My conduct seemed to be highly approved by those
present, and much conversation ensued, but it was of a general nature.
As William Dillwyn wished very much to see me at his house at Walthamstow,
I appointed the thirteenth of March to spend the day with him there. We
talked for the most part, during my stay, on the subject of my Essay. I
soon discovered the treasure I had met with in his local knowledge, both of
the Slave-trade and of slavery, as they existed in the United States, and I
gained from him several facts, which with his permission I afterwards
inserted in my work. But how surprised was I to hear in the course of our
conversation of the labours of Granville Sharp, of the writings of Ramsay,
and of the controversy in which the latter was engaged, of all which I had
hitherto known nothing! How surprised was I to learn, that William Dillwyn
himself, had two years before associated himself with five others for the
purpose of enlightening the public mind upon this great subject! How
astonished was I to find that a society had been formed in America for the
same object, with some of the principal members of which he was intimately
acquainted! And how still more astonished at the inference which instantly
rushed upon my mind, that he was capable of being made the great medium of
connection between them all.
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