He succeeded, and this being his first triumph, he was no little elated; and he mentions as "an exceeding addi- tion to the pleasure " that he was the first Englishman, as far as he could ascertain, who had gained a premium at the Dublin University. Before the autumnal examination, he writes to Mr. J. J. Gurney, who was then reading with a pri- vate tutor at Oxford : "College, Dublin, Sept. p. 1804. " Your suppositions about my getting a certificate are, I am afraid, very unlikely to be realised. My antagonists are very tremendous. In the first place, there are North and Montgomery. I hardly know which of them I ought to dread the most ; they are both excellent scholars, and men of the most unwearied application : next Wybrants and Arthur, both of whom I have had the pleasure of beating already. So far for college business; I only wish you were here to beat every body." In a postscript to this very letter he mentions with boyish glee his having gained the certificate in ques- tion. A close friendship soon afterwards sprang up between Mr. Buxton and Mr. John Henry North, one of the " tremendous antagonists " to whom he refers ; and who afterwards distinguished himself both at the Irish Bar, and in the House of Commons. 18021807. ENGAGEMENT TO MISS GURNET. 19 Their course at college was nearly parallel, and as they did not on this or any succeeding occasion happen to be placed in the same division, they were never brought into competition. This friendship, maintained during Mr. North's life, was one of the circumstances to which, in recollections of his college days, Mr. Buxton always recurred with the most lively pleasure. His mention of his friend at this early age is interesting : " His temper is cheerful, his taste remarkably elegant, and adapted to receive pleasure from the beauties of nature. His manners so captivating that you must be pleased by them ; and his heart so good that you must love him." Whenever Mr. Buxton could escape from Dublin, he visited Earlham, and an attachment, which he dated from the first day they met, gradually ripened, between him and Hannah, fifth daughter of Mr. Gurncy ; till in March, 1805, they were engaged to be married. But while in this direction a bright prospect opened before him, in another, the clouds appeared to be ra t hering about his path. Other claimants * had come forward to contest his right to the Irish property; his mother had undertaken an expensive law-suit regarding it, and her hopes of success were already growing dim. At the same time the family property had bci-n materially diminished, by some unsuccessful speculations in which she had engaged. Her son's letters, however, (addressed for the most part to Earlham,) bear little trace of anxiety : Of the Yorke family. c 2 20 COLLEGE COMPANIONS. CHAP. II "April, 1805. " The examinations are over, but, alas, I cannot describe the disasters that have befallen me. Think how disagreeable a circumstance it must be to me to have all my hopes disap- pointed, to lose the certificate, to have my gold medal stopped, and what is worse, to know that my Earlham visit, as it was the cause of my idleness, was the cause of my disgrace. Think of all this, and fetch a very, very deep sigh, and look very grave, and then think how happy I must be to have to tell YOU, that my utmost examinationary hopes are realised, that I have the certificate and * Valde in Omnibus,' and, what is better, that I can ascribe my success to nothing but my Earl- ham visit ! I am sure that, if I had not thought that I was partly working for you, I never should have been able to read so much during this month. The Examiner told five of my opponents that he was sorry he had not a Premium for each of them. I was not * cut up ' (as the College phrase is) during the whole Examination, and if I have been the trumpeter of my own praise a little too much, you must re- member that one slight word of approbation from Earlham would be more grateful to me, than the loudest applause of the whole world besides." He mentions in a letter dated May 15. 1805, that he had been spending the preceding fort- night " chiefly in reading English Poetry ; " and he adds, " I went yesterday for the first time, to a schoolmaster who gives lectures on reading. I have long felt my deficiency in that most useful qualification, especially when I was last at Earl- ham, and I then made a firm resolution to conquer it. How- ever, it was with difficulty I could keep my determination, for my companions have entertained themselves very much at the idea of my going to school to learn to read. But I expect to gain two very material advantages by this plan ; the first is, that perhaps it may afford you pleasure, and secondly, that, as I go immediately after dinner, it will furnish an op- portunity for avoiding, without openly quarrelling with/ a party of collegians, into whose society I have lately got, and whose habits of drinking make me determine to retreat from them." 18021807. HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 21 " College, Dublin, Sept. 2p. 1805. " My mind has lately been very much occupied with the consideration of the lawfulness of taking oaths, because my College pursuits would lose a great deal of their stimulus if I thought I should not go to the Bar, for the information which I may acquire here would be comparatively of little use to any one but a lawyer. To remove or strengthen my doubts, I have been reading Paley's Philosophy, and, indeed, lit- lias almost convinced me that taking oaths is not the kind of swearing that is prohibited. I have endeavoured to my mind from prejudice on one side, and interest on the other: and I think that if I felt a bias at all, it was against s\v taring, which arose from the fear of being actuated by my wishes, rather than by reason." In October, 1805, he and his friend North took thi'ir scuts together in the " Historical Society." * In one of his letters he speaks of the dread with which he looked forward to " such a tremendous thing " as addressing so large an audience. His first speech, however, met with unexpected success. One of his fellow collegians still remembers " its pro- ducing quite a sensation among the under-graduates," and lie himself thus writes to Earlham: * This was an association established by the students of the University, with a view of promoting the practice of elocution and the study of history, and was art object of great interest among them. IV lutes were held every week during the last term of the year. After (aril debate, every member present named the one who in his opinion had spoken most effectively, and at the end of the year the under- graduate who had gained the largest number of suffrages, received a silver medal. Another medal was the prize at the annual examination in history. No one was admitted into the society until the end of his second year of residence at the University; and, consequently, two medals for eloquence, and two for history, were the largest number that any one cuuld obtain. c 3 22 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. CHAP. II. "November, 1805. " I did not answer your letter before, because I wished to state the result of my speech, which is beyond my utmost expectations. Five persons spoke besides myself: ninety-two members gave Returns, of which eighty-five were for me. A law exists in the Society, that if any one should get eighty Returns for a speech, he is to receive the " remarkable thanks" There has never been an opportunity of putting this law in force till now." "Wednesday, Dec. 25. 1805. " I made a speech last night in the Historical Society, and contrary to my former determination, I intend to speak once more. I am induced to do this by getting a great many more Returns than I had any reason to expect. " I have, I fear, very little chance of getting the premium ; however, if I do not, I am perfectly satisfied with the result of my studies this term. I have taken very little sleep, amusement, or exercise lately, the consequence of which is that I have been very unwell." His hopes were more than realised ; not only did he again carry off the premium, but the silver medal of the Historical Society was awarded him, and ultimately, he gained all the other three. At College, indeed, nothing but good fortune attended him. His exertions were uniformly crowned with success ; his mind found scope for its unceasing activity ; his circle of friends was choice, yet large ; and a zest was added to all enjoyments, by the bright prospect afforded him at Earlham. The gradual overcasting of his hopes of wealth but little affected his spirits. He says in a letter to a friend : " I am very sorry to hear of your unhappinesses ; I wish I could do anything to alleviate them. I think I might very well spare happiness enough for a moderate person, and still have enough left for myself." J 802 1807. FOND OF FIELD SPORTS. 23 From the dissipation then too prevalent in the University, he was happily preserved, partly by his close and incessant occupation, partly by his Earlham connection, and partly by his early education ; for although his letters up to this period contain no direct mention of religion, yet the Christian principles which his mother had instilled into his mind retained their influence over him ; while his natural firmness of character enabled him to disregard the taunts to which hi- ronduct exposed him. He found more difficulty in sacrificing to his academical pursuits, the strong inclination for field sports, which had been cherished at Marl's Colne, and which accompanied him through life-. In a letter to Earlham, dated May, 1806, he says, " One of the various advantages I have derived from our connection, is the check it has been to my sporting incli- nations. I am thoroughly convinced that, had my mind received another bent, had my pursuits been directed towards sporting, its charms would have been irresistible. A life dedicated to amusement must be most unsatisfactory. *********! think you need be under no apprehension in regard to having too much influence over me : as to my being member for \Veymouth, it is a totally chimerical idea, for were I ever so willing, it is quite im- practicable, so you may lay aside all fears of my becoming a ifrcat ;WM." His letters to his mother at this period are chiefly confined to matters of business; one trait in them is, however, too characteristic to be passed over without notice. Nearly all of them conclude with inquiries and directions about his horses, in which lie always took so lively an interest, that it almost c 4 24 ESCAPES FROM SHIPWRECK. CHAP. II. might be called personal friendship. " I mean," he tells his mother, " to visit Weymouth before returning to Ireland, to see how my horses and my relations do." He was, however, obliged to hasten his return to Dublin, and on his way thither he had a remarkable escape, the particulars of which he thus describes : " In the year 1806, I was travelling with the Earlham party in Scotland. I left them to return to the College of Dublin. In consequence of some conversation about the Parkgate vessels, with my present wife, then Hannah Gurney, she extracted from me a promise that I would never go by Parkgate. I was exceedingly impatient to be at Dublin, in order to prepare for my examination : when I reached Chester, the Captain of the Parkgate packet came to me, and invited me to go with him. The wind was fair ; the vessel was to sail in a few hours ; he was sure I should be in Dublin early the next morning, whereas a place in the Holyhead mail was doubtful, and at best I must lose the next day by travelling through Wales. My promise was a bitter morti- fication to me, but I could not dispense with it. I drank tea, and played at cards with a very large party. About eight or nine o'clock they all went away, on board the vessel, and of the 119 persons who embarked as passengers, 118 were drowned before midnight."* The account in the newspapers of the loss of the Parkgate packet, was seen by his late travelling com- panions, on their way into Norfolk ; and it was not till after a day of anxious suspense that they heard of his safe arrival in Ireland. At Lynn they re- ceived the following letter from him : " Have you heard of the dreadful accident which happened to the Parkgate packet ? You will see by the newspaper the * See Gentleman's Magazine, September, 1806. 18021807. HIS STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 25 particulars. I have been talking to-day with the only passenger who was saved; he says that there were 119 in the vessel, and mentioned many most melancholy circumstances. Had I gone by Parkgate, which I probably might have done, as we were detained some time at Chester, and expected to be detained longer, I should have been in the vessel, but I declared positively that I would not go. Can you guess my reason for being so obstinate ?" o It was during this tour in Scotland that his at- tention appears to have been drawn, with increased earnestness, to the subject of religion. When at IVrtli, he purchased a large Bible, with the resolution, which he steadfastly kept, of perusing a portion of it every day ; and he mentions in a letter, dated September 10. 1806, that quite a change had been worked in his mind with respect to reading the Holy Scriptures. " Formerly," he says, " I read generally rather as a duty than as a pleasure, but now I read them with great interest, and, I may say, happiness." " I am sure," he writes again, " that some of the happiest hours that I spend here are while I am reading our Bible, which is as great a favourite as a book can be. I never before felt so assured that the only means of being happy, is from seeking the assistance of a superior Being, or so inclined to endea- vour to submit myself to the direction of principle." The college examination was now again approach- ing, and he was not so well prepared as usual, having given, as he feared, too much time to Optics, of which science he speaks as " the most delightful and capti- vating of studies." He writes to the party at Earl- ham, 26 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. II. " I do not, however, feel discouraged, but in a most happy- quiet mind ; more determined to work, than anxious about the result ; desirous of success, for your sakes, and able to bear defeat, alleviated by your sympathy; but, if reading can avail, I will be prepared." After the examination was over, he says, " I never had such a contest. The Examiner could not decide in the Hall, so we were obliged to have two hours more this morning; however, I can congratulate you once more. * * * * I venerate Optics for what they have done for me in this examination." ****** " I was strongly pressed to play at billiards yesterday, which of course I refused f, and was successful enough to persuade the person to employ his evening in another way. He is a strong instance of their injurious effects. He told me that when he was in town, he went regularly three times a day to the billiard table, and that playing at 4d. a game, on an average, cost him 10s. a day. It is the most alluring and therefore the most destructive game that ever was invented. I have heard it remarked, and have indeed remarked it myself, that if any Collegian commences billiard playing, he ceases to do any thing else. I have been employed all this morning in reading history. I find that this study is useful, not only in itself, but also in giving a habit of reading everything with accuracy. Every day brings us new accounts of disturbances in the remote parts of the country, I am almost inclined to fear there will be a rebellion. I have been thinking a great deal lately of w T hat I should do in case the corps were again established in College. There is to me no question so dubious or perplexing, as whether resistance against danger from an enemy is allowable : however, if I can trust my own determination, I shall not be at all swayed by the example of t He had given a promise at Earlham not to play at billiards while at college. 18021807. SUCCESS AT COLLEGE. 27 others, or by the disgrace which would attend a refusal to enlist." A day or two later, he continues : " I was extremely tired at the Historical Society, on Wednesday night. I was made President, and you cannot imagine the labour of keeping a hundred unruly and violent men orderly and obedient. The all-engrossing subject here at present, is the prospect of a rebellion, if I may say the prospect when I think there is the reality. Every day we hear of fresh murders ; and the Bishop of Elphin, who is of the Law family, declared openly in the Castle-yard, that in the five and twenty years he had resided here, the people in his diocese were never in so desperate a state of rebellion. On his return to England for a short holiday, he says, " London, Jan. 23. 1807. " It is a very great pleasure to me that I can tell you some news, which I think will delight you. In the first place, I have arrived here, safe and sound. In the second, I have for the twelfth time secured the Premium, and Valde in Omnibus." On the 1 4th of April in the same year he received his thirteenth premium, and also the highest honour of the University, the Gold Medal. With these distinctions, and the four silver medals from the Historical Society, he prepared to return to England. At this juncture a circumstance occurred which might have turned the whole current of his life. A proposal was made to him by the electors to come lor ward as candidate for the representation of the University, and good grounds were given him to expect a triumphant return. No higher token of in than this oxild have been offered to one 28 HIS MAERIAGE. CHAP. II. without wealth or Irish connection, and without the smallest claim upon the consideration of the Univer- sity, except what his personal and academical cha- racter afforded. Such an offer it was not easy to reject, and he was, as he says at the time, " extremely agitated and pleased by it." He weighed the pleasure, the distinction, the influence, promised by the poli- tical career, thus unexpectedly opened before him; and he set against these considerations, the duties which his approaching marriage would bring upon him. Prudence prevailed, and he declined the pro- posal. His friend Mr. North writes to him : " I think all hearts would have been in your favour, if you had made your appearance and still they cannot convince themselves that you intend to go boldly through with your resolution * Come then, my guide, my genius, come along ! ' You were mistaken in thinking Fortune (in one sense) a necessary qualification for a college member; there is an honourable exception for the Universities." Mr. Buxton, however, had come to a deliberate decision, and it was not to be shaken. He reached England at. the end of April, and in the following month his marriage took place. In one of his papers he thus alludes to the closing circumstances of his academical career : " On May 13. 1807, I obtained the object of my long attachment having refused, in consequence of the prospect of this marriage, a most honourable token of the esteem of the University of Dublin. The prospect was indeed flattering to youthful ambition, to become a member of Parliament, and my constituents men of thought and education, and honour and principle, my companions, my competitors, those who had known me, and observed me for years. 18021807. HIS MARRIAGE. 29 " I feel now a pride to recollect that it was from these men I received this mark of approbation, from men, with whom I had no family alliance, not even the natural con- nection of compatriotism, and without high birth or splendid fortune or numerous connections to recommend me. I suspended my determination for one day, beset by my friends, who were astonished at the appearance of a doubt, and having closely considered all points, I determined to decline tin intended honour, and from that day to this, thanks to God, I have never lamented the determination." 30 CHAP. HI. CHAPTER III. 18071812. ENTERS TRUMAN'S BREWERY. OCCUPATIONS IN LONDON LETTER FROM MR. TW1SS. CORRESPONDENCE. DEATH OF EDWARD BDXTON. EXERTIONS IN THE BREWERY. THE first few months of Mr. Buxton's married life were passed at a small cottage close to his grand- mother's seat at Bellfield, and in the neighbourhood of his mother, who had contracted a second marriage with Mr. Edmund Henning, and had left Essex to reside at Wey mouth. His expectations of wealth had been disappointed, and he found that his fortunes must depend upon his own exertions. After deliberate consideration, he relinquished the idea of following the profession of the law, and entered into negotiations in different quarters, with a view to establishing himself in business. For a while these were unsuccessful, and during this time he suffered severely from the pain of present inaction, and the obscurity that rested on the future. In after life, when referring to this period, he said, " I longed for any employment that would produce me a hundred a year, if I had to work twelve hours a day for it." Nearly a year passed away before his anxieties were brought to a conclusion. The winter was spent at Earlham, where his first child was born. 18071812. ENTERS TRUMAN'S BREWERY. 31 Soon afterwards, in a letter, writing to his wife from London, he says, " I slept at Brick Lane ; my uncles Sampson and Osgood Hanbury were there, and re- vived my old feelings of good nephewship, they treated me so kindly. This morning I met Mr. Randall and your father. I think that I shall become a Blackwell Hall factor." This intention was prevented by an unexpected turn in his fortunes, resulting from his friendly interview with his uncles. Within a few days Mr. Sampson Hanbury of Truman's Brewery offered him a situation in that establishment, with a prospect of becoming a partner after three years' probation. He joyfully acceded to the proposal, and entered with LTcat ardour upon his new sphere of action. He writes (July, 1808,) to his mother, " I was up this morning at four, and do not expect to finish my clay's work before twelve to-night my excuse for silence. I have not neglected your business." At tin- close of the year he succeeded Mr. Hanbury in the occupation of a house connected with the brewery, in which he continued to reside for several years. During these years Mr. Buxton's correspondence was not extensive. Among the few letters which have been preserved is the following, addressed to his wife, who had accompanied one of her brothers to the Isle of Wight. Mr. Buxton had arranged to join them there; but on arriving at Southampton, he l'"iind that all communication with the island was 5 n tin lirted, on account of the secret expedition to WalrhtTen, then about to sail from Cowes. 32 OCCUPATIONS IN LONDON. CHAP. in. " Southampton, June 15. 1809. " Now that I have finished my coffee, I think I cannot employ my time more profitably or more pleasantly than in sending a few lines to you. I am afraid the embargo has been a great trouble to you. It was so to me when I first arrived, as the idea of spending some time with your party was particularly pleasant; however, either by the aid of ' divine philosophy,' or from finding that the misfortune was irremediable, in a short time 1 was reconciled to my fate, and began to consider how best to enjoy what was within my reach. As I could not have the living companions that I most wished for, I went to a bookseller's shop to endeavour to find some agreeable dead ones, and having made choice of ' Tristram Shandy' and a * Patriot King,' I proceeded in their honourable company to the water side, took a boat, and went off to Netley Abbey. I thoroughly enjoyed this ex- cursion. First I went all over the interior, and then walked leisurely round it at some distance, stopping and reading at every scene that I particularly liked. Then I went up into the wood, to a spot which seems to have been formed for a dining-room. While the boatman was at dinner, I went over into the next field to a higher ground. I hope this did not escape you. The four ivy-covered broken towers just below, a party dining on the grass plat, the intermediate distance of trees, and the sea behind, made it, I think, the finest view I ever saw. I only hope you have sketched it ; and, next to it, I should wish for a drawing of the nearest window from the inside I mean the one that is tolerably perfect, with a great deal of ivy over the middle pillar. I had a pleasant row home, and have since been thinking about your party with the greatest pleasure, and, amongst other thoughts connected with you, it has forcibly struck me how beneficial it is sometimes to be amongst strangers, it gives such a taste and a relish for the society of those one loves." Although, during his term of probation at the brewery, he was closely occupied in making himself master of his new vocation, he yet found time for 18071812. LETTER FROM MR. TWISS. 33 the study of English literature, and especially of political economy. He admitted, in after-life, that even at this early period he had indulged a distant idrii of entering Parliament ; and, in consequence of this, he continued to practise the art of public speaking in a debating club of which he was a member. " I must tell you," he writes to Mr. North, De- t' whom I have read with Mallettian avidity. I have not been much at ' The Academics,' but it goes on famously ; your memory is held in the highest esti- mation even our oracle Twiss speaks well of you. (.Irant and Bowdler are, I fear, gone from us." His former schoolfellow, Mr. Horace Twiss, thus ibes meeting him at this time : " We had been at school together at the celebrated Dr. Barney's, of Greenwich, and were very intimate. " Buxton was then, as in after-life, extraordinarily tall, ami was called by his playfellows * Elephant Buxton.' He was at that time, as afterwards, like the animal he was called from, of a kind and gentle nature; but he did not then exhibit any symptoms of the elephantine talent he afterwards evinced. " I myself very often did his Latin lessons for him ; and, as he was somewhat older and much bigger than I was, I found him in many iv-pects a valuable ally. When I was about twenty, I became a member of ' The Academics,' a society in London (like the ' Historical' in Dublin, and the ' Specula- tor' in Edinburgh), \\herc the topics of the day were de- D 34 WILLIAM ALLEN. CHAP. III. bated. There I heard, on my first or second evening of attendance, a speech of great ability, from a man of great stature ; and I should have been assured it was my old schoolfellow I saw before me, but that I could not suppose it possible so dull a boy could have become so clever a man. He it was, however, and I renewed my friendly intercourse with him, botli at the society and in private. " Our chums were poor North, afterwards distinguished in Parliament and at the Irish Bar, who died at between forty and fifty ; and Henry, the younger son of the great Grattan. We afterwards sat altogether in the House of Commons, with some others of our fellow-academics, the two Grants and Spring Rice. Horner had been an academic, but he was before our time. Of late years, Buxton was chiefly resident in Norfolk, but our mutual goodwill continued to the last." From childhood the duty of active benevolence had been impressed on him by his mother, who used to set before him the idea of taking up some great cause by which he might promote the happiness of man. Upon settling in London he at once sought opportu- nities of usefulness, and in this pursuit he received great assistance from an acquaintance which ripened into friendship, with the Quaker philosopher and phi- lanthropist, William Allen. This good man had long been engaged upon objects of enlightened benevolence, and by him Mr. Buxton was from time to time initiated into some of those questions, to which his after-life was devoted. One of the most important of these had already dawned upon him. He writes to Mrs. Buxton, Dec. 1808. " I have one reason for wishing to remain in town, which is, that I am going to become a member of a small society, 18071812. CORRESPONDENCE. 35 now instituting, for the purpose of calling the public inind to the bad effects and inefficiency of capital punishments." And at a subsequent period, he says " From the time of my connection with the Brewery in 1808 1816, I took a part in all the charitable objects of that distressed district, more especially those connected with education, the Bible Society, and the deep sufferings of the weavers." All these labours he shared with his brother-in-law, Mr. Samuel Hoare, of Harapstead, between whom and himself there existed then and through life, a friend- sin j> and close fellowship, far beyond what usually re- sults from such a connection. With them was also linked his own brother Charles, who was settled in London, and was the favourite companion of both. Although Mr. Buxton was a member of the Esta- blished Church, circumstances had cherished in him a strong attachment to the Society of Friends, and to tlu -ir silent mode of worship. He frequently spent the Sunday under the roof of Mr. and Mrs. Fry, at I'lashet in Essex; and even when at home, from the time of his marriage up to the year 1811, he generally attended a Friends' Meeting. In a letter written on Sunday Oct. 22d, 1809, he mentions that he had been reading the fifth chapter of St. Matthew, " as a subject for reflection at Meeting," and adds, " I think I almost always have a good meeting when I read before it, without any intermediate occupation of mind. It was a irivat pleasure to me to be able to engage myself so thoroughly when there, as I had begun to think that I was rather going back in that respect. The verse that principally led me on to a train of thought was that * Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of v 2 36 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. III. heaven.' This text is always very striking to me. It is so serious a thing to be only on a par with the generality of those you see around you. This evening I have been thinking what I can do for the poor this winter. I feel that I have as yet done far short of what I ought and what I wish to do." "Sept. 23. 1810. " I have passed a very quiet and industrious week, up early, breakfast at 8 o' clock, dinner near six, and the evenings to myself, which have been well employed over my favourite Blackstone. I read him till near ten last night, and then Jeremy Taylor till past eleven, and could hardly give him up, he was so very entertaining a companion. ******** -j^is morn i n g I went to Grace- church Street meeting. I was rather late, which made me feel hurried, and prevented my having sufficient time to my- self before meeting ; however, I had made a little use of my friend Jeremy at breakfast, and this and last night's read- ings gave me occupation for my thoughts. I saw William Allen, who wants me to call upon him to-morrow, as he says he has found a place for the school as suitable as if we were to build one. This, I know, will please you, but will alarm you also, lest we should forget the girls. " And now you will expect to hear something about my return. I must tell you that you cannot be in a greater hurry for me to come to Earlham than I am to get there ; for I do not think I have lately enjoyed any thing so much as the time I spent in that dear circle, and I hold it to be quite a treasure and a blessing to have such brothers and sisters ; I hope and believe, too, that it may be as useful as it is agreeable. Still I do not feel altogether confident that the stimulus which they have given me will be of any duration ; for it is not inducements to do our duty that we want these we have already in abundance. They are, indeed, so many and so various, that, if we were only as prudent and as rational with regard to our future state, as we are to our present, none would utterly want religion, but those who utterly wanted sense." 18071812. DEATH OF EDWARD BUXTON. 37 It has been mentioned that Mr. Buxton was the rld'-st of three sons. Edward North, the third bro- tluT, a wayward lad, had been sent to sea as a mid- shipman in an East Indiaman, commanded by his re- lative Captain Dumbleton ; but in his first voyage he left his ship and entered the king's service. From that time his family had received no tidings of him, and by degrees they became impressed with the painful conviction that he had died at sea. The suspense of five years was at last brought to an end, by the arrival of a letter to Mr. Buxton from one of his brother's shipmates, announcing that he had arrived in a dying state at Gosport, and was earnestly desirous to see some of his relations. He had been attacked by dysentery while on board ship at Bombay ; and, feel- ing that his days were numbered, he became intensely anxious to reach home once more. He hastened to England in the first ship by which he could obtain a passage ; and on his arrival at Gosport, was carried to Haslar Hospital, whence he despatched a letter to his mother. This letter was unfortunately delayed, in consequence of its having been directed to the house at Earl's Colne, which had been parted with some \vars before, and the unhappy youth he was only nineteen in the morbid state of his feelings, became so strongly impressed by a sense of his neglect in never having communicated with his friends, that he felt persuaded they would now refuse to acknowledge him. A second letter, in which he besought that some one of the family would consent to visit him on his drath-l.rd. reached Mr. Buxton, and in two hours he and his brother Charles were on the road to Gosport, 38 DEATH OF EDWARD BUXTON. CHAP. III. which they reached on the following morning. With mingled emotions of hope and fear they set out for the Hospital. Having been directed to a large ward full of the sick and dying, they walked through the room without being able to discover the object of their search ; till at length, they were struck by the earnestness with which an emaciated youth upon one of the sick beds was gazing at them. On their ap- proaching his bedside, although he could scarcely articulate a word, his face was lit up with an expres- sion of delight that sufficiently showed that he recog- nised them : but it was not for some moments that they could trace in his haggard features the lineaments of their long-lost brother. A few days afterwards Mr. Buxton writes "Gosport, August 10. 1811. " It is pleasant to be with Edward, he seems so happy in the idea of having his friends about him. This morning I thought him strong enough to hear part of a chapter in St. Luke on prayer, and the 20th Psalm. Charles then went away, and I mentioned to him how applicable some of the passages were to his state ; he said, he felt them so, and that he had been very unfortunate in having been on board ship where religion is so neglected ; that he had procured a Bible, and one of his friends had sometimes read to him, but not so often as he wished. That he had hoped and prayed that he might reach England, more that he might confess his sins to me than for any other reason; that, supposing at length that there was next to no chance of this, he had dictated a letter to me upon the subject, which is now in his box. When I told him, that as his illness had brought him into such a frame of mind, it was impossible for me to regret it, let the event be what it would, he said he considered it as a mercy now, but that nobody could tell what his sufferings 18071812. DEATH OF EDWARD BUXTON. 39 h;ul been. I then entered into a kind of short history of what I considered to be inculcated in the Testament * that Christ came to call sinners to repentance.' He felt consolation from this ; but again said, that he had been indeed a sinner. I then told him that I hoped he did not ever omit to pray tin- assistance, and I added that Charles and I had joined in prayer for him last night. He seemed so much affected by this, that I did not think it right to press the conversation i art her. Does not all this furnish a striking proof how our sorrows may be converted into joys ? I can look upon his illness in no other light than as a most merciful dispensation. It is most aflfectingly delightful to see his lowliness of mind, ami his gratitude to all of us. I cannot help thinking that his mind is more changed than his body." The young midshipman survived about a fortnight after his brothers reached him. He had the comfort, so earnestly desired, of being nursed by his mother, and of seeing once more his whole family. His sister Sarah, in describing the solemn, and yet peaceful, meeting round the death -bed of the returned wanderer, thus mentions her eldest brother : " Fowell, the head of our family, is a strong support ; and when religious consolation was so much wanted, he seemed most ready to afford it. The power of his influence we deeply felt : it was by far the most striking feature in the past remarkable month." Kdward North Buxton died on the 26th of August, 1811, and was buried in the cemetery of Haslar hospital. In 1811, Mr. Buxton was admitted as a partner in the Brewery ; and during the ensuing seven years, he was almost exclusively devoted to his business. Soon after his admission, his senior partners, struck by his energy and force of mind, placed in his hunds i. 4 40 EXERTIONS IN THE BREWERY. CHAP. III. the difficult and responsible task of remodelling their whole system of management. It would be super- fluous to enter into the details of his proceedings, though, perhaps, he never displayed greater vigour and firmness than in carrying through this under- taking. For two or three years he was occupied from morning till night, in prosecuting, step by step, his plans of reform : a single example may indicate with what spirit he grappled with the difficulties that beset him on all sides. One of the principal clerks was an honest man, and a valuable servant ; but he was wedded to the old system, and viewed with great antipathy the new partner's proposed innovations. At length, on one occasion, he went so far as to thwart Mr. Buxton's plans. The latter took no notice of this at the time, except desiring him to attend in the counting-house at 6 o' clock the next morning. Mr. Buxton met him there at the appointed hour ; and, without any expostulation, or a single angry word, desired him to produce his books, as he meant for the future to undertake the charge of them himself, in addition to his other duties. Amazed at this unexpected de- cision, the clerk yielded entirely ; he promised com- plete submission for the future ; he made his wife intercede for him ; and Mr. Buxton, who valued his character and services, was at length induced to restore him to his place. They afterwards became very good friends, and the salutary effect of the changes introduced by Mr. Buxton was at length admitted by his leading opponent ; nor, except in one instance, did he ever contend against them again. 18071812. EXERTIONS IN THE BREWERY. 41 On that occasion, Mr. Buxton merely sent him a mes- sage " that he had better meet him in the counting- house, at 6 o'clock the next morning." The book- keeper's opposition was heard of no more. The success which crowned Mr. Buxton's exertions in business materially paved his way to public life. He was gradually relieved from the necessity of at- tending, in person, to the details of its management, but continued to take a part in the general super- intendence of the concern. 42 CHAP. IV. CHAPTER IV. 18121816. FIRST SPEECH IN PUBLIC. THE REV. JOSIAII PRATT. INCREASING REGARD TO RELIGION. DANGEROUS ILLNESS. ITS EFFECT ON HIS MIND. SETTLES AT HAMPSTEAD. DIS- APPOINTMENTS AND ANXIETIES. REFLECTIONS. NARROW ESCAPE. LETTER TO MR. J. J. GURNET. MR.BUXTON was, of course, closely bound to his London avocations ; but almost every Autumn he spent some weeks at Earlham, enjoying the recreation of shooting, in company with Mr. Samuel Hoare. It was during one of these visits, that he first addressed a public meeting. His brother-in-law, Mr. Joseph John Gurney, in September, 1812, insisted that for once he should leave his sport, and give his aid in the second meeting of the Norwich Auxiliary Bible Society, at which Mr. Coke and other county gentle- men were present. His speech on that occasion is thus alluded to by Mr. J. J. Gurney. * " There are many who can still remember the remarkable effect produced, in one of the earliest public meetings of the Norfolk and Norwich Auxiliary Bible Society, more than thirty years ago, by one of his speeches, distinguished for its acuteness and good sense, as well as for the Christian * " Brief Memoir." Fletcher, 1845. 1812 181G. THE REV. JOSIAII PRATT. 43 temper in which it was delivered. His commanding person*, hia benevolent and highly intellectual expression of counte- nance, his full-toned voice, together with his manly yet ]>l:iyful eloquence, electrified the assembly, and many were those on that day who rejoiced that so noble and just a cause had obtained so strenuous and able an advocate." Some indications have been already given of the increasing power of religious principle in Mr. Buxton's mind ; but he had not yet been fully brought under its influence, nor had he acquired clear views as to some of the fundamental truths of Christianity. In 1811, he was induced by the advice of his friend the Rev. Robert Hankinson, to attend the ministry of the Rev. Josiah Pratt, in Wheeler Chapel, Spitalfields : and to the preaching of that excellent clergyman he attributed, with the liveliest gratitude, his first real acquaintance with the doctrines of Christianity. He himself says "It was much and of vast moment that I there learned from Mr. Pratt." He wrote to Mr. Pratt thirty years afterwards, " Whatever I have done in my life for Africa, the seeds of it were sown in my heart, in Wheeler Street Chapel." His mind, ever disposed (in Bacon's words) to " prefer things of substance, before things of show " with a strong love for truth, and susceptible of deep fed ing afforded, perhaps, a fit soil for the recep- tion of those truths, which at length struck deep root there. On the other hand, he regarded his tendency to become wholly absorbed in the work before him as * Mr. Huxton was upwards of six feet four inches in height ; but liis j.uwirful frame and broad chest rendered his height less ap- parent. 44 INCREASING REGARD TO RELIGION. CHAP. IV. a great bar to his progress in higher things. Thus he writes to one of his relatives at Earlhara : "Hampstead, March 21. 1812. " I had determined, before I received your last letter, to thank you, dear C , myself, for much pleasure, and I think a little profit (much less than it ought to have been), in observing the progress of your mind. It does indeed give me real joy to see you and others of your family striving in your race with such full purpose of heart ; and the further I feel left behind the more I feel engaged in other pursuits so much the more I admire and love the excellence, which I hardly endeavour to reach : and so much the more I perceive the infinite superiority of your objects over mine. " When I contrast your pursuits with my pursuits, and your life with my life, I always feel the comparison a wholesome and a humiliating lesson, and it makes me see the ends for which I labour in their proper light ; and my heart is ready to confess, that ' Thou hast chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from thee.' How is it then, with this contrast constantly staring me in the face whenever I think seriously, that it has no effect, or next to none, on my practice ? I see the excellence of the walk you have chosen, and the madness of dedicating myself to any thing, but to the preparation of that journey which I must so shortly take. I know, that if success shall crown all my projects, I shall gain that which will never satisfy me, ' that which is not bread.' I know the poverty of our most darling schemes the meanness of our most delicious prospects the tran- sitoriness of our most durable possessions when weighed against that fulness of joy and eternity of bliss which are the reward of those who seek them aright. All this I see with the utmost certainty that two and two make four is not clearer ; and how is it, then, that with these speculative opinions, my practical ones are so entirely different ? I am irritable about trifles, eager after pleasures, and anxious about business : various objects of this kind engross my attention at all times ; they pursue me even to Meeting and to Church, 18121816. DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 45 and seem to grudge the few moments which are devoted to lii^licr considerations, and strive to bring back to the temple of the Lord the sellers, and the buyers, and the money- el laugers. My reason tells me, that these things are utterly indifferent ; but my practice says, that they only are worthy of thought and attention. My practice says, * Thou art increased with goods, and hast need of nothing;' but my reason teaches me, * Thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' "I have in this letter divulged the train of thinking which is constantly recurring to my mind If I have said too much in any part of this letter, I am sure I do not go beyond the truth in saying, that hardly any thing comes so near my heart, as my love for my sweet sisters." The period had now arrived, from which may be dated that ascendancy of religion over his mind which gave shape and colouring to the whole of his alter life. In the commencement of the year 1813, he was visited by an illness which brought him to the brink of the grave. How momentous an era he felt this to have been, we may learn from the following paper, written after his recovery : "Feb. 7. 1813. " After so severe an illness as that with which I have lati-ly been visited, it may be advantageous to record the most material circumstances attendant upon it. May my bodily weakness, and the suddenness with which it came, n mind me of the uncertainty of life ; and may the great and immediate mercy, bestowed upon me spiritually, be a con- tinual memorial, that 'the Lord is full of compassion, and long suffering,' and ' a very present help in trouble ! ' " I was seized with a bilious fever, in January. When I fir>t felt myself unwell, I prayed that I might have a dan- gerous illness, provided that illness might bring me nearer to 46 DANGEROUS ILLNESS. CHAP. IV. my God. I gradually grew worse ; and when the disorder had assumed an appearance very alarming to those about me, I spent nearly an hour in most fervent prayer. I have been, for some years, perplexed with doubts ; I do not know if they did not arise more from the fear of doubting, than from any other cause. The object of my prayer was, that this perplexity might be removed ; and the next day, when I set about examining my mind, I found that it was entirely removed, and that it was replaced by a degree of certain conviction, totally different from any thing I had before experienced. It would be difficult to express the satisfaction and joy which I derived from this alteration. ' Now know I that my Redeemer liveth ' was the sentiment uppermost in my mind, and in the merits of that Redeemer I felt a confi- dence that made me look on the prospect of death with per- fect indifference. No one action of my life presented itself with any sort of consolation. I knew that by myself I stood justly condemned ; but I felt released from the penalties of sin, by the blood of our sacrifice. In Him was all my trust. " My dear wife gave me great pleasure by repeating this text * This is a faithful saying and worthy of all accepta- tion, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' Once or twice only I felt some doubt whether I did not deceive myself, arguing in this manner : * How is it, that I, who have passed so unguarded a life, and who have to lament so many sins, and especially so much carelessness in religion how is it that I feel at once satisfied and secure in the acceptance of my Saviour ? ' But I soon was led to better thoughts. Canst thou pretend to limit the mercies of the Most High ? * His thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor his ways as our ways.' He giveth to the labourer of an hour as much as to him who has borne the heat of the day. These were my reflections, and they made me easy." When the medical gentleman who attended him, observed that he must be in low spirits, " Very far from it," he replied : " I feel a joyfulness at heart which would enable me to go through any pain." " From faith 18121816. ITS EFFECT ON HIS MIND. 47 in Christ ?" he was asked. " Yes, from faith in Christ " was his reply ; and, mentioning the clear view he now had of Christ being his Redeemer, he said, " It is an inexpressible favour, beyond my deserts. What have I done all my life long ? Nothing, nothing, that did God service, and for me to have such mercy shown ! My hope," he added, " is to be received as one of Christ's flock, to enter heaven as a little child." And a day or two afterwards he said, " I shall never again pass negligently over that passage in the Prayer Book, 1 We bless thee ... for thine inestimable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ ; ' ' and he broke forth into thanksgiving for the mercy, the unbounded, the unmerited love," displayed towards him, in having the Christian doctrine brought home to his heart. Again and again he declared how glad and thankful he was for his illness, and, at the same time, how anxious he felt lest the impression it had made upon him should become effaced. After his recovery he thus writes to Earlham. " Perhaps you might think that your letters were not suf- ficiently valued by me if they remained unnoticed; they were both truly welcome, especially where they described your feelings, at the prospect of the termination (I earnestly hope only the earthly termination) of our long and faithful union. My wife tells me that she said in her letter, that I mentioned you all in my illness. This was but a languid description of the extent and force of love I felt towards you, :ui\vn. When I got into Hampstead, I saw Prince covered with mud, and running furiously, and biting at every thing. I -aw him bite at least a dozen dogs, two boys, and a man. " Of course I was exceedingly alarmed, being persuaded he was mad. I tried every effort to stop him or kill him, or to drive him into some outhouse, but in vain. At last he sprang up at a lxy, and seized him by the breast; happily I was near him, and knocked him off with my whip. He then set oh" towards London, and I rode by his side, waiting for some opportunity of stopping him. I continually spoke to him, but he paid no regard t<> coaxing or scolding. You may suppose I \va> seriously alarmed, dreading the immense mischief he might do, having seen him do so much in the few preceding 58 ADVENTUEE WITH A MAD DOG. CHAP. V. minutes. I was terrified at the idea of his getting into Camden Town and London, and at length considering that if ever there was an occasion that justified a risk of life, this was it, I determined to catch him myself. Happily he ran up to Pryor's gate, and I threw myself from my horse upon him, and caught him by the neck : he bit at me and struggled, but without effect, and I succeeded in securing him, without his biting me. He died yesterday, raving mad. " Was there ever a more merciful escape ? Think of the children being gone I I feel it most seriously, but I cannot now write more fully. I have not been at all nervous about it, tho' certainly rather low, occasioned partly by this, and partly by some other things. " I do not feel much fit for our Bible meeting on Wednesday but I must exert myself. " P. S. Write me word whether Fowell has any wound on his fingers, and if he has one made by the dog, let it be cut out immediately ; mind, these are my positive orders." He afterwards mentioned some particulars which he had omitted in this hurried letter. " When I seized the dog," he said, " his struggles were so desperate that it seemed at first almost impossible to hold him, till I lifted him up in the air, when he was more easily managed, and I contrived to ring the bell. I was afraid that the foam, which was pouring from his mouth in his furious efforts to bite me, might get into some scratch, and do rne injury ; so with great difficulty, I held him with one hand, while I put the other into my pocket and forced on my glove ; then I did the same with my other hand, and at last the gardener opened the door, saying, ' What do you want ? ' ' I've brought you a mad dog,' replied I ; and telling him to get a strong chain, I walked into the yard, carrying the dog by his neck. I was determined not to kill him, as I thought if he should prove not to be mad, it would be such a satis- faction to the three persons whom he had bitten. I made the gardener (who was in a terrible fright) secure the collar round his neck and fix the other end of the chain to a tree, and then 1816, 1817. ADVKMLKK WITH A MAD DOG. 59 walking to its furthest range, with all my force, which was nearly exhausted by his frantic struggles, I flung him away i 101 u ni'\ and sprang back. He made a desperate bound after me, but finding himself foiled, he uttered the most fearful yell I ever heard. All that day he did nothing but rush to and fro, champing the foam which gushed from his ja\v> ; AVC threw him meat, and he snatched at it with fury, but instantly dropped it again. " The next day when I went to see him, I thought the chain seemed worn, so I pinned him to the ground between the prongs of a pitchfork, and then fixed a much larger chain round his neck ; when I pulled off the fork, he sprang up and made a dash at me, which snapped the old chain in two ! He died in forty-eight hours from the time he went mad." Mr. Buxton writes to his wife a day or two after- wards, " I shot all the dogs, and drowned all the cats. The man and boys who were bit, are doing pretty well. Their wounds were immediately attended to, cut, and burnt out. " What a terrible business it was. You must not scold me for the risk I ran ; what I did I did from a conviction that it was my duty, and I never can think that an over- cautious care of self in circumstances where your risk may rve others, is so great a virtue as you seem to think it. I do believe that if I had shrunk from the danger, and others had suffered in consequence, I should have felt more pain, than I should have done, had I received a bite." The winter of 1816 set in early, and with great srYfritv; the silk trade was almost stagnant, and the weavers in Spitalfields, always trembling on the brink of starvation, were plunged into the deepest mi<:Tv. It was increased by the constant influx into the parish, of the poorest class of London work pro|.le, who could find no lodging elsewhere. A 60 DISTRESS IN SPITALFIELDS. CHAP. V. soup society had been long before established, but the distress far exceeded the means provided for its alleviation. Under these circumstances it was de- termined to hold a meeting on the subject at the Mansion House. Mr. Buxton and Mr. Samuel Hoare delayed their usual visit to Norfolk, in order to ex- plore, and assist in relieving, the sufferings of the Spitalfields poor. To Mrs. Buxton, at Earlham. "Spitalfields, Nov. 9-1816. " * * * S. Hoare and I came from Hampstead to attend a committee this morning, and afterwards visited the poor. The wretchedness was great indeed, but I felt most compassion for a poor old creature of eighty, living alone without a fire or blanket. She seemed quite bewildered by the sight of silver ; her twilight of intellect lost in gratitude and amazement. Poor old thing! that she, with all the infirmities of age, and without one earthly consolation, should look upon the prospect of a good meal as a cause of extravagant joy, and real happiness, and that we, with the command of every comfort, in full strength, without a bodily want, should ever repine at trifling discomfitures, is, I hope, a lesson. We are going to have a public meeting, and I trust a profitable one, for without a large supply of money we must suspend our operations. George Kett sent me 507. to-day." " Spitalfields, Nov. 22. 1816. " I did not write to you yesterday because really I had not a moment's time; the committees and my own business occupy every moment. I had a pleasant journey up to town. I had much upon my mind, our conversation about the eclipse. The vastness of the creation is indeed a subject for meditation. ' The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.' 'When I consider the stars which thou hast made, and the heavens which are the 1816, 1817. MB. BUXTON'S SPEECH. 61 work of thy hands, what is man that thou art mindful of him ? ' How truly do these words describe the thoughts to which the vast spectacle of nature, especially the heavenly bodies, rolling in their appointed orbits, give rise. What a sermon these are upon the mightiness of the Creator, and Upon the insignificance of man : and yet that we, who arc truly dust and nothingness, should have the presumption to defy the power of the Almighty, to resist his commands, and to place our whole souls and hearts upon that which he tells us is but vanity ; this is (if nothing else were) a demon- stration that the heart of man is ' deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.' On the other hand, that a Being so infinitely great should condescend to invite us to our duty, and to call that duty his service, proves as strongly that he has crowned us with loving kindness and tender mercy. " I am well, and our proceedings about the poor, prosper ; - but oh, my speech ! When shall I be able to think of it ? I fear that I shall go to the meeting with it all in a jumble, ami this would be wicked, as it would injure the good cause. I do try, I hope, not to mingle too much of self, in my earnest desires for its success, and I am not forgetful of my usual resource in difficulty prayer. " I am now going to the workhouse. I shall reach Earlham on Tuesday ; S. Hoare and Abraham Plaistow will be with me, and I hope the latter will be treated with deserved dis- tinction, as he was for the first twelve years of my life the dearest friend I had." "Nov. 27. 1816. " Well, our meeting went off capitally. I felt very flat, ami did not go through the topics I meant to touch upon, and upon the whole, considered it as a kind of failure ; but as I hal entreated that what was best might be done, I did not feel at all di.-lirartened, but to my great surprise, all others took a very different sense of it. " Tell dear Priscy I send her the ' Morning Chronicle,' that r-lic may ivad papa's speech, and I hope it will make her th'T, I may assist in checking and diminishing crime and its consequent misery. Surely it is in the power of all to do something in the service of their Master; and surely I among the rest, if I were now to begin and endeavour, to the best of my capacity, to serve Him, might be the means of good to some of my fellow-creatures. This capacity is, I feel, no mean talent, and attended with no inconsiderable responsibility. I must pray that I may at length stir my self up, and be enabled to feel somewhat of the real spirit of a missionary, and that I may devote myself, my influence, my time, and above all, my affections, to the honour of God, and the happiness of mat. 1 . My mission is evidently not abroad, but it is not less a mission on that account. I feel that I may journey through life by two very different paths, and that the time is now come for choosing which I will pursue. I may go on, as I have been going on, not absolutely forgetful of futurity, nor absolutely devoted to it. I may get riches and repute, and gratify my ambition, and do some good and more evil; and, at 1 "iigth, I shall find all my time on earth expended, and in retracing my life I shall see little but occasions lost, and ca- pabilities misapplied. The other is a path of more labour and le.-s indulgence. I may become a real soldier of Christ ; I may feel that I have no business on earth but to do his will and to walk in his ways, and I may direct every energy I have to the service of others. Of these paths, I know which I would most gladly choose : * but what I would, that I do not ; but what I hate, that do I.' " He now began to entertain thoughts of entering hi Hi aim 'lit, and at the election of February, 1817, he went down to Weymouth, at the invitation of Mr. \V. "Williams, to stand on the same interest. He did not, however, ofter himself MS a candidate. F 66 HIS BROTHER CHARLES. CHAP. V. " Weymouth, February, 1817- " I am far from regretting that I came, as I do not doubt it will secure me an independent seat next election. That word 'independence,' has been the obstacle upon this occasion, and I hope to spend the next two years in prepara- tion for the House. I hope I shall either do good, or receive pleasure, when I get there. As yet, I have had in politics neither one nor the other. I am pining for home : nothing suits me worse than this kind of busy leisure." Soon after his return home, he became absorbed in anxiety about his brother Charles, who had shown symptoms of a decline, which at length proved fatal. A more grievous calamity could scarcely have befallen Mr. Buxton. Though their characters stood far apart, the two brothers had some points of strong and endearing resemblance. The lively gladness of heart which threw a constant sunshine over the conversation of the younger, would often relax the graver brow of the elder brother ; and, indeed, though the pressure of care and business gave Mr. Buxtori an habitually grave aspect, and though it was a part of his character to be so absorbed by the pursuit he had in hand, as to appear absent ; yet there was in him throughout life a vein of playfulness which showed itself often when least expected. Even when he himself was somewhat silent and oppressed, he courted the cheerfulness of others, and delighted in it. But the friend that could best enliven him was lost when his brother sunk into the grave. His affliction was profound, but he knew whence to draw consolation. He writes, July, 1817, "If we only consider the loss we have sustained, we must go mourning all the day long ; if we consider the gain to him, 1816, 1817. HIS GRIEF FOR HIS BROTHER. 67 it extracts the anguish from the wound. I cannot help fol- lowing him in his present state. He, with whose views and prospects, and feelings and joys, I have till within a few been so conversant, is now in a scene so new, so grand, so inexpressible, so infinitely beyond the rags and vanities of earth. I do not expect to feel Charles's funeral much," In- says in another letter ; " I have dwelt so much upon him as ascended to heaven, that I cannot, or rather do not, so very closely connect the idea of him and his remains. I mean, in committing them to the earth, I do not feel as if I were committing him there." Twenty years afterwards, in reviewing the leading occurrences of his life, he thus refers to this event : " I know of no tie (that of husband and wife excepted) which could be stronger than the one which united Charles and me. We were what the lawyers call ' tenants in common ' of every thing. He was, I think, the most agree- able person I ever knew. A kind of original humour played about his conversation. It was not wit; it was anything rather than that species of humour which provokes loud laughter, it was not exactly naivete*, though that comes nearest to it; it was an intellectual playfulness which pro- vided for every hour, and extracted from every incident a fund of delicate merriment. He died at Weymouth in the \n for rejoicing. Seeing the natives, is an antidote to the pleasure of destroying them. If it be our duty to love our enemies, the military preparations are an extraordinary mode of displaying our affection. In truth it is a sad thing, that Straits interposed Make enemies of nations, which had else, Like kindred drops, been melted into one.' " "November 11. " We went to Versailles to breakfast. Almost every bush has its statue. The fauns, tritons, Neptunes, heroes, Venus'ses, Dianas, mixed with the statues of Louis le Grand and Louis le Desir6 (whose features defy all meaning), present an assemblage of fiction and fact, much to the advantage of the former. " After visiting Versailles, we went to St. Cloud. This is a \vry comfortable and splendid abode, the furniture very beautiful and costly, and as much surpassing Versailles in cheerfulness, as falling short of it in melancholy grandeur. It is the second record of departed glory which we have seen to day : the third comes more home to our hearts. We this ni^ht, on our arrival at Paris, heard of the death of our T 3 70 VISIT TO THE CONTINENT. CHAP. V. Princess. We have all felt it, as if she were bound to our- selves by the ties of kindred. "Nov. 12. We went to the Palace of the Luxemburg, and there saw Talleyrand ; a bishop in the reign of the King, an abjurer of Christianity when reason was deified, prime minister of Buonaparte till his Spanish expedition, one of the first to betray him, on his return offering his insidious assistance again to betray him, and now in full power ! " 15th. Went to the Legislative Assembly, and saw the rooms for the Peers. Wonderfully smart, too much so. Very different indeed are both these chambers from the negligent grandeur of the British Parliament." " November 16. " Francis Cunningham and I went to various persons, for the purpose of establishing a Bible Society. We found only M. Juillerat at home, with whom we had some encouraging conversation. His description of the state of religion in the country is truly deplorable. The Protestants are sadly in- different, and the Catholics are either quite philosophically careless, or thoroughly bigoted. " Baxter says, in his Life, something of this kind : *I did not know till now what a great sin tyranny is, which thus prevents the propagation of the Gospel ; ' and the difficulties we have this day felt in the establishment of the Bible Society from the restraints of Government, have united me in the same feeling. "Went again to the Louvre, and greatly admired the Italian paintings ; and, particularly, some of Claude's. I cannot like Rubens' great, sprawling, allegorical Deities." His diary contains very full particulars relative to those prisons at Ghent and Antwerp, which it was one purpose of his journey to examine. He was especially struck with the admirable management of the Maison de Force, in the former town, and he determined to lay his account of it before the Prison Discipline Society in London. 1816, 1817. DESPOTISM OF NAPOLEON. 71 He mentions having been told at Ghent, that when lUionaparte was emperor, he demanded of the Roman ( at holic College an approbation of his marriage with Maria Louisa, which they steadily refused. Soon after, he sent them a bishop who was not properly ordained by the Pope, and they refused to obey him. On this he ordered a detachment of soldiers to sur- round the college, and to take every priest and student. He then sent them all off to his armies as soldiers ; and of 330 thus sent, but fifteen returned alive! " Sunday, Calais. " Here we arrived at ten o'clock this morning, being com- pelled by the regulations of the fortified towns to travel some di.-tunce on this day. We regret this, as we would not willingly lend even our feeble countenance to the violation of the Sabbath, which this country everywhere presents. " We all felt grateful for the encouraging intelligence, that a Bible Society had been formed in Paris. I ardently hope that it may be the means of much direct good by the cir- eulation of the Scriptures, and of much indirect good, by eau.-ing intercourse between the Protestants of France and England. France, indeed, needs every thing that can be done for her religious welfare. Religion is, as it were, almost abolished. I speak generally, but I trust, and indeed I am laded, that this generality admits of very many excep- tions ; but, altogether, there is little appearance of religion. The ainu.-i mrnt.s and businesses of the Sunday, the utter absence of the Scriptures, the perpetual reiteration of 'Muii Dieu ' in every sentence, the indifference as to truth; in short, all that strikes the eye and the ear, in- dicates the absence of any spiritual understanding." rpmi Mr. Buxton's return to England, he commu- nicated to the Prison l)i>cipline Society the inform- ation which he had acquired with respect to the r 4 72 VISITS TO PRISONS. CHAP. V. Maison de Force at Ghent, and this led to a request from the committee that his description of it might be published. " When I sat down to this task," he says, in the preface to his book, " the work insensibly grew upon my hands. It was necessary to prove that evils and grievances did exist in this country, and to bring home to these causes the increase of corruption and depravity. For this purpose repeated visits to prisons were requisite." Accordingly, accompanied by Mr. Hoare, Mr. William Crawford, and others, he visited, at different times, the principal London jails, and examined with the utmost care into every part of the system pursued in them. To the Rev. Francis Cunningham. "December, 1817- " Since my return I have been much engaged in the London prisons, and my inquiries have developed a system of folly and wickedness which surpasses belief. A noise must be made about it, and (will you believe it ? ) I am going to turn author, and am preparing a pamphlet upon the sub- ject of prisons. " The recollection of our journey acquires new charms in my eyes, and I heartily rejoice we were induced to take it. " Tell C that if the result should in any way diminish the quantum of misery that is endured, and of vice which is hatched in our prisons, if it should be the means of encou- raging the Protestant ministers of France, and of dispersing the Bible through its forlorn population, I shall think we were almost repaid for the terrible, monstrous, shocking dangers we incurred, when exposed to all the horrors of a calm. " Can you give Major Close the name of the regiment at Mount Cassel which had no Bibles ? If so, they will be immediately supplied." 1816, 1817. LETTERS AND REFLECTIONS. 73 He closed the year 1817 with the following reflec- tions in his diary : " This year has been chequered with events of deep in- terest, some joyful, and some dressed in the darkest sable. But how encouraging is it to be able to recognize in all, and especially in the mournful circumstances of the year, the hand of a merciful Providence ! This day last year I spent with my beloved brother; together we went to our usual place of worship, to hear our (especially his) beloved minister*, and together we wandered through the future. ' But God has hid from human eyes The dark decrees of Fate.' " Soon after my return from Weymouth began the heaviest affliction of my life the illness, the gradual and perceptible decay, alas ! the death, of my dearest brother. No day passes in which something or other does not recall his beloved i maire, his lively manners, his unity of heart. I trust that frw days pass in which I forget to thank God for this dispen- sation, and to rejoice that he has, as I doubt not he has, 'for tliH corruptible put on incorruption.' " His widow and her three children have been staying with us for some time, much to my comfort, and, I hope, somewhat to hers. I have read and heard of acts of faithful affection; but I never heard, or read, or saw anything to compare with the affection, kindness, attention, and generosity displayed by S. Hoare to her. " On Saturday last, in consequence of an almost obsolete promise to sleep in town when all the other partners were absent, I slept at Brick Lane. S. Hoare had complained to me that several of our men were employed on the Sunday. To inquire into this, in the morning I went into the brew- house, and was led to the examination of a vat containing 17H t<.n-\vfight of beer. I found it in what 1 considered a dangerous situation, and I intended to have it repaired the * The Rev. Josiah Pratt. 74 INCIDENT AT THE BREWERY. CHAP. V. next morning. I did not anticipate any immediate danger, as it had stood so long. When I got to Wheeler Street Chapel, I did as I usually do in cases of difficulty, I craved the direction of my heavenly Friend, who will give rest to the burthened, and instruction to the ignorant. " From that moment I became very uneasy, and instead of proceeding to Hampstead, as I had intended, I returned to Brick Lane. On examination I saw, or thought I saw, a still further declension of the iron pillars which supported this immense weight ; so I sent for a surveyor ; but before he came, I became apprehensive of immediate danger, and ordered the beer, though in a state of fermentation, to be let out. When he arrived, he gave it as his decided opinion that the vat was actually sinking, that it was not secure for five minutes, and that if we had not emptied it, it would pro- bably have fallen. Its fall would have knocked down our steam-engine, coppers, roof, with two great iron reservoirs full of water, in fact the whole brewery. " How the new year may pass, who can tell ? I may not see the end of it ; but these are the active objects I propose for myself: To write a pamphlet on Prison Discipline. To establish a Savings Bank in Spitalfields. To recommence the sale of salt fish in Spitalfields. To attend to the London Hospital, and to endeavour to make the clergyman perform his duties, or to get him superseded. To establish a new Bible Association. " May the grace of God assist me in these objects ; may He sanctify my motives, and guard me from pride, and may I use my utmost exertions, making His will mine." In February of the ensuing year he published his work entitled " An Inquiry whether Crime be pro- duced or prevented by our present System of Prison Discipline." It was received with a degree of atten- tion to which he had never aspired, running through 1816, 1817. WORK ON PRISON DISCIPLINE. 75 six editions in the course of the first year; and a very considerable impulse was given to general feel- ing upon the subject of which it treated. The work was thus alluded to in the House of Commons by Sir James Mackintosh. " The question of our penal code, as relating to prison abuses, has been lately brought home to the feelings of every 111:111 in the country by a work so full of profound informa- tion, of such great ability, of such chaste and commanding eloquence, as to give that House and the country a firm assurance that its author could not embark in any under- taking which would not reflect equal credit upon himself and upon the object of his labours." Mr. \Vilberforce wrote to him on the same subject, and, after warmly congratulating him on the weight it appeared to carry, he adds, " May it please God to continue to animate you with as much benevolent zeal, and to direct it to worthy objects. I hope you will come soon into Parliament, and be able to contend in person, as well as with your pen, for the rights and happiness of the oppressed and the friendless. I claim you as an ally in this blessed league." The good effects of this book were not confined to England: it was translated into French, and dis- tributed on the Continent. It even reached Turkey ; and in India, a gentleman of the name of Blair, having chanced to read it, was induced to examine into the state of the Madras jails. He found them in a wretched condition, and did not rest till a complete reformation had been effected. CHAP. VI. CHAPTER VI. 1818, 1819. ELECTION, 1818. LETTER FROM MR. J. J. GURNET. THOUGHTS ON ENTERING PARLL4.MENT. DEBATE ON THE PETERLOO RIOT. BURDETT. CANNING. PLUNKETT. BROUGHAM. WILBERPORCE. LETTER TO MR. CHARLES BUXTON OF BELLFIELD. FIRST SPEECH, ON CRIMINAL LAW. COMMITTEES ON CRI- MINAL LAW AND PRISON DISCIPLINE. LETTERS. IN the spring of 1818, a dissolution of Parliament took place, and Mr. Buxton now offered himself as a candidate for Weymouth. While upon his canvass, he thus writes from Bellfield : " I am easy in my mind, leaving the event to Him who knows whether the busy engagements of a public life will draw me nearer to, or separate me further from Him ; and who also knows whether He chooses me as an instrument of good ; and if He does, He will bring the means used to a successful issue. ***** j nave p asse( j a verv leisure time since I came here. The Bible and Hudibras have been my chief subjects of study." Elections at this time presented very different scenes from what they now afford ; and, very fre- quently, the voters were anxious to decide the matter, as Irish counsel used to decide their causes, by fight- ing it out. This was so much the case at Wey- 1818, 1819. ELECTION OF 1818. 77 mouth, that Mr. Buxton was obliged to entreat his friends to use moderation towards their opponents. " Beat them," said he, " in vigour, beat them in the generous exercise of high principle, beat them in disdain of corruption, and the display of pure in- tegrity; but do not beat them with bludgeons." Four days before the election terminated, he writes : "June 26. 1818. " I am very nearly sick of the bustle, and ray expectations of success are considerably diminished this morning ; but this is only my own opinion. I am exceedingly popular with my party, except as to one point. We (that is the party, for I have had nothing to do with it) have made some most bitter attacks upon Sir for his conduct in Spain. But when I heard from a private friend of his, that he was quite sunk and wretched, I expressed in my speech yesterday the /' (ruth, will prevail over every obstruction. I consider this progress of the human mind perfectly safe, as lonjr as it takes its spring from the unchangeable and most liable principles of the Christian religion. I am sure that these principles must ever prevent, in those on whom they act, any steps towards wicked innovation and licentious change. But let us not admit any check to the progress of true light, whether moral, political, or religious ; and let us take esiK-M-ial can- to avoid the spirit of Toryism. I mean that spirit which bears the worst things with endless apathy, because thi-ij are old ; and with which reason and even hu- manity are nothing, and the authority of creatures, as fallible as ourselves, every thing." It will be remembered that at the commencement <>t' the year 1818, he had determined to carry out several plans for the benefit of the poor in Spitalfields, aii'l for other purposes of a similar character. In a paper written on New Year's day, 1819, he enters very fully into tin- details of his exertions on each of the live t:i-ks he had set himself, not one of which 80 THOUGHTS ON ENTERING PARLIAMENT. CHAP. VI. had been neglected. The first of them had been " to write a pamphlet on Prison Discipline," and after alluding to the unexpected success of his work on that subject, he adds, " It has excited a spirit of in- quiry on the subject, which I trust will do much good. I only hope that what has benefited others has not injured me. I cannot render myself insen- sible to the applause it has received. In my heart, however, I know that it is no work of mine, but that the Lord has been pleased, in great mercy, to make me one of his instruments in this work. Lord, I entreat thee, in this and in all things, to purify my motives, and to enable me to act as unto thee, and not unto man. Oh ! guard my heart from the delusions of vanity." The paper closes with the following reflections upon the burden of responsibility which he had lately undertaken. It is interesting to see in what spirit he entered that arena, on which he was for twenty years to fight the battle of the oppressed. " Now that I am a member of Parliament, I feel earnest for the honest, diligent, and conscientious discharge of the duty I have undertaken. My prayer is for the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, that, free from views of gain or popularity, that, careless of all things but fidelity to my trust, I may be enabled to do some good to my country, and some- thing for mankind, especially in their most important concerns. I feel the responsibility of the situation, and its many tempta- tions. On the other hand, I see the vast good which one indi- vidual may do. May God preserve me from the snares which may surround me ; keep me from the power of personal motives, from interest or passion, or prejudice or ambition, and so enlarge my heart to feel the sorrows of the wretched, the miserable condition of the guilty and the ignorant, that I 1819. DEBATE ON THE PETERLOO RIOT. 81 may 'never turn my face from any poor man;' and so enlighten my understanding, that I may be a capable and resolute champion, for those who want and deserve a friend." Mr. Buxton took his seat in the spring of 1819, and thus describes the first debate of importance at Avlrich he was present. Its subject was the conduct of the Manchester magistrates, on the occasion of the riot at Peterloo. To J. J. Gurney, Esq. " I must give you a line to tell you how things have gone on in the House. We have had a wonderful debate ; really it has raised my idea of the capacity and ingenuity of the human niiml. All the leaders spoke, and almost all outdid themselves. But Burdett stands first; his speech was absolutely the finest, and the clearest, and the fairest display of masterly understanding, that ever I heard ; and with shame I ought to confess it, he did not utter a sentence to which I could not agree. Canning was second ; if there be any diffe- rence between eloquence and sense, this was the difference In-twrrii him and Burdett. He was exquisitely elegant, and k* j>t the tide of reason and argument, irony, joke, invective, and declamation flowing, without abatement, for nearly three hours. Plunkett was third ; he took hold of poor Mackintosh's argument, and griped it to death ; ingenious, subtle, yet clear and bold, and putting with the most logical distinctness to tin I louse, the errors of his antagonist. Next came Brougham - and what do you think of a debate, in which the fourth man could keep alive the attention of the House from three to five in the morning, after a twelve hours' debate. Now, what was the impression made on my mind, you will ask. First, I voted with ministers, because I cannot bring myself to .-nliji-i-t tin- Manrlir-ii -r magistrates to a parliamentary inquiry ; but nothing has shaken my convictions that the ma;.ri~trati.-s ministers, and all, have done exceedingly wrong. G 82 MR. WILBERFORCE. CHAP. VI. I am clear I voted right ; and, indeed, I never need have any doubts when I vote with ministers, the bias being on the other side. Did the debate influence my ambition ? Why, in one sense, it did. It convinced me that I have the oppor- tunity of being a competitor on the greatest arena that ever existed ; but it also taught me that success in such a theatre is only for those who will devote their lives to it. Perhaps you will admire the presumption which entertains even the possibility of success. I am, I believe, rather absurd ; but I hold a doctrine, to which I owe not much, indeed, but all the little success I ever had, viz. that with ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable. And give me ten years in age, ten times my constitution, and oblivion of the truth which paralyses many an exertion of mine, that ' vanity of vanities, all is vanity,' and especially that fame is so, I say, give me these things, and I should not despair of parliamentary reputation; but to one who cannot bear fatigue of mind, who loves sporting better, who will not enlist under the banners of party, to such a being, fame is absolutely forbidden. I am well content ; I cannot expect the commodity, for which I will not pay the price. So far I scribbled yesterday, and then I went to the levee. * * The rooms were tolerably splendid ; but, upon the whole, I never was less attracted by any thing than courtiership, and would not be obliged to attend regularly for all the ribbons of all the colours of the rainbow. At dinner, afterwards, I had a great deal of conversation with the two giants, Denman, the attorney, and Copley, the solicitor general, and then I went home with Wilberforce, and spent a most pleasant evening. His family prayers were nothing short of de- lightful. I hope I shall see him a good deal while I am in town." To his Uncle, C. Buxton, Esq., at Bellfield. " I quite agree with you in reprobating the Radicals. I am persuaded, that their object is the subversion of religion and the constitution, and I shall be happy to vote for any measure 1819. LETTER TO HIS UNCLE. 83 by which the exertions of their leaders may be suppressed, but I fear we shall much differ as to the nature of those UK a-sures. I most strongly condemn the conduct of the magis- trates at Manchester, and I equally condemn the conduct of the ministers, in giving them public thanks; and I think in justice, as well as in common prudence, that wretched affair ought to be strictly scrutinised, and it will be very awkward if it should turn out that these magistrates, having been thanked, deserve to be punished. " You will believe that I did not pass over, without due attention, your remark ' I shall feel much disappointed and 'I if you do not exert yourself, and I am sure you will give great offence to most of your Wey mouth friends.' I think you must know how sincerely sorry I should be to vex at ul disappoint you, and I am not indifferent to the good-will of my Weymouth friends; but it would be the most con- ti inptible baseness in me, if I were to allow the fear of giving offence to operate on my conduct. ' When I entered Parliament, I determined to allow no personal consideration, of any description, to influence my votes ; and on this occasion I do hope I shall not shrink from doing my duty, whatever may be the point to which that duty apjKjars to lead." I pon first entering Parliament, his attention was cxd naively directed to the different forms of judicial puni>liment. In the beginning of 1819, he took part in two or three debates upon the subject of convict transport ships, the state of which was proved by Mr. Bennett and other members to be horrible in the last degree ; still the reformation of prisons was the subject nearest to his heart. To J. J. Gurney, Esq. "February 25. 181p. " Whin I la-it spoke (on the state of convict ships) there was no cry of question, but on the contrary, marked attention ; Q 2 84 SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. CHAP. VI. but alas! most undeserved, for, like a blockhead, I rose, having nothing to say, and without a moment's premeditation. This has mortified me, which proves that my motives are not purified from selfish desires of reputation ; and that all my anxiety is, not eagerness for the reform of prisons and the penal code, but, in truth, debased and alloyed by a desire for the reputation of T. F. B. I despise this vanity. On Monday next, comes on the question of prisons ; on Tuesday, the question of the penal code. On the latter, I shall speak with my arguments and facts clearly before me. If I then fail, the failure is final I may serve the cause as a labourer, but neither this, nor any other, as an advocate and we must be satisfied. I endeavour to divest my mind of too much care- fulness about the matter, persuaded that, whatever the event may be, that event is right both for me and for the cause." On the first of March, Lord Castlereagh's motion for a committee to inquire into the state of prison discipline, was carried, and on the next evening, a motion for a committee on the criminal law s, was made by Sir James Mackintosh, and seconded by Mr. Buxton, wbose speech met with success abundantly sufficient to dispel his fears of uselessness in the House of Commons. He began by demonstrating that the capital code then existing, was not a part of, but an innovation on, the ancient common law ; that, indeed, the greater part of these capital enactments had been made within the memory of man. " There are persons living," he said, " at whose birth the criminal code contained less tban sixty capital offences, arid who have seen that number quadrupled, who have seen an act pass, making offences capital by the dozen and by the score ; and wbat is worse, bundling up together offences, trivial and atrocious, some, nothing short of 1819. SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. 85 murder in malignity of intention, and others, nothing beyond a civil trespass, I say, bundling together this ill-sorted and incongruous package, and stamping upon it ' death without benefit of clergy.' ' His speech, the chief merit of which lay in the lucid and logical arrangement of a large mass of facts, went to show that the law, by declaring that " certain crimes should be punished with death, had declared that they should not be punished at all. The bow had been bent, till it had snapped asunder. The acts which were intended to prevent evil, had proved acts of indemnity and free pardon to the fraudulent and the thief, and acts of ruin and de- struction to many a fair trader." To J. J. Gurney, Esq. " Brick Lane, March 4. 1819. " "Well, the effort is over. Last night came on the grand question. I spoke for nearly an hour. I was low and dis- piriu-d, and much tired (bodily) when I rose. I cannot say I pleased myself. I could not, at first, get that freedom of language, which is so essential, but I rose with the cheers of the House, and contrived to give much of what was on my mind. Every body seems to have taken a more favour- able opinion of the speech than I did. The facts were irre- /iMible; and, for fear of tiring my auditors, I confined myself principally to facts. You will see by the papers that \\t nhtained a victory. As for myself, I hope I did force my. -I'll' into Hunt-thing like indifference to my own success, provided the cause succeeded." At the close of the debate, many of the most dis- tinguished members of the House came up and introduced themselves to him ; Mr. Hoare sat under a 3 86 CHARACTER OF HIS SPEECHES. CHAP. VI. the gallery watching, with delight, the success of his friend. " I am sure," said he afterwards, " if I had been received in the House as he was, I should not have recovered from the elevating effect of it for twenty years." But the opinion of an impartial observer may be more valuable. Mr. W. Smith (M. P. for Norwich) writes to Mr. J. JVGurney " You will see the result of last night's debate by the papers. Buxton acquitted himself to universal satisfaction. The House is prepared to receive him with respect and kind- ness; and his sterling sense, his good language, and his earnest manner, fully keep up the prepossession in his favour, so that I recollect very few who have made their debut with so much real advantage, and seem so likely to maintain the station, thus early assumed." If we have dwelt at some length upon the success of this early effort in Parliament, it has not been from any wish to give his speeches more credit than they deserved. They had few pretensions to elo- quence; but were deeply stamped with his own character, which, as Mr. Wilberforce once remarked, was that of " a man who could hew a statue out of a rock, but not cut faces upon cherry stones." His speeches were not sparkling or splendid ; their end was utility ; their ornaments, clearness, force, and earnest feeling. He was not one of those orators, described by Lord Bacon, " that hunt more after words than matter, and more after the choiceness of the phrase, the sweet falling of the clauses, and the varying and illustration of their works with tropes and figures, than after the weight of matter, 1819. CHARACTER OF HIS SPEECHES. 87 worth of subject, or soundness of argument." He usually bestowed much care in preparation ; not in embellishing the style, but in bringing together sup- plies of facts, and marshalling them in one strong line of argument. Speaking, as he did, from the heart, and for the most part on subjects which ap- pealed to the feelings, as well as to the judgment, he sometimes rose into passages of impassioned de- clamation ; but the usual character of his oratory was the succinct and business-like statement of the matter in hand. In accordance with the motions on the 1st and 3rd of March, two select committees were appointed, in both of which Mr. Buxton was included. The one was to inquire into the feasability of mitigating the Penal Code, of which he writes, March llth, 1819 " I conjecture that no man on the committee goes so far as I go namely, to the abolition of the punishment of death, except for murder ; but all go a very great way, and if we merely make forgery, sheep and horse stealing, not capital, it is an annual saving of thirty lives, which is something, and satisfies me in devoting my time to the subject." The other committee was appointed to examine the state of jails throughout the kingdom ; and here we may briefly state the final result of the exertions made for the improvement of prison discipline. The committee published its first report in 1820, and the government was thereby induced to bring in a bill for consolidating and amending the prison laws then in existence. This bill was referred for revision to a select committee, of which Mr. Buxton was a member. a 4 88 PRISON BILL. CHAP. VI. " You will be delighted," he writes soon afterwards to a friend, " to hear that the Prison Bill is going on wonderfully well, beyond all expectation. I made a speech the first day, stating the principles on which I thought we ought to pro- ceed, and the committee have subsequently adopted almost all of them ; so that I do believe that this part of the business of my life will be done effectually." After much patient investigation, a bill was pre- pared by the committee, and immediately adopted by the two Houses of Parliament ; and thus the English jails, instead of remaining the nurseries and hot-beds of crime, the almost inevitable ruin of all who entered within their walls, have become, generally speaking, places where the improvement, as well as the punish- ment of the criminal is attempted. Perfection, of course, is not yet attained ; the new system has been of no avail in those prisons where exertions have not been used to enforce it : but no man can read the de- scriptions of the state of jails, from, twenty-five to thirty years ago, and compare them with those of the present day, without being astonished at the extent of the evil and of the reform. John Henry North, Esq. to T. Fowell Buxton, Esq. "Dublin, April 14. 18 lp. " During the whole of the last Circuit, which is just ter- minated, I was seized with an inexpressible longing to write you an interminable epistle, but the labours of Nisi Prius forbade, and, now that they are at an end, I have begun to think that, with the whole criminal law upon your hands, your Prisons, Penitentiaries, and ' Colony of Antipodes,' you will be better pleased to receive a moderate letter than one of overgrown dimensions. I hope I need not tell you with what exceeding pleasure I read your admirable book, or 1819. LETTERS. 89 how delighted I was with the praises that were every where IK -towed upon it. I had some satisfaction, too, in observing a tew little traits, by which the Author discovered himself to mo immediately. The zeal that your exertions have excited in this country, on the subject of prisons, is really surprising. We have now a society in Dublin, for the Improvement of Prison Discipline, of which I am an unworthy member. Here is a committee of ladies, who visit Bridewell in turns day, and who have, in a very short time, effected con- siderable improvement, and their example has been followed in <<>iue of our country towns. At the last Galway Assizes, Judge Johnson, in his charge to the Grand Jury, recom- mended this plan, and alluded to your book and Mrs. Fry's exertions, in terms of the highest approbation. It will gratify you to find that the seed which you have scattered has fallen upon good ground." Mr. Huxton replies. To J. H. North, Esq. "April 19. 1819. " A report has reached me that you are likely to get a -eat in Parliament. Is there a bit of truth in it? Is there the remotest probability of so joyful an event? Pray do not conceal it from me a moment, for I speak only truth, when I say it would materially add to my happiness. I have plenty of acquaintance, but hardly a familiar friend in the House, and this is a very needful thing. I much want some one with whom I can freely com- municate, and who would honestly tell me when I am right and when I am in error ; and I need not tell you how fully my wishes would be satisfied, if we were there together. IVrhap.- you will like to hear the impression the House makes uj>on me. I do not wonder that so many distinguished nit n have tailed in it. The speaking required is of a very peculiar kind: the House loves good sense and joking, and nothing else ; and the object of its utter aversion is that species of eloquence which may be called Philippian. There 90 MR. NORTH. CHAP. VI. are not three men from whom a fine simile or sentiment would be tolerated ; all attempts of the kind are punished with general laughter. An easy flow of sterling, forcible, plain sense, is indispensable ; and this, combined with great powers of sarcasm, gives Brougham his station. Canning is an exception to this rule. His reasoning is seldom above mediocrity; but then, it is recommended by language so wonderfully happy, by a manner so exquisitely elegant, and by wit so clear, so pungent, and so unpremeditated, that he contrives to beguile the House of its austerity. Tierney has never exerted himself much in my hearing. Wilberforce has more native eloquence than any of them, but he takes no pains, and allows himself to wander from his subject : he holds a very high rank in the estimation of the House. " And now let me tell you a secret ; these great creatures turn out, when viewed closely, to be but men, and men with whom you need not fear competition. I again, therefore, say * Come among us,' and I shall be greatly deceived if you do not hold a foremost place. " My line is distinctly drawn. I care but little about party politics. I vote as I like ; sometimes pro, and sometimes con ; but I feel the greatest interest on subjects such as the Slave Trade, the condition of the poor, prisons, and Criminal Law : to these I devote myself, and should be quite content never to give another vote upon a party question. I am upon the Jail and Criminal Law Committees, and devote three mornings in the week to one, and three to the other ; so I am con- tented, and feel as little inclination, as ability, to engage in political contentions. My body is strong enough, but any stress upon my mind, just now, deranges me instantly. ' Indo- lent vacuity of thought' is my only remedy ; but it is not a very convenient medicine for one who has such a multitude of engagements. How fares the law ? Is Ireland blessed with abundant litigation, or does poverty deny this, the chief of luxuries? " Never mind discouragements. If you live and labour, you must stand in the front of that society in which you may be placed, be it the Dublin Courts, or St. Stephen's. So I 1819. LETTER TO MRS. FORSTER. 91 have always thought and said, and so I still think and say. I wish you were with ud. I know you will be a Tory: you always were one in heart, and your wife will make you still worse : but we will contrive to agree together, for I am not a Whig. I am one of those amphibious nondescripts called Neutrals : but how can I be any thing else? I cannot recon- cile to myself the doctrine of going with a party right or wrong. I feel with you that my objects would prosper much better if I sat behind the Treasury Bench ; but then I must often vote against my convictions ; i. e. do wrong, that right may come, and I do not feel this to be my duty even for I'ri-ons and Criminal Law. Has Wyndhara Quin's business made much noise in Ireland ? It occupied about a week of our time, and the House were so amused, they would do nothing Smith's evidence was excellent, and true ; for Gould's there are more appropriate phrases. Plunkett made a speech which did not please the House: it was special pleading, which they hate." The following letter was addressed to his sister, Mrs. Forster, whose husband was preparing to go to America, on what the Society of Friends term " a re- ligious visit " to the members of their community. " My dear Sister, " Earlham, January, 1819. " Your letter has been much upon my mind, and has raised a variety of feelings. The first impression was one of much sorrow, that your plans and prospects of home happiness should be interrupted, and for so long a time ; but I must confess, I ha\e been speedily almost reconciled to it; that is, I have brought it home to my own mind, and have considered, whether it would not really be the greatest of blessings, if by any means my duty would call me to such a sacrifice, and the call were not to be disobeyed. After all, it is a noble thing it is the noblest of all things to be permitted to be a servant of the Infinite Ruler of the world ; and how low and earthly is that wisdom which could prefer any delights, before the delights of such self-dedication. We know but few things for certain ; 92 LETTER TO MES. FORSTER. CHAP. VI. but this is one of them ; a promise is given to him, who leaves father or mother, or wife, or children, for Christ's sake. How can I mourn then, that William should accept the terms of such a promise ? I rejoice that he is counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. I have always felt particularly in- terested with the vision of the man of Macedonia, calling Paul to come over and help them, comparing it with the Epistle to the Philippians. The discouragements at first were so great, and yet the Epistle describes such an abundant and happy produce. Who can tell how many may have eternal reason to rejoice at the obedience of the Apostle ; and who can presume to limit the effect, which Providence may please to produce by William's visit ? We may differ on some points, but not on this that his call is from above. I am persuaded it has been sought in the right spirit. I believe it is sent in mercy to others in eminent mercy to him and to you ; and I am willing that ypu should undergo the pains of separation. But, my dear Anna, you must not imagine I am indifferent about this. But let me ask, Have you determined to remain behind ? I do not give an opinion upon the subject. All I wish to express is, that you must not stay from motives of economy Of course, we shall see you before his departure. I will hear of nothing else. With love to you both, and not without thankfulness that there is something of a missionary spirit among you, " I am, " Your affectionate Brother, " T. F. BUXTON." CHIP. vn. 93 CHAPTER VII. 1820, 1821. ELECTION. DOMESTIC AFFLICTIONS. LETTERS. CBOMER HALL. PRISCILLA GURNET. CORRESPONDENCE. SPEECH ON CRIM- INAL LAW. AT the commencement of the year 1820, Mr. Buxton thus enumerates the subjects which he hoped to accomplish in the course of the year : " First ; to assist, to the best of my ability, in Parliament, to amend our criminal code; and, secondly, to amend our Prisons. Thirdly ; to obtain a return of the number of widows who burn themselves at their husbands' funeral in India, preparatory to a law pro- hibiting such enormities. Fourthly; to establish a fund for supporting the Sunday schools, (on the plan of that at Friar's Mount,) in Spitalfields." He tlit-n mentions, that his thoughts had been prin- cipally engaged upon the Criminal Code, till in- capacitated for study by an attack of illness ; his health having been indifferent for some months pre- viously. " Now what a lesson is this," he says, " not to delay preparation for death, till our death-beds; till our bodies, wi-iikciii-d and wasted, are unfit for every exertion ? " ' Let us work while it is called to-day.' I have prayed for love to God, for faith in Christ, and for the spirit of pray IT, constant and \\arm. " 94 HIS ELECTION FOR WEYMOUTH. CHAP. VII. The death of the King, and the consequent pros- pect of a dissolution of Parliament, occasioned some anxious thoughts. " I have felt some doubt," he says, on the 6th of February, " whether I should stand;" and he mentions his " eight children," among the reasons against doing so. He adds, " Lord guide my heart and will aright, and lead me to de- termine for the best. Oh that I could from this day oifer myself a living sacrifice to the Lord, doing or abstaining, speaking or being silent, spending or forbearing to spend, simply because it was the will of God ! " Oh that I could thus put off the old man and put on the new man. I think the time that is past should suffice me to have wrought my own will ; and for the future, let me try all things by this standard, * Is it the will of God ? ' Oh, gracious God, this is what I would be ; but what am I ? Is one hundredth part of my time, talents, money, strength, spent for God ? No ! " He determined at length to stand again for Wey- mouth. He was successful, and after announcing his re-election, he proceeds ; "I heartily hope I may make some good use of my present privilege, and that some of the oppressed may be less miserable in consequence." To J. J. Gurney, Esq. [From the house of Mr. W. Forster, at Bradpole.] " March 12. 1820. " I came here yesterday, and have had a full opportunity of learning a lesson of humility. It is very well to do good, and to serve one's country, while at the same moment we are feeding our ambition and gratifying our pride ; but what are the sacrifices I make? I may call them sacrifices, but their true name is, the pleasures I enjoy. Here, however, the 1820. LETTER TO J. J. GURNET, ESQ. 95 pleasure and the sacrifice are totally at variance. How truly and exactly do the words, * They left all and followed him,' convey my view of William's two years' absence from a home, a wife, a boy, (not to mention the dear horse, and ducks, and flowers,) the very darlings of his heart, all his wishes and desires centering in this spot! Well, I cannot pity him, I am more inclined to envy one who is wise enough to make a bargain so incontestably good. I went to Meeting with him twice to day ; his morning sermon on * Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understand- ing. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths,' was one of the very best I ever heard. But the text is one particularly interesting to me. I return home on Wt dnesday, and mean to study hard till Parliament meets, having at this time the following subjects in my mind : 'The Criminal Law;' The Prisons;' ' The Police;' 'Botany Bay;' 'The Slave Trade;' 'The Practice of burning Widows in India, by Authority of the English hut;' 'Lotteries;' 'Colonisation; viz., Land for supporting Schools; and Emancipation of Slaves;' 'The Prosecution of the Quarterly Review by order of the House, for Libels on America : ' cum multis aliis. " So you see, my dear brother, I am likely to be fully en- gaged, whether usefully or not is at His disposal, who disposes all things ; but I am thankful that He has given me a desire, (mixed, indeed, and polluted, but still a desire) to serve my brother men. " The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong ; and there are some very few occasions in which labour fails ; but labour unactuated by selfish considerations, and solely fixing its eye on the goal of duty, and steadfastly determined to reach it is, I believe, never defeated, ' His way once clear, he forward shot outright, Not turned aside by danger or delight.'" Thus far Mr. Buxton's career had been one of almost unchequered prosperity, as a member of Par- liament ; us a man of business ; as a husband; as the 96 ILLNESS AND DEATH CHAP. VII. father of a large and promising family, his heart's desires had been fulfilled. His public undertakings were becoming daily more important and engrossing, and his home was a scene of unclouded happiness. His valued friend, the Reverend Charles Simeon, thus writes to him from Cambridge : " My dear Friend, " January 14. 1820. " Certainly if I should live to visit your house again, I shall do it with no little joy, for I do not expect to see in this world a brighter image of heaven, than I was there privileged to behold. A sweet savor of love remained upon my spirit for a long time after, and I am not sure that it is quite evaporated yet. But I do not know that I shall not thrash you for supporting the Radicals. I look to you, under God, to be an instrument of great good in the House of Com- mons ; and I would not that you should subvert the influence which your habits and talents are so calculated to com- mand." After further warnings against the supposed danger of Mr. Buxton's joining with the Radicals, Mr. Simeon proceeds " I am no politician ; but I feel a regard for you, and seem to think that the more I know of you, the more my heart will be knit to you ; so you must bear with this impu- dent letter, from one who is, with no common affection, Yours, C. SIMEON. But all this happiness was about to be marred by a rapid succession of calamities. Mr. Buxton had been hastily summoned back from the election, in consequence of the alarming illness of one of his children. His eldest son, a boy often years old, had been sent home from school unwell, but no suspicion 1820. OF HIS ELDEST SON. 97 of danger was at first excited ; his disorder, however, proved to be inflammatory ; and, in the course of a very few days, he sank under it. His father writes in his Journal " Thus have we lost our eldest son, the peculiar object of our anxious care; a boy of great life and animation; of a beautiful countenance; of a most sweet disposition: ami, blessed be God, we feel that in the whole event His mercy has been extended to us. We can rejoice and mourn together, mourn at our loss, and rejoice that, without exposure to the trials and temptations of the world, it has I>K used God to take him to himself. We feel the most certain assurance that he is with God, and we feel persuaded that, if we could but be permitted to see him as he now is, we should never bewail him for another instant. * He pleased God, and was beloved of Him, therefore, being among sinners, he was translated ; yea, he was speedily taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.' * He is gone unto Mount Zion.' If these things be true, and true they most certainly are, can \ve repine, can we wish to recall him? For myself, my heart's desire and prayer has been, that this event may wean me from the world and fix my heart on God To- night I read Hopkins's most admirable sermon, * Death disarmed of its Sting.' O God, make me thy servant and soldier, was and is my prayer. I went this morning and sat down on the top of the hill above my house ; I then prayed for myself, my wife, each of my children, Lilly Kdward, now my eldest son! and Harry; for my servants ; for the heathen ; for the sanctification of my pur- suits : and God grant that my prayers are heard 1" His faith was destined to be more severely tried. The younger children, who were already suffering from the whooping-cough, were seized within a few days with the measles. lie writes H 98 FURTHER AFFLICTIONS. CHAP. VII. " April 9. " This week has passed away in great anxiety for the remainder of my flock." " Sunday Night, April 16. " How wonderful are the ways of the Lord ; how sweet his mercies ; how terrible his judgments ! The week past has been one of the most acute anxiety. Oh ! when one affliction flows in upon us after another, may they burst the bonds by which we are tied to earth, may they direct us heavenward, and may \ve, having our treasures in heaven, have our hearts there also In myself how much is there of unholiness, of worldliness, of pride, of spiritual deadness; and, for myself, I would only now ask that the Lord would eradicate and extinguish these, at what- ever cost, at whatever sacrifice. I have just been out walking, viewing this splendid starry night ; what imme- surable mightiness does the firmament display ! And when we consider that for all these innumerable worlds there is one Arbiter, one Sovereign Director, can we say ought else than ' Thy will be done ? ' Cannot He who rules the universe decide what is best for the children he has lent me ? May I yield to that will ! " The sacrifice was required from him, for in less than five weeks after the death of his son, it pleased God also to take to himself the three infant daughters whose illness had excited such deep feeling. On the death of the eldest, a child of four years old, he writes : " e Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him.' I had much desired her life, but willingly do I resign her into the hands of the Lord, praying him that he would mercifully make her death the means of turning me more nearly to the Lord. "Thus, in little. more than a month," he adds, "have we lost the darlings and delights of our life ; but they are in peace : and, for ourselves, we know that this affliction may 1820. CROMKK HALL. 99 redound to our eternal benefit, if we receive it aright How are all our most choice and comely blossoms cut off; h< >\v naked do we appear, how stripped of our treasures ! Oh, my God ! my God ! Be thou our consoler, and comfort us, not with the joys of this world, but with faith, love, obedience, patience, and resignation."* "Tunbridge Wells, May 14. 1820. " We came here, with the fragments of our family, on ^ edneeday last, in hopes that the retirement and peace of this place may recruit the strength of my beloved wife. May God give her every blessing ; and, for myself, my prayer is that this trial may not pass away, but may leave a durable impression." The diary from which this melancholy narrative has been drawn closes at this date; and, of the summer, which was chiefly spent at Tunbridge Wells, tin -re are few notices, except that before mentioned, of the passing of the Prison Discipline Bill. In the autumn of 1820, Mr. Buxton, who was no longer obliged to give much attention to the Brewery, and greatly needed rest and change, gave up his house at Ilampstead, and became a resident, permanently as it proved, in the neighbourhood of Cromer. At first he resided at Cromer Hall, an old seat of the Windham family, which no longer exists ; having many years ago been pulled down and replaced by a modern edifice. It was situated about a quarter of a mile from the sea, but sheltered from the north winds by closely surrounding hills and woods; and, with its old buttresses and porches, its clustering jessamine, * " Eheu ! Eheu !" was the simple epitaph he placed upon the tomb i't lus four cliildn-n. u 2 100 PRISCILLA GUENEY. CIIAP. VII. and its formal lawn, where the pheasants came down to feed, it had a peculiar character of picturesque simplicity. The interior corresponded with its ex- ternal appearance, and had little of the regularity of modern buildings ; one room was walled up, with no entrance save through the window, and, at different times, large pits were discovered under the floor, or in the thickness of the walls, used, it was supposed, in old times, by the smugglers of the coast. Upon first settling at Cromer Hall he received under his roof, Mrs. Buxton's youngest sister, Pris- cilla Gurney, who was then in an advanced stage of consumption, under which she sank in March, 1821. This lady was a minister in the Society of Friends, like her sister Mrs. Fry, whom she greatly resembled, in uniting uncommon resolution and originality of character, with the most winning gentleness of de- meanour. Mr. Buxton had the highest opinion of her judgment and piety ; and she exercised, as we shall see, a peculiar influence upon his subsequent career. He thus describes her : " I never knew an individual who was less one of the multitude than Priscilla Gurney. In her person, her manners, her views, there was nothing which was not the very reverse of common-place. There was an air of peace about her, which was irresistible in reducing all with whom she conversed under her gentle influence. This was the effect on strangers ; and in no degree was it abated by the closest intimacy : something there was, undoubtedly, in the beauty of her countenance, and in the extreme delicacy which constituted that beauty ; in a complexion perfectly clear ; in the simplicity and absence of all decoration but that of the most refined neatness, which, altogether, conveyed to every 1821. CORIlESrONDENCE. 101 one's iniiul the strongest conception of purity. And these attractions of person were aided by manners which nicely corresponded No less remarkable were the powers of her mind. I have seldom known a person of such sterling ability ; and it is impossible to mention these mental powers, without adverting to that great, and, in my estimation, that astonishing display of them, which was afforded by her ministry. I have listened to many eminent preachers, and many speakers also, but I deem her as perfect a speaker as I ever heard. The tone of her voice, her beauty, the singular rlrarness of her conception, and, above all, her own strong ( .nviction that she was urging the truth, and truth of the utmost importance the whole constituted a species of ministry, which no one could hear, and which I am per- suaded no one ever did hear, without a deep impression." Whilst attending his duties in London, he thus writes to Mrs. Buxton: " December 5. 1820. " I am going to dine at St. Mildred's Court *, and, at 1 1 o'clock, two persons connected with the police come to me, and we go together through all the receptacles of rogues in the east end of the town. It will occupy about the whole of the night, but I think it right to do so. I never was more called into action than this time of being in town, so many objects of great good and importance offer themselves. To- day 1 have been much interested by the African Institution." "Bellfield, January 17. 1821. " I arrived here safely yesterday, but with an adventure on the road. Just on this side of Andover, about 5 o' clock in the morning, my sweet slumbers were impaired by the coach suddenly coming over with a most noble crash. J directly perceived that I was unhurt, and my first feeling was one of thankfulness. As I was not injured, so I did not ltd in the slightest degree hurried or disturbed, though rather anxious lest my books and apples should be lost through the prostrate window: so I first collected these, * With Mrs. ! 102 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. VII. then I put on my spectacles, then exchanged my cap for my hat, and then ascended through the broken window and got upon the body of the coach, where I immediately delivered a lecture to the coachman on the impropriety of swearing at any time, but especially at the moment of deliverance from danger. We then went in various directions for help, with which, in about an hour and a half, we contrived to place the machine on its legs. My thoughts in the course of the journey had been dwelling on Providence a great deal ; and, at the same time, I had been looking forward to future and distant plans, and had been strongly impressed with the recollection that all these might be baffled by the fracture of a linch-pin, or by any other slight cause, under the guidance of Him who rules the minute as well as the great events of life, and had had the text * Thou fool, this night,' &c., in my mind. "I find my constituents in very good humour, but my coming was quite indispensable." " Palace Yard, Sunday, Jan. 25. 1821. " I slept last night at Hampstead, and came this morning to Wheeler Street, where the service was very unusually affecting and interesting to me. My mind has been dwelling, or, rather, it has been fixed, on the love and mercy of God. I look upon myself as so signal an instance of his extreme mercy. As for my course of life, in that I have no pleasure and no confidence ; I feel that I am halting between two opinions, that my heart is not His, who said, ' Give me thine heart : ' that there is a certain lukewarmness in things spiritual which forms no part of my character in things of much less importance : in a word, I seem to be ' stopping short' of that full dedication of self, which is, not a part, not merely an essential, but the very substance of the Christian character. I see before me a path far nobler than the one which I am treading. I could be an effectual servant of the Lord, direct- ing the talents which he has placed at my disposal to his service ; (when I say talents, I mean not intellectual talents, so much as circumstances, fortune, influence, &c.,) and being not in some small degree, as is the case, nor almost, but alto- gether set upon serving God and man." 1821. COKKKsroNDKXCE. 103 After alluding to the illness of his sister-in-law, he adds : " What a pleasure and a blessing has her visit to us this last autumn been : * giving thanks always in every remem- brance of her' is exactly my feeling. She must not fancy I pity her, I can most truly say I would this moment joy- fully exchange situations with her." " Hampstead, January, 1821. " I have had my hands brim full of business this Lost week, but it has not fatigued me as parliamentary business does ; there is no stress on the mind, no anxiety, no apprehension that a good cause may suffer by my inattention or incapacity, which is wearisome in Parliament. We had a pleasant dinner party at the Duke of Gloucester's yesterday. I had spent the morning with Wilberforce, who was quite delight- 1'ul. I begin to think, that of all men he is the most sub- jected and controlled, and invariably in the right frame of temper. I say * begin ' because he is beginning to share the seat in my mind, which Joseph v has so long occupied. I shall finish my examination of the boys when I am at Cromer, so let Miss tremble. Tell her from me, that I look with unmixed satisfaction to her superintendence of their education ; and I am sure, if she give them vigour of mind 'a mind not to be changed' a determination to ac- complish their object by dint of resolution and an un- conquerable fixed will to succeed she will give them what is worth more than wealth, or rank, or anything else, except one thing, which if they have not, I trust they never will have this energy, because this energy is a great instrument, and, if ill employed, a great instrument of evil. To one of his little boys. January, 1821. "I have had a fine gallop this morning on your capital horse ' Kadioal.' I ride him and Abraham every day, and always as fast as they can go, because I have so much to do that I cannot behave like little Lord Linger. I hope that when yon are a man, you will be very industrious and do all 11 4 104 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. VII. the good you can. There are a great many poor people who are very sick, and yet have no money to buy food, or clothes, or physic; and there are many more so ignorant that they never heard of the Bible, and think they do very right when they roast and eat their enemies ! If you think this is very right, and that it is kind to stick a man on a spit and dress him like a pig, why don't try to prevent it ! But if you think it very wrong, why then be sure you do all you can to stop it. Do you know, one good industrious man may do a great deal ; and, if you wish to be of that sort, you must begin by being diligent now. But there is a much more important thing than even being diligent, that is being good. I don't much like to bring you a horn, because I am sure you will disturb the hen-pheasants, and so we shall have no young ones." Mr Buxton belonged, it has been said above, to the African Institution, the Society set on foot by Mr. Wilberforce and his coadjutors, in order to watch over the law, which with so much difficulty had been obtained in 1807, abolishing the Trade in Slaves between Africa and our Colonies. Having in a great measure effected this purpose, and secured the osten- sible acquiescence of France, Portugal, and other nations, in the same measure, the Institution had at length sunk into a state of comparative inactivity. To Mrs. Buxton. "January 30. 1821. * C I had engaged to go down to Coggeshall yesterday, shoot there to-day, and return to-morrow night ; happily, as I think, I got notice of the meeting of the African Institution for to-day, so I put off my shooting excursion. In the course of the meeting an opportunity occurred, which I could not pass over, of declaring my mind, as to the inactivity and in- effectiveness of the Society. I told them that it was certain 1821. CORRESPONDENCE. 105 we once had the confidence of the country ; and it was now cer- tain the public knew little and cared little on the subject. I have often spoken plainly and been condemned by others ; a few times I have done so and blamed myself, but in this instance illy felt, and still feel, exceedingly grateful that I did not shrink from the duty. My remonstrance was well re- ceived, and a meeting was appointed for Saturday next, at Lord Lansdowne's, of all the members of both Houses inte- '1 in the subject, and perhaps it may be a means of great !. I tell all this long story for my dear Priscilla, who exhorted me not to neglect this, the first and most melan- choly of all subjects. I thoroughly enjoyed the dear boys' letters, but I can't think that I shall find they know so much as tin v talk about when I get home. My hands are rather full : Thursday, Brick Lane. Friday, Cape of Good Hope Slave Trade. Saturday, Lord Lansdowne's. Monday, Prison Bill. Tuesday, Brougham's Bill on Education. Wednesday, I make a speech to the children in Spitalfields. Thursday, l>riek Lane and Mail Coach. Friday, home! I want two heads, two bodies, and the power of being in two places at once.'' February 3. 1821. " I was quite astonished at Wilbcrforce yesterday. 1 had i n him since my vehement reprobation of the African Institution. Yesterday he was warm to excess; over and over again he thanked me for the boldness and openness of my re-marks, and said they had penetrated deeply into his he'irt," His siskT-in-liiw's illness was now rapidly increasing. He writes " London, February, 1821. "As for dearest Priscilla, I neither grieve for the bad account of yesterday, nor rejoice at the more favourable one of to-day. I feel her given to the Lord, and I am sure that lie is about her bed, and that He loves her, and, that what.- ur former lenity than by your late rigour. " But another experiment was tried, very different in its nature, and (I rejoice to say) as different in its effects. In 1811 the linen bleachers came to Parliament praying for a mitigation in the law against stealing from lilcaching grounds. That prayer was conceded; in this House cheerfully. In another place acquiescence was granted somewhat in the same spirit in which the satirist (It-M-ribcs the deities of old as yielding to the foolish impor- tunities of their votaries. ' Evertere domes tolas, optantibus ipsis Dii faciles.' " And here it was determined to punish these romantic petitioners with the fulfilment of their prayer, and to inflict upon them the- penalty of conceded wi.-hcs. " With what effect ? To answer this question, I will enter," he says, " into a comparison of which no man will deny the fairness. I will take the last five years during 110 SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. CHAP. VH. which the crime was capital and the last five years during which it has not been capital. Now, if I prove that this offence has increased, but only in the same proportion with other offences, I prove my point for reasons which I have already assigned. But if I go a step farther, and prove that, while all other offences have increased with the most melan- choly rapidity, this, and this alone has decreased as rapidly, that there is one only exception to the universal augmenta- tion of crime, and that one exception is in the case in which you have reduced the penalty of your law, if I can do this, and upon evidence which cannot be shaken, have I not a right to call upon the noble lord opposite, and upon his majesty's ministers, either to invalidate my facts, or to admit my conclusion ? " He then read the official returns of crimes com- mitted in the duchy of Lancaster : whence it appeared that before the mitigation of the law, this offence had been as rife as the other capital offences; but, since that mitigation, all the capital offences had increased prodigiously*, while this offence had de- creased two-thirds. " No man," he continued, " would justify severity for the sake of severity itself, or would love executions in the abstract. We have dispensed with them in one case, and the conse- quence is, fewer crimes, greater security to property. Shall we stop there ? He then adverted to the punishment of forgery : " For a multitude of years," he said, " every wretch who was overtaken by the law, without regard to age or sex, or circumstances in extenuation, was consigned to the hangman. You accomplished your object, no doubt ! By dint of such hardness you exterminated the offence as well as the offenders : forgeries of course ceased in a country under such a terrible * For instance, stealing from dwelling-houses was a capital offence ; it had increased eleven-fold. 1821. SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. Ill method of repressing them ! No ! but they grew, they multiplied, they increased to so enormous an extent victim so followed victim, or rather one band of victims was so ready to follow another, that you were absolutely compelled to initiate your law, because of the multitude of the offenders because public feeling, and the feeling of the advisers of the crown, rebelled against such continual slaughter. " Have I not then a right to cast myself upon the House, and to implore them no longer to continue so desperate and so unsuccessful a system ; and to lay side by side the two cases forgery and stealing from bleaching grounds, both offences only against property both unattended with vio- lence. In the one we have tried a mitigation of the law, and have succeeded beyond our most sanguine expectations; in the other we have tried severity to the utmost extent anl to the utmost extent it has failed. Well then : are we not bound I will not say by our feelings, or by tenderness for life but by every principle of reason and equity ; of common sense and common justice ; to discontinue a system which lias so utterly failed, and to embrace a system which has been so eminently successful ? " Such were the results of the experiments made in our own time and country. He furnished others from history. Henry VIII. hanged 72,000 persons tor robbery alone; yet Sir Thomas More wonders that " while so many thieves were daily hanged, so many still remained in the country, robbing in all places." Queen Elizabeth hanged more than 500 criminals a year ; yet complains bitterly that the people will not carry out her laws : and was obliged to appoint st ipcndiary magistrates to inflict these penalties. We iii id from Strype that the people would not prosecute, and the magistrates would not act. So ill, in these two cases, had the rigorous system succeeded. 112 SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. CHAI>. VII. He then noticed the happy effects resulting from the relaxation of penalties by King Alfred ; and in modern times by the Duke of Tuscany, and by the United States of America, and he concluded his observations upon this part of the subject with this remark : " Crime has increased in England as compared with every other country as compared with itself at different periods. Now what species of crime has increased ? Precisely those lesser felonies which are capital now, but were not formerly which are capital in England, but in no other country ! " He had next to remove a common but false im- pression that the Criminal Code was part of the Common Law. He first made quotations from the codes of the Saxons, Danes, and Normans, which were palpably at variance with the spirit of our Penal Code. They were as tender of human life, as the Code was reckless in destroying it. He proved this also from Coke, Blackstone, and Spelman. " It is a fact," said he, " that six hundred men were con- demned to death last year, upon statutes passed within the last century." After showing the hurried and careless manner in which bills for inflicting death without benefit of clergy, had continually passed the House, without debate or discussion ; he stated his affection and reverence for the English Common Law, and the unwillingness he would have felt to attack it, and therefore claimed " a right to gather confidence and encouragement from finding a friend and advocate in that pre-eminent authority." He continues, sf, f 1821. SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. 113 " There is no country in which public co-operation is not important to the execution of the law ; but in England thi.- concurrence between the people and the law is absolutely indispensable. It is taken for granted, that he who can, will inform that the person aggrieved will prosecute. All this is taken for granted, and was justly so taken, as long as public feeling went along with the law; but now a man's liti- is at issue, and this at once seals the lips of the man who could inform, pacifies the prosecutor, silences the witness, and sometimes even sharpens the merciful astuteness of the judge. In fact, and in truth, it effects the deliverance of the felon. " But worse than this, there is a price which we have to pay, of which, if I can prove the existence and extent, no inuu will deny that in itself it more than countervails every conceivable advantage, I mean the perjury of jurymen." After giving a number of instances where juries had clearly perjured themselves in order to save the lives of prisoners, " I hold in my hand," he says, " 1200 cases of a similar description. Is it then policy or prudence I say nothing of it.-? wickedness to tamper with what is so very delicate, or even to permit the reputation of that oath to be impaired, or any stain to be cast upon its purity ? But when the public see twelve respectable men, in open court, in the face of day, in the presence of a Judge, calling God to witness that they will give their verdict according to the evidence, and tliLii declaring their belief in things, not merely very strange or uncommon, but actual physical impossibilities, absolute 'f, wilder than the wildest legends of monkish super- it ion what impression on the public mind must be made, if not this that there are occasions in which it is not only lawful, but commendable, to ask God to witness palpable and egregious falsehood ? " Referring to the evidence which had been given by a multitude of persons in very different situations, of i 114 SPEECH ON CRBIINAL LAW. CHAP. VII. very different habits and opinions, as to the pernicious effects of the system of severe punishment upon all classes of society, " I ask," he said, " how happens it that persons so various filling situations so various merchants, bankers, solicitors of the Excise, shopkeepers, solicitors of the Old Bailey, officers of the police, clerks of the police offices, magistrates, and jurymen men bound together by no similarity of pursuit, no identity of interest, by no party feeling, political or religious, how happens it, I ask, that such persons should " ' Weave such agreeing truths, or how, or why, Should all conspire to cheat us with a lie ? ' ******** Shall we accede to this rational solution of the uniformity of their testimony ? Shall we not rather conclude that they all spoke alike because they all spoke the truth, and that the uniformity of the evidence arose from the uniformity of the observation ? " And this opinion of practical men being corroborated by the opinions of men of profound thought and great learning of Chillingworth, Johnson, Franklin, Pitt, Fox ; of More, Bacon, Coke, Clarendon, Ashburton, and Blackstone ; I say, when I see that the conclusion at which the wisest men have arrived by dint of reason, is the same conclusion at which the most practical men have arrived by dint of experience ; and that this, the speculation of the learned, and the observation of those that gather up their notions from the busy scenes of life, has been put to the test in America and in Tuscany, and that there it has realised more than the most sanguine expectation ; and further, that this system is the common law of England, and is common sense : I say when I have such a body of evidence and argument of fact and authority of reason and ex- perience, and when our adversaries, members of a com- mittee which sat for many months, never once ventured to hint at an authority, or to produce a witness who could gainsay the truth of those doctrines which I am maintaining ; when I have so much in my favour, and so very little 1821. SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. 115 nir:unst me, I cannot but indulge the hope that the noble Lord opposite, and the Government, will do justice to the country by aiding the milder but more efficient doctrines of penal legislation which we have endeavoured to promulgate." He concluded his speech thus : " My argument then, is this. Our system is before us. The price we pay for our system is, the loss of public opinion, and the aid (the best, the cheapest, and the most constitutional) which the law gathers from the concurrence of public opinion; the necessity of doing that by spies, informers, and blood-money, which were better done without them; the annual liberation of multitudes of criminals ; the annual perpetration of multitudes of crimes ; perjury ; and tin utter abandonment of the first of your duties, the first of your interest:*, and the greatest of all charities the prevention of crime. This is what you pay. And for what ? For a in. which has against it a multitude of divines, moralists, statesmen, lawyers, an unrivalled phalanx of the wise and good; a system, which has against it the still stronger authority of practical men, who draw their conclusions from real life ; a system, which has against it the still stronger authority of the common law of England ; which, if wrong now, is wrong for the first tune ; a system, which has against it the still stronger authority of experience and experiment, in England, on the one hand in Tuscany, in America, and elsewhere, on the other : and, finally, a system, which in its spirit and its temper, is against the temper and the spirit of that mild and merciful religion, which * desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wicked- ness and live ! ' ' Numerous As-ere the expressions of approbation which this speech called forth. Sir James Mackintosh said in the House, that it was " the most powerful appeal that he had ever had the good fortune to hear within the walls of Parliament." 1 And in a subse- * Hansard, May, 1821. i 2 116 FURTHER EFFORTS. CHAP. VH. quent debate Mr. (now Lord) Denman remarked, that " More of wisdom, more of benevolence, more of practical demonstration he had never heard in the course of his parliamentary career, than was contained in the energetic speech of his honourable friend." When, however, the division took place on the question, " That the Bill for the mitigation of the punishment of death for forgery do pass," the Ayes were 115, and the Noes 121 : and the bill was conse- quently lost ! On the 5th of June, 1822, Sir James Mackintosh again brought forward the question, and was again seconded by Mr. Buxton. They succeeded in carrying by a majority of sixteen the motion, " That the House will in the next session consider the means of in- creasing the efficacy of the criminal law, by abating the rigour of its punishments." In 1823, however, the resolutions proposed by Sir James Mackintosh were rejected, and he and his friends were still struggling against a superior force, when in 1826, Mr. Peel, on his accession to office, undertook the momentous task of remodelling the whole penal code. An account will be given, in its proper place, of the final result of the movement for the mitigation of that sanguinary code by which, at the period when Sir James Mackintosh and Mr. Buxton brought the subject forward, two hundred and thirty offences were punishable with death ! CHAP. vm. 117 CHAPTER VIII. SLAVERY. 1821 1823. CHOSEN BY MR. WILBERFOROE AS HIS SUCCESSOR IN THE SLAVERY CAUSE. COMMON CONFUSION OF "SLAVERY" WITH "SLAVE TRADE." PREVIOUS IMPRESSIONS ON MR. BUXTON's MIND. I'uisciLLA GURNEY'S DYING WORDS. HE STUDIES THE SUBJECT. LONG DELIBERATIONS. FEAR OF SERVILE REVOLT. UNDER- TAKES TO ADVOCATE THE QUESTION. LETTERS FROM MR. WIL- BERFORCE. REFLECTIONS. SUTTEES. THE QUAKERS* PETITION. LETTER TO EARL BATHUR8T. FIRST DEBATE ON SLAVERY. MR. CANNING'S AMENDMENTS. AMELIORATIONS IN THE SLAVE'S CONDITION RECOMMENDED TO THE COLONISTS. LETTER TO SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. THE evening after Mr. Buxton had delivered his speech on criminal law, he received the following letter from Mr. Wilberforce : " My dear Buxton, " London, May 24. 1821. " It is now more than thirty-three years since, after having given notice in the House of Commons that I should bring forward, for the first time, the question concerning the Slave Trade, it pleased God to visit me with a severe indisposition, by which, indeed, I was so exhausted, that the ablest physi- cian in London of that day declared that I had not stamina to last above a very few weeks. On this I went to Mr. Pitt, and begged of him a promise, which he kindly and readily me, to take upon himself the conduct of that great muse. " I thank God, I am now free from my indisposition; but from my time of life, and much more from the state of my con- stitution, and my inability to bear inclemencies of weather, and irregularities, which close attendance on the House of i 3 118- CHOSEN BY MR. WILBERFORCE CHAP. VIII. Commons often requires, I am reminded, but too intelligibly, of my being in such a state that I ought not to look confidently to my being able to carry through any business of importance in the House of Commons. " Now for many, many years I have been longing to bring forward that great subject, the condition of the Negro slaves in our Trans- Atlantic colonies, and the best means of pro- viding for their moral and social improvement, and ultimately for their advancement to the rank of a free peasantry; a cause this recommended to me, or rather enforced on me, by every consideration of religion, justice, and humanity. " Under this impression I have been waiting, with no little solicitude, for a proper time and suitable circumstances of the country, for introducing this great business ; and, latterly, for some Member of Parliament, who, if I were to retire or to be laid by, would be an eligible leader in this holy enter- prise. " I have for some time been viewing you in this connection ; and after what passed last night, I can no longer forbear re- sorting to you, as I formerly did to Pitt, and earnestly con- juring you to take most seriously into consideration, the expediency of your devoting yourself to this blessed service, so far as will be consistent with the due discharge of the obliga- tions you have already contracted, and in part so admirably fulfilled, to war against the abuses of our criminal law, both in its structure and its administration. Let me then entreat you to form an alliance with me, that may truly be termed holy, and if I should be unable to commence the war (cer- tainly not to be declared this session) ; and still more, if, when commenced, I should, (as certainly would, I fear, be the case,) be unable to finish it, do I entreat that you would continue to prosecute it. Your assurance to this effect would give me the greatest pleasure pleasure is a bad term let me rather say peace and consolation; for alas, my friend, I feel but too deeply, how little I have been duly assiduous and faithful in employing the talents committed to my steward- ship ; and in forming a partnership of this sort with you, I cannot doubt that I should be doing an act highly pleasing to 1821. AS HIS SUCCESSOR IN THE SLAVERY CAUSE. 119 God, and beneficial to my fellow creatures. Both my head and heart are quite full to overflowing, but I must conclude. My dear friend, may it please God to bless you, both in your public and private course. If it be His will, may He render you an instrument of extensive usefulness ; but above all, may II.' rive you the disposition to say at all times, ' Lord, what would'stthou have me to do,' or to suffer? looking to Him, through Christ, for wisdom and strength. And while active in business and fervent in spirit upon earth, may you have your conversation in heaven, and your affections set on things above. There may we at last meet, together with all we most love, and spend an eternity of holiness and happiness complete, and unassailable. I must stop. " Ever affectionately yours, " W. WlLBERFORCE." Many causes had been concurring to prepare Mr. liuxton for entering upon this "holy enterprise." His attention had, at an early period, been drawn, though slightly, to the questions of Slavery and the Slave Trade. In one of his private memoranda he enumerates among the causes for thankfulness, " the strong impression on my mother's mind, transfused into mine in very early life, of the iniquity of Slavery and the Slave Trade;" and he notices a remark which she often made, " while we continue to commit such a sin, how can we ask forgiveness of our sins ? " He mentions also, that he used to ridicule his eldest sister for refusing to eat slave-grown sugar ; " but," he adds, " her doing so made me think. Singular, too, that my first speech on entering college was upon the Slave Trade, and my first speech on entering life was at the Tower Hamlets, on the same subject." We have seen that he had become an active member of the African Institution ; and although that body i 4 120 "SLAVERY" AND "SLAVE TRADE." CHAP. vni- devoted its attention to the Slave Trade alone, and did not take up the kindred question of Slavery, yet his connection with it no doubt contributed to turn his mind to the varied sufferings of the Negro race. The reader need scarcely be reminded, that the importation of fresh Negroes from Africa to our colo- nies had been declared illegal in 1807, after a twenty years' struggle on the part of Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Clarkson, and their distinguished coadjutors ; and England had no sooner abolished her own trade, than with characteristic energy she strove to obtain, by persuasion or by purchase, a similar measure from the other European powers. Whilst, however, the British Slave Trade had been abolished, British Slavery remained. Though no fresh Negroes could now be introduced into our colonies, yet those who had been already imported were still held in bondage. It is singular how often the Slave Trade is confounded with Slavery, even in quarters where such a blunder would be least expected. There were various reasons which prevented those who had effected the abolition of the Slave Trade from attempting also the emancipation of the slaves * ; but we see, in Mr. Wilberforce's letter, that the latter was a subject which constantly weighed upon his mind, and filled him with painful solicitude. When Mr. Buxton first entered Parliament, his attention was drawn to this question by a letter from his brother-in-law, Mr. William Forster, who, after describing the interest taken by Mr. Buxton's friends * In 1807, Earl Percy (afterwards Duke of Northumberland) proposed the emancipation of the Negro children, but without effect. 1821. PREVIOUS IMPRESSIONS. 121 in his efforts for the improvement of prison discipline, expresses their earnest desire that he would engage advocate in another most important and extensive question, the state of Africa, and of the slave popu- lation in the West Indies." "The attention and exertions of the wise and good," proceeds Mr. Forster, " have been directed, and through the divine blessing, not without much success, towards staying the progress of evil, in the abolition of the Slave Trade ; but now it is certainly time to turn the mind of the British public towards the situation of those in actual slavery." Another circumstance, to which Mr. Buxton often referred, had prepared his mind for accepting the proffered advocacy of the Anti-slavery cause. He thus mentions it in a letter, dated Oct. 22. 1821. " Two or three days before Priscilla Grurney died, she sent for me, as desiring to speak to me about something of im- portance. The moment she began to speak she was seized with a convulsion of coughing, which continued for a long time, racking her feeble frame. She still seemed determined to persevere, but, at length, finding all strength exhausted, she pressed my hand and said, * The poor, dear slaves ! ' I could not but understand her meaning, for during her illness she li:il repeatedly urged me to make their cause and condi- tion the first object of my life, feeling nothing so heavy on her heart as their sufferings." It was not, however, till after long and mature deliberation, that he accepted the weighty charge involved in Mr. Wilberforce's proposal. Indeed, he does not appear to have fully resolved upon under- taking it till a year and a half after the receipt of Mr. Wilberforce's letter; but he spent the interval, 122 STUDIES THE SUBJECT. CHAP. VHI. as far as his other avocations would permit him, in a close study of the question in all its bearings. In this he was materially assisted by the present of a large collection of books connected with the subject from Mr. Hoare, one of the earliest members of the African Institution. Many of his other friends encouraged him to enter upon this arduous undertaking, especially Mr. Samuel and Mr. Joseph John Gurney ; from both of whom, as well as from Mr. Samuel Hoare, he received unremit- ting assistance throughout the contest against Slavery, What chiefly led him to hesitate in adopting this question as his own, was the fear that the discussion of it in England might lead to a servile insurrection in the West Indies. He deeply felt the weight of this responsibility, and it was the subject of long and anxious thought. " If," said he, " a servile war should break out, and 50,000 perish, how should I like that?" But even this extreme supposition he met by the consideration, "If I had two sons, I would rather choose to have one free and one dead, than both living enslaved." In his first Anti-slavery speech he enters at length into this difficulty, and mentions some of the considerations which had removed it from his mind ; showing how often insur- rections had been foretold by the West Indians, and that their predictions had never been fulfilled; and further, that even were this fear well grounded, the English Government ought not to be terrified by it from examining into the infinitely greater evil in question. He appears to have arrived at his final decision in 1822. LETTER FROM MR. WILBERFORCK. 123 the autumn of 1822 ; in the course of which Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Macaulay spent some weeks at Cromer Hall, for the purpose of discussing the question with him, and also with Dr. Lushington, and Lord Suffield. Then was drawn the first outline of those plans in which each, from this time, took his respective and important share. Mr. Wilberforce writes after leaving Cromer : " My dear Buxton, October 5. 1822. " We brought much away from Cromer Hall, but we left there, as I have just discovered, O'Meara's voice from St. Helena. My dear friend, never I believe, while I remember anything, shall I forget the truly friendly reception xperienced under your hospitable roof. I love to muse about you all, and form suitable wishes for the comfort and good of eacli member of your happy circle for a happy circle it is and surely there is nothing in the world half so delightful as mutual confidence, affection, and sympathy to feel esteem as well as good-will towards every human being around you, not only in your own house, but in the social circle that surrounds your dwelling, and to be conscious that every other being is teeming with the same esteem and love towards you." ..." My dear friend, never shall I direct henceforth to Cromer Hall, without a number of delightful associations. God bless you all, and so I trust He will. It is quite re- freshing in such a world as this, to think what a globule of friendship has been accumulated at Cromer from different little drops sprinkled over the sea side. Give my kind re- membrances to Mrs. Buxton, Priscilla, the Hoares, Mrs. Upcher, and indeed to all friends ; to Mr. and Mrs. J. Gurney, and my old friend Mr. Hoare; to the Lushingtons and Lord Suffield, whom I hoj>e to know better. Meanwhile, " I am, " Ever affectionately yours, " W. WILBERFORCE." 124 LONG DELIBERATIONS. CHAP. VIII. A short time afterwards, Mr. Wilberforce again wrote, to request that he would visit him at Harden Park, to arrange their plan of operations for the ensuing session. He adds, " I have often rejoiced of late years in thinking of my having you for an as- sociate and successor, as indeed I told you. Now, my dear Buxton, my remorse is sometimes very great, from my consciousness, that we have not been duly active in endeavouring to put an end to that system of cruel bondage, which for two centuries has prevailed in our West Indian Colonies ; and my idea is, that, a little before Parliament meets, three or four of us should have a secret cabinet council, wherein we should deliberate to decide what course to pursue." Mr. Macaulay and Mr. Buxton accordingly arrived at Marden Park on the 8th of January ; and (in the words of the biographers of Mr. Wilberforce), " long and deep were their deliberations, how best to shape those measures which were to change the structure of society throughout the Western World."* It is pleasing to observe the spirit in which Mr. Buxton entered upon that session of Parliament, in which he was to commence his arduous Anti-slavery career. In his common-place book, after lamenting that " he was making no advance in spiritual things," he proceeds : " O, for that spirit of devotion, of gratitude, of love to Christ, of indifference to the world, which the Lord gave me in my illness ! Let me then never pass a day without serious and repeated prayer that is indispensable. Let me renounce * Life of Wilberforce, vol. v. p. 160. 1823. REFLECTIONS. 125 the world as much as possible ; as much as possible ac- knowledge God in all my ways and words, and let me manfully resist every temptation, which may assault and endanger my soul. O, God grant these things through thy blessed Son! Next, how can I promote the welfare of others ? In prinate, by more seriousness in family devotions, and by much more command of temper ; by more industry ; by more economy, sparing on my own pleasure and expending on God's service. In public, by attending to the Slave Trade, Slavery, Indian widows burning themselves*, the completion of those objects which have made some advance, viz. Criminal Law, Prisons, and Police. Send thy blessed Spirit, O, great God, to my aid, and for my guidance, that, renouncing sin, I may walk worthy of my * high vocation, in and through Jesus Christ my Lord' " To Mrs. Upcher, at Sheringham, near Cramer. " London, February, 1823. " My hands are entirely full with slaves, Indian widows, and the beer question; and with the Spanish ambassador, who is coming to dinner. How far, how very far, do I prefer Cromer and its neighbourhood to this big town ! If I had my choice, and could exactly think it right to follow my own inclination, I should soon be disqualified for franking. As * He had been encouraged to hope that this question would be taken up by the ministers. He writes in 1822 : " I am highly gratified to find that Government have some notion of taking up the subject of my Indian widows. That would be delightful." These hopes proved to be unfounded; and on the 18th of June, 1823, he again brought the subject formally before the House, but without success. Soon afterwards he says in a note to a friend, " I have been seeing the Governor of India, this morning, about the annual immolation of thousands of poor widows. I do, from the bottom of my heart, wish that he, and such as he, felt as much about them as I do." From time to time he brought the subject before the House of Commons, remarking on the culpability of Government in continuing to countenance this atrocious custom. The result will be given in a subsequent part of this narrative. 126 LETTERS. CHAP. VIII. for fame, * that last infirmity of noble minds,' it is not much of an infirmity of mine. To be sure I get but little of it, and that very little I care as little about; but then Indian widows and Slavery, these are subjects worth any sacrifices: so no grumbling, in which I was going to indulge." To J. H. North, Esq. After congratulating him warmly on his success at the Irish bar, " February 13. 1823. " Now get into Parliament, and be wise enough to come there absolutely independent. . . . Come into Parliament, and join us with all your force on such objects as the abolition of the Slave Trade and of Slavery, the improvement of the Criminal Law and Prisons, the advancement of civilization and Christianity in India. Make these and such as these your objects, and you will do vast service to mankind, to yourself, and to your friends. I do not mean, however, that these should prevent you from advancing in your own pur- suits. I firmly believe that they will promote your welfare, taking welfare in the most worldly sense." To the same, soon afterwards. " I presume you have seen that the great subject of Slavery has fallen into my hands. I count on you as an assured coadjutor. Will you accept a few pamphlets, by way of brief, and some for circulation among persons of influence ? How heartily and continually I wish you were with me in the House. If it does not suit you, and if you do not suit it, I will give up all claims to the gift of prophecy." To Mrs. Buxton. " March 22. 1823. " Wednesday is the very earliest day I can be down with you, and it requires all my energy and determination to keep 1823. PETITIONS. 127 to that. This minute Wilmot, Under-Secretary of State, has been here, desiring me to call on Lord Bathurst on Wednesday relative to my Slave bill. ... I am very earnest about Slavery ; it seems to me that this is to be the main business of my life, thU and Hindoo widows ; I am well contented, and want no other business. How odd the transitions of the human mind are: how occupied mine was with pheasants and partridges till I left Norfolk : and I firmly believe I have not thought of them five times during my whole stay in London ; but they certainly occupied too much of my time in the autumn." Anti-slavery operations were now commenced with vigour, and for some time all went on well. Dr. Lushington, Lord Suffield, and several others, who had taken a prominent part in the reformation of Prison Discipline, now threw all their energies into this new undertaking. Early in March, Mr. Wilberforce published his well known " Appeal on behalf of the Slaves." At about the same time, the Anti-Slavery Society was formed (Mr. Buxton being appointed a Vice President), and the Committee engaged warmly in the task of collecting evidence and spreading information through the country. Public feeling was soon roused into activity, and petitions began to flow in ; the lead was taken by the Society of Friends, and it was determined that the presentation of their appeal by the hands of Mr. Wilberforce, should be the opening of the parliamentary campaign. He introduced it by saying that a similar petition which he had had the honour of presenting nearly thirty years before, had been the first effort against the kindred iniquity of the Slave Trade, and that in presenting this one, " he considered that the first 128 SLAVERY IN THE COLONIES. CHAP. VIII. stone was laid of an edifice which would flourish at some future period, an ornament to the land." Mr. Canning asked whether it was his intention to found any motion upon it? Mr. Wilberforce said, " It was not, but that such was the intention of an esteemed friend of his." Mr. Buxton then gave notice that on the 15th of May " he would submit a motion, that the House should take into consideration the state of Slavery in the British Colonies."* A few weeks before his motion came on, he com- municated his intentions to the Government in the following letter addressed to Mr. Wilmot Horton for the perusal of Earl Bathurst. "My dear Sir, Spring Gardens Hotel, April 15. 1823. " A severe indisposition is, I think, some, though a poor, apology for not having performed my promise of writing to you. " On the subject of the line I shall take about Slavery, I must confess that my views are not absolutely determined, but, such as they are, I will state them. You will not, however, consider me absolutely and closely bound to them. " The subject divides itself into two parts: the condition of the existing slaves, and the condition of their children. " With regard to the former, I wish the following im- provements. " 1. That the slaves should be attached to the island, and, under modifications, to the soil. 2. That they cease to be chattels in the eye of the law. 3. That then* testimony be received * quantum valeat.' 4. That when any one lays his claim to the services of a Negro, the onus probandi should rest on the claimant. 5. That obstructions to manu- mission should be removed. 6. That the provisions of the * Hansard, vol. viii. p. 627. 1823. THE FIRST DEBATE ON SLAVERY. 129 Spanish law (fixing by competent authority the value of the slave, and allowing him to purchase a day at a time,) should be introduced. 7. That no governor, judge, or attorney- general should be a slave-owner. 8. That an effectual provision should be made for the religious instruction of the slaves. 9. That marriage should be sanctioned and enforced. 10. That the Sunday should be devoted by the slave to repose and religious instruction ; and that other time should be allotted for the cultivation of his provision grounds. 11. That some (but what I cannot say) measures should be taken to restrain the authority of the master in punishing his slaves ; and that some substitute be found for the driving system. " These are the proposed qualifications of the existing slavery ; but I am far more anxiously bent upon the ex- tinction of slavery altogether, by rendering all the Negro children, born after a certain day, free : for them it will be necessary to provide education. " God grant that His Majesty's ministers may be disposed to accomplish these objects, or to permit others to accomplish them!" On the 15th of May he wrote to Mrs. Upcher : " In five minutes I start for the House. I hope to begin at five o'clock. I am in good health, in excellent spirits, with a noble cause, and without a fear. If I am only given a nimble tongue, we shall do." Then took place the first debate on the subject of N _rro Slavery. Mr. Buxton began it by moving a resolution, " That the state of slavery is repugnant to tin principles of the British Constitution and of the Christian Religion ; and that it ought to be gradually abolished throughout the British Colonies, with as much expedition as may be found consistent with a due regard to the well-being of the parties concerned." In his opening speech he plainly declared " The K 130 THE FIRST DEBATE ON SLAVERY. CHAP. VIII. object at which we aim is the extinction of slavery nothing less than the extinction of slavery, in nothing less than the whole of the British dominions : not, however, the rapid termination of that state; not the sudden emancipation of the Negro ; but such preparatory steps, such measures of precaution, as, by slow degrees, and in a course of years, first fitting and qualifying the slaves for the enjoyment of freedom, shall gently conduct us to the annihilation of slavery." He then unfolded his plan, which corresponds with that contained in his letter to Mr. Wilmot Horton ; but he especially urged the importance of eman- cipating all the children of the slaves ; pointing out how surely, yet silently, the curse of slavery would thus die away. He proved that this had been done in other countries, without that noise and tumult with which his opponents predicted that it would be attended. This change was, in fact, at that very time silently proceeding in Ceylon, Bencoolen, and St. Helena. " Now, sir," he said, " observe the moderation with which we proceed. We say, ' Make no more slaves, desist from that iniquity ; stop, abstain from an act, in itself as full of guilt, entailing in its consequences as much of misery, as any felony you can mention.' We do not say ' Retrace your steps,' but ' stop.' We do not say, ' Make reparation for the wrong you have done ; ' but ' do no more wrong ; go no further ; complete what you have com- menced ; screw from your slaves all that his bones and his muscles will yield you, only stop there : ' and when every slave now living shall have found repose 1823. MB. CANNING'S AMENDMENTS. 131 in the grave, then let it be said that the country is satiated with slavery, and has done with it for ever." An animated debate ensued, and Mr. Canning moved and carried certain amendments to Mr. Bux- ton's resolution ; the most important of which was the insertion of the words, " with a fair and equit- able consideration of the interests of private pro- perty." Plausible as this addition seemed, the Anti- sluvery party feared, and as we shall see, but too justly, that it would afford the West Indians a handle on future occasions; but the discussion grew warmest when Mr. Canning brought forward his plan, that the proposed ameliorations should be suggested to the colonial legislatures, but should only be enforced in th island of Trinidad, which being one of the crown colonies had no legislature of its own ; with the further condition, however, that any unexpected resistance to the suggestions should be met by authority. The following were the resolutions carried by Mr. Canning, to which we shall have frequent occasion to refer in detailing the proceedings during the sub- sequent ten years. 1st. " That it is expedient to adopt effectual and decisive measures for ameliorating the condition of the slave popula- tion in his Majesty's colonies. 2d. " That, through a determined and persevering, but at the eame time judicious and temperate enforcement of such measures, this House looks forward to a progressive improvement in the character of the slave population, such :i> may prepare them for a participation in those civil rights and privileges which arc enjoyed by other classes of his Majesty's subjects. ."I. < That this House is anxious for the accomplishment K 2 132 MR. BUXTON'S REPLY. CHAP. vm. of this purpose, at the earliest period that shall be compatible with the well-being of the slaves themselves, with the safety of the colonies, and with a fair and equitable consideration of the interests of private property." The debate concluded with a reply from Mr. Bux- ton, which is mentioned by Mr. Wilberforce as having been " not sweet indeed, but excellent." * We will give one extract from it.f It was in answer to the argument that the danger arose not from slavery itself, but from the discussion of slavery in the House. " What then," he exclaimed, " does the slave require any hint from us that he is a slave, and that slavery is of all condi- tions the most miserable ? Why, Sir, he hears this, he sees it, he feels it too in all around him. He sees his harsh, uncompen- sated labour ; he hears the crack of the whip ; he feels he writhes under the lash. Does not this betray the secret ? " ' This is no flattery ; these are counsellors That feelingly persuade him what he is.' He sees the mother of his children stripped naked before the gang of male Negroes and flogged unmercifully ; he sees his children sent to market, to be sold at the best price they will fetch; he sees in himself not a man, but a thing by West Indian law a chattel, an implement of husbandry, a machine to produce sugar, a beast of burden ! And will any man tell me, that the Negro, with all this staring him in the face, flashing in his eyes, when he rises in the morning and when he goes to bed at night never dreams that there is injustice in such treatment, till he sits himself down to the perusal of an English newspaper, and there to his astonishment discovers, that there are enthusiasts in England, who from the bottom of their hearts deplore and abhor all Negro slavery ? * Life, vol. v. p. 178. f Hansard's Debates. New Series, vol. ix. p. 358. 1823. INTERVIEW WITH MR. CANNING. 133 There are such enthusiasts ; I am one of them ; and while we breathe we will never abandon the cause, till that thing that chattel is reinstated in all the privileges of man ! " Although the emancipation of children was lost, and even the alleviations of the slaves' condition were not to be compulsory, yet this debate was an important step gained ; and Mr. Buxton's emphatic words in his opening speech were verified: "A few minutes ago was commenced that process which will conclude, though not speedily, in the extinction of slavery throughout the British dominions." Mr. Buxton had various communications with Mr. Canning after the debate, and especially one long inti-rview, in company with Mr. AVilberforce and Mr. AVi lliam Smith. On this important occasion, for which he had carefully prepared, he thoroughly ascertained Mr. Canning's opinions on all points connectedwith the treatment, present and prospective, of colonial slaves. He then wrote down what had passed, and submitted the statement to Mr. Canning. The document strik- ingly displays the laborious accuracy and the sturdy determination to verify every point of his case, which characterised his conduct throughout the entire con- Mr. Canning returned the paper with many autograph notes upon it, and Mr. Buxton therefore tly knew what were the ministers' intentions at this period. Neither party, however, were as yet aware of the difficulties of the case. In accordance with the Resolutions of the House, at the end of May, Circular Letters were addressed by the Government to the various colonial authorities, nun' ihliiiLT them to adopt the following reforms. 134 CIRCULAR SENT TO COLONIES. CHAP. VIII. 1. To provide the means of religious instruction and Christian education for the slave population. 2. To put an end to markets and to labour on the Sunday, and, instead of Sunday, to allow the Negroes equivalent time on other days for the cultivation of their provision grounds. 2. To protect the slaves by law in the acquisition and possession of property, and in its transmission by bequest or otherwise. 4. To legalize the marriages of slaves, and to protect them in the enjoyment of their connubial rights. 5. To prevent the separation of families by sale or other- wise. 6. To restrain generally the power, and to prevent the abuse of arbitrary punishment at the will of the master. 7. To abolish the degrading corporal punishment of females. 8. To admit the testimony of slaves in courts of justice. 9. To prevent the seizure of slaves detached from the estate or plantation to which they belonged. 10. To remove all the existing obstructions to manumission, and to grant to the slave the power of redeeming himself and his wife and children at a fair price. 11. To abolish the use of the driving whip in the field, either as an emblem of authority, or as a stimulus to labour. 12. To establish Savings' Banks for the use of the slaves. Surely there was good ground for anticipating that the Colonial Assemblies would gladly listen to these temperate and salutary suggestions. While anxiously awaiting the result, Mr. Buxton deliberately weighed the propriety of accepting an in- vitation from Lord Huntingdon to visit the West Indies in person ; but when this plan was referred to Mr. Wilberforce, he gave a most decided opinion against it.* * Mr. Buxton could not, as yet, have been aware of the reception which his proposed reforms would meet with in the West Indies, and 1823. LETTER TO SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 135 Sir James Mackintosh had not hitherto taken any part in this question ; and Mr. Buxton, being ex- trc'inely anxious to engage his brilliant abilities and benevolent heart in its favour, addressed the following letter to him. " My dear Sir James, " Cromer Hall, Nov. 30. 1823. " Your letter reached me just as I was leaving town. I much regret that I was thus prevented from talking with you on Criminal Law and Colonial Reform. The latter of these very much occupies my mind. I feel that a question of greater magnitude, affecting the happiness of a larger number of persons, has seldom been agitated ; and I also feel that the crisis has arrived, in which we must either begin to ameliorate the condition of the Slaves, and indeed to strike a blow at Shivery, or in which Slavery will be more firmly established than ever. I am however, I must confess, alarmed, not at the reproach which is heaped on me, nor at the danger said to be produced in the West Indies by my motion. I disregard the former, and utterly disbelieve the latter ; but I am alarmed at the prodigious strength of the West Indian party, and at the inability of the person to whom the cause of seven hundred thousand human beings is committed. How often luive I wished, that that good cause were blessed with the full, hearty, unreserved co-operation of yourself. * * * the deadly hostility with which their author would be regarded, or he would not have entertained for an instant the idea of this visit. Captain Studholme Hodgson, of the 19th Foot, in his work called " Truths from the West Indies," after mentioning '' the volumes of abuse lavished upon Sharpe, Wilberforce, Lushington, Stephen, Buxton, and Admiral Fleming," continues : " This enmity seems to be more deadly towards the two latter, than even that entertained for the others ; and I will undertake to say, that were these two gentlemen to arrive in any island in the- West Indies, and venture to move out unsurrounded by a guard of those grateful beings, who, night and day, implore blessings upon them, they would inevitably be torn to pieces by the Europeans, who would all vie as to who could most mangle their bodies." (P. 190.) K 4 136 LETTER TO SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. CHAP. VIII. If I have to fight the battle without such aid, the cause of justice and humanity will undoubtedly suffer from the feebleness of its advocate. With that aid, and with that of Brougham (of whom we are sure), I doubt not that the sons of the present slaves will be raised to a state of villeinage, and their grandsons will be freemen. * * * * Now I have written this, I am ready to tear it to pieces, and to wonder at my own presumption in having written it. It shall however go. It is an entreaty for more than half a million of human beings, who cannot supplicate for themselves, and against whom there are many who can canvass and are canvassing stoutly." 137 CHAPTER IX. SLAVERY. 18231826. IKMKXT IN THE WEST INDIES. THE NEGROES REFUSE TO \\OKK. SEVERE MEASURES. DEATH OP SMITH, A MISSIONARY. THE ABOLITIONISTS BITTERLY REPROACHED. MR. BUXTON's PLAN. INTERVIEWS WITH CANNING. POPULAR CLAMOURS. THE GOVERNMENT DRAWS BACK. ANXIETIES AND DOUBTS. I.r.TTER FROM MR. J. J. GURNEY. THE DEBATE. THE GOVERN- MENT GIVES WAY. MR. BUXTON ATTACKS THEM. EN- COURAGEMENTS FROM MR. WILBERFORCE. MR. BROUGHAM'S SPEECH ON SMITH'S CASE. ITS EFFECT ON THE COUNTRY. MR. WILBERFORCE RETIRES. THE SMALL NUMBER OF ABO- LITIONISTS IN PARLIAMENT. DR. LU8HINGTON. MR. MACAULAY. MR. BUXTON'S POLICY. FREE PEOPLE OF COLOUR. TREAT- MENT OF MR. SHREWSBURY. DEBATE. DELIBERATIONS. THE LONDON PETITION. MR. DENMAN's MOTION. A YEAR'S PAUSE. THE news of Mr. Buxton's attack on what the planters considered to be their just rights, and of the acquies- cence of the Government in his principles, were re- ct-ivcd in the West Indies with the most vehement indignation.* For some weeks after the arrival of the despatches, not the slightest restraint seems to have been put on the violence of their rage, which drove them to the wildest designs. Thoughts were openly entertained of resisting the innovations of the Govern- in* -nt by force of arms. It was even proposed to 1 To the honour, be it said, of the islands of Grenada, St. Vincents, and St. Kilts, they did not join in the outcry, raised by the generality of the West Indian islands. 138 THE NEGROES REFUSE TO WORK. CHAP. IX. throw off the yoke of the mother country, and place themselves under the protection of America. They could find no language sufficiently bitter to express their rancour*; and the colonial legislatures unani- mously refused submission to the recommendations of the Government. When the order in council reached Demerara, the authorities of the colony endeavoured to conceal the intelligence from the black population. Their precautions were worse than useless ; exaggerated rumours soon spread abroad. The Negroes fancied that "the great King of England" had set them free, and that the planters had suppressed his edict ; and under this impression the slaves on several estates refused to work. Compulsion was resorted to they resisted, and commenced outrages on the property and persons of the whites. Martial law was pro- claimed and the soldiers called out. Destitute alike of organisation, of leaders, and of arms, the slaves were at once reduced to subjection. In performing this duty, not one soldier was killed ; but pressed down and running over was the measure of vengeance dealt to the unhappy Negroes. " It was deemed fitting," said Mr. Brougham, " to make * The following extract from the Jamaica Journal is a specimen of the abuse lavished upon Parliament, Mr. Canning, Earl Bathurst, and " those canting hypocritical rascals," the Abolitionists. (No. 11. Satur- day, June 28. 1823.) . . . "We will pray the Imperial Parliament to amend their origin which is bribery ; to cleanse their consciences, which are corrupt ; to throw off their disguise, which is hypocrisy ; to break with their false allies, who are the saints ; and finally to banish from among them all the purchased rogues, who are three fourths of their number." 1823. SEVEHE MEASURES. 139 tremendous examples of them. Considerably above a hundred fell in the field, where they did not succeed in putting one soldier to death. A number of the prisoners also, it is said, were hastily drawn out at the close of the affray and shot. How many in the whole have since perished by sentences of the court does not appear, but by the end of September forty- n had been executed. A more horrid tale of blood yet remains to be told. Within the short space of a week, ten were torn in pieces by the lash ; some of these had been condemned to six or seven hundred lashes; five to one thousand each; of which inhuman torture one had received the whole, and two almost the whole at once."* The colonists were not satisfied by the severity with which the rebel Negroes had been visited. For some time the attention of religious men in England had IK en drawn to the wretched ignorance and de- pravity of the lower orders in our colonial islands. Various denominations of Christians had sent out missionaries to instruct them, and the Independents and \\ esleyans had distinguished themselves by their rhri>tian zeal. It was no path of flowers which these missionaries had chosen. The colonists were violently opposed to change; and with the usual 1 1 -clings of despotic masters, they could not endure the idea of allowing their slaves to be educated ; yet, in the face of danger and persecution, the missionaries JK i -evered, and many of the Negroes were brought to the knowledge of religion. The planters had ap- * Hansard's Debates. New Scries, vol. xi. p. 995. 140 DEATH OF MISSIONARY SMITH. CHAP. IX. plied every means to stop this "nuisance;" and when the rebellion broke out, they resolved to fix it upon the Christian teachers of the Negroes. The particulars of " Smith's case," afterwards so ably treated by Mr. Brougham, need not here be dwelt on. Suffice it to say, that he was an Inde- pendent missionary ; was tried in a manner not only unjust, but absolutely illegal, before a court martial of militia officers, and condemned to be hanged ; but his treatment in prison destroyed his previously failing health, and he died in his dungeon, in time to anticipate the executioner.* The news of the ferment among the colonists, with the rapidly succeeding intelligence of the revolt of the Negroes, of their overthrow, and of the severities inflicted upon them and upon their teachers, soon reached England. The disappointment and grief of the leading members of the Anti-slavery party were great indeed; their lukewarm partisans left them at once, and joined in the loud outcry which arose against them. They were denounced as the causes of the disaffections of the colonists and the disorders among the slaves. The people at large, in looking at * While Smith was dying in his prison (which is described as a place only suited to purposes of torture), he was compelled by his persecutors to draw a bill upon the funds of the London Missionary Society, in order to defray the expenses of his so-called trial. Many years afterwards the secretary of that Society, in arranging some old papers, met with this bill. In looking at it, his attention was drawn to one corner of the sheet, and, on examining it more carefully, he found, written in a minute hand, the reference " 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9- : " on turning to which he found the text, " We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed : we are perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken : cast down, but not destroyed." 1823. MR. BUXTON'S PLAN. 141 the confusions of the colonies, did not remember how gentle a remedy for the admitted evil of slavery was the one proposed by Mr. Buxton; that all parties in England had agreed (with some modifications), as to its prudence ; and that only to the wilfulness and prejudice of the colonists were these unhappy results to be ascribed. But the angry reproaches which rang in Mr. Buxton's ears were as nothing, when compared with the mortification he experienced on discovering that the Government, appalled by the consequences of the steps which they had taken, and apparently as regardless of their own dignity, as of the interests of their black subjects, were determined to forfeit the pledge which Mr. Canning had given that, if obedience were not voluntarily rendered by the colonial legislatures, it should be enforced. Rumours to this effect soon spread abroad ; but they were of so indefinite a character, that the Aboli- tionists could not tell what steps the Government proposed to take, nor what preparations should be made against them. At the same time, Mr. Buxton was contemplating a new plan, namely, the eman- cipation of all children under seven years of age, ample compensation being granted to the masters: the children were to be educated and maintained by the British Government till they were seven years old, and then apprenticed to their former masters ; after which they should be free. The following letters will show fully how the sense of the difficulty of his position, and of the necessity there was for firmly maintaining it, gra- dually increased in his mind. 142 LETTERS. CHAP. IX. To Zachary Macaulay, Esq. " Ampton, January 14. 1824. " Here I am, and have had the satisfaction of finding Wilberforce in good health. He seems by no means dis- couraged about our cause. Clarkson appears to have done his work well. At Norwich, our friends were somewhat intimidated ; but he had a meeting there, which revived all their ardour. *******j nave b een nar( j a t work, reading and making extracts from all the parlia- mentary slave papers. I am forming a dictionary, in which I insert information under different heads ; I call it * My Macaulay.' " * To Mrs. Buxton. " February 9. " I am intensely busy. On Saturday we had a meeting, to which I read my plan. The more I think of it, the more I like it. We meet again on Saturday : in the interim, an attack will probably be made on us, which I am to answer. I shall endeavour to do it with effect. We have a capital case as to the Demerara insurrection. Smith is innocent. They have offered him mercy, if he will ask for it, and he has refused, standing on his innocence. I am in excellent spirits, and hold my head very high in the matter, and mean to be rather bold in my defence. I expect to see Canning to-morrow ; he seems very cold to me, and the report is, he will join the West Indians. If he does, we shall go to war with him in earnest." "February 10. " My interview with Canning, is for the purpose of ascertaining what Government means to do, and of seeing whether he is disposed to receive any plan from us." "February 11. " I am so languid with over thought and over work, that * When any of Mr. Macaulay's anti-slavery friends wanted infor- mation, they used to say, " Well, we will look it out in Macaulay/' and rarely were they disappointed in their references to him. 1824. ANXIETIES AND DOUBTS. 143 I hardly know how to write. On Saturday, we meet Canning at 12 o'clock, and Brougham, and all the leaders of our party, at the Duke of Gloucester's, at 3 o* clock. Then we shall decide on our course. I am not one bit discouraged, and heartily wish a discussion could be brought about, as I think it would change public opinion. How much, how very much happier I am in my Cromer retreat, than in the midst of all this bustle and turbulence. When you come, I shall be quieter, I hope. I am obliged to attend constantly at the House." " Canning's Office, 6 o'clock, February 1 4. " We have had a very unsatisfactory interview with Canning. * * The Government mean to forfeit their pledge t and to do next to nothing. * * * * I have now seen Canning again. He promises to postpone any decla- ration to Parliament till he sees my plan." To a Friend. " February 16. 1824. " The degree, I will not call it, of opposition, but viru- lence, against me is quite surprising. I much question whether there is a more unpopular individual than myself in the House just at this moment. For this I do not care." \lth. " The Slavery question looks wretchedly. I begin to think that, opposed as we are by the West Indians, deserted by Government, and deemed enthusiasts by the public, we shall be able to do little or nothing; however, I rejoice that we have tried." To Mrs. Buxton. " February 17. " I sec very clearly, that I shall not be able to go down to Cromer ; my absence would further intimidate our few friends, who are sufficiently timid as it is. * * * * I keep up my spirits pretty well, but what with the mental tatiLMi' I have undergone, and the disappointment we have experienced, I cannot feel very light-hearted." 144 GOVERNMENT DRAWS BACK. CHAP. IX. To Mrs. Buxton. "February, 1824. " We had a very bustling day on Saturday ; a meeting with Canning at 12 o'clock, in which he told us, that Government had determined to yield to the West Indian clamour, and do nothing, except in Trinidad, where there is no Colonial Assembly. There they will do every thing they promised last year. This timidity is very painful. It frustrates all our hopes, and it will enable the West Indians to say, that we are wild, enthusiastic people, and that the people of England ought to be guided by the sober dis- cretion of Government which sober discretion is downright timidity." To Joseph John Gurney, Esq. "February 24. 1824. " H sent you, I believe, my plan. It has undergone material improvements ; when first promulgated, it met with no support. At the first meeting at the Duke of Gloucester's it was received very coldly : at the second it obtained some faint praise ; at the third, an unanimous vote supported by Lord Lansdowne, Brougham, Mackintosh, and twenty others, sends it to Government, with the sanction of the meeting. I have been reading Smith's trial. If ever I speak on that subject, as I surely will, it will be without qualifying circum- stances. He is as innocent as you are." The ministers refused to adopt Mr. Buxton's scheme, and as the 16th of March approached (the day appointed by Mr. Canning for the discussion of the question), the Anti-slavery party, now reduced to a very small number, became much discouraged and depressed. The Government did not attempt to conceal that they meant to relinquish the policy of the preceding year; and it seemed probable that, having thus come to a breach with the Anti-slavery 1824. LETTER FROM MR. J. J. GURNEY. 145 leaders, these latter would be treated as scape-goats, on whom public indignation might be poured. Under these circumstances, a difference of opinion arose in the Anti-slavery councils, as to the course to be pursued. Many recommended that the anticipated attack from Mr. Canning should be received in silence, and that the Anti-slavery party should not come forward to state their own case till some days afterwards, when the first impression made by his eloquence should have died away. To this course Mr. Buxton was altogether opposed : he wished to make a stand at once, and indeed to act on the offensive, by exposing the vacillation of the Government, if it should prove that they did not intend to fulfil the expectations held out in the pre- ceding year. In these views he was supported by Dr. Lushington : and Mr. William Smith, Mr.Clarkson, Mr. \V. Evans, and Mr. S. Hoare all strongly con- curred in the same opinion. Mr. J. J. Gurney writes to him : " My dear Brother, "Norwich, Smo. 10th, " I feel very much for thee and for our cause in the pros- pect of the approaching discussion in Parliament, and I feel inclined to remind thee (however needlessly,) of the apostle's injunction, * Quit you like men, be strong.' * * * * * I look upon Colonial Slavery as a monster, who must have a long succession of hard knocks before he will expire. should we expect to get his extinction into full train in less than ten years? And why should we be discouraged oMTiiiucli, if the first knock has no other effect than to ivn-U-r the gentleman more lively and energetic than usual? * * * * -\vith regard to thyself, as I am fond of thy L 146 POPULAR CLAMOUR. CHAP. IX. popularity, I am prone to dislike the contrary. But I have a strong belief that, in due time, thy history will afford a plain exemplification of the certainty of a divine promise, * Them that honour me, I will honour ! ' Till then be con- tent to suffer thy portion of persecution, and let no frowns of adversaries, no want of faith, no private feeling of thine own incompetency, either deprive thee of thy spirits, or spoil thy speech." Thus encouraged, Mr. Buxton resolved to persevere: the other leaders gradually fell into his views, and the plan of operations was arranged. The previous division of opinion had, however, been a source of great anxiety to him ; and he was almost worn out by his unremitting exertions, which had of late been chiefly directed to the procuring digested proofs of the cruelty with which the slaves were treated, and of the rapid decrease of the black population. He writes on the 12th February, 1824 ; " The weight of business, and worse still, of thought, which over- hangs me at this time, is greater than I ever expe- rienced before;" and on another occasion, " I am fatigued, I am distressed with fatigue." The pros- pect before him was full of difficulties. The small Anti-slavery party were attacked on all sides with fury. Even in the House they were stigmatised with the names of " enthusiasts," " saints," and similar epithets, while beyond its walls a perfect hur- ricane of ridicule and abuse assailed them. And, now, if the Government were to be swayed by the tide of public opinion, and abandon its schemes of the previous year, how could their small unaided band indulge the hope of even ultimate success in their undertaking ? 1824. GOVERNMENT GIVES WAY. 147 Their fears -were but too well founded. Mr. Can- ning carefully withdrew from his connection with those whose principles and measures he had the yi-ar before, in a great degree, adopted as his own, but whom he now discovered to be acting " under the impulses of enthusiasm ;" and he informed the House, that the Government was determined to compel the ameliorations in Trinidad, but to apply for the present no measure more stringent than " admonition " to the contumacious colonies. One specimen of the graceful eloquence by which his speech was distinguished, we cannot refrain from inserting. Having shown that the conduct of the people of Jamaica might well have justified severe coercive measures, he adds, " but the consciousness of superior strength disarms the spirit of resentment. I could revenge, but I would much rather reclaim. I prefer that moral self-restraint, so beautifully ex- pressed by the poet, when he represents Neptune as allaying the wild waters, instead of rebuking the winds which had put them in a roar, " Quos ego sed motos praestat componere fluctos." Mr. Buxton replied, and fearlessly attacked the Government for its vacillating conduct. He read over the resolutions of the year before; which he justly denominated "a distinct pledge given by Government, that the condition of the slave population should be ameliorated." Quoting also Mr. Canning's words, that " if the colonial legislatures would not consent to these ameliorations, if any resistance should be manifested to the expressed and declared L 2 148 MB. BUXTON ATTACKS THEM. CHAP. IX wish of Parliament, any resistance which should par- take, not of reason, but of contumacy, it would create a case, upon which His Majesty's Government would not hesitate to come down to Parliament for counsel. " Now," said Mr. Buxton, " if this full and comprehensive pledge, this engagement given as to all the colonies ; is to be frittered down, at present at least, to a single island ; if the advantages promised are to be granted indeed, to the 30,000 slaves in Trinidad, but withheld from the 350,000 in Jamaica, and the 70,000 in Barbadoes ; if the ( earliest period ' is to be construed to mean some time, so undefined and distant, that no man can say in what century it will take place; if our pledge to do this, is now to mean no more than that we will suffer it to be done, by the slow and gradual course of ad- monition and example : then, I see no reason why ten cen- turies may not elapse, before the Negroes are freed from their present state of melancholy and deplorable thraldom. We, who have engaged in the cause, we, at least, will be no parties to such a desertion of duty, to such a breach of faith. " I well know," he added, " the difficult situation in which I stand. No man is more aware than I am of my inability to follow the brilliant and able speech which has just been delivered. But I have a duty to perform, and will perform it. I know well what I incur by this. I know how I call down upon myself the violent animosity of an exasperated and most powei'ful party. I know how reproaches have rung in my ears since that pledge was given, and how they will ring with tenfold fury now that I call for its fulfilment. Let them ring ! I will not purchase for myself a base in- demnity, with such a sting as this on my conscience. ' You ventured to agitate the question ; a pledge was obtained ; you were, therefore, to be considered the holder of that pledge, to which the hopes of half a million of people were linked. And then, fearful of a little unpopularity, and con- founded by the dazzling eloquence of the Right Hon. gentle- man, you sat still, you held your peace, and were satisfied, to 1824. LETTER FROM MR. WILBERFORCE. 149 see his pledge, in favour of a whole archipelago, reduced to a single island.'"* 1 fe concluded his speech, in which he laid bare a series of acts of atrocious cruelty in the treatment of tin- Negroes, by stating distinctly, "What I have now said, I have said from a sense of public duty. I have no hostility to the planters. Compensation to the planter, emancipation to the children of the Negro these are my desires, this is the consummation, the just and glorious consummation, on which my hopes are planted, and to which, as long as I live, my most strenuous efforts shall be directed!" He was well supported by Dr. Lushington, Mr. Evans, and Mr. \Vilberforce. The latter, who, as usual, was hopeful amidst discouragements, thus addresses him on the day after the debate : " My dear Friend, " Brompton Grove, March 1?. 1824. " It was quite a disappointment to me not to see you at the House to-day. There are points on which I shall be glad to confer with you. Meanwhile I am strongly urged by my tidings to express to you the solid satisfaction with which I take a sober estimate of the progress which, through the goodness of Providence, we have already made, and the good li'ijit-s which we may justly indulge as to the future. To find the two Houses of Parliament, each full of members to the hi iin, consulting about the interests and comforts of those, \vh >, not long ago, were scarcely rated above the level of ourang-outangs, is almost as sure an indication of our com- plete success ere long, as the streaks of morning light are >f the fulness of meridian day. I hope I may live to con- gratulate you, even in this world, on the complete success of your generous labours; at all events, I trust humbly, that we may rejoice and triumph together in a better world, for * Hansard's Debates. New Series, vol. x. p. 1115. L 3 150 FORBEARANCE OF REVOLTED NEGROES. CHAP. IX. we, my dear friend, may, more truly than the great artist, affirm, that we are working for eternity. And our XT^U.* e$ dei will be enjoyed, I trust, in common with many, many of our poor black brethren, when all bondage and injustice, all sorrow and pain having ceased, love and truth, and mercy and peace and joy, shall be our everlasting portion. Oh, my friend, let us strive more and more earnestly for all that is right here, looking forward to these glorious prospects ! " On the 1st of June a motion respecting the missionary Smith was brought forward by Mr. Brougham, in a brilliant speech of four hours' length, which produced a strong effect upon public feeling. One remarkable circumstance by which the Deme- rara insurrection was distinguished, namely, the extraordinary forbearance of the rebel Negroes, is thus mentioned by him : " The slaves," he said, " inflamed by false hopes of free- dom ; agitated by remorse, and irritated by the suspense and ignorance in which they were kept ; exasperated by ancient as well as more recent wrongs, (for a sale of fifty or sixty of them had just been announced, and they were about to be violently separated and dispersed,) were satisfied with com- bining not to work, and thus making their managers repair to the town and ascertain the precise nature of the boon reported to have arrived from England. The calumniated minister had so far humanised his poor flock, his dangerous preaching had so enlightened them, the lessons of himself and his hated brethren had sunk so deep in their minds, that by the testimony of the clergymen, and even of the overseers, the maxims of the Gospel of peace were upon their lips in the midst of rebellion, and restrained their hands when no other force was present to resist them. ' We will take no life,' said they, ' for our pastors have taught us, not to take that which we cannot give' a memorable peculiarity to be found in no other instance of Negro warfare, and which drew from the truly pious minister* of the Established Church * The clergyman here referred to was the Rev. Mr. Austin, whose 1825. MR. WILBE11FOBCE RETIBES. 151 the exclamation, ' that he shuddered to write that the planters were seeking the life of the man whose teaching had saved Sir James Mackintosh followed with equal effect, and was succeeded by Dr. Lushington, Mr. Wilber- force, and Mr. Williams. The debate, as had been predicted, changed the current of public opinion. The nation, which before had partaken of the con- sternation of the Government, began to awaken to the truth, and from henceforth the religious public in England was strongly enlisted on behalf of the op- pressed missionaries and their persecuted followers ; and this feeling soon increased into a detestation of that system, of which such intolerance was the natural fruit. On the 15th of June, the subject was renewed in the House by Mr. Wilberforce, and a promise was wrested from the Government of extending the order in council to St. Lucie and Demerara, as well as Trinidad. Mr. Buxton passed the summer at Cromer Hall, recruiting his health, and at the same time strenuously exerting himself in procuring information which might assist the future conduct of the cause. In the beginning of 1825 Mr. Wilberforce retired from Parliament. In a letter which he wrote to Mr. l>uxton on the occasion, he says, " I should like you to be the person to move for a new writ for Bramber, as my PARLIAMENTARY EXECUTOR. conduct in this transaction drew from Sir James Mackintosh the em- phatic declaration, " that he needed nothing but a larger and more elevated theatre, to place him among those, who will be, in all agw, regarded by mankind as models for imitation, and objects of reverence." * Hansard's Debates. New Series, vol. xi. p. 994. i. 4 152 FEW ABOLITIONISTS IN THE HOUSE. CHAP. IX. I can now only say, may God bless you and yours ; bless you in public and private, as a senator and still more as a man. So wishes, so prays for you and all that are most dear to you, " Your ever sincere and affectionate friend, " W. WlLBERFORCE." Mr. Buxton thus mentions this event. "February 10. 1825. " I went, on the night of my arrival, to Wilberforce. He insists on my moving the writ of abdication. I feel it just about the highest honour I could have ; and yet it gives me unaffected pain, from a consciousness of my inability to be his successor. I must, however, labour hard, and try how far labour will supply his talents and reputation. I now begin to repent that I shot so much and read so little during my long holiday, and yet I did work pretty hard. " Well, only one thing is absolutely necessary to do some good, and that is a pure and fervent determination to do my duty, in private and in public. " I can give you no information about our measures, but I have no other notion than that we shall eventually succeed." In 1822, Mr. Wilberforce had mentioned in his diary that, " the House was made up of West Indians, Government men, a few partisans, and a few sturdy Abolitionists William Smith, Buxton, Butterworth, Evans, and myself." He, the great champion of the oppressed, had now retired, and during the three inter- vening years, the very "few sturdy Abolitionists" had received but small accession to their numbers, though, it may be confessed, that the great ability and hearty zeal of Dr. Lushington, the varied talents of Mr. Brougham, Sir James Mackintosh, and Mr. Denman, in great measure compensated for their want of numerical strength. With Dr. Lushington, Mr. Buxton maintained, 1825. DR. LUSHINGTON. MR. MACAULAY. 153 from the beginning to the end of the Anti-slavery struggle, a peculiarly close connection. " He has ever been," said Mr. Buxton, " as disinterested, as honest, as generous a supporter of our great cause as could be ; and in private life a most kind and faithful friend, with no other fault than too much zeal, and too much liberality." They had a perfect community of interest, of anxiety, and of council. Indeed, if any credit whatever is due to Mr. Buxton for his conduct of the Anti-slavery campaign, an equal share must be awarded to Dr. Lushington ; for every idea, and every plan, was originated and arranged between them. Important as was Dr. Lushington's parliamentary assistance, not one tenth part of his exertions for the cause ever met the public eye. It was in the long and anxious deliberations, in which, day after day, he used to be engaged with Mr. Buxton, that the cause reaped the chief benefit of his great talents and far-sighted policy. A no less essential member of the Anti-slavery cabinet was Mr. Zachary Macaulay. The par- liamentary leaders derived the utmost assistance from hi> matured judgment, and from those vast stores of information which were treasured up in his memory. He also was the director of that important vehicle of information, the " Anti-Slavery Reporter." There are many who still remember Mr. Macau- lay's stooping figure, his entangled utterance, and IK elected dress ; but within there dwelt, the spirit of a lien i, and a heart glowing with love to God and man. I ; mm the moment of his embracing the abolition cause, till the day of his death, he flinched neither from toil 154 MR. BUXTON'S VIEWS. CHAP. IX. nor privations ; neither from obloquy nor persecution ; but sacrificed himself, with the whole of his personal hopes, to advancing the cause of humanity. The privacy of his course was only checquered by occa- sional bursts of animosity, from those who felt their defeat to be in a great measure owing to his silent but steady exertions. To labour and suffer without prospect of gain or applause, in the simple hope of alleviating the miseries of others, was the lot in life that he cheerfully fulfilled. There may be more grace- ful and more attractive careers can there be one of more solemn grandeur? Still, however, and we may hope that posterity will grant him that just meed of honour, which, during his life, was de- nied him. T. F. Buxton, Esq., to a Friend. " February 17. 1825. " We have had a most noble debate. Burdett's and Canning's speeches were superlative. As an object of ambition, there is nothing to compare with such exertions; and there was a time when my bosom burned to achieve them; but that folly is defunct. After all, they are but an object of am- bition ; they convey no reality of honour, or of happiness. Falstaff and I are exactly of the same opinion on the subject of reputation. I shall speak as well as I can for usefulness, but not for fame ; my serious opinion being, that good wood- cock shooting is a preferable thing to glory." " February 24. 1825. " I find I have got the character of being very rash and impetuous. In our Anti-slavery proceedings, I have always been for vigorous measures. I thought our cause invincible in itself, and that it was always to be treated by us as if we had no distrust of its soundness; and, therefore, the maxim I quote in our deliberations is that of the navy in 1825. MR. SHREWSBURY. 155 the last war, ' Always fight.' This is well known to our :ul\i.-rsaries, and makes them bitter against me to the last IK nut. I can well bear this." 1 hiring these first four years of the Anti-slavery struggle, the leaders were chiefly employed in clear- ing the ground for future operations. Emancipation -< ined far distant. They were therefore more occu- pied in investigating and bringing to light the evils of the present state of things, than in framing plans for that which they trusted would eventually suc- ceed it. Early in 1825 Dr. Lushington commenced an attack upon the unworthy treatment of the free people of colour in the West Indies, selecting, as a prominent instance, the cruel usage of Messrs. Lecesne and offery. In June of the same year Mr. Buxton brought before the House the case of Mr. Shrewsbury. This gentleman was a Wesleyan missionary in Barbadoes, " in whose conduct," as Mr. Canning expressly stated in the House, " there did not appear the slightest ground of blame or suspicion." But the planters were exasperated against him for his exertions in the instruction of the Negroes and free people of colour ; ami it was also charged against him, that he had actually corresponded with Mr. Buxton ! " Though," said the latter in the House, " I never received from or wrote to him a single letter ; nor did I know that xiif/i a man existed, till I happened to take up a news- ]i;i[>< T, and there read, with some astonishment, that he was going to be hanged for corresponding with me ! " On two successive Sundays in October, 1823, the 156 DEBATE ON MB. SHREWSBURY'S CASE. CHAP. IX. doors of Mr. Shrewsbury's chapel were stormed during the hours of service by a furious mob, who did not, however, at that time proceed to actual out- rage ; but a day or two afterwards a " Proclamation " was published, calling on all the " true lovers of religion " to assemble in arms on the following Sun- day, and pull down the chapel and mission house. This they accordingly did ; but Mr. Shrewsbury had concealed himself in the house of a clergyman, " whose kindness," said Mr. Buxton, " then displayed to a poor friendless missionary, hunted for his life by an infuriated mob, I will now return, by concealing his name ; knowing, that if I were to mention it with approbation, the fate of Mr. Austin of Demerara would await him." " There is," he continued, " in this transaction at Barbadoes, as there was also in that of Demerara, that which of all things I hate the most, a rank, fierce, furious spirit of religious bigotry, dominant throughout the island, and pursuing its victims, the one to death, and the other to exile. But there is that, also, which does honour to human nature, and casts a glory round the church to which I belong, and which I prefer to all others, namely, that these poor victims, Dissenters, Missionaries, Methodists, though they were, found their best friends, and their most faithful advisers, in the ranks of our clergy. Mr. Austin, for one of the most noble acts which have been done in our days, is a ruined and banished man ; and I conceal the name of the other, in order to spare him the honours indeed, but the sufferings of martyrdom."* * Hansard. New Series, vol. xiii. p. 1285. 1825. DELIBERATIONS. 157 He concluded, not by demanding any punishment on the guilty parties, but simply by moving that they should be compelled to rebuild the chapel. The House, however, would only join him in a vote of censure upon those concerned in the crime. In his reply at the end of the debate, he said, " I wish it to be distinctly understood that it is my firm and unalterable resolution to devote all my life and my eflforts to advocating the cause of the slaves ; and that I will persist in that course, in spite of opposition, unpopularity, obloquy, or falsehood." To a Friend. " Jane 24. 1825. " I have now to tell you the events of yesterday. At first the usual fate of West India questions attended me a great indisposition to hear anything; but I gradually won their attention, and gave my narrative fully. No very lively in- terest betrayed itself, but they listened like persons who wished to learn. * * * * I am prepared for a poor report in the newspapers, for even the reporters sympathize with the House in detestation of slavery questions; and I understand, that though Lushington made a most capital speech last week on the Jamaica business, it was only re- ported in a very superficial manner. * * * * However, I did my duty, and that is all I care much about. As for popularity and fame, whoever undertakes slavery, and such foolish, methodistical questions, bids farewell to these ; and I would rather take such causes in hand, than have all the ap- plause in the world, for questions purely political." In the recess of this year we find him attending Anti-slavery meetings at Norwich and elsewhere; and employed in arranging and settling the division nt' 1; i hour with his coadjutors. lit.- trlK Mr. Brougham, 158 SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. CHAP. IX. " Cromer Hall, Sept. 8. 1825. " Lushington, Macaulay, and I, have now for several days met directly after breakfast, and employed ourselves in dis- cussing various questions relative to slavery. I now send you the result." After detailing the projects for the ensuing session, he adds, " Macaulay leaves me to-morrow; Lushington stays for several weeks : he and I mean to continue our morning meetings." Sir James Mackintosh to T. Fowell Buxton, Esq. " Dear Buxton, " Harrowgate, Sept, 25. 1825. " I received your plan of campaign, but as I am going to Brougham's house in Westmoreland, I reserve my observa- tions on it till I have a conference with him. My health is now so much better than ever I expected it would be, that I can with more than usual confidence undertake to perform any task allotted me to the best of my abilities. The two great measures are, the bill to enforce and generalize the order in council, and the particular plan of emancipation. I almost think that both are too much for one session. * * I hope to be in London in four weeks, where I shall wish to hear from you. " Ever yours faithfully, " J. MACKINTOSH." In the beginning of the session of 1826, Mr. Buxton mentions that two meetings about slavery had been already held ; and he adds, " We are determined to bring forward, without delay, two or three enormities, as a prelude to the Bill for compelling the colonial assemblies. The Berbice Papers *, and the in- surrection in Jamaica, have been selected." * The Berbice Papers were the official statement by the fiscal of the complaints made to him by the Negroes against their masters, and his 1826. THE JAMAICA INSURRECTION. 159 " February 23. " I saw Canning yesterday : he was very friendly ; inti- matfd that the Government meant to do something; but as he had refused to tell the West Indians what that some- thing was, he also refused to tell us. On Tuesday next I bring forward the London Petition, and we shall have a warm discussion. On Thursday we have Denman's motion on the Jamaica Trials another fierce discussion ; and these will probably be followed by a host of other questions." Mr. Buxton presented the London Petition against slavery on the 1st of March ; it was signed by 72,000 persons. In his speech he praised the order in council enforced in Trinidad, and again pointed out how in- effectual had been the recommendations of the Govern- ment to the legislatures of the other islands. " I am anxious," he declared, " to say nothing that can give offence to any party ; but it is my duty broadly to declare my confirmed and deliberate conviction, that this House must do the work themselves, or suffer it to be altogether abandoned."* He thus states the result of this debate : " March 2. " Last night we had our debate. Canning was not satisfactory : he preferred to give the West Indians another i/i n r. and then to legislate. We are going to have another :ite to-night. I am as tired as a person well can be." The next evening came on Mr. Denman's Motion. Ilr to.k the case of eight of the Negroes executed after the Jamaica insurrection of 1823 ; and demanded judgments thereon. The cruelties thus brought to light were of the most revolting character. Abundant extracts from these papers will be found in the Anti-Slavery Reporter for October 31. 1825, vol. i. * Hansard's Debates. New Series, vol. xiv. p. 968. 160 A YEAR'S PAUSE. CHAP. ix. a vote of censure on those concerned in condemning them. How forced and illegal some of the proceed- ings had been, will be seen from the following brief extract from Mr. Buxton's speech : " Next came the evidence of the constable. He was asked, whether he had not found guns amongst the insurgents ? His answer was, that he had not ; but he was shown a place, where he was told guns had been. Then he was asked, if he had not found large quantities of ammunition ? And he answered that he had not. Had he not found a number of bayonets ? ' No,' said the constable, ' but I was shown a basket, in which I was told a great number of bayonets had been I ' Such was the evidence on which these men were hanged." The House resolved, that it would be inexpedient to impeach the sentences which had been passed; but " that further proof had been afforded by them of the evils inseparably attendant upon a state of slavery." After the close of this session, there was a pause in the operations of the Abolitionists. As Mr. Canning had positively declared that the Government would give the colonial legislature another year's trial, before it would take the task of amelioration into its own hands, nothing remained for the Anti-slavery party but to await the expiration of that period. CHAP. X. 161 CHAPTER X. 18221826. <-|: pi r hilly John Bull, Abraham, and Jeremie, were n-n owned for their strength and beauty. He was considered a very good judge, and never hesitated to give any price, in order to render his stud more complete. Of dogs, too, he was very fond ; one of his pet.s came into his possession in u singular manner. M 2 1 64 CROMER HALL. CHAP. X. He was standing at the door of the House of Commons talking to a friend, when a beautiful tan- terrier rushed between them, and immediately began barking furiously at Sir Charles Wetherell, who was speaking. All the members jumped up, shouting and laughing, while the officers of the House chased the door round and round, till at last he took refuge with O * CJ Mr. Buxton ; who, as he could find no traces of an owner, carried him home. He proved to be quite an original. One of his whims was, that he would never go into the kitchen, nor yet into a poor man's cottage ; but he formed a habit of visiting by himself at the country houses in the neighbourhood of Cromer, and his refined manners and intelligence made Speaker a welcome guest, wherever he pleased to go. Once at rest in the retirement of Cromer Hall, Mr. Buxton began to lose the grave and care-worn expression which usually marked his countenance while under the heavy pressure of business in town ; not that the autumn was spent wholly in recreation, on the contrary, his studies, chiefly bearing on public objects, were steadily pursued. He generally passed the latter part of his evenings alone in his study, frequently remaining there to a very late hour. Cromer Hall was often filled with an easy social party, but he had no wish to extend his circle much beyond his own relatives, a select few of his parlia- mentary friends, and the families in the immediate neighbourhood. He had no taste for society of a more formal, and, as he thought, insipid character, nor did he find much pleasure in conversation, though at table he would usually enliven the party 1822 HIS INFLUENCE OVER THE YOUNG. 165 by his playfulness of manner, and by his store of anecdotes, which he could tell with much force and spirit. He took great pains in providing amusements for the younger members of the circle. There is much picturesque scenery around Cromer, and large parties wore often collected for excursions, to Sheringham, one of the most beautiful spots in all the eastern counties, to the wooded dells of Felbrigg and Runton, or to the rough heath ground by the Black Beacon. At home, also, he was energetic in setting on foot amusements for his young friends, such as acting charades, Christmas games, or amusing reading. At one time a family newspaper was started, which appeared once a week; and great was the interest i \ ited in reading the various contributions, grave and gay, which every one sent in. Sometimes he would give a list of poets, from whose works the juvenile part of the circle were to learn by heart; and examinations were held, with valuable books as prizes. Other schemes of the same kind were fre- quent Iv set on foot, all intended to draw out the mind, and spur it to exertion. His thoughtfulness l'r others, combined with an unswerving strictness, ir;t\ ( him a remarkable influence over those around liim ; it has been thus referred to by one who was a frequent guest at Cromer Hall. " I wish I could describe the impression made upon me by tin extraordinary power of interesting and simulating others, which was possessed bySirFowell lluxton some thirty years ago. In my own case it like having powers of thinking, powers of feeling, and above all, the love of true poetry, suddenly M 3 166 HINTS FOE MAXIMS FOR THE YOUNG. CHAP. X. aroused within me, which, though I may have possessed them before, had been till then unused. From Locke on the Human Understanding to ' Wil- liam of Deloraine good at need/ he woke up in me the sleeping principle of taste ; and in giving me such objects of pursuit, has added immeasurably to the happiness of my life." He seems to have had some idea of publishing a little work, to be called " Maxims for the Young." The following extracts from the rough memoranda for this work throw light, not only upon his views as to education, but also on his own character : HINTS FOE MAXIMS FOE THE YOUNG. " Mankind in general mistake difficulties for impossibilities. That is the difference between those who effect, and those who do not. " People of weak judgment are the most timid, as horses half blind are most apt to start. " Burke in a letter to Miss Shackleton says : " ' Thus much in favour of activity and occupation, that the more one has to do, the more one is capable of doing, even beyond our direct task.' " Plato, * better to err in acts, than principles.' " Idleness the greatest prodigality. " Two kinds of idleness, a listless, and an active. " If industrious, we should direct our efforts to right ends. " Possibly it may require as much (industry) to be best billiard-player as to be senior wrangler. " The endowments of nature we cannot command, but we can cultivate those given. " My experience, that men of great talents are apt to do nothing for want of vigour. " Vigour, energy, resolution, firmness of purpose, these cany the day. 1827. HINTS FOR MAXIMS FOB TDK YOUNG. 1G7 " Is there one whom difficulties dishearten, who bends t> the storm? He will do little. Is there one who will conquer ? That kind of man never fails. " Hunter the surgeon. " Let it be your first study to teach the world that you are not wood and straw some iron in you. " Let men know that what you say you will do ; that your (It * i?ion made is final, no wavering; that, once resolved, you are not to be allured nor intimidated. " Acquire and maintain that character." ****** " Eloquence the most useful talent ; one to be acquired, or improved ; all the great speakers bad at first. Huskisson. How to be acquired. " Write your speeches, no inspiration. " Labour to put your thoughts in the clearest view. " A bold, decided, outline. " Head ' multum, non multa, homo unius libri.' " Learn by heart everything which strikes you. Fox. " Thus ends my lecture ; nineteen out of twenty become good or bad as they choose to make themselves. " The most important part of your education is that which you now give yourselves." The same spirit is displayed in a letter to his nephew, Mr. Hoare's eldest son, who had been dis- appointed in the examination for the Trinity scholar- ships. "Hampstead, April 2?. 1827- " I need not, I suppose, say that I have my full share of thi- tal>!Miing branches of the Bible and Missionary Societies at Cromer, and from that time they made a point of attending and taking a part in the annual meetings. Only on one occasion was Mr. Hoare absent from them, up to the time of his death a period of twenty -five years; and Mr. Buxton was scarcely less regular. In every way he strove to pnnnote the well-being of his poorer neighbours: their sufferings touched him to the quick, and great was his anxiety to relieve them. He would take I >ai us also to gratify them in small things as well as to benefit them in greater matters. " It is a cruel thing," he once said, " for the poor labourer to be obliged to part with all his pig, after nourishing it as a daughter, and letting it lie in his bosom. When they ask me to buy a bit, I buy two, one for my- self, the other for them : they are so grateful and so pleased." Proofs that he was popular among them were often given. Having gone one day to speak to Lord Suftk-ld at the Magistrates' meeting, in coming out he was surrounded by a crowd of people, one of whom said to him, " I hope, sir, you will attend the meeting to-day." " No, I do not understand magis- trates' l)u>iness." " Yes, sir," answered a man, "you a iv i lie poor man's magistrate." 172 HIS LETTER ON STYLE. CHAP. X. The following letters, written between 1823 and 1827, may find a place here. To a Friend. " London,, April 16. 1823. " I will take an early opportunity of moving for the account of the stations, and for the number of lives saved by the use of Captain Manby's apparatus; but the purpose of niy writing at present is of a dhTerent nature. You say ' Pathos is not, in any sense, in my composition,' and you intimated in our conversation last Sunday, that you felt fit for the drudgery of stating facts, but not possessed of the art of giving to your statements entertainment and interest. Now, this is utterly and without reserve untrue. The fact is that all persons, if they set about it aright, have the capacity of conveying their feelings to others. * Honestly speaking, however, I do think there is a certain degree of languor, and want of vivacity in your studied productions ; and I am sure I know the cause. You imagine, when you appear before the public, that you must appear in full dress, correct to a nicety precise to a hair; and that artless, native naivete, and undressed good-humour, are unbefitting so solemn an occasion as an address to the public : in all which you are eminently deceived. You are of opinion that the public is so sagacious a creature, as to require only bare facts ; that he wants no more ornament or entertainment than a mathema- tician. Now believe me, the public, neither can, nor will, receive into his obtuse understanding anything which is not conveyed through the medium of his imagination or his feelings ; and if you want to move him, you must address yourself to those only openings through which he is assailable. All the observations I have made in life, all the persons who have succeeded, and all those who have failed, furnish proofs of this. I will, however, only give you one. Dr. Lawrence, a man of great learning and talents, used to make speeches in the House, admirable for their facts, but to which no man ever attended, except Fox : he was always seen sitting in 1823. CORRESPONDENCE. 173 the attitude of deep attention ; and when asked the reason, he saiil, * Because I mean to speak this speech over again.' He actually did so ; and those facts which, from Dr. Lawrence, were unbearably heavy, moved and delighted the House from Fox, and insured certain and silent attention from all. Why ? In cause Dr. L. thought with you, and Fox had the good fortune to agree with me ! " Now, then, the application of all this. You ought to study the art of composition the means of conveying to the world your own views and feelings. I am sure, from your habits of research, and your literary powers and opportunities, you may do a great deal of good ; but you are bound to do your best to effect that object, in the way by which alone it can be accomplished by tickling the fancy of the public. ******* " First, I should advise you, in writing, to put down the native, gay effusions of your own mind; and to avoid de- stroying their effect, by a cold, correct emendation. " Secondly, I would advise you to study composition ; 'but where?' In Cicero, in Quinctilian, in Chesterfield's Letters, (you will smile at the assembly,) in the three papers on the Speech of Demosthenes in the Edinburgh Review, in South's Sermons, Junius's Letters, and the Spectator. Imbibe the spirit of these, and I will venture to assert, that the public will feel as you feel, and respond to any appeal you make to them. John Henry North, Esq., to T. Powell Buxton, Esq. " My dear Buxton, " Barmouth, September 1. 1823. " 1 have at length sat down to perform a lawyer's duty, to explain things inexplicable, to wit: why I have not written to you before, or why I am writing to you now, or why I am AV riling to you from this place. When the circuit ended and left me at liberty to think of recreation, I em- barkril myself, my wife, a gig and horse, and without other incumbrance or accommodation, have been moving about in bn km weather, and on mountain roads, till I found a sheltering place here. Here, too, I have had the good for- 174 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. X. tune to meet with your venerable friend Mr. Wilberforce. To-day I had the pleasure of walking with him for half an hour, when he spoke of you with all the warmth and affection that I anticipated. It quite delights me to receive the un- varying testimony which comes to me from all quarters, of your well-earned reputation; and I enjoyed, in a peculiar manner, the high tribute which he paid you, because I know you are considered as his natural successor in the House of Commons. You have a boldness, spirit, and intrepidity, that fit you for rougher warfare than he ever ventured to engage in ; and public opinion, more powerful and enlightened now than in his time, will support you in attempting the great objects you have in view, by more direct and expeditious methods than it would have been wise in him to adopt. Yes, Buxton, I do hope that we shall labour together yet in rooting out the Slave Trade in every quarter of the globe ; in improving or perfecting the Criminal Law of England, and in emancipating, educating, and civilising my unfortunate countrymen. " I suppose you have heard that I am an Orange-man, and that my health is drunk next after the Protestant as- cendency ; but my opinions on the state of Ireland, and the policy it requires, remain unchanged. Lord Wellesley and Plunket have made sad work of it. " When I tell you that twenty miles a day is the utmost that I can impel my horse, you will admit the impracticability of my crossing the island to Norfolk. I wish you had some of my roving disposition, or that there was good shooting on the marshes of Wales, and we might yet spend three or four days pleasantly together. Of our old friends, I have no news. Strong you see from time to time in London. Stock is Stock ; every thing else alters, but he remains immoveable. He is unchanged too in his friendships, and feels the same warm regard for you and me that he ever felt. Wray is a senior Fellow, and surprised the college by the excellence of his fellowship examinations. Kobinson has married, and accepted a living. " I do not know with what face I can ask you to write to CORRESPONDENCE. 175 me, but one can be very impudent upon paper We have a friend here, the most amiable of men, a Mr. M'Ghee, a young clergyman. He is quite devoted to re- ligion; and his views coincide entirely with what I believe to be yours. In the pulpit, he is nearly the most eloquent pivacher I ever heard. He is a friend of Mr. Wilberforce, who came here at his suggestion. If he should ever have an oppor- tunity of seeing you, let this letter be an introduction to him. My dear Buxton, may God bless you, and your dear family, and my dear friend Mrs. Buxton, and long preserve you to the cause of humanity, patriotism, and religion ! " Your ever affectionate friend, " JOHN HENRY NORTH." M r. Wilberforce writes at the same period : "My dear Buxton, " fiarmouth, Sept. 3. 1823. "O how much I wish you and yours were all at this place ! If you have any passion for rocks and mountains, here it might be gratified to the utmost of your desires. And there is another, and, to your friendly heart, I know a still more powerful attraction, in the person of Mr. North, the Iri.-h barrister, who is staying here with his lady (the sister of Leslie Forster) for a short time. I own I had formed a very different idea of his exterior and manners. Your Irish man of genius commonly has somewhat volcanic about him ; fla.-h, and fertility, and now and then a puff of smoke too, though often also with fine confiscations and aspirations of flame and starry scintillations ; but North's manner is so quiet, and soft, and insinuating, that I should never have ->ed him to be an Irishman; you cannot hear him con\rr-e, even for a few minutes, without conceiving both ;.ret and regard for him. * * * * * * " My dear friend, I don't like to conclude without one serious word. Indeed, were I to do so, my letter would be a very unfaithful picture of my mind, and a letter to a friend ouu r lit to be quite a copy of it ; for my most affec- tionate thoughts and I relinks about you and yours arc serious; 176 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. X. far above the region of levities and frivolities. May it please God, my dear friend, to bless you with a long course of use- fulness, and honour, and comfort ; and may you and I, and all that are most dear to us respectively, after having filled up our appointed course, according to the will of God, in His faith, and fear, and love, as redeemed and grateful purchases of the blood of Christ, be received into that world of peace, and love, and joy, where all will be holiness and happiness for evermore ! So wishes, so prays, " Your sincere and affectionate friend, " W. WlLBERFORCE." T. Fowell Buxton, Esq., to Mrs. Buxton. "February 25. 1825. " Mr. Martin brought forward last night a new cruelty bill. Sir M. Ridley and another member opposed it, and I evidently saw that there was so much disposition to sneer at and make game of Martin, that the bears and dogs would suffer. Up I got, and when I found myself on my legs I asked myself this cutting question : Have you anything to say ? ' Not a syllable,' was the answer from within ; but necessity has no law ; speak I must, and so I did. ' We saved the bill, and all the dogs in England, and bears in Chris- tendom, ought to howl us a congratulation." To a gentleman who had asked for the secretary- ship of a mining company for a friend, saying, " He had been a brave officer : " "April 17. 1825. " You say he is brave ; what has that to do with the mines ? We don't want to fight the silver. Is he a vigorous, energetic dog, who will conquer difficulties ? Is he a sharp, clear-headed man who will not let us be cheated ? Is he a man who will do business ? Is he a good-tempered man, who will quarrel with nobody ? You naval gentlemen think of nothing but courage, and think you have given the most special recommendation, when you assure us that your friend is most perfectly ready to knock out his neighbour's brains; LETTEU ON CANDOUR. 177 whereas we cowardly landsmen are not so fond of fighting, or fighting men." To a friend who had remonstrated with him on speaking too strongly to a person in power on the subject of slavery " 1 82C. " I cannot leave London without acknowledging the re- ceipt of your letter, though I am not very well. " Our conversation has left a kind of double impression on my mind. I am glad I spoke out. I have made it a sacred rule to myself never to change my opinion of a man for whom I felt a friendship, without telling him, to his face, what I hud to object against him. I have sometimes found myself altogether mistaken; and often, if not always, there has U-eu something to be said on the other side which I had not anticipated. I am not aware that I ever had a quarrel with any one who had been my friend, and to this good rule I owe my preservation. I am glad, therefore, that I did not disguise what had been long and much on my mind. It is to me matter of amazement that any man of principle can mate- rially diit'er with me on the subject of slavery. I wonder when I see an honest man who does not hate it as I do, who does not long for the opportunity of giving it a death-blow ; and as I cannot believe that any change of circumstances could make me any thing but a favourer, and well-wisher, and enconrager to those who were devoted to that duty, I am quite perplexed by finding that there are persons who look upon me, because thus engaged, with an unfriendly eye. i- a man for whom I have ever entertained both respect and liking, I am therefore glad I hazarded the truth; but I am not glad that I did it in so strong a manner. I did not tell my \vlmle mind. I wished to have said that I was very sorry I could not acknowledge many services he had ren- dered to our cause ; but I wished to have said this in sorrow, not in anirer : and if I left the impression that I had any feeling of enmity towards him I did myself great injustice." N 178 LETTER TO A CLERGYMAN, CHAP. X. To a Clergyman. " My dear , " Cromer Hall, August 22. 1826. " I very much wish you would come into Norfolk, for I really want to have a conversation with you ; and, it is odd enough, that it is upon a business entirely yours, with which I have no kind of concern. I remember two observations of yours, which little a* I might appear to heed them at the time, made a deep impression on me. The one was, ' I should very much like to be a country gentleman. I would not have the best horses, or dogs, or farms, in the county ; but I would exert myself to improve the people who were under my influence. A country gentleman, thus employed, totis viribus, might accomplish a vast range of good.' The other was, when you said to one of your parishioners who was fond of music, * I, too, love music ; I hope to enjoy a great deal of it, but I will wait till I get to heaven.' Now, having had the use of these observations for some years, I feel bound to return them to you for your use and benefit, for it strikes me you want them just at this time. I hear you are going to build a house ; no doubt you will do it with excellent taste : then it will require to be suitably furnished ; then the grounds must be improved about it, and, by that time, your heart will be in it. I am sure that house will lead to your secularization. It will melt you down towards an ordinary country parson ; not the parson who loves his dinner and his claret, but rather towards that refined class of triflers, who exquisitely embellish houses and gardens, and who leave the minds and souls of their flocks to take care of themselves. You see I have scratched out * into' and inserted ( towards,' because I am bound in truth to confess, that I am sure you will, under any circumstances, and, in spite of all seductions, be an exemplary clergyman. You will have your schools, and your weekday services, and your sound, lively, evan- gelical doctrine in the pulpit ; but what I mean to say is, that just so much of your affections as you give to your house, exactly so much will you withdraw from your parish. 182G. ON HIS NEW HOUSE. 17'.' " After all, the discharge of a man's duty, and, afortiori y of a clergyman's duty, requires all the strength we can give it. The world, and the spirit of the world, are very insidious, and the older we grow, the more inclined we are to think as others think, and act as others act; and more than once I have seen a person, who, as a youth, was single-eyed and single-hearted, and who, to any one who supposed he might glide into laxity of /eal, would have said, * Am I a dog ? ' in maturer age .uc, if not a lover of the vices of the world, at least a ti iKrator of its vanities. I speak here feelingly, for the world has worn away much of the little zeal I ever had. * What is the harm,' you will say, * of a convenient house : what is the harm of a convenient house being elegant ; of an elegant house being suitably furnished? ' The same personage who in.-inuates this to you, said to me, 'Where is the harm of having a few dogs, those few very good ; you preserve game do it well do it better than other people : ' and so he stole away my heart from better things. I have more game, and better horses and dogs than other people, but the same ciH-rgy, disposed of in a different way, might have spread liible and Missionary Societies over the hundred of North Erpingham. " All this applies to you, more than to any person I know. You have, by a singular dispensation of Providence, obtained a -tat ion of influence; you have a vigour and alacrity of mind, with which few are gifted; upon no man's heart is * the vanity of this life ' more strongly stamped. You have a great, and, as far as my experience goes, an unequalled influence over those around you. These together constitute great power of doing good. The question is, shall you give it wholly to God, walking through life as one who really dc-pises the indulgences on which others set their hearts; acting fully up to your own creed, and the convictions of your better momenta, or will you give two-thirds of that power to ( iod, and one- third of it to the world? Will you have your music here, or will you wait a few years for it? Old Weuits of vulgar ambition, are not for you. I hope to see in your parish, an example of what may be done by a clergyman having talents, income, influence, out of the eoiinnon order. It just occurs to me that all this may be misipplied, that your house has not, and is not likely to have, a tittle of your affections. Be it so then give this letter to your housemaid to light your fire with. But if you suspect that you want the friendly freedom of this hint, in the midst of your present prosperity, keep this as a memorial of the attaehment of " Yours, very truly, " T. F. BUXTON." 182 CIIAP.XI. CHAPTER XL 1826, 1827. THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. MR. BY AM AND GENERAL HALL. MR. BUXTON STUDIES AND UNDERTAKES THE QUESTION. TOUCHING INCIDENT. DEBATE. COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY STORMY ELECTION AT WEYMOUTH. LETTERS. LABORIOUS INVESTIGATIONS. FRIGHTFUL ATTACK OF ILLNESS. UNEX- PECTED RECOVERY. THE year of trial granted by the Government to the colonial legislatures, suspended during that time all anti-slavery proceedings. This interval was not thrown away Mr. Buxton at once turned his whole mind to a new, though kindred question. A few months previously he had received a visit from a gentleman of the name of Byam, who had been Commissary General of the police at the Mauritius, and had come home full of indignation at the abuses he had there witnessed. He asserted that the slave- trade was still prevailing in that island to a frightful extent ; that the inhabitants and the authorities were alike implicated, and that the labouring slaves were treated with atrocious cruelty ; the greater, because their loss could be so easily supplied. The Mauritius * had not been ceded to England by * The Mauritius was discovered in 1505, by Mascaregnas, a Portu- guese. It received its name from that of the ship of Van Neck, a Dutchman, who first settled on it in 1595. The story of Paul and Virginia throws a romantic interest over this rich and beautiful island. 182G. THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. 183 France till 1810, which was three years after the Abolition of the British slave-trade. It appeared that, partly owing to this circumstance, and partly to the facilities afforded by the proximity of the African coast, the traffic had never been put down in those quarters, except during one or two brief intervals. To these startling assertions Mr. Buxton could not yield immediate belief; still less could he refuse to investigate them. From Mr. Byain, and other indi- viduals, especially General Hall (who had been a governor of the Mauritius), he obtained a large mass of documents, and after a long and minute study of their contents, he came to the certain conviction that the charge was true. He was appalled by the greatness of the evil thus unveiled to him. It was no light matter, however, to begin a struggle with a foe so distant and inaccessible, and at first he shrank from the undertaking. But how could In- know of such iniquities without standing up 'list them? At that time he little thought that in >ix years British slavery would be done away. He ctcd a far more lengthened contest; and, mean- while, should these horrors be permitted to continue ? -No! A year's leisure lay before him, and, in con- junction with Dr. Lushington and others, he took the task in hand. A plan of operation was soon laid, in accordance with which Mr. (now Sir) George Stephen, a staunch and hereditary abolitionist, took upon himself the labour, demanding no less skill than perseverance, of discovering and examining witnesses. The first of thr>c was Mrs. liyamV Knglish maid servant, who, if 4 184 TOUCHING INCIDENT. CUAI-. XI. while in the Mauritius, had done various little acts of kindness to the slaves. One incident related by her powerfully affected Mr. Buxton. In the middle of the night preceding the departure of Mr. Byarn's family from the island, she was awakened by a low voice calling to her from without ; she rose, and was terrified at finding the whole court-yard filled with negroes. They beseech- ingly beckoned her to be still, and then, falling upon their knees, they implored her, as she was going to the country of Almighty God, to tell Him of their suf- ferings, and to entreat Him to send them relief.* On the 9th of May, 1826, Mr. Buxton brought the Mauritius question before Parliament. In the com- mencement of his speech he reminded the House that the traffic in slaves was by law a felony. " And yet," he continued : " I stand here to assert, that in a British colony, for the last fourteen years (except during General Hall's brief administration), the slave trade in all its horrors has existed : that it has been carried on to the extent of thousands, and tens of thousands ; that, except upon one or two occasions, which I will advert to, there has been a regular, systematic, and increasing importation of slaves." * Mr. Buxton used to relate a conversation as having occurred at his own table, in connection with this question, which much amused him. A gentleman who had been resident in the Mauritius, one day dining with him, laboured to set him right as to the condition of the slaves, assuring him that the blacks there were in fact the happiest people in the whole world. He finished by appealing to his wife. " Now, my dear, you saw Mr. F 's slaves, do tell Mr. Buxton how happy they looked." " Well, yes," innocently replied the lady, " they were very happy, I'm sure only I used to think it so odd to see the black cooks chained to the fireplace ! " 182C. DEBATE. 185 He then proceeded to prove this statement, adduc- ing the evidence of one admiral and four naval cap- tuins, one general and three military officers, five high civil officers, and two out of the three governors of thv island; and then, from calculations which he had very fully and accurately made, he proved every one of the eight distinct heads of accusation which IK- had brought forward. By a return of the num- ber of the black population in the Seychelles, he showed that there was only one alternative, either the slave trade had been carried on, or every female in that group of islands must have been the mother of one hundred and eighty children.* He concluded liis speech by sketching with a powerful hand the features of the trade which he was attacking; and let the reader, while perusing the following extract, remember, that the same barbarities are going on at this very day, between the West coast of Africa and the Hra/ils. After describing the system of capture, &c., he said, " The fourth step is the voyage, the horrors of which are beyond description. For example, the mode of packing. The hold of a slave vessel is from two to four feet high. It is filled with as many human beings as it will contain. They :uv made to sit down with their heads between their knees : first, aline is placed close to the side of the vessel; then another line, and then the packer, armed with a heavy club, itrikea at the feet of this last line in order to make them M as closely as possible against those behind. And so the packing goes on ; until, to use the expression of an eye- witne-s, tin -y are wedged together in one mass of living cor- * Hansard, P. D. xv. p. 1030. 186 COMMITTEE OF INQUIRY. CUAP. XL ruption.' Then the stench is so dreadful that I ani assured by an officer, that holding his head for a few moments over the air hole, was almost fatal to his life. Thus it is that suffocating for want of air, starving for want of food, parched with thirst for want of water, these poor creatures are compelled to perform a voyage of fourteen hundred miles. No wonder the mortality is dreadful ! " He obtained a select committee to inquire whether the slave trade had, or had not, existed in the Mauri- tius. But its investigations were soon arrested by the dissolution of Parliament; and in the beginning of June, Mr. Buxton found himself involved in a stormy election at Weymouth, which at that time, with the united borough of Melcombe Regis, returned four members. The non-electors and the mob were in favour of the Tory candidates, and resorted to main force to prevent the polling of Whig votes ; their plan was, with the aid of a large body of stout Portlanders, to obtain possession of the Town Hall, at the further extremity of which the booth was placed. No Whig voter reached the table without a violent struggle and very rough treatment. Some were delayed for hours, first by this means, and then by the objections urged by the lawyers ; and so great was the success of all this, that on one day but six votes were polled. To remedy in some degree this evil, the mayor extended the hours of polling from 4 to 6 o'clock. This measure was extremely un- popular with the mobility of the place, who of course wished the election to last as many days as possible. It was rumoured that an attack on the Town Hall was in contemplation, and a strong body of cavalry was called into the town. The mob, however, were 1826. STORMY ELECTION AT WEYMOUT1I. 187 not dismayed. At 4 o'clock they assembled in great force, and suddenly rushed with a loud yell upon the door of the Town Hall. Some passed under the horses of the soldiers, others pressed between them ; the ranks of the cavalry were broken, and the crowd poured in. At the same moment a great number of them ran over the leads of the houses adjoining the Town Hall, lowered themselves from the roof into its upper windows, and came tumbling into the Hall in crowds, rushing towards the polling booth with loud shouts, and pressing back the gentlemen to the further end. Most of these scrambled out of the windows at once; a few kept their seats till they almost suffocated by the mob, but were forced at to jump from the windows into the arms of their friends below. Subsequently a large number of special constables were sworn in and placed in the Hall. On two successive days the mob broke all their >taves to pieces, and drove them out with great \ i<>lence. .Mr. Buxton kept himself as clear as possible from tin-so tumults: his own election was throughout secure, and he was personally highly popular. He is rilx-d as being received, even by the Tories, "with loud shouts of approbation ; crowds came about him to shake hands ; indeed," adds the letter, " he does not appear to have a person against him in the town." lit- was at "the head of the poll by a majority of sixty-nine, but the other Whig candidate was de- bated, and three Tories came in. 188 LETTERS. CHAP. XI. To Samuel Hoare, Esq. " Weymouth, June 16. 1826. " This is the sixth day of polling, and there is every pro- bability of six days more. The election is carried on with the utmost violence, and at monstrous expense. It is said that spends 1500Z. a day, and his party confess to 1000/. He has nine public houses open, where anybody, male or female, from town or country, is very welcome to eat and get drunk ; and, the truth is, the whole town is drunk. I send you a copy of a letter which I wrote to our committee yesterday, protesting against any such proceedings on our side." The letter referred to is as follows : " My dear Sir, " Weymouth, June 15. 1826. " I wish to repeat to you in writing, what I stated to you several times, and what I declared yesterday on the hustings ; I will be no party to any expenses which are contrary to law. I will pay no part of the expense of opening houses. If any individual on his own responsibility does so, pray let him clearly understand that he will hereafter have no claim upon me. It is contrary to my principles to obtain any accession of strength by illegal means. I will not do it, and will not sanction it. I request you will make this commu- nication known to the candidates, the agents, and the com- mittee. To Joseph John Gurney, Esq. (Who had offered to share in the expences of the election.) "^Spitalfields, July 18. 1826. " I was very much pleased with your letter. That kind of community of feeling and interest which subsists between us all, is a rare, a good, and a most pleasant thing ; and, under certain circumstances, I should have no kind of indis- position to be aided by you and the rest. My clear opinion, however, is, that there is no necessity for it at this time. I feel warranted in depriving my family of the sum my election will cost, considering the very peculiar situation in which the slave question, and the Mauritius question, and 1826. LABORIOUS INVESTIGATIONS. 189 Suttee (Indian Widowt) question stand. Without ex- travagantly overrating my own usefulness, I think it would be inconvenient for me to be out of Parliament just now. There are plenty of people with more talents, but a great lark of those who truly love a good cause for its own sake, and whom no price would detach from it; and so, for this time, I feel warranted in robbing my family. I therefore decline your most generous offer to assist in my election expenses; and I do so with many thanks, and with great pleasure that the offer was made. * u I am very, very sorry I cannot join Wilbcrforce at Karlhnm ; nothing prevents me except the Mauritius question, and that to him will be a pretty good reason. " I shall not be at Cromer Hall till early in August, so despatch the Aylsham Bible Society without me ; I am sick of public duties, and run away from them without scruple." The rest of the year 1826 was chiefly employed in tin- laborious task of preparing Mauritian evidence lor the ensuing session. For this purpose Mr. G. Stephen and Mr. Byam visited every part of England, where soldiers were quartered, who had at any time served in the Mauritius. The depositions of l>otli officers and men, at Hull, Norwich, Liverpool, Chelsea, and other places were taken ; thus the testi- mony was produced of more than 150 witnesses of good character, who all spoke to the fact of a trade in >laves. Early in 1827 Mr. Buxton moved for a renewal of the committee; but, at the request of the < iov< Tiiment, his motion was deferred till the 26th of May ; and, meantime, he strenuously exerted himself * Mr. Samuel Ciurney and Mr. Joseph J. Gurney several times bore a large part of his election expenses. They insisted on doing this, being tlct. iiiiiiu-d to promote in every way, direct and indirect, the objects he had at heart. 190 ATTACK OF ILLNESS. CHAP. XL in the further investigation of the case. In his speech on the 9th of May, 1826, he had accused the au- thorities of the island of culpable neglect. This was highly resented by the late governor, Sir Robert Farquhar, who, in the beginning of May, 1827, complained in the House of Commons of the charge, and dared Mr. Buxton to the proof. This entailed upon him what he had hoped to avoid, the painful necessity of individual crimination. But he was already almost sinking under the weight of busi- ness, and the anxiety with which the whole case was fraught, proved at length more than he could bear. His health showed decided symptoms of giving way, and his physician, Dr. Farre, strongly urged him to have, recourse to rest and quiet ; but he was far too deeply impressed by the sufferings of his unhappy clients, to desert their cause while a particle of strength remained. In spite of the feelings of illness which rapidly gained ground upon him, he spent the week previous to that on which his motion was to come on, in severe and harassing labour. One of his friends writes on Tuesday, May 15th, 1827: " I went to breakfast with Mr. Buxton, but he was too ill to come down stairs, and Dr. Farre was sent for. Pre- sently, however, General Hall, Mr. George Stephen, and Mr. Byam arriving, he joined the party. A large sheet of paper, full of notes, was produced, and they were soon immersed in business. He appeared hiuch oppressed with headache, and very languid. * * * When Dr. Farre ar- rived, he ordered leeches, quiet, and total abstinence from business. I then was about to go, but Mr. Buxton said I must stay and read to him, which I did for many hours. The book was ' Thompson's Journey in South Africa.' At night he seemed very ill." 1827. FRIGHTFUL ATTACK. 191 As he continued seriously unwell, and business necessarily pressed upon him in London, he removed on the Thursday afternoon to Ham House, whence he wrote the following note to Mrs. Upchcr: " My dear Friend, " I am far better, but rather feeble and incapable of exertion, and somewhat perplexed by the question, Ought I ID overwork myself, or underwork my slave cause ? My judgment is for the second, but my inclination for the first ; and the result will be that I shall do both. I am now going to take a ride." Ills prediction was but too true. He spent the S;tt unlay in taking a general view of the evidence which had been collected, of the atrocious cruelties practised upon the negroes, both in their importation, and afterwards, when they were reduced to slavery. In the course of that unhappy morning, he was so completely overwhelmed with anguish and indigna- tion at the atrocities on which he had been dwelling, that lie several times left his papers and paced rapidly II j> and down the lawn, entirely overcome by his ings, and exclaiming aloud, " Oh, it's too bad, it's too bad ! T can't bear it." The t'riirhtful result which ensued, is thus forcibly (!r>crileiit justice to m\.-ell' to admit, that the object was a worthy 192 UNEXPECTED RECOVERY. CHAP. XL one ; that I had embraced it from a sense of duty ; that my mind was imbued with deep affliction and indignation at the wrongs to which the negro was exposed. I spared no pains, and no sacrifices, in order to do justice to my cause ; and the anxiety and labour which I endured preyed upon my health. About the middle of May I went to Upton, in order to improve it by change of air, but I was then under the pressure of disease, and my physician described my state by saying, "you are on fire, though you are not in a blaze." I concealed from others, I did not even admit to myself, the extent of my indisposition. I could not doubt that I felt ill, but I was willing to suppose that these were nervous feelings, the effects of fatigue of mind, and that they would vanish, as they had often done before, when the question was at an end. " On Saturday, May 19th, I took a survey of the case of cruelty to the negroes, and for two or three hours I was distressed beyond measure, and as much exasperated as distressed, by that scene of cruelty and horrid oppression. I never in my life was so much moved by anything, and I was so exhausted by the excitement, that I could not that day renew my exertions. The next morning I awoke feeling- very unwell. My wife and the family went to a place of worship, and my daughter remained with me ; I think, but I have not any clear recollections, that I told her about 1 2 o'clock to send for Dr. Farre. I have a vague idea of my wife's return, but beyond that, all is lost to me. The fact was, that I was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and it was not till the following Wednesday that I showed any symptons of recovery. I am glad that the first object I noticed was my dear wife. I well remember the expression of deep anxiety upon her countenance, and I am sure I had seen it before. To her delight I spoke to her, and the words I used were those that expressed my unbounded affection towards her. Thanks to her care, joined to that of my brothers and sisters, and of the medical attendants, I gradually recovered. I remember, however, feeling some surprise, as well as mortifi- cation, at finding that the day fixed for my motion on the 18-27. REFLECTIONS. 193 Mauritius had passed ! Then came the slow progress of recovery ; we went to Cromer ; all my pursuits, such at least as required mental exertion, were given up, but hence resulted some leisure for reflection. I was then sensible of the sins which I had committed, and was deeply affected by the love and mercy of God, that he had been pleased to spare my life, that he had not called me suddenly into his presence. I In 'i 10 ami believe that I have not lost the sense of his goodness. I never can advert to this warning without acknowledging from my heart, that his goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life. O gracious Father, grant that I may always retain a most lively feeling of the indulgence and tender compassion, which I have experienced at thy hands. Give me repentance, even bitter repentance, that I have ever offended so gracious a Master, and keep me from future transgression." So deeply had the subject which caused this alarming seizure become rooted in his mind, that almost his first words, on recovering full conscious- ness, were uttered in a decided tone, to the effect that he must get up, and go to the House, to bring forward his motion on the Mauritius. When told that the day was already past, he would not give credit to the statement, till it was put beyond doubt by reference to the newspaper in which the proceed- ings of the House on the evening in question were reported. Such was the history of this remarkable check in the very midst of his career. It need not be said how strong a sensation his illness occasioned both among hi- immediate friends and fellow-workers, and in a wider circle also. His brothers and sisters col- lected around him, his children were sent for from o 194 UNEXPECTED KECOVERY. CHAP. XL a distance, and the strongest alarm was felt, until his almost unlooked-for return to consciousness. " What a change (writes Mr. Macaulay on the 6th of June,) has the mercy of God to us all produced ! We have almost ceased to inquire from hour to hour, and day to day, with breathless solicitude, about every little symptom that might have occurred. We now hear only of returning strength, of spirits, and of approaching convalescence ! Let us not for- get the change ! May God establish and perfect it ! " CHAP. XII. 195 CHAPTER XII. 1827, 1828. MKDITATIOXS. MR. SIMEON. LETTER TO LORD W. BENTINCK. SUTTEE ABOLISHED. MR. BUXTON SETTLES AT NORTHREPPS. DEBATE ON SLAVERY. MR, BUXTON'S REPLY. THE FREE PEOPLE OF COLOUR. INTERVIEW WITH MR. HUSKISSON. THOUGHTS ON HIS ILLNESS. THE Mauritius case was of course dropped for the year. Mr. Buxton returned to Cromer Hall, and for a long time was obliged to relinquish all sedentary occupation. This interval of unaccustomed leisure was not thrown away ; his mind, cut off from its usual employments, turned to reviewing its own state ; and while removed from active life, he was in fact strengthening by reflection and prayer those principles from which his actions sprang. Much larger portions of time were given to religious me- ditation, and to a diligent study of the Holy Scrip- tures. The marks in his Bible attest his ready application of the Word of God to his own necessities. There still exists a large portfolio full of texts, copied by him and arranged under different heads. He greatly delighted in the Psalms ; and on one occasion, when, to use his own words, " some circumstances had arisen which involved him in distress of mind," he thus writes : " Finding comfort no where else, I resorted to the Bible, and particularly to the Psalms ; and truly can I say with o 2 196 MEDITATIONS. CHAP. XIL David, *In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he delivered me.' The Psalms are beautiful and instructive to every man who really studies them ; but anguish of mind is necessary to enable us fully to comprehend and taste the pathos and emphasis of their expressions. In David's de- scriptions of his own anxieties, I found a most lively picture of my own mind. In his eloquent language I uttered my prayers ; and, thanks be to God, I was also able to use for myself his songs of rejoicing and gratitude. I have spent some hours almost every Sunday over the Psalms, and I have extracted under separate heads, David's prayers his as- surance that his prayers were heard and answered his thanksgivings, &c. ; and I meditate, at some future period of leisure, preparing some work for publication on the subject. " This I may (I believe) say, that these studies have had a strong, and I trust not a transient, effect upon my mind. I recur to the Bible with a pleasure, and sometimes with a delight, unknown to me before. When I am out of heart, I follow David's example, and fly for refuge to prayer, and he furnishes me with a store of pray er ; and I hope *I love God,' better, ' because he hath heard the voice of my supplication ; and therefore will I call upon him as long as I live ; ' and I feel what the text expresses, which I found in my text-book for this day, ' The Lord is my defence, and my God is the rock of my refuge.' And this lesson I have in some degree learnt, that afflictions, as we consider them, are sometimes the chief and the choicest of mercies." After his illness, he was in the habit of frequently committing his thoughts to paper, and a large number of these comrnunings with his own heart still remain. Many of them are preparations for prayer, according to a habit, which he thus mentions in one of his papers about this period : * * * * " There is a practice which I have found highly beneficial, 1827. MEDITATIONS. 197 and should any of my children ever see this memorial, I earnestly advise them to adopt it. "I am in the habit of preparing the substance of my private and family prayers. I believe that we are far too extempore in that duty, not that I recommend any verbal preparation, but a meditation upon the points on which we wish to ask the help of God. The want of this seems to me to lead the mind to wander about, and rather to fill our mouths with a train of words to which we are accustomed, than our hearts with a sense of our necessities. I, at least, have found the habit of reflecting on what I shall ask for, before I venture to ask, highly serviceable. " I am bound to acknowledge that I have always found that my prayers have been heard and answered not that I have in every instance (though in almost every instance I have) received what I asked for, nor do I expect or wish it. I always qualify my petitions, by adding, provided that what I ask for is for my real good, and according to the will of my Lord. But with this qualification I feel at liberty to submit my wants and wishes to God in small things as well as in L r ivat ; and I am inclined to imagine that there are no ' little tilings' with Him. We see that his attention is as much bestowed upon what we call trifles, as upon those things which we consider of mighty importance. His hand is as manifest in the leathers of a butterfly's wing, in the eye of an insect, in the folding, and packing of a blossom, in the curious aqueducts by which a leaf is nourished, as in the creation of a world, and in the laws by which the planets move. " To our limited powers some things appear great and some inconsiderable ; but He, infinite in all things, can lavish his power and his wisdom upon every part of his creation. Hi nee I feel permitted to offer up my prayers for every tiling that concerns me. I understand literally the injunc- tion, * Be careful for nothing, but in every thing make your requests known unto God ; ' and I cannot but notice how amply these prayers have been met." During a visit to Karlluim this autumn, in the o 3 198 MB. SIMEON. CHAP. XII. company of the Rev. Charles Simeon, Mr. Buxton one day persisted in going out shooting, instead of accom- panying his friend to a meeting of the Jews' Society in Norwich. Mr. Simeon was a little hurt by this : but receiving not long afterwards a parcel of game, he wrote Mr Buxton the following characteristic letter. " King's College, Cambridge, " My dear Friend, October 16. 1827. " A kind present of game demands my grateful acknowledg- ments, which with much pleasure I send you. But the pre- cise time of its arrival necessarily excites in my mind some reflections. What ! is my beloved friend conscious that in withstanding all my extemporaneous oratory he has humbled me, and does he send me this as a peace-offering? That I have sighed it is true ; that thoughts have arisen in my mind of somewhat a painful nature, is true. And I will tell you what they were : " 1. I have deeply sympathised with him and his beloved relatives in his affliction.* " 2. My beloved friend has prayed with that dear departed saint, and therefore has doubtless his own soul, perhaps in consequence of his own affliction, in a devout state. " 3. My union with that whole family is near akin to the union of the saints in heaven, and my soul in consequence of dear Rachel's experience being read to me had been so in heaven, that I actually felt it a condescension to come down and dine with the party, even though they had all been dukes and duchesses. Peter on Tabor was scarcely more averse to descend than I. " On these grounds I thought that an act of condescension and self-denial on your part, if self-denial it was, might have been not unseasonable. But I checked and condemned myself, and said, What ! shall I wish my beloved friend to serve and honour God, for my sake ? No ! if he will show kindness to me for the LorcCs sake, I will accept it as the * This refers to the death of his sister-in-law, Rachel Gurney ; see memoir of Elizabeth Fry, vol. ii. p. 55. 1827. LETTER TO LORD W. BENTINCK. 199 most grateful offering in the world ; but to serve the Lord for niy sake would be productive of nothing but grief and shame to my soul. Now, my dear friend, you see you have shot me flying, and penetrated my heart, and let out, not ill blood, (there is none of that I assure you,) but the stream of love, which was pent up there. And to show that you are pleased with your success, you shall, if convenient to you, send me a little more game to be dressed on Oct. 30. (this day fortnight), when I shall have a large party of Jews (friends of that despised people) to dine with me ; and this will show you in what spirit 1 write, and with what cordiality and affection I am " Yours, " CHARLES SIMEON." About this time, Mr. Buxton heard, to his great satisfaction, that Lord William Bentinck was ap- pointed Governor-general of India, and immediately -went up to town to discuss with him the subject of Suttee, and to urge him to employ his authority for the abolition of that atrocious practice. A short time afterwards he addressed the following letter to him : * " My dear Lord, " Cromer Hall, Oct. 22. 182?. " The short interview which I had with you lately has been to me a matter of sincere gratification. I now feel that I can leave in your hand the question, whether the British Government ought, or ought not, to tolerate the annual sacrifice of several hundred females; and I have the satisfaction of knowing that you will do every thing which ought to be done. When Mr. Canning was going to India, I ventured to trouble him on the business: his answer was the same as I received from you. He assured me, that the subject should engage his most earnest attention, and that what he could do should l>e done. I have always lamented that he did not go to India, from a conviction that his great mind would have been ill at ea. called to London to resume his parliamentary labours, which had been so unfortunately cut short in the preceding year. His still very uncertain licalth made the prospect of recommencing work an anxious one; and he appeared quite unable to re- sume his attack on the Mauritius Slave Trade. " It is a problem to me," he said, "what I shall do this session, and what will happen;" adding, "however, perhaps I shall outlive you all. I should not wonder, if I do not overwork myself." His exertions were first called for on behalf of the West Indies. The year of probation granted by Mr. ('aiming to the colonial assemblies had now more than expired ; and they had done nothing towards the mitigation of Slavery. Of the eight bills recommended for their adoption by Mr. Canning, not one had been accepted by any colony, except Nevis. Int the Government were not yet discouraged; they 202 DEBATE ON SLAVERY. CHAP. XII. were still anxious to persuade, rather than to compel. Nor could they be blamed for trying every method of suasion, before resorting to force. The right of the mother country to legislate directly for her colonies had, in one great instance, been successfully defied. It might, therefore, have been no wise policy to attempt coercion, till all gentler methods had been tried in vain. Accordingly, in 1828, Sir George Murray, as a last experiment, despatched circular letters to all the colonial assemblies, once more urging them, in strong terms, to effect for themselves the required improvement in the condition of their slaves. Most truly did Mr. Stanley state in his speech on the 14th of May, 1833, that it was not " till all means had been exhausted ; till every suggestion had been made ; till every warning had been given ; and had not only been given in vain, but had been met by the colonial legislatures with the most determined opposition; that England took the work of re- constructing West Indian society into her own hands." These circular letters were " entirely dis- regarded." Had Mr. Buxton been in vigorous health, he would certainly ha*ve done what he could to obtain bolder measures from the Government, but his bodily powers failed him. On the 6th of March, Mr. Wilmot Horton, a leading member of the West Indian body, brought forward a motion for the publication of some minutes relative " to the Demerara and Berbice Manumission Order in Council." * * Hansard's Parliamentary Debates, March, 1828. 1628. MB. BUXTON'S REPLY. 203 Mr. Buxton had brought together some documents from which to answer Mr. Horton ; but he became so u 1 1 wc-11 that he was obliged to give up the attempt to Ionise them, and went down to the House of Com- mons without any intention of speaking. To his dismay he found, on reaching the House, that Mr. William Smith was the only abolitionist present beside himself. Mr. Horton's opening speech was cxnvnu'ly able, and was listened to by Mr. Buxton with t't dings of real distress, while he looked in vain towards the door of the House, in the hope that Mr. Brougham or Dr. Lushington might come to the rescue. At length a bitter tirade against the Abolitionists from one of their opponents, stung him to the quick ; and he rose to reply, beginning with a some- what severe comment " on the acrimonious speech of the honourable member for C , who, after a long lecture on command of temper and control of tongue, has ended," he said, " by charging us with exaggeration, misrepresentation, quackery, and non- sense." " I must confess, however, that he has sneered at us in \.TV good company ; the rights of man and the laws of God were equally visited by his sarcasm. Now, I defy him to ]>n>\r :uiy one instance of misrepresentation. I challenge him to abstain from general condemnation, and to put his fiiiL r rton, and by his desire. We have had warm work since you left London, and it seems likely to continue ; however, I am in high spirits. We have Brougham in full energy, strength, and determination, and we have a case in all points impregnable. Would I had more leisure! for my appetite is whetted by all the follies and iniquities of the planters." At length, in the session of 1828, Dr. Lushington's rtions in behalf of the free people of colour were crowned with complete success. An order in council was issued, by which they were at once placed on the same footing in every respect as their white 206 INTERVIEW WITH MB. HUSKISSON. CHAP. XII. fellow-citizens; a measure fraught with momentous consequences to the welfare of the West Indies. On the 20th of March, Mr. Buxton had an inter- view with Mr. Huskisson. He offered to put Govern- ment into possession of all his documents and evidence respecting the Slave Trade at the Mauritius, if they would go on with the inquiry, as he was unable to do so, and he strongly urged them to take it up. Mr. Huskis- son replied that they should consider about it, and desired that documents relating to the cruel usage of the slaves would be sent to him. He also assured Mr. Buxton that the trade was now stopped, that the registry was enforced, and that some orders in council would be sent out and put into operation. No other steps were at present taken by the Government ; they had previously sent out a com- mission of inquiry, and further measures were deferred till its report should have been received. Mr. Buxton writes in a paper dated Sunday, the 25th May, 1828 : " I keep this as the anniversary of my illness, which began on Sunday, May 20th, 1827 ; and I must not let the day pass without returning my solemn and fervent thanks to thee, my God, for that most gracious visitation, coupled with solemn and fervent prayers that I may never lose the benefit which this visitation was sent to confer." He then expresses his deep gratitude to God, both for the warning itself, and for his deliverance, and after quoting at length the four first verses of the 103d Psalm, he adds, " These words, I can use with some emphasis and some 1828. THOUGHTS ON HIS ILLNESS. 207 application to myself. There is not a clause in these verses which is not my own. My disease was healed, my iniquity was pardoned, my life, natural and spiritual, had a Redeemer, and loving kindness and tender mercy was that, which I, a sinner, received at the hands of God ; and there- fore my cry unto Thee is that thou wouldest give me such a take, for the House will hear nothing else now; but we are to have a day fixed for Brougham's motion before Easter. He wanted me to begin on the Mauritius ; but I said, ' No ! if they are not in a ^temper to hear you, I am sure they will not hear me.' " Spring Ilice said, that he had seen General Bourke, late governor of the Cape of Good Hope, who tells him that Government have sent out an order in council, giving entire emancipation to the Hottentots. If this proves true I shall be excessively delighted, and shall never say again that I am -< MTV I went into Parliament; not that I did much in the business, but I flatter myself I did a little." \\\> dfliirht was well-founded. From the day that flu- iit't'h th ordinance became law, the Hottentots to the level of tlit-ir white oppressors, F 8 214 THE HOTTENTOTS SET FREE. CUAP. XIII. they were protected by the same laws, they could own property, they could demand wages in return for their labour, they could no longer be seized " like stray cattle" if they left their village bounds; in short, they were become a free people ; and since that day civilisation and Christianity, with all their retinue of blessings, have flourished among them. For a while dismal forebodings and fierce complaints rang among the colonists at this sudden inroad upon their oppressive privileges ; but after a few slight commotions, both their anger and their fears died away: and the experience of eighteen years has abundantly approved the wisdom, as well as the justice, of this important measure. To the N. E. of the colony lies the rich pasture land of the Kat River ; from which, in 1827, the Caffres had been expelled after a long guerilla warfare with the colonists. On this tract of country the Colonial Government, at the suggestion of Captain (now Sir Andries) Stockenstrom, determined to form a Hottentot settlement, as a sort of outwork against the Caffres, and also to afford an opportunity for drawing forth the latent energies of the Hottentots themselves. The latter quickly poured into the settlement from all parts of the colony, but for a long time they had to struggle with every species of privation and danger. Captain Stockenstrom had no tools to give them; when they asked him what means they would have to cultivate the ground, he could only answer, " If you cannot do it with your fingers, you had better not go there." However they set to work, lending each other such tools as they possessed, and soon 1828. THE KAT RIVER SETTLEMENT. 215 began water-courses to irrigate the land for the seed- corn allowed by Government. When Dr. Philip returned from England to Africa, he found them still in want of even the necessaries of lite ; but they had commenced the cultivation of the soil, ami many of them, having been trained under missionaries while in the colony, were thirsting for education, though, as yet, no regular teachers were allowed by the Colonial Government to visit them. At one of the new hamlets, named after Mr. Wil- berforce, a school had been established, which was attended by sixty or seventy children. The teacher A young Hottentot, who could himself read but very imperfectly. To an observation of Dr. Philip, he replied, that he could teach but little, and that as soon as a qualified master should come, he would n his charge and take his seat among the children. At another hamlet, named after Mr. Bux- ton*, a school had already been brought into excellent order, under the direction of a daughter of Andrew St< fHes a converted Hottentot. Further on they observed a well-dressed female Hottentot standing on a stone, tinkling a small bell. * Sixteen years later, the Rev. James Read thus refers to the village of Buxton : " Kat River, May 2p. 184.'*. " Buxton is one of our largest locations ; we have a good school there. The school-room, which is so large that it serves also for a chapel, has been built chiefly at the expense of Sir Powell Buxton. The people are very proud of the name of their place : the situation is delightful ; the soil very fertile, being watered by a small stream, which is tributary to the Kat River. It is furnished with forests of the finest timber." (Report of the London Missionary Society, 1844. p. 125.) p 4 216 THE KAT RIVER SETTLEMENT. CHAP. XIII. They followed her unperceived, and soon found her in a hut with fifty children closely wedged in around her. She was the village school-mistress; her only apparatus being the separated leaves of a New Testa- ment, one of which was held by each of the children, and they were quickly learning to spell the words. A few days after Dr. Philip's arrival, the Hottentots assembled to petition him to provide them with a teacher. " At an early hour," says he, " we sat down under the shade of some spreading trees, near the banks of the Kat River, and surrounded by some of the noblest scenery I ever saw. After prayer and singing a hymn, several of the head men addressed the assembly, and then Andrew Stoffles delivered a speech which produced an effect I had never before seen equalled. The main topic of his address was the former oppression of the Hottentots, and he de- scribed what he had seen and felt ; rapidly pointing out the parallel between their own position (former and present) with the bondage of the children of Israel in Egypt, and their entrance into the promised land. The analogy was finely brought out ; and, as he went on from point to point of the resemblance, it was wonderful to see the effect produced upon the feeHngs of his audience ; they became, at length, con- vulsed with emotion. Numbers, unable to support their feelings, hastened away to weep apart. When they were a little composed they assembled round us again, and closed the business of the meeting by an urgent and unanimous request that the Rev. J. Read might come among them as their missionary. The request was granted, and with the happiest effects." ]vjs. HAPPY RESULTS. 217 The following extracts, from authentic documents, will show the remarkable success of this experiment. But it must be premised that the Hottentots, who did not emigrate to the Kat River, amounted at that time to about 25,000. They continued in the colony, working industriously, like any other labourers, for v,-;i^es, and protected by the laws. A gentleman of great respectability, writing in 1832, says, " The number of crimes charged against the Hottentots in the colony, at the circuits, has of late greatly diminished, * * * a great improvement is clearly manifest in their moral condition." The Kat River settlement originally contained about 5000 Hottentots. It has continued to flourish in the most satisfactory manner, and has proved a strong defence to the colony, in the late Caffre war. So early as 1832, we find it stated that " The success of the Hottentots has been equal to their industry and good conduct. By patient labour, with manly moderation and Christian temperance, they have converted the desert into a fruitful "field." * It is worthy of remark, that, although while in a state of servitude the Hottentots had been very much given to drinking, they acquired, at the Kat River, ivnmrkablc habits of temperance ; and of their own accord petitioned, and successfully, against the esta- blishment of brandy canteens. They had already " two missionaries whose chapels were regularly filled, and several schools crowded with orderly :nd acute children." f Letter in Anti -Slavery Record, vol. i. p. 124v f Ibid. 218 HAPPY RESULTS. CHAP. XIII. In 1832 they paid taxes to the Government to the amount of 2300 rix dollars. In 1833 Colonel Bell (the Government Secretary for the colony) stated that, " As to that large proportion of the Hottentots who remained in the service of the colonists as free labourers, their character and condition are every day improving. Those settled at the Kat River, as small farmers, have made a very surprising progress. A large portion of them, from being an indolent, intemperate, and improvident class, have, since a field was opened for virtuous ambition, become in- dustrious, sober, and prudent in their conduct." In the same year Captain Stockenstrom (Chief Civil Commissioner of the Eastern Province) writes.* " The Hottentots at the Kat River have cultivated an extent of country which has surprised every body who has visited the location. * Instead of apathy or in- difference about property, they have become (now that they have property to contend for) as covetous and litigious about land and water as any other set of colonists. They have displayed the utmost anxiety to have schools established among them. * * * They travel considerable distances to attend divine service regularly. Their spiritual guides speak with delight of the fruit of their labours. No where have Temperance Societies succeeded half so well as among this people. They have repulsed all the attacks of the Caffres. They pay every tax like the rest of the colonists. They have rendered the Kat River by far the safest part of the frontier. * * * * As far as the land is arable they have made a garden of it from one end to the other." According to Colonel Wade,f " They had, in 1833, completed 55 canals for irrigation, 44 of which measured 24 miles ! Their works," said he, * To T. Pringle, Esq. t Evidence before Aborigines Committee. 1828. HAPPY RESULTS. 219 " give the beat evidence that the Hottentots can be indus- trious, and are as capable of contending with ordinary difficulties as their fellowmen." Dr. Philip had described the Hottentots in bondage, as " In a more degraded and imbruted state than they were in a state of nature ; trampled upon by their masters ; held as a perquisite of office by the Colonial Governor ; regarded by the Negro slaves as only fit to be their drudges ; despised by the Caffres, and by all the natives in a state of freedom : and represented by travellers as scarcely possessing the human form, as the most filthy, stupid beings in the world ; as scarcely to be considered belonging to the human race." He thus describes them after their settlement at the Kat River : " The Kat River now presents a scene of industry, sobriety, and decency, not surpassed by the peasantry of any country in Europe. They are building themselves good houses; they are very decently clothed; their industry is admitted, even by their enemies." In 1839, Mr. Backhouse mentions his having visited the Hottentots, and found them " dressed like decent, plain people of the labouring class in Eng- land. In the sixteen schools of the Kat River district, they had about 1,200 scholars, and an attendance of about 1000." 220 CHAP. XIV. CHAPTER XIV. 1829. CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. REFLECTIONS. THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. AGREEABLE NEWS THE MAURITIUS CASE REVIVED. LETTER TO MR. TWISS. THE GOVERNMENT ADMIT THE EXISTENCE OF THE SLAVE TRADE. ITS COMPLETE EXTINCTION. MR. GEORGE STEPHEN. MR. JEREMIE. DURING the session of 1829, Parliament was chiefly occupied by the discussions on the question of Ca- tholic Emancipation. Mr. Buxton's constituents at Weymouth were opposed to the measure ; and the knowledge of this opposition, combined with his own doubts, made him for a considerable time unwilling to vote at all on the question. With this neutrality, however, he could not long remain satisfied. After serious deliberation he became thoroughly convinced of the justice and expediency of the measure, and thenceforward gave it his support ; a step which much offended many of his friends, and seriously endangered his seat for Weymouth. To a Friend. " House of Commons, March 5. " Here I am waiting for the Catholic debate, and you will be sorry to hear, no, you will not, you are too valiant, that I am going to secure my non-election next Parlia- ment by voting for the Catholics to-night. I really must vote, the peace and safety of Ireland depend on our vote. I spent yesterday with Macaulay and Wilberforce very pleasantly. I am full of business, but not overworked ; this is just what I like." 1829. REFLECTIONS. 221 On the 29th of March, he gives a kind of summary of the preceding twelve months. " Wednesday next is my birthday, I shall then be forty- tlnvL'. That day I have engaged to spend with my admirable friend Wilberforce, who, having devoted his life to the pur- pose of conferring upon Africa the greatest blessing which man can bestow on man, is now passing the remnant of his in retirement and repose. I wish, according to my usual practice, to review the proceedings of the past year. In public life I have taken but little part ; Brougham's illness prevented, during last session, the proposed discussion on slavery ; and during this session nothing has been thought of but the Catholic question. I assisted, however, in one great work, which, although it passed almost in silence, is likely to be attended with the most important and happy consequences, the liberation of the Hottentots. " It is recorded of Paul that he thanked God and took courage ; and with thankfulness to God that I was en- trusted with this easy and honourable task, I hope to gather from it confidence and encouragement in those other works of humanity in which I am engaged. Another work of a public nature which has engaged me, is the state of the Church Missionary Society. I attended in February a meeting of the Society, and felt it my duty to say that I thought it desirable a close and sifting inquiry should be instituted into its circumstances; in that I am now en- After mentioning other events of the year, he continues : ""Within the bounds of my own immediate family I have been peculiarly prosperous. * * * Bless the Lord, my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name. " And peculiarly happy am I also in the next circle that of my chosen friends. I have often thought that there is no one so rich in friends as I ; but tliis is a large topic, so 1 waive it. 222 REFLECTIONS. CHAP. XIV- " In my public capacity it has pleased God, in depriving me of strong health, to deprive me of the power of much exertion. My public reputation has, I think, considerably fallen. If I could be sure that I have done as much as my reduced strength would admit, this would give me no concern ; and, to speak the truth, it does give me no concern. " In my outward affairs I have had, as I have said, many trials in some particulars ; in others, I have been equally successful. But I do believe, I recognise both misfortune and success, as coming from the same divine and fatherly hand." After other prayers and thanksgivings, he thus concludes : " I pray also that I may evermore be helped of Thee in my public pursuits : that in the cause of the oppressed Negro, I may not be a negligent or a useless advocate. Be thy blessing there, O Lord ! " That particularly with regard to the oppressed Negro at the Mauritius, I may have thy help. * For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy ; now will I arise, saith the Lord.' O may this be verified, and that speedily. "That thy help may attend me in my present labours on the missionary question. "I do thank thee, O Lord, that I have not now, as heretofore, to address prayer to thee with regard to the Hottentot question, but praises and thanksgivings." ****** " And now for those dear to me, for my friends, I pray that every blessing I have asked for myself, may attend them. I feel especially prompted to pray for some of them ; especially for poor dear Macaulay, who I know is in much sorrow. Let me plead, O Lord, his sacrifices in the slave question, his many trials, his unparalleled labours ; the services he has rendered, and the reward he receives at the hand of man, reproach, calumny, and insult. Be pleased, O Lord, thyself to reward him ; smooth away every difficulty ; grant him prosperity; and grant him to grow in grace: enrich him 1829. LETTER TO ZACHABY MACAULAY, ESQ. 223 with the comfort of thy Holy Spirit, make him prosperous h. IT, and happy hereafter. * * * * For some other of niv tVu'iids, I pray that their hearts may cleave to thee, that their affections may be set on things above, not on things on the earth ; and that finding mortification and disappointment here, they may seek comfort with thee, at whose right hand are pleasures for evermore. " For all my relatives, and for all my friends, I pray that tlu 1 blessing of God, through Christ Jesus, may rest upon them." He had hoped this session to have again brought forward the Mauritius case. To Zachary Macaulay, Esq. "London, April, 1829. " When I was last in town I had been for some time extremely unwell; and I then thought, as I believe you thought also, that it would not be prudent for me to under- take any heavy business this session. Since that time I have been much better ; and, reflecting much upon the Mauritius horrors, I cannot feel comfortable to let those questions rest. I really wih to ask your advice ; I well know the deep interest which you take in my welfare, as well as in that of our cause : and now tell me, whether in your opinion I ought to hazard the * inevitable death ' with which Dr. Farre last year threatened me, or to desert a cause which now more than ever wants the aid of all its friends. I confess the bias of my mind is strongly in favour of bringing forward the Mauritius cruelty case; and if you agree with me, so i believe it must be. If you fix a meeting of our friends at Brougham's I shall make a point of being there. * * * " With respect to our proceedings in Parliament, I am still inclined to believe, that the best thing which could be done would be for Brougham to make his motion. " It is clear that a very powerful statement is wanting in 224 THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TEADE. order to renew the interest of the public ; and having him, and Mackintosh, and our other friends ready for a great effort upon the admission of slave evidence, we are so safe, and so certain of making a great impression, that I cannot bring myself to think anything else is so good." The attention of Parliament was so entirely en- grossed by the Catholic question, that his intention respecting the Mauritius could not be carried into effect, nor was his health equal to any exertion in public. In private, he continually pressed the Government to further measures; one of which is alluded to in the following memorandum, which also refers to the success of Mr. Brougham's endeavours to procure the recognition of Negro evidence in the colonies : " May 17. 1829. 1. " On Tuesday last Sir George Murray told me that Government would next session introduce a bill for admitting Negro evidence; and, likewise, a bill for improving courts of justice. 2. That they would grant a commission for investi- gating the Slave Trade at the Mauritius, and the condition of the slaves. 3. Twiss told me on Thursday that Govern- ment had resolved to send out orders to emancipate the Indians at Honduras, in whose cause, at the instigation of Colonel Arthur, we moved about three years ago. 4. Dr. Philip on Thursday told me that the order in council with respect to the Hottentots was all that he wished. So far, then, God has been pleased to answer our prayers. My text and my comfort to-day has been ' Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in him, and he shall bring it to pass.'" Towards the close of the session, Sir Robert Farquhar recurred to the statement formerly made, that slave trading had existed in the Mauritius 1829. THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. 225 during his government, and required that the charge should be investigated, or retracted. Mr. Buxton explained the reason why it had been dropped, and read the opinion of his physician, that he could not attend to public business in Parliament without danger to his life. But he pledged himself, if alive in the next session, to accept the challenge of the Honour- able Baronet.* However, in the course of the summer the commissioners returned, and their report rendered any further exertion unnecessary. In spite of the great difficulties by which they had been surrounded (for the inhabitants had banded themselves together in a sort of conspiracy, to prevent any evidence from being laid before them), they had established the fact of the Mauritius Slave Trade, and to a great degree ascertained its extent ; and they clearly proved that this trade had continued in full vigour, except during the administration of General Hall. On August 23. 1829, Mr. Spring Rice, whose co-operation in this question had been in the highest decree valuable, writes to Mr. Buxton, " My principal object in writing respects the Mauritius In the first place, let me congratulate you on the oniiipU'tc; vindication of yourself contained in the Report. But what course is next year to be taken ? If a committee, you may depend on my best help, night and day, if necessary ; but only on the condition of being authorised by Mrs. Buxton t< uutcli you as attentively as the Inquiry, and to send you parkin*:, if I see the matter press on your health or spirits. Pniy till Mr-. I'mxton to furnish me with full powers over you, or otlirr\vi.-r I shall never go down. Also let me know See Mirror of Parliament, June 3. 182Q. Q 226 THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TEADE. CIIAP. XIV. what are your plans, and what I ought to fag at during the recess. All this assumes a committee to be the fitting course ; but I have my doubts, now that the case is launched, whether a commission* in the islands is not a better mode of proce- dure. Turn this in your mind, and consult Lushington and Brougham ; I think Murray is deserving of every confidence." The following letter was Mr. Buxton's reply to a suggestion from Mr. Horace Twiss (under Secretary for the colonies), that he should leave the matter in the hands of Government. " Northrepps Hall, Cromer, " My dear Twiss, October 21. 1829- " Upon the most deliberate consideration, I am afraid it is impossible for me to adopt your suggestion. I originally stated that the Slave Trade prevailed during Sir Robert Farquhar's government. Ill health prevented me from bringing forward, in the session of 1827, the proofs I pos- sessed. In 1828, I took no steps, except that I offered to Mr. Huskisson to put the Government in possession of my case, as I was unable to go on with it. He declined my offer, but told me that it was Sir R. Farquhar's intention to require me either to retract my statements, or to proceed with the investigation. My reply was, that I would retract nothing, and that if I were thus called on, I would, at any personal inconvenience, move for a committee. " I heard no more of the question in 1828. At the latter end of last session, Sir Robert thought proper to make pre- cisely the same demand, as that of which Mr. Huskisson had warned me. I could do no less than accept the challenge, and declare that I would bring forward the question in the next session. If I were now to decline doing so, Sir R. Farquhar would stand in the best possible situation : charges were made against him he had in Parliament defied his accuser to produce the proof that accuser had pledged * i. e. an executive commission. 1829. THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. 227 himself to do so, and had not performed his pledge : in short, he would obtain a triumph, and that at my expense. " Now, considering that the commissioners have proved beyond a doubt that Slave Trading did exist during his government ; and considering that I have irresistible proof of all I have asserted, and of much more than I ever did state, this would not be to me a very eligible termination of the controversy. " I have entered into this long explanation, in order to .-ntisfy you that I am placed in a situation by Sir R. Far- qu liar's challenge, which leaves me no alternative but to proceed. " I confess to you, that, as far as he is concerned, I do so with the greatest reluctance. I have no enmity against him ; and I should be very glad to be spared the task of being his accuser. Of this the best proof I can give is, that I should be ready, at this moment, to abandon the inquiry, with a full sense, that I expose myself to severe reflections, provided I could do so without sacrificing the interests of others. The Slave Trade did prevail; that is not disputed: every negro, thus illegally brought into the colony, is by law free. Consequently, before I shall be justified in abandoning tin- inquiry, I ought to know that Government will take efficient measures for restoring freedom to these persons. Secondly, I can prove that the slaves at the Mauritius have : treated with unparalleled cruelty. I cannot abandon their case, till I have security that Government will take decided measures for improving their condition. Thirdly, my motive for taking up the question, was a desire to sup- the Slave Trade. Before I can quit the subject, it must be proved to me, that the Slave Trade is extinct, and tlr.it it cannot, in all human probability, be revived. " Surely there is nothing in these requests, to which the Government can make any objection. They must be as anxious as I am that no persons shall be held in illegal bond- ap 1 in a I'mtish Colony, that extreme cruelty should be prevented, and that the Slave Trade should bo t-uppressed. in, it' these public objects can be accomplished, I 228 THE MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. CHAP. XIV. shall take leave of the question, caring little whether my contest with Sir Robert Farquhar ends with credit to me, or without it" To Mrs. Burton. "February 5. 1830. " I have had another interview with Sir George Murray this morning ; and I am heartily grieved and heartily angry, that he is not prepared to act as I wish about the Mauritius. It is not however settled ; he is to give me a final answer in a few days. Is not this horrible ? I am however well, and in good spirits, believing that though there be the arm of flesh on one side, there is a stronger arm on the other." Mr. Buxton was, however, spared any lengthened exertions on this subject. The unexpected death of Sir Robert Farquhar put an end to that part of the Mauritian controversy that related to him, and in the spring of 1830, the Government, convinced by the report of the commission, declared their willingness to take up the main question with vigour. To Edward Byam, Esq. " My dear Byam, " London, April 30. 1830. " After repeated disappointments, Lushington, Spring Rice and I, saw Sir George Murray to-day. He admitted, in the most unequivocal terms, that slave trading to a vast extent had prevailed at the Mauritius, and that all our state- ments had been well founded. " I urged a committee for the purpose of putting our evi- dence on record. He maintained that it was unnecessary, as the Government admitted, and no one denied, all I wished to prove. " He is to take measures to liberate all slaves illegally imported, and Lushington approves the plan by which this is to be done. " When he had made all these admissions, I then said that the time was come in which those who had been injured and 1830. ITS COMPLETE EXTINCTION. 229 ruined * for no other crime than that they had not connived :it the Slave Trade, ought to be indemnified. I gave him your letter, and bore the same testimony or even stronger to your character than I did in my letter to you. He promised to read your letter. I then turned the conversation to General Hall, and expressed the opinion I have always entertained of his noble conduct, and intimated that some public notice should be taken of it, or at the very least, that it -hould be admitted that he was right in all he did. I do not despair of seeing this done by Murray." The labour bestowed by Mr. Buxton and his i'ri -nds on this subject, was thus crowned with complete success. Long unnoticed and unchecked by the Government at home, the evil had grown up and flourished ; but it withered in a day. Those who had readily joined in it, while veiled from sight, now shrunk from the light which fell upon their doings. At the same time new vigour was thrown into every department of the executive ; and thus the remnants of the trade in slaves were soon extinguished. It only remained to make reparation to those who had been its victims. Sir George Murray had agreed to the proposition, that every slave in the Mauritius should be set free, whose master could not prove a title to his possession ; but Lord Goderich, who at this time succeeded Sir G. Murray in office, insisted on laying tin- onus probandij not upon the master, but on the slave, a difference and a hardship of no smnli magnitude. * Mr. Bytm hae Mr. Sidney Taylor effected a change in public opinion, through the columns of the " Morning Herald." It had long been Mr. Buxton's opinion that death for injury to property was adverse to the interests, as well as to the feelings, of the commercial world in Knirland. It happened that one Sunday morning during thi^ period, he was visited at break- 236 THE BANKERS' PETITION. CHAP. xv. fast by Mr. John Barry, who suggested the extreme importance of getting this feeling formally expressed ; Mr. Buxton, while continuing his breakfast, dictated the following petition : " That your petitioners, as bankers, are deeply interested in the protection of property from Forgery, and in the con- viction and punishment of persons guilty of that crime. "That your petitioners find, by experience, that the infliction of death, or even the possibility of the infliction of death, prevents the prosecution, conviction, and punishment of the criminal, and thus endangers the property which it is intended to protect. " That your petitioners, therefore, earnestly pray that your Honourable House will not withhold from them that protection to their property which they could derive from a more lenient law." This form of petition was sent to all the principal towns in the kingdom, and quickly obtained the signatures of firms representing above 1000 bankers. It was presented on the 24th May by Mr. Brougham. Sir James Mackintosh's amendment to abolish capital punishment for forgery was, however, lost ; but immediately after this defeat Mr. Buxton returned into the House, and gave notice (in the name of Sir James Mackintosh) of another motion to the same effect on a further stage of the Bill. On this debate a majority was obtained against the Punishment of Death for Forgery ; and, though this decision was reversed by the House of Lords, the question was virtually settled. No execution has since taken place for Forgery in Great Britain. In succeeding years the infliction of Capital Penalties was more and more reduced by the efforts of Mr. Ewart, Mr. Lennard, and others, to whose exertions 1830. LETTER TO HIS SON. 237 Mr. Buxton always gave, while he remained in Par- liament, his strenuous assistance ; and it is satisfac- tory to know that the number of crimes, now legally punishable with death, is reduced to eight or nine ; and that, practically, no executions now take place in England or Wales, except for murder or attempts t< murder. At the close of this summer, Mr. Buxton was called away from his public duties by the illness of lii- second son, a youth of great promise, who was gradually sinking in a decline.* During a short period of absence, he addressed the following letter to the invalid : " Newmarket, September 20. 1 830. " Here I am, ray dear Harry, and I will make use of my pen while tea is brewing. I have had a pleasant journey. To be sure, I could not read, for it grew dark about the time _rot to Pearson's ; but though I could not read out of a book, I read all the better a sermon out of the stars ; and a imMe sermon it was, ' the heavens declare the glory of God ;' and it ended thus, * What is man, that thou art mindful of him?' One jcirt of the sermon I recollect: * Vanity, vanity, says the preacher, all is vanity.' Nay, there, Solomon, with all your wisdom, you are wrong ! It may be vanity to j nil-sue pleasure, to gratify appetite, or to hunt after renown. It may be vanity to buy fine houses, preserve pheasants, plant tivi-s acquire an estate with the hills from the Light- In nise to Weybourne for a boundary; but^it is not vanity, it .fill-lit j;ood sense, to perve with the heart and soul, and mirht and main, tin- Master and Creator of those heavens: it is not vanity to conquer evil passions, and stifle unholy it is not vanity to be patient and submissive, * Mrs. Fry thus mentions him in her diary: " He was a child, who in no common degree appeared to live in the fear and love of the Lord ; hi- was cheerful, industrious, clever, very agreeable, and of a sweet ii. "' (Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 118.) 238 LETTER FROM REV. C. SIMEON. CHAP. XV. gentle and cheerful, during a long and weary season of trial. It is not vanity, in the midst of trials and privations, to spread around a loving and a holy influence, so that the sufferer becomes the teacher and the comforter ; comforting us and teaching us that unsafe we cannot be, while we are in the arms of a most merciful and tender Father.' So said the preacher to whom I was listening, and many other things he said, which I forget at this moment, but I recollect he wound up one paragraph thus ' Look at that cluster of stars, con- ceive the power which framed, and the wisdom which guides them, and then say, if you can, I am able to improve upon His dispensations ; I can change His decrees for the better ; not His will, but mine be done ! ' But the tea is getting cold, so I will say no more about the sermon, except that the preacher drew a most striking and lucid likeness of Northrepps, painting to the life each member of the family ; so graphic were his touches, that I never felt more strongly what a blessing it is to belong to it. When we had done with the Hall, he sketched the Cottage, and in the gravest manner possible, gave a sly hit or two, which made me smile in the midst of my approval. But now I must conclude. May the God of hope preserve you in all peace ; help, cheer, enliven, strengthen you, and gladden you with the consolations which come from Jesus Christ our Lord ! Good night, dear Harry, and all at Northrepps." The Rev. Charles Simeon to T. Powell Buxton, Esq. "My dear Sir, November 4. 1830. " I beg leave to thank you for a most munificent present of game. It has come most welcome in point of time, but doubly welcome as a remembrance from you, for whom I have so long entertained a most affectionate regard. I may even say, that the very affliction which you are now suffering greatly endears it to me. Sympathy, under such circum- stances, is both heightened and refined ; because I am made to feel, that, whilst your domestic trouble might well engross your every thought, you can yet extend to a distant friend your kindness in a matter of such minor importance. In 1830. LETTER TO DR. PHILIP. 239 truth, it is by the furnace that Jehovah usually purges away our dross ; and if we come out of it purified, we have reason to acknowledge our afflictions as blessings in disguise. To you, who during the sitting of Parliament are so much occu- pied with public affairs, it is a peculiar blessing to hear the ' still small voice ' of God at home, and to have a season for self-examination, and for communion, deep communion, with your own heart ; and in seeing death making its inroads upon your dearest relatives, you are brought, I doubt not, to con- template its gradual approach to yourself, and, I trust, to be thankful that your time has been protracted to the present hour, that you may be more fully prepared to meet its stroke. Above all, I rejoice to hear of the state of your son's mind. Yes ; let him only commit himself into the Saviour's hands, and his joy shall indeed be both intense and lasting! AVith my affectionate regards to him, and Mrs. Buxton, " I remain " Most truly Yours, " CHARLES SIMEON." While Mr. Buxton most acutely felt the sorrow of this calamity, he was no less alive to the consolations afforded him in the state of his son's mind. "It is most painful," he said to a friend one day, on leaving the sick room, " It is most painful, and yet most full of comfort. As painful as it can be, and as comfort- able as it can be." The same spirit breathes in a letter to Dr. Philip at Cape Town. " My dear Friend, "Northrepps Hall, NOT. 10. 1830. " I must not let my wife's and daughter's letters go without n line to tell you that I have very sincerely sympathised with you in the trials to which you have been exposed. I am sure your stout spirit needs not encouragement; but it may be a satisfaction to you to know that your friends on this ,-ide of the water look upon you as convicted of the erime -of putting an end to tin 1 slavery of the Hottentots. That is your real offence; for this the friends of slavery 240 LETTER TO DR. PHILIP. CHAP. XV. meditate your ruin : but they will find themselves mistaken. We, too, lay our claim to a share of that guilt, and we shall pay the penalty.* " I think you need not trouble yourself at all about the fine or the costs ; and as for shame and disgrace, &c., I would take a thousand times as much to have written a book which has done so much good, and think it a capital bargain. Pray take ample vengeance on the enemy by exposing all kinds of oppression. Do twice as much as you meditated, " ' Tu ne cede inalis, sed contra audentior ito.' " We are, as you will see by the newspapers, in a state of convulsion and alarm : I believe it to be imaginary, and that the only real danger arises from our own fears. " Perhaps domestic griefs make me insensible to those of a public nature. My poor boy is at the gates of death. To-day we took the Sacrament together. I think it hardly possible for any father to sustain a greater loss ; but then no father can have greater consolation. As a little child leans upon his mother, so our dear Harry leans upon his Saviour. He knows the event which is coming, and is prepared to meet it with entire serenity. He is truly ' walking through the valley of the shadow of death,' and, as truly, ' he fears no evil.' Excuse me for saying so much on a subject which engrosses all our thoughts. You will be happy to hear that his poor mother, notwithstanding unceasing nursing, con- finement, and anxiety, is tolerably well ; a great mercy, and one among a multitude which are granted to us. " Our slavery concerns go on well ; the religious public has, at last, taken the field. The West Indians have done us good service. They have of late flogged slaves in Jamaica for praying, and imprisoned the missionaries, and they have given the nation to understand that preaching and praying are offences not to be tolerated in a slave colony. That is right it exhibits slavery in its true colours it enforces * Dr. Philip had been fined by a court at the Cape, for some of his expressions in the " Researches/' which were condemned as libellous of the colony. 1830. LINES ON HIS SECOND SON. 241 your doctrine, that, if you wish to teach religion to slaves, the first tiling is, to put down slavery. "I have 100, perhaps 150 petitions waiting for me in London, but I do not leave home at present When another election arrives, and if we have a change of ministry, which may come soon, the subject will be more thought of than it has been ; but I must go to my afflicted wife. May God be merciful to you and bless you, and lift up the light of His countenance upon you. " Your sincere and affectionate friend, "THOMAS FOWELL BuXTON." Under every mitigation which intense parental solicitude could supply, the invalid sank peacefully, and died in the 17th year of his age, on the 18th of November. He was buried in a retired spot within the ruined chancel of Overstrand church ; and upon a tablet is the following inscription written by his father : " Full of bright promise, youthful, courteous, brave ; Grace in the form, mind beaming from the eye ; All that a mother's fondest wish could crave Were lent awhile by Heaven, and here they lie. Here lies the wreck, the spirit wings her flight, The ransomed spirit, to the realms above; Ranges unfettered through the fields of light ; Rests in the bosom of eternal love ; Beholds the unnumbered host of angel powers, Who, round Jehovah's throne, their anthems sing, And joins that kindred band, those lovely flowers, Cut down and withered in their early spring. Scenes by no tear disturbed, no sin defiled, Scenes nor by heart conceived, nor tongue confessed, Unveiled to thee, dear spirit of our child ; And we are comforted, for thou art blessed." 242 CHAP. XVI. CHAPTER XVI. SLAVERY. 1830. THE PUBLIC BEGINS TO AROUSE ITSELF. INCREASING POPULARITY OF THE SUBJECT. GRADUAL CHANGE IN THE VIEWS OF THE LEADERS. MITIGATING MEASURES DESPAIRED OF. DETER- MINATION TO PUT DOWN SLAVERY THOROUGHLY AND AT ONCE. SPIRITED MEETINGS IN LONDON AND EDINBURGH. THE GO- VERNMENT OUTSTRIPPED BY THE ABOLITIONISTS. MR. BUXTON's APPEAL TO THE ELECTORS. THE CRUELTY OF SLAVERY IN ITS MILDEST FORM. DURING the last three years the leaders of the Anti- slavery movement had been forced into comparative repose; but the movement itself went on. The nation was turning its attention more and more to the question of slavery ; inquiring into its true nature, and receiving impressions from the facts and ar- guments brought forward in the Anti-slavery Re- porter, and other publications.* A few years before, the idea of emancipation had been odious both to Parliament and to the people. "If," said Mr. Buxton, in 1827, "a man had a large share of reputation, he would lose the greater part of it by espousing the cause of the slaves ; if he had a moderate share, he would lose all : that is my case, and it is just what I like ! " At that time he wrote to Mr. Macaulay : * In 1830 Mr. Stephen published the second volume of his work on the Slave Laws, described in one of Mr. Macaulay 's letters as "Stephen's mighty book, which marks the hand of a giant." 1830. INCREASING ANTI-SLAVERY FEELING. 243 " God grant you, my dear friend, good health and good spirits; I, like you, have my share of slander. To-day I have received a letter from Joseph John Gurney, telling me the reports he has heard against me, and from our friends too ! No matter ; if slander against individuals is the method our adversaries take of justifying slavery, they will have hard work in inventing lies before they succeed in silencing us." But, at the period we have reached, although in some quarters a clamorous spirit of opposition still prevailed, yet the Anti-slavery feeling had been steadily making way. The planters, in fact, by their invincible obstinacy, had chilled the sympathy with which many had been inclined to regard them. They liud all along been playing a losing game. The Government would gladly have left the colonial le- gislatures to work out for themselves the needful reforms in their system; they had hurled back the quiet suggestions of the Government with every expression of defiance and contempt: they had punished the rebel Negroes with a severity which shocked every feeling of humanity : they had con- demned Smith to the gallows, and thus turned the Independents against them : they forced Shrewsbury to fly for his life, and the Wesleyans were aroused : the Baptist chapels were razed to the ground, and the Baptists became their enemies. Mr. Buxton had early foreseen this result. In his speech on the persecutions of Mr. Shrewsbury, he ex- claimed, " Proceed, then, faster and faster ; you are doing our work ; you are accelerating the downfall of slavery. A few more such triumphs, a few more such speaking testimonies to the R 2 244 MITIGATING MEASURES CHAP. XVI. merits of your system, and the people of England with one heart will abhor it, and with one voice will dissolve it." While they were thus exasperating one class after another, the planters stimulated the exertions of their opponents by the vehement abuse which they poured out upon them. To the ceaseless charges of false- hood and hypocrisy, the Abolitionists replied, by laying bare first one and then another feature of the system ; and thus a series of impressions was made upon the public mind, which at length wrought a full conviction. In 1830, these views, which had been slowly expanding, suddenly put on a new and more definite form. Like all who begin to climb towards great objects of attainment, Mr. Buxton had at first taken the lower eminences in the path before him to be the highest it would reach. At first, he had not questioned that emancipation must be a disastrous boon to the blacks, unless previously trained to enjoy it. Thus in his opening speech, in 1823, he expressly said: " The object at which we aim, is the extinction of slavery. Not, however, the rapid termination of that state not the sudden emancipation of the Negro, but such preparatory steps, such precautionary measures, as by slow degrees, and in the course of years, first fitting and qualifying the slave for the enjoyment of freedom, shall gently conduct us to the annihilation of slavery." But this declaration had been made seven years before, when, to use his own words, " We did not know, as we now do, that all attempts at gradual abolition are utterly wild and visionary." * * Mirror.of Parliament, May 30. 1833. 1830. DESPAIRED OF. 245 Since that time the conduct of the colonists had plainly shown, that there was no hope of the Ne- groes being raised to a fitness for liberty, while they were still slaves. This could not be done, at any rate, without the hearty co-operation of the planters; and all co-operation the planters had refused. Nay, even had they turned to the work of improving their human property, for the sake of having it taken from tin-in, it may yet be questioned whether the in- herent nature of the system would not have for- bidden success. Either you must have compulsion, fruitful in abuses, and debasing to character, or you must have the natural and wholesome inducement of "Slavery," said Mr. Buxton upon one occasion*, "is labour extorted by force. Wages, the natural motive, are not given, but their place is supplied with the whip. In this House, discussions frequently take place as to what slavery is, and what it is not; but one thing it is by the confession of all men it is labour extorted by force. * * * * * Under the most mitigated system, slavery is still labour obtained by force ; and, if by force, I know not how it is possible to stop short of that degree of force which is neces- sary to extort involuntary exertion. A motive there must be ; and it comes at last to this, inducement or compulsion ; wages or the whip." The evil, then, being, from its very nature, incapable of much amelioration, and the planters thus set against all reform, it was time for the Anti-slavery leaders to relinquish the hope of making mitigation the first step to freedom. Xot soon, nor without a * Hansard, vol. xiii. p. H-. E 3 246 DETERMINATION TO PUT DOWN SLAVERY. CHAP. XVI. struggle, was that hope given up ; so plausible does the proposition seem, that " no people ought to be free till they are fit to use their freedom." " Yet this maxim," says a brilliant writer of our day, " is worthy of the fool in the old story, who resolved not to go into the water till he had learnt to swim. If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and good in slavery, they may indeed wait for ever ! " What, then, was to be done ? should things be left as they were ? To Mr. Buxton the answer was plain. He held it to be sheer robbery for one man to hold in bondage the person of another ; he thought it a crime in itself; he knew that its offspring was wrong and wickedness ; and he could not shrink from the risk of doing it away. The conviction that slavery could not be slowly modified, with a view to its ultimate extinction, but must be rooted out, and that speedily, wrought a thorough change in the policy of the Anti-slavery leaders. They had been lopping the branches ; they now struck at the root. In 1823 they had sought to better the slave's condition, by lightening some of his burdens. In 1824, the plan was mooted for the purchase, emancipation, and apprenticeship of the Negro children. The next three years were spent in discussions on Smith's death and the treatment of the rebel slaves; on the oppression of the free people of colour ; on the non-admission of Negro evidence ; on Shrewsbury's banishment, and the destruction of his chapel. During 1828, 1829, and 1830, the Govern- * Macaulay's Essays, vol. i. p, 42. ' Milton.' 1830. MEETINGS IN LONDON AND EDINBURGH. 247 ment had been still vainly striving to induce the colonial legislatures to begin the work of ameliora- tion with their own hands. But a more stirring time was at hand. The Abolitionist party was grown too strong and zealous to shrink from any measures which its leaders might bring forward. In their minds bolder views had ripened, and needed only to be once spoken out in words, to become principles of art ion. In May, 1830, a crowded meeting assembled in Freemasons' Hall, with Mr. Wilberforce in the chair. The first resolution, moved by Mr. Buxton, ( x j tressed that " no proper or practicable means should be left unattempted for effecting at the earliest period the entire abolition of slavery through- out the British dominions." It was seconded by Lord Milton (now Earl Fitzwilliam), who had through- out supported the cause with all the weight of his station and character, though by so doing he had pluo-d himself in opposition to the administration of which his father was a member. Other speeches and resolutions followed in the same strain, till at length .Mr. Pownall rose to declare in a few vigorous words that temporising measures ought at once to be aban- doned. " The time," said he, " is come when we should speak out, and speak boldly, our determina- tion that slavery shall exist no longer." These words embodied the feeling which already pervaded tin- Anti-slavery party, and from this time immediate emancipation became its avowed object. A meeting held in Edinburgh, in the course of the same year, gave a further impulse to public feeling. At'trr an eloquent address from Mr. (now Lord) R 4 248 ENERGY OF THE ABOLITIONISTS. CHAP. XVI. Jeffrey, urging the meeting to aim at nothing short of " abolishing slavery at the earliest prac- ticable period," Dr. Andrew Thomson broke in with a vehement protest against any further pretexts for delay, exclaiming, " We ought to tell the legis- lature, plainly and strongly, that no man has a right to property in man, that there are 800,000 indi- viduals sighing in bondage, under the intolerable evils of West Indian slavery, who have as good a right to be free as we ourselves have, that they ought to be free, and that they must be made free !" These bold expressions excited such contending feelings, that the meeting broke up in confusion, but only to reassemble a few days later, when a most elo- quent speech having been made by Dr. A. Thomson, a petition for immediate emancipation was adopted, to which 22,000 signatures were rapidly subscribed. But while the Abolitionists were for pushing forwards, and doing what must be done, at once, the Government had no desire to accelerate its pace. It was still determined to plod on in the old track ; its patience had not as yet been wearied out by the utter hopelessness of the task it had undertaken. It still hoped that the planters might be won over by gentle treatment. It was true, they had baffled its plans, they had trampled under foot its suggestions ; but it was still fain to humour their prejudices and put trust in their good intentions. If patience be a virtue, then was the Administration most virtuous ; with such fortitude did they submit to the sufferings of the slaves. As the Government was thus standing still, while 1330. MR. BUXTON'S APPEAL TO THE ELECTORS. 249 the Anti-slavery party was moving onwards, there could not but arise a breach between them; and accordingly from this time we find Mr. Buxton, not so much wrestling with the West Indians, as with the Government itself, and spurring it on to adopt decisive measures. During the session of 1830, nothing of moment was effected, except that, on the 13th of July, Mr. Brougham obtained a. large minority in favour of ultimate abolition. On the 20th of the same month, three days before Parliament was prorogued, Mr. i>uxton, in his place in the House, made an earnest appeal to the electors throughout the kingdom, re- peating the statement made by Canning in 1823, that " the first step towards emancipation should be the abolition of the practice of flogging females." He showed that even this first step had not yet been taken ; a decision having recently been made by a large majority in the Jamaica House of Assembly, that females should continue to be flogged indecently * ; and he proved in detail that each of the other abuses, which in 1823 it had been proposed to miti- gate, still existed in the colonies, unchecked and unaltered. As to the existence and extent of these abuses, a few words may not be out of place, for many still IxTieve that although slavery was a barbarous in- stitution, which it was well to abolish, yet that the Negroes were, in the main, both kindly treated and happy k This impression has been deepened by the accounts given by some casual visitors of the West * Mirror of Parliament, July -JO. 1830. 250 THE CRUELTY OF SLAVERY CHAP. XVI. Indies, who, seeing little but the surface of things, gave no heed to the horrors that lurked below.* For instance, it was repeatedly asserted that the whip was a mere " emblem of authority," and that the cases of its cruel employment were either fictitious, or at least extremely rare. With regard to the use of the whip, some official statistics remain, which show it to have been no imaginary evil. But before producing them, it may be well to observe that the lash was, after all, but one of many hardships which the slave endured. His scanty supply of food and clothing was a source of constant and bitter suffering ; all his domestic ties were utterly dissolved ; every hinderance was thrown in the way of his education ; his religious teachers were persecuted ; his day of rest encroached on ; every prospect of attaining civil rights was taken away; however grievous the injury inflicted, to obtain redress was extremely difficult, if not impossible f ; his hopes of emancipation were opposed by the greatest obstacles, and the slightest offences subjected him to the severest punishments, to the stocks, to the prison, to the whip. But of all his grievances, none was greater than the intense severity of his toil. In Jamaica, for example, the amount of field labour allotted by law was nine- * There were abundance of eye-witnesses on the other side also. It was remarkable that some of the most energetic of the Anti-slavery leaders (for example, Mr. Stephen and Mr. Macaulay) had both studied slavery, and had learned to abhor it, from dwelling under its shadow for years. t In the four crown colonies protectors of the slaves had been ap- pointed. But the Negroes were often flogged by these very protectors, if they could not substantiate a charge made against a white man. Against this iniquity, Sir George Murray set his face with his usual decision and vigour. (See " Protector's Reports.") 1830. IX ITS MILDEST FORM. 251 teen hours a day during crop time, and fourteen and a lialf during the remainder of the year, (with intervals of rest amounting to two hours and a half per diem.) This work had to be done, it must be remembered, under an almost vertical sun ; and the mode of its performance is thus described: u The slaves were divided into gangs of from thirty to fifty men, generally selected of a nearly equal degree of strength, but many were often weak or diseased. They were placed in a line in the field, with drivers (armed with the whip) at equal distances; and were obliged to maintain that line throughout the day, so that those who were not so strong as the others, were literally flogged up by the drivers. The motion of the line was rapid and constant." These evils were general and were not denied. For the most part, indeed, they were authorised by the Colonial Laws, but the flogging, of which the Anti- slavery party complained, was made light of by their antagonists, as if it were a mere chimera. " How," a-ked the West Indian leaders, " will the country believe that the proprietors of colonial property men of honour, humanity, and prudence would suffer their negroes to be torn to pieces by the lash ?" It was, indeed, suggested in reply, that these pro- prietors were non-resident, that they employed and the agents employed drivers, whose * In 1823, Mr. C. KHis, afterwards Lord Scaford (himself a West Indian planter), stated his conviction that "the whip was generally placed in the hands of the drivers more as a badge of authority, than as an instrument of coercion," and was considered " only as a symbol of office ; " and this opinion was held in all sincerity by many others of the Indian proprietors. (See Hansard, May, 1823.) 252 THE CRUELTY OF SLAVERY CHAP. XVI. interest it was to wring the most work each year from the muscles of the slave, and to spend as little as possible upon him, though to the ultimate ruin of the estate.* But we have to deal, not with speculations, but with plain facts. The colonies of Demerara, Berbice, Trinidad, and St. Lucia were, as it is termed, " crown colonies," and, as such, were under the direct control of the Colonial Office at home ; whereas, in the other islands, the planters were governed by Assemblies of their own. In those four colonies alone had the ameliorations been enforced, which the other islands had spurned to receive. Here alone had the Government placed protectors of the slaves, at whose hands, when wronged, they could seek redress ; and among other measures of precaution, returns were required of the punishments inflicted by the magistrates, f It was, * The following is aft extract from " Truths from the West Indies," by Captain S. Hodgson, of the ipth Infantry ; " There are few bond fide proprietors resident on the spot ; the greater part of the estates are mortgaged to nearly their full value, and are superintended by some of the mortgagees or their agents. These people have no idea beyond grinding out of the property the largest possible sum in the shortest possible period, perfectly indifferent to the eventual ruin they must entail by the over-working of the soil ; and having no sympathy for the slaves, whom they literally regard as cattle, they think alone of the present gain to themselves. Where the proprietor resides, I have generally observed him kind, and his people happy and contented." f It is obvious that a large number of punishments would remain unregistered, through the unwillingness of their inflictors to record them ; thus, in the Report of the Protector of Slaves in Demerara, we find, in J829, " Mary Lowe, convicted of tying up first a little girl, and then a little boy, by the wrists, the one for five, the other for nine hours, and flogging them 'unmercifully ;' and of other cruelties." Yet her estate gave in no returns of punishment. (See Parliamentary Returns.) 1830. IN ITS MILDEST FOUM. 253 then, in the four Crown Colonies that slavery existed in its mildest form ; and yet, upon the oath of the planters themselves, there were registered in these four colonies, in the two years 1828-9, 68,921 punishments, of which 25,094 were registered as inflicted upon females.* Now, as the law allowed twenty-five stripes to one punishment, which limit was frequently passed f, we cannot (taking it at twenty stripes to a punish- ment) estimate the total amount of stripes inflicted during 1828-9 in those four colonies at less than one million three hundred and fifty thousand. * See Protector's Reports. Parliamentary Papers. t Ibid. 254 CHAP. XVII. CHAPTER XVII. SLAVERY. 1831. RELIGIOUS MEDITATIONS. THE DUKE'S DECLARATION. CHANGE OF MINISTRY. THE WHIG GOVERNMENT DOES NOT TAKE UP THE SUBJECT OF SLAVERY. QUAKERS' PETITION. DECREASE OF THE SLAVE POPULATION. DEBATE. THE GOVERNMENT STILL TRIES TO LEAD THE COLONISTS TO ADOPT MITIGATING MEASURES. PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED. LETTER FROM BELL- FIELD. LETTER TO A SON AT COLLEGE. PARTY AT THE BREWERY. ANECDOTES. REFLECTIONS ON SHOOTING. DEATH OF MR. NORTH. CORRESPONDENCE. THE day before the commencement of the session of 1831, Mr. Buxton thus implores help and guidance from on high : "January 30. 1831. " Give me, O Lord, thy help, thy present, and evident, and all-sufficient help in pleading the cause of the slave. Let the light of thy countenance shine upon me. Give me wisdom to select the proper course, and courage to pursue it, and ability to perform my part ; and turn the hearts of the powerful, so that they may be prone to feel for, and prompt to help those, whose bodies and whose souls are in slavery. * If ye ask any thing in my name,' said our Saviour, e I will do it.' In His prevailing name, and for His merits, do this, O Lord God ! * * * * * But whatever may be thy will in my secular concerns, give me patience, faith, thank- fulness, confidence ; a sense of thy Divine Majesty, of the benignity of Christ, a love for thy scriptures, a love of prayer, and a heart firmly fixed on immortality. May I remember that, ere the year closes, I may be snatched away and hurried before thy judgment- seat! Be with me, then, 1831. APATUY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 255 in health and in sickness, in life and in death, in events prosperous and adverse, in my intercourse with my family, in my public duties, in my study. Be Thou my strong habitation to which I may continually resort. Be with me and mine every day and every hour during this year." The recent political changes augured well for the cause of Emancipation. The Duke of Wellington's celebrated declaration against Reform had broken up his ministry. That of Earl Grey had succeeded, in which the post of Lord Chancellor was filled by Lord Brougham. ^ ' Dr. Lushington writes, *' For the sake of all the great interests of humanity, I trust that you may now resume your public duties. I am of opinion that this is a fearful crisis for many of the great ol.jivts you have at heart. Without great exertion both slavery and Capital Punishment will be almost unaltered. I liavi- but little confidence in the merely voluntary good-will of the new government, and feel strongly the necessity that they should be taught that the voice of the people will not admit of dilatory or half measures." With the Reform question on their hands, there ied but little chance that the Whig Government, however friendly to emancipation, would undertake its accomplishment. But Mr. Buxton would leave no chance untried. On the 25th of March, in stating his intention to move a resolution for the complete abolition of slavery, he declared that he would " most ivadily leave the matter in the hands of Government, if Government would take it up ; " * but to this offer no reply was made. * Hansard for that il.it.- 256 DISTRUSTS AMELIORATIONS. CUAP. XVII. It is to this subject that the following letter alludes, addressed to a member of the Administra- tion : "April 6. 1831. * * " I feel bound to tell you that upon the most attentive consideration I shall feel compelled to withhold my concurrence from any resolutions which do not declare ' the extinction of slavery ' to be their object. I am aware that I do not go farther in detestation of slavery than his Majesty's Government; but perhaps a long and laborious investigation may have led me to entertain a deeper sense of the practical evils of the system. In my mind, these amount to nothing short of a crime ; and, if it be a crime, the way to deal with it, is, not to strip it of some of its worst features, but to abandon it altogether. " I confess I distrust all ameliorations of slavery. If the Government resolve to undertake them, theirs will be the responsibility ; and if they succeed, theirs exclusively the merit. "I believe their intentions to be perfectly honest, and that they will act resolutely in carrying those intentions into execution. For these and for other reasons, it gives me the greatest pain to be unable to yield my opinions to theirs. I am sure if I act thus, it is not from obstinacy, or from unwillingness to meet their wishes ; but it is from fidelity to the cause itself, and to the friends of the cause, to whom I am pledged to bring forward a motion, not for the mitigation, but for the extinction, of slavery." A few days later, in presenting, among 500 petitions against slavery, one subscribed by the Society of Friends, he said : "I have great pleasure in presenting this petition from that body; as they were the very first persons in the country, who promulgated the doctrine that the buying, selling, or holding of slaves was contrary to the Christian religion. Forty years ago they presented the first petition 1831. DECREASE OF POPULATION. 257 for the abolition of the Slave Trade, and eight years ago they presented the first petition for the abolition of slavery."* It was a part of Mr. Buxton's policy to avail himself as little as possible of the evidence furnished by men favourable to emancipation ; he always strove to draw his statements from the speeches and writings of his opponents, or immediately from official reports. In this branch of his labours (and it was no small one) he derived much assistance from the great knowledge and practised sagacity of Mr. Macaulay, and also from the secretary of the Anti-slavery Society, Mr. Thomas Pringle, whose poetical writings are well known. Mr. Pringle's originality, conjoined with other qualities, as useful if less brilliant ; his admirable English style ; his diligence, tact, and temper, rendered good service to the cause. Being ready to catch a hint from any quarter, they fre- quently tracked documents of great value into the Colonial Office, and then by reiterated motions Mr. Pmxtim usually succeeded in bringing them to light. In this way vast funds of information had been collected; and between the sessions of 1830 31, Mi-. P)iixton ransacked all his stores for evidence re- lative to the decrease of the slave population. Having completed his calculations, he laid them before the House on the 15th of April. In the commencement of his speech, he assured the * George Fox (the founder of Quakerism), when in Barbadoes, urged the overseers " to deal mildly and gently with the Negroes, and not to use cruelty towards them, as the manner of some has been and is." (See " A popular Life of George Fox." C. Gilpin, 1847-) S 258 DECREASE OF POPULATION. CHAP. XVH. House that he had not the slightest feeling of hostility towards the West Indian proprietors, nor the slightest disposition to cast reproach upon them ; and he dis- claimed any wish to rest his argument on cases of individual atrocity, though abundance of them might be brought forward. He proceeds: "But, amid the conflicting statements as to the con- dition of the slaves, it would be extremely desirable to find any fair and unequivocal test of their condition. * * There is such a test in the rate at which the slave population has increased or decreased. It is a doctrine admitted by all parties, that, under all circumstances, except those of extreme misery, population must increase. Such is the law of nature, and it is conformable to the experience of all mankind. That law of increase may be interrupted, but it can be interrupted only by causes of extreme misery. " The question, then, is, whether in the fourteen sugar- growing colonies, the slave population has increased, has been stationary, or has decreased? The answer is, it has not increased, it has not been stationary, it has decreased. Not only has it decreased, but it has decreased at a rate so rapid, that I confess it surprises me, and I am sure will astonish the House. In the last ten years the slave population in those fourteen colonies has decreased by the number of 45,800 persons." * * In 1835 numerous papers relating to the statistics of the colonial dependencies of Great Britain were ordered by the House of Commons to be printed. Amongst them appeared some tables, which showed the yearly decrease of the slave population in eleven West India islands, during a period of twelve years previous to emancipation. They differ in some degree from those on which Mr. Button founded his argument, but they give a still greater decrease. By these tables it appears that in those eleven islands the decrease in the number of slaves (exclusively of manumissions) had been 60,119- (See Parl. Papers, in the Appendix.) 1831. DECREASE OF POPULATION. 259 In Tobago, within ten years, one sixth of the slave population had perished. In Demerara it had di- minished by 12,000, in Trinidad by 6000, within tuvlv. years. "The fact is," he said, "that in Trinidad, as the late Mr. Marryat observed, * the slaves die off like rotten sheep.' ' These diminutions AVfiv x elusive of manumissions. He then showed that, while in slavery the numbers of the Negroes decreased thus rapidly, in freedom tlu-v were doubling. For example, the free black population of Demerara had (exclusive of manu- missions) been doubled in fourteen years. And the free Negroes of Hayti had increased by 520,000 in twenty years, that is, their numbers had more than doubled. * * * " Now, Sir," he continued, if the blacks in .-lavrry h:ul increased as the free blacks have increased, the slave population should have added in the last ten years 200,000 to iinbers; whereas that number has been diminished by 45,000. To keep part passu with the free blacks, the blacks in slavery should have increased 20,000 a year; whereas they have decreased 4000 a year. They should have in- H-d fifty a day, whereas they have decreased ten a day. For this effect, this striking exception to the universal law of nature, there must be a specific cause. It could not occur liy acciilt-nt. What is the cause ? I will tell the House \\\\:\t it is not. It is not, as it has been affirmed to be, any disproportion between the sexes ; any deficiency in the number of females. In 1814 the number of male slaves was 295,909 ; the number of female slaves 300,930. The cause, therefore, of this decrease in the slave population, is not any dii-ptMp'irtion betwern the sexes; it ia not war sweeping away its thousands; it is not climate; it is not soil. If any one thinks that the last two eireuni.-tanccs may operate in- juriously upon the slave population, I ask him why, under 2 260 DECREASE OF POPULATION. CHAP. XVII. the same circumstances, the free black population has so much increased? Sir, the real cause is the forced labour in the sugar colonies, and nothing else. The law of nature would be too strong for any other cause. It is too strong for cli- mate, witness Bencoolen. It is too strong for war, witness Africa. It is too strong for savage life, witness the Maroons of Jamaica. It is too strong for vice and misery, witness Hayti. All such impediments yield to the law of nature j but the law of nature yields to the cultivation of sugar in the sugar colonies. Where the blacks are free, they increase. Climate, soil, Avar, vice, misery, are too feeble to withstand the current of nature. But let there be a change in only one circumstance ; let the population be the same in every respect, only let them be slaves instead of freemen, and the current is immediately stopped. " I hope the resolutions I intend to submit will appear temperate, although in them I declare myself no friend to ameliorating measures, in which I have no faith. I do not think that by such measures the mortality can be repressed. Besides, Sir, I must tell you, that I look upon the enslaving of our fellow men as a crime of the deepest dye ; and I there- fore consider, that it should be dealt with, not by palliatives, but by destroying it altogether." He concluded by moving the following resolu- tion : " That in the resolutions of May, 1823, the House dis- tinctly recognised it to be their solemn duty to take measures for the abolition of slavery in the British colonies ; that in the eight years which have since elapsed, the colonial assemblies have not taken measures to carry the resolutions of the House into effect ; that, deeply impressed with a sense of the impropriety, inhumanity, and injustice of colonial slavery, this House will proceed to consider of and adopt the best means of effecting its abolition throughout the British dominions." The motion was seconded in an able speech by Lord Morpeth. 1831. DECREASE OF POPULATION. 261 Lord Al thorp stated that, although he could not consent to this motion, he thought it was time " to adopt other measures with the colonists than those of mere recommendations," and that he should pro- pose that a distinction in the rate of duties should be made in favour of those colonies which should comply with the wishes of Government as to ame- lioration. After an animated discussion, the debate was adjourned. Mr. O'Connell, who throughout gave a steady and energetic support to the Anti-slavery cause, came across the House, and said, " Mr Biucton, I see land." The prognostic was true ; for although, owing to the dissolution of Parliament, the debate wa> not resumed, and the motion therefore dropped, yi-t to the argument founded upon the decrease of population may be attributed more than to any- thing else the speedy downfall of slavery. The force of that argument was well understood in Par- liament ; accordingly it was vigorously sifted by the opposite party, but having been drawn from the re- turns of registration, sworn to by the planters them- selves, it was found impossible to shake it. The appalling fact was never denied, that at the time of the abolition of the Slave Trade, the number of slaves in the West Indies was 800,000: in 1830, it was 700,000. That is to say, in twenty-three years it had diminished by 100,000.* It may here be well to mention, though it be in anticipation of our history, how fully Mr. Buxton's inferences were confirmed by subsequent events. In * See Anti-slavery lUporUr, vol. v. p. '..'> I. 3 262 BELLFIELD. CHAP. XVII. 1834, emancipation took place, the law of nature resumed its force, the population began to increase, and the census in 1844 proves that in the twelve previous years, the black population in fourteen of the islands had increased by 54,000.* At the end of April, Parliament was dissolved, and the country was hurried into a whirlpool of reform agitation, in which all other interests were merged, so that Mr. Buxton might think himself fortunate in having forced upon the ear of Parliament the short but impressive argument which has been laid before the reader. The approaching election ren- dered it necessary for Mr. Buxton to visit Weymouth. He thus writes home from Bellfield on the 28th of April, 1831 : " I was up at seven o'clock this morning, and have been taking another charming walk in the shrubbery, looking at the sea, which is splendid, and enjoying the Epistle to the Colossians. At nine o'clock we breakfast, and at ten I renew my canvass, which was very successful yesterday. " I found all my constituents eager for Reform beyond conception ; had I voted against it, I should hardly have got any support. Is not this unexpected ? " The weather is delightful, and I thoroughly enjoy a taste of spring in the country. The walks about are lined with quantities of flowers ; it is a charming place ! Give my love to my secretary f and tell her that I find an attorney's clerk a poor substitute. " I hope you will enjoy Simeon's visit. I deeply lament * Not more than fourteen of the islands sent in their returns of population. Had they been received from the whole twenty-one, the increase would of course have been far greater, especially as Jamaica is not included. (See Parl. Papers in the Appendix.) t His eldest daughter. 1831. LETTER TO HIS SON. 263 missing it ; I was in great hopes we should have got a great deal of good out of the old Apostle. Pray get all you can, and keep a piece for me." To his eldest Son, at Trinity College, Cambridge. " Devonshire St., May 15. 1831. " My mind has much turned towards you of late, and I have thought more than you might suppose of your approach- xainination. Not that I am very solicitous about the result, except so far as your heart may be set on success. I should be very sorry to have you damped and disappointed, but for myself I shall be just as well satisfied with you, if you are low in the last class, as if you are high in the first. " But I have a piece of advice to give you, with regard to the examination, which I am sure will, if attended to, be of service ; and if you remember it, and act upon it, it will be useful, whenever, during your future life, you are about to engage in anything of more than usual importance. Go to God in prayer ; lay before him as before your wisest and best friend, your care, your burthen, and your wishes ; con- sult him, ask his advice, entreat his aid, and commit yourself to him ; but ask especially, that there may be this restraint upon the efficacy of your prayers, that his will, and not your wishes, may govern the result; that what you desire may be accomplished, provided he sees it to be best, and not otherwise. " The experience of my life is, that events always go right when they are undertaken in the spirit of prayer. I have found assistance given and obstructions removed, in a way which has convinced me that some secret power has at work. But the assurance of this truth rests on g i-trouper than my own experience. Scripture is full of declarations of the prevalence and efficacy of prayer, ami of the safety of those who resort to it. 'Commit thy way unto the Lord, and he phall bring it to pass.' * This poor man cril. and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.' "Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he will strengthen thy heart ; wait, I say, on the Lord.' s 4 264 BREWERY DINNER. CHAP. XVII. " It is not often I give you my advice ; attend to it in this instance. Depend upon it, pi'ayer is the best preparation you can have for your examination, and for every thing else." In June, 1831, several members of the Govern- ment, and other gentlemen, came to look over the brewery in Spitalfields, and afterwards dined there with Mr. Buxton, professedly on beef-steaks, cooked in one of the furnaces. Mr. J. J. Gurney gives the following account of the party : " Earlham, 12 mo. 23rd, 1831. " The Premier, grave and thoughtful as he seemed, did great justice to our dinner. * Milord Grey,' cried the Spanish General Alava to him, as he was availing himself of a fresh supply of beef-steaks (pronounced by the Lord Chancellor to be ' perfect ') * Milord Grey, vous etes a votre sixiemeS " The contrast between Lord Grey and Alava was curious ; the former, the dignified, stiff, sedate British nobleman of the old school ; the latter, the entertaining, entertained, and voluble foreigner. He had been the faithful companion of the Duke of Wellington through most of his campaigns, and now had displayed his usual energy by coming up all the way from Walmer Castle, near Dover, in order to help in devouring the product of the stoke-hole in Spitalfields. " The Lord Chancellor was in high glee : he came in a shabby black coat, and very old hat ; strangely different from the starred, gartered, and cocked-hat dignity of the venerable Premier. * * * * It was my agree- able lot to sit between Lord Grey and Dr. Lushington, and the latter being occupied by his friend on the other side, I was left to converse with the Premier, which I had the pleasure of doing for nearly two hours. ****** We talked of his long political course, and Lord Shaftesbury, who sat next to him, on the other side, complimented him on the subject. 1831. EARL GREY. 265 " Lord Grey. ' I came into Parliament for Northumber- land when I was two-and-twenty, and I have been forty-five years a senator.' Of course it was eafjr to draw the infer- ence that he was sixty-seven years of age. On my expressing the interest I felt for him, and even sympathy, under the burthen he was bearing, he replied, ' I am much too old for it. I would have refused the undertaking, if I could have done so consistently with my duty.' " Our next subject was parliamentary eloquence. I asked him who, amidst the vast variety of orators whom he had been accustomed to hear, appeared to him to be the best speaker and most able debater. " Lord Grey. * Beyond all doubt and comparison, Fox. His eloquence was irresistible. It came from his heart, and produced a corresponding effect on the hearts of his hearers.' " I asked his opinion of Sheridan. The answer was, * He was very able, but could not speak without prepara- tion.' " I ventured to insinuate that there was no part of a Premier's office more responsible than that of making bishops. I le assented, adding, * You know I have had none to make at present.' We talked of the Bishop of Norwich. Lord Grey expressed his admiration of his conduct and character, though he only knew him in his public capacity. * I fear the bishop is too old to accept any offer that I can make him, but I assure you that the very first and best thing that I have to give away shall be at his service.' " This declaration has since been fully verified, by his (Hi. -ring to the Bishop the see of Dublin, which the latter, as had been untiei] ated, refused ; observing, in the words of old Erasmus to the Emperor of Austria, that dignity rimf'envd upon him would be like a burden laid on a falling hor.-r : Saivina cijuo collabenti imposita.' " "When the dinner was ended, I quitted my post by Lord . and joined Buxt>n, Lord Brougham, and the Dukr nf Kichmond, at the top of the table. Buxton was telling a story on the subject of Reform (the only way in which that 266 BKEWERY DINNER. CHAP. XVII. subject could be mentioned, as the dinner was not political, and Tories were present). ' A stage coachman,' said he, ' was driving a pair of sorry horses, the other day, from London to Greenwich. One of them stumbled, and nearly fell. * Get up, you borough-mongering rascal, you ! ' said the coachman to the poor beast, as he laid the whip across his back.' The Chancellor laughed heartily at this story. * How like my lord there was the old horse ! ' said he to me, laughing and putting his hands before his face, Lord sitting opposite to us. " Buxton now left us, to talk with Lord Grey, whom he very much delighted by praising Lord Howick's speech upon slavery. It was a speech which deserved praise for its honesty and feeling, as well as for its talent. But the old Premier seemed to think that his son had been carried by his zeal rather too far. " Something led us (Lord Brougham and myself) to talk about Paley, and I mentioned the story of his having on his death-bed, condemned his * Moral Philosophy,' and declared his preference of the ' Horae Paulinae,' above all his other works. This led Brougham to speak of both those works. ' Did you ever hear that King George III. was requested by Mr. Pitt to make Paley a bishop ? The King refused ; and taking down the ' Moral Philosophy' from the shelf, he showed Pitt the passage in which he justifies subscription to articles not fully credited, on the ground of expediency. 1 This,' said the King, ' is my reason for not making him a bishop.' Lord Grey overheard the Chancellor's story and confirmed it ; s but,' added the Chancellor, ' I believe the true reason why George III. refused to make Paley a bishop was, that he had compared the divine right of kings to the divine right of constables ! ' * * * * The Chancellor was very cordial, and we were all delighted with his enter- taining rapidity of thought, ready wit, and evident good feeling. Nor was it possible to be otherwise than pleased with all our guests, with whom we parted, about eleven o'clock at night, after a flowing, exhilarating, and not. altogether uninstructive day." 1831. LORD BROUGHAM. 2G7 Mr. Buxton subjoins, " Our party at the brewery went off in all respects to my .-a tist action. Talleyrand could not come, having just received an account of Prince Leopold being elected king of Belgium. Brougham said this was a severe disappointment, as his llcncy never eats or drinks but once a day, and had depended on my beef-steaks. " The party arrived at about six o'clock, and consisted of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Grey, Duke of Richmond, Marquis of Cleveland, Lords Shaftesbury, Sefton, Howick, Durham, and Duncannon, General Alava, S. Gurney, Dr. Lu-hington, Spring Rice, W. Brougham, J. J. Gurney, R. Hanbury, &c., twenty-three in all. " I first led them to the steam-engine ; Brougham ascended the steps and commenced a lecture upon steam-power, and told many entertaining anecdotes ; and when we left the engine, he went on lecturing as to the other parts of the machinery, so that Joseph Gurney said he understood ing better than any person on the premises. I had Mr. (TOW uj> with his accounts, to explain how much our horses each cost per annum ; and Brougham entered into long calculations upon this subject. To describe the variety it ion is impossible " ' From grave to gay, from lively to severe.' " At dinner I gave but two toasts, * The King,' and ' The memory of George III.,' whose birthday it was. We had no speeches, but conversation flowed, or rather roared like a torrent, at our end of the table. The Chancellor lost not ;i inoim -nt : lie was always eating, drinking, talking, or laughing; liis pmvrrs of laughing seemed on a level with his other capacities. * * * * " Talking of grace before dinner he said, ' I like the Dutch grace best, they >it prrt'cctly ftill and quiet for a minute or two. I thought it very solemn.' " He inquired the wages of the draymen. I told him 268 LORD BROUGHAM. CHAP. XVII. about 45. weekly, and we allow them to provide substitutes for a day or two in the week, but we insist on their paying them at the rate of 26s. per week. * Yes,' said he, ' I understand ; these rich and beneficed gentry employ curates, and the curates of the draymen get about as much salary as those of the clergy.' " After dinner we took them to the stables to see the horses. Somebody said, * Now the Lord Chancellor will be at a loss ; at all events he knows nothing about horses.' However, fortune favoured him, for he selected one of the best of them, and pointed out his merits. Some one proposed that he should get upon his back, and ride him round the yard, which he seemed very willing to do ; and thus ends my history of the Lord Chancellor. " Lord Grey looked care-worn, but was remarkably cordial. The new Parliament, which had met on the 14th of June, was altogether occupied in debates on the Reform Bill, and Mr. Buxton, who was deeply in- terested in the progress of the measure, was detained in London till September. The following paper was written after his return to his usual recreations in the country. " Northrepps Hall, October 26. 1831. " Samuel Hoare goes away to-day. Shooting has been good medicine for him ; he came down with very gloomy views on the state of public affairs, but the dangers from Reform or the rejection of Reform the perils of the Church and the State, have gradually disappeared, and now as far as he can see, the country, if not prosperous and secure, is at least threatened with no imminent danger ! As for myself, I feel about shooting, that it is not time lost if it contributes to my health and cheerfulness. I have many burthens, and it is well to cast them off, lest they should so 1831. MEDITATIONS. 269 dispirit and oppress me, that I become less capable of active exertion. "But now my holiday is nearly ended; shooting may be my recreation, but it is not my business. It has pleased God to place some duties upon me with regard to the poor slaves, and those duties I must not abandon. Oppression, and cruelty, and persecution, and, what is worse, absence of reli- gion must not continue to grind that unfortunate race through my neglect Grant, O God! that I may be enabled by thy Holy Spirit to discharge my solemn duties to them. Thou hast promised thy Spirit, thy aid, and thy wisdom to those who a.-k them, and under a sense of my utter incom- p tnicy to do anything of my own strength, I humbly and earnestly crave and intreat thy guiding wisdom, and that power and strength which cometh from thee. Make me an instrument in thy hands for the relief, and for the eleva- tion of that afflicted people. For the oppression of the poor, lor the sighing of the needy, now arise, O Lord! and grant me the privilege of labouring and combating in their behalf. Once more I pray that it may please tlur, O God! for Christ's sake, to lift up the light of thy countenance on me, my labours, my meditations, and my [.layers ; grant me to grow in grace, and call forth the powers tliou hast given me for thy own service ; strengthen me with might in the inner man ; deal bountifully with thy servant. Amen." A few days later he writes again : "November 6. 1881. Accept, O Lord! my thanks for that indulgent mercy u hi.'h h:w followed me all my days. I thank thee that I am in vigour of body and mind ; that I am not under the influence at this moment of any sore calamity ; that I am not racked with pain, nor tormented with grievous apprehension; but that it is a time of some peace and serenity. " I bless thee, that in all the outward circumstances of life, thou ha-t dealt bountifully with me; that thou hast given me, 270 MEDITATIONS. CHAP. XVII. not indeed great talents and endowments, but a sound mind and enough force of understanding for the performance of my duties ; that thou hast placed me in a reputable station, given me a good business, fair health, competence ; in short, that in these things I am more prosperous than many that deserve them better ; that if not placed on the hill, I am not cast down into the valley. In my family I have been happy. Severe afflictions have come ; some of those most dear to me have been snatched away in the dawn of their days, and one is lately gone whom I unceasingly deplore ; but he is gone to his God ; he is in peace ; he is an inhabitant of those mansions prepared by thine Almighty power for those who love thee. Then, hast thou not rescued me from a thousand perils, from temptations, from sins ? Can I not respond to the thanksgivings of the Psalmist? (Psalm ciii. 1 5). Am I not within reach of great spiritual advantages ? I thank thee, O Lord ! that thou hast led me to read my Bible, and hast supplied me with thy Spirit while I read, so that my heart and mind have been fixed on the power of prayer, on the influence of the Spirit, on the mercies of my God, on the deliverance of mankind, through a blessed Saviour. Yes ! thou hast offered to me that ' living bread which cometh down from heaven,' and giveth eternal life to those who feed on it. Thy mercies, in truth, have been to me abundant and innumerable, as the leaves of the forest, as the sands of the sea. Benignant and bountiful hast thou been to me all the days of my life, and may it please thee ever more to be so, to continue to bless me in body, in mind, in estate, in pur- suits, in family, in friends, in business, in prayer, in medi- tation, in thankfulness for the visible mercy of God, and in the atonement of Christ. ***** " We stand now in a peculiar crisis ; though I am not troubled with care, or depressed with apprehension, there is reason for alarm. It is both in private and public matters, a time of trouble, and I have good reason to seek thee with earnestness of supplication in this perilous period. As for 1831. M MUTATIONS. 271 public matters, have I not reason to turn steadfastly to Him who can shield us from dangers however imminent and how- terrible. Last week the Bristol riots prevailed, and the r-ame spirit may spread through the country. In this neigh- bourhood the incendiary has been briskly at work. Last night the news arrived that the cholera had really com- menced its ravages in England ; and to-morrow a meeting of the working classes is to take place in London. Storms seem gathering in every direction, and the tempest may soon break upon my own house. Assist me, then, O Lord ! to prepare for events which may so soon approach. Let my M be planted on a rock which shall stand firm in the bullet ings of the winds and the waves. Oh my God! I feel that there is no security, save the perfect security which belongs to thee. Vain is the help of man; folly is his wisdom ; feebleness is his strength ; but in entire unshaken confidence I tlr.-ire to commit and to commend to thee myself, my family, my friends, my neighbours, my country. " Give us wisdom to act aright ; preside over our councils ; lead us to the right path, and to do the right thing. Let Spirit be poured forth upon us in rich profusion, prepare 11- tor outward danger by inward grace. Teach us that no i< al calamity can befall us if we are in the hands of our God, that we are safe under the shadow of His wings. Give us the fpirit of true prayer and let it abide with us, and, if death be coming, ' in the hour of death and in the day of judgment, good Lord deliver us,' for the sake of our blessed Redeemer, Christ Jesus." At the beginning of this autumn Mr. Buxton had >M -i ained the loss of his early and highly valued friend John Henry North, who had sunk under the liitiirue incurred by his exertions in Parliament against the Reform Bill. Their friendship had not been cooled by the difference in their political careers. 272 DEATH OF MR. NORTH. CHAP. XVII. To Mrs. North. " My dear Friend, " Cromer, November 20. 1831. " I have not written to you of late, partly from a reluctance to intrude on your griefs, and partly from another feeling. What can I say to comfort you? There are topics of con- solation for ordinary calamities, but in your case the blow has been too deep and too terrible to admit of any comfort, save one, and, with that, I trust you are abundantly blessed. I have made, however, some inquiries about you, and was distressed to hear of your extreme depression; not that I wonder at it, your loss has been great indeed, but I wish to say to you Cheer up, my friend ! the day is coming in which you will, I confidently believe, be restored to the object of your affection. The blow which has levelled your joys and your hopes with the dust, came from the hand of a most loving Father, and hereafter you will know that it was sent in mercy and loving kindness. I heartily wish that I had sometimes the privilege of seeing you. I, too, have had very deep afflictions in my family ; many of the pleasant pictures which my imagination had painted have been de- stroyed. This, I believe, makes my heart more susceptible of the distress of others, and I should be glad of the opportunity of pointing out to you those passages in Scripture and else- where, in which I have found relief and comfort. But if I do not see you, I do not forget you. I remember your forlorn and solitary state, and the bitter contrast between your home now and in former times. * * ' I can conceive the dreariness of it and how constantly you must miss such a friend and com- panion as you have lost, but there is consolation in reflecting on what he said and what he felt in his last hours, and in tracing his happy change from this sorrowful world, to the inexpressible joys and glories of which he is now, I firmly trust, a partaker. " This is a very painful period of the year to me. This time, almost this day, last year I lost a son and such a son ! But God's will be done ! I find that nothing so takes off the sting of my grief as a realising sense of his perfect happiness. My 1832. LETTER TO A FRIEND IN BAD HEALTH. 273 dear boy's name was John Henry, so named after the dearest friend of my youth. "Believe me, my dear friend, very truly and in sincere sympathy, "Yours, " T. FOWELL BUXTON." He thus writes to a gentleman with whom he had been engaged in important business, and who was now labouring under indisposition. " Devonshire Street, March, 1832. " It seems very long since I have written to you, or heard from you, but I am rejoiced to hear the better tidings which brings. The worst part of the spring is now over. I have more confidence in air and gentle exercise, than in all tlu- doctors; and I confidently hope that these will recruit your spirits and your health, so as fully to re-establish you. " You will remember that I spoke to you some months ago upon the subject of religion. I, at least, well recollect that you received what I said with your usual kindness. I had some doubts as to the kind of books which you would be inclined to read. I have sent you a few, and shall be re-ally glad to hear that you have read them and liked them. " After all, the main purpose of our living here is to prepare for eternity. It matters little how we fare in this world, provided a better awaits us. Death will soon over- take both the sick and the healthy; you, and I, and all v alive, must soon quit this world: and it is an awful to know that either perfect happiness or eternal misery awaits us. " It is difficult to dwell sufficiently on these things in the busy occupation of life, and I believe that sickness is often >. lit in mercy, for the purpose of turning our minds to re- flection and repentance; and that thus, to many, illness has been the greatest blessing of their lives. I both hope and believe this is tin- rust- with you. I can bear testimony, and have often done so, to your many excellent and generous qualities; but these alone will not suffice, something more is T 274 EXTRACT FROM HIS PAPERS. CHAP. XVH. necessary, and that something is repentance for past sins ; a desire and determination to obey God, and, above all, faith in Jesus Christ. " My hope and wish for you is, that you may be led to pray fervently and constantly for the Spirit of God to teach you. If you ask for that Spirit it will be given to you, it will teach you to read the Bible, it will enlighten your mind on the truths which it contains, and, especially, it will make you to know and feel two things, first, that God is ready to pardon even the greatest of sinners ; and, secondly, that this pardon is derived, not from our own merits, but from the merits of our Saviour. " I have been led, my dear friend, to say thus much from the sincere interest and friendship I have always felt for you. I entreat you to take it as kindly as it is meant, and to make good use of the leisure, which you now have, in attending to the most important concern you ever were engaged in." The following is an extract from one of his papers, dated Jan. 1. 1832. " Grant, O Lord, that I may begin the next year under the guidance and influence of that blessed Spirit, which, if I grieve it not, if I follow it implicitly, if I listen to its still small voice, if I love it as my friend and consult it as my counsellor, will surely lead me in this life, in the pleasant paths of peace and holiness, and as surely conduct me here- after to the habitations of unutterable joy. " Again and again I crave and entreat the presence and the power of that heavenly guide. O Lord, how much have I had in the past year to thank thee for ! What mercy, what love, what compassion for my weakness, what readiness to pardon and obliterate the memory of my misdeeds. * * * * * " Now am I sufficiently assiduous in the discharge of my duties ? My great duty is the deliverance of my brethren in the "West Indies from slavery both of body and soul. In the early part of the year I did in some measure faithfully dis- charge this. I gave my whole mind to it. I remember that 1832. EXTRACT FROM HIS PAPERS. 275 I prayed for firmness and resolution to persevere, and that in spite of some formidable obstructions I was enabled to go on ; but, latterly, where has my heart been ? Has the bondage of my brethren engrossed my whole mind ? The plain and tin painful truth is that it has not Pardon, O Lord, this neglect of this honourable service to which thou hast called me. " Give me wisdom to devise, and ability to execute, and zeal and perseverance and dedication of heart, for the task with which thou hast been pleased to honour me. 2. Chron. xx. 12-17. " And now, Lord, hear and answer my prayer for myself; my first desire is, that this next year may not be thrown away upon any thing less than those hopes and interests, which an- greater and better than any that this world can contain, no subordinate cares or earthly interests interrupt my May I act as one whose aim is heaven ; may my be girded, and my lights burning, and myself like unto men who wait for their Lord. Conscious of my own weakness, of my absolute inability to do any thing by my own strength, anything tending to my own salvation, I earnestly pray for the light and the impulse of thy Holy Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in my heart by faith. " Bless, O Lord God, my efforts for the extinction of that cruel slavery ; or, rather, take the work into thine own hands. " Bless, O Lord, I earnestly pray thee, bless my family, relations ami friends. With what deep affection I pass them in review, and feel that never was any one privileged to possess a larger number of most faithful friends. I entreat, O Lord, that thou wouldest bless them with all thy choicest blessings, in their families, in their concerns, in their health, and, above all, in the growth of grace in their souls. " There are some of them from whom I have received much more in kindness than I have ever requited. There are others who seem to need o.-pecial intercession. There are those with whom I have all my life been bound by the t':i-t<'ay, that I would rather incur obloquy, and shame, and dis- appointment in our good cause, than get glory in any other; and I know nothing of your mind, if you are not of the same opinion." Mr. Iiuxton himself was one of the numerous witnesses examined before the Lords' Committee, and he gladly availed himself of the opportunity of communicating some of his abundant information, \vhich he arranged for the occasion in twenty-seven documents, prepared with extreme care. Although the report of the Committee was indecisive, the effect of its investigations was to diffuse more knowledge and sounder principles. After its labours were closed, Lord Suffield no longer stood alone in the House of Lords. 282 SPEECH AT PUBLIC MEETING. CHAP. XVIII. An animated public meeting was held on the 12th of May, at which the venerable Mr. Stephen presided. Mr. Buxton concluded the address which he made on the occasion, in these emphatic words : " When I call to mind the fact that, contrary to the la\v of nature, in a country friendly to the increase of population, it has diminished with such frightful rapidity, I would tell all who countenance such a system, that they will have to account at a solemn tribunal for the 50,000 murders that have been committed through its agency. When I think of this, and of the cart whip, and of the millions of stripes inflicted by that accursed instrument, I am at a loss for words to express my feelings. When I trace the system through its baleful ramifications, when I contemplate this hideous cluster of crimes, there is but one language, the language of divine inspiration, that can convey what passes within me. * They are a people robbed and spoiled ; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison-houses ; they are for a prey and no man delivereth, for a spoil and no man restoreth.' When we look at the career of affliction of our brother man, for, after all, he is our brother, moulded in the same form, heir to the same immortality, and, although in chains and in suffering, on a level, in the eyes of God, with the proudest noble in that Committee which has been appointed to sit. in judgment upon him, when I view him entering life by the desert track of bondage ; when I view him writhing under the lash of his tormentor ; when I see him consigned to a premature and unregarded grave, having died of slavery ; and when I think of the preparation which we, good Christian men and women, have enabled him to make for his hereafter, there can be but one feeling in my heart, one expression on my lips : ' Great God ! how long, how long, is this iniquity to continue ? ' ' The position in which the Government, the West Indians, and the Abolitionists, stood to each other, in 1832, was nearly that of equilibrium. The Abo- 1832. POSITION OF PARTIES. 283 litionists had received a considerable accession of Parliamentary force in the late general election, many of the candidates having pledged themselves to take tin- Anti-slavery side. With his hands thus strength- ened, Mr. Buxton determined to press forward again the resolutions moved in the preceding year, aiming at an abolition of slavery, at once speedy and safe. I Jut to this idea of speedy emancipation, the minis- ters were by no means prepared to yield. They fully admitted the principle, that slavery should be abolished ; but they were still clinging to their old notion, of gradually mitigating its evils before doing it away. In the first place, they felt the responsibility which makes men in power so often shrink from a hardy policy. In the second, they were compelled to con- sult for their own preservation, by conciliating the West Indian party. The immense Parliamentary stivngth of that body must be borne in mind, if we wuuld understand the varied and often baffled course of the Anti-slavery movement, during this and the i 'ii.-i fillip year. The fact was, that many of the great landowners at home held colonial property also, and inherited with it a natural hatred of that " reckless enthusiasm," which was bent on taking away their >laves. It was, therefore, the policy of the Govern- ment to avoid bringing the Anti-slavery question to a eri>i> ; to keep it at arm's length ; and, by prevent- inir it from eoiuinu: to the test of a division, to escape committing themselves to either one or the other of the opposing parties. Against such a policy it behoved the Negro's advo- 284 STATE OF THE COLONIES. CHAP. XVIII. cate to stand firm. But this was rendered the more difficult to Mr. Buxton, by his hearty attachment to Whig principles, and by his personal regard for many members of the Cabinet. Besides, he looked upon the maintenance of the Whig ministry as of almost paramount importance to his own cause. By these contending considerations the perplexities of his course were greatly increased ; but he daily became more impressed with the necessity of vigorous and speedy measures. Deeply versed in the state of the West Indies, it was to him a thing plain and un- doubted, that no policy could be so pernicious, as that of hesitation and delay. He thought that the dangers of rapid emancipation were not nearly so great as they were held to be. He believed that a good police and kind treatment would suffice to pre- vent those " frightful calamities," (the result of such an act,) which Sir Robert Peel " shuddered to con- template."* He boldly stated his belief that the Negroes would go to work for wages, as soon as they were released from the terrors of the whip. And that at any rate the Legislature would find it the most hopeless task in the world to do what Lord Althorp called " employing itself most usefully, in bringing the slaves to such a state of moral feeling, as would be suitable to the proposed alteration in their condition. "f The statistics which he had brought forward in the previous year, appeared to him to demonstrate the utter folly, as well as the utter cruelty of slavery. * Hansard, vol. xiii. p. 65. f Ibid., vol. xiii. p. 59- 1832. POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 285 A system that was killing off the labourers of the colonial islands at such a fearful rate, could be of no real good to any one. The best thing to be done, as he thought, would be to get rid of it at once, whatever the cost might be. If experience can prove anything, it seemed to him to prove the necessity of a thorough change of policy with regard to slavery. For nine years the Govern- ment had been trying the gentle means indicated by the resolutions of 1823; yet the state of the slaves was not a whit better than it had been nine years before. The mortality was advancing with the same rapid strides. Nay, in Demerara, Essequibo, Jamaica, St. Kitt's, and St. Vincent, the official returns show that the loss of life was greatest in the last three of the twelve years, during which those returns of popu- lation were made.* The punishments officially reported, had never !MM! a more appalling number. The cases of individual cruelty brought to light in many quarters, but especially in the reports of the protectors of slaves, were as startling and as rife as ever. And as for religious instruction, the rancour of the planters against it, justified by their own doctrine, that it " is incompatible with the existence of slavery," f had grown stronger and more violent \ear by year. I' -ido this tried and tested hope- lessness of producing any real effect by mitigatory measures, there \vjis another still weigh ter reason for not delaying the day of freedom. In this case, ' Hansard, vol. xiii. p. 39. f Public Meeting at Trinidad. (See Hansard, Yol. xi. p. 839.) 286 POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT. CHAP. XVIII. most surely, would indecision be decisive. A moral effect had been produced by the prolonged discussions of the question. The planter had been exasperated to the highest pitch of indignation ; the slave had learnt reflection, but not self-control. A breach, deadly and imminent, lay between them ; and already had some mutterings been heard of the storm, which would surely burst with terrific fury, if steps were not quickly taken to turn its wrath aside.* Yet the Government, though enforcing their re- commendations with increasing urgency, still wished to defer emancipation till " a progressive improvement should have been made in the character of the slave population, by the temperate enforcement of ame- liorating measures." f Here, then, Mr. Buxton came to issue with them. Indeed, the debate, on which we are about to enter, (and it was one of eminent consequence,) hinged on that point. The Government first strove to prevent him from bringing his motion forward. Failing in this, they endeavoured, and with success, to add to the resolution which he proposed, the words " conformably to the resolution of 1823." To this he offered a strenuous resistance ; and persisted in dividing the House, so as to compel it to declare in the face of the * This idea, of a general revolt of the Negroes, was a source of constant distress to Mr. Buxton. " The gun is cocked and on the shoulder," said he, with great emphasis, in speaking of the subject to one of his friends. t See the Resolutions of 1823, p. 131. 1832. DIFFICULT POSITI" 287 nation, what it really meant to do on this great question. The following letter*, written by his eldest (lauirliter to the inmates of Northrepps Cottage, gives the details of all that occurred : " The debate f has at length actually taken place, and great cause have we tu l>r satisfied with the result, now that we are safe on the other side of it. It is difficult exactly to recall the feelings and opinions of the preceding days; it was however the usual course, every possible assault from friend and foe to make my father put off his motion, and when that was found hopeless, to induce him to soften it down, or not to divide the House. Dr. Lushington was of opinion that it would endanger the cause to persevere, and difference of opinion with him is worse than any thing to my father. The Government were also most pressing, and the terms they offered extremely tempting. On Tuesday morning my father and Dr. Lushington were a long time with Lord Althorp and Lord Howick, both of whom used every argument and almost every entreaty. I believe he did not reply much at the time, but was cruelly beset, and acutely alive to the pain of refusing them, and, as they said, of embarrassing all their measures, and giving their (in inies a handle at this tottering moment. They said, les, that the public were so occupied with Reform, that it was only wasting the strength of the cause; nobody would listen, and the effect would be wholly lost, whereas if he would wait a little, they would all go with him; their hearts wi -re in fact with him, and all would be smooth, if he would ha\v a little' reason and patience. On his return, he related all this to us, and proposed writing a letter to Lord Althorp, previous to the final interview, which was to take place the next day. So a letter was written, which I will copy. This is the first of a series of letters, addressed to the same indivi- duals, to which we shall have frequent occasion to refer. f May 24. 288 MR. BUXTON PERSISTS CHAP. XVIII. To Lord Althorp. ( My Lord, ' May 22. 1832. * I am fearful lest I should have failed in conveying to you, at least in their force, the impressions under which I am acting. The fact is, from the study I have given to the subject, I am so deeply sensible of the practical, as well as the inherent horrors of the system, and of the persecution and cruelties which are daily going on, that it is impossible for me to let this opportunity pass over, without at least bearing my testimony against them. Allow me moreover to remind you, that, however insignificant in myself, I am the representative, on this question, of no mean body in this country, who would be, to an extent of which I believe you have no idea, disappointed and chagrined at the suspension of the question. But further, (and this is a consideration far more really influential on my conduct,) I cannot but feel myself the representative of a body who cannot speak for themselves, and for whom I must act, without other guide than my own conscience. There is nothing, whatever may be the result of my motion, which I should look back upon with so much regret, and I may add, shame, as the having, in any measure or degree, slighted their interest for my own convenience, or that of my friends in England, more par- ticularly as those friends are powerful and important, while those for whom I am acting, however feebly, are helpless and oppressed. In short, I believe it to be most for their advantage that I should bring on my motion, and therefore I am necessitated to say candidly, that I cannot either postpone it, or substitute for it anything short of Abolition. To say, I do most reluctantly anything that can possibly inconvenience the present Ministry, is needless and useless. ' I am, my dear Lord, with great esteem and respect, ' Yours most faithfully, < T. F. BLXTOX.' " It was early on the Wednesday morning this letter was sent, and in the afternoon he went again to Lord Althorp, 1832. IN HIS MOTION. 289 who immediately gave him to understand that he saw it was of no use attempting to turn him, and that he gave him every credit for his motive. Accordingly they re- solved on their several courses, the motion, and the amendment. Thursday morning, May 24th, came. My father and I went out on horseback directly after breakfast, and a memorable ride we had. He began by saying that he had stood so far, but that divide he could not. He said I could not conceive the pain of it, that almost num- berless ties and interests were concerned, that his friends would be driven to vote against him, and thus their seats would be endangered. But then his mind turned to the sufferings of the missionaries and of the slaves, and he said after all he must weigh the real amount of suffering, and not think only of that which came under his sight ; and that it' he were in the West Indies, he should feel that the advocate in England ought to go straight on, and despise those considerations. In short, by degrees, his mind was made up. When we got near the House every minute we met somebody or other, who just hastily rode up to us. ' Come on to-night ? ' * Yes.' ' Positively ? ' * Positively ; ' and with a blank countenance, the inquirer turned his horse's head, and rode away. I do not know how many times this occurred. In St. James's Park we met Mr. Spring Rice, whom he told, to my great satisfaction, that he positively n-inilil divide. Next Sir Augustus Dalrymple came up to us, and, after the usual queries, said, * Well, I tell you frankly J mean to make an attack upon you to night.' * On what point?' ' You said some time ago, that the planters were opposed to religious instruction.' ' I did, and will maintain it.' We came home, and dined at three. It is difficult to recall, and perhaps impossible to convey to you the interest and excitement of the moment. Catherine Hoare, and I, and the little boys, went down with him. We were in the \vntilator by 4 o'clock ; our places were therefore good. Fora long time we missed my lather, and found afterwards, he had been sent for by Lord Al thorp for a further discussion, in U 290 LOED ALTHORP'S AMENDMENT. CHAP. XVIIT. which, however, he did not yield. Many Anti-slavery petitions were presented ; the great West Indian petition by Lord Chandos. At length, about 6, ( Mr. Fowell Buxton ' was called : he presented two petitions, one from the Archbishop of Tuam, and his clergy, and the other from the Delegates of the Dissenters in and near London. The order of the day was then called, and he moved his resolution, which was for a Committee * to consider and report upon the best means of abolishing the state of slavery throughout the British dominions, with a due regard to the safety of all parties con- cerned.' He spoke very well indeed, and they listened to him far better than last year ; in short, the subject obviously carried much greater weight with it, and the effect of the speech last year on population was manifest, as indeed it has been ever since. He touched on that subject again, and alluded to his statement *, which he was happy to see in the hands of honour- able members, (he had sent it round to each, a day or two be- fore, signed by himself ; and they were many of them looking at it, while he was speaking.) I was very much pleased to see it in their hands. I will not, however, attempt to go over the debate, or to relate the speeches. Mr. Macaulay's was strikingly eloquent. Lord Howick's capital, and giving such a testimony to the speech of last year as delighted me. He said, it had indeed startled him, and that he had examined into all the facts, which he found undeniable ; he evidently spoke under the effect of the impression it had made upon him. Lord Althorp proposed the amendment of adding * con- formably to the resolutions of 1823.' Then came the trial: they (privately) besought my father to give way, and not to press them to a division. ' They hated,' they said, ' dividing against him, when their hearts were all for him ; it was merely a nominal difference, why should he split hairs ? he was sure to be beaten, where was the use of bringing them all into difficulty, and making them vote against him ? ' He told us that he thought he had a hundred applications of * April 15. 1831. See "Hansard "of that date; also "Anti-Slavery Reporter/' vol. v. No. 100. 183-2. THE DIVISION. 291 this kind, in the course of the evening ; in short, nearly every friend he had in the House came to him, and by all considerations of reason and friendship, besought him to give way. Mr. Evans was almost the only person who took the other side. I watched my father with indescribable anxiety, seeing the members, one after the other, come and sit down by him, and judging but too well from their gestures, what their errand was. One of them went to him four times, and at last sent up a note to him with these words, * immovable as ever ? ' To my uncle Hoare, who was under the gallery, they went repeatedly, but with no success, for he would only send him a message to persevere. My uncle described to me one gentleman, not a member, who was near him, under the gallery, as having been in a high agitation all the evening, exclaiming, ' Oh, he won't stand ! Oh, he '11 yield ! 1 'd give a hundred pounds, I'd give a thousand pounds, to have him divide! Noble! noble I What a noble fellow he is!' ac- cording to the various changes in the aspect of things. Among others, Mr. H came across to try his eloquence ; ' Now don't be so obstinate ; just put in this one word, * interest ; ' it makes no real difference, and then all will be easy. You will only alienate the Government. Now,' said he, * I '11 just tell Lord Althorp you have con- sented.' My father replied, *I don't think I exaggerate when I say, I would rather your head were off, and mine too ; I am sure I had rather your's were ! ' What a trial it was. He said afterwards, that he could compare it to nothing but a continual tooth drawing, the whole evening. At length he rose to reply, and very touchingly alluded to the effort he had to make, but said, he was bound in con- science to do it, and that he would divide the House. Accord- ingly the question was put. The Speaker said, ' I think the noes have it.' Never shall I forget the tone in which his solitary voice replied, * No, sir.' * The noes must go forth,' said the Sprakrr, and all the House appeared to troop out. Those within were counted, and amounted to ninety. This WM :i minority far beyond our expectations, and from fifty D 2 COMMITTEE OF ENQUIRY. CHAP. XVIII. upwards, my heart beat higher at every number. I went round to the other side of the ventilator to see them coming in. How my heart fell, as they reached 88, 89, 90, 91, and the string still not at an end; and it went on to 136. So Lord Althorp's amendment was carried. At 2 o'clock in the morning it was over, and for the first time my father came up to us in the ventilator. I soon saw that it was almost too sore a subject to touch upon ; he was so wounded at having vexed all his friends. Mr. would not speak to him after it was over, so angry was he ; and for days after when my father came home, he used to mention, with real pain, somebody or other who would not return his bow. On Friday, Dr. Lushington came here and cheered him, saying, ' Well, that minority was a great victory ; ' and this does seem to be the case ; but we hardly know how to forgive some of those who ought to have swelled its numbers. My father, however, cannot bear to hear them blamed. M was wishing that some of those who professed so much, and voted against him, might be turned out. * Oh ! ' he said, ' I would not hurt a hair of their heads.' He feels it a great cause for thankfulness and encouragement, to have a com- mittee sitting to consider the best means of getting rid of slavery. The formation of this committee was the next business, and very difficult indeed it was. My father went many times to Lord Althorp about it. Once Lord Althorp said, * The fact is, Buxton, the West Indians object, not only to your friends, but to every body who has any constituents : they won't have any body out of schedule A.' Lord Howick's name being mentioned, Lord Althorp said, ' Why he 's one of yourselves,' but added, * we, the government, the middle party, must be represented in the committee.' My father said, ' Now, laying aside the caution of power, and all the pledges you have given, do you mean to say you don't agree with me in your heart ? ' He did not deny it." In this debate, as Mr. Buxton afterwards said, " the cause made a seven-league stride." One sentence of his speech may be given : 183-2. MR. BUXTON'S SPEECH. 293 " How is the Government prepared to act in case of a general insurrection of the Negroes ? War is to be lamented anywhere, and under any circumstances : but a war against a people struggling for their freedom and their right, would be the falsest position in which it is possible for England to be placed. And does the noble lord think that the people out of doors will be content to see their resources exhausted, for the purpose of crushing the inalienable rights of mankind ? " I will refer the House to the sentiments of Mr. Jefferson, the President of the United States. Mr. Jefferson was himself a slave-owner, and full of the prejudices of slave- owners ; yet he left this memorable memorial to his country : ' I do, indeed, tremble for my country, when I remember that God is just, and that his justice may not sleep for ever. A revolution is among possible events ; the Almighty has no attribute which would side with us in such a struggle.' " This is the point that weighs most heavily with me : The Almighty has no attribute that will side with us in such a struggle. A war with an overwhelming physical force, a war with a climate fatal to the European constitution, a war, in which the heart of the people of England would lean toward the enemy ; it is hazarding all these terrible evils ; but all are light and trivial, compared with the conviction I feel, that in such a warfare it is not possible to ask, nor can we expect, the countenance of Heaven. I assure the House I have been discharging a most painful duty, and my endeavour has been to perform it without offence to any one." Mr. Buxton writes a few days afterwards to his daughter: "London, May 31. 1832. " One line, if it be only to say, that we are well and happy. I earnestly hope that you are the same. Pray enjoy yourself all you can ; you are entitled to a holiday. " I had a successful though laborious day yesterday. City Committees till 10 o'clock ; Secondary Punishments, from 1 till 4 ; a ride ; Criminal Law from 5 till 1 1 ; the motion carried. c 3 ' 294 PERSECUTION OF CHAP. XVIII. " To-morrow, the West- Indies Committee meets for the first time. Love to all your party, and above all to your- self, my daughter, sister, friend, companion, counsellor." Pursuant to the amended resolution, a committee was named, of which Sir James Graham was chair- man. It prosecuted its investigations from the 1st of June to the llth of August. Yet this period was far too short for it to receive half the evidence which each side was eager to bring before it, and it broke up without coming to a definite conclusion ; stating only that the condition of the affairs disclosed by its in- quiries demanded the earliest and most serious atten- tion of the Legislature. Much of the evidence related to the insurrection of the Negroes in Jamaica, which had been followed by proceedings on the part of the colonists, equally de- serving the name of insurrection, had they not been perpetrated by the militia, the magistrates, and the gentry of the island. These persons had come to a resolution to maintain slavery, by putting down the religious instruction of the Negroes. They accord- ingly destroyed seventeen chapels, and inflicted upon the pastors and their flocks every species of cruelty and insult. " I stake my character," said Mr. Buxton, " oh the ac- curacy of the fact, that Negroes have been scourged to the very borders of the grave, uncharged with any crime, save that of worshipping their God." And he adds, in reference to the unfortunate missionaries, 1832. THE MISSIONARIES. 295 " There has not been, in our day, such persecutions aa these brave and good men have been constrained to endure. Hereafter we must make selections among our missionaries. Is there a man whose timid or tender spirit is unequal to the storm of persecution ? Send him to the savage, expose him to the cannibal, save his life by directing his steps to the rude haunts of the barbarian. But, if there is a man of a stiffer, sterner nature, a man willing to encounter obloquy, torture, and death, let him be reserved for the tender mercies of our Christian brethren and fellow countrymen, the planters of Jamaica." * The more obnoxious missionaries, particularly Messrs. Knibb and Burchell, were driven from the island, and arrived in England at the very juncture when their evidence before the Committees was of the utmost value, and went forth to the country under Parliamentary sanction. Mr. Buxton fre- quently adverted to the overruling hand of Provi- dence, which thus turned the intolerance of the system to its own destruction. The investigations of the Committees of both Houses were published together, and the general impression was that they had established two points : First, that slavery was an evil for which there was no remedy but extirpation ; secondly, that its ex- tirpation would be safe. The nation willingly acceded to these conclusions, and impatiently desired to act upon them. How they affected the minds of those in office, we shall presently Irani. Such was the state of the slavery question when * Anti-Slavery Reporter, voL v. p. 149- u 4 296 EFFECT OF THE DEBATE. CHAP. XVIII. the session closed ; and Mr. Buxton returned with his family to Northrepps. During a short visit to London in September, he thus writes to his daughter. " Spitalfields, Sept. 27. 1832. " Yesterday I got through all my business well ; we had really an excellent Bible Meeting, and we have resolved to reform our auxiliary, upon the celebrated plan adopted by the ladies at Cromer. I saw T. B. Macaulay yesterday : he told me one thing, which has much occupied my mind ever since, and which furnished the subject matter of my medi- tations as I rode by the light of the stars to Upton last night. He said, * You know, how entirely everybody disapproved of your course in your motion, and thought you very wrong, very hard-hearted, and very headstrong ; but two or three days after the debate, Lord Althorp said to me, ' That division of Suxton's has settled the slavery question. If he can get ninety to vote with him when he is wrong, and when most of those really interested in the subject vote against him, he can command a majority when he is right. The question is settled : the Government see it, and they will take it up.' So reported Macaulay; and he added, ' Sir James Graham told me yesterday, that the Government meet in a week ; they will then divide themselves into committees on the three or four leading questions, for the purpose of settling them. Slavery is one.' Now it is not so much the fact that Government are going to take into their own hands the question for the purpose of settling it, which occupied my mind, as the consideration of the mode by which we were led to that division, to which such im- portant consequences attach. It certainly was not the wisdom of my coadjutors, for with the exception of my own family, Sam. Hoare, Evans, Johnston, and one or two others, they were all directly at variance with me. Brougham, when he heard of my obstinacy, said, * Is the man mad ? . does he mean to act without means? He must give way.' It really was not the wisdom of my counsellors, and as cer- tainly, it was not either my own wisdom or resolution. I 1832. OPPOSITION ENCOUNTERED. 297 felt, it is true, clear that I was right, but I did not find it easy to explain the reason why I was so clear. " Then as to the resolution, I found it very difficult to stand firm. I felt far more distressed than I ought to have done, at acting in hostility to my friends. I was unusually weak on that point. Then, what led to the division ? If ever there \\as a subject which occupied our prayers, it was this. Do you remember how we desired that God would give me His Spirit in that emergency, that He would rise up as the champion of the oppressed? How we quoted the promise, ' He that lacketh wisdom, let him ask it of the Lord, and it fhall be given him?' And how I kept open that passage in the Old Testament, in which it is said (2 Chron. chap. xx. 12.), 'We have no might against this great company that cometh against us: neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee : ' the Spirit of the Lord replying, ' Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.' If you want to see the passage, open my Bible, it will turn of itself to the place. I sincerely believe that prayer was the cause of that division ; and I am confirmed in this, by knowing that we by no means calculated on the effect which that division seems likely to produce. The course we took appeared to be right, and \ve followed it blindly. " I must now leave off. I am going to Sir James Graham, and the Colonial Office, to-morrow, to see what I can pick up." It was not only from his antagonists that Mr. Buxton encountered opposition ; the storm at times was almost as fierce from those who were as ardent as himself in the cause of Emancipation. On the eve of the election of 1832, he published a letter to Sir George Chetwynde, in which the electors were urged to enact pledges from the candidates, that they would aim at " the extinction of slavery, at the earliest period compatible with the safety of all classes." 298 LETTERS. CHAP. XVIII. This last condition was unacceptable to one section of the Anti-slavery party, whose zeal could no longer brook any degree of moderation. The following burst of indignation was from the pen of one of these impetuous advocates. " To be candid, Sir, I would rather see you throw up your brief, and take a retaining fee from the planters, than that you should, in a reformed Parliament, bring forward a motion in accordance with the sentiments expressed in that letter. And if you appear as the advocate of such a profane measure, we will look to some more enlightened advocate to forward that cause which must be carried." Mr. Buxton's reply was as follows : " Dear Sir, " Northrepps, Oct. 15. 1832. " I am so thoroughly inured to expressions of the strongest condemnation from all sides, as to my course with regard to slavery, that I should scarcely be prevailed on to notice those I have received from you, were it not that I like the spirit which dictates them, and should be glad if it were more general. Without therefore noticing the violence of your expressions, or questioning their propriety towards one, who, however unworthy and unsuccessful, has certainly been for many years, almost wholly devoted to this cause, let me attempt to justify the letter to which you refer. I said to Sir George Chetwynde, as I have said on every other occasion, and as the words of my motion expressed, that my aim was * emancipation, at the earliest period compatible with the personal safety of all classes.' Where did you find a word of ' convenience ? ' How little do you know the heavy battles I have had to fight on this very point. If the emancipation of the slaves were in my power, I could not dare to accomplish it without previous police regulations, which is all the delay I mean. These ought to be under- taken instantly, for I know our power of emancipating in one way or another, is fast drawing to a close: I mean that the LETTERS. 299 Negroes will take the work into their own hands. But whoever else is willing to undertake the weight of so enormous a responsibility, I am not, without considering the personal safety of all classes. If you, ray dear Sir, can send some * more enlightened advocate/ you may believe me, that we are far too much oppressed and borne down with the weight of our task in parliament, not to hail his assistance however given. But in the mean time, I must take the liberty of saying that I did not undertake this serious work at man's bidding, nor shall I, I trust, lay it down at the bidding either of enemies or friends. " With every good wish, and begging you to continue your exertions, and to blame me as much as you please, if it will stir up one of our friends, I am, dear Sir, " Yours very truly, " T. FOWELL BUXTON. " P. S. Perhaps you will let my friend Sturge see this letter, and pray believe that I write in perfect good-humour." The day of freedom for the slaves was now evi- dently dawning, and the autumn was spent in the welcome, though anxious, task of preparing for that long sought consummation. In November he went up to London to discuss his plans with Dr. Lush- ington : from thence he writes : To Miss Buxton. " Nor. 8. 18S2. " Thanks for your letters, which always cheer me. We had a capital meeting at Lushington's last night, arranging our plan of Emancipation ; we made good progress. This morning I saw the Government on it, and they are well satisfied ; our views are so much in unison with their own." 300 LETTERS. CHAP. XVIII. To Zachary Macaulay, Esq. " Dec. 1832. " I am waiting for Lushington's plan. My conclusion is, that we must stick firm and fast to our claims of justice. Immediate and total emancipation is our right, and if we yield an iota of it, it must be, not for the sake of the planter, nor for the sake of Government, but for the benefit of the Negro ; and we must give up no more than it is the interest of the Negro to surrender. In short, we must fight the battle with a single eye to the benefit of our clients the slaves." To Miss Buxton. '< Weymouth, Dec. 14. 1832. " Here is my first frank in this parliament : I trust that before I give my last, the Negroes will be elevated to the rank of freemen and Christians, and all in peace. I find by Cropper's letter, that I am standing for the north division of the county of Lancaster, but I hope my letter will be in time to stop all proceedings. The election closed yesterday in a way which Avas very gratifying, and even touching to me. The town, i. e. the voters on both sides, took the alarm lest I should be thrown out, and I found they had in very many instances reserved their votes for the purpose of giving me plumpers if needful. They have shown a degree of feeling, interest, and anxiety for me which I hardly expected, and I now see that I had a strength in reserve, which rendered my defeat impossible. I am now going to be chaired. I wish the boys were here to * pursue the triumph and partake the shout.' " I saw the sun rise in gold out of the sea, with Portland in the foreground, this morning. I never saw anything so grand or so sublime. I am quite well and very cheery." CHAP. XIX. 301 CHAPTER XIX. 1833. GOVERNMENT UNDERTAKES THE SLAVERY QUESTION. LORD HOWICK'S RESIGNATION. ANXIETIES. QUESTION OF COM- 1'KXSATION. AGITATION IN THE COUNTRY. DELEGATES. MR. BUXTON began this year the most important of his life by publishing a brief address to the members of the Established Church, in which he invited them, together with the principal dissenting bodies, to unite in setting apart the 16th of January as a day of prayer on the subject of slavery. In his own prayers it was never forgotten. Just before the session commenced he thus refers to it in one of his papers. " Northrepps, Sunday, Feb. S. 1 8SS. " I go to London to-morrow. Parliament meets on Tuesday, and I have reason to hope that the King's speech will declare that Government has resolved to effect the total and immediate emancipation of the slaves. " This then is a season, if ever there was one, for fervent prayer to Thee, Almighty God, that the light of thy coun- tenance may rest on that good cause, and on me, one of its advocates. " Now that I am about to quit this peaceful haven, and ( inbark on a tumultuous sea, what provision and safeguard of prayer do I desire to carry with me ? " Grant that I and all of us, may be strengthened with ini^ht by Thy Spirit in the inner man, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith. That is my prayer as to the 302 GOVEENMENT UNDERTAKES CHAP. XIX. spirit which may reign within. And my general prayer as to our external actions is the collect of the day, fourth Sunday after Epiphany. * * * * # " For the slavery cause, my prayer is that Thou wouldst not leave it to the weakness and folly of man, but that Thou wouldst rise up as its advocate, and wouldst dispose all hearts, and mould all events, by Thine Almighty power, to the accomplishment of that which is good and right. Oh give these thy unhappy creatures their liberty and that liberty in peace, and protect their masters from ruin and desolation. In my labours give me always the spirit of prayer, and the spirit of confidence in Thee, * The battle is not thine but God's;' and the spirit of discretion and resolution, * Thine ear shall hear a word behind thee, saying, this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand or to the left.' " It was generally understood that Earl Grey's government was about to undertake the settlement of the question, and Mr. Buxton went down to the House of Lords, on the 5th of February, in full expectation of hearing from the King's speech, that one of the great measures of the session was to be the emancipation of the slaves. Great was his dis- appointment, when the speech closed without any allusion whatever to the subject. He hastened back to the House of Commons, and immediately on the Speaker's return gave notice of a motion on the 19th of March for the abolition of slavery. This prompt proceeding had an immediate effect. He writes to Mr. Joseph John Gurney : " London, Feb. 7. 1833. " You may suppose, that I was affronted and vexed at the silence of the King's speech. I instantly gave notice of a 1833. THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 303 motion, and last night, as you will see by the papers, I asked the Government what their intentions were. They replied, tlmt they would undertake the question, and introduce ' a safe and satisfactory measure* I feel excessively relieved and delighted, and not a little thankful for this great mercy."* He says, in a hurried note to Miss Gurney, dated from the House of Commons : " The Government have to-night taken the slave question into their own hands, promising to settle it ' in a safe and satisfactory manner.' This delights me, and now I scorn those critics, who maintain that the children of Ham ought to be flogged by all good Christians.** A government must have been short-sighted indeed, which could have hoped to keep clear of this great question. Public feeling had been of late gathering with prodigious rapidity, and a crisis was evidently near. The outcry against slavery seemed to be rising at once from every corner of the land. Men of all ranks, of all denominations, were joining in the attack. And the House itself, where but a few years before M -.lively half a dozen hearty advocates for emanci- pation could have been numbered, was now filled with zealous friends of the cause. This rapid growth of popular opinion may be partly attributed to the settlement of the Reform question, in the previous year. That event was eminently favourable to the anti->lavery movement; not merely because the nation's will now held greater sway in Parliament, but also Inrause the late struggles had roused, with- out wearing out, the nation's feelings, and never are * " The smiles on his countenance are delightful to see," says one of the family letters. 304 INCREASE OF PUBLIC FEELING. CHAP. XIX. those feelings so readily called forth as when just lulled after a storm. The country being thus at leisure for the strife, with kindled energies and the power to enforce her will, we cannot wonder at the sudden increase of velocity with which anti-slavery principles spread through the nation in 1832-3. But the principles themselves were not the growth of a day. They had been sown when the spirit of Christianity awoke again in England, towards the latter part of the last century. The anti-slavery movement sprang from religious principle, and thence came its strength. Some may think that the people were misled in fancying slavery to have been cruel and unchristian ; others will think that the pictures drawn of its horrors, were outdone by the reality ; but in either case, thus much is clear that the people had no end of their own to gain : that they were, for a while at least, looking oif from their own interests to shield those of others. It was an event as yet scarcely known to the annals of mankind. Instances we have in history of a nation arousing itself and demanding deliverance from its own wrongs, and there are few spectacles more great and noble. But in the deed before us virtue was exhibited of a far rarer kind. Impelled by the pure motives of mercy and justice, unsullied by selfish views, the English nation rose up as one man to befriend a far distant people, itself undergoing a heavy sacrifice that oppression might cease out of the land. It has been mentioned, that the House itself partook of the same impetus as the people. This welcome 1833. INCREASE OF PUBLIC FEELING. 305 change is thus referred to in one of the letters written to XorthreppsCottage: " My father tells us that the number of strangers who have come up and addressed him, is extraordinary ; a hundred, he thought, last night, and all on this subject. One gen- tleman, member for an agricultural county, told him, that he hud been five months canvassing, and that all the way through, instead of Corn Laws, or any thing else, slavery was the cry. At one out-of-the-way village they began by asking him, whether he was trying to get into the Lords or Commons? ' But,' they said, * whichever you do get into, you must vote fur the poor slaves.' So it appears that there is quite a band in the House, and an army out of it. My father is very often with the ministers, and seems, on the whole, well satisfied. He said yesterday to Lord Howick (the under Colonial Secretary), ' Lord Howick, you hear both sides ; now tell me fairly, have we exaggerated? Are our statements correct or incorrect?' The answer was, * I cannot say that they are correct, for they are vastly understated. You know not one half of the evils of the system; you have not brought to light half its wickedness.' 'Well,' he said, 'bring in your bill, my lord, I will act under you as soon as you please.'" But while he was quite willing to give up the conduct of the case to the ministers, he did not cease ti \vatch their proceedings with the utmost vigilance. 1 1< >i>r> and fears alternated as to the nature and extent of the measures that were to be expected from them, and as the, time advanced, he became more and more uneasy. He had consented to abstain from making his motion on the 19th of March, on the condition that tin- ministers would themselves bring in "a safe and satisfactory measure;" but some \\.k> had now elapsed, and still not one word had been said publicly I 306 ANXIETY AS TO THE INTENTIONS CHAP. XIX. as to their intention of fulfilling their pledge. They had named no day for a motion ; they had officially announced no plan ; and rumours got abroad that there were divisions in the camp, that the Govern- ment collectively had by no means decided on adopt- ing the vigorous steps, which some of its members proposed. From ten years' experience, Mr. Buxton had but too well learnt the immense weight of the West Indian party in the councils of the nation. He knew also that the Government had the questions of Finance, India, and the Church to grapple with during this session, and were probably not so im- pressed as himself with the extreme danger of delaying the emancipation of the slaves. He could not, therefore, but feel it a cause for alarm, that notwithstanding Lord Althorp's promise of a safe and satisfactory measure, so long a period should have elapsed without the appearance of any measure at all. " He is much depressed, because the ministers do not name a day ; he does not know whether or not to execute his threat of bringing his motion forward next Tuesday ; for this he is almost unprepared : and besides, they promise so well that it seems doubtful whether it would be right or politic to go to Avar with them. He sleeps badly and is very anxious." * Since the ministers were thus overwhelmed with business, and fettered by their relations with the West Indian proprietors, the question naturally * Letter to Northrepps Cottage, March 16. 1833. OF GOVERNMENT. 307 occurs, why did he leave the question in their hands ? Backed by such a band of followers, why did he not wield all his powers, and drive forward the measure with his own hand ? It was because he believed that while emancipation in the end was certain, it was only as a cabinet measure that it could be carried through during this session ; and delay, fraught as it might be with servile revolt, was the one thing that he most dreaded. He contented himself there- fore, with spurring on the Government, resolving not to take the lead unless compelled to do so. Nothing divw such notice from his friends as the indifference he evinced as to any personal credit to himself. " It is surprising," one of them writes, " how he puts himself entirely out of the question. It does not seem to excite one feeling in his mind, whether, after all his toils, he is to appear in the matter or not. He seems to care for nothing, but the advancement of the cause." His whole heart and soul, in fact, were given up to the work, and the depth and intensity of his feelings were visible in all his deportment ; he looked pale and careworn, and his tall figure began to show signs of stooping. He spoke little, and was continually engrossed in thought. His demeanour could not be more exactly portrayed, than by Spenser's lines : " But little joye had he to talke of ought, Or ought to heare that mote delightful be ; 1 1 | niiiul was sole possessed of one thought That gave none other, place." So abstracted used lie to become when engaged in his fits of musing, that often some minutes would x 2 308 NEGOTIATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT. CHAP. XIX. elapse before a reply could be obtained for the simplest question.* The 19th of March was now approaching. A letter written a few days afterwards describes the difficulties of the crisis. " Ever since the notice was given on the first night of the session," writes his daughter, " my father has been engaged in an anxious negotiation with the ministers, who have been endeavouring to offer terms just sufficiently favourable to prevent him from adopting active measures; but on Saturday the 16th of March, all hope appeared to be at an end; no day had been mentioned by the Government, and he felt that he must now make up his mind without delay. He accordingly addressed a letter to Lord Althorp telling him so in very decided terms, and took it himself to Downing Street. He found that a council was sitting, and the porter refused to take in his letter; just then the Duke of Richmond went in, and kindly undertook to deliver it ; but my father soon received a message, that they could give no answer. " On Monday the 18th he went down to the House, at twelve o'clock, armed with numerous petitions (one from Glasgow signed by 31,000 people), and took the opportunity of saying, that he should certainly bring on his motion the next day, ' as he had no alternative left him ; ' f afterwards he received intelligence that the Government intended to deprive him of the day. He went down again at five o'clock, seated himself behind Lord Althorp, and said, ' So I hear these are your tactics.' Lord Althorp replied, * that they really were obliged to do so, they were in such a strait.' My father gave him to understand that he should resist to the utmost, * At this period he was threatened with a petition against his return for Weymouth, which seemed likely to he troublesome and expensive, but was afterwards withdrawn. It being remarked by a friend how provoking was this attempt to annoy him, " Oh," he replied, " it is a thousand leagues behind my slavery matters to me." f See the Mirror of Parliament, March 18. 1833. 1833. THEY FIX A DAY FOR THEIR MOTION. 309 and was determined to push the matter through. After a good deal of argument and hesitation, Lord Althorp said, Well, if you will not yield, use must ; ' and accordingly agreed to name a day for a ministerial motion on the subject. All this passed in private: my father still feeling uneasy, as no public declaration had been made, would not leave the House (which was then in committee on the Irish Coercion Bill). At three o'clock in the morning Lord Althorp got ii], and moved an adjournment of the debate till the fol- lowing day. The effect of this would have been to deprive him of his day, he therefore went across to the opposite side of the table, and said aloud, that he would not give up the lay unless he had satisfaction from the Government re- specting the abolition of slavery ; no reply was made, but the threatened adjournment was not persisted in. Ac- cordingly, the next evening he rose to bring forward his motion. Lord Althorp then requested him to postpone it to a future time ; but he replied that he was compelled to resist the request, unless upon two conditions : first, that the Government would prepare a plan for the complete and immediate abolition of slavery ; and secondly, that they would Jix a day for introducing that measure to the House." " I see clearly," he said, " what will be the fate of this great question, if I postpone it without some definite as- surance that it will be brought before the consideration of the House. It will be postponed for the session * * * and then, there is much reason to fear, it will be settled elsewhere in the most disastrous manner. Therefore, however obstinate I may appear, and however painful it may be for me to resist the request, before made to me in private, and now in public by the noble Lord, I am compelled to proceed at once with the motion, unless His Majesty's Government can fix a day on which they will be prepared to explain their plans with respect to colonial slavery." * " Lord Althorp, upon this, named the 23rd of April, and thru my father formally told the Government that he gave * Mirror of Parliament, March 19. 1833. x 3 310 DISAPPOINTMENT. CHAP. XIX- up the question into their hands, upon the security of the declaration made to him that the proposed measure was to be safe and satisfactory." The fears by which he had been harassed lest the ministers should allow the session to pass away without bringing any measure forward, were now at an end. The day for the motion was fixed, and when this long desired step was taken, he sank for a while into a feeling of profound repose. He was able to sleep at night, and began to resume his cheerfulness of manner. He thought that as the Government had been prevented from delaying the question, the grand point was gained; and that it only remained for him and his friends to await the unfolding of their measure. " I have no more to do with slavery now than any other gentleman," was an expression frequently on his lips, during that interval of rest. But he soon found that he had been too sanguine; at the end of a few days fresh causes of anxiety began to arise. To his dismay, he heard a rumour that Lord Howick, on the soundness of whose principles he thoroughly relied, was about to resign his place, on the ground that the Cabinet refused to concur in his scheme of immediate emancipation. Afterwards he learned that the Government were inclined to make the Negroes buy out their own freedom. The details of the measure Mr. Buxton could not learn, but the process was sure to be dila- tory, and was on the face of it unjust. Full of chagrin and disappointment, he hurried to Dr. Lush- ington. They agreed to call a special committee of the Anti-slavery Society on the following day, and 1883. AGITATION RESOLVED ON. 311 li- then went home, "looking as if some heavy mis- fortune had befallen him." The next day, the heads of the party met to deliberate on this new turn of affairs. Their opinion as to the course they should pursue was unanimous. The higher powers were clearly about to fail them ; the nation was firmly on tin ir side: why not, then, place the matter in the nation's hands ? " Flectere si ncqueo superos, Acheronta movebo," was the feeling in every bosom there. Having resolved to arouse the people, they spared no pains to do so with effect ; and, in this endeavour, a most opportune aid was afforded them. Just at tin- time when they were anxious to call forth a burst of public feeling, Mr. Buxton being one morning at breakfast, surrounded as usual by papers, and deep in discussion with Mr. George Stephen, a young man named \\ lately was brought in and introduced to him by Mr. Pringle, as a book-keeper who had just returned from the West Indies. He told what he had seen, a tale of cruelty and suffering such as Mr. Buxtori had heard a hundred times before. The young man took his leave ; but scarcely was he gone, when the thought struck Mr. Buxton, that such a picture fresh from the spot was the very thing they needed. He ran into the street without his hat, rauulit Whitely us he turned the corner into Portland Place, and having brought him back, told him that he absolutely must put down this story in writing, and must also produce certificates as to his own character. These certificate.-* proved to be highly x 4 312 WHITELY'S PAMPHLET. . CHAP, xix satisfactory *, and in a few days the pamphlet was in print. The effect was prodigious. The narrative, written in a homely but graphic style, brought home to the mind of every one the real import of what he had previously heard, as to the dwindling of the popu- lation and the terrors of the lash. Truth, too, was stamped on every word. It contained indeed nothing new, but in reading Whitely's simple narra- tive of the common incidents of a sugar plantation, the whole scene appeared to stand before the eye. The driver looking on with lazy indifference, the piercing cries and supplications of the miserable Negro woman brought out and tied down upon the ground to receive her punishment, the crack of the fearful cart-whip, and the shriek of agony as it cut deep into the flesh, appalling as the description was, yet no man could deny its truth. In four colonies, and these the best ordered, the planters had themselves sworn to the infliction of sixty-eight thousand punish- ments in two years. And let any man say how they could be inflicted, without these circumstances of horrible suffering and degradation ? The pamphlet spread abroad with wonderful rapidity. " Whitely," says a letter to Northrepps, " nothing but Whitely, is the order of the day ; the sensation It creates is immense ; the printers can scarcely supply the demand. Mr. Pringle says ten thousand have been ordered to-day." In short, with- in a fortnight's time, nearly two hundred thousand copies were scattered abroad. * They are given at the end of the pamphlet. 1833. COMPENSATION. 313 Eager as the leaders were to urge the Government t< mvard, by turning upon them a strong pressure of popular opinion, they were at the same time most anxious to preserve their alliance, and keep them in the front of the movement, by every allowable concession. And the first concession which the Government required, was the concurrence of the abolitionists in granting compensation to the planters. On this question the opinions held by the Anti- slavery leaders were not those of the main body of their followers. The former maintained, that neither la\v nor custom could give one man a real claim to the possession of another; and, therefore, they could not admit that the planters had any moral rit//tt to compensation. On the other hand, they were both willing and desirous to give compen- sation, first, because they thought that a bonus to the planters was the best if not the only way of obtaining emancipation with safety to all parties ; secondly, because they were anxious that, while the Negroes were set at liberty, the planters should not be exposed to a ruinous loss. But the greater numbers of their followers did not comprehend the real position of affairs. They were not aware of the relative strength of the three parties in Parliament, nor did they perceive, that unless a juncture were effected with the Government, success could not be insured against the West Indians. Carried away by their anxiety to do justice to the Negro, they deemed all compromise, and all conces- sion to his OWIHT, a dereliction of principle; nor could they endure the idea of striking a bargain 314 ANTI-SLAVERY MEETING. CHAP. XIX. with the oppressor. It is likely, also, that in the minds of many, a feeling of personal hostility towards the planters had grown up during the long continu- ance of the contest. Mr. Buxton and his more temperate coadjutors, had now therefore to undertake that task which has so frequently dethroned the leaders of a popular movement, that of teaching their followers to rein in their zeal. It was determined that the idea of acquiescing in some system of compensation, should be broached to the Anti-slavery Society at its approaching annual meeting. This meeting was held on the 2d of April, Lord Suffield taking the chair, and Mr. Buxton undertook the delicate task of introducing the pro- posal. His friends listened with extreme anxiety as he commenced his speech : for a time he seemed to hover about the subject, as if shrinking from his task ; but at length he grappled boldly with it, and his appeal was met with apparently unanimous applause. He was ably followed by Dr. Lushington, Mr. Joseph J. Gurney, and others ; and their exertions appeared to be crowned with unexpected success. But nothing can be more transient than such triumphs of oratory, which can only withdraw a party for an instant from its natural career. Smooth as the beginning seemed, at this point commenced divisions in the ranks of the abolitionists, and the seeds of discord were sown, which bore fruit in due season, though happily too late to be of injury to the cause. But while the leaders of the Anti-slavery party 1833. THE NATION AROUSED. 315 made this concession to the Government, they still defined it necessary to rally all their forces, and render their victory complete. The Government certainly was pledged to effect emancipation ; but the details of their measure how and when it was to be brought about, was still undetermined. Lord Goderich had been created Earl of Ripon, and Mr. Stanley had succeeded him as Secretary of the Colonies, while Lord Howick's place was supplied by Mr. Shaw Lefevre. Mr. Stanley's position, in the midst of con- flicting opinions and interests, was one of great difficulty, and he found it necessary to postpone his motion till the 14th of May. Now, therefore, when full success might be gained by a vigorous effort, or lost if that effort were not made, now was the time to bring every force to bear, and to sweep away all obstacles by an irresistible impetus of public feeling. This was the moment to make the Government feel to what a pitch the hatred of slavery had risen. Nor was it difficult. The meeting in Exeter Hall, and the publication of Whitely's pamphlet had led the way. These first steps were followed up by the most vigorous proceed- ings, under the direction chiefly of Mr. George Stephen and Mr. Pringle, whose services were of essential value at this critical juncture. Lectures were delivered in all the counties of the kingdom. Crowded meetings were everywhere held, and the friends of the cause bestirred themselves from one end of the country to the other. The newspapers and periodicals caught the enthusiasm. The cause of mercy seemed the cause of religion, and many of 316 THE NATION AROUSED. CHAP. XIX. the clergy and dissenting ministers did not hesitate to urge upon their flocks the sinfulness of slavery, and the righteousness of joining heart and hand for its overthrow. The flame soon spread far and wide ; from every corner of the land petitions poured in, breathing the earnest desires of the people ; from Devonshire came five hundred, from West Essex three hundred ; the number of signatures attached to the petitions presented this session were calculated to amount to nearly a million and a half ; and just at this moment, when the ferment was highest, a step was taken which gave double effect to all the pre- vious proceedings. A circular was addressed by the committee to the friends of the cause in every consi- derable town, requesting them to appoint delegates, who were" to meet in London on the 18th of the month, to represent in person the wishes of the nation. Mr. Buxton had been spending a few of these eventful days in a delightful, and as it proved, a farewell visit to Mr. Wilberforce, at his son's house at East Farleigh ; but when the day for the assembling of the delegates drew near, he returned to town, and again plunged into the whirlpool of affairs. He found his house, which had before been a kind of depot of Anti-slavery petitions, now half filled with them. In every corner they lay in heaps, with letters and papers from all parts of England, and anxious consultations were going on among the leaders of the party in London. The call for dele- gates had been answered to an unexpected extent ; and now the question arose how most prudently and 1833. DELEGATES SUMMONED. 317 effectively to wield the force about to join them. Nor was the moment unattended with anxiety. It was very doubtful whether so many earnest advo- - could be brought to act in concert ; each had his own conscientious scruples, and does there exist any thing more wayward and hard to manage, than tin conscience of a scrupulous Englishman? They were not unlikely to mistake matters of expedience for matters of principle, and in particular, to think that it would be a crime to give the planter com- pensation, however much the interests of the Negro might require the concession. "People's principles are the greatest nuisances in life," playfully ex- claimed Mr. Buxton, when he returned from the first meeting of 330 delegates in Exeter Hall. It was an occasion which called forth all his tact and powers of argument; but the delegates, strong and inde- j undent as their views were, placed a generous con- lidence in their leaders, and a suificient degree of unanimity was at length obtained. It was necessary to frame an address to the Pre- mier which should embody their sentiments. This difficult task fell to the lot of Mr. J. J. Gurney, and the paper which he prepared received a cordial assent. On the ensuing day they met again in Exeter Hall, and proceeded in a body to Downing Street. Drawn as they had been from almost every place of note in tin- I'niti-d Kingdom, they included in their ranks nun of every calling and denomination ; among them w.re to be seen, we are told, "merchants, squires, bankers, magistrates, clergymen, and dissenting ministers." Lord Althorp and Mr. Stanley received 318 MEETING OF THE DELEGATES. CHAP. XIX. them; and after Mr. Samuel Gurney had read the address and commented on it, Mr. Buxton stepped forward and pointed out the extent of the movement which had sent the delegates thither. " This, my lord," said he, " is the deputy from Cork this is the one from Belfast ; these are from Edinburgh, those from Dundee ; this gentleman is from Aberdeen, that from Carmarthen; these are the delegates from Bristol, those from Liverpool, Birmingham, Man- chester, Sheffield ; these from York and Leeds," &c. It cannot be doubted that this manifestation had a great effect on the Government ; it was the first occasion on which public feeling so emphatically expressed itself, and it was felt to be called forth by no ordinary earnestness of purpose. Mr. Stanley afterwards acknowledged its importance, but, at the time, he gave no further pledge than that he would not again postpone his motion. With this the ap- plicants were, for the present, compelled to be satisfied. They retired, and on the same day dined together. When the cloth was removed, Mr. Buxton spoke with great feeling, expatiating more than was usual with him on his deep sense of the Providence that had attended their course, as well as on the hopes for the future, and the motives and principles by which they ought to be governed. He ended with "gladly seizing a long-wished-for opportunity of bearing testimony to the merits of the real leader of this cause the Anti-slavery tutor of us all Mr. Macaulay." CHAP. XX. 319 CHAPTER XX. 1833. DEBATE, MAT 14. MR. STANLEY'S SPEECH. RESOLUTIONS PASSED. BLAME ATTRIBUTED TO MR. BUXTON. LETTERS. BILL BROUGHT IN. DEBATE ON APPRENTICESHIP. ON COMPEN- SATION. PROGRESS OF THE BILL THROUGH THE HOUSE OP COMMONS THROUGH THE HOUSE OF LORDS PASSED. LETTERS. THE Government plan was now expected with the utmost anxiety. In the interval Mr. Buxton, who stood much in need of rest and quiet, retreated with his daughters to a fishing cottage at Dagenham Breach, near the Thames, belonging to Mr. Fry. This could be reached only by water, and afforded the most perfect seclusion. " We trust," writes one of the party, " not to see the face of a visitor, nor the direction of a letter, till Monday the 13th." Dr. Lushington remained in town, to watch the progress of affairs. Many contradictory reports were afloat, and Mr. Buxton's brief holiday was spent in deep meditation on the course which he should pursue. His eldest daughter thus writes from Dagenham : " Saturday, May 11. 18SS. " Here we are in our singular retirement, living out of doors on the rich bunk, which is overflowing with grass and flowers, and watching the hundreds of fine ships, which from here seem to float among the fields; but when we climb the bank, there lie* the river stretched out its lovely reaches glittering in the sun. We have tasted some real enjoyment in the exuberance of spring in this place, but far more in 320 WOMEN'S PETITION. CHAP. xx. seeing my dear father wandering about without his hat for hours together. He has, I fear, been reflecting too deeply during these walks. A set of harassing letters came from London yesterday, which immediately gave him a sharp headache." At last the 14th of May arrived. Mr. Buxton afterwards told his daughter, that just as they were going off to the House on that memorable evening perhaps the most memorable of his life he had reached his study door, when he went back to have one look at his Bible. It opened on the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, and he read those two verses, " If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul : then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as noon day : and the Lord shall guide thee continually," &c. " The remem- brance of them preserved me," he said, " from being in the least anxious the whole evening; I felt so sure the promise would be fulfilled to me, ' The Lord shall guide thee continually.'" The proceedings of the evening commenced with the presentation of a huge petition from the females of Great Britain. The scene is thus described in the Mirror of Parliament : " Mr. Fowell Buxton, on presenting the petition from the females of Great Britain, said, ' Ten days ago, this petition was not prepared ; it was not even in contemplation ; but within that short period, without any solicitation what- ever, it has received from all parts of the country through which it has been circulated, no less than 187,000 signatures. I wish to consult you, Sir, as to the manner in which I am to get it to the table, for it is so heavy that I really am unable to carry it.' " The Speaker. * If the hon. gentleman cannot bring up 1833. MK. V's SIT.ECII. 321 tlu- petition hinusclf, he must procure the assistance of home utluT members of the House.' " Three hon. members then went out with Mr. Buxton, and liy the united exertions of the four, the petition was brought in and placed upon the table," (as we are told else- where,) amidst the laughter and cheers of the House.* Mr. Stanley then opened the debate. He had been Colonial Secretary little more than a month, he showed that, vast as the subject was, he had, in that short time, completely mastered its details, had become conversant with all its dangers and diffi- culties, and was prepared to settle it for ever. He began by noticing the depth and extent of public iV-ding upon the question of slavery ; and that this It ding had its source in religious principle. He then entered into the history of the case, pointing out how confidently Parliament had looked for the co-operation of the colonial legislatures, and that in tin ->e expectations " the country had been grievously disappointed." This bulky document was the result of a very simple movement. A short form of petition was sent through the country with the inti- mation, that if sheets of signatures were sent in by Monday the ISth, they would be appended to the original in London. The time being so short, many answers to this appeal were not anticipated, but by the appointed day they poured in from all parts of the country in numbers almo-t unmanageable. Tlii- preparation of the petition is thus described by a member of the Ladies' Committee: " We were hard at work at it from ten in the morning till past nine at nijit. The two petitions became enormous; much heavier than we could move, or even roll over ; so we had two men to each, tureens of paste, and everything in proportion. They AM r<- like two great feather beds. One broke entirely to pieces, and we had to hei^in it all again, BO we kept bracing them with broad tape, and at last they were sewn up, each in a great sacking, and sent off, the one to Lord Suffield, the other to Mr. Ituxton, for presentation. 322 MR. STANLEY'S SPEECH. CHAP. xx. " The voice," he said, " of friendly warning the voice of authority, has been found to be in vain. Not a single step has been taken by any one of the colonial legislatures, with a view to the extinction of Negro slavery." After asserting the right of the mother country to legislate for the colonies, he proceeded to show that the distresses of the colonists were not owing " to the unceasing efforts of the abolitionists," and the discussion of the slavery question in Parliament ; and he read documents to prove that those distresses existed to the same extent, not only before slavery was discussed, but even in the days of the Slave Trade. He then entered forcibly into the arguments founded on the rapid decrease of population, and the immense amount of punishments with the whip, proving the pregnant and dreadful fact, that as the population diminished, the number of stripes increased. " We are told," he said, " that the slaves, at the present mo- ment, are unfitted for the enjoyment of the blessings of free- dom ; that they have no domestic ties, and no habits of in- dustry ; that they do not provide for their wants, and would not provide for their families ; that they have no forethought, no discretion ; and that, in short, they would be totally ruined, were you to throw them loose upon the world. * * Sir, it is slavery which debars them from acquiring industrious habits ; it is slavery Avhich prevents them from exercising the virtues of foresight and prudence ; it is slavery which leaves them nothing to labour for ; it is slavery which takes away from them all the incentives to industrious labour, which debars them from all the ties of social intercourse : and then you declare them to be ignorant of the duties of social life, that they have no foresight, no industry, no prudence, no dis- 1833. PROVISIONS OF THE BILL. 323 erction, and therefore they must continue in a state of slavery ! " I'p to this point Mr. Buxton and Dr. Lushington had been listening to the speech with satisfaction and (Irliirht. The very principles, the very facts, the very arguments, which they had for years been endeavour- ing to impress upon the House, they had now heard enforced from the Treasury bench, with the splendid eloquence of Mr. Stanley.* But when Mr. Stanley turned from the general principle! on which he proposed to act, to his scheme for their application, the feelings of the advocates of the Negro underwent a painful change. His plan contained the following main propositions, some good, some, as they conceived, fraught with evil. That slavery be abolished throughout the Biitish dominions. But that the present slaves should be apprenticed for a certain period of time to their former owners ; that is, should be bound to labour for their former masters during three fourths of the day, the master in return supplying them with food and clothing. I 'urt of the slave's value would be secured in this In reference to Mr. Stanley's adoption and illustration of their sentiments, Mr. Buxton afterwards quoted Cowper's lines to Mrs. Courtenay : My numbers that evening she sung, And gave them a grace so divine, As only her musical tongue Could infuse int.i numbers of n.iiu'. The longer I heard, I esteemed The work of my fancy the more, And e'en to myself m-vir ' mod So tuneful a poet before." T 2 324 PROVISIONS OF THE BILL. CHAP. XX. way to his former owner. The remainder was to be paid by England in the shape of a loan of 15,000,000/. sterling (afterwards changed to a gift of twenty millions). All children under six years old were to be at once set completely free. Stipendiary magistrates were to be appointed to carry out these measures, and provision was to be made for the religious and moral training of the Negro population. The Negro was to be liable to corporal punishment, if he refused to give his due portion of labour. When Mr. Stanley had announced the resolutions of which these were the leading features, their further discussion was adjourned to the 30th of May. Upon the whole Mr. Buxton was satisfied with the result of the evening, for although some of the pro- posed arrangements were utterly distasteful to him, he looked forward to great modifications of the obnoxious clauses during the progress of the bill through Parliament. According to his invariable practice, he laid the matter before God in frequent and earnest prayer. The following was the substance of his supplications at family prayers, on the second morning after the announcement of the Government measure. " We beseech thee, O Lord, to be thyself the champion of the captives ; their champion, yet not the avenger of their sufferings. We pray thee so to assist this great work, that it may be the means of spreading temporal peace, ease, and industry among the Negroes, and of leading them spiritually to the knowledge of God, that by it millions may be brought into thy happy fold. And for those who have laboured in 1833. RESOLUTIONS DISCUSSED. 325 tliis good and great work, may their reward be in the outpouring of thy Spirit; may they live in thy light, and may their darkness be removed for ever: may the Lord guide them continually; may their soul be like a watered garden, and may they be satisfied in drought. Bless the country that shall make this amazing sacrifice. " And now I desire to return thanks unto thee, O Lord, for the great mercies thou hast shown us; that thou hast turned the hearts of those who have influence and power, and made them to be labourers in the cause of the oppressed. We thank thee, that thou at length hast shown thine own [>.,\\.T and come forth." The discussion of the resolutions occupied the House till the 12th of June. At this point the uTand object of the Anti-slavery leaders was to see tin- Government and Parliament fully committed to tin- measure. " For," said Mr. Buxton, " were an amendment on this plan to be moved and carried, and we were in consequence to lose this measure altogether, an insurrection would inevitably take place, and I confess I cannot with firmness con- template so horrible a termination of slavery."* Therefore, while protesting against the apprenticeship, they abstained from dividing the House upon it till the principle of the bill had been admitted. They :iN<> acquiesced in the grant of compensation to the planters. On the clause relating to the moral and religions instruction of the Negroes " I shall move," - w :iid Mr. Buxton, " as an amendment, the word- which have been used by the Hiirht lion. Secretary in his speech, namely, that the system of instruction .-hall lie conducted, not on e.\clu-i\e. n.t on intolerant, but on * Mirror of Parliament, June, 1> T 3 326 APPRENTICESHIP. CHAP. XX. 'liberal and comprehensive principles.'* I am the more anxious on this point, as I know on the one hand, the extreme animosity of the colonists to all religious teachers of their slaves, except those of the Church of England, while on the other, I know the vast benefits which the dissenting missionaries have imparted, and are likely to impart to the Negro population. I think a system of perfect and unbounded toleration ought to prevail in the West Indies, as in England." But the main features of the plan were, " ap- prenticeship for the Negro," and " compensation to the planters ; " and these were so extremely obnoxious to the more vehement abolitionists, that Mr. Buxton was most severely blamed for having acquiesced in the principle of a measure of which these formed an essential part. He should, they said, have at once gone to war with the Government. But his own deliberate opinion was, that if this measure were refused, no other would be obtained, and, therefore, he was most anxious to modify rather than to reject it. Dr. Lushington took the same view, and by degrees they had the satisfaction of finding that all their original coadjutors acquiesced in its prudence. But the Anti-slavery movement was out-stripping its leaders. In so large and zealous a body as that which now followed them, there could not but be * The words were inserted, but when the bill came before the Lords, the Duke of Wellington moved their omission as an amendment: it was however negatived. " Were you not much amused," Mr. Buxton wrote at the time, " to see the Duke of Wellington's protest against my words, ' liberal and comprehensive ? ' This did us real service, giving fifty-fold emphasis to the terms, and preventing the possibility of their being forgotten." 1833. POLICY OF THE LEADERS. 327 many so earnestly bent on the success of their cause, as to be unable to heed the obstacles which still blocked the way, and who, " Forgetting That policy, expecting not clear gain, Deals ever in alternatives," looked with extreme jealousy on the slightest con- cessions made by their chiefs. And thus the party quickly fell into two sections, one of which was ready to make any reasonable sacrifice in order to attain success, while the other firmly opposed all com- promise, looking on it as a breach of principle. This latter section, dissatisfied with the moderate counsels of the original committee, established another of its own, under the name of the " Agency Committee." There soon appeared in the newspapers a resolu- tion, purporting to come from this new committee, in which Mr. Buxton was severely condemned; and indeed his fidelity to the cause more than itioned. This proceeding, authoritative as it professed to be, proved afterwards to have been the production of only two individuals. On first hearing of it, he was naturally hurt and indignant; but with him it was easy to forgive a personal slight, when it sprang iVoin zeal for the slave. Instead of expressing any ivM-mment, he wrote to those two individuals a letter, in which he calmly pointed out how entirely ihev had mistaken his vidws, and expostulated in mild terms auiiiiist the severity of their censur. . lint when a certain member of Parliament thought io ingratiate himself with his constituency, by calling T 4 328 SEVERE CENSURES. CHAP. XX. Mr. Buxton to account, through the medium of the public press, for his anxiety to keep terms with the Government, he addressed him as follows : " Dagenham, June 17. 1833. " Sir, The undoubted zeal and honesty, in the cause of the abolition of slavery, of the two gentlemen, who, in the name of the Agency Committee, passed and published the re- solution of the 13th of June, called for an explanation from me, and I have given it, by showing that they had mis- conceived the facts, and had ascribed language to me which I never used. " But what title you may have to demand an explanation of my conduct, through the medium of the newspapers, still remains a mystery to me. " For ten long years we have been fighting the arduous battle of the Anti-slavery cause. You never offered us that assistance which we should have so thankfully received you never touched that heavy burden with one of your fingers; the first and the last manifestation of your zeal occurred on the eve of the election of 1832, and even that was not of the most unequivocal description it was not an offer on your part to serve the cause, but an entreaty that the cause might serve you. " You have a right in the House of Commons to question my Parliamentary conduct. I shall be in my place to- morrow at twelve o'clock, and shall be happy to hear, and anxious to reply, to your accusation. " Your obedient servant, " T. FOWELL BUXTON." To a vote of censure passed on him by a com- mittee in the country, he thus replied : " London, June, 1833. " Our cause, I trust and believe, is essentially prospering. Patience and confidence we cannot perhaps expect from lookers-on ; but we are not therefore absolved from our duty to God and the Negro race to act according to the best of our 1S33. Mil. WILBERFOIICE. 329 judgment.- and consciences, and this, I can safely affirm, I. at least, have done. My character is of very little con- sequence. Indeed, had I not long ago learnt that I must saeritiee that, as well as almost all else to this cause, I should, lift ween my foes and my friends, have led a very unhappy life.* But I have learnt, that severe as is the task of incurring the displeasure of those I esteem, my duty frequently calls for it, and I acknowledge myself amenable to no human tribunal in this cause. * * * * Pray believe that I write in perfect good humour ; but it is necessary I should be independent, and independent I will be, or how ean I give an account of my stewardship ?" In the midst of these attacks, it was most cheering !r. Buxton to receive assurances of sympathy and approbation from those veterans of the cause, whose opinions he most highly valued. Mr. Wilberforce thus expresses himself to Mr. if. Smith: " Bath, June 25. 1833. " I have but one moment to-day at my command, but I ( -annot bear to remain silent, when your letter touches a .-tring which vibrates in my inmost soul. I feel more in- dignant than I can well express, at the unworthy treatment dear hone.-t Buxton has experienced. Even had he been mistaken in his judgment, yet, knowing the purity of his motives, and the zeal, and the anxiety, and the labour which he, has been experiencing, any liberal man would have taken him to his bosom, and endeavoured to cheer and to comfort him. I entirely concur with you as to our true policy. ( hie of the letters to Northrepps Cottage, says : " The career of victor}' has" been mixed with many per- " In 18VJ/>, when the small body of abolitionists were the objects of universal odium and ridicule, one of his friends a-ked him, " What shall . when 1 hear people abusing you ? '' " Say ! " replied he, snapping his tinkers, "say that. You good folk think too much of your good name. Do right, and right icill be done you.'' 330 MR. STANLEY'S BILL CHAP. xx. sonal humiliations and mortifications ; and now the Anti- slavery people are so violently turned against my father for not voting against the twenty millions, that they can hardly find words to express their displeasure. I must say, that his spirit through all is wonderful. He is as uninfluenced by the attacks of friends as of foes, and goes straight on to his mark with a degree of firmness, which, considering it is unaided by that very supporting quality, natural obstinacy, seems almost incomprehensible. " Every day he receives violent letters of censure, from one party for voting for the money, from another for saying the planters have no right to it ; but he is under such a deep and powerful impulse for the good of his cause, that nothing else touches him. He seems to be devoted to it in a way that renders him insensible to minor influences, and reminds one of the description of Howard, in Forster's Essay on Decision of Character. Himself, is strangely forgotten ; not subdued or resisted, but genuinely forgotten." When Mr. Stanley's bill was brought in, Mr. Buxton was disappointed to find that it retained the obnoxious points in full force. He writes : " London, July 6. 1833. " I do not think our slavery matters are going on very well. The Government are going to bring in their bill to- night. It retains the apprenticeship for twelve years, which makes me very indignant, and would make me very unhappy, if I did not indulge the hope, that we shall be able to beat them out of it in committee." To Thomas Pringle, Esq. " July 16'. " In all our deliberations at this moment, the first question which arises is, at what stage of the bill we ought to make our opposition to it. " I am decidedly of opinion that it ought not to be on the second reading. It seems to me that, in the first place, we 1833. COMES UNDER COMMITTKi:. 331 ought to muster all our strength for tin occasion on which we could hope to be victorious, and this we certainly could not on the second reading. Moderate men of all parties would tivinhlo at the idea of throwing the bill out. " Secondly, because I think if even we could, we ought not to throw out a bill of this kind, and at this period of the session, till we see what is done to it in committee ; for though we know the sentiments of ministers, we do not know those of Parliament. I should be exceedingly terrified at the idea of throwing out the bill without giving it this chance ; an awful conclusion might ensue, and it behoves us to give no M .to, which, in that event, we could not review with ::iction. The good of the Negroes ought to be our sole guide, and I cannot believe, if they could judge, they would wish us to throw out this bill on the second reading. " We must allow no feelings to interfere with this great principle, no subordinate motives, no want of lavish libe- rality, supposing our object really gained. Then, in com- mittee, we must muster all our strength for the most vigorous opposition to the objectionable clauses, and if we direct it jnlici..n.-ly and exert it fully, I feel a great hope of gaining our point. " I hope my friends distinctly understand that my point is to overthrow the apprenticeship, at the price of the twenty millions. " To this end, I think, all our efforts should be directed, and the committee seems to me the right time for making our attack." According to that plan of operations which had ;-il so much angry feeling, Mr. Stanley's bill was allowed to pass through the second reading un- , but no sooner had it come under committee, than the batik- began. The first and most important struggle was on the duration of the apprenticeship.* Mr. Uuxton moved July 'J4. See Mirror of Parliament for the course of the Slavirv 332 DEBATE ON APPRENTICESHIP. CIIAP. XX. an amendnemt for limiting it to the shortest period necessary for establishing the system of free labour, and suggested the term of one year ; " for," he said, " if we are to have neither wages nor the whip, neither hope nor fear, neither inducement nor com- pulsion, how any one can suppose that we shall be able to obtain the labour of the Negroes, is to me unintelligible." After a spirited debate the amendment was lost, though only by a minority of seven ; but, as Lord Howick observed, the first fruits of the discussion were gathered the next day, when Mr. Stanley con- sented, in deference to the wishes of the House, to reduce the period of apprenticeship from twelve to seven years. In the course of the debate on the 24th inst., Mr. Stanley " warned his honourable friend (the member for Weymouth), that any expression falling from him, would come upon the minds of the Negroes with much greater weight, than any similar expression coming from any other person." In his reply, Mr. Buxton said : " The right hon. gentleman has done me the honour to say, that the language which I hold towards the Xegroes may have some influence upon them. If I thought that were the case if indeed the faintest echo of my voice could ever reach them most earnestly, most emphatically would I implore them, by every motive of duty, gratitude, and self-interest, to do their part towards the peaceful termi- nation of their bondage. I would say to them, ' The time of your deliverance is at hand, let that period be sacred, let it be defiled by no outrage, let it be stained by no blood, let not the hair of the head of a single planter be touched. 1833. DKIJATE ON COMPENSATION. 333 M;ike any sacrifice, bear any indignity, submit to any privation, rather than raise your hand against any white inan. Continue to wait and to work patiently ; trust im- plicitly to that great nation and paternal Government, who are labouring for your release. Preserve peace and order to the utmost of your power, obey the laws, both before and at the time of your liberation, and when that period .-hall arrive, fulfil the expectations of your friends in England, and the promises they have made in your name, by the most orderly, diligent, and dutiful conduct !'" \\ hen the question of compensation came under discussion, Mr. Buxton was strongly urged to oppose it, as the apprenticeship clauses had not been given up. The difficulties that beset him are thus de- scribed*: " Mr. Stanley declares that if any point is carried against him regarding the grant, he will throw up the bill ; whether or not to run this risk, is now the very point of the matter, and numerous are the dilemmas the question involves. We had (|uite a levee this morning ; Messrs Pringle, Cropper, Sturge, Moorsom, and George Stephen, all came in at breakfast time, and my father made them a speech, tell- ing them that on such a difficult and critical point, he would never enter the House with his hands tied. They wanted him to promise to fight the money battle, and to drt'eat Mr. Stanley, if possible. He will not promise to do nny such thing, and says he must be at full liberty to act according to the discretion of the moment. They went away to deliberate upon it, and it is now time to go down to the House again. He told me he trusted but in one thing The Lord shall guide- thy steps.'" In tlu- division which followed, Mr. Buxton voted for the grant of 20,000,000/. to the planters f, "as * Letters to Noithrepps Cottage. t The following afternoon his sister sail to him, " Surely you acted lustily last night in voting for compensation?" "No," replied he, 334 DEATH OF MR. WILBEHFORCE. CHAP. XX. giving the best chance and the fairest prospect of a peaceful termination of slavery," but he moved as an amendment that one half of that sum should not be paid till the apprenticeship should have terminated. He thought this would act as a check upon the planters in their treatment of the apprentices. This amendment was thrown out. Mr. Buxton thus writes to a friend on the 1st of August : " I must tell you how comfortable and happy I feel to-day. Last night at twelve o'clock we got through the committee ; the bill, therefore, for the abolition of slavery, must pass this session, and may Providence make it a blessing to millions. We were defeated upon my proposal to hold back half the money till the apprenticeship was over. Stanley declared that if we carried that proposal, he would throw up the bill. I thought it right, however, to persevere, but I must confess that I should have felt uneasy, if we had obtained a victory. The newspapers give but a wretched report of the debate, which was one of the best we ever had. " Upon the whole I went to bed well pleased. To-morrow night we have the report, and on Monday the third reading. How grand it is to be so near the top of the mountain, which it has taken ten years to climb, it makes me quite cheery. Upon an average, during the last fortnight, I have had to make one long, and two short speeches per diem, so that I have lost all sense of modesty. My plans are by no means fixed ; I certainly cannot leave London till the bill is through the Lords." The joy with which the abolitionists looked forward to the speedy termination of their labours in behalf of the slaves, was tempered by an event of deep slowly rising off the sofa, and speaking with great deliberation, " no ! I would do the same again. I did it to save bloodshed ; that was my motive, and I arn glad I did it." 18:13. ABOLITION BILL PASSE I'. interest to them, the death of Mr. Wilberforce. Tin- great Anti-slavery leader expired on Monday the 2!'th of July, having, shortly before his death, <. \daiincil with fervour, " Thank God that I should have lived to witness a day in which England is milling to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of slavery." The announcement of his death was received by the House of Commons, then in the midst of the discussion on compensation, with peculiar feeling. Mr. Buxton referred to the event, and in expressing hi- love and admiration for the character of Mr. Wilberforce, applied to him the beautiful lines of Cowper: " A veteran warrior in the Christian field, Who never saw the sword he could not wield; Who, when occasion justified its use, Had wit, as bright, as ready, to produce ; Could draw from records of an earlier age, Or from Philosophy's enlightened page His rich material and regale the ear With strains it was a luxury to hear." On the 7th of August, 1833, the Bill for the Total Abolition of Colonial Slavery, passed the Lower House. " The bill has already passed the House of Commons, two or three hours," writes Miss Buxton to Mr. Macaulay; " would that Mr. Wilberforce had lived one fortnight longer, that my father might have taken back to him f/tt/illcd, the task he gave him ten years ngo ! " Mr. r>u.\t(in writes on the following day: " London, Aug. 8. " I have been intensely engaged in winding up, or watching the winding up, of this, the main object of my 336 HOUSE OF LORDS. CIIAP. XX. life. The bill passed its third reading last night, and I cannot but feel deeply relieved and thankful, great as are its faults. May a blessing be with it ! The fullest toleration we have, I trust, obtained. And now the thing is done ; and all the duty respecting it, which remains for us, is to do our utmost to render both the people of England and the Negroes satisfied with it, and to labour for the religious instruction of the latter." The bill now went with little delay through the House of Lords. Mr. Buxton thus alludes to Lord Suffield's exertions on that occasion. " When the bill reached the Upper House, Lord Suffield's task was of the most difficult and laborious kind. Dr. Lushington, and I, and some others, used to go and spend hour after hour at the bar of the House of Lords, watching our friend in his arduous conflict ; and I find that scarcely any one of the many memorable scenes and incidents of that session has left so strong an impression upon my memory, as witnessing his unsupported but de- termined struggle over each clause of the bill, as it passed through the Committee of the whole House." " On Tuesday, the 20th," writes Miss Buxton, " was the third reading in the Lords. Dr. Lushington came in after- wards, unexpectedly, to dinner ; he was just setting off for his holidays, and seemed very much pleased with the events of the session, which he discussed in the most lively manner. Lord Althorp said to him in the House, a few days ago, ' Well ! you and Buxton have wielded a power too great for any individuals in this House. I hope we shall never see such another instance.' Among other incidents, it was mentioned that one day, in the House of Lords, Lord Grey went up to my father to speak to him about yielding the ' removal ' question. The Duke of Wellington said, l I see what the influence is under which you are ; and if that individual is to have more power than Lords and Commons both, we may as well give up the bill.' All the Commons' ministers who were standing there, were highly entertained." 1833. LETTER TO MR. MACAULAY. 337 T. F. Buxton, Esq., to Zachary Macaulay, Esq. "My dear Friend, August 20. 1833. " Priscilla will tell you what was done last night in the Lords' Committee. The result was, that after two or three rather mischievous alterations, the report passed. The Go- vernment told me that the Tories had collected their strength, and were determined to throw out the bill. No symptoms, however, of such infatuation appeared. So now we are nearly at the end of our labours. I must confess I am, if not quite satisfied, exceedingly well-pleased. I look back to the I- tt-r which you and I wrote to Lord Bathurst in 1823, containing our demands, twelve in number. Bad as the bill is, it accomplishes every one of these, and a great deal more. Among the rest, the day is fixed after which slavery shall not be ! " Surely you have reason to rejoice. My sober and deli- berate opinion is, that you have done more towards this con- summation than any other man. For myself, I take pleasure in acknowledging that you have been my tutor all the way through, and that I could have done nothing without you. This should and must cheer you. It has pleased Providence to send you sore afflictions, but hundreds of thousands of human beings will have reason here and here- after to thank God that your zeal never slackened, and that \<>ii were enabled to labour on against difficulties and obstacles, of which no one perhaps, except myself, knew the extent ; dragging to light one abomination after another, till tin- moral and religious feeling of the country would endure .-iidi crimes no longer. So cheer up. " I continue very well. This session has done me less mis- chief than any former one. We have had something to console us, and we knew but very little of that kind of fare in former tin. Kvcr yours very truly, " T. FOWELL BUXTON." 338 TO MR. CLAEKSON ANSWER. CHAP. XX. On the 28th of August the bill for the abolition of British slavery received the royal assent. Mr. Bux- ton sent a copy of it to Mr. Clarkson with the following letter : " My dear Sir, Northrepps Hall, Sept. 22. 1833. " I cannot forward to you the enclosed Act without a line to inquire how you are, and to say how sincerely I trust you are really cheered and happy in the contemplation of the Abolition of Slavery ! I am sure you ought to be, for you have greatly contributed towards it. I always think your pamphlet, which first gave us the true tone, was of most essential importance to our cause. Such as it is, it is done ; and I do more and more think we ought to be very grateful and satisfied. It is a mighty experiment at best ; but we must trust that it will answer to the full, and be as it were the pulling away of the corner-stone of slavery, throughout the world. " I should be delighted to hear your opinion of the mea- sures. " Yours very faithfully, " T. F. BUXTON." " Dear Mr. Buxton, " Playford Hall, Sept. 25. 1833. " I received your letter the day before yesterday, and I can truly say in answer to it, that I am immeasurably, more than I can express, thankful to God, for that rich display of his mercy, which at length, in his own good time, he has vouch- safed to manifest to the long lost children of the African race. That the bill is not entirely what I wished I have no objection to confess ; but yet I am thankful, inexpressibly thankful for it. " I tremble to think what might have been the conse- quences, if you had refused the proposals of Government. What would another administration have done, had it been left to them? We may judge of this by the speeches of the Duke of Wellington last session. ******** " Yours most truly, " T. CLARKSON." CHAP. XXI. 339 CHAPTER XXI. 1833, 1834. LETTERS. GOOD ACCOUNTS FROM THE WEST INDIES. BARON ROTHSCHILD. OCCUPATIONS OP THE SPRING AND SUMMER. I NM \\OURS FOR THE BENEFIT OP THE NEGROES. MR. TREW. THE DAY OF FREEDOM, AUGUST 1. 1834. CONDUCT OP THE NEGROES. LETTERS. Now that slavery had fallen, Mr. Buxton looked forward with delight to the leisure which lay before him. The autumn proved, however, to be one of much sorrow. Early in September, the eldest son of Mr. Hoare, a young man of the highest promise*, began to sink under consumption ; and closely as the two families were linked together, the blow which fell upon the one, was felt almost as keenly by the other. It is to this event that the following letters refer : To Samuel Hoare, Esq. "Northrepps Hall, Sept. 1. 1833. " Your 'letter was very painful, and made us very truly and liitterly sympathise with you. I know by sorrowful experience, how much is to be endured, and how many tor- menting changes there are in the disease. There is, however, one part of his case, which is liable neither to anxiety nor < . II' lias built upon a rock. A century hence it will signify nothing, whether at this time he was stronger or weaker in luxly : I>ut it will then and for ever after be a matter of the greatest moment, that he held a certain and just hope of eternal lite through Christ. * See Mr. Buxton's letter to him in 1827, p. K>7. z 2 340 TO MBS. HOARE. CHAP. XXI " I had intended to have divided a great part of this day be- tween you and myself, that is, between a review of your circum- stances and of my own mind, which particularly wants setting to rights. It is difficult to say what I mean, so as to be under- stood, but I find there is such a thing as bringing the mind actually to partake of the cares and sorrows of those we love, and eating the same bread which is before them. However, my intentions wei*e frustrated. We have had a terrible storm, three at least, I fear five or six vessels have foundered at sea, and all hands lost. I started after church, and rode to Sheringham by the sands, and then to Weybourne, where I found a Weymouth vessel on shore. I saw in this excursion eleven vessels on shore, but all lives were saved. I did not get home till half past eight o'clock. The storm is much abated now, but it has had a strange effect among the trees. It is impossible to walk about the wood at the back of the house, or down to the Cottage, except in the broad daylight, so many trees are overturned. So ends this 1st of September. I have, I hope, arranged that some birds shall be slain for you to-morrow, but I must be excused at present, I am in no great mind for shooting." To Mrs. Samuel Hoare. "Northrepps Hall, Sept. 8. 1833. " This has been but a low and gloomy day here, as well as at Hampstead. I think that we have felt as sorely, and as much shared your sorrows, as if we had been on the spot. We have been in a state of much dejection since our return home, and very remarkable it has been. I had made up my mind for months that this was to be a first rate holiday, I was to throw off my arms and my armour, and forget slavery, (except now and then as a relish,) in short, it was to be my business to be merry and happy, at a great rate. The event has not been such. I have tried to shoot, but made only a poor hand of that. However, to-day I got rather near true com- fort, and was able to ask, f Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me ? Hope thou in God ! ' And I do see in the event before us great stores of 1833. TO MRS. HOARE. 341 comfort. Nothing less than the greatest comfort would avail ; for I do not disguise from myself, that, all things con- Mclrred, (wife, father, mother, station, prospects of usefulness,) it i- an affliction of no common kind. Yet dark as it is, and strongly as it proclaims that all the glory of man is as the flower of the grass, still there is that in it which tells us to gird up the loins of our mind, and rejoice and be glad. After all, in reason as well as in faith, it is no such miserable thing to be somewhat nearer than we supposed we were, to that in- heritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and glorious, which Christ has provided for His own. But, my dearest sister, I shall consume my paper and my time, before I come to the point about which I wish to write. I hope you do not allow yourself to give way to that self- tormenting delusion of un- availing regrets and repentances, as if you had not done all that you might. I think it is a narrow view to suppose that minor matters have had any weighty influence. I believe the sickness came from the hand of God, and that he also ordained the treatment you should resort to. I believe, from first to last it was His doing, and this consideration is suffi- cient to stifle all complaint as to the event, and all remorse as to the means. Pray do not give way to any regrets, but accept the event as wholly coming from God, and as wholly merciful, and fraught with blessings. I cannot say how deeply and tenderly I feel for each of you." Great anxiety now began to be felt as to the man- ner in which the Emancipation Act might have been received in the West Indies. The accounts of this event at length arrived, and proved to be highly satisfactory. The planters had received the new law without irritation ; the Negroes without ex- citement or insubordination ; and the Colonial legis- laturcs Immediately prepared to carry it into effect, on the following 1st of August. "Northrepps Hall, Dec. 29. 1833. " In turning to my prayers for the slavery cause, on last new z 3 342 GOOD ACCOUNTS FROM THE WEST INDIES. CHAP. XXI- year's day, I cannot but acknowledge that they have been most signally and surprisingly fulfilled. Thou, O Lord, hast stood forth its advocate, thou hast controlled events, and dis- posed the nation to the accomplishment of liberty, and that liberty in peace : and peaceful liberty to the slave has been accompanied by increased prosperity to the master; every word of that prayer has been accomplished, and I bless thee for thy signal bounty." To Miss Buxton at Earlham. ^ "54, Devonshire Street, Feb. 4. 1834. " It is curious how many compliments we West Indian fanatics* have had on the success of our measure. I have just been in the House; and among a great variety of congratulators, I saw , who said that nothing could be doing better ; and he added, that having lately read my speeches from the first to the last, he must confess that he was surprised to find how true and sound they had been. Stanley whispered, * I congratulate you.' I answered, * I congratulate you.' " But I now come from the House of Lords, Avhere Lord Grey, in reply to the Duke of Wellington, has been pro- nouncing a splendid eulogium on * that beneficent measure,' as it was called in the King's Speech, ' which extirpated the worst of all human evils;' and taunting the Duke with having been a prophet of evil, whereas nothing but good has as yet resulted. I am quite pleased. This is the impression which the events of the day have made on me. " Love to Joseph and M , quote to them my favourite verse : " ' Those are not empty hearted, whose low sound Reverbs no hollowness.' f " It applies much to my silent feelings towards them." On the 17th of March, Mr. Stanley gave a most * He overheard one member say to another, " So, after all, the fanatics were right ! " t King Lear. 1834. CHEERING INTELLIGENCE. 343 >; i tisfactory account, in the House, of the continued tranquillity and prosperity of the West Indies, while awaiting the day of freedom. Mr. Buxton is de- scribed as " full of joy at Mr. Stanley's speech ; he says, * I go to sleep thinking of it, I wake thinking of it." Some one said to him in the House, in ivl'i-rence to Mr. Stanley's statement, ' This is worth living for, and dying for.' Indeed the cordial tone, not only of his coadjutors, but of his late opponents also, was most gratifying to him. To Miss Buxton. "Devonshire Street, Feb. 14. 1834. " We yesterday dined at Ham House to meet the Roths- childs ; and very amusing it was. He (Rothschild) told us his life and adventures. He was the third son of the banker at Frankfort. ' There was not,' he said, * room enough for us all in that city. I dealt in English goods. One great trader came there, who had the market to himself: he was quite the great man, and did us a favour if he sold us goods. Somehow I offended him, and he refused to show me his patterns. This was on a Tuesday ; I said to my father, " I will go to England." I could speak nothing but German. On the Thursday I started ; the nearer I got to England, the cheaper goods were. As soon as I got to Manchester, I laid out all my money, things were so cheap; and I made good profit. I soon found that there were three profits the raw material, the dyeing, and the manufacturing. I said to the manufacturer, " I will supply you with material and dye, and you supply me with manufactured goods." So I got three profits instead of one, and I could sell goods cheaper than anybody. In a short time I made my 20,000/. into 60,0007. My success all turned on one maxim. I *aiii ?//< lllt coach on ,S //////. William Smith 348 MR. TREW'S RECOLLECTIONS. CHAP. XXT. comes on Friday. I will send for you to Holt on Saturday night." At length, after much expense and trouble, the money was obtained, and invested in the names of Dr. Lushington, Mr. Buxton, and two other trustees, to be employed in the education of the Negroes. To the interest of this sum the Government added a tem- porary grant of 20,000?. per annum; and the proper and most efficient application of this money, occu- pied much of Mr. Buxton's time and attention. He, as well as the other trustees, spared no labour in the endeavour to establish schools, and to procure schoolmasters of ability and piety. Their chief agent was the Rev. J. M. Trew, now Archdeacon of the Bahamas, who had won Mr. Buxton's highest esteem by the sacrifices and efforts he had made on behalf of the Negroes, during a long residence in Jamaica. The following interesting memoranda, in connection with the subject, were preserved by Mr. Trew: " The letter in which Mr. Buxton announced my appoint- ment, said, ' I have named you to the trustees for this im- portant work. They are abundantly satisfied; and if you are prepared to carry out their views upon a liberal and comprehensive basis, you will proceed immediately to Lon- don.' Immediately on my arrival in town, I called upon Mr. Buxton, and said to him : ' I do not quite understand what is to be the basis of your system, or what is meant by your " liberal and comprehensive principles." s What is your own view of the case?' was the rejoinder. ' My view of the case,' said I, ' is simply this : I take the whole word of God to be the only right basis, upon which a Christian education can rest ; will you concede this ?' * Granted,' he replied ; * and let me assure you, that upon no other principles would I have any- 1834. MR. TREW'S RECOLLECTIONS. 349 thing to do with this charity.' Upon those principles he com- menced, and by those principles he and his co-trustees ever after continued to be governed. Having been deputed by his colleagues to examine the teachers when selected by their agent, preparatory to their embarkation for the West Indies, it was delightful to witness the condescension and tenderness with which he was accustomed to address them. He had a word of kindness and of encouragement for each. To one he would say, as he reached forth his hand to bid him iUrowell : * Well ! you are going upon an arduous work ; but it is a noble undertaking. I hope that you may do well, and that God may bless you.' To another : * Write to us often, we are deeply interested in your welfare ; you have tlu prayers of many for your success.' He used to remark, ' I like to know these men, that I may identify each with his peculiar sphere of labour.' And if he thus desired to know them, truly it may be said, that his affectionate parting remembrance was never forgotten by any of them. They honoured him, and they loved him. " Never shall I forget the effect which his manner and address produced upon some young men, who were shortly afterwards t> proceed to the West Indies. On the occasion referred to, Mr. Buxton having been detained beyond his appointed hour, owing to his having been at Court, came direct from the palace before he changed his dress. The school- masters in waiting, who were simple men, chiefly from Scotland and Ireland, not one of whom had ever been in London before, were much struck by his appearance ; but when, as they were severally introduced, he took them kindly by the hand and conversed with each, as one interested in their respective prospects and welfare, they were astonished beyond measure, and went forth to their labours, assured that they h;ul in him a sympathising Christian friend; and many Indeed were the opportunities which subsequently presented theniM'lvr-. \\licrcl.v lie proved that his feelings of interest in their welfare were not evanescent, but the result of Christian principle, operating upon a naturally amiable and generous heart. 350 APPROACH OF THE DAY OF FREEDOM. CHAP. XXL "In those islands, for which comparatively little had been done, previously to the period of their emancipation, as in Trinidad, St. Lucia, Mauritius, Seychelles, &c. he took the most lively interest, always maintaining the principle, and acting on it also, that the training of native agents was essential to a general diffusion of knowledge amongst the islanders. With a view to this, he advocated the estab- lishment of normal schools in the most important of our colonies ; and he had the happiness of living to know that so successful were the operations of the Board of Trustees, that, under the blessing of God, upwards of 500 teachers were trained in these model seminaries ; and that, too, for every denomination of Christian Missionaries." The first of August, 1834, the day on which the emancipation of the slaves was to take place, was drawing near ; an address, written by Mr. Buxton in the name of the Anti-slavery Society, forcibly shows what were his feelings on the occasion : " Surely a day of such vast moment to the welfare of one part of the empire, and to the honour of the whole, ought not to pass unnoticed. * * It is a day for undoing the heavy burdens and letting the oppressed go free ; and the true celebration of such an event is in hearty and united thanksgiving to God for this marvellous achievement, and prayer that He will bless the work, bless the givers, bless the receivers, and make it a source of blessing to the oppressed and afflicted throughout the world. Some may think that this great work was accomplished by the act of man ; some will ascribe it to one body, and some to another ; but we trust that our friends, now that the conflict of party has ceased, and the cloud raised around us by the passions of man has been dispersed, will unite in ac- knowledging the signal providence of Almighty God, who has, from the beginning to the end, been the true doer of the glorious work ; originating it in the hearts of its advocates ; lifting it over the all but insurmountable obstacles of its 1834. APPROACH OF THE DAY OF FREEDOM. 351 early day ; setting at nought the counsels alike of friends and foes; providing means, providing , instruments, unexpected, diverse, conflicting; yet, under the skilful guidance of the Divine hand, all urging forward the same conclusion; and from the chaos of confusion, from the battle of irreconcileable opinions, bringing us to the scarcely credible consummation of emancipation in peace, in harmony, in safety, in con- gratulation and acquiescence on all sides." Five days before the first of August, on which the emancipation of the slaves was to take place, he thus refers to it in his book of meditations : " July 27. Sunday. " On Friday next, slavery is to cease throughout the British colonies ! I wished, therefore, to have a season of deep retirement of soul, of earnest prayer, and of close communion with my God, and for this purpose, I went to a Friends' meeting. I began with earnest prayer for the in- fluence of the Holy Spirit. Then, in deep humiliation, in a sense of my own great guilt and ingratitude, I made con- ii ion of such sins as occurred to me, and pleaded hard with God, for Christ's sake, ' in whom we have redemption through Hi- blood ; even the forgiveness of sins.' This prayer was offered in some trouble of soul, and in a full sense that every other cord was broken, and that the only cable by which I could hold on was forgiveness through Christ. Then I prayed for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, on those 700,000 oppressed and persecuted children of our common Father, who will be liberated on that day. O thou who ha-st been indeed their merciful Deliverer, who, for the oppression of the poor and the sighing of the needy, hast arisen and set them in safety ; add, we beseech thee, to all thy benefits, by such an effusion and outpouring of thy Spirit, as shall make them a people, peculiarly obedient to thy commandments, and peculiarly visited by thy presence, and that, as by thy goodness they are eli:niLrl from slaves to freemen, they may also be transformed from heathens into Christians ; in deed, in spirit, and in truth." 352 THE DAY OF FREEDOM. CHAP. XXL " And now I commend next Friday to thee, my merciful God. May it be a happy day, and the harbinger of many many happy days, to one very very dear to me, and to multitudes for whom I have been favoured long to labour ! " The anxiously expected first of August at length arrived. It was kept very generally throughout England as a day of rejoicing. To Mr. Buxton it was rendered memorable, not only by the con- summation of that great work to which his heart had so ardently been given, but also because on this day his eldest daughter was married to Mr. Andrew Johnston, of Kenny Hill in Fifeshire, M. P. for St. Andrews. He thus alluded to the circumstance, in a letter to Dr. Philip at Cape Town : lt I surrendered my vocation, and, next to Macaulay, my best human helper, on the same day, and I am not only well con- tented, but very happy, and very thankful, that she is so bestowed." A large circle of his connections assembled at his house on the occasion, and expressed the lively interest with which they had sympathised in his public labours, by presenting him with two hand- some pieces of plate, in commemoration of the emancipation of the slaves. It was indeed a day which called forth the ex- pression of his deepest feelings, of thankfulness, and of his most earnest desires for blessings on those near and afar off, to whom the day was one of such signal importance. " Never had we," he said, " such a call for thanksgiving ; never such occasion to pray for a blessing, as upon the work of this day. It is demonstration to our understandings, it is 1834. T1IK FIRST OF AUGUST. 353 vision to our minds, that God has done it. We had no mi!' uneasiness, when they thought of what might, at that very time, be passing in the West Indies. The period that intervened between August, 1833, when Mr. Stanley's measure became law, and August 1. 1834, when it was to take effect, had indeed passed away in unexampled tranquillity. But would not the gloomy predictions of the West Indians be now fulfilled ? The bloodshed, the rioting, the drunken- ness, and confusion they had so often foretold would not these tarnish the lustre of this glorious deed of the British people ? It was, therefore, with feelings of deep solicitude, that Mr. Iluxton and his friends awaited the news fn>m the colonies. He was at Northrepps Hall, when, on the Huh of Sq>ti'inl>rr, u large pile of letters came in with the colonial stamps upon them. Well knowing that they would contain tin: long-looked for A A 354 THE DAY OF FREEDOM. CHAP. XXI. intelligence, he took them, still sealed, in his hand, and walked out into the wood ; desiring no witness but One, of the emotion and anxiety he experienced. He opened them : and deep indeed was his joy and gratitude to God, when he found that one letter after another was filled with accounts of the admirable conduct of the Negroes on the great day of freedom. Throughout the colonies the churches and chapels had been thrown open, and the slaves had crowded into them, on the evening of the 31st of July. As the hour of midnight approached, they fell upon their knees, and awaited the solemn moment, all hushed in silent prayer. When twelve sounded from the chapel bells, they sprang upon their feet, and through every island rang the glad sound of thanksgiving to the Father of all; for the chains were broken, and the slaves were free.* * Amongst the many beautiful verses which the occasion called forth, the following, by Mr. James Montgomery, stand pre-eminent : " Hie to the mountains afar, All in the cool of the even, Led by yon beautiful star, First of the daughters of heaven : Sweet to the slave is the season of rest : Something far sweeter he looks for to night, His heart lies awake in the depth of his breast, And listens till God shall say, ' Let there be light ! ' " Climb we the mountain, and stand High in mid air, to inhale, Fresh from our old father- land, Balm in the ocean-borne gale. Darkness yet covers the face of the deep : Spirit of freedom ! go forth in thy might, To break up our bondage, like infancy's sleep, The moment when God shall say, ' Let there be light ! ' 1834. CONDUCT OF THE NEGROES. 355 To the Riyht Rev. Daniel ff7fcon, Lord Bishop of Calcutta. " My dear Friend, " Cromer, Oct. 21. 1834. " How long have I neglected to write to you, and how often have I reproached myself for it ! My only excuse for it is, that Andrew Johnston, M. P., (who breakfasted at your house, just before your departure,) has run away with my secretary, Priscilla. They were married on the 1st of Au- gust, the day, on which, says the Act of Parliament, ' Slavery shall cease, and be unlawful in the British colonies, plantations, and possessions.' I know you heartily rejoiced at this termination of our labours ; for I remember with grati- tude, that you were ever steadfast and faithful to that good cause. We have now accounts from the West Indies, of the way in which the 1st of August was passed; and highly factory they are. " The apprenticeship seems to go down with the Negroes. This is wonderful to me ; for I cannot reconcile it even now to my reason, that this system should flourish. In Antigua, the legislature wisely dispensed with the apprenticeship, and from thence we have most encouraging reports. " A letter, dated the 2d August, says, * The day of wonders of anticipated confusion, riot, and bloodshed has passed " Gaze we awhile from this peak, Praying in thought while we gaze ; Watch for the dawning' s first streak, Prayer then be turned into praise. Shout to the valleys ' Behold ye the morn, Long, long desired, but denied to our sight ! ' Lo ! myriads of slaves into men are new-born, The word was omnipotent ' Let there be light ! ' Hear it and hail it ; the call Island to island prolong; Liberty ! liberty ! all Join in that jubilee song. Hark, 'tis the children's hosannahs that ring ! Hark, they are freemen, whose voices unite ! While Kngland, the Indies, and Africa sing, ' Amen ! hallelujah ! ' to Let there be light ! ' ' A A 2 356 CONDUCT OF THE NEGROES. CHAP. XXI. by, and all is peace and order.' On Monday the Negroes all returned to work. Now this quite amuses, as well as pleases me. During four days' examination before the Lords, they asked me, among a thousand strange questions, * If emancipation were to take place to-day, what would the Negroes do to-morrow ? ' I replied, ' To-morrow they would, I think, take a holiday; so they would on Saturday; on Monday, I expect they would go to work, if you paid them for it!' " Another letter, dated the 4th, says, * Yesterday I was round the island, and did not hear of a single improper act, not even of a man being intoxicated. Our chapels were crowded to suffocation.' And not only from Antigua, but from every other quarter, we hear that almost the whole population attended chapel or church, on the day of their liberation." To Mrs. Buxton. "Bellfield, Nov. 23. 1834. " I could not get a place in the Dorchester Mail, so I took my place to Salisbury in another. Soon after I was seated, the Bishop of Barbadoes got in, and a great deal of very interesting conversation we had. He has received letters from many parts of his diocese, giving the most encouraging accounts. At Antigua seven important results have fol- lowed emancipation : " First : Wives and husbands hitherto living on different estates began to live together. " Second : The number of marriages greatly increased. One of his clergy had married ten couple a week, since the first of August. " Third : The schools greatly increased ; a hundred chil- dren were added in one district. " Fourth : The planters complain that their whole weed- ing gang, instead of going to work, go to school. " Fifth : All the young women cease to work in the fields, and are learning female employments. 1834. REFLECTIONS. 357 " Sixth: Friendly societies for mutual relief have in- creased. " Seventh : The work of the clergymen is doubled. One of the chapels which held 300 is being enlarged, so as to contain 900, and still will not be large enough. The utmost desire is felt by the Negroes for religious in- struction, and their children are in every way as quick in learn- ing as the whites. The most intelligent and influential of the Antigua planters tells him that the experiment is answering to his entire satisfaction. It will require some time, he says, for the planters to overcome their prejudices against machinery. II has not heard of an act of violence anywhere. The Negroes are a very affectionate and docile race. He has seventy-seven clergymen in his diocese, and most of them zealous good men. Twenty young men have been educated at Codrington College for the church, and some of them, who are already ordained, are excellent ministers. " But now about my journey. When we got to Salisbury, the Bishop and I posted on together. I dressed and break- t'a-trd at Dorchester, and went on very cheerfully. As soon as I got to Weymouth, I collected some of the best of my party, and got them to advise me to do the things which I had resolved to do, viz., to canvass immediately, and to abstain from anything like treating or giving beer. " I said publicly, and said truly, that if my election de- pended on a single vote, and that vote was to be sold for sixpence, I would not give it." " Northrepps, Dec. 23. 1884. " On February 3, 1833, I prayed that thou, O Lord, \vouldst rise up as the Advocate of the oppressed, disposing all hearts, and moulding all events, to the accomplishment of HlxTty, and that liberty in peace: protecting their masters from ruin and desolation. Thou didst rise up ! It is said in tin- I'.-alms, that "the nations shall see that it was thy doint:." and how manifest was thy instrumentality! Who rai-rd up the population of England to demand as one man the liberation of the Negro? who sent that con- A A 3 358 REFLECTIONS. CHAP. XXL vincing warning, the insurrection in Jamaica, to prove to a hesitating Government that the crisis would brook no delay ? Who, contrary to our wishes, caused the formation of those Parliamentary committees which, designed and de- manded by the enemy, ended in their discomfiture ? Who sent witnesses at the very crisis in which they were needed ; carrying conviction to the minds of many of our antagonists, that slavery must be abolished ? Who prevailed on a money- loving people freely to sacrifice twenty millions of money ? Who thus delivered the masters from ruin and desolation ? Who moulded the hearts of the Negroes, so that their first act was universally crowding to the chapels, to return thanks to thee ; then of their own accord abolishing Sunday markets, and abstaining from any instance of intoxication ? and who enabled the Governor to report that * no act of violence on the part of the Negroes had occurred?' " In each of these events, and in numberless others, it were blindness not to perceive the guidance of a more than human hand. " Let me intreat thee, O merciful Father, to go with me, to guide me, and guard me, and prosper my ways. Oh ! the comforting plainness of that promise, * If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and it shall be given him.'" CHAP. XXH. 359 CHAPTER XXII. TREATMENT OP ABORIGINES. 1834, 1835. IRY INTO THE TREATMENT OF ABORIGINAL TRIBES IN BRITISH COLONIES. ADDRESS TO THE KING ON THE SUBJECT. CAFFRE WAR. ABORIGINES' COMMITTEE. LETTERS. LORD GLENELG'S DESPATCH. VISIT FROM A CAFFRE CHIEF. MR. BUXTON TURNS TO THE SUBJECT OF THE SLAVE TRADE OF FOREIGN NATIONS. AN ADDRESS TO THE KING AGREED TO. ALTHOUGH the summer of 1834 was mainly occupied by Mr. Buxton in endeavours to complete the great work of emancipation ; yet his mind was much occu- pied by a new undertaking, which, however, was in many respects similar to that upon which he had been engaged. This was an inquiry into the condition and treat- ment of the aboriginal inhabitants of our colonies; a subject peculiarly calculated to arouse his interest, and, indeed, to excite his indignation. " I protest," he said, " I hate shooting innocent savages worse than slavery itself." He thus concludes a long paper of meditations, dated January, 1834: " Though I practise not, I see what a noble course there is opened for me ; and if I have a desire, it is that by the in-tnimrntality of thy f improving their condition, and making them Christians? or have we resisted both the one and the other, and done our best to retain them in a condition of debasement and (Irpravity? And, finally, how must we now retrace our steps ? and what are the most judicious modes of securing to them some portion of their own land, and giving them an equivalent for their losses and sufferings, by making efforts for their civilisation and conversion to Christianity?" On the first of July, 1834, he moved an address t> the king on the subject. In his speech on this oc- casion, he dwelt upon the grievances of the commando system in South Africa. These commandos greatly re- sembled the border forays of the fifteenth century. On some plea of cattle having been stolen, the colonists ii>td to ami and make inroads into Caffreland ; and 362 LETTER TO DR. PHILIP CHAP. XXII. after despoiling the lands of the barbarians, they would march home in triumph, usually with large booty. Thus in a single year (1819) as many as 52,000 head of cattle were taken from the natives ; and this system of spoliation was continued, till the colonists became persuaded that nothing could secure their own existence, but the annihilation of their irritated foes.* The address, having been seconded by Mr. Spring Rice, (the Colonial Secretary,) was passed unanimously. It prayed his Majesty, that he would be graciously pleased to take such measures, as should secure to the natives the due observance of justice, and the protection of their rights, promote the spread of civilisation among them, and lead them to the peaceful and voluntary reception of the Christian religion. To Dr. Philip, at Cape Town. " September 30. 1834. " I have received, and heartily thank you for, your long letter dated May 6th. Pray keep me well informed. " I have also received the letters and newspapers about the attempted renewal of the Vagrant Act.f I think it will * The following is an extract from a description given by an eye- witness, of a commando sent out from the Cape, in 1 830. (See Evidence before Parliamentary Committee, 1835.) : " The military were divided into three or four parties. ***** ~\y e were on ly aware of the presence of the other parties in the country by the smoke of the burning villages. One Caffre shouted to us across a ravine, to ask why we were burning his cottage ; it seemed difficult to make a reply ; there was silence throughout the party ! " t This vagrancy act was an ingenious contrivance of some of the colonists, to reduce the Hottentots once more to slavery ; but it was prevented from becoming law by Mr. Spring Rice. 18:34. ON TREATMENT OF THE NATIVES. 363 come to nothing, but if so, your prompt interposition pre- vented it. I wrote a very strong letter to Spring Rice, our Colonial Secretary, and my old friend and coadjutor on Mauritius and slavery matters. Power would make great changes indeed, if it were to give Aim any fellowship in feeling with West India planters, or your boors. " I have also received your note about the commando system. Upon that I feel most deeply interested : furnish IMC with facts; give me facts about commandos, and I will, if alive and in Parliament, aim an effectual blow at them. I stay in Parliament very much against my inclination, for no other purpose except to watch the West Indies, and to protect the aborigines, chiefly the latter. Did you ever read Wordsworth's Life of Baxter? Baxter says, ' There is nothing in the world which lieth so heavy upon my heart, as the thought of the miserable nations of the earth. I cannot be affected so much with the calamities of my own relations, or the land of my nativity, as with the case of the heathen, Mahometan, and ignorant nations of the earth. No part of my prayers is so deeply serious as that for the conversion of the infidel and ungodly world.' I feel, in my poor way, somewhat of the same kind, and desire and pray that my la-art may be turned, and my exertions directed, to the ii_ r ht of God, for the enormities she permits to be practised upon these poor, ignorant, defenceless creatures; and, with God's help, I hope to do something for them yet. I have nad with great interest your letter to America, In one respect you are in error: you praise the American Coloni- sation Society. It is nothing else than an artifice of the .-lave-owners, who wish to divert public attention from the question of slavery, and to get rid of the people of colour. They pass the most furious and bigoted laws apiinst them. For example, they make it death, for the second offence of teaching Negroes and people of colour to : and thus forcing the people of colour to quit America, 364 PLANS FOR THE YEAR. CHAP. XXII. they are pleased to set up for philanthropists in Africa. With this exception, I was highly gratified by your letter. There is one question which I beg you to consider. What are the measures which I should aim at for the benefit of countries where we make settlements ? I have thought of a protector, through whom all bargains shall be made, that they may not be cheated out of their land; and secondly, that as inevitably we must do them much injury by spreading our diseases, and our brandy, and our gunpowder among them, we ought to make them compensation by measures for the diffusion of Christianity. What more shall I aim at ? You know I look to you as my chief informant and adviser, so pray help me. Let me have every species of information about the Kat River Settlement. How does * Buxton ' get on ? I am now going to a Bible Society in the neigh- bourhood, where I shall make a speech out of your letters and the Kat River : they do me frequent and good service at Bible and Missionary Meetings." At the commencement of 1835, he thus refers in his common-place book to the coming year : " I shall devote myself to the three great subjects now on my hands. " 1st. The completion of emancipation ; for much remains to be done. " 2nd. The abolition of the Spanish and Portuguese Slave Trade. " 3rd. The just treatment of the aborigines. " Then, (if I am to have these honourable duties, and shall be enabled to fulfil them) I desire and pray that I may be returned at the approaching election ; but if, O Lord, thine eye perceives that I shall be turned away from the path of duty, that I shall pursue my own pleasure or aggrandise- ment in preference to thy service, then I heartily pray thee to avert from me the temptation. But in all acts, in all counsels, be with me, and teach me what I shall do and say for Christ's sake." 1835. CAFFRE WAR. 365 At the election of January 1835, he stated to his constituents that his labours should be devoted to the objects above mentioned ; and in fact they formed his principal occupation throughout the year. The grievous accounts of the Caffre war turned his at- tention more especially to the last named of the three, the state of the natives in the colonies. The depre- dations of the Caffres had led to severe retaliations on the part of the colonists, which ended in open war and the complete overthrow of the Caffres. In a despatch to Lord Glenelg, Sir Benjamin D' Urban announces that " 4000 Caffre warriors have been slaughtered ; 60,000 head of cattle, and almost all their goats captured ; their country (now called the Adelaide territory) is taken from them ; their habitations are everywhere destroyed, and their gardens and corn fields laid waste." * Mr. Buxton obtained a Parliamentary committee to inquire into this war, as well as into the general treatment of the aboriginal nations bordering on our settlements. To Mrs. Buxton. " London, August 8. " I went yesterday into the city, to the Alliance, to the Anti-slavery Society, to the Aborigines' Committee, and to a meeting at Lushington's about the Mauritius. The variety ami interest of these subjects, especially the two lust, ani- mated mi-. " We had a pleasant journey down to Coggeshall, where Kduard, Kdmnnd, Abraham Plaistow, and myself, took a walk <>!' an hour and a hall', and very interesting it was to * November, 1835. 366 TREATMENT OF NATIVES. CHAP. XXII. me and Abraham, recounting old events. It is strange, that having hardly been at Coggeshall since I was a boy, of all the numbers of persons associated in my recollection, only my uncle and Abraham remained as my seniors. I was all but the oldest of the party. Abraham, in whom I could remember nothing but that he was my tutor, was a little more reverential than suited my recollections ; but I was greatly pleased to meet that most honest, brave, facetious, old associate." When the session closed, Mr. Buxton occupied himself in a careful investigation of the evils of the system hitherto pursued towards the native tribes, and of the remedies to be applied. In commencing these inquiries he as usual sum- moned to his aid the .members of his family circle, especially those at Northrepps Cottage, whom he employed to make extracts from, and abstracts of, those documents which related to the tribes of South Africa. To his Sister, Miss Buxton, at Northrepps Cottage. "Earlham, Sept. 28. 1835. " I hope you read Anna Gurney my letter, about her pre- paring an epitome of Philip's letters. I am thus hard- hearted in taxing her strength, because I do believe, that an able digest of these letters, sticking close to the text, might save a nation of 100,000 beings, and several flourishing missions, from destruction. It is a cause well worth an effort. I gave our new Colonial Secretary a disquisition to my heart's content, on the treatment of savages, the death of Hintza, the atrocities of white men, and above all, on the responsibilities of a Secretary of State ; and I assured him that I knew there was a corner in the next world hotter than the rest, for such of them as tolerate the abominations which we practise abroad. I feel happy that I let loose my mind, 1835. LETTER TO LORD GLENELG. 367 but I am afraid Ellis of the London Missionary Society was almost shocked at the recklessness of his lordship's feelings, with which I spoke. I believe, however, that Lord Glenelg feels both soundly and warmly on the subject. To Zachary Macaulay, Esq. "Northrepps Hall, Oct. 1835. " I am deeply interested about the savages, particularly the Caffres. Oh ! we Englishmen are, by our own account, fine fellows at home ! Who among us doubts that we surpass the world in religion, justice, knowledge, refinement, ami practical honesty? but such a set of miscreants and wolves as we prove when we escape from the range of the la\v.s, the earth does not contain." \Vhen the statement of the South African case had been prepared, he communicated it to Lord Glenelg, accompanied by the following letter : " My dear Lord, "Northrepps Hall, Oct. 10. 1835. " I send you by the mail to-morrow various documents relative to the commando system, the Caffre inroad, and Ilint/a's death. I think the papers sent, establish " 1 st. That the colonists, or at least some of them, have long been actuated by an eager desire to get possession of the Caffre territory. " 2ndly. That the commando system has been the real cause of the war. " 3rdly. That facts are stated relative to the death of Hintza, which, if true, throw a deep reflection on the colonial authorities, and which demand a close inquiry. " I cannot forbear adding, that I am persuaded the future peace of the colony, and the life or death of many thousands of human 1>< inu;s, depend upon your decision. That you may be guided to a righteous one, and that you may. stand between the oppressor and his prey, is my heartfelt deniv 368 LORD GLENELG'S DESPATCH. CHAP. xxir. and prayer. Believe me, my dear Lord, with every sentiment of respect, " Your faithful Servant, " T. FOWELL BUXTON." Shortly after this he was exceedingly gratified at finding that the subject had been thoroughly investi- gated by Lord Glenelg, and that he had come to the conclusion that the Adelaide territory had been un- justly taken away from the Caffre people. Accordingly, with a regard for justice as rare as it was noble, his lordship determined not to acquiesce in our usur- pation of the territory, but to restore it to its rightful possessors. " Lord Glenelg," says Mr. Buxton in a letter to Mr. Macaulay, " has sent a most noble despatch to the Cape of Good Hope, restoring the territory we lately stole, to the Caffres, and laying down the soundest principles, with respect to future intercourse with them." He was also greatly pleased at finding that the Government had agreed to place protectors of the aborigines in every colony where the English came in contact with them, and he writes " Many other things did I hear, equally delightful. I lay awake almost all last night, from an exuberance of gratifica- tion and thankfulness, the image rising before me of the hunted people restored to their land; of Macomo, now so dejected, soon amazed with unlooked-for relief. " How glad am I," he remarks in December 1835, " that I did not give way to the difficulties of obtaining a committee! I was too near letting it be postponed to another session. The events of the war, Hintza's death, and the clamours of the settlers for permission once more to spoil these ' irre- claimable savages,' have called the attention of the Govern- ment to our evidence, and coming at the very nick of time, 1835. RESTORATION OF THE CAFFRES. 369 I have reason to know it affected the decision of the ques- tion." When the news arrived that the restoration of the Caffres to their own lands in the Adelaide territory hail been effected, he thus conveyed it to Miss Gurney of Northrepps Cottage * : " I have to tell you a piece of news, which has made me sing ever since I heard it. You, of all people, ought to have known it two or three days ago, and should, if I had not been too busy to write on Wednesday, and too desperately tired on Thursday. Well, what is it ? It is life itself, and liberty, and lands and tenements to a whole nation. " It is nothing short of this ; the hand of the proud op- pressor in Africa has been, under Providence, arrested, and a whole nation, doomed to ruin, exile, and death, has been delivered and restored to its rights. On a given day the drum was beat in the front of Tzatzoe's house, and the troops were marched directly back again to the British territory, and the ' fertile and beautiful Adelaide ' was once more Caffreland. Only think how delighted must our savage friends be, and with what feelings must they have viewed our retreating army ! Surely we must make a party, and pay King Macomo a visit. This is, indeed, a noble victory of right over might." On the re-appointinent of the Aborigines Com- mittee in 1836, Dr. Philip brought over to England Tzatzoe, the Caffre chief alluded to above, and Andrew Stoffles, a Hottentot, to be examined before it. As a matter of course Mr. Buxton invited them to his house, and the following description f gives an account of the evening which these children of the desert spent with him : " Dr. Philip dined here yesterday with his two African * March 18. 1837. t Letter to Northrepps. B B 370 TZATZOE AND STOFFLES. CHAP. XXII. proteges, Tzatzoe and Stoffles, Mr. Read and his half Caffre eon being also of the party. Tzatzoe was dressed in fan- ciful English attire, with a gold-laced coat, something like a naval officer. He is rather a fine-looking, well-made man, but his hair is like a carpet. Both he and Stoffles behaved in a perfectly refined and gentlemanly manner. James Read acted as interpreter ; he looks more like a Caffre than an Englishman ; he is full of animation, and very clever and observing. He sat by Tzatzoe at dinner, and kept up the conversation capitally. Tzatzoe was asked what struck them most in England ? He said, * First, the peace, no fight- ing, all looking " kind;" secondly, no beggars; everybody had their own business and wanted nothing of other men, but all looked comfortable and happy ; thirdly, no drunkards, no fighting about the streets.' He was then asked, what he could mention to our discredit. He hesitated at first, but then boldly said, we abused our sabbaths ; he was shocked to see the carriages about, and people selling in the streets ; he admired the horses, but could not think what the donkeys had done to merit such different treatment ; and as to the dogs, he thought it a most wicked thing ' to make them work like Hottentots.' He pleased my father very much by saying, that if it had not been for his labours in the committee, his nation must have been entirely extirpated. He told us, so great was the gratitude felt towards him, that in most of the Christian settlements about the Kat River they held a regular meeting every Wednesday evening, to pray for Mr. Buxton, Dr. Philip, and Mr. Fairbairn. When Tzatzoe spoke in Caffre, Stoffles translated it into Dutch for Mr. Read. Doing this gradually roused up Stoffles himself, and now when we applied to him on the subject of infant schools, he lighted up in a most extraor- dinary way, his heavy face beamed with life and pleasure, and he was all action and animation. Dr. Philip says, that in oratory, he is quite the Lord Brougham of his country. # * * * After dinner they sang to us : first, the three together a hymn in Dutch, then Tzatzoe and Read in Caffre, and then Stoffles alone sang a war song in Hot- tentot. It had a most extraordinary effect. Ices then came 1835. TZATZOE AND STOFFLES. 371 round. The poor men bad seen none before, and the Lrriinuces made at the first mouthful are not to be told. They could not eat more, but laughed heartily. " When they were about to go away, they commanded silence, and Stoffles rose formally, with Read to interpret, and made a very good speech, returning thanks to his host. * I thank God,' he said, ' that my life has been spared long enough to come to England, and that Buxton's life has been spared long enough also for me to see him. I have long desired nothing so much, but never thought I should have that happiness. I hope Buxton will live much longer, and continue to help the oppressed, and that he will never cease to hold his hand over my nation.' He thanked him heartily on behalf of all the Hottentots, for his labours for them. Tzatzoe then rose, and made a similar speech, expressing himself most warmly. My father then thanked them for their good wishes, and said he hoped then* nation would go on improving, and especially that religion would increase among them, that they would be firm to their God and Saviour, for that was the only path to peace, to happiness, and to Heaven." Even while the discussions on British slavery had been pending, Mr. Buxton's thoughts were often directed to the subject of the Slave Trade, as con- ducted by foreign nations, between the coast of Africa and the slave states of America and Cuba. So long before as 1832, Mr. Wilberforce had thus written to him respecting the Slave Trade : " My dear Friend, " Let me beg you, unless you happen to have recently looked into this subject, do not suppose yourself to know it, but do review your inquiry and consideration, and you will be a.-* ready to burst into a flame as I am. I feel, and shall I. 1 tlii- utHiir the more, because I myself am not guiltless. I myself ought to have stirred in it more than I did, before B B 2 372 FOREIGN SLAVE TRADE. CHAP. XXII. I left the House of Commons, and now that I am there no longer, you I consider as my heir-at-law; and I really believe, if you cannot get Government to concede to your wishes, you might carry the measure in the House of Commons. Farewell, may the blessing of God be with you and yours, and believe me ever " Sincerely and affectionately your's, " WILLIAM WILBERFORCE." But important as Mr. Buxton felt this subject to be, he could not enter upon it while his time and strength were engaged in the contest with the more immediate evil of British slavery. Now, however, he was able to examine it more closely. " Bellfield, April 2p. 1835. " I had a pleasant journey, and the coach to myself, so I had plenty of time for both reading and reflection. I shall spend much of my time over the Slave Trade question, in which I feel the deepest interest, and perhaps a quiet day here may be useful. I am very fond of this garden as a study, it is so lonely." A day later he continues : " I am now going to wander about these charming walks with the Slave Trade question on my mind. Then my uncle is to drive me with the four ponies. On Saturday I shall, I doubt not, take my place inside the Magnet, and after a pleasant ride, fruitful in meditation, have the great pleasure of getting home again. The constant subject of my wondering gratitude is, that we have so much to be thankful for. Now for the garden." To Miss Gurney, of Northrepps Cottage. "54, Devonshire Street, May 6. 1835. " I hope to bring forward the Slave Trade question next Tuesday. I have abundance of facts, but the House of Commons ( careth for none of these things,' and I care very little for any political things, these excepted. I went to the Missionary Meeting yesterday, and made a speech, which I 1835. ADDRESS TO THE KING. 373 thought vastly fine, but I was singular in that opinion. The clergy are desperately sulky with me for my Church speech." On the 12th of May, 1835, Mr. Buxton laid the results of his investigation before Parliament. He proved that though, at the congress of Vienna, Spain and Portugal had received more than a million of money from England, on engaging to give up their traffic in men, yet that they were still carrying it on to as great an extent as ever; no less than 264 vessels, avowedly engaged in the Slave Trade, having sailed from the single port of Havannah between January 1. 1827, and October 30. 1833, this being but a small part of that detestable commerce. II< moved for an address, suggesting the consolida- tion of all the treaties on this subject with various powers, into one great league, which was to contain, amongst other clauses, a proposal for extending the right of search, for giving the right of seizure in the case of vessels equipped for the Slave Trade, though not actually having slaves on board, and for declaring the trade in slaves to be piracy. This address was agreed to. " I now feel," he said on the following day, " as if the session was over. Let me see, what is there more for me to do ? There is the Apprenticeship, 16th June; Aborigines, 14th July; Irish Education; and I must have another little touch at the Church, which they have so vilified me about." Lxrrjit that from time to time he brought the subject before the House, no further step could be taken for the present upon the Slave Trade question ; but it continued to occupy his thoughts, and to be a < "iirce of continual solicituolicy on the one hand, nor the fear (if the resentment and reproach of the evangelical clergy On the other, lend me :i>tray. " May all peace and all pn.titahle prosperity be granted in 380 COMMITTEE ON NEGRO APPRENTICESHIP. CHAP. XXIII. this year to all my relatives and friends. Each and severally I recal them, and present them before thee, craving health to the sick, consolation to the afflicted, strength to the weak, instruction to those who know not thy saving grace, and happiness, wisdom, grace, the guiding, the encouraging, the comforting influence of thy Holy Spirit to all. This year I shall have numbered half a century. It is a subject of deep meditation, where shall I be at the end of the next half century ? Through mercy, through love unbounded, through Christ, I trust that I shall be in His kingdom. Walk with me, tutor me to thy will, be with me in every struggle, shape out my course, be my wisdom, my guard, my guide, in every hour of this year, for Christ's sake." The following memorandum, in Mr. Buxton's handwriting, appears on the last page of a book of " Papers on the abolition of slavery." " January 7. 1 836. " I have finished this collection of papers with a degree of satisfaction and thankfulness which I cannot express. My expectations are surpassed, God's blessing has been on this perilous work of humanity." On the 22nd of March, he moved for a committee to inquire into the working of the apprenticeship system. His investigations on that subject had cost him much time and labour ; and he now brought forward a mass of statistical facts, proving on the one hand, that the Negroes had behaved extremely well, and on the other, that they had been harassed by vexatious bye-laws and cruel punishments. " This is my case," he said, in conclusion ; " it shows at least this : that if the planters have misconducted themselves, they can find no excuse for it in the conduct of the Negroes. There has been no dis- appointment in that quarter." 1836. PRESS OF BUSINESS. 381 The committee was granted, and Sir George Grey, (the Under Secretary for the Colonies), soon after- wards introduced a bill for enforcing in Jamaica, certain measures in favour of the Negroes. The Aborigines Committee had likewise been re> appointed, and Mr. Buxton's attention to these two subjects, in addition to matters connected with them, occupied him closely. A friend, who spent a day at his house in Devonshire Street during the spring of this year, described it as " curious and almost fearful, to witness the multiplicity of business, the wave upon wave of deep interests which poured in upon him. No time for air or exercise, no time for re- laxation." His strength was barely equal to the claims upon it. " Oh ! how we shall throw up our hats," he said, " when I am out of Parliament." To the Rev. J. M. Trew. "July 1. 1836. " I Jim truly grieved not to hear a better report of your health, for I do regard it as invaluable. We are not less over-worked at home. The Apprenticeship and Aborigines Committees have been heavy and incessant work, and there are innumerable calls upon our best exertions. " I look upon your exertions and those of your fellow labourers with unmixed comfort. I hope that ' meekness of wisdom ' may be yours, and I desire that we may all truly remember that ' One is our master? With cordial good wi.-ihea to you and yours, in which my family warmly join, I am, &c. &c. To Zachary Macaulay, Esq. " Kenny Hill, Fifeshire, Sept. 6. 1836. " Once more I have to feel how scandalous it is, that I have been so remiss in writing to you, but I must lay the 382 NEGEO APPRENTICESHIP. CHAP. XXUJ. blame on the labours of the session. What with the Com- mittee on the Apprenticeship, which occupied two days in the week, the Aborigines Committee, which occupied two more, the House itself, and my own private business, I was as much overworked, or more so, than at any former period ; but for the last month I have done literally nothing, except learn to sleep in my bed, and to eat at my meals, arts which I had nearly lost while in London. " It is, however, full time that I should tell you something of my impression as to the effect of the Apprenticeship Com- mittee. I think we proved, beyond dispute, that the Negroes are subjected to many oppressions quite at variance with the intentions of the Abolition Act. On the other hand, it was proved, that these had gradually, but decidedly, abated, and that feelings of hostility had much subsided. " In discussing the report, I was placed in a difficult and painful position. Johnston was in Scotland ; O'Connell could not often attend; in short, had I divided upon its continuance, I should have been alone. I contented myself, therefore, with a protest, and got for my moderation the introduction of a paragraph, declaring that, after 1840, the Negroes were to have f unqualified freedom ; ' and to be sub- ject to no other restrictions than those imposed on white labourers at home. This, to my mind, is a great victory. The Government are pledged up to their teeth to consent to no act, which shall in any way cripple or encroach upon perfect freedom, when the apprenticeship ceases. " The Mico teachers are going on excellently well in the West Indies. They describe the thirst for instruction among the coloured people as excessively strong. " The Aborigines Committee went on exceedingly well. I wonder whether you have seen Lord Glenelg's despatch about the seizure of the Caffre territory. It is most admir- able, and is about the first instance of a nation acting towards the weak on the principles of justice and Christianity. " I begin to hope that my period of public service is nearly expired, and that I shall be so fortunate as to be turned out at the next election. I should not be satisfied 1830. DECLINES LEAVING PARLIAMENT. 383 if I resigned ; but if I stood and failed, I should think it a most happy consummation." Mr. Buxton's friends were anxious that he should not expose his broken health to the fatigue of another Parliament. His uncle, Mr. Charles Buxton, had written him a pressing letter upon this subject. In reply, he says : ****** At present I am remarkably well, have no headache, and no complaint, except rather too good an appetite. I have received very encouraging accounts from the West Indies of the conduct of the Negroes, and this I am sure will please you. Three years ago, it appeared by official returns, that in Jamaica there were 300,000 floggings with the cart whip in a year. Last year, the number was reduced nine-tenths, from 300,000 to 30,000. The result being such, I grudge neither the time, nor the money, nor tin labour, nor the health I have spent on this object; and I hope this consideration will make you better satisfied with my having been in Parliament. Can I, as an honest man, retire now, when I know for a certainty, that the effect of my motion in the House last year and the year before, has been to frighten the magistrates, and to save the backs of thousands of poor fellows from unmerciful floggings? ** You may say what you please, I know it is all in kind- ness for me, but I also know that if you were in my place, no personal consideration would be sufficient to prevail on you to abandon your duty." His conduct upon these committees has been well portrayed by his son-in-law, Mr. 'A. Johnston, who WM his companion and assistant in them, and who supplied the place of a private secretary during the last three years that he was in Parliament. His remarks, as will be seen, refer also to the earlier and still more important warfare on the slavery question, 384 REMARKS BY MR. JOHNSTON. CHAP. XXIII. in which Mr. Johnston had been one of his most faithful allies. " I had," says Mr. Johnston, " been well acquainted with Mr. Buxton's name, and had watched his proceedings with interest, before I entered Parliament in 1831. Shortly after I took my seat I introduced myself to him as one who aimed at being enlisted under his Anti-slavery banner, and before long, I was honoured with that friendship which I ever felt I could not sufficiently prize. I was soon strongly impressed by seeing his almost exclusive devotedness to the object he had in hand at any given time ; he spared no pains to achieve his purpose, he was constantly on the watch, and by his tact and perseverance frequently succeeded in obtain- ing documents, which would otherwise have remained in obscurity. Often did he patiently wait to the end of the usually long debates for the small chance of success in a motion for papers ; often did one tiresome opponent, in particular, who seemed to make it his peculiar vocation to hinder his progress, succeed in frustrating his endeavours, after he had remained till two or three o'clock in the morning. Then did Mr. Buxton, night after night, postpone the motion till a favourable opportunity should arrive, and in our refreshing walks home, in the early cool morning, after the heat, glare, and fatigue of the House, he betrayed no im- patience, but showed himself content to labour on, accepting with thankfulness every little success which he was per- mitted to enjoy, in this harassing but most necessary portion of his duty. " He was very often at the Foreign Office, and at the Colonial Office he WAS, during the sitting of Parliament, almost a daily visitor. Though his proceedings called forth bitter opposition from some quarters, and though the Govern- ment generally resisted his proposals, at least for a time, I soon saw that his honesty and singleness of purpose, his manly understanding, and the weight of his character, com- manded a decided and increasing influence in Downing Street. He was thoroughly liked and respected in the 1836. REMARKS BY MR. JOHNSTON. 385 II"iise, and yet his constant urbanity and kind feeling, even towards his bitterest opponents, ought to have disarmed them more than it seemed to do. His firmness was sometimes exposed to severe trials. I remember in particular the debate of May 1832, when the Government, who were un- willing to oppose his resolutions directly, endeavoured to neutralize their effect by a ' rider.' He was earnestly entreated by a great many members to consent to this without dividing the House ; but strong in his own convic- tion of what was right, he resisted them all. I sat by him through the whole of that anxious evening, and was as- tonished at the firmness which he displayed. He obtained a large minority, but many of those who voted in it were very angry with him for placing them in opposition to the ministry. " This debate led to the appointment of a committee, on which I was one of Mr. Buxton's nominees, as well as on those which were subsequently appointed at his instance, on the state of the Aborigines connected with our colonies, and on the working of apprenticeship in the West Indies. These cost him very many toilsome hours. Nothing, indeed, could exceed the perseverance with which he pursued his inquiries, or the zeal with which he endeavoured to elicit truth. His energy never flagged, nor do I remember his ever losing temper in the fatigues and annoyances of these labours. In ( neral, at the rising of the committee, when the members summoned to the House, a number of persons were in waiting, each of whom had his own observations on the evidence, or his suggestions to submit to Mr. Buxton, or it might be some grievance to bring under his notice, or some scheme of benevolence for which his patronage waa requested. Kadi of these watched his opportunity, probably believing his own to be the business of all others paramount in im- portance. To all these persons he was accessible, and though exhausted by his juvvious exertions, to all he gave a patient and attnimr ear. Often on these occasions I have urged him to break away from this additional strain upon his mind, and leave the heated eommitUc room, but he invariably C C 386 IRISH CHURCH. CHAP. XXIII persevered, until he had dismissed his numerous applicants, satisfied with the manner of their reception, and charmed with his great kindness and consideration. " For some years Mr. Buxton and myself were associated with a select band of members of Parliament who, though of varied and even opposite political opinions, met on every * House night,' for a short period, to enjoy confidential inter- course on the one subject upon which all were agreed. "Reading from Scripture and prayer, were the leading objects for which we assembled Mr. Buxton was one of the most constant attendants, and very often ( the chaplain.' Nor can I doubt that these meetings greatly strengthened and sustained him, under the fierce opposition, with which he was too often assailed." In one of Mr. O'Connell's speeches on some Irish question, he exclaimed, " Oh ! I wish we were blacks ! If the Irish people were but black, we should have the honourable member for Weymouth coming down as large as life, supported by all ' the friends of humanity ' in the back rows, to advocate their cause." This allegation was jocosely made, but it was not entirely wide of the truth. Every thing connected with the African race seemed to touch a chord of feeling in Mr. Buxton's heart, and to bear a stronger sway over his sympathies than any other subjects could attain. Yet the affairs of Ireland deeply interested him. " Never," he said, in 1835, " did I make any public subject, except slavery, a matter of so much prayer as this question of the Irish Church." In the session of that year he moved as an amendment to Lord John Russell's motion on the application of its surplus funds, the insertion of the words " moral arid religious," instead of "general" education ; and a pro- 183G. LETTER TO HIS SONS. 387 vision for the resumption of the surplus by the Cl lurch, when required. The following letter was addressed, after that de- bate, to his younger sons at Northrepps : " My dear Boys, ' Devonshire Street, April it. 1835. " C. will tell you how I have been engaged this week. It has been very laborious work. I did not get to bed this morning till broad daylight, near seven o'clock ; so I sup- pose you were up before I was down. " I have scarcely time to write, as I must be at the House of Commons again early, and there I shall be kept all night, I suppose ; but I am quite equal to the exertion, and (I must confess it) somewhat cheered and exhilarated by the success of last night's effort. Work hard, my lads, and what you do learn, remember ; fix it in your minds, and then write it in your common-place books. The passage of my speech last night which was best liked was a quotation picked up by me some thirty years ago, when I was a youth planted in my mind and there it was when I wanted it. I have just been taking a delightful walk with your dear sister, Priscilla, talking about slavery, and savages, and Slave Trade. When- ever I want to clear and brighten up my mind, I find nothing so effectual as an interchange of thoughts with her. " Give my best love to the ladies at the Cottage, and tell them, that there, on the table before me, lie their Caffre papers, and I now and then glance at them, and smile at them as a treasure. Tell Miss Glover I am going to treat IKT as the king treated Daniel. I call upon her, not only to interpret niy dream, but to tell me what my dream is. " I want her to find a passage to this effect : ' Our religion Knives the face of day ; it does not skulk from truth.' But where is it? Oh, that is more than I know. I think it is either in a volume of South *, or in the fourth volume of He quoted this passage from Dr. South, in his speech, in the fol- lowing year. It stands thus: "Some of their (the Catholic) clergy c c 2 388 CHURCH QUESTIONS. CIIAP. XXIII. Hopkins ; and I think it is on the bottom of the left-hand page, and marked by me. If she can find it by these clear directions, and will send it to me, the world shall have it. I think you might ride over to Sheringham, to tell them all the news ; they would be so pleased to find that we were pleased. " I was delighted to have Edward at the House last night. I was sure of one auditor, who would listen attentively, and judge with partial acuteness." Mr. Buxton's readiness to go hand-in-hand with Dissenters in any work of mercy, and the hearty friendship with which he was honoured by many eminent Christians of different persuasions, gave rise to an impression, that he had little affection for the Established Church. This impression was entirely erroneous. Thrown, as he had been, amongst pious and benevolent Dissenters, he could not but rejoice in the deep fellowship of heart which existed between them and him ; but he was not the less firmly attached to his own branch of the Church of Christ : he loved her sublime and solemn ritual, and he looked upon her as a most important means of preserving and propagating Christian truth. But he could not consider any particular form of Church government as having come from God, and therefore too sacred to be touched by the hand of man. Accordingly, his desire to increase the efficiency of the Church led him to seek the reform of those abuses which during deal with their religion as with a great crime ; if it is discovered, they are undone. But our religion is a religion that dares to be understood, that offers itself to the search of the inquisitive, to the inspection of the severest and most awakened reason ; for, being secure of her substantial truth and purity, she knows, that for her to be seen and looked into, is to be embraced and admired. "' 1836. NOTES FOR FAMILY PRAYERS. 389 the lapse of ages, had crept into her institutions. Put on this, as on all other important occasions, he did not act without deep deliberation and earnest prayer for guidance. In the lists* which he made almost every Sunday, of the subjects to be dwelt upon in his family prayers, " the Church " is, at this pi-riod, usually inserted as one on which he required help and direction. The following notes for his family prayers, were written by him when about to leave Northrepps in February, 1836, to engage in the duties of the session : " In removing, we pray that that merciful Providence which has stood round about us, may continue ; sheltered, refreshed, councilled, strengthened by thee. Ward off dan- ger, baffle our enemy, rob sin of its temptations; make us wholly, in inward thoughts and outward deeds, thine own. " Be thou the mover of every work in which we engage. " The councillor to teach us what to say and do. " The source of strength, confidence, and comfort. " May we labour, not with eye- service, but in singleness of heart. " Bless those rising from bondage, and all efforts on their In -half; the heathen, suffering from the evils and oppression of men, calling themselves Christians; and may a choice blessing rest on the efforts made for their physical advantage, and religious advancement. " Bless the spread of education, and of thy truth. Uless me in dealing with the Church; no self-will, no meaner motive than a desire to advance its interests." Nor did lie omit to use every means of rendering These were mere notes, to aid him in his family devotions ; they won. 1 not the same as the papers of religious meditations, from which extracts have been given before. c c 3 390 IRISH TITHE BILL. CHAP. XXIII. himself fully acquainted with the case. Writing to the Bishop of London, to request information on many points connected with it, he adds, "I trust the importance of the subject, and my anxiety to be fully persuaded as to my vote upon it, will be my excuse for giving your lordship so much trouble." These examples prove, that whether his conduct on these Church questions did or did not deserve the severe reprobation which it received from many of his religious friends, it was, at least, not undertaken in a spirit of rash self-confidence. The second reading of Lord John Russell's Irish Tithe Bill was brought forward on the 1st of June. Mr. Buxton argued strongly in favour of each of the three leading clauses, which provided, in his own words, " First, that the incumbent should no longer apply to the wretched cottager and impoverished tenant, but should have his claim upon the land itself." " Will any one," exclaimed he, " pretend to say that this is ruin, or even peril to the Church?" " Secondly, that the funds of the Irish Church should be more equally distributed among its ministers." " The present system," he said, " by which the Church is often liberal and bountiful to the ineffective, and parsimonious to the useful labourer, is not merely injustice, but also the worst husbandry in the world." " Thirdly, that the remuneration to the clergy should thereafter be confined within certain limits on either hand." " It should be," he said, " not a state of poverty, not a state of abundance ; it should neither rise so high as to attract the envy of the people, nor fall so low as to forfeit their respect. * * * * 1836. MB. BUXTON'S SPEECH. 391 in I ask, where is the wickedness of all this, and where lies the danger?" lie strongly supported the plan of giving the surplus fund (after the new distribution of the Church revenues) to defray the expense of a system of education in which as much of the Bible was to be read, as the Catholics would allow. " Do I say that this is enough ? No ! I lament that Scripture is thus sparingly doled out. * * But though this system does not do all, it does much. It teaches the Catholic to read it gives him a portion of Scripture to read. I have better faith," he added, " in the truth of my religion, than to dread that instruction can damage it; and this is good, old, sound, Protestant doctrine." I le concluded by pointing out how little the harsh system hitherto pursued, had done towards the spread of truth. " How has it been," he asked, " that truth itself, backed i Protestant establishment, by a Protestant king, a Protestant army, a Protestant parliament that truth itself, go far from advancing, has not kept her ground against error ? My solution of the question is, that we have resorted to force where reason alone could prevail. We have forgotten that though the sword may do its work, mow down armies, and subdue nations it cannot carry conviction to the under- standing of men; nay, the very use of force tends to create :i Carrier to the reception of that truth, which it intends to promote. We have forgotten that there is something in the human breast no base or sordid feeling, the same which makes a generous mind cleave with double affection to a distressed ami injured friend, and which makes men cleave with tenfold fondness deaf to reason, deaf to remonstrance, reckless of interest, prodigal of life to a persecuted religion. I charge the failure of Protestant truth in converting the Irish, upon the head of Protestant ascendency. c c 4 392 ME. BUXTON'S SPEECH. CHAP. xxur. " Protestant ascendency ! It sounds well enough in English ears. It seems to mean no more than the Church under the peculiar protection of the State. But happy had it been for the Protestant Church had Protestant ascendency never been heard of happy had it been had we dared to present our truth to the Irish, not in arms, not in pomp } not decorated with the symbols of earthly power, but in that lowliness and gentleness which naturally belong to it. " But I dare not trespass longer on the House. I like the bill, and shall vote for it : first, because tithe is adjusted ; secondly, because stipend is to be measured by duty ; thirdly, because education is to be granted. I like, and shall vote for the bill, lastly, because it bears no affinity to the old, overbearing system of PrCtestant ascendency ; and because, as I have so often said, it gives my faith fair play ; because, at last, the Protestant religion will do herself justice. Stripped of her odious disguise, she will appear to the Irish what we know she is. She will appear in her natural, her peaceful, her charitable, her attractive character." This speech gave great displeasure to many of his clerical friends, who conceived that he was bent on the ruin though all he desired was the temperate reform of the Irish Church establishment ; and although " he had taken the opportunity," as he writes the day after the debate, " of separating him- self from the Radicals, by condemning Hume's pro- posal for paying church rates out of the money to be saved from bishops and deans." To Joseph John Gurney, Esq. " The Vicarage,, Lowestoff, 1836. # * * * Francis Cunningham preached a noble ser- mon last night ; plain, strong, earnest, and no self about it. It would not have disgraced Goat Lane * ; as I have heard * The Friends' Meeting House, in Norwich. 1836. LETTERS. 393 those there, and at Bradpole, which would have done honour to a cathedral. " It is curious and instructive to see F. and his wife going full drive, and devoting their all to their sacred calling. I . at least I think I love, the real thing this entire dedication, whether it displays itself among Churchmen or Dis- senters. But I am not flattered by Churchmen for my views ! Our friend writes thus to Francis: * Buxton cuts me to the heart ; I never read such hollow, weak, flashy, unsatis- factory speeches in my life:' and this but represents the general impression among Evangelicals; for whom I feel, nevertheless, the strongest affection, and with whom, I must add (though they would be indignant at my presumption if they heard it), the strongest union." 394 CHAPTER XXIV. 1836. SCOTLAND. CAPERCAILZIE. LETTERS. HABITS OF LIFE AT NORTHREPPS. ORDER. LOVE OF POETRY. HIS DOMESTIC CHARACTER. LETTERS. OVERWROUGHT with toil and anxiety, Mr. Buxton was delighted to escape to Scotland in the beginning of August. While he was on this tour, the Marquis of Breadalbane, with true Highland hospitality, placed one of his moors at his disposal, and, accordingly, he remained for some time at Dalmally, and afterwards at Luib*, enjoying the sport afforded by the sur- rounding country. Wishing to express his sense of this act of kindness, he applied to his relative, Mr. Llewellyn Lloyd f, who was residing in Sweden, engaging him to use his best exertions to procure as many live capercailzie as possible, as a present to Lord Breadalbane. The capercailzie, or cock of the woods, as it is well known, were in former times denizens of the Scotch forests; but the last specimen was shot about a hundred years ago in Perthshire. They are large birds, a full-grown cock weighing about twelve * While at Luib Inn, he was rendered uneasy after two or three days by the non-appearance of his letters. " I understood you had a post here," said he to the landlord. " Oh yes, sir," was the reply, " but the last day or two he has been out shooting with you." f Author of " Northern Field Sports." 1836. CAPERCAILZIE. 395 pounds ; they live, for the most part, in larch forests, and are found throughout Sweden and Norway. Mr. Lloyd sent advertisements for live capercailzie, to the villages up the country; these advertisements, ac- cording to the Swedish custom, were read from the pulpits after divine service, and in the course of the winter, thirteen cocks and sixteen hens were procured, which were placed under the care of Larry Banvill, (Mr. Buxton's faithful Irish gamekeeper,) who had been sent to Sweden for the purpose, and by whom they were successfully conveyed to Taymouth Castle. After a time, they were all turned out into the larch woods at Taymouth, in which they have thriven so wi-11, that they are now stated to amount to about two thousand ; and as several other proprietors have followed the example, and have introduced them from Sweden, there is every reason to expect that this fine bird will become once more naturalised in Scotland.* Mr. Buxton writes from Loch-earn-head : "August 27. 1836. " I am astonishingly idle, and it agrees with me beyond any other medicine. I do not get much shooting, but plenty of walking and wetting, plenty of appetite, and plenty of sleep. Sad thoughts of distant friends cloud the imagi- nation, but the bodily benefit is still obtained ; I certainly wanted a holiday, and, in one sense, I have got a complete * When the Queen visited Lord Breadalbane, in 18+2, he kindly permitted my brother and myself (then staying in the neighbourhood) to shoot the first of these birds that had been killed in Scotland for a hundred years, in preparation for Her Majesty's dinner. They were so extremely wild that it took the whole day to get six shots. We could just see them vanishing from the tops of the tall larches while we were still a great dMumv from them, and we could only kill them by using cartridges of No. 3. Ei. 396 DEATH OF MRS. HOAUE. CIIAP. XXIV. one ; for I have nothing to do, nothing to read, and this is almost the only letter I have written for a week." The illness of his sister-in-law, Mrs. Samuel Hoare, was one of the painful circumstances to which he refers as clouding his enjoyment. On receiving the account of her death, he writes from the house of Mr. Johnston, to the Bishop of Calcutta : "Renny Hill, Fife, Sept. 10. 1836. " Our minds have been occupied of late, by a most sad event, the death of my wife's sister. I am sure you must remember Mrs. Samuel Hoare of Hampstead. I hardly know how to speak of her as I ought ; she was almost as dear to me as anything upon earth. For more than thirty years, I have been united to her in the closest intimacy. In all that time, I cannot recollect one moment's ruffle between us, or one word which betokened anything but affection or love. But what is my loss, compared with that of her husband and children ? She came as near perfection as any human being I ever knew. It was not that she had one kind of merit carried to a great height. She possessed each accomplish- ment of a female and a Christian, in the same rare degree. Soft and gentle as she was, she was no less steadfast, firm, and immovable. To these moral qualities, to the most winning manners, to a noble countenance, to the utmost refinement and delicacy, she joined an intellect of a very high order. Her views on every subject were broad and capacious. There was nothing petty about her. She laid out her talents to the best advantage, and never was idle. She read a great deal, and turned all her reading to account, as her Tracts, and her Hints on early Education evince. * * * I know not why I pour out all this to you, but my mind and my pen can turn to no other subject." After spending a few weeks at Renny Hill, Mr. Buxton returned to Northrepps ; and having resumed the usual tenour of his life there during the autumnal months, he writes to his son : 1836. LETTERS. 397 " I have again made an alteration in my gun-stock, con- trary to your advice. I have shot execrably all the year, and could stand it no longer, so I employed a Holt carpenter to hew me a stock, according to my own fancy, out of the trunk of a tree. It is in its primitive simplicity, and is so wide as to * contrive the double debt to pay,' of stock while shooting, and table at luncheon ; but rough and awkward as it is, I shall, I trust, take the conceit out of the young ones with it. " I have been calculating that since Parliament closed, I have ridden 500 miles, and walked 1500. " ' Better to hunt in fields for health unbought, Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught, The wise, for cure, on exercise depend.' " So sings Dryden, and what he preached, I practise. " I shall send you a basket to-night, as proof that my log of a gun-stock can do execution. We are very happy here. If you catch the influenza, lie up at once obsta" To Charles Buxton, Esq., at Bellfield. "October, 1836. " I take shooting very easy this year, having always a shooting pony with me ; he is a wonder, has as good action as your old leader, and is as handsome ; as quiet as a lamb, and strong enough to carry, and sometimes does carry, Mr. Hoare and myself together, eats bread and cheese, drinks beer, is a particularly good judge of porter, and prefers ours." Kvery year seemed to increase his delight at leav- ing behind him the cares and turmoils of London, and often, when nearly worn out by the fatigues of the session, would Swilt'> lines rise to his lips : 398 POWER OF THOUGHT. CHAP. XXIV. " Thus in a sea of folly tost, My choicest hours of life are lost ; Yet always wishing to retreat, Oh, could I see my country seat ! There, leaning near a gentle brook, Sleep, or peruse some ancient book, And there in sweet oblivion drown Those cares that haunt the court and town. O charming noons ! and rights divine ! ****** Each willing to be pleased, and please, And e'en the very dogs at ease ! " His system on coming into the country was, after a thorough arrangement of his personal affairs, to abandon the first few weeks to the relaxation of field sports. Towards the end of October, when Mr. Hoare usually left Norfolk, Mr. Buxton resumed his settled occupations, and was strict in devoting to them the best hours of the day. He thus adapted to himself the well known lines of Sir William Jones : " Secure six hours for thought, and one for prayer, Four in the fields, for exercise and air, The rest let converse, sleep, and business share." Six hours may appear a large proportion of his day to give to reflection, but his singular power of sustained and concentrated thought was unques- tionably the most remarkable feature of his mind. Not, indeed, that he had a turn for meditation upon speculative or philosophical questions, but when (as very often happened) his decision was required upon practical matters of an intricate character, he would wrap his mind in reflection upon them, with an intensity not often equalled. He could not, like HABITS OF ORDER. 399 SOIMP, take a question by storm, and in a moment put every doubt to flight ; he seemed to give every difficulty its fullest weight, and to balance the arguments on one side against the arguments on the other, with accurate care; giving them such close attention, that whatever might be going on around him, his mind could scarcely be diverted by any- thing from its track. When going to London with various important matters on his hands, he would often take a list of them with him, and going regularly through it, would clench his mind upon them one after the other, till by dint of strenuous thought, he had mastered all their bearings and made up his mind for ever. Once decided, he seldom turned to the question again. His character may be said to have been formed of a " durable ma- terial," so that an impression once effectually made, seemed never to be obliterated, scarcely even to lose the sharpness of its edge, by the lapse of years.* This quality was seen in lesser as well as in greater matters, and in no instance was it more displayed than in the important point of order. The love of order, and power to maintain it, had certainly not been given him by nature ; for many busy years of his life, his study, wherever it might happen to be, seemed a chaos of confusion, crowded with heaps of books and papers, letters and documents, unsorted and unlabelled, nor * In early life he was often unpunctual in his attendance at church ; but after hearing a sermon from the Rev. Samuel Crowther, on the duty of iK'in.tr present at the beginning of public worship and joining in the confession, he was thoroughly convince*], and was never again (as he siid himself thirty years after) late at church through carelessness. .'. 400 HABITS OF ORDER. CHAP. XXIV. would he allow any one to touch them. But in the year 1827, he was vividly impressed by a casual view of the order and precision maintained in one of the Government offices. After the illness of that year, when he could not bear mental application, a favourable opportunity presented itself for carrying out his resolution, to have his " papers in subjection." For three weeks he devoted himself, with his domestic helpers, to this task ; every document in his possession, public and private, was looked over, folded to a certain size, with its contents accurately endorsed upon it, and then classified. The parcels of papers were tied up in boards made to the same size, legibly marked ; the more copious subjects, such as slavery, filling many of these packets, under different sub- divisions. Pigeon holes in his book-cases and other expedients were provided, by which these packets were so placed as to be instantly accessible. The work once accomplished, he never relaxed in it again ; from this time to the end of his life every paper that came into his hands was subjected to the same regulations, and his various secretaries will remember the playful but unremitting strictness, with which he required the execution of his plans in this respect. The same principle extended to all his pecuniary affairs. He had some unalterable rules about money matters, which preserved him from the dangers that might otherwise have resulted from his natural tendency to free expenditure. In his private accounts he was exact but not minute ; and once a year he thoroughly investigated the whole state of his property. At the beginning of his private ledger, 1836. HABITS OF ORDER. 401 the following sentences were written: " ' Quid refert igitur quantis jumenta fatiget Porticibus, quanta nemorum vertetur in uuibr.i. Jugera quot vicina foro, quas emerit ivdes ? Nemo inalus felix.' Juvenal, Sat. 4. " ' What need so much provision, for so short a journey.' Hopkins vol. iv. p. 57. October 20. 1833. " * What a nothing it is that we make so much of, and follow so greedily, and hold so fast ! ' Baxter, vol. iii. p. 429. " ' To work our own contentment, we should not labour so much to increase our substance, as to moderate our de- sires. Bishop Sanderson.' " He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool. Jeremiah, chap. 17. verse 11." Except that his hospitalities were more bounded by want of room, his life at Northrepps was much the same as it had been at Cromer Hall, domestic, yet social. The mornings were spent, as has been said, in his study or with his gun; and after dinner he usually lay upon the sofa, while some one read aloud to him from the passing literature of the day. liiiL r , in fact, filled up every leisure hour; he never tired of listening to it. " Well, what shall we read?" v, as the first question upon his entering the drawing-room; and he paid the closest attention, bring always able to repeat the words that terminated the passage read on the previous evening. He had a great taste for biography, perhaps still more for works of humour; but especially he had, as he said himself, an "insatiable thirst for military adventure." 1 !'- love of poetry has been alluded to before, and he D D 402 LOVE OP POETRY. CHAP. XXIV. endeavoured to cultivate the same taste in those about him. Every Sunday evening his children were expected to repeat a passage of poetry, and he always required the utmost fluency and accuracy in the repetition : he insisted also on the reciter looking him full in the face while going through the task. He distributed his rewards with his usual open- handed generosity, and sometimes his guests were playfully invited to join in the exercise, and re- ceived their half-crown with the rest. His frequent quotations (especially from Shakspeare, Pope and Dry den) showed how thoroughly his mind was imbued with the writings of the principal English poets. Johnson's " Vanity of Human Wishes " was a favourite with him. On the well-known lines tunce may be quoted from one of his letters to Mrs. JJtixtun : " I write now about the coursing to-morrow. As did not behave well and kindly, you were quite right in deciding to deprive him of the sport to-morrow ; but, as it is so very great a pleasure to me to think of him as happy and enjoying himself, I hope you will for this time excuse him, and that he will make a point of repaying the indulgence by very good behaviour. Thus we shall think of him as happy and good too." At the time of his hardest work in London, he would often, on his way to the House, buy pictures, and conceal them in his waste-paper basket, to enjoy the glee of his younger children, and their daily renewed astonishment at discovering them there in the morning. His ma nner to them, as they grew older, is shown in the following casual mention of it by one of his sons, then a mere boy. " I cannot help being struck with the exquisite tenderness of heart which my father always displays; his unwillingness to debar us from pleasure, the zeal with which he will make any sacrifice, or take any trouble to gratify us, is most sur- prising. One little example to-day will describe his whole c. induct. Hi-, lii-ing really unwell, was lying nearly asleep (.11 the sofa, and observing me upon another, with my feet hanging over the side, he quietly got up, placed a chair under till-in, and tlu-n lay down again. His whole appearance, with his worn ami thoughtful Jan-, is ?o much that of a man whom one would approach with sonic seii.-:iti>n D D 3 406 LETTER TO ONE OF HIS SONS CHAP. XXIV. of awe, that these small, though exquisite, acts of tender- ness are the more unexpected, and, consequently, the more pleasing." He occasionally, but very rarely, gave direct admo- nitions. The following letter was addressed to one of his sons on entering Trinity College, Cambridge : " My dear , " It is always a disappointment to me to be absent, when my boys are at home ; but I particularly regretted being away last week, as I think I might have done something for your shooting, before you went to College. I need not, I hope, tell you of the extreme interest I take in the launch of your little skiff on the ocean of life, and how ardently I desire that ' soft airs and gentle hearings of the wave,' may accompany your voyage ; and that you may be safely piloted into the serene and lovely harbour prepared by the love of God. It is not often that I trouble my children with advice, and never, I believe, unless I have something particular to say. At the present time, I think I have that to say which is deeply im- portant to your success in the business of life ; nay, its effects may extend beyond the grave. You are now a man, and I am persuaded, that you must be prepared to hold a very inferior station in life to that which you might fill, unless you resolve, with God's help, that whatever you do, you will do it well ; unless you make up your mind, that it is better to accomplish perfectly a very small amount of work than to half- do ten times as much. What you do know, know thoroughly. There are few instances in modern times of a rise equal to that of Sir Edward Sugden. After one of the Weymouth elections, I was shut up with him in a carriage for twenty -four hours. I ventured to ask him, what was the secret of his success; his answer was, 'I resolved, when beginning to read law, to make every thing I acquired perfectly my own, and never to go to a second thing, till I had entirely accomplished the first. Many of my competitors read as much in a day as I read in a week ; but, at the end of 183G. ON ENTERING COLLEGE. 407 twelve months my knowledge was as fresh as on the day it was acquired, while theirs had glided away from their recollection. " Let the same masculine determination to act to some purpose, go through your life. Do the day's work to-day. At college I was extremely intimate with two young men, both of extraordinary talents. The one was always ahead of his tutor; he was doing this year the work of next year, and although, upon many parts of the subject, he knew more than \aminer, yet he contrived to answer what was actually proposed to him, most scandalously; while the other, by knowing perfectly what it was his business to know (though not confining himself to that), never, to the best of my recol- lection, tailed to answer any question that was put to him. "Again, be punctual. I do not mean the merely being in time for lectures, &c. ; but I mean that spirit, out of which punctuality grows, that love of accuracy, precision and vigour, which makes the efficient man ; the determination, that what you liave to do, shall be done, in spite of all obstacles, and finished off, at once, and finally. I believe I have told you the story of Nelson and his coach- maker, but you must hear it once more. When he was on the eve of departure for one of his great expeditions, the coachmakcr said to him, * The carriage shall be at the door punctually at six o'clock.' * A quarter before,' said NYIson, ' I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me.' "How often have I seen persons, who would have done well, if they would but have acted up to their own sense of duty ! Thankful I am to believe that conscience is the es- tablished ruler over your actions; but I want to enlarge it- province, and to make it condescend to these, which may appear to you minor matters. Have a conscience to be fitting yourself for life, in whatever you do, and in the management of your mind and ] lowers. In Scripture phrase, ' (Jircl up the loins of your mind.' Sheridan was an example of the want of this equality. In early life, he got into a P D 4 408 LETTER TO ONE OF HIS SONS. CHAP. XXIV. grand quarrel and duel, the circumstances of which were to his credit (always excepting the fighting the duel), but they were misrepresented : he came to town, resolved to set the British public right, and as Perry, the Editor of the 'Morning Chronicle,' was his friend, he resolved to do so, through the channel of that paper. It was agreed between them, that Sheridan, under a fictitious name, should write a history of the affair, as it had been misrepresented, and that he should subsequently reply to it in his own name, giving the facts of the case. The first part he accomplished, and there appeared in the Chronicle a bitter article against him, written, in fact, by himself; but he could never find time to write the answer, and it never was written : * The slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting.' " All the men who have done things well in life, have been remarkable for decision of character. Tacitus describes Julius Ca3sar as ' monstrum incredibilis celeritatis atque audaciae ; ' and Bonaparte, having published to all the world the day on which he should leave Paris to meet Wellington at Waterloo, did actually start on that day ; but he had so arranged matters, and travelled with such expedition, that he took the British army by surprise. " The punctuality which I desire for you involves and comprehends the exact arrangement of your time. It is a matter on which much depends; fix how much time you will spend upon each object, and adhere, all but ob- stinately, to your plan. ( Method,' says Cecil, ' is like packing things in a box; a good packer will get in half as much again as a bad one.' My letter, I see, is swelling into a sermon, but the day is fine, and Larry is waiting, so I must bring it to a close. Ponder well what I have said, and call on God to help you in arraying yourself in the qualities which I desire. If you mean to be the effective man, you must set about it earnestly, and at once. No man ever yet ' yawned it into being with a wish ; ' you must make arrangements for it ; you must watch it ; you must notice when you fail, and you must keep some kind of journal of your failures. 1836. LETTER FROM BELLFIELD. 409 I 'ut, whatever negligence may creep into your studies, or into your pursuits of pleasure or of business, let there no point, at least, on which you are always watchful, always alive: I mean in the performance of your religious lu ties. Let nothing induce you, even for a day, to neglect the perusal of Scripture. You know the value of prayer; it is precious beyond all price. Never, never neglect it. " Well, my dear boy, or man if you please, if I have been somewhat hard upon you in parts of thia letter, you must excuse me, remembering that few have a father so deeply and tenderly attached as you have; or one, in general, more Mind to defects, or more keen-eyed in the discernment of llencies. " Your most affectionate friend and father, " T. FOWELL BUXTON." One event of the year 1836 had been the marriage of his eldest son to Catherine, second daughter of Mr. Samuel Gurney. Soon afterwards, he writes to Mrs. Buxton, from lic-lliield: It is now five o'clock ; we dine at half- past; the interval, my dearest wife, is reserved for you. I have much enjoyed In ing here; I went off from London very comfortably, having the coach to myself almost the whole way. I slept the first and the last, so I had from seven in the morning till seven at night, to read and reflect; and I was very happy, and I feel very strongly, perhaps never so strongly, that mercy and goodness have followed me all the days of my life. Others may deny that there is a special Pro- v'ulenee, but it is too barefaced a lie for me. What kept me fn. m the r.rewery at fourteen, and sent me to College, ami made me avail myself of its advantages? What led me to Earlham. * * * * What plaeed me in so pros- a bu.-ine>s, without which 1 never could have thought public life? What plaeed me under Pratt's ministry 410 HIS VISITS TO BELLFIELD. CHAP. XXIV. where my eyes were first opened to real truth ; and what sent severe illness to confirm and ripen the impression made at Wheeler Chapel? What placed me in Parliament, and kept me there for nearly twenty years, in spite of almost desperate probabilities against me ? What made my mother sow the seeds of abhorrence of slavery in my mind ; and dear Priscilla exhort me to undertake the subject, when she was dying, and Wilberforce commit it to me, when he became unable to continue the task ? I could go on till the dinner- bell to-morrow evening, recounting the instances in which I have seen the finger of a blessed and divine Providence. " I looked yesterday and to-day, in walking through this serene place, at the present posture of our affairs, and I could see only cheering prospects, and causes of deep thank- fulness. How happy this connection of Edward's ! I feel the kindness of Providence in giving me, in a new child, the very person I most like; ****** an( j then what confidence I have that it will be blessed. I sat still and prayed, and a loving Providence arranged it all. Then I turn to A., and to P., who is rich in the things her happiness requires. If dinner would but wait, I would tell you how happy I have felt about the younger ones. But in none have I had a greater sense of comfort and of God's mercy, than in one who, though not here to cheer us, is in the regions of perfect bliss. I can contemplate his state, and the dealings of Providence with us, as concerns him, and be very thankful, and very sure, in feeling as well as in reason, that all is right. There goes the bell." In his often repeated visits to Bellfield, Mr. Buxton showed himself in quite a new character. His uncle (who was very fond of him, and towards whom he felt like a son) treated him, to the last, as quite a young man, and it was amusing to observe the happy mixture of deference and decision, playfulness and respect, with which his uncle's continual admonitions, especially with respect to his health, were received 1836. LETTER TO HIS UNCLE. 411 by one, who was generally somewhat impatient of the uncalled-for interference of others. From Mr. Buxton's numerous letters to his uncle, the following may be given : To Charles Buxton, Esq., at Bellfield. " North repps, December 31. My dear Uncle, Eleven o'clock at Night. " In the first place, as the old year is just going, I must wish that the new one may be a really happy one to you and my aunt. I hope that you both will pass through it in health and comfort. No nephew had ever more reason tor tlii- sincere wish than myself, and few nephews have so truly desired it. The termination of one year and the :ming of another is always a tune of much reflection with inc. I look back to the past year, and see innumerable errors and sins, and forward to the coming year, and con- sider that, before it terminates, I may be called to judgment. Ktcrnity is at hand with us all. Happy they, and only they, who know that they have no merit which can save them, who look for mercy only through Christ, who repent of past sins, (! -ire to do God's will while on earth, and believe on Christ, that lie can and will save those who obey him, and trust in him. I know you are never offended by my talking on such subjects, and they naturally spring up in my mind ju?t as a new year is coming." lit- was ut all times deeply anxious for the religious interests of those with whom he was in any way connected, and occasionally he felt it his duty to express his opinions to them on the subject. The following letter was thus addressed to a friend, much his senior; and it is evident, that nothing Itut stn>nir conscientious feeling could have induced him to write it : " I sun i>ei>iuuk'u-adt'a>t in the belief, that that great experiment has been, and will continue to be, crowned with more complete suc- cess than the most sanguine among us anticipated. I know very well that evil influences are working hard against it, and that thousands of the Negroes are exposed to cruel injus- tice. Nevertheless I do rejoice, and will rejoice in the ex- tinction of slavery ; and the more I see of the posthumous brood, the more I rejoice in the death of the old parent dragon. " And now, my dear brother, if I do not see you before your dqiartmv, I take leave of you with a heart full of love, with the most pleasant and grateful remembrance of you, and with the most earnest prayers for your safety, comfort and peace, for the full success of your mission, and for your fruition of all that is contained in these words, ' Fearthou not, for I am \\ith thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thce, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thce with the right hand of my righteousness." <>n tin- hall l)o a man of leisure ; that is no mean blessing : a man, not slaving himself to death, but with time to walk, to read, to sleep, to reflect, and better than these, time to pray. " One o'clock. Well, my dearest wife, your wishes are realised : the troubles and worries of Parliament are over with me ; and now we must be as happy, as healthy, and as long-lived as possible. I am perfectly well satisfied with the iv-ult, and view it as a release from a vast deal of labour." To Joseph John Gumey, Esq., in America. * My dear Brother, " Upton, July 30. 1837. " We have gone so much hand-in-hand together all our days, that I greatly miss you, now that a change has taken place with me. I am reprieved from death, and emancipated In >m slavery ; and both these blessings came under the form of dismissal from Weymouth on Tuesday last. But you .-hall have my history for the last fortnight, at least as much of it as I can remember. " You know, I believe, that a few days before the session cl"-ed, I presented our report on the Aborigines. It is a fair compendium of the evidence given In-fore the com- mittee during three years, and a.s 1 had but a small portion of the merit of drawing it up, I may be allowed to call it an I 422 LETTER TO MR. GURNET. CHAP. XXV. admirable document ; and I have little doubt it will go far to check that desperate and wide-spreading villany, which has rendered the intercourse of the civilized and Christian man with the savage, little else than one uniform system of cruelty, rapacity, and murder. In short, I am well satisfied ; and have little more to say on that subject. Two or three days before the session closed, I brought before the House briefly, the questions of the Slave Trade, East India slavery, and the transportation of the Coolies from India to the Mau- ritius and the West Indies. "But now for my personal history. On Monday, the 17th of July the Queen dissolved the Parliament. Before her messenger gave his three taps at our door, I gave notice of a motion on East Indian slavery for next session. We were then called before her Majesty. She looked well and quite composed; in delivering her speech, her voice was sweet and clear almost to perfection. In that great room, with the multitude of people and some bustle, every syllable was so distinctly articulated, as to be perfectly heard ; and her voice rose into suitable emphasis when she said, that her reign was auspiciously begun by giving her assent to the mitigation of the Criminal Law. " Thus, a second time, I have been drawn away from my history, but these things may interest you, and I shall not have anything to tell you of queens and parliaments for one while. But now to my history in earnest. " Before I went down to Weymouth, I began to fear ; for one of my supporters told me that if I wished to secure the election, it would be necessary to open public houses and to lend money (a gentle name for bribery), to the extent of WOOL I of course declined. It might or it might not be my duty to get into Parliament, but it could not be my duty to corrupt the electors by beer and bank notes. " At ten o'clock on the day of nomination, out came Burdon's address resigning the contest. George Stephen happened to arrive by the mail at half-past ten, unshaven, unbreak- fasted, we converted him into a candidate. The Tories had hired a stout mob from the adjacent country, and as they 1837. REGRET OF WEYMOUTII ELECTORS. 423 kept the beer going, our audience was rather of the noisiest. It seemed to me that I could not be heard ; but I find I was distinctly. * * * In the middle of the day I found the affair was hopeless, and ceased to press my voters to come ti.-rward. At the close of the poll I went with Edward to the booth, where my opponents and their friends were collected, >hook hands with them, wished them joy, walked about the town for half an hour with Barlow and Edward to cheer up my friends, who were sadly out of spirits, and then went to Bellfield, where we passed a very cheerful evening ; and up to this moment, not one shade of regret on my own account, however slight, however transient, has passed over my mind, at the memory of my departed honours. ****! j iave not jj a jf described the manifestation of feeling which took place in the town. The children set them- selves to work to collect subscriptions to give me a piece of plate. The men are also doing the same thing on their part. The very Tories, they say, are disconsolate! In the evening, several of the working men who had not joined the pro- cession in the morning, came up to bid me farewell; and at six o'clock the next morning, when I got into the coach, tlu'iv was an assemblage of them looking sadly downcast. Spite of all this lamentation, I have been in great glee tin- whole time. I am right glad that I stood right glad that I have got a holiday. My own impression is, that I could not have stood the fatigues of Parliament many sessions more ; and perhaps this turning out to grass may, in the long run, enable me to do more work, if I should have the privilege of being called to it. I saw , who said more about the rrgret of Government, than I should like to it. On the other hand, Dr. Holland has sent me a message by Samuel Iloare, of warm congratulation. " I had fully resolved, had I continued in Parliament, to have sent you a kind of journal of notable events, but in my pre.-ent ium-eiKvti\ e condition, I am nut likely to have, am tiling moro interesting to tell you, than the history of the m m 4 424 TESTIMONIAL TO MR. BUXTON. CHAP. XXV. pigs and poultry at Northrepps. As I leave Parliament for health, I do not by any means intend to defeat that end by dedicating myself to any other objects. I mean, for con- science sake, to ride, shoot, amuse myself, and grow fat and flourishing." He soon afterwards went to Weymouth to receive from his friends there, two pieces of plate : the one, a candelabrum from his late constituents ; the other, which, as he said, pleased him if possible still more, a silver snuff-box from their children. He was ex- ceedingly gratified by these testimonials of regard from the place with which he had so long been con- nected, and few of his possessions were valued so highly. From no less than twenty-seven different places were proposals made to Mr. Buxton to stand as a candidate, but he felt at liberty to take advantage of the opportune repose afforded him, and accordingly declined them all. On returning from a short visit to Scotland, he writes to Mrs. Johnston at Rennyhill. "Northrepps Hall, Oct. 7. 183?. " I have just been debating on this difficult question shall I write to Rennyhill, or stretch myself on the sofa ? you see how I have decided. " Our return home is vastly pleasant, and I hope we feel something of true thankfulness at being permitted to re- assemble none missing, none injured, and many benefited. * * * * jyjy W eek in London was anything but idle. I got through my fifty-six memoranda. We resolved that Mr. Trew should, without delay, provide thirty-four first- rate teachers for the colonies. Only think of sending forth such a troop ! Is it not cheering ? Whilst I was in London three separate deputations called upon me on the same 1838. NEGRO APPRENTICESHIP. 425 morning, to urge me to go into Parliament. They were very philosophic on the subject of my health, and said in substance that it was good economy for them to work me up now, and that when I was fairly dead, they dared to say they should iiii'l some other agent ; but I was steadfast against this kind of argument." At the end of 1837 a work was published by Messrs. Sturge and Scoble, wbo had visited the West Indies, describing the condition of the Negro appren- tices, and such general indignation was excited by tln-ir narrative that a large body of delegates was sent to London in the beginning of 1838, to urge the dis- continuance of the apprenticeship system. Mr. Buxton, for some time, refused to join them, and he thus states his reasons in a letter to G. W. Alexander, Esq. : "February 5. 1838. " I have received your very kind letter, and have given the subject of it my very best consideration. The result is, that my opinions, as expressed in my letter to the delegates, yet remain unchanged. I thought, and continue to think, that the attempt to overthrow the apprenticeship will be fruitless, while there is another object to be accomplished, viz., that of securing to the Negro the full and entire liberty of a British subject in 1840, which is at once more impor- tant, and far more practicable. " I am afraid that this main and capital object should be in some degree lost sight of by the peculiar prominence that is given to the abolition of the apprenticeship, and I could not attend any meeting without stating my doubts as to the policy of tin pivsent movement. I am, however, far from wishing to give circulation to these doubts. It is very possible that I may he altogether mistaken in the views I entertain : and I should be extremely sorry to weaken the probability, small as I consider it, of Parliament consenting to the immediate abolition of the apprenticeship I appro! 426 NEGRO APPRENTICESHIP. CHAP. XXV. therefore, that I should best serve the cause of the Negro by abstaining from attending your meeting. It is needless for me to add, that it is with hearty regret I cannot on this occasion altogether unite with those good and zealous men with whom I have so long acted." His refusal to attend the meeting excited great dis- pleasure among those who were bent on breaking down the apprenticeship. After alluding to the severe censures to which he had been exposed, he proceeds, " "Well, after all this, I am in excellent health and spirits, not the least chagrined. I do not repent of any step I have taken in this business." As the spring advanced, he found that he had been in error, and that public feeling was less torpid than he had expected. He writes, on the 12th of March, to one of his old Anti-slavery coadjutors : "It seems just possible that the delegates may succeed, and if so, I am sure we shall both say, ' thank God that other people had more courage and more discernment than ourselves.' " On the 23d of March he received a letter from Dr. Lushington, urging him to come to town and meet the delegates, and he accordino-lv left North- O O ; repps for London, and after much deliberation he determined to join them. After mentioning in a letter the charge of incon- sistency which he might thus incur, he adds, " No matter. The sin unpardonable in my eyes would be, to do anything for any consideration whatever, the result of which was likely to injure the sacred cause. So long as I retain the assurance, that I am acting with a single eye to that, you may be sure I shall not be dejected." 1838. SIR GEORGE STRICKLAND'S MOTION. 427 " You ask, what will the world say ? " he writes to another iriciul. " Let the world say what it pleases: " 'Tis not the babbling of a busy world, Where praise and censure are at random hurled, Winch can the meanest of my thoughts control, Or shake one settled purpose of my soul: Free and at large, may their wild censures roam, While all, while all, I know, is right at home.' " On the 30th of March Sir George Strickland brought forward a motion for the abolition of the apprentice- si iij), but it was lost by a majority of 64. Mr. Buxton thus describes the evening, having been present under the gallery: " London, March 31. 1838. " I am alive, after having been in the detestable position of having to sit for ten hours in the House of Commons last night, to be shot at by everybody, Avithout the possibility of firing one round in return. I would have given something to be allowed to speak, and I literally was two or three times upon the point of springing up. Gladstone, Lord John Russell, Grey, &c., would have it that I was a friend to the apprenticeship, because I sold an unavailing division on it, in Committee, for the solid profit of getting them to insert a clause for unqualified freedom, when the apprenticeship should 06M6." In consequence of what had been stated in this debate, Mr. Buxton addressed a letter to Lord John Uussell, in which he proved that he had been throughout a steady opponent of the Apprenticeship in. In May died .Mr. Xachary Macaulay, just before the complete consummation of all his labours, for in tin- same month, Sir Eardley Wilmot gained, by a majority of three, u motion against the Apprentice- 428 APPRENTICESHIP ABOLISHED. CIJAP. XXV. ship ; and the planters afterwards agreed to surrender it on the 1st of August, 1838. " The Apprenticeship is abolished," writes Mr. Buxton, " thank God for that." " I bless God for the event," he says in a letter to Mr. Sturge : " I bless God, that He, who has always raised up agents such as the crisis required, sent you to the West Indies. I bless God, that during the Apprenticeship, not one act of violence against the person of a white man has, as I believe, been perpetrated by a Negro, and I cannot express my grateful exultation that those, whom the colonial law so recently reckoned as brute beasts, * the fee simple absolute whereof resided in their owners,' will so soon be invested with the full rights of man. * * * Let none of us forget that those who are emancipated will be assailed with many an attempt to curb and crush their liberty ; nor that two millions of human chattels in the East Indies require our protection ; nor that the Slave Trade, of all evils the monster evil, still defiles and darkens one quarter of the globe. May that same public voice, which has now been so happily exerted, and under the influence of that same gracious Lord, who has wrought its present victory, never be hushed while a taint of slavery remains ! " To the Hon. Mrs. Upcher. "Athenaeum, May 23. 1838. "I must write a line to tell you that Sturge and that party, whom we thought all in the wrong, are proved to be all in the right. A resolution for the immediate abolition of the Apprenticeship was carried by a majority of three last night. The intelligence was received with such a shout by the Quakers, (myself among the number,) that we strangers were all turned out for rioting ! I am right pleased." CHAP. XXVI. 429 CHAPTER XXVI. 1838. PLAN FOR THE SUPPRESSION OP THE SLAVE TRADE. LABORIOUS INVESTIGATIONS. COLLECTION OF EVIDENCE. LETTER TO LORD MELBOURNE. COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE GOVIUNMINT. ABSTRACT OF HIS VIEWS. HORRORS OF THE TRADE CAPABILITIES OF AFRICA. ON quitting Parliament, Mr. Buxton had looked forward to a period of repose ; but this expectation waa not realized. Even before that time, an idea had suggested itself to his mind, the development of which proved more than sufficient occupation for all his remaining years. " I well remember," writes one of his sons, " the com- mencement of that long train of toils, anxieties, and sorrows. Wliilr my t-itluT and I were staying at Earlham, in the -iiiin^ of the summer of 1837, he walked into my room OM morning, at an early hour, and sitting down on my 1" 'tl.-ide, told me that he had been lying awake the whole ni<^lit, reflecting on the subject of the Slave Trade, and that he believed he had hit upon the true remedy for that por- tentous evil." Two years before this time, he had moved an address for making our treaties on this subject with foreign powers more stringent, and the penalties of the crime more severe. The idea that now struck him so forcibly, was this, that " Though strong external measures ought still to be resorted to, the 430 NEW PLAN FOR THE CHAP. XXVI. deliverance of Africa was to be effected, by calling out her own resources." For some months he was compelled to defer the following up of this new train of thought; but on reaching home at the fall of the year, he addressed himself to the pursuit with all his heart and mind, and never was his character shown more clearly than in his conduct of this great affair. The exquisite sympathy Avith suffering, the long investigations and deep thought before action, the intense and untir- ing energy when the work had once begun, the large- ness of his plan, the care bestowed upon its smallest details, the hearty trust in Providence, joined with the solicitous choice of means, the patient faith with which disappointment and calamity were borne ; all these qualities had been apparent in his pre- vious undertakings, they now stood forth in still bolder relief. Nor was there less of the same ardent and exclusive devotion to the one work be- fore him, which had characterised his earlier years. Having struck out the idea, it did not slowly fade away again, like the visions of less effective men. Nor was he content merely to lay his views before the public, satisfying himself with an undefined hope that some one else would carry them into practice. He at once applied himself to the subject, and through- out the winter, he was incessantly revolving it in his mind, reading every book that could assist him, and inquiring wherever information could be gained, until at length the whole idea was fully developed in his mind. 1838. SUPPRESSION OF THE SLAVE TRADE. 431 His task was twofold : on the one hand, he had to I > rove the magnitude of the evils now existing, in the human traffic, and consequent condition of Africa : on the other, he had to point out the capabilities of Africa, and thence to deduce the possibility of her becoming peaceful, flourishing, and productive, by the force of legitimate commerce. While he himself was occupied in elaborate calcu- lations drawn from official documents, respecting the extent and desolating effect of the trade, he set - others to work in collecting proofs of the produc- tiveness and commercial resources of Africa. To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. "Northrepps Hall, Feb. 1838. " Andrew Johnston and I are working like dragons at the Sl:ivc Trade a task as interesting in its prosecution, and promising to be as important in its results, as any that I ever had the honour to be engaged in. I only wish that the number of the hours in each day were doubled, and the number of minutes in every hour quadrupled." To John Jeremic, Esq., in Ceylon. " My dear Jeremie, Northrepps Hall, Feb. 2?. 1838. " I wonder that I have not written to you long ere this, and especially that I have not answered your very welcome letter of the 14th of August last. But procrastination, always an insidious enemy, makes foreign letters its especial prey. They may perhaps sail as soon, if written next week, as if sent off to-day, and therefore arc postponed: and I have no lack of good excuses. Though perhaps I ought to IH> at leisure, now that I am released from the harness of Parliament, I still find every day nioiv than supplied with its work. Your long letter I have not now before me, as I 432 AFRICAN COMMERCE. CHAP. XXVI. left it with Dr. Lushington. He has promised to read it attentively, although as usual overwhelmed with business. " My principal occupation is the consideration of the Slave Trade. I am quite convinced we are all on a wrong tack about it, and that we never shall do good, or at least effectual good, by pursuing only our present plan. The scheme therefore that I am now meditating is, to represent to all powers the immense field for commerce, which is closed by the Slave Trade. "When I am thoroughly master of the subject I shall lay it before the Government. " You will not doubt, my dear friend, that all you tell me about yourself and your own state of mind is very interesting to me. I do indeed trust that you may more and more taste of the knowledge of that, which can above all else, satisfy the mind and heart, and lead into the way of peace. What I have learnt of this has been at the price of heavy sorrow, but I can say it is worth its price, and it is my chief and settled desire for myself, and all who are most dear to me, that above all prosperity, all knowledge, all success or honour, we may know and partake of the riches of Chris- tianity. By this I do not merely mean morality, even of the highest tone ; I mean the knowledge of Christ as a Saviour, which knowledge brings the heart to humility, love, gratitude, and all that is good, as well as all that is happy. I can desire nothing better for you, my dear friend, than that you and yours may be led on and taught the fulness of these things, of which may we all know more and more ! " To Miss Gurncy, Northrepps Cottage. " Hampstead, April 28. 1838. " I can't say how mean I appear to myself for not having acknowledged the paper on African commerce. Acknow- ledged it I have a hundred times, but never in a letter to you. You do not know, nor did I till two days ago, how important it is. I now find that either the observations, which I made in a conversation with Lord Palmerston some time ago, or, which is much more likely to be the case, 1838. LETTER TO LORD MELBOURNE. 433 his own wit has led him to the same conclusion as my own, \i/.., that the Slave Trade is to be abolished by legitimate trade. If this be so, our commercial speculations come just at the right time. They will exactly hit the mark, and they will operate upon the Government at large ; :iml I do believe that your labours could not have been better employed. I am more hard run than I used to be, in Parliament." Having come to London prepared with all his sta- tistical details, he spent the spring, assisted by Mr. Johnston, in verifying them by evidence of first-rate authority, both naval and mercantile. When he had done this, he laid an epitome of his plans before different members of the Cabinet ; by several of whom a disposition was evinced to investigate the subject further, and he was requested to prepare his views in a more developed form by the beginning of the recess. Accordingly, at the end of May, he went to Leamington, where he was joined by Mr. Scoble, an able and hearty fellow labourer; and by Mr. ^Inc.queen, who was intimately acquainted with the geography and productions of Africa, and who had some years before declared his conviction, that the true way to abolish the Slave Trade would be to supplant it by lawful commerce. Aided by these gentlemen, he devoted himself sedulously to the task, frequently working at it about twelve hours a day. This " Letter to Lord Melbourne " was intended ex- clusively for the members of the Government, and, accordingly, but twenty copies were printed. " The book is fairly launched, he tells Mr. Johnston (who, when the work was fini-lu-d, had left him for Scotland), "and F F 434 INTERVIEWS WITH MINISTERS. CHAP. XXVI. I am for the present a gentleman of leisure, and begin to think vehemently about Northrepps, Felthorpe, shooting, and such things ; and in about a fortnight's time I expect to be as much occupied in labours by day, and in dreams by night, about rabbits and partridges, as I have been about negroes and Fernando Po. Our plans are fixed, and I go to Poles on Thursday ; to Earlham, Friday ; to Northrepps, by Felthorpe, Saturday ; and all sorts of people are summoned to meet us at Northrepps on Monday. " And now how does my little Andrew do? He's just the lad I should like to see at this moment. My little Tommy chatters away most fluently, and is exceedingly improved." To Miss Buxton, Northrepps Cottage. " August 14. 1838. " Now I must tell you a little about my adventures. Yes- terday I saw almost all the ministers, and almost all their secretaries ; and held the same language with them all. * I have put my views in print, in order to tempt you to read them. While Parliament is sitting I expect nothing of you, but, promise me this, that as soon as the recess begins, you will read my book before you take up any other subject. Give me an unequivocal yes or no ; and, if you say * Yes,' act with vigour.' I have got a specific promise from each, that, without delay, they will read, consider and decide. I saw yesterday, Lords Melbourne, Glenelg, Palmerston, and Howick; Hobhouse, Spring Rice, Grey, Stanley, Wood, Porter, Anson, Stephen. The last sent me word that he was very busy, so our interview must be very short. I walked into his room, put the book into his hand, and, without saying a word, walked out again. He called out, * What does this mean ? ' * The shortest interview you ever had with any body,' said I. * Ah,' said he, ' the head is short enough, but there's a terrible long tail to it.' * * * In short, I am remarkably well pleased with my day's work." 1838. ABSTRACT OF HIS VIEWS. 435 To J. J. Gurney, Esq. " Earlham, August 18. 1838. " To begin with that which has chiefly occupied my attention for many months past ; last November I started on a pilgrimage through all the books and parliamentary do- cuments connected with the Slave Trade. I began from tin very beginning, and, partly in person, still more by deputy, I traversed the whole subject ; and such a scene of dial><>Iim, and such an excess of misery, as I have had to survey, never, I am persuaded, before fell to the lot of an un- happy investigator. Will you believe it, the Slave Trade, though England has relinquished it, is now double what it was when Wilberforce first began; and its horrors not only ag- gravated by the increase of the total, but in each particular case more intense than they were in 1788 ? Will you believe it, again, that it requires at the rate of a thousand human beings per diem, in order to satisfy its enormous maw ? * How glad have I been to have escaped from the turmoils of Parliament, and to have my mind and my time my own, that I might bestow them without inter- ruption on this vast mass of misery and crime." A sentence in this letter may give the false im- nre.->ion that Mr. Wilberforce's exertions in putting down the Slave Trade, had proved a failure ; whereas his main attack was directed against the British Slave Trade, and this had been effectually stopped. That winch Mr. lluxton attacked, and which, unhappily, still exists, is the trade carried on by the Spanish, Portuguese, and Brazilians. The following is an outline of Mr. Buxton's plans, as su;_ r i:e>t<'d in the first instance in the letter to Lord Melbourne, and afterwards more fully detailed in the work called u The Mave Trade and it> liVim-cly." F F 2 436 HORRORS OF THE CHAP. XXVT. The first part of these works was devoted to the examination of the actual state of the Slave Trade ; and startling indeed were the facts unfolded. Mr. Buxton demonstrated from official evidence, that, at the very least, 150,000 Negroes are annually imported into Brazil and Cuba alone ! He drew also from a vast number of sources, a description of the horrors at- tendant on the trade, which, he says, " has made Africa one universal den of desolation, misery, and crime." He showed what a waste of human life is incurred in the seizure of the slaves for the mer- chant ; in the hurried march through the desert to the coast, with scarce a pittance of water, under the broiling sun ; in the detention at the ports, where hunger and misery carry off numberless wretches, whose fate might yet be envied by the miserable beings who survive. These, pressed down for weeks together between the decks of the slave ship, have to endure torments which cannot be described. Scarcely can the mind realize the horrors of that dreadful charnel-house; the sea-sickness the suffo- cation the terrible thirst the living chained to the putrid dead the filth the stench the fury of despair. Even after landing, multitudes more perish in what is called " the seasoning on the coast ; " and the remnant who have lived through all this misery, are then sold to endure as slaves, the abominable cruelties of Spanish and Portuguese masters. He showed that, at the very least, two Negroes perish for every one who is sold into slavery. " In no species of merchandise," he exclaims, " is there such waste of the raw material, as in the merchandise of man. In 1838. SLAVE TRADE. 437 what other trade do two- thirds of the goods perish, in order that one-third may reach the market ?" He recommended the adoption of two preliminary measures ; one, the concentration upon the coast of Africa, of a more efficient naval force ; the other, the t urination of a chain of treaties with the native chiefs of the interior. These two measures were not brought forward as the remedy itself, but merely as clearing the way for its operation. " The real remedy, the true ransom for Africa, will be found," says Mr. Buxton, " in her fertile soil ; " and he drew up, from a vast variety of au- thorities, an account of the boundless resources which West Africa contains. He established the fact, first, that gold, iron, and copper, abound in many districts of the country; secondly, that vast regions are of the most fertile description, and are capable of producing rice, wheat, hemp, indigo, coffee, &c., and, above all, the sugar-cane and cotton, in any quantities ; while the forests contain every kind of timber mahogany, ebony, dye-woods, the oil-palm, &c. ; besides caoutchouc and other gums. He also proved, that the natives, so far from shun- ning intercourse with us, have been in every case eager and importunate that we should settle among them.* While the capabilities of Africa are thus extensive, * As an indication of the care and labour bestowed in consulting authorities, those may be enumerated, to whom reference is made, upon the single item of cotton. They consist of Sir Fulk G re veil, Beaver, Dalrymple, Col. Denham, Clapperton, Mungo Park, Ashmun, Lander, Laird, thr IU-v. J. 1'inney, tlu- Ki-v. J. Seys, M't^iu-en, De Caille, Dupnis, and Kul>ertson. T T 3 438 CAPABILITIES OF AFRICA. CHAP. XXVI. the facilities for commercial intercourse are on the same scale. He mentioned those afforded by the great rivers on the west coast of Africa, especially the Niger, which had been explored by Lander to the distance of 500 miles from the sea, and the Chadda, which runs into it ; and he dwelt much on the singular fitness of the situation of Fernando Po, as an emporium of commerce. He emphatically declared his conviction, that Central Africa possesses within itself everything necessary for the growth of commerce ; and he proceeded to point out in con- firmation of this statement, that in certain spots on the west coast of Africa, where some degree of security had been afforded, agriculture and commerce had as a consequence immediately sprung up, and the Slave Trade had withered away. He derived his facts from authorities of the most varied and impartial description, including extracts from the authors most conversant with Africa ; from the writings of the governors of Sierra Leone, Fernando Po, and the Gambia; from those of all the travellers who had explored Western Africa ; and from those of African merchants, scientific men, and others, who had studied the subject at home. " It was not," he says, " till after I had come to the conclusion that all that was wanting for the deliverance of Africa was, that agriculture, commerce, and instruction should have a fair trial, that I discerned that others had arrived by practical experience, at the same result which I had learnt from the facts, and from reasoning upon them ; and I was very well pleased to renounce any little credit which might attach to the discovery, in exchange for the solid encouragement Jind satisfaction of finding that, what 1838. CAPABILITIES OF AFRICA. 439 with me was but theory, was with them the fruit of ex- perience." While he laid such stress upon the importance of protecting and encouraging legitimate commerce in Africa, he enforced, with equal earnestness, the necessity of raising the native character by imparting Christian instruction. " Let missionaries and school- ma-ters, the plough and the spade, go together." " It is the Bible and the plough that must regenerate Africa ; " and he gives details proving the powerful influence, moral and physical, which missions have exerted over the aborigines in different parts of the world. The following were some of the specific steps sug- gested by him, for turning the attention of the Africans from their trade in men to the trade in merchandise. That the British Government should increase the efficiency of the preventive squadron on the coast. Should purchase Fernando Po, as a kind of head- quarters and mart of commerce. Should give protection to private enterprises. And enter into treaty with the native chiefs ; for the rel'mquishment of the Slave Trade, for grants of land to be brought into cultivation, and for arrange- ments to facilitate a legitimate trade. Hi- proposed that an expedition should be sent up the Niger for the purpose of setting on foot the pre- liminary ;m-;mL'x i MK,'iits in Africa for the agricultural, commercial, and missionary settlements; of entering into treaties with the native chiefs; of convincing the r r 4 440 MR. BUXTON'S SUGGESTIONS. CHAP. xxvi. Negroes of the uprightness of our intentions ; and of ascertaining the state of the country along that vast tract of land, which is traversed by the river Niger. A company was also to be formed, by private indi- viduals, for the introduction of agriculture and com- merce into Africa. This was to be effected by sending out qualified agents to form settlements in favourable situations ; to establish model farms ; to set up fac- tories, well-stored with British goods, and thus to sow the first seeds of commerce ; and, in short, to adopt those means, which have been elsewhere effectual, in promoting trade, and the cultivation of the soil. This company would, of course, consist of private capitalists ; but he cautiously forewarned them against expecting speedy returns, although he strongly main- tained the reasonable prospect of eventual profit. Upon private individuals also, would devolve the responsibility of co-operating with the religious socie- ties in sending out a strong force of those upon whom he especially depended for the deliverance of Africa, missionaries and native teachers. He dwelt much upon the importance of making use of native agency for this purpose. 11 The climate of Africa," he writes to the Rev. Hugh Stowell, " presents an obstacle to European agents being employed in the work to any extent, and we must look to the natives themselves to be the agents in this great enter- prise. This is no new scheme, for you will observe that it has been tried in various quarters of the globe with con- siderable success, and various denominations of Christians are following out the plan, with zeal and perseverance, in India and Africa." CHAP. XXVII. 441 CHAPTER XXVII. 1838, 1839. COMMUNICATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT, AND WITH PRIVATE INDI- VIDUALS. AFRICAN CIVILIZATION SOCIETY. PREPARATION OF "THE SLAVE TRADE, AND ITS REMEDY" FOR PUBLICATION. DEPARTURE FOR ITALY. MR. BUXTON watched with great anxiety the effect that might be produced on the ministers by the statements thus laboriously prepared. In the begin- ning of September he was summoned to town by Lord Glenelg ; he writes thence To Andrew Johnston, Esq. " Colonial Office, Sept. 5. 1838. " Lord Glenelg sent me word on Monday, that he wanted an hour's conversation with me. With the ardour natural to authors, I construed this into a Slave Trade conference, the ac- quiescence of the Government in my plan, and Africa almost iMivrivd. I have now been waiting till half of my hour has elapsed, so I am getting fidgetty and fearful that my dreams will not be realised. However, I believe that a good Providence has undertaken the management of this business, and therefore I will not be troubled. " Near five o'clock. Thank God, I say it with all my heart, thank (Jod, tho Government, says Lord Glenelg, are deeply interested by my book. Melbourne writes to him strongly about it. The cabinet meet on Friday on the subject. (ili'iu-lji -"} - they accede to till I have said, as to previous failures. They think I have- greatly underrated the extent, and still more the mortality. In short, he was convinced, to my 442 LETTER TO J. J. GURNET, ESQ. CHAP. XXVH. heart's content. I have since seen Lushington ; he is delighted with the book ; accedes to it with all his heart. In short, a happy day." " I am highly pleased," he writes home, " and very, very thankful, and feel very keenly, what am I that this mercy should be heaped upon me ? " To Joseph J. Gurney, Esq. "Northrepps, Dec. 7. 1838. " Within the last month, I have been to town and have had many interviews with members of the cabinet, and I find that my book has made a deeper impression upon them than I had ventured to hope for. They all admit that the facts are placed beyond all dispute. They tell me, that they want no further evidence whatsoever of the extent and horrors of the trade ; and they admit, in very strong terms, that they are converts to the views which I have developed. In short, the subject now under consideration is, how they shall act ? I have been embodying my views in nine propositions, and have stated seriatim the steps they ought to take, and the order in which they should be taken. I expect that this Slave Trade question will find me in employment for the rest of my days, and my hope is that you and I may work together in it for many years to come. I am not so sanguine, as to ex- pect that so vast a work will be rapidly executed. Our favourite text is ( not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.' " Now for a little domestic news. Everything is going on smoothly with us. * * * I am in fair health, in excellent spirits, and with causes for thankfulness, turn which way I will. * * * The Cottage ladies are much as usual in health. It is a vast pleasure to us to have their cordial co-operation and assistance in all my objects. The Book goes by my name, but in truth it is the production of us all. " You will be nterested to hear that we have at length got a Bible Society at Holt. Finding it in vain to wait for 1838. COMMUNICATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT. 443 the co-operation of the clergy, we determined to act without them. I took the chair, and I hardly was ever present at so s-atisfactory a meeting. The ladies are active, they have ahvady got ten districts, though the society is only in its infancy." The Government had acceded to his theory, it now remained to be seen whether they would adopt his practical suggestions. He writes from London " I was ushered into the presence of Lord Glenelg, muttering to myself, ' O God, give me good speed this day ! ' * * * * I soon found that my nine propositions had worked admirably. They were formally discussed in the Cabinet. Glenelg intimated that the ministers were unanimous, and that they had resolved, with some modifi- cations, to act upon them. I was told that Lord said it was the boldest conception that had been struck out in our days. * * I am now going to Upton to dinner. God grant I may hear good accounts from Northrepps, and tin ii I shall be full of gladness of heart. Is not my news delightful? " I did not sleep well," he tells Mr. Johnston ; " who could expect it, after such a day ; after finding that it was intended to realise my most intense desire? I was also delighted at learning at the Colonial Office, that the Kat River Hottentots, Caffres, Slaves, are all doing beautifully." The result of these interviews was a request on the part of Government, that he should enlarge and publi>li hi> work to arouse the public mind, but it was desired that the practical suggestions should be k( j>t back till they had more fully determined on thrir course. The resignation, shortly afterwards, of Lord Glenelg, was deeply regretted by Mr. Buxton. Lord Normanby, however, adopted the views of his predeces><>r, and the whole Cabinet appears to have 444 CORRESPONDENCE. CHAP. XXVII. considered the advantages which would accrue to England, as well as to Africa, from the opening of so vast a field of commercial speculation, as sufficiently important to warrant their attempting to carry them into effect. To Joseph J. Gurney, Esq. "March 5. 183Q. " Lord Glenelg's retirement from office is a very heavy blow, and if it were not that I have all-sufficient proof that the great questions of slavery and the Slave Trade are under the management of better than human hands, I should be very uncomfortable indeed. Our friend Joseph Sturge is somewhat restive about my Slave Trade views ; won't go along with me. No matter ; he'll take his own line, and nevertheless the truth is preached, and therein I will rejoice." On the 1st of April he was much pleased by receiving the following lines from his valued friend, Mrs. Opie. To Thomas Fowell Buxton, Esq,, on his Birthday. 1st, 4th mo., 1839. I saw the dawn in brightness break, That ushered in thy natal day, And bade my humble lyre awake, To breathe to thee our votive lay. Too soon such hopes away were driven, But, while I sat in mute despair, I felt a dearer power was given, And breathed a holier tribute PRAYER. And lo ! from forth my inmost heart, For thee did solemn prayers ascend, Prayers such as voice could ne'er impart, Arose for Mercy's child, and Afric's friend ! 1839. LINES BY MRS. OPIE. 445 I wish'd thee years of vigorous health, Thy Christian labours to pursue : I wish'd thee still increasing wealth, To do the good thou fain would'st do. I wish'd, alas ! what ne'er may be, That ere thou reach thy well-earn'd rest, Thou may'st behold thy Afric free, And know her myriads call thee blest. And, O ! I wish thy toils this nobler meed, To thee more dear than aught of earthly fame, May Afric's sons from heathen darkness freed, Be taught to know and bless the SAVIOUR'S name ! To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. "Northrepps Hall, April 12. IS.Sp. " I am hard at work upon my second volume, but the present subject, namely, the mode of delivering Africa, requires a vast deal deeper thought than the mere detail of enormities. I earnestly hope that I shall be kept by a good Providence from falling into any gross errors. I am sure I have very little reliance on my own knowledge or wisdom in such abstruse considerations. But we must hope to be guided by a better than human wisdom, and defended by something stronger than the human arm." To the Rev. J. M. Treic. "Northrepps Hall, April, 1839- " I am amused by the generous indignation expressed by yourself and Stokes, as to the attack made upon me in the Kmancipator. I cannot however say that it provoked me in the slightest degree. I know that a little unfair censure is part of the- bargain in any great work, and for my part, abused as I have been, I must confess that in summing up the two accounts, of unmerited blame and unmerited com- nirn cannot go; so I have become more fashionable and il:mut a ft i T a while, seeing that Spink had a sprightly jack I changed with him and got on gloriously. Seven miles of 460 WILD BOAR HUNTING. CHAP. XXVIH. rock and quagmire, and stumps of trees brought us to our hunting-ground, where we saw congregated our native ' Com- pagnons de chasse.' The leader was Velati, the Roman painter, and a fine fellow. He put us in our places, after first marching us over a fine wooded mountain. This made me reeking hot : but I was soon well cooled, for I was lo- cated in a dank sunless valley, the steam from which soon rusted my barrels, and made Spink's hands die away. There I stood for an hour and a half with my rifle in my hand. Spink said to me ' They tell me these beasts fly out upon you,' and forthwith he produced a case of pistols, but he had no opportunity this time of using them. By sound of bugle we were ordered over the next hill, and such a scene opened upon us ! I never saw such a combination of the sublime and the lovely. Our next station was on a jutting rock high up the mountain, the sun in full power, and as hot as with us in July ; a valley below us, a high hill (the Monte Sacro) op- posite, we ourselves surrounded with myrtle, wild lavender, and arbutus loaded with fruit ; and all below and opposite, the same splendid foliage. In the distance, Soracte, as Horace says ' Vides ut alta stet nive candidum, Soracte/ and to the right the blue Mediterranean. " The assemblage of the boar hunt at luncheon was most curious ; forty dogs of every degree, from the turnspit to the wolf-hound, upwards of seventy native chasseurs with guns in their hands, clad in skins, and fame is a lying vixen if they do not at odd times do a little in the bandit line : but here we were upon honour. Two foxes, two deer, and six boars were the product of the excursion. I have wild boar enough to stock a butcher's shop ; one of the boars was the biggest that has been killed for eight years, weighing 400lbs. I have the tusks of the second/which are awkward weapons. You will want to know what F. and I did ; but I am as modest in relation, as valiant in deeds of arms, and so I only say that each of us did as much as any gentleman of the party. We started for home by moonlight, my donkey had 1839. SHOOTING ON THE NUMICIAN LAKE. 461 been usurped, and I bestrode another of no generous breed ; go he would not, and we were left behind. Again I changed with Spink, to whom Fortune had given a capital horse, and I soon joined and headed our party. Well was it we re- gained the party, or we should assuredly have slept in the open field or in the cave of a bandit ; for after a time I was seized with a furious cramp, and had to be hauled off my horse, and this delayed us half an hour. " December 25. 1 83p. "Last night I finished the history of our excursion against the boars on Monte Sacro. I am now going to tell you of another district famous in classic lore. On Monday, Prince Borghese Aldobrandini, the DukeRoviero, Aubyn, Richards, Charles and I , t \vo dogs and a chasseur, started precisely at 4 A. M. for Ostia, the very spot where ^Eneaa pitched his camp, so if you wish to li:i \ o a description of it, you may turn to Virgil. We travelled about fifteen miles along a very decent road, the Tiber almost always close beside us. At length we came to a lake, * fontis vada sacra Nuraici,' on which, excepting Richards, we all embarked, each having a boat, and started in exact line up the lake, which was covered with wild fowl. I think we must have seen at one time at least a thousand upon the wing together. We had to sit in the boats and fire as they came by. The two boats that went near the reeds had plenty of sport, but as I was in the middle, and had but one gun, I diil not get many shots, and the position being awkward, and the distances very long, I was not exceedingly destructive. We got, however, upwards of seventy head, and it was something to be shooting wild fowl within sight of the grove I' pines recorded by Virgil, and on the very spot where .\i-n- and Knryalus perished. Pray read the story in Virgil, liook IX., and in Dryden for the benefit of the ladies. The most curious part of the affair was the test it afforded of the climate. On the 23d of December, I started on the lake, in a wet boat, before sunrise, without any thing on but my September .shooting clothes, and there I sat till 3 o'clock in the afternoon without mu\ing, no glove on my right hand. 462 ST. PETER'S. CHAP, xxviu. and my feet in damp hay ; a heavy fog prevailed during part of the morning, and we were often enveloped in thick reeds ; but during the whole time I had not a sensation of cold, and only suffered from the bite of musquitoes. " But now I must turn to Richards, who went to explore the ruins of Ostia. A discovery had lately been made there of a burial-place on the Insula Sacra on the Tiber. As yet little has been done towards robbing the tombs, so that he found a variety of interesting antiques, sarcophagi, urns, inscriptions &c. He brought us a perfect specimen of a lamp, and we are resolved to go, en masse, and lay our sacrilegious hands upon some of these treasures, and astonish the Antiquarian Society by the extent and novelty of our discoveries. To-day, I have been, for the first time, at St. Peters, and seen high mass performed by the Pope himself. But to tell you the truth, I and my scribe are very sleepy ; therefore, instead of at- tempting to give you a notion of the wonderful grandeur of the building, or the splendour of the ceremonies, I shall con- fine myself to saying that, as a show, it was pre-eminently grand ; as a service, there was ' Devotion's every grace, except the heart.' For ornament, for the display of wealth, for music, for, in short, a scene, fifty to one on St. Peter's Cathedral, against the Friends' Meeting at Plaistow ; for religion, for worship in spirit and in truth, fifty to one on Plaistow Meeting, against St. Peter's and all its glories ! " To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. " Rome, January 1. 1840. " * * The tramontane, or northern wind, has come down upon us and has cooled us ; nevertheless, we spent three hours yesterday most pleasantly, in walking to gether about the grounds of the Villa Albani ; as many the day before on the Palatine Hill. It is wonderful what a deal there is to see in this city. ' But in all their finery there is dirt, and, on the other hand, in the midst of their dirt, there is some remnant of magnificence. You 1840. THE VATICAN. 403 will see a palace and a pigstye close together ; and, moreover, the pigstye will have a small touch of the palace, and the palace a large toucli of the pigstye. Nothing, however, can exceed the beauty and luxuriance of the villas round about Rome. I only wish you had seen the deep blue sky over the Alhani villa; the residences of Cicero and Horace before us ; the hills, some of them covered with snow ; and a pro- fusion of roses and oranges growing in the gardens around. "January 3. 1840. " I yesterday went with a large party, for the first time, to the Vatican. I have, as you are aware, no knowledge of paintings or statues, no cultivated taste, no classical recollections ; and it is well for me I have not. That place would have set me raving ; it almost did as it was. You may walk there all day long, and at a good pace, too ; and at either side of you there is something which strikes the meanest capacity with admiration and reverence. There were two or three rooms full of birds and beasts in marble, to the very life ; and then there was the Apollo ; why, man, it is beautiful past description. It rivets your eyes. What a most wonderful people those Romans were, to have congregated together such a profusion of excellence ! Wi 11, if these sights produce such an effect upon me, old, obtuse, and unromantic as I am, woe betide those who come in their youth, and are lovers of the arts. It is enough to make them all daft. I am going to-morrow to wash off the effects of the Vatican, by some snipe shooting in the Pontinr Marshes." To Joseph J. Gurney, Esq. "January 6. 1840. " How passing strange it is, that I should write from Rome, addressing you in Barbados. I wish we could change places for a few days. Neither St. Peter's, nor the Capitol, imr the dying gladiator, nor Apollo himself, all beautiful as he is, are so iiitnv-tiiig to me as would be the of the Negroes, working for their own benefit, and 464 THOUGHTS ON ROME. CHAP. XXVIII. sheltered by law from the lash of the cart-whip. It is a sight I pant to behold. " And now as to my worthy self. I have enjoyed both the country and the wonderful works of art in Rome, more than I had any notion that I could. I sometimes laugh at my own romancings, and wonder that such an old, untaught man should give way to such true pleasure, in matters which he does not understand. Rome is, in truth, a wonderful place. There is hardly any thing more remarkable than the profusion of its treasures. What Rome must have been in its glory, when the relics are so surprising ! * * " Every thing bespeaks wonderful intellect on the part of the Romans ; but then the base, cruel, cowardly ruffians ! Fancy the whole population pouring into the Coliseum, to see the poor captives hew one another to pieces, and finding infinite delight and merriment in such a holiday I " To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. "January 21. 18-tO. "I picture to myself your arriving at Northrepps on Monday, January 13th, and you and your party hugely enjoying yourselves during the week; and I fancy I know precisely where you shot each day, if not the exact number of the slain. I thought you had an especial nice party ; but why did Gurney Hoare absent himself? I suppose that Ed- mund was at the top of the tree. I hope you took decent care of yourselves, age and wisdom being absent, I at Rome, and Sam Hoare at Lombard Street. You may well suppose that I was un pen faclie to be absent for more than twenty years from my humble task of attending to the wants and pro- moting the sport, of a rabble of boys. I was resolved, however, to console myself as best I might, and I accom- plished this so effectually, that I am ready to back the Pontine Marshes against all Norfolk. On Monday, most of our party embarked, with three dogs, on board a huge monster of a vehicle, and rumbled along to Albano. The next morning, our friend Cresswell, myself, the cacciatore, and our Italian servant Pittini, with three Italian pointers and 1840. SHOOTING ON THE PONTINE MARSHES. 465 little JUDO, pursued our voyage, leaving the boys and girls behind, and reached Cisterna at ten, where we had fair accom- modation, and made friends with another shooting-party, who breakfasted and dined with us. We shot in the woods, an immense tract of which extends on each side of the road. " The next day we did very little, our bag being only eighteen woodcocks; but oh ! such a mishap. While Cress- well and the cacciatore were diving through a thick fen in the wood, up sprung three wild boars within ten yards of them, two young ones, and one bigger than a donkey ! Cress- well thought them tame ones, and did not fire, though he had a clear and beautiful shot. The cacciatore gave them his two barrels in vain, and roared out to me; but before I could get a ball into my gun, one of the younger ones passed before me at about fifty yards. But what was the use of a charge of No. 6 at that distance? however, I had a perfect view of the fellow, as pure a wild boar as ever was littered, about the size of one of the pigs at Cross's. " On Thursday morning we passed early through Tre Ponti, the * Three Taverns' of Scripture, and thence went on, five miles further, to Appii Forum, so called now, and so called in the days of St. Paul. I read St. Paul's account of his journey, and on the road he traversed, and in view of the very same hills which he saw (and most remarkable hills they are), I pictured to myself his friends approaching, ' whom, when Paul saw, he thanked God and took courage.' " We had a letter from the Duke of Braschi, the owner of twenty miles square hereabouts, to his steward, whoreside< in an immense old building, once the palace of theBraschi ; and at an earlier period, a great monastery. The steward was ab.-cnt, and, alas! the key of the cellar was in his pocket; the servants, however, received us with all civility. " Our first inquiry was about beds. To look at, they were very well. 'Have they been slept in ?' I inquired. 'Oh! yes.' -Who >li-pt last in my bed?' ' The Duke of Braschi himself.' At ni^ht, when I was going to bed, I asked another little question, which wholly altered the view of things, and would have sent us back to Cisterna that night, II II 466 SHOOTING EXCURSIONS CHAP. XXVIII. if we had possessed any mode of conveyance. But, as it was, we were in for it. The unlucky question was, * When was the Duke last here?' 'Ten years ago was his last visit.' So my bed, it was quite clear, had not been slept in for ten years ! The house was haunted to the last degree ; it was quite a preserve of ghosts. But there were more rats than ghosts, more fleas than rats, more musquitoes than fleas, and more musical frogs than any of them. Oh ! such a concert, such an orchestra of bull-frogs, such a band of mosquitoes, and such a rattling of ghosts, (for assuredly they were ghosts if they were not rats,) all combined together, formed, if not as harmonious, at least as remarkable a chorus, as ever de- lighted mortal ears. In the morning I saw poor Cresswell ; in addition to my musicians, he had had four indefatigable cats, who during the live-long night had serenaded him for admission into his room, where our game was lodged, and over his window was a dovecote into which the rats were con- tinually making commandos ; in short, he had enjoyed such a concord of ' sweet sounds,' as conferred upon him what Milton calls 'a sober certainty of waking bliss.' 'I have not,' he exclaimed, ' slept a single wink all night.' ' How classical,' said I, ' you and Horace attempt to sleep on pre- cisely the same spot, and, for aught I know, in the same bed, and he tells us, ' Mali culices ranaeque palustres Avertunt somnos.' " We rode three miles along the canal which carried Horace, then entered a deep marsh with gigantic reeds. There were more snipes there than you ever saw, or ever will see, unless you come to Rome, and yet the people complained that they were very scarce. I believe it, for our sporting friends at Cisterna declared that the day before they had put up ten thousand ; but they had only bagged ten. The snipes were terribly wild ; and no wonder, for what between the peasants who are always at them, and the Romans who dedicate their Sabbaths to them, they are shot at every day in the week, and twice on a Sunday. We managed, however, to bring home twenty couple, a rail, a quail, a hare, and 840. ON THE PONTINE MARSHES. 467 three ducks. But the next day was the grand one. AVe went two miles further, and then entered a noble wood. It was almost impenetrably thick. We had a good stout fellow of a cacciatore, whom we brought from Rome. He wore a breeches-plate made of the skin of a wolf, which even the Human thorns could not penetrate ; he is a hunter of renown here, and his name is * Gabbiate,' which, literally translated, m. -a us * the uncombed.' I fought, I confess, rather shy of the bushes, and so did Juno, and so did two of our pointers, so also one of our two remaining beaters. In about a quarter of an hour this fellow emerged from the wood, and planted himself by my side ; but, as I was sneaking myself, I was up to his tricks, and by signs, sufficiently significant, sent him baek into the brambles. Of him we saw and heard no more till luncheon time, when he re -appeared with a pipe in his mouth ; and fur the remainder of the day, while we shot, he naked. The woodcocks flew about in every direction. If we had had Larry, and our crew of men, and every dog in North Krpingham, we might have done some work. But this was not the worst, we could not speak Italian, and our attendants could not understand a word of English ; and so, after a very superficial beating of this superb part of the wood, they marched us off, in spite of our unintelligible remon- strances, to another part, where we got but one woodcock and a few snipes, and our day was spoiled for want of being able to utter a sentence. Another illustration, added to a and before, of the evil of not speaking modern languages. However, this day yielded twenty-one woodcocks and nine snipes. Upon the whole you may well suppose that I enjoyed myself greatly; but you will hardly guess what it \\ M that pleased me most, it was the splendid day, and noble mountains, and dark forests, and glittering villages, anil various lights, that were, beyond snipes and woodcocks, the great attractions to me. " Feb. 3. 1840, 44. Via Condotti, Rome. " Now prepare your mind for an adventure which occurred to us in our shooting excursion on Saturday, into which good live banditti are introduced, and blows struck, and all the 11 H 2 468 ADVENTURE WITH ROBBERS. CHAP. XXVII. charming accompaniments of daggers and pistols. You will be dying, I am sure, to hear the story, and to learn the return of killed, wounded, and prisoners. But suspend your curiosity, be content with knowing, for the present, that our adventure is to-day the talk of all Rome, and that troops are sent off to the marshes to shoot, not snipes, but robbers ; at least I suppose so. But to business first, if you please. * * * * " Well, now, sleepy as I am, I will tell you our story: On Saturday morning, Aubin, I, and Spink, in the inside, our cacciatore and the coachman on the box, with our three dogs, started to Macarese after the snipes. You may remember that I told you in a former letter the distance of this marsh, also that we saw in the road the blood of a man who had been mur- dered the preceding night, and a little cross stuck into the hedge to commemorate the event. About half a mile further on, turning into a gate, we observed another cross, intimating that another murder had been committed since our last visit ; and I hear there is no part of the country where you will find a more choice collection of robbers and assassins than this same Macarese. I took Spink merely to attend me ; but he had the wit to borrow a little single-barelled gun, and as I saw he was bent upon signalising himself, I had not the heart to baulk him. Alas ! the waters were down, and the snipes were up, and, though we shot capitally, we only managed to get eleven couple. We might have brought home a rare stock of vipers if we had wished it, for we saw about a dozen in a quarter of an hour. When we were going to have luncheon I selected my spot, but little Juno made such a fuss that we looked into it, and saw a viper nearly two feet long. We removed, and out of the bush at our feet went another great banging fellow. " We lunched, however, and went again at the snipes. At length we started towards home ; but an unlucky jack snipe seduced Spink some way back again. He went after it and killed it. No sooner was his gun off, than from a broad, alir.ost impenetrable hedge, which crosses the swamp, out rushed two fellows; the first who arrived snatched his gun, the 1840. ADVENTURE WITH ROBBERS. 469 other seized his collar, gave him a hard kick on his leg, and drew a long knife out of his side-pocket. Could any situation be more forlorn ? we out of hearing, his gun discharged, his knees knocking together through terror, his head turning round and round, his heart in his mouth. I use his own ex- pressions, and never did I hear so vivid a description as he gave of the scene, for he lives to tell it. What did he do in such adversity ? Why exactly the right thing : he let go his gun, put his two hands into his waistcoat pockets, and pro- duced a pair of pocket pistols, loaded, capped, and cocked, and presented one at the breast of each robber ! The state of affairs was suddenly changed. The heroes, who a moment before jabbered so loud, and kicked so hard, turned tail, dropped the gun, and dashed into the hedge, and Spink re- mained master of the field of battle. But he did not keep it long. ' I seized the gun,' said he, * I did not know where I was, nor anything about it ; I ran through a pool up to my waist, and never stopped till I fell from fright and want of breath ; then I loaded and fired my gun as a signal of dis- tress.' Now I must tell you that we had waited nearly half an hour for him, somewhat disconcerted at being detained ; and thought it very cool of him to be following his sport while we were kicking our heels. This gave occasion to the atore to exercise the wit, for which he is famed. ' Why the man must have got a charm, he has had more shots than all of us put together, he must hereafter be called The For- tunate Youth.' Little did we dream that the poor fellow was then in the extremity of distress, hardly able to move, and not knowing whether his road lay to the right or to the It -ft. But upon hearing another gun fired by him, it oc- curred t<> me that he might be making signals, so having fired our guns, which .-insularly enough he never heard (probably he was 1\ in:: down in a kind of swoon from over exertion), I began to halloo as loud as ever I could, and at length he heard me, and was eluvred by the sound of my voice, and came running after us. " When he arrived near me, 1 was l>cirinniiiLr an oration to apprize him how we had been all kept waiting; when, on u ii 3 470 ADVENTURE WITH ROBBERS. CHAP. XXVHL looking into bis face I saw him pale as ashes, and looking most strange and bewildered. I immediately gave him some brandy, told him to compose himself, and at length we heard the history of his adventures. " His extreme satisfaction that he had not shot the two men, which if they had persisted a moment longer he certainly would have done ; his most natural and graphic description of his exquisite terror; his conviction that neither he nor his mistress would ever have been happy again if the blood of these men had been upon his hands ; his deep detestation of snipe shooting, marshes, Rome, and Romans; his solemn resolution never to quit my side if he had the misfortune again to go a shooting ; his vivid apprehensions, and most anxious inquiries whether we thought there was a chance of our getting back again to Rome without encountering a fresh gang of banditti these beguiled our way home. " Everybody approves the course he took ; and it seems likely to be the fashion for every one, in imitation of him, to carry pistols in their waistcoat pockets when they go out shooting. I ought to have told you that, probably, these fel- lows had been watching us all day. I saw one creeping along on the other side of the hedge some time before, and if I could have spoken Italian, should have tempted him to assume the place of my attendant which Spink had relin- quished. Well, there ends my story. I wish you could have heard him tell what he felt when these hideous fellows rushed out, and when the knife met his eyes. It was, as he told the story, not only very tragical, but irresistibly comical. To do him justice, however, I am right glad that the accident befel him and not me. I am afraid if I had had a pair of pistols in my hand, under such circum- stances, in such a fright, I should have had to bear upon my nerves a sense of two human beings plunged into a most awful eternity. But, good night. Rome is affluent in robbers, we hear of a robbery or murder every day, and a gang has taken post they say in a wood twelve miles off." * * This gang afterwards robbed Don Miguel, the ex-king of Portugal, as he was returning from a shooting excursion. 1840. PROPAGANDA MISSIONS. 471 To Samuel Hoare, Esq. "January 28. 1840. " Of one thing assure yourself, my visit to Rome has not tended to make me a Roman Catholic. This city hns as many fountains and as much dirt, as many priests and as much wickedness, as any in the world. Not, however, but that there is a great deal to admire here. The spirit and stimulus with which they urge forward their religion, is well worthy the imitation of Protestants. I was yesterday with Father Glover, one of five who rule the Jesuits, and he told me that their Propaganda Society for Missions, gets 40,000/. a year. " Their mode of proceeding is this : one man engages to collect the subscription, amounting to a halfpenny per week, from ten persons ; another, of a higher order, collects ten of these first, and so on ; so that, in substance, the last person i- answrraMe for the subscriptions of a thousand. Their plan, also, of Missions, is admirable; their missionaries in every country are instructed to look out for young men of talent and xcal, and likely to make good missionaries. These they import to Rome, and give them, in their Propaganda College, a first-rate education. They detain them there, if upon their first coming they understand the rudiments of Latin, &c., seven years, otherwise twelve, and then send them back as Binaries to the country from which they were taken. In this way, they have here at present under education, 130 young men from all parts of the world, and recently discourses were delivered by them in forty-three different lan^ua-jvs : ami they seem a body of very intelligent and well-educated youths. No wonder, then, that their religion spreads as it seems to lie doini;. In 1825, they had but thirteen Catholics in (Juiana, and now there are 5000 1 "When the United States separated from Great Britain, they had one bishop, twenty prie-ts ami a small Catholic population. They have now )i 11 4 472 ROMAN PRISONS. CHAP. XXVIII- 1,500,000 Catholics! Surely these facts, which I collected from the head of the Jesuits, are both stimulating and instructive. " Excuse me for putting all this down. I keep no journal, and only contrive to record the facts which I wish to re- member, by inflicting them upon somebody, in the shape of an epistle. I will only add, that I think we must have a grand college at Antigua, or somewhere, for youths from all the tribes of Africa. " But now for another matter, on which I am really distressed for the want of your assistance. You advise me to visit the prisons. The fact is, I have been doing so. I thought it a shame for an old prison fancier to be here with so much to be seen in this way, and not to devote some portion of his leisure to it. I therefore made a formal applica- tion to the Cardinal Minister, and almost immediately I received, to the astonishment of both Romans and English, a full permission to visit all the gaols, with the offer of every species of information ; also all the hospitals, and all the places for education. To the two last, the Cardinal offered to accompany me ; but, as yet, I have not been to them, and it is very likely I shall not have time, but a party of us have gone the round of the prisons within Rome. To- morrow, I visit the prison hospitals; and on Friday next, I go to two large out-lying gaols. I shall then have com- pleted this part of my work, as far as Rome is concerned. There are some large prisons at a distance within the Papal Dominions, and these I shall endeavour to see. " The subject has attracted some attention. The Romans are mightily taken with it, and look upon the permission given to me, as an unheard-of instance of liberality on the part of their Sovereign, and beg that I will avail myself of the opportunity and speak out. Three English noblemen have been amongst the number of my companions, and they are engaged to go with me on Friday. I was yesterday taken by one of them to Lord Shrewsbury, who tells me, that Prince Borghese is inclined to establish a Prison Disci- pline Society. This is what I am at now. 1840. ROMAN PRISONS. 473 " The state of the prisons is substantially this : they are very clean (to be sure they knew we were coming, and it must be remembered throughout, that we were never able to take them by surprise), the rooms are very lofty, and the air always fresh and good ; the provisions good in quality, and, I should think, sufficient. But one of the questions which I c-pecially want you to give me an answer upon, is, what, in addition to a ladle-full of weak meat soup, being in quantity, I should imagine, about three quarters of a pint, ought to be the allowance of bread for a prisoner, not in solitude and not employed? " I now come to the defects. There is no such thing as clarification, except, indeed, an attempt upon a small scale, \\ ith regard to boys. Male prisoners of all ages and for all crimes, from common assault to murder, are congregated to- gether. In one instance, there were 200 in one spacious room. There is no inspection whatsoever. There is no work for the great majority. The felons convicted and sentenced for long periods, are worked in the public streets ; but the re- mainder, tried and untried (and they amount to several hun- dreds), have nothing whatever to do. There is no regular gaol delivery ; so that we met with several persons who had been detained before trial, for upwards of a year. There is no school ; and, with the exception of mass on the Sunday, and the repetition of a creed at nightfall, there is little effort made to convey religious instruction. These, I think, are the leading particulars. I should have said, however, that tli re are no chains, except for persons convicted of infamous crimes (answering to our felonies), and that there is neither the solitary nor the silent system. \o\v, then, I want you and Crawford to tell me what I .-lnmld ur^e upon the Government. They have plenty of space about their #iols, so that there is room enough within the walls fur any improvement ; but the Government is poor. "I find myself considerably at a loss from my inability to rc\ive my old Prison Discipline lore. I am doing my best to :i book, irhii-li I tlunh I our, read; it was written in tin: curlier stu^c.s of the Prison Discipline Question, and is 474 ROMAN INSTITUTIONS. CHAP. XXVHL called, if I recollect right, ' Buxton on Prison Discipline.' If I get this, it will be something ; but I look far more to an immediate communication from you and Crawford. " Neri, who I understand bears the title of Chancellor, and is a very intelligent man, accompanied me through all the gaols, and has earnestly asked me to apply, both to our Govern- ment and your Society, for any documents, plans, c., which might be useful to a Government desiring to improve its prisons. So, if you please, you must get me what your Society can furnish, and Crawford must apply to the Marquis of Normanby, who will, I am sure, cheerfully lend his assis- tance in such a cause. " Executions are rare, especially considering that murders ai'e so plentiful. They told me that there were only two or three in a year. I ought to add that books are not allowed to the prisoners except by special permission. We saw, I think, but four or five in all the gaols. " Not another moment have I, except to say that I heartily hope the boys enjoyed themselves as much in their Norfolk excursion, as you and I used to do some thirty years ago." To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. " January 30. 1840. " I went yesterday with Richards to the Santo Spirito Hospital. It beats every thing of the kind we have in England, and is a most noble institution. I measured one room, 170 yards long, and broad and lofty in proportion. There were four rows of beds, all superlatively clean, the ventilation perfect : another room as large above, and into each of these, other rooms opened, all very spacious. It is capable of containing 1400 patients. There are 260 at- tendants, including 90 young physicians and surgeons. Any person, no matter of what country, or of what religion, has a right to admission, and they have never been reduced to the necessity of sending any one away for want of room. The museum with preparations of the human body in every form, the library, the lecture-rooms, &c., &c., are all admirable. 1840. ROMAN INSTITUTIONS. 475 Tlu v have thirteen resident chaplains. In short, every thing was of huge dimensions, and in the highest order. Annexed to it was a criminal prison. There was also a mad-house, in which there was no solitary confinement, and only ten out of ili.- whole number had strait waistcoats; and these were concealed under their clothes. They told us that one-fourth were annually dismissed as cured. There was also a Foundling Hospital, and an institution for the girls who had brought up in it. We saw 550 of these damsels all employed ; and they have one curious plan. Any body who wants a wife may order one at this shop. He has but to knock at the door, prove that he his respectable, and then tin \ are singly paraded before him, and he has to pick out one to his liking ; and, after a time, he carries her off, and with her ;x hundred crowns. What fine fun the ladies must when any one comes to inspect them ! The old abbess who accompanied us seemed highly amused by our diligent in- quiries, especially on this point ; and by the notes we took." On the 31st of January Mr. Buxton writes at great length to Mrs. Johnston about his Slave Trade book, which had undergone considerable revision since his departure, and he expresses his most cordial con- currence in all the proposed alterations. The letter then proceeds " But I must tell you about the dinner party at Lord Shrewsbury's yesterday. Except myself, and, I think, one more, there was no one who had not some mark of nobility in his coat There were three ambassadors, some English noblemen, and about half a dozen princes, twenty-four in all. I had scarcely entered the room before a Monsignor seized my hand and all'e ted to kiss it ; this was the Governor of lioin.-. who had j/iven us the order of admission into all the prisons, hospitals, &c. lie and I had a very interest inir conversation, and as long a one as could well be expected, -iderintr that he understood but two words of English, and 1 about three of Italian. Oh! this plague of languages! 476 THE DUG DE BOKDEAUX. CHAP. XXVIII. Next came up Prince Borghese, a very pleasing young man, who spoke a little English, and before whom I threw the proposal that he should become the chairman of a Prison Discipline Association. I was afterwards introduced to the Due de Bordeaux, with whom I had some conversation on the Slave Trade, and who expressed a wish to see my book. He also said mighty civil things. Poor fellow ! he has a sweet expression of countenance ; conceive Mrs. , with the same expression, and the same extreme clearness and clean- liness of skin, but with broader features and a stouter person, and a heavier eye, and you have a good picture of the man. " The Pretender's course is not a smooth one. If he has either extreme of character he may do well. Let him be excessively quiet, devoid of ambition and enterprize, that may do. Or let him be clever, daring, sagacious, ambitious and commanding, and that, perhaps, will do. But, if there is any mixture in his composition, if the least dash of adven- ture is coupled with his love of ease ; or the least love of peace is mingled with his ambition, he will assuredly be a martyr. One cannot see the Duke without liking him, and wishing that he may have the good sense to steer clear of turbulent politics. At dinner I sat next to Lady Shrewsbury's sister, who told me every thing about every body. Among the rest, that that beautiful refined creature, the Princess D , actually goes every day in the Holy Week to wash the feet of the patients in the hospital. Well, well, good people may abhor the Roman Catholics if they please, and may feel, as I do, that they are led dangerously astray in their doctrines, but I never will join in setting them down as creatui'es devoid of deep feelings of religion, nor can I deny that there is humility and self-denial in such an act as I have described. " I will now tell you a circumstance which, as I think Andrew Johnston was a party in the matter, will please him, as I confess it did me. Does he recollect that a clergyman named Nixon wrote to me from Ireland, complaining of the operation of the law, by Avhich he and several others severely suffered ; some losing a third, some half, and, in two or three 1840. THE SAN MICHELE ASYLUM. 477 cases, all their income ? Does he recollect also that I took up the case, and got Lord Morpeth to insert a curing clause in the Irish Church Bill? That Bill, however, was thrown out; so I presumed that my effort had been fruitless. Not so, however; Nixon is here, and tells me that last year, when there was a new Church Bill, they reminded Morpeth of his promise, my clause was again introduced, it became law; a hundred clergymen in his diocese, and an equal proportion in all the other dioceses were greatly benefited by it, and some very deserving men saved from complete ruin. This has really pleased me, I am glad that my slight effort has contributed to the comfort of these good people. "Februarys. 1840. " I had fixed to start early this morning snipe shooting, but the rain has kept me in. I have been in Rome now nearly two months, and till a week past we had no rain; but when it does come it is in right down earnest. To walk along the streets then, is as if there were people at every window throwing buckets full of water at you. It is calculated that the number of days of rain at Rome is one-third less than in London ; while the quantity of rain which actually falls here is one-third more. " On Wednesday next I am engaged to the Prince of Mu- signano, Bonaparte's nephew and heir, who, if we had been lieaten at Waterloo, would probably have been king of the world. Not that I believe a word of this. I am well per- suaded that there is a good Providence over England, and that while sheisemployed in abolishing slavery and the Slave Trade, sending out missions and Bibles, she is safe enough, both from chartists and French. We have a great many friends here. In the mornings, I have for some time been visiting the prisons, hospitals, c., two or three days a week, and afterwards joining the ladies. On Tuesday I finished the prisons by seeing the San Michcle. This is an asylum for orphans, old men and old women (several hundreds of each i, and a very good one it is. Annexed to it was a female prison, 280 women in it ; some imprisoned for life, others for periods from twenty years, down to one. It is a wretched 478 THE JESUITS. CHAP. XXVIII. place, with next to no instruction. Of the 280 prisoners only thirty could read. Why don't they elect me Pope ? The army of priests should soon have something to do in the way of Infant Schools, &c. I am going to make a report to the Governor here, who has been excessively liberal in furnishing me with information ; but I am sadly distressed for want of my book on Prisons. " On Tuesday, as I said, after seeing the San Michele, I went with Lord Meath, Lord De Mauley, and Richards, to the church of St. Augustino. The panels adjacent to the altar were covered with knives and pistols, which had been presented by robbers and murderers to the Virgin. I suppose you have heard of Spink's adventure ; it made us look upon the knives with something more of interest. On Wednes- day we went to the Corsini Palace : there are two such pictures there of Christ, with a crown of thorns ; the one, the Ecce Homo of Guercino, the other, in some respects still more touching, by Carlo Dolce. There was also the exquisite picture of the Virgin and Child, by Murillo. I longed to steal it. Yesterday we saw a splendid collection at the Borghese Palace, and then we had a long conver- sation with a Jesuit. I am very anxious to make my- self master of their system of missions and of that of the Lyons Society. They seem to effect so much, with means so limited ; besides, I am persuaded they are upon the right principle. Their whole fight is for native missionaries. Their first act is to establish schools, in which, however, the instruction of the people is a very secondary object; the main purpose being to get a number of children, so far edu- cated that they may pick out a few fitted by talent, dispo- sition, and ready reception of Christianity, to be sent to Rome to receive a thorough education. Here they detain them, in some cases for seven, in others for twelve years, and send them back, well instructed as missionaries, to their own country. " Now I must tell you that the Jesuits and I are playing a game of chess. They hope, I fancy, from my willingness to listen, from my eagerness to learn, from my ready laudation of all that I find reason to approve, that they will make me a 1840. TUB JESUITS. 47 \) convert to Popery. I, on the other hand, wish to make myself master of the secrete of the system which has rendered tin- Jesuit missions so eminently successful ; and I tell them, without reserve, that this is my object. Never- thele.-.-. tiny ure vastly communicative. " I was adverse to the Catholic religion when I left Eng- land, because I saw the error of their doctrines ; but now, when I see in their practice the fruit of their system, and the de- pravity of the people that are so taught, 1 am still more -tant than ever, if it be possible. To do them justice, preaching Christ is part of their practice, but the divine powers of our Saviour are shared with the Virgin Mary, and she takes not only the mother's share, but the lion's portion. Then their system of religion seems to be destitute of spiritu- ality. Moreover, they seem to teach scarcely any morality. I found my wife yesterday announcing to our Italian maid the novel intelligence of the Ten Commandments. This girl had had an education, but apparently not a very profound one ; for according, as she said, to the practice of Rome, she had only re- mained at school one week, in order to learn how to say mass. " I have just been looking out of the window at the rain, the like of which I never saw, except on one occasion, when, as some one described it, * the drops were as thick as hail, and every drop a pail full.' Collier (the Jesuit) told us of a speech of a priest in Maranham against slavery, of so power- ful a nature that after it the whole congregation liberated tluir slaves; and he said that priests in slave colonies had been the natural and enthusiastic protectors of the Negroes. II also used or quoted a sentence which just hit the mark in my mind. Speaking of some one he said, ' He is of the IH ly of the church, but not of its soul.' " Among all the amusements of Rome, his mind con- tinually turned to his accustomed objects of interest. He thus writes to the Bishop of Calcutta on the 15th of 1-Vliruary: " I ne ly say that I feel deeply your promptitude in acting upon my letter relating to the Indian slaves. It 480 INDIAN SLAVERY. CHAP. XXVIII. was just like yourself, and reminded me of the Daniel Wilson who used to pour his whole heart into a good cause, and who, unvexed with the cautions and qualifications of ordinary men, threw the whole weight of his influence into the right scale. I have no doubt that this movement of yours will be attended with real advantage. I regret that I have little further intelligence to communicate to you. There was, towards the conclusion of last session, so much party spirit, and such a nice balance of parties, that Lushington thought it inexpedient to bring on the question of East Indian slavery. This discretion is scarcely in consonance with my dis- position ; I am more inclined for working, in season or out of season, with the tide, or against it. But, on the other hand, Lushington is most true and faithful to the cause ; knows far better than I do the temper of the present House of Commons, and is swayed by no other motive than a desire to act for the best. I send him a copy of your remarks, which cannot fail to be an encouragement to him.- I expect to be in England in April, and you shall then know what is intended to be done; but assure yourself of this, the question will not be allowed to go to sleep. I learn that a grand Anti-slavery congress is to meet in London next June ; and India will form one great branch of discussion. " Now for another subject, the Slave Trade. Again I must express the pleasure which your cordiality gave me. The Government have, as I told you before, embraced and adopted my plan, and have acceded to our request that an expedition shall proceed up the Niger, in order to make treaties with the native powers, and to explore the country ; and, possibly, to acquire territory, on which we may set the example of growing cotton. The expedition will sail in October. It will consist of three steamers of large dimen- sions but of little draught of water. They will be commanded by Christian officers, some of them renouncing better pros- pects, and going in a true missionary spirit. I have consi- derably enlarged my e Remedy,' and have especially dwelt on Christian education, and the elevation of the native mind. I do not enter here into particulars, because I have ordered a 1840. M.AVE TRADE. 481 copy to be forwarded to you as soon as it is printed, and also a copy of the prospectus of our new Society, which is some- thing akin to our old African Institution. " I nni vexed to tell you that Fernando Po is not as yet acquired: the negotiation is, however, still going on, and till that be settled, one way or the other, the Government object to my book being published. It is vexing enough thus to l>e kept in suspense, or rather it would be so, if I did not feel a comforting assurance that there is a great and guiding hand regulating all our movements. " I am happy to tell you that there is true harmony among the friends of the cause. Two of its principal sup- porters are Sir Robert Inglis and Lushington. "We have many others with the same views belonging to the two great political parties. Our prospectus, too, will be signed by the llishop of London, and by the heads of the Methodists, Baptists, Quakers, &c. " It grieves me that we cannot agree upon one great and uniform system of religious instruction. Men will divide their affections between their religion and the denomination to which they belong. But what we cannot do as one great body, must be effected by us as separate bodies. If you ask me what of all things I should best like, I answer, to see somewhere on the coast of Africa, in a healthy situation, a t Black College, for the education of native missionaries and schoolmasters for Africa, on the purest and most evan- gelical principles. That is what we want. Without Christianity all our efforts will be but idle dreams; and happy am I to say that this is the unanimous and avowed M ntiment of our Society. If you like our prospectus, I must ask you to permit me to enrol your name amongst our members." To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. " February 15. 1840. " On Thursday, after a busy morning, I went with Kirhards and had a thorough study of the Forum, and stood on the very spot where Cicero pronounced his speeches? ndt Catiline; and where, in view of the Capitol, he I I 482 THE FORUM. CHAP. XXVIII. uttered those noble words, ' Turn tu, Jupiter, quern Statorem hujus urbis atque imperil vere nominamus, hunc et hujus so- cios a tuis aris, ceterisque templis, et tectis urbis, ac moenibus, a vita fortunisque civium omnium arcebis, et seternis sup- pliciis vivos mortuosque mactabis.' This was in the senate, then held in the Temple of Concord. I also saw the place where the rostrum stood, from which the orators used to address the people at large : also the Temple of Antoninus, and the one which Augustus dedicated to Jupiter Tonans, in commemoration of his servant being killed at his side by a thunderbolt ; also the well-preserved and beautiful remains of the Temple of Fortune. What scenes have passed within a stone's throw of the spot where I stood ! There Romulus fled from the Sabines, and there he rallied, and built a temple to Jupiter Stator ; there the Gracchi had their tumultuous meetings ; there Anthony made his oration over the dead body of Caesar; and there the Roman senate issued their decrees affecting "all the known world, which they say were designed, ' Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos,' which, properly translated, means ' to slaughter those who resist and to make slaves of the rest.' I put down all this parade of learning, (with much of which Richards has crammed me,) with no view to your edification, still less for your amuse- ment ; but when one has more learning than one knows what to do with, it is very convenient to deposit it in a letter, where it is safe for future use without the trouble of carrying it about." -I S3 CHAPTER XXIX. 1840. 1 Kl-OXS AT CTVTTA VECCHTA. ITALIAN BANDITTI. GASPARONI. II.I.NESS. NAPLES POMPEII PROSPECT OF A WAR BE- TWEEN NAPLES AND ENGLAND. EXCITEMENT AT NAPLES. MR. BUXTON RETURNS TO ENGLAND. To Samuel Hoare, Esq. " March 3. " I HAVE had occasion to remember the excursion to the pri.-im at St. Albans, which you and I took long ago, when, on Monday morning, Richards and I were trotting along in a diligence to Civita Vecchia. The gaol there, which was the object of our journey, is an old and strong fortress close by the sea, and contains 1,364 desperate-looking criminals, all for the most aggravated offences. I am sure you never saw such a gang of malefactors, or such a horrid dungeon. We went, first, into a vaulted room, with a low ceiling, as I measured it, thirty-one yards long, twenty-one broad. There was light, but obscure. A good deal of the room was taken up by the buttresses which supported the arches. The noise on our entrance was such as may be imagined at the cm ranee of hell itself. All were chained most heavily, and fastened down. The murderers and desperate bandits are fixed to that spot for the rest of their lives; they are chained to a ring, fastened to the end of the platform, on which they lie side by side, but they can move the length of their chain on a narrow gangway. Of this class, there were upwards of 700 in the prison ; some of them famed for a mul- tituilr of murders ; many, we were told, had committed six or seven ; and, indeed, they were a ghastly crew, haggard, ferocious, reckless assassins. I do not think that the at- tendant gaoler very much liked our lu.-inir there. A sergeant, in uniform, was ordered to keep close by me: and 1 observed i i 2 484 PRISONS AT CIYITA VECCIIIA. CHAP. XXIX. that he kept his hand upon his sword, as we walked up the alley between the adjacent platforms. " There was a fourth room at some distance, and our guide employed many expedients to divert us from going there. ****** This was worse than any of the others : the room lower, damper, darker, and the prisoners with, if possible, a more murderous look. * * * * The Mayor afterwards told us, that he in his official capacity knew that there was a murder every month among the prisoners. I spoke to a good many of them, and, with one exception, each said that he was con- demned for murder or stabbing. I will tell you one short conversation : ' What are you here for ? ' said I, to a heavy- looking fellow, lying on his back at the end of the room. He made no answer; but a prisoner near him, with the sharp features and dark complexion of an Italian, promptly said, ' He is here for stabbing ' (giving a thrust with his hand to show how it was done). ' And why is he in this part of the prison!' * Because he is incorrigible.' * And what were you condemned for ? ' * For murder ! ' ' And why placed here ? ' * Sono incorrigibile.'* * * * In short, this prison combines to- gether in excess, all the evils of which prisons are capable. It is, as the Mayor said, a sink of all the iniquity of the state. The Capuchins certainly preach them a sermon on the Sunday, and afford them an opportunity of confession ; of which, if the prisoners avail themselves, the priests must have enough to do. The sight of it has kindled in my mind a very strong desire, that the old Prison Discipline Society should make a great effort, and visit all the prisons of the world. I had hoped, that sound principles of prison discipline had spread themselves more widely ; but I now fear that there are places, and many of them, in the world, in which it is horrible that human beings should live, and still more horrible that they should die. "March 4. " Having in yesterday's letter given you a heavy and dreary account of the prisons here, I must now furnish you with a history of some of their inmates. In the citadel 1840. ITALIAN BANDITTI. 485 of Civita Vecchia, Gasparoni and his gang arc confined, and have been so for the last fourteen years. There are many vned robbers in this country, but none so celebrated as thi< Gasparoni; and I had the honour of an interview of t\v<> hours with him and his band. He is a very fine-looking fello\v, about five feet eleven high, with as strong and brick- vail an arm as ever I felt, except, perhaps, General Turner's ; lu- wore an old velvet coat, which had seen service with him, and :i large peaked hat. There was nothing ferocious in the ex- pression of his countenance. I am going to have his picture taken, a compliment which his appearance well deserves ; for I the beau ideal of a Robin Hood or Rob Roy. By his .-'nil- there was a fiendish-looking wretch, who plagued us with hi< interruptions. This fellow is said to have joined the band chiefly from his love of human blood, and his post was that of executioner. " Gasparoni was very communicative ; only that either from the modesty which belongs to great men, or some latent hope of pardon, he greatly underrates his own exploits. For example, to my question, * How many people have you mur- dered ?' he replied, ' I cannot exactly recollect, somewhere about sixty ! ' whereas it is notorious that he has slaughtered at least double the number. Indeed, the Mayor of Civita hia assured me, that he had received authentic in- formation of 200; but he believed that even that number -till below the mark. This man, according to his own account, when he was but a young lad, killed a person in a quarrel and fled to the mountains, where he was joined by a few youn^ men of similar character. Before he was twenty years old, he had committed ten murders, and was at the head of a band of fifteen or twenty robbers, which afterwards amountrd to about thirty of his own bodyguard; but there two .r thix-e other bands under separate commanders, one of whom was his brother; he, however, was lord paramount. ' It is incontestable that he kept a district of country of at me hundred mile.- in riivumt'erence, between Rome and Naples, in the utmost terror and subjection. Those propri- I I o 486 ITALIAN BANDITTI. CHAP. XXIX. etors who were not slain by him, fled the country, and were obliged to receive such a modicum of rent, as the tenants who compounded with Gasparoni chose to pay ; but the black mail which he levied was not extravagant. The Government at first offered 200 crowns for his head. This mounted up at last to 3000 crowns, and that was the fixed price for many years, and a thousand soldiers were regularly employed in hunting him. * But how then,' said I, ' did you escape ? ' * That you will never understand,' he replied, ' till you see the rocks and precipices that are there. I and my men knew every turn ; we have often been close to the soldiers, and let them pass us, when they had no notion they had such near neighbours.' Gasparoni had many conflicts with the military, in which he was uniformly successful ; but in one affair he received a ball in the lower part of his neck, the scar of which he showed us. He described one conflict, in which, with ten or twelve of his men, he beat off, as he said, thirty soldiers ; but the ill-looking scoundrel by his side said there were full sixty. " Gasparoni's head-quarters were at Sonnino, where his wife and children resided, and where the whole population were devoted to him. This town had obtained so evil a reputation that on his surrender the Pope made a great effort to get it rased to the ground, but could not get the assent of the proprietor. I was interested by learning from him that the haunts he chiefly occupied for the purpose of observing the road, were the three little towns perched on the rock, and shining like silver, Cora, Norma, and Sermo- neta, which had so much attracted my admiration when I was at Appii Forum. He told me that he had spent a large proportion of his plunder upon spies at Rome, by whom he was made acquainted with the plans designed for his capture, and who also told him what persons coming along the road were worth catching ; if emissaries were sent for the purpose of entrapping him, he was forewarned, and the vengeance he took on them was terrible. He crucified one of these men, and wrote underneath, ' Thus Gasparoni treats all spies. ' Pie cut out the heart and liver of another, and sent them back to the man's widow. 1840. GASPAKONI. 487 " If any persons in the towns were active against him, he always found means to punish them. If their offence was not very deep, they received a letter ordering them to pay, on a certain day, at a certain place, 1000 or 2000 scudi; and such was the terror of his name, that these demands were gene- rally obeyed. Some of the magistrates in the strong town of Ti narina, thinking themselves secure within their walls, ventured to incur his displeasure. Soon after, the boys of tin chief school, while taking a walk near the gates, were surpri>ed by him and his men, and carried away to the mountains ; and a message was sent to the parents of almost all, fixing the amount of ransom, upon the payment of which they were restored. But the children of those who had ex- a-pi -rated him were not allowed to escape, their heads were sent back in a sack. Of the truth of this dreadful story there can be no doubt. A friend of mine asked Gasparoni about it ; he admitted that he had seized the children, but siid nothing about the murders. The gentleman said to him, ' 1 have heard more than this, I have been told you cut off the heads of three of them.' 'It is false,' said Gasparoni ; * it was but two.' " Mr. Jones, the banker here, told me that last October he saw a man who had been one of this party of boys, and who d< -i Tibed to him the whole scene of their capture and of their !ence in a cavern among the mountains. This man ac- tually saw Gasparoni plunge his knife into the body of his two victims. Mr. Jones also told us that he had travelled t In ough the country where Gasparoui and his men used to hide tlieni.-elvr.- ; but such was still the terror of his name, and the painful associations connected with it, that he could not get re.- prc table persons to speak on the subject, nor could he pn-vail upon any one to be his guide to their cavern. The 'ii, who, when a boy, had been carried to the mountains, \\ a- the mo.-t communicative. As Mr. Jones was walking with him on a little terrace adjacent to the walls of Terracina, he -topped at the corner of a wall, and said, * Such a one, an ulliccr of the town, had rambled thus far at mid-day, Gaspa- i I 4 488 ITALIAN BANDITTI. CIIAIV XXiX. roni sprang out of that hedge, struck him with his knife, and here he fell dead.' " You must know that Gasparoni, according to his own account, was especially merciful. He protested that he had never murdered merely from the love of blood; but he seemed to think there was no harm in killing, and admitted that he had killed many who came as spies to entrap him, or who presumed to make resistance. Rumour says, however, that he was by no means so squeamish. A friend of mine came up to a diligence which had just been plundered, and found that the whole party, including several priests, had all been wounded, although none of them mortally. They said that the first intimation they had of their danger was a volley from the whole gang, and my friend took out of the lining of the carriage a whole handful of shot of all sizes. " It is odd enough that Gasparoni is very religious now ; he fasts not only on Friday, but adds a supererogatory Saturday. He told me that he repented of his former life ; but what it was he regretted I could not well make out, for he expressly justified the occasions in which he had proceeded to extre- mities with spies or travellers who resisted him. But curious as his theology now is, it is still more strange that, according to his own account, he was always a very religious man. I asked him whether he had fasted when he was a bandit. He said 'Yes.' * Why did you fast?' said I. < Per die sono della religione della Madonna.' * Which did you think was worst, eating meat on a Friday or killing a man ? ' He answered without hesitation, ' In my case it was a crime not to fast, it was no crime to kill those who came to betray me.' With all his present religion, however, he told the Mayor of the town the other day, that if he got loose the first thing he would do would be to cut the throats of all the priests : and the Mayor said in this he perfectly believed him, and if he were now to break out he would be ten times worse than ever. One fact, however, shows some degree of scrupulosity. The people of the country bear testimony that he never com- mitted murder on a Friday ! " The Mayor said the only good thing he ever knew him 1840. GASPAHONI. 489 iv illy do, was this: he took an Austrian officer and his newly married bride and carried them up to the hills. His gang ;>cd her of all her clothes and proposed to kill her, but this he resisted, and ultimately sent her and her husband back in safety. It is some deduction from his humanity on -ion to hear, as I did from another quarter, th.it the Austrian general, hearing of the capture, sent word to Gas- paroni that if any injury was done to his officer, or if he was not directly restored, he would send 4000 men against him, u ho should be quartered in the village, and on his friends, till he should be taken. " Gasparoni told me that he had never taken an English- man to the mountains. I asked him why, rather expecting that he would reply with some gross flummery, but he answered very simply, * Because I never had the luck to catch one!' He assured me that he had not in all taken above fifteen or twenty persons to the hills, but the current report makes the number upwards of two hundred. From these he was inexorable in extorting the precise sum that he fixed upon as their ransom. It is well known that he ob- tained from a Neapolitan nobleman, who is still living, 4000 scudi. The Mayor told me that an intimate friend of his was cajitured by him, and the sum demanded was his weight in .-ilviT ; his friends being unable to pay this, at the end of a fortnight received his head neatly packed up in a basket! All, however, who did return, bear testimony to their good faro, and to his good humour ; and his courtly, and somewhat delicate conduct, while they were his guests in the cavern. " One incident which was related to me, is in part attested by many living witnesses. A wedding was celebrated in a part of the country at some distance from his haunt. When dinner was placed on the table, a man, fully armed, but un- known to the guest-, stalked in and seated himself by the side of the bride, with a kind of trumpet between his knees. The :_Mir-t-. Miinewhat startled, showed little disposition to eat; and the bridegroom told the intruder that * it was not usual f.-r a stranger to take the post he occupied.' He replied, ' I am no stranger. I am ( i:i-j>aroni, I am a friend to the bride; eat, 490 CAPTURE OF GASPARONI. CIIAP. XXIX. and be at your ease, or you will make me her enemy.' It is said his terrible name rather quenched the merriment and appetite of the party. At length Gasparoni sounded his horn, two troops came rushing down the hill, and seized the bride, Gasparoni saying, * I told you I was her friend, and I show it by taking her away with me.' It would be well if the story stopped here, but it is said that she was afterwards murdered. " You will wish to know how he was taken. He became such a nuisance, that partly from the strength of the military parties, which were constantly sent in pursuit of him, and partly from the diminution of traffic on the road, his funds became short, and he could not pay his spies. The Govern- ment then took the decisive measure of seizing all his rela- tions and friends, and those who supplied him with food and ammunition ; in other words, the whole population of Sonnino. Without money, and half starved, unable to obtain intelli- gence, and surrounded on all sides by troops, he was on the point of being captured, when he listened to the proposals of a priest, who, as it is said, went beyond the authority given him, and offered him a full pardon and a pension ; upon which he and his comrades surrendered, and hence it was that I had the opportunity of seeing him, surrounded by twenty -one ruf- fians, the remainder of his band. I asked him which of them was the man he chiefly trusted, in other words, who was his lieutenant ; he answered, ' My gun was my only lieutenant ; that never failed to obey me.' " He complains loudly of the violation of the promise made to him, and still seems to dream of being liberated. He was the son of a herdsman, and cannot read or write ; but his little demon-like executioner, who stood by his side, is said to be a tolerable scholar. He amuses himself by making caps, of which I bought three. I have hardly done justice to Ms appearance : he is greatly superior in this respect to those around him. He has the air of a chieftain, and, though his look is very commanding, there is something far from un- pleasing in his face ; it is decidedly handsome in features, but the expression also is gentle and intellectual. While speak- 1840. ROBBER STORIES. 491 ing with me, he looked me full in the face the whole time. I told him that I intended to have his likeness taken for a par- ticular purpose, of which you shall know more another time. Ilr -aid he had no objection. I told him that the painter would m >t lie able to come for some time. * No matter,' said he, * let him suit himself, he will always find me at home.' " It is quite astonishing how much terror was attached to his name. One proof of its surviving, even to this time, I witnessed when I was shooting at Appii Forum ; for at the distance of every three or four miles on the road there were military stations or huts : in some of which, indeed, they still keep soldiers. " A curious incident was related to me last night by Captain Franks. He was travelling along the road from Naples to Rome, when the Austrians had possession of the country, and were sending a large sum of money to their army at Naples. He saw a body of about ten or a dozen men with .guns, who, he thought, were going out snipe- shooting. He had not proceeded above 300 yards, when he met a detachment of thirty Austrian cavalry, escorting a money-chest. When Franks said he had seen some shooters, the officer observed that they were indeed shooting, but not the game that Franks supposed, for that it was Gaspa- roni and his band. They left the money on the spot and gallopped forward, and in a quarter of an hour he heard a good deal of firing. The military soon returned, having being defeated by the robbers, Franks saw many of them severely wounded ; and the troop, with the money, returned to Terrac'ma. " I iy this time, I think you must be pretty sick of robber stories. But I must inflict upon you one more. \ ii Knglishman arrived here this year, who could scarcely .-peak a word of Italian. lie heard, of course, not a little about assassins, robbers, and such like, and prudently resolved i- to go alone, and never to be out after dusk. Both lution< were fated to fail. lit- dined with a friend near Rome, and was obliged to walk home alone the same night : this looked terrific before dinner: but a lew glasses 492 SLAVE TRADE. CHAP. XXIX. of Marsala, and a few more of Champagne, braced up his courage, and away he started, about ten o'clock. As he walked briskly along in the darkness, he came full butt against a man. He was startled, and the tales he had heard recurred to his recollection; but the man passed on, and in a short time our hero felt for his watch, and found that it was gone. Then the good wine came into play : he rushed back, seized the rascal, and vehemently demanded * Montre ! Mon- tre ! ' The robber trembled and reluctantly yielded up the watch. " On reaching home, he recounted, with no little ex- ultation, his heroic exploit, and vowed that, if the rest of the world would behave as he had done, robbery would cease in Rome in a fortnight. When he had finished his oration, his sister said, ' All this is very strange, for after you went out I saw your watch hanging in your room, and there it is now.' Sure enough there it was. So it appeared, past all dispute, that, instead of being robbed, he had himself committed a robbery ! " To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. " March p. "I do not recollect that I ever read a paper which gave me more thorough satisfaction than Lord John's letter about the Slave Trade. "The project of overturning the Slave Trade by ci- vilization, Christianity, and the cultivation of the soil, is no longer in my hands : the Government have adopted the principle, and taken the task upon themselves ; and if it fail for want of energetic working, they are to blame. In short, I feel much more a gentleman at large, than I did before I read that letter. Pray tell all this to Lushington. I should be the most ungrateful of men, if I whispered a complaint of not having heard from him for some little time. He has been most generous in writing ; but I do hunger for one more letter from him, to be received by me at Naples, to cheer me on my journey homeward, and to give me a clear understanding how matters stand. 1840. INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. 433 " Yesterday we went to the Palatine Hill ; we saw where the house of Romulus stood, and that of Numa, and the Temple of Vesta, and the old Senate House of Tullus Hosti- lius nil grouped together in the little vale below us; and close liy there was the Coliseum, and the Forum, and a grove of pillar-, and a swarm of temples. " To-day I have been in the house of the heir of the in :uul the successor of St. Peter. The Pope is a civil, li\vlv little gentleman. Our party consisted of the Han- overian Ambassador, Baron Kesncr ; a Danish Count just returned from the Holy Land; an English officer ; Richards, in Kesner's court dress; Fowell, Charles, and myself. He pivc us an audience of upwards of three quarters of an hour. " He was very inquisitive to know what I thought of the Roman prisons. Kesner (who understands neither English nor Italian) interpreted for us, and I heard him say for me rather more than I liked, of ' contentissimo.' This was not ly what I wanted to express; so I referred to Richards, and had him to speak for me. I praised every thing I could think of, which deserved commendation ; such as the Chan- cellor of the Gaols (Signer Neri), the Boys' Prison, the San Michele Hospital, and the liberality of the Government in giving me free access, and full information ; to all of which he very gracefully replied, that, if gentlemen from motives of benevolence took the trouble to visit their institutions, the he could do was to afford facilities, furnish documents, and listen attentively to every suggestion. " Well, having praised wherever I could, I gently inti- mated that the Roman gaols, in general, wanted a good deal of purification ; and that I felt bound in honesty to tell him that t\vo, namely the female prison of San Michele, and the L r r( at LT.ml of Civita Vecchia, were to the last degree bad ; and called aloud on those who arc influenced, whether by policy, humanity, or religion, for a thorough reformation. To all this he seemed very attentive and well disposed. We then had a long conversation about the Slave Trade and slavery. He I it a little proud of what he had done, and I toM him of the satisfaction which his Hull had given in England, 494 INTERVIEW WITH THE POPE. CHAP. XXIX. on the score of the Slave Trade, at which it Avas pointed ; and also with reference to slavery and the mal-treatment of Abo- rigines, which it indirectly hit. He called the Slave Trade an infamous traffic, said that charity was the soul of religion, and that, whilst forbidding all cruelty, it expressly pro- hibited that which was inflicted on the human race ; and he concluded with saying, and laughing loud at his own speech, * Thanks to me, if you please; but no thanks to Portugal.' In short, he expressed himself capitally. Having disposed of my own two pets, Prisons and Slave Trade, I felt constrained to put in a word relative to some atrociously cruel practices here, in the treatment of lambs by the butchers. He hardly seemed ripe for this ; but Richards stuck to it manfully : and the matter ended by my giving him A 's paper on the subject, and his promising to give it his best consi- deration.* " Thus, very amicably, ended our interview, and we pro- ceeded to Cardinal Lambruschini, the Chief Secretary of State, where we had as gracious a reception, and we repeated much that we had stated to the Pope. To-morrow we go to Tivoli." To the same. " Rome, March 19. " I have been employed of late in preparing my report about the prisons for the Pope, and in having it translated into Italian. To-morrow morning, Lord Meath, Lord De Mauley, Lord Farnham, and two or three others, meet here to have it read to them, and I hope to get it completed and presented before I go to Naples. " Trew tells me that the book is published ; and I have * Some months afterwards, Mr. Buxton heard that his representations on this subject had been attended to. He wrote to Miss Gurney, through whom the news reached him, " I must thank you for your letter about the Pope and the Lambs ; it really was an achievement. I never see one gallopping about a field now, without thinking of the benefactress of lambs ! What a thing it is to have rescued such a multitude from torture. I do believe there is much good in Pope Gregory, after all ; it is capital when great people will respond to good advice." 1840. EXCU11SION TO TIVOLI. 495 seen it advertised in the newspapers. If you wish to know what ferling in our minds this intelligence has called forth, turn to the 17th verse in the ninetieth Psalm, Prayer-Book ion. If it were not that we have good reason for assuring our.-i-lvcs of His aid who can make all things bend to His will, we should think any hope for Africa, after so many cvntmirs of such deep debasement, chimerical in the last degree. As it is, we are in right good heart, and feel that, however the instruments may err or fail, the great Actor and Leader will give the victory to His own work. " On Wednesday last, after some hesitation, on account of the weather, all our party started for Tivoli ; the distance about twenty miles, which was increased three or four more, I suppose, by going round by Hadrian's villa. About eleven o'clock the day cleared up, and was beautifully fine, without 1 icing too hot. " Hadrian certainly chose a noble situation for his country-house ; and the remains are so perfect, that one can see with some degree of certainty where he slept, where he dined, and how he managed things generally. Strewed about his grounds, in various directions, are his imitations of all the edifices in Greece and elsewhere, which were cele- l.ratrd iu his day. He had travelled a great deal, and, instead of taking a picture, as we do, of what he admired, he built it over again. " We then proceeded to Tivoli ; ordered our dinner, and took the smaller excursion, in order to see the water-falls ; which would be very fine if the people would let them alone. But, as in England we sometimes see pains taken to make artificial cascades look natural, so here, at great cost, they Ir.nc contrived to give a spruce artificial air to the work of natuiv. As we went along the ridge of the hill opposite the town, the river created by the water-falls being between us, we -aw tin- >[ot where Horace must have drawn the land- : the noi.-y Allumra was no other than the sybil herself, and her temple stood in the inn-yard we had quitted. The ' pneceps Anio ' made himself known in accents so intelli- jrililc as almost to deafen us. We were in the Tiburtine 496 EXCURSION TO TIVOLI. CHAP. XXIX. grove, and the ' uda mobilibus pomaria rivis ' was a sketch to the very life ; some forty minor water-falls were throwing their spray over the fruit trees scattered among them. I, too, as well as Horace, should wish for no better resting place for my old age, provided there were no malaria, and that all the people could be taught to speak English. Some of the party slept at Tivoli, and went the next day to Horace's farm, where, they say, no lady has been for the last ten years. " The weather has now become chilly and boisterous. I am glad we are not at Naples. To-day the parties I spoke of have read and approved my Prison Report, and we went to Prince Borghese to urge him to take up the subject of Prison Discipline. Afterwards, by way of recreation, Richards and I went to explore two palaces. The day was dark, and I did not take much to the pictures, but in the corner of the garden of the Colonna Palace, there stood what was merely the frieze (or rather a bit of it) of the temple which Heliogabulus erected to his divine self. This bit of ornament consisted of two fragments of marble of astonishing magnitude, and curiously carved. What must the temple have been, judging it by this minor part? and what has become of the rest of the edifice? and what a magnificent people these Romans were ! Their works, indeed, were wonderful. But, after all, the reflection which most naturally presents itself to my mind when I look at such gigantic ruins, turns in this direction. Here is deathless fame ! here immortal glory ! here the proudest monuments of the great ! and this is all that remains of them. But I am sure it is time to say good night, or I and my amanuensis shall terminate our descriptions in a gentle slumber." "Rome, March, 1840.^ " On Friday we started with a large party, the Foxes, Lord cle Mauley, Captain Back, Captain Franks, and Mr. Silvertop, for Veii, the great enemy of Rome in her early existence. We saw the place where the whole family of the Fabii, three hundred in number, were put to the sword. It is in a very beautiful country, and the land, though very rich, hardly cultivated at all. We were told that in growing 1840. PRESENT FROM CARDINAL TOSTI. 497 win-lit in England, one bushel produces seven ; in this terri- tory one bushel produces thirty- two, and yet there was hardly any land under the plough. * " On Saturday the Chancellor Neri called upon me, l>rin^ing four splendid medallions as a present from Cardinal i, Lii\rn as a memorial of my visit to his Institution for <>M people and orphans, and to the prison annexed to it. I am afraid I shall soon grow somewhat conceited, for I never before was treated with so much distinction as at Rome. Not only the English, but the Italians, have paid me all manner of civilities. I am pleased to have got these medals, yet it is somewhat awkward, as in return I shall have soundly to abuse the said prison, which is the worst I have in Home. In the afternoon I walked with Mr. Ellison, ami saw some splendid views of the city, particularly the Coliseum. We went into the garden of the Armenian College; the monks of that persuasion come from Mount Libanus and talk Syriac. I was much struck with the beauty of their cast of countenance ; they told me that their own country was pre-eminently fertile, and the climate most healthy, but that terrible insecurity prevailed : few, they said, die by disease, multitudes by the knife. " I do not think I can fish up another morsel of Roman news for you, unless you may like to hear of one of our acts in visiting the prisons. When we went among the debtors \vc were desirous of giving them some relief, for they were sufficiently wretched ; but where was the use of scattering a lew shillings amongst them to be spent in drink? In this dilemma, Lord DC Mauley suggested that we should select some deserving man and liberate him, and we found a subject tly suited to our purpose, in the shape of a sensible looking tailor, with a wife and ten children ; who, just as his harvest was beginning, and as he was anticipating a flood of i^old from tin; produce of his needle in preparing for the Carnival, wa- elappid into gaol by a malicious creditor, for '21. HI.*., with t!i r, i ciinty of remaining there for a year and a da_ :liis ninth part of a man we t-rnt, told him our K K 498 RUMOURS OF A WAR WITH NAPLES. CHAP. XXIX. whim, and ordered him to begone. After a most loving and graceful kiss of our hands, away he started, the happiest tailor in the Roman dominions." " March 25. " We have had several stinging cold days, and at this moment, and for the last hour, it has been snowing as hard as ever I saw it do in England. This morning the boys and girls set off for Grotta Ferrata, to see a Roman fair in the mountains, about eleven miles distant; but they very dis- creetly returned when the snow began. I am very proud to say that, after a fortnight's very cold and treacherous weather, and a great deal of wind, my dear wife is perfectly well ; for which we ought to be, and are, very thankful. " I protest at this moment the boys are erecting a gigantic snow man in the court before us, and the material is coming down merrily. Our intention had been to start for Naples on Monday, but the report is current that we are going to war with the Neapolitans upon the sulphur question. I do not believe a word of it, but as I have no taste for the possibility of being cannonaded by our own fleet, and pillaged by the insurgent mobility of Naples, we shall pro- bably keep away from that town for a few days, till we hear the truth. The worst of this is, that I fear my letters are gone there, and I am hungry for news of my bairns and my book. In our way to Naples we are going to visit the recesses of the mountains, till very recently the dens and fastnesses of the banditti. I understand that, although it is a charming country, it is seldom visited, save and except by those who were carried there by the robbers, and who pro- bably at that moment did not pay much attention to the picturesque. Rippingille goes with us ; so, I believe, does Sir George Back. H. and A. will wait for us upon the road, but all the young or the foolish of our party will go to the hills, and a wild romantic excursion we expect to have. I sent my Report on the Prisons and Institutions of Rome, to one of our Italian friends, who had visited them with me, and asked him to sign it. His hair stood on end at the bare idea of this proposal. * What ! ' said he to the gentleman 1840 REPORT ON THE PRISONS OF ROME. 499 who took the Report to him, * am I to concur in telling my Government the plain truth ! Am I in the plainest manner to expose the errors and evils of their system ? There is not a Roman subject in the whole state who dares with the most cautious circumlocution to hint a fiftieth part of what Mr. Huxton states to them of their mistakes. He speaks as plainly as if he was speaking to his brother ! I see how it is ; Mr. Buxton thinks he is in England, and he has no notion that there is any harm in telling the Government that they ought to be all hanged. But we live under a different sky. Speaking plain truth to the authorities is quite an unheard-of thing at Rome ; and any one who ventured on so unpalatable a task would assuredly be ruined.* The Government, when they admitted him, never dreamt that he would venture to find fault. lie was expected to see a little, and compliment a ^ivat deal ; and there the matter was to end. To tell you tin- truth, if I had known that this kind of searching inquiry was intended, I should not have dared to accompany him.' " Much more of the same kind followed, and it appears clear enough that the Government will stare terribly when they read my Report, although its chief defect is that it is too complimentary. " There are a good many double snipes here at this time. We had two for dinner yesterday, and I dare say Aubin will shoot some to-day. Some time between the 15th of April and the 10th of May, there is a most wonderful inroad of (juailsi, and the whole country turns out against them. Sir Thomas Cullum told me that on the 2nd of May two or three years ago, he found upon inquiry that duty had been paid on 80,000. Pretty well for one day ! And I remember that an officer who during the war was quartered upon the coast, told me that the ordinary ration of a common soldier was six quails a day. I rather hope to have one day's * The head of one of the Institutions informed Mr. Buxton that the letter he had received from the Government, directing him to throw the Institution open to his inspection, contained these expressive words, "show him every thing, but irith due caution." K K 2 500 SEVERE ILLNESS. CHAP. XXIX shooting at the fellows. * * * * The snow is now melted, but it is cloudy." At this juncture Mr. Buxton was attacked by very serious indisposition, in which his breathing was, for the first time, painfully aifected. He was, however ? well enough to write home on the 1st of April. " My dearest daughters, " I think you will like to have a few lines from myself on my birthday. I make little doubt that your affectionate anxiety has exaggerated my late indisposition, and that you will be looking out eagerly for the post. I am better. I am positive upon that point. I am also sure that I have been very unwell, and that I have been nursed with the most loving care. There ends all my certainty. I have no clear notion what my malady has been ; I have had next to no fever, very little of what, correctly speaking, can be called pain; and, I believe, not much danger: but, on the other hand, I have suffered a great deal from weariness, from head- ache, from want of sleep, and from great difficulty of breathing. " The result is that, as Dryden says, ' The thin chilled blood is curdled in my veins, And scarce a shadow of the man remains/ * * * But really when I began my letter I had no inten- tion of speaking to you about this trumpery. I wanted to tell you that I am, I believe, decidedly on the mend ; that my birthday has been far from an unpleasant one, and that I look upon this illness as one of my many mercies. " As soon as I felt that I was in for a bout, I remembered Andrew's capital observation, * Begin at once to prepare for the worst, act as if you foresaw it would be fatal, set your house in order.' In some slight measure, and no more, I have been able to do this, and have realised the scene which, if we escape it now, must soon occur. One cannot be too thankful for this kind of warning, and for the plainness with which, after preaching to us upon the prodigious difference 1840. JOURNEY TO NAPLES. 501 bet ween things temporal and things eternal, it says, with all emphasis, * Set your affections on things above.' That is the way that it gives a shake and a tumble to darling object:; and cherished schemes, and says to us peremptorily, * Away with such trifles, there is no time for them.' " April 2. " I got so far yesterday when my wife came in and tyran- nically prohibited me from writing another word. But to- ilay I may pronounce myself decidedly better. All my most important enemies are subdued. What remains is very great debility, and my brace of doctors talk much about a consti- tution ' vehemently exhausted,' and seem to think me, at my best, good for little more than to read a newspaper by way of study, ride three miles by way of exercise, and, these duties performed, to spend the rest of my time in pure idleness." To Edward N. Buxton, Esq. " Mola cli Gaeta, one day's journey from Naples, April 10. 1840. " I wrote to you last on the 1st of April, in the worst of my illness. We left Rome as soon as I was able to move. I suffered not a little from exhaustion in going up stairs at Albano. " There is, and always has been to me, something very pleasant in illness, in having your mother nursing me all day and all night. * * * * There is no poetry like that of the Bible. Where can we find an expression so forcible, yet so exactly just, ad that of David : ' His love to mo was wonderful, passing the love of women.' * * * " We loitered some days at Albano, and then proceeded to this place by very slow journeys ; judging by the glimpses which we have occasionally had, it is a most lovely country, but cloud, rain, and mist have been our all but constant companions. There is now, immediately below us, a garden covered with orange and lemon trees, looking quite yellow with the fruit, the Mediterranean beating against its wall. There, to the right, jutting into the sea, is the town of K K 3 502 JOURNEY TO NAPLES. CHAP. XXIX. Gaeta, with the bold hill which joins it to the main land. To the left, is Vesuvius and the Bay of Naples. We have been here two hours, and we have had one walk of two minutes. "We hardly know what kind of reception we shall meet with at Naples, as we have learned that a messenger has gone to our fleet at Malta, ordering it up. So do not be surprised if you happen to see in the Gazette that the girls are killed by cannon balls on the battlements. Our plan is, at all events, to take a peep at Naples, and to be off again in a moment if we see occasion for it. I must now get ready for dinner, for they are come in half-drowned. " We are just told that our lives would not be worth two- pence a piece if we went to Naples now. " I must not forget to tell you that my prison labours terminated happily the day before I left Rome. My Report was addressed to Cardinal Tosti, and it seemed to us rather a good omen that, on the following day, we saw his car- riage standing near the door of the Prison for Females ; and before my departure, I received a letter from him, promising in the handsomest manner to attend to my suggestions, and thanking me for them. " My illness alone has prevented us from paying a visit to Sonnino, the town of robbers. As you enter it, I am told, you see the prison ornamented with fourteen cages, contain- ing the heads of so many bandits ; if you go into the streets and speak to three men, the chance is that one out of the number has been upon the hills, and that two out of the three are of the lineage of some predatory hero. It is, how- ever, not easy to get at information ; the Government cannot bear the subject to be mentioned ; the guilty, therefore, who have been conditionally pardoned, dare not speak, and the others who were their prey, have too many painful associa- tions to make the subject agreeable. Two Englishmen who have travelled there tell me that if you ask a question of any respectable person on these dark transactions, he usually utters not a word in reply, or if he says anything, it is some- thing like this, { Every stone hereabouts has its own bloody tale to tell.'" 1840. MUSEUM AT NAPLES. 503 "Naples, April 13. Monday. " We reached this place on Saturday night, and our terrors of bombardment, for some of our party did tremble, h:uc .-ul>.-ided. Our fleet just poked its nose into the Bay on Sunday morning, but sailed away to Salerno, a port some ten miles distant, where it waits, I suppose, the turn which :iation8 may take. I have seen our minister, Mr. Temple, and he gave me to understand that we may safely remain till he throws out a hint to the contrary. * Instead of finishing my letter to you this morning, I was t (.'in]) ted by good company and fine weather to look about me ; and first, after a passing glance at Vesuvius, which was unusually clear, we went to the Museum, and saw all the curious things collected from Pompeii and Herculaneum. There was the service of plate, which some active butler had fjuvad out for an intended dinner, eighteen hundred years ago ; the loaf which that day was to have been cut, the store of eggs and of chesnuts which were dressed somewhat sooner than was designed. Then there was Mrs. Diomed's gar- ment, at least a piece of it ; the ornaments that were found upon her head, the ring on her finger, and the key which her hand still kept hold of; there was the helmet of the faithful si ntiiR'l who was found at his post, and the iron to which the legs of three prisoners were still fixed ; there were the ap- purtenances which belonged to a very fine lady, rouge among tin iv-t. But it is difficult to say what there was not. It is strange to see that the world wanted and possessed in tho:-e day.-, almost every thing to which we now attach value. " After this sight some of us went to Puteoli, and saw tin- spot where St. Paul must have landed. From thence we proceeded by the shore of the Mediterranean, which was eminently beautiful, giving us a full view of a great part of the Bay : and we then paid a visit to the Sibyl. The country was originally a plain, but many hills have been thrown up, of them not long ago, by the operation of volcanoes, Through these \ve wound our way ; at last we stopped oppo- > little path, leading to the left, and inarched along by the side of the Lake Avenuis to the foot of a n,>mitain. K K 4 504 LAKE AVERNUS. CHAP. XXIX. As for this lake, which has been sung so often, by Homer, if I recollect right, and certainly by Virgil ' Divinosque lacus, et Averna sonantia sylvis' it has about as much beauty and romance as the great pond at Weybourne ! It was, however, exceedingly curious to be visiting the Infernal Regions, f And where that mayne broad stream for aye doth flow, Which parts the gladsome fields from Place of Woe ; Whence none shall ever pass to Elysium playne, Or from Elysium ever turn agayne.' " I always thought that these strange places were deep underground, but, I tell you, this day I saw Acheron, and Styx, and Elysium, and what not ; and with my own hands threw a stone into the Mare Mortuum, and with my own eyes saw the stone swim. " We next proceeded ' To ascend the sacred hill Where Ph rebus is adored, and seek the shade Which hides from sight his venerable Maid. Deep in a cave the Sibyl makes abode.' " Leaving the ladies at the entrance, I marched with four guides into the mountain. The cave is said to extend about a quarter of a mile, but it seemed to me that they had measured it with some poetical licence. At first it was very fair walking, but it grew steeper as we proceeded. The walls were of lava, grown hard by age. At length we came to some water. I mounted on the back of a strong guide, and another carried a flambeau ; at length we arrived at the Sibyl's drawing room, a narrow cell, in which there was a kind of stone sofa, and a sulphurous bath, in which the Sybil used to show herself to those who consulted her, and among the rest to Julius Cajsar. After seeing all these lions, we returned to Naples. "Naples, April 14. 1840. " Nothing can be more lovely than this day ; my window looks towards the Bay, and it glitters so as quite to dazzle me. Beautiful as it is, it is singularly like Wey mouth. I 1840. ADDITIONAL ADVENTURES OF GASPARONI. 505 believe we are presently going upon the water, but I wish first to put down something more about the brigands, with whose TV I have been much amused. I have heard something more about Gasparoni. When we were at Terracina, we in his native neighbourhood, and there he had a charac- ter much above his companions for intelligence and humanity. Th Sonnino surgeon who dined with us, and who profes- sionally attended the brigands, said that Gasparoni had in his time saved hundreds from the fury of his associates. I asked whether he was a clever man ; ' the best answer to that,' he saul, ' is, that for eighteen years he set at defiance the Pope and the King of Naples, and acquired for himself the title of ' the Monarch of the Mountains.' At one time a Polish regiment was marching to join Murat, and the Colonel was following close in the rear in his carriage ; at an angle in the mud Gasparoni and his band silently seized the Colonel, and were out of reach with their prey before the regiment knew anything of the matter. When they came to understand how the case stood, they marched in pursuit. As they were going along a narrow defile, the Colonel and Gasparoni made their appearance on the hill, and the former desired them to return, saying, that the mountains agreed with his health, but might be dangerous to theirs. After a time Gasparoni escorted him to the barracks, having taken the precaution of changing clothes with him. He always spoke with satis- faetion iti' his excursion to the mountains, and of the good cheer which he had enjoyed. " Gasparoni's wife and son still live at Sonnino. Our friend the surgeon said to the mother one day, * the child seems very self-willed.' 'Yes,' said she, ' that he is, and he would not be a Gasparoni if he were otherwise.' Monacelli, one of his companions, told the surgeon that when at last they were pressed the hardest, and when they were nearly starved, mmi addressed his band, and said, ' Three hundred scudi and a free pardon arc offered for my body, you may as well anl, however, like Walter Scott'-. 508 POMPEII. CHAP. XXIX. us to understand that the higher efforts of his art required the inspiration of a tumbler of wine. We afterwards saw the Temple of Isis. The worshippers stood below, the oracles were delivered from above, and we saw clearly the aperture by which the priest obtained admittance behind the altar, and spoke for the goddess when she happened to be in a silent mood. The guide assured us that he had tried the experiment, and the people below supposed that the voice really came from above. It seems that the priests made a good thing of it, for some money and wine were found, and the skeleton of a man with an iron bar in his hand, with which he had endeavoured to break through the wall. " We afterwards saw at some distance a beautiful theatre, as perfect, I should think, as it was at the moment of the eruption. Also an immense amphitheatre in an equal state of preservation ; so that we have the clearest conception of the stage on which the captives and Christians fought with wild beasts, and of the order in which the gentle folks of Pompeii sat while they were amusing themselves with this delicious spectacle. But it began to grow cold ; so my wife and I re- turned home in our carriage, and I gladly leave it to others to supply you with further information." At this time great excitement prevailed in Naples, the king having announced his determination to go to war with England rather than give up his rights on the sulphur question. Large bodies of troops were embarked for Sicily. The fortifications were repaired and extended, and everywhere the din of military preparations was heard. Mr. Buxton, however, did not take alarm, but remained at Naples, and one morning, the apprehensions of war having somewhat subsided, his party visited the crater of Vesuvius. While approaching Naples, on their re- turn home at night, they observed lights in a part of the harbour where they had never appeared before. 1840. NAPLES BLOCKADED. 509 On entering the town it was found to be in an uproar of confusion ; the Bellerophon, seventy-four, and the Hydra, armed steamer, had entered the harbour, and, to the astonishment and indignation of the Neapolitans, had anchored under the teeth of their batteries. The streets were thronged with the whole population of Naples, in the utmost excitement. Regiments of horse and foot were marching rapidly to their posts; cannon and tumbrils of ammunition were rolling by, and soon the king dashed past in a barouche and four on his way to Posilippo, where the English were expected to land. Mr. Buxton, however, felt quite confident, as indeed it proved, that the king was only endeavouring to obtain good conditions by a pretence of re- sistance. In a note written on the evening of the arrival of the Bellerophon and Hydra, after mentioning the excitement of the town, "people running about in all directions, companies of soldiers on the esplanade, cannon posted along it," &c., he proceeds " Do not be frightened. "We are not. We have no idea that our sleep this night will be broken by the thunder of these guns. We have, however, ordered our passports to be prepared, ready for a start ; and I am sure to be right, when, after the manner of the Delphic oracle, I pronounce that the whole hubbub will end in smoke ! " Tliis appears to be the last letter written by Mr. Tuixton from Italy. At the end of April he was compelled t> hasten to England (on account of the African business), leaving the rest of the party l>rliind till the advance of summer should render it 510 LEAVES NAPLES. CHAP. XXIX. safe for Mrs. Buxton to return to a northern climate. In the interim, some of the travellers proceeded across Italy to Ancona, and there embarked for Greece. To Miss Gurney, at Athens. " Fontainbleau, Sunday, May 10. "Tf an angel were to offer to tell me at this moment any earthly news, the question I should ask him would be, How fares it with our Athenians ? Has the time gone merrily with them ? are they safe and sound, satisfied and happy ? and are they now sitting on Mars Hill, reading, as we have done to-day, the 17th chapter of Acts? What a curious scene that was, and how the Stoics would have wondered, had they been told by an oracle that the barbarian bab- bler before them would be more renowned at the end of two thousand years than Theseus or Themistocles ! and that in a little bit of an island, which they had never heard of. the time would come when his description of them their scorn their avidity for news would be copied off at the rate of one 3, minute ! " Well, I can truly say I have eagerly watched you, thought of you, and sailed with you ; and my first inquiry every morning has been ' Is the day fine for our Attic party ? ' Alas ! the answer has not always been gladdening. Our days have been alternately wet and dry, never very fine, sometimes excessively wet ; so I fear for you. Surely, I shall find a line from you at Paris to-morrow. At Paris to-morrow ! you will say ; why how you must have raced ! Nay, we have travelled very slowly ; up betimes in the morning, always housed before eight in the evening, and yet here we are, notwithstanding we lost half a day for want of horses, half a day by breaking our springs, and half a day by our wish to see the city of Lyons. " Our journey, which cost so many sighs before we started, has been nothing else but pleasure. G. B. has been a capital companion. He is always gay and cheerful; humours me in the choice of rooms and dishes ; does all the work ; reads 1840. JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE. 511 in the Bible to me the first stage ; talks when I want a chat, and holds his tongue or goes out a stage or two when I want to meditate ; or reads Byron to me when I am tired of my own employments. I suppose you have read the Giaour and the Corsair ? They have furnished me with charming ideas of Greek scenery. In our voyage to Marseilles, I saw the sun rise out of the sea, and he did, indeed, come forth * as a bridegroom out of his chamber.' I had been reading Byron tlu- evening before, with, I confess, unexpected admiration, but sitting upon the deck that morning, and reading the 1 9th Psalm as the sun began to peep over the waves, I thought that David was the greater poet of the two. The verses of Byron's I had been reading, as we floated by the hills between Genoa and Marseilles, were those beginning ' Slow sinks, more lovely 'ere his race be run, Behind Morea's hills the setting sun ; Not as in northern climes, obscurely bright, But one unclouded blaze of living light, O'er the hushed deep the yellow beam he throws, Gilds the green wave that trembles as it glows,' &c. " They are charming, as much for their fidelity as for their poetry, but Byron never ploughed through a perfectly calm sea at the rate of nine knots an hour ; if he had, he could not but have described the velvet waves, as they were turned up by the steamer, without breaking. I never saw any thing so lovely. " But now to answer your questions. Yes, I am well, famously well, no headache, no cough, no cramp, no nothing. 1 am in capital spirits, hoping that 1 am going to see * my children's children, and peace upon Africa.' " The roads, to my surprise, have been very good, and the country all the way from Marseilles very pretty. I wish my wife would return by it ; it would be so safe for her monster of a carriage. She saw it when the trees were in the sear and yellow leaf, but now, the olives first, then the walnuts, last of all, the forest trees, are in full foliage, and give one quite a new idea of France. 512 LETTER TO MRS. BUXTON. CHAP. XXIX. " "While at Paris I hope to see Madame Pelet, and ask her to go with me to the Due de Broglie, that we may have a talk about the Slave Trade, and that I may give him a copy of my book. " How I do long to hear of all your adventures and histories.* Do you find you can talk Greek ? What do you think of the Acropolis ? Are Charles and Richards availing themselves to the utmost of so unprecedented an oppor- tunity ? " To Mrs. Buxton, at Genoa. " Paris, May 12. " I am full of imaginations of your inns : windows not fastened, curtains not closing, and the keen winds rushing down the mountains. May God have preserved you ! But I have felt, if possible, even more for those dear Athenians. I keep a little map in my pocket, and often turn to it, but I cannot say with pleasure. I would give something to * One of these adventures was of a rather disagreeable character. On our way home, after crossing the Splugen, and passing through the Via Mala, we found the road blocked up by a waggon full of wood, but without any horse or man. The postboy blew his horn, but no one appeared ; so at length we got down, and tried to move the waggon, but were unable to do so, and at last we were forced to upset it in order to let the carriage pass. The woodmen, no doubt, had seen what we were doing from the hill-side, and probably had been coming down to move the waggon, but, on seeing it upset, they rushed down upon us in a state of the most ungovernable fury. Three of them fell at once upon the coachman, threw him down, and mauled him terribly ; another ran to the horses' heads to prevent the postboy from going on ; while a fifth attacked Mr. Richards with a shower of blows. Mr. Richards at length flung him off, and sprang upon one of the men who was kneeling on the coachman and beating him ; thus relieved, Spink jumped upon his feet, knocked over two of the ruffians with such force that his blouse was covered with their blood, and, after a moment's desperate scuffle with the others, he broke away, and springing upon the coachbox produced his pistols. On seeing them the fellows fled. The writer of this, meanwhile, was lying insensible on the road, having been put hors de combat by a heavy blow on the mouth. They lifted him into the carriage, and we reached Ragatz without any further molestation. 1840. RETURN TO ENGLAND. 513 know when they set foot again on the solid earth, tossed, as they have been, I fear, and sick and sad, and at their wit's nul. I am glad they wandered to Mars Hill; it will be a pleasure to each of them all their lives. Would, however, that you were all at home again." The last in the series of Mr. Buxton's letters, is dated from Havre de Grace : " My dear A. & C. " May J5. 1840. " We are going to start to-night for England. The wind is lair, the sea smooth, and we hope to breakfast to-niorrow at Southampton. I was exceedingly amused with your letters from Ancona ; 1 know you put in all that Greek to puzzle me, but there you were mistaken, for I made it all out. While I was at Paris, Madame Pelet was most kind to me, and introduced me to many persons whom I wished to see, and r.-pecially to some good abolitionists. I called on M. de St. Antoine, and was much pleased with his heartiness. I think he is more likely to be useful than any of them ; he has so much heart in the work. It was, I think, this day seventeen yrars ago that I first brought forward the slavery question, and on Wednesday thirty-three years, I was married; the two chief events of my life." r. I- 514 CHAP. XXX. CHAPTER XXX. JUNE, 1840, TO APRIL, 1841. GREAT PUBLIC MEETING IN EXETER HALL PRINCE ALBERT IN THE CHAIR. MR. BUXTON CREATED A BARONET. PREPARA- TIONS FOR THE NIGER EXPEDITION. AGRICULTURAL ASSO- CIATION. VENTILATION OF THE SHIPS. SIR FOWELL BUXTON's HEALTH BEGINS TO FAIL. "THE FRIEND OF AFRICA." PUBLIC MEETINGS. LETTER TO THE REV. J. W. CUNNINGHAM. DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE EXPEDITION PRINCE ALBERT'S VISIT TO THE VESSELS. THE EXPEDITION SAILS. LETTER TO CAPTAIN TROTTER. MR. BUXTON arrived at his son's house in tolerable health, and full of impatience to resume his African labours. To these. he at once devoted himself, with all the ardour that might be expected after the period of relaxation he had enjoyed. In order to bring the whole case effectually before the public, a meeting was held on the 1st of June ; at which, to the high gratifi- cation of all those interested in the welfare of Africa, H. R. H. Prince Albert consented to preside. The meeting took place in Exeter Hall, and formed, say the contemporary papers, " a most grand and magni- ficent display of national feeling." At eleven o'clock His Royal Highness entered the hall, which was already crowded with an audience of the highest respectability. Among those present, were the Duke of Norfolk, the Marquis of Ereadalbane, the Marquis of Northampton, the Earls of Ripon, Howe, Chichester, Euston, Devon, and Morley ; Lords Ashley, Sandon, Mahon, C. Fitzroy, Worsley, Mont- eagle, Teignmouth, Seaford, Howick, Eliot, Calthorpe, 1840. PUBLIC MEETING. 515 Nugent, K. Grosvenor, &c. &c. ; M. Guizot, and the Bishops of Winchester, Exeter, Chichester, Ripon, Salisbury, Hereford, and Norwich. Prince Albert opened the meeting, and Mr. Buxton moved the first resolution, concluding his address in words: " I do not forget the military triumphs which this country has achieved, but there is a road to glory more noble, more illustrious, purer, and grander, than the battles of Waterloo or Trafalgar ; to arrest the destruction of mankind ; to pour a blessing upon a continent in ruins ; to send civilisation and the mild truths of the Gospel over a region, in comparison with which Britain herself is but a speck upon the ocean ; this is the road to true and enduring renown: and the desire ami prayer of my heart is, that Her Majesty may tread it ; and that, crowned with every other blessing, she may ' Shine the leader of applauding nations, To scatter happiness and peace around her, To bid the prostrate captive rise and live, To see new cities tower at her command, And blasted nations flourish in her smile.' " He was followed by Archdeacon Wilberforce (the present Bishop of Oxford), by Sir Robert Peel, the Bishops of Winchester and Chichester, the Marquis of Northampton, Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Sir George Murray, Dr. Lushington, Mr. Samuel Gurney, the Rev. Dr. Bunting, Rev. J.W. Cunningham, and several itlu-r noblemen, clergymen, and gentlemen. At one ]> iiod an interruption was caused by the entry of Mr. 'Con m -11, and the clamours of part of the audience for a speech from that gentleman ; but, altogether, the meeting passed off with the most triumphant success. i. i. 2 516 THE NIGER EXPEDITION. CHAP. XXX. Short!} 7 after this meeting of the African Civilisa- tion Society, it was intimated to Mr. Buxton, by Lord John Russell, that it was her Majesty's wish to confer the rank of baronet upon him. After some delibera- tion, having ascertained that the idea had not been suggested to the Government by any of his friends, but was a spontaneous mark of her Majesty's appro- bation of his conduct, he accepted the title with much gratification. The summer was spent in active preparation for the Niger Expedition, for the service of which three iron steamers, the " Albert," the " Wilberforce," and " Soudan," were fitted out ; and to the great satis- faction of all who were interested in the subject, the command was given to Captain Henry Dundas Trot- ter ; Commander William Allen was appointed to the "Wilberforce," and Commander Bird Allen to the " Soudan." These gentlemen and Mr. William Cook * were the four Commissioners empowered to make treaties with the native chiefs for the abolition of the Slave Trade. The African Civilisation Society also engaged seve- ral scientific gentlemen to accompany the expedition ; Dr. Vogel as botanist, Mr. Roscher as mineralogist and miner, Dr. Stanger as geologist, and Mr. Fraser, Cu- rator of the Zoological Society of London, as natura- list. Mr. Uwins a draughtsman, and Mr. Ansell a practical gardener or seedsman, were also appointed ; and the Church Missionary Society was allowed to send the Rev. Frederick Schon and Mr. Samuel * Well known as the Captain of the Cambria, which saved the crew of the Kent East Indiaman. 1840. OBJECTS OF THE EXPEDITION. 517 Crowthcr* to examine into the practicability of es- tablishing missions on the banks of the Niger. The object of the expedition was, to explore that great artery of Western Africa, the river Niger ; to examine the capabilities of the country along its banks ; to enter into treaties with the native chiefs for the abolition of the Slave Trade ; to clear the road for commercial enterprise, and to afford that enterprise the security which alone seemed necessary for its development. Sir Fowell Buxton and his friends were also ex- tremely anxious that this opportunity should not be lost, of putting the natives in the way of cultivating tlic soil, and drawing forth its varied and immense re- sources. It will be remembered that, in 1839, an Agri- cultural Association was proposed. To its formation, Mr. Buxton had devoted much of his time during the summer of 1840. The expression recurs again and again in his letters, " There is nothing to which I attach more importance, than to the Agricultural Association." " I am firm in the conviction that, n. \t to religion, the Agricultural Association is the means on which we ought chiefly to rely." To Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bart. "August, 1840. " This consideration has presented itself to me with great force; \\c never shall Imve again so favourable an opportunity 1 '"'lie Rev. S. Crowther (who is an African Negro) having been ordained by the Bishop of London, is now zealously labouring as a Mi ionary, at Abeokouta. An interesting account of hit deliverance from a slave ship, will ho found in A pp. III. of Messrs, Schon and Crowther's Journals of the Ni;jrr Kxpcdition. i i. 3 518 PLAN FOR A MODEL FARM. CHAP. XXX. for making an experiment in agriculture. The few people whom we shall send will go out under the escort and protection of the vessels. They will be carried through the mangroves and miasma of the delta by steam ; they will have the medical help of at least eight surgeons or physicians ; above all, they will have the sound and cool judgment of Captain Trotter to re- strain them from settling, unless the circumstances of climate, soil, and disposition of the natives, should be very favourable. If, then, we are ever to make the attempt, why lose such an opportunity ? Our intention is to make a mere commence- ment, on a most moderate scale. If it answer, we shall en- large our operations hereafter, and we shall have something practical and positive to lay before the public." It was at length resolved to adopt this agricultural experiment. Four thousand pounds were subscribed for the purpose by Mr. Evans, M. P., Mr. James Cook, Mr. Samuel Gurney, Sir T. D. Acland, Mr. T. Sturge, Mr. J. G. Hoare, Sir Fowell Buxton, and Mr. E. N. Buxton. Sir Fowell further proposed, that a tract of land should be purchased in a healthy situa- tion near the confluence of the Niger and Tchadda; this proposition was unanimously adopted, and measures were immediately taken for carrying it into effect. Referring to this plan for a model farm, Sir Fowell says, in a letter addressed to Miss Gurney, on the 6th of December " I cannot conclude these particulars about Africa, without telling you of a text which has been cheering me up all day, ' There shall be showers of blessing, and the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.'" (Ezekiel, xxxiv. 2628.) 1840. HIS PLANS ATTACKED. 519 The severe attacks made upon his plans by some of tin- lr;i!avi TV bark put to sea. That cause was indeed cradled in a hurricane, and yet how safely is it havened ! " Throughout his correspondence, innumerable pas- sages occur, which show his extreme anxiety for the safety of those who were voluntarily about to en- counter so dangerous a climate. He says, in a letter to Captain Washington, " Trotter tells me that the expense of the ventilation already exceeds the estimate by 14007., and that a further ex- pense of 5007. is still required, which he will not proceed to incur till he has the authority of the Government. Now I am as clear as daylight about two points : first, that the Govern- ment ought to pay this ; and secondly, that if they will not, we must ; and that, therefore, it ought to be so proceeded with as not to delay the departure of the expedition. As far as I am concerned, I give my hearty concurrence, and will take my full share of the responsibility.'* To Mr. Samuel Gurney, after requesting him to attend a meeting of the Agricultural Committee, and p:iy in a subscription for him : " I leave it to you to put down my name for the sum you think riirlit. To tell you the truth, I had thought of being MTV niran in my subscription. In one way or another Africa has co.-t UK a good round sum, and on this ground I thought it' ju.-tifuil in subscribing only 1000/., but if you think that the Mimllness of this will discourage other people and do misehief, \>u\ me down for two, or tlnvc, or four thousand. I am very glad to think that Africa has a friend like you, more able, and more willing, to ^"m . L I 4 520 DECLINING HEALTH. CHAP. XXX. On the 7th of August, Dr. Lushington and Sir Fowell Buxton, addressed a letter to Lord John Russell *, setting forth the importance of establishing the model farm. After this, he was constrained to go into the country for the re-establishment of his health. " To tell you the truth," he writes to Sir George Stephen, " I am dead beat ; I do not recollect ever to have felt so languid and good for nothing." To the Right Hon. Stephen Lushington, D. C.L. " My dear Lushington, " Dr. Farre has been pleased to write me a letter, telling me that I have just this alternative; viz. that it is open to me now, either to live, or to die for Africa, but that if my judgment be in favour of the former mode of proceeding, I must ' cut and run,' ' go to the country and animalise.' This is curiously in concurrence with what Dr. Holland told me six months ago.f I think I shall send you these medical letters, for if there be any thing on earth which I mortally hate, it is the sense that I am skulking away from the field of battle, while you, in spite of your ailments, go on fighting manfully. But I really cannot help it ; there is not a stroke of work left in my great carcase. I am like my old horse John Bull ; he does well enough for a lady to take a canter in the park, but give him a brush along the road, or a burst across the fields, and he is done up for a month. " Now what does all this tend to? this, that I must avail myself of your permission to leave town this week, subject to being recalled by you on any great emergency, particularly with regard either to treaties or instructions." Private anxieties were now added to his public * See Parliamentary Papers relative to the Niger Expedition. j" Dr. Holland, some time before, wrote to Mrs. Buxton : lc From what I have seen, Mr. Buxton is working beyond the power, which even the strongest natural constitution can give." 1840. " THE FRIEND OF AFIilCA." 521 lal)ours, but these occupied his thoughts far less than Africa ; he thus writes to Lady Buxton from Bury, while on his way to London in obedience to a sum- mons from Lord John Russell. "August 27. 1840. " It will cheer you to hear that I am so far on my jour- ney, safe and sound, remarkably comfortable, and perfectly well into the bargain. * * * What are mines, and mise- ries, and mail coaches, as compared with the vision, all sun- shine, of a people, thousands and hundreds of thousands, springing from bondage to liberty, from stripes and howling to wages and singing, from being things to being men, from blindness to the Gospel. ****** " I feel very thankful, and am a happy man this night." Among other matters of interest which demanded his attention during his short visit to London, was the setting on foot a periodical under the name of " The Friend of Africa," the superintendence of which was undertaken by Captain Washington, R. N., an energetic member of the committee. During September great pains were taken to in- form and interest the public on the subject of the African Expedition, and with this view it was re- solved that meetings should be held in the principal commercial towns. It was of importance that these should be ably conducted. The Marquis of Breadal- bane presided at the one convened at Glasgow. " For Manchester," Sir Fowell writes to Captain Washington, " Dr. Lushington would be the man. His presence would ensure success, but I really know not how to ask him. We trouble him enough upon matters even more important. He wants rest as much as any man, and yet he is of so free and 522 CHAKT1ST INTERRUPTION. CHAP. XXX. ardent a nature, that he will kill himself rather than not do any thing he can." Dr. Lushington, however, and Sir George Murray, attended the Manchester meeting. Another, at which many of the nobility and gentry of Norfolk were present, was held in St. Andrew's Hall, Nor- wich, the bishop of Norwich being in the chair; but a large body of Chartists broke into the hall, and after great uproar and confusion compelled the meeting to disperse. It is to this meeting that the following letter alludes. " My dear Lushington, " What with the Chartists at Norwich, and the Times news- paper, and the Edinburgh Review, and the bitter Resolutions of the Liverpool Anti-slavery Society, and the recognition of Texas, and the threatened admission of slave-grown sugar, clouds seem to be gathering round about us. But I do not mean to allow these things utterly to vex me. I am as sure as ever, that we are upon the right tack, and, if so, we shall beat them all yet. My chief anxiety is, that the instructions to the commissioners, and the model treaty, should be finished in good style. I will be with you at dinner on Wed- nesday, and we will talk over these matters." The following is an extract of a letter to the Rev. J. W. Cunningham of Harrow, in which Sir Fowell urged him to give lectures in different places, on the subject of the Slave Trade : " Northrepps, Sept. 23. 1840. ts * * * A month spent in going from town to town, would do us infinite good infinite, literally speaking, for it affects Negro souls as well as bodies. " So, O man of God, pray send to Trew * the instant you re- * The Rev. J. M. Trew, Secretary to the African Civilisation Society. 1840. LETTER TO E. K. BUXTON, ESQ. 523 eeivc this, and offer to traverse a district for at least four weeks. The effect will be, that a hundred other clergymen, evangeli- cal and eloquent, will follow your example, and the tocsin will be sounded through the kingdom ; the subject will be no longer dormant ; our Society will be rich instead of poor ; and being rich will adventure to do things connected with the expedition, and things of essential importance, at which it now starts and trembles. " I speak most seriously when I say, I think you may thus do us vast good; and, moreover, the West Indians also. You tell me you heard one of them confess that my plan was * their only shelter from ruin.' Very curious that it should have come to this. But it is true enough ; nothing but the horrors of the Slave Trade, fixed and stamped in tin- mind of the public, will avert the introduction of slave- grown sugar. " But the most wonderful part of the case is, that the Wrii. He lias just groaned out to me, that in five i lays la.-t week he despatched eighty-eight letters of mine, and some of them very lengthy, and a very great majority connected with the Slave Trad*'." The motto of the Buxt>n family had been, " what- 524 DAY OF PRAYER. CHAP. XXX. ever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Of this lengthy but appropriate sentence, he retained only the last clause, and " Do it with thy might " was the motto attached to the arms which he bore as a baronet. " But I do not think," he writes to a friend, " my motto and I square well together now-a-days. I have no ' might, nor energy,' nor pluck, nor anything of that sort, and this kind of listlessness reaches even to my two pet pursuits, Negroes and partridges. In short, I feel myself changed in almost everything." As the time for the departure of the vessels was now drawing near, he became anxious that a day of prayer should be appointed for the safety and success of an expedition which would be exposed to so many dangers. "Pray do not let us lose sight of this," he wrote to Mr. Coates, then one of the secretaries of the Church Missionary Society, " never was there a case which more required the Divine blessing." On the same subject, he addressed Sir John Je- remie, the Governor of the West Coast of Africa : " Dear Jeremie, Northrepps Hall, Nov. 1. 1840. " It is determined that a day shall be set apart for prayer, on behalf of our efforts for Africa, and especially for the safety and success of the expedition. Sunday, November the 8th, is the day appointed. I can confidently say, that the new Governor of Western Africa and his family will not be forgotten. I greatly rejoice that this determination has been come to. Surely, considering the difficulties, the perils, the prejudices at home, the brutal ignorance in Africa ; con- sidering, again, how many brave and good men are hazarding their lives in the cause of humanity and righteousness, and 1840. PRINCE ALBERT'S VISIT TO THE VESSELS. 525 above all, reflecting on the mighty consequences which may, ami whieh, ly the blessing of God, as we hope, will follow the combined effort we are now making, I say, considering all these things, surely we have need to crave Divine help, and the guidance of more and better than human wisdom. Fare- well, my dear friend, and be God's blessing upon you and your's, for Christ's sake." During a visit to London in the spring of this year, he minutely inspected the vessels fitted out for the expedition, which were then lying in the river; and he was one of the party which waited upon II. R. H. Prince Albert when he visited them on the 23rd of March. To Miss Gurney. " Leamington. April 1. 1841. N'ow I must tell you about Prince Albert's visit to the vessels. I went an hour before he was expected, and found everything in the most perfect order, and the officers in full dress. Trotter looked remarkably well in his uniform, and I was glad to have the opportunity of seeing him actually engaged in the command of his people At the appointed time, two carrisiges and four drove on to the quay, con- taining Prince Albert, Mr. Anson, Major Keppel (our late member for Norfolk), and half a dozen others. I was upon the quarter deck, and Professor Airy with me, near the steps, which the Prince immediately came up. He greeted me with tin mu.-t good-natured familiarity, and expressed his pleasure at seeing me ' on board my fleet.' He then closely examined everything, and seemed to take great delight in the whole concern, and t-> understand mechanics. He was especially delighted with a buoy, fixed ready at the stern of the ship, to 1-e let down at a moment's notice. It contained a light, which (at least they said *<>) water only inflamed. This was f>r the purpose of saving any one who might happen to fall overboard at night. I said to Keppel, not intending the 526 PRINCE ALBERT'S VISIT TO THE VESSELS. CHAP. xxx. Prince should hear me (which, however, he did), * I wish His Royal Highness would order one of his suite, yourself, for example, to be thrown overboard, that we might save your life by this apparatus.' The Prince took up the idea, and seemed half inclined to set Keppel a swimming, in order that we might have the gratification of the salvage. After examining everything in the ' Albert,' the boat came alongside ; the Prince and six of his attendants got in, and I was also invited, and was not very far from having reason to regret the honour. The wind was blowing hard, and the tide rolling along at its full force. Our sailors were not ac- customed to the navigation of the Thames, so the tide ran away with us, and dashed us with considerable violence against a yacht at anchor, the ' William and Mary.' We got entangled amongst the ropes attached to her anchor, and a cry was raised from the vessels, ' You will be dragged over, lie down ! ' Down went His Royal Highness flat to the bottom of the boat, and without ceremony we all bundled down too. As it was, the rope scraped along my back. When we got clear, the Prince sprang up, laughing heartily at the adventure, saying, ' I have had one ducking before this year, when I fell through the ice, and I thought we were going to have a second of a much worse kind.' The alarm felt on board the vessels for our situation was very considerable ; and Bird Allen had ordered his boats to be lowered. " After visiting the two other vessels, the Prince took leave of Trotter and the company, and expressed himself highly pleased with what he had seen." On the 14th of April, 1841, Captain Trotter and Commander William Allen sailed for the Niger, with the Albert and Wilberforce, the Soudan having put to sea a few days earlier. It need not be said that this event was one full of the deepest interest to Sir Fowell. His prayers were indeed fervent for the success of the expedition, and the welfare of its gallant commanders and crews ; and, though deeply 1841. DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION. 527 impressed by the risks they were about to incur, his unshaken confidence in the presence and providence of God did not fail him now. The chief source of apprehension lay in the deadly climate, but against its dangers every human precaution had been taken. The ships were to steam as rapidly as possibly through the mouths of the rivers, where the miasma chiefly prevails ; Dr. Reid had invented a system of ventilation by which a constant current of air, impregnated with chloride of lime, could, by the a-jvncy of the steam engines, be maintained through all parts of the vessels ; a large proportion of the crews were natives of Africn, and the medical staff was re- markably able and efficient. With these precautions, the whole expedition, also, being under the com- mand of so able and judicious a man, whose eminent qualifications had pointed him out for this responsible office, it was confidently hoped that all the perils which it was well known were inseparable from such an undertaking, might be passed through with safety. With reference to the expedition Sir Fowell fre- quently repeated Cowper's lines: " Heaven speed the canvass, gallantly unfurled, To furnish and accommodate a world ; To give the pole the produce of the sun, And knit th' unsocial climates into one. Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave linj)cl the fleet, whose errand is to save, To succour wasted regions, and replace The smile of opulence in sorrow's face. Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen, Impede tlu> bark, that ploughs the deep serene; Char^'d with a fn ipht transcending in its worth The gems of India, nature's rarest birth ; That flies, like Gabriel, on his Lord's commands, A herald of God's love to Pagan lands." 528 LETTER TO CAPTAIN TROTTER. CHAP. XXX. On the evening before the ships sailed, Sir Fowell wrote to Captain Trotter from Leamington. " My dear friend, April 13. 1841. " Once more I bid you farewell. I need not, I am sure, repeat to you the extreme interest with which I shall follow you ; nor the earnest prayers which my heart will pour forth for your welfare and prosperity. You will find all that I feel at this time, regarding you and your whole party, in the 121st Psalm. May I beg you to convey to Captain W. Allen, Lieutenants Fishbourne and Strange, Dr. M c William, and indeed to each of your officers, my very best wishes and regards. * * * With my best regards, and with the sympathy of us all for Mrs. Trotter, I once more crave that the blessing of the Lord may be with you in your mission of peace and mercy. Your's ever, most faithfully, " T. FOWELL BUXTON." " P.S. April 14. How ardently I trust that you are steaming away to your satisfaction this blowing day. The expression is often on my lips, and always in my heart, ' Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave, Impel the bark, whose errand is to save.' " c..u-. XXXI. 529 CHAPTER XXXI. 1841. CORRESPONDENCE. JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND. DEER-STALKING. K I TURN Ih'Mi:. - THE NIGER EXPEDITION, ITS SUCCESSES AND ITS REVERSES. - GOOD NEWS FROM THE EXPEDITION. ACCOUNT OF ITS PROGRESS. - SCENERY OF THE NIGER. - TREATY CON- CLUDED WITH OBL HIS INTELLIGENCE AND COURAGE. - THE ATTAH OF EGGARAH. SICKNESS APPEARS ON BOARD. - THE MODEL FARM. - THE SOUDAN AND W1LBERFORCE SENT DOWN THE RIVER. THE NEWS REACHES ENGLAND. DISTRESS SIR FOWELL BUXTON. - THE ALBERT PROCEEDS UP THE UIVKK. DENSE POPULATION. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCE IN THE MARKETS. - SOME SLAVES LIBERATED. THE NUFIS. - INCREASED SICKNESS ON BOARD THE ALBERT. - IT RETURNS TO THE SEA. PERILOUS DESCENT OF THE RIVER. - MORTALITY ON BOARD. - DEATH OF CAPTAIN BIRD ALLEN. OPINIONS OF THE COMMISSIONERS AS TO THE EXPEDITION THE departure of the Niger Expedition from the shores of England left Sir Fowell's mind compara- tively disengaged. Nothing now remained but to await the issue of the undertaking ; and his broken health imperatively demanding attention, he stayed for some weeks at Leamington, under the care of Dr. From thence he writes: 7'" the Rev. Dr. Bunting and Rev. John Beecham, Secretaries of the Wesleyan Missionary Society. " My dear Friends, " Leamington, April 26. 1841. " I regret much that I shall be prevented by indisposition from Attending your :uimi:il meeting. Do me the favour to j>t the enclosed very small and in:i\vtjvi-r, tluiv ajij>earcd no kind of pro- M M 2 DEEK-STALKING. CHAP. XXXI. bability. On the Monday morning I had set myself down to my letters, when intelligence was brought that another deer had been seen about the same distance from home. A great calling there was for rifles, and ponies, and balls, and hammers, and we were off immediately. A long and a tedious drag we had, till we reached the shepherd who had discovered the stag. He made us take off our macintoshes, and creep on all-fours till we were about 200 yards from the deer, when, on looking over a little rise, we saw his horns. A few minutes more,, and Larry cried out, " He's moving ! get up and fire." When we rose we saw two of them, and we fired at that which presented the best aim. My ball hit him, and he speedily fell dead. " I soon returned home, where I found every body in a state of great excitement, and the whole hamlet turned out to welcome the arrival of the stag. About 7 o'clock Edmund and Edward came in, Edmund having slain another very fine deer, which made our third ; and we are all of us at the very pinnacle of glory ! " Well, dinner is now coming upon the table, and so ends my epistle. " Ever your affectionate father (who would have been delighted if you had been of the party, and each slain your buck), " T. FOWELL BUXTON." Sir Fowell Buxton now resettled at North repps ; the season was advancing, and every week increased the anxiety with which tidings of the Niger Ex- pedition were looked for. At length they ar- rived, dated "August 20. River Niger," and were of the most encouraging character. " With two ex- ceptions," said Captain Trotter, " the whole company is in good health." " This," writes Sir Fowell, " I think highly satisfactory ; and may God in his mercy grant 1841. THE NIGER EXPEDITION. 533 that we may continue to hear such favourable reports. I am, I confess, not devoid of anxiety." I le thus replies to Captain Trotter's letter: " Northrepps Hall, Nov. 12. J 841. " I must write a few lines, if it be only to assure you that my anxiety is unabated to hear tidings of the Expedition, and more especially to hear about yourself, Captains William and I>inl Allen, and Cook. I was going to add Lieutenant Fi>hbourne ; but I may as well say at once, all the officers and all the crews. I believe I should hardly exaggerate if I should say that while engaged in our family devotions I have never, or at all events most rarely, neglected to offer up my prayers for the safety of you all, for the success of the Expedition, and for the outpouring of God's grace upon Africa. I trust and I believe that I am but one of many thousands with whom these things form a subject of daily and heartfelt prayer." The history of the Niger Expedition is so closely associated with that of the subject of our memoir, that it may not be deemed irrelevant to give a short account of its progress, its fair promise of success, and its lamentable reverses ; taken from the par- liamentary papers and despatches, and from the pub- li>ln-h is estimated by Laird at from 800 to 1000. * " Obi has only two large canoes in use ; but he is said to possess in all fifteen, each having a small cannon lashed in the bow : they have from twenty to fifty paddles ; and the largest can carry twenty fighting men. Besides these, there are at Alx>h about ten head-men who have each from two to six war canoes. On an extraordinary occasion he can muster about 300 canoes, armed with swivels and muskets." f Captain William Allen (who had previously ex- plored the Niger, in 1833) states that the nations on the banks of the river as far as Rabba (500 miles from its mouth) are under the influence of only three powerful and independent chiefs ; first Obi, king of Ibo ; secondly, the Attah, or king of Eggarah ; and thirdly, the king of the Fulatahs, at Rabba. The treaty having been formally concluded with Obi, for the abolition of the Slave Trade in his do- minions, for the protection and encouragement of legitimate commerce, and for the permission to missionaries to settle among his people, and presents having been given to him as a mark of good will, the Expedition proceeded towards Iddah, the capital of Eggarah. A great change soon took place in the scenery : the banks of the river had hitherto been flat: but now " elevated land," says Mr. Crowther, " was gra- dually pet-ping behind the thick bushes on the banks of the river ; and the faces of all were bright at the >i^ht of these long-looked-for places." The amount of cultivation of yams, bananas, and - Dr. Mac William, p.lil . t Captain W. Allen's Report, P.P. p. IS?. 538 VISIT TO IDDAH. CHAP. XXXI. plantains, indicated more extensive habitation than we had yet seen, with the exception of Aboh. " At Iddah, in the kingdom of Eggarah, the opposite shore is for some way low, flat and swampy. The land behind, however, gradually rises to hills of considerable height, which seem to be richly wooded. From the anchorage (within 200 yards of the cliff) a magnificent range of rounded and conical hills and high table land was seen in the distance, stretching from the north-east to south-west, with a dense forest, ex- tending from the table land downwards, through which a series of streams were pursuing curiously tortuous courses, until they joined the main stream of the Niger, a short dis- tance above the town of Iddah.* "Dr. Mac William calculates the population of Iddah at about 7000 souls. " The soil," he adds, " partakes of the nature of the rocks, with a stratum of vegetable mould. The natives do not seem to pay much attention to cultivation. Yams, dawa corn, shea butter, ground nuts and cocoa-nuts were, how- ever, exposed in the markets in considerable quantities. The magnificent Baobab or monkeys' bread, abounds in various parts of the town and neighbourhood.''! A market was held in the town; but Mr. Crowther, himself a negro, received an unpleasant impression of the inhabitants of Iddah. " As they were rude in their appear- ance, so were they in their manners, for they made it no matter of consideration whatever to put their hands on any part of our dress, which, considering how dirty they were, was not at all agreeable. * * * I had met with a wild people before ; this was one of that kind."| The Attah of Eggarah appears to have been much less intelligent and civilised than Obi. A similar treaty, however, was concluded with him. During * Dr. Mac William, p. 70. f Ibid. p. 13. J Mr. Crowther's Journal, p. 291. 1841 ATTAH OF EGGARAH. 539 tin interview between him and the Commissioners, " he now and then made a remark, and inquired about things which, at first mentioning, did not appear clear to him ; and every word he said, or remark he made, fully proved that he understood what was said to him."' The treaty was signed with all due formality, in the presence, and with the full concurrence, of his head-men, and the principal people of the town, f " Up to this time (the conclusion of the treaty with the Chief of Eggarah) the Expedition," says Dr. Mac William, " had been fortunate beyond all expectation. The Delta had been passed, and we were entering the valley of the Niger, under circumstances seemingly the most auspicious. The crews contemplated with delight the novel and diversified scenery of the high land before them. With such prospects, so favourable beyond all anticipation, it is not to be wondered at if we indulged a rather sanguine hope that the continuance of health would be granted to us, and that we should, under Providence, thus be enabled to persevere in the great object of our mission. But it was otherwise ordained. "J On the 4th of September, fever of a most malignant character broke out in the Albert, and almost simul- taneously in the other vessels. The Expedition, not- withstanding, proceeded towards the confluence of the Niger and Tchadda, resting, however, on the Sunday, as the frequent shoaling of the water subjected the engineers and stokers to great exhaustion, and ren- dered the husbanding of their strength imperatively necessary." " The country was remarkably well cultivated, and in ex- Mr. Schon's Journal, p. 92. | Despatch from the Commissioners, p. 37- j Dr. Mac William, p. 7^ Captain Trotter's Report, P.P. p. 91. 540 MODEL FARM. CHAP. XXXI. cellent order ; plantains, yams, Indian corn, and cotton being the principal occupants of the soil. * The villagers have large farms of Guinea corn, which grows beautifully ; it does credit to their industry, f The town of Adda Kuddu was found to be in a ruinous condition, having been destroyed by the Fulatahs. The soil was a rich vegetable mould. Castor oil, cotton, indigo, and other plants were abundant." J Mr. Schon observed a mallam or priest wearing a silk robe of native manufacture ; the weaving was done remarkably well ; the silk could not weigh less than seven or eight pounds. An agreement had already been made with the Attah for the cession of land at the confluence for a model farm. A tract of land was chosen, near Mount Patteh, where the soil, although not of the best quality, " grew a considerable quantity of cotton," || and " there seemed every probability that coffee would grow on the hills." ^[ The natives of these parts were exposed to the ravages of the slave trading Fulatahs ; but, as the Commissioners observed " The mere occupation of one or two stations by a few British subjects would have the effect of establishing confi- dence among the natives, who, once assured of the protecting care of Great Britain, would be easily induced to build up their former habitations, and thus furnish an useful population, and have a beneficial effect on the surrounding tribes."* These observations coincided exactly with Mr. Mac- queen's opinion (formed from the reports of previous travellers), who wrote with reference to a settlement * Mr. Schon, p. 106. f Mr. Crowther, p. 295. J Dr. Mac William, p. 77. Mr. Schon, p. 11 6. || Commissioners' Despatch, P.P. p. 41. IT Mr. Schon's Journal, p. 118. ** Despatch from the Commissioners, P. P. p. 41. 1841. CONDUCT OF THE NATIVES. 541 at the confluence, that "a city built at that point, under the protecting wings of Great Britain, would, ere long, become the capital of Africa. Fifty millions of people, yea, even a greater number, would be de- pendent on it." * Mr. Cook informs us that " As soon as the land had been selected for the model farm, the people in the vicinity brought abundance of provisions to the new settlement for sale, and those who had nothing to dispose of came and hired themselves as labourers : nothing could exceed the good feeling shown by the natives on every occasion.f Cotton cloths of good manufacture, spun cotton, calabashes beautifully carved and ornamented, tobacco, cam- wood balls, shea butter, dried buffalo flesh, and dried fish, were brought on board in great quantities. * * * As with most Africans, traffic seemed to be the predominant passion with the people, with the usual good share of dex- terity in turning a bargain to their own account.''^ " So far," says Mr. Commissioner Cook, " the object of the Expedition had been attained, and everything promised a favourable termination to the mission." But now the sickness on board increased with such appalling rapidity, that Captain Trotter deemed it advisable to send the sick back to the sea in the Sou- dan, in charge of Lieutenant Fishbourne, who dis- played equal zeal and ability in rapidly bringing the vessel through the difficult navigation of the river, notwithstanding the disabled state of the crew. At tin mouth of the Nun, the Dolphin, Commander ],irtl( hales, fortunately encountered the Soudan, and * Quoted in the " Slave Trade, and Remedy," p. 356. t Mr. Cook's Report. P. P. p. 159. | Dr. Mac William, p. 83. 542 SORROWFUL TIDINGS FROM CHAP. XXXI. immediately relieved her of the sick, conveying them to Ascension. The intelligence that the Soudan had returned to Fernando Po, and that nine men had died of the fever, reached England in the beginning of December. It may well be conceived how this news was felt by the friends of the cause in England. Sir Fowell Buxton writes to his son : "Northrepps Hall, Dec. 4. 1841. " I was very glad to receive your letter, reminding me that, in such a storm, there is but one anchor ; but that one all sufficient. The blow, however, is tremendous. There is no comfort to be found under it, save in the assurance, that it is the will and the work of our merciful God. Mysterious it certainly is ; but could we survey the whole, there can be no doubt we should perceive that all was done in true mercy and never-failing love. Our text for the day has been * Therefore will we not fear, though the earth be moved, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.' The sympathy of dear Catherine's letter was quite charming it has been a great comfort both to my wife and me. I think Sir Robert Inglis could not have done a better thing than asking the Bishop to prepare a prayer for us. How extremely gratified I shall be, if a day is appointed for the purpose ! " To the same. "December 6. 1841. "Even now I do not wish the whole effort undone. A way, I firmly believe, is opened for the missionary into the heart of Africa, and we have found, in some respects, greater facilities than we expected. And is the price we have to pay so intolerably heavy ? Is the loss of nine men enough to damp all our zeal and quench all our courage ? Would it have been enough if we had been at war with the French, or the Americans, or even the Chinese to stop us ? Would the public feeling have been quite satisfied if it were said, ' Why, 1841. THE EXPEDITION. 543 we have lost nine men; we must give over; it would be madness to fight any longer ! * Oh ! but war with France is quite a different case ; great national interests are concerned. And are no interests concerned in the overthrow of the Slave Trade, in the spread of gospel light over the darkness of Africa, in the addition of a fourth quarter to the productions and the requirements of the world? Not only the interests of the nation, but those of human nature are concerned in this expedition ; and it is not a trifle that shall put us to flight. Perhaps these very calamities have been sent in order to try us, and to ascertain whether we have faith enough, sufficient reliance on the promises of God to hear our prayers and to be near us in our trials. It may be, that after all, a better day is now dawning for Africa, and I am disposed to Mieve, that this is the tact, and that, if we do our part manfully, we shall not be defeated, even in this very expedition." The next tidings which reached England did not confirm this hope. The sickness still continuing, Captain Trotter was compelled, on the 21st of Sep- tember, to direct the Wilberforce to follow the Soudan to the sea, whilst he and Captain Bird Allen pushed forward in the Albert, in hopes of reaching Rabba, a very large town, the capital of the Fu- latahs. After leaving the confluence, the banks of the river were found to be better peopled, and u a great many villages " were observed : " In the market-place of Gori, we saw not less than from 1500 to 2000 people. The articles exposed for sale were lairs of salt from Rabba, tobes of various colours, country cloths, camwood in balls, iron-work, as hoes and shovels, Indian corn, ground nuts, twine, silk, seeds of various kinds, shea butter, straw hats with enormous brims, platters of wood, and calabashes beautifully carved."* Dr. M. ic William, p. 8?. SLAVES LIBERATED. CHAP. XXXI. Mr. Schon also mentions " several large bags of cotton in its raw state." He asserts, that the price of cotton there could not be less than in England ; but, he adds, " it is true that they might grow ten thousand times the quantity they are now growing."* " The trade of dyeing blue is carried on here. * * * * The blacksmith was busy at his anvil, and the grinders of the Guinea corn at the stones." f The district of Gori is dependent on the Attah of Eggarah, and, accordingly, the treaty formed with him was acknowledged as binding by the inhabi- tants. Captain Trotter having found there some slaves in a canoe, liberated them after a formal trial. The owners pleaded ignorance of the new law, and were therefore suffered to retain the canoe. The poor slaves fell on their knees to Captain Trotter in token of gratitude for their liberation. Both the owner of the slaves, and the son of the Attah, who attended the trial as his father's representative, at once acquiesced in the justice of Captain Trotter's decision. J When some weeks afterwards the Albert descended the river, the commissioners found that at Budda, the furthest point of the Attah' s territory, he had faith- fully proclaimed the law against Slave Trade : " The inhabitants," says Mr. Schon, " candidly admitted that Budda had ever been a great slave-market, but said that from the time they heard that the Attah abolished the Slave Trade, they relinquished it altogether. They were * Mr. Schon's Journal, p. 14.'}. f Mr. Crowther's Journal, p. 305. J Captain Trotter's Report, P. P. p. 96. 1841. TOWN OF EGG A. 545 glatl to hear that an English settlement had been commenced at the confluence, and said that they would go and see how white people built houses and made farms ; and they would settle near them to be protected from the Fulatahs. The same desire was expressed at Kinami, a few miles further ; the first village in the Nufi country, which is tributary to the powerful and warlike Fulatah nation, who keep the Nufi's in continual terror. The inhabitants of Kinami, are estimated at 1000 by Captain Trotter. They occupy themselves in weaving, and carry on some trade with Egga, in country cloths, ivory and bees' wax." The Albert reached Egga, the largest Nufi town, on the 28th of September. Some alarm was found to have been excited there, by the news of the seizure of the slaves at Gori. " But when the nature of the treaty under which the seizure had taken place was explained to the Go- vernor, he was quite satisfied, and expressed himself desirous that the Slave Trade should also be abolished in the Nufi country." * He, however, declined en- tering into any treaty without the permission of his superior, the king of Rabba; stating, that he did not think the Fulatahs would be willing to relinquish tin- Slave Trade. Mr. Schon spoke very earnestly upon the subject, to a slave dealer in the market. The man replied, "that all he said was very true, and that if the king of Rabba would make a law against it, he should be as glad of it as any person, and that the people in general would willingly give it up." " To gain over the Fulatahs," adds Mr. Seli.",n, " is certainly a most desirable thing, as then Captain Trotter's Report, P. P. p. 97. N N 546 NUFI NATION. CHAP. XXXI. the axe would be laid to the root of the Slave Trade in this part of Africa." * " Egga is the largest town we have yet seen on the banks of the river ; the population may safely be stated at seven or eight thousand. f The people were in general tall and well made ; the form of the head, the countenance, and the lighter shade of the colour of the skin, indicated an intermixture of the Caucasian with the Negro race.J " At Egga the manufacturing of country cloths deserves the first notice ; with nothing of African industry I ever saw, was I more pleased. There are no less than about 200 looms employed in various parts of the town, sometimes as many as ten in one place. The looms are very simple ; and the cloth made is uncommonly neat, never being wider than three inches. Some is quite white; some striped white, blue, and red. The dye is likewise made by themselves. The blue colour is made with indigo, of which they possess a large quantity; dye pits are seen everywhere. The red colour is obtained from cam-wood. * The people desired me,' says Mr. Crowther, ' to tell them what kind of country cloth I should like, that they might get it ready against our coming this way again.' || " The cotton is purchased from the left bank of the river where it is said to grow in great abundance. They commence planting it after the first fall of rain, and five months after- wards it is fit for use." IF At Egga, Captain Trotter had reached a point 320 miles from the sea. He had accomplished his object with respect to two of the three kingdoms to which he had been sent ; but he was now compelled to relin- quish his hope of completing his work by reaching the town of Rabba. " A very little mediation on our parts," he observes, " might probably have had the * Mr. Schon, p. 178. f Ibid. p. 180. $ Dr. Mac William, p. Q2. Mr. Schon, p. 174. || Mr. Schon, p. 331. IT Ibid. p. 15?. 1841. INCREASED ILLNESS. 547 effect of making the Nufi nation more independent, mid less oppressed, and have tended materially to the diminution of the Slave Trade." * But the sick- ness on board had become so very alarming, that it was found absolutely necessary, on the 4th of Oc- tober, to steam down the river with all speed. Cap- tain Bird Allen, who had been most anxious to persevere, and in fact almost all the officers and men on board, except the negroes, were seized with the deadly fever. Captain Trotter himself was at length disabled by it : and at this critical period the engineers became too ill to perform their duty ! Dr. Stanger (the geologist) however, having learned how to manage the engines, from a scientific treatise on board, undertook to work them himself: and Dr. Mac William, in addition to his laborious duties in attending the sick, conducted the ship down the river, with the assistance of only one white sailor, "in the most able and judicious manner." " One of the officers," writes Mr. Schon on the 8th of October, " is apparently dying, many are still suffering ; and others, though free from fever, are in such a state of debility, that they will not be able to do duty for a considerable time. * * * Nothing that I have hitherto seen or felt can be compared with our present condition." " Yet," he afterwards add.-, " there was not one of those whom I attended in their sickness and at their death, but who knew perfectly well that the climate of Africa was dangerous in the extreme, and had finintnl the cost before engaging in the hazardous under- taking. And, to their honour be it mentioned, no expression of disappointment or regret did I ever hear; on the contrary, tin -y appeared in general to derive no small consolation from * Despatch to Lord J. Russell, P. P. p. 44. i K 2 548 RETURN TO THE SEA. CHAP. XXXI. the conscious purity of their motives, and the goodness of the cause in which they had voluntarily embarked." * " When the Albert approached the model farm," says Dr. Mac William, " the quantity of cleared land and the advance made in the building of the superintendent's house, induced us to hope that he and the two Europeans had been merci- fully protected from disease ; but in these hopes we were doomed to disappointment, "f Mr. Carr, Mr. Kingdon, and Mr. Ansell, were all ill, and had to be taken on board. But the negroes, none of whom had suffered from the fever, were left at the settlement, under the care of Mr. Moore an American negro. The natives had shown a great readiness to engage as labourers at the model farm. " They had been on all occasions most friendly to the settlers, and abundance of provisions and labour had been easily procured at a moderate price." J Dr. Mac William informs us that when the Albert reached Aboh " Obi and his people brought abundance of wood, besides goats, fowls, yams, and plantains. His prompt assistance to us on this occasion was of the highest importance. He is decidedly a fine character, and assuredly did not discredit the high opinion we had already formed of him. He was melted into pity when he saw the captains sick in the cabin." While the Albert was still a hundred miles from the sea, its disabled crew were surprised and delighted by seeing a steamer coming up the stream towards them. It proved to be the Ethiope, commanded by Captain Becroft, who had been directed by Mr. Jamieson to afford every assistance to the Expedi- tion. This timely assistance was of the greatest * Despatch to Lord J. Russell, P.P. p. 243. f Dr. Mac William, p. 99. J Ibid. p. 100. 1841. REACHES FERNANDO TO. 549 importance. Captain Becroft and his engineer took charge of the Albert, and brought her in safety to J '( rnando Po. It was hoped that Captain Bird Allen and his gallant fellow sufferers would rapidly revive under the influence of its purer air ; but many were already too much sunk to receive benefit, and the mortality was most painful. Of the 301 persons who composed the Expedition when it commenced the ascent of the Niger, forty-one perished from the African fever. It may be worth while to observe, that of the 108 Africans on board, not one died from the effects of the disease. Captain Bird Allen fell a victim to it at Fernando Po, on the 21st of October. Thus failed the NIGER EXPEDITION. From the facts stated by all the different gentlemen who were on board, and who have written accounts of what they saw, and also from the direct assertions of the four commissioners, it would appear that nothing but the climate prevented the Expedition from fulfilling the sanguine hopes of its promoters. On its own part it possessed, in vain, as is re- marked by a contemporary writer, " all that modern science and human skill ; all that undaunted courage and determined enterprize could contribute to success. To its officers and men, dead as well as living, the highest credit appears to be due; they conquered every thing but impossibilities ; nature they could not conquer, and they only ceased to persevere when the survivors had almost ceased to live." On the other hand, the natives proved to be far more inclined to trade, and far K >< barbarous and disorganised, than could have been supposed possible, H If 3 550 CONDUCT OF THE NATIVES. CHAP. XXXI. in so secluded a part of Africa. They eagerly sought the protection of the British from their slave trading oppressors, the Fulatahs, and that protection it would have been perfectly easy to give. The country although less fertile than had been anticipated, was found to produce cotton, sugar cane, coffee, indigo, ginger, arrowroot, dyewoods, forest timber, palm oil, and many other important articles of commerce. Ivory also was frequently seen. The chiefs were quite ready to enter into treaties ; and Captain W. Allen emphatically declares : " I have no doubt that if the climate had not opposed a barrier to frequent intercourse, those treaties would have been mainly instrumental in putting an effectual stop to the traffic in slaves, in the waters subject to those chiefs. The principles of humanity, so new to them, which we expounded, were received with great satisfaction ; and all classes earnestly desired the presence of British influence as the surest means of ameliorating their condition, and of procuring a cessation of the wars which now desolate the country. Very small means, such as the occasional passage up and down the river of Her Majesty's steamers, would have been sufficient for this purpose. " The arts of life, in a high state of perfection, are neither practised nor required, but commerce is widely extended. Every town has a market on the fourth day, and there are large marts at which neighbouring nations meet to inter- change their commodities and produce, about once every fortnight. * * * The voice of vituperation has loudly charged the Expedition with total failure. This I may boldly say, is not true ; for although the lamentable loss of life which it suffered, had the effect of preventing the accom- plishment of all the objects for which it was equipped, its success, until our exertions were paralyzed by sickness, was complete; since we were able to make satisfactory treaties with two of the three most powerful chiefs that are known. 1841. OPINION OF THE COMMISSIONER. 551 * * It la much to be deplored that the single obstacle of the climate should have thwarted all the great efforts wh u-h have been made for the benefit of Africa."* It was the climate also, and the climate alone, that prevented the Expedition from being the herald of Christianity to West Africa. The disposition of the natives was found to be eminently favourable to the settlement of missionaries among them. " Their conduct,* says Captain Trotter, " not only at the model farm, but on all other occasions that came under my notice, is a subject to which I feel much pleasure in ad- verting ; as during the entire period in which the vessels under my command were in the Niger, not only the native chiefs of the country, but the people in general, evinced the most friendly disposition towards us, and this not only during our prosperity, whilst going up the river, but also in our forlorn condition when corning down. ... I may remark, th;it the desire evinced by the natives in the neighbourhood of the model farm to be taught the Christian religion, gives me reason to believe that when the day happily arrives of missionaries reaching that part of Africa, they will be gladly welcomed by the inhabitants. "f In a despatch addressed to Lord J. Russell from Iddah, the four commissioners expressly state their belief that " Christian missionaries and teachers may be safely J and advantageously introduced into this part of Africa; a measure which, by the blessing of Almiirhty God, would tend effectually, in our opinion, to enlighten this unhappy country, and to put an end for ever to the abominable Slave Trade." Captain W. Allen's Report, P.P. pp. 135. 138. f Ibid. p. 105. J At that time there had not ln-rn any appearance offerer on board. Coiumissiuiirr's Dop.itcli. P.P. p. 38. .1 N 4 552 CHAP. XXXH. CHAPTER XXXII. 1842, 1843. DECLINING HEALTH. EFFORTS AND VIEWS REGARDING AFRICA. THE MODEL FARM BROKEN UP. LETTER FROM THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. COUNTRY PURSUITS. PLANTING. CHARAC- TERISTIC ANECDOTES, IT may well be conceived with what anguish Sir Fowell Buxton received the melancholy tidings of the Niger Expedition. Deeply did he sympathise with the sufferings of the brave men who had at- tempted to carry out his plans; nor was he less dejected at feeling that the door was closed,, for the present at least, through which he had hoped that so many blessings might have been poured upon Africa. His health, which had been undermined before, became gradually more feeble, and he could no longer bear any sustained mental exertion, es- pecially if attended by any sense of responsibility. To a man, the law of whose nature it was, to be at work, with head, hand, and heart, it was no slight trial to be thus prematurely laid aside. He was only fifty-five years of age, but already the evening was come of his day of ceaseless toil, nor was its close brightened by the beams of success and joy. The idea of what he so forcibly termed " the incom- parable horrors" of the Slave Trade, had fastened itself on his mind with the most vivid reality ; the burning and plundered villages of Africa, the ships 184-2. DECLINING HEALTH. 553 traversing the Atlantic with their cargoes of torture, these pictures were ever before him. When un- conscious that he was observed, he would at times utnr such groans as if his heart were sinking beneath its load. But his grief was not of that kind described by an old divine*, which " runs out in voice." He rarely spoke of the Expedition, to Captain Bird Allen's death he could scarcely allude at all ; but his grave demeanour, his worn pale face, the abstraction of his manner, and the intense fervour of his supplications that God would " pity poor Africa," these showed too well the poignancy of his feelings. And yet the three years which elapsed between the failure of the Niger Expedition and his death were brightened by not a few gleams of domestic happiness ; by many country pleasures ; by the great satisfaction of receiving, in the main, good tidings of the working of emancipation in the West Indies; by some en- couragements about Africa: but, above all, these closing years were cheered by the exercise of faith, and the consolations of religion. During all that period, he was humble, patient, and resigned, in an extraordinary degree; and especially was his heart overflowing with love to all around him, and with the livinir spirit of thanksgiving and prayer. His corre- spondence after the lamentable issue of the expedition, shows that his mind did not sink under discourage- m< 'lit ; and although he candidly admitted the ruin of his own scheme, he yet cherished hopes that the same -i-( at < .-ml might be achieved in some other and better way. * Dr. South. 554 HOPE FOR AFRICA. CHAP. XXXU. What he still could do, he did with his usual energy ; and amid all his own sorrow, he strove to maintain the hopes of others. In a letter to the Rev. C. W. Bingham, after alluding to the mortality on board the vessels, he adds " But, on the other hand, the natives received us kindly ; they had no objection to our making settlements in the country ; they supplied us with provisions and sold us land ; they have entered into treaties for the abolition, both of the Slave Trade and of human sacrifices ; and seem only more desirous to receive, than we can be to send them, missionaries and instructors. This looks as if ' the set time were come,' and makes me hold fast to the conviction, that, although we may fail, and our plans prove worthless, the day is at hand when the right methods will be devised, and when Africa will be delivered. God grant that that happy day may soon arrive ! " He earnestly hoped that the discouragement would not preclude further efforts. Thus he writes : " Grant, for the sake of argument, that events have confuted my ' Remedy ; ' that the latter half of my book be proved to be mere nonsense ; yet the former part remains in- tact. No one denies the enormous number of human beings whom the Slave Trade annually devours. Because one plan has failed, are we to submit in patience to this incomparable evil ? Because we erred in one attempt to subdue it, are we henceforward to act as if we were reconciled to the abomi- nation ; as if one abortive effort were all that humanity pleads for, or that is required at our hands by the Gospel of Christ ? Again, our exertions have not been wholly useless. At all events we know one thing, which we did not know before. We know how the evil is to be cured ; that it is to be done by native agency ; by coloured mi- nisters of the Gospel. Africa is to be delivered by her own sons ! " 1842. HOPE FOR AFRICA. 555 Strongly impressed with these feelings, he went to London early in February, and passed a few weeks at the house of his son; giving all the strength he could muster to meetings and consultations on the siiliji-rt. The whole spring was spent in a succession of painful efforts to gather some benefit for Africa from the wreck of the Niger Expedition. The model farm was still in existence, and to obtain the promise of an occasional visit to it from a Government steamer was one of the principal objects at which he earnestly aimed. The heads of the African Civilisa- tion Society obtained an interview with Lord Stanley, ^\ Inch Sir Fowell thus describes : " We entered the chamber of the great man, anxious, I take it, and one at least having on his lips and in his heart, * O Lord, give us good speed this day.' " Lord Stanley received us very kindly, and Lushington opened our case with great skill, and boldness too. How hearty my prayer had been for him and for myself, that utterance miirlit be given to us, that we might 'speak with all boldness as we ought to speak.' Then followed Sir Robert Inglis, si v ing strong things in a very mild voice, and in a very gentle manner. Then Acland put in a few words extremely well, and then I spoke ; contending that, one point ex- copted, that of the climate, we had met with success in v particular, and that it would be most wicked and fhamrful to abandon Africa in consequence of anything that had occurred. After hearing all we had to say, he offered, very frankly, to send round the Cabinet any paper which we .-liouhl trail -mi t to him, embodying our ideas, and stating what \vr \\i-li." I "pon Sir Powell's return to Northrepps, he re- ceived a visit from the Rev. J. F. Scho'n of the Churcli Mii>nary Sorirty, who had been chaplain to the 556 MR. SCHON. CHAP. XXXII. Niger Expedition. Sir Fowell tells his nephew and faithful coadjutor, Mr. Gurney Hoare, March 24, " Schon has been staying a week with me. I perceive that he attaches the deepest importance to the intercourse which would be produced with Africa, by the retention of the model farm. If you and Cook, and Samuel Gurney cannot concur with me in my anxious desire to give the model farm one fair chance, but feel that it must be aban- doned, even before the first crop has been harvested, I will thank you to summon a meeting of all the subscribers, in most urgent terms, and I will come up in order to make the forlorn attempt to obtain a majority for going on a little longer. God grant that we may be wisely directed in this very important matter." A public meeting of the African Civilisation So- ciety was to be held in June : he wrote many letters on the subject, but was unable to take a part in the meeting. To Dr. Lushington. " May 14. 1842. " I try to whip myself up to some exertion, but it is all in vain, / can do nothing ; the truth is, you and I feel the effects of the last quarter of a century How do you like Peel's new tariff? I look at it, as at everything else, with an eye to Africa; and I think lowering the duty on timber, rice, and many other things, can hardly fail to be productive of benefit to us." To Lord Ashley ( Chairman of the Meeting alluded to). " My dear Lord Ashley, Northrepps,, June 18. 1842. " It is no little aggravation of the trial of my present ill health, that it prevents me from attending the meeting of our Society. I need hardly assure you that I retain an un- altered conviction on two points, viz. that whatever discour- agements we may meet with, it is our duty to persevere. 1842. MEETING OF AFRICAN SOCIETY. 557 And again, that the Lord of compassion and righteousness is, and will be, with those who faithfully labour for the purpose of rescuing millions of the human race, not only from their moral darkness, but from the intense sufferings which they now endure. May He hasten the day when the Gospel, with its train of attendant blessings, shall shine forth upon Africa, " I am very thankful that, although I am debarred from taking my share of labour, your lordship and other faithful men are still prosecuting the good cause." Nothing could be stronger than the contrast be- tuvtn the exulting hopes of the meeting in 1840, and the sorrowful tidings which were to be commu- nicated to the one now convened; nevertheless its tone was less desponding than had been feared. Lord John Russell, with his usual courage, came forward and took a prominent part in the proceed- ings, boldly asserting the soundness of the principles on which the schemes had been founded. The pre- sent Bishop of Oxford spoke with hereditary elo- quence and feeling. He fully admitted the disap- pointment, but, like Lord John Russell, he did not fear to uphold the principles which had actuated tin- in, the righteousness of the cause, and the cer- tainty of ultimate success, if discouragement did not paralyze their exertions. Among the speakers were the Bishops of Glou- cester and Norwich, Lords Mahon, Sandon, Teign- mouth and Fortescue, Sir R. H. Inglis and Sir T. D. Ac-land. To Lord John RusselL - My it the model farm. He found the settlers all well : a large portion of ground had been cleared ; and from twenty to thirty acres were "in good order, mainly planted with cotton, the growing crops of which were very promising."* u Of native labour there had been no scarcity, the numbers employed being frequently 100 men, women, and boys; on one day 236 were fully occupied. They worked nine hours per diem, and received three pence each in cowries. Seven houses and four huts had been erected. * * * Well- supplied markets were regularly held at the farm and in the surrounding villages, f " The security which the establishment afforded from the constant inroads of the slave hunters, had induced numbers of the persecuted tribes to settle in the neighbourhood, and to cultivate much more extensively and carefully than before. * * * The natives were most peaceable, friendly, and industrious. The Bassas (a neighbouring tribe) are described as a quiet and intelligent people ; and extremely desirous of ling the manners and customs of Europeans ; very obe- dient and industrious." J On the other hand, owing to the murder of Mr. Carr, while returning to the model farm from Fernando Po, the settlers had been deprived of all effective superintendence. Mr. Moore, the negro in charge, had no authority over his companions ; and, in consequence, the most complete disorganisation had * Lieutenant Webb's Report, P. P. p. 75. j" Mount Patteh is described as being almost covered with luxuriant crops of corn, yams, millet, &c. ; and the natives appeared to have some idea of the rotation of crops ; but the slave-trading Fulatahs were the trrror of the country. I Account of the Model Farm. Friend of Africa. Dec. 1842. MODEL FARM ABANDONED. CHAP. XXXH. taken place. These evils Lieutenant Webb expected to remedy by leaving Mr. Hensman, the surgeon of the Wilberforce, as superintendent ; but sickness ap- pearing on board, Mr. Hensman could not be spared. Lieutenant Webb therefore broke up the settlement, and brought all the people away. " This necessity how.ever," lie says, " I could not help regretting, because I felt that we were retiring from a position of great advantage, whether regarded as an inland point from which commerce and civilisation might be expected to diffuse their blessings through the neighbouring countries, or as a point of refuge for the fugitive negroes, seeking to avoid slavery, where they might become acquainted with the ad- vantages of our protection, and possibly in time form a con- siderable colony under our rule." For a moment Sir Fowell's equanimity was ruffled by this bitter disappointment. " As to the model farm," he writes to Mr. Trew, " it makes one mad to think that it was going on so well our experiment likely to be successful, and that they were torn away because Lieutenant Webb had not a superinten- dent to spare them. However, all regrets are kept down by the reflection that at the head of our cause stands One who cannot err." In October, Sir Fowell had the gratification of hearing that Capt. Bosanquet had offered to the African Society his gratuitous services to conduct another expedition up the Niger, together with a donation of 500?. towards the expenses of it. In replying to a letter of thanks addressed to him by Sir Fowell, Capt. Bosanquet writes : " My whole heart is embarked in the cause of our black brethren, and what little talent and energy I am possessed of 164-2. TO DR. LUSHINGTON. 561 shall be used towards the success of the Expedition, if sent out." The Committee of the Society was convened to take this proposal into consideration: it was grate- fully ivreived by them, but they found themselves compelled to decline it. To Dr. Lushington. "I am much ohliged to you for telling me what passed between Sir Robert Inglis and yourself on the subject of his meditated Church of England Society for Africa. I can lia\i> no doubt about my course. I am quite ready and willing to unite with him; he shall freely have my sub- scription, and what little service my shattered frame can give. Only I hope they will not expel me for giving my money al.-.> to any right-hearted Dissenters who will endeavour to befriend Africa, for I shall not refuse that, and my earnest good wishes, to every sincere Christian who sets about this work of charity in his own way. I am extremely sorry that you and I do not see this one point in exactly the same light. But though we differ pro hdc vice, there shall be no sepa- ration between us so do not expect it. Why, man, have you not borne, for the last twenty years, more than half my burden ? and have you ever failed to render me every assis- tance which could be furnished by your better judgment, your greater experience, and your unquenchable industry, and am I to let you off so easily at last? However, I am railed away to shoot with my boys." To his younger Sons, at Trinity College, Cambridge. " Northrepps, May 22. 18*2. " My dear Boys, "Our Sabbath day's business is over, and our family ivadin : lini.-hcd. Well, you have been much in all our minds to-day. I hope it has been a tran\v well Trew spoke ; and Sir Edward Parry capitally too. I came to the conclusion that I ought never to be low, : downcast, all the rest of my pilgrimage, the accounts are so very bright of those for whom my heart used to bleed .1 few years ago. And these blessings I firmly trust will last long after I shall be mouldering in the dust." To Andrew Johnston, Esq. "Northrepps, Feb. 1843. " Your little B is in great force, and takes very pleasingly to grandpapa : he is a great wit ; and, what is better, very happy. " I have begun to plant again, and make great progress in providing employment for the poor people in this neighbour- hood, which is the first and pleasantest thing in planting, be the second what it may. * "\\r e h ave muc h, indeed, very much, to be unreservedly thankful for, very much at home, very much at Ilalesworth, very much at Cambridge, very much at Forest K-liro, and at many other places, while, with much submission, we have to be satisfied, though astonished, with the event of tin Kxpcdition, and to feel and to be able to say, * God's will lie/ although it be in the teeth of our fondest wishes. Another day may yet dawn upon Africa, and I doubt not it will." Some years before this time he had purchased a small estate at Trimingham, on the coast of Norfolk, four miles from Cromer; and he took great interest in executing various i>lans for its improvement. One of the farms he retained in his own hands, and took i pains to bring the land into the highest state of cultivation. In 1840 he bought some more o o 2 564 PLANTATIONS. CHAP. XXXII. land at Runton, on the other side of Croraer, and on both these properties he formed extensive plantations. On commencing them he wrote to Mr. Aubin at Rome : " Northrepps, Sept. 5. " I am now once more settled at home, but as yet I have only been able to get out shooting once. The fact is, I have been buying an estate, where I hope, on some future day, to show you some partridges and a pheasant or two ; and I find more sport in the delicious occupation of projecting improve- ments, and letting the imagination run wild in visions of future woods and groves, which have yet to be planted, than in pursuing preserved game. After all, I like your wild Macarese shooting ; bandits, assassins, vipers, and all, better than our tame sport." These plantations formed his chief amusement during the last years of his life. " His friends," says Mr. J. J. Gurney, " will not fail to remember the lively pleasure which they enjoyed in accompanying him over the hills and dales of Runton and Triming- ham, while he pointed out to them the exquisite views of the sea, already rendered more lovely by the young and rising plantations in the foreground."* His plantations were called (as his horses had been in earlier days) after the objects which were most deeply interesting to him at the time. One wood went by the name of " the Niger," another by that of " Fernando Po," and so on. To Andrew Johnston, Esq. "Northrepps Hall, Feb. 10. 1843. " Our party here, although very small, and with a touch of the lonely, is very cheerful and comfortable. * " Brief Memoir of Sir T. Powell Buxton, Bart./' p. 27. 1843. RECOLLECTIONS BY MR. NIXON. 565 " At least ninety families have been supported during this hard weather, by double trenching my plantations, and rariniur, I am happy to say, on the average two shillings a day. But this last snow has beat them, and they can do no more at present. I am getting decidedly stronger, and feel more like myself. " All Karlham came here yesterday to dinner. I have been riding with a large party, to see my new plantations ; and we are all greatly delighted. Love to all. In truth, I can say from my heart, ' The good Lord bless you all.'" One of his friends, observing to him, " Your plan- tations will some day be the pride of the country, if England stands." " England stand ! " said he. " I will never believe that any country will fall, which lias abolished slavery as England has done." The following recollections of Sir Fowell during the latter years of his life, are from the pen of his secretary, Mr. Nixon. They will aid the reader in forming a just idea of his character. " The qualities which struck me most in Sir Fowell l>u\ton, were, his perseverance, benevolence, disregard of outside appearances, his entire devotion to what was prac- tical, and, perhaps, beyond all, his humility. " As regards perseverance ; before entering upon an undertaking, he seemed to consider, not whether success in it were />n>/>able, but whether it were possible; if so, he wtmM M-t about it at once, and never give in till that success was rained. " His humility led him to esteem no one unworthy of a ,in portion of respect, however low hi* condition; so that I never in any in.Man.v -a\\ the principle of that Essay by l>r. ( l.anninLT, which has for its title ' Honour due unto all men,' ><> fully and consistently carried utit as !>y him. " In June, 1840, a lew days after I became his secretary, o o a 566 ANECDOTES CHAP. XXXII. he went to town from Upton, leaving me the task of making an epitome of his ' Slave Trade and Remedy.' When he returned we walked up and down the lawn, I reading my paper to him. He listened very attentively, and when it was finished he tapped me on the shoulder, and said, * Very well done indeed, Mr. Nixon ; it does you great credit, but it won't do for me. It would make a capital flowery speech for a young member of Parliament ; but I want something more practical, very brief and very strong : so now come along in- doors, and let us make a beginning.'" " I never recall the period of my connection with Sir Fowell without a feeling of astonishment at his wonderful powers of concentration, which enabled him to apply every atom of his energies to the one purpose in hand. In carrying out a great object, he was borne along irresistibly, and to compass it every effort must be made, which human inge- nuity could point out, or bodily endurance admit of. He used to become far too deeply absorbed to be conscious of fatigue, and would often laugh at me good humouredly when I complained that I felt very tired and should like to give up for awhile. ' Tired, Nixon ! why, you don't know what it is to be tired. When you've had nineteen years in Parlia- ment, you'll be able to form some opinion of what it means : however, we must finish this job at any rate. I don't care how many white slaves I make to save the black ones ! ' " When he returned alone from Italy, at which time I became his secretary, he was overwhelmed with business connected with the Niger Expedition. These affairs were so widely ramified, that none but a powerful mind could have sustained such constant and heavy pressure. When the day's labour was over, he was quite unable to sleep, and night after night I was called upon to read aloud to him, in in hopes of soothing him to rest. Many a time when I was at length dropping off into a lower and lower tone, in hopes that his slumbers had begun, he would stop me suddenly, exclaiming, * Get me my memorandum book, Mr. Nixon ; set down so and so,' and he would go on until there was work enough set down for the next week perhaps. Then came 184?. AND REMINISCENCES. 567 another monotonous page or two of the book I was reading, and then up he would get, saying, ' It's of no use, I can't sleep, come into the drawing-room, now then, take a sheet >f paper; ' he would then dictate three or four notes or a letter or a portion of some long statement upon which he might be :cd, and then go to bed again. " His perseverance in small things, as well as in great, was displayed in the labour he bestowed on his plantations, which hud been formed upon the roughest ground, and were exposed to those bitter north-east blasts which seemed to preclude all hope of covering the hills with wood. But he spared no pains to accomplish his purpose : reading, corre- spondence, conversation with men of experience, visits to nur- sery grounds and woods, every method was resorted to, for obtaining information, and securing success: and it was at- tained abundantly. Indeed the flourishing plantations at TriminL'ham and Runtonare brought forward as the example of successful planting, in the essay on that subject which gained the gold medal of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1845. " The rule of Sir Powell's life was to be * complete in all things,' and to do well, what he did at all : but I ought to observe that in forming his plantations, he evidently de- rived the greatest part of his pleasure from the employment it pive to the poor. " Hi.s drlight in horses was remarkable. I may relate an anecdote which he told me himself, in connexion with one of his favourites. * Poor old Abraham,' he said, ' was the finest I i \cr had in my life. At the time when George IV. was very unpopular, I was riding through St, James's Park, just as the king passed, surrounded by an immense mob. Tin- .-limits and groans and yellings were terrific, and there was I wedded in among the multitude, in the midst of noises \vhich might hau- frightened the most courageous animal. 1'mt my noble-spirited horse pricked up his cars, distended :.'istrils, curved his neck, and stood immovable. The .lay came the Marquis of to endeavour to buy my horse. I said I did not \vi.-h t<> .-ell him, that he was a 4 568 ANECDOTES CHAP. XXXII. great favourite of mine, and perfectly suited my purpose. Nothing daunted, the Marquis held his ground, made me first one offer and then another, and at last told me that he was not endeavouring to buy the horse for himself, but was authorized to go as far as 500/. for a friend. This offer I still refused, when, as a last resource, " The fact is, Mr. Buxton," said he, " it is the king who has sent me to buy your horse, and I hope you will not refuse to sell him to His Majesty." This rather took me aback, but I had made up my mind ; so with very many apologies and regrets, and in the politest manner imaginable, I maintained my ground, and thus the matter ended. What I meant, though I did'nt think it exactly civil to say so, was, " You may tell His Ma- jesty, that I'm happy to hear he's so fond of a good horse, but so am I, and having got one, I mean to keep him ! " " His generosity was unbounded. I remember when we were in Bath, his chief pleasure was to look into the shops, and see what he could buy for his family, his grandchildren, his friends. His manner, too, of making a present was the most agreeable and delicate imaginable. In looking over things, he would sometimes say, * Well, I don't know which to choose, which do you think is the best, Nixon ? ' And on my pointing out which I thought the most desirable article, he would say, * Oh ! you think so, do you, Sir ? well, then, put that on one side for Mr. Nixon ! ' " His public liberality, which is so generally known, was only equalled by his private acts of generosity and charity- acts which were known only to myself and the recipients of his bounty. He appeared totally unable to deny relief, where it seemed to be required, although he might feel it had not been merited. Sometimes, when he had relieved the same person several times, he would give me directions to write a rather sharp note stating that he could attend to no further applications. In the course of the day he would ask me whether I had sent the note. He would then hesitate, read over the applicant's letter once again, and then leaning back in his arm-chair and raising his spectacles upon his forehead, would look me steadily in the face. ' What do 1843. AND REMINISCENCES. 569 you think of it, Nixon ? The poor old villain seems to be in a bad way, shall I send him a trifle more ? ' On my de- clining to give an opinion, he would continue, * Well, then, send him another sovereign, and as this is the seventh time he has promised never to apply to me again, tell him that I give him a trifle this once, but only on condition that I am never to see his handwriting any more. I don't wish to hurt the poor old fellow's feelings, but explain to him in the very civillcst terms imaginable, that I'll see his neck stretched before I send him another halfpenny.' Then rising to go out of the room, he would look back before shutting the door, to beg of me * not to put it too sharp? and to let him see the letter before sending it off. Such was the man he could not bear to give a moment's pain. " I hardly ever saw such affection towards little children, a- hi- \\as. Though engaged in the most difficult business, he could hardly make up his mind to turn them out, when they came to him in the study, without a present of sweetmeats or cakes, which he used often to hoard up for them; and if a child happened to cry in the far-off regions of the nursery, he used to jump tip, leaving, in the midst, the most important letter or paper, and could never rest till he had gained relief from this, which, to him, was so painful an occurrence. " It would sometimes happen, that a little cause of dispute arose between us, generally some difference of opinion ; and I, unfortunately, could seldom restrain myself from saying pre- \ what, at the moment, I felt. This used to vex him; hut lie would say nothing till the next day, and then, when I thought that the whole matter had passed off (having perhaps \ ed great kindness in the mean time), he would all at once What a silly fellow you were, Nixon, to put yourself in such a passion yesterday I If I had spoken then, we should most probably have parted. Make it a rule never to speak when you are iu a passion, but wait till the next day.' " If, at any time, he happened to transgress this rule him- self, he was seriously vexed and grieved, and could not rest till he had in some way made amend.- for his want of sclf- iv-traint. -ider it not very nerc?sary, perhaps 570 ANECDOTES. CHAP. XXXII. degrading, to make an apology to those below them in station ; but such was not his case. The plan of people in general, is tacitly to acknowledge their error by an increase of kindness, if they do not actually presume upon their authority, and make ' might ' stand for * right ; ' but such was not his mode of action. " I recollect one instance well. He was going to shoot at Runton (I think it was in 1844), and just before he was to start, I had been urging some point upon him, which I knew to be necessary, but perhaps I did so with two great ve- hemence, and not enough respect. At this time the carriage was announced, and he left the room, saying, ' I tell you what, Nixon, I don't wish you to come out shooting with me, and had much rather you would not ! ' I was sure, however, that he did not actually mean this, so, after a minute's reflection, I mounted the pony and rode after him. When near the Felbrigg Lodges, I saw the coachman pull up, and after speaking to Sir Fowell, beckon to me. As soon as I reached the side of the carriage, he put his hand out at the window, saying, * Come, Nixon, I know I was wrong ; you must not think anything more of what I said just now ! ' "I do not put forward these few recollections of Sir Fowell as anecdotes, but merely as rough memoranda ; and I am only sorry that I have been able to record so few. In conclusion, I may say, that it has given me sincere pleasure thus to review the period of my fortunate connection with him ; and that my reverence and esteem for his character are, if possible, increased every time that I am led to reflect upon him." dm-, xxxnr. 571 CHAPTER XXXIII. 1843, 1844, 1845. iXUED AND INCREASING ILLNESS. CORRESPONDENCE. KU.IGIOUS KKKLlMiS. HIS LAST ILLNESS, AND DEATH. TESTIMONIALS TO HIS MEMORY. OBSERVATIONS ON HIS CHA- BACTER, BY THE REV. J. W. CUNNINGHAM. IN the spring of 1843, Sir Fowell Buxton was re- commended to try the Bath waters. In a letter from tin nee to Mr. Johnston, after alluding to the poor hi ute of his health, he says: "Bath, March 3. 1843. * * * jjow f or something better. To use David's words, * My mouth hath been filled with laughter ' since I in the Globe, which arrived yesterday, the account of I'nnigham askiug a question about the Slave Trade, and of Lord Aberdeen replying, * that he was convinced the time would soon come when it would be abolished altogether.' " Pray turn to it, and let P. taste the delight of hearing that debate, and of seeing that although our good Lord did not think proper to execute our plan, it seems every way probable that He is preparing to accomplish the work, which is all that signifies, and all that I care for. If He do but undertake the task, we know that all obstacles arc removed, and all dilHuultirs surmounted. It puts me into the greatest gaiety of heart." To Miss Gurney. "Bath, May 1<). 1843. "* * * As to myself, it' I am to tell the truth, I do not feel strong, and partly from frequent attacks of illm-.-.-, and feebleness, and partly from the manner in 572 DESIRES FOR AFRICA. CHAP. XXXTII. which my doctor shook his head, I catch myself saying, in the language of Christopher North, * Though our day be not quite gone by, we think we see the stealing shades of evening, and in the solemn vista, the darkness of night.' " I called at the Colonial Office when I was in London ; James Stephen spoke in such glowing terms of the conduct of the Negroes since Emancipation, as sent me home quite exulting." In writing to Mr. Scoble, explaining his absence from the Anti-Slavery Convention, he adds, " I can no longer personally unite with you in fighting ; but my prayer to God is, that He would stand by all those who are engaged in the holy attempt to put down these iniquities." He would occasionally express an earnest desire that he might be enabled to work again in the service of Africa ; " but," he observed on one occasion, " no matter who is the instrument, so that there be successful labourers for God, for Christ, and for man, especially for heathen man ! " The summer of the year was passed very quietly at Northrepps. His extremely feeble health preclud- ing him from exertion, he amused himself with the improvement of his farm and plantations ; while, in the evenings, he delighted to come out upon the lawn, and watch the villagers at their games of cricket. While the force of his mind was waning, his affections seemed to cling with ever-increasing warmth to all who were dear to him. It would be impossible to describe the energy of his prayers while imploring every " good and perfect gift " for those whom he loved, both present and far away ; but above all, morning and evening, did his most fervent supplica- 1843. REV. MR. CROWTHER. 573 tiona ascend, that his heavenly Father would stretch forth His hand to deliver " poor Africa." To Mrs. Johnston, Halesworth. "August, 1843. " We have just finished our family reading, and therefore I tru.st I shall stand acquitted, even in Andrew's eyes, of vio- lating the Sabhath, if I spend a few moments with almost the dearest friend I have. Your image has been present \vith me all the day. I fear too that you are still in suffer- in ir. I look about me, thinking what there is that we could do that might a M to your comfort. I cannot think how it was that I was so stubborn about that portrait of myself. ' May you have it?' To be sure you may, and I only wish it were ten times more worth your having. I will send it by the van forth with. * * * " To Archdeacon Trew, on his entering on his office in the Bahamas. "October, 1843. " There is this comfort in your leaving England, that you are embarked in a noble cause, and if you succeed in ob- taining blaek men, who are truly converted and spiritual Christians, to labour in Africa, it will be worth, not only any inconveniences, to which you may be exposed, but the li\vs of any ten of us. So go in good heart, my dear friend, and the Lord go along with you." Ik- was sufficiently recovered in the autumn to re- ceive a few guests under his roof; amongst them, the llrv. SimiuelCrowther, who, during his visit, preached in Northropps church, and Sir Fowell was not a lit tic gratified at hearing an excellent sermon from the lips of a Negro clergyman. In M r. Crowther's sermon, he allua\iour is unbounded. " Joseph J. Gurney is on a missionary excursion in France ; p p 2 580 THE AFEICANS AT SIEKKA LEONE. CHAP. XXXIII. all the rest of our families are in their usual health ; the Cunninghams rejoicing and labouring as usual. " I thank you much, my dear friend, for all you say ; and can from my heart re-echo your desire, that God may pre- serve us all to his eternal kingdom ! " Yours ever, in true fidelity, " T. FOWELL BUXTON." " I am far more of a Quaker than you are as to these Indian wars. I know every one of them may be called de- fensive, but the principles and root of all are aggression and conquest. I cannot conceive how our missions are ever to prevail against the arguments of our cannon. Six thousand heathen slain at Gwalior are a terrible set-off against our converts. Yet we are not to be discouraged. I long for the whole Christian world to combine its forces against war. Peace seems to me an object not nearly enough striven for, as lying at the root of all other good. " One would suppose by my silence that I think nothing of the abolition of slavery in the East Indies. This is very far from being the truth. We do rejoice most truly in what has been done. "We know that there cannot be the abolition of slavery, however narrow and jejune may be its details, without a flight of concomitant blessings. But \ve want to know each and every detail, and we hope you will write without delay, and tell us all about it." A branch society for the civilisation of Africa had been formed by the Africans at Sierra Leone, and had sent a considerable sura of money to the parent society in England. To their committee Sir Fowell addressed the following letter : " Gentlemen, " Spitalfields, June 7th 1844. " I cannot refrain from expressing the very great pleasure which the intelligence of your proceedings has caused in Eng- land, among persons so long and so deeply interested in the welfare of the oppressed inhabitants of uncivilised Africa. 1844. SUMMER AT NORTI1REPPS. 581 " It is matter for great thankfulness to find such exertions for the liberation of the slaves going on among any community, but especially so when set on foot by the very men who have themselves been victims of the most terrible system of cruelty ami oppression which the world has ever known. You have, moreover, the credit of setting the example to your fellow- countrymen of what may be done by themselves, towards the c-K -ration of their species, and their own liberation from the dreadful evils to which they have been so long subject. " Be assured that the spirit which this gift evinces on your part, and the anxiety which it displays for the spread of hu- man freedom in the world, for the advancement of education, and still more for the diffusion of the Gospel of Christ among the benighted millions of your country, will not fail to afford the deepest gratification to those who, for twenty years, have not ceased in their exertions or in their prayers for your real and everlasting welfare." Although in a languid, feeble state of health, he Mirain spent a tolerably cheerful summer at North- repps. His spirits were less depressed, which he said was owing to a greater assurance of being a parrakrr of the heavenly inheritance. "This is granted me," he said, "through the royal love and mercy of my Lord, who has died for me." 1 n the fine summer mornings, he would often rise at four or five o'clock and go into his dressing-room, where his voice could be heard for an hour or two at a time in fervent prayer. When remonstrated -svith on the risk to his health, he would answer, " I have not time enough for prayer. I must have longer time for prayer." One night, his voice being he ml air r he was in bed, he was asked what he wa- -ayin.Lr: "Praying hard," was his reply: p p 582 DECREASING STRENGTH. CHAP. XXXIII. adding, " I have been praying vehemently for myself, that I may receive faith, that I may receive the grace of God in my heart, that I may have a clear vision of Christ, that I may perfectly obey Him, that I may have the supporting arm of the Lord in every trial, and be admitted finally into his glorious kingdom." In the autumn, although he was still able to take a little air and exercise, going out on his pony with his gun, or to visit his plantations, his appearance indicated increased languor and oppression ; and he was, to use his own words, " under decayed spirits." Though very unfit for any mental labour, he was stirred up to exertion by hearing that important changes were about to be made by Government, in the arrangements for the liberated Africans at Sierra Leone. He greatly feared any thing ap- proaching to compulsory emigration, and warmly objected to the breaking up in any degree, of that system of education and training at Sierra Leone, which appeared to him, through the blessing of God, just beginning to produce results of extreme im- portance to the whole continent of Africa. He, therefore, wrote a long and urgent appeal to Lord Stanley, adducing every argument to persuade him to give up this scheme. The composition of the letter cost him a grievous effort. He was intensely anxious to accomplish it, thinking that it might have weight with the Government, and induce them to relinquish what appeared to him so injurious a measure. He would not give it up, but went on making attempt after attempt to finish it ; often did he 1644. LETTER TO LORD STANLEY. 583 begin to dictate, and then sink back exhausted in the middle of a sentence ; then he would rouse himself and try airam, till at last it was completed. It is too long for iiiM-rtion here, but it scarcely displays any trace of the extreme debility under which he was labouring. A\ ith this act closed his long and arduous exertions on behalf of the Negro race. The able and successful African missionary, Mr. Freeman, who had recently returned from his ad- venturous journey into the kingdoms of Dahomey and Yuriba, came to Northrepps, at the end of October, accompanied by Mr. Beecham. Remembering with what lively interest Sir Fowell had nr< -ived Mr. Freeman's journals of his two previous visits to Coomassie, which the Wesleyan Society had sent him as soon as they could get a copy taken, his inability on this occasion to receive tin- gratification which his friends had hoped to a fiord him, was very painful. He was, in fact, quite unal>l<' to enter into the details, which heretofore Avould have given him so much pleasure. All the incidents of the journey, although related by Mr. I r < man in the most animated manner, could not rouse him to make questions or remarks. His family could not but feel that evening that the blow was struck ; and, indeed, the solemn gravity of his own manner, showed that he himself knew it to be so. He continued too feeble and too much oppressed to converse much ; but every now and then the deep fi'-l'mirs of his heart would break forth. When sayinir grace before dinner, he seemed unable to p p 4 584 EXPRESSIONS OF THANKFULNESS. CHAP. XXXIIL restrain his overflowing love to the Provider of all mercies. Some of his expressions have been preserved, as the following : " We thank thee, O Lord, for all thy supplies to us, and we pray thee to inspire us with deep gratitude to the Author of every good gift." " Lord, make us truly thankful for thy innumerable mercies to us ; and with the blessings of the body give us those far greater blessings to the soul, which are by Christ Jesus." " The Lord bless us with a sense of his mercy, of his love and his indulgent kindness to us, and give us an anxious desire to serve Him, and to please Him for Christ's sake." " The Lord make us very thankful, and recall to our recollection all the instances of his mercy, and fill us with thankfulness." One morning, the tenth chapter of Matthew having been read aloud, Sir Fowell, who, in his easy chair by the fireside, had been an attentive listener, said, " There is one passage which you have not touched upon, but which I never can read without the most anxious inquiry into the state of my own soul." He then read the verses beginning " Woe unto thee, Chorazin," &c., and dwelt on his many and great privileges, concluding by solemnly observing, " How great will be our condemnation, if these be not improved ! " On Sunday the 17th of November, he went to church ; and according to his custom, gave out the hymns to be sung during the service. One of them was that beautiful hymn beginning, " All hail the power of Jesu's name." In reading the last verse, which runs thus 1,844. ATTACK OF ILLNESS. 585 Oh ! that with yonder sacred throng We at his feet may fall ; There join the everlasting song, And crown him Lord of all ;" so fervent was his emphasis, and so marked the ex- pression of his uplifted countenance, that, on returning home, the Rev. P. C. Law noticed it to his family, and said he felt a strong conviction that he should never again hear Sir Powell's voice in that church. The presentiment was verified. On the 5th of December, while sitting in his chair in his dressing-room, he poured out his heart in prayer, that he, unworthy as he was, might, without a single doubt, know the blessed Lord to be the Saviour ; that he might dwell in Christ, and Christ, through infinite mercy, in him, filling his heart with charity, love, meekness, and every grace ; that his numerous trans- gressions might be pardoned ; and that, finally, he might be gathered into the land of everlasting life. Soon afterwards he said, " I feel my faculties and powers obscured," but added, " my faith is strong." On the 15th of December he was seized with a severe spasm on the chest, the effects of which, in the course of a week or two, became extremely alarming to his family, and they all collected around him. While reduced to the lowest state of weakness he was full of the spirit of gratitude, and continually poured forth fervent thanksgiving " for pardon given and redeeming love." His prayers were earnest for " the gift of the most Holy Spirit and the re- moval of all clouds, that he might come to Christ, 586 HIS SYMPATHY WITH SUFFERING. CHAP. XXXIII. under humiliation, suffering, and infirmity ; and find strength and consolation in Him." On Sunday, Jan. 21, he broke forth with much energy of voice and manner in these words : " God, God, can it be that there is good reason to believe that such an one as I, shall be numbered among the just? Is thy mercy able to contain even me ? From my very heart I give thee most earnest thanksgivings for this and for all thy mercies." Towards the end of January, on experiencing some return of strength, he remarked, " How pleasant is the feeling of rest on recovery from illness, while all our worldly occupations are laid aside ! " and when some one observed to him that it seemed like a fore- taste of the heavenly rest prepared for the children of God, he immediately broke forth into prayer for each member of his family, that they might be par- takers of that blessed rest, through Christ our Lord. The varied expressions of tenderness for those most dear to him, which were blended with these prayers, were singularly impressive. He continued to take a lively interest in every thing connected with his poorer neighbours ; indeed, his own needs seemed to open his heart more than ever to the wants of others, so that it was necessary to avoid mentioning cases of sorrow or suffering, from the pain it occasioned him. He was most anxious that the villagers should be supplied with soup and other comforts ; and never did his countenance brighten up w r ith more satis- faction than when he caught a view from his bed, of the train of women and children walking home over the grass, with their steaming cans and pitchers. 1844. LETTER FROM MRS. FRY. 587 The most cordial welcome was ready for every one who visited him ; and his expressions of love con- tinually turned into earnest prayer for them and for all his friends, that they might be given to the Lord for life and for ever ! < > \ving probably to physical weakness, his mind was occasionally beset with doubts : but these painful feelings were but of brief duration, and were always succeeded by his accustomed firm and serene belief ; hi- mind frequently dwelling on the infinite mercy and love of God, and he would exclaim, " Now all clouds are removed. What an inexpressible favour! " On the 6th of February he had a painful return of oppression on his breath, but he bore it with entire patience and submission. He was much pleased by the following note from Mrs. Fry, who was herself extremely ill. " I must try to express a little of the love and sympathy I feel with and for thee. * * * How much we have been one in heart, and how much one in our objects ! Al- though our callings may have been various, and thine more exteiiM\v than mine, we have partaken of the sweet unity of the Spirit in the Lord. May we, whilst here, whether called to do or to suffer, be each other's joy in the Lord ! and when the end comes, through a Saviour's love and merits, may we behold our King in his beauty and rejoice in his presence for ever ! " My love to you and your children and children's children is great and i arnest ; my desire and prayer is, that grace, im-ivy. and peace may rest upon you in time and to all eternity!" At Sir Powell's request Mr. Law came after ser- vice on the 9th of February, and Administered the 588 LAST DAYS. CHAP. XXXIH. Sacrament to him and to all the party around his bed. At night he began talking, apparently in his sleep, of the conversion of the heathen, and of longing to be at work for them, saying " I am ready to un- dertake all the working part." After a time of great exhaustion he said, " Christ is most merciful most merciful to me. I do put my trust in Him." Mr. J. J. Gurney who visited him about a week before his death, thus describes his state : " It was almost, if not entirely, a painless illness. Nothing could be more quiet and comfortable than the sick room, with an easy access to all who were nearly connected with him : no fear of disturbing him, who was sure to be either asleep, or, if awake, in an unruffled, cheerful, happy state of mind, giving us, from time to time, characteristic tokens of himself, with his well-known arch manner, and with undeviating kind- ness and good temper to all around him, and no fretfulness or irritation. Never was a Christian believer more evidently rooted and grounded in his Saviour never was the Chris- tian's hope more evidently an anchor to the soul, sure and steadfast. " On my remarking to him that I perceived he had a firm hold on Christ, he replied, in a clear emphatic manner, * Yes, indeed, I have ! unto eternal life.'' After a long-continued state of torpor, he revived surprisingly. Just before we left him, on the 14th of February, his mind was lively and bright, * as a morning without clouds.' * While memory lasts, I can never forget his eager look of tenderness and affection, of love, joy, and peace, all combined, as he grasped my hand and kept firm hold of it for a long time, on my bidding him farewell, and saying to him ' Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for thee, yes, for thee, my * 2 Samuel, chap, xxiii. 4. 1844. HIS DEATH AND INTERMENT. 589 brother.' The five days which intervened between our leaving him and his death, appear to have been tranquil : with the same alternations between sleep long-con- tinued and tending to torpor, and waking times, brief indeed, but marked by an uncommon degree of ease and cheerful- ne~." On the 19th of February, he was very much ex- hausted, but tranquil in body and mind. Towards the afternoon, symptoms of increasing oppression returned ; and as the evening advanced, it was evident that he was entering the valley of the shadow of death. He sank into quiet sleep, his family collected round his bed, but no longer to be recognised by their honoured head ; it was only to watch the peace- ful departure of the spirit. He lay perfectly still ; and, about a quarter before ten o'clock, fell asleep in his Lord. * His remains were deposited in the ruined chancel of the little church at Overstrand. The old walls overrun with ivy, the building itself with the sea in full view, and the whole surrounding scenery, are liin hi v picturesque. ' The funeral, which was conducted with great sim- plicity, took place on a mild sunny winter's morning, and was attended by a large train of relatives, i'ririids, and neighbours. Long before the appointed hour, crowds of villagers were seen approaching the spot through the lanes and fields, in every direction. All sivim-d deeply moved. They had lost their pa- tron and friend, and were come to pay him the last tribute of respect and affection. The assembly was far too large to find room in the church, but great 590 MONUMENT IN CHAP. XXXIIL was the solemnity which prevailed in the churchyard while the interment took place. The whole scene was at once affecting and significant; it seemed to speak in the language of David respecting Abner, " Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel ? " fallen indeed, but only to rise again, and to afford one more consoling evidence that, for the humble believer in Jesus, death has lost its sting and the grave its victory.' * A few weeks after the death of Sir Fowell Buxton, some individuals who had admired his conduct and character, formed themselves into a committee for erecting a testimonial to his memory. The project was warmly approved. H. R. H. Prince Albert at once gave 501. ; and in a short time a large list of subscriptions was formed, containing among others the names of many of the most distinguished men of the day, of both sides in politics, and of va- rious denominations in religion. Even more grati- fying than all this was the zeal with which the plan was taken up by the Negroes in the West Indies, Sierra Leone, and Cape Coast, and by the natives in Kaffraria. Such was the multitude of these grateful subscribers that 450. was quickly raised, chiefly in pence and halfpence. Altogether, the number of contributors in the West Indies and Africa amounted to between thirty and forty thousand persons. " The proposal," writes the Reverend W. H. Price from Tobago, " was received with lively interest." " The whole island has come forward," says Dr. Reddie, in * Brief Memoir, by J. J. Gurney. 1844. WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 591 a letter from St. Lucia. From Nevis the Reverend 1 1 . Chesborough writes, " Our Negro people willingly rume forward to testify their respect for the memory of Sir Fowell Buxton." The other letters are in the same strain. Nor was this all: the liberated Afri- cans and others in Sierra Leone had sent lOQL to- wards the monument in Westminster Abbey; but they wished, in addition to that, to have a monument among themselves, they therefore subscribed a fur- ther sum of 80/., with which they have procured a beautiful bust executed by Mr. John Bell, which is shortly to be placed in St. George's Church at Sierra Leone. The testimonial, for which nearly 2000/. has been subscribed, is to be a full length statue (executed by Mr. F. Thrupp) to be placed between the monuments of Granville Sharp and William Wilberforce, in West- minster Abbey. 592 LETTER FROM CHAP. XXXIII. RECOLLECTIONS OF SIE T. FOWELL BUXTON. BY THE REV. JOHN CUNNINGHAM, OP HARROW. "My dear C , "Harrow, Dec. 1847. {f I ana delighted to hear that you are preparing a memoir of your dear and honoured father. Such a memoir appears to me to be indispensable. His numerous friends could not but long for details of a life of so much interest to themselves, and the public had a right to ask for all the private intel- ligence which could be collected as to the history of the extinction of slavery, and other holy and benevolent move- ments in which he acted so conspicuous a part. " Having heard of your intention, I thought that you would forgive me, as one of his oldest and not least-attached friends, if I ventured to give you my unbiassed impression of him. I should not, however, have thus presumed if I had not heard that you would be glad of any remarks founded on the observation of his character at an earlier period than that in which you had the privilege of ministering to his happiness. " I shall be glad to say a few words as to his intellectual, religious, moral, and social qualities. " As to the first, then, I have no hesitation in saying, that I always regarded him as a person of the very clearest understanding and strongest common sense that I have ever known of what we might, perhaps, call with justice, a truly fine specimen of the English mind. He had, amongst other evidences of this quality of understanding, an unusual power of casting off all the superfluities of a question, and seizing upon its great cardinal points of shutting out the side lights, and so of throwing a sort of direct and intense ray on the objects presented to him. One result of this was, that few men made such short speeches upon great subjects. For one fact or reason which he adduced, he rejected a hundred, as what he felt, and felt justly, to be mere encumbrances to 1844. THE REV. JOHN CUNNINGHAM. 593 his argument. No one better understood the maxim, * Ne quid nimis ; ' and here, I conceive, was one of the main causes of his success with the audience to which he was chiefly accustomed ; an audience, I believe, beyond all others intolerant of superfluities of any kind. They did full honour to the orator, who had the singularity of sitting down before they expected him to do so. " I may next say, that I have seldom known a mind of such determined industry, patience, and undaunted resolution in the pursuit of any object which it might present to itself. I never went into his study without standing rebuked before tin- mountain of testimonies, authorities, and documents of all sorts and sizes, from all points of the compass, which he had accumulated on the questions to which his mind was especially directed. Others are apt now and then, in a favourable season, to lie on their oars and let the vessel drive ; but the lav< mring wind only made him row the harder. I remember t<> have heard him expatiating to a Cabinet minister, on the many advantages of the * Emancipation ' bill. * Yes,' it was replied, ' and, among others, the getting rid of your trouble- some motions every three months.' " In the next place, I consider him to liave been a person >l '_Teat natural eloquence. I do not mean that he ever ivadu <1 the heights of some of the first ' worthies ' of his day. lie had not the wit and occasional majesty of Canning, or the exquisite grace and imagination of Wiiberforce, or the adroitness and resistless vocabulary of Lord Brougham : but he had a touch of all these ; and he had, to as great an extent as any one of his contemporaries, the faculty of clothing plain truths in strong language ; of leaving no man for a moment in doubt of his meaning, and of driving home that meaning with power to the conscience and heart. I recollect a rhetorical lecturer at Oxford pro- jio.-inLT his style as a model of pure English composition. And he spoke as he wrote, with almost unimpeachable correctness. The force of his language was not a little strengthened by occasional gaiety; and utill oftener by a turn- of manly indignation, which left the clearest conviction 594 LETTER FROM CHAP. XXXIII. that he was thoroughly honest, intensely in earnest, and resolved that no one of his hearers should hereafter plead his ignorance of the subject as an apology for a bad vote upon it. " I must now turn to the far more important subject of his religious character. And here, I may first confidently say, that it would be most difficult to find any man with what I may call a more entire and profound reverence for the word of God. That book was the leading star of his whole life. Some of his clerical friends, indeed, may have been tempted to think him a little too exclusive in this reverence when he ventured, as he sometimes did playfully, to characterise their long expositions of Scripture, as ' Bible and water,' and earnestly pleaded, in the language of Bishop Sherlock, for * long texts and short sermons.' But he so cordially loved the Bible himself, as to be intensely jealous of everything that was interposed between a dying soul and that which he deemed its life's blood. These days have more and more proved to us, that even a scrupulous jealousy upon this point is not altogether superfluous. " In the next place, your dear father felt, to as high a degree as any man that I ever knew, the power and value of prayer. Let me venture to hope that you will not, from what I should be disposed to regard as false delicacy, exclude from the memoir any of the proofs of this devout frame of mind, which you may find among his papers. This was, I conceive, the true ' rock ' of his ' strength ' in public and private life. I can remember his expressing the indignation he felt at the sort of dilution of the divine promises, as to the efficacy of prayer, which is to be found in some theological works. His testimony upon the subject of prayer appears to me to be of the highest value, and especially to public men, who may learn from it that one of the most diligent and successful of their own fellow-labourers, was a 'man of prayer ; ' a man who did nothing and spoke nothing, without castino- himself on a higher strength than his own. o o o " The only other feature of his religious character that I shall venture to notice, -is the childlike simplicity of his faith. No man was more able to have suggested doubts 1844. THE REV. JOHN CUNNINGHAM. 595 upon the authority or meaning of a troublesome passage of Scripture ; but no man was less disposed to do so. He had gone through, I believe, at an early period of his life, trials upon some points of the Christian system. But lie had come out of the furnace without even the ( smell of burning.' From the first moment that I knew him, he was, '.'.Q best of my belief, a sound and orthodox Christian, lie worshipped the * Trinity in Unity.' He rested every hope on Christ as a Divine Redeemer, and on the Holy Spirit as the teacher, comforter, and sanctifier of the soul. And on this strong foundation he built for eternity. And I believe that he will realise, through countless ages, the unmcasurable benefit of such a faith, testified, as it was in hi.- case, by a com iponding temper and practicfe " Before I quit the subject of religion, I must refer to the eharge often brought against him of not being a sound Churchman. And this at least must be admitted, that he rendered a less exclusive homage to the Church of England than some of its most ardent friends would desire. At the same time, he felt the highest admiration of its services, which he used much both in his family and in private, and re- garded it as an instrument of the very highest value in the resistance of error and support of truth. But it is impossible to deny that he attached less importance to the forms and ceremonial of religion, than, as I think, either a just ap- pn -elation of the weakness of human nature, or the whole analogy of Scripture would justify and demand. Perhaps hi- early hi-tory in some degree explains this defect, if I may so call it, in the philosophy of his religion. Though he hred baptism as an infant in the Church of England, his early education was mainly conducted by one who did not belong to that communion. When, through his marriage, and under a still loftier and holier influence, he came to feel ! value and power of religion, he was thrown, not only much among Churchmen, but among 'Friends' of the very hi 'ritual attainments. Was it to be wondered at, that, without any great stock of ec- d knowledge, he should be led to sink the exterior q Q -2 596 LETTER FROM CHAP. XXXUI. of religion a little below its just level, and to forget the casket, in the strength of his interest for the jewel contained in it? " As far as the imputation of bad Churchmanship is founded on those speeches in Parliament, in which he ad- vocates the appropriation of a part of the income of the Irish Bishops to the purposes of education, or expresses his preference for a poor over a rich clergy, I cannot admit its justice. I do not indeed think with him, that such was the state of religion in Ireland as to admit the appropriation of a single shilling of its church income to other purposes. The business of the legislature was, I conceive, not to alienate the income of the Church, but to compel the holders of it to a just application of it, or, in other words, to a zealous discharge of their high and solemn duties. Neither can I think with your honoured father, that any thing would be gained to religion, especially in a highly refined and civilised state of society, by so lowering the income of the higher orders of clergy, as to limit their intercourse, upon equal terms, with the higher orders of society in other classes. But I must do him the justice to say, that his object was not to impoverish any class of ministers of religion, and what he took from the rich, he was most anxious to give to the poor among the clergy. This may have been an error, but it was an error thoroughly compatible with the strictest loyalty to the Church. " I must, however, make haste to touch upon a few of what I may call the leading characteristics of his moral qualities. " In the first place, then, if ever I knew an honest man, it was your father. He always appeared to me to be the very soul of integrity and honour. To this feature in his cha- racter I believe that every man acquainted with him, in public or in private life, would be ready to set his seaL " In the next place, he was a man of indomitable courage. If, like the Chevalier Bayard, he was e sans reproche,' he was also e sans peur.' His grappling with a mad dog rather than suffer him to rush into the crowded streets, was a just 1844. THE REV. JOHN CUNNINGHAM. 597 type of his Parliamentary life. There were occasions when nothing but the stoutest heart could have encountered the hostility to which he was exposed. It was then that he often reminded ine of that glowing passage ' Come one, come all this rock shall fly From its firm base as soon as I.' "I should not do him justice in thus speaking of his courage, if I neglected to mention that, combined with this, there was a spirit of the very deepest tenderness. The union of these two qualities in any very high degree, appears to me extremely rare. It seems to solve the riddle of Samson, * Out of the strong came forth sweetness.' The hurry of life and press of business often appear not to leave time for sympathy ; but I never found him too busy to be kind ; and there are many who have lasting reasons to acknowledge the largeness of his In-art, and the liberality of his hand. " In speaking of his tenderness and sympathy, I have glanced at what 1 may perhaps call a ruling principle and passion of his mind. I mean a spirit of intense benevolence. He walked through the world like a man passing through the wanls of an hospital, and stooping down on all sides to ad- mini-ter help where it was needed. But, not only this: he had, as 1 have heard a dear friend of his and ours express it, * a singular power of realising to his own mind distant and unseen suffering; of making it his own; and, upon the deep compassion which it inspired, of founding a course of deliberate and sustained action.' Common sympathy is awakened by visible and tangible sorrow, and then perhaps * melts into the air.' His sympathy was awakened by men he had never seen, and he gave the best years of his life to tin ir welfare. " But I must now pass from this higher ground, to say a word on the subject of what may be termed his facial qualities. " At the period of his life when you began to be able to appreciate his character, his bodily and mental powers had both sustained considerable injury. Especially after the 598 LETTER FROM REV. J. CUNNINGHAM. CHAP. XXXTIL failure of the African Expedition, he was, if I may so speak, but the ghost of himself. I do not say, as was recorded of a distinguished person after a great calamity, that ( he never smiled again.' Domestic happiness, an approving conscience, a present God and Saviour, and the bright hopes of eternity, made such a state of gloom impossible to him. And oc- casionally the original man broke out from behind the cloud. But still it was evident to all, and, I think, at all times, that a great storm had broken over him. That gaiety, which was natural, and which had lent so much charm to an earlier period of his life, now recurred but rarely. I can remember him, year after year, when his conversation was as bright, racy, and amusing as that of most men that I have ever known. I believe that those who were present at a dinner given by him to Lord Stanley and the other members of the cabinet, after the abolition of slavery, will not easily forget the chastened gaiety, the occasional touches of harmless sar- casm, the sparklings of quiet easy wit, the glowing thanks to the friends of emancipation, the generous feeling towards its enemies, and the heartfelt gratitude to God, which breathed in his several short addresses to his company. No one, I think, could look at him or listen to him without feeling that it was ' a good thing,' even as far as this world is concerned, to be bold and constant in a righteous cause, and to live, not for ourselves, but for God and for mankind. " But I must here come to an end. I have lost a delightful friend, and you an invaluable father. God grant that his image may be constantly before us, to quicken our sluggish souls in the pursuit of those high, manly, and Christian qualities, of which he was so eminent an example ! " I am yours affectionately, " J. W. CUNNINGHAM." THE END. 599 APPENDIX TO CHAP. XVII. Table of Slave Population in Eleven West Indian Islands. (Par/. Papers.) Number of Slaves Number of Slaves Registered. Registered. DMVMHL Name of Colony. In the In the In Trtfal l!yV:inii- Year. Year. Years. i otai. nnssions. iViiiorara & Essequibo 1817 77,163 1832 65,517 15 11,646 nil. .Jamaica 1817 346,150 1832 302,666 15 43,484 4,691 Mmitserrat- 1817 6,610 1827 6,262 10 348 116 - 1817 9,602 1831 9,142 14 460 207 St. K: 1817 20,168 1831 19,085 14 1,083 968 St. Lucia - 1816 16,285 1831 13,348 15 2,937 889 Sf.Vi. 1817 25,218 1831 82,997 14 2,221 475 Tobajjo 1819 15,470 1832 12,091 13 3,379 192 Trinidad - 1816 25,544 1828 23,776 12 1,768 1,712 l!.ih;iinas 1 ^1-1 10,808 1828 9,268 6 1,540 202 Bermudas - 1820 5,176 1830 4,371 10 805 nil. Average Total 558,194 488,523 12 69,671 9,452 Yean. < Decrease, exclusive of manumissions, of the slave popu- lation of eleven (out of the twenty-one) islands, in twelve ntn = 69,671 9,452 = 60,129 in !M."i tables were published showing the changes of population between 1832 (twn years before slavery was abnli-heil ) mid 1844 (ten years after its abolition), in ten of tin- We-t India l-lawls; but we have no separate account of til-- number imported. 600 APPENDIX TO CHAP. XVII. Tables of Population in Ten West India Islands. (Par/. Papers.) Name of Colony. 1832. 1844. Increase. Antigua - ... 35,412 36,178 766 Dominica - 19,255 22,469 3,214 Grenada - 27,768 28,923 1,155 British Guiana ... 96,685 98,133 1,448 Barbadoes - 108,150 122,198 14,048 St. Lucia - 17,042 21,001 3,959 St. Vincent ... 27,122 27,248 126 Trinidad - 40,250 59,815 19,565 Bahamas - ... 18,508 25,292 6,784 Honduras - ... 3,794 10,000 6,206 Total in ten Colonies 393,986 I 451,257 i 57,271 The increase, then, in these ten colonies has averaged nearly 5000 a year since emancipation. In four colonies the population has decreased, Name of Island. Census in 1832. Censusinl844. Decrease. Montserrat - - - - 7,406 7,365 41 Nevis - 11,842 9,571 2,271 St. Kitt's - 23,697 23,177 520 Tobago - 13,571 13,208 363 Total 56,516 53,321 3,195 The total increase, therefore, in the fourteen islands in which alone we have any means of ascertaining the changes of population, has amounted to 54,076 souls. LONDON : SPOTTISWOODE and SHAW, New-street-Square. A i. r.; IT, , 1848. MR. MITJIAVS LIST OF NEW AND IMPORTANT WORKS JUST PUBLISHED. i. JOURNALS OF EVENTS IX T.ORXEO AND CKLKliES DOWN TO THE OCCUPATION OF LABUA By James Brooke, Esq., Rajah of Sarawak, and Governor of Labuan. t riIKH WITH V N \UKATIVE OF Till'. ( .I'KIt ATI'NS ( H-' II. M. S. IKI-. By Capt. Rodney Mundy, R.N. With Portrait of MR. HKDOKK, nunu-rou.s Maps, Plates, and Woodcuts. 8 VoU. 8ro. 32*. " Whrn I first rrrcivpil the Jonrnali of ^^r. Hr.">ko, it wa my intention to have published only such rxtrart* M r> -<-.JM. nt to those narrated In the ' Kxprilitimi >>f In i ' p Di.!.. to Itorneo ;' hut, on :i nation of the man'. -I so mu.lt in-tructivc :m > tlie pulilir all cuch matter M had previously been omitted ; and I hope that thor i me the .1 tli<<- v.ilun:c> wll ili-. in mi- lull\ ju-titii-d in tin taken. Hy adoptini; thi- li-rvl Unit Mr. Ilr.Hil, be traced with onie degree of rorrrctnew year by yeai . fi..:n !: .-. 'ai* JUundtft Prtfaee. Mr. Murray's List of 2. MEMOIRS OF THE COURT OF GEORGE THE SECOND, FROM HIS ACCESSION TO THE DEATH OF QUEEN CAROLINE. By Lord Hervey. Now first published from the Originals at Ickworth. Edited by the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker. Portrait. 2 Vols. Svo. 36*. " I know of no such near and intimate picture of the interior of a court. No other Memoirs that I have ever read bring us so immediately, so actually into not merely the presence, but the company of the personages of the royal circle. " Lord Hervey is, I may venture to say, almost the Hoswell of George II. and Queen Caroline." Editor's Preface. 3. LIVES OF THE LORD CHANCELLORS. By Lord Campbell YOLS. VI. & VII. (COMPLETING THE WORK). Svo. 30*. " A work of sterling merit one of very great labour, of richly diversified interest, and, we are satisfied, of lasting value and estimation. We doubt if there be half-a-dozen living men who could produce a Biographical Series on such a scale, at all likely to command so much applause from the candid among the learned, as well as from the curious of the laity." Quarterly Review. A New Edition is preparing of the FIRST SERIES. 4. A NEW HISTORY OF GREECE. FROM THE EARLIEST PERIOD TO THE BATTLE OF MARATHON. By George Grote, Esq. Maps. 4 Vols. Svo. 64s. " Endeavour to become acquainted with Mr. Grote, who is engaged on a Greek History. I expect a great deal from this production." Nieluhr the Historian, to Profr. Lieber, in 1827. " As Mr. Grote's subject advances in interest, so does he in the manifestations of the various powers necessary for dealing with it. His familiarity both with the great highways and the obscurest by-paths of Grecian literature and antiquity, has seldom been equalled and not often approached, in unlearned England ; while those Germans who have rivalled it, have seldom possessed the quality which eminently characterises Mr. Grote, of keeping historical imagination severely under the restraints of evidence." Spectator. 5. PORTUGAL AND GALICIA. A NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY THROUGH THOSE COUNTRIES. By Lord Carnarvon. A New Edition, Revised. One Volume. Post Svo. 6*. Forming a Volume of Murray's " Home and Colonial Library." " This is a very remarkable work. It is not only a graphic description of the face of the country, and an impartial and sagacious account of the moral and political condition of Spain and Portugal ; but it relates also a series of personal adventures and perils, very unusual in modern Europe ; and which, while they do honour to the spirit of him who sought information at such risks, exhibit more of the real state of the Iberian Peninsula than could have been obtained by a less ardent and less intrepid inquirer. The author is the Earl of Carnarvon, who seems to have combined the modern thirst for information with the adventurous spirit of the ancient Herberts, and who has the additional quality of being a very elegant and amusing writer." Quarterly Review. New and Important Works just Published. 6. LIFE OF THE GREAT LORD CLIVE. By Rev. G. R. Gleig, i|>al Chaplain to the Forces, and Author of The Story of the Battle of Waterloo." . Forming a Volume of Jfurray't "Home and Colonial Library." 7. NOTES FUoM LIFE, HI MIl.ITY AND INDEPENDENCE, CHOICE IX MARRIAGE, MONKY, CHILDREN, WISDOM, LIFE POETIC. By Henry Taylor, Esq. Edition. Post Svo. fo. " The Essays are exactly such as we xli.>uM rx].ret to receive at the hands of Mr. Taylor. Large and comprehensive in their range of thought, singularly just and dispasM littMgh pMtnUiag in judgment, lofty in mor:l tone, and real in tlieir religious teachim;. 11 .subjects are made interesting by the spirit and ability brought to bear upon tin-in." -dian. " It was Lord Byron, we believe, in one of his letters to Mr. Murray who requested th:n if any ' (took* were published during a certain 'London season,' it should be .ril>d to him ; but he intimatt'd that he applied tliis term to a very small proportion i>i tin- numerous rolium* which issue from the press. The'work before us is pre-eminently a ' book ; ' and if it should chance to be for a time buried under the mass of ephemeral publications which usually appear at this season, the author may rest assured that it will y i -merge, and that it will be remembered and appreciated long after they are forgot i English Churchman. 8. HUMBOLDT'S COSMOS: A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIVERSE, Translated, under the care of Lieut. Col. Sabine. VoLH. Port STO. 12*. " Je vous autorisc, Monsieur, de vous servir en toute occasion, de la declaration que l:i U-lle Tndiii-ti.ni du Colonel Sabine, enriehio !< rucdncations et de notes tres pre^ cieuaes, et qui out toute mon approbnti'> FROM Illl. s\\|;iH>M I'nKM.s ..| OKAS N'.M.K A\l> ll>\| 1111. UKUMAN OF SClllLLKU. By H. Drinkwater Bethune, Esq. Pot Svo. l.'. Mr. Murray's List of 10. ADVENTURES IN MEXICO; AND AMONG THE WILD TRIBES AND ANIMALS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. By G. F. Euxton, Esq. Post 8vo. 6*. Forming a volume of Mr. Murray's " Home and Colonial Library." " What the Author's errand was in these remarkable regions, or what talisman he pro- cured to insure his safe passage whether he was Mr. Murray's ' own correspondent ' whether he really discharged any political duty, or whether he merely selected this peculiar route for a summer trip we cannot pretend to say. On critical occasions he produces passports and cartas de securidarl, which create as reverential a consternation as Paul Jones's commission was to have done if ever he had displayed it. Cocked hats are doffed at the sight of them, alcaldes become upright, prefects civil, and generals polite : but as to the purport, source, or character of these magic documents, we are left entirely in the dark. This, however, is of no consequence. The Author did, beyond all question, make his way from Vera Cruz to Santa F<5, and his sketches of what he saw on the road are as clearly faithful as they are undeniably amusing. A book with less nonsense has seldom been written." Times. 11. THREE YEARS' WANDERINGS IN THE NORTHERN ' PROVINCES OF CHINA. INCLUDING A VISIT TO THE TEA, SILK, AND COTTON COUNTRIES. By Robert Fortune. Second Edition. Plates and Woodcuts. Svo. 15*. " We strongly recommend this work to public notice. It is the first account of what are called the Northern Provinces, which form the most industrious, civilised, wealthy, and in all respects important portion of the Chinese Empire. Mr. Fortune was sent to China for the purpose of obtaining new plants, and his instructions directed him to pay all possible attention to the horticulture and agriculture of the people ; and on these points his work will be most welcome. The author has amongst other things completely elucidated the history of the Chinese Tea. For this highly interesting account we must refer to the work itself, which contains some clever woodcuts and plates, illustrating the scenery and habits of the people." Gardeners' Chronicle. 12. LIFE OF LORD SIDMOUTH. WITH SELECTIONS FROM HIS CORRESPONDENCE. By the Dean of Norwich. Portraits. 3 VoK 8vo. 42*. " The times of few British statesmen have been more eventful, than were those of the subject of these volumes. Commencing his public life immediately before the French Revolution becoming, first the colleague, and then the successor of Pitt mixed up with all the great political events of the last half period of George the Third's reign, and of the Regency the contemporary not only of Pitt and Fox,, Burke, Sheridan, and Wyndham, but of Castlereagh and Canning, Erskine, Tierney, Ellenborough, Eldon, Grey, Brougham, Wellington and Peel a career thus extending from the past to the present generations of public men, cannot but abound with incidents of the highest interest to Englishmen. The leading events of this long life, embracing a period of English history of the most exciting interest, are detailed with great clearness and force, and thus made to constitute a biographical work of no ordinary attractions." O.rford Herald. New and Important Works just Published. 13. HANDBOOK ol- TIIH M'AMsll AND 1'KKXCll SCHOOLS OF TAINTING. By Sir Edmund Head, Bart. Poet 8vo. 1 2s. " Ti .niish ami French), is BO clear and concise, that wo ran Halm* ii" w.-rk which contains :uiy abridged historic* of tln-m so comprehensive as we find i: :-buok ; fully worthy, : j tot, of all thosu which have preceded it." Art-Univn. 14. A RESIDENCE AT THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE; WITH No Its ON lllfc NAITKAL UlsTOUY AM) NA11VK TKIBES. By C. J. F. Bunbury, Esq. \VooUcuts. Poet 8vo. 9. " This volume < more true- ami lively presentation of the external - ot nature and of the social relations in the Ca[H; Colony, tliau any which has 1 it. "Tin- .-tatfsiuaii who may l.e i-all-.-il \\\>u]\ to ili.M-iif-s or deeiilo upon the pulilic affairs of ; -..t who may contemplate removing his cares thither, the curious i-mniin-r who woultl 'know tln-h !;at li.i> '_-i\ LII rise to so much controversy, will find Mr. Boubury an intelligent and candid guide." L'sautmer. 15. BOSWELL\S LIFE OF JOHNSON. INrM'DIXG Til Kill TOUR TO THE HEBRIDES. Edited by the Right Hon. J. W. Croker. A .Vi-ic Edition, reviad. Portrait*. One Volume, Royal Octavo. 18. " This is a new and thoroughly n vin^l ( dition of 'Boswu.i,,' in one octavo volume. Tfie type a large and , and accurate ; and there is, what is so necessary to a 1 >< .ok of 1 1 ii s -. T : to tin- Ilrlii-idrs,' is indeed a most necessary part, and it.s introduction i.-, a main feature in Mr. Cniki-r's edition. In the present edition we im fu>t time, Mr Cr..:.- . to the Edinburgh Review" At.'umiuiH. 16. KNCLlslI MJ>KULE AND IKl.^Il MISDEEDS. By Aubrey De Vere, Esq. '. Svo. 7*. Cl. " l-'r.iin the tiiin s of Holin:;)>rok> or liurkc since statesmen first sought to move the pulilic mind through tin- niodi-st incdiuni of epistolary addresses probably n ,:vlilc of Mich publications has ev r nppi-an-d. TI ' i-oinl.im- in a :liiy of thoti-ht, tin- How of fancy, and the fervour of feeling, which charaetn i-e the immortal production* of those illustrious political writers ; and with t!ie keen *urcast..- -lunius, and the- pla vful pleasantry of I'lymley ; towhicli may .; of the indescribable p^uancy, the epiuranimatic elegance, and vivid, li-titiiiiiL; like brilliancy uf the author i-y." Morning Post. Mr. Murray's List of 17. THE FABLES OF ^ESOP. A NEW VERSION, PURIFIED AND RENDERED AVAILABLE FOR SCHOOLS AN I) FAMILIES. By Rev. Thomas James, M.A. With One Hundred Woodcuts. By JOHN TBNNIKL. Crown 8vo. 16. " The present edition is remarkable for the clearness and conciseness with which each tale is narrated ; and the reader will not be slow to acknowledge his gratitude to Mr. James for having relieved the book from those tedious and unprofitable appendages called ' morals,' which used to obscure and disfigure the ancient editions of the work. A fable, if it be good, will inculcate its moral clearly ; and it may safely be asserted that in all cases where it is necessary to extract the moral from the tale, and expand it into tedious prose, the fable itself must be intrinsically bad or defective, and had better be cast aside altogether. It should be observed that there are, altogether, upwards of one hundred clever (and some exceedingly graceful) designs by Mr. Teuniel ; and these alone are worth more than the whole price set upon the book." Examiner. 18. By Authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. A VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY TO THE SOUTH POLE. By Captain Sir James Clark Ross, R.N. With Maps, and Plates. 2 Vols. Svo. 36*. " We welcome one more addition to a literature of which Englishmen have great reason to be proud. Setting aside their scientific claims, our records of Voyage Discovery, of which the present is the last and not the least interesting, are also a record of enterprise and endurance, of resolute perseverance and of complete moral as well as physical courage, which we take to be peculiar to English seamen. The honours, praises, and gold medals which awaited Sir James Ross, on his return, had been well deserved." Examiner. 19. THE RIGHT HON BLB . SIR ROBERT PEEL'S SPEECH, ON THE SECOND READING OF THE JEWISH DISABILITIES BILL. Svo. Is. 6d. 20. SKETCHES OF THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIAN ART. By Lord Lindsay. 3 Vols. Svo. 31*. 6TAHU-HMK\T IN IUKI.AM>. By W. T. Thornton, Esq. Author of" Over- Population and its R ( >ni^.l\ vo. It. 6d. " Two questions of hi.nh social importance are brought under consideration in this work stem of small farms, and the application of that system to Ireland. In tin- discussion subject*. Mr. Thornton evinces considerable ability, and has bestowed more research than any previous writer ui>oii tin- illustration of the working benefits of a ti of which he frankly avows hims.-lf not the investigator, but the advocate." 23. A (TOMOGRAPHY OF SIR JOHN BARROW, BART. (Late of tin- Admiralty.) Witli Portrait. 8vo. 16*. " Sir John Barrow undertakes his task in a manner which must set every reader at ease. Poao piling not idly boasting a mcns tana in corpore tano bearing testimony, throughout his narrative, to tin- honourable and healthy influences of work, and to the certainty with which energy and Mlf-improwment will advance the fortunes of one lowly liorn we have rarely )nok\\ N8 By William Hosking, Architect, and C.E. Pot I Mr 1 licking's book mn-' > tin- archit. ct and biiililcr, because it is just the kind of book which will be read by the .-mployer. The Coiinmtt I a Club who decire a superior house, the L"-ntlenian who wants a comfortable mansion, the merchant h" n. piires a safe wan-house, the Boar>l of (luanlians who advertise for a healthy work- bcni-e, an- likel\ to l ( .,,k into tb> worX l>efore us as a guide to tin- I uriii^ the h> altb, comfort, am' safety, of a build " t>i-- MI ( K. \\vrrii i> AND HAI c \HIM.-. I'.Y LORD LINDSAY. 2 VoU. 8o. 12 Mr. Murray's List of HAND-BOOK OF LONDON, PAST AND PRESENT. BY PETER CUNNINGHAM, ESQ. Tliis Work, which is arranged alphabetically, will furnish extended notices of REMARKABLE OLD INNS, COFFEE HOUSES, AND TAVE11NS. TOWN HOUSES OF THE OLD NOBILITY. PLACES OP PUBLIC ENTERTAINMENT. OLD LONDON SIGHTS. ANCIENT THEATRES. ANCIENT CROSSES. THE HOSTELS OF CHURCH DIGNITARIES. PRIVILEGED PLACES FOR DEBTORS. OLD LONDON PRISONS. PLACES REFERRED TO BY OLD WRITERS. THE WARDS OF LONDON. THE CHURCHES. RESIDENCES OF REMARKABLE MEN. STREETS REMARKABLE FOR SOME EVENT. BURIAL PLACES OF EMINENT INDIVIDUALS. ETC. 2 Yols. Post 8vo. MAXIMS FOR EMERGENCIES. A PERPETUAL POCKET BOOK FOR ALL CLASSES AND AGES. A waistcoat pocket volume. By Authority of Her Majesty's Government. THE ANCIENT PRACTICE OF PAINTING IN OIL AND ON GLASS. DESCRIBED IN SEVERAL UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS. Collected from Public Libraries in Italy, France, and Belgium ; with Introductions, and Notes. BY MRS. MERRIFIELD. Honorary Member of the Academy of Fine Arts at Bologna ; and Translator of the Treatise on Painting of CENNINO CENNINI. 2 Vols. 8vo. ESSAYS ON BIOGRAPHY, HISTORY, VOYAGES, TRAVELS, &c. BY ROBERT SOUTHEY, LL.D. Being a SELECTION from his CONTRIBUTIONS to the " QUARTERLY REVIEW." 3 Vols. 8vo. New Works for Publication this Season. 13 OUTLIM-S OF 1-MilJSII LIT1- i:\ITKI-. BY THOMAS \\. SHAW, B.A., Profettor of English Literature in 'I Alexander Lyceum of St. Pctertburgk. "Tlio author has endeavoured to produce a useful Introdnction to English Litera- I which, in '. readahli- form, does not at present exist i treating alnnr of Kn jr, and th:it only down to tin- Kliznhethan ajjf. It ix t attempt :namn-r ipii-stions hitherto iH'^lwted in books,! "it w liirh the iiuMv:>.--d int< . present age will no longer allow to be passed Preface. SKUMON MANV OF THE I.r.APING DOCTRINES AND DUTIES BY Tin; cm uru OF ENGLAND. PRF.ACHD IN CATHEDRAL CHURCHES. BY THE HON. AND KEY. CEOHCE 1'ELLEW. D.D. BEAM OF NORWICH. 2 Vols. STO. AI'STIIALIA: ITS ADVANTAGES AM) ITS KKSOURCI ; u-rnirnoN OF THAT COLONY, FOR GKNER.VL READERS; AND A MANTAI. or TIIKRE. I1Y liKnKliE ^VLLKIN.^ON, Map. I 'nut STO. A NI-:\V CLASSICAL 1H( TliiVARV. i'.Y \V1I.I.I\M SMITH. U.D. !ORM WITH CT10RART 01 I I KS. Thi- lictionnry will rompriso the sanir miljccts as nrp contained in tlie well-known idinu' it* l! 'd i-xhihitinjr in aconcioe form tl th> lal.our* of scholar*. It will thus sujijily a want tliat has been long felt \>\ m-i-t pWBUUM engaged in tuiti'tSOP'S FABLES. THE FABLES OF A Ni:\V \KU.Mo.N, < HIKKI.Y l-Kii.M THK . HlK.l .V A I. i.UI'.l Purified and rendered available for Schools and Families. BY 1IKV. THOMAS -IA.MKS. M.A.. ..!' JSil.U-rtoft and Thcddinjjwortli, aud Oiapluiu to tin ISislioj. of Hath and Wells. With 100 Original Woodcuts by John Tenniel. . a 8vo. 16*. ADDRESS TO INSTRUCTORS OF YOUTH. 'IMIIS Kditi": ; has been undertaken with a view to remedy the deficiencies of the versions at present in use in schools. It is only n :ncc at the existing translations to perceive that the vapid and often vulgar -t\le falls as far short of the requirements of the present day, in literature, us the woodcuts arc behind the modern productions of illustrative Art. The author of the present translation has gone to the original Greek and other sourer-, keeping as closely as possible to those authorities, but seeking to condense rather than expand them, lie h.-- taken considerable liberty with prosy appendages called morals or applications ; thus departing from the practice of the English Fabulists, who have generally diluted the spirit of the original, converting into a sermon what was meant to be summed up in a pithy proverb, and very often missing the point altogether. He has en 1 to restore to tin in their original terseness, incorporating them frequently with the fables. It is hoped that the book, stamped with the wisdom of more than twenty centuries, and at length freed from the platitudes; and immoralities of the last two, will now exhibit, in the ino>t jMipular form, truths founded on the broad base of human nature, and present, a- it stands, an amusing II. \.\DHuoK for AI.I. KANKS \\i^ A-.i>. and a < i. \SSBOOK for all seminaries, from the to the RAGGED Sen " Tlie |ireeut Edition U rcnwrkalile for the elearneu nnd concimnesi ith wl Irh t'Hch Ule U nnrniteil ; ft mi tlio n-adt-r will ; ulinli- to Mr. Jnmes fur ImvliiK rvliovcd tliv Uiok from ;-ndae* called ' moraU,' winch . . .; ;>nd il>li_-iir>- (!.. noctiet tditioui of the work. \ fable. If it lie K<"><1, will ii" tluit in alloue* wkOTvHU Bcewary to extract 1)1- i. .1..4M.1 it'int,. Uhlioii. proe, Hi- fal>le itM'lf niu.st be it.trinMcally bexl or defective, and hitd hetUr IHJ rant ail'! otaerred thnt there arc, altogether, upwards of rlerrr (and tome exceeding*; gncefiil) decigiu t \ .Mr. 'I . i.i.it I ; and them alone are worth nioru lhau the whole price Mtupoo tlr Etammfr. [Fur Xj*!. inn mi uf tl THE LAMB. [Specimen.! 5 >v ISO 1 II 3 1158 01260 8856 I 5 UC SCXmCW REGCNAl UBflARY FAOUTY OC I