Part 16

In the concluding year of Wilberforce's life, though he complains of "becoming more and more stupid and inefficient," the feelings and thoughts which animated his life appear in full vigour. His watchful love for his children, his hospitality, the steady, faithful looking forward to the life everlasting--all are there. Nor, until he has made one more effort to secure the freedom of the slaves, does the weary, diligent hand finally "lay down the pen."

"_December 18, 1832._

"Although we should use great modesty in speculating on the invisible and eternal world, yet we may reasonably presume from intimations conveyed to us in the Holy Scriptures, and from inferences which they fairly suggest, that we shall retain of our earthly character and feelings in that which is not sinful, and therefore we may expect (this, I think, is very clear), to know each other, and to think and talk over the various circumstances of our lives, our several hopes and fears and plans and speculations; and you and I, if it please God, may talk over the incidents of our respective lives, and connected with them, those of our nearest and dearest relatives. And, then, probably we shall be enabled to understand the causes of various events which at the time had appeared mysterious."

"_December 28, 1832._

"I should wish to suggest to you an idea that arises from a passage in a letter from William Smith.[71] The idea is that it might have a very good effect, for any of my reverend children to be known to manifest their zeal in the great cause of West Indian emancipation, and slaves' improvement. And as I am on that topic let me tell you, I need not say with how much pleasure, that I really believe we are now going on admirably. The slaves will, I trust, be immediately placed under the government of the same laws as other members of the community, instead of being under the arbitrary commands of their masters, and (perhaps after a year) they will be still more completely emancipated. I was truly glad to find in the evidence taken before the House of Commons' Committee (which the indefatigable Zachary[72] is analysing), highly honourable testimony to our friend's (Wildman's) treatment of his slaves. But I ought not to conceal from you the connection in which W. Smith's suggestion of the great benefit that would result from my sons taking a forward part in befriending the attempts that would be made to stir up a petitioning spirit in support of our cause, (for he informed me that efforts for that purpose would be made). He stated that it had been observed almost everywhere that the clergy had been shamefully lukewarm in our cause; and of course this, which I fear cannot be denied, has been used in many instances for the injury of the Church. You and I see plainly how this has happened: that the most active supporters of our cause have too often been democrats, and radicals, with whom the regular clergy could not bring themselves to associate. Yet even when subjected to such a painful alternative, to unite with them, or to suffer the interests of justice and humanity, and latterly of religion too, to be in question without receiving any support from them, or to do violence to, I will not say their prejudices, but their natural repugnance to appearing to have anything of a fellow-feeling with men who are commonly fomenting vicious principles and propositions of all sorts; when placed, I say, in such distressing circumstances, they should remember that their coming forward, in accordance with those with whom they agree in no other particular, will give additional weight to their exertions, and prove still more clearly how strongly they feel the cause of God, and the well-being of man to be implicated, when they can consent to take part with those to whom in general they have been opposed most strongly. The conduct of the Jamaica people towards the missionaries has shown of late, more clearly than ever before, that the spiritual interests of the slaves, no less than their civil rights, are at stake. In such a case as this, it is not without pain and almost shame that I urge any argument grounded on the interests of the clergy; and yet it would be wrong to keep considerations of this sort altogether out of sight, because one sees how malignantly and injuriously to the cause of religion the apathy of the clergy may, and will, be used, to the discredit of the Church, and its most attached adherents. It is not a little vexatious to find people so ignorant, as too many are, concerning the real state of the slaves, notwithstanding all the pains that have been taken to enlighten them. Stephen's book in particular has, I fear, been very little read. When we were at Lord Bathurst's I saw plainly that the speeches of a Mr. Borthwick, who had been going about giving lectures in favour of the West Indians, had made a great impression on Lady Georgiana. But I must lay down my pen."

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: All Pitt's letters are carefully preserved in the library of Lavington House with the exception of this series which was found in a disused cupboard.]

[Footnote 2: Lord Rosebery's preface to "Pitt and Wilberforce Letters," privately printed.]

[Footnote 3: Hon. Edward James Eliot, brother-in-law of Pitt.]

[Footnote 4: Mr. Henry Bankes, Wilberforce's life-long friend.]

[Footnote 5: "Life of Wilberforce," vol. i. p. 95.]

[Footnote 6: Afterwards first Lord Carrington.]

[Footnote 7: "Life of Wilberforce," vol. i. p. 95.]

[Footnote 8: Privately printed.]

[Footnote 9: "A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians," &c., London, 1797.]

[Footnote 10: "Marmion," Introduction to Canto 1.]

[Footnote 11: Wimbledon.]

[Footnote 12: Hampstead.]

[Footnote 13: Here Mr. Wilberforce adds a pencilled note: "Devonshire House Ball. King."]

[Footnote 14: Mr. Wilberforce has written over this in pencil: "Qy.--Not a stroke of Providence could sever."]

[Footnote 15: Mr. Wilberforce has erased here "for desiring Mr. Pitt before he went out to pass his register bills."]

[Footnote 16: Mr. Wilberforce has written here in pencil on the margin, "Fox's Martyrs. Qy. number."]

[Footnote 17: Mr. Wilberforce adds here a pencil note in his own handwriting: "Remarkable that when I entered York, in order to attend a public meeting which was about to take place, there was but one gentleman with whom I had the smallest acquaintance, the Rev. Wm. Mason, the poet."]

[Footnote 18: Here there is a pencil note: "For he was one of the shyest men I ever knew."]

[Footnote 19: Pencil note: "Wyndham."]

[Footnote 20: A note: "Vary here."]

[Footnote 21: A note:--"Dilate, and Figure."]

[Footnote 22: Here is added in pencil, "2nd Nov. 1821."]

[Footnote 23: Rosebery's "Life of Pitt," p. 233.]

[Footnote 24: Then Clerk of Parliaments. Rose writes to Wilberforce later: "I shall never find words, either in speaking or writing, to express what I think of you."]

[Footnote 25: Pitt.]

[Footnote 26: About 1802.]

[Footnote 27: Lecky, vol. vii. p. 32.]

[Footnote 28: Dundas, who had been Treasurer to the Navy, was impeached on April 29, 1805, on a charge of misappropriating £10,000 worth of public money. He was acquitted June 12, 1805.]

[Footnote 29: William Wilberforce married Barbara, daughter of Isaac Spooner; she was the seventh Barbara in her family, the name having been handed down from mother to daughter. The first Barbara was daughter of Viscount Fauconberg and wife of Sir Henry Slingsby, Bart., who was beheaded on Tower Hill June 8, 1658, by Oliver Cromwell, for loyalty.]

[Footnote 30: She was second daughter of Sir Edward Walpole; her uncle Horace Walpole writes of her: "For beauty I think she is the first match in England, she has infinite wit and vivacity."]

[Footnote 31: "Cœlebs in Search of a Wife," published 1809. Of her publishing experiences, Hannah More writes: "One effect of Cœlebs has pleased me. I always consider a bookseller in respect to a book as I do an undertaker with regard to death--one considers a publication as the other does a corpse, as a thing to grow rich by, but not to be affected with. Davies (Cadell's partner) seems deeply struck, and earnestly implores me to follow up some of the hints respecting Scripture in a work of which he suggests the subject."]

[Footnote 32: "Life and Letters of Maria Edgeworth," by Augustus J. C. Hare.]

[Footnote 33: "Poor Burgh almost mad about the Union" ("Life of Wilberforce," vol. ii. p. 359).]

[Footnote 34: Lord Redesdale was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Ireland March 15, 1802; he resigned February, 1806.]

[Footnote 35: Wilberforce to Henry Bankes. "Life of W. Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 36: Brother to Mr. Pitt, of whom Lord Eldon gave it as his deliberate opinion that "the ablest man I ever knew in the Cabinet was Lord Chatham."]

[Footnote 37: Part of this letter only is printed in "Life of William Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 38: The third Lord Holland was Fox's nephew, and converted his palace at Kensington into a sort of temple in honour of Fox's memory.]

[Footnote 39: Charles Manners Sutton, Speaker of the House of Commons, 1817-1834; created Viscount Canterbury 1835; died 1845.]

[Footnote 40: Mr., afterwards Lord, Brougham.]

[Footnote 41: Mr. Manning became bankrupt in the winter of 1830-31.]

[Footnote 42: Mr. James Stephen married Wilberforce's sister.]

[Footnote 43: Mr. Wilberforce's second daughter.]

[Footnote 44: Part of this letter is in "Life of Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 45: This thought, thus strongly impressed on Samuel's mind, was many years afterwards expanded by him into the lovely allegory of the "Children and the Lion," published in "Agathos and other Stories."]

[Footnote 46: Bishop Wilberforce once told Dr. Woodford (Bishop of Ely) that he was naturally indolent and had at first "to flog himself up to his work." (Life, vol. iii. p. 305). To those who remember Bishop Wilberforce, and to readers of his Life, these passages must appear surprising indeed. They afford a striking instance of a natural defect turned into the contrary Christian grace.]

[Footnote 47: Part of this letter is in the "Life of Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 48: Part of this letter is in Bishop Wilberforce's Life.]

[Footnote 49: Born 1779, younger son of Wilberforce's intimate friend, Right Hon. Charles Grant. Robert was in Parliament, 1818-34: was Judge-Advocate-General: knighted, 1834, and made Governor-General of Bombay: a persistent advocate of Jewish emancipation: author of pamphlets on Indian affairs and many well-known hymns: died 1838.]

[Footnote 50: Part of this letter is in the "Life of Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 51: Part of this letter is in the "Life of Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 52: A single year's almsgiving exceeded £3,000. "Life of Bishop Wilberforce," vol. i. p. 22.]

[Footnote 53: Eldest son of Wilberforce's old friend and ally, Henry Thornton, of Battersea, Rise, who died in 1815. The Henry Thornton of the text was only twenty-five years old when this letter was written.]

[Footnote 54: The beginning of this letter is in the "Life of Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 55: Lea, Lincolnshire--the residence of Sir C. and Lady Anderson. The son, in his turn, Sir Charles Anderson, was Bishop Wilberforce's life-long friend.]

[Footnote 56: The Rev. John Sargent, of Lavington, father of Mrs. Samuel Wilberforce.]

[Footnote 57: His life had been recently published.]

[Footnote 58: The first few lines of this letter are in the "Life of Bishop Wilberforce."]

[Footnote 59: Checkendon, on the Chiltern Hills in Oxfordshire, Samuel Wilberforce's first curacy, where his memory was long cherished.]

[Footnote 60: Samuel's birthday.]

[Footnote 61: Only son of Wilberforce's eldest son William.]

[Footnote 62: The leader of these riots, whose exact personality is unknown, was called "Jack Swing," and in this name the mob sent their threats and summonses.]

[Footnote 63: "Magnalia Christi Americana, or Ecclesiastical History of New England," by Cotton Mather, D.D. It was a costly book with a large map. Southey considered it one of the most "singular books in this or any other language."]

[Footnote 64: Mr. Wilberforce's brother-in-law.]

[Footnote 65: The seat of J. S. Harford, Esq.]

[Footnote 66: Lord Grey's Reform Bill had amongst its most vehement opponents Sir C. Wetherell, Recorder of Bristol. On his arrival in that city the riots began there by an attack upon his carriage, after which "Bristol was the theatre of the most disgraceful outrages that have been perpetrated in this country since the riots of London, 1780." (_An. Reg._ 1831.)]

[Footnote 67: Mrs. Wilberforce writes to her son Samuel: "Shall I send you the deeds, &c., to take care of for the family, and the plate to bury in your garden? I think you will be safe in the Isle of Wight. Do not let my fears be mentioned; they say we should all appear brave and bold."]

[Footnote 68: T. Blanco White, a Spaniard by birth, left the Church of Rome and joined the Church of England, and also became a naturalised Englishman. He was closely connected with the Oxford movement, but lapsed into Socinianism. He died in 1841.]

[Footnote 69: Dr. Thomas Rennell: he was appointed in 1805 and was succeeded in 1840 by Dr. Garnier.]

[Footnote 70: Only son of Wilberforce's eldest son William.]

[Footnote 71: "My most faithful friend, William Smith" ("Life of Wilberforce," vol. iii. p. 536).]

[Footnote 72: Macaulay.]

* * * * * *

Transcriber's note:

The following corrections have been made:

Page 10, "compleatly" changed to "completely" (completely happy)

Page 22, "compleat" changed to "complete" (complete concert)

Page 241, "worldy" changed to "worldly" (viewed in a worldly)