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jeroes of the Christian Church.
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HEROES OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY:

A SERIES OF
POPULAR BIOGRAPHIES,
Eminent English and American Authors.
r2/no lºols. C/ot/. Frice, 7,5c.
TNOW READY.
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, by John Stoughton, D.D.
HENRY MARTYN, by Canon Chas. D. Bell, D.D.
PHILLIP DODDRIDGE, by Charles Stanford, D.D.
Other Volumes in Preparation.
WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
BY
JOHN STOUGHT ON, D.D.
NEW YORK :
A. C. A R M S T R O N G & SON,
7I4 BROADWAY.
MDCCCLXxx.
(All rights reserved.)
º£
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CO N T E N T S.
–04.
CHAPTER I. PAGE
EARLY DAYS • . . . . . . . 9
CHAPTER II.
POLITICAL CAREER • ſº e e tº g • 25
. CHAPTER III.
ANTI-SILAVERY CRUSADE . ſº © tº O o 65
CHAPTER IV.
GENERAL BENEFICENCE e © © © Q . 87
CHAPTER V.
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY . . Ioy
CHAPTER VI.
AUTHORSHIP Q º o o © º º O I35
CHAPTER VII. :
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE . . . . . . . 154
CHAPTER VIII.
LAST DAYS . © e & © e
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CHA PTER I.
AºA /ē/ Y ZXA Y.S.
INGSTON-UPON-HULL may be justly proud of
its famous men. From Sir William de la Pole—one
of its early native merchant princes, at a time when the
port supplied several large ships for wars with France—
there sprung the ducal family of Suffolk. Sir John Law-
son, the Commonwealth Admiral, who so often beat the
armaments of Holland, is reckoned amongst the free-born
denizens of the town. But more illustrious than either
of these is the name of Andrew Marvell, whose father was
master of the grammar school, and who in the Corrupt
reign of Charles II. distinguished himself by his incor-
ruptible patriotism even more than by his political satire.
A fourth, whose name is more familiar now than any of
the previous three, was in the last century added to
those of earlier worthies: and whilst inferior to the first
with regard to rank, unlike the second in point of valour,
and destitute of the peculiar literary genius ascribed to
the third, he surpassed them all by the charms of his
2
IO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE:
eloquence, the achievements of his statesmanship, the
virtues of his life, and the manifold benefits which he
Conferred upon mankind.
William Wilberforce was grandson of a namesake who
twice, served as Mayor of Hull. In iſ 71, after being
alderman for nearly half a century, he desired, on the
ground of old age, to “resign his gown, that he might
pass the remainder of his days in a relaxation from all
public business.” The son of that alderman was named
Robert, a prosperous merchant who lived in High Street.
The house is still pointed out, though greatly altered in
appearance from what it was. It is described, in a his-
tory of Hull, as a quaint red brick Dutch-looking structure,
with a tower in front of the building, the panelled rooms
with ornamental ceilings having been converted into
offices, whilst the massive staircase remained in its original
state. We learn that since then, a fine old mantel-piece
was removed by Bishop Wilberforce to adorn his own
residence as a relic of his ancestors.
William Wilberforce the philanthropist, son of that
Robert, was born in his father's house on St. Bartholo-
mew's day, August 24, 1759, the last year but one of the
reign of George II. Only two or three weeks before, news
had reached home of the taking of Quebec and the death
of General Wolfe—when, it is said of the English people,
“they despaired, they triumphed, and they wept.” The
child was weak and puny, and after he had become a man
he used to say, if he had been born in less civilised times,
it would have been thought impossible for him to live.
Yet the vital force, hidden within so delicate a frame,
EARLY DAYS. II
triumphed over physical debility, as it did through a long
life; and, as a boy, he was known amongst his playmates
for extraordinary sprightliness, and amongst his school-
fellows for quickness in learning and power of elocution.
About 1766 he attended the grammar School of Hull
—a venerable institution, whose Elizabethan architecture
still adorns the town, where, more than a century earlier,
Marvell, the head master, had drilled his own son in the
rudiments of Latin. Joseph Milner, the historian of the
Christian Church, soon after Wilberforce's admission as
a pupil, succeeded to the mastership, and, being a friend
of the family, must have taken an interest in his education.
Robert Wilberforce, the father, died in 1768, and the
boy was left to the care of an uncle William, living at
Wimbledon in Surrey, an aristocratic neighbourhood, with
remains of Roman barrows on the common—destined to
be known as a place for fighting duels before it attained
its present celebrity for volunteer encampments. Besides
Wimbledon Park, the seat of the Duke of Somerset, several
mansions skirted the furze-covered heath, and in one of
them resided Wilberforce's uncle, where the boy, then
about nine years old, would enjoy fresh air and pleasant
Scenery, and would improve his health and raise his
spirits. Mrs. William Wilberforce was a lady who had
come under the power of the Whitefield movement, which
had wonderfully revived Evangelical religion in this
country; and it would appear that this aunt of his was
disposed to strict sectarianism, for Wilberforce long after-
wards said, that “if he had stayed with his uncle he
should probably have been a despised, bigoted Metho-
I2 WILLIAM WILPERFORCE.
dist.” Looking at the remark in the light of his own
religious character, we see that it must have been pointed
at his aunt's ecclesiastical exclusiveness, not at her deep
Evangelical convictions. And indeed, he says, sometime
afterwards in connexion with this very remark, “Yet to
come to what I am, through so many years of folly as
those which elapsed between my last year at school and
1785, is very wonderful.” What made 1785 a marked
year in his history we shall see further on. Whitefield
did not die till 1770, and therefore it is probable, whilst
William was living under her roof, this aunt sometimes
drove over to Tottenham Court Road or the Taber-
nacle to hear the celebrated preacher; and if the family
sometimes went to. Wimbledon church, whose chancel
goes back to the time of Edward IV., the observant
little lad would scarcely fail to notice the black marble
altar tomb of Sir Edward Cecil, who served King James
and King Charles in foreign wars, “ and after so many
travels,” as the epitaph touchingly expresses it, “ re-
turned to this patient and humble mother-earth from
whence he came, with assured, hope in his Saviour Christ
to rise again to glory everlasting.” There was a good
sermon for young William in these quaint and beautiful
words; and, at any rate, it appears that he felt very much
the influence of his aunt's religious views, and began to
imbibe those truths, which afterwards laid such a strong
hold upon his faith, and so decidedly fashioned his course
of life. It is said that he was placed at a mean School
near the village as parlour boarder. It seems he did
not learn much there, except such elements of education
EARLY DAYS. I 3
31S 2. quike, impressible lad would be sure to pick up
wherever he might be placed. Mrs. Wilberforce the
mother had no sympathy with Mrs. Wilberforce the
aunt, and therefore at the end of two years she secured
his removal from Wimbledon. She took him home to
Hull, and with special pains diverted his mind from what
she considered to be a state of religious melancholy.
There was plenty of gaiety in the town—plays and balls
were all the fashion; gay parties were frequent, and to
dissipation of such kinds, Mrs. Wilberforce added “sump-
tuous suppers” in her own house: thus on the whole train-
ing up her son in a very surprising way for one of whom
he said, “she was what I should call an Archbishop
Tillotson Christian "-a rather unfair designation I con-
ceive. She sent him shortly afterwards to Pocklington,
sixteen miles from York, where he entered a grammar
school under the care of the Rev. K. Baskett, a man of
easy and polished manners, and an elegant though not
profound scholar. Things were managed there differently
from what they had been at the school near Winnbledon,
and the youth “greatly excelled all the other boys in his
Compositions, though he seldom began them till the
eleventh hour.” So precocious was he, that when only
fourteen he wrote a letter to a York newspaper in con-
demnation of the odious traffic in human flesh, a remarkable
anticipatory effort, when regarded in connexion with his
grand anti-slavery career. But pleasure seems to have
been largely mingled with his studies even at school.
The once “parlour boarder” at Wimbledon is now
seen visiting amongst fashionable families round about
I4 WILLIAM WILBER FORCE.
the little Yorkshire town, delighting them with his
charming voice, and singing songs to perfection at their
evening parties. The impressions received from his aunt
faded away amidst the entertainments encouraged by his
mother ; but in the parish church of Pocklington, as in
the parish church at Wimbledon, might be found in the
monuments food for serious thought. “O vita, misero
longa, ſalici brevis /" an inscription to the memory of an
old inhabitant, could be turned to good account. Yet
whether this or the former epitaph arrested his attention
One cannot say.
Andrew Marvell had been educated at Cambridge, and
thither, too, young Wilberforce, destined to resemble him
in some other respects, followed in his eighteenth year
only that the latter was entered at St. John's, whereas the
former had been sent to Trinity College. Cambridge had
a bad character in those days. On the first night of his
arrival he found himself amongst “as licentious a set of
men as can well be conceived.” Horror-stricken at their
conduct, he shook off all connexion with them, and
mixed more with the fellows of his own college; but they,
instead of stimulating him to improvement, discouraged
application to study, asking, “Why in the world should a
man of your fortune trouble yourself with fagging?” Some
of his companions attended lectures and read hard, but
he preferred going to card parties; and, to increase the
mischicf, the tutors of the college would say, so as to be
overheard, “they are mere saps, but Wilberforce does all
by sheer talent.” His conversational powers, his cheer-
fulness, and his wit made him an immense favourite, and
EARLY DAYS. I5
hospitality gave a further recommendation to his social
excellence. “There was,” reports the Rev. Thomas
Gisborne, afterwards one of his Evangelical friends,
“always a great Yorkshire pie in his room, and all were
welcome to partake of it.” “You might see him in the
streets encircled by a set of young men of talent, among
whom he was facile princeſs. He spent most of his time in
visiting, and when he returned late in the evening to his
rooms he would summon me to join him by the music of
his poker and tongs, our chimney-pieces being back to
back, or by the melodious challenge of his voice. When
I did go in to him he was so winning and amusing that I
often sat up half the night with him, much to the detriment
of my attendance at lectures next day.” But, it should be
added, that whatever might be his hilarity, and fondness
for company, and neglect of work, he declared in later
life that he was far from what the world calls licentious,
and was complimented on being much better than most
young men.
His companions at Cambridge, we see, had addressed
him as a man of fortune, and so he was. Through the
death of his grandfather and uncle he came early into
the possession of very large property, and this no sooner
happened than he made a very free use of his resources.
After he left college we find him plunging into the
fashionable society of London, being elected member of
no less than five clubs at the same time. Club life then
was different from club life now ; each club vied with the
rest in gambling and expensive entertainments. Boodle's
dinners were the delight of country gentlemen, and the
I6 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
card table there drew round it people of the highest rank
and the greatest riches. Wilberforce was a member,
and the first time he went he sat down with the Duke of
Norfolk and won twenty-five guineas. At Brooks's,
where his name had been enrolled, he played at a Faro
table, where the celebrated George Selwyn kept the
bank. “What, Wilberforce, is that you?” asked a
friend who saw him on the way to ruin. “Oh, sir, don’t
interrupt Mr. Wilberforce,” answered the accomplished
gamester; “he could not be better employed.” Fox,
Sheridan, Fitzpatrick were amongst the politicians and
wits with whom he became acquainted ; but the Goose-
tree Club, once Almack's, then at the very top of fashion-
able society, was his more favourite resort; and here,
besides several of the nobility, two men of distinguished
intellect might be often seen—Pitt and Windham—with
the former of whom the rich young Yorkshireman
speedily became an intimate friend. They had been
Contemporaries at Cambridge, and their slight acquaint.
ance there paved the way to a closer fellowship. Pitt
was present every night, and Wilberforce says, “He was
the wittiest man I ever knew, and, what was quite
peculiar to himself, had at all times his wit under entire
control.” At the Boar's Head, Eastcheap, a party of
celebrities spent an evening in memory of Shakespere,
and there Pitt formed the life of the company, surpassing
all by the brilliancy of his humour and the felicity of
his allusions. He was also clever at play, and displayed
intense earnestness in games of chance; but “he per-
ceived their increasing fascination, and soon aſter sud-
EARLY DAYS. 17
denly abandoned them for ever.” Wilberforce followed
his friend's example, and, after some measure of what
was called good luck, cured himself of a taste which
was beginning to get the mastery over him.
He had no mansion on his Yorkshire estate, but the
house of his uncle at Wimbledon fell to his share ; and
this residence, containing several spare bed - rooms,
enabled him to invite his friends, of whom Pitt was
his most frequent guest. Indeed, he would ride down
late at night and sleep there, even when the master was
not at home. The fresh air of the common, and the
rural scenery on the road, far different from what it
is now, gave charms to the suburban villa, equally
appreciated by Wilberforce and his fascinating com-
panion. Greatly did they enjoy together, “before curfew,
an early meal of peas and strawberries; ” but the popu-
larity of both was so rapidly on the increase, that large
and fashionable parties absorbed most of their spare
time and attention ; and not only noblemen, but mem-
bers of the royal family were drawn into the ever-
swelling stream of Wilberforce's admirers. After meet-
ing the Prince of Wales at Devonshire House in 1782,
he received this piece of flattery: “He must have you
again. The Prince says he will come at any time to hear
you sing.” Wilberforce's mimicry was as much extolled as
his musical voice, but of this he was cured by Lord Camden.
“It is but a vulgar accomplishment,” said his lordship.
This Wilberforce overheard, and he never forgot it.
Visits to Westmoreland varied his general habits. He
rented a house at Rayrigg, on the lake of Windermere,
I8 WILLIAM WILDERFORCE. .
*
and carried down with him plenty of books—classical,
parliamentary, and historical ; but whatever became of
his studies, he had plenty of pleasure with his mother,
his sister, and different college friends; boating, riding,
and continual parties at his own house and at Sir
Michael de Fleming's fully taking up his time. But a
more distant expedition ere long drew him from his
suburban home. A journey to Paris was in those days
indeed an expedition, and a week was often spent over a
journey now despatched in ten hours. Crossing from
Dover to Calais in a packet boat, and travelling thence
in a diligence or a private carriage, then amounted to
something like real enterprises ; and what they lacked in
speed and comfort was made up for by novelty and
adventure. Wilberforce agreed with Pitt and their
friend Eliot to start for the French metropolis in
September, 1783, as events began to foreshadow the
Revolution at hand. Before they started the two friends
went down to Dorsetshire, on a visit to Mr. Banks, and
there occurred an incident which, in after years, Wilber-
force thus related : “Ah, it was at Banks's that I was
near shooting Pitt, poor fellow. At least, it was a standing
joke amongst our mutual friends to lay this to my charge.
He was passing through a hedge, and I, not knowing it,
fired in that direction; but he was not in any real danger,
for none of the shot passed near him. It is now forty-
three years ago.”
When the day for starting drew near, Pitt wrote to
his friend from Burton Pynsent: “I am very sorry for
the state of your eyes, but I am quite of opinion
EARLY DAYS. I9
that the air of Rheims is exactly the thing for you. I
hope to find it equally sovereign for toothaches and
swelled faces, which have persecuted me ever since I
have been here, as if it was the middle of a session.
We shall agree excellently as invalids, and particularly in
making the robust Eliot fag for us, and ride bodkin, and
letting him enjoy all the other pleasures of health.”
It is amusing to be told the reason why it was
arranged to go to Rheims—it was “to gain some know-
ledge of the language before they went to Paris.” More
amusing still is the incident which occurred at this
halting - place. Through an oversight they were ill
provided with introductions, having only a letter from
some merchant to a correspondent of his house living in
the town. When they reached Rheims they were sur-
prised to find their correspondent a certain M. Coustier
“behind a counter, distributing figs and raisins.”
Writing on the subject in a playful style, Wilberforce
said, that as he had heard it was usual for continental
gentlemen to divert themselves by playing at some trade,
he imagined that this individual’s “taste was in the fig
way,” and that he admirably sustained his part; but it
appeared M. Coustier was a véritable épicier, and by no
means eminent in his profession. The travellers spent
nine or ten days at an hotel in the city, without making
any progress in their studies. How could they, when
they spoke to nobody but each other and their Irish
courier P They prevailed on the grocer to put on “a.
bag and sword,” and carry them to the Intendant of
Police, who introduced them to the Archbishop. He
2O WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
invited them to dinner, and treated them handsomely,
and they also made acquaintance with an Abbé de
Lageard, a “fellow of infinite humour, and of such
extraordinary humanity, that,” Wilberforce says, “to pre-
vent our time hanging heavy on our hands, he would some-
times make us visits of five or six hours at a stretch.”
One evening, as the two friends were supping at a
house, where the table exhibited an abundance of
delicacies, they observed a large vacant place, evidently
reserved for some lordly dish ; and presently the door
flew open, when two servants entered with a huge joint
of beef. It proved raw, and neither of them could touch
it, much to the mortification of the host, who fancied
they would not indulge in their national taste in the
presence of strangers.
What they did in Paris does not appear ; but we learn
that by special invitation they joined the Court at Fon-
tainbleau, then in all its splendour, under Louis XVI. and
Marie Antoinette: and there the beautiful and light-hearted
queen, having heard the story about Rheims, rallied her
visitors, and asked Wilberforce “whether he had lately
heard from his friend the épicier ž " Dr. Franklin was
then in France, and he received the young Englishman
with much interest, as the latter had already expressed
his disapproval of war with America. With La Fayette,
too, Wilberforce came in contact, and found him assuming
republican habits. “When the fine ladies of the Court
would attempt to drag him to the card-table, he shrugged
his shoulders, with an affected contempt for the customs
and amusements of the whole régime.”
EARLY DAYS. 2 I
In the following year, 1784, Wilberforce visited the
continent a second time, not now with Mr. Pitt, but with
Isaac Milner, a Cambridge Senior Wrangler, brother to
the head master of Hull grammar school, and this visit
proved to be of great consequence to our young traveller.
He was accompanied by his mother and sister, as well as
his Cambridge friend, and he describes their voyage down
the Rhone, on the way to Avignon, in that jotting, abrupt,
and disjointed style, which runs through the whole of his
diary. I give it as an example of his mode of descrip-
tion :- -
“Afternoon, Sunday, 14–Got to Avignon. . . . The
salt for the Lyonnois, and many other provinces, goes up
the Rhone in great boats, drawn by horses, from Arles,
where it is made. . . . The place sweetly situated, but a
most dirty hole : particularly our inn, The St. Omer's. A
crew of fellows to receive us at landing, and drag our
carriage to the inn, more like our countrymen in the
brutality of their manners than the generality of supple
Frenchmen, who always make you a bow where an Eng-
lishman would give you an oath. Laura's tomb is not
worth seeing: nothing but a flat stone, under which, they
say, she is laid.”
From Avignon they travelled to Marseilles, Antibes,
and Nice; and in this last place they took up their resi-
dence “in a house separated from the Mediterranean
only by a grove of orange-trees.” The natives he de-
scribes as a wretched set, whilst visitors held nightly card
parties, with a great deal of gambling, but the conversa-
tions he held with Milner were preparing for a radical
22 WILLIAM WILBER FORCE.
change in his heart and life. At the time his companion
was not much more decidedly religious than himself.
“He appeared,” says Wilberforce, “in all respects like an
ordinary man of the world, mixing, like myself, in all
companies, and joining as readily as others in the pre-
valent Sunday parties.” But underneath this exterior,
powerful Evangelical impulses were at work, and, to his
great surprise, Wilberforce before he started discovered
the fact. “Had I known at first what his opinions were
it would have decided me against making him the offer:
so true is it that a gracious hand leads us in ways that we
know not, and blesses us not only without, but even
against Our plans and inclinations.” Just before starting,
Wilberforce had lighted on Doddridge’s “Rise and
Progress of Religion,” and had asked Milner what he
thought of it. He answered, “It is one of the best
books ever written; let us take it with us, and read it on
our journey.” They did read together, and, as the first
consequence, Wilberforce determined to examine the
Scriptures for himself on the momentous points to which
the work relates. Another continental journey followed,
this time to Switzerland, and then to Italy. Milner was
again his companion ; and now they studied the Greek
Testament, discussing with each other the great truths
which came before them. They came back by way of
Spa, where they spent almost six weeks in a curious
assemblage of people from all parts of Europe ; and
there his change in certain things began to attract atten-
tion. Mrs. Crewe, mother to Lord Crewe, was amongst
the fashionables present, and she, when she heard it,
EARLY DAYS. 23
could not believe that he thought it wrong to go to the
play, and equally wondered that halting on a Sunday was
his wish, and not his mother's. Still he laughed and sang,
and was seemingly gay and happy, though all the while
sentiments of the most agitating kind were at work within
his breast. “As soon as I reflected seriously on these
subjects,” he solemnly records, “the deep guilt and black
ingratitude of my past life forced itself upon me in the
strongest colours, and I condemned myself for having
wasted my precious time, and opportunities, and talents.
It was not so much the fear, of punishment by which I
was affected, as a sense of my great sinfulness in having
so long neglected the unspeakable mercies of my God
and Saviour; and such was the effect which this thought
produced, that for months I was in a state of the deepest
depression from strong conviction of my guilt. Indeed,
nothing which I have ever read in the accounts of others
exceeded what I then felt.” He studied Butler's
“Analogy,” and Pascal's “Thoughts,” and above all, the
Bible, and so was gradually led out of darkness into light.
A decidedly Evangelical turn was taken. Good seed
sown of old at Wimbledon, but choked by thorns, now,
together with good seed newly sown, sprung up and
began to bear fruit abundantly. “What infinite love
that Christ should die to save such a sinner, and how
necessary is it He should save us altogether, that we may
appear before God with nothing of our own. God grant
T may not deceive myself in thinking I feel the beginning
of gospel comfort. Began this night constant family
prayer, and resolved to have it every morning and even-
24 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
ing, and to read a chapter when time.” This entry,
dated November 28, 1785, had in it"what many would
deem “a Methodist ring,” far removed from his mother's
notions, and from his own experience a year or two
before; and before the end of the year we find him
writing to John Newton, dining at his aunt Wilberforce's,
meeting Mr. Thornton, an eminently religious London
merchant, going to hear William Romaine, and evincing
in other ways full sympathy with the Evangelical leaders
of that day. Doddridge's book he repeatedly refers to,
and at this period it seems to have been a light shining
in a dark place, until the day dawned and the day-Star
arose in his heart.
CHAPTER II.
AO/CAT/CA/C CAA’/2/2/3.
TDOSSESSED of ample fortune, with no taste for
mercantile pursuits or country sports, at the same
time conscious of a gift for speaking, as well as other
qualifications for public usefulness, Wilberforce, as soon
as he came of age, determined to enter Parliament.
Andrew Marvell had represented his native town, and in
this respect we find our young friend walking in the steps of
the seventeenth century patriot. He determined to stand
for Kingston-upon-Hull. In the month of August, 1780,
he completed his twenty-first year, an event celebrated
by the roasting of an ox in one of his fields; and the very
next month he engaged in a contest with Lord Robert
Manners and Mr. Hartley, when he won by a large
majority—but it was at the expense of between eight and
nine thousand pounds; for every resident elector received
a present of two guineas, and every freeman travelling
from London cost about five times as much.
When he took his seat, the House of Commons could
boast of some of the greatest orators England has ever
had. There was Edmund Burke, the philosophical poli-
3 .
26 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
tician, who dived beneath the surface of subjects, and
never stopped short of ſundamental principles. His
speeches were profound essays, comprehensive in thought,
elegant in diction, but much more intellectual than they
were popular. There was Richard Brinsley Sheridan,
the wit, the favourite of fashion, the man who, by his
reckless extravagance, sunk into the lowest poverty, and
then raised himself again by expedients as daring as they
were ingenious; but who could cover all his eccentricities
and follies and vices by a burning eloquence, which
inspired his hearers, so that when he made his famous
speech on the trial of Warren Hastings, reporters threw
down their pens in despair. There was Charles James
Fox, whose robust thoughts, earnest logic, sweeping
declamation, and pointed language are preserved to us in
print; whose burly figure, awkward gait, and upliſted fist
are made visible to us in old portraits; but whose power
as an orator, it is said, can never be understood but by
those who were privileged to listen to his voice. There
was William Pitt, Wilberforce's friend, then almost as
young as himself, with a formal kind of rhetoric—“a State
paper style” it was called — a commanding order of
intellect, and a firm grasp of political questions, the heir
of his father's genius for debate, and with all his faults
and drawbacks the heir of his father's patriotism. These,
not to mention others, were leaders—even the last, though
so young and inexperienced—when Wilberforce entered
Parliament; but soon he made his mark upon the dis-
cussions which arose, and by his sprightly manner, easy
elocution, silvery voice, and intelligent apprehension,
POLITICAL CAREER. 27
without which the other qualities would not have availed,
gained the ear of the House, and speedily raised himself
to eminence and renown.
Those whom I have now named were party leaders.
They believed that great measures could not be carried, that
their country could not be properly ruled, except through
the medium of party opinion, feeling, and organisation.
No doubt much can be pleaded on that behalf, and at all
events the system of party action has practically long
ruled in English politics, and will in all probability long .
continue to rule; but, to say the least, there is also a
place in these same politics for independent action, for
the exercise of calm unbiassed judgment lifted above the
atmosphere of prejudice and passion. Thus extremes
can be avoided, extravagant tendencies on either side can
be checked, the heats of controversy can be moderated,
and harmonies existing between minds in honest conflict
can be elicited and established. Wilberforce believed
this, and therefore entered the doors of St. Stephen un-
shackled by party ties, and entirely unambitious of official
position and emolument. Others professed to be in
accord with him in this respect, and to the number of
about forty they constituted themselves a club styled
“Independents;” yet when thus banded together and
formed into a distinct third party, they soon showed that
they were exposed to the evils they had undertaken to
avoid. Nor did their assertions of disinterestedness stand
the proof, for all of them except two—Mr. Wilberforce
and Mr. Banks—accepted either place or peerage or
pension. At a late period, James Stephen, in writing to
28 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
Wilberforce touching the character of Henry Thornton,
after quoting his words, “My intimacy with Wilberforce
has had an influence on many important events of my
life,” remarks: “To explain and justify his general line of
conduct as ‘one of the party of no party men,” would in
effect be like stating and defending your own.” Wilber-
force, after all, could hardly be said to belong to “the
party of no party men,” for he was as free from party
ties of every sort as any man could be ; but to maintain
perfect consistency in all respects under such circum-
stances is no easy thing, and the political course pursued
by this excellent person at one time, notwithstanding his
conscientiousness, it would be rather difficult to reconcile
with the political course he pursued at another.
The Hull member made his first speech on the 17th of
May, 1781, touching the injustice of the revenue laws,
having presented a petition against them entrusted to him
by his constituents. Lord North was then Prime Minister,
but Lord Shelburne soon succeeded him, when Pitt
joined the Cabinet, and Wilberforce seconded the address
on the King's Speech in February, 1783. It was not car-
ried, and Shelburne's Administration fell as soon as it was
formed. The Coalition Ministry of Lord North and Mr.
Fox was also short-lived. It lasted from April to Decem-
ber, 1783; and in the opposition which brought about that
event Wilberforce took a very decided part, and distin-
guished himself by his eloquence at a great county meeting
of Yorkshire electors. He mounted a table amidst gusts
of windy weather which seemed enough to carry away his
slender frame. “I saw,” said Boswell, who was present,
POLITICAL CAREER. 29
§
“a mere shrimp mount upon the table, and as I listened
he grew and grew until the shrimp became a whale.”
The reins of government having fallen out of the hands
of the coalition were, at the King's earnest request,
taken up by the boy statesman, William Pitt. And when
that happened, it might have been supposed, but for the
perfect sincerity of Wilberforce's resolution, that he would
have joined his friend's Cabinet. But he was proof against
all solicitations, being determined to maintain a thoroughly
independent position. Parliament was dissolved in March,
1784, and the young orator, who had made a deep impres-
sion on his Yorkshire audience, determined to come for-
ward as candidate for the county. But beforehand he made
sure of his seat for Hull; and being chaired according to
the then common custom, when the procession came
opposite to his mother's house, he sprung upstairs and
presented himself at the window of a room which had
been his nursery, and there addressed the populace with
amazing effect. He had not so many votes as on the
former occasion, but he had double the number given to
the candidate who stood third at the poll. The same
evening he drove to York—a brisk canvass was carried on,
meetings were held all over the shire, and enthusiasm on his
behalf reached the utmost pitch. The opponents retired,
and the victory is recorded in terms like the classical zeni,
vidi, vici : “Up early, breakfasted at tavern, rode frisky
horse to Castle; elected, chaired, dined York Tavern.”
Mr. Duncan, his colleague, shared in the triumph.
The benches of St. Stephen exhibited a far different
spectacle when the new Parliament met in May from
Tº
30 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
what it had done before the dissolution in March. The .
Coalition lost a hundred and sixty members, and Mr. Pitt
could reckon upon a good majority; yet of course he re-
mained unpopular with the supporters of Lord North and
Mr. Fox, and the echo of election songs and squibs might
still be heard lampooning “the virtuous youth, who was
taught by his dad on a stool.” But the much-abused
minister at the opening of the session in 1786, could, as
Chancellor of the Exchequer, proudly write to his friend
Wilberforce, “The produce of our revenues is glorious;
and I am half mad with a project which will give our
supplies the effect almost of magic in the reduction of
debt.” The famous sinking fund scheme had then begun
to float in the Premier's brain. Yet Pitt no doubt oc-
cupied an awkward position. He had opposed a coalition
under North and Fox, now he led a party in which the
element of coalition widely obtained. He had com-
menced as a Whig, and now appeared as a Tory, balanced,
however, in this respect on the opposite side, for Fox,
first something of a Tory, was now a Whig.
Wilberforce, looking at government measures, could
vote for them beyond what he expected; and he says,
“Though I had told Pitt I could not promise him
unqualified support, I was surprised to find how gene-
rally we agreed.” But one important question which
Pitt dropped interested Wilberforce as much as ever,
and he took an early opportunity of discussing it in the
new Parliament. Pitt had advocated Reform in the
representation of the country, and in the state of Election
Laws : in the spring of 1786 Wilberforce introduced anew
POLITICAL CAREER, 3I
the same subject. What he had learned from experi-
ence at Hull and at York no doubt gave an additional
impetus to his reforming zeal. Yet the abuses witnessed
there were surpassed by what obtained in other places.
The condition of England in this respect, at that time
and long afterwards, was scandalous in the extreme.
Nomination boroughs were numerous, and seats were
bought and sold like articles of commerce, or leased
like farms. Advertisements for the sale of such property
appeared in newspapers, and the general price in 1768
was about doubled. Dr. Franklin, who was in England
that year, writing to a friend, remarked, “Four thousand
pounds is now the market price for a borough. In short,
this whole venal nation is now at market, will be sold
for about two millions, and might be bought Out of the
hands of the present bidder (if he would offer half a
million more) by the very devil himself.” One borough
fetched 24, 9,000. Bribery prevailed, and was encouraged
by the crown, the ministry, the nobility, and the land-
holders; and George III. told Lord North, in the year
just specified, “As to the immense expense of the general
election, it quite surprised me: the sum is at least
double of what was expended on any other general elec-
tion since I came to the throne.” Even within my own
remembrance, during the first quarter of the present
century, not only were guineas piled upon the table of a
committee-room to which electors were conducted, that
they might count out their bribe, and say afterwards
nobody had paid them anything ; but another practice
obtained, which went by the name of cooping—that is,
32 WILLIAM WILBER FORCE.
one party would lay hold of certain freemen, or forty-
shilling freeholders, on the other side, and carry him off
to a public-house in the country, and coop him there in
riotous living until they could triumphantly convey him
to the polling-booth after the close of the poll, when it
was too late for him to vote at all. Such a state of
things moved a man of high principle with the strongest
indignation ; and though Wilberforce could not go as far
in the way of reform as he wished, he did go as far as he
could. He left the sale of boroughs untouched—indeed,
Pitt had excused it as so old a practice, that to endeavour
to remove it would be to endanger the fabric of the
Constitution, and to take out such a large stone might
damage the whole wall ; so he modestly proposed to
purify county elections by providing a general registration
of freeholders, and opening the poll at different places
at the same time. In fact, he first thought of applying
this remedy to Yorkshire alone, but afterwards extended
it. Even this tiny bit of improvement, however, could
not be effected, and it was defeated, Wilberforce tells us,
by a coalition of the King’s friends and the Whig aris-
tocracy. It was only a short distance which he was
prepared to go in the pathway of reform. When Mr.,
afterwards Lord, Grey, the leader of the advance guard in
1832, proposed his scheme forty years earlier, Wilberforce
opposed him. He treated it as too sweeping by far, and
by him then what was accomplished in our time would
have been deemed quite revolutionary. Pitt, though he
had before advocated a considerable change, resisted
Grey in 1792, adopting as the key-note of his speech,
POLITICAL CAREER. 33
“This is not the time to make hazardous experiments.”
France terrified the great statesman, and Wilberforce
shared in the terror, harping upon the same string, “This
is not the time.” Notes of a speech, probably made
about this period, are preserved, and they contain such
key-words as these: “Grey's plan is too bold.” “ Changes
should be made with infinite caution.” “Guard against
being misled to ascribe to frame of government what
arises from personal depravity.” A good thought, by the
way, often absent from the minds of political reformers.
“True policy of this country to conciliate the honest.
Moderate reform would not strengthen democrats' hands,
but never hope to win the democrats.” “Grey wrong
both as to the nature of our national malady and its
cure.” “The same reason which makes me condemn
Grey's makes me love moderate reform. Grey's would
enable democrats to carry their point : moderation would
prevent them.” We can imagine how the speaker would
clothe these dry bones with flesh and blood, and present
to the minds of cautious Whigs, as well as moderate
Tories, a political idea calculated to evoke their loud
applause. tº -
Another Bill occupied his attention—one by which
the judges, who had already power to order executed
murderers to be given up for surgical dissection, might
have authority for extending the practice to other exe-
cuted felons. The object was to provide means for
carrying on scientific inquiries respecting the human
frame, with a view to the advancement of the healing
art; and this measure, like the former, seems to have
34 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
been defeated in an underhand way, through the influ-
ence of Lord Loughborough, who described it as the
project of an inexperienced youth unacquainted with
law, although the Bill had been drawn up by the Solicitor-
General, and corrected by the Attorney-General. The
truth was, his lordship disliked the ministerial lawyers,
and did what he could to damage their character.
But if Wilberforce did not succeed in his measure, his
reputation and influence were increasing more and more,
and in fashionable society, as well as in the House of
Commons, he was becoming a tower of strength. Burke
sometimes dined with him, and to what once occurred
between that statesman and himself, the latter thus refers:
“Parr ill-naturedly endeavoured to revive a difference
which had existed between Burke and myself in 1787.
It was during the period of his violent attacks on Pitt.
He had delivered a most intemperate invective against
the French Navigation Treaty—a measure which was
particularly welcome to many of my Yorkshire con-
stituents. In reply to him, I said, “We can make
allowance for the honourable gentleman, because we
remember him in better days.' The sarcasm, though not
unkindly meant, and called for, as Pitt declared in the
debate, by Burke's outrageous violence, yet so exactly
described the truth that it greatly ncttled him. But it
soon passed over, and I had particular pleasure in his
dinners with me, as an evidence of our perfect harmony.
He was a great man, and I could never understand how
he grew to be at one time so entirely neglected. In part,
undoubtedly, it was that, like Mackintosh afterwards,
POLITICAL CAREER. 35
he was above his audience. He had come late in Par-
liament, and had time to lay in vast stores of knowledge.
The field from which he drew his illustrations was mag-
nificent. Like the fabled object of the fairy's favours,
whenever he opened his mouth pearls and diamonds
dropped from him.”
Wilberforce, in the session of 1787, supported Pitt in
his treaties with France and Portugal, and delivered an
effective speech upon Warren Hastings' impeachment.
To these efforts far more important and laborious ones
were added, as we shall show hereafter ; and the result
of overstrained nerves and physical powers, never
robust, appeared in 1788, when he was seized with a
very severe illness. “There is Wilberforce,” said a
friend, “he cannot last three weeks.” Physicians told
his family, “he had not stamina to last a fortnight.”
So he was sent down to Bath to see what the waters, then
in high repute, would do for the wasted invalid. “Be-
hold,” he wrote from the city of the waters, “a banished
man from London and business. It is no more than I
can expect, if my constituents vote my seat abdicated,
and proceed to the election of another representative;
however, I trust I shall yet be enabled by God's blessing
to do the public and them some service.” He gradually
recovered, and took his place again in Parliament. His
health before long once more appeared uncertain ; then
by rest and Care he rallied, and went on with his work as
hard as ever. -
He helped Pitt in his troubles attendant on the mental
derangement of George III., when Fox and his party
36 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
strove hard to upset the Ministry. At all events, Pitt so
impressed his friend, that the latter wrote to a clergyman:
“In the midst of all these disgusting circumstances my
friend is everyday matter of fresh and growing admiration.
I wish you were as constantly as I am, witness to that
simple and earnest regard for the public welfare by
which he is so uniformly actuated ; great as I know is
your attachment to him, you would love him more and
more.”
In 1790 a fresh application was made to Parliament for
the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts—acts justly
condemned over and over again by enlightened members
of the Legislature, who had no sympathy with any of
the Nonconformist bodies in their ecclesiastical views.
They only contended for equal civil rights as the proper
heritage of all religious classes. Wilberforce, unhappily,
at that time was not disposed to concede this claim of
justice. As a Churchman he was afraid of injuring the
Church, and as a Christian he really fancied he might
damage Christianity by supporting the measure. He
certainly took trouble in the examination of the subject,
and consulted friends of diſſerent shades of opinion.
Tox, in advocating the cause of what is called religious
liberty—but what was in this case really the cause of
civil freedom—alluded to the opposition of the member
for Yorkshire ; and the member for Yorkshire ſound
himself at the time involved in a serious collision
with his Dissenting constituents. Iły a fallacious kind of
reasoning he persuaded himself that the Test Act was
essential to the preservation of Orthodoxy, a prejudice
POLITICAL CAREER. 37
which happily evaporated long ago. He said, in writing
to a clerical friend years afterwards, “I can imagine few
things more likely to call forth the bitter and, I must add,
mischievous sneer of some future Hume or Gibbon, than
that those who are in possession of the dignities of the
Church should be seen endeavouring to escape from the
unfashionable opinions with which the acceptance of its
honours and emoluments was associated in primitive
times. It reminds me invincibly of a reply of Mr. Fox
to the Feather Tavern application for release from Sub-
scription to the Articles. ‘They have,’ he said, with an
exordium which I will not repeat, “they have the meat,
they shall have the sauce too.’” This was written a
quarter of a century after Wilberforce had opposed the
repeal of the Test Act, and is adduced by his biographers
in support of his resistance, though what it has to do
with the subject it is difficult to see. Whatever its force
in reference to clerical subscription, it can have no bearing
on the exclusion of Nonconformists from office, most
of whom were more orthodox than some who were
ministers in the Establishment. The repeal was rejected
by 294 to IoS, and it is but justice to add that Wilber-
force records, “The satisfaction I receive from this
decision is by no means unalloyed ; but I will not enter
into particulars, the field would be too large at present.”
And further, it may be noticed here, though it occurred at
a somewhat later period, that in 18oo he opposed what
he deemed an infringement of the Toleration Act. At
that time he wrote, “I dread lest God have given our
Government over to a spirit of delusion, that they should
38 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
think of attacking the Dissenters and Methodists; I
fear the worst.” There is no doubt that ignorance could
be found amongst some Dissenting teachers; and Wilber-
force quotes Mr. Jay of Bath as an authority for saying,
“A number of raw ignorant lads went out in preaching
parties every Sunday ”—though, oddly enough, Mr. Jay
himself when a mere boy began to preach, and would
have been pronounced then by many a clergyman “as a
raw ignorant lad.” But it was obviously most mischievous
to abridge the scope of the Toleration Act in order to
prevent such a state of things, nor indeed would it have
checked the evil. Wilberforce saw this. “I am
persuaded,” he writes, “that restraints would quicken the
zeal of the Methodists and Dissenters to break through
them, that prosecutions would be incessant, and that the
prevalence of the persecuted opinions and the popularity
of the persecuted teachers would be the sure result.”
At a subsequent period he wrote, in reference to the pro-
posal: “The precise nature of the regulations I cannot
recollect with certainty; but I am positively sure that they
tended materially to restrict the freedom hitherto enjoyed
by Protestant Dissenters, and a fine for the first offence,
and imprisonment for the second, were the sanctions by
which they were to be enforced.” Prettyman Tomline,
Bishop of Lincoln, advocated the restrictions, and
Wilberforce adds, “I well remember stating to him my
firm persuasion that a few weeks after the passing of
the intended law several of the Dissenting ministers
throughout the kingdom, most distinguished for talents
and popularity, would be in prison; and I urged on him
POLITICAL CAREER. 39
that, even supposing them not to be actuated by a sense
of duty, for which I myself gave them credit, or to be
cheered by the idea of suffering for righteousness' sake,
they would be more than compensated for all the evils
of imprisonment by their augmented popularity.” The
scheme failed : it never even came before Parliament,
and Wilberforce winds up his account of it in these
words: “I must say, considering everything, I have always
been extremely thankful for any share I had in preventing
the introduction of this scheme.” Though Burke long
acted with the Whigs, he was all through life a Conser-
vative at bottom. Though Wilberforce often appeared
in concert with Tories, was it not really the case
that from first to last he was a reformer and a friend
to progress P A love of liberty and a love of justice,
a desire for education and a desire for the removal of
parliamentary corruption, lay at the root of the main
political labours of his whole lifetime.
In 1793 war broke out with France, and Wilberforce
thought that “the Ministry had not taken due pains to
prevent its breaking out.” Hence arose one of his most
serious differences with the Prime Minister. He declared
his conviction that the true policy of the country was to
stand on the defensive, neither to commence nor provoke
hostilities, but if possible prevent them ; when, however,
they actually commenced, he supported the Government
as far as possible. In 1794 he resolved to move for
peace, though in doing so he knew how much he would
displease his friend. He spoke and voted with the
Opposition in a spirit of perfect independence; and it is
4O WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
said there were but two events which disturbed Pitt's
sleep—the mutiny at the Nore, and the first open oppo-
sition of Wilberforce. On his side the distress was
equally great. “No one who has not seen a good deal
of public life, and felt how difficult and painful it is to
differ widely from those with whom you wish to agree,
can judge at what an expense of feeling such duties are
performed.”
The course Wilberforce now pursued displeased others
as well as Pitt. There was a considerable class, especially
among the aristocracy, who seemed mad about this war.
France was counted the demon of revolution, and war
with France the only way to preserve social order.
“Your friend Mr. Wilberforce,” said Mr. Windham to
Lady Spencer, “will be very happy any morning to hand
your ladyship to the guillotine.” To such lengths will
prejudice and passion lead men, who, in some respects,
may remain as wise as ever. Friends expostulated with
him. Dean Milner hoped he would not prove the dupe
of a dishonest Opposition. He was by many denounced
as a Jacobin, and charged with apostasy. The ladies of
Yorkshire would scarcely speak to him. But amidst this
strife of tongues, and this storm of uncharitableness, it is
beautiful to see how the good man stayed his soul on
God, and found peace through faith and prayer ; also, to
the credit of his two friends it should be added, that the
estrangement was but temporary, and that before long
they were personally reconciled. It is a great pity that
in what followed, Pitt found too earnest a supporter in
his friend.
POLITICAL CAREER. 4I.
Undoubtedly they were troublous times, and a large
number of people were in sympathy with the French
Revolutionists. Inflammatory speeches were made
against the Government and the King. Disgraceful
pictures of his Majesty were exhibited. I have been
told by one who witnessed it, that a secret meeting was
held in London where men sat on each side of a long
table, with foaming tankards, and as the foam on the top
was struck off they drank to the toast “So let all
perish,” leaving the blank to be supplied by the word
“tyrants” or “kings.” But experience has taught that
such censurable excitements ought to be prudently dealt
with, else injustice will be done, and unwise measures of
repression will only increase the lamented evils. Mr.
Pitt's policy was most severe. The Habeas Corpus Act
was suspended; the trials and treatment of political
offenders in Scotland in 1793 and 1794 were most unjust,
and defeated their end ; agitators were crushed only to
be canonized ; the men who fell under the violence of
these rulers rose as martyrs in public estimation ; most
excellent persons, and ministers of religion of unim-
peachable character, were made offenders for a word,
or were arraigned as Criminals without any word
proved against them at all. The prosecution of William
Winterbotham, a Baptist minister, for passages alleged
to have fallen from his lips in the pulpit, affords a case
in point. The circumstances of the trial of Hardy
Tooke and Thelwall are well known. Pitt's measures
in 1795 ran on very terrible lines and roused even
moderate Liberals. Pitt’s “Treasonable Attempts * Bill
4.
42 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
extended the provisions of the statutes of Edward III.,
as to compassing and imagining the death of the king, to
any publication or writing believed to be of that fendency.
Treating opinions—or rather the supposed tendencies of
such opinions—as overt acts, is one of those violations of
social justice which would not be tolerated now. It was
not only tolerated but upheld then. Public meetings were
forbidden, except under most offensive restrictions; and
if twelve people remained together after being told to
disperse, they were to be adjudged felons without benefit
of clergy. Pitt and Fox were now daggers drawn. The
latter imprudently said that if the measure were carried,
obedience would be no longer a question of duty, but
only of prudence. The former said, if he were to resign,
his head would be off in six months. The Bill passed,
and Wilberforce supported it, with the qualification that
the right of petitioning should be retained. “Poor
Pitt l” he exclaimed ; “I, too, am much an object of
popular odium. Riot is expected from the Westminster
meeting. The people, I hear, are much exasperated
against me. The printers are all angry at the Sedition
Bills. How fleeting is public favour.”
Much excitementappeared in Yorkshire. Many Liberals
regarded the Constitution as in peril. They determined
on a public meeting, contrary to the opinion of the High
Sheriff. A stirring appeal was issued, and scattered all
over the county : “Come forth, then, from your looms,
ye honest and industrious clothiers; quit the labours of
your fields for one day, ye stout and independent yeo-
men; come forth in the spirit of your ancestors, and
POLITICAL CAREER. 43
show your desire to be free.” Wilberforce heard of the
meeting, and determined to attend. He started on a
Sunday. His own carriage could not be got ready in
time. “By half-past two,” he says, “I was off in Pitt's
carriage, and travelled to Alconbury Hill; four horses in
all. I was off early on the Monday morning, and got at
night to Ferry Bridge; employed myself all the way in
preparing for the meeting.” He had outriders preceding
him on the journey. On Monday he was “almost up to
the knees in papers.” If he employed speed and energy,
those on the other side did the same. On Monday there
went through Halton turnpike three thousand horsemen.
Many rode a distance of sixty miles, spending a night on
the road. As soon as the gates of the Guildhall were
opened the party rushed in. Then an adjournment to
the Castle-yard was proposed by those who called them-
selves the friends of order. Wilberforce reached York in
his carriage and four, “amidst the acclamations of thou-
sands. The city resounded with shouts that filled the
air.” “What a row,” he said thirty-two years afterwards,
“did I make when I turned this corner in 1795. It
seemed as if the whole place must come down together.”
Besides those who had before taken up the cause,
numbers were now carried away by enthusiasm for the
man. He was in favour of the Castle-yard, and there
boldly confronted his opponents. It was stormy weather.
Squalls of wind blew hail and sleet in peoples' faces. The
crowd became unmanageable. In the midst of the confu-
sion the member for Hull rose up before the High Sheriff's
chair, “a singular figure, so slim that it seems to move to
44 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
and fro with the gusts of the blast.” He carried the day.
Eloquence such as his produced a wonderful effect, and
all unprejudiced people felt that he was at least honest in
his intentions and had no design to deprive his country-
men of their just rights. “It rejoiced my heart,” said
one admirer to him, “to see you at York, much more to
hear you. Your appearance, but most of all your very
eloquent philippic, was wonderfully beneficial to the cause,
the Country, and yourself. Many who to my personal
knowledge were hostile to the Bills were induced, in
hearing your speech, to sign the addresses and petitions.
You have gained over almost every man in the five great
commercial towns of the West Riding.” The fascination
of his speech was acknowledged by another. “I never
felt the power of eloquence until that day. You made
my blood tingle with delight. The contrast of your
address and the mellow tone of your voice, of which not
one single word was lost to the hearers, with the bellow-
ing, screaming attempts at speaking in some others, was
most wonderful. You breathed energy and vigour into
the desponding souls of timid loyalists, and sent us home
with joy and delight.” The eulogist was in sympathy
with the measures beforehand, but his testimony to the
charming qualities of the speaker indicates how he must
have swayed the feelings and acts of his audience. But
whatever the eſfect of his arguments and appeals might
be, backed by the immense force of his name and cha-
racter, few persons now looking back upon the occurrence
would attempt to justify the coercive policy of Pitt, which
for years maintained a reign of terror in England that
POLITICAL CAREER. 45
could not have existed but for the reign of terror in
France. Nor should it here be passed over without
notice, that the power of Wilberforce's oratory and the
effect of his popularity in support of a real unrighteous
measure, clearly show how much that is merely adven-
titious has to do with the decisions of political contro-
versies, and how necessary it is for thoughtful and honest
men to break below the surface of what is merely personal
and circumstantial, and penetrate into the deepest
grounds and reasons of every question in debate.
We find Wilberforce employed very differently the next
year, 1796. Quakers had applied for relief from laws
which had inflicted on them very great hardship. Vex-
atious methods of enforcing tithes had brought seven of
them that year to York Castle, without hope of deliverance.
Serjeant Adair proposed a bill for the recovery of tithes
without the infliction of imprisonment. Wilberforce
supported it, and it passed the Commons; but the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury opposed it in the Lords, on the
ground that there was not time for its proper considera-
tion, though most readers would think it required no
long time to make up one's mind on such a measure.
It was consequently thrown out. In another direction,
the next year, the member for Yorkshire advocated the
redress of Social wrongs. Roman Catholics and Dis-
senters were excluded from the militia, which, though a
relief to some individuals, branded these denominations
with a mark of indignity. He proposed a Bill for the
admission of Roman Catholics to military services, but
as the debates on the question are not found in the
46 WILLIAM WIL BERFORCE.
parliamentary history, we do not know exactly what
Course he took. His biographers remark that in his own
county Catholics were strictly loyal men, who ought not,
he thought, to be excluded from joining in the national
defence. Pitt sanctioned the measure, but members of
the Cabinet who sat in the Upper House supported it
feebly. The Bishop of Rochester made a violent speech
against it, and the Bill was thrown out.
The February of 1797 saw the commercial world in a
frightful panic because the Bank of England stopped
payment, and Parliament “assembled amidst a state of
things most unpromising.” Wilberforce did not approve
of such a step as the stoppage of the I3ank, but in this, as
in some other things, he made the best of a bad business,
and sat upon a Parliamentary Committee to inquire into
the Bank’s solvency. Two months afterwards we have in
his life glimpses of a touching scene. He found Burke
lying on a sofa, much emaciated, with Windham, Law-
rence, and others round him. “The attention shown to
Burke by all that party was just like the treatment of
Ahithophel of old—“It was as if one went to inquire of
.the Lord.’” The subject under discussion was the
Portsmouth mutiny, which threw the nation into another
alarm; but what gives pathos to the interview of the two
statesmen, who agreed with each other on certain points,
is that it was the last time they met in this world.
In the new session of the same year, 1797, Wilber-
force thought it was his duty as a loyal subject to
strengthen the hands of the Government in reference to
France. Once he had been ready to relinquish all
POLITICAL CAREER. 47
which the French and their allies had won from England;
now, after the eſſrontery of the French ruler, he would
not consent to peace without reserving Ceylon or the
Cape. But he was not satisfied with the state of affairs,
and lamented it in private, though he endeavoured to
make the best of the case in Parliament; for he trembled
at the increase of the expenditure, and thought it would
break the back of popular patience. He urged on the
Prime Minister the reform of abuses and the adoption
of economy, with the hope of conciliating the national
good will, but all in vain. Still he vindicated his friend's
character, and eulogised his patriotism ; and when Pitt
and Tierney fought a duel, and Wilbeforce felt anxious
to make a motion to prevent such encounters on the part
of His Majesty's Ministers, he dealt tenderly with Pitt
himself and dropped the question, partly from want of
support and partly to relieve the minister's mind. Again
we find him supporting Pitt's policy. The Habeas Corpus
Suspension Act had been passed in 1794 : it was con-
tinued until 1800. Wilberforce opposed its suspension in
1798, and answered Courtenay's attacks upon the treat-
ment of State prisoners in a style which greatly amused
the House. Courtenay complained of the treatment of
State prisoners in Cold Bath Fields Prison, and invoked
the sympathies of Wilberforce. The latter, who happened
to be acquainted with the place from charitable visits
which he had paid, started up with a reply. “The honour-
able gentleman tells us the prisoners are starved. But
what says the visiting magistrate, who lately sent me the
result of his own observation ? With the permission of
48 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
the House I will read his very words: ‘I saw their
dinner; better I would not wish on my own table—it
was roast beef and plum pudding.” Aye, sir, and my
friend is a Doctor of Divinity. Why this difference of
statement reminds me of Parson Adams' bewilderment,
When one passenger assured him, as the stage drove
by a mansion, that its owner was the best husband and
father in the whole world, whilst another woke up at the
moment with the exclamation—“What a fine estate what
a pity it belongs to such a rascal l’ The simplicity of
Parson Adams led him to conclude that they must be
speaking of two different persons. Now, sir, though I
do not mean to charge the honourable gentleman with
being a Parson Adams in simplicity, yet surely when he
hears these dissimilar accounts he may well doubt whether
they describe the same place.” “How long is it, Wilber-
force,” Pitt asked, as he leaned over the Treasury bench
in old St. Stephen, to his sprightly friend as he sat
down, “since you read ‘Joseph Andrews’ P” Wilber-
force's allusion was very clever, and exhibits a singular
exercise of memory; but it was a great pity that such
ready humour should have been employed, indirectly at
least, on the side of suspending the Habeas Corpus Acts
and maintaining what was really an English reign of
terror. In 1817 he is seen pursuing a similar course,
when Sir Samuel Romilly remarked, “The honourable and
religious member could hardly vote for any measure more
thoroughly opposed to vital Christianity : ” in 1819 he
appears advocating the second reading of a Seditions
13ill.
POLITICAL CAREER. 49
In 1797 the Irish Union was a parliamentary subject,
and though objecting to it at first, Wilberforce gradually fell
in with the Premier's scheme, praising him as “more fair
and open and well-intentioned, and even well-principled,
than any other of his class.” Again, in 1800 we find him
reluctantly supporting the administration in its foreign
and coercive policy, yet at the same time mourning over
the condition of the country, and when famine was be-
ginning to cast its shadows over the land, he was “much
grieved at Pitt's languor about the scarcity.”
Wilberforce's journal for 1801 opens with a note of
sorrow, yet of faith. “What tempests rage around,
and how are we urged to seek for that peaceful haven
which alone can ensure real security and happiness.” The
King and the Cabinet quarrelled about Roman Catholic
emancipation. The King was against it, Pitt was for
it, and in this respect had the sympathy of his friend.
To the cause of Roman Catholic emancipation that friend
remained firm till death, though he was thought to waver
a little in 1807. As late as 1821 he spoke in the House
of Commons on the subject, and in reference to the
subject Mr. Buxton remarked, “It was a most able ex-
position of his views, and the passage in which he said
that though we had delivered the Roman Catholics from
prison we insisted on their wearing the gaol dress, was
much admired.” Mr. Addington succeeded Mr. Pitt as
Prime Minister, and Wilberforce yielded him support as
a minister of peace. The popularity of the peace gave
firmness to the Government, and Wilberforce rejoiced
that Pitt, though out of office, supported it magnani-
50 WILLIAM WILDERFORCE.
mously. Besides other speeches on different subjects,
the member for Yorkshire, in 1802, manfully crossed
swords with Windham, and pithily notes in his journal,
“Bull-baiting Bill lost— 64 against 51.”
A general election followed in July, 1802, when he was
Yeturned for his native county without opposition. Ac-
Cording to a byestander, “It was an august and inte-
resting scene, not one hand was lifted up against him,
and the surrounding countenances were expressive of
the greatest delight and esteem towards him.” *
A speech which he delivered at the opening of the
session in November, 1802, on the impolicy of engaging
in Continental alliances as principals, seems to have
secured a more than usual amount of applause ; and in
March, 1803, amidst threatenings of invasion, he deplored
the disappointment which he felt at Mr. Addington's
policy, whom he had looked to for correcting abuses ;
but in vain had he endeavoured to spirit him up when he
was convinced they really existed. “Just now, when I
expected I should hear of the members of a particular
board that they were about to be hanged, or (as I am
writing to a sober matter-of-fact man) more literally, that
they were turned out with disgrace, I have heard that they
are going to have 24, 200 each added to their salaries.” In
May war loomed on the horizon. Wilberforce, anxious to
prevent its coming, spoke late one night against it, but
the House was impatient, being of a different opinion.
In reply to Pitt, who had talked of national pride, honour,
and the like, he published a speech which he delivered
on the peace of Amiens, showing its advantages, and
POLITICAL CAREER. 5I
contending, “Surely if we are forced into war again, our
people will engage in it with more spirit because they
see their rulers unwilling to submit them to its evils.”
At that juncture, Napoleon Buonaparte so alarmed this
country by the strides of his ambition that there was
only too great a readiness to unsheath the Sword again,
unmindful of consequences except as they related to
victory; but Wilberforce, with his pacific turn of mind,
could not but realise the horrors of the battlefield, and
would therefore stay an entrance on the strife until it
became inevitable. Windham declared defensive war
would be ruin, and he and others, expecting an invasion,
urged that England should be beforehand with the foe,
and meet him on the other side of the water. Amidst
this plausible reasoning it is a relief to light on the
following passage:
“I trust, my dear sir, that though I am writing to
a sea officer (Captain Bedford, R.N.), I must honestly
avow that I pant for peace. Alas, that the bad passions
of men should produce such a state of things that the
two most enlightened nations on earth—possessing more
than any others the means of enjoying and diffusing
happiness, should be respectively straining every nerve to
aggravate each others' sufferings and accomplish each
others' destruction. Oh for that blessed state when the
reign of peace and love shall be complete and universal
With these sentiments of feeling you may be sure that
I shall lose no opportunity of promoting the restoration
of peace with France. It is much to be regretted that,
from pride and other similar passions, nations are
52 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
always forward to rush into wars, though the bulk of a
people soon begin to repent of them and to wish for the
termination of hostilities. Ministers of State, on the con-
trary, are really less prone to get into wars; but when a
country is once plunged into them, they are drawn forward
by their own schemes; they flatter themselves that they shall
by this measure and that weaken the power of the enemy,
and forgetting the expenditure of blood and treasure that
is always going on, they are seldom disposed to leave off
till they are forced to it; often also they are afraid that a
less honourable peace than the sanguine expectations of
men led them to hope might be obtained, should disgrace
their character and fix on them an imputation of pusilla-
nimity or weakness.”
Whatever may be thought of the beginning of the
sentence, there is no doubt that at the end of it Wilber-
force hits the right nail on the head. When wars have
been unjustly begun, simply because they are begun,
statesmen are resolved to persevere in them from a
motive grossly misnamed honour and patriotism ; but to
continue what was wrong at the beginning, really from
selfishness and pride, is a course of proceeding reprobated
alike by reason, conscience, and religion.
In 1804 Pitt went into opposition ; then Wilberforce,
with his amiable instincts, felt himself in a difficulty
between the minister and his opponent, and he expresses
his feeling in this sentence of his journal: “I cannot
help regretting that Addington's temperance and con-
ciliation should not be connected with more vigour.
Poor Addington, with all his faults I feel for him; but
gºr
POLITICAL CAREER. 53
what a lesson does he read me. Had he really acted
up to his principles, he might probably have been above
his present difficulties.” Wilberforce lamented the
former premier's alienation from his successor, and
hoped for their reunion. After the occurrence of party
intrigues, Pitt was persuaded by the King to resume
office, on condition that he would never advocate Catholic
Emancipation or the repeal of the Test Act, a stipulation
utterly indefensible. Addington having resigned, Pitt
laid his hand once more on the helm of affairs, and not
long afterwards friendly relations were established between
the two statesmen. Of course Wilberforce did what he
could to support Pitt in his renewed position ; but the
days of the latter were numbered. Before, however,
the great statesman ended his career, Wilberforce gave
a proof of his independence. The ministerial integrity
of Lord Melville being impeached, Pitt stood by his
colleague, saying he had not pocketed public money,
although he had acted like a fool. Wilberforce took a
graver view. Sitting upon the continuation of the
Treasury bench, he rose to address the Speaker, glancing
at Pitt, who watched anxiously the drift of the speech—
feeling at the moment, “the fascination of that eye from
which Lord Erskine was always thought to shrink.”
There was no mistaking the line pursued. Alluding to the
base decision of the judges in the case of levying ship-
money, he said, “The damage and mischief cannot be
expressed that the Crown and State sustained by the de-
served reproach and infamy that attended the judges. We
it is who are now truly on our trial before the moral
54 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
sense of England, and, if we shrink from it, deeply shall
we hereafter repent our conduct.” An even division
followed, the Speaker gave a casting-vote against Govern-
ment, and Wilberforce did not reach home till half-past
five in the morning, after which he wrote in his diary,
“Could not get cool in body or mind.” His honour-
able conduct inflicted a blow on the Ministry which Pitt
could not fail to feel, for the impeachment of Meville
followed, and then Wilberforce stayed his hand. “When
the sentence of the law is passed is not that sufficient?
Am I to join in the execution of it? Is it to be expected
of me, that I am to stifle the natural feelings of the heart,
and not even to shed a tear over the very sentence I am
pronouncing P I know not what Spartan virtue or
Stoical pride might require, but I know that I am taught
a different, aye and a better, lesson, by a greater than
Lycurgus or Zeno.” Melville, however, was acquitted.
Perhaps no act in the whole political life of Wilberforce
displayed so much firmness of principle and so much
moral courage as the part he took in the memorable
debate respecting Lord Melville, because here he had
to overcome predilections arising out of a strong personal
attachment. To get up in Parliament, and to say from
a sense of duty what is known will cut to the heart the
loved companion of one's youth, is of all brave ventures
the bravest. In his anti-slavery warfare, he had Pitt with
him in principle, in feeling at any rate. But here he
had Pitt against him, or rather he avowed himself against
Pitt. Party ties never gave him much trouble, but the
tie almost fraternal must terribly have done so on this
POLITICAL CAREER. 55
occasion. The man who can rise above the allurements
Of friendship, where truth and justice are involved,
establishes a character for the most courageous honesty.
The French victory at Austerlitz stabbed Pitt with a
mortal wound, and he died in January, 1806, broken-
hearted. “Pitt killed by the enemy as much as Nelson,”
are Wilberforce's words; and writing to Lord Mun-
caster he said, “There is something peculiarly affecting
in the time and circumstances of Pitt's death. I own I
have a thousand times (aye, times without number)
wished and hoped that a quiet interval would be afforded
him, perhaps in the evening of life, in which he and I
might confer freely on the most important of all subjects.
But the scene is closed for ever.”
Pitt's death occasioned the appointment of a new
Ministry under Lord Grenville, including Fox, Windham,
and Addington (now Lord Sidmouth); and the appointment
of a new Ministry, led to a general election. Two Mini-
stries, two dissolutions, two general elections occurred
within the space of two years, – a circumstance which
brought Wilberforce twice before his Yorkshire consti-
tuents in the same brief space. In 1806 he was returned
without going to the poll ; in 1807 he had to endure a
contest of tremendous severity. “Nothing since the days
of the Revolution,” so we read in a York newspaper, “ has
ever presented to the world such a scene as this county for
fifteen days and nights. Repose or rest have been unknown
in it, except it was seen in a messenger asleep on his post
horse, or in his carriage. Every day the roads in every
direction to and from every remote corner of the county,
:
56 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
have been covered with vehicles loaded with voters;
and barouches, curricles, gigs, flying waggons, and military
Cars with eight horses, crowded sometimes with forty
voters, have been scouring the county, leaving not the
slightest chance for the quiet traveller to urge his
humble journey, or find a chair in an inn to sit down
upon.” Within little more than a week nearly £65,000
had been subscribed towards Wilberforce's expenses, but
the whole charge amounting only to 24, 28,600, forty-six per
cent. of the former sum was returned to the subscribers.
The money spent by his opponents amounted to 24, 200,ooo.
Yet a poor clergyman refused to accept his travelling
expenses, and when urged, ended by adding what he re-
ceived to the subscription list. “How did you come up P”
a farmer from Rotherham was asked, who plumped for the
popular candidate. “Sure enow I cam all'd-way ahint
Lord Milton's carriage.” The final numbers were for
Wilberforce, I 1,806; Milton, II, 177 ; Lascelles, Io,989.
Fox died in October, 1806, and Grenville's Ministry
resigned in March, 1807, not because it was defeated in
Parliament, but because George III. again demanded an
unconstitutional pledge respecting Catholic emancipation.
The Duke of Portland became Premier with a decidedly
Tory Cabinet. This embarrassed Wilberforce, as through-
out his independent career he wished to support the ex-
isting Government as far as possible. This principle of
his laid him open to the charge of inconsistency and
vacillation. The Whigs sometimes regarded him as a
Tory, the Tories sometimes called him a Whig, both
parties all the while counting him in their hearts a truly
POLITICAL CAREER. 57
honest man. As to Catholic emancipation, though he
had supported it, yet he did not like to identify himself
with the party who had lost office through their refusal to
pledge themselves against it; and with regard to the
abolition of the slave trade, hereafter to be described,
though the retired Ministry had secured his success in
that enterprise, he could not on that account see his way
clear to a union with the Whig party. He felt his obliga-
tion to them. “Yet on the other hand,” he said, “I feel
deeply impressed with a sense of the importance of not
embarking in a Roman Catholic bottom, if I may so
term it, the interest and well being of our Protestant
empire.” He seems to have allowed his Protestant zeal,
and the persuasion of his Protestant friends, to obscure
his judgment, and to prevent his clear discernment of the
distinction between supporting Roman Catholic emanci-
pation and supporting the Roman Catholic Church. The
One was a question of civil justice, the other of religious
faith. In his opposition to the endowment of Popery
he was wise and consistent. “The College of Maynooth,”
he writes in April, 1807, “–a vote for the doubling the
foundation of which passed a few weeks ago, so as to send
out four hundred Roman Catholic priests every four
years; the most pernicious measure, in my judgment,
which has been assented to for many years—the College
of Maynooth alone will, if not checked, increase beyond
measure the Roman Catholic body.”
In 1809 Wilberforce was much distressed by the busi-
ness in the House relative to the Duke of York and
Mrs. Clarke. “We are alive to the political offence, but
5
58 WILLIAM WILBER FORCE.
to the moral crime we seem utterly insensible, and the
reception which every do?//e entendre meets in the House
must injure our characters greatly with all religious
minds.” “What scenes have we been unveiling to the
peaceful villagers of Cumberland and Westmoreland. If
we believe the Bible, we must believe that the vices of
the great, both directly and consequentially, Call down
the judgment of the Almighty; and I must say that
I am strongly influenced by the persuasion that by mark-
ing such shameful debauchery thus publicly disclosed,
with the stigma of the House of Commons, we should be
acting in a manner that would be pleasing to God, and
directly beneficial to the morals of the community. On
one day the House of Lords were employed on five
Divorce Bills, and we in examining Mrs. Clarke. I was
reading this morning Isaiah xv., ‘Shall not my soul be
avenged on such a nation as this?’ This still saddens my
heart; yet there are many righteous, I trust, among us.”
In these private utterances the pious statesman will win
the sympathy of those who believe that righteousness
exalteth a nation and that sin is a disgrace to a people, but
it is to be feared he had not a large number of fellow
members who shared in his sentiments. “People,” wrote
Sir Arthur Wellesley, “are outrageous in the country on
account of the immorality of his life [the Duke of York]
which makes no impression in town.” Thus much good
however followed—the Duke of York resigned, but the
Duke of Cumberland told Thornton that the King “and
all of them ’’ were very angry with Wilberforce.
In 1810 he voted against the Administration in an
POLITICAL CAREER. 59
inquiry relative to the miserable Walcheren Expedition,
and the same year voted for a reprimand of Sir Francis
Burdett when the House of Commons sent him to the
Tower, and also urged the rejection of the Middlesex
petition. Lord Sidmouth's Bill in 1811, for the serious
curtailment of religious liberty in reference to Dissenters,
met with Wilberforce's decided opposition, and soon after
this he retired from the representation of Yorkshire,
alleging as reasons—the state of his family which required
more attention than he had been able to give, and the
state of his health which required release from the cares
connected with a large constituency. The announcement
of his resignation in 1812, though approved by intimate
friends, produced deep regret in the minds of electors who
had so staunchly supported him in so many contests. He
now accepted the representation of Bramber in Sussex,
boasting of a fortress in Saxon times, but at the beginning
of the century one of the rotten boroughs of England.
At an election in 1768, it is said the sum of 24, 1,000 was
offered for a single vote and refused ; and it is further
related, that when the new member was driving through
the village, consisting of a few tumble-down houses, oc-
cupied by the thirty voters who lived in the little street
under the shadow of the ruined castle, he called to the post-
boy inquiring the name of the place. “Bramber, sir.”
“Bramber, why that is the place I am member for.” He
was dissatisfied with the Government in 1814, but did not
offer any direct opposition. He supported the Corn Law
Dill the next year, which exposed him to inconveniencies
thus described in a letter to his son : -
6O WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
“Were you to enter the dining-room at family prayer
time, without having received some explanation of our
appearance, you would probably think that we were ex-
pecting a visit from the ex-Emperor and his followers at
Kensington Gore, and had prepared a military force to
repel his assault. For you would see four soldiers and a
servant, together with another stranger (Bushel, the peace
officer), who, as far as bodily strength would go, would
play his part as well as any of them. The fact is that we
had some reason to apprehend mischief for our house, in
consequence of the part which I judged it my duty to
take on the Corn Bill ; and as your mother, etc., was
advised to evacuate the place, I preferred the expedient
which had been adopted by Mr. Banks and several other
of my friends, that of having four or five soldiers in my
house—the very knowledge of their being there rendering
an attack improbable. But it was a curious instance of
the rapid circulation of intelligence, that at Covent
Garden market early on Saturday morning, John Shannan
who sells garden stuff, being there to purchase for the
supply of his shop, was hooted after with, “So your old
master has spoken for the Corn Bill’ (I had spoken only
the night before); ‘but his house shall pay for it.’ All
however is hitherto quiet, and I trust will continue so.”
I am old enough to recollect perfectly well the ex-
traordinary excitement which existed amongst the lower
classes in the year 1815; how the Corn Bill was a subject
of execration in all their mouths; how every one who
voted for it, however liberal and in other respects popu-
lar he might have been, was the object of popular fury;
POLITICAL CAREER. 6I
and how, in a provincial city in an agricultural district, a
multitude of people marched through the streets, vowing
vengeance on farmers and millers, and determined to
seize on sacks of wheat and flour that they might fling
them into the river. No doubt their resentment rose to
madness. Destruction as a remedy for the injustice of laws
is certainly the height of absurdity, but the bitter disap-
pointment of the working classes at not obtaining the
plenty they were led to dream of after the return of peace,
as well as the injustice and foolishness of legislation at
the time, must be remembered, not in justification, but to
to some extent in palliation of conduct on the part of
thousands who were clamouring for bread.
What Wilberforce did in reference to the abolition of
slavery during following years will presently appear; in the
meantime it is enough to say, that in 1819 he supported
a petition from the Quakers in reference to the severity
of the penal code, and also supported Mackintosh in his
measure as to Capital punishments. The agitation in the
country after the accession of George IV., produced by
the arrival of Queen Caroline and the proceedings against
her, occupied the most serious thoughts of Wilberforce;
and though by no means what would be considered a
supporter of her cause—when English people were almost
divided into two classes, the Queen's friends and the
Queen's enemies—he aimed at a settlement of the dispute,
and carried by a large majority an address to her Majesty,
intended to serve as a basis of peace, if not reconciliation.
In 1824 he supported a Bill for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals, and made his last speech in the House of
62 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
Commons—it was on the subject of slavery; then in 1825
he wrote his last frank for a letter to his two sons at
Oxford.
“MY DEAR BOYS,-When Charles the First was on the
very point of exchanging, as I trust, a temporal for an
eternal Crown, he was forced to be short, so he said but
One word; and now I have but a moment in which to use
my pen, and therefore, my dear boys, I also will adopt his
language and add as he did—REMEMBER. You can fill
up the chasm. I will only add that with constant wishes
and prayers for your usefulness, comfort, and honour here,
and for glory, honour, and immortality for you hereafter,
I remain, ever your most affectionate Father,
“W. WILBERFORCE.
“I am not clear that this letter will pass free, and
therefore I make it single.”
Before I close this account of Wilberforce's political
Čareer, a fact ought to be stated which will surprise many.
With his reputation for eloquence, one would expect that
his speeches would be carefully reported, but this was not
the case. Some of his constituents lamented that such
short abstracts should be given of such a representative
of such a constituency. And he himself complained:
“Often when I have taken a material share in any dis-
cussion, and a long report is made of the Speeches of other
members, especially of those who are favourites with the
newspaper editors and reporters, all that I have said is
entirely omitted, or at best very little indeed inserted.
But this is not the worst; sentiments are often ascribed to
POLITICAL CAREER. 63
me, not only different from those which I have expressed,
but directly opposed to them. All this arises in part, I
doubt not, from inadvertency; but I own that, after seeing
how systematical this treatment of me is, I cannot but
impute it to the circumstance of my not belonging to any
party, on which account I am obnoxious to both and to
their writers, who are commonly among the most violent
of their partisans.” Whether Wilberforce's conjecture
was right or wrong, the fact is to be lamented now for
the sake of history, inasmuch as owing to it, in the absence
of speeches published by himself, except one on the slave
trade and the substance of some on the East India Bill,
we are without adequate means of judging for ourselves
the weight of those arguments, the force of those appeals,
and the manner of that expression, which produced such
wonderful effects year after year upon the men who sat
on the benches of the old chapel of St. Stephen.
Nor can we quit this portion of Wilberforce's history
without noticing how he strove to bring his political
movements under the influence of religious principle.
Speaking of Sir Robert Inglis, Sir Walter Scott said in
1828, “He may be considered now as the head of the
religious party in the House of Commons—a powerful
body which Wilberforce long commanded. It is a dif.
ficult situation ; for the adaptation of religious motives to
earthly is apt, among the infinite delusions of the human
heart, to be a snare.” Doubtless the infinite delusions
thus referred to are a snare in political as in every other
department of human life; but how the application of
religion itself, which is, when truly understood, the highest
64 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
form of morality, can be reckoned a snare I do not under-
stand. Personal prejudice, party passion, and sinister
ends may seek to varnish over their deformity with coatings
of religious pretension ; but that is the very opposite of
an honest application of Scripture precepts and principles
to the conduct of a statesman. Such an application will
effectually deliver him from the “infinite delusions ° of
human nature, and guide the conscience amidst the per-
plexities of public affairs and passing conflicts. That
Wilberforce sincerely endeavoured to make Christianity
the guide of his parliamentary career, most readers of his
memoirs will admit, however they may differ from him
in political opinions.
CHAPTER III.
AAWT/-S/A W/2/8 V CA’ U.S.A.D.A.
I' is a curious fact that negro slavery in the West
Indies rose out of a benevolent purpose. The
Spanish Las Casas, pitying the feeble aborigines of St.
Domingo, who worked in the mines at the cost of their
lives, interceded for the employment of African negroes
as a race more fitted to perform such labour. Out
of that mistaken charity sprung an enormous amount of
injustice and suffering. And another fact is to be coupled
with this. Englishmen within the last twenty years of
the seventeenth century transported 300,ooo unhappy
beings from their native shores to the Western planta-
tions; and between 17oo and 1786 carried in slave-ships
no less than 6 Io, ooo of the same class to the island of
Jamaica : then, towards the close of the eighteenth cen-
tury other Englishmen rose up indignant at the inhuman
traffic, and proceeded to take measures for putting a stop
to this flagrant iniquity.
Members of the Society of Friends in America were the
first to protest against it, and in this country they took
a leading part in the earliest united efforts for its over-
throw. The first person who publicly appeared in
66 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
England as a worker in this philanthropic cause was
Thomas Clarkson, a gentleman educated at Cambridge,
who gained a prize for writing a Latin essay on the
question, “Is it right to make slaves of others against
their will?” Riding to London after his literary achieve-
ment, the young man got off his horse, and sitting down
by the road-side, asked another question, “If the con-
tents of this essay be true, is not the time come for
some one to see these calamities to their end ?” An
inspiration came over him. He felt that Providence was
calling on him to put his hand to the enterprise. Giving
up the idea of being a clergyman, for which he only
entered into deacon's orders, he devoted his life to the
welfare of slaves, and acted as a pioneer in the new path
by translating his essay into English, adding a number of
additional illustrative facts. He afterwards, with pro-
digious energy, collected evidence on the subject of the
trade, and even searched fifty vessels to find a single
sailor who could bear witness to the seizure of an African
village of men, women, and children, as cargo for the
slave merchant.
Whilst Clarkson was pursuing his line of action
William Wilberforce was being prepared for his share in
the vast undertaking. We have seen that as a lad his
thoughts had being turned to the subject, and, to use his
own language, somewhat worthy of attention as indicative
of the providential impulses by which men are led into
particular lines of conduct, as early as 1780, “I had been
strongly interested for the West Indian slaves, and in a
letter, asking my friend Gordon to go to Antigua to
ANTI- SLA VERY CRUSADE. 67
fº
collect information for me, I expressed my determination,
or at least my hope, that at some time or other I should
redress the wrongs of those wretched and degraded
beings.” Another gentleman, Mr. Ramsey, had been
collecting information on the subject, and in 1783 was
preparing a work with the hope of moving the British
public to take up the cause, when Wilberforce came into
contact with him, and conversed on the subject which
excited such interest in the minds of both. The year
before, 1782, the Society of Friends had petitioned
Parliament for the abolition of the traffic, and these in-
fluences would have an effect on him who was destined
to be its great parliamentary advocate.
Ramsey continued fighting his battle in 1784 and 1785,
and then, in 1786, Mr. Clarkson published a pamphlet
Containing the result of his researches up to that time,
and by this publication did much to call the attention of
the country to the evils of the system. A copy of his
work he presented to Wilberforce, and in the interview
on that occasion began those united efforts which were
carried on year after year with zeal and cordiality.
Wilberforce also on his own account made inquiries of
African merchants throughout the year 1786. “I found
them,” he observes, “at this time ready to give me in-
formation freely, the trade not yet having become the
subject of alarming discussion ; but their accounts were
full of prejudice and error. I got also together at my
house from time to time such persons as knew anything
about the matter. Several of us met at breakfast at
Sir Charles Middleton's. I think also at Mr. Bennet
68 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
Langton's, and I am sure at my own house.” When the
triumph came after years of warfare, all who had con-
tributed anything to the ultimate result would be
remembered and enrolled in the list of benefactors ; and
so an accumulation of knowledge would arise, leading to
differences of opinion, and, indeed, to a considerable
amount of controversy touching the chronological order
and the relative proportions of such efforts as helped to
advance the cause. This is certain, that Clarkson took
the lead in collecting evidence for the information of the
country, and that Wilberforce took the lead in parlia-
mentary campaigns.
In May, 1787, a committee was formed in London,
of which Granville Sharp was elected chairman, and in
which Thomas Clarkson played a conspicuous part.
Wilberforce did not join it at first from prudential
reasons, thinking that his exertions might be more effec-
tive if he acted alone; but the committee acted with
great energy, Collecting and publishing a large amount of
exciting information, and so preparing for the battle to
be fought on the floor of the House of Commons.
There friends were rising up to advocate the cause of
the slave. Even so early as 1780, Mr. Burke had drawn
up a code of regulations for immediately mitigating and
ultimately extinguishing the flagrant evil. With Pitt and
Grenville, in 1787, Wilberforce talked the matter over,
and public sympathy being aroused, Wilberforce under-
took to introduce the question before the House.
There can be no.doubt that the religious change which
had taken place just before in his character and habits,
ANTI-SILA VERY CRUSADE. 69
came in aid of his present undertaking. Not merely
from impulses of humanity, but from a strong sense of
duty towards God, did he pledge himself “to loose the
bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to
let the oppressed go free,” to “break every yoke.”
But difficulties thickened and darkened as the day
drew near for the commencement of the controversy—
signs of formidable opposition made appearance. The
administration was unfavourable to Wilberforce's measures,
although Pitt sympathised with him. The latter issued
a summons to the Privy Council to examine into the state
of our trade with Africa; but this served to create delay,
and so far to favourthe West Indian merchants, who wished
to stave off the business. Strange to say, witnesses came
forward to aver that the trade was not only a necessity
but also really humane; yet a hundred petitions were
poured in from the country praying that the question
might be taken up immediately. Wilberforce was at
this time very unwell, and unable to take his place in
Parliament, whereupon Pitt himself, in May, 1788,
moved a resolution binding the House to consider the
state of the slave trade early the next session. A warm
debate ensued. Burke advocated abolition. Fox almost
made up his mind to immediate abolition, member after
member rose to express approval. Lamentations were
made over Wilberforce's absence, who had already come
to be regarded as leading counsel in this suit of charity.
But the West Indians were not silent, and, amidst so
much promise and hope, the clouds of a violent resistance
were visible enough. However, a resolution passed that
70 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
enormities related should be tolerated no longer, and a
Bill brought in by Sir William Dolben, limiting the
number of slaves and taking precautions against their
Cruel treatment, was carried by a large majority. It also
was carried through the House of Lords.
In 1789, on the one hand, Privy Council examinations
were continued ; but, on the other hand, public meetings
were held by planters and their friends, and newspapers
and pamphlets were employed on the same side, contend-
ing that the abolition of the trade would ruin the colonies.
Wilberforce, as Coryphaeus of the benevolent party, was
denounced in the most violent manner, and his friend
Gisborne playfully told him, “I shall expect to read in
the newspapers of your being carbonadoed by West
Indian planters, barbecued by African merchants, and
eaten by Guinea captains; but do not be daunted, for
I will write your epitaph.”
On the 12th of May, 1789, Wilberforce made his first
great speech on the subject.
Wilberforce's opponents succeeded in resisting his
series of resolutions, and in getting a decision deferred
until counsel had been heard at the bar of the House.
Witnesses were summoned, the examination dragged on,
and all that could be done by the Abolitionists was to
re-enact a Bill for mitigating the horrors of slave treat-
ment during the middle passage between their native
country and the land of bondage.
As an illustration of the champion's efforts just after
this may be cited a passage from a friend's letter, written
from Yoxall Lodge, the seat of the Rev. Thomas Gis-
ANTI-SLA VERY CRUSADE. 7I
borne, saying, “Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Babington have
never appeared downstairs since we came, except to take
a hasty dinner and for half an hour after we have supped
—the slave trade now occupies them nine hours daily.”
Thus preparations were made for future campaigns; but
all the while it was the policy of the other side to put
a drag upon the wheels of the Abolition cause, and, if
total defeat could not be obtained, at least to secure
some years delay. Political events helped them. The
unsettled State of affairs on the Continent, the advance
of the French Revolution, and the espousal of the cause
of Abolition by the leaders of that alarming event, were
pleaded as reasons against any change just then. All
sorts of troubles were prognosticated as the result of
Abolition. But in February, 1791, Wilberforce received
much encouragement in a letter from the founder of
Methodism, written on his death-bed:
“Aebruary 24, 1791.
“MY DEAR SIR,-Unless the Divine power has raised
you up to be as Athanasius, contra mundum, I see not
how you can go through your glorious enterprise in
opposing that execrable villainy, which is the scandal
of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless
God has raised you up for the very thing, you will be
WOrn. Out by the opposition of men and devils; but if
God be for you, who can be against you ? Are all of
them together stronger than God? Oh be not weary of
well-doing. Go on in the name of God, and in the
power of His might, till even American slavery, the vilest
72 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
that ever saw the sun, shall vanish before it. That He,
who has guided you from your birth up, may continue to
strengthen you in this and all things is the prayer of,
dear sir, your affectionate Servant, -
“JoHN WESLEy.”
Tuesday, April 19, found Wilberforce in his place,
addressing the Speaker once more on behalf of the poor
negroes. Pitt and Fox both supported him ; so did
William Smith, Member for Norwich, a zealous Abo-
litionist; but the debate, described as “a war of the
pigmies against the giants,” ended in a majority for the
pigmies. There were 163 pigmies against 88 giants.
Fresh appeals now had to be made to the country, and
Clarkson, the great outside Abolitionist, renewed his
journeys for the enlightenment of England in reference
to the merits of this momentous controversy.
As an appendix to the Abolition business, the forma-
tion of the Sierra Leone Company here comes within
sight — a project, not for mercantile profits, but with
a view to African civilisation and the general improve-
ment of the African race in their native country. Wilber-
force joined the Company, and promoted its interest as
far as possible; but Abolition business continued the main
object of his life, and to assist his parliamentary efforts
he made what he called an appeal to the moral sense
of the country. The prospects just now were not so
bright as they were at first. There was a good deal to
discourage; progress was succeeded by reaction. The
toil resembled that of Sisyphus : one hour the stone was
ANTI-SLA VERY CRUSADE. 73
rolled up, the next it rolled down. The strong hands of
the people were needed for strengthening the legislature.
Wilberforce truly apprehended the nature of the case.
“I wish you, and all other country labourers,” he wrote
to Mr. Hey, “to consider yourselves not as having con-
cluded, but as only beginning your work: it is on the
general impression and feeling of the nation that we
must rely, rather than on the political conscience of the
House of Commons. So let the flame be fanned con-
tinually, and may it please God, in whose hands are the
hearts of all men, to bless our endeavours.” Meetings
and petitions multiplied accordingly. “The clergy to
a man are favourable to the cause,” it was said; and also
that “the people have taken up the matter in the view
of duty and religion, and do not inquire what any man
or any set of men think of it. From London to Inverness
Mr. Pitt's sincerity is questioned, and, unless he can
convince the nation of his cordiality in our cause, his
popularity must suffer greatly.” Then followed weari-
some delays. Business was put off from time to time.
Politics absorbed public attention. Startling events in
Paris diverted peoples' thoughts from other things.
Gentler attacks on the old system were attempted. A
Bill to suppress the foreign trade was laid before the
House and carried, only to be abandoned and rejected
by the Lords. Wilberforce's biography marks the period
between 1792 and 1794 as one indicating the retrogres-
sion of the Abolition cause. Next came a long lull.
The year 1799 found him again at work. Upon the 1st
of March he moved for immediate abolition. Canning
6
74. WILLIAM WIL I3 ERITORCE.
then appeared on the field, and relieved the weariness of
long discussions by ſlashes of wit. Wilberforce's speeches
continued to sustain equally his reputation for eloquence
and for benevolence. He insisted upon the evils inſlicted
on Africa, where along a coast-line of four thousand miles
were perpetrated deeds of injustice, of barbarism, and of
blood. The mischief penetrated the interior of the
continent. “The storm on the surface,” he said, “stirs
slightly even the still depths of the ocean.” He warned
the House not to provoke the wrath of Heaven by hard.
ened continuance in acknowledged guilt. “I do not
mean,” he remarked, “that we must expect to see the
avenging hand of Providence laid bare in hurricanes and
earthquakes ; but there is an established order in God's
government, a sure Connection between vice and misery,
which, through the operation of natural causes, works out
IHis will and vindicates His moral government.”
Brighter days did not at once dawn at the opening of
the present century. After further delays and partial
successes, Wilberforce, in 1804, could record in his
journal, June 25 : “Pitt, warming in his speech, moved
against hearing counsel as well as evidence, and carried
it without a division ; ” and two days afterwards he tells
of his Bill as read for the third time—his majority 99
to 33. But what follows is vexatious : “I carried up
my 13ill to the Lords. Pitt told me that a meeting had
been held of the Cabinet, in which it was agreed that
the subject be hung up till next year, on the ground
that the examination of evidence was indispensable, that
they could make no progress this year, and that there-
ANTI-SLAVERY CRUSADE. 75
fore it was better not to bring it on. I own it quite
lowers my spirits to see all my hopes for this year blasted,
yet I can't help myself.” Again, February 6, 1895, We
find jotted down, “Beat, alas ! 70 to 77. Sad work
Though I thought we might be hard run, from the face
of the House, I could not expect the defeat, and all
expressed astonishment.”
But after Pitt's death, and the accession of the new
Ministry, things took a decided turn. Though Wilber-
force's political opinions on many points were not in
harmony with those of the Government, he found in
Lord Grenville, Mr. Fox, and Mr. Windham decided
friends to the Abolition cause. The Foreign Slave Bill
passed in 1806. Resolutions also were proposed by
Fox, declaring that the slave trade was contrary to the
principles of justice, humanity, and sound policy, and
that the House would proceed to abolish it. These
resolutions were adopted.
The year of victory and triumph was 1807. Lord
Grenville introduced an Abolition Bill in the House of
Lords, which was carried. It came down from the
Lords to, the Commons. What occurred there on the
23rd of February is thus recorded in Wilberforce's journal:
“Slave trade debate. Lord Howick opened, embarrassed
and not at ease, but argued ably. Astonishing eagerness
of House, six or eight starting up to speak at once, and
asserting high principles of rectitude. Lord Milton very
well. Fawkes finished, but too much studied and cut and
dried. Solicitor-General excellent ; al d at length con-
trasted my feelings—returning to my private roof, and
76 WILLIAM WILDERFORCE.
receiving the congratulations of my friends and laying
my head on my pillow — with Buonaparte's, encircled
with kings, his relatives. It quite overcame me.” In this
exquisitely simple style the hero records the moment of
victory. At the allusion to a contrast between the
English philanthropist and the great French warrior,
“the whole House, surprised into a forgetſulness of its
Ordinary habits, burst forth into acclamations of ap-
plause.” “Is it true,” he was once asked, “that the
House gave you three cheers upon the conclusion of
the Solicitor-General's speech P And if so, was not this
an unprecedented effusion of approbation?” “To the
question you ask me,” he replied, “I can only say, that
I was so completely overpowered by my feelings when he
touched so beautifully on my domestic reception (which
had been precisely realised a few evenings before on my
return from the House of Lords) that I was insensible to
all that was passing around me.”
An incident occurred just after the victory too interest-
ing to be passed over. A group of friends gathered
round the pacific conqueror in his house, Palace Yard,
discussing the debate and its results. Two hundred and
eighty-three had voted for the Bill, sixteen against it.
“Let us make out the names of the miscreants,” ex-
claimed one of his zealous supporters. “Never mind
the miserable sixteen, let us think of our glorious two
hundred and eighty,” was Wilberforce's reply; adding,
“Well, what shall we abolish next?” Reginald Heber
was present. As a Churchman he was prejudiced against
Wilberforce's comprehensive fellowships and sympathies,
ANTI-SILA VERY CRUSADE. 77
and as a quiet rector he thought such a life as his too
bustling, restless, and enthusiastic; but he left his house
that day remarking, “An hour's conversation can dissolve
the prejudice of years.”
The abolition of the slave trade was the grand act of
Wilberforce's life, but still slavery continued. To steal
negroes to carry them over to our colonies became
illegal and punishable, but negroes still worked as slaves
in our West India plantations, and were bought and sold
as beasts of burden. For many years only mitigations
of this appalling misery could be accomplished, and in
such works of mercy the man who had been foremost for
so many years in the parliamentary struggle earnestly took
part. In various quiet ways he endeavoured to advance
the work of extinguishing the slave trade and promoting
liberation ; for instance, writing to his trusty friend Zachary
Macaulay one Sunday night, he suggested that it might
probably be useful to get the Pope to condemn the traffic
because his authority would impress Spain and Portugal;
that it would be right to persuade the Roman Catholic
nobility and gentry to apply to his Holiness; and that a
private letter from Mr. Butler, the new Roman Catholic
author, might also be advisable. “There is no saying,”
he remarks, “what influence might be obtained over the
Spanish and Portuguese ecclesiastics, and through them
over the courts, if we could gain the Pope.” He certainly
gave the Holy Father credit for a great deal more influence
over Roman Catholic governments than that personage
possesses now-a-days. When the Allied Sovereigns visited
this country, Wilberiorce availed himself of the event for
78 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
advancing his object, nor did he lose sight of it when
the Congress of Vienna was held. The Russian Emperor,
the Prussian King, Talleyrand, and Wellington—each in
turn came under the spell of his benevolent influence.
Failing health and growing infirmities compelled, in
1822, a partial retirement from the House of Commons
before the relinquishment of his seat in 1825. Still the
completion of his great work in a full measure of eman-
cipation enlisted his sympathies and inspired his hopes,
though laborious efforts necessary for its accomplish-
ment had to be undertaken by others. But in 1823 he
was engaged in a manifesto intended to hasten on the
consummation, and, after reading it, a West Indian
proprietor told him : “It has so affected me that
should it cost me my whole property I surrender it
willingly, that my poor negroes may be brought not
only to the liberty of Europeans, but especially to the
liberty of Christians.” On the 19th of March, Wilber-
force presented a petition to the House for the abolition of
slavery ; and on the 15th of May, Thomas Fowell Buxton,
on whose shoulders the mantle of Wilberforce fell,
moved a resolution declaring slavery repugnant to
Christianity and the Constitution.
I distinctly remember some of the proceedings which
ensued in different parts of the country for the accom-
plishment of the object so dear to Wilberforce and to
Buxton. Large meetings were held, and speeches were
delivered full of information, argument, and appeal;
petitions were prepared and numerously signed, and
presented to Parliament; deputations waited upon
ANTI-SLAVERY CRUSADE. 79
Government; conferences of delegates from all parts of
the kingdom were held in London; religious bodies of
all denominations took an active part in what was going
on ; indeed, but for the stimulus supplied by Christian
principles, the benevolent agitation never could have
reached its successful issue. Nothing is plainer than
that from first to last faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ,
which proclaims liberty to the captive and the opening
of the prison doors to them that are bound, was the
mainspring of the philanthropic movement. No con-
siderations were so effectual as those which appealed to
the Christian consciences of Englishmen.
In 1830 a large anti-slavery meeting was held in the
Treemasons' Tavern on the 15th of May. At one
o'clock Mr. Clarkson addressed the meeting in these
words: “Ladies and gentlemen, I rise to make a pro-
position which I am sure will be agreeable to you all; it
is that my old friend and fellow-labourer, Mr. Wilber-
force, be called to the chair. I may say that this chair
is his natural and proper right in this assembly. He is
entitled to it, the great leader in our cause, as one who
has always been foremost in its support. I hope he
may live to fill it again and again, should a protracted
Continuance of our exertions be necessary, and that
under his auspices we may carry it to a speedy and
happy issue.” Mr. Wilberforce, having taken the chair
amid loud acclamations, proceeded to address the meet-
ing: “Ladies and gentlemen, I shall only now remark upon
what you have just decided, that I could have been called
to this chair by no person more dear to me than by my
8O WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
valued friend and fellow-labourer, for I wish to be known
by no other name in this great cause. The purpose for
which we are met is great, it is urgent, and when I see
those by whom I am surrounded, when I again meet my
esteemed friend, Mr. Clarkson, in this cause, I cannot but
look back to those happy days when we began our
labours together, or rather when we worked together, for
he began before me.” Nothing is more beautiful than to
see these two good men, who had borne the burden and
heat of the day, thus in the eventide of life and of the
work which was about to bear richer fruit than ever in
the Emancipation Act of 1833, united on the same plat-
form as in a field where they were to gather up the
sheaves, and nothing could be more graceful than the
terms in which they recognised one another's toils. -
One more public appearance deserves record. On
the 12th of April, 1833, he proposed at a public meeting
in Maidstone a petition against slavery. “It was an
affecting sight to see the old man who had been so long
the champion of the cause come forth once more from
his retirement, and with an unquenched spirit, though
with a weakened voice and failing body, maintain for the
last time the cause of truth and justice.”
On the principle of compensation his judgment was
clear and firm. He hailed the proposal to atone for the
past by a grant of twenty millions. “I say, and say
honestly and fearlessly,” were his words at Maidstone,
“that the same Being who commands us to love mercy,
says also, do justice ; and therefore I have no objection
to grant the colonists the relief that may be due to them
ANTI-SILA VERY CRUSADE. 8I
for any real injuries which they may ultimately prove
themselves to have sustained. I have no objection,
either, to make every possible sacrifice which may be
necessary to secure the complete accomplishment of the
object which we have in view ; but let not the inquiry
into this matter be made a plea for perpetuating wrongs
for which no pecuniary offer can compensate. I trust,”
he concluded, “that we now approach the very end
of our career; ” and as a gleam of sunshine broke into
the hall, he exclaimed, “The object is bright before us,
the light of Heaven beams on it, and is an earnest of
success l’” The Abolition Bill passed in July, 1833.
To use an illustration employed by his coadjutor Mr.
Smith, “With the interest with which a mainspring,
although somewhat less elastic than when first encased,
might be supposed to take in the going of a watch, so
did the veteran sympathise with the last movements of
the anti-slavery struggle ; and when it was mentioned at
dinner-time, ‘probably at this moment the debate on
slavery is commencing,” he sprung from his chair,
exclaiming, “Hear, hear, hear !’ in tones like those
which had welcomed his own speeches in the House of
Commons.”
There was another parliamentary subject germane to
that of the well-being of the negro, in which Wilberforce
took a deep interest, namely, the well-being of our
Indian Empire. In early life he had contributed to
measures in that direction. Just before the establish-
ment of the organization now so well known under the
name of the London Missionary Society, two men of
82 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
heroic spirit, Robert Haldane and David Bogue, contem-
plated a mission to India for the propagation of the
gospel amongst the natives. But there were difficulties
in the way arising from the prejudice of the Government
and the East India Company against all such efforts.
Under these circumstances the assistance of Wilberforce
was solicited, and the two emergetic men, by the state-
ments they made, aroused his warmest sympathy. A
characteristic scene occurred as they entered his room.
He apologised for not rising, as he was suffering from
gout, and his feet were wrapped in flannel; but he so
strongly approved of what they said, and “became so
much animated and elated as Mr. Haldane unfolded his
designs, that forgetting his gout in his admiration of the
grandeur of the design, the philanthropist kindling into
positive enthusiasm, jumped up, and to the entertain-
ment of his guests, skipped about the room entirely free
from pain.” He seems to have thought that some
circumstances connected with the project had injured
the cause with Secretary Dundas, but he did what he
could to bring the minister into a more favourable state
of mind. Breakfasts with him on mission business, and
consultations with other persons prolonged through the
whole evening, are mentioned in his diary under date
December, 1796. It may be mentioned that the plans
of Haldane and Bogue were superseded by the Mission-
ary Society, of which the latter was one of the fathers
and founders. - -
In later life we find Wilberforce, from time to time,
engaged in matters connected with the East India Com-
ANTI-SILA VERY CRUSADE. 83
pany's Charter. He hoped, amidst struggles carried on
with different views in looking forward to the expiration of
the Charter in 1814, “ to obtain some special advantage
for Hindostan.” In 1812 he wrote a letter to Mr. Butter.
worth, an eminent Wesleyan Methodist, showing his own
great care and caution, and his jealousy for the honour
of the Church of England, where the generous rivalry
of dissenting zeal came into play, and at the same time
proving his sincere desire to advance the spiritual welfare
of his fellow creatures. “I am not without hopes of
prevailing on a considerable party in the Church of
England to interest themselves on the occasion; but I
own I fear that if the Dissenters and Methodists come
into action before our force from the Establishment has
stirred, a great part of the latter will either desert our ranks
or be cold and reluctant followers. Now, if I mistake not,
the organization of the Dissenters, and still more of the
Methodist body, is so complete, that any impulse may.
be speedily conveyed throughout the whole frame. It
appears, therefore, that it would be expedient for the
Dissenters and Methodist bodies not to show themselves
till the members of the Church have actually committed
themselves (according to our parliamentary phrase), or
till it be seen that they cannot be prevailed on to come
forward.” But if care and caution be manifest in this
advice it involved a poor compliment to his Church
friends, who were thus represented as an armed detach-
ment in a good cause, so jealous of fellow soldiers that
there was fear it would abandon the field if more daring
comrades ventured to advance beyond them.
84 WILLIAM WILLERITORCE.
--
He was exceedingly anxious to introduce Christian
light into India, at that period not only darkened by
Paganism, but jealously watched by many Englishmen,
especially those in high places, who from mistaken
motives were averse to openings through which the rays
of the Sun of righteousness could enter. “We must
Secure,” he said, “the entrance of missionaries. To
whom can any discretionary power of granting or re-
fusing leave to go, be trusted P’ A fear obtained, lest
the attempt to Christianize India by awakening Hindoo
and Mussulman opposition might imperil the Colonial
Empire; and the question was complicated by the desire
of Churchmen to extend their own establishment over
our Eastern possessions, and the very different policy of
Evangelical Nonconformists, who while at that time sur-
passing on the whole their Episcopalian brethren in mis-
sionary zeal, yet naturally looked with jealousy at Some of
their proceedings, and were anxious for the spread of the
gospel in every part of the world on the principle of free
and voluntary effort. In 1813 Wilberforce, together
with Mr. Stephen, loudly exclaimed against the pro-
posed system of barring out all moral and religious light
from the East Indies, and declared that they were “con-
fident the friends of religious morality and humanity
throughout the kingdom would petition on the subject.”
“The Methodists and Dissenters,” he said, “will, I doubt
not, petition ; but let it not be said that they only take an
interest in the happiness of mankind, and that the mem-
bers of our Church are not as zealous when there is a
real cause for such exertions.” Earnestly did he pro-
ANTI-SILA VERY CRUSADE. 85
mote the getting up of petitions, and when they were
presented he exclaimed, “Let no man think that the
petitions which have loaded our tables have been pro-
duced by a burst of momentary enthusiasm No, it
will be found steady as the light of heaven.” “Blessed
be God,” he wrote from the House of Commons, on
Wednesday, the 23rd of June, “we carried our question
triumphantly about three or later this morning. As it
happened, I do not believe that we lost anything from its
not coming on till between ten and eleven, as we were
spared many long speeches of our opponents, and I was
able, thank God, to speak at length. I was quite sur-
prised that my voice held out so well, as I must have
spoken above two hours, and I do not find it worse this
morning. I slept well, and am as well as usual to-day.”
When the debates about religion as connected with
the term of the East India charter were over, Wilber-
force contemplated with thankfulness what he and others
had done for the spiritual welfare of the millions of
India. Petitions, he believed, carried the question for
opening the East to free gospel ministrations; but in all
that, he devoutly recognised the hand of God. “ We were
mercifully favoured by Providence,” he said, “in our
parliamentary contest; and when I consider what was the
state of the House of Commons twenty-five years ago,
and how it would not then have borne with patience what
it heard not only with patience but acceptance during the
late discussions, I cannot but draw a favourable augury
for the welfare of our country.” t’
Here I close what I have to say respecting Wilber-
86 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
force's whole parliamentary career, and it is worth while
at this point to recall to mind what recently appeared
in the Times newspaper. “The son used to men-
tion with just pride, as a proof of the fascination in
which his father held the House of Commons, that
though he had there hot and bitter opponents ready
to avail themselves of any help to their arguments or
their rhetoric, there never appeared in the reports the
slightest allusion to his stunted and contorted figure.
It might be likened to the letter S, and to one that would
not lie flat on the paper. Done in marble in Westminster
Abbey, it is not a pleasing object; but his figure is as
near an approach to the normal human posture as Mr.
Wilberforce was ever able to make sitting or standing.
That he should arrest instantly the attention of a large
and critical assembly, and secure it for hours, shows how
little figure and action are necessary, when the voice can
do its proper work, and no voice was ever heard in our
Parliament like Mr. Wilberforce’s.” I may add that
perhaps in any case none but very Coarse and vulgar
partisans would think of alluding to the physical deſects
of an antagonist; and that in addition to the charm of
Wilberforce's voice, “which in his youth procured for
him the title of the nightingale of the House of
Commons,” there was the charm of his countenance,
his bright eyes and winning Smiles, which those who
remember the man can never forget.
CHAPTER IV.
GENERAZ BENEFICEA CE.
ESIDES the great labour of his life there were
many forms of benevolent activity in which
Wilberforce engaged. No man could more deeply feel
than he did, aſter he came under the power of religion,
that the love of Christ constrains its faithful disciples
to “live not unto themselves.” Self indulgence may be
seen in the story of Wilberforce's earlier days. He was
a “lover of pleasure; ” he plunged into the gaieties of
the world ; his time was spent in a round of varied
amusements. No great moral purpose filled his soul
and animated his actions ; but in these respects the
the tenor of his ways totally changed after his “con-
version.” Christianity made him a new man.
One of the first religious enterprises into which his
energies were thrown was designed to check the
innmorality of the age. As early as the close of the
seventeenth century a band of earnest spirits had
been organised to watch the conduct of the vicious and
profane; to bring to bear on them the laws of the land
in relation to their offences, to check the breach of the
88 WILLIAM WWII, IBERRORCIE.
Sabbath, to punish outbreaks of blasphemy and pro-
fanation, and by sermons and tracts to promote the
cause of piety and virtue. The name adopted was “The
Society for the Reformation of Manners,” and it began
its work about the year 1691. Episcopal clergymen
advocated the cause from the pulpit of Bow Church,
Cheapside, and Nonconformist ministers from the
pulpit of Salter's Hall. Meetings were held once a
quarter. Ramifications of the movement extended into
the country. The old city of Chester became head-
quarters for a crusade in the North, where Stratford
the Bishop, Fog the Dean, and Matthew Henry the
Dissenter aided the eſſort. Wilberforce aimed at some-
thing of the same kind, but modestly confessed in
reference to the object of promoting spiritual edification
amongst the members, which was included in that early
association, “I am conscious that ours is an infinitely
inferior aim, yet surely it is of the utmost consequence
and worthy of the labours of a whole life. I know that
by regulating the external conduct we do not at first change
the hearts of men, but even they are ultimately to be
wrought upon by these means, and we should at least so
far remove the obtrusiveness of the temptation that it
may not provoke the appetite which might otherwise be
dormant and inactive.” Blasphemous and indecent
publications and other incentives to licentiousness were
especially marked out as evils to be detected and repressed;
and in aid of the general object Wilberforce obtained a
royal proclamation against vice and immorality, a very
frail breakwater indeed for resisting the floods of sin
GENERAL BENEFICIENCE. 89
which were deluging England at the time. It is significant
of the tone of Wilberforce's religious habits, and of the
state of aristocratic society at that period, when he tells
a friend, to whom he wrote on the subject, “What think
you of my having myself received a formal invitation to
cards for Sunday evening, from a person high in the
King's service?” On the one hand, a royal proclamation
could have little effect in a case like that; and, on the
other hand, a case like that was likely to take off the
edge of royal proclamations. The good man was de-
lighted to find how warmly the Archbishop of Canter-
bury expressed himself on behalf of the Society, and as
the most distinguished patronage was desired, he states
with some exultation, “I have no doubt of the Duke of
Montagu's accepting the office of president, and have
reason to believe that the Archbishop will give his name,
in which case the rest of the bench will follow his
example.” It is curious to find, when the movement was
inaugurated in 1781, a document entitled, “Prospec-
tus of the Society for enforcing the King's proclamation,”
the preamble of which refers to “His Majesty's tender
and watchful concern for the happiness of his people
manifested in his late royal proclamation,” as the very
basis of this new effort. The object contemplated is
described as being an agreement “for the purpose of
carrying His Majesty's gracious recommendation into
effect; ” and the bond of union amongst the members is
thus described: “With this view we will be ourselves,
and will countenance and encourage others in being
vigilant in the effectual prosecution and punishment of
7
90 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
such criminal and disorderly practices as are within
the reach of law. We will endeavour to afford the magis-
tracy such assistance in the discharge of their duty as
the nature of the case may require.” Then follows a list
of distinguished names, including nineteen bishops,
seventeen noblemen, twelve lay gentlemen, and one
Doctor of Divinity. So earnest was Wilberforce in the
cause of this Society, that he visited one Episcopal
palace after another to gain the signatures of pre-
lates to this paper; and fearſul lest his plans should
be frustrated, his sons inform us, that he “set off from
London without communicating to any one the purpose
of his journey.” A strange incident happened during
his endeavours. “So you wish, young man,” said
a nobleman whose house he visited; “you wish to be a
reformer of men's morals. Look then, and see there
what is the end of such reformers,” pointing as he spoke
to a picture of the crucifixion. If the nobleman meant
this as a scoff at religion it was very shocking, and he
laid himself open to the charge of profaneness; other-
wise truth lay at the bottom of the reference, and the
young disciple was reminded, that if in this world we
work for Christ, we must expect to suffer with Christ.
Many great people received his words kindly and
sympathised in his sentiments, and his early friend, Mr.
Eliot, who, chastened by affliction, had sought comfort
in the gospel, cheered him in, his untiring efforts. Much
good could hardly be expected from a society framed on
so narrow a basis, and using a royal proclamation as the
chief weapon in a warfare against immorality; but the
GENERAL BENEFICENCE. 9I
intention of the founder was most commendable, and we
are informed that the association continued under Lord
Bathurst and Bishop Porteous to conduct its operations;
and, before its dissolution, we learn on the authority of
the biographer of that metropolitan prelate, that “it
had obtained many valuable Acts of Parliament, and
greatly checked the spread of blasphemous and indecent
publications.”
A very different society indeed as to its basis and
purpose originated at the commencement of the present
century, and amongst its supporters, from the beginning,
the name of Wilberforce is enrolled. The circulation of
the Scriptures had been promoted by the “Christian
Rnowledge” and “Propagation ” Societies. In the
seventeenth century “Lord Wharton's Trust,” and in the
eighteenth century the “Coward Trust,” had given copies
of the English Bible to poor people ; and in 1779, there
arose an effort which has not secured the notice it de-
serves. An unknown Quaker, named John Davis, wrote
to another Quaker, George Cussons, proposing to dis-
tribute small pocket Bibles among the regular and militia
troops. The well-known John Thornton entered into the
idea, and in the same year it took shape as a “Bible
Society,” since known as the “Naval and Military Bible
Society.” At the time of the Gordon Riots, in 1780, the
soldiers encamped in Hyde Park were furnished with
Bibles, and soon after the Society is found steadily at
work. John Newton, Rowland Hill, Bishop Horne, and
William. Wilberforce promoted its objects, and in later
days the Duke of Wellington appears as president. This
92 WILLIAM WILBER FORCE.
organization provided for a particular class; the world at
large needed the same kind of effort on a comprehensive
scale. The story of Charles of Bala and the little Welsh
girl who “could not get to read the Bible,” and of his
interview with Joseph Hughes—when he proposed a
Bible Society for Wales, and was met with the suggestion,
“Why not for the empire, and the world?”—is now a
legend current throughout Christendom, and has given a
key-note to countless speakers on Bible platforms. It
was at a committee meeting of the Religious Tract
Society that the interview between Charles of Bala and
Hughes of Battersea occurred, and in its earliest minute-
book are recorded the steps which led to the inauguration
of its noble associate in Christian philanthropy. Many
well-known names occur in connection with its earliest
proceedings, and amongst them that of Wilberforce
occupies a conspicuous place. At an early period his
diary records small parties at his house on “Bible Society
formation.” “Hughes, Reyner, and Grant breakfasted
with me;” and the brief entry suggests a picture of earnest
conversation on the subject between the Baptist minister,
Hughes its first Nonconformist secretary, and his Epis-
copalian friends,--when, as Owen, the clerical colleague
of Hughes has remarked, “The scene was new, nothing
analogous to it had perhaps been exhibited before the
public; some Christians had begun to Organize amongst
each other the strife of separation, and to Carry into their
own camp that war which they ought to have waged in
2 3
ſº
concert against the common enemy.” There was an
excellent merchant of the city of London in those days,
GENERAL BENEFICENCE. 93
Mr. Hardcastle, who had a counting-house on the banks
of the Thames at a place called “Swan Stairs,” where
people used once to land to avoid the risk of running
the bridge, above which stood this landing-place. In
reference to that locality, it has been thought worth while
to notice that Boswell and Johnson landed at the Old
Swan, and walked to Billingsgate where they took oars.
Another, and, to many, a more interesting association
occurs in Wilberforce's diary of 1803 : “A few of us met
together at Mr. Hardcastle's counting-house, at a later
hour than suited city habits, out of regard to my conve-
nience, and yet, on so dark a morning, that we discussed
by candlelight, while we resolved upon the establishment
of the Bible Society.” Wilberforce's sons cautiously
remark, “This is not a place to scrutinize its constitution.
The good that it has effected has been great beyond the
utmost expectation of its founders, both in the circulation
of the Word of God and in awakening the zeal of a care-
less generation. The evil which has waited on this good
has been incidental in its character, and confined, perhaps,
almost entirely to the public meetings. Nor should those
who view it in its consequences forget the different posi-
tion of its founders. Mr. Wilberforce saw no danger to
the Church from the co-operation of Dissenters, who at
that time professed an affectionate regard for the national
Establishment.” This apologetic style of noticing a work
by their father—superior in nature to that of the abolition
of the slave trade, and only inferior in its degree to the
share which he took in that enterprise—might provoke-
a smile, were it not for the Sorrow produced by such sec-
94 WILLIAM WILDER FORCE.
tarian narrowness. The biographers unhappily had no
sympathy with their venerable parent in the catholicity of
temper which he manifested in connection with his Bible
eſſorts, and hence the sparing notice they take of his long
and numerous labours in that direction. Mr. Wilberforce
had no need to fear that the Church of England would
be injured by the Bible Society, any more than Noncon-
formists had to fear that their Churches would be damaged
by the same institution; and surely nobody can pay a
worse compliment to his own denomination than to
regard a Society for circulating the Bible as antagonistic
to its interests. In reference to the Bible anniversary on
the 3rd of May, 1809, his sons remark, “His views in
joining the Bible Society have been explained already;
and giving offers credit for that pure spirit with which he
was animated, he saw in its anniversary ‘a grand’ and
pleasing spectacle, ‘five or six hundred people of all sects
and parties, with one heart and face and tongue.’” What
other than the “pure spirit of catholicity” and love for
the Bible—for which Wilberforce gave the “five or six
hundred people” credit——could have influenced the im-
mense majority of them to assemble, it is hard to say; and
it is equally hard to tell what room there is for the exercise
and display of sentiments antagonistic to the Church of
England in the two or three thousand people who now
annually assemble in Exeter Hall to promote the circu-
lation of the Scriptures.
Provincial as well metropolitan Bible meetings he was
wont to attend, and in the year 1815, he left the death-
bed of the beloved Mr. Henry Thornton to attend the
GENERAL BENEFICIENCE. 95
anniversary at Brighton, where, as “he entered the room,
he seemed so pale and fatigued that his friends feared he
would scarcely be able to speak. But he no sooner
entered on his subject than his countenance was lighted
up, and he became animated and impressive.”
During Wilberforce's residence in Kensington Gore,
he took a lively interest in the Auxiliary established there,
which for many years included a large district now
divided into several branches. The meetings used to be
held in the Haymarket, and the Dukes of Kent and Sussex
at times favoured them with their presence; but the most
welcome appearance on the platform was the diminutive
figure of the member for Yorkshire or Bramber, who full
of life and energy would rouse to animation thr lullest
audience, and carry away his hearers with him by the
sacred fascination of his eloquence. He visited Nor-
wich sometimes, paying a visit to Joseph John Gurney
at Earlham Hall, or to Bishop Bathurst at the palace,
and attending the annual meeting of the Auxiliary in the
grand old St. Andrew's Hall of Gothic architecture, hung
with the portraits of county worthies and city aldermen;
whilst on the stone pavement sat hundreds of the friends
attached to the cause listening to the silvery voice of the
much admired advocate. And with personal reminiscences
of one of those scenes there blends in my mind another.
It was when Wilberforce was reaching the close of his
days, and the infirmities of age bowed down his originally
weak constitution. The annual meetings of the parent
} r lºw
society used then to be held at Freemasons' Tavern, for
Exeter Hall was not yet built. There round the large
96 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
room hung portraits of the masters of the craft from
which the place took its name, the signs of the zodiac and
other emblazonments were very conspicuous; and at the
upper end stood a capacious platform with the president's
chair, leading up to which was a long narrow passage by
the side of the wall, partitioned off from the rest of the
floor, in order to allow easy access to the speakers as
they came in one after another. I remember the
pleasant, amiable-looking Lord Bexley, president of the
Society; and Dr. Ryder, Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry,
with his curious Episcopal wig and his apron of due
dimensions; and a distinguished Nonconformist minister
from Cork, John Burnet, whose peculiar flowing witty
rhetoric not only swayed “the rude democracy,” but
moved nobles and prelates sitting around him ; nobody,
however, was regarded with more interest than the friend
of the negro, whose white hairs and bent figure seen gliding
along the passage elicited enthusiastic cheers, which rose
into “thunders of applause ’’ as he took his place on the
platform.
Before the establishment of the British and Foreign
Bible Society a Missionary Institution came into existence,
and Wilberforce is to be regarded as one of its fathers
and founders. He was anxious to promote missionary
operations beyond the sphere occupied by the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel, and on different
principles from those which it maintained ; he deplored
the neglect of the East India Company in reference to
the natives under their control, and moved a resolution
in the House of Commons, that it was a bounden duty,
GENERAL BENEFICIENCE. 97
by all just and prudent means, to promote the religious
improvement of the native Indians; but the Company,
alarmed at his proposal, succeeded in striking this clause
out of the India Bill of 1793. This left no course
open but to establish a voluntary society for spreading
Christianity in the East, and such a society found an
eloquent advocate in our illustrious philanthropist.
Other circumstances at the time favoured the project.
A sum of £4,000 had been left by a gentleman of the
name of Jane, to be expended “for the best advantage of
the interests of religion.” A few Evangelical clergymen
in the country met and decided that the bequest could
not be better applied than to the sending out of mission-
aries. The Eclectic Society of London, comprehending
ministers of the Evangelical type with a sprinkling of
Dissenters, discussed the question but with a different
result. Only two or three agreed with Mr. Simeon in
his view, which accorded with that of the country
brethren. But a renewed discussion in 1799 led to a
more favourable opinion, and by an interesting coinci-
dence the “Castle and Falcon" in Aldersgate Street, which
had been the cradle of the London Missionary Society,
witnessed the birth of its younger sister. Sixteen clergy-
men and nine laymen pledged themselves to support the
new enterprise. Without manifesting any antagonism
to the Societies for Promoting Christian Knowledge and
for the Propagation of the Gospel, it fixed itself upon a
different foundation ; and without recognizing any con-
trol on the part of the Episcopal rulers of the Church, it
simply made an annual contribution the ground of
98 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
membership, vesting the power of administration in the
hands of seven governors and a treasurer chosen by the
members, together with a committee of twenty-five
elected in the same way. It was subject at first to no
Episcopal authority. It was “rather a Society within
the Church of England than a Society of the Church of
England.” Its earliest agents were not espiscopally
Ordained, they were Lutherans or members of some other
Reformed Church on the Continent. Its practice of late
years had been quite different. Its missionaries are now
all of the Episcopalian order. Designed originally for the
East and for Africa, it has long since enlarged the field
of its operations, carrying with it the sympathies and the
support of a much larger number of Churchmen than at
first espoused its interests.
Wilberforce paid much attention to the organizing of
this new Society, and from his letters it would appear
that its intended proceedings were misunderstood.
Writing to his friend, the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, in
December, 1799, he assures him, “It was not intended
that the catechists should ordinarily baptize, but only in
cases of necessity. This seems to take away the force of
the Bishop of Durham's objection to the use made of
Hooker's authority. Surely there might be some special
appointment or designation for persons intended for
teaching the barbarous heathen. For the service requires
qualifications very different from that of a minister in an
enlightened, polished country like this, where the truths
of Christianity are already known and professed.” Dr.
Barrington at that time filled the throne of Prince Bishop
GENERAL BENEFICENCE. 99
of the county palatine, and it appears that he was at least
jealous of the invasion on clerical order which he appre-
hended from the sanction of baptisms by lay catechists.
Other Bishops and Episcopalian friends looked still more
decidedly askance upon the new project, and feared it
might introduce a number of ecclesiastical irregularities.
Indeed, it met with a good deal of Church opposition,
which is not to be wondered at considering its earlier
proceedings and the predominant temper of clerical
dignitaries at that time. But nothing of this kind could
make Wilberforce swerve from his purpose to advance
the circulation of Evangelical truth at home and abroad.
In a letter to one of his sons, dated July 21, 1817,
he refers to a Church Missionary meeting, where he
pleaded “the cause of the Antipodes or nearly so,” and
he speaks of the native population of New Zealand as a
fine race of men, both in body and natural character,
who have been treated often with the most savage and
wanton cruelty by the South Sea whalers, as the ships
are termed. “It is really gratifying to reflect that we are
thus contributing to save multitudes of unoffending beings
from the grossest outrages, and still more, that we are
taking measures for preserving from destruction several
missionaries and families which may be termed semi-
missionaries, who would be likely to fall victims to the
wars and affrays which the outrages of the ships might
produce ; for a prejudice being conceived against the
Europeans, the innocent may suffer along with the
guilty.”
Associations for the better observance of the Sabbath
:
IOO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
day were included in the plans of this religious philan-
thropist; SO also was the establishment and support of
schools in which he was careful to introduce Christian
knowledge, but he dreaded the influence of emulation.
“William Allen and Joseph Fox,” he says, “came about
Lancaster's Schools to tell me all about them, and press
me to be a vice-president. Heard Fox's most interesting
account ; but,” he says, “a fortnight afterwards, I wrote
to William Allen to decline being a committee man,
though it gave me great pain to refuse him; but emulation
and vanity are the vital breath of the system.” No doubt
emulation may be turned to the worst of purpose. It is
encouraging vanity in a most vicious form when we pro-
mote the desire to excel for the purpose of excelling
others, when we regard with satisfaction the boy whose
great pleasure is to look over his own shoulder to the
schoolfellow behind him, saying, “I am superior to
you ; ” but it is encouraging virtue to inspire the young
with an aspiration after excellence by means of provok-
ing one another in this department, as in others, to love
and to do good works. From emulation of some kind no
schools can be free. It obtains, and is encouraged at
Eton, Westminster, Harrow, and Winchester, and it can-
not be excluded in some plebeian form, in National
any more than in British or Board Schools.
The advocacy of Evangelical truth Wilberforce aimed
at promoting in numerous ways; and besides others here
and elsewhere particularly noticed, I may advert to as-
sistance given by him in the erection of chapels-of-ease,
where Evangelical clergymen were to be incumbents. The
GENERAL BENEFICENCE. IOI
exercise of Church patronage largely occupied his
thoughts, and to throw light on the theological convic-
tions which guided him in the selection of clergymen I
may cite the following passage : “It is my fixed opinion,
formed on much reading, Consideration, and experience,
that there has been for many years among the majority
of our clergy a fatal and melancholy departure from the
pure principles of Christianity and of the Church of
England; from those principles which prevail through
her articles, her liturgy, the writings of her venerable
martyrs, and of many of her brightest ornaments. I am
not speaking of speculative matter; this declension, or, if
I would give it its true name, this heresy, is important
because its practical effects are in the highest degree
mischievous.” “In selecting a minister for any living,
it is not enough to know that he is diligent and ex-
emplary in his conduct, nor yet that his talents, know-
ledge, and manner of officiating are everything that one
could wish, but I must ask what are his doctrines? I
have said enough to put you in possession of my prin-
ciples, and I hope I can add, that I have acted on them
uniformly and without deviation for many years. In
the case of those who have been nearest and dearest to
me I have adhered to them.”
In furtherance of the advocacy of Evangelical prin-
ciples he aided in the establishment of the Christian
Observer. *
We are told by his biographers that almost every
charitable institution of the metropolis, of Yorkshire, and
of many other parts, extending in Some instances as far
IO2 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
as Edinburgh, is included in his list of annual subscrip-
tions. Large sums were expended upon particular ob-
jects. “I have talked to Henry Thornton,” he remarked,
“concerning the Somersetshire operations, and we have
agreed that 24,400 per annum should be allotted by us to
that service. Mrs. Bouverie's money in Henry Thorn-
ton's hands is to furnish 24, 200, and he and I 24, Ioo
each.” This item of expenditure occurs in his accounts,
and it relates, no doubt, to the operations of Charles of
Bala, the originator of the British and Foreign Bible
Society: “Mr. Charles and schools in Wales, 24, 21.”
Before his marriage at least one-fourth of his income
was dispensed in charity, and in one year an incomplete
record of his gifts amounts to upwards of £2,000.
He was not a person who confined charity to public
societies, or even religious objects. He helped indi-
viduals struggling with difficulties. No less than between
A, 5oo and 24,600 he expended in this way in a single
year. He had regular annuitants—“not a few, who
afterwards acquired independence and wealth, were in-
debted to his support for carrying them through their
early struggles.” Two who rose to the Judicial Bench
are in one year mentioned as receiving from him £300.
He said to his secretary once : “Mr. Ashley, I have an
application from an officer of the navy who is imprisoned
for debt. I do not like to send Burgess (the almoner he
generally employed) to him, and I have not time to go
myself, would you inquire into the circumstances?”
“That very day I went,” adds Mr. Ashley, “and found
an officer in gaol for 480. He had a family dependent
GENERAL BENEFICENCE. IO3
on him, with no prospect of paying his debt, and as a
last hope, at the Governor's suggestion, had made this
application.” “The officer,” continues Mr. Ashley, “had
referred Mr. Wilberforce to Sir Sidney Smith, to whom
he wrote immediately. I was in the room when Sir
Sidney Smith called on the following morning. ‘I know
the poor man well,” he said ; “we were opposed to one
another in the Baltic—he in the Russian, I in the Swedish
service ; he is a brave fellow, and I would do anything I
could for him ; but, you know, Wilberforce, we officers
are pinched sometimes, and my charity purse is not
full.’ ‘Leave that to me, Sir Sidney,’ was Wilberforce's
answer. Mr. Wilberforce paid his debt, fitted him out,
and got him a command. He met an enemy's ship,
captured her, and was promoted ; and within a year I
saw him coming to call in Palace Yard (where Wilber-
force then lived) in the uniform of a post-captain.”
Another instance of his private generosity is related in
the biography of my old friend and predecessor in the
pastorate at Kensington, the Rev. Dr. Leifchild. Dr.
Leiſchild took an interest in a gentleman dwelling in that
neighbourhood, who had been plunged from affluence
into poverty. He had been on the Stock Exchange, and
returned one day to dinner looking exceedingly sad.
His wife asked what was the matter. “Pretty well, my
love, for a ruined man ’’ His rosy face, and a flower
conspicuously fastened into a button-hole of his coat,
made him a noticeable person, and when he experienced
such a reverse, the case excited a good deal of sympathy.
Dr. Leiſchild called some people together and proposed
IO4. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
a plan of relief. All approved, but few assisted. How-
ever he persevered, and ventured to lay the case before
his illustrious neighbour and friend in Kensington Gore,
who had shown him much kindness. Mr. Wilberforce
promised one hundred guineas, adding, “Get a Quaker,
Mr. Leifchild ; get a Quaker down for a good sum, and
you will have a number of them afterwards.” Quakers
were applied to, and they generously responded. Mr.
Wilberforce also added his influence with friends to his
own liberal donation.
“My dear Sir,” he wrote to the Dissenting minister,
January 18, 1823, “I have this day heard from Lord
Calthorpe, and I heard three or four days since from
Lord Rocksavage. The latter cannot contribute. I
really believe he is unable. The former offers 24, 20. I
have had, however, the promise of 24, 1oo from the
Marquis of Bute, who was applied to by the Bishop of
Bristol. I heartily wish you may have been more
successful, and yet I own frankly respecting and
loving you (I say it sincerely) for your generous zeal,
I dare not, nor have I been able to flatter myself
with the hope of your plan answering.” Then after
further expressing his doubts, he adds, “What I am
chiefly afraid of is using up to no purpose resources
which, properly applied, might prove seed - corn and
produce (D.V.) an abundant or, at least, a sufficient
harvest; but these resources we may never be able to
get again. Of course you will tell me when to pay in
my hundred guineas. My dear sir, once for all, never
in any case use ceremony with me. It is useful only to
GENERAL BENEFICENCE. IO5
keep people off to whom we do not like to approximate.
But the closer I get to you the better.”
The broken-down gentleman was abundantly relieved,
at least for the time, by all this benevolence, and in after
years, when his coat was indifferent, he would appear
still with a flower in his button-hole at the door of the
dwelling, or in a pew before the pulpit of the benevolent
minister, who by being a friend in need had been a
friend indeed; and in this act of beneficence Wilberforce
took a large share.
He sometimes even pressed his assistance upon
those who were likely to be wise almoners of his
bounty. “I am sometimes uneasy,” he wrote to a
friend distinguished by benevolent activity, “lest in these
hard times (18o 1), you should not be easy as to money
matters, and should not speak freely. I beg you so to
do, and to believe that it is a real pleasure to me to
contribute in any way to your comfort. You certainly
possess the secret of economy in charity; but remember,
your being in a Yorkshire town is a sound reason for my
helping you to the supplies, were there no connection
between us.” tº
We have all heard stories told of people careful about
their cinders being sifted and as to other trifling savings,
who gained a character for meanness which their munificent
charities, when discovered, abundantly atoned for, and it
was seen that economy was one of the sources whence
their charities were derived. Wilberforce had no stinginess,
no miserly habits, by which he amassed wealth ; but a
letter in his correspondence shows that he did not like to
8
IO6 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
see money wasted, and he could playfully rebuke needless
expenditure when incurred through the thoughtlessness
of such a man as Zachary Macaulay: “While I must call
you an extravagant fellow for employing the coach instead
of the waggon, which latter (the flying waggon as it is
humorously termed) is but three days on the way; yet
I am bound to thank you for your kind attention to
my commission ” [to procure a copy of the last edition
of the “Encyclopædia Britannica”]. “It is observed
by some writer, that there is in every man a certain
vein or thread of shabbiness, which will sometimes
show itself in opposition to the general strain of cha-
racter. Will you say that I furnish an illustration
of this principle when I am thus jealous of coach-hire P
Be it as it may, the odd shillings may be better em-
ployed than in clogging the wheels, and increasing the
load of the mail coach — call it feeling for the horses,
and so dignify my economy. However, I am sure you
will not require any apology. I am interrupted and must
break off.”
CHAPTER V.
A&AEAC/O US AEXPER//EAVC/E AAWD S V///2.4 7//V.
HE form which religion takes in a man's life and
character depends very much upon circumstances.
Where genuine, a Divine element beyond all question
lies at the basis. Divine Truth and the Divine Spirit are
the sources of its pure and hallowed inspirations; but the
manner in which they are breathed forth amidst the daily
affairs of human history, their particular tones, their
loftiest outbursts, and their softest cadences, are the result
of second causes sometimes overlooked. The natural
constitution of the mind, that which we understand by
the word temperament, early education, the books we
read, and friends with whom we are intimate, obviously
have much to do with the development of our spiritual
experience.
In the case of William Wilberforce we have not far to
go in search of what determined the specific shape of his
religious course. No one can doubt that he was “born
again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, of
the word of God that liveth and abideth for ever;” but it
is equally plain that subordinate influences impressed
IO8 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
upon him the Outer image by which he was known in the
religious world. The activity of his intellect and the
liveliness of his disposition gave an intelligence and cheer-
fulness to his piety, very useful in his endeavours to do
good, very winning in all his intercourse with society.
The effect of the early training he received at Wimbledon
was not lost. After his conversion, there were reminis-
cences blended with passing experiences, which one
might compare to Platonic glimpses of a pre-existent
condition. The Evangelical convictions instilled by his
devout aunt, and by those with whom he associated
under her roof, did not die out, or if they did for awhile,
they rose again from the dead. When the doctrines of
Evangelical divines were presented to him, he did not
come upon them as things new and strange, but rather as
old friends, reappearing after temporary absence. Books
not like “The Whole Duty of Man,” or even Taylor's
“Holy Living and Dying,” but “Doddridge's Rise and
Progress of Religion in the Soul,” gave the first new im-
pulse to his mind and heart, and led him to “seek those
things which are above.” Not teachers of theology like
Horsley or Tomline, but clergymen of a very different
class, men with whom those distinguished prelates had
no sympathy, were the advisers and guides of the young
inquirer. The consequences attendant on these causes are
apparent on all the pages of his after life. -
If there was any person who was to Wilberforce what
Evangelist or the Interpreter was to Christian, or what Mr.
Greatheart was to Christiana and her family, that person
is to be found in John Newton. Indeed he was to the
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY, IOO
new disciple Evangelist, Interpreter, and Greatheart
all in one. He had left Olney, and the daily companion-
ship of Cowper, and the frequent intercourse of his neigh-
bour William Bull; and had become incumbent of St.
Mary's, Woolnoth, in the heart of the city of London,
fixing his abode in the unromantic suburb of Hoxton.
As a preacher his influence and fame were extraordinary,
not arising from genius or eloquence, but from a pro-
found knowledge of Scripture and the human heart, and
from that intense sincerity and absorption in the fulfilment
of a Divine mission, which produce a wonderful effect
on every listener. Added to this, he had a depth of
sympathy in his nature, a power of discerning human
character, an aptness of quaint illustration, and the
mastery of an easy, attractive style, which gave him pre-
eminence in the employment of Christian conversation
and correspondence. Good people went to him as a
sort of Protestant confessor, a spiritual father devoid of all
priestly pretension; good people wrote to him for Spiritual
advice, and watched for answers as they who watch for
the morning. No sooner had Wilberforce begun to feel
those anxieties, which had been inspired by Doddridge's
famous book, and by his talks with Milner when on their
foreign tour, than he bethought himself of the Evangelical
sage who lived at Hoxton. “I thought seriously,” he
says, in his journal, November 30, 1785, “ of going to
converse with Mr. Newton; waked in the night; obliged
to compel myself to think of God.”—December 2nd. “Re-
solved again about Mr. Newton. It may do good, he
will pray for me, his experience may enable him to direct
I IO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
me to new grounds of humiliation, and it is that only
which I can perceive God's Spirit employs to any effect.
It can do no harm, for that is a scandalous objection
which keeps occurring to me, that if ever my sentiments
change I shall be ashamed of having done it ; it can only
humble, and whatever is the right way, if truth be right, I
Ought to be humbled—but sentiments change Kept
debating in that unsettled way, to which I have used my-
self, whether to go to London or not, and then how.
Wishing to save expense, I hope with a good motive, went
at large in the stage to town, inquired for old Newton,
but found he lived too far off for me to see him.” As
the biographers have printed this, and so many other
Secret thoughts recorded in the journal, we seem to be
Overhearing the honest man as he thus talks to him-
self; and we are tempted to listen though it seems almost
indelicate, as if we were prying into matters which he
never thought would be published to the world. The wish
to save expense, but with the hope of a good motive, and
the confession of these inward debates about calling on
a certain clergyman,—whatever we may think of them in
some respect, carry with them the charm of an exquisite
simplicity. And when we turn over another leaf, we find
a “good deal of debate” going on “about seeing New-
ton.” At length he determines to write, soliciting an inter-
view, but under a solemn seal of secrecy. “I am sure
you will hold yourself bound to let no one living know of
this application or of my visit till I release you from the
obligation.” Some may Smile, many may wonder at
this, but we must remember the conspicuous place
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. III
which the writer held in the world of politics and fashion.
He carried the letter upon Sunday, December 4th, into
the city, and delivered it himself, “to old Newton at his
church.” The following Wednesday was fixed, when, as
he records, “after walking about the square once or twice
before I could persuade myself, I called upon old New-
ton, was much affected in conversing with him, something
very pleasing and unaffected in him.” Newton had
before heard of this inquirer from their common friend
John Thornton, and this encouraged him; “and though,”
he says, “I got nothing new from him, as how could I,
except" (a good hint that he never found it answer to dis-
pute) “that it was as well not to make visits that one
disliked over agreeable.” The old prophet seems to have
talked very prudently, but it was not so much what he
said as what he was—“the old African blasphemer,” as he
used to call himself, now become truly a saint of the
living God—that did good to the young member of Par-
liament in this stolen interview. “When I came away I
found my mind in a calm, tranquil state, more humbled,
and looking more devoutly up to God.” “As iron
sharpeneth iron, so doth the Countenance of a man his
friend.” That was the beginning of a life-long attach-
ment. Many an hour's conversation followed. Many
a letter was written on both sides. Many a sermon was
heard by the one from the lips of the other; and Newton
till his death remained spiritually Wilberforce's guide and
counsellor and friend. There were other clergymen with
whom Wilberforce became intimately acquainted, and
from whom he derived knowledge and encouragement.
II 2 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
Discourses by Thomas Scott are noticed in Wilberforce's
journal, and from his letters it appears that he highly
valued his pulpit instructions, despite his unattractive
and even disagreeable delivery. Afterwards Richard
Cecil won his confidence, both as a friend and a pastor,
and he might often be, seen at the old Presbyterian-like
chapel, St. John’s, Bedford Row, listening with admiration
to the original remarks and the penetrating appeals of
that Evangelical preacher.
He had no taste for Anglo-Catholic theology on the
one hand, or for what is termed Rationalism on the other;
nor could he be fairly denominated a Puritan, either in
his distinctive faith or in his characteristic habits of con-
duct. He was removed the furthest possible from every-
thing like Antinomianism, neither did he, in the slightest
degree, approximate to Pelagianism. As in politics, so
in theology, he avoided extremes. He was no more a
party man in one respect than the other. He was orthodox
without being intolerant; liberal, but free from heresy.
He believed in Jesus Christ as the image of the invi-
sible God; he believed that we are saved by grace;
he believed in justification by faith ; he believed in
the work of the Holy Spirit; he believed in the world to
come. These beliefs with all their practical consequences
and applications were as dear to him as his life.
And here it may be observed, that Wilberforce was
less identified with the contemporary Evangelical school
than is generally supposed. His spiritual sympathy with
its leading disciples was very strong, they were also
chosen friends and associates; with them he cordially
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY II3
co-operated in Christian work, but in opinion and taste
he differed from many of them. He was not a Calvinist.
Romaine was one of a most pronounced type ; Newton
held moderate views on the question; and Scott, more
of a theologian than either, and possessed of some
metaphysical acumen, sought to reconcile the principle
of God's sovereignty with the fact of man's free agency
and responsibility. Wilberforce was very different from
Romaine, and did not go so far in the Calvinistic
direction as Newton or Scott. Indeed, he is stated to
have been an Arminian — an Arminian however of a
decidedly Evangelical cast—and hence the Practica/ View
did not come up to the mark of some of his friends,
whilst it went beyond that of others. He never pro-
fessed any skill in scholastic divinity, and his acquaint-
ance with theological learning was limited—his views, as
the bulk of his book testifies, were practical ; at the
same time he was more friendly to the union of general
literary culture, of a refined and elevated taste, and of
wide intellectual sympathy with the maintenance and
inculcation of spiritual religion than were some of his
Evangelical compeers.
As soon as he had taken a decided step in religious
life, even before he had called upon “old Newton,” there
were two persons to whom he was anxious to break the
news, but it caused him much agitation. The first was
Pitt, the second his mother. “I told him,” Wilberforce
records in his diary, “that though I should ever feel a
strong affection for him, and had every reason to believe
that I should be in general able to support him, yet that
II4 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
I could no more be so much a party man as I had been
before.” He received an answer which much affected
him. Unfortunately the letter is given neither in “the
Life,” nor in “the Correspondence.” But the next morning
they met. The meeting was “full of kindness. Nothing I
had told him, he said, could affect our friendship, and that
he wished me always to act as I thought right. I had said
that I thought when we met we had better not discuss
the topics of my letter. “Why not discuss them P’ was his
answer. ‘Let me come to Wimbledon to-morrow, to talk
them over with you.' He thought that I was out of
spirits, and that company and conversation would be the
best way of dissipating my impressions.” The statesman
went over to Wimbledon accordingly, and there the two
seem to have freely discussed the subject. “I had
prayed to God,” Wilberforce goes on to say, “I hope
with some sincerity, not to lead me into disputing for
my own exaltation, but for His glory. I conversed with
Pitt nearly two hours, and opened myself completely to
him. I admitted that as far as I could conform to the
world, with a perfect regard to my duty to God, myself,
and my fellow creatures, I was bound to do it; that no
inward feelings ought to be taken as demonstrations of
the Spirit being in any man, but only the change of dis-
position and conduct. He tried to reason me out of my
convictions, but soon found himself unable to combat
their correctness, if Christianity were true. The fact is,
he was so absorbed in politics that he had never given
himself time for due reflection on religion.”
Many would like to know more of what passed in the
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. II5
course of conversation between Wilberforce and his
friend ; but it is pleasant to see that the religious change
in the one produced no prejudice or alienation in the
other. Pitt manifested no abatement of confidence and
respect, but honoured Wilberforce for his honest con-
victions and manly avowal of them.
Probably Wilberforce felt a greater difficulty in writing
to his mother than in writing to his friend, for he knew
her prejudices against the religious opinions he had
embraced, and he was aware that already she felt alarmed
at the rumours she had heard respecting him. “It is
not, believe me, to my own imagination, or to any
system formed in my closet, that I look for my prin-
ciples; it is to the very source to which you refer me,
the Scriptures. . . . All that I contend for is, that we
should really make this book the criterion of our
opinions and actions, and not read it and then think that
we do so of course. But if we do this, we must reckon
on not finding ourselves able to comply with all those
customs of the world, in which many who call themselves
Christians are too apt to indulge without reflection; . . .
we must of course [therefore] be subject to the charge of
excess and singularity. But in what will this singularity
consist? Not merely in indifferent things; no, in these
our Saviour always conformed, and took occasion to
check an unnecessary strictness into which He saw men
were led by overstraining a good principle. In what
then will these peculiarities appear P Take our great
Master's own words, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all
II6. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
thy strength ; and thy neighbour as thyself.’ It would be
easy to dilate on this text; and I am afraid that we
should find at the close of the discourse that the picture
was very unlike the men of this world. But who is my
neighbour? Here too our Saviour has instructed us by
the parable which follows. It is evident we are to con-
sider our peculiar situations, and in these to do all the
good we can. Some men are thrown into public, some
have their lot in private, life. These different states have
their corresponding duties; and he whose destination is
of the former sort, will do as ill to immure himself in
Solitude, as he who is only a village Hampden would,
were he to head an army or address a senate. What I
have said will, I hope, be sufficient to remove any appre-
hensions that I mean to shut myself up either in my
closet in town, or in my hermitage in the country. No,
my dear mother, in my circumstances this would merit
no better name than desertion; and if I were thus to fly
from the post where Providence has placed me, I know
not how I could look for the blessing of God upon my
retirement, and without this heavenly assistance, either in
the world or in solitude, our own endeavours will be
equally ineffectual. When I consider the particulars of
my duty, I blush at the review ; but my shame is not
occasioned by my thinking that I am too studiously
diligent in the business of life; on the contrary, I then
feel that I am serving God best when from proper
Imotives I am most actively engaged in it. What humbles
me, is the sense that I forego so many opportunities of
doing good; and it is my constant prayer, that God will
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. II.7
enable me to serve Him more steadily, and my fellow
creatures more assiduously; and I trust that my prayers
will be granted, through the intercession of that Saviour
‘by whom ' only ‘we have access with confidence into
this grace wherein we stand; ' and who has promised
that He will lead on His people from strength to strength,
and gradually form them to a more complete resemblance
of their Divine original.”
It is pleasant to find that his demeanour, always full of
filial affection, and now more exemplary than ever, im-
pressed the lady more favourably. “His habitual cheer.
fulness, and the patient forbearance of a temper naturally
quick, could not escape her notice; and her friend, Mrs.
Sykes, who had shared in her suspicions, remarked
shrewdly when they parted company at Scarborough, “If
this is madness, I hope he will bite us all.’”
There was yet another to whom he unbosomed his
feelings—it was a beloved sister, and the letter in which
he did so contains a beautiful passage indicative of his
intelligent apprehension of Christian piety as an ever
advancing progress. He had no notion of its being made
up of fitful spasms. “Watch and pray,” he wrote
earnestly to his sister; “read the Word of God, imploring
that true wisdom which may enable you to comprehend
and fix it in your heart, that it may gradually produce its
effect, under the operation of the Holy Spirit, in renewing
the mind and purifying the conduct. This it will do
more and more, the longer we live under its influences;
and it is to the honour of religion, that those who when
they first began to run the Christian Course were in ex-
II.8 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
tremes: . . . enthusiastical perhaps or rigidly severe . . .
will often by degrees lose their several imperfections,
which, though by the world laid unfairly to the account
of their religion, were yet undoubtedly so many disparage-
ments to it, . . . like some of our Westmoreland evenings,
when though in the course of the day the skies have
been obscured by clouds and vapours, yet towards
its close the sun beams forth with unsullied lustre, and
descends below the horizon in the full display of all his
glories. Shall I pursue the metaphor, just to suggest, that
this is the earnest of a joyful rising, which will not be
disappointed P. The great thing we have to do is to be
perpetually reminding ourselves that we are but strangers
and pilgrims, having no abiding city, but looking for a
city which hath foundations; and by the power of habit,
which God has been graciously pleased to bestow upon
us, Our work will every day become easier, if we accustom
ourselves to cast our care on Him, and labour in a per-
suasion of His co-operation. The true Christian will
desire to have constant communion with his Saviour.
The Eastern nations had their talismans, which were to
advertise them of every danger and guard them from
every mischief. Be the love of Christ our talisman.”
He had for some time before he became decidedly
religious kept a diary, in which he recorded the passing
events of almost every day. Of this his biographers have
made much use ; but it is often provoking to find the
entries are so brief and fragmentary, often crushed into
two or three words, that they excite rather than gratify
curiosity. Take, for example, a day during his French
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. IIQ
tour in 1783, when he seems to have figured in scenes
of extraordinary brilliancy.
“October 16th. Breakfasted at home, dressed by eleven,
and went with ambassador. Introduced to King, Queen,
Monsieur, Madame, Compte and Comptesse D'Artois, and
two aunts. Dined Mons. de Castries, Minister ofthe Marine
Department. Saw there Vicomte de Noailles, pleasant
fellow, and Marquis de la Fayette, Chaillière, Castries's
son and his wife. Marmontel there. After dinner went
to Vergenne's, and then to Madame Polignac's to visit
the Queen ; she chatted easily. Then Salle des Ambas-
sadeurs, and opera : words by Marmontel, music by
Piccini; both good, Didon. Then supped at Count
Donson's. Round table, all English but Donson, Noailles,
Dupont. Queen came after supper. Cards, trictrac, and
backgammon, which Artois, Lauzun, and Chartres played
extremely well. Home at one.”
What a contrast to turn from such notices to a passage
like this.
“Hope I was more attentive at church than usual,
but serious thoughts vanished the moment I went out of
it, and very insensible and cold in the evening service :
some very strong feelings when I went to bed. God turn
them to account, and in any way bring me to Himself.
I have been thinking I have been doing well by living
alone, and reading, generally on religious subjects ; I
must awake to my dangerous state, and never be at rest
till I have made my peace with God. My heart is so
hard, my blindness so great, that I cannot get a due
hatred of sin, though I see I am all corrupt and blinded
to the perception of spiritual things.” -
I 20 WILLIAM WILEERITORCE.
“At church I wander more than ever,” he says, another
time, “and can scarce keep awake : my thoughts are
always straying. Do Thou, O God, set my affections on
purer pleasure. Christ should be a Christian's delight
and glory. I will endeavour, by God's help, to excite in
myself an anxiety and longing for the joys of heaven, and
for deliverance from this scene of ingratitude and sin;
yet, mistake not impatience under the fatigues of the
combat for a lawful and, indeed, an enjoined earnestness
for, and anticipation of, the crown of victory. I say
solemnly, in the presence of God this day, that were I to
die, I know not what would be my eternal portion. If
I live in some degree under the habitual impression Of
God's presence, yet I cannot, or rather I will not, keep
true to Him; and every night I have to look back on
a day misemployed, or not improved with fervency and
diligence, O God, do Thou enable me to live more to
Thee, to look to Jesus with a single eye, and by degrees
to have the renewed nature implanted in me, and the
heart of stone removed.” And again, a fortnight later,
he says, “I see plainly the sad way in which I am going
on. Of myself I have not power to change it. Do
Thou, O Thou Saviour of sinners, have mercy on me,
and let me not be an instance of one who, having month
after month despised Thy goodness and long-suffering,
has treasured up to himself wrath against the day of
wrath. The sense of God's presence seldom stays on
my mind when I am in company; and at times I even
have doubts and difficulties about the truth of the great
doctrines of Christianity.” Yet in spite of difficulties he
RELIGIOUS ExPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. 121
was resolved to persevere. “With God,” he reasons
with himself, “nothing is impossible. Work out, then,
thy own salvation. Purify thy heart, thou double-minded
—labour to enter into that rest. The way is narrow ;
the enemies are many—to thee particularly : rich, great,
etc.; but then we have God and Christ on our side : we
have heavenly armour; the crown is everlasting life, and
the struggle how short, compared with the eternity which
follows it ! Yet a little while, and He that shall come
will come, and will not tarry.”
“Alas,” he writes upon the 31st of January, “with
how little profit has my time passed away since I came
to town I have been almost always in Company, and
they think me like them rather than become like me.
I have lived too little like one of God's peculiar people.
Hence come waste of time, forgetfulness of God, neglect
of opportunities of usefulness, mistaken impressions of my
character. Oh, may I be more restrained by my rules
for the future ; and in the trying week upon which I am
now entering, when I shall be so much in company, and
give so many entertainments; may I labour doubly, by
a greater cultivation of a religious frame, by prayer, and
by all due temperance, to get it well over.”
Again he says, “It pleased God to give me an affecting
sense of my own sinfulness, and a determination to live
henceforth, by His grace, more to His glory.” “Cold at
first, yet moved afterwards by a sense of heavenly things,
and determined to go to the important work of self-
examination, and to set about a thorough change. Hence-
forth I purpose, by God’s grace, to employ my faculties
9
I 22 |WILLIAM IVIL BERFORCE.
and powers more to His glory; to live a godly, diligent,
useful, self-denying life. I know my own weakness, and
I trust to God alone for strength.” -
Once more he writes, “I will watch and pray, or God
may punish my carelessness by suffering me to fall a prey
to sin. Christ says, through His apostle, ‘Be not con-
formed to this world.' Do Thou teach me, Lord, the
true limits of conformity. I have been hearing a most
excellent sermon from Mr. Scott on procrastination.
I was very cold and sluggish in spiritual aſſections both
yesterday and this morning, but I hope this discourse
has roused me ; may I be enabled to put in practice
these most important admonitions. I have much cause
for humiliation in the past week; yet I think I go on
better in my own house than in Henry Thornton's, from
having more quiet ; and I humbly resolve to press for-
ward, and apply diligently to the throne of grace, that
Christ may be made to me wisdom, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption.”
Extracts of this kind might be largely increased, for
the five volumes of his life abound in matter of this
devout description. Whereas in the record of fashionable
visits and employments he had been exceedingly brief,
he became specific, particular, and even diffuse in the
statement of his spiritual feelings, so that from day to
day the secrets of his soul are opened before the eyes of
the reader. We can mark distinctly the changes which
took place in his thoughts and feelings, as at one time he
was plunged into the depths of self-humiliation, and at
another exalted to the loftiest heights of faith and hope
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. I23
and love. Many will think this part of his biography
overdone, and different opinions will be entertained by
devout people as to the wisdom and usefulness of re-
ligious diaries. In the case of Wilberforce there seems
to have been an unusual amount of self-introspection.
He used a microscope as he looked into his heart, search-
ing for signs indicative of moral health or of moral disease.
No one could more conscientiously obey the apostolic
injunction, according to the view he took of its meaning,
“Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove
your own selves.” As such means are furnished for
judging his character, no one can rightly study his life
who does not study them for that purpose. He him-
self attached in mense importance to these inward lights,
ever burning in the chambers of his soul. He felt con-
scious that they, after all, aſſorded the illumination amidst
which he pursued his daily walk of doing good. Not simply
to humane dispositions, not at all to a benevolence based
on the general expediency principle, but to an inner life
did he attribute the inspiration of that career which made
him the friend of the slave and of mankind at large;
and it is not a little remarkable that the two great philan-
thropists of which England boasts, John Howard and
William Wilberforce, were alike in this respect — they
kept diaries overflowing with Christian sentiments. They
seem to vie with each other in the intensity with which
they cherished, and the force with which they expressed,
their religious ideas and feelings; and both of them
expressly attribute what they achieved to the operation of
those principles which they so perseveringly maintained,
I24 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE,
It will edify the reader to bring together extracts from
Wilberforce's diary relative to his receiving the Holy
Communion and his study of the sacred Scriptures.
He writes, just after his twenty-seventh birthday, “I
am just returned from receiving the sacrament. I was
enabled to be earnest in prayer, and to be contrite and
humble under a sense of my unworthiness, and of the
infinite mercy of God in Christ. I hope that I desire
from my heart to lead henceforth a life more worthy of
the Christian profession. May it be my meat and drink
to do the will of God my Father. May He daily renew
me by His Holy Spirit, and may I walk before Him in a
frame made up of fear and gratitude and humble trust,
and assurance of His fatherly kindness and constant
concern for me.” On the 19th of September, 1802, he
remarks: “I fear that I have not studied the Scriptures
enough. Surely in the summer recess I ought to read
Scripture an hour or two every day, besides prayer,
devotional reading, and meditation. God will prosper
me better if I wait on Him.” He then alludes to the
description of Dr. Doddridge's, Colonel Gardiner's, and
Bonnel's devotions, asking afterwards: “Is it that my
devotions are too much hurried, that I do not read
Scripture enough, or how is it that I leave with reluct-
ance the mere chit-chat of Boswell's “Johnson " for what
ought to be the grateful offices of prayer and praise P
I feel it difficult to adjust the due degree of time to be
allotted to prayer, Scripture reading, and other religious
exercises. God loves mercy better than sacrifice, and
there is a danger of a superstitious spirit of being led to
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. I25
depend on the forms of religion. Yet the experience
and example of good men seem a fair guide. At all
events, however, some way or other my affections must
be set on things above.”
He called the Sabbath “a delight, the holy of the
Lord, and honourable.” “It is a season of rest,” he
remarks, “in which we may be allowed to unbend the
mind and give a complete loose to those emotions of
gratitude and admiration, which a contemplation of the
works, and a consideration of the goodness, of God
cannot fail to excite in a mind of the smallest sensibility.”
“May every Sabbath be to me, and to those I love, a
renewal of these feelings, of which the small tastes we
have in this life should make us look forward to that
eternal rest which awaits the people of God, when the
whole will be a never-ending enjoyment of those feelings
of love and joy and admiration and gratitude which
are, even in the limited degree we here experience them,
the truest sources of comfort; when these, I say, will
dictate perpetual songs of thanksgiving without fear and
without Satiety.” Again, on a Sunday in 1789, he jots
down these words: “Scott excellent on St. James v. 7, 8.
Much affected with the discourse. Oh, blessed be God,
who hath appointed the Sabbath, and interposes these
seasons of serious recollection. May they be effectual
to their purpose; may my errors be corrected, my desires
Sanctified, and my whole Soul quickened and animated
in the Christian course.”
As soon as Wilberforce had resolved to lead a religious
life he addicted himself to the salutary practice of family
I26 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
prayer. On the 29th of November, 1785, he records,
as noticed already, how he began family prayer, and
resolved to have it morning and evening, and to read a
chapter when there was time. The next day, he says, “I
bless God I enjoyed comfortin prayer this evening;” and
on the 3oth he adds, at the end of an entry, this paren-
thesis: “I forgot to set down that when my servants came
in the first time to family prayer I felt ashamed.” No
doubt there were many comments made in the servants'
hall on this new and strange occurrence. As to the way
in which Wilberforce conducted family worship, witness
is borne by William Jay, of Bath : “I refer not only
to its existence and regularity, but to the manner in
which he discharged it. What a solemn importance
seemed always attached to it. What a freedom from
formality. What a simplicity in the performance. What
a seriousness and degree of impression and of effort l”
The effect which religion had upon the mind of
Wilberforce, in the way of self-control, is a very notice-
able circumstance connected with his spiritual history.
He is said to have been of a quick and excitable
temperament ; but, at a particular period, after he had
entered upon his anti-slavery career, and he and Mr.
Clarkson had for awhile been working together to
promote the object dear to both, an incident occurred
in their intercourse which must have been exceedingly
trying ; yet, with regard to it, Wilberforce at first, and
Clarkson afterwards, exhibited a most praiseworthy
abstinence from all resentment. A controversy, much
to be lamented, arose between Clarkson and the bio-
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. I27
graphers of his friend. They cannot be said to have
done justice in the references they made to Clarkson
and his work on the “Abolition of the Slave Trade.”
With that controversy, however, I have nothing to do.
Clarkson had a brother, a lieutenant in the navy, who
desired and deserved promotion. Wilberforce knew him,
and in one of his friendly letters to the young naval
officer he told him that if he had any opportunity of
serving him in the line of his profession he should be
very happy to embrace it, as he would for his own
brother. Thomas Clarkson, probably aware of this
communication, applied to Wilberforce in favour of his
brother, and naturally felt very anxious to promote his
interests. Disappointed at the result, he wrote to his
friend a letter, in which the following passages occurred :
“My opinion is, that my Lord Chatham has behaved
to my brother in a very scandalous manner, and that
your own timidity has been the occasion of his mis-
carrying in his promotion.” “After all, my opinion is,
that my brother's miscarriage is to be attributed to your
own want of firmness. I can have no doubt but you
have frequently written to my Lord Chatham, and this
with singular zeal and warmth on the subject ; but you
have not, I apprehend, waited on him often, or insisted
on his promotion in strong language. Will you tell me
that, if you went to my Lord Chatham and insisted upon
it, it would not be done P’’ This sharp tone of address
indicates the close intimacy there must have been
between the two, and also the perfect independence of
the applicant in relation to his friend. But no one can
I 28 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE. .
help seeing that the letter was calculated to inspire
irritation by the irritation which it expressed; but the
meek answer which it elicited is very beautiful. Wilber-
force told his friend he was used to such remonstrances;
and that a man must arm himself against such language,
if he would maintain his independence. He attributed
Clarkson's warmth to tender solicitude for a beloved
brother ; and then appealed to him on the ground that he
had himself said, he did not like to ask for any favour
on behalf of a relative, lest it should seem, if granted, to
have been a reward for disinterested labours. In reference
to such commendable feeling, Wilberforce asked, “Con-
sidering all the peculiarities of my condition and fortunes,
is not this general duty of a public man more urgent in
mine than almost in any possible instance P and how
criminal should I be if I were to truck and barter away
any personal influence I may possess with some of the
members of administration, which ought to be preserved
entire for opportunities of public service.” He then
thanked Clarkson for his freedom, and added, “I have, as
you confess, your brother's promotion sincerely at heart,
and I will exert myself for him as much as I think I
ought; but I must neither be seduced nor piqued into
doing more.” “We have long acted together in the
greatest cause which ever engaged the efforts of public
men, and so I trust we shall continue to act with one
heart and one hand, relieving our labours, as hitherto,
with the comforts of social intercourse.” Different
opinions will be formed as to the delicacy or wisdom of
publishing this correspondence while one of the parties
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. I29
on whom it might inflict pain was still living ; but now
that they are both gone, and the letters cannot fall into
oblivion, every reader must feel that the tone in which
Wilberforce wrote to Clarkson was most conciliatory, and
well adapted to extinguish resentment. The letters did
not interrupt the flow of affection between these two men
of kindred spirit; no offence was intended, no offence
was taken ; Christian principle carried them through a
trial of temper, and for forty years after this they con-
tinued to love and honour each other. In days when
plain speaking is applauded such an example is worth
being remembered.
There is another feature in Wilberforce's private cha-
racter which is well illustrated in his correspondence 5
namely, his strong sympathy with those who were enter-
ing upon a religious course of life, and who needed
spiritual counsel. He had passed through much per-
plexity himself; not so much, perhaps, in reference to the
truth and authority of Scripture, or the fundamental
principles of the Christian faith, as in relation to questions
touching his own interest in the blessings and privileges
of the gospel, and his duty under the particular duties
and temptations of human life. On such points he was
well qualified to give advice, and how he did so will
appear from the following extracts from his correspond-
ence in the year 1787, when he had but recently made
a profession of religion. His own sentiments relative
to anxieties and difficulties such as beset most young
Christians, and especially relative to certain cases of
moral casuistry, distinctly appear; and whilst they illus-
*
I3O WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
trate the writer's character, they may prove serviceable to
the reader of these pages, as they probably did to the
persons originally addressed :
“Indeed, my dear —; I trust you do “wish to be
right,’ and on that ground you may justly be congratu-
lated ; so long as you preserve this frame of mind all
will be well. This is the perfectness and simplicity of
heart mentioned in Scripture with expressions of peculiar
approbation ; and that tenderness of conscience, that
humility and watchfulness which accompany it, admirably
dispose us to walk through this scene of temptations as
pilgrims and strangers, who are seeking a better country
in constant dependence on God's grace through Christ,
and looking for the guidance of that good Shepherd who
kindly promises that He will carry the lambs in His
bosom and gently lead them that are with young. These
are figurative expressions, but they are not unmeaning
ones: we should translate them into common language,
and carry them about with us as the Eastern nations do
their amulets and charms. Be not discouraged if you do
not find your doubts so thoroughly eradicated as you
flatter yourself they are. Many good men, though in
the main and unshakenly convinced of the truth of Chris-
tianity, have been grievously harassed by them, and I
believe they are often the suggestions of the tempter,
which neither reason nor Scripture give us any rule to dis-
tinguish from the suggestions of our own imaginations.
These objections are often not particular, or directed to
any one specific point, but it is rather a general sort of stupid
doubting whether the whole be not a delusion. Perhaps
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATH Y. I3 I
the best way of combating the enemy is to fly from him
in speculation and fight him practically. I mean, when
our reason on a fair inquiry has been once convinced, let
us determine to act as if these things were true, and (such
is the constitution of the human mind) we shall gradually
find these incredulities dissipate, and obtain a more settled
and deep-rooted satisfaction that they are not idle fables.
Never forget that Jesus Christ is to be made unto His
people wisdom and righteousness, and sanctification and
redemption. Were we ever to bear this in view and act on
it, how much more wise and upright and holy should we
be. It is pride and self-dependence that ruin us; whereas
were we to look with stedfast eye to the Author and
Finisher of our faith, we should learn to despise both the
pleasures and the griefs of this life, and long for that
blessed day which, disencumbering the people of God
from their fleshly impediments, shall introduce them into
that state of glory of which Christ died to purchase for
them the everlasting possession. When you have any-
thing to say, write; I know you will give me credit for
thinking of you, though you do not hear from me, and
therefore I shall be silent or not as suits my conve-
nience.” -
In another letter Wilberforce remarks: “It gives me
pleasure to observe that, though you chide me for not
letting you hear from me, you allow me credit for such a
sincere concern for your welfare as not to impute my
silence to forgetfulness. Indeed, you do me no more
than justice in this acquittal; for whether I tell you so or
not, you are daily in my thoughts and prayers.
I32 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
“The precise question which you put to me is of great
nicety; and if it had been put to me by almost any one
else, I believe I should have declined answering it in any
other than those general terms which you forbid me the
use of ‘How far you may indulge in amusements with-
out danger ?’ With respect to these same amusements, I
conceive no rule can be prescribed of universal appli-
cation and use—none that will solve to every one the
several cases that occur in life, under the very different
circumstances of different men; and yet, unless we lay
down for ourselves beforehand some determinate principle
of action, when the time for decision comes we shall be
at a loss how to proceed, and, judging hastily and under
an improper bias, our conclusion will most likely be
erroneous. What then is to be done? What but that every
one read his Bible with simplicity of heart; that he there
Observe the temper and conduct our Saviour prescribes
to His disciples; and then, looking into and weighing the
particulars of his own state, discover how he may best
acquire the one and practice the other P Where anything
is directly contrary to the laws of God there we ought to
resist as stubbornly as possible. . . . Now the playhouse
seems to me to fall under this description ; and in order
to possess you with my sentiments on this subject, I will
enclose you a little essay which contains almost all I
think, and will spare me the trouble of a recital ; . . .
but there are other diversions of a more dubious nature
— balls, concerts, cards, etc. It is impossible here
to judge for another — in certain situations it may be
expedient to partake of them, rather than offend those
RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE AND SYMPATHY. I33
with whom we may be living, etc.; but not as amuse-
ments to be enjoyed, but temptations to be undergone.
It is easy to see that the whole current of Scripture sets
against that disposition to seek for our comfort in the
vanities of life and the enjoyments of sense, which is too
natural to us all : it directs us to pleasures of a more
exalted kind, to joys of a superior nature ; and therefore
that systematic balling and concerting and Carding is
really averse to the spirit of Christianity—observe, I say
systematic, for it is reduced to a system ; it is not
an occasional, but a constant and habitual, misapplication
of time and, money, and what is worse than all, of
affections. But then we are not to abstain from these
indulgences in which the world allows itself, and value
ourselves on our abstemiousness, for that will bring on a
proud and a morose spirit: the true way is, to endeavour to
supplant the fondness for them by the love of better
things, “to let our rejoicing be the testimony of our
conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity we have
had our conversation in the world,’ to learn to delight
in the consciousness of His protection whose favour is
better than life, and in the anticipation of those pleasures
which are at His right hand for evermore. Could we
arrive at this blessed temper, what mankind terms amuse-
ments and diversions would be to us either tedious or
disgusting; and though on some occasions we might
deem it expedient to conform, yet we should do it for the
sake of others, not for our own. Of all others it is perhaps
the most dangerous practice for us to draw a line, and, as
it were, pale in some of the common amusements in which
I34 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
we may judge that we ought to participate from such
prudential motives as I am alluding to, and then to go on
in the constant use of them in unsuspicious security. The
habit of mind this brings on is very destructive indeed of
the vital spirit of religion, and should be guarded against
with all care. Now, were I to say, ‘You may safely
play at cards or go to the assembly, etc., would there not
be a danger in that ; set at ease as it were by my permission,
you would look on these, if I may say so, as fair game?
I have said enough to make you understand me: the
Christian's motto should be, ‘Watch always, for you know
not in what hour the Son of man will come." In pro-
portion as you find yourself compelled to engage in
diversions you may not thoroughly approve, examine
yourself with more diligence, be more constant in your
devotions, act like one who, fearing that poison might
lurk in his daily food, guarded against its effects by the
daily use of antidotes. Remember that it is the great
business of religion to purify our hearts, and inspire us
with a more entire longing for those perfections which
are to constitute the glories and happiness of our
future being.”
CIH.A. PTER VI.
A U.7//O/2.S///P.
HE kind of theology known by the name of Evan-
gelical, and which flourished in the Puritan age of
the seventeenth century, did not expire in the Church
of England after the Restoration, but it certainly de-
clined. Few traces of it, comparatively, could be found in
the sermons and religious writings of the English clergy
whilst Anne and the first two Georges sat on the throne.
James Harvey of Weston Favel, Samuel Walker of Truro,
Thomas Adams of Winteringham, and William Grimshaw
of Haworth, were the principal Evangelical lights of the
second generation of the last century. A little later
came Fletcher of Madely, who, like Grimshaw, though
active in the Methodist movement under John Wesley,
retained an incumbency in the Established Church ;
and afterwards Henry Venn, William Romaine, John
Newton, Thomas Scott, and Richard Cecil appeared as
distinguished leaders of a revival which advanced after
their time, but did not attain to full power and effect until
a later period. It was very unpopular when Wilberforce
began his religious life. In very few churches was “the
I36 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
Gospel” preached, according to the view of the men just
enumerated. Nor was much accomplished by the press
for their propagation in this country. Romaine's works on
“Faith” were perhaps the most popular of that kind ; and
yet they do not seem to have passed through several
editions until years afterwards. John Newton’s “Cardi-
phonia’’ only gradually rose into notice, and his “Dis-
Courses on the Messiah’’ never commanded much atten-
tion. Scott's “Essays” and “Force of Truth” were prized
in later years; but it is doubtful whether at first they
attracted a large circle of readers. The clerical scholars
of the day at our universities, and in cathedral cities,
or rural rectories, if they turned over the pages of such
new volumes, it would chiefly be to criticise them as
Methodistical, or to put them altogether aside as un-
worthy of an acknowledged place in English literature.
The educated laity of the Church did not trouble the
printers with “Evangelical" books. In the early part of
the century Robert Nelson published works pervaded
by the tone of thought prevalent in the Anglo-Catholic
school; and William Law’s “Serious Call,” stamped with
a different character, won from Dr. Johnson the praise of
being “the finest hortatory theology in any language;”
but it was left for Hannah More to appear first amongst
unclerical authors as an accomplished and popular
teacher of religious truth in the Evangelical view. Her
thoughts on “The Importance of the Manners of the
Great,” published in 1788, ran through seven editions in
a few months. Her “Estimate of the Religion of the
Fashionable World,” published in 1790, reached a fifth
A UTHORSHIP. - I37
edition in three years — a measure of popularity far
beyond anything achieved at that time by the other sex,
until Williarn Wilberforce made his appearance on the
stage of religious authorship.
Whether or not he was animated by the example of
Hannah More, it is certain that he felt it necessary that
Some one like himself should boldly take up his pen in
the interests of Evangelical religion, as connected es-
pecially with the spiritual wants of the higher classes.
That moral courage was needed for the purpose, in one
circumstanced like himself, is plain enough from what
has just been indicated relative to the state of religious
literature. Even with the encouragement of Mrs. More's
success, he could not but feel that he was likely to awaken
a good deal of opposition, by stepping forward in the ranks
of fashionable life, to lift up his voice in behalf of spiritual
Christianity. The enterprise, in that respect, should be
estimated, not by the actual result which ensued, but by
the probabilities of the case, as they would appear at the
moment to a calm and unprejudiced observer. How the
thought of publication shaped itself in his own mind is
seen from memoranda published in his “Life.” It may
be said he seemed as if he would, and yet he could not.
He weighed the fros and cons with great care, and after
reckoning up many items struck the balance in favour of
delay. The memoranda were written as early as 1789.
He enumerated these points: that some were alarmed for
the credit of his name; that he felt a difficulty in being
sufficiently explicit; that well-disposed persons already
knew ti.e diſſerence between being almost and being
IO
I38 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
altogether Christians; that he could speak to his friends
in private; that appearing over-righteous he might deter
people from political co-operation ; that his inſluence with
Pitt would be lessened—so he resolved to delay printing,
but at his leisure he determined to prepare a work with an
injunction to publish it after his death. He began to
write at an early period. The frame of mind in which
he did so, and the influence which swayed him at that
juncture, will appear from the following extracts in his
diary. -
“I have had Venn with me for a fortnight: he is
heavenly minded, and bent on his Master’s work,
affectionate to all around him, and, above all, to Christ's
people as such. How low are all my attainments Oh,
let me labour with redoubled diligence to enter in at the
strait gate. An indolent, soothing religion will never
support the soul in the hour of death; then nothing will
bring us up but the testimony of our conscience that we
have ſought the good fight. Help me, O Jesus, and by Thy
Spirit cleanse me from my pollutions; give me a deeper
abhorrence of sin; let me press forward. A thousand
gracious assurances stand forth in Christ's gospel. I
humbly pray to be enabled to attend more to my secret
devotions, to pray over Scripture, to interlace thoughts of
God and Christ, to be less voluble, more humble, and
more bold for Christ.”
1793. “Saturday, August 3. I laid the first timbers
of my Tract.” Soon afterwards we find him “reading
Butler, Barrow, Soame Jenyns, and the Scriptures, and
going on with the Tract,” which he discussed with Cecil,
A UTHORSHIP. I39
who strongly recommended it. In the autumn of the
same year he was principally occupied with preparing
the materials for his “Practical Christianity”; and we are
told that the entries in his journal mark that season of
comparative leisure with an altered tone, showing “in
striking colours the increasing power of religion over his
character.” After a lapse of nearly four years he is seen
at Bath engaged on his book; and in the Spring of 1797
he records, that “he had seen Cadell, and agreed to
begin printing.” He corrected the proofs “when business
flagged in the Committee Room of the House of Com-
mons, and “the index and errata were the work of
midnight hours when the debate was over.” He corre-
sponded with Hannah More, and told her when the work
was “one-third printed,” and when it came out there
were not wanting Cassandra predictions as to its fate.
Dr. Milner had dissuaded the attempt ; another friend
Said, “A person who stands so high for talent must risk
much, in point of form at least, by publishing on a subject
on which there have been the greatest exertions of the
greatest genius.” Even the publisher felt some appre-
hension, for there was little demand for religious publica-
tions, and, says the author, “he evidently regarded me
as an amiable enthusiast.” “You mean to put your
name to the work P” inquired Mr. Cadell. And on
receiving a reply in the affirmative he rejoined, “Then
I think we may venture upon five hundred copies.”
The title, according to the fashion of the day, was no
enigma, as is now sometimes the case, but a full explana-
tion of the contents. “A Practical View of the Prevail.
I40 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
ing Æeligious Systems of Professed Christians, in the Higher
and Middle Classes in this Country, contrasted with Real
Christianity.”
In this work, a favourite at Court, a leading member
of Parliament, and a friend of William Pitt, whose conver.
sion had been the subject of fashionable talk, laid open
the Springs of that great change in his life which seemed
to some a perplexing riddle. He expounded to the world
the truths of the gospel with the confidence that what
had transformed him could transform others. He wrote,
not for literary fame, but for religious usefulness. The
work is open to criticism, yet criticism is disarmed by its
tone and temper. Devotional rather than argumentative,
it is not so much designed to convince the sceptic as to
contrast deſective views of religion with what the author
apprehended to be real Christianity. In short, it is a
lay sermon on Evangelical piety, in which the social
position of the preacher commands the widest audience,
and his unprofessional character gives additional weight
to his appeals. He dwells upon the corruption of
human nature, upon inadequate views with regard to our
Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, upon the terms
of acceptance with God, and the nature of practical
Christianity. Defects in this respect he seeks to supply
according to his own convictions. He deeply laments
that Christianity has been reduced to a system of ethics,
which he describes as a reaction against the extremes of
Puritanical theology; whilst he praises Owen, Howe, and
Flavel, and mentions that “most useful book, ‘The Rise
and Progress of Religion in the Soul, by Dr. Doddridge,”
A UTHORSHIP. I4I
to which he was greatly indebted for his own spiritual
change. He deplores the scepticism of contemporary
literary men, and refutes the allegation that the world
could not go on if his system of religion prevailed. A
mild genial tone pervades the treatise, with little or
nothing to offend, although he insists that the time in
which he lived was no time for half measures. The
steel glove the writer wore was covered as well as lined
with velvet : for he did not follow the fashion of
previous religious reformers. The style was as different
from Evangelical works in general, as the tone was
different from the polished productions of literary
divines. It did not please all Evangelicals; while some
{ %
afterwards called him a “a man of rigid Calvinism,”
others detected in his book something of a “legal" tinge.
The literary merits of the work have perhaps been
overrated, especially by those who sympathised with him
in his religious views. They looked at the composition
through the medium of their own admiration of his
Evangelical piety, and of his moral courage in the
expression of his convictions. Wilberforce, as indicated
already, could not, and did not, pretend to be a theolo-
gian, in the proper sense of the term ; he wrote simply as
a Christian man who had studied his Bible, together with
the habits of Society, and the secrets of the heart. There
is no attempt at a keen analysis of abstract Opinions,
or a vigorous grasp of comprehensive principles, or a
judicial settlement of doctrinal questions, or a thorough
grappling with intellectual difficulties. The author
aims at the heart and life, and is far more practical
I42. WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
than theoretical, urging homely lessons rather than
cxplaining theological dogmas. Diffuseness of style,
which it is so diſficult for an orator to overcome when
the pen is taken into his hand, is too obvious throughout
to need any remark. Condensation would have greatly
improved the volume; so would a more vigorous working
Out of salient points, together with the introduction of
some supplementary discussions. The latter the author
saw would be desirable, and indicated, as we shall
presently see, how he thought of supplying the defect.
As to his idea of the way in which it was to be done,
there will probably be a difference of judgment. Prog-
nostications of a limited demand for this new book were
signally belied. Within a few days it was out of print, and
within a year and a half five editions, in all 7,500 copies,
were called for. r
Iºriends welcomed the work with the warmest admira-
tion. “I heartily thank you for it,” wrote Lord Mun-
ster; “as a friend I thank you for it, as a man, I doubly
thank you ; but as a member of the Christian world, I
render you all gratitude and acknowledgment. I thought
I knew you well, but I know you better now, my dearest,
excellent Wilber.” “The bishops, in general,” remarked
Henry Thornton, “much approve of it ; though some
more warmly, some more coolly. Many of his gay and
political friends admire and approve of it; though some
do but dip into it—several have recognised the likeness
of themselves. The better part of the religious world,
and more especially the Church of England, prize it
most highly, and consider it as producing an era in the
A UTHORSHIP. I43
history of the Church. The Dissenters, many of them,
call it legal, and point at particular parts.” “I am
thankful,” said Bishop Porteous, writing to the author,
“ that a work of this nature has made its appearance at'
this tremendous moment. I shall offer up my fervent
prayer to God that it may have a powerful and extensive
influence on the hearts of men, and in the first place on
my own, which is already humbled, and will, I trust, in
time be sufficiently awakened by it.” The old veteran,
John Newton, his early religious adviser, joined in the
chorus of praise—“I deem it the most valuable and im-
portant publication of the present age.” “I am filled
with wonder and with hope. I accept it as a token for
good ; yea, as the highest token as I can discern in this
dark and perilous day.” Robert Hall spoke of it as “an
inestimable work, which has perhaps done more than
any other to rouse the insensibility and augment the piety
of the age.” Better than all praise are the following
facts. “Burke spent much of the last two days of his life
in reading Wilberforce's book, and said that he derived
much comfort from it, and that if he lived he should
thank Wilberforce for having sent such a book into the
world "-so says Mrs. Crewe, who was with Burke at the
time. Henry Thornton told this to Hannah More. To
the perusal of the volume, it is well known that Legh
Richmond, author of the “Dairyman's Daughter” and
the “Young Cottager,” owed his conversion ; and there-
fore through those wonderfully popular little stories the
spiritual influence of Wilberforce was more widely circu-
lated. An account of the impression made on Rich-
I44 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
mond may best be given in his own words. It occurs in
Connection with a reference he makes to one of his
beloved children :-
Speaking of his son Wilberforce, he remarks: “He
was baptized by the name of Wilberforce in consequence
of my personal friendship with that individual, whose
name has long been, and ever will be, allied to all that
is able, amiable, and truly Christian. That gentleman
had already accepted the office of sponsor to one of
my daughters; but the subsequent birth of this boy
aſſorded me the additional satisfaction of more familiarly
associating his name with that of my family. But it was
not the tie of ordinary friendship, nor the veneration
which, in common with multitudes, I felt for the name
of Wilberforce, which induced me to give that name to
my child : there had for many years past subsisted a tie
between myself and that much-loved friend of a higher
and more sacred character than any other which earth
can afford. I feel it to be a debt of gratitude, which I
owe to God and to man, to take this affecting oppor-
tunity of stating that to the unsought and unexpected
introduction of Mr. Wilberforce's book on ‘Practical
Christianity’ I owe, through God's mercy, the first sacred
impression which I ever received as to the spiritual
nature of the gospel system, the vital character of per-
sonal religion, the corruption of the human heart, and
the way of salvation by Jesus Christ. As a young
minister, recently ordained, and just entrusted with the
charge of two parishes in the Isle of Wight, I had com-
menced my labours too much in the Spirit of the world,
A UTHORSHIP. I45
and founded my public instructions on the erroneous
notions that prevailed amongst my academical and lite-
rary associates. The scriptural principles stated in the
• ‘Practical View convinced me of my error; led me to
the study of the Scriptures with an earnestness to which
I had hitherto been a stranger; humbled my heart, and
brought me to seek the love and blessing of that Saviour
who alone can afford a peace which the world cannot
give. Through the study of this book I was induced to
examine the writings of the British and foreign reformers.
I saw the coincidence of their doctrines with those of
the Scriptures, and those which the Word of God taught
me to be essential to the welfare of myself and my
flock. I know too well what has passed within my heart,
for now a long period of time, not to feel and confess
that to this incident I was indebted originally for those
solid views of Christianity on which I rest my hope for
time and eternity. May I not, then, call the honoured
author of that book my spiritual father P and if my
spiritual father, therefore my best earthly friend?”
The book met with adverse criticism from Unitarian
authors. Gilbert Wakefield, in 1797, wrote “A Letter to
William Wilberforce, Esq., on the subject of his late
Publication.” Thomas Belshaum also, in 1798, issued
“A Review " of Mr. Wilberforce's work, and in it he
rejected as utterly inconsistent with truth and Scripture,
the doctrines which were insisted upon in the “Practical
Christianity” as fundamental; namely, the corrupted con-
dition of human nature, the Atonement of our Lord,
and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit. To Bel-
I46 WILJ IAM WILBERFORCE.
sham’s “Review,” Dr. Magee, Archbishop of Dublin.
Wrote a reply, printed in an appendix to his “Discourses
and Dissertations on the Scripture Doctrines of Atone-
ment and Sacrifice.” r
The popularity of Wilberforce's work continued for a
long time. In 1807 Henry Martyn wrote: “In India
Wilberforce is eagerly read.” In 1818 the work had
reached the thirteenth edition ; and there is a copy of it
before me with his autograph, “To the Athenaeum, this
Book is respectfully presented by W. Wilberforce; ”—a
presentation which showed his desire to promote the
circulation of the volume among literary men. In 1826
fifteen editions had issued from the press in England.
In America it has been frequently republished, and it has
been translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and
German ; and one reader after another has confirmed
the truth of a remark made by Sir James Stephen in
the Edinburgh Review : “It is the expostulation of a
brother. Unwelcome truth is delivered with scrupu-
lous fidelity, and yet with a tenderness which demonstrates
that the monitor feels the pain which he reluctantly
inflicts. It is this tone of human sympathy breathing
in every page which constitutes the essential charm of
this book.” No material alterations or additions were
made in successive issues of the work by the author;
but it appears, from what his biographers have supplied,
that he thought of adding some supplementary chapters,
if he did not entertain the purpose of a new work on
some points connected with the original subject. From
the notes preserved and printed, it is evident that he
AUTHORSHIP. I47 '
revolved in his mind the bearing of his main theme on
the question of Establishments. He thought that much
nominal Christianity might be expected in a country
where religion was established, though he was fully
prepared to vindicate the Establishment principle. He
remarked that if, “by a conventional courtesy, whenever
the exterior conduct and manners are not contrary to the
Christian model, or where by a moral balancing of
accounts by which a positive amount of any Christian
grace is to be set against a defect in another particular,
the character may pass muster—the interior is to be
presumed to be all complete, or, at least, if not com-
plete in degree, to be right in kind ; and by a too
natural self-deception, men are led into granting to them-
selves the same indulgent measure which candour re-
quires them to mete out to others.” He further noticed
that this habit led to the idea that the real existence of
“the interior” of religion formed an extraordinary attain-
ment, and that much short of it might suffice, whereas
there must be no such allowed deficiency, for Christ
commands, “Be ye perfect even as your Father in
heaven is perfect.” Then he touched upon a plain fact,
that a man eminent in his profession, a public bene-
factor, one universally esteemed and admired, finds it
hard “to feel himself a lost, guilty, and helpless sinner,
a slave to sin and Satan ; to feel himself such sufficiently
to dispose him to come as a weary and heavy-laden
sinner to the Cross of Christ.” He then adverted to the
case of a person who finds it too late to change his
principles and habits. “To use an every-day phrase,
I48 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
he is in for it, and the idea of beginning, as it were, to
live his life over again appears to him utterly inad-
missible. He has been in the habit of taking his re-
ligious opinions on trust, . . . has little acquaintance
with the Holy Scriptures, . . . and the consequence is
that he remains ignorant of the gracious offers that are
made to him. . . . He knows not the infinite mercy
and inexhaustible love of his God and Saviour.” Such
characters he intended to address, and to urge them,
on every ground of prudence or folly, of misery or
happiness, to attend to the Divine call.
Besides the “Praetical View,” Wilberforce published
his speech in the House of Commons on the abolition of
the slave trade, 1789. Also “An Apology for the Christian
Sabbath,” in 1799. A letter from his pen, “On the Aboli-
tion of the Slave Trade,” addressed to the freeholders and
other inhabitants of Yorkshire, appeared in January, 1807;
and the same year he wrote “Letters to the Gentlemen
and Freeholders of the County of York, occasioned by the
last Election.” He published also the substance of his
speeches on the East India Bill, July, 1813; and an
“ Appeal to the Religion, Justice, and Humanity of the
inhabitants of the British Empire, on behalf of the Negro
Slaves in the West Indies, 1823.” These, so far as I can
gather, are all the publications which he issued or sanc-
tioned during his lifetime; but, since his death, two
volumes of correspondence have been printed under the
editorship of his sons, and they may be properly ranked
amongst his works.
Some of these letters have already appeared in the pre-
A UTHORSHIP. I49
sent volume as illustrative of his spirituallife and sympathy,
other extracts will follow in the next chapters; but it will
not be out of place here to introduce a few passages as
illustrative of the literary merits of these compositions.
“I have been running over Gibbon’s ‘Decline.’ He is
an extraordinary man. Coxcomb all over, but of great
learning, as well as very great show of it. He has the
merit also of never declining a difficulty. But his style
is abominably affected, and perfectly corresponds with
Lord Sheffield's account of his mode of composition ; and
then his paganism is vastly more than that of Tully, or
any other of the old school. I did look at the French
constitution, and saw the same cause for admiration as
in a former instance : I mean admiration of the genius of
the deviser, who could create so many orders and give so
much apparatus, and yet part with so little power. Yet
experience proves that, if ever so minute a germ of poli-
tical power be bestowed on any order who are likely to
have personal weight and influence to throw into the
Scale, liberty, and a division of popular power in the con-
stitution, may in time be the result.”
“I have been reading Dr. Paley's ‘Natural Theology,’
and never was more delighted than I have been with his
mathematical demonstration and elucidation of that cheer-
ing comfort—the goodness of the Almighty. Whilst I
was at lectures at Cambridge, I was completely tired of
‘the high priori road;’ but now in the country, when I
am in the low “primrose path,' I think that I walk surely.
His writings have always charmed me with their perspi.
cuity and strict argument, and I feel my faith confirmed
I50 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
by ‘Evidences,’ and particularly by that nice and accurate
summing up of all the circumstantial evidence in his
‘Horae Paulinae; my reason wonderfully assisted and com-
forted by his ‘Natural Theology;” and every duty and
every exertion encouraged by his “Philosophy.’ I never
read any part of his works, that afterwards I do not feel
(absit superbia dicto) a better man.”
“He is assuredly a charming writer, unequalled in per-
spicuity, and that I doubt not from superior clearness and
precision in his conceptions. His language is as forcible
as the great Dr.'s, without its turgid sesquipedality, if
I may describe that Johnsonian style by a Johnsonian
epithet. Above all, his illustrations are inimitably happy,
nor can I deny that we owe him the highest obligations
for his masterly explication of the various evidences of
Christianity, on all of which he has shed a light, and, by
bringing them to meet in one point, accumulated an
amount of force, speaking philosophically, which to a fair
mind seems irresistible. It gives me pain not to stop
here, but must go on ; and after all this and much more
which might be said (and no one could with more plea-
sure pour forth Dr. Paley's copious eulogy), yet—must I
say it?—he appears to me a most dangerous writer, likely
to lead his readers into errors concerning the essential
nature, genius, and design of Christianity. I cannot now
go at large into this important discussion, but we will
take it ad referendum when we can have a little quiet
domestic chat, to which, by the way, I assure you I look
Worward.” The letter is written to Ralph Creyke, Esq.
“Our debates "(speaking of the House of Commons
AUTHORSHIP. I5I
in 1820, addressing the same person) “are not what they
once were. I am myself, indeed, arrived at such a
period, at least of parliamentary life, very near forty years,
as to have become—
‘Laudator temporis acti
Se puero.’
But without any such prejudice, we contend in a lower
region than when Pitt and Fox, or North and Fox and
Burke, were the combatants; not but that Canning dis-
plays as much talent, and with one exception is as finished
an orator as I ever heard. But yet, when he is at his
best, I am always admiring Canning; when Pitt and Fox
were in full song, they were themselves forgotten, and
the hearer was hurried along by the torrent, without hav-
ing leisure to ask by what name it was distinguished, or
to estimate the height, or the swell, or the rapidity of the
current.”
Writing to his daughter in 1822, with reference to his
eldest grandson, he says: “It may happen that this dear
boy may hereafter in the senate, watch over the matured
growth of some institutions of which a certain grandfather,
long ago laid in the grave, had superintended the tender
and infant shoots ; planting also, in his turn, some young
saplings which his grandchild may hereafter behold in
their full beauty of foliage and exuberance of fruit : or
possibly, what I should much rather covet, he may here-
after enforce from the pulpit those blessed truths which
both his paternal and maternal grandfather had incul-
cated in their day; and Oh, may it be added, which his
own father and mother had so happily exemplified.
I52 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
You may remember that in China, the stream of honour
flows in the opposite direction to that which it takes in
our European countries—I mean men ennoble back-
wards. They reflect their honour on their progenitors.
Both modes have in them something mature, and while
to be the child of a distinguished parent cannot but be a
Credit to any one, so to be the parent of a distinguished
child, every father's and, much more, every mother's feel-
ings will pronounce to be at once an honour and a
delight; one of the greatest, as it is surely one of the
purest, delights that our nature can enjoy in this world of
sin and sorrow.” w
As these are letters addressed to friends, we cannot
expect to find in them any depth of thought ; yet they in-
dicate critical discrimination in reading, a Sagacious per-
ception of merits or demerits in political organisations,
a penetrating judgment of real oratory, liveliness of
fancy, and felicity of diction. Such elements of literary
merit may be found scattered through a correspondence
comprising many hundred letters, some of which run into
too great diffuseness of expression ; but all are written in
a pleasant, easy style, leading the reader on from page to
page without weariness. T hey belong to a period when
epistolary composition occupied much more time and
thought than at present, now that our wonderful postal
and telegraphic system affords irresistible temptations to
brevity; not to mention the enormous demands made on
our energies in a thousand ways, which interfere with the
calm enjoyment of letter writing and letter reading.
Letters written in the last quarter of this century will, we
AUTHORSHIP. I53
fear, make a poor show compared with those of fifty or
cighty years ago. The earlier stage of Wilberforce's life
was in the very age of correspondence, contemporary with
two eminent masters of the art, Cowper and Newton.
The charm of Cowper's letters—their perfect ease, their
“light and sweetness,” and their play of humour, like a
Succession of rainbows, after the dark storms which had
passed over the author's soul—are acknowledged by every
reader: and the wisdom combined with sprightliness,
the happy mode of illustrating points of Christian expe-
rience by familiar incidents—which so strikingly mark
the letters of the vicar of Olney and the rector of St.
Mary, Woolnoth—can never fail to be appreciated by
devout Christians. With neither of these writers, in some
respects, is Wilberforce to be placed on a level : certainly
one misscs in his letters the indescribable sort of charm
which invests those of his contemporaries, but in other
respects—such as knowledge of the world, large experience
gathered from varied intercourse, a comprehensive and
many-sided sympathy, and a peculiar habit of rapidly
passing from one subject to another, as graceful as it is
characteristic of his extraordinary versatility—Wilberforce
is Superior to either of his contemporaries.
I I
CIIAPTER VII.
AXO/l/ZSZZC A/VD SOC/A/. ZZAZ.
-
ILBERFORCE presents a remarkable consistency
of character in the different relationships of life.
The public and private habits of many people ape so
Opposite, that it would be a great mistake to infer from
their conduct in one respect, what they will do in another.
Philanthropy and self-sacrifice gush forth in platform
speeches, without finding any counterpart in an un-
watched retirement. In too many instances there can
be no greater satire upon professions made before admir-
ing crowds than that which appears when the applauded
orator is seen at home, untouched by the spur of habitual
ambition. Peevishness, discontent, and jealousy there
take the place previously occupied by opposite semblances.
Nothing of this sort can be detected in the case of
Wilberforce. ( He was the same beneficent, loveable man
in his own drawing-room, and under the roof of intimate
associates, as he appeared on the floor of the Commons,
or the electioneering hustings, or when occupying the
chair at a religious meeting. )
He did not marry till he was nearly thirty-eight. Then
he had long made his mark as a religious man, as a pro-
/*
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I55
minent politician, and as the Negroes' friend. The lady
of his choice was Barbara Anne, eldest daughter of Isaac
Spooner, Esq., of Elindon Hall, in the county of War-
wick. “Şacta est alea,” are words he wrote on her
acceptance of his offer. “I believe her to be a real
Christian, affectionate, sensible, rational in habits,
moderate in desires and pursuits, capable of bearing -
prosperity without intoxication, and adversity without
repining.” Their wedded happiness for many years
justified the augury of his affection at the commencement
of their union, and his state of mind at the time, as
revealed in his diary, shows how thoroughly he was im-
bued with that faith which watches for, and devoutly
recognises, a Divine providence in all the changes of
human life. *
Wilberforce had several children: William, who recently
died at the age of eighty; Robert Isaac, who became Arch-
deacon of the East Riding of Yorkshire; Samuel, who
rose to the bench as Bishop of Oxford and then of Win-
chester; and Henry William, who is said to have greatly
resembled his father in appearance, and who for some
time held the living at Walmer. Robert Isaac and
Henry William, as is well known, entered the Church of
Rome, and died in that communion. There were two
daughters.
They formed altogether a family to which, as they grew
up, the father became more and more a blessing and a
joy. His parliamentary duties, his numerous benevolent
enterprises, his wide social connections, and his irrepres-
sible tendency to move from place to place, must, in their
I56 WILLIAM WILDERFORCE.
carlier years, when they lived in the nursery and only
saw his genial face at brilliant interva's, have aſſected his
intercourse with his sons and daughters; but when thcy
reached a riper age, his animated and abundant Conver-
sation must have had for them an irresistible charm; and
whilst the outside world admired the orator, their hearts
would be drawn out towards the father and the man.
At one season of the day above others, ſrom the time
they could appreciate what he was doing, they were
taught to enter into the holiest fellowship with him, as he
entered into the holiest fellowship with his Maker; for it
was his wont at half-past nine to meet his ſamily and
household for worship—“always a great thing in his
esteem. At this he read a portion of the Scriptures,
generally of the New Testament, in course, and explained
and enforced it, often with a natural and glowing elo-
quence, always with affectionate earnestness, and an
extraordinary knowledge of God's Word.” Afterwards,
when in one of his rural residences, “he never ſailed to
sally forth for a few minutes—
“To take the air, and hear the thrushes sing.’”
These walks he enjoyed exceedingly as he saw the “abun-
dant dewdrops sparkling in the Sunbeams on the green.”
As his children grew up, he watched them with a holy
solicitude, and we are told in the life of his son, that he
preserved not less than six hundred of his father's letters
ſull of loving counsels. “William Wilberforce was by no
means a young man when these letters began (about fifty-
seven years of age): he was not a man of leisure. Samuel
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 157
was not an only, or even an eldest son, that his father could
concentrate on him the whole, or even the major, part of
his solicitude. He was in the full tide of London life
and parliamentary occupation, he had three other sons to
care for, and besides all this his health was weak, and his
eye-sight failing, so that, in many instances, he had to
mention that he was writing with closed eyes.”
Scenes of domestic enjoyment were sometimes over-
clouded with sad trials. Two distressing bercavements
are recorded. .
In the winter of 1821 his eldest daughter died. The
circumstances of her departure were very affecting, and
the parent was assiduous in spiritual attentions to his
beloved child. Her piety was exceedingly beautiful.
“Sustained by a humble hope of the mercies of God
through her Redeemer and Intercessor, she was enabled
to bear her sufferings with patience and resignation, and
to preserve a composure which surprised even herself.
On the very morning of the last day of her life, she had
desired a female attendant to ask her physician whether
or not there was any hope of her recovery; but “if not,’
she added, “all is well.” “The day before she expired,”
says her father, “she sent all out but her mother and
me, and concluded some declarations of her humble hope
in the mercies of God through Christ with a beautiful
prayer addressed to her Saviour. And she had remarked
to her mother, that she never had before understood the
meaning and value of Christ's intercession.” “When
the hearse and our kind friends were gone, after a short
time I came into my little room at the top of the stairs,
I58 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
where I am now writing, and engaged a while in prayer,
blessing God for His astonishing goodness to me, and
lamenting my extreme unworthiness.”
Another daughter was taken from him in the spring of
1831, and in reference to this circumstance he makes a
striking remark: “I was much impressed yesterday with
the similarity in some respects of my own situation to
that of her dear little innocent, who was undergoing the
operation of vaccination. The infant gave up its little
arm to the operator without suspicion or fear. But
when it felt the puncture, which must have been sharp,
no words can express the astonishment and grief that
followed. What an illustration is this, thought I, of the
impatient feelings we are often apt to experience and
sometimes even to express, when suffering from the dis-
pensations of a Being whose wisdom we profess to
believe to be unerring, whose kindness we know to be
unfailing, whose truth also is sure, and who has de-
clared to us that all things shall work together for good
to those who love Him. I have often heard,” it is
added, “that sailors on a voyage will drink ‘friends
astern,’ till they are half way over, then “friends ahead.’
With me it has been friends ahead this long time.”
In turning over the pages of his “Life and Correspond-
ence,” it amuses me to find how he passed from One
residence to another, and how almost incessantly he was
roving about in diſſerent parts of the kingdom.
For a time, as we have seen, after he became his own
master, he kept up an establishment at Wimbledon.
Rayrigg in Westmoreland is a spot often mentioned in
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I59
his letters and diary, as a favourite resort when tired with
the bustle of London life. His sons tell us, “that for
many years he made Yoxhall Lodge or Rothley Temple
his ordinary summer residence.” Yoxhall was the seat
of his friend the Rev. Thomas Gisborne, where “he
enjoyed uninterrupted privacy combined with the do-
mestic comforts of his friend’s family.” There, “ day
after day,” he pursued “his investigations on the slave-
trade, and in composing his invaluable work upon prac-
tical Christianity.” One day, in 1790, he leſt Yoxhall
Lodge, Mr. Gisborne and Mr. Babington—who helped
him in his anti-slavery toils, and was the owner of Rothley
Temple—accompanying him as far as Tamworth. The
next day he reached London, and plunging at once into
a dinner circle, he says, “how did I regret the innocent
and edifying hilarity of the Lodge.” Two days after he
jots down in his journal, “Went to Wimbledon. Dundas,
Lord Chatham, Pitt, Grenville, Ryder. Much talk about
Burke's book.” It has been often noticed how tantalising
it is in reading these rough, crude entries to find little
more than names and dates, when one thirsts to know
what was said and done at such remarkable interviews,
or rather interviews with such remarkable men; though,
perhaps after all, they did not amount to much more
than one often witnesses when receiving visits from ob-
scure individuals. Presently afterwards, he writes, “It
is most likely, indeed, I shall myself return to Clapham
or some such rural fastness.” Again, “I left Clapham
and came to stay in London; had much to do, many
letters; ”—they used to come in trays full—“saw much
I6O WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
company as usual in Palace Yard”—another of his
abodes. “I cannot invite you here,” he tells a friend
about to visit London, “for during the sitting of Parlia-
ment my house is a mere hotel.” His breakfast-table
was thronged with all sorts of people, friends, acquaint-
ances, strangers—some coming to ask for advice, others
for money. Presently we read, “Behold me now on
my road to Bath, with Henry Thornton for my agreeable
Companion. We are Snug and comfortable, but we would
willingly increase our duet to a trio to admit your honour”
—Mr. Babington. “Now do not suppose that, being
half-choked and Smoked and roasted in town, I am
about to finish in Bath. To have grass up to my door
aſter so long a parching of my heels on the pavement of
London is not a luxury, but necessary for me. I have
therefore leased a country house within reach of the
Pump Room, and so shall enjoy the comforts of a beau-
tiful country residence, whilst with the salubrious waters
of King Bladud, I am washing away the sordes con-
tracted in the course of a long session.” The place was
called Perry Mead. “And then I hear you say, ‘Where
is Perry Mead?’ It is situated in a country which, ex-
cept in the article of water, comes not far behind Cum-
berland and Westmoreland themselves, close to Prior
Park, and about three-quarters of a mile from the Pump
Room.” And when writing this, he adds, “Indepen-
dently of my regard for the inhabitants, I have an affec-
tion for the country of Westmoreland and Cumberland,
which makes me always hail the sight of them, and quit
them with reluctance.” When Henry Thornton heard
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I6I
of the purchase, he said: “I a little lament it on the
ground of the bad economy of it ; for he is a man
who, were he in Norway or Siberia, would find himself
infested with company, since he would even produce a
population for the sake of society in the regions of the
earth where it is the least. His heart, also, is so large
that he never will be able to reſrain from inviting people
to his house. The quiet and solitude he looks for will,
I conceive, be impossible, and the Bath house will be
troubled with exactly the same heap of ſellows as the
Battersea Rise one.” All this relates to his bachelor
days.
After his marriage his head-quarters were in Palace
Yard, and for an occasional retreat he rented of a ſriend
his house on Clapham Common—the same place as is
elsewhere called Broomfield. But he still frequented the
neighbourhood of Bath, and writing from Hull soon
after his wedding, he speaks of going there, saying, “My
plan of life is everywhere the same. The morning I
spend in some sort of reading and writing, taking Mrs.
Wilberforce along with me as much as I can in my
studies and employments. We carry our business out of
doors, and muse or read whilst taking the air and excr-
cise. Dinner and supper are the seasons when I enjoy
the company of my friends; and though I do not push
about the bottle, I can willingly prolong the dinner Con-
versation till it sometimes almost meets the beginning
of our supper conversazione.” In the May of 1804 we
notice him at Broomfield again, enjoying “the first greet-
ings of Summer—the nightingales abundant.” And writ.
I62 WILLIAM WILDERFORCE.
ing from Lyme in Dorsetshire, another resort which
suited him mightily—“a bold coast, a fine sea view, the
clouds often shrouding the tops of the cliſs, a very
varied surface of ground, a mild climate, and either fresh
air or sheltered walks "--he informs Hannah More in
September, 1804: “I am now come with my whole family
to a place where I hope to enjoy something of (to me)
the greatest of all luxuries as well as the best of all
medicines—quiet. Already I have had one or two delec-
table strolls with a Testament, a Psalter, or a Cowper in
my pocket (you won’t resent my classification); and
after I shall have fought through a host of letters—which
are drawn up in array against me, but over which I have
resolved to assign you the precedence, and have Com-
pleted another task, which as being connected with
Abolition naturally devolves on me—I hope to enjoy
many a delightful walk along the hoarse resounding
shore, meditating on better things than poor blind
IIomer knew or sung of.”
In 1808 he meets us at Eastbourne, where he scttled
with his family for summer quarters, and on the way
he carricq his whole household to Barham Court. The
crowd of visitors who dogged him at Broomficla gave
him no peace, and to “associate fully with his wife and
children’’ he had to escape from Clapham. On his return
from Eastbourne he took possession of a new house in
Rensington Gore, which he had just bought on a twenty-
five years' lease. He describes it as baving about three
acres of pleasure-ground and several old trees, walnut
and mulberry of thick foliage, where he could sit and
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I63
read under the shade as if two hundred miles from the
great city. He gave up Broomfield at Clapham with
great regret, and by Settling within a mile of Hyde Park
Corner, he hoped to be more with his family; and by
exchanging the old house in Palace Yard for lodgings on
the Terrace, he hoped to economise his resources and
provide for his extensive charities. But the old fate
pursued him still. There was little more rest for him at
the Gore than at Broomfield, and in 1816 it is noted that
every year multiplied the private claimants on his time,
and this year they abounded from the tale of ordinary
distress to the Duke of Kent, who more than once “called
on him for two hours about his aſſairs, and why going
abroad—hardly used.”
The same year Wilberforce went down to Lowestoft
with his family, and thence made an excursion to the
seat of Joseph John Gurney, at Earlham near Norwich.
“One of our great astronomers,” he remarks to his family,
“has stated it as probable that there may be stars whose
light has been travelling to us from the creation and has
not yet reached Our little planet, and thus some have
accounted for new stars first observed by more recent
astronomers. In this Earlham family a new constellation
has broken upon us, for which you must invent a name, -
as you are fond of star-gazing; and if it indicate a little
monstrosity, as they are apt to give the Collection of stars
the names of strange Creatures—dragons, bears, etc.—the
various parts of which the Earlham assemblage is made
up, may justify some name indicative of queer Combina-
tions; only let it include also all that is to be esteemed
I64 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
and loved, and respected too, and coveted.” Amongst
the large party at dinner Wilberforce mentions the
Dishop of Norwich (Dr. Bathurst), Colonel B and
Lady Emily, Mr. Buxton, Mr. Cunningham, and Mr.
Hudson Gurney.
In 1820 he sold the lease at Kensington, and Scttled
first at Marden Park, in Surrey. Five years later, 1825,
when he resigned his seat in Parliament, he resolved to
leave the metropolis altogether. He engaged a tempo-
rary place of retirement near Uxbridge, and in the
autumn he appears again at Bath to complain afresh of
interruptions. “You are required to second the inſluence
of the waters before, between, and after the glasses by a
liberal quantity of air and exercise ; and if, in despite of
the doctors, you go to your desk, you cannot write for
five minutes without a rat-tat-tat by the knocker, remind-
ing you that you are in a large city, in which it is the
practice to carry on most diligently an incessant system
of calling and carding, against which both payer and
receiver inveigh.” After a sojourn at Bath “he occupied,
until spring, a house at Beckenham, which had been lent
him by a friend, where he enjoyed much of the retirement
he so long had coveted.” He took possession in June
of a freehold residence at Highwood Hill, “a pleasant
spot just beyond the disk of the metropolis,” where, he
said, he should be a little Zemindar, with 140 acres of
land, and cottages all his own. But a week after he was
off into Suffolk : “22nd. Reached Afmpton, the place in
the highest possible beauty, an exquisite oasis.” In 1827
he made a progress through his native county, after an
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I65
absence of almost twenty years, and the journcy he much
cnjoyed, making reflections by the way upon the oaks
and horse-chestnuts, the dark holly, the ſlowering gorse.
“A fine tree,” he says, “always seems to be like a com
munity in itself, with the countless insects that it shelters
and nourishes in its roots and branches ; ” and no visit
at this time gave him greater pleasure than one he paid
to Wentworth House, when Lord Fitzwilliam, whom he
had opposed in the Yorkshire election, “in defiance of
his old hereditary interest, received him with a cordiality
and kindness he could never forget.”
It is a remarkable fact in connection with the social
life of Wilberforce, that his decided profession of Evan-
gelical convictions made little or no difference in his per-
sonal popularity with the highest fashionable circles.
His companionship was sought by the most distinguished
personages, and seems to have been valued all the more
from the restrictions which his principles laid upon his
intercourse. He felt it his duty to abstain ſrom that free
indulgence in worldly society which marked his early
history : on that account people thought the more of
having him present at the festal board. Of this a striking
example occurs in connection with the Prince of Wales.
It has been already noticed that the prince was charmed
with his singing when he was a young man. Years after-
wards, when “the first gentleman of Europe” displayed
gorgeous and extravagant magnificence at the Brighton
Pavilion, he went out of his way to invite the philanthro-
pist to accept the royal hospitality, after a manner not
common with royal personages. The circumstances are
I66 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
related by the honoured guest in a letter to Hannah
More, dated February 1, 1816 :
“You mention my reception at the Pavilion; nothing
could be more gracious, I should rather say, unaffectedly
gentleman-like. He personally invited me to dine with
him, desiring me to fix my day; and when of course I
expressed myself willing any day : “Well, then, to-
morrow. I assure you,” he added, ‘you will hear at my
table nothing you disapprove—I hope, indeed, at no time;
but, if ever there did anything of that kind pass, there
should be nothing of it when you should be with me.’
He invited, as I afterwards heard, Lord Ellenborough to
meet me, and was really quite the English gentleman at
the head of his table. Poor fellow ! I longed to have a
private half-hour with him ; for it is sad work. Dinner
comes on table at six ; at nine the dinner-party goes into
the other rooms, in one of which is music, in another
Cards; and others, in a long gallery 160 feet long, walking
about till a quarter or half-past twelve, and then, on the
prince's retiring, all of us depart. But really, it is a large
part of existence, from six to half-past twelve daily, or
rather nightly. The Princess Charlotte is a fine fair Ger-
man-looking personage, with a sensible Countenance and
a commanding air. I believe, but nothing certain was
known, that there is foundation for the report of her being
likely to become the wife of Prince Coburg, a very hand-
some foreigner, of high blood, and, which is better, no
dominions. By the way, I forgot the civilest part of all
the prince's conduct towards me. Finding invitations to
the evening-parties come pretty thick upon me, I men-
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I67
tioned one evening to Bloomfield that evening engage-
ments broke in upon my family plans; that I was at
Brighton for a quiet life, my boys at home, etc.; and that
though highly honoured and gratified (really true) by His
Royal Highness's kindnesses, I wished to decline frequent
invitations. The prince himself was told of it; and in
the handsomest way possible, begged me to suit my own
convenience; he should always be happy to see me.”
It is now time to turn attention to Wilberforce's private
friendships, in which his social virtues appear with the
brightest lustre. There must have been a great charm in
his intercourse to endear him as it did to William Pitt,
whose historical presence appears to us so cold and stately.
But the great minister must have had a genial nature, and
it received a deep impression from his intimacy with Wil-
berforce, who in his turn fully appreciated those lively
and winning qualities, which from outside observers were
often concealed by official etiquette and political reserve.
When young they indulged together in rather boisteröus
fun. Not to refer again to the Boar's Head party in
honour of Shakespeare, we may mention what are described
as “the sports of the rigid Scipio, and meditative Laelius
in their ungirded hours,” equalled by playfullness in the
garden at Wimbledon, when Pitt's overflowing spirits
carried him to every height of jest. “We found one
morning,” writes his friend, “the fruits of Pitt's earlier
rising in the careful sowing of the garden beds with the
fragments of a dress hat, in which Ryder had overnight
come down from the opera.” .
“It was,” add his biographers, “in this varied and
I68 WILLIAM WILDERFORCE.
familiar intercourse that their mutual affection was ma-
tured : an aſſection which Mr. Wilberforce retaincó.
through life, in spite of difference in politics and on yet
more important subjects, and the remembrance of which
would often cast a momentary sadness over the habitual
checrſulness of his aged countenance.” Outbursts of
juvenile hilarity were followed by more subdued, but not
less hearty, intercourse, and neither on one side or the
other did the friend become merged in the politician.
The graces of an aſſectionate intimacy blended to the last
with their mutual relations and discussions as statesmen ;
and intense concern for the spiritual welfare of one ab-
sorbed in the anxieties of political patriotism and ambi-
tion appears in the letters and journal of Wilberforce down
to his friend’s dying day.
Next to Pitt, perhaps Lord Muncaster shared most
in Wilberforce's intimacy—an intimacy prolonged until
the death of that nobleman, who survived Pitt for many
years. To Lord Muncaster he wrote a playful letter
from abroad in the year 1784, describing his journey with
Milner. “A tutor of a college,” he calls him, “whose
wig I see excites no small astonishment in the Gallic ſer-
ruquiers : he has equipped himself, however, with one of
a smaller size, which he is to put on when we fix.” Sitting
in his carriage on board a boat floating down the Rhine
to Avignon, he tells his friend that the surrounding scenery
would suggest recollections of Eskdale, where his lordship
lived, if nought else led him thither; “But this, my dear
Muncaster,” he goes on to say, “you will do me the jus-
tice to believe is not the case, and I assure you I have
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I69
often been looking out of your window when you have
not seen me, and been endeavouring thus to live Over
again the pleasant days I passed with you in Cumberland.
I frequently ramble in the wood, and I assure you I ap-
prove of your alteration in front, even more than I ex-
pected, for it does still better in theory than in practice.”
Thus he carried with him the image of his friend, with all
the surroundings of his beautiful home in the Lake district,
and could realise the past as present, the distant as near.
And to the same Lord Muncaster, twenty-seven years
afterwards, he writes in solemn words, unconsciously anti-
cipative of what followed not very long afterwards: “Fare-
well, m dear Muncaster. I will not apologise for the
serious strain into which I have just drifted. I know you
wish me to say what is uppermost, to pour forth the effu-
sions of the heart. Farewell once more, and may God
bless you. When that is said seriously, as I say it, well may
it be added, in the phrase of the Orientals—what can I
say more ?” The letter was written in November, 1811;
in September, 1813, Lord Muncaster died, and his will was
found to contain the following words: “I add these two
bequests in way of legacies—one to my very early and
much esteemed good friend, Henry Duncombe, of Cop-
grove, in the county of York; and one to my truly valued
and much regarded friend, William Wilberforce, Esq.,
member for the said county—of Ioo guineas each, as a
small proof and testimony of the very sincere friendship
I felt towards them during the time I walked with them
in this vale of tears and sorrowing.”
Between the two distant dates of the earliest and last
I 2
I70 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
letter just noticed, covering the space of more than a
quarter of a century, letter after letter went from Wilber-.
force to Muncaster, full of thoughts, sentiments, and allu-
sions indicative of the closest friendship.
There is a remarkable passage in one written Septem-
ber, 1786, after adverting to a recent calamity : “Oh, my
dear Muncaster, how can we go on as if present things
were to last for ever, when so often reminded by accidents
like this that the fashion of this world passeth away.
Every day I live I see greater reason in considering this
life but as a passage to another. And when summoned
to the tribunal of God, to give an account of all things we
have done in the body, how shall we be confounded by
the recollection of those many instances, in which we
have relinquished a certain, eternal for an uncertain, tran-
sitory good l You are not insensible to these things, but
you think of them rather like a follower of Socrates than a
disciple of Jesus. You see how frankly I deal with you;
in truth, I can no otherwise so well show the interest I
take in your happiness; these thoughts are uppermost in
my heart, and they will come forth when I do not repress
my natural emotions.” How infinitely preferable is this
Christian plain dealing to all the compliments of varnished
veneer with which many religious people seek to adorn
even their private and confidential correspondence. When
Wilberforce sent his friend a copy of the “Practical View”
it secured, as already noticed, that friend's highest appreci-
ation, and probably served to guide his religious thoughts
afterwards into decidedly Christian paths. A genial out-
burst meets us in a January letter of the first year in this
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I7I
century: “Merry Christmases and Happy New Years,
and all the good wishes that ever were poured forth from
the fullest reservoir of benevolence within the heart of
man ; or rather which, like some rivers, gushed out spon-
taneously with a force not to be resisted ; all these have
inundated me, and still I remain dry and silent. Oil, we
know, resists water more than anything, and if I were po-
lished all over with the costly varnish of St. James, it might
be accounted for; but that a man, who has not shown his
face at Court for these eighteen months, should thus suffer
his friends to have so slippery a hold of him is wonderful
indeed—not to be accounted for on the ordinary principles
of human depravity. Yet though so long silent, I have
not been unfeeling, and, though I have kept my emotions
to myself, I have been warmed with cordial good wishes
for the happiness of you and yours. And now, though
somewhat of the latest, accept my hearty prayers for your
welfare here and hereafter.” Over and over again there
rise to the surface complaints of the want of quiet and
rest, which the natural habits of the writer, no less than
his circumstances, rendered it extremely difficult of attain-
ment; and he amusingly describes his unrestful sensations
by saying: “There is certainly a something which is very
peculiar, even stout people feel it : with a blazing sun
there is a rawness which is not dulcified, just as you some-
times find an acid which no sugar will overpower.” In
felicitous phraseology he recognises a harmony between
Lord Muncaster's sentiments and his own: “We exactly
agree—I repeat it—'tis as if your country, which always,
you know, abounded in echoes, had echoed back to me
I72 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
the feelings which with a loud voice I had poured forth
to my friend in Eskdale.” He never misses a fair oppor-
tunity of pressing on his noble friend the immense im-
portance of inspired truths. “Happy they,” he says in
May, 1804, “who pursue those paths which even here
are alone paths of peace, though pleasantness may some-
times (precarious pleasantness) be found in other ways, and
which alone will at length conduct us to permanent and
solid happiness. Oh, my dear Muncaster, press forward in
these ways. The Scriptures, prayer, with humble reliance
on our Redeemer and Intercessor and on the aids of His
promised Spirit—these are the sure means of progress.”
Presents of field spoil, obtained by chase or gun, seem to
have laden in those days—when game was not bought
or sold as now-the waggons or coaches, which plied
between Muncaster Castle and the metropolis; for Wilber-
force, in the sporting season of 1807, writes: “I am tired
of thanking you for game, though you are never tired of
sending it.” Two years afterwards there turns up a letter
beginning, “‘And where is Wilber?' I hear you saying.
Near Newport Pagnell. Out comes Cary and the inventive
genius and geographical knowledge, and the young ones
are set to work. But I defy you all. The truth is, I had
been long looking round for a ready-furnished house.”
Hunting after houses, furnished or unfurnished, seems to
have been one of the master joys of Our philanthropist's
life, and he candidly says: “I must own that from my
earliest days—at least, my earliest travelling days—I never
passed a parsonage in at all a pretty village without my
mouth watering to reside in it. And this longing has
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I73
been still more powerful since the only objection, that of
solitude, has been removed by my bringing my own
society along with me. The best of this place is, that
though the immediate neighbourhood has no other beau-
ties than those of peaceful rural scenery, yet we are near
the scene of Cowper's rambles; and devoted as I am
to Cowper, the idea of treading in his track is not a little
delightful. It is quite classic ground to me, and I shall
read both his prose and his verse here with a double re-
lish. I have once already (but the day was bad, and I
mean to do it again) carried some cold meat to a vener-
able old oak to which he was strongly attached”—the Oak
at Yardley, Hastings. I must wind up these glances at
a pleasant correspondence, running over years of faithful
friendship, with the urgent invitation contained in one of
his later letters: “Though you have stayed till all around
you is so beautiful that you can scarcely persuade your-
Self to quit the loves of the Castle, yet come you must, or
I shall send the sergeant-at-arms to disturb your privacy;
and what is more, you must bring your daughters with you,
or they also shall be summoned, on some pretence or
other, to give evidence concerning the practicability of a
tunnel through Scawfell to facilitate your communication
with Windermere. We abound with projects this session,
and there are some little less than extraordinary.”
Another of Wilberforce's early and intimate friends was
Dr. Milner, the well-read scholar—“a burly man, with a
Johnsonian manner and loud, peremptory voice.” Mr.
Colquhoun thus paints the two friends: “So when they seat
themselves for conference and the subject interests them,
I74 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
and the humble-minded statesman would learn the views
of the Dean, sure as fate interruptions come. A new
book appears, or the latest number of the Review, and
Wilberforce must just open it and cut a few pages, and
take a peep ; or a kitten creeps along the verandah and
he must catch it ; listening of course all the while, but
with a divided and dubious air. Then the gruff voice of
the old Don breaks out: ‘Now, Wilberforce, listen, for
no power will make me repeat what I am going to say.”
And the gentle philanthropist, all excuses and Smiles, sits
down again and promises attention ; when, alas for human
purposes, one of his boys, or the child of a friend, bursts
in, claps his hands in glee, and Sues for a kiss—all the
good intentions are forgotten ; and while he pursues the
enchanters, the vexed Dean disappears.”
Milner seems to have looked with some suspicion on
his friend's proceedings, especially on his intercourse with
all sorts of people; though at the same time he thought him
misrepresented. A stupid story went the round, of Wilber-
force having a prayer-book in the Bath Pump Room and
saying his prayers there. “It really amounts to down-
right hatred and persecution,” says the Doctor; “nor have
I the least doubt that the person who writes in this manner
would do you personal injury if he could with impurity.
I have no question that he is some violent democratic dis-
senter, and perhaps if you could unkennel himsome private
anecdotes between you and him would turn up.” The
spirit of the allusion to some “violent democratic dissenter,”
and the meaning of the reference to “private anecdotes,”
are unmistakeable. Milner supported the repressive policy
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I75
of Pitt, and told Wilberforce he hoped he would not be a
dupe to “the dishonest opposition,” glad to “make use of
him inhunting down” the minister. He warned him against
“the artifices of Fox and Sheridan.
the kind of influence sometimes brought to bear on Our phi-
lanthropic statesman, when, restive under party bonds, he
sought to take an independent position, and support what
he believed to be true and right. Also, we find the same
clergyman very chary about attending a Bible-meeting at
” And in all this we see
Cambridge, and much afraid of doing anything which
would not receive the approval of the highest ecclesiastical
dignitaries; yet the character given him by Wilberforce is
such as to show him worthy of the friendship he enjoyed,
for he speaks of “his cheerfulness, good nature, and powers
of social entertainment.” Milner died in his friend's house
at Kensington Gore. “Never,” says the survivor, “was
there an easier dismission, which is the more observable be-
cause he had fears of the pain of dying: when he was told
that he was in danger, he grew more composed and calm
than he had been before. It is very odd, but I felt rather
stunned than melted. Spent the day, after a short prayer,
chiefly in writing to diſſerent friends.” Wilberforce went
down to Cambridge, where Milner was buried, and followed
his remains to the grave, and records how Daniel Wilson
in a funeral discourse “seized upon the chief constituents
of his character—his ponderous sense, his tenderness and
kindness, his solid and experimental piety.”
James Stephen, who became brother-in-law to Wilber-
force by marrying his sister, enjoyed his confidential
friendship, and helped him much in his anti-slavery
176 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
labours. Wilberforce speaks of him “as one of the most
upright of men,” and declares that to lose Stephen as an
ally in the great enterprise would be an “irremediable *
loss. Stephen well understood not only Wilberforce's cha-
racter but his position also ; and whilst Milner and others
doubted the wisdom of his friend's large hospitality and
Comprehensive acquaintance, Stephen thus expresses a
different opinion on the subject :
“There is a peculiar and very important species of
usefulness to friends and acquaintances for which Wil-
berforce's character and manners fit him in an extra-
ordinary degree, and this talent can nowhere, perhaps,
be traded with to greater profit than at Kensington. I
think, too, that his public usefulness is promoted by
having so respectable a mansion so much in the eye of
the public, and within reach of all who have business with
him, or to whom his attention as leader in great public
causes ought to be paid. Constituted as the world is,
example and influence will be the more efficacious the
more personal Consequence is attached to them ; and
personal consequence will be measured by strangers in a
Certain degree by external appearances. . . . In any
material degree to exclude guests would not only be to
impair Wilberforce's usefulness, but to change his nature.
If Wilberforce were less hospitable, sure I am his
children would see less of what may be most useful to
them in his example. They would have less of that im-
portant and difficult lesson, how to live with the world and
yet not be of the world. They would be less likely to
learn how to have their conversation in heaven without
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 177
renouncing the society of man; how to be cheerful in
company, and to please both friends and strangers with-
out any sacrifice of Christian character.”
Stephen, claiming the privilege of close relationship,
used to take his brother-in-law to task for some of his
proceedings. But the rebuked never loved the rebuker
one whit the less on that account. “Go on, my dear sir,
and welcome,” he would say. “Believe me, I wish you
not to abate anything of the force or frankness of your
animadversions. Openness is the only foundation and
preservative of friendship. Let me claim from you at all
times your undisguised opinion.” Stephen called Wil-
berforce, in relation to the anti-slavery cause, “the Moses
thus
5 y
of the Israelites, though a courtier of Pharaoh,
happily hitting upon the strength and the weakness of his
friend's character. And when he said this in so many
words, he apologised for the presumption. If Stephen
held up a true mirror sometimes to Wilberforce, Wilber-
force habitually exerted a subduing influence on Stephen,
who was a rather impetuous person ; and he ends one of
his letters to him by subscribing himself, “Yours, my
dear and faithful friend, the medium of my life, ever very
affectionately.” And again, “You are and ever have been
kind to me beyond a brother's kindness, and I think of
it often with wonder as well as with humiliation and
gratitude.” -
9.Stephen describes Wilberforce “as the most perfect
and, at the same time, the most natural and unconscious
actor who ever appeared off the stage. He had such
histrionic powers when he was in his usual health and
178 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
*.
Spirits, that into whatever society he fell the eye of every
person present was gradually fixed on his countenance
and watching his gestures. So homely a person and so
eloquent a demeanour were scarcely ever united.”
The name of Henry Thornton, Member of Parliament
for Southwark, son of John Thornton, the city mer-
chant, mentioned before in these pages, often occurs in
Wilberforce's biography. They were very intimate.
Henry Thornton was a man of culture, and rising above
the practical business of commerce, he formed large views
of public affairs; and, destitute of his friend’s imagina-
tion, voice, and attractive manner, he compensated for
the want by his mastery of facts and his insight into
principles. He commanded attention in the House of
Commons, and supported Wilberforce in his great mea-
sures. He could bear with the same equanimity the
reviling and the applause of the multitude at the South-
wark hustings, and told his children one day after a great
electioneering triumph : “I would rather have a shake of
the hand from good old John Newton than the cheers of
all that foolish mob, who praise one they don’t know
why.” One thing for which they did praise him all under-
stood; and the doggerel lines circulated amongst his con-
stituents were true to the letter—
6% Nor place nor pension e'er got he
For self or for connection ;
We shall not tax the treasury
By Thornton's re-election.”
And in this respect the two friends were of one heart and
of one mind. Wilberforce had wonderful confidence in
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I79
Thornton's judgment. Sometimes, when puzzled about
voting, he would lift up his eye-glass, and turn to the
bench where sat the tall and stately representative of the
Borough, and then dart to the spot like a fire-fly, and
amidst divers gesticulations which amused neighbouring
members, would ask for information and advice, and then
return to his own place, and vote accordingly. I am
indebted to Mr. Colquhoun for these particulars, and from
him I draw a good description of a garden party at
Clapham, when Thornton was host and Wilberforce was
one of the guests.
“The sheltered garden behind, with its arbeil trees and
elms and Scotch firs, as it lay so still, with its close-
shaven lawn, looked gay on a May afternoon, when
groups of young and old seated themselves under the
shade of the trees, or were scattered Over the grounds.
Matrons of households were there, who had strolled in to
enjoy a social meeting ; and their children busied them-
selves in sports with a youthful glee, which was cheered,
not checked, by the presence of the elders. For neigh-
bourly hospitality and easy friendship were features of that
family life. Presently, streaming from adjoining villas or
crossing the Common, appeared others who, like Henry
Thornton, had spent an occupied day in town, and now
resorted to this well-known garden to gather up their
families and enjoy a pleasant hour. Hannah More is there,
with her sparkling talk; and the benevolent Patty, the
delight of young and old; and the long-faced, blue-eyed
Scotchman, with his fixed, calm look unchanged as an aloe
tree, known as the Italian Director, one of the kings of
I8O WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
Leadenhall Street; and the gentle Thane, Lord Teign-
mouth, whose easy talk flowed on, like a southern brook,
with a sort of drowsy murmur ; and Macaulay stands by
listening, silent, with hanging eyebrows ; and Babington,
in blue coat, dropping weighty words with husky voice;
and young listeners, starting into life, who draw round
the thoughtful host, and gather up his words—the young
Grants, and young Stephen, and Copley, a ‘very clever
young lawyer.’ They handle many points, and give
forth their views—themes for the academy—on science
and philosophy; at times on practical policy, bullion and
currency, and sinecures and reforms; grave questions of
polity, the orders in Council, Napoleon's threats, the pres-
sure on our blockaded shores, the young Chancellor of
the Exchequer's first Budget speech, and the brightening
hopes of the Abolition cause ; the Ministry of the Talents,
will they stand? Windham's crotchets, and Grey's acute-
ness, and Lord Granville's stately reserve. But whilst
these things are talked of in the shade, and the knot of
wise men draw close together, in darts the member for
Yorkshire from the green fields to the south, like a
sunbeam into a shady room, and the faces of the old
brighten, and the children clap their hands with joy. He
joins the group of the elders, catches up a thread of their
talk, dashes off a bright remark, pours a ray of happy
illumination, and for a few moments seems as wise, as
thoughtful, and as Constant as themselves. But this
dream will not last, and these watchful young eyes know
it. They remember that he is as restless as they are, as
fond of fun and movement. So, on the first youthful
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I8I
challenge, away flies the volatile statesman. A bunch of
flowers, a ball is thrown in sport, and away dash, in
joyous rivalry, the children and the philanthropist. Law
and statesmanship forgotten, he is the gayest child of
them all.”
Amongst Wilberforce's numerous friends, Mr. Harford,
of Blair Castle, deserves special reference, on account of
his numerous and interesting “Recollections of Wilberforce
during nearly Thirty Years.” He describes his first inter-
view with him at the house of Mr. Henry Thornton :
“I seem at this moment to see him coming in with a
smiling, animated countenance, and a lively vivacity of
movement and manner, exchanging kind Salutations with
his friends, whose faces lighted up with pleasure at his
entry.” At this time, and till within a very few years of
his death, he wore powder, and his dress and appearance
were those of a thorough gentleman of the old school.
Harford soon became intimate, spent a Sunday with him
from time to time, dining at three, and going to the Lock
Chapel in the evening at six, after which he occupied
the bachelor's room at Kensington Gore. Describing
excursions with him this friend remarks, “We were
often amused at the capacities of his pockets, which
carried a greater number of books than would seem, if
enumerated, credible ; and his local memory was such
that in drawing out any author he seemed instantaneously
to light on the passage which he wanted. In addition
to the stores of his pockets, a large green bag full of
books filled a ‘corner of his carriage ; and when we
stopped at our inn in the evening, it was his delight to
I82 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
have this bag in the parlour, and to spread part of its
stores over the table. He kindled at the very sight of
books.” He also tells how he accompanied Wilberforce
to Newgate, to hear Mrs. Fry read the Scriptures to the
female prisoners, with a voice so clear, sweet, and impres-
sive that it brought tears into the eyes of her hearers.
He relates how once, when a sense of duty took him to
a public meeting, as his child was lying ill, parental
anxiety succeeded public philanthropy. On his return,
in the carriage “he became all the father,” and his
emotion was great, until his wife called to him as he
entered the house, “Wilber, our child is better l’” This
gossiping friend, almost at times emulating Boswell,
further informs us how, at one period, Wilberforce kept
open house in Palace Yard, and from seventeen to twenty
guests would drop in to a light dinner about three
o'clock, Lord Eldon not unfrequently being one of the
party. “It delighted us,’ the host used to say, “to see
our friends in this way, especially as it gave us the oppor-
tunity of talking upon any important points of public
business without any great sacrifice of time. Those who
came in late put up with a mutton-chop or beefsteak.
The Duke of Montrose called in one day as we were
thus employed, but declined taking anything. Seeing,
however, so many around him busy with the knife and
fork, he said, “I cannot resist any longer,” and down he
sat to a mutton-chop. “Ah, Duke l’” said I, “if your
French cook could see you now, he would be quite
affronted.” Wilberforce liked an early dinner, and
throughout the whole of it his mind was actively at work.
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LII’E. I83
At his own house I have often been amused to observe
him carrying on a discussion while in the act of carving
a large joint; often addressed by others, and often inter-
lacing his subject with exclamations at the bluntness of
the knife, or paying little attentions to his guests, and
then taking up the broken thread of his subject, and
pursuing it amidst the same sort of interruptions.”
At Kensington Gore Harford met Sir Walter Scott,
who in the course of the evening described the peace
illumination at Edinburgh in a way “so spirited and
picturesque” that the host and the guest agreed he must
be the author of “Waverley,” though at that time he
wore the mask close fitting to his face. How Wilberforce
delighted to talk of Pitt, his speeches, struggles, triumphs;
how single-handed he coped with Fox, Burke, Sheridan,
North, and others, rising “to the full level of the occa-
sion,” and soon proving “himself to be in no way inferior
to his illustrious father in the finest qualities of an orator
and a statesman.” And respecting the early anti-slavery
debates, when Pitt by common consent bore away the
palm, his friend would exclaim, “Those were glorious
nights in the House of Commons !” Of Canning he
observed, “You see the joke sparkling in his eye before
he gives it utterance. It appeared to me to furnish a sort
of intellectual parallel to the natural fact that light travels
quicker than sound — you behold the flash before you
hear the report. So varied are Canning's qualifications,
such his eloquence, wit, and humour, and so striking his
figure and manner, that I really must account him, on
the whole, as perſect. an Orator as I have ever known.”
I84 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
A lady once said to Wilberforce, in Mr. Harford's hear.
ing, “How happy Mr. —
and I should be to invite,
while you are with us, any friends of yours whom
you would like to meet !” He took her hand, and said,
smiling, “That's very kind ; but I so enjoy this friendly
circle—and when I meet with Tokay I don't wish to add
water to it.” The topic of conversation one day being
the misery to which Cowper the poet was exposed by his
extreme sensibility at a public school—“Yes,” he ex-
claimed, “it was a sensitive plant grasped by a hand of
iron.” On hearing of a mammoth found entire wedged
in ice, he remarked, “It has only been hanging in
Nature's larder for the last five thousand years.”
While “the cheerfulness of a most happy temper, which
more than sixty years had only mellowed,” gladdened his
domestic intercourse, the family meetings witnessed by
his highly favoured guest, Mr. Harford, “were enlivened
by his conversation—gay, easy, and natural, yet abounding
in manifold instruction drawn from books, from life, and
from reflection. Though his step was less elastic than of
old, he took his part in out-of-door Occupation, climbing
the neighbouring Downs” — he was then at Marden
Park—“with the walking parties, pacing in the shade of
the tall trees, or gilding with the old man's Smile the
innocent cheerfulness of younger pastimes.”
The last visit Wilberforce paid to Blair Castle is thus
described: “He was in great vigour of mind, and in
most animated spirits; full of affection, and full of en-
joyment. Sure I am that neither we nor our guests can
ever forget the delightful conversations and intercourse
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I85
which we enjoyed together, heightened and enlivened by
Christian fellowship and aſſection. During his stay the
anniversary of our girls’ school occurred, when he, to-
gether with several excellent clergymen who had break-
fasted with us, accompanied Mrs. Harford and me to
the schoolroom, and heard the children examined ; after
which, at our request, he addressed them in a most kind
and impressive manner. It was interesting to observe
how adroitly the veteran statesman and Orator accommo-
dated both his language and ideas to the capacities of
young children; and, in concluding, he made them all
laugh by saying, with reference to a set of reward bonnets
and plum-cakes just about to be distributed, ‘Now, my
dear children, don’t eat the bonnets and put the Cakes
on your heads.’”
|But I must terminate these sketches of Wilberforce in
connection with distinguished gentlemen friends—passing
over, I am sorry to say, such men as Zachary Macaulay,
Sir Robert Inglis, and others—to notice one of the
gentler sex to whom Wilberforce was much attached.
It seems a mere matter of Course that such a man as
Wilberforce should be the friend of such a woman as
Hannah More. There is, perhaps, no lady within the
last hundred years of whom we have heard so much
as this friend of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, and
David Garrick in her earlier days; and this famous
mistress of Cowslip Green and Bailey Wood and
most popular authoress of a later period. How she
gathered round her the choicest of society, and talked
and wrote so as to charm first the fashionable, and next
I3
I86 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
the religious, circles of her time, attracting visitors with-
out end to her pleasant, fairy-like retreat, with its well-
known verandah, its blooming flower-gardens,—amidst
which Patty, Betty, and Sally lost no opportunity of call-
ing attention to the talents and virtues of their renowned
sister. It is amusing to read the rather patronising way
in which she alludes to Wilberforce and his cause. “This
most important cause,” she wrote in 1787, “has very
much occupied my thoughts this summer. The young
gentleman who has embarked in it with the zeal of an
apostle has been much with me, and engaged all my little
interest and all my affections in it.” Afterwards, as the
friendship ripened, we find her saying, “That young
gentleman's character is one of the most extraordinary I
ever knew for talents, virtue, and piety. It is difficult not
to grow wiser and better every time one converses with
him.” This friendship, early commenced, lasted down
to the lady's death. The visits they paid each other were
numerous, and so were the letters that passed between
them. No more beautiful illustration can be found of
Wilberforce's increasing beneficence than the following
account by Mrs. Martha More of the visit he paid in
August, 1789 : “We recommended Mr. W. not to
quit the country until he had spent a day in surveying
the cliffs of Cheddar. We easily prevailed upon him, and
the day was fixed ; but after a little reflection he changed
his mind, appeared deeply engaged in some particular
study, fancied time would scarcely permit, and the whole
was given up. The subject of the cliffs was renewed at
breakfast; we again extolled their beauties and urged the
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 187
pleasure he would receive by going. He was prevailed
on, and went. I was in the parlour when he returned ;
with the eagerness of vanity (having recommended the
pleasure) I inquired how he liked the cliffs P. He replied
they were very fine, but the poverty and distress of the
people was dreadful. This was all that passed. He
retired to his apartment and dismissed even his reader.
I said to his sister and mine, I feared Mr. W. was not
well. The cold chicken and wine put into the carriage
for his dinner were left untouched. Mr. W. appeared at
supper seemingly refreshed with a higher feast than we
had sent with him. The servant at his desire was dis-
missed, when he began, “Miss Hannah More, something
must be done for Cheddar.” He then proceeded to a
particular account of his day—of the inquiries he had
made respecting the poor ; there was no resident minister,
no manufactory, nor did there appear any dawn of com-
fort, either temporal or spiritual. The method or possi-
bility of assisting them was discussed till a late hour. It
was at length decided in a few words by Mr. W.'s
exclaiming, “If you will be at the trouble I will be at the
expense.” Something Commonly called an impulse crossed "
my mind and told me it was God's work, and it would
do; and though I never have, nor probably shall, recover
the same emotion, yet it is my business to water it with
watchfulness, and act up to its then dictates.” The
Cheddar schools resulted from this impression, and in
after life he generally visited the neighbourhood once a
year to witness their condition.
Whatever admiration Hannah More might have for the
I88 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
beneficent young gentleman, that young gentleman re-
turned it, as appears from a panegyric on her preserved
by his sons: “I was once applied to by a Yorkshire
clergyman who desired me to assist him in obtaining a
dispensation for non-residence upon his cure. He had
been used, he said, to live in London with the first lite-
rary circles, and now he was banished into the country
far from all intellectual society. I told him that I really
could not in conscience use any influence I possessed to
help him ; and then I mentioned to him the case of Miss
Hannah More, who in like manner had lived with John-
son, Garrick, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, etc., and was so
Courted by them all, and who had a great taste for such
Society; and yet had broken away from its attractions, and
shut up herself in the country to devote her talents to the
instruction of a set of wretched people sunk in heathen
darkness, among whom she was spending her time and
fortune in schools and institutions for their benefit, going
in all weathers a considerable distance to watch over
them, until at last she had many villages and some thou-
sands of children under her care. This is truly magnifi-
cent, the really sublime in character. I delight to think .
of it, and of the estimation in which the sacrifice she
made will be held in another world.”
Their correspondence with each other abounds in
interest, and Wilberforce's humour and affection come
out charmingly in letters written to this much-attached
friend. People used to allege their fear of troubling him
as a reason for not writing; no doubt she had done the
same. So he administers a rebuke which it must have
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. 189
been pleasant for the lady to receive : “I am seldom so
much provoked by irritations of the minor orders as by
my real friends, especially if they are agreeable Corre-
spondents, when they gravely allege my want of time and
eyesight as the reason for their entire silence, or if not
quite so bad as that, for their folbing me off with a short
letter. I beg you never to try the experiment on me
again. In truth, the more numerous my letters of busi-
ness or of boring are, the more do I need the cordial of
an epistle from a friend. It is squeezing a cheering juice,
the natural expressed produce of friendly affection, into a
turbid fermenting mixture, which really at this day teems
with as many nauseous ingredients as Macbeth's witches'
caldron—“the hell-broth,’ as Shakespeare terms it—while
green bag, like the roll in the soup, floats in the midst of
the mass, imparting its pungency and flavour to the whole
Composition. Alas, alas, my dear friend we are in a sad
state.” The words “green bag” cannot awaken in
younger people the associations which they do in those
who have seen above seventy summers and winters.
When this letter was written to Hannah More the King,
and the Court, and the Parliament, and the Commonalty
were mad about poor Queen Caroline's trial; and the
green bag containing evidence on the question was on
everybody's lips, and denounced in every form of denun-
ciation by those who took part with the wife of George
IV. against her husband. What follows in this same
letter will be equally understood by young and old, and
afford to all equal pleasure. “In consequence of a very
civil message from the Duchess of Kent,” then at Wey-
I90 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
mouth, “I waited on her this morning. She received me
with her ſºme, animated child on the floor with her playthings,
of which Z soon became one. She was very civil, but as
she did not sit down, I did not think it right to stay above
a quarter of an hour ; and there having been a female
attendant and a gentleman present, I could not well get
upon any topic so as to carry on a continued discourse.
She apologised for not speaking English well enough to
talk it, but intimated a hope that she might talk it better
and longer with me at some future time. She spoke of
her situation, and her manner was quite delightful.”
Joseph John Gurney, the well-known philanthropic
Friend and preacher, who lived at Earlham Hall near
Norwich, has been already mentioned ; and the admira-
tion he had for Wilberforce appeared in the delight with
which he welcomed his visits to Earlham, and the oppor-
tunities he took of enjoying his society whenever he had
the chance. In some “Reminiscences of Dr. Chalmers,”
printed but not published, he gives an interesting account
of a visit he paid to Wilberforce at Highwood Hall, in
company with the famous Scotch divine, who at that time
was guest with Mr. Samuel Hoare, a relative of Joseph
John Gurney’s. “Our morning passed delightfully. I
have seldom observed a more amusing and pleasing Con-
trast between two great men than between Wilberforce
and Chalmers. Chalmers is stout and erect with a broad
countenance, Wilberforce minute and singularly twisted.
Chalmers both in body and mind moves with deliberate
step ; Wilberforce, infirm as he is in his advanced years,
flies about with astonishing activity, and while with nimble
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I9I
finger he seizes on everything that adorns or diversifies his
path, his mind flits from object to object with unceasing
versatility. I often think that particular men bear about
with them an analogy to particular animals.” (This was
an idea of the founder of Quakerism, George Fox.)
“Chalmers is like a good-tempered lion, Wilberforce is
like a bee. Chalmers can say a pleasant thing now and
then, and laugh when he has said it, and he has a strong
touch of humour in his countenance; but in general he is
grave, his thoughts grow to a great size before they are
uttered. Wilberforce sparkles with life and wit, and the
characteristic of his mind is rapid productiveness. A man
might be in Chalmers' company for af, hour, especially in
a party, without knowing who or what he was, though in
the end he would be sure to be detected by some display
of powerful originality. Wilberforce, except when fairly
asleep, is never latent. Chalmers knows how to veil him-
self in a decent cloud, Wilberforce is always in sunshine.
Seldom, I believe, has my mind been more strung to a
more perpetual tune of love and praise. Yet these per-
sons, distinguished as they are from the world at large
and from each other, present some admirable points of
resemblance. Both of them are broad thinkers and
liberal feelers; both of them are arrayed in humility,
meekness, and charity ; both appear to hold self in little
reputation ; above all, both love the Lord Jesus Christ
and reverently acknowledge Him to be their only
Saviour.”
Wilberforce greatly admired Robert Hall for his
pulpit eloquence and colloquial power—saying of him:
I92 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
“He is such a man as I could wish some of our poli-
ticians to hear, who may disrelish the same truths sub-
stantially when delivered with less depth of thought and
force of diction. I really cannot place him below any
of our late great men, and those, with the exception of
Canning, I rate far higher than our greatest statesmen
of this day; I mean for intellectual and Oratorical
powers.” But the intercourse between the eloquent
statesman and the eloquent divine seems to have been
very limited. We cannot gather much from Mr. Harford
72
on the subject in his “Life; ” and it is only provoking to
find Wilberforce noticing a sermon he had heard from
Hall, as : “Excellent indeed ; language simple ; thoughts
just, deep, and often elevating; excelling in experimental
applications of Scripture often, with immense effect;” and
aſter saying in an abbreviated style, “He begins calmly
and simply, warms as proceeds, till vehement and ener-
getic and impassioned,” proceeding to despatch an inter-
view with the preacher in these words : “Breakfasted
at Henry Thornton's to meet Hall, Hannah More, and
Patty. Hall very clever, unaffected, and pleasing in
conversation.” But with respect to his intercourse with
another Nonconformist minister, William Jay of Bath, we
have some copious details in an autobiography written
by the latter; and he informs us that he heard him more
than once say, “Though I am an Episcopalian by
education and conviction, I yet feel such a Oneness and
sympathy with the cause of God at large, that nothing
would be more delightful than my communing once
every year with every Church that holds the Head even
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE, I93
Christ.” Wilberforce seems to have dealt very plainly
but very tenderly with the popular preacher at Bath,
pointing out what he conceived to be defective in his
sermons, and giving him appropriate and affectionate
advice, which instead of being resented was wisely valued.
Mr. Jay in 1831 dedicated to him the well-known work
entitled “Evening Exercises,” and he submitted the
dedication to him before it was printed. He received in
reply a letter saying, “I cannot be satisfied without
assuring you with my own pen, that I feel honoured as
well as gratified by the proof of your esteem and regard
for me, which you gave by desiring me to place my
name at the head of your publication. It gives me
unaffected pleasure to reflect that my name will thus be
associated with yours; and may this, my dear sir, with
all your other labours of love be abundantly blessed.”
But it is quite clear that the attendance of Wilberforce
at Argyll Chapel, about the beginning of the century, fell
off in aſter years; for writing in 1826 he says: “I take the
pen in my own hand to add that I cannot but sincerely
regret my not having had the pleasure and profit of hear-
ing you and joining with you in worship during this visit
to Bath. Both you and I, I believe, and indeed I cannot
doubt it, are much more closely bound to each other by
the Substance of Christian principles (besides a personal
friendship which has long been, and will continue, I
trust, during Our lives to be a subject of mutual pleasure
to both of us), than we are separated by any differences
as to the outward form and mechanism of religion.”
During subsequent visits to Bath Wilberforce continued
*
I94 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
the most friendly intercourse with Jay, and the latter
describes an affecting interview with him on the occasion
of his last sojourn there, when he was “lying upon the
sofa;” and after expressing his continued interest in the
Bible Society remarked, “I see what is the best way to
reduce an attachment to the subordinate things in
religion; it is to keep up a supreme regard to the more
important one ; for we shall then have little time and
less inclination to engage in the strivings and strifes
of bigots. I see much in the state of the world and
Church I deplore, yet I am not among the Croakers. I
think real religion is spreading; and I am persuaded will
increasingly spread, till the earth is filled with the know-
ledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”
Another Dissenting minister, Dr. Leifchild, already
mentioned, has left a very lively reminiscence of his
friend at the Gore. “Mr. Wilberforce,” he says, “was
an occasional attendant on my ministry at Kensington.
He used to send for me to his home to consult with me
on particular subjects. I found him a most fidgetty little
man, doing several things at Once : Stooping down on his
knees to seal a letter at the table, and talking all the
while about household affairs to Mrs. Wilberforce ; send-
ing out messages to the persons waiting in the hall; then
apologising to me and requesting me to remind him what
he had sent to me for.” Mrs. Wilberforce seems to have
resembled her husband. “I know,” said a friend in a
letter to the Bishop of Oxford, “you have thé faculty of
your good mother of writing, talking, and listening all at
once.” “He was accustomed,” Dr. Leifchild adds, “to
I)OMESTIC AND SOCIAL, LII*E. I95
take laudanum medicinally. I have seen him nodding
through its effects while in the chair at a Bible meeting,
and once as if assenting to the remarks of the speaker who
was complimenting him upon his incessant activity. Yet
he would sum up the whole as if he had paid the most
diligent attention to the speakers. He used to Come
from Bath to Bristol when I was settled there, but it was
to hear Robert Hall. He wrote to me apologising for
not coming to hear me, and for not going to hear Mr.
Jay at Bath as he had formerly done, on account of the
prejudice it would excite against him — his sons having
gone into the Church.”
Many remarks and even some little controversies
have arisen in consequence of Wilberforce's intercourse
with Nonconformists, his biographers being anxious to
conceal it, and on that account those who enjoyed his
affection and confidence being desirous of placing the
circumstance. in a conspicuous light. There certainly
are extracts given from Wilberforce's journal which
do not harmonise with what he said in letters and con-
versation to Jay of Bath : “Asked to subscribe to Jay's
velvet cushion, but refused.” “I found so much use
made of my going to Jay's that I have kept away; ” and
at a much later date, after mentioning some one—whom
he does not name—as attending Jay's chapel, he adds,
“where I greatly wished to go, but thought it wrong.”
In writing a life of Wilberforce there are difficult points
of navigation, whether we steer up or down the stream.
The sympathetic as well as the critical biographer finds
it difficult to form an accurate estimate of his character
I96 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
under certain points of view. What was his exact eccle-
siastical position is a question more easily asked than
answered. He seems to have been more of a Churchman
than such men as Jay supposed. Occasional attendance
in early life at Dissenting chapels gave the idea of his
being ecclesiastically catholic and liberal; but it is
pretty certain, from a careful examination of his diary
and memoirs, that he was at the beginning a very
staunch adherent of the established religion, and looked
upon dissent as evil and mischievous. Perhaps his
strongest remark reflecting on Nonconformity is one
I have not yet quoted : “Its individual benefits are no
compensation for the general evils of dissent. The
increase of Dissenters, which always follows from the
institution of unsteepled places of worship, is highly
injurious to the interests of religion in the long run.”
His churchmanship developed itself more decidedly still
in later days, in spite of his friendly recognition of Non-
conformists at Bible meetings and elsewhere ; and aſter.
his sons became clergymen there can be no doubt he
showed himself chary in his intercourse with Dissenters.
He was evidently a man of many-sided sympathy, and in
this respect somewhat resembled his son the Bishop of
Winchester. Both of them were amiable and impulsive,
of strong affections, and desirous of approbation; also
most genial, and seeking to win over opponents by getting
as near to them as possible in forms of expression.
Such men are apt to have opinions attributed to them
which they do not possess, and we can easily imagine that,
as in the case of the son so in the case of the father, that
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I97
charmed with his conversation, people might carry away
false impressions, Indeed, it was the same with him in
his ecclesiastical as in his political conduct. In his en-
deavour to avoid all real partizanship, in his discriminating
views on many public questions, and in his partial Sup-
port of measures opposed by Pitt, whilst still retaining
that statesman's friendship and conſidence, we cannot
wonder that many superficial allies and antagonists re-
garded him as inconsistent, vacillating, and not to be
depended upon. There was, no doubt, in William Wilber-
force much of the reconciling — I might call it the
mediatory—sentiment of Christianity; that is to say, a
spirit of conciliation, which seeks to bring together con-
tending parties and to harmonise diverse and apparently
antagonistic views. Hence, in a world like ours, where
party spirit is in the ascendant, and people are prone to
rush into extremes under the idea that out-and-out ex-
pressions of opinion are alone strong, and that attempts
to strike a true mean between opposing positions are
always weak,--a person of the stamp now described is in
danger of being incautious, and, even when most careful,
of having his good evil spoken of. Before leaving the
point which has suggested these remarks, it will not,
I hope, be deemed impertinent to say, that I should
have been glad to find Wilberforce pursuing to the end
the practice he adopted at the beginning ; for this would
have been calculated to promote the interests of Christian
union, by conciliating those who did not agree with him
in some respects, whilst it would evidently, from what he
says, have gratified his own kindly disposition and the
I98 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
cravings of his Christian love. Happily there are those
who, amidst existing exclusiveness, can rise above it ;
and who, consistently and without offensive qualifica-
tions, are in the habit of manifesting sympathy with
religious bodies other than their own.
To return to simple facts, there is another eminent
Nonconformist minister who appears amidst rather amus-
ing circumstances in the life of Wilberforce. One day
in Kensington Gore, whilst he “was endeavouring to
relax the stiffness of a starched little fellow whom he was
anxious not to disgust, Andrew Tuller was announced—
a man of considerable power of mind, but who bore
about very plainly the vestigia ruris. Not a moment was
to be lost. So before he came in,” says Wilberforce,
“I said to my little friend, ‘You know Andrew Fuller?”
“No | I never heard his name.’ ‘Oh, then you must
know him ; he is a very extraordinary man, whose talents
have raised him from a very low situation.’ This pre-
pared the way, and Andrew Fuller did no harm, though
he walked in looking the very picture of a blacksmith.”
Perhaps he did, but whilst “the starched little fellow" is
quite forgotten, Andrew Fuller will long live among the
good and great who have passed away. A very different
person was Dr. Coke. “Southey,” said Wilberforce,
“never could have seen the Doctor. I wish I could
forget his little round face and figure. Any one who
wished to take off a Methodist could not have done
better than exactly copy his manner and appearance.
He looked a mere boy when he was turned fifty, with
such a smooth, apple face and little round mouth, that if
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE. I99
it had been forgotten, you might have made as good
a one by thrusting in your thumb. He was waiting once
to see me in a room into which some accident brought
Banks. The Doctor made, I suppose, some strange
demonstration, for he sent Banks to Milner's room saying
in amazement, ‘What extraordinary people Wilberforce
does get around him.’” But whatever we may think of
this description, it should be remembered that, after all,
Dr. Coke, though connected with Wesleyan missions,
was, like Dean Milner, an ordained clergyman of the
Church of England, and never lost his attachment to it.
Indeed, the good man had a great wish to be consecrated
as a colonial bishop, before colonial bishops were as
numerous as they are now.
Here I must conclude my notices of Wilberforce's
social life, and in doing so I introduce a lively sketch of
him “in his house in Palace Yard, where every sort of
person on every sort of errand used to go—Premiers,
and Home Secretaries, and Secretaries of the Treasury,
and members of the Independent party, and active leaders
of Opposition, and colonists and foreigners, Churchmen
and Dissenters, all with their several objects. Hard-
working men from the city or the country met there
to hunt up evidence; to examine witnesses; to read
through Blue Books, pick out the kernels, and ar-
range these for the House and the country. Copper-
coloured philanthropists from the West Indies; Lascars
from the East; woolly-haired, mahogany-coloured negroes
from Africa; Baptists and Methodists from Calcutta,
Jamaica, and Sydney; long-headed merchants from the
2OO WILLIAM WILEERFORCE.
city; beaming philanthropists from Coleman's Buildings
or Lincoln's Inn Fields; broad-brimmed Quakers from
Norfolk; men of broadcloth and broader dialect from
Bradford and Leeds, expected or unlooked for, invited
or uninvited, morning or noon, at breakfast or after
breakfast—all flocked there to see the Member for York-
shire, and to gain his ear for their special scheme. Each
wanted to catch and fix the mercurial statesman. He
meanwhile, darting like a sunbeam out of his room,
where he had spent a morning hour engaged in reading
Scripture and in prayer, came out refreshed and ready
for the work of the day. His voice like music, his smile
beaming cheerily, a kindly word for each, and a courteous
greeting, he met and welcomed all. As soon as the
slight form appeared, there was a stir and a rush. Each
tried to reach him, and to put in his claim to be heard;
for each had a case that was the most important in the
world; so he that could, buttoned the statesman, and
poured his budget into his ear—
* He cannot choose but hear.”
Not so; for though the speaker might hold him tight, it
was rare that he succeeded in making ‘the wedding guest
stand still ; ' for Wilberforce moved, as Bishop Jebb said,
with the look of an angel and the agility of a monkey.
Both mind and body turned with quick gyrations, like
the creatures that we see in a Sunbeam—now here, now
there, now settling, now with wings poised, now in flight;
to follow them with our eye is difficult; to catch them,
vain. For, though Wilberforce's mind was rapid and
active both to read and observe, it was desultory. The
Domestic AND SOCIAL LIFE. 2OI
thoughts were so many, the perception so quick, that the
instant a subject was thrown off, the mind started on
the wing, seized the idea as if by intuition, and flew off
in search of more. And, discovering at a glance the
subjects that were connected with it, it passed on through
these ; perching now on one, then on another, it flitted
nimbly from spray to spray, so that you might readily
determine at what point of a subject he would begin,
but it was hard to say where he would end. Still as
each visitor came up and had his turn, he went away
contented, for each poured his story into a willing ear.
Tedious or brief the story, good tidings or bad, tales of
virtue, tales of crime, wrongs endured, rights withheld,
the tyrant's cruelty, the victim's pangs—all were laid
before him ; and, as the speaker looked on the changing
and eager countenance of the listener, he saw reflected
in it the answering sympathy. The look, the start, the
gesture, and the word betrayed the feelings of the man;
and before the tale was half told the emotion had risen—
Sorrow or joy, pity or wonder, thankfulness or regret
chased each other across his face as clouds pursued by
storms drift across an autumn sky. So the speaker went
away satisfied that he had left an impression. And to
Wilberforce it mattered not who the speaker was, and
whence he came ; if he had a wrong to tell, or a plan of
good to offer, he was welcome there. No race so outcast
that he would not give them his sympathy; no child
of man fallen so low that he would not stretch to him
the helping hand. So they came to him in troops, and
he welcomed all.” -
I4
CHA PTE R v III.
J.A.ST DAYS.
6 & OR the most part his later years were eminently
bright and cheerful. Never, indeed, was he more
evidently happy than in that calm old age, on which he
entered with the elasticity of youth and the simplicity of
childhood.” Such is the comprehensive account which
Wilberforce's sons give of his last days; yet his last
days were darkened by heavy trials. The daughter, to
whose death reference has been made in the last chapter,
was removed from him at that period, and soon after-
wards a serious reverse of circumstances overtook the
large-hearted philanthropist. It seems a great mistake
to suppose that he was reckless and extravagant in his
expenditure. For we are assured by his biographers, .
who must have been well informed on the subject, that
“his style of living had always been below his income.”
He had inherited a large fortune, and was therefore en-
titled to keep up a large establishment; but it does not
appear that he indulged in luxurious habits. On the
contrary, I should infer that his domestic appointments
though elegant and generous were really simple. He had
LAST DAYS. 2O3
from time to time a large house, which from the impulses
of a large heart he loved to fill with esteemed and re-
spected guests; but what is commonly understood by
splendour and magnificence did not distinguish his hos-
pitable abodes. The great drain on his resources Con-
sisted in his vast liberality; proofs of which have appeared
again and again in this volume. He gave largely, some-
times perhaps more than his friends considered he could
justly afford. Yet he told his eldest son, “I never in-
tended to do more than not exceed my income, Providence
having placed me in a situation in which my charities of
various kinds were necessarily large. But, believe me,
there is a special blessing in being liberal to the poor and
in the families of those who have done so; and, I doubt
not, my children will fare better, even in this world, for
real happiness than if I had been saving 24, 20,000 to
24, 30,000 of what I have given away.” There is a family
inheritance infinitely better than what consists in broad
acres and in monetary investments, even the inheritance
of a name synonymous with integrity and beneficence;
and such an inheritance, rarely equalled, Wilberforce be-
queathed to his children. Who would not prefer that to
the massive fortunes left to descendants by a selfish and
grasping millionaire, with whatever names of prudence
and thrift his acquisitions and accumulations may have
been covered over. Wilberforce, no doubt, might have
made money and have saved money, but he did neither;
and that not from self-indulgence, but from self-sacrifice.
After all, his reverses did not come as the result of ex-
cessive expenditure, either in housekeeping or in charity,
204 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
for the real causes seem to have been, first, the reducing
of his rents, which were never high, to the extent of thirty-
seven per cent., at a time when his family was most ex-
pensive ; and, secondly, the loss he sustained through a
large farming speculation undertaken by his son, in which
Wilberforce embarked a large amount of capital. To
secure the remainder of his fortune he had to sacrifice
nearly the whole of that investment. But be it dis-
tinctly understood, he wronged no one. It does not
appear, after all, which has been ungenerously said by
some critics on this subject, that he spent or gave away
one sixpence that did not belong to himself. Nobody
else was a loser, whilst many were gainers. Call what
he did imprudent, still it may be truly said—
“And e'en the light that led astray
Was light from Heaven.”
His friends saw this, and volunteered to make up for his
losses. No less than six persons, it is said, one of them
a West Indian, made such private offers as would have
repaired his fortune; but he gratefully declined all over-
tures of that kind. He thought it was better for him to
reduce his expenditure than to continue it on its former
scale from income supplied at the cost of others. The
unselfishness of his life reached its highest point in this
memorable incident, and nothing can be more beautiful
than a letter which he wrote at the time.
“I wished that you should receive from myself, rather
than from the tongues of rumour, tidings which sooner or
later were sure to be conveyed to you, and which I know
would give you pain. . . . The loss incurred has been so
LAST DAYS. 205
heavy as to compel me to descend from my present level
and greatly to diminish my establishment. It was not
suffered to take place till all my children were educated,
and nearly all of them placed out in one way or another.
And by the delay Mrs. Wilberforce and I are supplied
with a delightful asylum, under the roofs of two of our
own children. And what better could we desire P A
kind Providence has enabled me with truth to adopt the
declaration of David, that goodness and mercy have fol-
lowed me all my days. And now, when the cup pre-
sented to me has some bitter ingredients, yet surely no
draught can be deemed distasteful which comes from
such a hand, and contains such grateful infusions as those
of social intercourse and the sweet endearments of filial
gratitude and affection. What I shall most miss will be
my books and my garden, though I own I do feel a little
the not being able to ask my friends to take a dinner or
a bed with me under my own roof. And as even the
great apostle did not think the ‘having no certain dwell-
ing-place,’ associated with his other far greater Suſſerings,
unworthy of mention, so I may feel this also to be some,
though I grant not a great, evil to one who has so many
kind friends who will be happy to receive him.” And in
harmony with the sentiments thus touchingly expressed,
he remarked, on recovering from an illness at that period :
“I can scarce understand why my life is spared so long,
except it be to show that a man can be as happy without
a fortune as with one.” What many would have deplored
as the most disastrous of calamities turned out in his case
to be the occasion of revealing a new trait in his charac-
2O6 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
ter, as attractive as any which had appeared before. To
do and to suffer are very different conditions of obedience
to the Divine will ; some men who have excelled in the
One respect have not excelled in the other. But Wilber-
force excelled in both ; and one great lesson of his life
would have been lost but for the pecuniary circumstances
of his later days.
He and Mrs. Wilberforce went to live with their sons,
who had livings in Kent and the Isle of Wight, and this
part of his story can best be told in his own words.
“We have now been here,” he writes from one of the
two pleasant parsonages, “for about six weeks. How
can I but rejoice rather than lament at a pecuniary loss
which has produced such a result as that of bringing us
to dwell under the roofs of our dear children, and witness
their enjoyment of a large share of domestic comfort, and
their conscientious discharge of the duties of the most
important of all professions. Have not we great cause
for thankfulness in being moored in our latter days in the
peaceful haven which we enjoy (after all my tossings
during my long and stormy voyage in the Sea of politics),
under the roofs of our sons in Kent and in the Isle of
Wight, relieved from all the worry of family cares, and
witnessing the respectability, usefulness, and domestic
happiness of those most dear to us. Had not the state
of my finances rendered it absolutely necessary however,
I fear I should hardly have thought myself warranted in
giving up my only residence ; but it is really true, speak-
ing unaffectedly, that our heavy loss has led to the solid
and great increase of our enjoyments.”
LAST DAYS. 2O7
Again: “How little could I expect to complete my
seventy-second year. Yet it is on this day completed,
and I am suffering no pain, and my complaints those
which are salutary without producing great bodily suf-
fering, like the kind suggestions of a friend tenderly
watching over me, and endeavouring to obtain for me
the benefits without my feeling the evils commonly
attendant on providential visitations.”
He had always been fond of visiting Bath, and on
the 20th of April, 1833, he left East Farleigh, in Kent,
for that city. The waters had been serviceable before,
but now it was getting too late for the invalid to gain
much advantage from their medicinal virtues. He was
suddenly taken ill on the 6th of July, whilst seated at
the dinner table, and was immediately conveyed to bed.
On the arrival of his medical man he said, “Thank God
I am not losing my faculties.” “Yes,” somebody re-
marked, “but you could not easily go through a problem
in arithmetic or geometry.” “I think I could through
the ass's bridge,” he replied. “Let me see,” and he began,
Correcting himself if he omitted anything.
His mind was in a calm and happy state, and his
conversation abounded in quotations from Scripture,
and in expressions of gratitude to the Almighty for His
abundant mercies. U
Joseph John Gurney, his Quaker friend, happened to
be passing through Bath at the same time, and called
upon him. “I was introduced,” he says, “to an apart-
ment upstairs, where I found the veteran Christian
reclining on a sofa, with his feet wrapped in flannel, and
208 WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
his countenance bespeaking increased age since I had
last seen him, as well as much delicacy. He received
me with the warmest marks of affection and seemed to
be delighted by the unexpected arrival of an old friend.
I had scarcely taken my seat beside him before it seemed
given me to remind him of the words of the Psalmist,
“Although ye have been among the pots, yet shall ye
be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her
feathers with gold,’ and I freely spoke to him of the good
and glorious things, which, as I believed, assuredly
awaited him in the kingdom of rest and peace. In the
meantime the illuminated expression of his furrowed
countenance, with his clasped and uplifted hands, were
indicative of profound devotion and holy joy. Soon
afterwards he unfolded his own experience to me in a
highly interesting manner. He told me that the text on
which he was then most prone to dwell, and from which
he was deriving peculiar comfort, was a passage in the
Epistle to the Philippians: ‘Be careful for nothing; but
in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks-
giving let your requests be made known unto God. And
the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall
keep your hearts and minds, through Christ Jesus.’
While his frail nature was speaking, and his mortal
tabernacle seemed ready to be dissolved, this peace was
his blessed and abundant portion.”
“The mention of this text immediately called forth
one of his bright ideas, and led to a display, as in days of
old, of his peculiar versatility of mind. “With regard to
myself,’ he added, ‘I have nothing whatever to urge
LAST DAYS. - 209
but the poor publican's plea, “God be merciful to me a
sinner.” These words were expressed with peculiar
feeling and emphasis, and have since called to my re-
membrance his own deſinition of the word mercy, kind-
ness to those that deserve punishment.”
To this reminiscence of him at Bath, another by a
member of his family may be added relative to an inter-
view in Cadogan Place, Sloane Street, where he arrived
the 17th of July, 1833. “I arrived in London to see
him and was much struck by the signs of his approaching
end. His usual activity was totally suspended by a pain-
ful local disorder which prevented him from walking.
The morning of Friday, July 26th, was pleasant, and I
assisted before his breakfast to carry him in a chair in
front of the house, that he might enjoy the air for a few
moments. Here he presented a most striking appearance,
looking forth with calm delight upon trees and grass, the
freshness and vigour of which contrasted with his own
decay. It was nearly his last view of God’s works in
these their lower manifestations. His manner at this
time was more than usually affectionate, and he received
with great cheerfulness the visits of many old associates
from whom he had long been separated. On Friday
afternoon I left him with the intention of preparing to
receive him on the following Tuesday, not knowing that
before that time he was to be a partaker of the inheritance
of the saints in light.”
The evening of that very Friday, July 26th, an impor-
tant event took place in the House of Commons—the
Bill for the Abolition of Slavery was read a second time.
2 IO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE.
That Bill was the flower and crown of Wilberforce's lifelong
labours. He had years before seen abolished the share
his country took in the African Slave Trade; now came
the Abolition of Slavery itself, so far as England was
Concerned. Intelligence of what was done that night in
St. Stephen's Chapel was brought to the sick man's bed;
when he exclaimed, “Thank God, that I should have
lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give
twenty millions sterling for the Abolition of Slavery.”
The next morning he was better. No wonder, after the
good news of the previous night. Wheeled about in his
chair, he talked to an old servant with much animation.
But the next day there followed a succession of fainting
fits, and on Sunday night, the 28th of July, during an
interval of consciousness, he said, “I am in a very dis-
tressed state.” “Yes; but you have your feet on the
rock,” some one replied. “I do not venture,” he cau-
tiously added, “to speak so positively, but I hope I have.”
He died the next morning. -
As soon as his decease became known one of his
coadjutors in the anti-slavery cause, Henry Brougham,
then Lord High Chancellor, originated a request to the
family that they would allow the remains to be interred in
Westminster Abbey, with the solemnity of a State funeral.
A letter to that effect was signed by a member of the
Royal Family, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of
Wellington, and other noblemen and bishops; at the
same time, a similar application was made by about one
hundred members of the House of Commons. He was
buried on the 5th of August, and was followed to the
©
LAST DAYS. - 2 II
grave by numerous representatives of both Houses of
Parliament.
“It was remarked by one of the prelates who took part
in this striking scene, that considering how long he had
retired from active life, and that his intellectual superiority
could be known only by-tradition to the generation which
thus celebrated his obsequies, there was a sort of testi-
mony to the moral sublimity of his Christian character in
this unequalled mark of public approbation. For while a
public funeral had been matter of customary compliment
to those who died in official situations, this voluntary
tribute of individual respect from the mass of the great
legislative bodies of the land was an unprecedented
honour. It was one, moreover, to which the general
voice responded. The crowd of equipages which followed
his funeral procession was unusually great. The abbey
was thronged with the most respectable persons. “You
will like to know,' writes a friend, ‘that as I came towards
it down the Strand, every third person I met going about
their ordinary business was in mourning.’”
A little more than a fortnight after the funeral, a public
meeting was held under the presidency of Lord Brougham,
when it was resolved that a subscription should be opened
for the purpose of doing honour to the memory of Wilber-
force; first, by the erection of a monument, and, secondly,
by such other methods as might be calculated to promote
in connection with his name the glory of God and the
good of mankind. The statue in Westminster Abbey was
one of the results. This work of art did not fully gratify
his friends. “It gives,” said Mr. Harford, “undue pro-
2I2 WILLIAM WILEERFORCE.
minence to the singularity of his figure in later years, and
it fails to give expression to that amenity of feeling and
that bright intelligence which often played over his coun-
tenance and charmed his friends, even in the absence of
all beauty of feature.” But even admitting this criticism,
allowing that it does not come up to the ideal formed by
admirers who knew him well; yet it has a very lifelike
appearance, reminding one forcibly of the man as latterly
seen by people in general, and therefore as far preferable
to the classical representation of John Howard in St.
Paul's Cathedral. As to its naturalness it forms a strik-
ing contrast to other sepulchral attitudes in the abbey.
Instead of “the crusader of the thirteenth century with
his legs crossed on his stony couch,” we have “the philan-
thropist of the nineteenth century with his legs crossed
far otherwise, as he lounges in his easy arm-chair. It
will enable future generations to know a Wilberforce as he
actually was, no less than a Plantagenet prince as it was
supposed he ought to be.”" -
It is a curious fact that the surplus of the subscription,
out of which this statue was paid for, remained unappro-
priated during so long a period as twenty-seven years.
The balance of the fund, amounting to 24, 2,000, invested
in Three per Cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities, actually
became transferred, in Consequence of dividends being
unclaimed, to the Commissioners for the Reduction of
the National Debt. Lord Brougham, upon his becoming
aware of the strange oversight, petitioned the Court of
Chancery for the appropriation of the money to some
* Dean Stanley.
LAST DAYS. 2I3
object in harmony with the second part of the original
proposal of Wilberforce's friends; and in 1860, the Court
ordered that the principal and interest should be paid to
the treasurer of the Church Missionary Society for Africa
and the East, to be applied by the Society in carrying out
a scheme which the Lord Chancellor sanctioned. The
scheme was to erect a building in Sierra Leone for speci-
fied purposes, and to provide it with a library of useful
books.
Yorkshire followed speedily in the steps of the metro-
polis, and did honour to one of its most illustrious sons.
A county meeting was held in 1833 to commemorate the
virtues and labours of the philanthropist, and from it
resulted an institution for the blind. At Hull a monu-
ment was erected near the Junction Dock at the end of
Whitefriargate, the foundation-stone of which was laid on
the 1st of August, 1834, the day when Slave Emanci-
pation took effect, amidst the thanksgivings of millions in
Great Britain and the West Indies. Nothing of the kind
could be more touching than the fact that most of the
coloured population in that part of the world went into
mourning when they heard of his death.
* * * *
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