CHAPTER XXII.
_Further progress to the middle of May--Petitions begin to be sent to
parliament--The king orders the privy council to inquire into the
Slave-trade--Author called up to town--his interviews with Mr. Pitt--and
with Mr. (now Lord) Grenville--Liverpool delegates examined first--these
prejudice the council--this prejudice at length counteracted--Labours of
the commitee in the interim--Public anxious for the introduction of the
question into parliament--Message of Mr. Pitt to the commitee concerning
it--Day fixed for the motion--Substance of the debate which
followed--discussion of the general question deferred till the next
sessions._
By this time the nature of the Slave-trade had, in consequence of the
labours of the commitee and of their several correspondents, become
generally known throughout the kingdom. It had excited a general attention,
and there was among people a general feeling in behalf of the wrongs of
Africa. This feeling had also, as may be collected from what has been
already mentioned, broken out into language: for not only had the traffic
become the general subject of conversation, but public meetings had taken
place, in which it had been discussed, and of which the result was, that an
application to parliament had been resolved upon in many places concerning
it.
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