The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Volume IClarkson, Thomas
History
The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Volume I
Clarkson, Thomas
Slave trade -- Africa
On the tenth of July, being now fully amended, it came for a third time
before the Lords; but it was no sooner brought forward than it met with the
same opposition as it had experienced before. Two new petitions appeared
against it, one from a certain class of persons in Liverpool, and another
from Miles Peter Andrews, esquire, stating that, if it passed into a law,
it would injure the sale of his gunpowder, and that he had rendered great
services to the government during the last war by his provision of that
article. But here the Lord Chancellor Thurlow reserved himself for an
effort, which, by occasioning only a day's delay, would in that particular
period of the session have totally prevented the passing of the bill. He
suggested certain amendments for consideration and discussion, which, if
they had been agreed upon, must have been carried again to the lower house
and sanctioned there before the bill could have been complete. But it
appeared afterwards, that there would have been no time for the latter
proceeding. Earl Stanhope, therefore, pressed this circumstance peculiarly
upon the Lords who were present. He observed, that the King was to dismiss
the parliament next day, and therefore they must adopt the bill as it
stood, or reject it altogether. There was no alternative, and no time was
to be lost. Accordingly he moved for an immediate division on the first of
the amendments proposed by Lord Thurlow. This having taken place, it was
negatived. The other amendments shared the same fate; and thus, at length,
passed through the upper house, as through an ordeal as it were of fire,
the first bill that ever put fetters upon that barbarous and destructive
monster, The Slave-trade.
The next day, or on Friday, July the eleventh, the King gave his assent to
it, and, as Lord Stanhope had previously asserted in the House of Lords,
concluded the session.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account