YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

LIFE AND LETTERS OF
ZACHARY MACAULAY

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LIFE AND LETTERS

OF

ZACHARY MACAULAY

BY HIS GRANDDAUGHTER

VISCOUNTESS KNUTSFORD

LONDON
EDWARD ARNOLD
©ufiltehet to the JriDia 2Dflffce
1900

CONTENTS

CHAP. I. EARLY YEARS ....
II. NEW INFLUENCES ....
III. SIERRA LEONE .....
IV. INVASION BY THE FRENCH
V. VISIT TO ENGLAND AND ENGAGEMENT
VI. MISSIONARY DIFFICULTIES .
VII. WAR AND RUMOURS OF WAR
VIII. RETURN TO ENGLAND AND MARRIAGE
IX. ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE
X. LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
XI. REMOVAL TO LONDON
XII. BUSINESS EMBARRASSMENTS
XIII. VISIT TO PARIS .
XIV. ANTI-SLAVERY WORK .
XV. CLOSING YEARS AND DEATH
INDEX ...

PAGE I
1226
58 90
Il6 174
2l6258
302
337 382
407 428
460490

PORTRAIT OF ZACHARY MACAULAY
From a drawing by Slater, 1831

frontispiece

-, CHAPTER I
EARLY YEARS
Zachary Macaulay, the third son of the Rev. John Macaulay
and of his second wife, Margaret Campbell of Inverseger, was
born at the manse of Inverary on the 2nd of May 1768.
The clan MacAulay had long inhabited the western Highlands,
and appears to have been considered a branch of the MacGregors.
In a bond or deed of friendship1 between their chief, Aulay
MacAulay of Ardincaple, and the chief of the MacGregors,
which was executed in 1591, MacAulay acknowledges to being
a cadet of the clan MacGregor, and agrees to pay a tribute of
cattle to his chief. But when the MacGregors fell under the
ban of the law, Aulay MacAulay did not scruple to turn against
them, and did his best to avert any suspicion of complicity in
their rebellion from himself and his followers, by the hostility
with which he pursued his former allies. The successors of this
politic chieftain did not possess sufficient prudence to retain a
grasp upon the property which his shrewdness had preserved
for them. They gradually dissipated the family possessions by
carelessness and extravagance, until the last chief, another Aulay
MacAulay, overwhelmed with debt, was reduced to sell Ardin
caple and the scanty remains of his patrimony to John, the
fourth Duke of Argyll, in 1764.
Some of the Macaulays had settled in the south-west part of
the island of Lewis, and in the reign of James VI. of Scotland
one of them was distinguished by the name of Donald Cam, to
signify that he was blind of one eye. It may be mentioned that
this defect was inherited by his great-great-grandson, Zachary
Macaulay, and that it was a family tradition among Macaulay's
children that their father did not discover the fact that he
1 In this deed the two contracting parties describe themselves as originally descended
from the same stock — ' M'Alpins of auld.' A

2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
could only see with one eye until after he had grown to man's
estate. Donald Cam was noted for the courage and activity which he
displayed in the feuds that were constantly taking place with
neighbouring clans ; but he made himself specially conspicuous
by the fierceness and frequency of his attacks upon the Fife-
shire Colonists at Stornoway, and prided himself on taking
the patriotic side in those troubles. His son, who was com
monly called the Man of Brenish, had even a higher reputation
than his father for feats of strength and daring ; but after him
the Macaulays seem to have sought distinction in more peaceful
fields, and it is a curious sign of the rapid changes which were
taking place at this time in the habits and manners of the
Scotch, that this pugnacious Highlander should have had a son,
and five grandsons, Ministers of the Presbyterian Church.
Aulay Macaulay, the son of the Man of Brenish, and the
grandson of Donald Cam, may reasonably be credited with a
considerable portion of hereditary spirit in adopting a profession
so opposed to the tastes hitherto prevalent in his family. He
was Minister of Harris. One of his sons, the Rev. Kenneth
Macaulay, was sent as missionary to St. Kilda by the Society
for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, and published
afterwards a History of St. Kilda, which attracted the attention
of Dr. Johnson, and procured him the honour of that visit to
his manse at Calder of which Boswell gives so amusing an
account. The eldest son of Aulay, John Macaulay, the father of
Zachary, was born at Harris in 1720. At the time of Dr.
Johnson's tour to the Hebrides in 1773 John Macaulay was
Minister of Inverary, but the following year he was appointed
to Cardross in Dumbartonshire, and removed there when his
son Zachary was about six years old. John Macaulay's first
wife had died a year after her marriage, leaving one child ; but
by his second wife, Margaret Campbell, he had at the time of
his removal a large family, which in the end numbered twelve
children. With such rapidly increasing demands upon a small
income, it was necessary that each son should in turn, as soon
as he attained a suitable age, be put in the way of maintaining
himself, and when only fourteen Zachary was placed in a
merchant's office at Glasgow.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 3
The history of his early years will be best related by himself
in a short autobiographical memoir which he wrote at Sierra
Leone in 1797.
' I can scarce ever think on my past life without adverting
to those words of John Newton's :
' " Thou didst once a wretch behold
In rebellion blindly bold
Scorn Thy grace, Thy power defy
That poor rebel, Lord, was I,"
' I am indeed a signal monument of God's long-suffering and
tender mercy. What shall I render to Him for all His benefits ?
' Soon after I reached the age of fourteen, I became in a great
measure my own master, by being removed from the control of
my father and mother, and placed in a merchant's counting-
house in Glasgow. This was a line of life which I entered upon
with great regret, for I had at that time a strong passion for
literature ; but I acquiesced readily in my father's determina
tion, from perceiving that his stipend could not well afford the
expense of a literary education.
' I felt the disappointment, however, very acutely, and thought
I lost by this arrangement all my past labour to which I had
been greatly stimulated by the hope of academical honours. I
had already acquired a pretty general knowledge of the Latin
language, and had also such a tincture of Grecian learning as
enabled me to read Homer without much difficulty. I read
French with tolerable ease, and had besides made considerable
progress in mathematics. What made me prize all this the
more was that it had been acquired mainly by my own exer
tions, for I had the misfortune never to have been under any
regular system of tuition. It was only at times that I had any
other instructor besides my father, and his avocations were so
numerous as to render it altogether impossible for him to pay
me the requisite attention. Being the oldest son at home, the
care of instructing the others devolved on me ; and though by
this circumstance I was a good deal aided in my learning, yet I
think I can trace to it the rise of several tempers which have
caused me no small trouble in after life, particularly my im
patience and self-confidence, my imposing tone, and dogmatical,
magisterial style as well in writing as speaking.
'But my reading was by no means confined to the dead
languages. My father had a large collection of books, and my
appetite for them was quite insatiable. There were few of the
English classics which I had not read. The great poets were
quite familiar to me. I was, besides, an eager hunter after that

4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
sort of anecdote wherewith ephemeral publications abound.
What stimulated me to this, in addition to the pleasure they
afforded myself, was, I remember, an eager desire of shining in
conversation. I much affected the company of men ; and having
a good memory, though very little judgment, and a great share
of conceit and assumption, I was in the habit of obtruding my
remarks whatever the subject of conversation was. I was much
encouraged to this by the notice and ill-timed commendation
which was occasionally bestowed upon me when I ought rather
to have been repressed. It seems unnatural that the bent of
my inclinations should have lain in this direction at so early an
age, but it arose in a great measure from the necessity imposed
upon me to seek amusement in some other way than boys
generally do, by a serious accident that happened to my right
arm when I was nine years old. It subjected me to several
painful operations, and it was about five years before I recovered
the proper use of it.
' I had at this time some religious impressions on my mind,
the effect of education. I liked to hear sermons, I thought it
wrong not to say my prayers, and I felt a salutary check of
conscience when I perceived myself flying directly in the face
of a divine mandate. Happy for me if I had never lost this
feeling, but happier still if my conscience were now restored to
its office of serving the living God, and acted faithfully as his
Vicegerent. 1 1 remained in Glasgow upwards of two years ; and during
those two years I improved indeed in the knowledge of useful
learning, but I made much more rapid progress in the knowledge
of evil. The people with whom I chiefly associated were of
two classes. Those whose society I most eagerly coveted were
students in the University, and many of those who stood high
in point of talents flattered me with their particular regard. I
was admitted to all their convivial meetings, and made one of
their society on all occasions.
' As they were much more advanced in years than I was, I
naturally looked up to them for information ; and as many of
them were really men of wit and taste, I gladly received the
law from their mouths. But some of them, who, with I am
sorry to say sentiments little altered, are at this day invested
with the sacred names of ambassadors for God, made a cruel
use of their influence. They employed it in eradicating from
my mind every trace of religious belief. I recoiled at first with
a kind of horror from the propositions they advanced with.
respect to the Bible and the existence of a God. But my
scruples soon yielded to the united efforts of arguments whose
fallacy I was unable to detect, of wit whose brilliancy dazzled

ZACHARY MACAULAY §
me, and of sharp and pointed raillery which served to
silence me.
_' Nor were temptations wanting, for the other class of persons
with whom I associated were as profligate in their practice
as the students were in their principles. My immediate
superiors in the counting-house were of this class, as well as
many others in the mercantile line of life with whom I neces
sarily became acquainted. Taught by them, I began to think
excess in wine, so far from being a sin, to be a ground for
glorying ; and it became one of the objects of my ambition to
be able to see all my companions under the table. And this
was the more surprising as I really disliked, nay even loathed,
excessive drinking.
' This same principle of ambition, however, operated in some
respects as a check upon me, for I had access, through intro
ductions from my father, to many respectable families in the
town whose civilities I was anxious not to forfeit. I was there
fore careful in preserving at least appearances, and also in
avoiding that notoriety which would have exposed me to my
father's displeasure. The domestic society which I thus enjoyed
was not of a nature to counteract in any considerable degree
the pernicious effects of the above-mentioned associations.
Being tolerably accommodating, I fell into the predilections of
the ladies of the family, which were entirely for new plays and
marble-covered books. When I was not draining the midnight
bowl, I was employed in wasting the midnight oil by poring
over such abominable, but fascinating works as are to be found
under the head of novels in the catalogue of every circulating
library. ' There are some few, however, of the immensity of books of
this nature which I perused at that period of my life that still
afford me pleasure when I recollect them. The characteristic
conversations of Miss Burney's Evelina and Cecilia, the humour
of Smollett, and the native manners-painting style of Fielding
have still their charm for me.
'To my other defects I now accordingly added something of
the romantic and extravagant. I was continually laying the
plan of wonderful adventures, conning speeches to repeat to
ladies delivered from the hands of robbers and assassins, or
adjusting the particulars of some affair of honour. With all
this, however, I was exceedingly attentive to business ; and my
employers, when I left them, presented me with a considerable
gratuity to mark their approbation of my conduct.
'Towards the end ofthe year 1784 a circumstance happened
which gave a temporary suspension to my career, and led to a
few sober reflections. I then saw that the only way that

6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
remained to extricate myself from the labyrinth in which I was
involved was going abroad. I made known my wish to my
father, and it was determined that I should try my fortunes in
the East Indies.
' Just as this determination had been taken, Sir Archibald
Campbell, who was related to us, persuaded my father to alter
it, and to suffer me to go out under his patronage to Jamaica,
where he had been Governor, and where his influence was of
course supposed able to effect any views of aggrandisement,
however large, which I might form. What reason Sir Archi
bald could have had for persuading us to this step I have
never been able to fathom, for the letters of recommendation
he gave me were so far from yielding me any essential service,
that not one of them even procured me an ordinary invitation.
' During the voyage to Jamaica I had a good deal of time for
reflection, and I endeavoured to fortify myself, by previous
resolutions, against the evils to which I felt myself prone.
Company I had found my greatest snare, and I resolved to
guard against it ; and though every reformation proceeding
on such grounds as mine then did must be partial and inade
quate, yet one good effect arising from it was a resolution
of abstaining from all excess in drinking, which I afterwards
adhered to.
' At this time I had not yet reached the age of seventeen, and
found myself, on landing at Jamaica, without money, or without
a single friend to whom I could turn for assistance. The letters
of recommendation to persons in high position, with which I
had been provided by Sir Archibald Campbell, were entirely
neglected. The visions which had been presented to me of
rapidly increasing wealth and honours now vanished entirely,
but the disappointment did not seriously affect my spirits. I
felt^ certainly indignation and resentment at the coldness and
indifference shown me by men, from whom I thought I had a
right to expect different treatment. But I recollect feeling a
degree of self-complacency in finding myself able to reconcile
my mind to very considerable hardships, rather than submit to
repeat the humiliating applications which I had already made
to those persons.
' My trials, however, were not of long duration. One or two
private gentlemen to whom a friend of mine had written to
introduce me, soon found me out, and showed me great kind
ness. Through their exertions I obtained the situation of
under-manager or book-keeper on a sugar plantation.
_' Here I entered upon a new mode of life which waged war
with all my tastes and feelings. My position was laborious,
irksome, and degrading, to a degree of which I could have

ZACHARY MACAULAY 7
formed no previous conception, and which none can imagine
fully who have not, like me, experienced the vexatious, cap
ricious, tyrannical, and pitiless conduct of a Jamaica overseer.
To this, however, I made it a point of honour to reconcile my
mind. Indeed I saw there was no medium for me, under the
circumstances, between doing so and starving.
' While my health remained good, I therefore submitted with
cheerfulness to all the severe toil and painful watchings which
were required of me. What chiefly affected me at first was,
that by my situation I was exposed not only to the sight, but
also to the practice of severities over others, the very recollec
tion of which makes my blood run cold. My mind was at first
feelingly alive to the miseries of the poor slaves, and I not only
revolted from the thought of myself inflicting punishment upon
them, but the very sight of punishment sickened me.
' The die, however, was now cast ; there was no retreating. I
should gladly indeed have returned to Europe, but I had not
the means. I had no friend at home to whom I could apply
except my father, and I would almost sooner have died than
have added any more to the pressure of that anxiety which a
numerous family necessarily caused him. In the West Indies,
I was bound, if I would not forfeit the regard of all who were
disposed to serve me, even to give no vent to those feelings
which would have seemed to reproach them with cruelty. As
the only alternative, therefore, I resolved to get rid of my
squeamishness as soon as I could, as a thing which was
very inconvenient. And in this I had a success beyond my
expectations. ' Virgil's expression, " Easy is the descent to Hell," is a bold,
but perfectly just representation of the rapidity with which we
move downwards in the scale of moral rectitude when once we
have made a voluntary declension from the path of duty. I
soon satisfied myself that the duty which 1 owed to my em
ployers, for I used still to moralise, required the exact fulfilment
of their orders ; and that the duty which I owed to myself, my
father, and my friends, required that I should throw no
obstacles, which the voice of all in the world whom I had
hitherto known was so far from sanctioning, that it condemned
them as foolish, childish, and ridiculous, in the way of my
fortune. 'At this time, that is in the year 1785, I find myself writing
thus to a friend at home : — " But far other is now my lot,
doomed by my own folly to toil for a scanty subsistence in an
inhospitable clime. The air of this island must have some
peculiar quality in it, for no sooner does a person set foot on it
than his former ways of thinking are entirely changed. The

8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
contagion of an universal example must indeed have its effect.
You would hardly know your friend, with whom you have spent
so many hours in more peaceful and more pleasant scenes, were
you to view me in a field of canes, amidst perhaps a hundred of
the sable race, cursing and bawling, while the noise of the whip
resounding on their shoulders, and the cries of the poor
wretches, would make you imagine that some unlucky accident
had carried you to the doleful shades."
' This picture, shocking as it is, owes nothing to fancy ; but
my mind was now steeled, and though some months before
this period, in writing to the same friend I had had a heart to
draw in very lively colours, and with pathetic touches which I
really felt, the miseries of the negroes, yet now I was callous
and indifferent, and could allude to them with a levity which
sufficiently marked my depravity. I had indeed raised for
myself an imaginary standard of justice in my dealings with
them, to which I thought it right to conform.
' But the hour of retribution seemed to be at hand. Dan
gerous, and repeated, and long-continued attacks of illness
brought me frequently to the very borders of the grave. My
sufferings were extreme ; and they were aggravated by the most
cruel neglect and the most hard-hearted unkindness. There
was a kind of high-mindedness about me which kept me from
complaining even in my lowest extremity of wretchedness, nor
did the hope of better days ever forsake me. Nay, when
stretched upon a straw mattress, with "tape-tied curtains, never
meant to draw,"1 burning with fever, pining under the want
of every necessary comfort, shut out from the sight or converse
of any one whom I could call a friend, unable to procure even a
cup of cold water for which I did not myself crawl to the neigh
bouring rivulet, I maintained an unbroken spirit
' I tremble to think on the stupid insensibility, nay the
desperate hardness, with which at times I stood tottering upon
the brink of eternity. Surely had I died then my place would
have been where mercy is clean gone for ever, and where even
God forgets to be gracious. May I not regard myself em
phatically as a brand plucked out of the burning? These
judgments, however, like those which visited Pharaoh, served
only to harden my heart. Indeed this is the effect which

1

' In the worst inn's worst room, with mat half hung,
The floors of plaister, and the walls of dung,
On once a flock-bed, but repaired with straw,
With (ape-tied curtains, never meant to draw,
The George and Garter dangling from that bed
Where tawdry yellow strove with dirty red,
Great Villiers lies. '

Pope— Moral Essays, Epistle iii.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 9
appears, if we consult our Bible and experience, to be the neces
sary result of afflictions when they do not lead the mind to God.
' When health returned my sufferings were soon forgotten ;
and better prospects opening upon me, and friends rising up
daily who showed a willingness to serve me as soon as I was
master of my business, I began to like my situation. " I even
began to be wretch enough to think myself happy."
' My outward conduct indeed, for a West Indian planter, was
sober and decorous, for I affected superiority to the grossly
vulgar manners and practices which disgrace almost every rank
of men in the West Indies, but my habits and dispositions were
now fundamentally the same. In these I was quite assimilated
to my neighbours, and this is a part of my life of which I scarce
like either to speak or think. It was a period of most degrad
ing servitude to the worst of masters.
' While I was in this state of mind I received a letter from an
uncle1 in London, containing an advantageous offer if I chose to
return to England. After much hesitation and debate I re
solved to accept the offer. I took my passage for London, and
arrived there just as I had completed my twenty-first year.
During my stay abroad, degraded as I became in some
respects, I by no means lost my taste for reading. I had very
few books, it is true, and very little time to peruse them, but
I eagerly employed the little time I had in keeping alive my
acquaintance with the French and Latin languages. Horace
was my constant companion, and served to amuse many a
tedious hour. I liked his philosophy, and I thought that I
derived from it, as well as from Voltaire's poem on the equality
of human conditions, motives to support me from sinking under
my trials. I pleased myself with thinking so ; although I
apprehend that I owed more to a constitutional firmness of
nerve and to vanity, than to the plausible reasoning of Voltaire,
or the justly conceived in many instances, and elegantly ex
pressed sentiments of the Roman poet.
' The following criticisms which I made on one of the books
of Virgil will show something of the springs which animated
my conduct: — "Virgil, in this book, the tenth, appears as the
moralist to great advantage. Where will there be found a
more striking incentive to virtuous action than he gives in
verse 467 ? 2 For however empty ' fame ' may be considered in
1 In 1797 Macaulay writes to « friend: — 'Read Rudiments of Political Science,
by Angus Macaulay. It shows great depth of research, and closeness of thinking.
He is a man of a very active turn of mind, and, as you will see, thinks for himself.
Though he is my uncle, there exists between us a kind of brotherly intercourse ; he is
one of my most confidential advisers, and I owe much to his friendship. '
2 Stat sua cuique dies : breve et irreparabile tempus Omnibus est vitse : sed famam
extendere factis, Hoc virtutis opus.

io LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the eye of speculative philosophy, of all sublunary motives it
certainly is the strongest, and, properly directed, the desire of
it becomes the source of the most brilliant actions. There is
indeed a self-applause which the poet does not take into
account, but which is inseparable from and necessarily produced
by fame's well-earned meed."
' I read very little during this period. Thomson, I think, was
the only English poet I had with me, but his beauties were
quite inexhaustible. I confess, however, that now I should not
equally admire him as a constant companion. There is a cap
tivating glare spread over the sentimental parts of his Seasons
which entirely conceals the poison they contain, while it serves
in a peculiar manner to enchant youthful minds. I still admire
Thomson, for how is it possible not to admire him ? But is it
not plain that he banishes from his pictures of manners all
religious motives and influences, and from his philosophy all
religious views which do not consist with that thing called
Deism.1 ' My vanity, which the low situation to which I was reduced
at times, it may have been supposed, would have tended to
mortify, was on the contrary increased. The state of informa
tion among my brother book-keepers and overseers, and even
among planters and merchants in Jamaica, is, generally speak
ing, very low. I was among them a kind of prodigy, and I was
referred to on disputed points as an oracle.
' One thing, however, amidst the thick cloud of evils where
with I was at this time enveloped I can now dwell upon with
some degree of pleasure. I mean the boldness and fearlessness,
and also the effect, with which I encountered the risks of the
enmity likely to follow my pleading and assisting the cause of
youth, oppressed by rigid overseers as I myself had been.
With respect to my own sufferings I had been quite pliant,
knowing the suspicions which always light on a man when
pleading his own cause. But on behalf of others I could act
more freely and with more effect.
' I found when I returned to England, that I had contracted
a boorishness of manner, arising doubtless from the nature of
my employment and associations, which proved a dreadful
mortification to my vanity when I came to perceive it, as I
1 Macaulay seems to have reproached himself with injustice to the poet, for he
inserted at some subsequent period a. long note at this point in his manuscript. In
it he says : ' I acknowledge that a mind 'rightly formed will find in Thomson much
to enkindle devotion and to excite lo pious meditation, independent ofthe exquisite
pleasure, which, of itself, good poetry is calculated lo convey.' His estimate of
Thomson must appear to modern taste absurdly high ; but readers of Sense and
Sensibility will remember that Miss Austen, when writing a few years subsequent
to this period, classes Thomson, Cowper, and Scolt together.

ZACHARY MACAULAY n
soon did. While absent from Europe I had scarce seen a
white lady ; and among men in the West Indies, whatever be
their rank, there is a total emancipation not only from the
trammels of ceremony, but, notwithstanding a great deal of
hospitality and even kindness, from the more necessary forms
of good-breeding. I am content to bear the occasional uneasi
ness still flowing from this source as a memento of the greater
punishment I at that time of my return to England incurred,
and as some check to my too prevalent passion for appearing
well in the eyes of others.
' I ought to observe here that at this time I was fond of
games of skill, such as whist, backgammon, and draughts, and
that I had attained, in spite of my limited opportunities, to a
more than ordinary proficiency in them. On the passage home
I had the misfortune to fall into the company of two amateurs
of play. One, a son of the late Governor Winch, had already
thrown away £30,000 on the turf and at gaming-tables, for
which he had gained the praise of being, as he certainly was,
the most graceful rider in England as well as one of the most
eminent jockeys and whist-players. The other was a man of
wonderfully versatile talents, but whom we afterwards dis
covered to be a swindler by profession.
' I played at first very cautiously, and never permitted myself
to be tempted to bet. But as my winnings increased, which
they generally did, I was exposed to the danger of becoming
attached to play, and the miseries which I felt would naturally
follow such an attachment. I heroically resolved, therefore, to
break the chain, and adopted some strong determinations on
the point, which I have since, with few deviations, been able to
keep. I say heroically, for in the then state of my mind, and
with my feeble, inefficacious, and unsound principles, it was
certainly no mean degree of self-denial to quench a passion
which had risen to some height, and to deny my vanity the
gratification of displaying the skill I had acquired, and for the
acquisition of which I had paid many an hour of anxiety and
perturbation.' The autobiographical fragment ends when Macaulay reached
England, and was never continued. Indeed there was little
occasion for it, as the voluminous letters and journals which he
was soon to commence writing form an ample and almost con
tinuous record of his laborious existence. It is a relief to close
this chapter of it, and to know that although Zachary Macaulay
had his full share of troubles and anxieties in after life, yet the
special class of difficulties which beset him in the West Indies
was ended for him for ever.

12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER II
NEW INFLUENCES
When Macaulay arrived in England in 1789, he found himself
in circumstances calculated to bring about a remarkable change
in the modes of thought and objects of ambition which he had
hitherto pursued. A marriage had taken place in his family
which was destined to affect powerfully his fortunes in life,
and to develop the natural bent of his disposition in the most
favourable manner.
His elder brother Aulay, who was about ten years his senior,
had taken orders in the Church of England with apparently
the full approval of his father, and had in 1781 accepted the
curacy of Claybrook in Leicestershire. Aulay Macaulay was
a man of strong literary tastes and varied attainments ; he
soon made many acquaintances in the neighbourhood where
the greater portion of his life was to be spent ; but he formed
a specially intimate friendship with that individual who may be
considered to have exercised a paramount influence upon the
character and upon the destiny of Zachary Macaulay.
Thomas Babington was a young country gentleman of
ancient lineage, and the owner of Rothley Temple, a pic
turesque and interesting mansion of great antiquity, situated a
few miles from Leicester. It had been formerly a possession
of the Knights Templars, and afterwards a Commandery of
the Knights Hospitallers of St. John; and at the time of the
Reformation it passed by more honest means than many similar
domains were acquired at that time, by genuine purchase, into
the hands of his' ancestor, Humphrey Babington.
In 1787 Thomas Babington made, in company with his
friend the curate, Aulay Macaulay, an expedition to Scotland
for a tour of pleasure, an unusual adventure still at that period
when Englishmen rarely crossed the Tweed except upon calls

ZACHARY MACAULAY 13
of business and duty. It was natural that Aulay Macaulay
should desire to include Cardross in the itinerary of their
route, and to take the opportunity of visiting his family whom
he had not seen for ten years. During his absence his brothers
had dispersed, three of the number having gone to the East
Indies ; but his five young sisters were all at the manse. Mr.
Babington soon found himself strongly attracted by Jean, one
of the elder daughters, who had grown up to be a remarkably
pretty and charming girl ; and instead of paying only the brief
visit to Cardross which had been their original intention, the
two friends prolonged their stay until Mr. Babington, having
convinced himself that his happiness for life depended upon
the answer, made the offer of his heart and hand to Miss
Macaulay. The response was propitious to his wishes ; and as soon as
he was assured of being acceptable to the lady of his choice, he
wrote to announce his engagement to his family in England.
The news of his approaching marriage in such remote wilds
with the daughter of a Presbyterian Minister met with little
favour among his neighbours in the country-houses and rectories
of Leicestershire. It is amusing to see that his own relations
seem to have regarded the affair with much the same feelings
of astonishment and dismay with which the family of an Arctic
explorer might hear of his intention to return home with an
Esquimaux bride.
But Thomas Babington's attachment was proof against all
opposition. In due course of time the marriage took place ;
and the young wife set out with her husband for England,
cheered by the reflection that her brother the clergyman would
be near her in the unknown country where her future lot was
to be cast. As far as can be learned from the voluminous cor
respondence of the family, Jean Babington did not revisit her
native country for forty years.
Mr. Babington's strong affection did not blind him to the
requirements of his position in life, and to the inevitable de
ficiencies of a young girl, however pleasing and clever she might
be naturally, who had been accustomed only to the secluded
and simple life of a Scotch manse, when suddenly transferred to
the head of a large and hospitable establishment in a well-
peopled neighbourhood in England. The plan he adopted for

14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
supplying her with the necessary education is somewhat divert
ing. Instead of taking Mrs. Babington direct to Rothley
Temple, he arranged to go with her on a visit to Yoxall Lodge,
the beautiful residence of his brother-in-law and close friend,
Mr. Gisborne, in the very heart of Needwood Forest. It was
under the care of Mrs. Gisborne, Thomas Babington's only
sister, that the young bride was placed in order to learn the
duties of her new position.
It speaks well for the temper and sense of all concerned that
this extraordinary plan thoroughly answered, and that the
most cordial relations grew up and subsisted always between
Mrs. Babington and her husband's family. At the end of a
probation of six months she was pronounced capable of taking
the head of her own house ; and during her stay at Yoxall
Lodge she had so entirely won the heart of her husband's
mother that the old lady returned to Rothley Temple, and
resided there until her death, on affectionate terms with the
daughter-in-law whose arrival she had awaited with such alarm
and disapproval. Jean Babington united to great personal
charms and a warm heart a very lively disposition and con
siderable cleverness and quickness of apprehension. She held
the reins of authority at Rothley Temple during the course
of a long life, and ruled with a dignity and decision which
made her a person of considerable consequence in the circle
surrounding her.
The character of Thomas Babington himself was one that
may be better and more justly estimated by its effect upon
his contemporaries than by any special performance of his
own that has been left to the judgment of posterity. The
peculiarity of his goodness, upon which all who had been
personally acquainted with him loved to dwell, was a perfect
rectitude, a simple straightforwardness of speech and purpose,
which inspired in minds that intellectually were of a far higher
order than his own, respect for his opinion and confidence in
his advice. The ancient walls of Rothley Temple became a
centre where those who were in sympathy with his views upon
the real purpose of life loved to assemble ; and each returning
summer brought with it the chosen band of friends, linked
together by the closest ties of religious hope and faith, by
congenial tastes and habits, and, as time went on, by 'the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 15
common interest of endeavouring to free their fellow-creatures
from degrading bondage.
Macaulay was twenty-one years old when he landed from
the West Indies. His father had died at Cardross a short time
before his arrival in England, and he appears to have gone
direct to Leicestershire, where he received an affectionate wel
come. Mrs. Babington, who had been his special companion
formerly as the one of his sisters who was nearest him in age,
had grown into a charming woman during his absence ; but
she retained that preference for him over all the rest of her
family which she continued to exhibit during her whole life,
and which she afterwards extended to his children and to
everything connected with him.
To a young man of Macaulay's character who since his
childhood had been entirely shut out from the happiness and
softening influences of family life and domestic society, who
had only lived where no affection was shown him, and among
people who took no personal interest in him, the effect upon
his mind of the change of scene into which his introduction to
Rothley Temple brought him was beyond expression over
powering and bewildering. Thomas Babington, whose ideal
of the duties of relationship was high, gave a kind reception to
his brother-in-law, although the manners and behaviour of the
young man did not at first prepossess any one in his favour.
A daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Babington remembered hearing
her parents relate that upon his first arrival from Jamaica her
uncle Zachary was thought by most people to be a disagree
able, conceited youth, with self-sufficient, dogmatic manners,
but that before long an entire change took place in him.
The autobiographical fragment has shown the class of persons
among whom Macaulay had lived since he was a boy of four
teen, and the standard of conduct among his superiors and
equals in the West Indies to which he had been endeavouring
to compel his conscience to conform. He now found himself
living in intimate association with men in whose daily life he
beheld every pure Christian principle brought into action, and
whose motives and habits bore unflinchingly the closest scrutiny.
Instead of the systematic indulgence and selfishness of those
with whom he had spent his youth, he saw his present com
panions voluntarily renouncing that ease and enjoyment to

16 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
which their wealth and position entitled them, in order to
labour unceasingly for the welfare of their fellow-creatures, to
whose necessities they devoted all the money they could spare
from the duties of hospitality.1 Instead ofthe coarse language
and boorish ignorance to which the experience of the last few
years had accustomed him, Macaulay found himself in a decent,
well-ordered circle of society where courtesy and good-breeding
reigned supreme, where a high value was set upon the results
of education and self-control, and where literature and politics
were the subjects which formed the favourite relaxation of his
new associates.
Then for the first time since childhood his own nature was
able to assert itself. Those qualities which had hitherto ex
posed him to the censure and ridicule of his companions and
employers, and which in consequence he had laboured to sup
press and conceal, were the very qualities which he found, in
this new sphere, alone entitled him to respect and affection.
He learned for the first time that those feelings of humanity,
which he had in vain struggled to repress and to conquer on
the slave plantations of Jamaica, which he had believed himself
called upon by duty and honour to eradicate as noxious weeds
from his heart, were the natural instincts of a noble and
generous mind, and were shared by all those among whom his
lot was now cast.
Under these circumstances it is scarcely to be wondered at
that Macaulay's character appeared to change and develop
with a rapidity which would have been otherwise miraculous ;
and that his kind brother-in-law, who watched with deep
interest the effect upon his young kinsman of the novel sur
roundings in which he was placed, should soon perceive that
there was an unusual force of character and depth of earnestness
about the lad.
Mr. Babington, and the select company of friends in whose
society he lived, were accustomed to observe and criticise the
conduct of those around them in a manner which often makes
their letters very amusing reading. The minutest faults of
temper, manner, and social habits did not escape the notice of
1 As an illustration of the light in which these men looked upon themselves as
simply trustees of their own propeity, it may be mentioned that Mr. Henry Thornton
was in the regular habit of devoting two-thirds of his income to charitable purposes,
while others of the band of friends even exceeded this proportion in their gifts.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 17
men like himself, Henry Thornton, Wilberforce, and others of
his circle. It could not have been expected that these busy
and important men of the world would have been able to
acquire such an extensive knowledge of the shortcomings of
every one about them. But it certainly was the case, and in
their correspondence not only are graver errors touched upon,
but many were the serious discussions as to whether it would
be advisable to warn a young relation or friend against some
foolish custom, and whether some particular person should be
invited to visit at their houses for the sake of the example which
their households presented, and for instruction in the right
path. But of all the band of friends Mr. Babington bore the
palm for skill and tenderness in training and guiding the
youthful mind, and he was acknowledged to be unrivalled in
the art of reproof and exhortation.
He now earnestly applied himself to the task of improving
Macaulay. Never were pains bestowed on a kindlier soil, and
never was a richer harvest reaped by the cultivator. Not only
did Zachary Macaulay render priceless services to that great
cause which Babington and his friends had adopted as their
own, but he devoted himself from that time to his excellent
brother-in-law with the ardour of an enthusiastic mind; and
during the course of their long lives he did all that affection
and attention could do to prove the gratitude he felt for the
spiritual benefits which Mr. Babington had been the means of
conferring upon him. Some years later, in writing to a rela
tion, Macaulay says : ' If you were aware of the extent of my
obligations to Babington you would not be surprised that in
speaking of him T should express such deep affection. I never
think of him but my thoughts are drawn to that Saviour with
whom he first brought me acquainted ; and, if there be any
consideration which more than another endears Babington to
me, it is that of the relation in which he stands to me in Christ.
Will you wonder now that my heart should be melted when I
consider it?'
The subject which engrossed the attention of Thomas
Babington and his friends at the time when Macaulay returned
from the West Indies was one upon which he was only too well
instructed. For several years past a small number of humane men had

18 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
been endeavouring to awake public attention to the evils of the
Slave Trade. Their cause received a great increase of strength
by the accession of Wilberforce to their ranks in 1787. His
close friendship with Pitt, and the respect and esteem enter
tained for him by many of the leading politicians of the day,
gave him considerable influence ; and while he advocated upon
the benches of the House of Commons the suppression of the
Slave Trade, his associates laboured indefatigably, in every part
of England, to inform and arouse the opinion ofthe country.
For the first time the details of the manner in which the
Slave Trade was conducted were seriously presented to the
knowledge of the nation. Wilberforce and his little group of
allies adopted every means within their power to bring before
the eyes of persons of political and social eminence some of
the horrors which were taking place daily in the routine of the
Slave Trade. On one occasion they contrived to induce some
members of the House of Commons to make an expedition to
visit, as a matter of curiosity, a slave-ship that was fitting out
in the Thames. The experiment succeeded beyond the most
sanguine hopes of its originators. The members of Parliament
returned shocked and indignant at the sight of the space into
which the wretched slaves were to be crowded as a mere matter
of course. One of the party, Sir William Dolben, was so deeply
impressed by what he had seen that he lost no time in intro
ducing a Bill limiting the number of slaves allowed to be
carried at one time in one vessel, and providing some further
precautions to diminish their sufferings. The Bill passed both
Houses of Parliament, and received the Royal assent on the
nth of July 1788.
But the alarm had now been taken by the enormous mass of
persons who were interested in the maintenance of the Slave
Trade; and when in the following Session Wilberforce gave
notice of his first motion for the Abolition of the Slave Trade,
his opponents used every effort to prevent his obtaining any
further success. In the face of an able and eloquent speech
from Wilberforce which extorted the admiration of every side,
and notwithstanding the warm support of Pitt, Fox, and
Burke, it was agreed that the subject should be postponed
until counsel should have been heard and evidence tendered at
the bar of the House. The Sessions of 1790 and 1791 were

ZACHARY MACAULAY 19
occupied in harassing and protracted examinations before the
Special Committee to which the question had been referred.
But in the meantime a design had been formed by the friends
of Abolition, of which the result was to undermine the Slave
Trade in its central stronghold.
The Settlement of Sierra Leone had been originally planned
under the auspices of Granville Sharp, the well-known philan
thropist, with the object of providing for three or four hundred
enfranchised negroes who were wandering in great destitution
about the streets of London. A fine tract of land of about
twenty square miles, situated between the rivers of Sierra
Leone and the Sherbro, was purchased from the native king of
the district ; and the soil being excellent, and wood and water
plentiful, it was hoped with reason that the little Colony would
thrive. But towards the end of 1789 some quarrel, arising out
ofthe depredations upon the coast of the captain of an American
slave-ship, irritated the surrounding natives, and in retaliation
an attack was made by them on the Settlement, the Settlers
were dispersed, and their town burned.
Granville Sharp, however, did not abandon his project. By
his exertions a Company was formed in England for the assist
ance of the Colony of Sierra Leone, and among the number of
its Directors may be noted the auspicious names of Wilberforce,
Henry Thornton, and Babington. Through the friendly offices
of Wilberforce with Mr. Pitt, the Company were enabled to
purchase from the Government dockyards, for the trifling sum
of one hundred and eighty pounds, a small vessel, the Lapwing,
which had been condemned to be broken up. It is difficult to
understand the cause of this condemnation, as Wilberforce, in
writing to recommend the vessel to the notice of Granville
Sharp, particularly mentions that it is in a condition of high
order and equipment.
The Lapwing was despatched as quickly as was possible to
Sierra Leone, and conveyed Mr. Falconbridge, an agent com
missioned by the Directors of the Company to report to them
upon the state of the Settlement, and to take immediate
measures for the temporary relief of the Settlers. It was soon
followed by another vessel, which carried out to Sierra Leone
the Reverend Nathaniel Gilbert, a clergyman of the Church of
England, who had been appointed by the Directors to take the

20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
spiritual charge of the Colony, and Zachary Macaulay, whose
mission on this voyage appears to have been one simply of
interest and observation, prompted by Thomas Babington, who
thought that his young brother-in-law would in all probability
find at Sierra Leone some opening for the useful employment
of his peculiar talents, and who also hoped that the companion
ship of Gilbert would prove beneficial to the religious training
of his mind. In Macaulay's first letter to Mr. Babington from
the West coast of Africa, dated River Gambia, January 1, 1791,
the following sentence occurs :
'We arrived here on the 25th after a passage of four weeks,
which passed very pleasantly in the society of Mr. Gilbert. I
know not indeed that any period of my life ought to affect me
as more peculiarly attended by a blessing from God, than that
which I have spent in his company. My obligations to him are
of a kind not easy to particularise. He is a man of real piety,
of a meek and gentle spirit, and whose thoughts are as much
raised above the things of this world, as his passionate attach
ment to an only child, and his fervent love to his brethren of
men, will admit of.'
Falconbridge was not able to collect together more than
sixty-four ofthe original Settlers; but the report which he gave
of the resources of the country was so favourable that the
Directors resolved upon prosecuting their scheme. A Charter
was granted in 1791, and the Company was incorporated under
the title of the Sierra Leone Company, a large capital being at
the same time raised among the friends of Abolition. The
board of Directors was reconstituted. Mr. Henry Thornton, a
member of Parliament and an eminent London banker, who
had very early in life determined to devote his wealth and
talents to the service of religion, agreed to accept the post of
Chairman of the Court of Directors. His superior under
standing and knowledge of business were invaluable for the
guidance of the infant Colony, and for the creation of its trade.
But the duties he had undertaken proved so arduous that they
entailed too heavy a strain upon his strength and powers, and
deprived him for many years of all opportunity for the rest and
relaxation which his delicate frame needed.
A proposal was soon laid before the Directors to receive at
Sierra Leone a large number of negroes who had enlisted in

ZACHARY MACAULAY 21
the British forces during the American War of Independence,
and who had, at its termination, been settled in Nova Scotia as
a reward for their loyalty. These poor people, hearing a vague
rumour of the formation of a new Colony on the West coast of
Africa, petitioned to be transferred to it from a climate and
country entirely uncongenial to their constitutions and tastes.
The English Government, after receiving a reply from the
Company accepting the negroes as Colonists, thankful to get
rid of so troublesome a responsibility on such easy terms, agreed
to defray the whole expense of their removal. About twelve
hundred of these negroes arrived from Nova Scotia at Sierra
Leone early in 1792, under the care of Lieutenant Clarkson of
the Royal Navy, a brother of the celebrated Abolitionist,
Thomas Clarkson. This officer was requested by the Directors
to undertake the temporary superintendence of the Colony ;
and the town, which rose under his auspices, received the name
of Freetown.
Meanwhile a carefully organised attack upon the Slave Trade
was carried on with unremitting vigilance in England and
Scotland ; and the little knot of allies, who had hitherto been
engaged in an unpopular and isolated struggle against fearful
odds, began by degrees to feel the support of the country
behind them.
One important step in the cause of Abolition was gained in
the House of Commons during the Session of 1792. Mr
Babington writes :
'April 3, 1792. — Gisborne and I sat till six this morning in
the gallery ofthe House. Gradual Abolition is resolved on by
a majority of 238 to 85. The number of petitions which come
up every day must make an impression on the minds of
members. The Clergy in Scotland are almost universally
Abolitionists, and earnest in the cause. The interest of the
people is very important in this affair.'
The motion which is here referred to was supported by Pitt
in a speech of extraordinary eloquence. ' For the last twenty
minutes,' says Wilberforce, 'he really seemed inspired.' After
a severe struggle the date for the Abolition of the Slave Trade
was fixed for -the ist of January 1796. But the effect of the
victory in the Commons was rendered useless by a Resolution

22 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
of the House of Lords to proceed by calling evidence to
their bar.
In the spring of the same year Macaulay returned to
England. The prudence, discretion, and firmness of character
which he had evinced during his stay in the Colony had gained
the approbation of the Directors, and he received the appoint
ment of second Member of Council at Sierra Leone. He left
England again at the end of the year, and arrived in Africa in
January 1793. Soon after his arrival he is mentioned in a letter
written by the Swedish botanist in the employment of the
Company. ' Mr. Macaulay, the second in Council, who arrived lately, is a
very clever and sensible man, an elegant writer of great applica
tion, and besides just of the same turn of mind as Mr. Dawes.1
Thus they live together upon the most intimate terms, and this
harmony I consider as very beneficent to the Colony.'
The constant intercourse with Mr. Henry Thornton which the
affairs of the Colony necessitated during the few months that
Macaulay spent in this country, laid the foundation of that
friendship, which, between minds of such a kindred stamp,
ripened before long into close intimacy. Macaulay wrote with
ease and pleasure to himself, and the chief share in the duty of
preparing the despatches for the Court of Directors was de
volved before long upon him, by the common desire of his
colleagues in the Council at Sierra Leone. His was, truly, in
no ordinary degree, the pen of a ready writer. It is difficult to
comprehend how he could have found leisure to create the mass
of manuscripts, bearing no trace of haste either in the com
position of the sentences or in the penmanship, which remain
in his firm, delicately formed, and perfectly distinct hand
writing. Besides the bulky despatches addressed to the
Chairman of the Court of Directors, he kept for the private
instruction of Mr. Thornton a minute Journal on foolscap, of
the daily events in the Colon)-, which furnishes an entire account
of his life at Sierra Leone ; while in long letters to Babington
he indulges himself with dwelling upon those religious topics,
and spiritual feelings and aspirations, which were the dearest
thoughts of both their hearts, and on which they were able to
communicate in perfect and unclouded sympathy.
1 The Governor. .

ZACHARY MACAULAY 23
Macaulay was fortunate in some of his associates in the
new Colony. Among the handful of Europeans in the service
of the Company were a few in whose society he found constant
pleasure. The Governor, Mr. Dawes, a man of high character,
treated him from the first with confidence and respect. Dr.
Thomas Winterbottom,1 the medical adviser appointed by the
Court of Directors, was a man of a singularly amiable disposi
tion ; and the Reverend Melville Horne, who had succeeded
Mr. Gilbert as Chaplain, is described by so good a judge of
social qualifications as Hannah More as being ' sensible, lively,
and zealous, and possessing imagination and enthusiasm.'
Dr. Afzelius, the Swedish botanist, had been sent out in order
to form and take charge of a garden of acclimatisation.
Mr. Watt, a man of cultivation and energy, was intrusted with
the superintendence of the Company's plantations which were
upon the Bullom shore on the north bank of the Sierra Leone
River, and were worked by free labour.
Besides these gentlemen were a number of captains and
mates of the Company's vessels, accountants and clerks em
ployed in their offices, and the English schoolmasters. Of
these latter the one most frequently mentioned in the Journal is
Mr. Garvin, who arrived at Sierra Leone during the summer
of 1793. He had been engaged by the Directors at the recom
mendation of Dr. Ryland, a celebrated minister of the Baptist
persuasion at Bristol, one of whose flock Garvin had been ; but
the appointment proved disastrous to the peace of the Colony,
and was a source of constant difficulty to Macaulay.
A few miles from Freetown, on Bance Island,2 was situated
the principal English slave factory on the coast, belonging to
the Messrs. Anderson of Liverpool, at the head of which was a
gentleman of the name of Tilley ; and about twenty miles
distant was the French slave factory on Gambia Island, the
business of which was conducted by M. Renaud, who contrived
to cause incessant embarrassment and difficulties to his neigh
bours at Sierra Leone.
This sketch will have described the persons and places most
frequently referred to in Macaulay's Journal, which will itself
1 Author of An Account ofthe Native Africans in the Neighbourhood of Sierra Leone;
to which is added an Account of the present State of Medicine among them, published
by Hatchard in 1803.
2 Sometimes called Bunce Island.

24

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

now best narrate the course of events. The following letter
from Mr. Babington was written in the spring after Macaulay
sailed for the West coast of Africa. In this, and in other
letters which will be given subsequently, the more intimate
family details have been omitted as being of interest only
to the correspondents. But these omissions will explain any
abruptness that may lay the commencements and terminations
of the letters open to criticism.
FROM THOMAS BABINGTON, ESQ.
Rothley Temple, April 9, 1793.
MY DEAR Z., — I do not think myself guilty of any pro
fanation in taking up my pen on a Sunday to write to you.
Indeed, when you come into my mind, my thoughts generally
take a turn which makes them as proper for this as for any
other day. I consider you as selected by the Lord, in a manner
rather remarkable, as His instrument in a great work. The
history of your life seems to me to vindicate a conclusion of
this sort from the charge of enthusiasm, to which such con
clusions are not unfrequently liable. The examples and pre
cepts of piety you met with during childhood in your father's
family ; your subsequent proficiency in some branches of learn
ing at Glasgow; your early embarkation for Jamaica, which
afforded you time and opportunity for acquirements without
which your going to Sierra Leone would not have been thought
of; your first trip to England, which altered jour ideas as to
the Slave Trade, and gave me such a knowledge of you that I
could afterwards speak with some confidence of your character
and views to Mr. Thornton ; the disappointment you ex
perienced in your attempts to fix yourself in England, which
left you at liberty to accept the offer of the Sierra Leone
Company ; your long stay in England before you embarked
for Africa; and finally the remarkable coincidence of events
which carried you out with a sincere Christian so peculiarly
fitted to win on your affections, and satisfy your judgment, as
Mr. Gilbert ; in all these dispensations I think I see the hand
of your Lord conducting you to the arduous and honourable
service on which you are now engaged. The history of your
life, dear Zachary, seems to form a chain, no link of which
could have been wanting without detriment.
Lord Abingdon is to bring on a question on Thursday in
opposition to the abolition of the Slave Trade. I fear we shall
be defeated, and at a time most unfavourable for rallying our

ZACHARY MACAULAY 25
forces. On this, however, as on all occasions, reliance on God
is our duty, and an unfeigned resignation of ourselves and our
concerns to Him who best understands the interests of His
kingdom, and will mature, in His good time, all plans which
really conduce to His glory and the happiness of His creatures.
Moses no doubt thought to have delivered his countrymen
when he interfered in the quarrel between the Egyptian and
the Israelite ; but forty years elapsed before he was called upon
to undertake it.
We are now at home again, and I find no small benefit from
country exercise and untainted air. Poor Jean is far from well
but I endeavour to keep myself easy by recollecting that all
the dispensations of God are sent by Him for the purpose of
producing the peaceful fruits of righteousness. She, I trust
from my observation, is purified by them in some good degree,
and proves the skill of the divine refiner. — Yours with true
affection, THOMAS BABINGTON.

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER III
SIERRA LEONE
' fune 18, 1793. — To-day Horne and Winterbottom moved
down to the house contiguous to that which Mr. Dawes and I
occupy, so that we now form one family, and Mr. Dawes
directs and manages everything. Of the three rooms in our
house which we supposed to be finished, one is perfectly
uninhabitable. In another, the dining-room, I have been able
to find one corner for my mattress, but it leaks everywhere
else ; and Mr. Dawes's room, which is the best, admits the rain
in several places.
' The Amy1 sailed on the 16th under convoy of the Orpheus
frigate. By her I sent you letters, urging the Court of Directors
to send us a speedy supply of goods for trade. Our present
assortment must be completely exhausted in a few months in
supplying the wants of the Colony, and paying native labourers.
We intend to introduce as much as possible the practice of
dealing in sterling money.
' I must acquaint you with some proceedings of the com
mander of the frigate, in my opinion of a most nefarious
nature. 'In the prizes2 taken by Captain Newcome there were no
less than seventeen black mariners, who had been engaged for
hire to assist the European sailors in navigating the vessels.
There was likewise on board' of one of them a fine mulatto boy
of about seven years old, with a negro woman who was either
his mother or nurse. These were all sold to Bance Island.
On inquiry I found that they were all free men, one or two of
them of this neighbourhood.andwho had accompanied M.Renaud
on the trading expedition he lately made to Goree and Senegal.
Mr. Tilley was indeed so considerate as to say he did not mean
1 A vessel belonging to the Sierra Leone Company.
- The French had declared war against England early in 1793.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 27
to send them off the country, but would allow their friends to
redeem them whenever they thought fit to send slaves in their
room ; and that in the meantime their treatment should be
humane. I am well disposed to believe his professions. But
is there no possibility of punishing this act of injustice in the
captain ? Why were the French seamen not put up to auction
in the same manner? Is black and white to be permitted by
Government to constitute the line which shall separate the
captive in war from the slave ? These men were not only free,
but some of them the sons of Chiefs. Previous to their fate,
I had some suspicions that the case was as I have stated it to
be, but was not able fully to inform myself till afterwards.
Had I known it, I certainly should have been disposed to run
every risk, and should have heartily joined to put my name to
a bill on the Court of Directors for the amount of their ransom.
The poor men would thus have got their liberty ; and, I think,
a trial before an English jury would not only have super
seded your obligations, but have brought disgrace on those
concerned.1 I would fain urge you to an investigation of this
black transaction, and will endeavour to provide you with
materials. ' It would appear from what is openly acknowledged by
Signor Domingo 2 and some of the other Chiefs, that however
cordial the people of Bance Island may now be to us, at our
first arrival they had endeavoured to convince the natives of
our sinister designs, and had instigated them to oppose our
landing by promises of a supply of arms and ammunition.
Falconbridge's professions and conduct indeed gave the Slave-
traders great reason to believe that nothing less was intended
than to ruin them by the most unfair means, such as enticing
away their seamen, inveigling their slaves, and encouraging the
natives to cut off slave-ships.
'The General Ord, Captain Ducket, privateer from Bristol,
arrived at the Settlement. He brought a prize taken off
Senegal,3 having on board about two thousand pounds' worth of
Indian goods. While at Senegal he was perceived by the Fort ;
and being under American colours, the Governor believed he
wished to cross the bar. The Governor accordingly borrowed
a boat and some Grumettas 4 from M. Renaud, who was there
at the time, and putting a pilot on board, sent it off to the ship
1 Mr. Thornton writes on the margin : ' This idea does great honour to the head
and heart of Mr. Macaulay, and I think the plan would have been completely
successful.' 2 One of the Chiefs in the Sherbro, a large tract of country south of Sierra Leone.
3 The French colony north of the Gambia River.
4 Native free labourers.

28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
with a very polite letter offering his services. The letter, I
think, might have been considered by an honest man as a flag
of truce. Captain Ducket, however, made a prize of the boat
and crew. The crew happened all to belong to Sierra Leone,
whence they had accompanied Renaud. Surely this is not the
spirit, if it be the practice, of modern warfare! Poor Renaud,
who has now been bereft of almost all his property, by part of
which every vessel that has come upon the coast has been
enriched, is a harmless individual, desirous of injuring no one,
anxious only to fulfil his commercial engagements, and equally
connected in the course of his business with Englishmen
and Frenchmen. By a course of (I will not say honest)
industry, and the most unimpeached fidelity in his dealings as
a merchant, he had acquired considerable property. He has,
in a short space of time, been stripped nearly of all ; and should
he return to Gambia Island, he will be obliged to answer to the
natives with his life, or at least with the wrecks of his fortune,
for those unhappy wretches, for whose safety he had pledged
himself, and who have been reduced into a state of slavery by
the cruel and avaricious conduct of a British commander and
a commissioned robber. In a conversation with Ducket I
inquired his intentions with respect to these men, as they were
evidently free, and as numerous applications had been made to
us by their friends to procure their liberty. He said he
expected to be paid for them. Even that we should not have
scrupled to do, had he not intimated that he could receive
nothing in return but prime slaves, four feet three inches high.
This put an end to our negotiation, and he carried them to
Bance Island, and disposed of them to his wish. You will
wonder, perhaps, at my not expressing all the indignation
which such a conduct naturally creates. But we live in Africa,
where, if we mean to live and do good, we must suppress our
emotions, at least deny them vent.
1 fune 19. — I visited Signor Domingo, and found him at
dinner with Pa Sirey, who is nominated King of Logo, and a
Maraboo or Mohammedan priest, whom he has at present
employed in assisting at his sacrifices to the devil. Their meal
consisted of nothing but rice moistened with palm oil, and
washed down with water from the spring. The warm admirers
of patriarchal simplicity might here have gratified their taste,
but I felt no inclination to change a piece of cold mutton and
a bottle of wine I had with me, for the honour of dining on
rice and palm oil, even with Majesty. Signor Domingo reads
the Portuguese language fluently. After dinner he produced
his mass-book, and prayed with seeming devotion for some
time, and he gave me to understand that it is a constant

ZACHARY MACAULAY 29
practice with him morning and evening to pray to God. He
expressed great concern that for some years past he had seen
no priest to whom he might confess his sins, and from whom
he might receive absolution. To obviate the mischief which
may arise from his dying in his present unsanctified state, he
has left particular orders, that, as soon as he dies, two slaves
shall be sent to Santiago1 to a priest there, who may intercede
for him and smooth his way to heaven. With all this he is
anxious for the spread of the Gospel, and I think would engage
willingly in any plan which might serve to promote it. He
agrees to give a house and land to any schoolmaster that may
be sent him, and to take him under his own protection. One
expression of his struck me. " What more have I to do with
the Slave Trade ? It is time I should leave it off, and settle
my account with God. I am old ; I ought to think only of
heaven." 'fune 21. — Mr. .Dawes and I set off to pay our respects to
some of the Chiefs. We called likewise at Gambia Island,
where we were kindly received. The French seem to live very
wretchedly at present. We made them an offer of assistance ;
indeed, since the commencement of the disturbances, we have
rather paid them more attention, and shown them more civili
ties, than before. The soil of Gambia Island is rich, but it is
surrounded with swamps full of mangroves, consequently
unhealthy. The Europeans there are very sickly. The build
ings are mean. There is an open battery in front of them on
which are mounted four four-pounders.
'fune 24. — I went up to Bance Island to attend the sale of
some prizes. One of them was a French brig which had been
taken in the Sherbro, and whose capture had been attended by
every circumstance which could aggravate the necessary hard
ship of such an incident. She had been made a prize by the
Swift privateer of Bristol. The officer, who boarded her, stript
the captain, surgeon, and crew of all their wearing apparel, took
from the captain's fob a gold repeater, and robbed him of his
sword, buckles, &c. But this did not satisfy him ; he observed
a diamond ring on the captain's finger, and immediately laid
claim to it. The poor man pleaded that it was given him as a
gift, and prayed that he might be allowed to keep it. This
respectable officer, v/hose name was Llewellyn, told him, that
unless he delivered it instantly, he would be put to death,
and seizing hold ofthe man's finger, began to pull it off. But
finding it a difficult matter to do this, as the ring had remained
there a long time, he was proceeding to cut off the finger as the
1 One of the Cape de Verde islands.

30

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

easiest way of accomplishing his purpose. But he was pre
vented from going that length, for the French captain, after a
good deal of trouble, freed his finger from the ring, and gratified
the monster. Some native free women who had been put on
board the vessel as pledges were made prisoners of, and sent to
the West Indies. The above is the French captain's account,
and I am inclined to think it true. I bought nothing, except a
boat for Mr. Watt's use. Bance Island, as things are at present
constituted, is a most unpleasant place. Tilley is indeed a man
of decency and propriety in his external conduct ; but the
motley crew of traders and ship captains, who to the number of
about twenty usually infest the place, render it a scene of con
tinual dissipation and confusion. Their mode of living is
licentious in the extreme ; and, as may be expected, few of
them are long lived. Since the commencement of the rains, a
good many whites have already died there. There is only one
dwelling-house on the island, so that the sick are exposed to
all the noise, bustle, and clamour of slaves in the slave-yard,
occasioned by the extensive trade of the place. In short, I am
surprised how any who once gets ill can recover in such a
place ; and I have reason to believe it no exaggeration to say
that, of those who come hither from Europe, fifty per cent, die
the first year.
'fune 28. — I set off myself in tlie Ocean, with the intention of
visiting the Isles de Los 1 and the Bananas,'2 and then proceed
ing to the Sherbro.
'fune 29. — I arrived at the Isles de Los, and agreed with
Mr. Horrocks for the purchase of forty puncheons of rum.
If the Court of Directors should think the bargain a hard
one, they must partly blame themselves, for had we been
regularly supplied we should not have been driven to this
necessity. 'Sierra Leone, fuly 3, 1793.— I found on my arrival that the
Lapwing had been despatched after me, with a request that I
would return immediately, to assist in the arrangement of some
important matters. I have mentioned that Renaud had been
at Gambia Island in an armed sloop. Afterwards he visited
Bance Island, where, meeting with Captain Ducket of the
privateer, he charged him with having piratically taken a large
sloop, together with a boat of his, and with having killed some
men in the former, while, contrary to the established laws of
nations, he had American colours hoisted. He further charged
1 A group of rocky islands about sixty miles north of Sierra Leone, where a large
slave business was carried on by Messrs. Horrocks and Jackson.
2 An island thirty miles south of Sierra Leone, where two very powerful Slave-
traders lived, Cleveland and Bolland.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 31
him with having sold the men who were in his boat to Bance
Island, although, even according to Tilley, they were con
fessedly free, and natives of this river. All his expostulations
were ineffectual, and the captives were peremptorily refused
him unless he paid the price of their redemption. Renaud's
indignation was strongly excited by this conduct, and when
Ducket left Bance Island to return to the Settlement, Renaud
likewise took his leave. They set off in different directions,
but no sooner did Tapo conceal them from the sight of Bance
Island than Renaud pursued Ducket, overtook him, and made
him prisoner. He was treated respectfully, but told that he
must purchase his liberty by the restitution of the sloop and
cargo, of the free men he had sold, and of all the freemen who
had been sold in the same nefarious manner by the commander
of the Orpheus} It was impossible for Ducket to comply with
these requisitions, as everything had been disposed of to Tilley.
Tilley therefore prepared to attack Gambia Island with a con
siderable force, aided by the privateer, in order to rescue
Ducket, and avenge what he called an unparalleled insult. In
this emergency, alarmed at the prospect of a bitter war so near
our Settlement, and apprehensive that circumstances might arise
which would involve us in the quarrel, we resolved on assuming
the office of mediators, and Strand 2 was accordingly despatched
with a remonstrance from Mr. Dawes to Gambia Island, point
ing out the impracticability of fulfilling Renaud's demands, the
likelihood of his obtaining redress by the legal mode of a
representation to the English Court of Admiralty, and our wish
of composing the unhappy differences which existed between
him and Bance Island.
' In consequence of his application Ducket was released, the
prisoners restored without ransom, and Renaud received a
convincing proof of our peaceable intentions. He proposed to
Strand to engage in the Company's service. Strand referred
him for an answer to Mr. Dawes, and this day was fixed on for
the conference.
'I happened luckily to arrive from my expedition to the
Isles de Los at the same time with Renaud. His proposals
were that the Company's flag should be hoisted on Gambia
Island, and that he should relinquish the Slave Trade, and
engage himself as a trader to the Company.
'It will be necessary to observe that Renaud is vain, im
moderate, and sanguine, though at the same time active,
acute, and intelligent. 1 See ante, page 26.
2 One of the English schoolmasters.

32 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
' Our reply was that Renaud would readily see the impro
priety of our violating our neutrality, by taking possession of
an island, on which the French standard had been erected,
under the authority of the French Government. We observed
that, at present, we found little encouragement, on account
of the war, to indulge such extensive views of commerce,
especially as we must lay our account occasionally to make
a sacrifice of truth for the preservation of property. It had
been very much our wish, we said, to preserve the peace of
the river, and that we now wished, by a treaty of strict
neutrality, to give a test of our good intentions, while we
received a like pledge from him. We intimated at the same
time that we entertained a perfect contempt of any attempts
which privateers might make against us; and that we were
assured that vessels bearing the national commission of France
would have orders from their superiors to respect our Colony
and flag.1 A paper was accordingly drawn up and signed
by both parties, binding each other to the observance of a
strict neutrality.
'fuly 4. — It was discovered to-day that the Store had been
robbed of copper money to the amount of thirty or forty
pounds. A reward was offered on conviction of the thief.
I mentioned before that a boy slave had escaped from the
Nassau, and was supposed to be concealed in the Settlement.
To-day we learned he was trepanned on shore, and sold
to M. Cramond of the African Queen, by some one resident
in the Colony. We hope to come to a thorough knowledge
of this transaction.
'fuly 6. — During the last night there was some more copper
money stolen from the Store. The money was removed to
a more secure place, and diligent search made for the robber,
but without effect. Some of the Settlers proposed to, dis
cover the criminal by incantations, but we soon put a stop
to this procedure.
' I have been endeavouring to convince King Jammy2 ofthe
absurdity of employing witchcraft to convict of crime, but my
arguments had no effect on him. " If any man dead," he said,
" make me talk to him. I tell you presently what kill him."
This was unanswerable. Signor Domingo told us that a man
in his town had been sold a little time before, on pretence of
having changed himself by means of witchcraft into a leopard,
1 This impression arose from assurances, emanating apparently from La Fayette,
that a Colony established upon the true principles of freedom should not be molested,
and that orders should be issued to the French commanders to observe a strict
neutrality towards il.
2 The Chief whose attack was the cause of the dispersion of the original
Colonists.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 33
and in that shape carrying away some fowls and goats from the
Signor's town. Strange accusation ! The only feasible account
I can procure of this matter is that sometimes men, actuated by
a desire of resenting some injury, do clothe themselves in the
skin of a leopard, and so habited, execute some scheme of
revenge. The metamorphosis is supposed real by the super
stitious natives, who are encouraged in that notion by the
Chiefs, whose purposes it serves occasionally to raise the
accusation against an obnoxious individual, and thus to carry
him off. I am told an instance lately occurred in the Sherbro
of a man who disguised himself in the skin of an alligator, and
availing himself of the darkness of the night, dreadfully
mangled a poor girl who was bathing in the river, and to whose
family he owed some ill-will. But I imagine that for one
instance when the charge is well founded, in twenty it is suppo
sititious, and that those accused often prefer the slavery attached
to a confession of guilt to the proof of their innocence by red
water, which, though not here, yet in the Sherbro is almost
always mortal.
' Sunday, fuly 7.— Horne preached with his usual fire, per
spicuity, and simplicity, on the withering of Jeroboam's hand,
and took occasion to make such observations on the sin of
incantations, which he considered as a prelude to a relapse into
that idolatry from which by God's grace the Settlers had been
lately rescued, which above all sins had been ever peculiarly
marked by the displeasure of the Almighty, and which had
perhaps been one reason why the wrath of God had visited the
coast of Africa with such signal calamities, as I think could not
fail of producing happy effects.
'fuly 10. — I sailed on the 8th in the Ocean for the Bananas
and the Sherbro. We had terrible rains and southerly winds,
and reached the Bananas this afternoon. I went on shore
and bought three tons of camwood from Cleveland, who was
extremely civil. I proposed to him and Bolland to contract
for rice. Sailed for the Sherbro.
'fuly 13. — We reached Jenkins 1 last night, and had no sooner
come to an anchor than we received a message from Addow,
the Chief of all Sherbro, inquiring whence we came. To-day
I waited on Addow, and . was surprised by the appearance of
a man who, though about ninety years of age, is still active,
sensible, and vivacious. I explained to him the motives of my
present visit, which was to acquaint myself with him and the
other Chiefs, to pay the customs, to fix factories on a sure
footing, and to give them a thorough knowledge of the views
1 The principal town of the Sherbro.
C

34 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
and intentions of the Sierra Leone Company. The old man
entered very readily into our views, and agreed to take our
traders under his protection, and to be answerable for any
injury they might sustain. In the Sherbro there are three
Kings, and Addow has the nomination of all of them. He
acts likewise as collector of the customs, so you may readily
suppose, then, that his influence is all-powerful. He agreed to
accept of a hundred and sixty bars as a full discharge of the
customs of all the various branches of the Sherbro, a sum that
does not amount to one half of what slave-dealers are obliged
to pay. He promised to send one of his boys to the Settlement
for education, and expressed an intention of visiting it himself.
He told me that Chambard1 had hitherto made no trade
owing to a difference between him and the natives, and at my
desire he sent for him and the headman of the place where he
resides, that the difference might be adjusted.
'fuly 14. — Addow dined on board. We talked much of the
Settlement and the Company's views, which he listened to with
seeming satisfaction. He promised to give his protection to
a missionary, or schoolmaster, should we send one. Although
occasionally engaged in the Slave Trade, he seems to rejoice in
the prospect of its abolition. Some years ago his town was
destroyed by James Cleveland, and many of his people carried
away into slavery. He still waits an opportunity of revenging
this injury.
' I found Chambard and his landlord had arrived. I went
ashore with them to Addow's, where, after hearing their mutual
recriminations, it was determined that, in consideration of six
gallons of rum and six pounds of tobacco, his landlord should
immediately build, in a commodious situation, for the use of
the Company, a good dwelling-house after the manner of native
houses, a rice house, a yard for camwood, and a fowl house ;
that this being done, Chambard should dispose of his goods as
soon as possible, and that he should then be removed from the
situation, and some one placed there of a less impetuous and
more accommodating temper than this testy Frenchman.
'fuly 17. — Having finished my business, we set sail; and
feeiing myself indisposed, I thought it most prudent to return
to Sierra Leone.'
One of the principal chiefs in the Sierra Leone district,
Naimbanna, King of Robanna, was an African native of un
common intelligence. He observed the superiority of Euro-
1 Chambard was one of the Company's traders who had been settled at ¦* district
called the Camarancas, and who was constantly causing trouble by his quarrels with
I he natives.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 35
peans, and attributed the barbarous state of his own people to
the difference of their religion. He. was however much per
plexed when his inquiries led to the discovery of there being
various forms of religion in the civilised world, and after much
deliberation finally hit upon a singular method of solving his
difficulties. He requested the Sierra Leone Company to send
his eldest son to England to be instructed there. A second
son was despatched to Turkey, with orders to become a
Mahommedan ; while the Roman Catholics took charge of a
third, who was brought up in Portugal. The results of the
education thus bestowed were to determine Naimbanna in the
choice of a religion for his subjects.
The eldest son, who had accompanied Mr. Falconbridge on
his return home, was at that time a man of about thirty years
of age. His amiable qualities and anxiety for instruction
excited considerable interest in England, where great pains
were taken to cultivate his faculties. After some time he was
baptized at his own earnest desire, Mr. Henry Thornton and
Mr. Granville Sharp being his sponsors, and giving him the
names of Henry Granville. Macaulay wrote about him in
1796 to a friend who had criticised severely a tract published
in England embodying the story of Henry Granville's life : —
' Your observations on the story of Naimbanna's running out
of St. Paul's Cathedral may be partly just. I think, however,
that there is an essential difference between St. Paul's and
every other large building in London. The idea of its being
God's house is calculated to solemnise the mind ; and there
is certainly something very terrific in looking down from the
gallery, which must necessarily heighten any impression of
reverential awe which is inspired by the majestic and stupendous
air of the place on first entering. That he should immediately
connect an affecting and even terrifying sense of his own un
worthiness with an increased impression ofthe divine greatness
and majesty appeared to me an evidence of a well-turned mind.
It was Job's feeling, " now mine eye seeth thee." It was Isaiah's
"Woe is me, for I am undone, for mine eyes have seen the
King the Lord of Hosts." I have not the tract at present to
refer to ; but what ought to have been made of the story was
to show how the impressive view of God's power and greatness
which the place was calculated to give, in a very lively way
produced in him a more heartfelt sense of sin and a greater
dread of its consequences, which was exactly the effect it ought

36 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
to have produced. I doubt whether the name of pious could
well attach to Naimbanna at this period. It was soon after his
arrival in London, when he was as yet very partially enlightened
indeed with respect to the great truths of Christianity.'
The death of the old Chief, his father, in 1793 cut short Henry
Granville's studies, and he sailed for Africa with Mr. Graham,
one ofthe gentlemen in the service of the Sierra Leone Com
pany, and attended by a native servant from his own country
who had followed him to England. Great hopes were enter
tained as to his future usefulness in forming confidential rela
tions between the natives and the free Colony, and in preventing
misunderstandings. 'fitly 18, 1793. — For the first time, I feel a difficulty in
addressing you. Fain would I draw a veil over the continua
tion of my journal, and were it possible, save your mind the
unavailing pain it must excite. I was highly pleased in the
morning to observe that the Naimbanna1 had arrived, and already
enjoyed by anticipation letters from Europe, and a meeting
with Henry Granville. I was not long permitted to indulge
myself in such expectations. A messenger from Mr. Dawes
waked me from my dream by announcing to me that about ten
hours before, your amiable friend had winged his flight to
another world.
' The shock of this severe and unexpected dispensation was
so sudden, that I was scarce convinced of its reality until a
smart stroke of fever had brought me to myself. How marvel
lous are Thy works, O God ! The ways of Thy providence are
indeed past finding out. The eye of finite reason in vain looks
in this event for even probable good consequences, and but for
a conviction that He whose eye pervades the universe maketh
all things work together for good, I should be apt to rank this
incident in the list of irreparable evils.
'According to Mr. Graham's account Henry Granville had
left Plymouth in perfect health, but began to feel unwell as
soon as they reached a warmer climate. His mind appeared
uneasy. The dread of a disappointment in the objects nearest
his heart seemed to weigh- on him more strongly as he drew
nigh his native shores. Numberless w§re the plans he amused
himself with devising for spreading the Gospel, and opening the
eyes of his countrymen ; but he seemed tortured with the dread
that obstacles too powerful for him to cope with would arise to
obstruct his designs.. As he approached the African coast, the
1 A vessel in the service of the Company named after the late King.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 37
heat affected him very violently ; he was seized with a fever,
which was soon followed by delirium. 1 His few lucid moments
afforded to those around him edifying marks of a humble trust
and confidence in the mercies of God, and of a perfect resigna
tion to the divine will.
' On the 14th the intermission of his delirium was of a longer
duration than it had been before. He took the opportunity
of calling Mr. Graham to him, and telling him with great firm
ness of mind, " My friend, I begin to think that God intends to
call me hence ; and I fear the message may come before I have
an opportunity of telling my mother and friends the mercies of
God towards me, and my obligations towards the Sierra Leone
Company. Take pen and ink, and write what I shall dictate."
In the presence of Captain Woollis and the black servant James,
Mr. Graham wrote as follows : ,
'"On board the Naimbanna, fuly 14, 1793.
' " I, Henry Granville Naimbanna, having been for some days
very unwell, and being apprehensive that I may not reach my
friends, have communicated the underwritten in the presence of
the subscribers.
'" It is my will and desire that my brother Bartholomew do
pay to Sierra Leone Company thirteen tons of rice, or the value
thereof, being in consideration of the sums expended by the
said Company on my account. And likewise that my said
brother do pay the sum of fifty pounds to Henry Thornton,
Esq., which is for money advanced by him for me. It is my
will that my brother should inherit all my estate until my son
Lewie shall be of age, and that he will always do his endeavour
to be on a good understanding with the Sierra Leone Company.
And more particularly I request he may, as far as in him lies,
oppose the Slave Trade. And further, that nothing injurious
may be imputed to the Sierra Leone Company by any evil-
minded men whose interest may be in opposition to the worthy
Company, I here declare, in the presence of that God in whom I
place my trust, that during my stay in England, always I
enjoyed very good health, and received the greatest civilities
from all those whose care I was under, and at, my leaving
England I was in perfect health."
' He then complained of fatigue, and said he would postpone
the remainder till he had taken a little rest. But in a short
time his fever and delirium returned with increased violence,
and scarce ever left him afterwards.
' When the Naimbanna came to an anchor at the Settlement,
Winterbottom immediately repaired on board, but your friend

o

8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

was already beyond the reach of medical skill. He was brought
to Mr. Dawes's house on the morning of the 17th in a state
which showed him to be no longer of this world. An express
had been despatched to Robanna on the first intimation of
Henry Granville's state, and his mother, brothers, and sisters
appeared at Freetown. His brother Bartholomew seemed to
feel little on the occasion, but heartfelt anguish was depicted on
the countenance of his cousin Harry, an ingenuous young man,
and the wildness of his sisters' grief, and the distraction of his
poor mother, were too shocking for description: For about
an hour before his death he spoke to no one, and expired with
out a groan about seven in the evening. The body was hurried
away by his friends on board a canoe, and conveyed immediately
to Robanna.
'To-day Mr. Dawes, Horne, and Graham followed with a
coffin, and a puncheon of rum for his Cry. I was too ill to
attend them. Mr. Horne performed the funeral service over
him, and finished with an extempore prayer, so affecting as to
convey the soft infection to the ignorant crowd who listened to
it, and to melt them into tears. This done they left the place,
and the coffin was interred after the manner ofthe country.
' Some things I must now touch upon which will not diminish
your concern on this occasion. In his pocket-book was found
a paper on which he had written, apparently while at Plymouth,
as follows : " I shall take care of this company which I now
fallen into, for they swears good deal, and talked all manner of
wickedness. Can I be able to resist that temptation, no I
cannot, but the Lord will deliver me." On a leaf of his pocket-
book there was written, evidently while at sea, "I have this day
declared that if Sierra Leone Company's vessels should all be
like the Naimbanna, or have a company like her, I will never
think of coming to England, though I have friends as dear to
me as the last word my Father spoke when he gave up the
ghost." ' We considered ourselves as called on to institute an inquiry
into the circumstances which had led to this declaration, and
we found that the mate and crew were addicted to the use of
the most horrid oaths and imprecations, which when Captain
Woollis at Henry Granville's instance endeavoured to correct,
he found himself unable. This circumstance seemed to have
wounded him to the soul. The cabin, too, was extremely
uncomfortable, the skylight had been broken, and there was no
glass on board to repair it with. In preparing the Naimbanna
for sea, the most unpardonable neglect appears in every
instance. 'fitly 21.— I have been confined to bed with fever, but felt

ZACHARY MACAULAY 39
better to-day. During my absence, Mr. Chilton the school
master died. His loss will be much felt in the Colony.
' Harry Naimbanna came down to Freetown, and delivered to
Mr. Dawes a threatening letter, written by Elliot,1 and signed
by Bartholomew, accusing the captain of the schooner of having
poisoned Henry Granville.
' I find that after Mr. Dawes left on the 18th, the friends of
Henry Granville tried by incantation to discover the cause of
his death. The body was placed in an erect posture, and
examined by some skilful necromancer. It was successively
asked if the Sierra Leone Company, if Mr. Dawes, if Dr. Winter-
bottom, if Mr. Graham, etc., etc., had caused his death. The
corpse continued motionless. The fated name of Captain
Woollis was then mentioned, and the body gave a nod of
assent. They allege that the Guinea traders had bribed
Woollis to contrive his death, but the real foundation of the
charge was as follows. The black man, James, had been turned
out of the cabin by Henry Granville on account of his laziness,
and put before the mast, where the captain had wished him to
do some duty, and to assist in navigating the vessel. He did
not relish this exercise, and in revenge he intimated to the
queen that he believed that Woollis bore her son ill-will, and
that he had seen him mix a cup of tea for him, in which he
suspected there was poison. This hint was sufficient. It was
artfully worked up by Elliot into a feasible story. He
endeavoured to persuade them that the service of plate sent
to Lieutenant Clarkson had been intended for King Naim
banna ; that royal robes and a gold crown had been sent from
England for him ; that the vessel Naimbanna was intended as
a present to the King, agreeably to a promise of Clarkson's,
and that the goods on board of her were meant as a further
payment to the Chiefs for the land we occupy. So that they
believe that Henry Granville had been put to death in order to
prevent the discovery of these things.
'fuly 24. — Tilley came from Bance Island to warn us that the
friends of Henry Granville were exasperated to a high pitch. I
also received a confidential messenger from Renaud, telling us
that the natives had the most serious designs against us and
the Colony ; and that we ought to keep a good watch on board
ship ahd in our own house. Little time was allowed for de
liberation. We rightly judged it would be easier to deter
the infatuated people from making any attempt against us by
a show of preparation, than to remedy the mischief of such an
1 One of the original Settlers who had attached himself to the service of King Naim
banna at the time of the dispersion of the Colony. Granville Sharp had given him
some education in England.

40

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

attempt after it had been made. We accordingly put the
Settlers on their guard, mounted four twelve-pounders in front
of Mr. Dawes's house, flanking it with a couple of four-pounders
pointed up the river, and two howitzers. The house was lined
with small arms, and ball cartridges placed at hand to use
should there be occasion. A watch was likewise kept.
'fuly 25. — Renaud visited us, which gave us the opportunity
of finally reconciling the difference between him and Tilley,
which might have rendered it impossible for us to preserve our
neutrality. He and Tilley left us with strong assurances of
exerting themselves to serve us, and with promises of the
earliest intelligence.
'fuly 26. — An express arrived from Bance Island, informing
us that Signor Domingo had confessed to Tilley that Elliot was
at the bottom of the business. We found on inquiry that the
Settlers were determined to stand by us. A few were pointed
out to us as enemies to the Colony, and of these Elliot and his
brother are the principal. We placed two cannons on Thornton
Hill, and one on the path which leads to King Jammy's, and
another on the path which leads to Signor Domingo's, so that
we now present a formidable front on every quarter.
' Our situation is really far from pleasant. We live, not in
fear, but in incessant watching. We are surrounded by arms
of all denominations. Our bedsides are furnished with weapons
ready for occasion, and our slumbers are short and interrupted.
That your Colony has anything to apprehend from the force of
the country united against it I do not believe, but against the
native mode of warfare we have but slight defences. Their sole
object is revenge ; and their mode of obtaining it is generally
by stealing into a place in the dead of night, stabbing as many
as they can without raising the alarm, and setting fire in their
retreat. Our own persons are safe, but we cannot so well
answer for the helpless families who reside in the skirts
of the town, or who have extended themselves into the
country. 'August 1. — King Jammy sent to Mr. Dawes requesting of
him to come to his town, as he had some things of consequence
to communicate to him. Watt was commissioned to attend
his Majesty in Mr. Dawes's name, and returned with the
following message: — "King Jammy's compliments to Mr.
Dawes. No person has a right to call palaver without King
Jammy's liberty." Signor Domingo acknowledged he had
been precipitate, made the lowest submissions to King Jammy,
and got him to agree to attend the palaver, which he had
arranged for to-morrow.
'August 2, 1793.— We judged it necessary to be on our

ZACHARY MACAULAY 41
guard, and a party of constables with the Hundreders 1 at their
head, attended for the preservation of order.
' All the gentlemen of the Colony having been summoned to
attend took possession of the hall, which was lined with arms,
and the doors of which, one excepted, were so fastened that
none could procure admission. On the outside of the threshold
ofthe open door Mr. Dawes and myself placed ourselves. In
the piazza, the Chiefs formed themselves into a ring on each
side of us. Without them stood crowds of their followers, and
a body of our Settlers stood at hand to prevent disorder and
confusion. ' Signor Domingo opened the business in a long harangue.
The purport of the message was as follows : — " That the
Queen had no palaver against the Company, or against Mr.
Dawes, who was a good man, and had always done good to
everybody. That it was Captain Woollis against whom she
had a palaver, as he had poisoned her son, while at sea, with a
cup of tea. As a compensation for this crime, she demanded
that the sum of six hundred bars should be instantly paid to
, her, in which case she would drop all thought of war. If, how
ever, the captain should pretend to deny the crime so clearly
proved against him, Mr. Dawes must send him up to Robanna,
that he might exculpate himself by drinking Red Water
according to the laws of the country." The last demand
excited such a general burst of laughter among the natives as
convinced me they regarded it as absurd and impracticable.
Poor Woollis's distress during the conference was truly
laughable. ' Mr. Dawes then spoke, and pointed out the necessity of
producing proof to substantiate the charge, and said if that was
done, he would himself be the first to punish the captain's
crime. This appeared so reasonable, that they agreed to bring
forward their evidence. James was accordingly called on. He
denied, however, having seen Captain Woollis give Henry
Granville poison. He had seen him mix some camomile tea
for him, but could not say that he had put poison in it. They
were all disconcerted at this, for they had expected that he
would have given very pointed evidence. Mr. Dawes again
spoke, and showed the danger of giving ear to such idle tales,
and put Signor Domingo in mind of his son in England, who
would not be allowed to continue there if such was to be the
consequence of an accident happening to him. He then read
1 The Colony was divided into districts of ten families, the heads of which chose
annually a Tithingman, and every Tithingman elected a Hundreder. All regulations
were laid by the Governor and Council before the Tithingmen and Hundreders, and
on their approval, were declared to be law.

42 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the will which Henry Granville had dictated, which staggered
them all very much. I then spoke, and pointed out the many
advantages we should have derived from his living. They all
agreed it was unnecessary to say more, but that, for form's
sake, the Queen must know what had passed, previously to
decision, and a cutter was accordingly despatched for her.
'August 3. — The Queen, and Pa Yabba, a brother of the late
King, arrived. The poor old woman appeared much afflicted.
The ring being formed, Pa Yabba acquainted us that having
heard what had passed yesterday, he and the Queen were satis
fied that no blame lay with us, and that they wished to shake
hands. After having ratified the peace, Mr. Dawes told the
Queen that he would still be as ready as ever to do good to her
and her family, but he requested that she would place in future
a little more confidence in him, otherwise he would be disposed
to withdraw his favour. This she promised to do, and begged
he would take Lewie, Henry Granville's son, under his care,
which was agreed to.
' Most of the Chiefs took their departure, and left us in that
quiet, for which, during the last week, we have ardently sighed.
You can have little idea of the noise and confusion which
attend such a business ; and had we acted as is usual on such
occasions, by broaching a cask of rum, and allowing it to flow
liberally, it would have been much worse. There was only
wine used on this occasion, and with all our care and economy
it cost us at least fifteen dozen. A gallon of wine goes as
far in drams as a gallon of rum, and scarce costs as much,
while by the substitution the evil of drunkenness is avoided.
' I think it necessary to do Mr. Tilley and Mr. Renaud the
justice to say that they have exerted themselves with zeal on
this occasion. Their counsel has proved salutary during every
stage of the palaver. I pretend not to discover their motives
for this unexpected conduct, but such is the fact.
' Having now brought this palaver to a conclusion, it is neces
sary to mention some intermediate transactions, little inferior
in importance.
' A schooner of Mr. Horrocks arrived from the Isles de Los
with the remainder of the rum I purchased there. On the
morning ofthe 31st of July, some of the Settlers came to me
bringing five natives, slaves of Mr. Horrocks, whom they
wished to put under my protection. They had escaped from
the schooner, and had been encouraged to stay here by an
assurance of support from the Settlers. I was exceedingly
chagrined by this incident, and advised the slaves to return to
their duty. They left me apparently satisfied with what I had
said, and I was in hopes that the affair would have ended here.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 43
But the captain ofthe schooner ere long came ashore, and lodged
a complaint that five people had been enticed from the ship. We
were so involved in the palaver with the natives at the time
that we could not bestow on this business the attention it
merited, but we sent without delay for the Hundreders, and
demanded to know the cause of the present conduct of the
Settlers. They pleaded their having acted in strict conformity
with a proclamation issued by Governor Clarkson, at the first
foundation of the Colony, purporting that the moment a man
set his foot on the Company's District, he became from that
moment free. We could scarce give credit to their assurances
that Clarkson had made so rash and unnecessary a proclama
tion till it was confirmed to us by Watt and Gray. We then
endeavoured to convince them that though Clarkson was a man
zealously affected in a good cause, yet in this instance he had
exceeded his knowledge, for he had made a proclamation
which flew directly in the face of British Acts of Parliament.
We showed them that British subjects had a right to buy and
to hold slaves ; that British laws gave a right to buy slaves, and
regarded them in the sacred light of property ; that the very
Act which incorporated the Sierra Leone Company1 had
directly and explicitly prohibited them from injuring the rights
of any British subject trading to Africa. All men had a right
to be protected in the Settlement from all personal injury, but
we had no more power to detain a slave than we had to detain
a bale of goods. We supported our positions by different
passages from Blackstone, and showed them the Acts of Parlia
ment. They were at last convinced of the illegality of the
business. We then endeavoured to convince them of the
impolicy of such proceedings ; as, in case they were continued,
there would only be left to them a choice of evils. The
traders, whose influence over the natives was very great, would
not tamely submit to lose their property. Every trader, every
Chief would take the alarm, and anticipate from such a conduct
the total loss of his property. They would be in a state of war
with all around them ; if their canoes ventured beyond the
Settlement, they would be immediately picked up and the
people made captives or perhaps slaves of, as we were apprehen-
1 When Macaulay's journal reached England, and this portion of it was communi
cated by Mr. Henry Thornton to the Directors, for the further elucidation of the
public despatches, it becomes evident from the marginal annotations that they perused
this episode, and Macaulay's reflections upon it, with very conflicting feelings.
Macaulay had also sent a note for their more special guidance, in which he remarks :
' The Company's declaration says that they will suffer no one to be ill-treated on their
ground, nor to. be seized and carried into slavery. But it would appear that the
master who is deprived of his property is the man who is ill-treated, and that, though
no one under the Company's protection is to be reduced to slavery, yet no emancipat
ing power is given to their Colonists or their government.'

44 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
sive Horrocks might do on the present occasion. And where
were they to look for redress? The British Government would
not be disposed to support them in flagrantly violating their
own Acts. The Company would of course abandon them,1 for
a state of warfare would not suit with their principles. Thus
left to themselves, they would fall, as the former Settlers had
done, a prey to Slave-traders and to internal discord. They
appeared fully convinced of their indiscretion, and agreed that
the captain should not be prevented in endeavouring to bring
the people back to their duty. The captain attempted to per
suade them back, but it proved all in vain. The Settlers had
furnished them with arms, and they expressed their determina
tion to die before they would return.
'We wrote to Mr. Horrocks on the occasion, expressing our
regret at the circumstance which had happened, and our inclina
tion to close with any reasonable proposition he might make
on the subject. It will prove, I fear, a troublesome affair, as
Horrocks's influence is considerable with the natives to the
northward. ' These men were not slaves liable to be sold at the will of
their master. They were Grumettas, belonging to the island,
bound indeed to labour for the proprietors of it, but placed
beyond the reach of the Slave-trader. Understanding by
some means that if they came to Freetown they would be pro
tected, employed, and paid for their labour, they resolved to
quit a situation where they earned nothing but their clothes
and victuals. This seems to have been their chief motive, as
they have nothing to allege against Mr. Horrocks on the score
of inhumanity ; and as the same motive may offer itself to
every Grumetta on the coast, those working for Cleveland,
Bance Island, or any others, I tremble at the consequences
which may flow from this incident.
'During the palaver I carried some of the Chiefs to our
schools, and they were much gratified by the sight. Mr.
Smart, who has a very large town on the Rokell, began to enter
into treaty with one of the Methodist preachers to go up to his
place and instruct his youth.
'August 6. — A Chief, Prince George, visited us. He had
been over to the Bullom shore, and was much struck with the
cordiality between Watt and the natives, and the respect with
which they treated him. One observation of the Bullomites is
worth mentioning :
1 An energetic ' No' is here written on the margin by the hand of some Director,
whose indignation was oxcited by the idea of the fugitives being given up. Macaulay
shared the ordinary fate of an executive officer whose enthusiasm is tempered by the
immediate necessity ofthe situation.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 45
'" Had not Mr. Watt been a good man/he would never have
trusted himself among strangers, unarmed and unattended.
We will trust him. He is a good man, and we will believe
him." They begin to have some notion of that kind of courage
which proceeds from trust in God.
' August 8. — Renaud came down to induce me to make the
purchase for him of a schooner Captain Hewitt of the Mercury
had brought with him from Bance Island. He painted his
distresses in strong colours, and agreed to enter into an agree
ment that he would not employ her in the Slave Trade.
'We also agreed with an American vessel which arrived
here a few days ago for the whole cargo, consisting of rum,
tobacco, a little beef, a few casks of flour and boxes of candles.
We were chiefly induced to this purchase by our present want
of almost all goods for trade. Without such a supply of rum
we must shortly starve. There is half a ton of rice consumed
in the Colony every day ; and for the purchase of a ton of
rice about twenty gallons of rum are wanted, and even forty
gallons in the rice seasons in the Sherbro and on the Bullom
shore. 'August 9. — The Court of Sessions1 was held by Winter-
bottom and myself. In general the causes are of a trifling
nature, slanderous words, small debts, and assault and battery,
but our jurors are so extremely cautious in giving in a verdict
that an hour is usually employed in making up their minds.
' When the business was over I acquainted the jury and the
people who were collected, that, in compliance with the wishes
of many of them, we had passed a bye-law to punish slanderous
words. I took occasion at the same time to open to them that
part of our law-book which respects Scandalum Magnatum, or
the using false and malicious words tending to vilify Governors,
and thereby sowing discord between them and the people,
which they listened to with attention. I also expatiated on
the late incident of the desertion of Horrocks's slaves, and
showed them the illegality and impolicy of encouraging such
desertions, which they appeared sensible of.
'August 18.— About ten o'clock last night a canoe arrived
from Bance Island to acquaint us that Renaud had taken a
Liverpool slave-ship, commanded by a Captain Stowel, on her
way down the river from Bance Island. Tilley expressed a
wish that we would join our forces to his in order to extirpate
Renaud and his people. We asked time to make up our minds
on that proposition.
'August 19. — -The captain and crew ofthe above vessel were
sent down here by Renaud. They talked highly of their treat-
1 A Court of Sessions was held every three months.

46 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
ment. Renaud had not only given up to them all their wearing
apparel, but had made them presents to console them under
their losses.
' Apprehensive of the interpretation that might be put on
our conduct in having given a vessel to Renaud, as he had
thought fit to take a prize in the river, we despatched Strand
to demand the restitution of the schooner, which was im
mediately given up. Renaud appeared very anxious we
should maintain a neutrality. As for Bance Island, he set
them at defiance, and even threatened to destroy them.
'August 20. — Tilley pressed on us the policy of uniting for
Renaud's destruction. We gave him a number of reasons for
declining hostile measures, among the rest that we should
forfeit every advantage we might expect to derive from the
amicable intentions of the French Government ; and that we
did not wish to risk the ruin of our infant establishment, or
expose ourselves to bear the consequences which our respon
sible situation would bring on us in case our conduct should be
disapproved of.
'August 25, 1793. — Horne preached in the forenoon on justi
fication by faith, which he qualified in the afternoon by a
discourse on regeneration.
'August 26. — Mr. Jackson, the partner of Horrocks at the
Isles de Los, came here. Their deserters were called up for
examination, and denied having been enticed by the people of
this place. They said their reason for deserting was because
they understood that Horrocks, before quitting the Isles de
Los, which he intends shortly to do, meant to trepan them on
board a ship and sell them, and that there was even now an
American vessel at the Isles de Los, which they were assured
was destined to carry them off;1 and because the captain of
the vessel in which they came down to this river had used
them very ill, beating them without mercy, and kicking them
about the decks. They said they had no fault to find with
Horrocks or Jackson, but that of their own free suggestions
they had effected their escape to avoid slavery and the ill-
treatment of the captain with whom they were at the time.
'Jackson intimated to us that he would expect five hundred
guineas from us as an indemnification. We told him that we
thought if a loss had been sustained by them it ought to be
refunded, but that they were sensible that we had used every
art of persuasion to prevent the desertion of their slaves ; and
that, however disposed we might be to incur a trifling expense
for the sake of preserving our present good understanding with
our neighbours, yet we could not allow that there was any
1 Macaulay writes on October 1 :— ' I believe this to have been the case.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 47
legal claim on us as the Sierra Leone Company's representa
tives. Besides, the affairs of the Isles de Los concern, we
hinted, were in such confusion from the insolvency of its pro
prietors that it would be unsafe to satisfy any demand on their
part until their right to make the demand and to exonerate
the payer from all further claims were clearly proved. It is
likely, I think, that this matter will go home, in which case it
appears to me that all they can prove against us is refusing to
compel these men to return. They will also find it difficult to
prove their property. I know not how far a claim to personal
services can be entered in an English Court of Judicature
without a written or witnessed agreement, unless they make an
exception in favour of Slave-dealers.
' The worst consequences will be in this country, where it
will have the effect of alienating from us the goodwill of all our
neighbours. And how to avoid the dilemma I know not. By
an exertion of authority we might perhaps effect the forcible
restitution of these people to Messrs. Horrocks & Co., but in
doing so we should act a most barbarous part. It would be
delivering up men to a certainty of punishment, slavery, and
transportation, whose only crime is an attempt to regain their
liberty, or rather to avoid being forced into slavery.
'The effects of the rains have been felt at Bance Island,
where, of the Europeans, about a third have died. Two or
three tradesmen brought out for them in the African Queen
have died also. I sometimes think with wonder on the number
of young men who yearly come out from England and Scot
land to such places as Bance Island without exciting any
animadversion ; while the few, who are found willing to en
counter the less hostile situation of Freetown, are branded as
madmen, as provoking their fate, and as justly incurring every
evil they can meet with. Nor does it less excite my wonder
that while men are fearlessly pouring in to supply the place of
those traders who have fallen victims to the climate, persons
can with difficulty be found to maintain a succession of Chap
lains at Sierra Leone, or to engage in the business of instructing
the natives, which, compared with the business of trading, is a
safe and easy and healthy occupation. So true is it that the
children of this world are wiser in their generation than the
children of light. Horne has already put pen to paper on the
subject of Missions in general ; and he means on going home
to excite if possible the sleeping activity of his brethren in the
ministry. He will have a right to talk of the practicability of
African Missions.
'August 31. — A craft from the Bananas called here, the
master of which informed me that Mr. Cleveland, pressed by

48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
his creditors, had collected his people, and gone down to the
Sherbro with an intention of breaking up the towns of such as
owed him money. A Mr. Graham, who is known to Mr. Gran
ville Sharp, is Cleveland's prime minister. He goes to England
shortly, when I shall contrive to throw him in your way. I am
in great hopes from the spirit I saw manifested that Cleveland
will meet with vigorous opposition in the Sherbro, and perhaps
be disappointed of his aim.
' September 2. — I went up to Gambia Island to settle accounts
with Renaud. He made us the following proposal. That, as
he meant to abandon Gambia in six weeks, we might, if we
pleased, send some one to take possession immediately ; and
that if we accepted his offer a day should be appointed on
which, in the presence of all the Chiefs, and with their consent,
he would formally surrender the island to Mr. Dawes, and that
the buildings and battery on the island would be at the same
time gratuitously yielded to us.
' Renaud has paid the price of redemption for all the free
people sold by Captain Newcome to Bance Island, and he will
soon have the satisfaction of restoring them to their friends.
He means to reside at Goree, to relinquish the Slave Trade, and
to employ himself in trading with Freetown.
' The man who was convicted of robbing the store,1 having
received the last portion of corporal punishment, was rescued
as the Marshal 2 was carrying him on board the York for the
completion of his sentence. The principal in the rescue took the
prisoner to his own house, and arming himself, vowed the death
of any one who dared to approach him. As we were averse to
take any step which might lead to violence, we only put a guard
of four constables on his house, who were regularly relieved.
In about twenty-four hours they found themselves obliged to
surrender at mercy, having neither provisions nor water in the
house. The convict was sent to the York, and the man who
rescued him found bail to appear at next court. Had such a
thing happened three months ago we should have been treated
with contempt. On the present occasion no one interfered, and
the constables were permitted quietly to do their duty. A
word that respected personal liberty would have been apt at
that time to set them all in a flame, but at present they can
hear with patience of the forfeiture of liberty which necessarily
follows great crimes.'
1 The sentence was one hundred lashes and twelve months' imprisonment on board
the Company's store ship the )\>ri, which remained permanently in the harbour of
Freetown. The man was an old offender and of very infamous character.
2 The Marshals were two in number. Their chief duties were to execute warrants
and carry out the sentences of the Court of Sessions.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 49
' September 8. — Horne preached in the forenoon to a very
large audience on the duty of servants under the yoke, from
St. Paul's epistle to Philemon, which he applied to the present
circumstances of the Colony, showing how inconsonant to the
dictates of policy, justice, and Christianity were the late trans
actions with respect to slaves.
' September 11. — We were under the necessity of applying to
Bance Island for rice, and received three and a half tons,
which may with some care serve the Colony for ten days.
Our situation is really a most unpleasant one, living in a state
of continual uncertainty whether in a few days' time we shall
have wherewith to still the cravings of hunger, and in a
continual dependence on the direction and force of the winds
and the violence of the rains for our daily bread. In the
month of February last, had I been able to foresee that no
supply of flour would have arrived from England before this
time, I should scarce have had courage to remain at Sierra
Leone. But God, who sees not as we see, has been indeed
gracious to us, and will, I trust, convert the wants with which
we have been afflicted into means of lasting good to the
Colony by calling forth latent exertion, and by producing a
general disposition to resignation and contentment.
'September 12. — I went up to Gambia Island to bring down
the fames, the vessel we bought there, and met at Renaud's the
Chief of Port Logo. He informed me that the views of the
Foulah nation on the subject of the abolition of the Slave
Trade coincided with ours, and proposed sending some of his
children x to Freetown for instruction.
' I long much to have a respectable factory of the Company
established in the Rio P'ongo, and to be more acquainted with
the manners and history of this powerful and adventurous
nation. The Chief seems very desirous indeed to have us
established in Port Logo, as Tilley, he says, has used him
cavalierly, and has acted as if he meant to dispute with him his
right to his own river. This man is everywhere well spoken of.
He has now with him two of the first Settlers, who have con
tinued to prefer living with him to returning to Sierra Leone,
and at the time of their dispersion he afforded shelter to a
great many.
'September 15. — In the afternoon Horne preached from
St. John xiv. 16. His design was to expose the reigning folly
of the Methodists of this place, their accounting dreams and
1 Macaulay adds a note to impress upon Mr. Thornton the importance of securing
to the Company's schoolmasters the educational monopoly of this Chief's family,
and mentions gravely the fact that he had four sons and three daughters born during
the past month. D

5o

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

visions as incontestable proofs of their acceptance with God,
and of their being filled with the Holy Ghost.
' September 17. — A Methodist preacher ofthe name of Beves
hout, a man of a restless turbulent spirit and immoderately
fond of popularity, had been appointed Precentor in the church
by Clarkson, with a view of silencing him, and destroying his
influence. It was partly attended with the latter effect, as he
began to be regarded as of the white party. Home's discourse
on dreams was so unpalatable to many of the Methodists that
Beveshout, anxious to regain his popularity, judged it a proper
occasion to strike a decisive stroke. In his sermon on this
night he warmly reprobated Home's doctrine as the doctrine
of Satan, and endeavoured to restore to dreams and visions
their ascendency over the Word of God. He likewise inveighed
against the Government here, pointedly comparing Mr. Dawes
to Pharaoh, whom the just judgment of God would sooner or
later overtake ; recommending to his hearers, however, patience
under their sufferings, as God in His own good time would
deliver Israel.
' Horne, on hearing what had passed, rather hastily charged
Beveshout with improper designs. Beveshout defended himself
and the liberty of the pulpit, which, being a favourite cause
with the Methodists, gave him a great advantage. We dis
suaded Horne from taking any further notice of it, as it was
only requisite that men's minds should be allowed to cool, in
order to see where truth lay. Inflammatory speeches lose all
their effect when treated with silent indifference.
' Perhaps it might be well if Dr. Coke, or some delegate from
him, were to visit Freetown, in order to establish some kind of
discipline among the Methodists ; for at present their govern
ment is a pure democracy, without subordination to any one.
I think this a point of great importance to the religious progress
of your Colony, and well deserving your attention.'
Dr. Coke, a priest of the Church of England, had joined the
Methodists, and been formally appointed by John Wesley Super
intendent to discharge Episcopal functions in the American
and other Foreign Methodist Societies. In 1787 Dr. Coke
induced the American Conference to alter his title from Super
intendent to that of Bishop. For this he was severely repri
manded by Wesley, who wrote, ' Men may call me a knave, or
a fool, a rascal, a scoundrel, and I am content ; but they shall
never with my consent call me bishop.' This rebuke had,
however, no effect; Dr. Coke continued to use the title, and
there exists a letter addressed to Washington signed by Coke

ZACHARY MACAULAY 51
as Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1813 Dr.
Coke was desirous of again joining the Church of England, and
applied to Lord Liverpool to be appointed to a bishopric in
India, offering ' to return most fully into the bosom of the
Established Church.' His application was refused. He set
sail, however, for India, and died on the voyage early in 18 14.
Wilberforce gives an amusing account of meeting Dr. Coke,
and of the disillusion resulting from seeing him personally,
compared with the great reputation which he enjoyed. ' I wish
I could forget his little round face and short 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 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 Bankes. The Doctor made, I suppose, some
strange demonstration, for he sent Bankes to Milner's room,
saying in amazement, " What extraordinary people Wilberforce
does get around him ! " '
Dr. Coke's position as Superintendent of the Foreign Metho
dist Missions rendered the expectation that he might be induced
to undertake an expedition to West Africa not an unreasonable
one under the special circumstances of the infant Colony.
Sept. 18. — ¦' I received the following intelligence from a native
of more than ordinary information. Since the establishment of
our Colony the treatment of slaves is very much ameliorated.
With respect to the desertion of slaves, the law of the country
is that as soon as a slave escapes from his master's town, and
takes refuge in another, he cannot be recovered by his master
without a price being paid for his redemption, as he becomes
immediately the property of him in whose town he takes
refuge. Should this be actually the case, which I begin to
suspect, it will make our way very much smoother ; as, if a
slave on taking refuge here becomes our property, we surely
have a right to emancipate him. This law has been most
industriously concealed from us hitherto by whites and natives ;
and the very contradictory accounts we receive on every other
subject make me hesitate in trusting entirely to the informa
tion given us on this one. I shall endeavour, however, to come
at the truth.
' September 20. — We received 'the news of Horrocks's death.

52

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

His partner Jackson continues in charge, but I believe he
means soon to quit the Isles de Los. Almost all their people
had deserted from them in consequence of the desertion of the
Grumettas here having induced Horrocks and Jackson to sell
off their people as fast as they could, at which they had taken
alarm and left them.
'September 23. — An American vessel from Boston arrived,
the supercargo of which offered us his cargo for slaves, observ
ing he could take nothing else, and that he hoped we should
be able to despatch him in a few days. Having declined to
deal with him, I began to inquire how the law stood in America
relative to the Slave Trade. He told me that all the States
had now abolished it, and that if it was proved that an
American vessel had carried slaves, she became a forfeit, and
the captain was fined a thousand pounds, and confined till the
money was paid. I asked him how he expected to escape the
penalty. " Oh," says he, " I don't mind that. Nobody will
inform." "Indeed, sir," I replied, "you are mistaken, for if
nobody else will, I certainly shall." " Sure you would not
treat me in so unfriendly a manner ! " " Sir," I said, " I think
it is better to prevent evil than to punish it ; and I give you
my word that, if you venture to earn- a single slave from this
coast, I shall turn informer myself. I give you fair warning."
This speech made him change his note instantly, and with the
most shameless effrontery he expressed his abhorrence of the
Slave Trade, and affirmed that what he had said was not
seriously meant, and that he would on no account dispose of
his cargo for anything but bills. This incident I think a very
important one, as it proves the possibility of stopping the Slave
Trade entirely, the Americans being at present the only people
who venture to visit this coast. And, as it is certainly better
in all cases to prevent evil than to punish it, we judged it
necessary to give notice to the different Slave-traders around
us that we should certainly give information to the American
Government of every American vessel which should carry
slaves. But I think the matter might be carried still further,
and that information might be transmitted to the Federal
Court, which I find tries causes of this nature, of all American
vessels during the last twelve months employed to our know
ledge in carrying slaves off the coast. The advantages which
must result from this measure strike me very strongly. I have
therefore been at considerable pains to collect intelligence, and
now send you, along with this, a list of vessels which appear to
me to have incurred the penalty, accompanied by circumstances
which may lead to their detection. You will be the best judge
what further steps to take.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 53
' A schooner came from the Isles de Los with the intelligence
that an American vessel, the Pearl, had been cut off by the
slaves off the island of Matacong, and Captain Howard, who
commanded her, killed ; but that she had been retaken by a
vessel belonging to the Isles de Los, and Mr. Jackson wished
to know whether we did not think her a fair prize. Howard,
who commanded her, is the man who was prosecuted at, I
believe, Mr. Wilberforce's instance, for some cruelties com
mitted at Calabar. At least a prosecution was commenced,
and Howard, not appearing, was outlawed. He sailed at the
same time in a. Liverpool vessel.
' Understanding afterwards that some of the slaves had been
killed when the vessel was retaken, and that the Isles de Los
schooner did not return immediately, with Mr. Dawes's approba
tion I wrote to Jackson a letter which I now enclose you. My
chief view in writing it was, if possible, to put a bar to the
slaves being sent off the coast, and that I might not have after
wards to reproach myself with not having said everything in
their favour that it was possible to say.
' The intention of the slaves seems to me evidently to have
been to get to this Settlement. When the vessel was taken
possession of by them, she was not above eight or nine leagues
from this Cape. I should have been well pleased had they
effected their purpose, as the greatness of the loss would
necessarily have led to investigation, and the slaves in the
meantime could be fairly claimed by no individual. The
American Government would I think be the last to demand
their restitution.
' Several of the native Chiefs came to renew their application
for rum. Their perseverance is astonishing. By way of forcing
us from our ground, Pa London observed that if we would not
give him rum he would carry his brother to Bance Island in
pawn. However this had no effect, and Mr. Dawes continued
resolute, without changing his usual kind deportment. They
were visibly chagrined, but partook of our dinner with tolerable
humour. When the Cry for Pa Cumba is over, Pa Kokilly
will be crowned King of Sierra Leone by the name of King
Tom. 'By leaving things to their own course the tide has now
turned against Beveshout. He has been endeavouring to
atone for his improper conduct since he has observed its ill
success. Horne, by avoiding personality, and by entreating his
hearers to weigh everything in Scripture scales, has effectually
opened their eyes, and they begin to apologise for having injured
him even in thought.
' October 3. — Some Methodist Preachers returned this morning

54 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
from Granville Town,1 greatly rejoicing in the work which God
was carrying on there, and saying that many had proved
obedient to the heavenly calling. On inquiry I found that
the wildest extravagances had been committed there. Although
I trust that in God's hands any instrument may be useful, yet I
have my fears that evil may follow this violent spirit, excited
chiefly by Beveshout. Granville Town is already torn by
domestic dissensions. It were much to be wished that some
sober-minded and authorised Methodist preacher came out
who might introduce more discipline and regularity among
that sect, and correct the extravagant ebullitions of their spirit.
'October 15. — On the 8th I was seized with fever, and pre
vented doing any business since that day. Mr. Dawes had
been taken ill two days before. We are both recovering,
though still very weak and unable to write or think much. I
understand there are only four Europeans left alive at Bance
Island. 'October 30. — Strand died in the course of last night of fever,
much lamented.
' Mr. Jones 2 was introduced by Mr. Dawes to the Preachers.
An unfortunate expression of his roused David George's3
attention, and I was apprehensive that they would be involved
in a dispute about general and particular redemption, but
Mr. Jones very prudently avoided it by some qualifying
observation. ' Now that flour has arrived in the Colon)-, an order has been
given to pay off the back rations. Some months ago Mr.
Dawes had settled with the Settlers the accounts of back
rations, and given them all memorandums of the number due ;
but now many of them pretended that these memorandums
were lost, and brought in an account of back rations due to
them to a much greater amount than was really due. As the
intention was so palpably to impose, Mr. Dawes absolutely
refused to pay a single pound of flour unless the memorandums
were produced. On this they thought proper to produce them.
' I mention this circumstance as an evidence of the disposi
tion of many of the Settlers, and these by no means of the
people from whom such conduct might have been expected,
but of those from whom we expected better things. One man,
Luke Jordan, whom we had esteemed as a deserving character,
assured us that the rats had actuall)- destroyed the paper, and
1 The name given to Ihe place, two miles from Sierra Leone, where Falconbridge
settled the original Colonists who had been driven from the Settlement.
- The Kev. Mr. Jones had just arrived in the Colony as successor in the chaplaincy
lo Mr. Horne. r
3 A black Preacher, the principal minister ofthe Baptists.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 55
presented at the same time a demand for double the quantity
due to his company. However, he found means next day to
recover the paper from the rats, and brought it to Mr. Dawes.
'An information was lodged against Captain Davis,1 the
burden of which was to show that Davis had purchased two
boys while down to leeward, and that they were now in his
possession. 'Sunday, November 3. — Jones made his first public appear
ance to-day, and spoke from these words, "though he was
rich, yet for our sakes he became poor." I was glad to see
throughout the whole congregation evident marks of lively
satisfaction. He wants, no doubt, Home's richness of thought
and his copiousness of expression, as well as his fire, but
there is more of the appearance of devotedness in him, and
his address is more uniformly serious, and in general more
pathetic. 'You will see by the resolutions of Council what our pro
ceedings were with respect to Davis. His prevarications, and
above all his industrious concealment of the circumstances of
the purchase from us, will, I hope, justify the measures we have
taken. 'The Union, of Salem in America, carried off about two
weeks ago some free people from the Rio Nunez, with whom
she has taken her departure for the West Indies.
'November 15. — I went to the Bullom shore to see Watt, and
walked with him over the lands granted to the Company, which
are indeed excellent. On our return to Freetown, I met with a
man of the name of Robin Rufoy who has a petty town up the
river, and from him I got the following information. On slaves
effecting their escape from their master, they no longer con
tinue his property, but may be kept by him to whose town
they escape.
'November 30, 1793. — The transactions of this day I must
communicate to you with no small regret, for it was marked by
the most signal calamity that has yet befallen your Colony.
Between nine and ten in the morning we were alarmed by the
cry of fire, and on looking out beheld the York in a blaze.
Before eleven o'clock the fire had completely ransacked her
hold, and the loss is very great indeed. Upwards of four
thousand pounds worth of African produce has been destroyed.
' Captain Telford had come on shore to settle his monthly
accounts. The fire began in the chimney of the galley, and all
those on deck, who were mostly Grumettas, got into the boat
without wasting a thought on those who were in the cabin and
gunroom. The bustle on deck, however, alarmed Captain
1 Captain of one of the trading vessels belonging to the Sierra Leone Company.

56 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Wallace who was in the cabin, and the gentlemen in the gun
room who were arranging some of the trade goods. They ran
up, and found to their astonishment the fire blazing over their
heads, having run along the tarred awning from stem to stern,
and everybody gone over the side. After trying in vain to
prevail on the people in the boat to assist them, they were at
length forced to descend to avoid being scorched to death.
While this passed on board Captain Telford had got into a
boat, a number of Settlers accompanying him, with a view of
extinguishing the fire. But the people absolutely refused to
pull him alongside, pretending fear of gunpowder. He assured
them there was no gunpowder on board, entreated, prayed, and
threatened in turn, but all to no purpose, and he had the mortifi
cation to be forced to be an inactive spectator of the conflagra
tion. You will ask what did Captain Devereux and his crew
all this time. It is certain no exertion was made by the Harpy's
people, although the fire was perceived in its early stage. Every
thing was done which could be done, unassisted as Telford
was except by Day, and Rowe the mate of the York.
'The Settlers, it would naturally be supposed, felt great
concern, and exerted themselves on behalf of their benefactors.
Many of them did so, but at the same time there were many
who acted very differently. Some were rejoicing in the calamity
as a just judgment of heaven on their oppressors. Some said
it was but right that the goods, withheld unjustly from them by
the Governor and Council, should be destroyed, and that their
sinister aims should thus be frustrated. They declared theYork
to be the repository where Mr. Dawes's gains and mine were
stored ; and others, more daring, scrupled not to attempt con
verting to their own use what could be saved from the wreck.
' Some of the more respectable Settlers, ashamed of these
proceedings, offered themselves as a guard, and have promised
to furnish a list of those who were guilty of an)- improprieties,
with a list of witnesses, so that the)- may be prosecuted. They
have even promised to mark out such as seemed to rejoice in
the misfortune, and such as by their insinuations would have
vilified Mr. Dawes's character or mine.
'It has been indeed a sweeping fire, there is not the vestige of
an account left. I had been at considerable pains in arranging
the commercial accounts, but they perished in the general con
flagration. ' Captain Devereux being unfortunately of a very unaccom
modating disposition, and having on the present occasion
treated the sufferers, who expected an asylum on board the
Harpy, very cavalierly, their distress was of course enhanced.
We made room, however, for some of them at our house, and

ZACHARY MACAULAY 57
for the others the fames, the vessel we had fortunately bought
from Renaud some time ago, was ordered to be fitted up.
' A fire happened in town to-day, and rather singularly the
sufferers were almost all of the number who rejoiced in the
York's destruction. No man who had a spark of humanity in
him could rejoice in their loss, but I confess I could not help
feeling less grieved at its falling on those who had shown such a
total want of charity, than if it had affected people of a different
character. I overheard some people at the time reminding
them of the expressions they had made use of a few days before,
averring the burning ofthe York to be a judgment of God.
'December 10. — We determined on sending the Lapwing to
England with all speed, and for getting Devereux if possible to
carry her home. Much to our satisfaction he gave his assent to
the measure, and we shall thus, I trust, part without coming to
any rupture ; an event the violence of his temper gave me
scarce room to hope for.
'Tilley thought proper to take offence at our declining to
assist him against Renaud, and has since that time been very
distant in his civilities. We sent him lately a few articles of
provision which came out of the Harpy, and intimated at the
same time our wish to supply him with any other articles of the
same kind he might want. The following is a part of his reply.
" I cannot doubt but any application I may make to Mr. Dawes
or yourself will be attended to, when I am so fully convinced of
your friendship towards me by the part you have taken in
endeavouring to prevent the American, now at Sierra Leone,
from doing business with me for slaves. You may perhaps
suppose the emoluments arising from informations given of
Americans carrying off slaves, will be -an advantageous business;
but I think it is most probable it will not. I should be ex
ceedingly sorry that anything should happen to cause a differ
ence with this settlement and your Colony. It never shall arise
from any proceedings on my part, but when I see it is the
intention of any body to distress us by interfering in my trade,
I think it high time to look about me."
' The above exhibits no small chagrin and disappointment,
but Bance Island is no longer an object of terror to your
Colony ; and although it is unpleasant to be at variance with
any one, yet when such variance arises from the faithful dis
charge of an important duty, it causes less uneasiness than it
otherwise would do. It will be gaining much to the cause of
humanity to exclude the Americans entirely from all participa
tion in the Slave Trade.'

58 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER IV
INVASION BY THE FRENCH
On New Year's Day 1794 all the English officials in Sierra
Leone assembled at the invitation of the Governor, and
Macaulay notes in his private diary that they were twenty-
two at dinner, the only absentee being Mr. Garvin, the school
master. Notwithstanding many drawbacks, the prospects of
the Colony continued steadily to improve, and their trade
began to increase rapidly. The principal difficulties which
occurred during the early months of the year were caused
by the incessant applications of the native Chiefs to be per
mitted to purchase rum. The Court of Directors had recently
despatched a strong prohibition of the sale of rum by their
representatives, and the Governor and Macaulay were exposed
to mwch ill-will and some personal danger in carrying out these
orders as far as possible. In a few instances they were com
pelled to give way, and permit the exchange of casks of rum
for necessaries of life of which the Colonists stood in absolute
need, and which they could obtain for the moment on no other
conditions. But as a rule they remained firm, and faced the
bitter offence which their refusals gave to their neighbours.
There was one droll episode when a great Chief complained
that the cask of rum which he had received had been watered,
and detained as a hostage the captain of the vessel in the
Company's service who had delivered it to him. The matter
became so threatening that Macaulay went in person to inves
tigate the charge, which proved to be true, and he had the
mortification to find that the captain himself had been the
delinquent. Mr. Dawes's health had suffered so severely from the climate
that he had for some time contemplated the possible necessity
of a sudden return to England, and in view of this contingency
the Court of Directors had named Macaulay as his successor.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 59
A serious attack of illness finally compelled Mr. Dawes to
leave Sierra Leone at the end of March in the Harpy, and
Macaulay, at the age of twenty-six, became Governor of the
Colony.
He appears to have been singularly qualified by nature, and
by the good influences under which he had lately been brought,
for the position he was now called upon to fill. The patience
and self-control, the exercise of which he looked upon as a
duty, were invaluable in the midst of the inflammable and
unreliable spirits with which he was surrounded. The success
that attended upon his dealings with the superstition and
unbelief with which he came constantly in contact, among the
natives and the miscellaneous European population collected
on the coasts, lay in a great measure in the fact that his own
mind was assailed by no doubts. It will be observed that on
all occasions when he was called -upon to speak upon religious
subjects he did so with simplicity and absolute assurance ; and
although he was unflinching in his support of the truth, and
refused to admit any compromise as to moral rectitude, still he
never displayed the slightest irritation with those whose belief
and practice differed from the standard which he upheld. His
own faith was unwavering. He had the habitual sense of
living in the presence of God, and the Scriptures were the light
to which he turned daily for instruction and guidance in his
path through the world.
The anxieties of the position in which Macaulay found
himself placed were largely increased by the formidable pro
portions which the spirit of disaffection among the Settlers now
began to assume. Many of these negroes had been eager to
join the Colony from the belief they entertained that it would
prove to be in the fullest sense the Province of Freedom, which
its benevolent founder, Granville Sharp, delighted to call it.
Their disappointment had consequently been severe when,
instead of the life of license and semi-barbarism which they
had hoped to lead, they found themselves subjected to the
laws and restraints of a civilised community. They were dis
gusted by the continuous industry required of them as indis
pensable forthe maintenance of their families, and their jealousy
was also strongly excited against the European servants of the
Company, whom they ignorantly believed to be largely enriching

60 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
themselves at the expense of the Settlers, and thus depriving
them of the benefits intended for them by their friends in Eng
land. An insurrection broke out, which was promptly quelled
by decisive action on the part of the Governor and his associates.
The ringleaders were arrested and sent off to England for trial ;
while, with a forbearance that under the circumstances showed
no little courage, Macaulay granted an entire amnesty to the
rest of the offenders.
It was fortunate both for the white and the black members
of the Colony that there was time for order and some degree of
confidence to be restored before the occurrence ofthe disastrous
events which foreign invasion brought upon them in the autumn
of the same year. The Company's office had been plundered
by the rioters, and many of the papers destroyed, so that the
private journal Macaulay kept for the Chairman does not com
mence till the month of July.
'fuly 23, 1794. — Two blacks escaped from a slave vessel, an
American schooner commanded by one Newell, and complained
of very harsh treatment. As Newell was away there was no
opportunity of knowing the truth.
' Moses Wilkinson x and one of his colleagues, Stephen
Peters,2 came to ask my opinion and advice on the subject
of the division that had taken place among the Methodists,
and accused Mr. Jones and Garvin as the authors of the dis
sension. Not thinking it right to miss an opportunity of
telling the old man a little wholesome truth, I pointed out to
him the serious faults in their conduct as a Christian society,
which, as they did not choose to correct, it was impossible that
sincere and pious Christians could continue with them. I men
tioned particularly the notoriously irreligious lives of some of
their members, whom they had refused to censure ; the en
couragement given to discontent and rebellion ; their uniform
opposition to the establishment among themselves of the dis
cipline required by the Methodist rules ; their no less uniform
opposition, whenever an opportunity could be had, to the
carrying the laws of the Colon)' into effect ; and their refusing
to Mr. Jones all liberty of preaching among them without any
reason being assigned but that he had called them, what in
truth they were, a rotten society. The old man acknowledged
the facts, and did not attempt to defend their propriety, but
said he was overruled by the others. I was in hopes indeed
1 The principal black preacher among the Wesleyan Methodists.
A negro from Nova Scotia who had visited England.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 61
that something might have been done by what passed between
us; but the whole- effect of it was soon destroyed by the
flatteries and deceptions of his associates, by whom, though I
believe him to mean well, he is completely blinded and misled.
He had candour enough to thank me for my frankness, and to
beg a continuance of it. Peters applied to be again employed
in the Company's service, which I refused, telling him plainly
that I regarded him as one of the chief instigators of the dis
turbances. He entered on his defence, in which he said he had
used all his influence to repress commotion, and that three or
four days before the riots began, hearing Channel lay a plot
for my life, he had tried to dissuade him from it. I asked him
why he had not done his duty as a Christian and as an officer
of the peace, by apprising me of it at the time, whereas he had,
on the contrary, spoken loudly against the measures we took
for our own preservation, and had denied all knowledge of any
ill design being on foot. The conclusion that at least he
favoured the design was unavoidable. To-day there was not
a clerk in any of the offices, as all the Europeans were down
with fever.
'fuly 29. — I was again nearly restored to health from my
attack of fever. The African Queen, Captain Williams, a slave-
ship from Bristol, arrived to-day bound to Bance Island. We
had by her newspapers down to June 20th, and were completely
relieved by the defeat of the French fleet from all apprehension
of a visit from any of their vessels. We got our printing-press
set to work ; and Mr. Young, proving an expert printer, took
charge of it. It promises to be extremely useful.
'August 4. — The Amy sailed about noon, having received on
board the despatches, which were very voluminous. They
contain complete transcripts of all that had been sent by
the Thomas and Ocean. In the Amy went seven Settlers as
witnesses.1 ' Sunday, August 10. — I and my brother 2 went over on the
5th to the Bullom shore, where I intended to remain a fort
night to recover my health and strength after the late fatigues ;
but on the 8th a boat came to inform me that Mr. Jones and
Garvin were laid up, and as there was no one to preach, I was
unable to prolong my stay. The whites are all sickly, some
recovering. I was obliged to preach twice.
'August 18. — The American slave schooner commanded by
Newell sailed yesterday.
' A large schooner coming in without any colours, a shot was
1 Witnesses for the trial of the ringleaders of the riots.
2 A younger brother of Zachary Macaulay, named Alexander, who had been
appointed captain of one of the merchant vessels of the Company.

62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
fired at her, and a boat sent on board with an officer in it. No
sooner had the boat reached the schooner than the schooner
put about and stood out, and was soon out of reach of our shot.
Alarmed by this, the packet was despatched after her, and
towards evening, returned with the schooner, which proved to
be the American which had gone out yesterday. There was
no doubt something very suspicious in his manoeuvres, but
there was a complete misunderstanding both on our side and
his. He pretended to have been alarmed at our shot, and
therefore to have stood out. A fog which came on prevented
our seeing that our boat had put off from him. Captain Buckle
understood my orders, which were hasty, in the letter rather
than the spirit, for they had really in view only the recovery of
the people and the boat, although in bringing back the vessel
he certainly did not exceed my orders. I was sorry for it, con
ceiving it to be an unjustifiable exercise of power on our parts,
although Newell had acted very blameably. He blustered a
good deal, and threatened to leave his vessel on our hands. I
made light of it, told him I should be glad to be the instrument
of giving liberty to fifty captives (for so many had he on board),
and that I knew the State of Massachusetts, from which he had
sailed, disallowed the trade in which he was engaged. He
took the hint, resumed the command of his vessel, and departed
the next day, not without threats of revenge for the insult that
had been offered him. I was myself really sorry for the trans
action, but I could not on the retrospect see that there was
much to be condemned in the part which, according to existing
circumstances, we had taken.
'August 19. — The Quarter Sessions began. A case of
adultery was tried and proved. The woman was punished by
flogging, and the man by a fine of five pounds. The injured
husband sued for a divorce to be granted him next session,
according to the law now in force.
'The rains still unintermitting. The exorbitant price at
which bakers sold bread having been a subject of just com
plaint, we resolved to regulate it. We therefore resolved that
bread should be sold by the bakers at the rate of threepence a
pound, under a penalty of five pounds. This regulation gave
general satisfaction except to a few interested individuals.
'August 24. — I preached in the forenoon from " He that is
faithful in the least is faithful also in much, and he that is
unjust in the least is unjust also in much."
'August 27. — Watt has begun the survey of farms previous
to the distribution of prizes, and expresses himself highly
pleased with their state. Captain Keene arrived on a small
sloop, and acquainted us that on the 29th of June last the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 63
Naimbanna had been taken by Renaud in the river Gambia ;
that the traders in the river had furnished him with a small
schooner to bring him to Sierra Leone, but that the schooner
was driven ashore at Bissao, on which Mr. de Sylva, a Portu
guese merchant there, had given him a passage on one of his
own craft. On arriving at the Isles de Los, King Cantor, on
pretence of some old grievance, seized the Portuguese vessel,
and put the crew into irons. Mr. Jackson then furnished Cap
tain Keene and his crew with a passage to this place.
' Renaud expressed himself sorry for being obliged to take
the Naimbanna, but said that he was not at liberty to act as he
chose, for if it should appear that he had allowed any English
property to escape, he would be liable to the stroke of the law.
' I wrote to Jackson demanding the restitution of the Portu
guese vessel and her crew, as it appeared that the business of
their seizure had taken place at his instigation. I signified to
him that I regarded the injury as done to us, as the vessel had
been provided purposely for the accommodation of the Com
pany's servants.
September 8. — A slave brig, the Prince of Wales, Captain
Webb, arrived from the West Indies. From Webb we learned
that part of Guadaloupe was retaken by the French ; that
liberty had been proclaimed to the French slaves in the West
Indies ; and that America had wholly abolished the Slave Trade.
'September 11. — I catechised the schools,1 and dismissed all
those scholars who had been remiss in their attendance. The
parents, whose fault it had been that they absented themselves,
came to me afterwards, and promised that they should attend
more regularly, on which I again admitted them.
'September 13. — I had a letter from Mr. Powell, Bolland's
partner, demanding his slaves who had escaped. I made him an
answer that I did not consider myself responsible for his slaves,
nor even bound to make any inquiry respecting them.
' September 22. — The Anna arrived with rice. The master, in
his way down, had seen seven vessels to the northward of him,
seemingly beating this way. We immediately concluded it
was an English convoy, not supposing it possible for a moment
that the French could have so many vessels in those latitudes.
I thought of removing some of the Company's property, but
waited, as much would be lost in the removal. As we had
sufficient force to withstand a few Privateers, and as there did
not appear the least likelihood that the fleet consisted of French
men-of-war, I gave up the thought. Thinking it possible,
1 Macaulay writes to a. friend, ' We have made a schoolmaster of almost every
black man in the Colony who reads and writes well enough. Grown persons crowd to
the evening schools.'

64 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
however, that it might be Renaud, coming here with an inten
tion to plunder, everything was put in order to receive him, and
a plan was contrived for heating balls red hot. In the evening
the Anna was sent out to reconnoitre.
'September 27. — The Anna sailed with Mr. Gray on board.
We had now given up all thoughts of the fleet, and had resigned
all the expectations with which we had flattered ourselves of
news from England. But in the evening, while we were en
gaged in family worship, we were a little startled by the sound
of two heavy guns at sea.1 This circumstance rekindled all our
hopes, for on looking into a table of English signals, we found
that two guns was the signal for coming to an anchor. We
passed an anxious night.
' Sunday, September 28, 1794. — As soon as it was light we
were able to count seven or eight sails,2 all of which were at
anchor. They were soon in motion, and we could easily dis
tinguish English colours in all of them. About nine o'clock
we made out that the fleet consisted of one two-decker, several
frigates, and two armed brigs ; so that proceeding on the sup
position of their being enemies, all attempts at resistance would
be little short of madness. All of us agreed that to make
resistance to such a superior force would be an idle waste of
lives, and might, unable as we should be to secure terms of
capitulation, lead to more dreadful excesses than we had
otherwise to apprehend. The point was then considered of
attempting to save at least part of the Company's property.
To this measure I had many objections. I felt that the only
way of saving the Company's buildings was by our remaining
on the spot, and that we should not be able to remain with
safety if it were known that we had secreted property. Besides
the chances were infinitely in favour of its being an English
fleet, in which case, every step we took would be productive
only of loss. And to add to all these reasons the wind was
fair, the tide was flowing, and there was time neither for
deliberation nor execution.
'We continued for about half-an-hour agitated by hopes
and fears, when perceiving some men in one of the frigates
with great care pointing a gun into my piazza, we were relieved
from all our doubts. Little time was allowed for anticipation,
for the shot began to whistle over our heads. I gave orders to
strike the colours, which was done, and hung out in my own
1 Some extracts from this part of the journal have already appeared in print in the
Life of Lord Mat aulay, but by the permission of Sir George Trevelyan they are re
pealed so as to preserve the continuity ofthe narrative.
'* The fleet consisted of seven sail, L'Exfh'iment of fifty guns, two frigates, two
armed brigs, one of eighteen and the other iwelve guns, all twelve pounders, and two
Guincamen prizes whieh were also well armed.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 65
piazza a flag of truce ; but the firing still continued,1 and several
of the grape and musquet shot fell into my piazza. We then
hailed them, and told them we had surrendered, on which they
desisted from firing.
' About this time, a little after ten o'clock, they began to
land, and I immediately requested Mr. Watt to meet them,
and to beg the commanding officer to come to my house. He
found them already entered into the great Store, and into Mr.
Pepys's and Mr. King's houses, and pillaging and destroying in
a most shocking manner. The officer was too busily emplbyed
to come immediately, but Newell, the American whom I men-,
tioned before, and who had piloted them down, came to my
house attended by half-a-dozen sans-culottes, almost foaming
with rage, presented a pistol to me, and with many oaths
demanded instant satisfaction for the slaves who had run away
from him to my protection. I made very little reply, but1 told:
him he must now take such satisfaction as he judged equivalent
to his claims, as I was no longer master of my actions. He
became so very outrageous that, after bearing with him a little'
while, I thought it most prudent to repair myself to the French
officer, and request his safe-conduct on board the Commodore'si
ship. ' As I passed along the wharf, the scene was curious enough.
The Frenchmen, who had come ashore in filth and rags, were
now many of them dressed out with women's shifts, gowns, and
petticoats. Others had quantities of cloth wrapped about their
bodies, or perhaps six or seven suits of clothes upon them at a
time. The scene which presented itself on my getting on
board the flagship was still more singular. The quarter-deck:
was crowded by a set of ragamuffins whose appearance beggared
every previous description, and among whom I sought in vain
for some one who looked like a gentleman. The stench and
filth exceeded anything I had ever witnessed in any ship, and
the noise and confusion gave me some idea of their famous
Mountain. ' I was ushered into the Commodore's cabin, who at least"
received me very civilly. He did not appear to have the right
of excluding any of his fellow-citizens even from this place.
Whatever might be their rank, they crowded into it, and con
versed familiarly with him. I expressed to him my surprise at
the proceedings I had witnessed. I told him that I expected:
to have found in Frenchmen a generous enemy, but that on the!
1 Mr, Watt says in a private letter : ' Notwithstanding Mr. Macaulay's order, the
French continued to fire into the town for near half an hour. By this extra-.
ordinary conduct a woman and girl lost their lives, and several persons were badly
wounded.'

66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
contrary we had been dealt with in a manner which I believed
was unusual except in places taken by storm. I then repre
sented to him the unrestrained pillage which had taken place,
and the manner in which private houses and private property
were violated, and requested him to put a stop to it. The first
question he put to me was, " Have you removed any property ? "
I answered him I had not. " Be careful," said he, " as to what
you tell me, for if I should find after this that you have removed
anything, I shall make you suffer, and there shall not be left a
hut in the place." I repeated my assurance, on which he told
me that I might be easy, that he would prevent further pillage,
and should take care that no private property should be
violated. This promise, however, gave me little consolation, as
he would make no written engagement, and as he told me in
the same breath, that, if the seamen and soldiers were disposed
to pillage, he could not prevent them.
' When he gave me to understand that it was his intention to
burn every house in the place belonging to Englishmen, I made
use of every plea I could think of to dissuade him, representing
the nature of the establishment to him in a way which I thought
might interest him, but it was to no purpose. The American
Newell, and another American captain, one Mariner, who is in
Mr. Bolland's service, and who was also exasperated against us,
both as he was a Slave-trader, and as five of Bolland's slaves
had taken refuge here, had poisoned the minds of the French.
I perceived this, and tried to convince the Commodore of the
unworthy motives which these men had for vilifying us, which
he seemed not to disbelieve, but every application on behalf of
the Colony was not the less ineffectual. The constant reply
was, " Citoyen, cela peut bien etre, mais encore vous etes
Anglais." I then represented to him the case of the Settlers,
who at least were not Englishmen, but who were now sharing
our fate in having their houses broken into and pillaged. He
made strong protestations of his friendly intentions with respect
to them, and promised to prevent all further injury to them ; hint
ing, however, as before, that there was no possibility of restraining
the soldiery. He gave me a solemn assurance that their houses
should be saved from fire, which I considered at least as some
thing gained. I proposed to ransom the place, but he said it
was impossible for him to do so. I made a number of demands
on him for things that I told him would be absolutely necessary
to keep us alive, such as our wearing-apparel, provisions, a
small craft, some wine, spirits, tobacco, arms, powder, and
medicines, all which he promised to comply with, but I found
in the end how little reliance there is now to be placed on the
promise of a sans-culotte.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 67
' The Commodore wished me to dine with him, but I had no
appetite for food, and I left him a little after noon, with our
prospects very little improved. He had promised indeed to
introduce a strict discipline ashore, but he had none on board
his own ship, so that I regarded his promise as nugatory.
While I was with him a frigate and two of the brigs passed
on to Bance Island.
'The spectacle which Freetown exhibited at my landing was
truly deplorable, but my heart was already hardened, and things
which, four hours before, I should have trembled to think of, I
now beheld with an apathy and unconcern which is inconceiv
able to those who have not experienced the like. I found on
the wharf a parcel of Frenchmen emptying a case of port wine,
while others were loading themselves with goods of various
kinds. A little higher up I met Mariner, the American, adorned
with some of Pepys's spoils, and vowing destruction to the
place, and every individual in it, if Bolland's five slaves were
not restored. He was also relating how, in Mr. Clarkson's
time, the Settlers had followed him into his boat with stones,
but that now he should glut himself with revenge. As I
passed along, the sight was still more affecting. The sight
of my own and of the accountant's offices almost sickened
me. Every desk and every drawer and every shelf, together
with the printing and copying presses, had been completely
demolished in the search for money. The floors were strewn
with types, and papers, and leaves of books, and I had
the mortification to see a great part of my own labour and
of the labour of others for several years totally destroyed.
At the other end of the house I found telescopes, hygrometers,
barometers, thermometers, and electrical machines lying about
in fragments. The view of the town library filled me with
lively concern. The volumes were tossed about and defaced
with the utmost wantonness, and if they happened to bear any
resemblance to Bibles they were torn in pieces and trampled
on. The collection of natural curiosities next caught my eye.
Plants, seeds, dried birds, insects, and drawings were scattered
about in great confusion, and some of the sailors were actually
in the act of killing a beautiful musk-cat, which they after^
wards ate. Every house was full of Frenchmen, who were
hacking, and destroying, and tearing up everything which they
could not convert to their own use. The destruction of live
stock on this and the following day was immense. In my yard
alone they killed fourteen dozen of fowls, and there were not
less than twelve hundred hogs shot in the town.
' In my own house the state of things was, if possible, still
worse. I found there Watt, Winterbottom, King and his wife,

68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Buckle, Jones, Seely, who was sick, and others. They were
sitting in the hall, which was now converted into a guardroom,
surrounded by about a dozen of ill-looking fellows, who were,
however, tolerably civil in their way, and offered us a share
of their fricasseed fowls and boiled pork. We all continued
here during the remainder of the day, and passed the time in
moralising on our late and present situation. We found, in
casting up the accounts, that we had lost very little by the
change. We were free from pain ; we felt neither cold, nor
hunger, nor thirst ; in short, we found out that happiness does
not consist in the number of things we possess, but in the mind
being so indifferent to externals as neither to feel their weight
when present, nor their want when absent. We had likewise
come to feel those calamities attendant on war, of which we
had so often read with indifference ; we now found out, too,
how much better the mind of man is fitted to bear adversity
than prosperity. And surely it is in mercy that God has so
ordered it, seeing our course is so strewed with thorns. We
had this day sustained a shock as heavy and unexpected as
could well be imagined, and we had a moral assurance that all
the product of near three years' toil in this place would be
totally destroyed. Our prospects as to lodging, clothing, and
food were also very gloomy ; but these evils being now irremedi
able by any device of ours, our minds were speedily reconciled.
to them, and we were not tortured with doubt or suspense. Our
hands being in a manner tied, we had no measures to take, we
were so far free from solicitude, and we waited with patience
the result. We could even amuse ourselves with the strange
and ludicrous appearance of the people around us, their savage
manners, their wanton rage against our aristocratical lamps,
decanters, looking-glasses, and tumblers, their extravagant
boastings of their nation, and their vehement railings against
Pitt and George. There is not a boy among them who has
not learnt to accompany the name of Pitt with an execration.
Bating their rude and disgusting familiarity (for officers and
men mixed promiscuously with us), we received no personal
insults ; but towards night, from the quantity of wine they had
drunk, they became so noisy that I begged and received per
mission to have the bedchambers reserved entirely for ourselves.
I accordingly lay down in my former room for the last time,
with a sentinel on each door, and Mrs. King and the gentlemen
bestowed themselves in different apartments. I was permitted
to remain there all night; but when I went to bed there was
no sleep to be had on account of the sentinels thinking fit to
amuse me the whole night through with the revenge they meant
to take on Pitt when they got him to Paris. In the course of

ZACHARY MACAULAY 69
the evening the Anna, in which Mr. Gray had gone out, re
turned in the supposition of its being an English fleet,:and was
taken. All the Company's servants, except those I have men
tioned, disappeared on the first firing, and I saw no more of
them for some days.
' Monday, September 29. — I went on board the flagship, and
got liberty for Gray, and those who were with him, to come
ashore with their baggage. I renewed my endeavours in behalf
of this place, but to no purpose.
'The Commodore came ashore with me. The pillage was
still going on, and he appeared affected by it, and tried to stop
it, but in vain. We found them in one place pillaging the
baggage Gray had brought ashore, but that we were able to
recover and save. Assisted by the Commodore, I got some
clothes, books, papers^ and a few other things which were still
remaining, sent into the country, but the greatest part of them
was taken away by the different gangs of pillagers who beset
every avenue. A good many of my clothes were put into a
place of safety, and a great part of the books and papers were
afterwards picked up. Our situation in town became every hour
more unpleasant, as the soldiery were giving in to every kind of
excess, and as they were shooting all day at the stock which
was running about, which made walking extremely dangerous.
Accordingly the greatest part of the gentlemen separated them^
selves different ways in the course of this and the next day ;
Watt fixed his headquarters at Granville Town, and the others
went either to native towns or to the farmhouses of Settlers. I
learnt that Pepys and his wife and boy had got into the woods,
and that Garvin and others had taken refuge in the Danish
Town.1 I was very averse myself to quit the scene of action
while there was any prospect of doing anything in behalf of
the people. I accordingly applied for permission to remain on
board the Commodore's vessel while they remained, and I
obtained it. I met with a number of the Settlers to-day ; they
appeared a good deal affected, and I was not a little so at
seeing them. On board the Commodore's vessel there were
a number of English prisoners, from whom I learnt that Mr.
Jackson, at the Isles de Los, had had it in his power to give us
three days' notice of the force and destination of the French
fleet, but that he refused, saying he would be glad to hear of
our being destroyed. The manner of life on board the Experi
ment was disgusting beyond example. The Commodore and
- 1 This settlement, in the mountains which were near Freetown, had been formed
by a number of slaves, who some years before had contrived to get possession of the
Danish slave-ship in which they were confined, and which was lying at anchor in the
mouth of the Sierra Leone River. As may be supposed, they generally guarded
carefully against any strangers approaching their town.

70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
all his officers messed together, and I was admitted among
them. They are truly the poorest-looking people I ever saw ;
even the Commodore has only one suit which can at all dis
tinguish him, not to say from the officers, but from the men.
The filth and confusion of their meals was terrible. A chorus
of boys usher in the dinner with the Marseilles hymn, and it
finishes in the same way. The enthusiasm of all ranks among
them is astonishing, but not less so than their blindness. They
talk with ecstasy of their revolutionary government, of their
bloody executions, of their revolutionary tribunal, of the rapid
movement of their revolutionary army with the Corps of Justice
and the flying guillotine before it : forgetting that not one of
them is not liable to its stroke on the accusation ofthe greatest
vagabond on board. They asked me with triumph if yesterday
had not been Sunday. " Oh," said they, " the National Con
vention have decreed that there is no Sunday, and that the
Bible is all a lie ! " I lay in the Commodore's cabin, not with
very great comfort, for notwithstanding the abundance of their
pillage I could not procure a sheet to throw over me.
' Tuesday, September 30. — I went ashore with the Commodore,
whom I prevailed on, by dint of importunity, to permit me to
make a division among the Settlers of about five tons of rice
which was in the Store. This was truly a providential supply.
I met with Watt, and walked with him a little way into the
country. I found the French had made their way out to the
farms in various directions, and were plundering at a sad rate.1
They came to a house where some books and papers of mine
were, and they threw them about, and scattered them through
the fields. At one man's house I found them taking away the
bed he had to lay on. I tried to dissuade them from it, but
was like to pay dearly for my interference. Four officers, whom
I knew, came most providentially up at the time, and the
offenders were put into irons. This, I believe, procured me
an immunity from very gross insults in future ; indeed, except
when drunk, they were little disposed to insult very grossly.
I learned too that all the native children, together with Mrs.
Perth who had the charge of them, were safe at Pa Dembo's2
town, about a mile and a half from Freetown to the south-west.
' At night I repaired on board. Mariner, the American, was
there, and was gross in his abuse. He gloried in what had
been done, and expressed it as his heart's desire to be able to
1 Dr. Afzelius, when writing from Sierra Leone at this period to the Swedish
Envoy in London, says : ' The French officers have no authority, and the sailors do
what they please. These citizens are in general miserable men, in great want, cruel,
and living like wild beasts by devouring their prey.'
a This Chief gave shelter lo Mrs. Perth, the black schoolmistress, and her scholars.
during the stay of the French fleet.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 71
wash his hands in the blood of Englishmen, and that if his
influence could weigh anything not a hut should be left in
the place. This man, I should think, if got hold of, might
be tried as a pirate. He this day went in pursuit of a jsloop
which was in the river's mouth. He was himself on board a
sloop of his own, carrying American colours, and he took the
vessel while he was under American colours. She proved to
be one ofthe Bance Island trading crafts.
'I went ashore, and met Watt and Graham. I advised
Graham to carry over with him to the Bullom shore the sick at
Granville Town ; and desired Watt to send a man overland
to Aspinwall1 in the Scarcies, to collect rice for us. I saw
Maltby in a hut, with a fever on him, as I went along in quest
of Pepys. I found Pepys and his family, together with some
others, a great way in the woods, without any shelter, but in
tolerable health. They were at no loss for food ; the Settlers,
numbers of whose families were in the woods around them,
supplying them liberally. When the first shot was fired into
the town, Pepys parted at once with every particle of his
resolution, and wrung his hands like a child. I tried to make
him easy, but in vain. He ran away into the woods, after some
search found Mrs. Pepys, and terrified still more by foolish
reports that a price was put upon his head, he had multiplied
precautions for his safety and for securing his retreat still
further. I used every means I could think of to prevail on
him to quit this place while health was left, and repair to
Granville Town, whence he might go to the Bullom shore ; and
he at last consented. I left him, strongly advising him to give
no credit to idle reports, as he was perfectly safe. No sooner, how
ever, had I gone, than some one told him some silly tale which
awakened all his former fears, destroyed the effect of everything
I had said to him, and determined him not to quit the woods.
' I sent one of the Settlers down to the Cape to watch for
any vessels which might be coming in, and by means of a
native canoe to warn them of their danger.
' There was heavy rain by which I was thoroughly wet, but
we did not mind these inconveniences now, though I grieved
for poor Pepys. On going on board I found a schooner of
Cleveland's in the possession of the French. I pleaded on
behalf of Cleveland, and was at last able to prevail on the
Commodore to liberate the schooner, with which the Grumettas
went away.
'October 2. — I went to Pa Dembo's, and saw the native
children, who appear to have been terribly frightened by the
1 Mr. Aspinwall had a. slave factory at the Scarcies, and was upon very friendly
terms with Macaulay.

72 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
appearance of some French near1 the town to-day, but the old
man was very resolute, and would not permit them by any
means to enter it.
' On my return I found our vessel the fames burning, also my
house, Mr. Pepys's new house, Harmony Hall, Mr. Padenheim's,
and one or two Settlers' houses which were in their way. You
cannot conceive with what indifference I beheld the sight of a
fire, which, happening a week sooner, would have made me per
fectly miserable. I entered the church. The pulpit was broken
in pieces ; the prayer-books and Bibles torn and defaced, and the
clock disfigured and rendered useless. The Commodore had
promised to save the church, but I did not believe him. The
apothecary's shop was a heap of confusion, every bottle and every
jar was broken, and the medicines were totally destroyed.
' On going to bed I found that news had come of Bance
Island being taken. Tilley, after removing his goods, deserted
it when the French landed and burnt everything on it. He,
however, saved very little, for the canoes which the natives
brought to the back of the island to carry off the goods, instead
of removing them to the place appointed, carried them to their
own places. The Prince of Wales slave brig was burnt there,
and some more vessels, but fortunately three of the largest
craft were to the northward.
' October 3. — Afzelius came on board to try to recover his draw
ings. After bearing much rudeness and meeting man)- rebuffs,
he was at last able to recover some of them. I complained
to the Commodore to-day of the conduct of the Americans, and
of the threats they held out ; and pressed strongly the incon
sistency of his encouraging and countenancing men whose sole
object was to make slaves, and whose only dislike to us arose
from our dislike of slavery, while at the same time the French
were declaring war against all slavery and liberating, as they
said, all slaves. The Commodore on this attacked Mariner,
who now tried to evade the charge I had brought against him.
It ended with the Commodore's telling him to take no measure
whatever against the place, or against any individual, and his
promising to obey.
' October 4, 1794.-1 reminded the Commodore of all his
promises to me, and now demanded their accomplishment.
He evaded them all, and told me in plain terms that, if he were
to comply with them, his head would be in jeopardy. I made
such a representation to him of our state, that at last I got
from him a barrel of flour, a cask of pork, and a puncheon of
brandy, which I sent in a native canoe to Granville Town. I
went thither myself by land. On my way I met Watt, who
told me that Pepys was still in the woods, and that he was now

ZACHARY MACAULAY 73
going to find him out and bring him away. I found in one of
the farmhouses a woman, who had been wounded in the thigh
by a shot, and who was in great pain. I promised to find out
a surgeon and send him to her.
' At Granville Town things were quiet. Watt returned and
told us he had found Pepys and his wife in inconceivable
distress. With great difficulty he had brought them to a farm
house on the road. We went to meet them, and found them on
their way supported by some people, but scarce able to walk.
Fortunately a canoe was found setting off for the Bullom shore,
and Pepys and his family were safely landed on the other side,
but in so low and languid a state as to cause serious fears for
all of them.
' I went at night to Pa Dembo's with the intention of going
in the morning in quest of Winterbottom, that something, if
possible, might be done for Pepys. I was hospitably received
by the old man, and Mrs. Perth gave me a tolerable bed, and
some tea to refresh me after the fatigues of the day. As there
were a good many Settlers here, we had the pleasure of joining
together at night in the worship of God. It is a truth no
doubt that our hearts are the proper seats of worship and
adoration ; and it may be said that of course we may at all
times and in all places have the comforts of communion with
God ; but experience will scarce justify this. We may at all
times and in all places retain a complacency of mind in the con
sciousness that God sees us and numbers the hairs of our heads.
We may feel a total submission to His will, and a readiness to
bear whatever His providence may lay on us ; but this is
perhaps the utmost extent of that devotion which can exist in
a situation of hurry and confusion, when the lips are not at
liberty to give vent to the feelings of the heart. The pleasure
arising from the expression of devotion, and from joining one's
voice with others in praising God, may perhaps be artificially
excited. I am not casuist enough to determine the point, but
its effects on the mind are no less real than if it were otherwise.
' Sunday, October 5. — I set off after morning service in quest
of the doctor ; and as it had rained in the night, and. the road
was much overgrown, I was soon completely wet. I found him
much reduced by fever. Gray had gone to the Cape to look
out for vessels. After some consultation, it was determined
that we should go on board the Commodore, to procure if
possible some medicines. We accordingly went on board, but
our strongest entreaties, our most earnest solicitations, produced
no more effect than if they had been addressed to stones, and
we left them much chagrined. Mariner, the American, how
ever, made us an offer of some-of his medicines, which, though

74

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

I felt it unpleasant to receive favours at his hand, we were glad
to accept. We went on board his vessel, but could procure
very little. His supply consisted only of a small case he had
taken out of Pepys's house, containing but a little of each
common article. This man Mariner had on board the greatest
part of our library. The sextant, which came out in the Amy,
was there also, broken in pieces.
' October 6. — We set off in the morning for Granville Town ;
but we did not pass through Freetown, as we saw that the con
flagration of the remaining buildings had commenced. The
church, the range of houses beside it, in short all the
Company's buildings which were exempted from the former
fire, were now consumed, together with three of the Settlers'
houses on the waterside.
' We called at a number of farmhouses on our way, and were
gratified by the warm congratulations of the Settlers on our
health and safety. There was no appearance of want among
them. When we arrived at Granville Town we were happy to
find that the French vessels from Bance Island had passed
down about an hour before, without doing any mischief. They
had fired one shot, which had sent all the people into the woods,
but they did not attempt to land. We were now in hopes of
their speedily leaving us at liberty to provide for the Colony's
wants. Our vessels were burnt, as well as all the boats they
could lay their hands on. The Thornton was given to Mariner,
the American, as a reward for his services, with a quantity of
goods to be divided between him and Newell.
' October 7. — Gray and I went on board the Commodore. A
ship appeared in the offing, and the Thornton and one of the
brigs went in pursuit of her. We dined on board, and I
renewed my application for provisions, but to no purpose. I
felt a degree of degradation in importuning these men notwith
standing repeated and rude refusals, which nothing but a con
viction of the duty I owed to myself and others would have
made me submit to. The Commodore's excuse was no doubt
a powerful one, namely, the fear of the guillotine.
' After dinner we went ashore, and returned to Granville
Town, where I found things pretty comfortably situated. The
Marshal had set apart his house for the use of my family, of
whom there were now here Watt, Winterbottom, Lowes,
Afzelius, and Gray, together with an European man-servant.
I now resolved to fix myself here, and only to go to Freetown
as there might be occasion, as there seemed little likelihood of
effecting anything with the French.
' Bartholomew has been on board the Commodore, and was
well received. He came down again to-day, together with the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 75
King. They landed at Thompson's Bay in their way down,
and meeting with some Settlers, they talked very big. Bar
tholomew said among other things that Mr. Dawes and I had
killed his brother,1 but that now was his time to procure
satisfaction. This, together with the previous detention of our
vessels, and the reports which in such a time will naturally
arise, filled the minds of the Settlers with more fears from the
natives than they had entertained from the French. We did
what we could to make them easy.
' October 9. — I went down to Freetown, and found on my
arrival that the Harpy was within a mile of the French fleet ;
but those on board at that moment perceiving the demolition
of the Company's houses, she put about, and stood out. A
frigate and the two brigs, together with the Thornton, went in
chase of her, and we had the satisfaction to see the Harpy gain
on them all the while they continued in sight. But the wind
dying away soon after led us to entertain fears of her safety.
' I went on board the Commodore in order to procure, if
possible, the restitution of Lawrence's schooner, he being a
native, but in vain. There were letters found on board addressed
to me, and that was. sufficient ground for condemnation. I
dined there, and renewed my application for necessaries, but I
was only able to procure a bag of biscuits and about twenty
pounds of sugar, which was, however, a very grateful supply.
' October 10. — Mr. Watt and I went down in the morning to
Freetown, when we had the mortification to see the Harpy in
the harbour. A boat came ashore from her shortly after, in
which were Telford, and Bracy and his family, with a good
part of their private property which they had been permitted
to keep. My first inquiry was for the despatches; and, under
standing from Telford that they had been delivered to the
Commodore, we immediately went on board to him. On my
applying for the letters he told me very coolly that it was a
pity I had not come a few minutes sooner, as he had just
thrown them overboard. I looked out, and saw them floating
on the water, on which I begged permission to take them up,
together with a boat for that purpose. He agreed to this, but
before it could be done altered his mind, I believe at Mariner's
instigation, and refused the permission. I strove with him,
I entreated, I protested. It was all in vain. He remained
inflexible. Nothing had yet happened materially to disturb
my mind, but this stroke affected me very forcibly. My regret
for the loss of the letters, and my indignation at such unworthy
treatment, such wanton cruelty, unhinged me not a little.
Determined, however, to save what I could, I renewed my
1 Henry Granville Naimbanna.

76 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
application for the public despatches, and for one letter
addressed to myself from Mr. Horne, which had not shared the
fate of the other letters. These they gave me with the excep
tion of the invoices and catalogues of prices. They also gave
me the newspapers and reviews which had not been destroyed.
' We came ashore dispirited and mortified and disappointed
beyond measure, and I made the best of my way to Granville
Town, where I found, to add to my uneasiness, Pepys's corpse
lying unburied. He had died the morning before in great pain
of body, and apparently great distress of mind. In the evening
Mr. Jack, Banna, and Dublin, the natives who returned from
England in the Harpy, came. They were stript of everything.
They were, however, in tolerable spirits, and amused us very
much by their account of what they had seen in England.
They spoke in high terms of the kindness shown them by you
and the other gentlemen.
'October n. — Signor Domingo called in the morning, and
promised to send us what provisions he could get. I learnt
that it was the Commodore's intention to put all his prisoners1
ashore, and as they amounted to near one hundred and twenty
the news excited my serious apprehensions. I therefore wrote
him a strong remonstrance on the subject, renewing my de
mands for provisions, spirits, wine, medicines. I feared little good
effect would arise from the measure, but then we should at
least be no worse for it. The Frenchmen for some days had
confined themselves to the town, as the Settlers had now
plucked up a little courage, and made a show of resistance
whenever they ventured into the country. To-day a party of
Frenchmen who had gone out in quest of booty were terribly
alarmed by some of the Settlers who had set upon them. I
met them running back with the most laughable precipitation.
I was apprehensive they would have known me, but their terror
was so great that they did not even perceive me. The brig
Sophia of London, Captain Bevans, was taken to-day as she
was coming into the river. This was a rich prize. The Rev.
Mr. Langlands2 came up to Granville Town in the afternoon.
He had been able to save nothing but his gown. All his books
and papers, the product of many years' hard study, were refused
him. He seemed a good deal affected by the loss of these, as
rt would prove so totally impossible to replace them. He bore
his new and trying situation, however, with a 'good deal of
equanimity. ' Sunday, October 1 2. — Notice had been given of service being
performed at this place to-day, and a good many people
1 These were Fnglish seamen.
- The new Chaplain who had arrived in the Harpy.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 77
attended. It was agreed that I should introduce Mr. Langlands.
I preached in the forenoon, and Mr. Langlands in the
afternoon. ' October 13. — On my coming into Freetown in the morning I
met with some French officers, who told me the Commodore
had sent them ashore with provisions for me in consequence of
what I had written. The quantity sent was more than I
expected. I went on board and thanked the Commodore for
his goodness, and expressed a hope that he would comply with
my other demands, but to this he turned a deaf ear. As they
were preparing to sail I made haste ashore again, and had the
satisfaction to see them depart about noon.
' Left now to ourselves, I ordered an allowance of six pounds
of flour and four pounds of beef to each of the prisoners, to last
for one week, also a little spirits. The number of prisoners was
about one hundred and twenty, and joined to the Europeans in
the Settlement made the number one hundred and sixty. The
beef was nearly exhausted at the first serving. I engaged
several tolerably good boarded houses in town for myself and
some others of my household, which I directed to be put in
order, and returned to Granville Town. The house I took for
myself contains a hall twenty-two feet by fifteen, and two small
rooms, one of which serves for a bedroom, and the other for a
place for our provisions. The other houses are only single
apartments of about fifteen feet square.
' The Settlers had, during the time the French stayed here,
behaved with kindness to all of us, and there was no instance
of any of them, even of those who were most disaffected, showing
a disposition to insult any of us. I was indeed much better
pleased with their conduct than I had yet been. They had saved
a good deal of rice and molasses, and also rum, which I gave
them to understand should not be claimed ; but that everything
else, belonging to the Company, which they might have saved,
I should think the Company entitled to. Great quantities of
lumber had been removed by them in the night-time to their
own yards. They had stript off and removed the lining of many
of the houses, and the frame of the old hospital was almost
entirely saved. They had also saved two or three of the
Company's boats, and a great quantity of ironmongery. All
these things I expected to be returned.
' We had received notice a few days ago from Aspinwall that
he had twenty tons of rice ready for us ; and Tilley sent down
a barrel of gunpowder, and promised to spare us more if we
should want it.
' October 14. — I convened as soon as I could the Hundreders,
Tithingmen, and some of the principal inhabitants. After

7-S LIFE AND LETTERS OF
saying a few words to them on the vast sum of money the
Company had laid out on this place, and on their various losses, I
told them that it was necessary that they should apply themselves
without any delay to farming. They saw now the decided
advantages which those who were possessed of farms had over
those who had no farms. No one, however, could expect future
aid who did not faithfully restore all the Company's property
in his possession, provisions of all kinds excepted ; and for the
goods which should be restored a salvage would be paid them
of four shillings in the pound. There appeared to be a disposi
tion among the people present to raise a number of objections ;
but I told them that I had made up my mind that they were
in justice bound to restore the Company's property now, as much
as if they had assisted in rescuing their neighbours' furniture
from fire. They made me no reply, but I saw there were among
them many much dissatisfied.
' In the afternoon an American schooner came in, which
proved to be a vessel from Rhode Island loaded with rum, and
with about forty casks of provisions of various kinds. I was
made very uneasy by a report that the prisoners ashore had
resolved to cut her off, which I took measures to prevent, and
succeeded. ' October 1 5. — I pressed the American to sell his provisions,
which he was disposed to do ; but, being frightened by reports
of an intended attempt to seize his vessel, he would not stay
any longer, but set sail. We were plagued with continual
reports of attacks meditated by natives, but I perceived they
had their origin only among the Settlers themselves. They
wished, I saw, to discover whether I had arms and powder to
give them. I heard all the reports with great indifference, only
telling them that if the natives should come, which I did not
believe, they must defend themselves ; and that, if they appre
hended danger, they should fix patrols for the night.
' October 16. — We were obliged to have recourse again to the
fabrication of paper money, an unpleasant, but at this time
necessary expedient.
'October 18. — Banna1 came here to-day, and I asked about
the vessels. He said he thought if I would go up and talk with
the King, that he would give them up. I told him I could not
go myself, but that Watt and Buckle should go, which he said
would do. I asked him the reason of the King's threatening
war as he had done. He said the King was angry with me;
and that he had said, if I did not comply with his demands, he
would drive me out of the country. On this I desired him to
tell the King that, if he was disposed to make any such attempt,
1 One of tlie natives who had returned in the Harpy from a visit to England.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 79
he should find such a warm reception as would prevent his
repeating it. Banna had had a palaver with you in England
about the original sale of our district ; when Banna discovered
tome the view the natives now have,- and which he probably
concealed both from you and Dawes. Their view is to have a
palaver, to which those are to be cited who received any pay
ment for the land. The amount of this payment they mean to,
repay to us, which they think will dissolve the contract, and that
they will be at liberty to exact any yearly sum they think
proper. This fine reasoning seems to have originated with
Banna, who has acquired some strange notions of taxation and
the rights of kings by his visit to England. I made a very short
reply to his reasoning, saying that we had paid for the land,
that it was in our possession, and that our consent would be
wanted to such a measure.
' October 19. — Mr. Langlands preached twice. His thoughts
and language are excellent, but unfortunately shrouded both
from vulgar and English ears. He manifests, however, a great
willingness to be put right, and in a little time the people will
become familiarised to his dialect, which is unintelligible but to.
a Scotch ear.
' October 20. — Watt and Buckle went up to Robago to settle
the palaver with the King. A schooner arrived from the
Scarcies with four tons of rice and other provisions and
necessaries. ' The Company's servants have now all got into town, many
of them in a very poor state of health, to which the want of
medicines, regular and nourishing diet, and good accommoda
tion contributed not a little. It is among the English seamen,
however, who received this day a further allowance of eight
pounds of flour, there being no beef, that disease begins to make
fearful ravages. The prospect is truly melancholy.
' October 21. — Calker1 from the Plantains arrived hereto-day,
and seemed much affected by the ruinous state of the place.
He told me that only one of the French brigs had called at the
Bananas, the other vessels having gone round the shoals ; that
Mr. Cleveland had resolutely refused a pilot to carry the brig
into the Sherbro, where the Duke of Buccleuch had taken
shelter ; and that after receiving some fresh stock, the brig
departed without doing any injury.
' October 22. — I got together a few carpenters and labourers.
and began building a store on the old foundation. We also laid
out a space immediately above the store whereon to erect a
church eighty feet by twenty. These and another house, which
together with the upper part of the store, will afford shelter to
1 A Slave-trader.

80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
all the Company's officers during the rains, are the only buildings
I have any intention at present of erecting.
* October 24. — Buckle came back and with him Banna. Watt
was detained by the King on account, he alleged, of Watt's
being saucy, until it should be known whether I had authorised
him to be so. I returned for answer that I had put no particular
words into Mr. Watt's mouth, but that I had told him in general
to tell the King that his conduct towards us had been unjust
and unbecoming. Banna said that the King had agreed to give
up the vessels as he saw there was no just cause for seizing
them, and that I might send for them immediately ; and that
he only detained Mr. Watt till he should get my answer.
' I sent up Captain Telford and some seamen to bring down
the vessels, and sent Cooper to bear my answer. They are
now beginning to be afraid of the consequences of their
conduct. ' October 25. — Mr. Eveson came from the Bananas, and brought
with him some goats for me, together with a cow and calf from
Cleveland. I received at the same time very handsome offers
of assistance should I require it. Watt returned from Robago
in good health, nothing worse for having been a state-
prisoner. ' October 28. — Jackson, from the Isles de Los, called here in
his way down from Bance Island, He brought ashore two
seamen who had died on board, to be buried, and he told us
that there were twenty or thirty sick on board. I spoke with
Jackson about his pestering me with applications for his people
who had run away, and told him to discontinue them. I con
sidered myself in no shape bound to answer to him for any men
who might come ashore here, nor would I even say that I should
not employ them. I spoke to him also of the Portuguese
captives taken by Cantor from the vessels in which Keene came
from Bissao. He said these were all in his custody, and should
remain there till they were redeemed. I gave him to under
stand that I conceived it my duty to demand an account of
these men from Cantor, when I should be able to do so.
' He left me and went on board his vessel, and as he was
getting under weigh, sent his boat on shore with eighteen sick
seamen on board, whom he left on the wharf in a most miserable
plight. I was not made acquainted with this circumstance till
next day, when I learnt at the same time that one of them had
died in the course ofthe night. They were all of them, I was
told, so weak that they were scarce able to ascend the hill ;
and it was with the utmost difficulty they got to a place of
.shelter. ' Aspinwall's schooner arrived with four tons of rice and some

ZACHARY MACAULAY 81
other articles. The consumption of rice is much less than I
expected, owing to the quantity of provisions on the farms.
Almost all of us were now laid up ; and what made it worse
both for us and the seamen, who were dying fast, all the
doctors were sick.
'November 4. — Vessels appeared in the offing. The Settlers
were terribly frightened, and set themselves to removing their
goods. They had got all their wearing apparel and portable
property into the woods when the vessels proved to be, what I
had judged them from the first, the Duke of Buccleuch, and a
Liverpool slave-ship lately come on* the coast, a small sloop
belonging to Bance Island, and the schooner Flora belong
ing to Bristol, which the French brig had taken off the Bananas,
and which had been made a present of to M. Mouton, a French
trader. From him she was retaken by the Bance Island sloop.
Tilley had gone out to meet the Duke of Buccleuch, and was
now on board. I had a letter from him, enclosing one from
you of the date July 4th. His letter informed me that the
Flora was to be fitted out with all expedition to carry intelli
gence to England.
' November 6.— I was worse to-day, and all the other gentle
men were indisposed, and some of them very ill. The state of
the seamen was shocking beyond all description, three and four
were dying each day ; and though we did what in our weakly
situation and with our scanty provisions we could do to assist
them, yet it was ineffectual. I believe none of them could be
said to have wanted a meal of rice if they had been disposed to
use it. To-day a cow, which had been for some time past at
the Bullom shore, was killed and brought over, and divided in
shares of three pounds each to the Company's servants, and
the remainder given to the sick seamen.
'November 7. — Watt returned from Bance Island, bringing
with him a supply of beef, flour, sugar, and butter. He also
brought a little stationery, wine, and porter, so that I was
enabled to make a division to each of the Company's servants,
and to the seamen.
'November 15. — A Liverpool vessel, commanded by a Cap
tain Clair, came down from Bance Island on her way to Cape
Mount, taking slaves. Mr. Tilley and Captain Maclean, of
the Duke of Buccleuch, came down at the same time. Mr.
Tilley proposed that I should join him in a memorial to the
Secretary of State respecting the conduct ofthe Americans on
the coast. After much conversation on the subject, I found it
most prudent to acquiesce ; and accordingly a memorial will be
drawn up and sent home. It will be addressed to Lord Gren
ville ; and as a copy of it goes to you, and another to Messrs.
F

82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Anderson,1 should you think its delivery improper, it may be
crushed. ' About noon I was surprised by the appearance of my
brother, though I soon guessed the cause. The Sierra Leone
packet and the fames and William had been run on shore
by the French fleet, about a fortnight ago, at Bassa. They got
all ashore among the natives, who stripped them of everything
they had been able to save in their hurry out of the vessels. A
good many more seamen were put ashore there by the French,
who had been taken out of four or five slave vessels cap
tured there. After remaining at Bassa a few days, boats were
procured and put in order, in which my brother, and some
other captains, and as many others as could sit in them, set off
to the northward. They arrived safe at Cape Mesurado, where
they found a factor of Mr. Cleveland's, who received them
kindly, furnished them with provisions and additional boats,
and also himself accompanied them. They kept along shore,
rowing all the time, till they came to the mouth of the Sherbro.
They put into Jenkins, where old Mr. Addow received them all
very kindly. His son George, who used to visit us here,
insisted on my brother accepting a suit of his dress-clothes,
and appeared hurt at his declining them. From this place
they reached the Bananas, and were hospitably enter
tained by Cleveland, who gave them a schooner to bring them
hither. ' The French have already destroyed, on a moderate calcula
tion, to the amount of four hundred thousand pounds sterling
on this coast. The value ofthe Liverpool vessels alone is more
than one hundred and twenty thousand pounds.
'Sunday, November 16. — Tilley and Captain Maclean re
turned to Bance Island. I preached twice from ist Kings,
chapters 20 and 21, as all our preachers were ill.
' Tuesday, November 25. — I feel so much better to-day that I
venture once more to take up the pen after my severe illness,
although still weak from my long confinement to bed. Tilley 's
dangerous illness has delayed the sailing of the Flora, so that I
am able to continue my journal to a later date. I grieve to
inform you of the deaths of poor Seeley and of Edwards.2
Lowes3 was able to attend Tilley at Bance Island in his
illness. ' Mr. Jack, from the Bullom shore, whom I had sent for, came
over, and seemed to relish my proposal of building a large
house and a store on that side of the water. In this way I
1 The owners of Bance Island.
3 The gardener at the Botanical garden.
3 Dr. Winterbottom's assistant.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 83
trust soon to have a comfortable retreat, to which we may
occasionally retire from internal noise and tumult, as well as
from foreign invaders.
'November 26. — In writing of the past crisis, I have already
noticed the inveterate rage of the American Slave-traders, but
many of the English traders were no less hostile to us. Jack
son, at the Isles de Los, when urged by Captain Smith of
Liverpool to send a canoe here to apprise us of the force
and destination of the French, which, says Captain Smith, he
might have done three days before they left the Isles de Los,
replied, " I '11 be damned if I do. I shall be glad to hear that
not a house is left on the place." A Mr. Powell also, partner
of Mr. Bolland of the Bananas, urged and aided the American,
Mariner, in his designs, and shared the booty he procured from
this place.
' I have already given you some traits of the conduct of the
natives towards us. Except taking away whatever they could
lay their hands on, which was naturally to be expected, the
natives below us have behaved in an unexceptionable, and
even in a friendly manner. The conduct of those above has
beeri far otherwise. At the palaver, which will shortly be
held, I mean to make demands of indemnification, and to fix
by writings the business of our lands, and every other disputed
point. 'The conduct of the Settlers is a subject still more interest
ing. During the stay ofthe French it was unusually kind and
even affectionate toward us, so much better is the human mind
fitted to bear and to improve by adversity than prosperity.
But we had not been delivered two days from the fear of our
enemies than they found out one day that I had betrayed the
place to the French ; another day, that I had surrendered the
place in the hope of being able to save the buildings inhabited
by ourselves by my sacrificing them, their families, and their
property to the French ; again, that I had strongly solicited the
French Commodore to carry them all off; again, that there had
been found in the stores a great variety of articles intended by
the Company as presents to the Settlers, but which I had with
held from them. In short, not a day passed without some
report equally idle, which did not indeed disturb my quiet in
any shape, but which kept the Settlers' minds uneasy and
agitated. With all this, except in some trifling instances, no
insults have been given us. We have indeed kept ourselves
much aloof from them, which is one reason why the outward
respect they had been used to pay us has not been grossly
violated ; but the barrier which restrains them I believe to be
very thin indeed.

84 LTFE AND LETTERS OF
'Our church, which is made to contain about five hundred
people, will be ready for preaching in next Sunday. The
church has been entirely deserted for some time past by the
whole body of Methodists following Moses Wilkinson on
account, they alleged, of the ill conduct of Mr. Jones who
generally preached there ; but as they absent themselves also
from Mr. Langlands' ministrations, I should rather think on
account of the wholesome truths they should hear there. These
form a firm body of malcontents, united under leaders notorious
for their discontent.
' Many good effects, however, have arisen from all our mis
fortunes, which it would be wrong to pass over. They have
opened the people's eyes to the folly of having their whole
dependence placed on the wages received for labour given to
the Company. This has excited among many a strong spirit
of industry, and emigrations into the country are multiplying
daily. Even the hills, so long regarded with contempt and
dislike, are now thought favourably of; and I expect the
present dry season will make a greater revolution in our woods
and mountains than the ravages the revolutionary detachment
have made in our town. We have learnt too how great are our
internal resources, and shall of course feel less anxiety on
the score of supplying the Colony with food than we have
yet done.
' We need not inform you that we are in want of every
necessary and comfort of life. The vessels you now have in
the country are only three, and they are destitute of every
thing. We are totally without arms and ammunition of every
kind. The supply for the Colony may at all events be con
fined to necessaries. Provisions, tools, household furniture, and
utensils, and good and cheap clothing, not omitting flannels
and mattresses, such as are used on board ships, are also much
wanted. ' The destruction ofthe Isles de Los and Bance Island, and
the capture of almost all the slave-ships on the coast,
have of course given a severe blow to the Slave Trade, and,
notwithstanding the Company's losses, have brightened their
prospects.' TO MRS. BABINGTON. Freetown, February 9, 1795.
MV DEAR Sistfr, — I often please myself with taking a peep
at the Temple with my mind's eye. I accompany you and
your good man through the delightful task of planting and
watering the tree of life in the hearts of your children, I

ZACHARY MACAULAY. 85
observe them intermit their attention, and my ear sweetly
vibrates to the sound of ' Mamma, where 's my Uncle Zachary ? '
Many, nay, not many I trust, years may intervene ere I be
sheltered under your roof; but whenever it shall please God to
give me an opportunity of thanking Him for having restored
me to the sight of you and yours, I shall be gratified to find
that the children have not forgot me. If in little Lydia's
attention to the arrangement of her tea equipage, or in the
midst of Tom's more manly amusements, you can find a vacant
moment, forget not to whisper into their ears, that I love them
with almost a father's love, and pray for them, perhaps, with
half a father's ardour. The paltry piece of silver you will find
enclosed may surprise you. It is the value I fix to it, paltry as
it is, which has tempted me to send it you. Preserve it safely.
It is a tribute of acknowledgment which I received on board a
Guinea ship for a tear shed in pity for the sorrows of a poor
mother torn from an only child. Her superior air attracted my
notice. She had picked up a little English. 'My husband,'
said she, ' lost his all by gaming ; he was forced to sell me.'
' Left your children behind ? ' ' Yes,' replied the poor creature
with streaming eyes, and raised one finger, as an indication of
the number. It was at the Isles de Los the incident happened.
' Carry me back to Sierra Leone,' said she, ' and I will serve
you for ever. I can sew, I can wash, I can do anything.' To
soften the bitterness of a refusal, I told her to be comforted : a
few weeks past, and she would arrive in a country where some
kind master would reconcile her to her loss, and where she
would not be likely again to be separated from her children. She
wept ; she then took several rings from her finger, and after
burnishing them up as well as she could, she presented me
with the best of them. I declined it, and took in the stead that
which I now send you. A white handkerchief marked with my
name was all I had to give her. She accepted it with silent
thankfulness, and used it to dry her tears.
I have enjoyed moderate health since being on the African
coast, but I am already so metamorphosed that you would
scarce know me were you to see me. My face has regained its
tropical colour, and my hair is cropped close to my head. We
live very comfortably, although deprived of the converse of the
fair. I fear if my exile continues for five years longer, that I
shall be unfit for the society of any woman who will not like
your friend Miss Sykes x attach little value to a bow. Neither
the company of African Princesses, nor the courts of African
men, exhibit any striking lessons of politeness and refinement.
1 Afterwards Mrs. Henry Thornton.

86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
I hope, however, on my return to England, to find that there
is one name written down in the book of fate, which will be
sunk in mine, and whose possessor will be content for my sake
to encounter even Africa's burning clime.
May the God of life and love give his blessing to you and the
dear little ones. — Your affectionate brother, Z. Macaulay.
After perusing these pages no surprise will be excited by
Macaulay's health failing under the continual strain of anxiety
and overwork. For some months he struggled bravely against
giving way to illness, and continued to bear up until the re
organisation of the Colony after its disasters from internal
disaffection and foreign invasion had been fairly completed.
He then gladly accepted the proposal of the Court of Directors
that he should return to England for a short time to recruit his
strength, and to confer with them upon the affairs of Sierra
Leone ; and that Mr. Dawes should come out to take tem
porary charge during his absence, an excellent arrangement
which smoothed away all difficulties.
But the mode of his return home was singularly character
istic of the man. Instead of availing himself of the ver)- modest
luxuries offered by a passage in one of the vessels in the service
of the Company, Macaulay determined to make the voyage,
for as great a distance as was possible, in a slave-ship; and,
regardless of his invalid state, to embrace this opportunity of
judging at close quarters of the situation and treatment of
newly captured Africans on their passage to the West Indies.
In taking this course it is clear that he acted with perfect
simplicity, and without the slightest idea of self-sacrifice : nor
does the matter ever seem to have presented itself either to him,
or to his friends in England, as calling for comment and ad
miration. Thornton, Babington, and the rest of the allied band
looked upon his action as the natural outcome of the principles
which they all professed, and as a plain call of duty, which any
one of them would have obeyed without hesitation if placed in
similar circumstances.
The vessel was the Anna, bound to Barbados, and was over
crowded with slaves, so that there was no room on board for
any passenger of any description. Of all passengers, as may
easily be imagined, the Governor of Sierra Leone would be the
most unwelcome; but Macaulay, with the quiet pertinacity

ZACHARY MACAULAY 87
which distinguished him, overcame every obstacle, and took
his passage on the vessel.
'May 5, 1795. — We went on board in the evening to view
the accommodations. The captain told us we should see that
a slave-ship was a very different thing from what it had been
reported. The slaves had all been put below, but he was re
solved to convince us of the truth of his statement. He
accordingly said a few words to the women, to which they
replied with three cheers and a laugh. He went forward on
the main deck and spoke the same words to the men, who
made the same reply. " Now," said he, " are you not convinced
that Mr. Wilberforce has conceived very improperly of slave-
ships ? "
' He informed us that he had had a mutiny of his crew, and
an insurrection of his slaves, but he added that I need be under
no apprehensions now, for he kept such a guard upon the slaves
as would baffle all their efforts should they attempt to rise.
He showed me where my cot was to hang, and said he hoped
I should not find any inconvenience from a few small slaves
sleeping below it. " The smell," he said, "would be unpleasant
for a few days ; but when we had got into the trade-winds it
would no longer be perceived."
'May 6. — On going on board this morning I found another
slave captain, B  , in conversation with the captain of the
Anna. "I have lost four slaves already," said our captain,
"and all owing to that rascal who has palmed himself off on
me for a surgeon. The fellow has killed them. As soon as
I get home I shall apply to Mr. Wilberforce to prosecute
Mr.  of Liverpool, who recommended him to me." " I have
a fellow of a surgeon too," said B  , " who has killed two
slaves for me, but I was resolved not to put up tamely with
the loss. When he killed the second I called him aft, and in
quired the cause of the slave's death, and what medicine had
been administered. I then asked him if the medicine which
he had given was a good one. He said, ' Yes, very good for
that particular complaint.' I told him, ' I do not believe you,
but I shall soon see,' and with that I prepared a double dose
of it, and poured it down the rascal's throat."
' At two in the afternoon the ship got under weigh, and
proceeded with a favourable wind. The slaves had a very
unhealthy look, being meagre, dirty, and without one exception
scorbutic. There were on board one hundred and seventy male
slaves and seventy females. Four slaves had already died.
'May 7. — I observed one woman handcuffed, and inquired
the cause. I found she had lately attempted to drown herself,

88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
and for this misdemeanour she had received a severe punish
ment, and was still handcuffed as an example to the rest.
' About midnight I was waked by a great noise in the cabin,
which arose from one of the slaves being ill. The surgeon was
called, but his applications were fruitless, as the woman died in
about two hours.
'May S. — The men slaves were brought on deck. They
seemed extremely dispirited, and drooped very much. In some
of their countenances there appeared a settled gloom. The
captain and the officers seemed to think that they had mischief
in their minds.
'May 23. — I observe the slaves reject their food. The
officer on duty threatened them with the cat, and then they
made a show of eating by putting a little rice into their mouths ;
but whenever the officer's back was turned the)- threw it into
the sea.
' May 24. — The captain again wanted the slaves to dance ;
but they shewed no inclination till the cat was called for. A
few indeed were content to have the cat smartly applied several
times before they would so much belie their feelings as to make
merry when their heart was sad. Some of the women sing
very sweetly and in a plaintive tone. But the songs which
accompany their dancing consist only of one stanza, constantly
repeated, and have little music in them.
'May 29, 1795. — To my great joy, about ten o'clock in the
forenoon the island of Barbados appeared in sight. The slaves
set up a great shout, but in a few seconds their countenances
fell. Possibly they thought that some great change was now
about to take place in their condition, and their ignorance of
what it might be filled them with painful forebodings. We
cast anchor about four in the afternoon, soon after which I took
my leave of the captain and officers, and went ashore. The
captain's behaviour towards me was very civil and attentive.
He paid me the compliment never once to swear while I was
on board, and he also repressed the practice among the officers
and seamen. I observed, however, when we went ashore, that
he was much addicted to the vice.
'From the above account you will conceive that my situation
could not have been a pleasant one. During the night I hung
over a crowd of slaves huddled together on the floor, and the
stench at times was almost beyond endurance. During the
day, indeed, I had the cabin a good deal to myself, but the
noise of the slaves on deck was excessive. There was no
possibility of my having any exercise, as the quarter-deck was
so fully occupied by the slaves during the day, as to render it
difficult to move without treading on them. But if, even in

ZACHARY MACAULAY 89
health, my situation was unpleasant, it was still more so when
I happened, as was frequently the case, to be much indisposed.
The dissatisfaction, however, which was ready to arise on such
occasions received a check from considering that if my state,
possessed as I was of so many superior comforts ; cheered by
the hope of soon beholding friends who were dear to me ; with
various means in my power of amusing my thoughts and
alleviating my sufferings ; with the consolations also arising
from religion to support as well as to soothe the mind ; if my
state, under all these favourable circumstances, was so uncom
fortable, what must theirs have been whom I saw around me,
extended naked on the bare boards ; unable when sick to reveal
the cause of their complaints ; ignorant of the fate which
awaited them ; filled with fears either of a horrid death or
a cruel servitude ; and without the most distant prospect of
ever beholding the face of one of those friends or relatives from
whom they had been forcibly torn. Their cup is full of pure,
unmingled sorrow, the bitterness of which is unalloyed by
almost a single ray of hope.'

9o LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER V
VISIT TO ENGLAND AND ENGAGEMENT
FROM Barbados Macaulay made his way to England, and on his
arrival found the Babingtons settled at a country-house which
they had hired for a time near Sidmouth. His sister was in a deli
cate state of health, and her doctors had insisted upon her leaving
her home for a year, and trying the softer climate of Devon
shire. This change was a great disappointment to Macaulay,
who cherished a romantic attachment to Rothley Temple, and
travelled to Leicestershire, in the November after his arrival, in
order to spend a few hours at the beloved spot. He writes:
' To this place I owe myself. If there be in me any principles
for whose rectitude I can appeal to the searcher of hearts, if
there be in me any desires superior, in reason's estimation, to
those of the beasts which perish, here were they first called
into action. It would be hard for me to describe the variety
of mixed emotions with which I take a retrospect, seated in
the little parlour,1 of what has passed since I first entered its,
to me, hallowed bounds.'
But the circumstance of the Babingtons being at Sidmouth
was in fact fortunate for him, as the sea air was beneficial to
his health, and the change of climate and rest soon restored
him to his usual condition.
His time also was pleasantly diversified by long and frequent
visits to Wilberforce and Henry Thornton, both at their houses
in London, and at the charming villa which in those years,
while they were both still unmarried, they shared together at
Battersea Rise, on the north side of Clapham Common. The
two friends had adopted this plan to ensure a safe retreat,
where they could devote themselves without interruption to
their arduous labours upon the slave question ; and where they
1 The room on the left of the entrance, called by the Babingtons the breakfast
parlour.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 91
could pass their Sundays in devotional exercises and quiet
intercourse with those companions only whose habits and
opinions were congenial to their own.
Their precautions to ensure privacy do not appear to have
been at all superfluous when we peruse the account of their
daily occupations in the many letters which remain to us.
But perhaps the most graphic picture is that given in the Life
of Wilberforce of an ordinary day at his house in Old Palace
Yard. ' His breakfast-table was crowded by those who came to him
on business, or with whom, for any of his plans of usefulness,
he wished to become personally acquainted. His ante-room
was thronged from an early hour, and its later tenants only
quitted it when he himself went out on business. Like every
other room in his house, it was well stored with books ; and
experience had led to the exchange of the smaller volumes,
with which it was originally furnished, for cumbrous folios,
which could not be carried off by accident in the pocket of
a coat. Its group was often most amusing, and Mrs. Hannah
More used to liken it to Noah's ark, " full of beasts clean and
unclean." On one chair sat a Yorkshire constituent, manufac
turing or agricultural ; on another a Wesleyan preacher ; on
another a petitioner for charity, or a House of Commons
client ; while side by side with a negro, a foreign missionary,
or a Haytian professor, sat some man of rank who sought a
private interview. Pitt, and his other parliamentary friends,
might be found there at dinner before the House. Indeed so
constant was their resort, that it was asserted, not a little to
his disadvantage in Yorkshire, that he received a pension for
entertaining the partisans of the minister. Clarkson, Dickson,
and other Abolitionists, jocosely named by Pitt Wilberforce's
white negroes, were his constant inmates, and were employed
in revising and abridging evidence under his eye.'
Battersea Rise itself remains still but little altered by the
encroachments of suburban building, but at that time it was
situated almost in the country, and the pleasant spacious house,
wreathed with wistaria and honeysuckle, looked across the
beautiful lawn to distant vistas of spreading fields and forest
trees. The interior exhibited for nearly a century the impres
sion of the bachelor habits of its early owners. The principal
sitting-room, a graceful oval room, which the tradition of the
family asserted was designed by Pitt, instead of being converted

92

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

into the customary drawing-room, retained the bookcases with
which it was surrounded by Thornton and Wilberforce, and was
always known as the library.
There was still one thing wanting to complete Macaulay!s
education, in the opinion of his friends, and that was that he
should be introduced to Hannah More, with whom, during his
absence in Sierra Leone, the little confederacy had formed a
close alliance. Henry Thornton took particular pains that the
introduction should take place under favourable circumstances,
and arranged that Macaulay's first visit should include a Sunday,
the day upon which he could see the schools established by the
sisterhood, to special advantage. At the time Macaulay made
the acquaintance of the Miss Mores, they were living at
Cowslip Green, a cottage about nine miles from Bristol on the
Cheddar side.
These ladies were the five daughters of a Suffolk gentleman,
who, disappointed of a large inheritance of which he seems to
have had just expectations, found himself dependent on his own
exertions for a maintenance. He obtained the mastership of a
foundation school in the west of England, where he married the
daughter of a farmer, a woman of sense and considerable natural
abilities, who exerted herself to procure for her children a
superior education. The elder daughters, as soon as they were
grown up, opened at Bristol a boarding-school for young ladies,
which before long acquired a high reputation ; and the two
youngest of the family, Hannah and Patty, were at first pupils
and afterwards assistant governesses to their sisters.
Hannah, who was born in 1745, was from her earliest
years remarkable for quickness of intelligence and thirst for
knowledge. As time went on, her varied acquirements and
lively conversation attracted great attention. Her reputation
in the neighbourhood of Bristol preceded her to London ; and
on her first visit to the metropolis in 1774, she was welcomed
with open arms by the wits and learned ladies of the day, and
was received at once into the brilliant circle which gathered
round Sir Joshua Reynolds and Mrs. Montagu. With the
Garricks she formed a close friendship, and found from that
time a second home in their house. She must indeed have
possessed a remarkable power of attracting and retaining
regard, for during the greater part of her long life she was the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 93
object of affectionate attention to many whose friendship might
well be esteemed an honour. Her sister, Miss Sally More, tells
an amusing story of a visit to Dr. Johnson.
' Miss Reynolds ordered the coach to take us to Dr. Johnson's
very own house ; yes, Abyssinia's Johnson ! Dictionary
Johnson ! Rambler's, Idler's, and Irene's Johnson ! Can
you picture to yourselves the palpitation of our hearts as we
approached his mansion ! Not finding Johnson iri his little
parlour when we came in, Hannah seated herself in his great
chair, hoping to catch a little ray of his genius ; when he heard
it, he laughed heartily, and told her it was a chair on which he
never sat. He said it reminded him of Boswell and himself
when they stopped a night at the spot, as they imagined, where
the Weird Sisters appeared to Macbeth : the idea so worked
upon their enthusiasm, that it quite deprived them of rest :
however, they learnt the next morning, to their mortification,
that they had been deceived, and were quite in another part of
the country. Miss Reynolds told the Doctor of all our rapturous
exclamations on the road. He shook his scientific head at
Hannah, and said, "She was a silly thing."'
On Hannah's return to Bristol she one day said to her sisters.
' I have been so fed with praise and flattering attentions, that I
think I will venture to try what is my real value by writing a
slight poem and offering it to Cadell myself.' The result was the
publication of Sir Eldred of the Bower and The Bleeding Rock.
The taste of the present generation has been formed on other
models, and it is difficult to treat seriously poems of which the
beauties consist in such passages as the following :
' Then Birtha faintly rais'd her eye,.
Which long had ceased to stream,
On Eldred fix'd, with many a sigh,
Its dim departing beam.
' The mournful Muse forbears to tell
How wretched Eldred died :
She draws the Grecian Painter's veil,
The vast distress to hide.'
But at that period these performances excited great admiration.
Mrs. Montagu writes : ' Your Rock will stand unimpaired by
ages, as eminent as any in the Grecian Parnassus.' Edmund
Burke read them with pleasure, and they are said to have made

94 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the best part of his entertainment during a visit to the country.
Johnson, himself the author of one of the noblest poems in the
English language, gratified Hannah highly by his praise. She
wisely says, ' To me the best part of his flattery was, that he
repeats all the best stanzas by heart.' A day or two later
Johnson spent an evening at Garrick's house, and Hannah
writes : ' Hardly ever spent an evening more pleasantly or
profitably. Johnson, full of wisdom and piety, was very com
municative. Our tea was not over till nine ; we then fell upon
Sir Eldred: he read both poems through, suggested some little
alterations in the first, and did me the honour to write one
whole stanza ; x but in the Rock he has not altered a word.'
Hannah once asked Garrick why Johnson was so often harsh
and unkind in his speeches both of and to him. ' Why, Nine,'
replied Garrick, using the familiar name with which he was
accustomed to compliment her playfully as being the embodi
ment, in her own person, of the accomplishments of the Nine
Muses, ' it is very natural ; is it not to be expected he should be
angry, that I, who have so much less merit than he, should have
had so much greater success?'
Animated by the approbation she had met with, and by
Garrick's kind encouragement, Hannah now attempted a bolder
flight, and produced a five-act tragedy in blank verse entitled
Percy, to which Garrick contributed a prologue and epilogue.
About this she writes : ' The reception of Percy has exceeded
my most sanguine wishes. Garrick bids me say that all is as it
should be.' The success was very great. Hannah tells her
sisters with just pride: 'The author's rights, sale of the copy,
etc., amounted to near six hundred pounds, and as my friend
Mr. Garrick has been so good as to la)- it out for me on the
best security, it makes a decent little addition to my small
income. Cadell confesses that it has had a very great sale, and
that he shall get a good deal of money by it. The first edition
was near four thousand, and the second is almost sold.' Percy
remained a stock play on the stage ; and ten years later, when,
after the great actor's death, Hannah was paying Mrs. Garrick
her annual visit, Mrs. Siddons was acting in it. ' I dined with
Sir Joshua, Mr. Burke, and two or three others of that stamp.
They cried all at once, " Were you not delighted with Mrs.
1 The stanza beginning ' My scorn has oft.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 95
Siddons last night in Percy r" I replied, "No; for I did not
see her ! " They would not believe me guilty of such insensi
bility, adding, " She did it exquisitely, as the tears of Mr. Fox,
who sat with us, testified." '
Hannah was now fairly launched as a popular author, and
her name was sufficient to ensure a considerable sale to any
work. She was tempted to publish a little pastoral drama
which she had written at the. age of seventeen to be acted by
the pupils of her sisters' school. 'I believe Patty will be a great
fortune at last : for the ninth edition of my present to her, The
Search after Happiness, is gone to the press. I am really
shocked at the public taste, which has taken off ten thousand
copies of a poem which I have not patience to read.'
By prudence and good management Hannah was before long
in a position to indulge her strong predilection for the country,
and she became the happy possessor of a thatched cottage with
a few acres of ground, which her taste soon converted into a
charming abode. Horace Walpole, with whom she was a great
favourite, was delighted with the name, and said Cowslip Green
was a relation, a cousin at least, to Strawberry Hill. Here she
was able to follow her predilection for the pursuit of horti
culture, and she writes, ' I spend almost my whole time in my
little garden. " From morn to noon, from noon to dewy eve," I
am employed in raising dejected pinks, and reforming disorderly
honeysuckles;' But about this time an important change began to take
place in Hannah More's views and habits. She seems to have
been always considered serious by her friends ; and even when
dazzled by her first introduction into London society, she had
steadily declined Sunday invitations, declaring herself, as Sally
More expressed it, ' of the Christian faction ' ; and had in con
sequence been the object of some kindly ridicule from Horace
Walpole, who called her Saint Hannah, and joked about her
being a ' Sunday woman.' On coming to town in 1779 for a
visit, she found that it had become the fashion among her
friends to make pilgrimages to the city to attend the preaching
of John Newton.
This remarkable man had recently been presented by Mr.
John Thornton, a benevolent and wealthy London merchant,
and the father of Henry Thornton, to the rectory of the united

96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
parishes of St. Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Woolchurch,
Lombard Street. He had resigned the curacy of Olney, where
his friendship had proved a doubtful blessing to Cowper, in
bitter mortification and disappointment at the failure of his
efforts, during twelve years of unremitting toil, to improve and
educate his parishioners. As he himself told his biographer
Cecil, he believed he never should have quitted Olney had not
so incorrigible a spirit prevailed in the parish which he had so
long laboured to reform. The climax came when his efforts to
put down the custom of bonfires and illuminations on the fifth
of November led to a riot at Olney. Newton writes:
' When the day came there was great opposition. Not only
the worldly and wicked, but I am sorry to say the Baptists in a
body set themselves against it. Many put up candles who had
not done so in former years, and those who had, doubled their
number. This gave encouragement to the sons of Belial, and
when night came on there was much riot and confusion. A
wild and lawless mob paraded the streets, breaking windows
and extorting money. My house was expressly threatened.
Mrs. Newton was so terrified that I was forced to send an
embassy and beg peace. A soft message, and a shilling to the
captain of the mob, secured his protection, and we slept in
safety. Alas, tell it not in Gath, I am ashamed ofthe story.'
Newton entered upon his new field of work with high hopes
of being useful in it, and he might well feel gratification at the
effect which he produced upon Hannah More. She made one
of a party who went to hear him preach, and his sermon made
so strong an impression upon her mind that she sought his
acquaintance.'arid soon embraced the decided Evangelical views
which he advocated. She also adopted at the same time, with
all the warmth of her enthusiastic nature, the opinions on the
Slave Trade which Newton was endeavouring to inculcate upon
his London audience with all the earnestness of a man who had
himself witnessed the evils which he denounces. He writes at
this time to Hannah More : ' My account of the Slave Trade has
the merit of being true. I think this infamous traffic cannot
last long ; but should it still be persevered in, I think it will
constitute a national sin, and of a very deep dye. I should
tremble for the consequences ; for whatever politicians may
think, I assuredly know there is a righteous judge who governs
the earth.' An acquaintance with Wilberforce and with his

ZACHARY MACAULAY 97
friends Henry Thornton and Babington soon followed, with all
of whom Hannah formed an intimate friendship, and from that
time her pen and great influence were enlisted on the side of
the Abolitionists.
In 1789 Hannah More's sisters were enabled by the fruits of
their unceasing industry to retire from their anxious and
laborious employment, and from this date the five Miss Mores
divided their time between Cowslip Green and a house at Bath,
in Pulteney Street, which they had built for themselves. The
union between them was very close, and entire harmony reigned
among them during their long lives. Dr. Johnson once made
Hannah and Sally More tell him their history ; and when they
had related how they were born with more desires than guineas ;
and how as years increased their appetites, the cupboard at
home had begun to grow too small to gratify them ; and how
they had set out to seek their fortunes, and found a great house
with nothing in it; and how it was like to remain so, till, looking
irito their knowledge-boxes, they happened to find a 'little
laming ' ; and how at last, by giving a little of this ' little
laming ' to those who had less, they had got a good store of
gold in return ; he exclaimed with warm approbation, ' I love
you both — I love you all five ; I will come to Bristol on
purpose to see you. What ! five women live happily together !
God for ever bless you ; you live lives to shame duchesses ! '
His warmth and tenderness were such that the sisters were
quite affected by the scene.
The first use the Miss Mores made of their leisure was to
establish schools for the instruction of the poor, in the country
within twenty miles around Cowslip Green. The ignorance
and prejudice which they had to encounter in their charitable
enterprise are scarcely credible to this generation ; and it is
related that the farmers opposed the innovation from patriotic
motives, saying that the country in which the ladies were intro
ducing this disturbance had never prospered since religion had
been brought into it by the monks of Glastonbury. The diffi
culty they had also in finding decent teachers was very great ;
and, as an instance of the state of neglect into which that part
of Somersetshire had sunk, Hannah More mentions that there
were thirteen adjoining parishes in their neighbourhood without
so much as a resident curate among them. The sisters were

98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
largely supplied by their friends with the funds necessary for
their arduous undertaking, and Henry Thornton, in particular,
seems to have given them an unlimited credit on his purse. In
a beautiful letter to Wilberforce, Hannah More describes the
opening of one ofthe schools in a district so notorious for crime
and vice that it was nicknamed Botany Bay.
' It was an affecting sight. Several of the grown-up youths
had been tried at the last assizes ; three were the children of a
person lately condemned to be hanged ; many are thieves, and
all ignorant, profane, and vicious beyond belief. When the
clergyman, a hard man, who is also the magistrate, saw one
hundred and seventy of these creatures, whom he had seldom
seen but to commit or punish in some way, kneeling round us,
he burst into tears. I can do them little good, I fear ; but the
grace of God can do all. Your friend Henry Thornton thought
we ought to try.'
Macaulay, as was to be expected, was greatly interested by
the work that the Mores were carrying on. Mr. and Mrs.
Babington were already upon terms of close intimacy with the
sisters, and had visited them several times during their residence
at Sidmouth, and Macaulay was quickly admitted by Hannah
and Patty More into their innermost circle of friendship, and
was a frequent and welcome guest both at Pulteney Street and
Cowslip Green. The result was that his feelings soon became
strongly interested in a lad)- who resided under their roof.
Miss Selina Mills, who was born in 1767, was the daughter
of a member of the Society of Friends who had been formerly
a bookseller in Bristol. Although Mr. and Mrs. Mills belonged
to the Quaker persuasion their children were members of the
Church of England ; and Selina, who had been educated at the
school presided over by the Miss Mores, was a great favourite
of theirs, and lived almost entirely with them, appearing to
have been regarded by them as a sixth sister. She is said to
have been extremely pretty and attractive ; her temper was
sweet, and her disposition retiring and reserved even to timidity.
Macaulay soon became attached to her; but unwilling to
engage her heart while he had no prospect before him but that
of a life spent at Sierra Leone, he determined not to betray his
feelings, and to quit England without attempting to draw any
avowal from Miss Mills ofthe state of her affections.
Similar resolutions are often made, and generally made to be

ZACHARY MACAULAY 99
broken, but Macaulay was of an uncommon character, and his
sense of duty was unusually strict. There is every appearance
of probability that he would have retained his self-command
to the end but for the peculiar course of conduct which was
adopted by the Miss Mores. He was to sail from Portsmouth
in February 1796, and the Chairman and Court of Directors
required his almost constant attendance in London till then,
that they might consult him upon matters touching the welfare
of their Colony, and also that he might, in addition to his
other duties, complete the arrangements for the Wesleyan
Methodist Mission to the Foulah nation. The Directors had
undertaken that this Mission should have a free passage in the
Calypso, one of their vessels, and should be started in Africa
under the auspices of their Governor.
Macaulay, however, was deluged with letters from Hannah
More and her sister Patty, insisting that it was a case of
imperative necessity for him to make an expedition to take
leave of them before so long an absence. He felt that the
friendship with which they had honoured him demanded some
concession to their reiterated entreaties, and he accordingly
arranged to spend a short time at Bath with them. The
Babingtons, who were anxious to enjoy as much of his society
as possible before his departure, agreed to come up from
Sidmouth to meet him at Bath, and proposed then to travel
back with him to town, and to stay on at Battersea Rise, where
he was living with Thornton and Wilberforce.

FROM MRS. H. MORE. Bath, January 14, 1796.
Dear Sir, — I have only two minutes to say that we look
forward to the hope of seeing you and Mr. and Mrs. Babington
on Monday next with no small pleasure. It would have added
very much to our satisfaction could we have secured to our
selves the society of the whole little party under our own roof,
but these inhospitable town houses deny one such a pleasant
privilege. My merry sister — I need not add that I mean Sally
— has been on the scout ever since your letter came to look for
lodgings, hitherto with little success, Bath being full crowded
running over. The Queen's birthday, however, being luckily
that which you have fixed upon for coming, there is little

100 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
doubt but many neighbouring apartments will on that day be
emptied of their inhabitants, and you may depend on our
securing some place of reception for you. At all events you
must drive straight hither on Monday. You will, I hope, pass
that evening and your following days with us, and we will try
that your lodging may be as near us as possible, though
perhaps not quite as near as we could wish.
Miss Mills has been busy at work transcribing your Com
municant. We much approve what you have done, but have
ventured to abridge in a few instances. Pray do not forget to
bring her previous performance, as I daresay she would be
miserable to have it lost, and I must return the manuscript. —
I am, in great haste, your obliged and faithful H. MORE.
A circumstance which considerably increased the difficulties
of the situation was that it had come to Macaulay's know
ledge, shortly before starting for Bath, that Mrs. Hannah More
suspected him of a preference for her young friend. He writes
about this : —
' The particularity of Thornton's inquiries with respect to
the state of my mind after his return from Cowslip Green,
convinced me that what I said to Mrs. More on the last occasion
of our meeting, rather unguardedly, and into which she herself
indeed betrayed me, had led to important conclusions. I
never dreamed of any other quarter from which surmises were
likely to arise, as I could not suppose that Horne had dis
regarded my injunctions, or that he could act so imprudently
as to suffer sentiments to go abroad as mine, which I told him
I had resolved to suppress as unfavourable to my repose.
Indeed I had not the vanity to entertain even a hope that Miss
Mills regarded me with the smallest preference, nay I greatly
mistrusted my being possessed of a common chance of making
myself agreeable to her, even with opportunities which I saw
were not to be expected. I was exceedingly slow to credit
the existence of a reciprocal regard, and even Babington's
acute conclusions did not give me an)- comfortable assurance
on this head.'
Macaulay finally decided that, under the special circum
stances, the most straightforward course for him now to pursue
was to speak frankly to the Miss Mores ; and as the time at
his disposal was so limited, he took an early opportunity after
his arrival in Pulteney Street of requesting Miss Hannah to
favour him with a few minutes' conversation on a subject, he
said, that concerned him very nearly. ' I think it might be

ZACHARY MACAULAY 101
better not,' she answered, ' for your uneasiness will be, I fear,
increased instead of lessened.' She was, however, unable to
avoid the interview, for having once broken the ice Macaulay
was resolute for an explanation. Hannah More cannot be
acquitted of some duplicity in her dealings with him ; for
actuated by the anxiety she felt to spare pain to her beloved
sister Patty, whose jealous affection for Miss Mills would, as
she was well aware, brook no rival, she gave him to understand
that the object of his regard was entirely indifferent to him,
and that her feelings towards him did not exceed the limits of
ordinary friendship. Hannah More probably was also strongly
influenced by the opinion that the necessity of a residence on
the West Coast of Africa, in the event of a marriage with Mac
aulay, made any engagement with him undesirable for her
favourite. She had no opposition, however, to fear, for Macaulay
at once acquiesced in the propriety of her decision as soon as
he was convinced that any suffering that it entailed would fall
upon him and upon him alone. He writes : —
' The colloquy certainly did not lessen my uneasiness. It
made me, however, more resolute to make a painful sacrifice of
feeling to what I thought at the time to be my duty, namely, to
avoid giving Selina any intimation, direct or indirect, of the
state of my mind. I afterwards understood that her looks
during dinner might have betrayed, even to a superficial
observer, that I was not the only person at table whose mind
was affected, but I scarce dared to throw a glance that way, and
so fearful was I of transgressing the limits I had virtually pro
mised Miss Hannah to observe, that I did not even dare to ask
for Selina or to mention her name on comirig away. Little did
I suppose that the short interval between my quitting the par
lour and stepping into the carriage would change the whole
course of my views, and would discover to me secrets which,
in my then situation, I should never have thought of prying
into. I love to dwell on this unexpected occurrence, because,
taken in connection with other circumstances, it confirms me in
an opinion, founded indeed mainly on other and better grounds,
that our first meeting, as well as every subsequent incident in
which we had each a share, was under a supreme direction.^ I
was saved from years of perplexity and the most distressing
doubts upon a point which more materially than all others
affected my temporal happiness.'
The unexpected occurrence alluded to by Macaulay is said

102 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
to have been his accidentally seeing Miss Mills in a room
downstairs alone and weeping bitterly, having been carefully
excluded from the leave-taking in the drawing-room by the
strategy of the Miss Mores. The sight of her distress swept
away all barriers of prudence. He gave expression to feelings
which he had hitherto repressed successfully; and in the
surprise and excitement of the moment, she responded with a
frankness and warmth which assured him of the regard which
he had inspired in her breast. A few moments sufficed to
establish a complete understanding between them ; and as it
was necessary for Macaulay to go off at once to London with
the Babingtons, they agreed, after a hurried consultation, that
he should return as soon as possible to Bath to break the
tidings of the engagement to the sisterhood, as Miss Mills felt
quite unequal to facing alone the wrath which she well knew
the news would excite. .
Macaulay writes : —
1 At that time I remember it was almost an hour before I
could persuade myself that what I had seen was not some
dream, some delusion of the fancy. I was quite overwhelmed
with the rapid influx of new reflections, new hopes and fears.
I was placed suddenly in a situation of which a few minutes
before I had not the most distant expectation, nay, of which I
had studiously banished every hope. How much at this time
did I owe to Babington and my sister ; their more than
brotherly tenderness, their affecting sympathy, their soothing
concern, and, above all, their heavenly conversation did much
to calm the tumult of my thoughts. But the effect of the
assurance of Selina's affection was great on my mind and even
on my health.'
The Babingtons behaved on this occasion with their usual
kindness, and agreed to hasten the day fixed for their return
to Sidmouth, so as to visit Bath on their way, and do all that
lay in their power to reconcile the Miss Mores to the match.
But Patty More, the youngest of the sisters, who had devoted
herself to Miss Mills with that vehemence of regard which
frequently becomes a torment to its object, had already ap
parently scented danger ; and now the agitation which Mac
aulay's visit had evidently awakened in the mind of her friend
confirmed her suspicions, and she soon contrived to unmask
the offender, who was helpless before the indignant questions

ZACHARY MACAULAY 103
poured upon her. Consequently when, in a day or two,
Macaulay again presented himself at Pulteney Street in order
that he and Miss Mills might make their joint confession, he
met with a very different reception from any he had experienced
before from the Miss Mores. His account, temperate and
guarded as it was, of the stormy scenes he had to face, raised
the indignation of Mrs. Babington, whose impetuous nature
had not gone through the severe discipline which had subdued
her brother's character and from which he had acquired the
virtue of infinite patience, and who embraced his cause with
passionate sympathy.
Macaulay writes to his sister : — ;
' In truth I have sometimes been surprised at what I cannot
but now think the infatuation of the Miss Mores' conduct,
considering what they knew and what they thought, in inviting
me, certainly unnecessarily, to their house, and afterwards in
insisting that you, Babington, and myself should, as it were,
domesticate ourselves with them. I am the more surprised
and chagrined at the extraordinary turn which Miss Patty's
mind seems to have taken, as there was a warmth in her
friendship, and a frankness in her manner which quite charmed
me. I asked her once a few questions about Selina, chiefly
with a view of discovering from her manner whether she at all
suspected the state of my mind. She received my questions
with such a repulsive coldness as quite surprised me, and made
me soon quit the subject. One thing indeed I regret having
said, because it was silly. It was an involuntary expression of
surprise that those women who possessed the greatest share of
intrinsic worth did not seem to possess that degree of estima
tion in the eyes of men which they merited. I could have bit
my tongue with vexation, but the words were irrevocable.'
Hannah More, however, began soon to recover some sense
of what was due to Macaulay, and she endeavoured to mitigate
to a certain extent the situation in which he was, and which, in
writing. to his sister, he says he can only describe by likening it
to being placed on tenterhooks. In the face of Miss Patty's
determined opposition, Miss Mills may be credited with con
siderable courage for persisting in acknowledging her prefer
ence ; but she was sufficiently under the influence of the Miss
Mores to reject firmly any idea of accompanying him to Sierra
Leone, and to be persuaded to insist upon the engagement
being kept secret from her father and her own family. This

io4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
concealment was very distasteful to Macaulay; but his time
was too short to admit of much leisure for discussion. He
accordingly yielded the point, and after taking farewell of his
betrothed, left for London, on the ist of February 1796, in
obedience to the wishes of the Court of Directors, having only
been absent for four days. He writes : —
' But after all I left Bath far from satisfied with the decision
in which I had reluctantly acquiesced. I left it too with an
impression, which I strive to combat, that our friends have not
dealt kindly and candidly by me, and this makes me a little
uneasy. I lay to my own charge no small blame for being so
selfish as to admit such an impression, arising probably from
nothing else than their having opposed unreasonable wishes
of mine.'
The Babingtons, with their accustomed attention to Macau
lay's wishes, had already started for Bath, and met him at
Marlborough. TO MISS MILLS.
Marlborough, February 1, 1796, half-past 11 at night.
Mv DEAR Selina, — I found Babington and my sister ex
pecting my arrival with a most friendly solicitude to know the
result of my visit to Bath, and I received their congratulations
on my improved looks, and on those prospects of future happi
ness which are open to me. It was truly grateful to hear
friends so dear to me express for you the regard and affection
due to a sister. It is their purpose to see you on their way
home ; and you may rest assured that our secret is safe with
them. Before I close this first letter to you I would once more pour
out my heartfelt acknowledgments to God for having indulged
me in the wish which lay nearest to my heart, that of finding
on your part a return of that love, which has no doubt been a
source of some pain and uneasiness, but to which I now look
with fond expectations of happiness, which I trust God in his
own good time will realise.
It is now near midnight. May kind angels guard your bed ;
may God be your Father and Jesus your friend; and may you
ever remain assured that no distance of time and place shall
diminish the love I bear you, the earnest desire I have to
contribute to your happiness, and the real and unfeigned attach
ment which warms the breast of your most affectionate and
faithful Z. Macaulay.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 105
1 King's Arms Yard, Coleman Street,1 London,
February 7, 1796, 12 at night.
My dear Selina, — I sit down to write to you at an hour when
I am not in any danger of interruption, and would premise that I
have no wish to revive a discussion in the issue of which I have
acquiesced, however my judgment may have differed from yours.
I only wish, for fear of misapprehension, to convey to you the
real state of some facts which may reach your ears from another
quarter, perhaps a little mutilated. The following is the substance
of what I told Babington of our affairs when I met him at
Marlborough. I said that you had consented to be mine, but
that you had, at the same time, satisfied me that you could give
me no hope of your marrying with a view to accompany me to
Africa. I added, from myself, that this state of the case did
not preclude you from using your discretion in deciding at a
future period according to fresh circumstances which might
arise, and that therefore the question might be considered in a
measure as open. I wish you to say whether I have been
accurate in my statement, as I find by a letter from Babington,
that in talking over the matter with Mrs. Hannah More, he
found she differed materially from him in her view of the case.
I think it right to give you these facts, as it is probable Mrs.
Hannah More may take notice of the difference of opinion
which existed between her and Babington, and may thereby
cause you some uneasiness. We know so little what a day may
bring forth to vary the nature of our obligations and the current
of our feelings, that unconditional resolutions respecting the
exact line of conduct to be pursued at remote periods are as far
as possible to be avoided. That you are persuaded your duty
now calls you to determine against going to Africa is to me a
sufficient reason for your adopting that determination ; but if I
know anything of Selina Mills, I know that, should she ever be
equally persuaded it was her duty to resolve on going to Africa,
she would not hesitate a moment.
You will not readily suspect me of wishing to lessen the great
obligations we are under to the Miss Mores, or to detract from
the singular excellence of their characters. But I cannot help
thinking them outrageously violent on several points. Should
you at all have made a similar remark, your opinion may be
strengthened by knowing mine, and you may be disposed to
exercise your judgment even when it opposes theirs. One of
the points I allude to is the effect of marriage in narrowing the
heart, and hardening it against the impressions of former friend
ships, whence they draw conclusions hostile to marriage itself.
1 Mr. Henry Thornton's town house at that time, before he moved to Palace Vard,
near the Houses of Parliament.

106 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
If we consult history, however, we shall find that however some
minds may have attained in the retirement of the cloister an
uncommon degree of purity, that no set of men, nor any modes
of life, have ever produced examples of ferocious relentless
cruelty, of hearts steeled against every tender feeling, equal to
what have appeared among monks ofthe Romish Church. But
to return from this digression into which I have been rather
surprised, I would mention another point on which they
express themselves too strongly, I mean the question I put
respecting the propriety of making the state of our affair known
to your father. Miss Patty observed, in speaking of it, ' Miss
Mills would rather put an end to the affair, I am sure, than
mention it to her father.' For my own part I acquiesced in the
reasons you assigned for avoiding any communication with him
on the subject, and should not have perhaps again spoken of it,
had it not afforded me an opportunity of exemplifying what I
meant, when I ventured to say, that in some cases there appears
in these dear ladies a degree of violence a little unwarrantable.
I am sure I have cause to make every allowance for their
warmth when I consider that a strong affection for you excites
it, and when I consider how prone I myself am to throw the
make-weights of strong and hyperbolical expressions into that
side of the scale which I am anxious should preponderate. If
the violence arising from an ardent mind be a blot in them, how
ought a sense of it to humble me, whose ardour in general wastes
itself on objects which, compared with those they pursue, are
light as air. I fear, Selina, did you know but half the weak
nesses under which I groan, that esteem you have expressed for
me would quickly vanish. While every person I see around
me shows me my deficiency, more especially in the great grace
of humility, I still make no progress in increasing my measure
of it. Keep in mind that this is one of the things I most stand
in need of. Our business is not to estimate our state by our
success or by our reputation, but by the soundness of the
principles on which we act. While sure that we are walking in
the straight and narrow way, though we should seem to have
no fruit of our labours, yet we shall not spend our strength in
vain. St. Paul laboured, no doubt hoping to succeed. Those
who labour for Christ's sake are happy in doing their Lord's
will whether they succeed or not. Those who labour for the
sake of success become proud of themselves if they meet with
it; while, if they fail, or have a less extensive sphere of useful
ness assigned them than they think themselves calculated to
fill, they become discontented with their lot, and feel disposed
after a few struggles to abandon as hopeless the cause* they
have taken in hand. — Ever yours, Z. MACAULAY.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 107
FROM MRS. BABINGTON. Sidmouth, February g, 1796.
Dear Brother, — My anxiety on account of your affair with
Miss Mills was not at all more than might have been expected
from a sister who dearly loves you ; but Mr. Babington's was
more singular, for I think it far surpassed mine, though in
general he has so great a command over his feelings. He was
so disturbed on your account as to quite disturb his sleep and
affect his health, and I believe would almost have sacrificed
anything to have been able to put matters in a comfortable
train for you. He will, I am sure, have great pleasure during
your absence in doing anything that he thinks will be likely in
the least degree to contribute to the comfort of Miss Mills.
I already feel quite the affection of a sister for her. Do desire
her to be open with us, and assure her that we shall have real
pleasure in being of use to her in any way, and I hope she will
spend her summer with us.
She behaved very pleasingly, and with great propriety when
we called. At first she was evidently considerably agitated,
but very soon recovered herself. I am very glad that you have
put her upon her guard with respect to the Miss Mores. I
believe them to be very good women, but they certainly see
things much too strongly. I cannot think that they have acted
with perfect candour in this affair, but I shall be very careful
how I say so.
I had a letter from Miss Sykes 1 the other day. She says :
' I was made very happy by observing so great a change in
your excellent brother's countenance and appearance yesterday
when he was so kind as to call and take leave of me. Highly
as I have ever respected him, I think I never prized his worth
so much as at that moment. He showed the line that the real
Christian will always take ; composed on the eve of such a
destination ; cheerful, though separated from those he most
loved ; his conduct forcibly told me that the servant of God
must prefer the cause of religion to every selfish feeling, and
when he left the room I seriously examined my heart whether,
if with all the gratitude of which I talk so much, I could have
gone and done likewise.'
Mr.  came hither on Monday last, and before he
went away he opened his mind quite about his having some
thoughts of making an offer to one of the Miss Heys,2 which he
means to do very soon. He asked me whether I thought Miss
1 Miss Sykes, an intimate friend of Mrs. Babington, was at this time engaged to
Mr. Henry Thornton. Their union proved a very happy one.
2 Mr. William Hey of Leeds, an eminent surgeon, was an intimate friend of Mr.
Wilberforce.

108 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Hey possessed as much of the meek and quiet spirit of which
the Scripture speaks, as Miss Rebecca Hey did. I told him I
really thought she did. He then said that that would decide
him as to whom he should offer himself, for Miss Hey had his
affections ; but if it had been determined by those who knew a
good deal of these ladies that Miss Rebecca Hey was superior
to her sister in that respect, he should have thought it his duty
to have given the preference to Miss Rebecca. He read to me
part of a letter he had just received from Mr. Venn,1 who said
that Mr. Thornton and Miss Sykes were soon to be married,
which he believed to be a favourite scheme of Mr. and Mrs.
Babington's ; but that he must say, the more he thought of it,
the more strongly he was convinced that it would be a happy
and providential union for both parties.— Your affectionate
sister, Jean Babington.
TO MISS MILLS. February g, 1796, Midnight.
MY DEAR SELINA, — The fascination of Mr. Wilberforce's
conversation has detained me late to-night, and about an hour
ago I received an abrupt intimation that I had to proceed to
Portsmouth at seven o'clock to-morrow morning, as the wind
was fair. I hasten therefore to tell you that Mr. Thornton
insisted upon my passing the day at his house with Miss Sykes.
She takes a lively interest in whatever concerns us, and she
and Mr. Thornton hope to prevail on you to become their
inmate whenever you visit London.
I passed an hour yesterday evening with Miss Home.2
' I am doomed to be a wanderer,' she said, and burst into tears.
I was much affected by her visible agitation, and would gladly
have known the cause of her distress, but the thing seemed so
tender that I feared to touch it, and turned to another topic.
Before this took place she had promised to be as secret as the
grave on every point in which you are at all implicated.
I sent a few books yesterday by the coach. The sermons on
the evidences of Christianity I 'think useful to put into the
hands of any of your doubting inquiring friends. The small
hymn-book was my companion in hunger and nakedness and
distress.^ We must no doubt make many allowances for the
peculiarities of Methodism ; but on the whole, as the frequent
marks of approbation will show you, it pleases me much. One
of them, beginning, ' Give to the winds thy fears,' has often
cheered my mind as I viewed the desolation caused by the
1 Tlie Rector of Clapham.
,J Sister of Mr. Horne, formerly Chaplain at Sierra Leone.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 109
French visit. And another, ' God of my life whose gracious
power,'1 scarce ever recurs to my mind without causing it to
swell with grateful recollection. Portsmouth, February 12, 1796.
The weather continues boisterous and the wind unfavourable,
so that the prospect of sailing is still distant. This place is
certainly a very uncomfortable one for a person who, like me,
is fond of retirement. It is so full, in consequence of the return
of Captain Christian's fleet, that beds can scarcely be had ; and
the noise and oaths and blasphemy which issue from every
corner are truly shocking. I sometimes send a sigh after the
quiet of Pulteney Street; but this is my station, and I ought to
be satisfied. I have fortunately met with a Major of Engineers
here, who is a friend of mine and a Christian, and he has con
tributed a little to render the place not unpleasant. It is said
of Jacob that he served seven years for Rachel, and that they
seemed unto him but a few days for the love he had to her.
But how would Jacob have felt if, instead of spending this long
interval in his Rachel's company, he had been obliged to pass
it at an awful distance from her ? Jacob was not called to this,
but it becomes us who are, to obey the call with cheerfulness
and alacrity.
You ask me to tell you the genuine feelings of my mind on
the subject of Africa, and I will expose them without disguise.
Were the possession of anything the world deems good brought
into competition with Selina Mills, I should reject it without
the smallest hesitation. I endeavour, however, to sit so loose,
even to that object which is thus dear to me, as to be ready at
God's will to give it up ; and it is my wish and prayer to be
enabled to rejoice in the sacrifice. To say that I see no diffi
culties in the way of our union would argue blindness, but I
have committed my cause to God. I am almost afraid to pro
ceed. I feel on my mind a secret and involuntary dread that
God will require me in Africa, and should therefore the path of
duty be plainly marked, I hope I shall be enabled to take up
my cross and to follow Christ. I would observe that the in
voluntary feeling I describe has its origin in the fear of losing
you, and my judgment tells me there is little probability that
my fear will ever be realised. I have uncovered my heart to
you. What a mercy it is that our lot has not been cast among
1 This noble hymn, written by Charles Wesley, as well as that first mentioned •
which was translated from the German by John Wesley, is contained in the Collection
of Hymns for the Use of the People called Methodists, by the Rev. John Wesley, late
Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford.

no LIFE AND LETTERS OF
those who live without hope and without God in the world !
This is a sentiment which Portsmouth more forcibly im
presses on my mind than any scene I ever beheld. I passed
yesterday, however, with tolerable comfort. Major Macbean
and I succeeded in adding to our party a young lad, who is a
Lieutenant of Engineers, Mr. Stanfield, and who had, together
with a respect for religion, a deep dislike to Methodism. He
accompanied us to church. Mr. Bradburn is a man of un
common powers, and I think the preaching had deeply affected
his mind. I venture to tell you that I have left a letter for
my friend Dr. Winterbottom, whose arrival from Africa is
shortly expected. From Winterbottom I was not used to
conceal a thought of my heart. I have therefore told him,
under strong injunctions of secrecy, of our relation to each
other, and I have also requested him, should he visit Bath, to
call upon you. Winterbottom has seen me in every different
situation in which it is almost possible for a man to be placed ;
and he certainly knows my interior at least as well as any
one, myself excepted. I shall write to you again to-morrow,
but I am pestered almost to death with Dr. Coke and his
Missionaries. Portsmouth, February 17, 1796.
If I have occasionally written short letters to you of late,
my dear Selina, it is not because you have engrossed a small
portion of my thoughts. Were long letters the necessary
result of strong attachment, the hours of sleep should be
lessened in order to furnish them. But Portsmouth, contrary
to my expectation, instead of proving a place of idleness and
inaction, has been to me a place of constant hurry and employ
ment. Thus night steals on me unperceived, and weighs down
my senses so as to leave me scarce energy enough to take a
retrospect of the day, and to solicit for you and myself the
protection of Him who never slumbers nor sleeps, but guards
His people with a watchful eye. With what dull and sleepy
bodies are wc used to appear before our God !
' And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil ? or if ye
offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?' If God thus required
ofthe Jews to honour Him with the best, not with the least use
ful part of their substance, so does He require of us to honour
Him not only by yielding Him our best affections, but also our
best time, instead of studiously setting that time apart for
Him, which from drowsiness or other cause can be applied to
nothing else. When wc retire to our chambers we generally
have two objects in view ; the one is to transact some
business, such as writing letters, settling accounts, or reading a

ZACHARY MACAULAY in
favourite book ; and when that is done, or when for sleepiness
we can no longer attend to our first employment, we turn to
the second, which is performing our devotions. It is easy to
see with what spirit they will be performed, and how unlikely
they are to be productive of any effects. This might no
doubt be obviated by reversing the order of the employments,
but still with the Jews we wish to be such good economists
as to set apart for God the blind and the lame and the sick
whom no one will buy — in other words, the time which can no
way else be used. I speak feelingly on this point, for it is one
of my besetting sins. There is no doubt in the evenings a
tempting fitness for particular pursuits. The world is shut
out. There is no danger of interruption. All is calm and
still and serene. Meanwhile, prayer is forgotten till the heavi
ness of the eyelids shows it is time to quit the grateful tasks,
and to perform the customary tale of devotion. I was so
convinced of the impropriety of this mode of proceeding as it
respected my own improvement, while at Sierra Leone, that for
some time I went without supper that I might have the supper
hour, which was an early one, to myself, and be at liberty to
devote the more sleepy part of the evening to less grave and
less important matters, such as conversation and reading.
I passed some hours to-day in the company of some officers,
one of whom swore much. Swearing became the topic of con
versation, and he appealed to me whether there was any
wickedness in swearing, as it was a practice, he said, which
harmed no one. I was glad of the opening, and I fear might
have been offensively strong on the subject. He stared, when
I told him, among other things, that no man of true polite
ness would be guilty of swearing, even if he felt no religious
restraints. He asked me to explain. 'What would you
think of his politeness who should abuse your father to your
face, or who should vilify your King whom you served ? '
The answer was plain and obvious. 'Shall such respect be
paid to the feelings of a son, or a servant, merely on the score
of politeness, and shall no respect be paid to his feelings, who,
regarding God as his Father, is sensibly affected by any dis
respect shown Him ; and who, regarding Christ as his King,
deeply feels any dishonour done to His name? Allowing
these feelings to be mere prejudices, yet a man of real politeness
will be far from wounding them, especially as he knows that
the man who is concerned for God's honour, cannot attempt
to vindicate it without exposing him to derision. There is a
chance that in every company into which a man falls, there
may at least be one man who will be pained by swearing.
The man of politeness would not incur even this risk of giving

112 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
pain for so paltry a gratification as that of swearing, which of
all sins is the least profitable, and to which of all sins there is
the least temptation. But let us remember that, while it is thus
to be despised for its folly, it is also to be deeply abhorred for
its guilt.' He acknowledged it was very bad, and promised to
try to swear no more. Whether he keeps his promise or not,
he may perhaps think a little more than he used to do on the
heinousness of the practice.
I found in the case of my friend Stanfield, as I have done in
the case of many others, that the reason which prevented his
becoming religious sooner was his not being aware of the
necessity of making the Bible the standard of right and wrong.
If a man can once be persuaded to make the Bible his rule of
acting and judging, he will become a Christian of course.
This way of trying common actions seemed to be quite a new
thing to Stanfield. How pleasing to see a young man, sur
rounded by temptations, jeered at by profligate companions,
and in danger of offending his superiors, thus opening his
mind to the truth and receiving it!
I have found, and transcribe to save postage, Home's letter.
'Gilbert1 has just paid his addresses to my sister, and will
probably be favoured with her hand in a few weeks. His
offer is so unexceptionable, and her situation so unfavourable
to religion, that I cannot but give my approbation to the
match.' I go to-morrow on board of Admiral Gardner's ship. Should
he give me assurance of remaining here a week, wonder not if
you should have a sudden visit. It is a vain hope, I fear.
February 18, 1796.
Having finished the business ofthe day I sit down to enjoy
my Selina's society.
Miss Patty's dislike to marriage appears whimsical. She
ought to suspect that the effect she complains of arises from
herself. As in your case, for instance, you are aware of the
suspicion she entertains of coolness, so I should not wonder if
a constraint were thereby produced which would terminate
in the very thing she apprehends, namely, some degree of
estrangement. But how can Miss Patty argue against marriage
as hostile to friendship, when we have so many living testi
monies to oppose the opinion. Let us look to the Grants ; let
us look to Babington : where shall we find a more active
benevolence, or hearts more capable of pure and tender friend
ship? It gives me an unspeakable satisfaction to find that she
1 The Chaplain with whom Macaulay had made his first voyage to Sierra Leone.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 113
has transferred no portion of her dislike from marriage itself
to its advocate. I know very few indeed whose good opinion
I am so desirous of retaining as that of our common friends in
Pulteney Street, and you may believe that among them, Miss
Patty holds a high place in the seat of regard. I certainly
feel a greater love for Miss Hannah, and I always think of her
with a more lively interest, but I have sometimes imagined
that there was in Miss Patty more of that spiritual mindedness
which is life and peace.
But it is midnight, and I must quit you for a short time.
What a perpetual remembrancer is the midnight hour, not only
of that sleep of death on whose approach we shall lay aside
these cumbrous bodies, but also of the joyous resurrection
which shall follow, when we shall mount on seraph's wings to
the mansions of bliss, and there begin a new, an eternal day.
I can suppose that if a man were created by the Almighty in
the full use of all his faculties, he would naturally conclude when
the darkness of night began for the first time to overshadow him,
and drowsiness to seize him, that the sun, which a few hours before
had shone so resplendent, had for ever set ; that the being he
had recently received was to be withdrawn, and that he was
about to sink into his former state of unconsciousness. What
must have been his surprise, however, to contemplate the
renovation of universal nature, and to rejoice in every renewed
faculty. Hence might he be led to infer that death, no more
than sleep, would end him. But blessed for ever be God
who has not left us to our own vain conjectures on this
point. Life and immortality are brought to light. Earth and
heaven shall pass away, but we shall flourish in immortal
youth. An unfading crown awaits us, and we shall be in peace,
and our joy shall be full, for we shall dwell with God and
Christ for ever.
Farewell, my dear Selina, till the arrival of the post to
morrow morning. May the choicest blessings of the heaven
above and of the earth beneath be on the heads of you and
yours. Portsmouth, February 21, 1796.
The first motion I made on getting up this morning was to
the window, where I found the wind to be west, so that another
day seems to be assured to me in Portsmouth. How lightly
do the days pass over, and how little is the adverse wind re
gretted, while I dwell by anticipation on the hour of the post's
arrival, which is to bring me fresh marks of your tender
regard. I scarce ever felt purer pleasure than on seeing Mr. Wilber-
H

n4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
force's success in yesterday's paper.1 May God hasten the
period when Africa's chains shall be loosed. Mr. Thornton
tells me that on Tuesday se'ennight, unless Parliamentary
business should come in the way of great moment, he will be
united to Miss Sykes. May the God they serve abundantly
bless the union, and make it the beginning of many happy
days to both !
I have often felt exactly as you do on reading the experience
of eminent saints. I was at one time in very considerable
distress from doubts respecting myself, and I was often tempted
to believe that I was in a gross delusion in indulging a hope of
having at all experienced the mercy of God in Christ. But I
discovered that the cause of my disquiet was the not having
read the Scriptures with sufficient simplicity. For instance,
with respect to the new birth, I supposed it impossible that
one born of God should ever feel the propensities which I
occasionally felt, as he that is born of God cannot commit sin.
I forgot, however, that in the moral, as well as in the natural
world, things are progressive. The child newly born has not
attained the faculties of youth or manhood, but is as truly alive
as he who has. I was also rendered uneasy by not having
experienced some impression on my mind to assure me of
God's forgiveness, till I saw in His word that the promise of
forgiveness was to people of a certain description, and that if I
was of that description, all that I had to do was to believe the
promise. Often indeed have we to join Paul in his heavy
complaint, and to say, 'Who shall deliver me from the body of
sin and death ? ' ; but while, like him, we groan to be delivered,
let us believe that God in His good time will deliver us.
My success with the swearing gentleman has been more than
I supposed. I find he swears no more, and am told by his
companions that he has become exceedingly restless and
uneasy about that and other matters.
It excites a sort of uneasy sensation when I think that I
have now passed eleven days at this place, which might have
been appropriated to a more pleasant purpose. But I would
not repine. I have been traversing in idea the distance which
divides us, but alas, as often as I do so, recollection soon
hurries me back, I will not say to despair, but to the Calypso
Good-night, my Selina. May you be defended from every
possible evil, and also from the fear of evil, which I believe is
the source of more unhappiness than people are aware of.
Once more adieu.
1 On February 18th Wilberforce carried the First Reading of his Bill to abolish the
Slave Trade in a limited time. He says in his diary, ' Surprise and joy in carrying
my question. Speaker asked me and Pitt together to come and sup. Pitt delighted
with having carried it.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 115
On board the ' Calypso] Spithead, February 22, 1796.
I have just been made very happy by a letter from you.
You are indeed very good. But 1 have now little time to
answer you. The signal is out for sailing, and we shall soon
obey it. I came on board in order to be present yesterday
morning at the opening of public worship. Our Chaplain, Mr.
Clarke, who pursues the same mode of proceeding as Mr. Jay,1
preached to about forty people, one-half of whom at least may
be said to be truly religious characters. This forms an addi
tional ground of hope and security, seeing that the God who
rides on the wings of the wind, and whose voice calms the
troubled sea, has so many of His children along with us. They
are always safe, having a hiding-place from the storm and a
refuge from the tempest.
Let us then draw from the living fountain of waters those
streams of consolation which are in the power of faithful and
fervent prayer, and to Him may we always commend ourselves
and each other. To Him would I now commend you, with an
earnest prayer that He would preserve the precious deposit till
the day of Christ our Lord.
And now, my beloved Selina, would I bid you a long fare
well, assuring you that if I know my own heart, my attachment
to you has gained strength from acquaintance, and that 1 have
little fear that time or place will change those sentiments
of love, esteem, and affection, with which I am your most
affectionate Z. MACAULAY.
1 A celebrated preacher at Bath.

u6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER VI
MISSIONARY DIFFICULTIES
The wearisome period of detention was now over, and the
Calypso sailed from Portsmouth on the 23rd of February 1796.
Macaulay had looked forward with interest to associating with
the band of Missionaries who were placed under his care ; but
companionship on a sea-voyage is said to be the safest existing
criterion of character, and on this occasion the rule held good.
He had been harassed, even before quitting Portsmouth, by
their constant disputes among themselves and with the other
passengers, but now, on better acquaintance with their dis
positions, he began to feel serious anxiety as to the results of
the expedition. They had been chosen by Dr. Coke, who
professed to have exercised great caution in the selection,
and whose business in life consisted in the appointment and
superintendence of the foreign Missions of the Wesleyan
Methodists. He had incurred considerable personal danger in
America by the open profession he made of his detestation of
slavery ; and his high reputation had induced the Directors to
confide entirely in his discretion, and to leave the whole
responsibility of choosing the Missionaries to him. Dr. Coke's
character for discrimination, however, never recovered the blow
as far as any of the Directors are concerned.
Macaulay also discovered that Dr. Coke had charged the
Missionaries privately with a letter from himself to the King of
the Foulah nation, a letter which certainly was never intended
to be seen by Macaulay's critical eyes, but which the Mission
aries exhibited during the voyage with pardonable exultation.
Whatever might be the impression intended to be produced
upon the mind of a barbarous Chief, there could be no doubt
that the language in which the letter was couched was highly
injudicious as regarded its effect upon the messengers to whom
it was entrusted, and who were already imbued with absurdly

ZACHARY MACAULAY 117
lofty ideas of their personal importance. Macaulay sends a
copy of this letter for Mr. Thornton's information, telling him
it will develop the Doctor's character ; and especially marks
the opening passages couched in inflated language, in which
Dr. Coke states that the six friends, who will present the letter
to His Majesty, 'will set forth an example of all the virtues and
of all the graces, and are qualified to instruct his subjects in all
the important arts of Europe.' Their proficiency is described
in terms so pompous as to be very ridiculous ; and to the
account of the eminent attainments of one of the number in
surgery and medicine, Macaulay appends a sarcastic annota
tion, ' Giles attended the London Hospital for one month.'
The Doctor continues to relate that he himself, Thomas Coke,
goes ' from one end of the world to the other teaching mankind
how to be good and happy,' and finally concludes this extra
ordinary epistle in the following manner : —
' I trust, O King, that my friends will be made a blessing,
yea even to Ages yet unborn.
' I have felt confidence, O King, in your clemency and good
ness that you will show my friends every degree of kindness,
and give them land, and men, and cattle. And I have also full
confidence in my friends, that they will always prove worthy of
the favours you bestow on them.
'That all blessings may be your portion, O King, shall be
the prayer of your willing servant,
'Thomas Coke,
Minister of the Most High God, and Teacher of the Law of
Nations. 'Written in England on the 13th day of February in the
year 1796 ofthe Christian era.'
' Giles, of whom so much is said,' continues Macaulay, ' is, I
think, one of the steadiest in his principles. He has been
ordained Minister of the Colony, and is certainly more fit for
that office than any of the others. He is indolent and inactive,
and has been led by the Doctor to expect that he may be sup
ported at Teembo : without the labour of his hands. I should
have expected more of Giles had not his views been so
improperly elevated.
'Yellili was also ordained a preacher by Dr. Coke. I am
surprised that even he should have done this, for the man is
vain, empty, assuming, and his levity and imprudence are
1 The capital of the Foulah country.

n8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
excessive. On board ship his disputatious temper has disgusted
even his associates. The others seem quite inoffensive people,
and have conducted themselves in general with great propriety.
Their wives are some of them in bad health, and the others
very unsuitable to the Mission from their bad tempers.'
Besides the Missionaries there were on board a few persons
going out to fill various posts in the Colony, and some
mechanics and superior artisans whom Macaulay had been at
great pains in collecting, and whom he took out with a view of
their instructing the Settlers in useful trades and employments.
After a short experience of their behaviour at Sierra Leone he
wrote a curious letter to Henry Thornton, with a minute
analysis of their characters, some quotations from which may
be found interesting.
' On the whole, I have the highest expectations of good from
the labours of Mr. Clarke ; and if deep and solid piety, sound
judgment, unwearied zeal, incessant activity, tempers of kind
ness and love, and an example in his own conduct of those
duties to which he calls others afford a reasonable ground for
such expectations, then I am not too sanguine, for they are to
be found in Clarke. I should not mention as a defect his pro
vincial dialect so long as he is quite intelligible to the people
he addresses, but a worse error is the use of words whose
meaning is either not generally understood, or which convey an
improper meaning. I join here the whole train of cant words,
and far-fetched metaphors, which are so liberally used by the
Seceders of Scotland, and from whom Clarke has borrowed
them. The sort of expressions I allude to are such as, ' wrest
ling with God in prayer ; giving God no rest in prayers ; staying
the accursed enmity ; when the Spirit of God takes a dealing
with a soul; leaping over the mountains of our sins and
skipping over the hills of our provocations,' etc., etc. Clarke
is remarkably open to correction, and he has already amended
this fault a little. Pie has permitted mc to point out words
used by him, which are not understood by the people, and I
occasionally include one of those phrases, though parting with
them is like parting with a right eye.
'Mr. Guest, the surgeon, is exactly the man Mr. Pearson1
taught us to expect. 1 le is sensible, modest, and obliging. He
has contracted one bad habit by being in the army, I mean a
habit of indifference, more perhaps in look than in reality.
This is clearly a disadvantage in a medical man. His conduct
has been exceedingly decorous all along.
1 An eminent London surgeon.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 119
' Mr. Wilson is the one whose views we were taught to suspect
in consequence of a letter from the Rev. Mr. Jones of Edinburgh.
While at Portsmouth Mr. Clarke one Sunday forenoon collected
the people together for the purpose of worship, and was about
to give out one of Watts's psalms to be sung by them. Wilson
protested loudly against this, and said he could not con
scientiously submit to having any psalms sung except those of
the Church of Scotland version. Mr. Clarke, being averse to
altercation at such a time, complied with his strange humour.
This being mentioned to me, I made a point of being on board
the following Sunday, when Mr. Clarke was allowed to give out
one of Watts's psalms without any interruption. I thought this
a better plan than entering into a discussion with Wilson, as his
conduct must have proceeded from ignorance, and as I hoped
that the narrow-mindedness thereby produced would wear off
as he receded from Scotland.
' But all that I have said to his disadvantage appears to me
now to have been the effect of a very limited acquaintance with
any but people of the peculiar cast of sentiment of the Seceders
in Scotland, who, while they pretend to a contempt of forms,
are most singularly bigoted to every petty circumstance, not
merely in their creed, but in their mode of worship. With all
his defects in this particular, Wilson is a manly, decided
character, who is capable of thinking for himself. He has
studied the Bible with a most minute attention, and, I fancy,
piques himself on this ; and though rather a strong Calvinist,
has a rooted abhorrence of everything Antinomian. In his
ordinary conduct, I mean in doing the business assigned him,
which is that of under-storekeeper, he is diligent, expert, and
unassuming. ' Mr. Garvin and Mr. Leese afford me nothing very particular
to say. In the management of their schools they have not been
so successful as is to be wished, owing in some measure to the
harshness of their natural tempers, which leads them to prefer
severe to kindly measures. But we hope to correct that
fault. ' Mr. Hermitage, our master carpenter, is an useful industrious
tradesman, and a man of resource and activity, and also of
sobriety. ' His assistant, Millar (the husband of the Clapham widow,
Mrs. Wilkinson) has been so very sickly as to afford little
opportunity of fairly estimating his character. Mr. Dawes had
not discovered that tendency to Antinomianism in him which
you were led by his letters to suspect. He has manifested a
degree of insincerity in this, that he professed to Mr. Dawes his
perfect acquiescence in the reasons he gave for advising Mrs.

120 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Dawes against coming, and said he should use the same to
Mrs. Wilkinson, whereas in his letters to Mrs. Wilkinson he
sneered at Mr. Dawes's want of faith.
' Mr. Bracy, the shipwright, is just the man you might
expect to be produced by a dockyard education ; rough, but
decent enough. His wife is what may be called a notable
woman ; another Mrs. Bragwell,1 were she in a similar
situation.' The Calypso had made a quick passage, and had reached Free
town on the 1 8th of March. Macaulay was touched and gratified
by the warmth with which he was welcomed by the inhabitants,
both white and black. Mr. Watt, whose labours upon the Bullom
shore had been very valuable, and whose sense and courage had
been a great support to Macaulay during the troubles of 1794,
had died ; but there were several old friends, besides Mr. Dawes,
to greet him, and Mr. Clarke proved a great acquisition in every
way. He was a Presbyterian Minister, and well known and
highly esteemed in Scotland. The whole of the population of
the Colony of every denomination flocked to hear him deliver
his first sermon ; and Macaulay records that on coming out of
church he was surrounded by crowds of persons trying to
express their sense of obligation to him for bringing out such a
Chaplain. ' To say the truth,' he adds, ' there was some ground
for their admiration. I have heard less exceptionable dis
courses ; but I am not sure that I ever heard a discourse more
fitted to do good, as well by informing the understanding as by
engaging the affections.'
While Macaulay was occupied a few days after his arrival in
arranging the departure of the Mission to Teembo, a sudden
alarm of another invasion ofthe French threw the place into an
uproar. Three vessels of a suspicious appearance were seen in
the offing. But this time the town was on its guard, some
preparations for defence were quickly made, and Macaulay went
out in a pinnace to reconnoitre. The manexuvres of the strange
ships were so peculiar that he was led to conclude that they
were really enemies, but on running pretty close, he found that
they did not appear to be armed. Reassured by this discovery,
he returned at once ; and as they had come within cannon shot
1 Mrs. Bragwell is the wife of the worldly farmer in Mrs. Hannah More's Tract of
tlie Two Wealth v Farmers. The character there drawn of her does not inspire in
the reader any high idea of Mrs. Bracey's merits.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 121
of Freetown, he gave orders for a gun to be fired at them, which
brought them to. They proved to be Americans, and their
suspicious movements to be caused by their ignorance of the
channel. As soon as the true state of the case was known, the
Colonists, who had conveyed their families and gpods into the
woods, began to return, and order and tranquillity were gradually
restored. But for a long time afterwards there are repeated
accounts in the journal of similar occurrences which unsettled
and distracted the place. ' These alarms,' writes Macaulay, 'are
by far the most unpleasant circumstances which attend our
present situation. As our defenceless state affords us no good
ground of security even against the depredations of a privateer
or two, every sail which appears in sight causes no small
anxiety till we have made ourselves acquainted with its
destination.' The American captains came on shore, and expressed great
concern at the confusion they had occasioned. They had been
to Goree, where they said M. Renaud, who will be remembered
as the former head of the French slave factory at Gambia
Island, continued on the watch for English vessels.
Macaulay was now at liberty to complete his plans for
forwarding the different Missionaries to their appointed spheres
of action. The fate of the Mission destined for the Foulah
nation will be best studied in the pages of the journal which, as
has been previously mentioned, he kept for the private informa
tion of Mr. Henry Thornton, Chairman of the Sierra Leone
Company. As the ship intended for its conveyance was lying
off Freetown, quite prepared and in readiness for an immediate
voyage, Macaulay decided upon taking advantage of Mr. Dawes's
presence in the Colony, and upon availing himself of the oppor
tunity for inspecting Freeport, a branch establishment belonging
to the Company upon the Rio Pongo, which had been excep
tionally successful owing to the capacity of its manager, and to
the manner in which it had been protected against the surround
ing slave-dealers by the native Chiefs, who were beginning to
feel confidence in the Company's promises. He intended also
to 'visit some of the slave factories along the Pongo River and on
the borders of the Foulah country, and to make inquiries with
regard to the possible extension of trade.
' March 21, 1796. — I am thankful to say that of the seven men

122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
I persuaded to quit their country and friends to follow the
fortunes of the Colony, no one has expressed the smallest dis
satisfaction at the exchange. But if my colouring was not too
high, it is pretty plain that Dr. Coke's must have been so. This
morning there was nothing to be heard among the Missionary
ladies but doleful lamentations or bitter complaints. To their
astonishment Freetown resembled neither London nor Ports
mouth ; they could find no pastrycooks' shops, nor an)- ginger
bread to buy for their children. Dr. Coke had deceived them ;
if this was Africa they would go no farther, that they would
not. Their husbands were silent ; but their looks were
sufficiently expressive of chagrin and disappointment. It was
with real complacency I reflected that I had always used dis
suasives in talking to them, that I had always endeavoured to
dash every extravagant hope I observed them indulging, and
that I had always coloured my paintings with the most dark
and discouraging tints. On my reminding them of my repre
sentations, I discovered that they had been taught to expect
that I should make it a principle to paint gloomily, merely by
way of trying the strength of their resolutions ; what I said,
therefore, was regarded merely as a sort of bugbear, which
they believed to have no existence, and for braving which
they should obtain the credit of undaunted courage at a cheap
rate. 'March 23. — Yellili has caused sad confusion here. On his
landing at Freetown a Slave-trader who was standing on the
wharf was pointed out to him. The zealous Mr. Yellili im
mediately accosted him with, "Are you a dealer in slaves?"
" Yes," said the man, " I have bought and sold thousands, and
hope to do so again." "Then," said Yellili, "depend upon it,
you will go to hell." High words ensued, and had it been in
any other place than Freetown, Yellili would have had the
honour of persecution, for he would at least have been soundly
beaten. He had been particularly cautioned against entering
on disputes with Mohammedans respecting religion, and he had
promised to attend to the caution. Two days after he landed
he fell into company with one Mommadoo, a respectable
Mohammedan of the Mandingo nation, then on a visit here.
They had not conversed long together before Yellili, brandishing
his fist, told Mommadoo that Mohammed was a false prophet.
Mommadoo got up calmly and left him ; but had the same
scene taken place in the Foulah country with men of more
irascibility than Mommadoo, who happens to be a very gentle
man, there is no saying what might have been the consequence.
When we took all these circumstances into view in connection
with his general conduct, it was deemed expedient to prevent

ZACHARY MACAULAY 123
his going any farther until he had shown that his rashness and
inconsideration were in some measure corrected.
' Mr. Clarke preached to-night at David George's Meeting.
The old man is quite delighted with him, and has resolved that
in future he and his people shall regularly attend him at church.'
' Thursday, March 24. — To-day we had a full discussion in
Council. The final issue of our deliberation was that Dawes
should take the first opportunity of returning to England in
order to embark for the South Seas under the auspices of the
Missionary Society, and that I should undertake the task of
conducting the Missionaries to Teembo. Their wives and
children remain here till after the rains. This determination
has not proceeded from the intemperance of my zeal, but from
a sober conviction on the part of Dawes and myself that it was
right for me to go. Had there been any one else in the Colony,
now that the speedy return of Dawes to England puts it out of
his power to undertake the journey, who was likely to answer,
I should not have been very forward in the business. But as
it is, there seems to be no other alternative than either
abandoning the Mission entirely, or accompanying the Mission
aries. We have thought on the whole that it was better to
embrace the latter, for although our hopes of extensive good
from the present Missionaries be but slender, yet we trust they
will cast no stain on the Christian name, and they will, it is to
be hoped, conduct themselves without offence.
' In the afternoon we desired the attendance of the Foulah
Missionaries, and they all expressed their willingness to go. It
appeared to me they were only prevented from retracting by
shame, but it would have been unjustifiable to have intimated
a suspicion of their sincerity.
'Friday, March 25. — It was decided the Missionaries should
proceed without delay under my conduct to Teembo. We
called them again before us. Giles betrayed that he had not
the most distant notion that he should be under the necessity
of providing for his subsistence in the Foulah country; and
said Dr. Coke had told him the King was to provide the
Missionaries with land, cattle, and servants, and that they would
be under no necessity of labouring for a subsistence. " But
were not," I asked, "the conditions on which you engaged, and
to which you subscribed, that you should receive support from
the subscribers only during the first three months of your
residence in Foulah, after which you were to support yourselves
by cultivating the ground or labouring at your respective
trades ? " " Yes," he replied, " but Dr. Coke said there would
be no necessity for the latter expedient ; besides, he told me
that I should have a liberal provision arising from my situation

124 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
as teacher, as the Foulahs would be so desirous of instruction
in the English language as to be disposed to pay handsomely
for it." I urged, " But all this is not in the bond ; besides, the
uniform tenor of my conversation contradicted such expecta
tions." " But I could not possibly mistrust Dr. Coke's assur
ances," he replied ; "they were very strong." This opened both
to the Missionaries and to us a new view of the state of matters,
and we perceived a great accession of coolness to the zeal of
the Missionaries. They still, however, expressed themselves
ready to attend me to Teembo with the exception of Yellili,'
whose conduct led to our determination of preventing his going
on. He had now set the two parties of Methodists by the ears in
consequence of his rash interference. It seemed, therefore,
to be equally desirable that he should not remain here as that
he should not go to Teembo, and Mr. Clarke was fearful of the
trouble he might cause to him. When he expressed a wish
therefore of taking his passage to America in a vessel bound
hence to that quarter, we strongly encouraged him to do so.
'March 30, 1796. — We had agreed to set off to-day at noon
for Teembo, and all things were in readiness for that purpose.
At ten o'clock Giles came to me seemingly much cast down.
" Oh, sir, I do not know what I shall do ; even- one of the Mis
sionaries declares against going a step farther. The women
were so alarmed by what happened yesterday,1 that they are
determined their husbands shall not leave them here exposed
to the fury of the enemy." " And what do the husbands say?"
"Say, sir? why, in such a case what can a man say? As
Christians they were obliged to yield." I directed him to
address a letter expressive of their resolution to us. The letter
was soon brought. It merely contained a transcript of what
Giles had told me. They subjoined a request for a passage
back to England in the first vessel. This letter was signed by
the four married men only. Giles had withheld his name by
way of saving his credit. I observed to him that I supposed
from his not choosing to sign the letter that he was still
resolved to proceed with me. " Sir, you '11 excuse me," said
he, a little ashamed ; " I have no such intention." " It will
be necessary then that you inform the Committee what you
mean to do."
' He then stated in a letter that he gave in his reasons for
declining, which were that he could not think of proceeding by
himself, and that the others having declined, he was obliged to
decline also. Thus ended the Foulah Mission, and I think it
fortunate that it has so ended. I tremble to think on the
difficulties I should have had to encounter had I sone on to
o
1 On the previous day one of the frequent alarms of a French attack had occurred.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 125
Teembo with such unstable subjects, and I cannot help being
grateful for my escape. The crosses they have already met
with are light when compared with those they would have a
likelihood of meeting in the Foulah country ; and it is so far
fortunate that they have been hindered from bringing Chris
tianity into contempt among the Foulahs, as their miserable
deficiency in the necessary qualifications for Missionaries, of
patience under suffering, and perseverance in the face of danger
and in spite of disappointments, leads one to suppose they
would have done.
' I should not forget to mention that one ground of bitter
complaint with our Missionaries was that there was little or no
bread to be had at the Settlement, and yet when they left Eng
land, they came away under an engagement to pass their lives in
a country where neither wheat nor wheaten bread was ever seen.
One who cannot live on rice ought not to turn Missionary.'
Macaulay set sail in the Ocean on the 31st of March accom
panied by Mr. Witchell, one of the principal officials at Sierra
Leone, about whom he writes to Mr. Thornton : ' Witchell is
a man of considerable intelligence, and is possessed of zeal and
activity. I am not sure that I can more clearly convey to you
the state of his religious opinions than that he is a strict but dry
Churchman.' The commencement of the voyage was unlucky ;
a tornado came on, and near the mouth of the Pongo River the
vessel ran aground on a sandbank in the dark. Perceiving the
lights of a schooner not far off, Macaulay went out at once in
a boat to ask for help, but any assistance was refused, and the
vessel made off at once in a manner that excited his suspicions.
He remarks, ' I found no small consolation in reflecting that we
had not our faint-hearted Missionaries on board to perplex us.'
' Sunday, April 3. — None of us conceived that it required an
able casuist to decide whether it was lawful for us to employ
this day in extricating the Ocean from its present state of
danger. The schooner whose people had acted so brutally
last night was still in sight. I again set off with Witchell, and
after rowing six or seven miles, we found ourselves alongside.
The schooner was manned entirely by native Africans, only
one of whom could speak English, and belonged to one Holman,
a mulatto Slave-trader in the Rio Pongo. We found that the
fear of being kidnapped had caused the shyness they had
manifested, and we were ready enough to excuse it when
we discovered the cause. They were now proceeding to an
American slave-ship which lay a little to the northward, and

126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
on board of which was their master. W'e prevailed on them,
however, when we had convinced them of our belonging to the
Company, to return with us to the Rio Pongo, while two of
them should go back in our boat to the Ocean, in order to pilot
her over the bank at high water.
' Accordingly the boat was sent back, and Witchell and I
proceeded for the river in the schooner. At noon we entered
the river, and found there a small vessel lying at anchor, on the
deck of which were placed about thirty poor wretches in chains
and perfectly naked. The vessel, I was given to understand,
belonged to Lawrence, now residing in the Rio Pongo. I had
no sooner hailed her than I perceived the spokesman to be
one of our Sierra Leone Settlers, though he did not at once
recognise me. My voice, however, was too well known to him.
He asked in an altered tone if that was Mr. Macaulay. His
confidence instantly forsook him, and I never saw more evident
marks of shame and confusion. I forbore any animadversion,
and proceeded up the river, which is wide from three-quarters
of a mile to a mile at some distance from the sea, and branches
off into almost innumerable creeks. By two o'clock we reached
Domingee, Mr. Lawrence's place, which is sixteen miles up
the river.
'We found Lawrence, who was one of the most respectable
Slave-traders on the coast, without shoes or stockings, and with
no other dress than a checked shirt and trousers, seated in the
middle of a group of natives who were collected together in his
house, which was far inferior to the meanest hovel in England.
In the surrounding area were about a thousand Foulahs who
had come to barter their slaves for European goods. In a
retired corner were twenty or thirty slaves in chains, who
sat with their eyes fixed on the ground. Lawrence welcomed
us with great kindness, for he had experienced many civilities
from us.
'April S-— We arrived yesterday at Freeport,1 and are going
to-day to visit the slave factories near.
'April 6. — We went down the river again, and about noon
got to Bashia,the place formerly occupied by the noted Ormond,
and now in the possession of Holman. 1 felt an involuntary
horror at landing at a place which had witnessed such cruelties
as Ormond was in almost the daily practice of perpetrating.
We found Holman very frank and ingenuous, and Slave-trader
as he is, I could not help respecting him. I talked much with
him on the enormity of the trade. He said he knew it well,
1 The name given by Macaulay to the factory belonging to the Company. He
praises Cooper, who was at the head of it, 'for maintaining a very becoming dignity
among the Slave-traders around.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 127
and was unhappy in it, but what could he do? He and his
family would starve. I had no success in trying to convince
him of his obligation to quit it. He would quit it, however,
from inclination and a feeling of its inhumanity, if he could
do without it. I suggested many expedients, and urged the
probability of an abolition. He began to talk seriously of
preparing against that event, and I promised him coffee and
cotton seeds.
' Freeport, Sunday, April 10, 1796. — In the evening a Slave-
trader of the name of Tool, who had formerly lived with
the noted Ormond, called at Freeport. He had not long
been seated when, from the same anxiety to justify them
selves which is common to all Slave-traders, he provoked a
discussion ofthe merits ofthe Slave Trade. He acknowledged
that he had heard shocking things of Ormond, but had never
himself seen any cruelties practised by him. The worst thing
he had seen done by Ormond's orders was the tying a swivel
to the back of an unsaleable slave and throwing him into the
river. " But he is in hell for that," he said. I was a little sur
prised by this remark, until I reflected that even Slave-traders
have a standard of morality of their own, on their approach to
which they comfort themselves with hopes of heaven. For
Tool proceeded : " As for myself, I thank God I have nothing
to reproach myself with. I pay my debts, and no man can say
that Tool has ever injured him." Not willing to concede so
much to him, I made a strong representation of the injuries he
daily was guilty of to poor Africans. "Would you have me
starve? I do no more than others, and rich men too have
done. If they are satisfied that they do right, so may I. I am
a poor man, and only strive for a livelihood." I showed him
in a very strong way how much akin such a conduct was to
that ofthe highwayman, and how such arguments served equally
to justify him. He said God did not wish him to starve ; if he
minded thinking about those sort of things when he should
be making trade, poverty would soon overtake him. I asked
him what he would do in case Parliament should abolish the
trade. He answered briskly, " They dare not do it." Our con
versation was interrupted by family worship, and when it was
over he got up and made me a low bow. " Sir, I humbly thank
you ; you have brought back to my mind former times when
I knew better things. Sir, it is eight years since I heard a
prayer." " What ! have you never prayed yourself during that
time?" "No, sir, never"; recollecting himself, however, he
added, "Yes, when I have been very sick or in great pain, I
have sometimes tried to pray." I asked him if he had ever
read the Bible, and if he believed it. He said he had been

128 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
educated at Christ's Hospital in a religious way, and firmly
believed the Bible. I then pointed out to him the dreadful
fate which awaited such and such persons, throwing into the
characters I drew those particular vices which I had observed
in Tool, till he began to look quite aghast. He said he
would be glad to have it pointed out to him what he ought
to do ; he sincerely wished to do what was right. "Give one
proof of your sincerity ; abandon the Slave Trade." He said
he should be glad to do it, but scarce knew how to extricate
himself, and wished I would consent to pass a day at his place
to give him more light on the subject. He promised to read a
Bible if I would send him one, which I certainly will do along
with some tracts. He appeared at last much frightened, and
turned pale when I told him that this night's conversation
might aggravate his punishment in the day of judgment. I
have frequently seen such temporary convictions of the enormity
of the Slave Trade fastened on the minds of traders, but I never
expect them to last. I should not wonder, however, if this man
should read his Bible with attention. He assured me with great
seriousness that he would. I enlarged a good deal on the
advantages he would derive from quitting the Slave Trade, but
they seemed to have less effect on him than the evils which
would attend his continuing in it.
'Having taken our leave, we set off in the Providence for
Sierra Leone. Fantimanee1 accompanied us. His wife took
me aside as I was going away, and begged very earnestly that
I would take care of him and keep him from getting a new
wife at the Camp.2 She had no objection to any additional
number of native wives, but a Camp lady would assume the pre
eminence, and perhaps send her to work in the plantation for
her. She therefore begged me to stand her friend, which I
promised to do.'
On his return to Freetown he found troubles gathering.
One of the Missionaries, a Baptist of the name of Grigg, had
gone to his appointed position at Port Logo, and had been
welcomed with cordiality by the natives who were desirous of
instruction. At first it seemed that all would go well, but
under the pretence of studying the language he quitted his post
in about a fortnight to return to Freetown, where he remained,
obstinately persisting in his neglect of duty, although his health
was in perfect condition and he had practically no excuse to
give for his conduct. Macaulay at first tried to induce him at
1 A native Chief who had hospitably entertained Macaulay and his party.
2 Freetown was known by the name ofthe Camp among the natives.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 129
any rate to make himself useful with the natives living in the
villages near the Settlement ; but his efforts to give Grigg any
proper occupation were quite useless, and, idle and restless, he
now became a source of danger to the more inflammable spirits
among the Colonists.
One of the many subjects which interested Macaulay's mind,
and is continually referred to in his journal and letters, was a
favourite scheme of his friends in England. They had strongly
felt the need of literature suitable for circulation among the
lower middle and labouring classes, and had given the matter
much and anxious consideration. Mrs. Hannah More at last
devised the institution of the Cheap Repository Tracts ; and
her laudable endeavours were warmly seconded by the band of
allies who assisted her with their pens, as well as by under
taking the expenses of the venture. She writes to Macaulay
early in 1796 : — ' Mr. Henry Thornton and two or three others
have condescended to spend hours with the hawkers 1 to learn
the mysteries of their trade, and next month we hope to meet
the hawkers on their own ground. Two committees are formed,
one in the City and the other in Westminster, by members of
¦ Parliament and others for the regular circulation of the Tracts.'
The success of the venture exceeded the most sanguinb
hopes of its projectors. Above two millions of the Tracts were
sold in England during the first year alone, besides a very large
number in .Ireland. There is no doubt this was principally
owing to Mrs. Hannah More's own contributions, which were
written in a lively, entertaining style, which soon made the
Tracts highly popular. She introduced all kinds of useful
knowledge on religious, political, and social subjects, and it
may be noted that she scarcely ever produced a story in which
some exemplary parish priest did not appear, and appear to
advantage. She afterwards republished those tracts of which
she was the author in a collected form under the somewhat
quaint title of Stories for Persons in the Middle Ranks of Society
and Tales for the Common People ; and some of the best known
among these are ' The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain,' the ' Two
Wealthy Farmers,' and ' Parley the Porter.' In the preface she
says that her motive in the publication had been : ' To improve
1 At that period the pedlars ministered in a great measure to the literary require
ments of country districts. Mrs. Martha More writes : ' I have lately bought at the
door a translation of Xenophon's Retreat of the Ten Thousand. '
I

130 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the habits and raise the principles of the mass of people at a
time when their dangers and temptations, moral and political,
were multiplied beyond the example of any period in our
history. As an appetite for reading had been increasing among
the inferior ranks, it was judged expedient to supply such
wholesome aliment as might give a new direction to the public
taste, and abate a relish for those corrupt and impious publica
tions which the consequences of the French Revolution have
been fatally pouring in on us.'
' April 1 8. — We had this day the Foulah Missionaries before
us. Their object in desiring a hearing was that they might
have an opportunity of pointing out to us who among them
had really caused the failure of the Mission. We had to listen
to much unseemly invective, which only served to confirm our
former opinion of their absolute unfitness for the office of
Missionaries. 'April 29. — Witchell, Gray, and myself set off on an excur
sion to the mountains. My chief object was to fix on an
eligible spot for a house on the summit of them, according to
the wish expressed by the Directors. In our way we met with
a good many coffee-trees, some in blossom.
' On the summit of a hill, quite beyond all the allotments, I
marked out a place for a house, and agreed with the Settlers in
the neighbourhood to build it without delay, and to clear a few
acres of land around it. The discovery of the true coffee in
our mountains is a most happy circumstance, and likely to be
productive of very important effects.
'The plan of our Sunday-school is that each master shall
attend with his own scholars. The business opens with a
prayer from one of the masters and concludes in the same way.
Mr. Clarke superintends the whole, and when the children have
recited their tasks, Mr. Clarke addresses them in a simple,
familiar way. We found Garvin and Leese1 averse to the whole
business, and they declined to give their attendance. I signified
to them my wish that they should attend with their children,
and to this Leese consented, though with great reluctance.
Garvin, however, took the opportunity of resigning his situa
tion. I asked him how he meant to employ himself or to
subsist, lie said he meant to labour among his own flock and
to subsist on their bounty for some time, and that in the mean
time he should write home for employment as a Missionary
from one of the societies lately instituted for that purpose. I
1 A Baptist preacher. He and Garvin had not been successful in the management
of their schools, owing chiefly to the severity they showed to the scholars.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 131
endeavoured to show him the absurdity of relinquishing one
situation, and that a situation of usefulness, till he had procured
mother. From the whole of his conversation I was able to
:ollect that he dreaded the effect of Clarke's superior talents,
and that he was impatient of the restraint which would have
been on him had he continued a servant ofthe Company.
' May 3. — A delegation from the Hundreders and Tithing-
men waited on me. They declared their resolution of rallying
round me on Thornton Hill, and dying there to a man before
they would submit as before to the insults of the French.
' I had expected some such extravagant boast from them at
ihe first, and was prepared to avail myself of it. I told them I
was much pleased with their spirit ; that I had already drawn
:he plan of a battery which they might get about constructing
without any further delay ; that I should direct the master of
the works to furnish them with materials, and should also cause
:he twelve-pounders which I wished to have mounted to be
pointed out to them. They looked a little blank at such a
strong proof of their sincerity being required, but it appeared
30 reasonable and necessary that they could only say they
would consult their brethren on it. Another meeting was
accordingly called, at which, in compliance with my proposal,
it was resolved to give the labour of the Colony, as long as it
should be deemed necessary, to the construction of works of
defence. ' They seemed to take it for granted that I should give wages
to those who laboured on public works, but I undeceived them
in this particular, and told them it must be entirely a common
business, to which every individual member of the community
jught to contribute.
'May 4. — Hermitage, the master of the works, acquainted
me that the works were at a stand, the people refusing to work
;ill they knew who was to pay them. This was no more than
[ expected ; but as I was resolved not to give way to their
inreasonable expectations, I ordered Hermitage to convene
hem all in the church, that I might have an opportunity of
:rying the effect of argument and persuasion. Clarke went
with me, and opened the meeting with a prayer. I began with
:elling them the purpose for which we were assembled, namely,
hat of pointing out to them what they ought to do in the
^resent emergency. I showed them how in every other country
he people bear the whole expense of public works, of armies,
ind of navies. I reminded them of what had been told me
jy them no longer ago than yesterday, " that they would die
¦ather than yield." I asked whether I was to regard this as an
:mpty boast, or as the expression of their real sentiments. If

132 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
they were sincere in expressing a willingness to part with life,
they could make few objections to bestowing a little labour in
erecting works which would enable them to sell their lives at a
dearer rate. I then explained to them very particularly how
I thought those who did not give their labour should be made
to contribute in money, and how that money ought to be
employed and accounted for. I urged them to firmness and
unanimity, and promised to stand by them to the last.
' There were now no objections. They all went away quietly to
work. Even those who from their uniform opposition to every
salutary regulation have gained to the street in which they live
the name of Discontented Row, were now foremost in showing
their alacrity to comply with my wishes.
'May 5. — Having been informed that Grigg, the Baptist
Missionary, had been preaching in Garvin's meeting-house on
the unlawfulness of resistance, nay, even of self-defence, I
thought it right to have some conversation with him on the
subject. He acknowledged the charge, and owned at the same
time the impropriety and unseasonableness of what he had
done. The principle, he held, was nevertheless a sound one.
I asked whether he deemed it as essential as adult baptism.
He said no. I advised him then to observe the same rule with
respect to it which he observed in a Methodist meeting with
respect to adult baptism, that is, to say nothing at all about it,
and this he promised to do.
' I took a little time to-day to drill our raw Scotchmen,
several of whom had never had a gun in their hands before. I
thought it necessary that they should know how to load and
fire. ' May 7. — I visited our battery and found it in a state of great
forwardness. Although I was exerting myself as much as
possible to put the place into a state of defence, and was
animating the Settlers to a vigorous resistance, yet I saw that
resistance would be perfectly vain if the French force should
prove as great as it was reported to be.
' I took measures for having a flag of truce sent on board the
French irigates as soon as they might appear in sight. By
sending an intelligent person along \vith it, I should procure
information of their real force, and be thus enabled to act with
more decision. At all events I determined to do my utmost to
prevent their coming within the range of our guns till they
should send a summons, which would afford us time for de
liberation, and an opportunity probably of favourable terms.
Resistance for any other purpose to the attack of three frigates
would be indeed a foolhardy attempt, and I should only have
to reproach myself with having been the cause of an evidently

ZACHARY MACAULAY 133
fruitless effusion of blood. I speak now on the supposition of
its being such a force as is reported ; but even in our present
state we should be well able to repel two or three privateers.
' The natives have behaved well, but I should suppose they
look wistfully for another visit of the French after the rich
booty gained by their first visit.
'David George came to suggest a doubt to me. He said he
understood the French were enemies of the Slave Trade in the
same way as Mr. Wilberforce. To fight them would be to fight
our friends. I told David he owed this ingenious objection to
his fears, and pointed out to him how widely different the
principles of Mr. Wilberforce and the French were. Besides
we had nothing to do with their principles, nor with them,
except it was to defend ourselves from depredations, and surely
we had no right to call those friends who came to plunder us.
' Sunday, May 8. — I enjoyed in an unusual degree the
quiet of this returning day, after all the toils and bustle and
anxiety of the week. At the Sunday-school we went on well,
as usual.
' May g. — About an hour after midnight an express arrived
from Bance Island with a letter from Tilley which put an end
to my fears. An American schooner had arrived at the Isles
de Los from Goree, and brought certain intelligence that there
have been no frigates there, and that the only force there is
four small privateers commanded by Renaud. I assure you
I was not a little thankful for this turn in our affairs.
'May 11. — I mentioned on the 28th of April the arrival of an
American sloop, Captain Peters. He had anchored very near
the wharf, and of course was liable to observation. He had,
however, the boldness to buy four slaves, a man and three girls,
while in this position. Being informed of it by a native who
worked on board of his vessel, I thought it right to institute an
inquiry. I accordingly sent Witchell and Gray with an inter
preter on board. When Peters understood their errand he
appeared dreadfully frightened, and tried to evade their ques
tions, and to mislead them with respect to the individuals.
After pointing out slaves several times as those he had bought
here, at last he was forced to produce the four in question, who
through the interpreter were instantly known to be Sierra
Leone people. Their examination was taken down and brought
ashore. I sent to King Jammy to know the truth of the facts
they had alleged, and had them fully confirmed. One of the
four, a man of about thirty years of age, had been sold by the
King. Another, a girl of fourteen, was on a visit to one of
Signor Domingo's wives, and suspected nothing less than a
design to kidnap her, But the Signor could not resist the

134

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

temptation of a slave-ship in his neighbourhood, and sold her
for a cask of rum. Another girl, Maria, had been at school
here and spoke English.
' Having learned all that I could concerning them, I again
sent Witchell and Gray on board with a message to Captain
Peters that I should be much obliged to him to permit the
above-mentioned persons to come ashore. He complied with
my request without any hesitation. The poor creatures still
appear terrified lest their deliverance should not be a real one.
When they were brought up to my house they seemed much
agitated, but they immediately recognised me, and Maria, who
had been a favourite here with me, lost her fears. Mary Perth,
the woman who has the care of our native children, and with
whom Maria formerly lived, was directed to take charge of
them and clothe them, for they were quite naked.
'May 12. — This forenoon the father of one of the girls came
to see her, and his meeting with his child was truly affecting.
There happened also to come to Mary Perth's a native young
woman who in Maria's better days had been used to wait upon
her, and who had been her attendant from her birth. She
knew Maria had been sold, and had therefore laid aside every
hope of seeing her again, but when assured it was Maria, she
gave way to joy of the most extravagant kind. Shame on
those who would strip these poor creatures of the feelings of
humanity and of the claims of brotherhood !
' I think this incident strongly marks the nature of the trade.
No crime alleged, no plea of being born in slaver)-, no debt
exists in any of the cases. But how is it possible to reason
calmly on a business of such frightful enormity passing imme
diately before one's eyes ! Ma)- God stay this dreadful scourge
which has given it birth !
' PeterSj the man who had those poor creatures in his clutches,
is one of the worst and most profligate wretches I have seen
even in this country. His language is impure and polluting
beyond anything which is commonly heard, and his conduct
corresponds to it. What a narrow escape have they had !
Can one help deploring the fate of those who are still in his
hold, exposed to sustain his tyranny and caprices during the
long term of a middle passage, for he has not got above a fourth
part of his cargo as yet.
'May 13. — About sunrise a message came to me from King
Jammy, saying that he was now at the wharf, and wished to see
me. I found him lying in a canoe, exceedingly reduced and
extenuated. He told me he was on his way to a famous doctor,
that he had come to wish me good-bye as he did not expect to
get better. He then thanked me warmly for having brought

ZACHARY MACAULAY 135
back his people from the American slave-ship to the day, as
he expressed it.
' Tuesday, May 17.— -The Eliza sailed to-day for England ;
and in her Witchell, Afzelius, a slave captain who had lost his
ship, the Foulah Missionaries, and Millar, the carpenter, took
their passage.
'Our Missionaries seemed to be much more gay in the
prospect of returning than they had been when coming abroad.
I was.shocked at their insensibility to shame on the occasion.
Millar1" seemed to feel parting with his wife, and he was still
more affected by my telling him that I should take care of her.
He thanked me with his tears, and I was pleased to perceive
that he could weep. Antinomianism had not quite erased
natural affection.' TO MISS MILLS. Freetown, May 17, 1796.,
Dear Selina, — That I have frequent opportunities of writing
to you is far from being one ofthe meanest comforts which my
situation affords me. The present one is furnished by a vessel
bound to Barbados, full of slaves. To secure its safe convey
ance I shall inclose it, with some others, to Governor Rickets
of B^bados, with a request that he will forward it by the first
packet. Dawes and Winterbottom will come to see you as soon as
they arrive in England, and our secret will be safe with them.
Dawes is one of the excellent of the earth. With great sweet
ness of disposition and self-command, he possesses the most
unbending principles. For upwards of three years have we
acted together, and in that time many difficult cases arose for
our decision ; yet I am not sure that in the perplexities of con
sultation or the warmth of discussion, we either uttered an
unkind word, or cast an unkind look at each other.
You will be surprised, after saying so much, to hear me
declare that I believe I love Winterbottom still more. He
certainly is far from having attained the distinguished eminence
of Dawes. But there is so much warmth of affection in him,
and the expression of it so often bursts from him involuntarily,
that one is constrained to love him. Besides, I was accustomed
to look up to Dawes for advice and assistance, while Winter-
bottom, on the contrary, has been in the use of looking to me
1 Mrs. Millar, a widow, who had been sent out by the Directors as schoolmistress,
had married soon after her arrival. She remained at her employment with the full
approval of her husband, instead of returning with him to England, where he went
for a time to recruit his health. Macaulay says she deserves the commendations
given her by her friends at Clapham, and evidently feels praise could go no higher.

136 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
for counsel, and you know how naturally a dependence of that
sort begets in a degree all the tender feelings of parents to
children. He is a man of general science and great professional
skill. He is also a serious inquirer after truth ; and though
his religious principles are by no means so fixed as those of
Dawes, he may be fairly reckoned a disciple of Christ. He has
four sisters to whom he is so warmly attached, that he would
scarce think it too much to drudge all his days in a coal-mine
for their sakes.
My health continues good, though I do not find I am as
capable of exertion as I used to be. But my time is short, the
Eliza is about to sail, and after finishing my letters to the
Directors, I have again sat down this morning at five o'clock
to tell you how deeply I love you, and what a satisfaction it is
to me to feel, that though parted from each other so many
hundred miles, yet that being one in Christ, we enjoy the
privilege of meeting as often as we go into His presence ! To
this I owe many happy hours. I seldom think on you without
having my mind raised from earth to heaven. I know not
whether this be intended by what our creed calls the Com
munion of Saints, but I experience the same feeling in its
degree when I think on our friends at Cowslip Green, the
Temple, and Battersea Rise. Thus, my dear Selina, do you
prove a help to me even here. Thus do you assist me to serve
my God better, and to love Him more. — Ever yours,
Z. Macaulay.
' May 20. — On Wednesday last Clarke had gone as usual to
visit the Settlers in the country, but he found the doors of all
Wilkinson's Methodists shut against him. The general pre
tence was, " Sir, we are Methodists, we are determined to live
and die such, we will not change our religion for anything you
can say to us." In vain did Clarke try to show them that he
*had no wish to make them desert their name or their party.
They seemed to think he had some bad design in thus perse
vering to go about among them.
' Alay 22.— Mr. Clarke preached both in the fore and after
noon from Luke xiv. 23 : " Compel them to come in that my
house may be filled." He was ver)- careful in pointing out
that the only kind of compulsion which Christianity allowed
was persuasion ; and also, that the object of those who thus
compel men ought to be that Christ's house might be filled,
not their own party aggrandised. But all his care did not save
him from the malignant insinuations of Garvin and Grigg, who
said they were sure he would never have used such a text, had
he not wished to shut up the Meeting-houses.

¦ ZACHARY MACAULAY 137
' May 24. — Mr. Clarke went to-day to the mountains to visit
the Settlers who live there. On his way back he was accosted
by Isaac Anderson, one of the delegates to the Court of
Directors.1 He made many long and bitter complaints of
ill-usage both from the Directors and me. He begged to know
whether the Directors had induced the French squadron to
come here, and whether it was by their orders that I had given.
up the place to the French. He had scarce parted with
Anderson when he was accosted by another, who, in a very
rude style, began to examine him touching his qualifications as
a Minister. "Tell me your experience, sir ; then I shall know
whether you are a man of God. I don't call fine harangues
preaching ; that won't do for me. Your preaching must agree
with what I feel, that's my test; if it does not, then I must
know you are wrong." Poor Clarke returned home at night
quite worn out with fatigue, and discouraged and mortified by
the treatment he had met with, but still determined to persevere
in the face of all opposition.
' May 25. — I went up this morning to Bance Island, princi
pally with the view of cultivating a good understanding with
Mr. Tilley. He was extremely civil, and exerted himself to
make everything agreeable to me, by avoiding himself, and
discountenancing in others, the swearing and obscenity which
in general forms so great a part of the conversation of Slave-
traders. He has got two rooms tolerably well fitted up by our
carpenters for his own use; but the place where he sits and
does business and also dines is highly disgusting. The smell
of rum and tobacco, the continual passing to and fro of natives,
and the uncouth appearance and still more uncouth conversation
of the traders who are met there form altogether a most offen
sive assemblage. T found a great many of our people at work
here repairing the buildings which the French had demolished,
Most of his domestics are from Sierra Leone likewise.
' May 30. — David George told me that he had learnt from
Grigg and Garvin that Mr. Clarke had abused all the black
preachers, and that they had been busy in circulating the
same report everywhere, so that the minds of the people were
alienated from him. He added that he did not believe it
himself, and that he had given me the information that Clarke
might have an opportunity of wiping away the aspersion. I
acquainted Clarke with the report which had spread respecting
him, and advised him to take some speedy method of contra
dicting it. He seemed inclined rather to leave his justification
to time ; but on my suggesting that the present case was
1 The Settlers had sent two Delegates to England in 1793, t0 'ay some complaints
against the Governor before the Court of Directors.

138 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

o

different from that of a man whose character was aspersed
generally, and that a particular fact being alleged, which could
easily be disproved, it became his duty to disprove it, he
acquiesced, and called a meeting of the preachers, who met
him in the evening. Clarke mentioned the purpose for which
he called them together, and how anxious he was to give them
satisfaction with respect to the falsehood of any reports which
might convey an impression of his entertaining for them the
smallest disrespect. He had scarce finished when Garvin rose,
and, with the utmost indignation, asked him : " And is this all
you have called us together for ? Your character ! Are you a
Minister of Christ, and hurt at trifles such as these ? I know
your drift. It is a scheme to fill your church, but it will not
succeed. We do not look on you as our Pastor. You are come
here as the Company's Chaplain to dispense the sacraments to
us, but we have Ministers of our own." Clarke replied to this
with the greatest mildness, saying that his object was to do
good if it were in his power ; and that, as he thought his useful
ness and theirs was impeded by any variance, he had wished to
remove that stumbling-block. All the others except Garvin
commended him for calling the meeting. Garvin then accused
him of wishing to introduce persecution, and said, " I heard of
your sermon about 'compel them to come in.'" Clarke here
appealed to some of the preachers who had heard that sermon,
and who justified him from even hinting that a preference
ought to be given to the Church. Garvin then accused him of
being supercilious, and said Clarke did not make a companion
of him. Clarke observed that he had too much business on his
hands to spend any time in company ; but that he was always
ready to receive visits from Garvin, or from any other person.
Clarke's calmness and gentleness quite mortified Garvin, who
broke out almost into abuse, and began to relate circumstances
which had occurred in conversation at my table on a former
occasion in a way to expose Clarke to the dislike of the
preachers. Clarke, however, satisfied them on this point also ;
and all of them, Garvin excepted, allowed that the charge
brought against him had been unfounded. David George now
got up and said, "The present business is downright malice
and envy against one who is an apostle of God to us." Here
Garvin interrupted him with fury flashing in his eyes, and
there was now some fear that the meeting might have ended
tragically, when Clarke interposed, and said it were better now
to dissolve the meeting, which he did with prayer. I have
deliberated much what in such a case one ought to do. It is
grievous to witness such proceedings. But I have thought
that it is certainly best to leave the vindication of His own

ZACHARY MACAULAY 139
cause to God, especially as the smallest interference of mine
would be construed into persecution, and might tend to mar
Clarke's usefulness more than all the malice of his opponents.
'May 31. — The man who was lately rescued from the hold
of a slave-ship begged permission to return to his native
country. He had scarce gone away when it was discovered
that some one had made free with my forks and spoons, and
suspicion naturally fastened itself on him. He was pursued
and overtaken, and my property being found on him, he was
brought back. I felt more mortified that the hopes I had
indulged of having inspired him with some sense of gratitude
had proved groundless, than I should have been at losing the
things he stole. On asking a reason for his conduct, he
answered with the utmost unconcern that he could not think
of going home empty handed : and that he had nothing, while
I had too much. He would not be convinced that he had com
mitted a crime : he had only taken what he wanted, and what
I could spare. I was quite amused with finding in a savage
African the grand principle of the modern refined system of
politics. 'fune 1. — We received intelligence of the death of our friend
and neighbour King Jammy.
'fune 2. — A message came requesting my attendance at King
Jammy's funeral. I did not choose to go, and Gray went in my
stead with Clarke. They found the natives engaged in talking
to the corpse, and in putting a number of questions to it with
a view of discovering the authors of his death. In the coffin
with the body, which was dressed in his best suit, was put his
umbrella, cravats, and all his other finery. The master of the
ceremonies then asked Gray to say something to King Jammy,
on my behalf, who was his friend, and to pray for him. Gray
declined this proposal, but Clarke gladly accepted it, and prayed
for a considerable time, not for King Jammy, but for those who
were around him.
'fune 3. — A vessel sailed to-day for Barbados loaded with
slaves. I took the occasion to send by it to Governor Rickets
some suggestions with respect to the best plan of circulating
the Cheap Repository Tracts through his island. I also sent
specimens of the Tracts to friends in Barbados and St. Kitts,
with letters pointing out their object, and the best mode of
circulating them.
' A vessel sailed for the Rio Pongo, and I took the oppor
tunity of sending to the Slave-trader Tool, with whom I had a
serious conversation at the factory in the Rio Pongo,1 some of
the most striking of the Tracts and a New Testament.
1 See page 128.

140 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
'Sunday, fune 5. — Tilley was still with us; indeed I generally
urge his stay whenever he visits me ; and I sometimes flatter
myself that it is in consequence of this that a considerable
change in his manners and conversation is evident to all. I
took him of course to church, and made a point of his attending
the Sunday-school, and I did not fail to call Tilley's attention
in a particular manner to the performance of the native children,
some of whom had been rescued from the hold of slave-ships,
and who therefore furnished a fair specimen of what might be
expected from the hundreds he yearly consigns to that state.
'fune 11. — Captain Ready of the Isabella from Liverpool
dined with me. He appeared anxious to impress us with a
favourable opinion of his humanity, and was therefore very
liberal in his censures on slave captains in general, and in his
commendations of that benevolence which led to the formation
of this Settlement. To strengthen the favourable impression he
judged he had made, he told us the following story of himself.
" During my voyage last year to the Gold Coast, a girl, who
had been pledged for a debt, was sold to me. The girl's mother,
unable to brook her loss, came on board with two other children,
and begged permission to accompany her daughter. I was
quite overcome, and really could not withstand her entreaties,
so I permitted them to go. They were above the common run
of people, and I paid them great attention, and you cannot
conceive, sir, before the voyage was ended, what an affection
they all had for me. They loved me as a father, and indeed I
could not help feeling something of a father's love for them ;
and when I came to part with them I felt much, and as for them,
they were like to break their hearts. However, I took particular
care they should all be sold to one man." The beginning ofthe
story had led me to hope that I should have had one fair act of
a slave captain wherewith to gild the gloomy annals of the
Slave Trade, nor could I believe for a moment or two that he
had brought his tale to a conclusion. Habituated as I have
been to African humanity, I was yet in doubt whether I had
heard the account he gave with sufficient attention. The
assumption of humanity was such a barefaced assumption, that
I scarce knew what to say. But Clarke, less used to the peculiar
mode which exists on this coast of appreciating the worth of
actions, began to set before him the flagitiousness of his conduct,
and to remind him of the account he must one day render.
Ready appeared quite dismayed by this unlooked-for attack. His
colour left him, and he said tremblingly : " Sir, I am but a poor
man, and am kept by necessity in this trade. I detest it, but
what can a poor man do? In two years more I shall be well to
do in the world, and then I intend to give it up and do better."

ZACHARY MACAULAY 141
' I was seized to-day with a violent fever which continued for
eight-and-forty hours without a remission.
' Sunday, fune \g.- — I was not so well yet as to venture out.
The noted Captain Walker, known by the name of Beau Walker,
passed to-day to Bance Island in an American slave-ship of
which he is owner. He came on the coast with several vessels
under his directions, some of which he had already sent off fully
slaved. One of them had taken on board a hundred slaves in
the Sherbro, when about a week ago the slaves rose, killed the
captain, ran the vessel aground, and made their way ashore.
The vessel not being insured, the loss is estimated at near four
thousand pounds.
' Clarke lectured in the evening. In his proof of the truth of
Scriptures he was ingenious, but far beyond the comprehension
of his hearers. This is an error his academic education exposes
him to, but he tries to correct it, and I take care to remind him
of it whenever I find him soaring out of sight.'

FROM DR. WINTERBOTTOM. London, June 23, 1796.
My DEAR Friend, — Our voyage was a very pleasant one.
We arrived at Bristol after a passage of forty-six days. On
Saturday Mr. Dawes received a letter from Mr. Thornton
desiring us to go to Cowslip Green on Saturday night, and
stay the Sunday, in order to attend ' the ladies ' on their visit
to the schools ; but this did not prevent our visit to Miss Mills.
Mr. Dawes, in going, said, ' How shall we introduce ourselves,
and how will they know who is who ? It is rather awkward ! '
' Oh, not at all,' I replied; 'they know all about us, you may
be sure, and perhaps much more than we do ourselves.' We
were received with great kindness, and in a very little time
our conversation turned upon Sierra Leone. They all appeared
extremely anxious to hear of it ; the minutest particular was
listened to with pleasure and attention. Miss Selina was very
particular with Mr. Dawes and me, separately, in asking how
you spend your time and amused yourself, fearing you might at
times be dull, and seemed to add with a sigh, ' How happy
should I be in some of his anxious moments to soothe his cares!'
There is indeed a great deal of kindness and goodness in the
whole family, but in Miss Selina there is something so insinuating
and soft that I do not wonder at the encomiums I have heard
given to her. Her voice is extremely harmonious, and should
you ever be low spirited, I think it must have upon you the
effect which David's harp had upon Saul. She asked me- if I
did not think you disposed at times to be gloomy. I told hef

142 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
that was an observation I had made and mentioned to you, that
after breakfast, when engaged in business, your look was so
grave as almost to frighten me, and that I had told you of it. I
said I believed it was put on, as at those times I could always
speak to you on a cheerful subject with the same freedom as
usual. I said I thought you far from being inclined to gloom ;
on the contrary, rather of an opposite cast, though never inclined
to a very high flow of spirits. She appeared pleased. We
stayed here till nine o'clock at night ; indeed I had no wish to
Stir. We then set off in a post-chaise for Cowslip Green, where
we did not arrive till twelve o'clock ; when, fearing to disturb
the family, we stayed all night at the Bell,a. little, shabby public-
house before you come to Cowslip Green. We went early in
the morning to wait upon the ladies, from whom we received a
hearty scold for staying in such a vile place. Unfortunately for
us, Miss Hannah More was very unwell, so that we could not
see her that day. Miss Patty also was not very well, but this
did not prevent her going out with us in a post-chaise to visit
her little flocks. I recollect what you said of her at Sierra
Leone : ' Patty More has the zeal of a seraph.' I did not much
attend to it then, but when I saw her speak to the children,
instructing and encouraging them, I was struck with the just
ness of your remark. I never witnessed a more delightful
spectacle, it was charming even to distress, my heart felt more
than I could express, and had it not been for the most violent
efforts, my eyes would have betrayed its feelings. It was indeed
a delicious treat; how much did we lament that you had not
seen it ; every person must be benefited by it, and teachers
might here become scholars and profit by it. How can the men
have been so blind to Patty More's merits? it ought to have
been a national concern, and so much goodness should have
been married, even though it had been enforced by Act of
Parliament. The other ladies at Cowslip Green are also very pleasing.
Miss More has benevolence seated in her countenance ; Sally is
cheerful, lively, and engaging ; indeed it is a delightful society.
We stayed there all night, and could not get away till the
following evening. Hannah More still continued sick, but after
dinner on Monday was so good as to come down and chat,
though evidently much disordered by her asthmatic complaint.
We left them with regret, and did not reach Bristol time enough
to go to Park Street. We went there the next evening to tea,
Miss Selina had a bonnet on the first night, but to-night was so
good as to put on a cap, which gave me a very good view of her
face. I thought it more lovely than ever. I cannot now enter
into particulars ; these I will reserve for a better opportunity.
Suffice it to say that I have never seen a more amiable, engaging

ZACHARY MACAULAY 143
behaviour than that of Miss Selina. There is so much sweet
ness in all she says, and so much mildness in all her actions,
that the heart of a miser might be warmed to acts of generosity
by the spark of goodness which he would catch from her charms.
Remember me, I pray you, to Mr. Clarke, to Gray, and Garvin.
This gentleman played me a slippery trick in sending home a
letter about me, but I forgive him, as I feel sure it was well
meant. I cannot avoid thinking of you sometimes with tears
of affection. May you be happy, and may every plan of yours
be attended with the blessings you deserve ! This is the sincere
wish of one who can only offer an unworthy prayer for your
success, but who affectionately esteems you. — Ever yours,
W. Winterbottom.
'June 27. — Rodway, one of the Baptist Missionaries, has
given me by his conduct reason to think highly of his prin
ciples. He has employed himself during the rains in teaching
a school at Granville Town on the Company's account. At that
place there are two meetings of Methodists, whose preachers
sometimes seem to contend which shall bawl the loudest. Some
of their expressions, as noticed by him, are curious enough.
" May thy word be quick and powerful, sharper than a two-
edged sword, to cut sin from joint to joint and from marrow to
marrow." When praying for their friends, whom they conceive
not converted, it is common for them to say, " Lord, take them
and shake them over the belly of hell, but do not let them drop
in." I was again taken ill with fever to-day.
'Friday, fuly 1. — A ship arrived in the river. The captain
said he and two other vessels had been attacked by Renaud.
He made a shift to escape, the other two were taken. It is
surprising that Government does not send a couple of frigates
to beat up Renaud's quarters at Goree.
'Monday, fuly 4. — I was considerably recruited, but not strong
enough to venture to church yesterday. Several irregularities
having lately taken place from a power assumed by one or two
of the Methodist preachers of marrying, I thought it advisable
to make some regulations which might go to prevent the evil.
Fearing, however, that this might disturb the quiet of those
families, the heads of which had been irregularly contracted, I
prefaced the regulation respecting future marriages by a declara
tion that all previous marriages, however celebrated, should be
reputed valid, where bigamy could not be proved on either of
the parties. I also drew up some regulations relative to bastards.
These being agreed to in Council, were sent to the Hundreders
and Tithingmen for their approbation ; and after a debate of
three or four hours were carried by a large majority.
'fuly 8, 1796. — The law respecting marriages was published

144 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
this day. You will see that in the framing of it, I stuck as close
to the English Law, as laid down by Judge Blackstone in the
15th Chapter of the ist Book of his Commentaries, as our
circumstances would allow. I also avoided any definition of
who were persons in holy orders. No sooner had the notice
met David George's eye than he began to exclaim most
outrageously against it, talked loudly of the violation of their
religious rights, and of the call there was to resist such acts
even to blood. He came to Clarke to vent his rage. Clarke
tried to reason with him, and pointed out to him that the
law was not compulsive but declaratory. It declared what it
was which by the law of England constituted a legal marriage.
David's passions were too violently agitated to attend to
reasoning. He then went to some of the most disaffected of
the Methodist leaders, who, till he called their attention to the
subject, thought little about it.
fuly 9. — David George and his coadjutors were still busy in
calling the attention of the people to the flagrant violation
attempted of their religious rights. To-morrow was the day
fixed on for carrying into effect their intention of a general and
strong remonstrance. But David George, though he had suc
ceeded in stirring up the Methodists, was not equally successful
with his own people, who are in general sober-minded and
temperate men ; and though he laboured all day to give them
his own views, he found them backward. The fear of losing his
influence over them induced him to reconsider the matter in the
evening, and he resolved, by the advice of Cooper, who happened
to meet with him, to have some conversation with me before he
proceeded further.
' Sunday, fuly 10. — I was far from being well, but both Lowes
and Guest being taken ill, and there being three others confined
with fever, I was obliged to move about. In the evening, as I
returned home, full of anxiety for these young men, I learned
that there had been a tumultuary assembly of the Methodists
to-day. The people were told by Garvin and Beveshout that
their religious rights were now to be taken from them, and that
it became them to act a firm part. A letter was then read to
them which it was proposed to send to me signed by the names
of all present. I felt grieved that a Sunday should have been
so employed, and I began to lay my account too with such
another disturbance as we had in June 1794, and was of course
not quite at ease in the anticipation. On such occasions what
I find the greatest cordial to my mind, is a retrospect of the
last four years of my life. He who hath delivered us in times
past has still the government in His hands. He will deliver us,
if He sees fit; if not, submission becomes a duty to be per-
formed, not by constraint, but willingly.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 145
'fuly 11. — David George came to me this morning. He saw
the mischief his intemperate conduct was likely to cause ; and
as he grew more cool he began to tremble at it. I appeared to
him as if I were wholly ignorant of what had passed, and
welcomed him as usual. In his ordinary lowly strain he told
me that his mind had been a little disturbed about my advertise
ment, and he had now taken the liberty of asking me the real
object of it. I told him with great frankness the reasons for it,
in the same way as I should have done had I been ignorant of
the transactions of the last three days. He said, " You have
quite satisfied my mind. I see the Governor is right in what
he has done. Some bad people wanted to make me believe
you were going to shut our meetings." Having brought him
to make this concession, I threw off my reserve. I told him all
I knew of his conduct ; painted to him how peculiarly flagrant
such a conduct was in, him, who had occasion, above all men in
the place, to know that I was ready at all times to give a reason
for my conduct ; and concluded with saying that I should
charge on his head all the mischief which his intemperance
might cause. " The Governor is right," he answered, " but I
will not stay to talk with you now. I will make haste down
and try to prevent mischief." On going down he found the
Methodist preachers met, and talking with much heat and
clamour, and Cooper in the midst of them, endeavouring to
bring them to a better mind. His endeavours, I believe, would
have been in vain, had not David George come in. " I have
been up the Hill," says David, "and the Governor has satisfied
my mind. Take my advice, and do as I have done ; you will
repent any hasty step you take. I will have nothing more to
do in it. Mr. Macaulay is right ; and if you speak to him, you
will see he is." Cooper told me that this speech struck them
all dumb, and left them nothing to say.
In the course of the forenoon, however, there was another
meeting of them, at which Garvin was present. He took pains
to persuade them of the propriety of still sending in their
remonstrance and succeeded. Beveshout was delighted to
present it. This he did with many a low bow, saying he had
brought His Excellency a humble and respectful petition from
the body of Methodists. There never to be sure was a more
barefaced misnomer, as you shall see.
THE INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH OF FREETOWN
TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL.
GENTLEMEN, — We have reason to believe that you have
entertained no very exalted idea of our loyalty and attachment
K

146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
to you on several occasions heretofore, and we are sorry that any
cause should be given us to conduct ourselves in such a manner,
as still to confirm you in your suspicion of us. But when we
see our religious rights struck at, all regard for our own character
is lost from our view, and our only concern is to persevere in
our loyalty and attachment to the Governor of the universe,
whose wc are and whom we serve. We consider this new law
as an encroachment on our religious rights ; and as such we not
only mean to be inattentive to it, but to influence the minds of
all we have to do with against it. Gentlemen, while you blame
our fire, you must commend our honesty. We cloak nothing,
we tell you openly and sincerely what we mean, and there may
a time come when you will acknowledge ' Faithful are the
wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.'
We must acknowledge that your advertisement is very dis
gusting to us, for we are Dissenters, and esteem it our privilege
to be so, and as such we consider ourselves a perfect Church,
having no need of the assistance of any worldly power to
appoint or perform religious ceremonies for us. If persons in
holy orders are allowed to marry, we see no reason why our
Ministers should not do it. Our meeting-house we count as fit
for any religious purpose as the house you call the church. We
cannot persuade ourselves that politics and religion have any
connection, and therefore think it not right for a Governor of
the one to be meddling with the other. — We remain, gentlemen,
with respect, your most obedient servants, (Signed by 12S names).
' Having cast my eye over the letter, I told the bearer of it,
with an air of perfect indifference, that he might tell those who
had written it that their letter had proceeded wholly on a mis
take, marriage not being a religious but a civil ordinance, the
regulation of the mode of which was the business of the makers
of the Law and not of the preachers of the Gospel ; and that
their fears of an invasion of their religious rights were alto
gether groundless. I thought it prudent to say little more
then. Mr. Beveshout made a very low bow, thanked me for
correcting their mistake, and said his own mind was satisfied,
and he should satisfy the minds of the others. ' But,' said he,
' there is another thing we want. We want to have all our
officers, Hundreders, Tithingmen, and Sheriffs changed. We
want to have a new election.' I made a very short answer to
this. I told him that was still less the business of preachers
than the Other. There should be a new election when I saw
fit, which should be when the proper time came, and with this
he left me. Thus did this storm blow over, surprising me by

ZACHARY MACAULAY 147
its easy termination still more than by its unreasonable com
mencement. There has been a Petty Court instituted for the
trial of slight offences, such as riotous behaviour in the streets,
abusive language, and selling spirits without a licence, which
has the power of punishment by fine, imprisonment, and cor
poral punishment. The business of our Quarterly Court is
thus much lessened.
' When the business of the Court was over, I called the
attention of a numerous assembly to the letter I had received
from the Methodists. I began with stating from Blackstone
what the English law said respecting Marriage. This being
the case, I said, it was with some surprise that I had read a
letter signed by one hundred and twenty-eight of the Settlers,
in which they declared it to be their purpose not only to be
inattentive to a law published on the subject of marriage, which
was further sanctioned by the deliberate vote of their own
representatives, but to do their utmost against it. Observing
that the minds of my hearers were impressed as I could wish
with this plain state of the case, I proceeded to show them, in
the strongest terms I could find, the impropriety of such
language as was held forth in the letter, and to say that its
spirit was that of rebellion itself. The majority of those who
had signed it I believed were not aware of this. But however
I might acquit them of a criminal intent, I never could acquit
them of weakness, inconsideration, and folly.
' In consequence of what I said I had scarce got to Thornton
Hill, when numbers of those, whose names I had called over as
affixed to the letter, came to me, some protesting that their
names were there without their knowledge, others expressing
the utmost sorrow for having been led to sign it. They told
me that the letter had been read to them, but that they did not
understand it ; and that Garvin had told them it was merely to
say that they were Methodists, and that they meant to continue
so. They had said that they had no objection to say so, and
accordingly gave in their names, and this was all they knew of
the matter.'

FROM THOMAS BABINGTON, ESQ.
Sid7nouth, July 20, 1797.
My DEAR ZACHARY, — I have had several letters from you
since I wrote. We have also had the high satisfaction of
seeing Miss Mills, who is still with us, and for whom we have
the greatest affection and esteem. She has now lived with us
near a month, and as we have had no other company in the
house, we must have seen a great deal of her in that quiet kind

148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
of intercourse which lays the heart most open, and we have
formed a very high opinion of her principles and dispositions,
particularly of her ardent desire to improve both under the
influence of the Holy Spirit. She is affectionate, candid,
strikingly sincere, much more free from excesses and vagaries
either in her opinions or feelings than is usual among religious
young women, and yet with that sort of variety in her sentiments
and life in her manner which makes her a very agreeable com
panion. If I know her and you, she will, as a wife, both
command your esteem and suit your taste in a higher degree
than you now suppose, even though most lovers exaggerate a
good deal in their opinions of the object of their affections. I
have seen no particular marks of vanity in her, notwithstanding
what we had heard, and I am sure she is far from deficient in
feeling, according to the standard I form to myself of what is
desirable in that respect. I have been trying to point out
particular faults, but, though all her attainments must be, and
visibly are imperfect in their degree, yet I can fix on nothing
prominent, except rather too much haste in forming and ex
pressing her opinions, and perhaps they are apt to be too
decisive. She certainly is not guilty of obstinacy in retaining
them, but listens very candidly to any one who thinks differ
ently. After all, she is not rash and strong in her opinions in
any striking degree, and I am uncertain whether this fault in
her may not have proceeded almost entirely from female quick
ness of perception and vivacity, and indeed most women have
more of it than Miss Mills. As I said before, she has greatly
increased our affection and esteem for her; and even ifshe had
not the very strong claim on us which arises from her connec
tion with you, we should be desirous of a lasting acquaintance
and friendship with such a woman. Her understanding is
good, and her mind pretty active ; she is fond of poetry, but, as
I suspect, has not a good taste in it.
You know how sincerely we should rejoice at your alarm
about the French proving groundless. The picture you give
of what passed in your own mind at the time interested me
exceedingly. I heartily wish that on all emergencies I may
be employed as you were on the occasion in question in some
good degree, in searching after the spiritual advantage God
offers me in them ! Except this is our main endeavour and
practice, we cannot be said to walk by faith, or to have our
conversation in Heaven. But on such occasions what a torrent
of worldly agitation and anxiety rush on the mind with a force
which we have no power of our own to resist, and which the
flesh and the Devil would fain persuade us is irresistible ! How
can those hope to weather the storm who have not made it

ZACHARY MACAULAY 149
their first care in their days of peace and prosperity to secure a
friend in the great Pilot, and engage him to take up his abode
with them. — Yours affectionately, T. BABINGTON.
'fuly 27. — Mr. Grigg called on me to-day. I told him my
purpose of writing to his friends in England respecting
him, together with the opinion of his character I had
formed. His tone was very high and lofty. His peace
should not, he said, be disturbed by anything which pre
judice might dictate or malice misrepresent. I told him that I
was so far from being prejudiced against him, or from wishing
to misrepresent his conduct, that I had taken the measure of
sending for himself before I should venture to say anything
against him ; and that, if the facts which formed the ground of
my judgment were disproved, I should feel bound to relinquish
the opinion I had formed. I then stated without any comment
whatever the facts, and asked him to express whether I was
accurate in my statement. He was not content with barely
giving his assent to the circumstances I had alleged, but he
avowed them, and seemed to glory in them. On the supposi
tion of what he said being true, I asked him to assign a good
motive for spreading reports which he knew must create ani
mosities. He boldly replied, that with respect to the means he
had used for alienating the people's minds from my measures,
he considered it was for the happiness of a community to
be divided in political sentiments. I availed myself of this
strange position to rally him a little on his rather opposite
functions of preacher of the Gospel of peace, and systematic
promoter of political differences. I at length really began to
pity him, for he appeared himself to be quite confounded with
the variety of matter there was against him, and with the
extreme folly of the whole of his conduct.
'fuly 29. — Mr. Grigg came this forenoon to know what line
of conduct I meant to pursue towards him with respect to
salary. I told him that I should continue his salary till an
answer could be had from England ; when, if not expressly
commanded by the Court of Directors to observe a contrary
conduct, I should cease to be the medium of conveying pro
tection or support to him as a Missionary. A similar discussion
to what we had yesterday took place, but his tone was now
widely different. He appeared to be quite overwhelmed with
a sense, not of the evil he had done, but of the inconvenience
he had brought on himself.
'fuly 30. — Mr. Peterkin1 brought up some depositions, which
had been made before him at the instance of David George, by
1 The principal clerk in the Secretary's department.

150 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
several people, all tending to show how industrious Grigg had
been in exciting dissensions in the Colony. I sent for Grigg
and read the affidavits to him, and proposed to him the
measure of quitting the Colony to save himself all further
trouble, and offered him a passage in the next ship to England.
His high spirit seemed now completely broken, and he
appeared so much an object of compassion that I did all in my
power to raise his spirits by directing him to those considera
tions which I thought he ought to entertain, and to those
improvements which might be made of his past imprudence,
and of the evils caused thereby.
'August i. — Mr. Garvin called on me to-day to beg that I
would furnish him with some means of getting off the Colony.
I took the opportunity of questioning him with respect to cer
tain parts of his conduct. He told me, in an exulting tone,
that both the Methodist letter and that of the Baptists (which
had not been delivered) were in his possession, in the hand
writing of the original framers. I am not sure that the law
would justify me in what I did on this information, but as I
deemed those writings to be of a dangerous and seditious
tendency, I thought I should at least have many precedents to
bear me out in directing the Marshal to seize and bring before
me all Mr. Garvin's papers, which he did, Garvin still present.
But after casting an eye over them, it appeared that the papers
in question were not among them. Garvin was violently
agitated during the whole of this proceeding ; and when his
papers were returned to him, he made the best of his way
home, without waiting for an answer to his request respecting
a passage. ' September 3. — A little before midnight, hearing the sound
of a good many feet moving rapidly towards my house, I started
up, and the first words which met my ear were " The French are
in the river's mouth." Terror and consternation appeared in
the faces of the Settlers. A decent-looking European came
forward, and told me that he had been carpenter of the ship
Speedwell of Liverpool, a slave-ship trading at Cape Mount;
that while there, about eleven days ago, two French privateers
captured the Speedwell, together with the Company's sloop
Ocean ; that there was then in possession of the Frenchmen the
ship Atlantic, which they had taken a few days before, bound
from London to Sierra Leone, having on board letters for
me ; that yesterday morning the larger privateer, on board of
which he was, had called at the Bananas, and there taken a
large ship newly arrived from Liverpool ; that this morning
the)- had passed Cape Sierra Leone in their way to the Isles de
Los, where they expected to take some valuable prizes. That,

ZACHARY MACAULAY 151
as they were crossing the river's mouth, they had met with a
trading boat of one of the Settlers, on board of which they put
him and seven seamen, giving them their clothes, bedding, and
provisions, to carry them to Freetown ; that they had refused
my brother or his people permission to return, in the hope that
the offer of some great reward might tempt them to pilot the
vessels into the Rio Pongo ; and finally, that there was no
intention whatever in the people on board to enter this river,
as they apprehended their force to be inadequate to the attack
either of this place or Bance Island.
' September 4. — I sent Mr. Gray to Bance Island in the morn
ing with the news, and an offer of fifty to a hundred volunteers,
if Tilley should think it right to send the Elizabeth Anderson
in quest ofthe Frenchmen. Two boats full of English seamen
were put on shore to-day here.
'September 5. — Mr. Gray returned from Bance Island. Mr.
Tilley declined sending the Elizabeth Anderson, and gave very
sufficient reasons for so doing.
' Being anxious for the letters said to have been on board the
Atlantic, as well as for the safety of the Ocean's people, I re
solved on sending a flag of truce to the Isles de Los. The
Providence was accordingly despatched, and in it Mr. Graham,
who voluntarily offered himself for the service. I wrote by him
a letter to the French captain, urging the delivery of the
Ocean's crew, and the private letters found in the Atlantic. In
case my application should be fruitless, I wrote to my brother,
directing him how to act when he got to Goree, and inclosing
a few lines to Renaud (to whom both the privateers chiefly
belonged), who, I knew, would be disposed to treat him kindly,
and to procure, if possible, the letters for me. I likewise
despatched a boat to Bance Island, to propose to Mr Tilley
the sending a vessel, with the least possible delay, express to
Europe, for the purpose of making Government acquainted
with the state of jeopardy in which we were, and applying for
assistance. In the course of a short time, by arming the prizes
now in their possession, the force of the French will be too
formidable either for this establishment or Bance Island to
resist. His answer, which I received next day, intimated his
intention of complying with my proposal as soon as a vessel of
his, now in the Sherbro, had returned.
'September 6. — The seamen sent ashore from the French
privateers began to be noisy and riotous. I caused one of them
who was most forward to be apprehended, and proceeded to try
him and pass sentence of whipping upon him in a summary
way. I offered work to all of them till an opportunity occurred
of quitting the Colony, provided they conducted themselves

152 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
soberly, hut this was an offer which only one or two
accepted. ' September 8. — The American, Captain Benson, the same who
appeared as my champion when abused by my old friends of
Jamaica, and who last year wrote to you, inclosing a newspaper
with his vindication of me, arrived in the river from the Gold
Coast. He yesterday fell in with the smallest of the two French
privateers which was cruising in the entrance of the river,
while the larger was somewhere about the Isles de Los. The
officers of the privateer breakfasted on board his vessel, but
they showed not the most distant intention of paying us a visit
ashore. He had been at most of the Forts on the Gold Coast,
and among the rest at the Danish Fort of Accra,1 where culti
vation is carrying on at a very spirited rate. The Governor
and other officers of that Fort are bound by oath not to deal
in slaves, though from their situation they are bound to afford
protection to Danish Slave-traders, while the trade is allowed
to subsist. He spoke of the Governor and his lady as religious
characters ; much regard is paid to religion both in public and
private, and much is doing in the way of education.
' September g. — In the afternoon Mr. Graham and my brother
appeared. When the first congratulations were over they
put into my hand a packet superscribed with your hand,2
and accompanied by a note from the French captain to the
following effect : — ' " Abord de ' L'A/rieazn,' en rode des Isles de Los
ce 22 fructidor. An 4"".
' " MONSIEUR, — Bien loin de vouloir amener monsieur votre
frere a Goree; au contraire je l'ai mene jusquaux Isles de Los,
dans l'intention de le renvoyer, car dans le moment que le
bateau 3 est arrive' je hatois a l'expedier avec une peniche que
je lui ai fait present.
'"II est vrai, j'ai visite vos lettres. Yous n'ignorez pas que
c'est la loi de la guerre, mais soyez persuades qu'il n'y a pas
aucune de manque et que c'est tout ce que j'ai pu voir jusq'a
present sauf l'avenir.
' " J'avais l'honneur de remettre votre lettre a M. Renaud, mais
c'est les loix de la guerre qui l'obligent a faire ce qu'il a fait.
II y a arrete abord du bateau4 deux de vos gens. Soyez per
suades que la premiere occasion je vous les enverrai. Salut,
fraternitc. Valentine."
1 By a Convention which came into force on the ist of Tanuary 186S, Accra and
other forts on the Coast became British.
- It will bo remembered that this Journal is addressed to Mr. Henry Thornton.
3 Providence. * Oeea/i.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 153
'The letters, as M. Valentine candidly confesses, had all
been broke open and read. They were not, however, the less
acceptable. 'The intention of the French was to proceed to the Rio
Pongo and Rio Nunez, in which are four large slave-ships. They
offered my brother the value of fifty slaves, and also a ship, if
he would pilot them, but he declined. They made the same
offer to several others, but they had not, at the time my brother
came away, succeeded in getting one who would undertake the
task. Their treatment of their prisoners was uniformly proper,
and in some cases generous. They were careful in returning to
individuals their private property. When my brother left them
they gave him a pinnace worth about fifty pounds sterling, to
make up for his loss of a quadrant and some other things which
were lost in the hurry of taking possession of the vessel. A
good many British seamen have entered on board the privateer,
induced by the hope of prize-money. The discipline on board
is very lax. All the officers, down to the captains of guns, who
on board the Africain are twenty-two in number, and almost
all blacks, eat at the same table with the captain.
We have now a battery on the eastern extremity with five
twelve-pounders, and one on the point beyond the watering-
place on the west with the same number. In the centre of
the town there is one mounted with two six and a few four-
pounders. The guns we have, having had their trunnions broke
off by the French, we have been obliged to make use of a very
clumsy contrivance for rendering them at all serviceable ; and
I should think them not likely to stand above half-a-dozen
rounds at most.'

TO THOMAS BABINGTON, ESQ.
Freetown, Sept. 28, 1796.
My DEAR BABINGTON, — I scarce dare to use expressions of
sorrow even while my mind reflects on the recent loss we have
all sustained in the death of your excellent brother. His joy
is full, for he has entered into that of his Lord.
At present my brother is employed in his own department.
I have nothing new to say of him, for, though I see a good deal
of him, I really know less of his opinions, principles, and private
conduct than I do of those of any other servant of the Company.
No one speaks freely of Alexander to me, as they will of others,
and he himself continues as pertinaciously silent as ever on
those points which might lead me to some acquaintance with
his views. I often speak at him, and that in a way which I
should expect would lead him to think a little ; but there is

154 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
no speaking to him but in a didactic way, which, with one of
my perhaps severe disposition, is a way not likely to do good.
I take care, however, not to lose any opportunity of trying to
affect his mind with right views. What a comfort it would be
to one in my situation to have a person, entitled to affection
on other accounts, of such a kindred mind as to encourage
an unreserved confidence.
A letter from Miss Mills made me acquainted with the arrival
of Dawes and Winterbottom at Bristol. I was pleased to find
that she was on the point of accompanying those gentlemen to
Sidmouth, where you then were. Had I had the wings of a
dove, and a presentiment of the happy assemblage, I think I
should have made long stages across the Desert of Sahara to
have joined it. Unfortunately before reaching me, Miss Mills's
letter had been carefully perused by the captain of the French
privateer into whose hands it unluckily fell. In consequence
of something she said in it of a vessel sailing for the Bananas,
he was induced to call there, which he would not otherwise have
done, and was so fortunate as to find at that place a prize worth
ten thousand pounds, for which he thanks her.
You will be surprised perhaps to hear that I have not the
same earnest wishes to gratify in prevailing on Selina to become
an African Missionary that I had while in England. The
constant state of irritation and alarm in which we have been
kept since May last, and my own frequent indisposition, have
rather tended to wean my mind a little from the thoughts of
a permanent residence here in a family capacit)-. I will not
venture to say that the situation in which I find myself with
respect to her has had no effect on my health of late, but I
can say that I have thanked God a thousand times for having
crossed my wishes so far as that she should not be here at
present, to share all the unpleasantness of our unquiet and
restless state.
May God's blessing accompany you and yours at all times.
— Believe me to be most affectionately yours,
Z. Macau lav.

TO MISS MILLS.
Oetolvr I, 1796.
My dear Selina, — I am much pleased with the account you
give of the improved state of your own health, and I hope your
jaunt to Sidmouth would contribute not a little to confirm it.
There is something in the economy of Babington's house which
has always the effect on me of producing a tranquil state of
mind. Babington's own mind, though uncommonly active, is

ZACHARY MACAULAY 155
always so calm and unruffled, and the beamings of a benevolent
heart are always playing so visibly in his countenance, that
every one feels a kind of sympathetic effect produced on him
self before he is aware. I have never met with any who handles
those wounds which sorrow makes on the mind with such skill
and tenderness as Babington. He has a peculiar talent of
administering consolation to mourners ; and even, when he has
occasion to convey reproof, he contrives to make the motive
of love appear so prominent, that even then is one forced to
love him most.
I owe you some account of the particular manner in which I
spend my day. I awake from sleep generally as the daylight
enters my window, and I almost always get up as soon as I
awake. After reflecting for a few seconds on the goodness of
God in guarding me during the silent watches of the night,
my first care is to run my eye, or perhaps a perspective glass,
along the horizon to see whether there be any vessels in the
offiing. I then proceed to dress, which as I always do it at
once for the whole day, employs about half an hour. By the
time all this has been done it is generally after six. After my
devotions I read a passage in the original Greek Testament in
order, comparing it, as far as I am able, critically with our trans
lation and Doddridge's very excellent exposition. Having
done this, I consider it for a few minutes in a practical or
devotional point of view, and perhaps put into words a few
of those desires which the scope of the passage suggests.
About five minutes more may be taken up in a general antici
pation of the work of the day, and in calling up proper con
siderations to strengthen me to meet with foreseen difficulties.
I make also a point of employing ten to fifteen minutes in
casting my eye over the passage which I am to read to my
family, and considering whether there be anything peculiar
in the state of any of them, or in the state of the place in
general, which ought to be noticed in one's prayers. All these
things, with occasional interruptions, giving necessary direc
tions, etc., fill up the time till eight o'clock comes, when a bell
rings as a signal for all to meet. The time employed in
family devotions is seldom more than ten or twelve minutes,
for I wish to make it a point that it should not be a wearisome
service to any.
At seven in the evening I again generally retire. The first
thing I do is to make a few memorandums respecting the
occurrences of the day, which I only make very short, to serve
me when I have time to write my diary. I then spend about
a quarter of an hour in particular intercessions for all whom I
am bound to have in my remembrance, and of whom I keep a

156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
list for this very purpose, in whatever part of the world they
may be. After this I read a passage in the Greek Testament,
and proceed with it exactly as in the morning. The time that
is left after this before the bell rings at eight o'clock is em
ployed in bestowing a thought on our family exercises.
In general, however, we do not separate till ten, when I
employ a little time in reviewing the actions, trials, and provi
dences of the day, and making suitable addresses respecting
them. After which I pass the time till I am disposed to fall
asleep, which is seldom sooner than half-past eleven, in reading
some amusing book, as history, lives, or travels. A few seconds
then serve to commend myself to God, and a few seconds more
to make me lose all care and consciousness for the next five
or six hours. — Ever yours, Z. MACAULAY.
'November ig, 1796. — I called together the Hundreders
and Tithingmen to-day, with the view of drawing their attention
to the subject of a permanent constitution for the Colony. I
acquainted them with the outlines of the one I meant to
propose. I told them at the same time that I had no further
view at present than to excite attention to so important a
subject, but that the final determination with respect to its
adoption would be postponed till the new election had taken
place in December. One of my chief objects in meeting them
was to adopt measures for putting our militia on a respectable
footing, a point of the first magnitude in our present state of
uncertainty and alarm. I proposed that a Committee of their
number should be commissioned to enrol every Settler capable
of bearing arms ; that the roll being completed, a division
should be made of the Settlers into companies of thirty-five
men each, that each of these companies should choose a
captain, lieutenant, and three sergeants from among them
selves ; and that the sole appointment of the field-officers
should rest with the Commander-in-chief. To these proposals
a ready assent was given.
'November 30. — Mr. Grigg called on me to beg that I would
use my interest in procuring for him a passage to America in
a ship shortly to sail from Bance Island.
' I advised him to give up thoughts of America, and to adopt
the only line of conduct which I thought became him as a
Christian, which was, not to shrink from inquiry, but to return
to England, and give his employers the meeting. To this
plan Grigg was altogether averse. He could not think of
returning to England, he said. Should he fail in procuring
a passage to America, he meant to engage himself as a clerk
in some slave factory. I remonstrated very strongly against

ZACHARY MACAULAY 157
this strange resolution, and tried to convince him how far
better it was to suffer than to sin. But all I could say pro
duced little effect. The more I reflected on this shocking
determination of Griggs, the more anxious I was to divert him
from it. It occurred to me that the declaimers against Missions
would find it a convenient incident for their purpose, that one
of the first men who came to Africa's sons, charged with the
Gospel of peace, should himself become a dealer in slaves.
I begged of Mr. Clarke to call on him in hopes of bringing him
to a better mind. Clarke called on him, and though it was
only a little after nine in the morning when he called, he found
Grigg sipping at a large pint tumbler of rum-and-water.
Clarke pressed on him the duty of going to England. "Sir,"
said' Grigg, "what should I do there ? I could not live under
such a Government. My principles are such that our tyrants
would soon have me up. My principles would not allow me
to live under our present rulers. A worthy friend of mine, a
Baptist Minister, used to pray that God would either chain
them or change them, end them or mend them, turn them or
burn them ; and — would you think it? — so infatuated were his
people, that they would not allow him to remain among them."
' December 10. — I was a good deal surprised to-day by a piece
of information which our Marshal came to communicate. He
informed me that York and Peters, two of our most factious
characters, have been busying themselves in persuading the
people not merely not to choose whites for their representatives,
but to prevent whites from voting. Among the many strange
insinuations they have used for stirring up the people's mind to
what they propose, what seems to have the greatest effect with
some, is the pleasure that will arise from retaliating a little on
whites the oppressions they were formerly made to endure. I
scarce knew how to receive this piece of information. There
was something so unique in making a white face a civil dis
qualification that it really provoked one to laughter.
'December 12. — To-morrow being the day of election for
Tithingmen I resolved to be out of the way, and accordingly
went up to my house in the mountains, which is now finished.
It is situated about three miles off; and as a good part of the
wood around it is now cut down, we have a view of the sea
from it. The air is certainly considerably cooler, particularly
in the evenings and mornings, than at Freetown. The moun
tain is crowned with very deep and lofty woods, almost imper
vious to the sun's rays. Great numbers of monkeys and
squirrels are everywhere to be seen. There are also deer and
wild hogs in abundance. Within a quarter of a mile of my
house there are no less than two very excellent streams of

158 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
fresh water, one of which issues from a rock not above two
or three hundred yards off. Here I passed this and the two
following days in a way quite suited to my taste, without any
interruption but from the kindness of my neighbours, who
came to pay me their respects on taking possession of my
house. They accompanied their congratulations with some
trifling presents of the produce of their farms. My place is
considerably beyond any of the Settlers' farms, and I hope it
will be a bait to draw many out.
'December 15. — On getting to Thornton Hill I found that
the election was over. I was far from being satisfied with the
issue of it, the individuals chosen being in general the most
ignorant and perverse of our Colonists. I had suggested to
them the advantages that would accrue to the Colony by the
election of some of the whites, of whose superior information
it would be well if they availed themselves. This suggestion,
however, taken in connection with my intimations respecting
a new constitution, was sufficient to rouse their jealousy.
When it was known that no European had been elected, some
thirty or forty of the Settlers got together and gave three
cheers. You see we have just the same passions in Freetown
as in London ; and, in miniature, the same effects resulting
from t'hem.' TO MISS MILLS.
Saturday -Viglif, February 4, 1 797.
I should deem it sacrilege to remain another minute engrossed
by the cares of business. O my Selina, in what terms shall I
express my sense of the mercies of the past week ! But let me
tell you your letters have increased my esteem and affection
for you in a degree which, beforehand, I should not readily
have conceived. They have helped also, I am sure, to humble
me. Indeed, Selina, you do not know how unworthy I am of
you. ' Lord, lift thou on us the light of thy countenance, and
that will put gladness into my heart' You will be glad to
hear that in the main He keeps me from indulging any repining
thoughts on account of my want of that sort of society which
rny taste leads me to prize and to desire. I find a' never-
failing remedy for any thoughts of this kind in His Word, and
thither He has taught me to go for comfort. The sin which
most easily besets me is of a different kind from this. It is an
impatience of temper, which gives mere trifles that advantage
over me which is much less frequently obtained by occurrences
of the first importance. This irritability of temper is one of
the evils under which I daily and hourly groan. The progress
I make in subduing it is so slow, as at times exceedingly to

ZACHARY MACAULAY 159
distress me. Through God's grace, however, I acquire a quicker
perception of the evil, and a more importunate desire to be
delivered from it. Assist me, my dear Selina, with your prayers,
that this thorn may be made to depart from me. I have been
stirring myself to watchfulness by various considerations, among
the rest by the consideration of the pain I shall feel should my
asperity of temper ever dim your eyes with a tear, or cause one
painful emotion in that kind, generous bosom, from which it
ought to be my earnest and assiduous endeavour to banish
every cause of uneasiness and disquiet. I confess, however, that
this is not the consideration whereby I am chiefly incited to
struggle with this distressing and harassing temptation. No
such temper can be admitted into heaven. Such a temper
forms no part of the mind which was in Christ. By indulging
it I crucify Him afresh ; I grieve His Holy Spirit ; I cause
God, as it were, to hide His face from me. Though often
worsted in the fight, I would therefore still encourage myself
in the Lord.
I called on a poor European on Monday last who was ill of
a consumption, and visibly hastening to the world of spirits.
I knew him to have been rather a profligate character, and
was not therefore surprised to find him in very considerable
alarm and perplexity concerning futurity. I passed about an
hour and a half with him, endeavouring to inform his judgment
on the points most material to him at present. In this I was
a good deal interrupted by the poor man's lamentations. What
struck me as the most lamentable proof of the man's ignorance,
was that though he was continually reiterating his cries for
mercy, and declaring himself a wretched sinner, when I came
to ask what were the sins which lay heaviest on his conscience,
he said he could not fix on any particular sins. I was at no
loss, however, to remind him of numberless particular sins of
the commission of which I myself had been a witness. I set
them before him with all their aggravations. ' You know not
even how to offer' up a prayer to God,' I said to him. 'You
say you have never prayed, but how often in my hearing have
you blasphemed His holy Name, and how often have I rebuked
you for it ? ' He was not backward in acknowledging this and
many other sins I mentioned to him, but they had wholly
escaped himself. I would gladly have spent more time with
him, but I was bound to the mountain, and if I staid much
longer, I knew that night would overtake me in the way. I
directed his wife to send for Mr. Clarke, and I mounted the
hill, ruminating on the poor man's case whom I had just
left. What a dream will life appear when we stand, as this
man does, on the brink of eternity ! I was proceeding along,

160 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
indulging in some such train of reflection, heaving a sigh on the
recollection of the poor man I had left, and uttering occasion
ally an ejaculatory note of thanksgiving as I retraced seasons,
during which while I was, even in my own apprehensions,
sinking into the grave, I presented to the eye of sober reason
a spectacle which made his case an enviable one, when I found
myself, without being at all able to trace the progress by which
I had got there, by one of those magical spells which our lawless
imagination amuses itself with forming, stretched on what I
conceived to be my own deathbed. ' Why, my Selina, should
one tear dim those eyes ? Lift them up to yon bright abode
where myriads of the blest are surrounding their Redeemer's
throne. Is there room for mourning? No, my Selina! There
is all love and happiness and joy. But is it Babington I see?
My dear friend, you have come in time to close my eyes, and to
receive from my hands a precious deposit. Be the protector of
my Selina — of my  ' Whether it was that I gave an involun
tary sob, or what, the little native boy who walked behind
carrying my shot-bag, asked me, ' My master, are you tired ? '
' No, Jack, I am not tired ; what makes you ask ? ' Before he
had time to reply a parcel of humming-birds, whose beautiful
plumage reflected the rays of the retiring sun, struck his eye.
He pointed them out to me. I levelled my piece with mur
derous aim, clanged the steel, and flashed destruction. Two of
them lay prostrate on the ground. I was at first pleased with
my feat, my dexterity, and the prize; but I recollected I had
no means of preserving them at my mountain, that before I
reached town they would be putrid, and that I should not gain
by what I had done even the gratification of an idle curiosity.
' And how do I know,' I reflected, ' but that at this very moment
the callow young of those two murdered animals are stretching
their little throats to heaven, demanding the food of which I
have deprived them, while their shivering limbs in vain expect
the genial warmth of their mothers to protect them from the
cold?' I was now drawing near my house when I heard a
heavy gun, which was soon after succeeded by three more,
which put an end to moralising. I halted, and began to think
of retracing my steps, but I felt that I should never be able to
descend the hill, dark as it would soon be, and fatigued as I
felt. The question, however, was soon decided for me, for,
as I was doubting what to do, I squeezed my foot so severely
between two rocks as to render it a matter of some difficulty to
travel the short space that lay between me and Mount Pelier.
I got there just as the sun was setting. But in a short time one
of my servants came, with a note announcing that four strange
sail (one very large) were in the offing.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 161
The next morning, before the day had dawned, I set off and
made the best of my way to tov/n, notwithstanding my lame
ness. I was soon relieved from my fears by seeing the Settlers
moving townwards with their goods, which they had conveyed
into the woods on the first alarm. On getting to Thornton Hill
I found the Eliza arrived, with two other ships. It was two in
the afternoon before the Sheerness, the man-of-war which con
voyed them, came to an anchor. Captain Cornwallis and
several of his officers came on shore in the evening, and we
were much pleased with their manners and behaviour, which
were much more sober and polite than one usually finds in
men-of-war. It was not till the next day that I was able to
get through my private letters. From Babington and my sister
I had no less than twelve letters. What an amiable man ¦ is
Babington ! Surely there are few souls on which the linea
ments of the divine character are more fairly and deeply
drawn. I knew you would like the Babingtons, for I knew
you were kindred spirits.
Immersed as I have been in the cares of business, this is the
first day for this week past in which I have not been whirled
round in the vortex of dissipation. My house was of course
open to Cornwallis and his officers ; they passed most of their
time here, and a number of them were always with me at
breakfast and at dinner. But to make up for this I lessened
my time in bed to three or four hours. Captain Cornwallis
expressed himself as highly pleased with the change that had
taken place in our bay since he visited it in 1768. I was parti
cularly pleased with him. Intelligence, courtesy, frankness, and
diffidence are a rare assemblage in the character of a naval
officer, but yet they are to be found in Captain Cornwallis, who,
I understand from his officers, unites great firmness of mind
and strictness of discipline with the most exemplary attention
to his men and the most engaging affection, to his officers. This
is pleasant, but there is no mark of religion among them, except
their generally abstaining from swearing, out of compliment, I
fear, to me.
On February 2nd I went on board the Sheerness. In the
passage out the Sheerness had taken a French privateer, some
of the officers and men of which had been at the pillage of
this place in 1794. I wished to have seen them, but they care
fully avoided me, not showing themselves at all on deck while
I remained. Yesterday Mr. Tilley and another gentleman from Bance
Island dined with me to meet some of the officers. After
dinner the captain joined us, and we passed the evening in con
versation unaided by cards or scandal. I find it very difficult
L

162 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
to support such conversations for a long time together when
my mind is much engrossed, as it then was, with important
business, but on the whole we showed ourselves a good deal
pleased with each other. All this, however, obliged me to work
double tides.
Wilberforce has written me largely with his own hand, and, as
usual, affectionately. In Henry Thornton I never fail to find
the constant friend and faithful adviser. I must now conclude.
May your Father and my Father, your God and my God, make
you his care. Assure yourself of the love I bear you, for I am
with great truth, my dear Selina's most faithful and affectionate,
Z. Macaulay.
'February 4, 1797. — To-day I have been able to apply to
business, as the captain of the Sheerness and several of his
officers went over to the Bullom shore to-day. He deserves
great praise for the order and regularity which he maintained
among his officers and men while in the harbour. Not an
instance of improper or offensive behaviour occurred on shore
among them, so far as I have been able to learn, during their
stay. ' February 8. — Captain Cornwallis dined on shore yesterday
with his officers, and to-day, in the evening, he came on shore
to take leave, having appointed to-morrow morning at day
break as the time of sailing.
'February 13. — I called together the leaders of the different
religious societies in this place, among whom was Garvin.
After hearing what Mr. Garvin had to say in support of his
charges against me, and my replies, the people acknowledged
themselves to have been blinded by prejudice and misrepre
sentation. They begged I would forgive the uneasiness they
had been led at different times to cause me. They now saw
what kind of man they had confided in. They could not but
acknowledge the pains I took with them. They thanked me
for my forbearance, and hoped that for the times to come they
would better understand their true interests. Garvin, however,
maintained that he was right, and that we were all wrong.
'This circumstance in Garvin's conduct, namely, his con
tinuing to maintain that all his allegations were true, led me to
consider the propriety of bringing his conduct to the test of a
judicial inquiry. He had no doubt lost all his popularity, but
the fickleness and caprice of a Sierra Leone mob might soon
reinstate him in favour, when he might again bring forward
the same allegations to disturb and inflame their minds. I
thought it a point of duty therefore to put his allegations to
the proof. Having no wish to answer any vindictive purpose, I

ZACHARY MACAULAY 163
judged a Court of Inquiry preferable to any other mode of
procedure. This would equally put it in my power to require
his absence from the Colony. An acknowledgment on his part
that he had acted wrong would have done equally well, but
this he was so far from being disposed to make, that he avowed
and seemed to glory in what he had done. If he were allowed
to pass without notice, the people by degrees would be pre
vailed on to believe him innocent, and to think that my
supineness must have arisen from a dread of the issue of a
public inquiry.
' Wednesday, Feb. 22. — To-day Garvin's trial came on. The
jury found the whole of the charges fully and circumstantially
established. On reciting their verdict to Garvin, I told him
that from the first I had no thought of instituting a vindictive
prosecution, nor did I mean that any specific punishment
should now attach to him. All I required was that he should
hold himself in readiness to quit by the first ship in which I
could procure a passage for him, and that he should im
mediately give security for his quiet demeanour in the mean
time. He thanked me.
' I was exceedingly surprised by the appearance at my house
to-day of the lady (the Princess I should say) the offer of
whose hand, I mentioned to you, I had been under the painful
necessity of ungallantly declining about two years ago. Had
I accepted it I should have been terribly cheated, for instead
of the delicate girl she then was, she had now become quite an
Amazon, masculine in her appearance and gait and stature,
and resembling what she had been only in the features of her
face. I was afraid she had come to renew her offers, not as
formerly by proxy, but in person, or at least that she meant to
exact some vengeance for the indignity she had sustained.
But my fears were dispelled by a gracious smile which accom
panied an intimation that she had come with her husband, on
a visit to a friend in the neighbourhood.
' An American captain dined with us, and brought with him
his surgeon, a Frenchman, a man of pleasing manners and con
siderable intelligence, who had been driven from St. Domingo
by the brigands, with the loss of all his property. From him I
had long and shocking details of the cruelties practised in that
island. He talked with just horror of the enormities of the
Revolution ; but I observed in him, as I have alsd done in every
French emigrant I have ever conversed with, that fixed and
rooted attachment to their country which makes them grieve
for the defeat of her armies, and the capture of her fleets, even
while they are cruelly shaken off by her, and bearing arms
perhaps against her. " Ah, Monsieur," he said, " c'est encore

1 64 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
ma patrie ! puis-je voir des mains etrangeres dechirer le sein
de ma mere sans etre emu. Depouille de tous mes biens, et
proscrit par des certains sc£l£rats, je ne cesse d'etre Francois.
La gloire de la France m'est encore chere comme la vie meme."
And this sentiment it is which, prevailing universally, fills their
armies, nerves their arms, impels their exertions, lightens their
sufferings, and leads them, with a kind of frantic, enthusiastic
valour, to death or victory, even while the monsters who hold
the reins of government are the objects of their daily execra
tions, and while the souls of many of them weep over those
individual misfortunes, as well as that general misery, which
those tyrants have induced. The mad, chimerical expectation
of being able to impose any foreign yoke on a nation deter
mined to be free and independent has singularly infected the
politics of the present reign. But America and France will
remain lessons to succeeding ages of what may be done by
men, warmed with the love of what they, whether justly or not,
deem their liberty; and resolving to pay, not only their pro
perty but their lives, should it be necessary, as the price of it.
What can an armed nation, actuated by no mercenary views,
but fighting "pour leurs foyers ," possibly want ? The ground
will yield them corn. The pastures will nourish cattle. The
brook will quench their thirst. Their women and their children
and their old men will till the soil, and weave the cloth ; and
in short, to use words of their famous hymn, " Tout est soldat
pour vous combattre."
'In the afternoon, when our party had become more com
pact, an interesting conversation arose on the Slave Trade. I
am always eager to embrace such opportunities of fastening
conviction on the minds of any, especially when I meet with
one who, like my guest, the American captain, has engaged
in that trade without previous knowledge or consideration.
Captain Knight behaved with modesty and candour, and
declared afterwards that had he had the same information, and
been pressed with the same arguments six months ago, he
should never have bought a slave, and that he was resolved
this should be his last voyage. Time will try his sincerity.
'At night I found my fever return with a violence con
siderably increased by the exertions I had been making during
the day, and I passed a very unquiet night.
' March 6. — Another American captain dined with me to-day,
an odd, but I should suppose rather a common character. I
asked him his inducement for running the risk of the severe
penalty which, in America, attaches to one who carries slaves
to a foreign port. He said the hope of gain. This he thought
would justify him in breaking the laws of his country, and in

ZACHARY MACAULAY 165
sharing the horrors of the Slave Trade. I asked him if he did
not think the Slave Trade violated the divine command.
"Yes," replied he, "that to be sure it does, but then it is only
one fault. My good actions will abundantly make up for that,
for God is good and just. When I am at home, I do a great
deal of good to the poor. That will atone for the Slave Trade."
It was not difficult to reply to this. "Aye, aye," said he,
"religion is no doubt a very fine invention, and I think it right
to uphold it. I say prayers in my family, I have grace always
before and after meat, and I go twice to church on a Sunday.
But, sir, I am no Methodist, I have no notion of being righteous
overmuch. In doing this I do enough to serve God and keep
up religion. I have nothing to do but to uphold the Church.
As for my conduct, God has given me common sense and
reason to direct me." There are many in the world who are
afraid to speak so plainly, whose principles, I fear, are radically
and fundamentally the same as those of this poor American.
'March 13. — The Company's schooner Thornton, commanded
by my brother, sailed for the Rio Pongo. Garvin took his
departure from the Colony in it, in order to go on board an
American ship which had agreed to take him from the Rio
Pongo, the Company paying his passage. He was very poor ;
and as well to relieve his distress, as to convince him that I
owed him no grudge for what he had done, I gave him a little
money besides.
'Grigg also came to take leave of me. He had procured a
passage in the American vessel which was to take Garvin, and
was now bound to the Rio Pongo to join him. I gave him
many good advices with respect to his future conduct ; but I
fear to little purpose. He said he thought it not required of a
Christian to forgive his enemies till they had first asked for
giveness ; and even if it were required he thought it impossible
for a man to forgive and love one he knew to be his enemy.
What could be expected from a Mission conducted by a man
who could even talk so unscripturally ?
'March 17, 1797. — The American ship, in which was the
French surgeon I spoke of, sailed last night. During his stay
he paid me frequent visits, and afforded me of course an
opportunity of contemplating a little the present French
character. There appears in it such a total abandonment of
principle as leaves scarce room to question that the misfortunes
which have come upon them are dispensations of retributive
justice. I really think that my friend forms a specimen far
above mediocrity, not only with respect to manners and intelli
gence, but also morals ; but even he allowed that he knew no
other measure for this conduct than interest, natural feeling,

166 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
and penal law ; and he asserted his absolute disbelief of any
higher principle being to be found in any individual ; all pre
tence to it, in his opinion, being art and hypocrisy. As for the
Bible, he did not believe a word of it. As for the moral
government of God, it was a fine subject of declamation for
divines and priests, but, for his part, he did not believe that
even any of those moral attributes belonged to Him which was
alleged. They said God was wise and good and just ; but he
could see no trace either of wisdom, of goodness, or of justice
in any of his dispensations. Had He been what some would
represent Him, could He have suffered Robespierre, Victor
Hugues,1 and such men to fatten on the blood and spoil of
innocents, as they had done, or would He have allowed such
misfortunes to come on him who had done nothing to deserve
them ? Would He not have punished in some penal wa)- the
above-named monsters? He even complained that God did
not assert a control over men's wills, and did not banish moral
and natural evil from the world, and said their existence was
to him a satisfactory proof of what he alleged. How shocking !
Surely a people in such a case (and I fear with that part of
the French called Royalists as well as with the Revolutionists,
these are too prevailing sentiments) were ripe for the fate they
have met with. There was no encountering such bold im
pieties and horrid blasphemies by calm argument. I was like
to .have got a little warm at one time, but the story of Abraham
occurred to me. " Have I borne with him these hundred years,
and couldst npt thou bear with him one day ? " I was not,
however, quite silent, but on the contrary exposed the
rashness of his assertions, and the unreasonableness of his
sentiments, as much as his levity would permit. Conviction
was not to be expected. I gained, however, one point which I
had had in view, a knowledge of the prevailing opinions among
the French emigrants on the important article of religion.
' March 23. — I was confined to my bed to-day with fever
when towards sunset a man came running up the Hill in great
haste, and told us that Renaud was off the Cape. Immediately
afterwards M. Balthazar from the Isles de Los, and Captain
Mills, of the Sally, a Liverpool slave-ship, entered the room,
and confirmed the unwelcome intelligence. On the 18th
Renaud arrived at the Isles de Los with two privateers, one
(formerly the Bell) mounting twenty-two six- and nine-
pounders, and upwards of two hundred men, and the other
1 The Frenchman must have had some personal grudge against Victor Hugues,
who scums scarcely to deserve the company in which he is placed. He had been
public prosecutor at Brest, and had afterwards been appointed to some command in
the West Indies, where, during the year 1794, he was successful more than once
against the English.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 167
twelve guns and one hundred and twenty men. He had fallen
in with, and taken, the day before, a schooner which had sailed
from this place about the same time with my brother in the
Thornton, who of course must narrowly have missed being
taken. The Sally lay at the Isles de Los, ready to sail for the
West Indies with three hundred slaves on board. Renaud was
so well pleased with this prize that he made Captain Mills a
present of ten slaves. Some one was so officious as to tell him
my brother had passed only two days before to go to the Rio
Pongo, and had it not been for Renaud himself, who opposed
the measure, saying that he did not wish to meet with him, the
crews of the privateers would have followed the Thornton.
They said that this day they had seen him within a few leagues
of our Settlement ; and this account was corroborated by the
appearance of the privateers in the offing. They seemed to be
standing towards the southward under easy sail, and might be
about seven or eight leagues off. This was no time to be ill ;
indeed I had forgot that I had been so. I judged the chances
were against his visiting us ; as he must have known, that with
his force, he had nothing to gain but hard blows by coming
here. Besides, I knew his real object was not fighting, but taking-
prizes. We had no vessels in the harbour to tempt him, and as
for making good a landing, he was by no means ignorant of
the insufficiency of his force. No precaution, however, was
neglected for preventing surprise. The captains of companies
had their stations assigned them ; the guns on the batteries
were shotted, signals of alarm appointed, and triple guards
mounted during the night. This being done, I went to rest as
quietly as if M. Renaud had been a thousand miles off. I knew
exactly the enemy's force, so that I could calculate to a cer
tainty, humanly speaking, on the means we possessed of
repelling it. This calculation turning considerably in our
favour, set my mind of course at ease with respect to the
final issue of an attack; while I trust I felt confident on another
ground, namely, that the Lord Jehovah would be our shield and
buckler. I made a speech on the subject to our military men,
in which, according to art, was mixed up a little warmth of
expression, a little vehemence of gesture, and a quantum sufficit
of such words as wives, children, liberties, laws, religion, and
lives. They all pretended to feel very brave.
' I am well acquainted with Renaud. He lived in this river
for some time, and used to be often with us ; and even since the
war began we did him many kind offices, supplying him and
his people with provisions when almost starving. He is, I am
pretty sure, personally attached to us, and grateful for our
kindnesses; but the capture of our vessels, if they fall in his

168 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
way, is what he cannot avoid. He has himself, I think, no
wish to distress us, and it will not be without great reluctance
that he will be compelled to visit us in a hostile way. But he
is not himself master of his motions; these depending in no
small degree on his officers and crew. Should it so chance
that I were to fall into his hands, he would be proud to render
me civilities ; but who can calculate the mischiefs a disorderly
rabble of French sailors, turned loose on the town, would per
petrate? In their present lawless state, the endeavours of their
officers would do little to restrain them.
'Jones, the schoolmaster, was buried to-day. Jones left
behind him an only son, about twelve years of age, whom I
have taken to live with myself, his mother being dead also.
'March 25. — Though I shook off the fever last night very
suddenly, yet it proved only a temporary deliverance, for this
evening it returned with increased violence. Early in the
afternoon Mr. Gray came hastily into the room and told me
that there was a large ship in the offing. The abruptness of
his manner agitated my nerves a good deal, though I have no
claim to the character of nervous. I directed the alarm signal
to be made, which served to collect in a very short space of
time a considerable number ofmen. As the vessel approached
I discovered Captain Buckle on deck, which caused scarce a
smaller degree of agitation than if it had been a French frigate.
He was not long in coming ashore and mounting the hill, and
he came loaded with letters. I quite forgot all this time that I
was a sick man, till at length I found myself quite exhausted,
and unable to proceed even in reading my letters. On getting
to bed I became more composed, and as I lay quite awake all
night, I had an opportunity before the morning of looking over
my letters, which afforded me abundant materials for the most
consolatory reflections.'

TO MISS MILLS Sunday, March 26, 1797.
My DEAR SELINA,— I have already pretty fully stated to you
the history of the last month in a letter which I sent off to you,
and which occupied nearly all the time I had to spare last
Sunday from public and private despatches. I deem it no
profanation ofthe day to have thus employed it. The employ
ment did not tend to divert my thoughts from those things
which ought on this day to occupy them. I found I could not
conscientiously have given a single hour of another day to this
work ; so pressing was the call of business ! Will this apologise

ZACHARY MACAULAY 169
for me, or do you think I require an apology ? I remember
Miss Sykes being exceedingly captious with Mr. Thornton for
having disturbed her devotions by sending proposals of mar
riage to her on a Sunday morning. But she was not
implacable. I have rather a long, and a very kind letter from Mr
Thornton. I hear from him that the complaints ofthe Court
of Directors have subsided in consequence of our letters by
Buckle. He adds a paragraph, for which I feel truly grateful,
and in which, without charging myself in this particular in
stance with an excess of vanity, I may take pleasure. ' Your
conduct is used to give us all satisfaction, and the pains you so
evidently take will, I trust, by the blessing of God, be of
essential use to the Colony. I do not recollect anything I have
to animadvert upon ; if I did I would do it very freely.' From
Henry Thornton this is a measure of commendation which one
is not favoured with every day, though I ought to deduct some
thing for the softening influence of domestic society. He adds :
' And now I will only add my hearty wishes and prayers that
God may render you a blessing to Africa ; and, if he please,
that you may return to much usefulness and comfort in your
native country. My lot is certainly a most happy one, and my
choice of an associate for life I have been directed in by a
most gracious Providence. May you be directed in this of
all things by the same direct hand. I hope the letters you
receive from Babington and other friends will afford you no
small comfort, and I sometimes regret that I am so much con
fined to matters of my business in my letters to you.' I have
also a letter from Wilberforce, which breathes as usual a very
hearty affection.
Dr. Ryland of Bristol has written me a very kind letter, in
which he expresses his obligations to me and his disappro
bation of Grigg's conduct, in a very satisfying way. But a
letter from the Rev. John Newton convinces me that no small
effect has been produced in the minds of the Baptists by what
Grigg has written ; and that Dr. Ryland himself, notwithstand
ing the strain of his letter, is strongly tinctured with prejudice.
There certainly never was any calumny more groundless and
unmerited than that by which they would represent me as aim
ing at conformity, and meditating the persecution of sectaries.
You will like the following extracts from Newton's letter: —
' More than two-and-forty years have elapsed since I saw the
coast of Africa ; but the remembrance of what passed there is
always with me. I believe in all these years, a single day has
seldom passed, scarcely a single hour, when I have not revisited
in spirit the scenes of my wickedness and misery. How often

1 70 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
have I wandered upon the land of your bays barefoot and
hungry, full of envy and malice, and despised, yea pitied bythe
very slaves. Now I live in peace, have many friends, and a
name, which deserved above all others to be written in the dust,
is regarded by the Lord's people ! What I suffered in the
black man's country was of no apparent benefit at the time.'
Seeing a large ship in the offing, I despatched a boat, from
whose motions I learned that the stranger was friendly, and as
I was going down to my little school, the messenger met me
with a large packet of letters, which had left Liverpool at the
same time with your last, but by a different ship. I could not
of course expect any from you, but I received one from Bab
ington, whose letters are always cordials to me ; nor was it less
acceptable at this time for containing much faithful admonition
and kind reproof. How much ground have I for thankfulness
that in him I have found a friend, who is at once the tender and
affectionate brother and the faithful monitor.
Still may the righteous when I stray
Smite and reprove my wandering way !
Their gentle words, like ointment shed,
Shall never bruise, but cheer my head.
When I behold them 'prest with grief
I '11 cry to heaven for their relief,
And by my warm petitions prove
How much I prize their faithful love.
I am exceedingly thankful for the accounts he sends me of
my sister ; but he speaks in terms of your health which have
excited some uneasiness. I earnestly hope that your visit to
Leicestershire may have produced some change in your health.
There is a balm in the society one enjoys under Babington's
roof, which wonderfully composes the mind, and the influence
of the mind on our state of health is ver)- considerable.
I much fear you are harassed, and what you tell me of Miss
Patty has afflicted me a good deal. I am exceedingly per
plexed in forming any rational hypothesis on the subject, and
sincerely partake of all your distress on account of it. No
dart pierces so deep as that which is shot from ' hard unkind
ness' altered eye which mocks the tear it forced to flow.' But
I would particularly request as much information with respect
to the real or supposed improprieties in my procedure as you
could fairly give me. You need not fear hurting my feelings
by this exposition, nor I think need you fear weakening thereby
the charities 1 owe Miss Patty.
I have been particularly pleased, and I hope edified, by your
present of Leighton's Sermons. Your observations on him
appear to me extremely just and appropriate. Mr. Thornton

ZACHARY MACAULAY 171
observed to me, ' It is rather surprising that I, who have passed
smoothly through life, should be a Calvinist, and that you, who
of almost all men I know seem most to have been under a
superior and controlling direction, should not be one.' But in
truth I believe we are equally Calvinists. We may differ in
our mode of enouncing the same opinion, but I am well per
suaded that two men were, never better agreed in the view
of what may be deemed essential doctrines than he and I
are. On the same ground I feel myself united in sentiment
with Leighton. We may differ in our phraseology ; we may
severally dread the use of particular terms which are become
by use and example familiar to the mouth of the other. But
avaunt all distinctions of names and parties ! We are brethren.
We should all, I believe, be equally agreed that without holiness
no man can see the Lord.
You ask me if I like Thomson. It is a question which brings
to my mind the days of ancient times,1 when with him I used
to skim the gay spring, fly through the blaze of summer, sweep
over the bending fields in autumn, and tread the pure virgin
snows. I would not say with him 'myself as pure.' But many
years have passed since I have been obliged almost to abjure
the society of poets, for they consumed too much of my time.
Without any design of doing so, I remember to have committed
to my memory all Thomson's Spring, the greatest part of his
Winter, and most of the striking pages in his Summer and
Autumn. I am indeed sensible of my defects, and my sins constitute
a black list. But it affords me truly a hope that these evil
tempers are on the wane, even whilst I myself feel their pressure
more sensibly, that Henry Thornton, Babington, Horne, Dawes,
and Winterbottom are disposed to give me credit for my en
deavours to lessen their influence ; and that between those with
whom I have been domesticated, and myself, I do not know
that there has for one hour subsisted a coolness or misunder
standing, since I have been to this place. I used to be frank
with Dawes on this subject ; and to this I believe in part was
owing the total exclusion of every particle of jealousy from our
intercourse, which otherwise my too forward zeal, and the
strength of my manner, either in recommending or opposing
particular measures, might have excited. I shrink at times
from the recollection of the forwardness with which I used
to obtrude remarks, and hazard opinions, or propose measures,
when in company with such men as Thornton, Wilberforce,
Gisborne, and others, for I am sensible that with such men
diffidence in an especial manner became me. In this, however,
1 See p. 10.

172 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
I must lay a good part of the blame on manner and habit ; for
I really at no time ever forgot myself so far as not to feel my
inferiority to them. I have sometimes wondered at retaining
any share of the friendly regard of men, to whom, from the
contrast it forms to their modest and insinuating mode of
urging opinions, assumption must appear in colours particularly
glaring. The diffidence which would become me in Pulteney
Street, at Battersea Rise, or Yoxall Lodge, would not, I allow,
quite suit the meridian of Freetown. There strong language
and a decided and often peremptory tone are absolutely neces
sary. Unfortunately we are not masters of our habits. It is a
saying as old as Horace, that change of climate changes not
the constitution of the mind, however it may that of the body.
But I trust we know what will, and that this and every high
thing in us which exalts itself against the knowledge of God,
shall be subjected through grace to the obedience of the Cross.
— Ever yours affectionately, Z. Macaulay.
'April 29. — In the afternoon I observed a small schooner
come into the harbour, which from its size I concluded to be
one of the small craft which trade about the rivers around us,
but happening to take the spy-glass in my hand, I was struck
at seeing none on board but whites ; and casting my eye to
the laciding-place, I was still more surprised to see two men
already on shore, who from their dress and looks appeared to
be Europeans. Perceiving them encumbered with packets of
various kinds, my hopes were naturally excited when the gentle
men entered, and making their bow, told me in such broad
Scotch as made me stare, "We've come frae Scoatland, sir."
' Before I had made up my mind in what style it was best to
reply to this laconic introduction, which the strangers seemed to
think sufficient to entitle them to a cordial shake by the hand
at the least, they presented me with a letter from the Secretary
of the Glasgow Missionary Society, which announced them to
be Missionaries come out under their auspices. After bidding
them welcome, my first inquiry was for letters. I have only
heard of the descent in Wales J by your letter. When I com
bine this event and the probability of its being followed by
similar ones, with the state of public credit at home, I am forced
to have recourse to the thought " that the great Shepherd reigns"
to dissipate the uneasy anticipations excited thereby.
'fune 3. — The Duke of Buccleuch, with a load of slaves, came
1 This refers to an expedition sent out from Brest which landed fourteen hundred
soldiers near Fishguard in February 1797. A large body of men, with Lord Cawdor
at their head, collected to oppose the invasion, and finally the Frenchmen sur
rendered to them.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 173
down from Bance Island in her way to Jamaica. Mr. Tilley
had taken his passage on board, as there was no likelihood
of a direct conveyance to England for some time. He came
ashore along with Mr. Richards, whom he has constituted
agent in his absence, and took leave of us. This was the first
opportunity of sending letters direct to Jamaica since my
arrival. I embraced it to transmit a good many of the Tracts
and one of the Reports to that island. This last will excite, I
doubt not, a good deal of curiosity, especially as in a letter
accompanying it I have avowed myself a competent witness to
almost all the horrid facts related in it.
' Our Missionaries continue to study the Timmaney language,
and are attempting the translation into it of various useful pro
ductions, containing the principia of religious knowledge. This
will assist them much, until they shall have made such progress
as to be able to discourse freely without the intervention of
an interpreter ; and till then one cannot expect any striking
appearances of benefit, as discourses held through the medium
of interpreters who do not themselves feel the importance of the
truths they communicate must necessarily be feeble, indistinct,
and inefficacious. The first preternatural gift bestowed on the
primitive preachers of Christianity was that of tongues, and I
think we may safely say that till we have used the natural
means now in our power for the acquisition of the same
faculty, namely, that of being understood by the people we
address, no effect is to be expected from the unwearied labours
of the most zealous Missionaries.'

174 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER VII
WAR AND RUMOURS OF WAR
August 8. — I had long suspected, and I was this day con
firmed in my suspicion, that the Settlers were gradually con
tracting a more friendly disposition to the Slave Trade. At
this moment there are two in the Rio Nunez, and three in the
Rio Pongo, who are actually engaged in it ; to say nothing of
the number who, without carrying on a Slave Trade on their
own account, are employed in the service of Slave-traders, and
thus are aiding and abetting in carrying it on. Mr. Lawrence,
of the Rio Pongo, who arrived here to-day, assured me that a
Settler living at present in the Rio Pongo had lately offered
him a prime slave, which, however, he refused to buy. I shall
have an eye to this Settler on his return, as well as to all others
against whom I can find legal evidence.
' September 1 6.— News reached us of the capture of the Danish
brig the Tabby, Captain Webb, bound from London to this
river, by the Goree cruisers. She was taken on the iSth July
within twenty or thirty leagues of the Cape, and was carried to
Goree. Webb and his passengers had got to the Isles de Los.
' September 28. — Understanding that Captain Webb had
passed up to Bance Island, my anxiety for intelligence led
me to pay that place a visit to-day. I learned from him a
variety of particulars, to which till then I had been a stranger,
as the mutiny in the Navy,1 the failure of Mr. Wilberforce's
motion for Abolition, the prospect of peace between the
Emperor and the French, etc. etc. I learned also with no
small concern that a large packet of letters addressed to me,
which were in Webb's charge, were on his capture thrown into
the sea.
' Webb had been carried to Goree, where he had continued
for near two months without meeting any opportunity of
coming hither, till at length an American Slave-trader who
lives at the Isles de Los, of the name of Macleod, came there,
and bought the Ocean, formerly the property of the Company,
in which he gave Webb a passage. Webb reported Goree to
1 The mutiny at the Nore in May 1797.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 175
be in a very ruinous state, the gun-carriages rotten, the
garrison reduced to five or six men, and the inhabitants very
little disposed to resistance.
' I found the Ocean, late the Company's vessel, at Bance
Island. I thought it right to demand her formally of Macleod,
who refused to give her up. I asked Mr. Richards for per
mission to take her, but he was averse from my doing it there.
Macleod, understanding what it was I purposed, got off in the
night, and made the best of his way to the Isles de Los. I
believe I should have been quite justified in taking possession
of her, as the Company's property.
' September 30. — On my return to Freetown yesterday I
caused a small but strong battery to be erected, within a few
yards of which, and quite out of reach of shot from the sea,
there was placed a furnace for heating shot. We tried it, and
found it to answer beyond expectation. A twelve-pound ball
was thoroughly heated in seven or eight minutes, and a dozen
more might have been heated at the same time.
' From several quarters at the same time I was informed that
very violent counsels had been taken by the disaffected Settlers,
and that .a deputation had been to King Tirama to solicit
his help. I had also a moral assurance that what happened
to-day was only preparatory to a measure, which a few had
fondly cherished hopes of bringing about since the foundation
ofthe Colony, namely, that of throwing off the jurisdiction of
the Company's servants, and constituting one of their own
number a kind of Dictator, who, assisted by a council, should
rule them after the manner of the natives round about us.
One man came to me, and told me he had reason to think an
attempt was meditated against the powder magazine. So many
distinct notices coming from different quarters, and agreeing so
well with each other, I thought it would be faulty supineness to
defer the measures necessary for preventing a surprise. The
Europeans and about fifty of the Settlers were made acquainted
with a private signal for repairing to Thornton Hill, where they
would constitute a force far more than sufficient to repel any
rash attempt which the disaffected might make. It was for
occasions like the present that I judged it absolutely necessary
to have some spare room in the Government House, and a
strong fence round it. The one will serve for a kind of barracks,
and the other for a barricade.
' October 2. — Having considered it better to prevent the com
mission of any act of violence than to punish it afterwards, I
gave a public notification of my having heard rumours of in
tended violence, and of my determination to punish with the
utmost rigour those who might unhappily be found engaged in

176 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
perpetrating it. I caused it also to be made known that though
no capital punishment had hitherto been inflicted here, yet that
if one house was burnt I should undoubtedly cause those found
guilty ofthe crime to undergo the sentence ofthe law, hanging.
Indeed I had fully made up my mind as to the propriety of
this measure, in case they had proceeded to execute their
threats. " Salus Populi suprema lex est " is a maxim which will
no doubt admit of certain qualifications ; but if protecting those
under my charge from lawless violence be a duty incumbent on
me to perform, whatever may be the risks, then I conceive in
the present case I should be justified in running the risk of
holding up my hand at the Old Bailey. If capital punishments
be justifiable, then there is no argument which can be adduced
in support of them in such a country as England, where they
possess so many otherways of ridding themselves of dangerous
inmates, which would not apply with much more force to Sierra
Leone, when men should begin, in the most wanton and unpro
voked manner, to burn the houses and commit acts of violence
on the persons of peaceable citizens ; and this as a prelude to
the casting off all subordination, and overturning the Govern
ment under which they live. Whether my reasoning on this
point were right or wrong, the notification to which it gave
birth produced the desired effect, and saved me the unpleasant
necessity of reducing my reasoning to practice. A face of
loyalty was spread over the place for a few days ; all intention
of violence was disavowed by all ; and even the threats which
had been used were alleged to have been uttered sportively.
As long as the mischief was prevented, I did not think it neces
sary to enter further into the business.
' October 24, 1797. — It is with no small regret I have to note
that Mr. Hood, who quitted the Company's Service a few days
ago, on pretence of his wishes to engage in a trade of rice, has
joined himself to a Slave-trader in the Camarancas.
' I gave notice to all the native chiefs that in case the French
were to attack us, it would be absolutely necessary for their
people to keep at a distance, as if I saw them pressing into the
town as formerly for plunder, I should fire on them from the
Hill. They allowed the propriety of my doing so, and promised
to issue the necessary cautions to their people.
' You have heard of the noted Beau Walker, an English
Slave-trader of these parts. He arrived at the Isles de Los
lately in an American brig, being bound to Cape Mount for
slaves. He had scarce arrived at the last place, when, exer
cising his usual barbarities on his officers and crew, they were
provoked to conspire against him. As he lay on one of the
hencoops, a seaman came up and struck him on the breast with

ZACHARY MACAULAY 177
a handspike, but the blow being ill directed did not produce its
intended effect, and Walker springing up would soon have
sacrificed the mutineer to his fury, had not a boy at the helm,
pulling a pistol from his breast, shot him dead on the spot.
His body was immediately thrown overboard. Thus ended
Walker's career ; an end worthy of such a life. The vessel
left Cape Mount, and it is supposed has gone for the Brazils
or South Seas. There could not possibly have been a more
inhuman monster.'

FROM MRS. HANNAH MORE.
Cowslip Green, Sept. 8, 1797.
Dear Sir, — ... I have not seen Selina lately, but I suppose
she told you that Mr. Wilberforce brought his bride down here
almost directly after their marriage. He was resolved to make
her set out with an act of humility by bringing her to pass her
bridal Sunday at my cottage and at my schools. She is a
pretty, pleasing, pious young woman, and I hope will make
him happy. His admirable book x has already reached the
fourth edition, and thank God has made its way into the houses
of many who probably never read a serious book before. May
it find its way into their hearts also, and may the same Spirit
which guided the writer accompany the reader !
I have been in expectation of seeing Mr. and Mrs. Henry
Thornton here, but the arrival of the Sierra Leone ship, an
unexpected visit from old Mr. Sykes, and, above all, the neces
sity of Mr. Henry's sea-bathing, will I fancy operate together
to prevent their coming. They have a sweet little girl,2 and
Mrs. Thornton makes an admirable wife. He as usual over
works himself, and is not, I think, very stout, though certainly
very happy.
I suppose I must not neglect to say a word of Cheap
Repository. It has gone on very well indeed, and the bound
volumes have had an extensive sale. I lately had a large
order from Philadelphia for Tracts from a Mr, Cobbett.8 He
1 Practical View of the Prevailing System of Professed Christians contrasted with
Real Christianity.
2 Miss Marianne Thornton, whose abilities, wit, and charm of conversation were
the delight of all who were admitted to the privilege of her friendship during her long
life. She died in 1887.
3 Hannah More received in 1800 a very civil letter from William Cobbett, dated
from Pall Mall, in which he tells her of the uncommon success in America of the
Tracts, and assures her of his intention to pay her a visit at Bath. She writes upon
the back of Cobbett's letter, ' This flatterer, on coming to England, joined Mr.
Bere's party and became my mortal enemy.' M

178 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
says that among the clubs, societies, and institutions, which
have abounded in America, not one has been attempted for the
instruction of the common people. He is resolved to make
this trial if he can get support. — I am, dear sir, your very
sincere friend, H. More.

TO MISS MILLS. October 20, 1797.
My dearest Selina, — Before the sun had risen this morn
ing I was told a strange gentleman in the hall wished to
see me, and found a Liverpool captain I had formerly known.
I little expected the good fortune which awaited me, for he put
into my hands a letter from you.
You ask me to lay down some rules for you for curing
wandering thoughts. Now really you have imposed upon me
a difficult task. My plan for fixing my attention in reading
the Scriptures is generally to read them in the Greek, with the
help of a dictionary. I was for a long time particularly prone
to this wandering during sermon. My plan for curing it was to
note down with a pencil the more striking observations which
fell from the minister, as well as the outlines of the discourse.
For Clarke's sake I have also made it my custom to note down
oddities of expression, defects in pronunciation and grammar,
or looseness of argument, and thus made my critical humour
subservient to the purpose of fixing my attention. But during
public prayers I had not the same resource, and here it was
that my propensity to wander gave me the most annoyance. I
have knelt down with, as I thought, a strong resolution of keep
ing my mind fixed, and on rising have found to my mortification
and sorrow that I had arranged the whole plan of an important
trading expedition, drawn up an able reply to some objections
that had been made to our proceedings, fought a battle with
M. Renaud's two privateers and sunk one of them, or enjoyed
the delights of a meeting with you in Park Street, while I
ought to have been employed in mourning over sin, pleading
for pardon, or pouring out prayers and intercessions for all
men. For this unfortunate deviation from the right way I
have as yet found no remedy which immediately applies,
except what is the general remedy for all cases of wandering,
namely, frequent and earnest ejaculation and renewed watch
fulness. Wandering of thought during hours of retirement is another
and very grievous evil. I am quite a peripatetic, and on
principle ; for I invariably derive a greater fixedness of mind to
any object which I wish to contemplate from a few turns

ZACHARY MACAULAY 179
across the room, than from repeated efforts of the mind, unac
companied by such motion. Do I wish at a time when my
mind is perplexed to fix my mind on God, I can only do it to
my satisfaction walking, pronouncing at the same time dis
tinctly my thoughts as they arise, but not of course audibly.
But does any particular circumstance, not in itself sinful,
press with force on my mind, such as a dreaded attack, the
perverse opposition of particular people, the thoughts suggested
by letters from friends, as from yourself, I often find it even
useful to give way in a degree, and to make those precise
points the subjects of meditation and prayer. Does a fear
respecting you arise, I mingle with my anticipation prayers
that my mind may be strengthened to meet even this imaginary
ill should it arise. Do I witness a feeling of impatience arising
in my mind on the view of the length of time we are likely still
to be apart, and of the obstacles to our meeting, I check it by
glancing at the Herculean labour which still awaits me of
removing those defects which might make our meeting less
auspicious. But after all my plans and contrivances and efforts,
I find myself still the same dependent, inefficient being who of
himself can do nothing. Do not complain of disappointment if
you find my remarks puerile and inadequate. I was myself
expecting from you some aid on this point, and if I have gone
into trifling details, I show at least my willingness to comply
with your injunctions by putting down what at present occurs
to me on the subject of them.
Babington's letter was from Clifton, and highly gratifying
and consolatory. Mr. Thornton's, in which were only eight
lines, was long enough to give me the satisfaction of knowing
that he had nothing particularly to blame : a negative, but
from Henry Thornton no mean praise. I had a perfect recol
lection of Miss Hannah More's wishes on the point to which
you refer, but when I was in England I barely mentioned -them
to Mr. Thornton, and for this I had several reasons. His own
mind was in a most tumultuary state at the time, and even when
talking to him on serious business he would all at once
interrupt the conversation by proposing some question, or
entering into some details respecting Miss Sykes. It was with
difficulty I could get him to fix his attention for above a few
minutes at a time to my own affairs, which then, as you may
remember, pressed for a prompt decision.
You mention Home's uneasy state of mind. Poor fellow,
his sensibilities are of too exquisite a kind. They may properly
be termed morbid. As he often says in his own defence,
there is no arguing against feeling, and if a man feels himself
unhappy, he is unhappy. Yet surely the causes of Home's

180 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
unhappiness are of a kind which requires an imagination,
sanguine as his own, to magnify into objects of moment. The
two banes of his peace are Missions and the Calvinistic spirit
of his parish. With the ardent spirit of a Xavier he traverses
the plains of Hindostan, or ranges through the wilds of Africa,
the harbinger of peace and joy to millions. He sees their eyes,
streaming tears of gratitude, raised to Heaven. He sees them
bend the adoring knee in the name of Jesus. His rapt fancy
changes in an instant the very face of nature. The wilderness
is changed into a fruitful field. He looks upwards. He sees
the happy millions who surround the throne striking a bolder,
a more joyful note, as his success is announced. ' Hallelujah,
these my children were dead and are alive, these your brethren
were lost and are found.' The door opens, his wife and his
child enter ; he starts from his reverie. He finds himself held by
a chain which he cannot break. And all his brilliant prospects
vanish into air ! His mind immediately reverts to Sierra
Leone ; and shame, regret, and dejection seize him.
An extract from one of his own letters to me when I was
last in England will show you I do not colour too highly. I
had been urging him to come and spend a few days with me at
Henry Thornton's house at Battersea Rise. In his answer he
declines the invitation. ' I fear,' says he, ' if I did come the
pleasure would hardly pay the pain. I wish to be more
indifferent to Missions. I fear everything which can nurse a
passion which has been to me the source of much sorrow.
What anguish filled the Carthaginian chief when, after passing
Alps and Apennines, he was compelled to leave the City of the
Seven Hills? I do not compare the men, but the disappoint
ment and shame of defeat. O how was my soul rooted to that
rocky burning shore ! What struggles had I before I could
persuade myself to leave it ! My heart bleeds while I call up
past scenes. Rejoiced as I was to see you, you had hardly
turned your back upon me, when I fell into a train of reflection
which for a fortnight unfitted me for everything. A painful
consciousness would, like a worm, feed on the joy I should
otherwise experience in the society of Mr. Thornton and your
self. Pardon me, then, if I decline your invitation ; you would
be sorry to see me again attempt to roll a stone which has
already crushed me in pieces.'
A vessel sailed to-day for Rhode Island, by which I took
occasion to send specimens of all the Repository Tracts to
a very worthy correspondent of mine in that quarter, Dr.
Hopkins, an independent clergyman, holding, however, some
peculiar notions which have given rise to a new sect among the
Independents called Hopkinsonians.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 181
You are acquainted, I make no doubt, with Scott's1 essays.
They are indeed excellent. The first is one of the most pithy
vindications of revealed religion I have met with. I read it
last Sunday for the benefit of our doubting gentlemen, and I
hope not without effect.
You lament my wanting some congenial minds here. I feel
the want, no doubt, in a considerable degree, but I should have
felt it much more, had I not such a resource when I stand in
need of relaxation as writing to you and thinking upon you.
Clarke is indeed a valuable associate in many respects, and we
perfectly understand each other, but he is not calculated to
supply the place of such a man as Dawes. On the contrary,
I have much to do in regulating his measures, and in yielding
him counsel, while those points in which I require the aid of a
confidential friend are rather out of his line. My brother, I
hope, begins to acquire some small tincture of prudence. It is
somewhat singular that all the reproofs I have had occasion
from time to time to give him, all the animadversion, remon
strance, and expostulation I have used with him, all the various
discussions I have endeavoured by every means to introduce,
have never had the effect either of provoking him to forego his
plan of studied silence with respect to all points of conduct, or
of diminishing the good-humour and freedom with which he is
always disposed to enter on any other subject. He always
lives with me when he is in the Colony. The intelligence of
those young men here, in whom from similarity of principles
I might be disposed to confide, is by no means extensive. It
also requires that a man should have a stronger mind than
ordinary to be selected by his superior as exclusively worthy of
an unlimited confidence. On the whole I manage tolerably
well, and for the most part feel my mind not greatly disposed
to murmurings at my lot. The most absolute peace reigns in
my family ; there I meet with scarce anything to disturb me.
We really eat our bread in quietness, and my will is generally
the law to all within our pales. This compensates for much of
the disquiet I otherwise meet with, and proves to me a great
and continual ground of thankfulness. — Ever yours,
Z. Macaulay.
'December i. — In the evening one of our pinnaces, which I
had sent out for intelligence, brought me a packet of letters
from you dated the 1 5th of September. The pinnace, in going
to the Isles de Los, had been chased for four hours by the
French brig, but escaped by dint of sailing. Just as it got to
1 The Rev. Thomas Scott, author of the Commentary on the Bible.

182

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

the Isles de Los, the President, the salt vessel by which your
packet came, arrived, and the pinnace left the Islands again
before the privateer came up. We have since learnt that the
President proceeded almost immediately to the Rio Nunez,
whither she was bound, in hopes of being before the privateer,
but she was overtaken and captured.
' I sent for the newly arrived Missionaries, and was glad to
find in them some symptoms of a disposition to mutual con
ciliation. It was not, however, without much unpleasant alter
cation among themselves that they were at length brought to
pass an act of oblivion.
'December 12. — To my astonishment and grief, Mr. Camp
bell, the Missionary at Rokelle, came to-day to beg that I
would separate him from his associate, Henderson, as their
tempers did not agree. He said that Henderson was too
forward, considering the difference of age between them, in
contradicting and opposing him. I spoke to him with great
earnestness on his duty, which was to bear with his failings, and
to set him an example of gentleness, courtesy, and moderation.
He confessed at last that he himself might have been much
in fault, and expressed his resolution of following the lines I
had pointed out to him.
' I have been exceedingly struck of late with the circum
stance that the quarrels which arise among men, especially
among religious people, have their origin, not in any important
difference of opinion, but in something which, when decided, is
of no moment, either with a view to this world or the next ; or
in some awkwardness or impropriety of behaviour in which
there is nothing sinful, and which therefore we ought meekly
to bear with, and, however unpleasant it may be to us, accustom
ourselves to regard it as a part of that cross we are cheerfully
to take up. By such a conduct an influence is likely to be
retained over the part)- which would not otherwise be had.
'December 14. — I took occasion to talk with Henderson, the
Missionary, on the conduct he ought to observe to his associate,
and was particularly pleased with his ingenuousness. He was
much affected by my admonitions, and took them quite as he
ought. It was plain that anything he had done to displease
his companion arose not from intention, but from the heedless
ness of youth and' inexperience, and ought by him to have
been borne with all the tenderness of a parent. I afterwards
saw them together, and brought about, I hope, a solid agree
ment and a clear understanding between them.
'Sunday, December 17. — Mr. Clarke being absent, one of the
Missionaries preached in the forenoon, and another in the
afternoon, and both gave us discourses as little applicable to

ZACHARY MACAULAY 183
their hearers as could well be imagined. One gave us proofs
for a future judgment, and 'reasons for it drawn from moral
and physical analogies which might have answered in a debat
ing club of would-be philosophers ; andthe other entered into
a critical analysis of the Greek text of the third chapter of
the Ephesians. What a needful grace is propriety !
' In the Eliza there came from St. Thomas on the line a
nice little horse, on which I sometimes ride out ; though my
time is so much occupied as to allow me too little of this, my
favourite exercise. I think if I could enjoy more of it, it
would contribute much to my health.
' Sunday, December 2 4. — In the morning Mr Clarke returned
from the Rio Pongo, and reported that it would be impossible
to proceed immediately to the Foulah country, on account of
some existing disputes between the Foulahs and the Susees.
I was not sorry for this hindrance, as I had previously
made up my mind as to the propriety of a separation between
the Missionaries taking place.
' I considered that men who could so shamefully fall out by
the way as they had done, and who, by strife and contention,
could so openly wound their Saviour's cause, were not likely
to succeed in a Mission so important and so delicate as that to
Teembo. ' December 26. — I sent to-day for the Missionaries, and I was
more grieved than surprised to find that their former dis-
. sensions had revived. One said he could not go on a Mission
with such a brother, because that brother did not show him
respect enough. It was objected to another that he wanted
manners, for he would sometimes lean over the table, and
sometimes wear his hat in the house. One man observed that,
for his own part, he had no notion of doing acts of service and
kindness to his brethren without a return of service being made
him. I opened the Bible and read to him in the sixth chapter
of Luke from the twenty-seventh verse. " Oh, but," said he,
"he is as much bound to serve me as I am to serve him."
In short, such unseemly discordance, such childish grounds
of difference, I had never before been a witness of in any
rational creatures. Our meeting ended with my declaring
the necessity of a separation, and assigning different stations
to them. I thought it best that they should go out two and
two, and to this they acceded ; and we managed so to pair
them that none were joined together between whom there
had been quarrels. What renders the conduct of these men
more to be lamented is that they are men of considerable
attainments in religion. They have knowledge, courage, and
zeal ; but then they want, I much fear, the charity which never

iS4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
faileth. How true it is that one may give his goods to feed
the poor and his body to be burned, and yet want that love
which can alone stamp intrinsic value on the sacrifice !
'December 30.— I had all the white ladies in the Colony
dining with me, Mrs. Millar, and Mrs. and Miss Campbell.
Mrs. Millar is really in her line a valuable person, and she
behaves with great propriety. Mrs. Campbell is a hard-
featured woman, with a hideous Scotch twang, full as super
stitious as any native of Africa. She amused us with a story
of some fairies who used to be very serviceable to her grand
mother, and also with a particular account of a certain being,
the race of which she fears is now extinct, who, when she was a
little girl, used to come during the night while all were asleep,
and that regularly, and sweep the house and do many other
menial offices. To this extraordinary being, who had the
appearance of a little old man, who never spoke, though he
ate heartily of what might be put in his wa)-, she gave the
name of a Brownie. The daughter I had hoped would supply
Mrs. Millar's place, and she really seems a well-disposed girl,
but her change of situation, 1 fear, has had an inauspicious
effect on her, and rather filled her with vain thoughts. How
ever, I hope to find her corrigible. You will easily suppose
that the strange conversation of his wife must have been
painful to poor Campbell, who is a man of sense ; but he bore
it with wondrous good-humour.
' fanuary 1, 1798. — A very thick haze in the morning about
half-past six. I heard several guns fired in such a way as con
vinced me of their being signals of distress. Having answered
them, I despatched a boat to the place from which the sound
came, for we could see nothing. At three in the afternoon the
boat returned with a naval lieutenant in it, and brought me a
letter from Captain Ball of the frigate Daedalus, saying his
ship was aground, and begging immediate help.
' I lost no time in despatching all the boats we could muster
to Captain Ball's help ; and about midnight I received the
welcome intelligence of his having got off without sustaining
any material damage. He had, however, been obliged to throw
twenty-four of his guns overboard.
'fanuary 2. — I filled the barge with fresh provisions and
fruit. I set off in the morning for the Dicdalus, and was very
gladly welcomed by Captain Ball. He is an old friend of Mr.
Dawes, and was with him at Botany Bay. He is quite the
seaman ; possessed of some abilities, great courage, and great
professional skill, but his mind little improved by culture.
'fanuary 4. — The Hornet sloop-of-war arrived to-day with
several prizes which Captain Nash had taken, among the rest

ZACHARY MACAULAY 185
the Company's sloop Ocean, in which my brother had been
taken in August 1796. Our harbour was now full of vessels.
Two men-of-war, and two large privateers, with about eight or
ten other vessels of different descriptions, formed a coup d'ceil
to which for these two years past we have been rather unaccus
tomed. But all this increased my troubles, absolutely calling
off my attention from preparing the Eliza's despatches, in which
I had been engaging very busily. From this time to the end
of the month I scarcely had it in my power to command one
day which was not much broken in upon.
'fanuary 6. — I was engaged almost all yesterday in taking
depositions relative to the prizes brought in. To-day King
Tom, attended by a great concourse of natives, came to bring a
palaver against me. The captains ofthe men-of-war attended
from curiosity. The King, after expatiating as usual on his
power and greatness, went on to say that he saw I was a bad
man, and hurt the country. I begged to know what I had done.
He said I had spoiled the price of everything in the country,
and I must alter all that and give the old price. This I refused
to do, and told him, in short, that I should comply with none
of his demands. Whether the presence of the captains, or of
so many of his own people, made him suppose his consequence
hurt by this refusal, or what else might be the cause I know
not, but he now got very angry, and said that I and all the
people in the place must decamp instantly. I smiled at this,
and told him he might act as he pleased. This gave such
violent offence, that the King and all his courtiers got up and
went away without my using any effort to stop them. Captains
Ball and Nash, who were present, were quite alarmed, and
began to ask what assistance they should render me. How
ever, I made them quite easy on that head by assuring them
that a great deal more would be said before they ventured to
attack Thornton Hill.
'fanuary 11. — I was alarmed this forenoon by the sudden
appearance in my room of Captains Ball and Nash, with
marks of the utmost trepidation in their look and manner.
Captain Ball had in his hand letters for me, which, in his eager
ness for intelligence, he had opened and read. The letters
were from Jackson at the Isles de Los, and their contents were
doubtless alarming. A French privateer with a Spanish com
mission had come on the 9th to the Isles de Los. Her force
was fourteen guns and a hundred and seventeen men, and she
was prepared with stink-pots for boarding. From one of the
officers on board, Jackson learnt that a squadron followed this
privateer, consisting of a frigate, an armed ship of twenty-
eight guns, and an armed brig of eighteen, and was daily

186 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
expected at the Isles de Los. There was nothing, it is true,
very alarming to Ball in this news had he had his guns, but as
yet he had only recovered six of those he threw overboard. I
suggested, however, that it was probable the French officer had
thrown out the above intelligence only to embarrass Captain
Ball, or at least that the amount was much exaggerated. I
proposed to send a boat to the Isles de Los for further news,
and that the Hornet and Ellis should go out to prevent the
above privateer from getting to leeward and destroying
the trade there, as was plainly her intention. Captain Ball
adopted my suggestion, only that he declined sending the Ellis,
which I was very sorry for, as by one vessel going straight
to the Isles de Los, while the other ran to the westward, the
privateer must certainly have been intercepted. The Hornet
went out next morning.
'fanuary 20, 1798. — The Hornet sloop-of- war returned to-day
from her cruise in pursuit of the Spanish privateer without
having been so fortunate as to come up with her. This was
what I dreaded, and I had therefore made several instances to
Captain Ball to alter his order, but Captain Ball did not see the
matter in the same light, and the privateer, as might have been
expected, escaped.
' Mr. Jackson of the Isles de Los called on me to-day in great
wrath. He had met with Captain Ball on the wharf, who accused
him and his partner Powell of being traitors, and of conveying
intelligence to the French, and threatened to carry them both
prisoners to England. Captain Ball doubtless was far too
violent on the occasion, and Jackson had a right to complain
that no proof was brought forward to support so injurious a
charge, but at the same time there is little room left to doubt
that the charge is a true one. Their factory is the continual
rendezvous of the French privateers, who religiously respect
their property ; and their principles are too well known to
permit a suspicion to arise that a sense of duty to their country
would stand in competition with their interest.
' The purpose of Jackson's visit was to request that I would
vindicate his character. I plainly told him that it was somewhat
extraordinary that he should expect such a vindication from
me; for even supposing that I had nothing to allege which
inight be personally to his disadvantage, yet was he not the
partner of a man, Powell, who, though an Englishman, had
despatched Mariner, then under his orders, to pilot the French
to Sierra Leone, and had afterwards shared with Mariner in
the plunder of this place ; and who, in sending a craft to the
Scarcies, and thence to the Bananas, to convey the news of a
French squadron being at the Isles de Los, had taken the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 187
friendly measure of directing the master of the craft by all
means to avoid this river, lest we should be prepared to ward
off the danger ? I reminded Jackson further of his own conduct,
while the French were at the Isles de Los, in resisting the
solicitations of several Englishmen to send us intelligence of
the danger which awaited us.
'fanuary 25. — This morning the Eliza sailed, and with her
the Dcedalus and Hornet, and the slave-ship the Quaker.
'fanuary 26. — The day being clear we had a distant view of
the ships, and were surprised by the return of the Hornet.
Captain Nash came in the evening and told me his sailing had
been countermanded by Captain Ball, who desired him to return
to port and wait the Dadalus.
' Sunday, fanuary 28. — Captain Nash and some of his officers
dining with me yesterday, it was agreed that the ship's com
pany should come to church to-day. Accordingly all the seamen
who could be spared from duty, headed by the captain and
most of the officers, were present, while Mr. Clarke preached
from "Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted."1 The sermon was
quite appropriate, and the seamen seemed to listen with deep
attention. There was something peculiarly affecting in seeing
so many stubborn knees bending at the throne of grace. The
thought occurs that God may peradventure now bow their still
more stubborn hearts under his yoke. God grant that some
poor lost sheep coming up this day to the house of prayer may
have found the way of return to the Shepherd and Bishop of
his soul !
'fanuary 29. — Some resolutions of the Hundreders and
Tithingmen were brought up to me for approbation. One
respected the forming two Chambers, one to consist of the
Hundreders and the other of the Tithingmen ; another respected
the appointment of a Committee to wait on me in order to
consult about the regulations it might seem advisable to adopt
for the general good. To both of these I signified my
consent. 'fanuary 31 — The sale of prizes which took place yesterday
had drawn a good many traders from different parts. The Ocean
was bought by Jackson of the Isles de Los, and the schooner
Prosperity was bought for the Company.
' Sunday, February 4. — Captain Nash, his officers, and crew
attended divine service, which indeed they have made a point
of doing regularly ; and Mr. Clarke and I had availed ourselves of
the very friendly intercourse which subsisted between us and
the men-of-war to distribute among the seamen Bibles, Testa
ments, and Cheap Repository Tracts ; and both captains had
1 Isaiah xlvi. 12.

188 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
encouraged Mr. Clarke's visits on board ship, who gladly
embraced the opportunity of giving the seamen religious advice
and instruction.
' February 7. — Captain Ball put into my hands a letter he had
received from Jackson at the Isles de Los, in which, by way of
revenging the supposed injuries I had done him, he revived the
obsolete charge of my assisting the French with provisions and
stores to fit out privateers for sea ; and informed him, as a proof
of it, that I was extremely popular at Goree, a fact I was before
a stranger to. Captain Ball had known Mr. Dawes, who
governed here at the time alluded to by Jackson, very intimately.
He might have harboured some doubt of me, who was a stranger
to him ; buthe was too well acquainted with Dawes's undeviat
ing rectitude and unbending firmness of principle to harbour a
single doubt on the subject after perceiving, from documents I
placed in his hands, that he was the principal party in the trans
actions alluded to ; which indeed, notwithstanding the exagger
ated representation which the enemies of the Colony have made
of them from time to time, were barely common offices of
humanity, such as furnishing Renaud occasionally with a little
wine and medicine for his sick ; and once, when he and his
people were much distressed, with two casks of port. Captain
Ball made rather a sharp reply to Jackson's letter, telling him
that he had left it with me.
' Thursday, February 8, 1798. — The captains being desirous
to visit Bance Island before their departure, I took them up
to-day in my barge, and Mr. Richards, as might be expected,
exerted himself to do them honour. While Richards and I
were engaged together the captains found their way to the
slave-yard, the horrors of which they contemplated for some
time. On their return, the)- both told me that the view of
human wretchedness there exhibited surpassed any notion they
had previously formed of it. Captain Ball said that the sight
of the poor creatures penned up, and lying about on the ground,
naked, waiting a market, while their countenances exhibited
blank despair or marked dejection, was to him of all sights he
had ever witnessed the most shocking. The impression which
it had made on his mind was so strong, that he seemed to be
under some uneasiness till he had given vent to his indignation.
Accordingly, no sooner had Richards given as a toast an
honourable and speed)- termination of the war, than Ball cried,
" Come, let us drink the speed)- termination of a still more
enormous evil, the Slave Trade." Richards opened his mouth
to say something of an extenuating nature, but Ball stopt him
by observing with some vehemence, " What can any man of
common feeling allege in its behalf? It is indeed a cursed

ZACHARY MACAULAY 189
trade. I pray God (turning to me) that your friends' labours
to abolish it may at length meet the success they deserve."
' April '8. — I mean to use my influence with King Tom to lead
him to employ his captives in cultivation, and to try to attach
them to him by benefits ; whereby his power and also his
wealth would be much promoted.
' I received the intelligence that Mr. Jackson of the Isles de
Los had been drowned a few days ago, with about thirty slaves
who were with him, in a craft which overset on the Rio Pongo
bar. He had been up that river, and procured the slaves from
the factories there. The slaves were chained, and could make
no effort to save their lives.
'April 20. — This morning the appearance of a man-of-war
boat, with a midshipman on board, relieved us from the alarm
of yesterday, and we found the vessel seen yesterday was the
Pearl frigate, Captain Ballard, bound hither, and having Mr.
Ludlam1 on board. Captain Ballard had with him a small
Spanish brig which he had captured off Teneriffe.
' Sunday, April 22. — While I was employed with our Sunday-
school in the morning, a person came to give me a very im
portant piece of intelligence. He said that on Friday morning
he had seen some large vessels, one or two of which seemed to
have Spanish colours, standing in to the Isles de Los. They
appeared five in number, and three of them seemed to be large
fighting ships. I went to meet Captain Ballard, who with all his
crew was on the way to church, and gave him the information
I had received. He immediately resolved on going out with
the tide in the afternoon, and trying the enemy's strength. We
had nearly all the people belonging to the Pearl in church ;
and I was in great hopes when Clarke gave out his text, " God
is Love," to have heard a heart-affecting discourse. Conceive
my mortification then at hearing a laboured proof from reason
without any practical application ; the whole so ornamented
with allusions to classical authors, and so interspersed with the
names of Roman and Greek writers, as to give it more the air
of a prize dissertation than of an evangelical sermon. Mr.
Ludlam, as well as myself, was miserably disappointed.
' I have been labouring a good deal to counteract this false
taste in Clarke ; but I have begun to fear that the only effect
produced is one, natural enough where the workings of corrupt
nature are allowed any play, I mean a greater leaning to the
forbidden indulgence. His attachment to a style far removed
from simplicity I noticed some time ago. I soon perceived
that it exceedingly interfered with his usefulness, and I enter-
1 Mr. Ludlam had been sent out by the Chairman with the view of his being
trained to succeed as Governor of the Colony at some future period.

190 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
tained considerable hopes that that consideration alone would
have given weight to my friendly suggestions on the subject.
He has been so far, however, from seeing the matter in the
same light as myself, that from the same principle perhaps
which Arminianises our friend Horne, he has rather wandered
farther from simplicity. I have forborne, however, for some
time past to urge him on the point, in the hope that his own
good sense and piety, both of which he possesses in no common
measure, will lead him to adopt another plan.
' After service Captain Ballard arranged with me certain
signals whereby I should know exactly the issue of his cruise.
He then set about unmooring the frigate, but it took so much
time, that he was obliged to defer going out till the next day.
'April 23. — The Pearl sailed to-day for the Isles de Los, I
furnishing Captain Ballard with a pilot Judging that little
time was to be lost in taking measures for preserving the Com
pany's property and securing the place, I called together some
of the Hundreders and Tithingmen, and proposed that the
whole body of the Colonists should be summoned to give their
labour to strengthening and repairing our works. They were
unanimous in acceding to my proposal. In company with
Mr. Ludlam I took a view of our different constructions for
defence, and as far as our inexperience would permit, we
devised expedients for more effectually securing ourselves and
annoying the enemy. I at the same time advised all our
vessels in the river to be loaded with the most valuable part of
the Company's property, and to be in readiness to proceed up
the river. Our books and papers were packed up, and part
sent on board, and part to the mountains.
'April 26. — I was much pleased to find the people engage
with cheerfulness and alacrity every day in repairing the
batteries. ' About noon the Pearl hove in sight, and as soon as I could
distinguish her signals, I had the pain to read that the enemy's
force was superior to hers. I made the alarm signal in order
to collect the people, and immediately went on board. On
Tuesday afternoon the Pearl made the Isles de Los, and dis
covered at Factory Island a large vessel. It was plain she
could put to sea at a moment's warning. This circumstance
decided Captain Ballard to prefer the channel between Craw
ford's Island and Factor)- Island, although there lay directly in
his way no less than five vessels, because from their situation,
however superior they might be to him in metal, he saw they
could not prevent his escape. He had disguised his ship so as
to be taken for a Guineaman, and the bait seemed at first to take,
for a little armed brig came out to meet him, but soon put

ZACHARY MACAULAY 191
back. He was now within a mile and a half of them, and
could perceive the bustle and confusion to be very great.
They began to fire at the Pearl very fast, but without doing
him any damage. Their force appeared to him then to be two
large frigates, and an armed brig with two merchantmen or
transports. The tide and the wind would not admit of his
retiring, so that he took the resolution of going on. The Pearl
was doubtless at this time in rather a perilous situation. The
breeze was very gentle so that she would have been exposed
to a heavy fire on both sides from two frigates, both superior
in size, while the other large ship, which had already got
under weigh from Factory Island, would probably be in time
to block up the passage and prevent her escape. Captain
Ballard pushed on, reserving his fire till he found himself fairly
between the enemy's ships, when he began to play upon them
from both sides. He was agreeably surprised to find that the
vessel on his right hand, which he had taken for a frigate, and
which, even when alongside, had every appearance of one, did
not return a gun, which led him to conclude that it must be a
frigate converted into a transport. The frigate on his left
hand, which mounted forty-four guns, kept up meanwhile a
constant fire, without doing, however, any further damage to
the Pearl than carrying away a topgallant yard, and dismount
ing one of the quarter-deck guns. One man only was wounded,
and that slightly. Could Captain Ballard have ventured to
stay a little longer, he thought himself that he must have
carried this frigate, but his uncertainty with respect to her
consort's force, and the certainty that, were he to remain even
half an hour longer where he was, he should be completely cut
off from a retreat, decided him not to expose His Majesty's
ship to so imminent a hazard. He accordingly pushed on in
order to clear the channel before the other vessel intercepted
him, and this he effected ; after which he steered his course for
this place.
' On the news there appeared many marks of consternation
in the place. So expeditious were the people that before seven
o'clock at night I believe there was little of the Settlers'
property left in town. I thought it unnecessary to interrupt
them in this work ; but when it was over they came in con
siderable numbers, and before midnight had dragged a heavy
twelve-pounder to the spot on Wansey Hill on which I meant
to place it by the captain's advice.
' Mr. Richards of Bance Island being here to-day, I concerted
with him the measures requisite for securing the Naimbanna,
Prosperity, and other craft, in one of the creeks beyond Bance
Island.

192 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
'Captain Ballard put into my hands his Spanish prize,
requesting me to dispose of it for him, which I agreed to do.
He was so obliging as to exchange with me for various articles
a St. Jago bull and two English rams, with the view of im
proving our breed.
'April 27. — The Pearl sailed this morning for Cape Coast
Castle in order to join the Sheerness. The propriety of the
measure could not be disputed, but her departure threw a
momentary damp over all our minds. We now felt, however,
more strongly than before the necessity for vigorous exertion,
as we should have to fight our own battle. The Settlers agreed
to give their labour towards fortifying the town.
' It may indeed fairly be asked why works of defence should
be delayed to the hour of danger. But the inertness of our
Colonists requires the presence of danger to rouse it into exer
tion, and it is of such occasions that I have been obliged to
avail myself all along, in order to carr)' into effect any of those
measures which I have thought likely to add to our security
from hostile attacks.
' Sunday, April 29. — We thought ourselves justified in con
tinuing our military preparations to-day, though they were
somewhat interrupted by a tornado, accompanied with heavy
rain, which continued to fall for a considerable time. This cir
cumstance, however, did not prevent the muster which I had
meditated. When the people had assembled, I gave them a
simple statement of the danger which threatened them, and
pointed out the considerations which should unite them in
repelling it. They all seemed determined to make " Liberty or
Death" their motto. This was too favourable a moment to
lose. I ordered them out under their respective captains, and
fixed them to their stations, which were taken very readily, and
without a murmur. Before they separated in order to go to
the stations allotted to them, a step I thought necessary in
order to prevent future misunderstanding, I appointed them to
meet at four in the afternoon in church. They met accordingly,
when Mr. Clarke preached a sermon to them suited to the
occasion. 'In the evening I had a letter from Mr. Richards, which
relieved me from a considerable portion of my anxiety. It
stated that by a letter from Mr. Powell of the Isles de Los he
had learned that two French forty-fours and two Spanish mer
chantmen had arrived there in want of provisions and water,
and without any purpose of injuring the settlements on the
Coast ; that the Mnt ine brig was also arrived there from Goree,
manned by whites, and it was her intention to send every black
belonging to Sierra Leone or Bance Island, who might be taken,

ZACHARY MACAULAY 193
to Goree, till all the blacks taken by the Hornet should be
delivered up.'

TO MISS MILLS. May 5, 1798.
MY DEAR SELINA, — When I wrote to you by the Elisa I had
a hope that before this time I should have diminished the
distance which separates us. God has seen it right to frustrate
that hope, and it is mine to exercise submission. The arrival
of Mr. Ludlam has doubtless served in some degree to clear the
way for my return ; but the prospect is still too indistinct for
me to say precisely when it will be practicable to enter upon it.
Mr. Ludlam looks very young, and it is requisite he should be
known before he can have the credit he deserves. This will
take some time. Left alone, he would be without any adviser,
who, possessing local knowledge, would be likely to reason on
his principles. His constitution is as yet untried. In short,
the probable event would be that before I had well put foot on
English ground I should be forced again to quit it, in order to
remedy, if possible, the confusion which would arise. After
weighing all these considerations, I make no doubt you will
think with me that the necessity of my continuing here during
the rains, that is, till next October, is as absolute as the obliga
tions of duty can make it.
I pray you, Selina, not to suffer the present state of our
affairs to deject your spirits. The circumstance of the French
squadron being near us, I really regard, as far as I am per
sonally concerned, as an affair of very trivial moment, not so
big with personal danger as one of my slight fevers. On the
subject of my return, I feel, I hope, some measure of resignation,
nor shall I venture to indulge complaint, but you may depend on
it that my stay will not be prolonged beyond the period to which
of necessity it must. May God Almighty bless you, and keep
you, and cause the light of His countenance to shine upon you !
I must tell you that some years ago I had a strong impres
sion that much of religion consisted in a contempt of money,
and I had formed a secret purpose of never laying any by.
Some such singularity is very frequent in one's outset in a
religious course. I have known some to imagine thatthey were
dead to the world because the decencies of dress were beneath
their notice; others to make laughter a sin, because our Saviour
was never known to laugh ; and others to derive much self-
complacency from having drawn on them the stare of an
irreligious company by asking for themselves God's blessing on
their meat, in silence perhaps, but with a motion of the eyes to
N

194 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
heaven, and a position of their hands, extremely unnecessary
at any time, and certainly not likely to promote God's glory at
such a time. Much of this proceeds from ignorance, and much
from vanity. No one command of God is given to the exclu
sion of another. And if the Bible tells us ' To do good and to
communicate, forget not,' and again, ' Sell all thou hast, and give
to the poor, and thou shalt have' treasure in heaven,' it also
says, ' Occupy till I come,' ' If any provide not for his own he
denieth the faith.' Money, no doubt, is a valuable talent ; but it
is chiefly valuable not simply on account of the portion of
human distress which its bare distribution can alleviate, but on
account of that influence it gives the possessor, and which one
who is clothed with rags, however favoured of Heaven, in the
nature of things cannot attain. There is a greater risk indeed
of inclining to selfishness than to too profuse a charity.
You will have heard what a dreadful conflagration took place
last month in our little town. The extent of the mischief was
very great. The piercing shrieks of some women soon waked
me to it, and I lost no time in repairing to the spot to try to
check the course of the flames, but their fury was so great that
little could be done. I went round in the afternoon to visit all
the sufferers.
On one of the evenings on which Captain Ball called upon
me, I was engaged with my little fry. I debated with myself
for a few seconds whether I should continue the work of in
struction, and I resolved in the affirmative. Having welcomed
my guest, I went on as usual, though not without some
embarrassment. I must confess myself but too subject to the
influence of a certain false shame, which makes me shrink from
the imputation of a weak mind, which all those are apt to con
nect with religion who themselves are wholly indifferent to it.
I got so far the better of it, however, at this time as to comment
a little on the commandments as we proceeded, and on some on
which I should not have had courage to have spoken directly
to my naval friend, with a good deal of point. Although what
I said was quite lowered down to the capacity of our little
natives, yet Ball must have experienced a sensation as if what
was said was said to him, for he began in the course of the
evening after our work was done to notice the many unpro-
pitious circumstances which had attended him in his way
through life. Both Clarke and I availed ourselves of this un
expected turn in the conversation to represent in as delicate a
way as we could the advantages those had over others who
were masters of themselves, and the inefficacy of every admoni
tion to duty from one who lived in the neglect of duties equally
plain. Ball shook his head, and observed that no one could

ZACHARY MACAULAY 195
manage seamen without swearing and violence. I instanced
Gambier. He could have no objection to the instance, but
he added, ' As for myself, it would be vain to think of altering
established habits. What so many years have confirmed is not
likely to yield to a few efforts, which, while they disquieted,
would prove wholly unavailing. God is merciful, and will
weigh against those innoxious deviations from His laws one's
honesty and uprightness, one's generosity, benevolence, and
charity.' Miss Campbell, whom I mentioned to you on a former occa
sion, opened her school a short time back. She showed some
very striking marks of a vain mind, which I hoped, however,
might be corrected, and only flowed from the inconsideration
of youth. I had therefore some very serious conversation both
with herself and her father, in which I plainly stated my reasons
of hesitation. The young lady did not altogether relish my
plain, but, I am sure, friendly expostulation, and though I was
exceedingly careful in avoiding every expression whch might
imply that I aimed at anything more than a pardonable want
of acquaintance with the world, she observed quite in heroics
' that innocence itself could not be safe here.' I had hinted,
however, that my objections were conscientious ones, and my
remarks were therefore entertained at least with seriousness.
The young woman, I trust, possesses at bottom good sense and
piety, though both are somewhat warped by a change of cir
cumstances which leads her to think it necessary to affect a
style of dress and manners ill according with one educated in
her humble sphere. There are besides proprieties of character
to maintain, which scarce admit of being defined, and which
peculiarly require to be attended to by those who have the task
of forming the morals of others, in which Miss Campbell was
not an adept ; but on this head, though I felt much, yet I had
nothing to say. There would have been something strangely
anomalous in a lecture from me on the proprieties !
A few days' reflection at length convinced Miss Campbell
that I had spoken the language of truth and friendship ; and
after several colloquies, it was at last agreed that she should
undertake a school of females, under the express condition of
following Mr. Clarke's suggestions and mine. She had by this
time got rid of her monstrous misshapen dress, which had for
some time set all the young women in the church agaping, and
reverted to the use of plain and simple attire, and her lowly
looks were, I hope, no fallacious indication of a humbled mind.
Now that I have mentioned __ dress I really cannot resist the
propension I feel to pay you a compliment on your very just
taste in that article. I have always admired it, and been

i96 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
pleased with it, not because I lay particular weight on external
appearance, but because I insensibly attach to it the idea of a
well-ordered mind. I must say that you were the only person
I met who could so follow the reigning mode as to avoid
singularity, and yet preserve the grace it was so much calcu
lated to outrage.
' Hollefear,' l says my brother Aulay, ' does not like the
thought of your leaving Africa ; and if you should come home
to take a wife, he wishes you would take her back with you.'
You probably know Hollefear by this time, and should you be
at the Temple in July, you are likely to see him there. I shall
make at present no comment on his opinion, which I doubt
not proceeds, as all his opinions do, on some grounds at least
meriting discussion. By the time I come home the point will
have probably been fully debated, and I shall have only to listen
to the result. For my own part I shall be ready enough to
follow where duty may call me. But indeed I can at present
see no ground for supposing that I have an exclusive call to
Africa ; and circumstances must strangely alter before I entirely
abandon all hope of living one day at home. — Believe me, ever
yours truly and affectionately, Z. MACAULAY.
' May 6. — Faul, whom I have mentioned before, came to tell
me what he knew about the French commodore who had
questioned him closely about this place. He was particularly
inquisitive about our means of heating shot ; and the informa
tion given him on that head seemed to have more influence in
determining him, if possible, toward coming hither, than any
thing else that was told him. He also wished to know from
Faul, in whom, being a German, he seemed to put some con
fidence, whether I was likely to permit him to take water at
Sierra Leone without molestation. He seemed much inclined
to send a flag of truce to know my mind, and was probably
only diverted from it by his engagement with the Pearl. Faul
informed me that the Pearl was at first taken for a Guineaman ;
and on her being discovered to be a frigate, very great con
fusion ensued, most of the men being ashore. The Pearl's
shot damaged the frigate, and killed three of her people, and
wounded four. One ofthe Spanish galleons received three shot
betwixt wind and water, and in a few minutes there were three
feet water in the hold. The captain of the galleon called out
to strike the colours, but neither he nor any of his crew had the
1 Mr. Ilollefcar, n frequent and welcome visitor at the Temple, was a Leicester
shire clergyman, much respected by his neighbours, but of somewhat eccentric views.
1 le had a great idea of only using home-grown articles of consumption, and even his
clothes were supposed to be made from the wool of his own sheep.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 197
courage to venture on deck to do it. On board this vessel were
fifteen thousand dollars in specie. The commodore said that
had he had two more broadsides he too must have struck.
' Taking the whole of Faul's information into consideration,
I judged it of sufficient importance to transmit without delay
to Commodore Cornwallis at Cape Coast. I accordingly ordered
the Prosperity to be got ready for that purpose.
' The Settlers were again at work to-day, but as everything
which I deemed essential to our security had now been done,
and as every hour was a matter of great importance to farmers
engaged in putting in their crops, I called together the captains,
and after expressing my satisfaction with their conduct and
that of those under their command, and desiring them to
accept my acknowledgments, gave directions for all to return
to the pursuit of their private business. This notice seemed
very agreeable to them.
'The Hope being about to sail, I delivered the despatches
to Captain Holford, with directions to sink them if pursued
by an enemy.
'May 12. — We had a muster this afternoon ofthe Militia for
the purpose of exercising the great guns.
'Sunday, May 13. — I thought I had cause this morning to
congratulate myself on our having been engaged as we were
yesterday afternoon, for at daylight to-day I saw three sails in
the offing on a line with the Isles de Los, but at a very con
siderable distance. Clarke being still ill, I was obliged to officiate
to-day. I had just begun the service when my servant came to
announce to me his having seen two more vessels, making a
squadron of five sail. I was startled by the intelligence, but
made shift to proceed without betraying emotion. After service
I gave the alarm and beat to quarters, and the notice was
obeyed with considerable alacrity, and I despatched a canoe
to Bance Island with the news.
' During the day I was a good deal disquieted, as I always
am when many things press for decision, but before evening,
every arrangement having been taken which appeared necessary,
I recovered my composure, and even felt a considerable flow of
spirits ; and I was glad to observe that, notwithstanding our
firm persuasion that to-morrow we should have no bloodless
battle to fight, there was an uncommon degree of cheerfulness
diffused among us. At lying down I commended myself and
all under my charge, as well as all who were dear to me, to
His care who fills all space present throughout ; and having
enjoyed a very sound and refreshing sleep, I got up at two in
the morning to watch the motions of the expected squadron
with a night-glass, and to prepare for the combat.

198 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
' May 14.— I was somewhat surprised, though certainly it was
agreeably, to be able on the return of day to see nothing ofthe
enemy. In the afternoon, however, I was not a little pleased
to learn by a craft from the Isles de Los that they had quitted
that place on the nth, bound to Europe. It must no doubt
have been the French squadron which we saw yesterday.
' Sunday, May 20. — Mr. Ludlam I hope is sincerely well dis
posed to religion. He is a man of an acute, discerning mind,
and is fond of discussions. I find use now for all my logic,
which for these two years past has been rusting for want of
employment. ' Sunday, May 27. — Mr. Clarke being still very poorly, I was
obliged to officiate, a duty which I never fail to feel unpleasant
on account of my having to stand up as the mouth of a con
gregation in their intercourse with the throne of grace. I have
been in the habit of accounting public prayer a more solemn
exercise than public instruction, and one which ought to be
appropriated still more exclusively to the priesthood. Certainly
not less attention is due to the ordering our conversation aright
in addressing God than in addressing men, and on this ground
chiefly I would disapprove of those completely extemporaneous
effusions which one often hears in public, and in which every
one present is compelled at least to appear to join.
' I received a packet of letters left for me at Cape Coast
Castle, which gave me the melancholy news of the Calypso's
capture, and of the death of Messrs. Guest and Symonds. I
felt poor Guest's loss very acutely. I had to feel too for the
Colony, at the commencement of a rainy season, deprived of
his professional skill and attention.
'The Calypso was taken in the month of February by the
same privateer which the Hornet sloop-of-war had pursued in
vain. When taken, the captain, Guest, and the crew were taken
on board the privateer, where their living was wretched and
their accommodation also ver)- bad. At last they were put
into a boat and sent to Cape Coast Castle. On getting to Cape
Coast they were allowed to stay in the Castle, but their situa
tion there must have been very uncomfortable, as I find Guest
was obliged to make shift with half of Symonds's apartment,
who at the time was ill of dysentery. As might be expected,
Guest grew so ill that, contrary to his first plan which was
to wait a conveyance to Sierra Leone, he went on board the
schooner which Buckle commanded and which was to depart
in two days for England. But before the two days had expired
(iuest breathed his last. Buckle speaks very feelingly of the
whole affair, and states how eagerly Guest longed to have been
but back at Freetown during his illness. Buckle writes me

ZACHARY MACAULAY 199
that he had my packets for you and Babington still in his
custody, and that he should not fail, on getting to England, to
see them properly forwarded.
' Sunday, fune 10. — Captain Ballard passed the greatest part
of the day with us, and listened very attentively to our examina
tion of the native children at night. Ballard is a particular
friend of Captain Bedford, who I found had been furnishing
him with tracts. I made up large parcels both for him
and Commodore Cornwallis, which they thankfully accepted,
and promised to distribute after they had themselves read one
of each kind, in order to ascertain their probable tendency.
Not only the seamen, but their commanders may thus receive
a word of seasonable exhortation.
' May 30. — I must give you some account of the progress of
our African Missions.
' On the Bullom shore matters have not gone on prosperously,
for without the least shadow of opposition from the natives, the
Missionaries, Capp and Russell, quarrelled with each other.
They even went so far upon one occasion as to make a native
chief the umpire of their differences. Much good was not to
be expected of such a Mission, and I therefore separated them.
In a conversation I had with Capp a few days ago I found out
that his sole reason for engaging at first in the Mission was an
impression that he ought to go, a certainty that he would be
uneasy if he did not go. I am not a little surprised that the
Missionary Society should be satisfied with such a reason. He
did not previously ascertain that it was his duty on any one
Scripture ground ; he had not considered whether he had the
qualifications and the temper requisite, and without which it
never could be a duty ; but he felt an impulse ! We hear of a
Paul who required, with all the aid of supernatural gifts, three
years' training for his work ; but modern apostles deem such
discipline as this a quenching of the spirit. Of the carnal spirit
which possesses them I own it would be ; at least it would
serve to discover to others the spirit they were of.
' I must confess myself one of those who see no sufficient
ground for believing that the cast of men at present employed
as Missionaries are calculated to produce important or exten
sive effects. When I see Missionaries formed under some such
self-denying discipline as that of the Moravians, or from those
classes of men who may be supposed to possess sober yet ele
vated views, humble yet enlarged minds, I shall think the set
time at hand. It is not among mechanics we are to look for
men of this last description. In a subordination to these,
mechanics might indeed be useful, but otherwise the name and
office of Missionary only serves to unhinge their minds. And

200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
one who would scarce be chosen to instruct a parish school is
sent forth as the apostle of Africa. Experience, perhaps dear
bought, will convince the Missionary Societies of the absolute
need of an efficient control.
'fune g. — Being somewhat disengaged I paid a visit to the
mountains on the 7th, and had the satisfaction to find my farm
flourishing. My stay, however, was considerably shortened by
the appearance of two large sail in the farther verge of the
horizon. I made haste down, and I made the signal for a
general muster, which was obeyed, and guards were mounted
on all the batteries. I continued up all night watching with a
night-glass for the appearance of the ships, and keeping the
men on duty on the alert. About two in the morning there
was an unusual bustle down by the river-side, which appeared
at length to have been caused by a boat being perceived rowing
close inshore with muffled oars, as if playing the spy. Those
on board at first refused any reply ; but a few muskets being
pointed at them, they sung out very lustily, " We are British
friends, let us land." They immediately were allowed to land,
and I was happy in a few minutes after to shake hands with
the master of the Pearl. He brought me a letter from Com
modore Cornwallis announcing his arrival with the Pearl in the
hope of finding the French here, and that he had ordered the
master to be put ashore in order to find me out in the woods,
where he supposed I was with my people, and make known to
me his plan of operations, in which he begged me to co-operate.
The boat, after landing the master and taking a peep at the
enemy's position, was to have gone back instantly to the ships.
I despatched the master with a few lines, and having got my
barge ready, set off about four in the morning to communicate
with the commodore. I had to pull not less than eight leagues
before I got on board the Sheerness, which was about double
the distance I had expected. I found the two captains friendly
in the extreme, but much chagrined at not having had an
opportunity of further testifying their regard by delivering us
from French marauders.
' Scarce was this over when two native chiefs appeared from
King Tirama, demanding of me in positive terms the delivery
of about twenty fugitive slaves whom the)- alleged to be
harboured in the Colony. The commodore, Captain Ballard,
and the officers of both ships being to dine with me, I was
obliged to plead for a delay before I could give an answer,
and backing my entreaty with a few bottles of wine, I obtained
my wish.
'///wiS.--The Sheerness sailed to-day for England, but just
before the commodore weighed anchor I received intelligence

ZACHARY MACAULAY 201
which I communicated to him, of a large French frigate having
been at Cape Mount about three weeks ago, having previously
captured a good many prizes, slave-ships.
'fune 22. — A letter from King Tom came to say that he had
just received news of war being talked of against this place,
and that he would therefore advise us to be on our guard. I
replied rather coldly that I was always on my guard, but I did
not believe Tirama or his people cared so little for themselves
as to trouble the Settlement. In truth the letter proceeded, I
believe, from his own fears of an attack from King Tirama ; in
which case it would be particularly advantageous to him to
involve us in his quarrel. I gave him to understand that I
knew how the matter stood; that he was not to expect any
active assistance from me ; but that either he or his people,
fleeing from oppression, would be sure to find a safe asylum
here. All these reports succeeding each other with such
rapidity led me to a more than customary watchfulness ; and
in such circumstances one whose thoughts are at all directed
Godward will be made to learn what is meant by a life of faith.
At night one goes to rest in that kind of uncertainty (for all
attacks in this country are by night) which leads to a more
hearty and spiritual resignation of oneself to God, than if no
degree of danger existed. In the morning one feels in a more
lively manner the renewed mercy of a spared life and continued
comforts.' About this time Mr. Robert Haldane, whose name was well
known in religious circles in Scotland, authorised a friend to
request Macaulay to obtain and despatch to Edinburgh thirty
or forty native boys and girls, with the view of their being
educated there, to return later to Africa as Missionaries. Mr.
Haldane offered to make himself responsible for the necessary
funds being forthcoming. This letter was received by Macaulay
during the summer of 1798; and in his reply, which reached
Mr. Haldane the following October, he approved the proposal
with certain modifications. He considered that the scheme
deserved a trial, and might possibly present a solution of the
difficulties caused by the continual illness and mortality among
the European Missionaries. But he stated it as essential in
his opinion that the children should be kept for some time
under his own care and supervision, so that by personal
acquaintance with their characters he should be qualified to
select from among them those who were best fitted for their
future destination. He also stipulated that they should remain

202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
at Sierra Leone until the time came for his own return, and
make the voyage to England with him, as otherwise he could
not be responsible for their welfare to their families. The
children, who were already placed with Macaulay by their
friends for education, belonged to the households of different
Chiefs, and this circumstance he considered would contribute
materially to the success of the scheme, as the interest of the
Chiefs in each district would at once be enlisted in favour of
Missionaries who stood in such a close relation to them.

TO MISS MILLS. June 1 6, 1798.
My dear Selina, — Ballard, when he came up, put into my
hands a very large parcel of letters and newspapers, which one
of his lieutenants had got out of a vessel he had boarded on
entering the river.
Your letter is dated the 28th October 1797, and gives a most
interesting account of the incidents which occurred during your
visit to Mrs. Wilberforce at Bath. Your estimate of the char
acters of those of your party whom I know appears to be very
just ; though I own in drawing a comparison between Thornton
and Wilberforce, in my own mind, the former, whether justly
or not I will not venture to say, has always carried away the
palm. In point of talents, doubtless, there is a splendour about
Wilberforce which quite eclipses the other ; but then the sound
ness of Thornton's judgment, and the extreme considerateness
and painful scrutiny with which he is accustomed to view every
subject that requires his decision, serves as a counterbalance.
Wilberforce's benevolence may be more ardent, and the style of
his devotion more elevated and fervent ; but in the practice of
self-denying duties, and in the habitual enforcement of that
suggestion not to confer with flesh and blood, I must think
Henry Thornton his superior. Wilberforce has stronger and
more lively views of the beauties of holiness and of the Saviour's
love ; but Thornton has a more uniform and abiding impression
of his accountableness to God for every moment of his time,
and for every word he utters. Wilberforce's active love flies
immediately to the relief of an object in distress, and gives
almost instinctively. Thornton's consideration leads him to
weigh the best mode of imparting relief so as to raise no false
hopes, and to produce no future unhappiness, and to join, if
possible, the interests of eternity to those of time. That both
possess all the good qualities above alluded to in an eminent

ZACHARY MACAULAY 203
degree, when compared with other men, is certain ; but I was
only viewing them in comparison with each other.
Your account of your conference with Mr. Thornton is highly
characteristic in its commencement, and the warmth of affec
tion towards me which he betrayed may seem somewhat out of
character, yet I know it to have been only a relaxation of that
restraint which he thinks it a duty habitually to cultivate with
respect to the expression of his feelings. He wishes at no
time to give praise unnecessarily, or without seeing some specific
good end to be answered by it, knowing that in the main it is
hurtful. He wishes at no time to utter a needless expression
of regard, not knowing what expectations it may excite which
he is unable to fulfil, and knowing that when an opportunity of
doing a real service occurs, its worth will not be diminished by
the want of previous promises. I do feel satisfaction arising
from the consciousness of having in any degree the regard and
favourable opinion of such men. But I feel at the same time
no circumstance so humbling as the contrast which my own
heart, and my life as to its moving principle in too many
instances, forms, to what they are pleased to think of me.
Thornton speaks of my industry ; while I feel sloth and pro
crastination besetting sins. He speaks of my integrity ; while
every day and hour I feel vanity and other bad tempers warp
ing me to insincerity. He speaks of my necessary qualifica
tions ; while I know and God knows how miserably poor and
defective I am, and how little I merit commendation, even for
those parts of my conduct which may have the most splendid
exterior. Alas ! it is not praise we want, it is pardon.
The circumstance which chiefly excited in me a sigh on the
thought of quitting Sierra Leone was the necessity of abandon
ing the native children, whom God, in mercy to them I would
fain hope, had placed under my care, to the precarious chance
of meeting one who would care for their spiritual interests.
This did cause me many anxious moments. God has now
made my way even in this respect plain. The same vessel
which brought me the letter I am answering brought me one
which announced the formation of a plan, and the institution
of a sufficient fund, for the education of thirty or forty African
boys and girls ; and gave me a commission to collect and bring
home with me to that number. I am sure I ought to be ashamed
of ever distrusting the love of God. This tie being loosed, I see
nothing now to damp the happiness of my return, nor any
obstacles to it, but the want of a convenient opportunity of
transporting myself to your shores.
Mrs. Thornton is certainly not proud, but she has ever been
silent and reserved for a woman. Her understanding is strong ;

204 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
and the peculiar circumstances of her life having led her much
to seek retirement and solitude, she is little attentive to those
minutenesses in conduct which so irresistibly captivate one
when, as in Mrs. Hannah More, they are the accompaniments
of a cultivated understanding and a superior genius. Mrs
Thornton is seen most to advantage in discussions which call
forth the powers of her mind, and she then seldom fails to
manifest great delicacy of discrimination and accuracy of think
ing. She is certainly lively and vivid in her conceptions, and
possesses a degree of sensibility which may be called morbid.
This would have rendered her a very unfit companion for Mr.
Wilberforce, whose extreme vivacity and rapidity both of
thought and action certainly require no small firmness of nerve,
Of Mrs. Wilberforce I can say nothing but that I am disposed
to esteem and love her highly, not only as being worthy of pos
sessing Wilberforce's affections, but on account of the affecting
proofs she gives of attachment to you, and the mutual confidence
which subsists between you.
You speak of my health. It is on the whole at present as
good as I have a right to expect. I feel by no means the same
capacity for bodily exertion as I did when I last arrived here,
but I think I shall be likely to regain it now that my employ
ments are in themselves much less harassing and fatiguing than
formerly, and that they are shared by Mr. Ludlam. I have
begun to relinquish in his favour all the details of business, as
well to relieve myself as to render him familiar with them. My
employments are thus a good deal more to my taste. I spend
several hours every day in reading, chiefly Greek and Latin.
One advantage in any case I am sure to derive from it, and
which justifies to my own mind the applying my time thus: I
mean the being able to study the original Scriptures, at least of
the New Testament, for myself. Besides, as much of the useful
knowledge to be derived from history in general is to be derived
from Xenophon and Livy, as from modern historians. — Yours
affectionately, Z. Macaulay.
'fune 25. — My preparations for the sailing of the Santa
Margarita were interrupted by the arrival of the Chiefs, this
being the day I had appointed for hearing the claims preferred
for the restitution of certain fugitive slaves. The first claim
which came to be discussed was that of Pa Wamba for the
family of which I have made frequent mention, consisting of
the mother and three sons. Being myself clearly of opinion
that we are bound to have no share in African injustice, you
will not wonder that I should have formed a previous deter
mination on no account to deliver up these fugitives. The

ZACHARY MACAULAY 205
declaration of this principle I thought it prudent to defer till
it became necessary, on the ground that it would be wrong to
risk our peace, unless the obligation to do so were urgent and
evident. I professed therefore my readiness to listen to the
reasonings of both parties, and to do what in the issue appeared
to be just.
' Pa Wamba stated his case ; and then one of the young
men stood up to advocate the cause of himself, his mother and
brothers. I then delivered my mind on the affair, which was
that Pa Wamba had certainly no claim on the people in ques
tion. King Tom allowed I was right, and Pa Wamba ex
plicitly relinquished all right or title to the fugitives. The
other claims were postponed to a future day.
' Tuesday, fuly 3. — To-day I was employed in cutting up
some young cinnamon-trees into slips with a view of propagating
that valuable plant. I made upwards of five hundred cuttings,
which were distributed among all our farmers, and if they
take root, I doubt not will prove a lasting benefit to the
Colony. ' Mr. Grieg, the Missionary came hither to-day, for the purpose
of recruiting his strength, which had been reduced in the Rio
Pongo by several severe attacks of fever. The accounts he
gave of the progress of the Mission were very comfortable.
The most perfect harmony subsisted between him and his
associate. The natives were kind beyond expectation, and
even the Slave-traders seemed to vie with each other in doing
them kindnesses.
'Grieg, brought me news still more interesting. While at the
Isles de Los an American vessel brought an account that the
importation of slaves into Savannah, the only port which had
been left open for them, had been prohibited ; and thus that the
American Slave Trade was in fact put an end to. At the same
time arrived a vessel from Liverpool announcing that the British
Parliament had abolished the Slave Trade between Goree and
Cape Palmas, and that Admiral Nelson had destroyed a hundred
and seventy-five gunboats. The rage of the Slave-traders at
the Isles de Los, which was almost exclusively directed against
this place, according to Grieg, was not to be described. They
swore that in three months Sierra Leone should be in ashes,
and that such a fate would be merited by our misrepresentations.
Such expressions, however, may cause them some inconvenience
if my friend Ball, or some captain equally well disposed, should
visit us again, as I should certainly state, and that officially, the
danger to us of the Slave-traders systematically exasperating
the natives against the Colony, by attributing wholly to our
interested efforts the abolition of the Slave Trade, and the

206 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
extinction of the usual resources of supplying themselves with
European goods.
'August 4. — On this and two or three preceding days various
reports reached me of the ill intentions of King Tirama towards
us on account of our refusal to deliver up the fugitive slaves who
had taken refuge in the Colony. One of their plans, as reported
to me, and if executed with boldness, might certainly have
effected our complete destruction. The plan was that a number
of native Chiefs, with only their usual attendants, should visit
me on a pretence of settling some affair, however trivial ; that
should they find me off my guard, they were then to stab me
and those who were with me, seize the magazine and the arms,
and make a signal previously agreed on, on which all the natives
dispersed in the Colony were to repair to the hill and arm ;
that the plunder and massacre were then to begin, but that the
latter should cease when they had sufficiently thinned our
numbers to render us no longer formidable. In this way the
safety of their own and other native children in my house would
be secured. There was something certainly very diabolical in
this plan. As I was ruminating a little on the subject, Tirama's
deputy made his appearance, and announced the arrival of the
King and his head men at Signor Domingo's town, and his
intention of being with me without delay. Two things on this
occasion served a little to increase my suspicions of there being
at least some ground for the reports of the day. One was that
this journey of the King's and a numerous attendance had been
made in the worst weather I had seen. The rain had been
falling in torrents for some days, and had not yet intermitted.
The other was, that the real pretence for this unexpected visit,
whatever it might be, was quite concealed, and the reason
alleged for it was my request, a request I had never made, to
see the King as soon as possible. I denied in the strongest
terms having sent for Tirama, affirming that I had no reason
on account of which I could have a desire to see him ; and if I
had, I should have chosen less unfavourable weather than the
present for its adjustment. Banna, the King's deputy, boldly
affirmed that I had sent for the King, and that he himself at his
last visit had received a message from me to that purpose.
This was as impudent an assertion as I had ever heard, and his
persisting in it determined me the more strongly to be on my
guard. Had he made his assertion good, the consequence
would have been that I should have been obliged, on pain of an
open breach, to have received without scruple, and to have
entertained with profusion, Tirama and all his attendants; and
in such a case the laws of hospitality would not have admitted
of the vigilance which the case seemed to require. But

ZACHARY MACAULAY 207
fortunately Banna spoke English so indifferently as to be
generally under the necessity of using an interpreter always in
matters of business. The interpreter employed on that occasion
could recollect no such message, so that he was obliged, however
reluctantly, to give up the point. I now excused myself from
receiving the King's visit till Monday. This seemed a very
mortifying circumstance, and innumerable pretences were used
with a view of changing my mind. But I was fixed. I had
engagements for the day, Mr. Richards from Bance Island being
with me ; this was Saturday, the day was already far gone ; on
Sunday we received no visits and did no business. At last he
left me, evidently chagrined, but carrying with him a present of
wine to sweeten the disappointment.
' Sunday, August 5. — While I was engaged in catechising my
family in the evening a number of people arrived from the
country, and made their appearance before me with faces full of
alarm. I guessed their business, and resolved not to interrupt
my work for it. When it was over, they all began with open
mouth to relate their apprehensions of Tirama's hostile inten
tions, and solicited arms and ammunition to be distributed,
without waiting even for the close of the Sabbath. I positively
refused to take one step which might wear the appearance of
hostility ; saying to them that we were safe as long as we sus
pected danger, but if any of them wanted arms and ammunition
the stores would be open in the morning, and they might buy.
The Settlers, knowing the advantage they would derive in case
of any serious dispute with their governors from being in
possession of well-appointed arms, have never failed to make
exertions on such occasions as the present for obtaining them.
My policy, however, has as uniformly been to retain the arms
and ammunition in my own power, until a moment of common
danger no longer renders their distribution unsafe ; giving them
a permission, however, of which few have availed themselves, a
buy if they chose from the Company's stores.
'August 6, 1798. — On the present occasion it would appear
that their fears were serious, for this morning no less than
twenty guns were bought at the store. This being reported to
the King had the effect I expected ; and he declined coming
to see me himself, but some of his head men waited on me with
a letter from him wishing to know my reason for arming the
Settlers on the news of his coming, and demanding the fugitive
slaves. I made a suitable reply to this letter, in consequence
of which his Majesty changed his mind, and promised me a
visit the next morning.
'Augusts. — Tirama came with a numerous attendance; also
King Tom and Signor Domingo. Being uncertain what share

208 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
of credit was justly due to the reports I had heard of their
designs, I thought it right to take such measures of precaution
as would necessarily render them abortive. After a deal of
mere compliments had passed, I proceeded to discuss the
charges in the letter. I justified the measure of arming the
Settlers, even if I had had recourse to it, on the ground of my
uncertainty as to the friendliness of the intentions of my
Timmaney neighbours. This insinuation naturally produced
the question I wished, namely, what cause I had to entertain
the slightest doubt of the amiable intentions of those around
me ? To this I gave a more explicit answer than they expected
or wished. I called on King Tom to say whether he had not
assured me that Tirama's intentions were hostile to us. I also
appealed to Signor Domingo whether he had not told me the
same of King Tom, and that the latter's purpose of hurting us
had been defeated by Tirama's good-will. To this they were
forced reluctantly to assent.
' I then proceeded to answer the demand for the fugitive
slaves. I disclaimed any wish of enticing or of retaining fugi
tives, and this they all gave me credit for ; but I positively
refused to interfere actively in the apprehension, with the view
of reducing them to their former slavery, of individuals whose
only crime was that they had escaped from slavery. I pressed
strongly for a reply, requesting them either to answer what I
had said, or to allow that I had reason on my side ; but each
succeeding request served only to multiply evasions. At
length we parted, heartily tired of each other, without bringing
any one point for which we had met to a conclusion.
'August 27. — I had been rather surprised at finding the
belief in witchcraft and other Satanic influences to prevail
among the religious part of our Europeans. I thought it a
point of too much moment to pass unnoticed, considering the
deplorable effects of superstitious notions around us. I began
with exactly ascertaining the state of opinions among us on
this point. Ludlam and myself were of one mind, namely, that
there was room to doubt whether supernatural knowledge or
supernatural powers were ever conveyed by the devil, allowing
the fullest weight to the mentions made of witchcraft in the
Bible ; and that there were the highest moral probabilities that
no such knowledge was now conveyed by him. You will
observe that our definition of witchcraft was " knowledge or
power which could not be attained but by supernatural means
communicated by the devil." Mr. Clarke, Mr. Grieg the
Missionary, and Mr. Wilson were of a contrary opinion, the
latter particularly, who alleged facts of which he had been an
eye-witness in support of it. Mr. Brunton, another Missionary,

ZACHARY MACAULAY 209
a man of much thought and sound judgment, seemed rather
to incline to us, though he hesitated in going our length.
The rest had thought little on the subject. The discussion
continued for some days ; and though we did not succeed in
proving that witchcraft had never existed, which indeed we did
not insist very much upon, yet we fully succeeded in doing
away the notion that in the trials and pretended charms of the
native's there was anything more than trick, sleight of hand,
and the powerful spell of superstitious fears. Even Wilson
was convinced he had been too credulous. I deemed this a
very important victory, particularly as it was gained without
the least acrimony, and was yielded apparently from real
conviction. ' Brunton, whom I have once or twice mentioned, has become
a highly interesting character ; his mind is well exercised, he is
acute, and at the same time temperate. He possesses a cool
head, and a warm heart, great modesty and great firmness. He
is a scholar, has read much and thought more. He is married,
and has left a wife, an amiable woman, I understand, and three
children in Scotland, that he might preach the gospel in
Africa. The few months his health allowed him to stay
among the Susees, he was successful in gaining the good-will
and confidence of the natives. Since his return hither he has
not enjoyed three days of uninterrupted health ; and yet his
cheerfulness has never forsook him, nor has he uttered a
desponding expression. When able to mount the hill, he forms
one of our party ; and his candour and moderation, joined to
his other valuable qualities, render him particularly useful in
the many discussions we fall into. In the religious opinions of
all of us there are shades of difference ; but in our opinions of
what is essential in religion, the affections, dispositions, .tem
pers, and practice which become the Christian, we are all pretty
well agreed.
' September 14. — One of our craft arrived from the Rio Pongo
to-day, bringing, to the general alarm of the Settlement, two of
her crew, natives, ill of the smallpox. They had already been
carried to King Tom's town before I was aware of the circum
stance, but I lost no time in sending a formal notification to
him of the danger of their remaining there, and a strong request
that he would resign them to my disposal. He very thankfully
complied ; and they were immediately removed by water to
the house on Thomson Bay farm, which stands near half a mile
removed from any other dwelling. A few more afterwards
arrived in the same state, and were disposed of the same way.
They all recovered but one ; and the infection spread no
farther. I was very much inclined to inoculate all the native
O

210 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
children who were with me ; but our only medical man, Mr.
Lowes, had never before seen a smallpox patient, and was
therefore very unfit to undertake such an experiment. I
visited the patients frequently, and supplied them with every
thing needful. King Tom and almost all the natives expressed
much satisfaction with what we had done, for their dread of
this disease is strong and general.
'Sunday, October 21. — Mr. Clarke's health has been declining
some time. The freedom of my remonstrances on his over
exertions hurt him a good deal. On October the 7th he
administered the Sacrament and preached for the last time.
The next day he was very ill ; and his maladies seem to set all
Lowes's skill at defiance.
'Just as I had finished dinner and was about returning to
church, the arrival of my brother and Mr. Gray was announced.
I had only time to welcome them, and to order them some
refreshment, when the bell summoned me away. After service
I had leisure to hear their adventures, and to read the few
letters they brought me.
'October 26. — My brother and I went on board the Daivcs on
the 24th in the view of visiting Cape Mesurado, and making
some purchases there which might be beneficial to the Colony.
I had it likewise in view to have a few days' uninterrupted talk
with him about Rothley Temple and Cowslip Green, which
proved a very rich gratification. We got to the Turtle Islands,
and at daylight to-day saw a ship which proved to be the
Diana, Captain Hume, bound to the West Indies with slaves.
I wrote to you by her. Captain Hume had been very kind to
my brother and Mr. Gray in their late desolate situation, and
I gave him in token of acknowledgment a thirty gallon cask
of wine. There being no wind we dined on board the Diana,
Captain Hume, by way of vindicating his humanity, telling us
stories the while of what he had witnessed in the Slave Trade.
" One voyage," said he, " a very fine woman was left with me by
her husband as a pledge for some goods he had taken. Some
one intimating to her that her husband did not mean to redeem
her, ' When I certainly know that to be the case I shall die,'
said she. Accordingly, when by the vessel's going from the
coast she was assured that the suspicion was but too well
founded, she shut her eyes and expired almost instantly. I had
thirty-three more pawns on board that voyage whom I was
obliged to carry off, as their relations did not choose to redeem
them, every one of whom went off one after another without a
complaint or groan or any symptom of illness, but a settled
gloom in their countenances and a loathing of food. When I
see any now falling into the same way, out of humanity to them

ZACHARY MACAULAY 211
I flog them, and it is a remedy which I have never known
to fail."
' October 29. — To-day we came to an anchor off the mouth of
the river Gallinas, near where John Newton had formerly had
his factory, a very pleasant river, full of small islands not
more than a hundred yards in diameter. The traders, of whom
there are four or five, have each his own island, where he lives
quite separate from the other traders and from the natives.
' November 3. — While at Cape Mesurado, I went over one day
to a town about six miles off, where a King Peter lived. He
knew my brother very well. The Chiefs were all assembled in
a very neat Palaver house in their best clothes, seated on clean
mats, except King Peter, who was elevated on a chair, and had
altogether a very majestic air. A jar of wine I carried with me
gave me a right to make a long speech respecting the Sierra
Leone Company, with which King Peter was so pleased that he
agreed to send a son of his with me for education. In my way
back I met with a very large alligator, which I was in the act
of shooting, when stopped by my guide, who told me that was
King Peter's Devil.
'November 10. — We reached the Turtle Islands on the 6th,
where we were very successful in catching fish during a calm.
The next evening we got home, when I found Clarke so ill as to
afford little room to expect any amendment. He. had moved
out to Mr. Gray's villa, where I visited him as soon as I could.
He was very low-spirited, and seemed very uneasy in the
prospect of his dissolution. I endeavoured to comfort him and
to raise his spirits, and proposed to him taking a passage to the
West Indies, and thence to England, as the only resource now
left, and as such he eagerly embraced it. I immediately
arranged to send him along with my brother to Cape Mesurado,
where a vessel was about to sail for Barbados.
' November 24. — Two days ago I set sail in the Prosperity on
business. To-day I visited in the barge Fantimanee's town,
where Mr. Grieg the Missionary resides, and by setting off from
Freeport at two in the morning I got there about eight. Mr.
Grieg is quite reconciled to his present state of seclusion. The
people seem to like him, and to listen to him, for he talks the
language very intelligibly. After arranging several matters with
Grieg respecting his Mission, I left about noon, and reached a
trader's of the name of Pendleton in time to fulfil an engage
ment to dine with him. The benefit I should have derived from
this refreshment was quite lost from perceiving, in the number
of attendant wives, a girl on whose education I myself had
bestowed much pains, and who had promised better things. I
attacked Pendleton, as soon as I had a fit opportunity, on his

212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
way of life. He pretended to acknowledge the truth and
propriety of all I said to him, but added, "As for Jane, she is
better with me than with most, for I give her leave to read her
Bible every day." I was more successful in making an impres
sion on poor Jane, with whom I contrived to have a few minutes'
talk. She shed tears very abundantly, expressed her dislike of
her situation, into which she had been forced by her mistress,
and sighed for Sierra Leone again.
' On the other side of the river where a trader named Holman
lived, I found two girls who had also been with me at Sierra
Leone, and whom I was highly pleased to find on the whole
improving. Holman, who is their stepfather, paid them, I found,
great attention, and instructed them daily in reading. I was
very agreeably surprised to see them both come in in the
evening, and, kneeling down, say the prayer they had been
accustomed to use at Sierra Leone, after which Holman cate
chised them, receiving very distinct answers, and gave them
both a blessing. There appeared something very hopeful in
all this ; and yet Holman is a Slave-trader and dissolute in his
manners. Nor was what I saw done merely on account of my
being present, but I found it was the uniform practice. I staid
at Holman's till past midnight, when, the tide answering, I set
off for Freeport, and arrived there before daylight.
' November 26. — I set off for the Rio Nunez, visiting in my
way a branch of the Rio Pongo where I had never yet been,
and paying my respects to the traders who live there. At one
of these factories I saw the very man who had been employed by
Ormond, of famous memory, to drown his unsaleable slaves; and
thus obtained the most unquestionable proof, from a quarter not
likely to be partial to us, of the truth ofthat part of our report
which had been most strenuously disputed by Slave-traders.
' November 27. — Cooper accompanied me to the Rio Nunez.
Just as we had cleared the Rio Pongo bar and had got out into
the open sea, we descried three sail in the offing, but fortunately
were not near enough to be spoken to by them. We afterwards
found them to be a squadron of French privateers cruising
under Renaud, which visited the Isles de Los "and captured
there two Danish Guineamen.
'December 7. — Just as we had got over the bar, we met the Dazvcs
coming in from Sierra Leone. She had had a narrow escape
from the French, having been within half a gunshot of them,
and escaping by dint of superior sailing into one ofthe adjacent
rivers, where she lay till news were brought of the coast being
clear. My letters acquainted me with my brother having gone
off in the ship Maria, for the West Indies, but that poor Clarke,
to whom the captain would on no consideration give a passage,

ZACHARY MACAULAY 213
had returned to Freetown in a state of great weakness and
mental derangement, and in a few days had breathed his last.
The people, who while he lived had neglected and vilified him,
were very forward in showing their respect for his memory ;
and the Methodists particularly set apart a day for pronouncing
his eulogy, and mourning his loss. In their orations they ex
tolled him to the very skies, saying they had now lost their
father, their best friend. What a strange jumble of incon
sistencies is man !
' My fears of the French being at an end I returned to Free-
port, to settle some affairs which my hurry had made me
postpone. 'December 8. — Having settled my business at the factory and
taken my leave of the chief, to whom we are indebted for the
quiet and security in which Cooper lives among so many inimical
traders, I again directed my course homeward, being the more
anxious to shorten my absence as I felt symptoms of approaching
illness. 'December 10. — I called at the Isles de Los, when Mr. Powell
informed me that Renaud knew of my being out, and expressed
a strong desire to see me, not to plunder me, but to convince
me, as he said, of his remembrance of our ancient friendship and
mutual good offices. I, however, was quite satisfied to want this
additional proof of his regard.
' I had, as I feared, a smart attack of fever, which incommoded
me the more, on account of a heavy rain which fell during the
night, and which penetrated my bed and bedding, so that I could
not enjoy the rest which at such a time is so much wanted.
'December 11. — Freetown being in sight in the morning I
got into the barge, and was soon pulled ashore. Considering
the danger to health from travelling in this country, and the
inconveniences and evils of many kinds which are likely to
result from the absence of the head of a family, my late
excursions seem to require some apology. It was an object
to see with my own eyes the place which I might recommend
for the establishment desired ; besides all which, I was very
desirous of leaving my coadjutors as much as I could to them
selves while I was yet near them, and at hand to help them.
'In going to the northward, besides those motives which were
common to both excursions, I had a further view of examining
into the state of Freeport Factory; of personally recommending
Grieg the Missionary to the friendship and protection of Fanti-
manee and the neighbouring chiefs ; of preparing the minds of
the chiefs for the expected abolition ; of doing away the un
favourable impressions which, from the present scarcity of
European goods, the Slave-traders tried to give them of us as

214 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the cause of that scarcity ; of marking the effect which the
expectation of the abolition produced on the minds of the
traders themselves. I further wished to induce the native
chiefs to a willingness to send their own children to Freetown,
or to England, for education as they grew up. In all these
objects I pretty well succeeded.
'Sunday, December, 23. — Mr. Brunton, whom I have prevailed
on to officiate as Chaplain, preached to-day. There came letters
from Mr. Garvin to several of the Methodist preachers. They
were dated from Virginia, where he endeavours to procure a
livelihood by teaching a school. He strongly exhorted those
to whom he wrote to value the very superior blessings they enjoy
at Sierra Leone to what any blacks in America have, which
marks in him an improved spirit.
'January 8, 1799. — A vessel arrived from Tobago by which I
learned the death of Commodore Cornwallis on his way hence
to the West Indies. How vain are any schemes of happiness
which man can form ! He was to have been married on getting
to England.
' February 4. — For some months past we had been kept on the
alert by frequent reports of the designs of the natives against
the Settlement. The bare possibility of danger arising from
these rumours rendered the same precautions necessary which
a time of real and known danger would have required. No
doubt existed as to the point to which their attack, if made,
would be directed, namely, Thornton Hill. A strict guard was
therefore kept there, and I myself had placed within my reach
as I lay in bed, arms, from which I could have fired upwards
of a hundred and fifty buckshot in half a minute. Under my
window I had a carriage gun ready primed, wherewith to make
an alarm signal, and a light burning constantly in my room
with a match beside it. I took all these precautions, more
because I thought it my duty to do so, than because I enter
tained any serious fears of a hostile visit. On the contrary, I
laboured to discourage any such disquieting reports, and to
persuade the Settlers to a disbelief of them. At length it was
confidently told us that all the other causes of discontent which
the natives had against us had been blown into a flame by the
news of the expected abolition, and the absolute dearth of
European goods both at the Settlement and everywhere else
on the coast, which Slave-traders took pains to convince them
were owing to us ; and that all the Chiefs had combined their
strength for our extirpation. I saw no greater reason for
believing this report than any of the former; and to satisfy
my own mind, as well as to cultivate a good understanding
with those Chiefs, and to cure the fears of the Settlers, I

ZACHARY MACAULAY 215
resolved on paying them a visit. I found them wherever I
went extremely friendly, and dreaming of nothing less than
of war. I laboured to confirm them in their peaceful and
friendly intentions ; and I hope did not labour in vain. This
excursion occupied the whole week. I spent a little time with
Tilley1 at Bance Island both in going and returning. He pre
tends to have no fear that the partial abolition will take place.
He cannot speak of the measure with patience, and lays the
whole blame of the Bill to my account, which I told him
greatly honoured me ; and labours so to represent it, saying
my reports and unfair statements have been the means. I
called for proof. He mentioned the remarks respecting the
Mandingo country in the first report to be altogether the reverse
of fact, to which Richards, who had lived there three years,
assented. But they were not a little surprised when I proved
to them that Richards himself had been my author. However,
I expressed my readiness to alter anything which better
information might show to be wrong. I urged him strongly
to point out any other inaccuracies in my report, but he replied
that he did not recollect that there were any others ; than
which, considering all things, a stronger testimony could not be
given of its authenticity.
' I found them all a good deal hurt at the mention in the last
report, which I have not yet seen, of Captain Walker's having
murdered a seaman at Bance Island ; and they insinuated that
the relation was a breach of private confidence. " What ! " I
replied, "the disclosure of murder ! " They were silent.
' Sunday, February 10. — The Ellis, Captain Soutar, arrived
from Liverpool, bringing a few newspapers, but no letters. I
found from Captain Soutar that my letter to Governor Rickets,
about the free French blacks he had on board, was effectual for
preventing their being sold, as was Soutar's intention. They
were all sent to the Admiral at Martinique.'
Seeing no prospect whatever of a direct passage to England,
Macaulay had just come to the resolution of going home by the
West Indies, when, on the very day that he was about to make
the necessary arrangements, a sloop-of-war, the Fairy, with two
other vessels, came to an anchor at the Settlement. With the
captain of one of these, the brig Mary, he agreed for the freight
of the ship to London on the Company's account, and for his
own and the native children's passage. On the 4th of April 1799
he set sail from Sierra Leone under the convoy of the Fairy,
and reached Plymouth after a passage of forty-eight days.
1 Mr. Tilley had arrived from England on the 26th of January.

16 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER VIII
RETURN TO ENGLAND AND MARRIAGE
THE session of 1799 was as usual a very busy one for the
supporters of Abolition. They had, after long and careful
consultation, concocted a measure for confining the Slave Trade
within certain limits on the coast of Africa ; and in the month
of March Henry Thornton brought it forward in the House of
Commons. The Bill survived the difficulties caused by re
luctant friends and determined adversaries, and on the 2nd of
May passed successfully through the Lower House ; but only
to meet with severe opposition in the House of Lords, where
the struggle over it was prolonged till the 5th of Jul)-, when it
was defeated on the second reading. During this period Mr.
Wilberforce and his friends watched daily over the interests of
the Bill ; selecting with great care the witnesses who were to be
examined at the bar of the House, and consulting incessantly
with the counsel whom they employed.
One of these was Mr. James Stephen, whose name has a
familiar sound to all who are acquainted with the history of the
hundred years which have elapsed since 1799. His descendants,
several of whom have borne his own baptismal name, have dis
tinguished themselves by singular gifts and powers of mind in
many varied walks of life ; in literature, at the bar, in colonial
politics, and in India. Mr. Stephen himself was a brilliant and
versatile man, full of enthusiasm and energy. He studied law,
and was called to the bar in England ; after which he went out
to the West Indies, where he had relations residing in St.
Christopher, who were able to promise him a good opening for
practice. The vessel in which he sailed touched at Barbados ;
and some instances of brutality shown to slaves, of which he
was an accidental witness while on shore there, shocked him to
such a degree that he made a solemn vow never to have any
thing to do with slaver)', and kept his vow in spite of every

ZACHARY MACAULAY 217
temptation to the contrary and the advantages which offered
themselves to him afterwards.
In the winter of 1788 he visited England, and made acquaint
ance with Mr. Wilberforce, who quickly perceived the capacity
of his new friend, and endeavoured to enlist him in the band of
allies. But although Stephen's generous sympathies were all
against the continuance of the misery inflicted by the Slave
Trade, he had a wife and a family of young children dependent
upon his exertions ; and his sense of duty to them was suffi
ciently strong to restrain him from a public advocacy of Aboli
tion while still practising at the West Indian bar, where already
the sacrifices he had made to his sentiments had entailed upon
him very considerable losses.
But his position at St. Christopher had practically become
untenable ; and in 1794 he severed his connection with the West
Indian bar, and returned to England, where he began to appear
at the Prize Appeal Court of the Privy Council, and where his
talents secured him, before long, the leading business. He
now openly identified himself with the cause of Abolition.
His ardour and knowledge of the subject made his aid to it
quite invaluable, and it is amusing to find Mr. Wilberforce
writing meekly in his diary in 1798: ' Stephen frankly and kindly
reproving me for not pleading the cause of the slaves watchfully
enough, and guarding it in the case of Trinidad, and Spain's
late proposals. I doubt. Pitt promises repeal of the proclama
tion for trade in Spanish colonies.'
Mr. Wilberforce's warm affection for Pitt rendered him sensi
tive on the score of attacks upon the great minister. His
feelings were shared in a large measure by Henry Thornton,
who was a personal friend of Pitt's, and were at any rate
religiously respected by the rest of the band ; but Mr. Stephen,
coming fresh into the contest, had no misgivings to impede his
utterance. When, notwithstanding an earnest appeal from him,
couched in terms which reflected unreservedly on Pitt's apparent
assent to a plan for the forcible removal of Creole slaves from
their homes in the older islands in order to undertake the
unhealthy labour of clearing new lands which had been vacated
by the removal of the Carib tribes after the insurrection in
St. Vincent and the conquest of Trinidad, Mr. Wilberforce still
hesitated about proceeding to make a public attack upon the

218 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
minister, his answer called forth a really awful denunciation
from Mr. Stephen.
' I still clearly think,' he wrote, ' that you have been impro
perly silent ; and that when you see the Government loading
the bloody altars of commerce, the idol of this Carthage, with
an increase of human victims, and building new altars for the
same execrable purpose while the sword of Almighty vengeance
seems uplifted over us for that very offence, you are bound by
the situation wherein you have placed yourself to cry aloud
against it. You are even the rather bound to do so because
those high-priests of Moloch, Lord Liverpool and Mr. Dundas,
are your political, and Mr. Pitt also your private friends.'
Considering that Mr. Wilberforce had already succeeded by
earnest remonstrances with Pitt in obtaining the rescinding of
the objectionable proclamation, his answer to this passionate
letter may be termed angelic. It is too long to quote, but the
gentleness and humility which mark it go far to explain the
tenderness of affection with which even the failings of Wilber
force were regarded by those around him. Mr. Stephen's
vehement zeal, though directed against himself, seemed to him
only matter for admiration ; and the tie between the two men,
so dissimilar and yet so closely in sympathy, was further
cemented when in the year 1 800 Mr. Stephen, who had become
a widower, married Mr. Wilberforce's only sister, Mrs. Clarke,
the widow of Dr. Clarke, vicar of Trinity Church, Hull.
In the midst of the excitement among his friends about the
Slave Limitation Bill, Macaulay arrived at Portsmouth ; and
leaving his precious cargo of young Africans to go round by
sea, landed there himself, and hurried direct to London in order
to make the necessary arrangements for their reception. When
their comfort should have been secured he hoped to be at
liberty to visit his betrothed, in whose company he had only
spent two days since their engagement took place in January
1796, and to seeing whom he was naturally looking forward
with eager anticipation. His health too had broken down
entirely for the time, his strong nerves had been shattered by
the strain of unceasing work in a bad climate, and he longed
with feverish anxiety for a period of entire rest and relaxation.
But all through his life Macaulay's fate was seldom pro
pitious to the indulgence of his personal wishes, and his surprise

ZACHARY MACAULAY 219
and mortification were extreme when, upon his arrival from
Portsmouth at Battersea Rise on Thursday the 23rd of May,
he was immediately informed by Mr. Wilberforce and Henry
Thornton that his presence in London would be for some time
to come absolutely indispensable, and that they had undertaken
for him that he should appear at the bar of the House of Lords
to give evidence on the following Tuesday. Macaulay's
habitual patience seems to have failed him upon this occasion,
for his friends had the unwonted task of bringing argument to
bear upon him to induce him to fulfil his duty, and they were
compelled to reiterate their assurances that, upon his evidence,
the fate of the Bill would probably depend. They told him
that Lord Grenville, who was making every exertion in his
power to support it, had already mentioned in the House of
Lords that Mr. Macaulay would appear on the 28th of May ;
and they reminded him that the time was already too short for
the necessary preparation. Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Thornton
had done all that could be done to make the business easier.
Upon receiving intelligence of the arrival of the Fairy with her
convoy, they had engaged the counsel whom they employed to
be in readiness to receive Macaulay's instructions and brief,
and for this it was imperative that he should go to town early
the next morning. The interval that remained before his
examination must necessarily be spent in hard work, so as to
employ to the best advantage the abundant materials which his
intimate knowledge of the subject would furnish.
The conversation was cut short by Macaulay's increasing
indisposition. A sharp attack of African fever came on, and
his weakness was so great that he was obliged to retire at once
to his bed, quite unequal to the exertion of talking or holding a
pen, and the next morning he had the greatest difficulty in
keeping the appointment which had been arranged. Under
these circumstances it is not surprising that the letter which he
sent the next day to Miss Mills should be more querulous in
its tone than any other which has come down from him ; and
from some expressions which he employs in it, and in one or
two letters which immediately follow, it is clear that he felt con
siderable uneasiness as to the effect upon her mind which the
delay of his visit would have. It could scarcely be expected
that she would take the same view of public duty which the

220 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
small band of devoted men did of whose number Macaulay
formed one, and it would have been natural that she should
consider her own claims upon his time paramount at such a
moment. He ends his first letter to her rather pathetically, by
saying that his mind is somewhat off its hinge, and that he will
not therefore say more at that time from the coffee-house where
he had snatched a few minutes, in the midst of his harassing
business, to step in to write to her.
As might have been expected, on the Saturday Macaulay
was entirely prostrated by fever. At Battersea Rise he was
surrounded with every attention and comfort that care and
affection could bestow, but his mind was ill at ease. He writes
to Miss Mills : 'Do not, I pray you, think unkindly of me, but
consider that in what I have done, I have had, next to that of
God, your approbation in view. I have acted as I believe you
would have advised me to act had you had an opportunity of
giving me your advice ; and though the sacrifice I have made
to duty may seem trivial in the statement, yet I am sure, if it
were to be estimated by the pain it has occasioned to me, it
would possess no mean magnitude.'
Mr. Thornton was much concerned about the situation, and
wrote most kindly to Miss Mills, pressing her to come and stay
at Battersea Rise. But Mrs. Thornton was ill and confined to
her room ; and Miss Mills, whose disposition was retiring and
reserved almost to a fault, shrank from coming alone for a first
visit to the busy and hospitahle house where she was still an
entire stranger to the host and hostess, and declined the invi
tation. She wrote, however, very kindly and affectionately to
Macaulay, and thus relieved his mind of much of the anxiety
which was weighing upon it ; so that he felt now able to devote
his thoughts to the serious work before him. On Tuesday the
28th of May, he was summoned to the bar of the House of
Lords to be sworn.

TO MISS MILLS. Battersea Rise, June 1, 1799.
Mv dear SELINA, — Yesterday I was obliged against my
will to omit writing. I thought my examination might have
come on, and there was much still to prepare. I purposed
indeed to have written to you from Mr. Wilberforce's house in

ZACHARY MACAULAY 221
town,1 but on getting there I found the House of Lords already
assembled, and our attendance of course requisite. The whole
evening was consumed in examining our adversaries' witnesses,
who were very ably cross-examined by Lord Grenville. Their
evidence was very paltry, and indicated strongly a determina
tion of making everything they said, if possible, bend to their
interests. When I first appeared before their Lordships, the Duke of
Clarence was pleased to distinguish me by several significant
nods. Babington stood near him for some time, and found him
extremely warm against the Bill. It is shocking that so young
a man, under no bias of interest, should be so earnest for the
continuance of the Slave Trade, and especially now its horrors
are confessed by all. The public attention seems much
awakened by the present question, so that there cannot be a
more favourable time for making the impression one wishes ori
the minds of the Lords and of the nation in general.
This day and Monday will be wholly employed by me in
further instructions to our counsel. Our chief friends in the
House are the Chancellor, Lords Grenville, Holland, Spencer,
Carlisle, Auckland, and the Bishops of London and Rochester.
Our chief enemies are the Duke of Clarence and the other
royal Dukes, Lords Thuriow, Westmoreland, and Kinnoul.
I breakfasted this morning in Mrs. Thornton's room, and had
the pleasure of seeing her much better than when I last visited
her chamber. Little Marianne is a delightful creature, and
prattles charmingly.
On Wednesday my black children got to Clapham in good
health, and excited no small admiration among our friends, who
account them a highly favourable specimen of African youth.
Mrs. More, who is still an inmate of Battersea Rise, began to
catechise one of them a little, and was much pleased with his
ready answers, though I find on an examination which I insti
tuted this morning that they have rather lost ground during our
separation. They live about a mile hence in the village of
Clapham. I have been to the Smallpox Hospital2 to arrange
for their all being sent thither for inoculation.
What abundant cause have we to bless that God by whose
aid we still live, I trust, to praise Him ; whose healing touch
hath raised our heads from the bed of sickness ; whose guiding
hand hath made a path for us through the waters ; and whose
protecting care hath delivered us from the hands of our enemies,
proving better to us than all our vain and faithless fears would
1 ' Da*-es and Macaulay dined with me. Then House of Lords, Slave Limitation
Bill.' Wilberforce's Diary, May 31, 1799.
2 At St. Pancras.,

222 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
permit us to expect. We were chased in the latitude of thirty
degrees for thirty-two hours, the privateer for a great part of
that time having been within three miles of us. I expected to
be taken, in which case there was cause to fear all my children
would have been carried to South America, and sold. This
would have been a trying dispensation indeed, from which God
in mercy saved me. I had resolved on accompanying them, if
it were to the farthest corner of the earth, provided no en
treaty or remonstrance could prevent our separation. In this
way I should either have a chance of recovering them by repre
sentations to French or Spanish Governors abroad ; or, knowing
their exact place, by applications to their courts at home. It
was a time to put them in mind of Joseph's story, which I failed
not to do.
I dined at Wilberforce's yesterday, but have as yet had
little opportunity of seeing much of his lady's mind. Her ex
terior indicates great sweetness of temper, considerable humility,
and a mind rather highly embellished than strongly cultivated.
But I repeat that I have not at all had the means of judging.
My cough is still troublesome ; but if our work in the House
of Peers were over, I should have that time to nurse it, which I
have not now.
I have been thanking Mrs. More for all her friendly atten
tions, and talking to her with frankness with respect to my own
future worldly prospects, which I thought might remove any
impression of my having suspected the warmth of the regards
in that quarter. Battersea Rise, June 5, 1799.
I was yesterday drawn by the pressing instances of some
Clapham ladies to witness a feast given to the children of Miss
Wilkinson's schools. This lady is a Baptist, and I believe of
the Sabbatarian sort, but is rather in high esteem among our
religious folks at Clapham, who are moved by her active bene
volence to recede a little from their accustomed antipathy to
Dissenters. She herself is a woman of a very catholic spirit ;
but the following trait will show how hard it is to clear the
best-intentioned mind from the leaven of bigotry. Last year
she gave a feast not only to her own scholars, but invited, as
she also has done this year, the children of a Charity School of
the Establishment to partake of it. But while she gave her
own children beef and pudding in overflowing abundance, she
would allow to the children of the Charity School only plain
pudding. She avoided this fault, however, yesterday.
I ought to be half ashamed to tell you of my impatience to
see you when we have so many strong motives, not merely to

ZACHARY MACAULAY 223
patience,' but thankfulness. But it seems to me as if even the
society of Battersea Rise had lost its wonted power to please.
Doubtless they are the same enlightened, amiable, pious, im
proving characters they ever were, nay, I think them all this
in an increased degree, exclusive of the additional advantage
of the female society, and yet I find no rest among them.
I have now lodged my poor dear children in the Smallpox
Hospital. May God preserve them and bring them in safety
through their illness ! I have some fears on their account, but
I am well assured of their being in good hands. I am called
off, so ever yours affectionately, Z. MACAULAY.
Miss Wilkinson, who is mentioned in the preceding letter,
occupied a pleasant old house, which was still standing un
altered, in its charming grounds close to the town of Clapham,
up to a recent date, when it was incorporated with the block
of convent schools and other monastic buildings which occupy
a large area on the western side of the Common. The writer
remembers being present when Lord Macaulay visited it, and
hearing him recall with great enjoyment his recollections of
the manner in which this lady was accustomed to shock the
susceptibilities of her neighbours belonging to the Church of
England. He related how, as children, on coming out of
Clapham Church after the morning service on Christmas Day,
he and his elder sisters used to look with horror at the sight of
Miss Wilkinson seated at her window ostentatiously occupied
in knitting, while she watched the congregation dispersing ;
and how an awful report was current in his nursery that the
Christmas fare provided for her household consisted of roast
veal and apple pie instead of the orthodox beef and plum-
pudding. Great interest was taken in the black children by the inhabi
tants of Clapham. Mr. John Campbell, himself a Missionary
of some celebrity, was deputed by Mr. Haldane to inspect them
soon after their arrival, and came up from Edinburgh on pur
pose to do so. He walked with them across the Common,
then a charming piece of wild ground covered with furze
bushes and clumps of trees, and diversified by several pretty
ponds, to Battersea Rise, and was much struck by their intelli
gence and innocent gaiety. But upon arriving at Mr. Henry
Thornton's gates, he was alarmed at finding that some of the
number were missing. ' It arose,' he writes, ' from companies

224 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
dining in the neighbouring mansions, astonished to see a cloud
of young Africans, sending out their men-servants to try and
catch some of them and bring them before them. They
fancied all were their friends, and most willingly went with
any who asked them.'
Macaulay himself was in serious perplexity as to his future
action with regard to his precious charges. He had been
strongly remonstrated with already by men in whose judgment
he had entire confidence, as to the impropriety of yielding the
young Africans to the control of Mr. Haldane ; and when he
had been fully enlightened with respect to the religious and
political views with which that gentleman was credited, his
determination became irrevocable that under no circumstances
should Mr. Haldane have any share in training the minds or
influencing the fate of the children. At the same time he fully
recognised Mr. Haldane's claims as having been the originator
of the scheme, and seems to have proposed to satisfy them by
permitting Mr. Plaldane to bear the expense of the establish
ment at Clapham, where Macaulay was resolved that the
young blacks should remain in safety from contamination with
any heretical or socialistic ideas.
It was perhaps fortunate, as leading to a speedy termination
of the disagreement, and it was certainly most natural, that
Mr. Haldane should entertain considerable offence at such a
proposal being made to him after the great liberality of his
offers, and the preparations which he had made at Edinburgh
for receiving the children. It was also darkly insinuated by
his adherents that Macaulay had started the plan of inocula
tion in order to gain time, and delay the immediate removal of
his charges to Scotland. The most minute search, however,
in the correspondence fails to justify in the slightest degree
this accusation ; and what would seem wholly to disprove
it, is, that before leaving Sierra Leone, Macaulay, with his
habitual sense of justice and prudence, had carefully explained
his intention of subjecting the children to this ordeal to their
respective families, and had received full permission to carry
out the treatment as he thought best.
Mr. Haldane accordingly entirely declined the privilege of
payment so graciously allotted to him. ' We will not,' he wrote
to Macaulay, 'so mix the work. Either you or I shall have

ZACHARY MACAULAY 225
the whole charge.' Mr. Wilberforce and Henry Thornton
came nobly forward ; and when finally, by their assistance and
that of other friends, the greater portion of the funds necessary
for the maintenance and education of the poor blacks was
provided, Macaulay exclaimed with heartfelt relief, ' At last my
children are rescued from the grasp of Mr. Haldane ! ' On the
other hand, the affair» seems to have made little impression
upon the mind of Mr. Haldane, whose wealth and influence
enabled him to engage in benevolent schemes of so extensive
a nature that the loss of the education of twenty-five young
Africans was soon obliterated from his recollection, and many
years afterwards he cordially accepted the support of Macaulay
in his controversy with the Bible Society upon the Apocrypha.
A short adjournment of the House of Lords gave Macaulay
at length the wished-for opportunity for a visit to Miss Mills ;
but satisfactory as it was to his feelings to pass a happy
Sunday in her company, yet the state of his health was such
that he suffered severely from the hurried journey, which was
followed by a return to the inevitable heavy business awaiting
him in London. The details of his journey show the delay
and inconvenience which busy men had to reckon with at that
period in travelling. The adjournment was quite unexpected, and
did not take place till very late on a Wednesday night, when
the House of Lords adjourned till Monday. He returned to
Battersea Rise to collect his things, and then went over to
Hammersmith between three and four o'clock on Thursday
morning to await the Bath coaches. They all arrived full
inside and out, and he was compelled to postpone his depar
ture until the mail in the evening.
He was, however, cheered by the prospect of meeting his
betrothed at the Temple later on, and of spending a peaceful
holiday with her in the place which was so dear to him. The
Babingtons were urgent that he should come there as soon as
he should be set at liberty, and had extracted a promise from
Miss Mills that she would meet him there. In truth, she
always appears to have made an exception to her customary
habits of reserve and seclusion in their favour, and to have
felt completely at ease in their society. As far as can be
traced, her friendship with Mrs. Babington was the only in
timacy which she formed during her married life ; but to her

226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
she was warmly attached, and during the course of the subse
quent years it will be seen that she was always ready, with
pleasure, to visit the Babingtons, or to make them and their
children welcome at her own house.

TO MISS MILLS. Battersea Rise, June 20, 1799.
My DEAR SELINA, — It is probable you would prefer a short
letter to the long one I am about to write to you when you
know that an indisposition, certainly slight, but yet of sufficient
importance to require my confinement to the house, gives me
the opportunity I have sought in vain for four days past. It
is so far fortunate that our business in the House of Lords
does not proceed till Monday ; as I suffered so materially from
my attendance there yesterday, that I am pretty sure I should
not have been able to attend to-day. My examination comes
on on Monday ; and I can perceive from the mode of proceed
ing with respect to Dawes that the Duke of Clarence is disposed
to make it as harassing as he can. Dawes's examination
occupied three days, and his extreme want of recollection gave
our opponents some advantage over him. But his simplicity,
integrity, and coolness were very striking, and I think must
have impressed the House as forming a strong contrast to the
loose, rash, hasty manner in which the witnesses on the other
side delivered themselves. It seems to be a main object with
the Royal Duke to prove us visionaries, Dissenters, and Demo
crats. I think when it comes to my turn to be questioned, I
shall not only be able to lay these notions to sleep, but to
retort the charge on those whose cause he advocates. I think
I might refer to you for proof of my loyalty, and of my
preference of the English Church.
I went a few days ago to the Inoculation Hospital and saw all
my children, and they were not a little glad to see me again.
They have all sickened, but except three or four, none seem to
be materially affected. I have been earnestly praying that
they may all live, and I have a strong hope from what I have
seen to-day that God will be graciously pleased to restore them
all to us, and make their future lives speak His praise. Great
attention is paid to them in the Hospital.
Mrs. H. More is still at the Bishop of London's, and Mrs.
Kennicott x says has a duchess a day to convert while she stays
1 Mrs. Kennicott, whoso name frequently appears in the correspondence, was
noted for having made herself an accomplished Hebrew scholar after her marriage in
order to assist her husband, the eminent biblical critic, in his study of the text of
Scripture.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 227
in these parts. She thinks of going to join Henry Thornton at
Brighton when parliamentary business will admit of his going.
You will like to hear that Mr. Pitt, unasked, unsolicited, has
noticed in the House of Commons his intention of proposing a
sum of money to be applied annually to our Colony ; it is
thought seven thousand pounds. Thornton was overjoyed when
I told him of it three days ago. He ran to his wife. ' Marianne,
do you not wish me joy ? I have seven thousand a year given
to me.' All this doubtless bodes well for Africa, and would
seem to indicate that the time for healing her wounds and '
drying her tears, and spreading over her gloomy surface light,
liberty, and civilisation, is not far distant. May God hasten
it ! I need not declare my love to you but in order to fill the
paper, having so often assured you of what I again repeat, that
I am with truth yours most affectionately and faithfully,
Z. Macaulay.
The examination appeared interminable notwithstanding the
endeavours both of Pitt and Lord Grenville. The Bill was not
popular at Court, which Wilberforce mentions in his diary as a
reason for not attending the Birthday. He further says that
Pitt had resolved to stop the cultivation of new lands by slave
labour the following year.
On the 24th of June Wilberforce writes about Macaulay's
examination and mentions his being ill, and adds that Dawes's
evidence was only middling, but that the lawyers were charmed
with his honesty. In Wilberforce's opinion there was a strong
probability of the Slave Limitation Bill being carried suc
cessfully. Meanwhile Miss Mills had removed to the Temple, where
Macaulay's presence was eagerly awaited, and where he longed
to be with a sick man's craving for the rest of which he is
sorely in need. TO MISS MILLS. Old Palace Yard, June 26, 1799.
You will like to hear that I was able to exert myself for
more than four hours on the 24th in the House of Lords, and
as Thornton tells me, with very observable effect. I was ex
ceedingly exhausted by it, and should not have been able to
proceed much longer. The Duke of Clarence, who sat next
me, observed my illness, and probably from tenderness, as he
alleged, proposed to adjourn. It is a particular ground of

228 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
thankfulness to me that at such a time my recollection has
been in no degree impaired, and that my strength is as yet, I
trust, equal to the occasion.
The day before yesterday our Counsel were induced by the
impatience of the Lord Chancellor and the Bishop of Rochester
to close my examination in chief rather abruptly, leaving
several important points wholly untouched. But the adverse
Counsel seem so bent on sifting me, and the Duke of Clarence
seems so anxious of displaying his acuteness, and Lord Gren-
' ville will be so attentive to bring in towards the close of the
whole a few of his weighty, judicious, pointed, and comprehen
sive questions, that I have no doubt of having sufficient
opportunity of delivering my mind on every part of the subject.
Hitherto the cross-examination I have undergone has tended
to nothing but to multiply words, and in some degree to
confirm my direct examination. One main object with our
adversaries is to protract ; as they hope by delay to effect
what they could not otherwise, the defeat of our measures.
Were such a cup of happiness as I now have before me wholly
unmixed, it might perhaps be too much to bear ; and if, since
my arrival, my hopes of enjoying your society have been
disappointed ; if I have been harassed by work when I wanted
ease ; if my mind has been so wholly occupied by one subject
that I have not had time to turn my thoughts to the object I
have most at heart, I mean our marriage ; if I have been
weakened by indisposition and depressed by pain ; in what other
way ought I to regard those seemingly adverse circumstances
than as medicines fitted to cure or prevent the worse evils of
vanity, inconsiderateness, selfishness, worldly mindedness, self-
will, and presumption, which more than probably would have
followed the full tide of worldly happiness and enjoyment?
Soon after this gets to the Temple you will be there to
peruse it. I would I were with you. I shall be with you in
spirit about eight at night, enjoying the unfeigned and affec
tionate welcome which you and your sister will then be receiv
ing from our dear friends. I can sa)- nothing as to the time of
my joining your party, though in my present state I should
add little to the hilarity of it. When I can I shall come. In
the meantime I wish you all the happiness which Rothley
Temple is capable of affording, and which I know to be no
mean wish.
I have broken the seal to say that I think myself a little
better to-day. Yesterday's examination was entirely by the
adverse Counsel. They laboured very hard to fix on me an
imputation of Jacobinism, and had got together for that end
scraps of letters and words of sentences so far back as the year

ZACHARY MACAULAY 229
1793. They mean, I believe, to continue the same sort of work
to-day ; but I think they themselves must be convinced it can
tend to nothing but to waste time. I appear again in the
House of Lords at two o'clock. Battersea Rise, July 2, 1799.
I am better to-day, but feverish symptoms are still apt to
recur. The African children are about to come out of the
Hospital without a proper place being provided for them. It
has been quite out of my own power to beat about for one,
nor could I procure one like-minded to engage in the search.
They must return, I think, in the interim to their former
lodgings at Clapham till their destination be finally fixed. The
Scotch plan is abandoned on account of Mr. Haldane's intem
perance and precipitancy, and it is resolved to educate them in
the vicinity of London. I wish much a proper person could be
found for their immediate superintendent. You and Babington
and the Vicar1 must lay your heads together to find one, re
membering what a paragon we require.
Yesterday the Counsel on both sides finished their proceed
ings in the House of Lords. The speech of Mr. Stephen, our
Counsel, was fraught with good sense and much solid argument,
and was also embellished with a good deal of classical imagery
and allusion, but it was not sufficiently condensed for their
Lordships' patience. In many points he seemed to me not at
all to know the strength of his case. Indeed I have found
scarce a man with whom I converse who fully understands the
matter of the Sierra Leone Establishment and the Slave Trade,
as opposed to each other, except Thornton. Mr. Law,2 the
adverse Counsel, replied to Mr. Stephen in a short but clever
speech, full of pleasantry and full of lies ; after which Lord
Grenville, in a very manly way, gave notice that, after hearing
all the evidence which had been adduced on both sides, and
all that had been advanced by the Counsel, he felt it a most
important duty he owed to his country, as well as to mankind
at large, to press the adoption of the present measure, and that
on Friday next he should move the second reading ofthe Bill.
At length the end came. On the 5th of July Wilberforce
notes in his diary that the second reading of the Bill took place
in the House of Lords, when the members were twenty-seven
in favour of the Bill and thirty- two against it, and thirty-six
proxies on each side. The Bishops' proxies were all for the
1 The Reverend Aulay Macaulay, who was Vicar of Rothley at that period.
2 Afterwards Lord EUenborough.

230 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Bill. He adds : ' Thuriow profane balderdash, Westmoreland
coarse, Bishop of Rochester ill-judged application of Scripture.
Grenville spoke well. Never so disappointed and grieved by
any defeat.— /w/p 8lh. To town early to meet Pitt and Gren
ville about Slave Trade business; discussion for an hour and
private with Pitt ; he sanguine about carrying it next year.
Grenville says we had fourteen more but for mistakes about
proxies, and should have carried it. Pitt clear the King has
used no influence against us. Stephen most earnest for our
cause, but uncandid about Pitt ; generously returning fees, above
two hundred pounds, in the handsomest way.'
TO MISS MILLS. Old Palace Yard, July g, 1 799.
My DEAR SELINA, — I scarce know in what terms to say
that my stay in town is again rendered a matter of absolute
uncertainty. I have been almost provoked to anger with
Wilberforce and Thornton, though very unreasonably, for I
believe at the same time they insist only on what is proper
in existing circumstances. In their conversation yesterday with
Lord Grenville and Mr. Pitt, it was discovered to be necessary
immediately to draw up certain separate Memorials, to the
King in Council, to the Admiralty, and to the Lords of the
Treasury, which should lead to the attainment of certain objects
materially involving the interests of the Colony. They say,
and perhaps with truth, for I am almost too much mortified
to grant them thus much, that these Memorials cannot be drawn
up without my help. To-day I have been labouring at them,
but when they may be completed, or what new contingencies
may arise, I shall not take upon me even to guess. It is still
possible I may get away to-morrow, but I have found it quite
a vain attempt as yet to bring them to any definite opinion
as to that point. I am ashamed to tell you that I have felt an
unjustifiable degree of mortification on this occasion, and have
been venting my feelings a little too strongly to both of them.
They laugh at me, and blame my own rashness in making
promises. Is it not quite provoking? I had been valuing
myself on my patience, but really I find it inadequate to
repress improper and childish risings on this occasion. All
this is very foolish, but these reiterated delays and disap
pointments at such a time are almost too much for me, but
I trust are not without their use. They ought to lead to
patience. With the exercise of this grace indeed I have been

ZACHARY MACAULAY 231
rather familiarised of late, as I have found in contemplating
the recent decision of the House of Lords. The profligacy,
however, as well as the wrath of man, shall ultimately conduce
to God's glory, nor shall His purposes be obstructed by the
flippant declarations of Westmoreland, the impious and profane
sarcasms of Thuriow, or all the weight of influence which the
Duke of Clarence can throw into the scale.
The Court of Directors have come to a general resolution
appointing me in their service. The state of the Company's
affairs may require my return to town sooner than I at present
expect, and may fix my stay there to quite an indefinite
period. Would it not be on the whole a duty to avail our
selves of the quiet I trust we shall enjoy for a few weeks for
accomplishing our marriage? I see some objections to this
plan, but I do not think they are weighty enough to stand in
competition with its advantages, even excluding every con
sideration of a more personal and affecting nature, and which
I do not mean at present to urge. Mrs. Thornton has given us
the use of their house and servants in King's Arms Yard till we
can suit ourselves with a convenient place'of residence.
By the time I get to the Temple you will have turned over
in your mind these suggestions, and be able perhaps to give a
categorical answer. Praying God to bless you and all our dear
friends who are about you, I remain, ever yours most faithfully
and affectionately, Z. MACAULAY.
Parliament was prorogued on the 12th of July, and on the
same day Macaulay set out for Rothley Temple, where he re
mained till the first week in August ; an allowance of holiday
which appears extremely limited when it is considered that he
had been working without intermission since the beginning of
the year 1796, and that his health was shattered by African
fever. But he felt that, burdened as the Directors were with
important private and public affairs in addition to the concerns
of the Sierra Leone Company, he could not with propriety
refuse his aid, when at all able to transact business, so as to
relieve them from a considerable amount of details with which
they were not conversant, and with which he was fully com
petent to deal from his special sources of information. They
had been too considerate to press for his return, but the pleasure
and relief with which he was welcomed were some recompense
to him for the sacrifice, and his frame of mind now was a very
contented one. His prospects in life were fairly assured in the
moderate degree which was sufficient for his happiness. He

232 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
was looking forward to an immediate marriage, after which
the Directors undertook that he should have a further holiday.
On his arrival in town he was claimed by his friends, and
domesticated with the Thorntons and Wilberforces, and for
all these mercies his grateful heart appears to have been over
flowing with thankfulness.
He received at this time a characteristic letter from Mr.
Babington. FROM T. BABINGTON, ESQ. Temple, August 6, 1799.
My dear Zachary, — I am glad the day of marriage is fixed,
and we shall be very much disappointed if you do not persevere
in your intention of coming hither as soon as you are united.
I have been thinking you over, in order to act the part of
censor which you assign me. I shall execute it to the best
of my power, without, however, laying down my office when I
have finished my letter, for I shall probably consider myself as
invested with it (and wish you to do the same on your part for
my benefit) as long as we both live.
Your chief faults, my dear Zachary, seem to me nearly con
nected with natural ardour of mind and firmness of character.
These qualities are excellent when kept within due bounds, but
their very excellence tends to relax the watch which should be
set over them. The first is apt to encroach on that smiling
serenity of soul which is so amiable in itself, and so nearly
connected with Christian love and meekness ; and the latter
tends to destroy in some instances, and to deaden in others,
the sensibilities which are the proper concomitants and the
most pleasing expressions of those dispositions. I mean such
sensibilities as adorned our Saviour when He called on the weary
and heavy laden to come to Him, declaring Himself meek and
lowly in heart, and promising them rest for their souls ; when He
wept over the grave of Lazarus and over Jerusalem ; when, at
His instigation probably, His beloved Apostle laid his head on
His bosom ; when He said thrice to Peter, feed My sheep and
lambs ; when He discoursed with His apostles previous to His
trial, showing that those whom He loved He did indeed love
unto the end. I will not multiply further instances, or show
that I do not speak of spurious or excessive sensibilit)-, but
true Christian sensibility. I think, however, you have made
considerable progress since you were last in England in these
graces and in other points. I was glad to find that you were
more pleased with Mr. Grant than heretofore, for this was to

ZACHARY MACAULAY 233
me one strong symptom of a change in yourself. You have
always shown me the greatest kindness, and thought too well
of me, though differing considerably from you in some respects.
No personal feeling, my dear Zachary, prompts either my
present criticism or commendation.
Ardour of mind and firmness united lead to high acquire
ments, and thus, by their effects, as well as by their intrinsic
importance, elevate the man, and make humility a more difficult
virtue than in ordinary cases. Nothing I have at this time
seen in you has prompted this remark, but it is founded in
human nature, and suggested by what I recollect in you here
tofore, especially in the earlier periods of our acquaintance.
Contrary to your suggestion, I have, you see, dwelt a good
deal on defects; for when the grace of God rules in the soul
(as must be the case with all who are truly Christians), the most
prominent defects (I speak of no others) hold a high place in
the catalogue of faults.
As to positive faults, I have not seen one of your old ones
which does not appear to have been greatly weakened, if not
apparently destroyed. I say apparently, for we well know what
stubborn life animates the roots of these baneful plants, and
how apt the latter are to reappear when least expected. ' Watch '
and ' pray ' are directions peculiarly applicable to what regards
our old faults, whether constitutional or habitual. Thanks to
God that he hath given you so fair an earnest of that complete
victory promised by our blessed Saviour to his faithful servants !
I allude particularly to impatience, self-confidence, and a love
of praise. May you still be enabled to foil these fell adversaries !
Shall I mention the instances in which, as far as I now recollect,
they used most to appear? In the style of your letters and
your tones in reading being too oratorical ; in something of this
in your conversation also at times ; in a boldness in your looks,
and a hardness and spirit of opposition in arguing, and in
joining in conversation sometimes as a master, sometimes as
an equal in knowledge, on subjects on which your degree of
information would have made it more decorous and useful for
you to have taken a lower station. I dare say you know more
points of this sort than I do. They may serve as beacons to give
warning of the attack of the internal foe. I can unfeignedly
say that in mentioning your faults, I am myself strongly re
minded of some of my own. May Christ the purifier cleanse
us both from every stain ! I ought to have said, when speaking
of old faults, that I fear the view of error or extravagance
may sometimes drive you to the borders, if not within the
confines, of an error or extravagance (in your opinions I
mean) of an opposite kind, instead of producing due anxiety

234 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
to cleave to simple truth and moderation. I, too, have this
fault, I believe. Those whose minds are ardent seldom bear in
mind as they ought how unfavourable ardour is to sound judg
ment. They are apt to be so busy in viewing a question in
different lights, and examining the different arguments which
bear upon it, that they do not consider how necessary it is that
they should be cool, composed, and candid, in order to discover
truth. I need not say that there is often a grievous want of
these qualities where there is much exterior steadiness of
demeanour and circumspection. Indeed I have often found
in my own case that reserve and caution have proceeded from
pride and violence struggling, or at least muttering, within.
I shall now dismiss the subject of character, and say a
little on another. You have been a grave and active African
Governor, surrounded by business and difficulties and dangers,
and enjoying little affectionate, and no female society. Selina
has been entirely with females, and her companions have been
her near relations and friends. Under these circumstances you
meet as man and wife, with habits of domestic life more different
than those of men and women, who act on the same principles,
generally are. She must endeavour to assimilate herself to you,
and you to her, without either of you departing from your
proper sphere. Part of your duty will consist in improving
yourself in an art you never yet studied, the art of relaxing
in a way which may suit a pious, affectionate, and amiable wife.
' Dulce est desipere in loco,' said the Roman poet, who was a
bachelor. Had he been an affectionate husband with such a
wife as Selina, he would have said this with more warmth. But
hours of relaxation are among the most useful, as well as most
pleasant seasons of matrimonial life, if they do not recur too
frequently, and if the source of enjoyment be pure and hallowed.
When the soul unbends and suffers the thoughts and feelings to
take their own course, they will naturally employ themselves
about the most interesting objects. Something purely religious
or nearly allied to religion will attract them, and your care
must be that in pursuing their object they select a proper path.
You must not expect your fellow-traveller to be pleased with
her journey, if you drag her over deserts or through swamps,
or bury her in the depths of a forest. Though she will not
dislike a good deal of these occasionally, yet in general you
should lead her through cheerful cornfields and pastures, and
when opportunity offers go out of your way a little to show her
a flowery meadow or a winding stream. I trust we shall soon
hear more of her. — Kind wishes, Thomas Babington.
I do not know that you mistake your own character in any
point.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 235
At length Macaulay was set at liberty to make his way to
Bristol, where the marriage took place on the 26th of August
1799. The only particular that has been preserved about the
occasion is that it is mentioned in a letter that after the
departure of the happy pair, with the inevitable sister in the
carriage with them, as was the custom of the period, the Miss
Mores shut themselves into a room to 'sob their fill.' Patty
More had been consistent in her opposition, and when after
much consultation Miss Mills had decided on sending her an
invitation to her wedding, Patty More wrote an answer, which,
though not unkind, was certainly a very strange one, and con
tained a mysterious intimation that they would never meet
again in this world. Miss Mills, however, did not take the hint,
but with great sense went out at once to Cowslip Green to pay
a farewell visit, and from the date of this interview Miss Patty
seems to have dropped all ill feeling, and when the marriage
had actually taken place, she resumed very friendly relations
with Mr. and Mrs. Macaulay.
After a stay of some weeks at Rothley Temple, Macaulay
and his wife came up to London to Mr. Thornton's house in
King's Arms Yard, where they were received with the greatest
kindness ; and remained, making visits from Saturday till
Monday to Battersea Rise, until they settled in a house at
Lambeth, which they intended to occupy until the rooms at
the Sierra Leone Office should be prepared for their reception.
Macaulay's hands were full of the affairs of the Colony he had
so recently quitted, and to the service of which he was now
permanently attached as Secretary to the Sierra Leone Com
pany, with a salary of ^400 a year. During the long walks
which he describes from the office to his temporary abode at
Lambeth Place, and on pretty frequently to Clapham to visit
the African children, over whom he watched with paternal care,
he meditated deeply over the project which was already under
consideration for publishing a magazine which, to use his own
expression when writing to his friends, should ' counteract the
evils existing at present in the religious world, and at the same
time recommend religion to the consciences ofthe worldly.'
Early in 1800 Macaulay's health gave cause for serious
anxiety, and the Thorntons called in Dr. Frazer, one of the first
physicians of the time, who enjoyed the privilege of being a

236 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
brother-in-law of Mr. Grant, and had in consequence been
adopted as chief medical adviser to the band of friends. He
pronounced that Macaulay had a liver complaint, but that he
believed proper treatment at Bath and entire rest would subdue
it. Henry Thornton exerted himself successfully to procure
the necessary leave from the Board, and lent Macaulay horses,
that he might enjoy his favourite exercise and ride every day ;
and the interval arranged for appears to have been made good
use of, although it certainly was not one of the entire rest
prescribed by the doctor.
Macaulay had formed an incurable habit of rising very early
in the morning to work ; and was accustomed to obtain a light
for kindling the fire in his study by dipping a match in a bottle
of phosphorus, which was perhaps one of the simplest of the
many contrivances for grappling with difficulties of that sort
which are now swept away by the conveniences of modern life.
His letters to different friends are filled with allusions to the
numerous subjects which occupied his thoughts ; and he even
ventured to show some impatience at the delays interposed by
Mr. Pitt in granting the expected money for the West African
settlements, and to express a hope that Mr. Wilberforce's
influence might be exerted efficaciously to extract still larger
sums from the great Minister. Sierra Leone was indeed causing
considerable anxiety to its rulers. The Colony was in a bad
state, the Settlers were turbulent and disaffected, and Mr.
Ludlam, who did not meet with loyal support from some of the
European officials, urged upon the Directors that he should be
permitted to resign.
Among other interests, Macaulay now occupied himself in
taking an active part in the formation of the Religious Tract
Society, which had grown naturali)- out of the great success
which had attended upon the distribution of the Cheap Reposi
tory Tracts. The present generation can scarcely understand
the dearth there was then of pure and good literature suitable
for the middle and lower classes of society, and therefore
cannot appreciate at a just value the merit of the exertions
made by a small knot of excellent persons to supply the need.
One of the early rules of the Society was that the Committee
of Management should consist in equal numbers of Churchmen
and Nonconformists ; and a Depository for the sale of publica-

ZACHARY MACAULAY 237
tions was opened at 10 Stationers' Court, Ludgate Hill.
Macaulay's name is on the list of the Committee for 1800;
and in October of the same year he was, together with another
member of the Committee, appointed to correspond with
Protestants on the Continent with a view to the extension of
the work abroad. The society soon justified its existence by
the enormous extent and variety of its operations, and it has
been the parent of many similar associations in every part of
the civilised globe.
The superintendence of the young Africans whom he had
brought to England had hitherto occupied a considerable
portion of his time. They were at last satisfactorily settled at
Clapham under the eye of the excellent rector, John Venn, who
had in conjunction with Thornton made a happy selection of a
schoolmaster under whose charge they were placed. This man,
Mr. William Greaves, who came from Yorkshire, did his duty
thoroughly by his pupils ; but the climate proved fatal to the
constitutions of the greater number, and by the end of 1805
only six of the poor children remained alive. The disappoint
ment was, however, made up to Mr. Greaves by many of the
residents at Clapham Common sending their sons daily to
profit by his tuition, a confidence of which he was well worthy,
as his scholarship was good, and his kindly disposition and
good temper won the attachment of the boys.
But besides his other employments Macaulay was particularly
occupied during the spring of 1800 in repelling an acrimonious
attack that was made upon him by some ofthe more prejudiced
partisans of Missions, who asserted that he was hostile to .all
efforts to spread Christianity among the heathen ; and who
refused to accept the principle that proper discrimination must
be used in the choice of persons offering themselves as Mis
sionaries, and that such Missionaries who proved themselves
untrustworthy, and unfit for their high calling, should be dis
missed. Thornton acted as chief pacificator in the dispute,
while at the same time he entirely backed up Macaulay's
opinion. Macaulay answered the attack in a letter addressed
to his chief opponent, from which some extracts are now given ;
and in the end Macaulay's views prevailed, and were in a great
measure adopted in the formation of the rules for the guidJa&ce;
of the Church Missionary Society.

238 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
The letter, which covers sixteen foolscap pages, written
extremely closely, commences by Macaulay, who was always
a fair fighter, thanking his adversary for the openness and
candour with which the attack had been made, and saying it
enabled him to reply with equal freedom. He continues : —
' Friendly I was and still am to Missionary efforts proceeding
on right principles, and conducted by proper instruments. I
have been the unwilling witness of Missionary efforts which,
in my opinion, have done more real injury to the cause of
Christianity than perhaps all the opposition which the enemies
of Missions have during that time raised to them.
'You will allow that there may be Missions to which it would
be proper to show no friendly disposition, for instance a Mission
from the College of Jesuits, or a Mission of the disciples of
Priestley. I merely mean to establish the principle that perfect
friendliness to properly conducted Missions, in other words, an
ardent desire for the extension of true Gospel light, may be
perfectly consistent with harbouring doubts and even dis
approbation of particular Missions.
' I am glad the inquiries you were induced to make into the
truth of my communication have led to a more accurate know
ledge of the real state of matters among the Missionaries,
however painful that discovery may have been to you. I
should have sincerely rejoiced had the conduct of the Mis
sionaries afforded no ground of blame ; but as it is, I think it
highly desirable that there should be a full development to
those concerned in the management of Missions, and perhaps
some discovery to the religious world in general, of the evils
which have hitherto mainly contributed to diminish if not to
destroy the probability of success.
'You say that the principles to which you wish ever to
adhere would have rendered no motive satisfactory to your
conscience for exhibiting any class of mankind in such a light.
But surely Christian principles would lead you, if you exhibited
to view the character of any man or set of" men, to do it truly.
I am not aware that charity requires us to form a more favour
able opinion of any one than a comparison of his conduct with
the Scriptures will warrant. There is a wide difference in my
estimation between scriptural charity and that drivelling charity
which is blind to the defects of others ; nor is this last anywhere
required of us.
' I think that you, my dear sir, can scarce mean to say that
the mere circumstance of a religious profession and a Missionary
engagement are of sufficient potency to render such a repre
sentation, though it might be true in some cases, yet a priori

ZACHARY MACAULAY 239
and of necessity, inapplicable here. The course of my experi
ence would by no means lead me to the same conclusion, but
to a very contrary one. I have had some access to know in
what degree a Mission may become a mere worldly pursuit,
sought after to gratify sloth, vanity, curiosity, discontent, and
ambition ; and till the Missionary Directors are sufficiently
aware of this, they may plan Missions and send forth Mission
aries, but they will have, in fact, comparatively little fruit from
their efforts ; though they may talk of having it.
' You say that the rack would not have constrained you to do
what I have done. What am I to infer from this ? Exactly
what I have long suspected to be the case, namely, that there
exists in the minds of some a previous determination to draw
what is called the veil of love over the misconduct of Mission
aries, however flagrant it may have been. From your letter I
may fairly infer that you would rather be put to the rack than
minute down and communicate to another such information as
I have given to you, in any case, nay, even if it were true. And
yet, sir, if a man, however mean his discernment, or however
questionable the soundness of his judgment may be, should
have communicated an account ofthe Missionaries which should
extol their piety, and note with apparent feeling their pious
expressions, I appeal to you whether he might not justly haye
hoped that, without any very minute investigation of its pro
bability, or strict comment on its possible exaggeration, this
account should have been dispersed abroad, retailed in sermons,
and if not engrafted into some more bulky publication, at least
chronicled in an Evangelical Magazine.
'So far am I from agreeing with you on this point, that had
I been in your place I should have felt it a duty not only to
investigate thoroughly the characters of the Missionaries, not
only to minute down every article of credible information I
might have received on that head, but to use the discovery
for very important purposes, namely, to excite the Directors
to more vigilance and care in the selection of Missionaries.
' You also write as if such a description as mine must be
false ; and as if it could on no principle whatever be justified,
even supposing it to be true. You must know that I have had
oportunities of studying the characters and witnessing the
conduct of Missionaries. In one case where a Mission was pro
jected by myself, supported almost exclusively by my own
religious friends, and where the Missionaries were selected by
Dr. Coke, I had the mortification of being the witness of very
reprehensible conduct on the part of the Missionaries.
' Now let me ask what was to have been done in this case ?
Acting on the principles of your letter, I should have concealed,

240 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
at least palliated, these enormities. Acting on my own, I made
as fair and impartial an exhibit of them as I could ; an exhibit,
the fairness of which those were most convinced of who had
most access to know the originals.
' I might, it is true, have " covered " these things ; but would
it have been charity towards those individuals who had ex
pended their money in the Mission, and who must have been
called on for fresh sums? Would it have been charity (this
is a weighty question) to the souls of the heathen, for whose
salvation so much zeal is professed? Nay, I even doubt
whether it would have been charity as it respected the indi
viduals themselves. One necessary ingredient of true Christian
charity would in such a case have been wanting. I mean
uprightness. 'You will remember that I gave the account no unnecessary
publicity. The communication was made by me to Mr. Hard-
castle and to Mr. Thornton, the former a Missionary Director,
and the latter one whom I know to have at heart the interests
of true religion, under a strong sense of its being my duty to do
so, and in the confidence, a confidence I have seen no reason to
retract, that in their hands it would be made to answer bene
ficial purposes.
' You call loudly for support and money, and yet you judge
those hardly, not to say uncharitably, who think it their duty
to examine what it is they are required to support, and to
what purpose their money is to be applied.
' I had been long at a loss to account for some circumstances
in the management of Missions which your letter tends to
explain. I have often wondered how men whom I conceived
to possess at least a common share of discernment, should have
been so unfortunate in their selection of Missionaries. But I no
longer see cause to wonder, if it be laid down, as it seems to be
by you, that those minute inquiries which can alone lead to a
complete development of characters are absolutely wrong, and
serve only to mark malevolence. It is from others that these
must be learnt, and until the Missionary Directors become so
sensible of this truth as to exercise something of that diligence
in pursuing those inquiries which you so severely reprobate in
mc, we may expect to witness frequent repetitions of the
unhappy transactions which have heretofore been exhibited.
' I do not think it necessary to make any particular profession
of my attachment to the cause of Christianity. I leave to those
who know me to judge of that ; but I have no scruple in
expressing my doubts whether Missions, conducted as I have
hitherto seen them, tend in the main to advance its interests.
While this doubt continues, and while it even gathers strength

ZACHARY MACAULAY 241
from what is contained in your letter, I must still think it my
duty to inquire, as I have fair opportunity, into the circum
stances attending Missions ; and if I should meet with informa
tion sufficiently important, to impart the same to such friends
as I think likely to employ it beneficially.'
It may be remembered that during the early part of 1800
Macaulay was seriously out of health, and he ends his letter
with explanations that it had been constantly interrupted, and
that he had had considerable difficulty in completing it.
The Society now known by the title of the Church Missionary
Society was the fruit of several years of earnest thought and
discussion among the Evangelical leaders, and had been formally
founded by them in April 1799. Although they were willing
to join with Nonconformists not only in philanthropic work but
on religious questions, as is testified by their support of the
Religious Tract Society and afterwards of the Bible Society,
they had a strong belief that the cause of Missions stood upon
a different footing, and that their duty lay in insisting upon
Native Christian communities being united to that Church of
which they were members, and to which they professed a warm
attachment. Probably Macaulay's recollections of his experi
ence at Freetown with the Baptist Missionaries Grigg and
Garvin induced him to lend a strong support to this view, and
had a considerable share in influencing the decision of his
friends. The Rules of the new Society were framed principally by
Mr. Simeon and Mr. Venn, two of the leading clergymen of the
Evangelical party. Mr. Charles Simeon, a man of good family
and large fortune, occupied for more than half a century the
incumbency of Holy Trinity at Cambridge, and devoted a con
siderable portion of his patrimony to the purchase of advowsons
to which he appointed young men who had been trained under
his supervision, and who had adopted his views. In most of
the populous cities of England Mr. Simeon's appearance could
be welcomed by clergymen who, owning him gratefully as their
spiritual father, looked to him for direction and advice in their
ministry ; and by congregations who fully recognised that to
his unceasing labours they were indebted for the revival of
Evangelical religion. John Venn, the rector of Clapham, came
of a family eminent for piety, zeal, and learning, and it is
Q

242 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
remarkable that ever since the time of the Reformation all his
paternal ancestors had been in Holy orders in the Church of
England. He pointed out that the new Society must be founded
upon the Church principle, but not the High Church principle;
and this line of conduct was adhered to. It was decided that
only members of the Church of England should be eligible for
the Committee of Management, and that it should consist half
of clergymen and half of laymen. Macaulay was upon the
Committee as well as most of his particular friends ; and it may
be observed that placing his name upon the committee of a
philanthropic Society was no empty form with him, but that he
made a practice of attending the committee meetings regularly,
and of lending his best endeavours to furthering the interests
of the Society and extending the sphere of its operations. His
assistance was found so valuable that many engagements of
this description were forced upon him, besides others which
seem to have originated either wholly or partially with him.
He was one. of the projectors of the British and Foreign Bible
Society which was started in 1804, and was placed upon the
Committee. He was also, in the early years of the century,
instrumental in forming and carrying on the Society for Better
ing the Condition of the Poor, the Society for the Suppression
of Vice, and the Merchant Seaman's Bible Society. In his
correspondence he refers to meetings continually held at his
own house to inquire into and relieve effectually cases of abso
lute destitution, and finally a small Association, which may be
regarded as a precursor of the Charity Organisation Society,
appears to have taken its rise out of these informal meetings.
He had conceived a high admiration for the Homilies, and
joined with a few sympathisers in thinking that an associa
tion confined strictly to the issue of the formularies of the
Church of England, without the addition of any comment,
would be useful in meeting a want generally felt at that time.
Their opinion proved correct, and the Prayer-book and Homily
Society which was launched by them met with extraordinary
success. As the summer advanced Mrs. Babington became urgent
that her sister-in-law, whose health was now in a delicate state,
should move to Rothley Temple, and that the birth of her
expected child should take place under its roof. Mrs. Macaulay

ZACHARY MACAULAY 243
had lingered on at home, unwilling to leave her husband before
it should be absolutely necessary, but the prospect of some
short expeditions on business which would compel him to be
absent made Macaulay anxious to place her safely under his
sister's care, and he took her down to the Temple.
That abode of peace, however, shared in the anxieties of the
period. The high price of all articles of food, apd the prospect
of a scanty harvest, gave rise to gloomy forebodings. During
the previous winter the Babingtons had endeavoured to alleviate
in a degree the distress prevalent in their neighbourhood, where
meat was so dear as to be quite beyond the reach of any
labouring family, by making and distributing regularly large
quantities of good soup, a form of charity then unusual. But
now bread riots had begun in the neighbouring town of
Leicester, and caused continual disturbances ; and by allusions
in the correspondence it would appear that encounters with
angry and threatening mobs were events of no rare occurrence.
Macaulay was unable to remain in Leicestershire at that
time above a few hours. His immediate return to town was
imperatively necessary, as the affairs of Sierra Leone were in
a critical state. It was true that Wilberforce's influence with
Pitt had stood the Colony in good stead at this conjuncture.
Parliament had given an annual allowance of ^4000 for the
civil establishment ; and the Directors had a promise from the
Government of a grant of ;£ 17,000, and some hopes of a further
allowance for the construction of a fort. A Governor of Goree
had also been appointed with strict instructions to pay atten
tion to the requests of the Governor of Sierra Leone. The
Directors expected confidently that this great accession of
strength would relieve them from the unceasing difficulties
caused by the troublesome Nova Scotians,1 and that if once
security to property and plantations were ensured, the
Colony would prosper and do well. Mr. Thornton suggested
forming a private subscription among themselves in aid of a
grant which the Government proposed to give to be specially
applied to education, and with his customary liberality offered
a contribution of £200 a year. There was much to discuss
with the Directors for which leisure and opportunity had been
wanting during the stress of the Parliamentary session, and
1 See page 21.

244 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
therefore during the months of August and September Macaulay
went backwards and forwards constantly between London and
Bognor, where the Thorntons and Wilberforces were staying.

TO MRS. MACAULAY.
Portsmouth, August io, 1800.
Dating a letter to you from this place recalls a crowd of
images of things that are past, and excites, I trust, proper
feelings of thankfulness for the fulfilment of hopes which were
then my solace, though mixed with many a fear. The Lord
bless you, my love, and grant you the same grounds for grateful
recollection that I have.
I had a pleasant visit at Bognor to the Thorntons, who sent
their carriage to meet me at Midhurst, but found Henry not so
well as I could wish. Marianne was as shy and humorous
as ever, little Henry fat and fair, Miss Grant sallow and
dejected, and Miss Charity Amelia Grant charming. I must
see Mr. Grant on my way home, which may keep me from
getting to Birchin Lane till a late hour. London, September 28, 1800.
On coming from Christ Church this forenoon I found a letter
from Mr. Thornton on the table which had come by express,
and was dated at Bognor yesterday noon. It brought the
distressing intelligence that Mrs. Wilberforce was seriously ill
of a fever. I hope it may please God to spare her to our united
prayers ; but it is an unspeakably consoling consideration that
our loss will, we may almost say assuredly, be her gain.
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Hers is a spirit
that, with all its imperfections, has been evidently ripening for
immortality ; and whether it be the will of God that the present
affliction should be commissioned only further to purify the
soul, or to separate it for ever from sin and sorrow, those to
whom her best interests are dear ought to mingle joy with
their weeping. I have thought it right to employ a portion of
this day in supplications for her and her husband, whose show
of grief seems still more to call for sympathy. I have been led
to look back on the whole course of my acquaintance with Mrs.
Wilberforce and my conduct towards her, and I have rather
feared that I may not on all occasions have exercised that
candour towards her which is our duty to all. I have been
sharp-sighted to notice her defects, and slow in marking her
many excellencies. I trust the reflection has been profitable to
me, and I hope the fault I have committed will be forgiven, and

ZACHARY MACAULAY 245
the temper it indicates subdued through that blood on which I
believe she implicitly relies.
These are occasions also for calling our hearts to a strict
account, and inquiring seriously whether we be ready to resign
our dearest enjoyments, to part with our fondest hopes, to sacri
fice our choicest treasures in this world, at the command of
Him who endured for our sakes more than we can ever endure
for His. But why do any events prove trials to us ? Why but
because of the low measure of our faith. It is faith that over
comes the world, making tribulation joyful, and finding in those
privations from which flesh and blood are most apt to shrink,
matter of thankfulness and praise. Surely the life of faith is
the only desirable life. It lifts the soul above the accidents of
time. It unites the soul to God, and puts it even now in
possession of joys which are unspeakable. This is the life I
would live, and which I would make it my daily prayer that
you and I and all who are dear to us may live, till faith be lost
in sight.
I have been thinking of late that we have not been sufficiently
mindful of the new relation in which God, I trust, is about to
place us. I am fully persuaded that no situation requires more
of the divine aid than that of parents, and we ought to have
'been uniting our supplications for it. Let us now unite in
applying for wisdom to direct us in the discharge of a parent's
duty, and for grace to fortify our hearts against those tempta
tions, with which Satan, who knows our weakness, may be apt
to assail us.
I rejoice to have such good accounts of you all, and that you
exhibited such marks of heroism on the late alarming appear
ances. Though I have learnt by repeated experience how
much all men's hearts are in God's hands, and how He can
restrain the wrath of the very fiercest, yet I was not easy in
contemplating you surrounded by a mob. The spirits in
which you write, however, leave no room to fear any harm from
their ire.
Ask Babington if he ever attended to the following coincid
ence. I do not think there is much in it, but I thought it
worth noting. On the ioth of August, according to Kett,1
Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar — on the ioth of
August it was again taken by Titus — and on the ioth of
August an end was put to the French Monarchy. Dawes is
to go to Sierra Leone.
Farewell, my love. Remember me with real kindness to all
around you.
1 History the Interpreter of Prophecy , by the Rev. H. Kett, 1799 ; a book which
went through numerous editions.

246 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Macaulay was unable from stress of business to join his wife
at the Temple until the month of October was well advanced,
but at length he arrived there about ten days before the birth
of his eldest child. That child, who was destined to become so
illustrious, first saw the light in the ancient mansion on the 25th
of October, St. Crispin's Day ; and his baptism took place in
the chapel of the house on the 26th of November, when his
father bestowed upon him the names ofthe beloved brother-in-
law, to whom he was so deeply indebted, Thomas Babington.
But Macaulay himself about this time was incapacitated from
exertion, and in great suffering from the effects of a terrible fall
he had had from his horse ; and he was unable to participate
actively in an event which caused him deep satisfaction, the
election of Babington as member of Parliament to fill a vacancy
that occurred in the representation of Leicester. It was in
deed close upon Christmas Day before Macaulay was suffi
ciently recovered to return to town with his wife and child, to
take possession of his new apartments at the Sierra Leone
House in Birchin Lane.
It was fortunate that Mrs. Macaulay found great happiness
and amusement in her baby, for the rapidly increasing demands
upon her husband's time left him little leisure for domestic
companionship. The spring of 1801 was disturbed with alarm
about the Colony. Every mail from Sierra Leone brought
despatches with grave news, and at length the outbreak came.
The Settlers demanded to be paid a maximum of wages fixed
by themselves, and that they should be exempted from any
contribution to the expenses of Government. On their demands
being refused, they flew to arms. The Europeans took refuge
in the Governor's house, which they defended for some time as
best they could against the excited and reckless mob which
surrounded it ; but some persons had already been killed, and
they believed themselves to be at the very point of destruction,
when a large vessel sudden!)' appeared in the offing, and diverted
the attention of the assailants for the moment. During the
temporary pause that ensued the Governor found means to
communicate with the vessel. By an extraordinary piece of
good fortune, it proved to contain a detachment of the 24th
Regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Smith, escorting
from America a number of Maroons who the Directors had

ZACHARY MACAULAY 247
arranged should be admitted into the Colony. As soon as the
account of the state of affairs on shore reached the ship, no time
was lost in effecting a landing. The sailors and the Maroons
volunteered at once to assist the handful of soldiers, and were
eager to stretch their legs on shore, and to join in the fray.
Lieutenant Smith's arrival in command of his little force was a
truly dramatic intervention, and proved to be the concluding
act of the play. He showed both courage and sense in his
management of the barbarous and childish people with whom
he had to deal, and in forty-eight hours peace was outwardly
restored. Shortly afterwards a ship of war arrived from Eng
land conveying Mr. Dawes, who had again consented to take
charge of the affairs of the Colony, and who had brought some
pieces of ordnance with him to overawe the Settlers, so that it
was hoped matters were placed on a better footing for the
future ; but the Directors were never free from anxiety as to
what fresh trouble might be announced by each mail from the
West Coast.
During the course of the summer Mrs. Macaulay paid visits
with her child to the Miss Mores and to her own family. She
had received early in the year a curious formal letter from her
father, presenting a silver spoon for pap to his 'dear grand
son, the pledge of her happy union.' Particulars are also asked
for about the cowpox ; and Mrs. Macaulay is questioned as to
whether she is rationally convinced that the inoculation will
secure little Tommy from infection from the smallpox, as the
writer has more fear than hope. Macaulay went down during
his wife's absence for ten days' sea-bathing to Ramsgate, where
the Babingtons were staying, and where the fleet was a subject
of great interest. On the 14th of August he writes that they
have in view in the Downs Admiral Nelson and all his flotilla,
and are purposing the next day to take a boat and sail round
them. TO MRS. MACAULAY. London, August I, 1801.
I wrote to you yesterday giving you all the news I could
think of. Lancaster1 has this moment called. He tells me the
rich Quaker will be- willing to subscribe forthe boys.
1 Macaulay was in constant communication at this period with Lancaster upon his
plan for national education.

248 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
On the 28th, for the first time I made my appearance at
Lloyds, so that you see I have fairly entered on my new course.
I pray that it may be with God's blessing. I think it very
possible to labour diligently for a temporal provision without
losing sight of those durable riches which we are commanded
first to seek ; that I may be able to do so is an object of some
solicitude with me, and yet I do fear that as riches increase, it
is no easy matter to avoid setting the heart upon them. It is,
however, premature to consider my present debut as placing
me on the road to wealth. It constitutes me, however, in some
sort a candidate for it, which I was not before, and therefore
exposes me in a measure to the evils of such a state.
You will easily conceive that I do not find Birchin Lane,
however tranquil it may be, a very lively scene at present. If
wives were prudent they would occasionally condemn their
husbands to a temporary separation. Husbands would then
come to know to what they owed their enjoyment, and in what
degree the dulness of the scene was enlivened by the kind
attention of the wife, and the noisy prattle of the lisping boy.
I have the satisfaction, however, of thinking that both you and
Tom are likely to benefit by your absence.
Along with this I send you some tracts which you will recog
nise, having seen them in manuscript.
A letter from Babington informs me that they have taken
lodgings at Ramsgate on a chalk cliff called Prospect Row,
seventy feet above a fine clear sea, with a view of Calais and of
the Downs. It is quite out of the town, and has the pier and
shipping just below it. The easiest wa)- of going to them is by
water, and one is carried down there in half a day without any
fatigue. Adieu, my love. I shall think about writing to James, but I
feel some doubts about it unless an occasion were to arise
naturally. Of all things people's stomachs bear to be crammed
with religion least. Injudiciously proposed, it is apt to shut
the heart against one more than anything else ; witness Alex
ander, whose confidence I have never since regained. I shall,
however, be on the watch. It is right, doubtless, to sow one's
seed however the enemy ma)- devour it ; but yet by writing a
letter to one in James's circumstances you do a thing, not
wrong in itself, but which serves little purpose but to have it
said you have written a very fine letter.
I commend you and Tom to God's holy care.
Ramsgate, August 11, 1801.
I wrote to you, to say I had got hither, on the Sth, but it is
possible that this may reach you quite as soon. I was twenty-

ZACHARY MACAULAY

249

six hours in coming down to Margate. There were about a
hundred passengers on board the hoy ; and as on the second
day the wind blew pretty fresh, sickness was the order of the
day.1 I found our friends well and delightfully situated, with
a commanding view of the Downs and the men-of-war stationed
there, and of the whole of the entrance into the Thames through
which all the trade of London passes. The pier, which is
immediately below the windows, is a noble object. The coast
of France in front of the house appears very distinctly, and
with a good glass the houses might be discerned. The bathings
ground is as good as I ever saw. I had a plunge this morning
about five o'clock, and feel very well after it. I mean to go in
every morning while I stay, in order that I may lose none of
my time. The Babingtons think me mended in appearance
since we met in town, and I am certainly better. I wish you
were here. You would enjoy I am sure very much the whole
scene, and I think also you would like the party. I assure you
your absence causes a great chasm in it.
It has been my lot hitherto to afford a trial both to your
patience and affection, not only by my frequent indisposition,
but by the effect thereby produced on my spirits and temper.
This is a trial I would gladly spare you, and not the less
because experience has afforded me so many solid proofs of
your tenderness, forbearance and love ; and I make it a part of
my daily prayers that everything in me which tends to dis
compose the tranquillity of your mind or to mar in ever so
minute a degree your happiness may be removed.
This Bethel, this House of God which dear Babington
always raises wherever he pitches his tent, is the same scene of
spiritual improvement and enjoyment I have ever found it. In
his breast that peace which is the effect of righteousness ever
dwells. May my soul be with his.

FROM MRS. MACAULAY. Bristol, August 12, 1801.
I received both your letters by the same post. I began to be
a little anxious, and to hope that after having safely crossed
the seas so often before, you were not preserved to be lost
between London and Ramsgate. I am very glad you are with
1 ' Margate, August 1801. — We observed a hoy coming in so crowded that we really
feared many of the passengers must have tumbled out, or the vessel upset as they
were getting out ; sometimes two hundred people in one. The pier was full of people
looking and laughing at the oddity of their disembarking.' — Diary of Mrs. Philip
Lybbe Powys.

250 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
your good friends, and that their situation is so delightful, and
that they find you improved in your appearance. I should
much like to be one of your party, I assure you, though I look
forward with much pleasure to a sight of our dear friends in
improved health at the time you mention. I will take measures
for being in London with my train on the 27th.
We use many arts to keep you alive in your son's remem
brance, and everything he wants is Papa, but I fear you will
have to make fresh court when you meet ; he becomes very
knowing. He looks, I assure you, with some marks of anxiety
to see if I am really angry, when I make him quiet. He tries
to sing as loud as he can.
We have not been able to get one single name for your poor
Africans, nor do I expect many from any other quarter, if any.
The Bristolians are famous for supporting large public charities,
and they are now setting on foot a new one ; and for large
turtle dinners ; but alas for your Africans. Alas, poor African
Education Society !
May God bless you all. I am with you in spirit now, and I
trust we shall spend an eternity together. When shall I adorn
the doctrine of God our Saviour as Mr. Babington does in all
things ! — Ever your affectionate Selina MaCAULAY.
The moment was now fast approaching when Macaulay was
to undertake a task of considerable magnitude, which he per
severed in carrying on for many years, and which was of a
nature to engross his thoughts and to fill up the short intervals
of leisure which his other occupations might have otherwise left
to him.
The original idea, which took shape ultimately in the Christian
Observer, appears to have sprung from the brain of Mr. Wilber
force, and as far back as the summer of 179S he was much
occupied with a plan for setting up a religious periodical
publication, for which his ambition did not extend beyond the
hope that its pages might contain a moderate degree of political
and common intelligence. He was constantly in consultation
about the project with Babington and Henry Thornton, and
they also discussed the matter in all its bearings with other
friends. At one time they were disposed to adopt the sugges
tion of Dr. Pearson, afterwards Dean of .Salisbury, that the
appointment or removal of an Editor should be vested in a
Committee composed of clergymen half from town parishes
and half from country parishes, but although Mr. Wilber-

ZACHARY MACAULAY 251
force was eager for this arrangement, fortunately for the
peace of mind and independence of the Editor it was put
aside. It must be remembered that at this period there was a con
stant and increasing pressure upon the leaders of the Evan
gelical party to induce them to start a Magazine which should
be suitable for reading in families professing strict views upon
religion, and which should contain matter to interest the
younger members of the household, and instruct and direct
their views upon public, social and literary matters. Almost
the only periodicals in existence at that time which could in
any degree be held to satisfy these requirements were the
Monthly Review, the Critical Review, and the British Critic;
but to each of these publications there were insurmountable
objections from the point of view of heads of families, who,
feeling their responsibilities, desired spiritual and mental food
for those dependent upon them, but desired it in an evangelical
form and strictly in accordance with the tenets of the Church
of England. The Monthly Review was Whig in politics and
Nonconformist in theology, being managed by Mr. Griffiths,
who was at the same time its editor and publisher ; while the
Critical Review and British Critic, which were conducted by
dignitaries of the Church of England, although pronounced by
Henry Thornton and Macaulay to be very respectable publica
tions, were so decidedly High Church that the Evangelical
leaders could obtain no opening in them for their special views,
and at the same time were so dull and heavy that they in no
way met the aspirations of their followers.
The many difficulties in the way caused the plan to be a
long time in maturing. Towards the close of the year 1799
Macaulay was incessantly engaged in discussions about the
Magazine with Thornton, Venn, and Pearson ; and as their
ideas came into shape they decided upon drawing up and
circulating a Prospectus that should prepare the minds of the
public for the appearance of the work, and began to negotiate
with Mr. Hatchard, with whom they were all on very friendly
terms, with regard to its shape and publication. In writing
about it at this time they dwell upon the point that their main
object was to get the work into circulation among the ordinary
class of Church of England clergy. The Prospectus that was

252 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
put forth was composed chiefly by Mr. Venn, and embodies
somewhat quaintly the views of the promoters.
' A monthly Publication, conducted upon the true principles
of the Established Church, has been long desired by many of
her members. In concurrence with these wishes the Christian
Observer is undertaken ; in which it is intended so to combine
information upon general subjects with religious instruction as
to furnish such an interesting view of Religion, Literature, and
Politics, free from the contamination of false principles, as a
Clergyman may without scruple recommend to his Parishioners,
and a Christian safely introduce into his Family.'
At length the enterprise was started, and the first number
appeared in January 1802. The same year saw in October the
birth of the Edinburgh Review, which was destined to exercise
a hostile influence. The Committee appointed to direct the
Christian Observer were Wilberforce, Thornton, John Venn,
Macaulay, and some others of the friends, but after the first
two or three months their superintendence ceased altogether,
and by common consent Macaulay became sole Editor. The
whole of the work and responsibility devolved upon him,
although the other members of the Committee were ready
enough with criticisms and suggestions which were never
brought forward until after the papers commented on had
appeared in print, and it was no longer possible to alter them.
The title prefixed to the new Magazine was The Christian
Observer, conducted by members of the Established Church. The
plan was chiefly based upon religious lines, but there was also
a great proportion of information of a general character given
in correspondence or in articles. The contents were systemati
cally arranged in divisions ; the first of which was entitled,
' Religious Communications,' and was intended to be an ' Intro
ductory Article connecting the History of the Church of
England with the lives of its supporters and founders,' and
gave a series of lives of the Apostles, and Fathers, and of
eminent Reformers and Divines. Among the biographies which
appeared under this head during the few years immediately
following the commencement of the Christian Observer were
very careful studies of the lives and writings of St. Ignatius,
St. Polycarp, St. Justin Martyr, Iremeus, Clemens Romanus,
Luther, and of the principal English reformers. Under the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 253
title of Religious Communications were also included abstracts
of sermons, and commentaries on Scripture, letters on serious
subjects, and discussions upon disputed points of doctrine or
conduct. Under the one head of what were oddly enough
termed ' Clerical Lucubrations' as many as eighteen pages were
repeatedly covered with closely printed matter. During the
course of one year a sharp warfare was waged with the Dean
of Peterborough ; x and the Dean was so deeply offended by
the strictures passed on his book, The Articles of the Church
of England not Calvinistic, that he wrote with great violence,
charging the Christian Observer with extreme scurrility, and
with a design of overturning the Established Church and
plunging the nation into anarchy and blood ; charges which
appear comical when regarded in connection with the grave
and self-controlled personage who was directing the Magazine.
The second division is entitled ' Miscellaneous,' and treats of
every variety of subject from disquisitions upon maintaining
the Proprieties of the Female Character to discussions upon
Cruelty to Animals, and the lawfulness of Field Sports. There
are letters from Country Squires and Curates about their
Rectors, and from Rectors about their Squires and Curates ;
treatises upon the duty of taking interest in Continental News ;
observations upon quaintness in modes of style and thought ;
and a series of sketches from the pen of Henry Thornton
called ' Modern Characters.'
Next in order comes 'The Review of New Publications,'
in which long and careful notices are given of all kinds of
recently published works, but more especially of those upon
religious subjects. The diocesan charges of the Bishops to
their clergy meet with particularly minute attention, and when
it is noted that the review of a book called Religion without
Cant extends alone to twenty-five pages, it may be gathered
that considerable weight was attached in the Evangelical
circles to these notices, and that their appearance was awaited
with a good deal of curiosity.
The fourth division of the Magazine is styled ' The Review
of Reviews,' and in this the Editor promises that a watchful
eye shall be kept over the chief periodical publications. He
adds that he hopes nothing in them destructive of sound
1 Dean Kipling.

254 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
principles will escape due animadversion, and that it is his
purpose to vindicate Christianity and its friends from the mis
conceptions and misrepresentations to which these works some
times give birth or currency. This section became very soon
chiefly engrossed with criticisms of its celebrated contemporary
the Edinburgh Review. In the first notice of it which appears
in January 1803, the Editor seems a little doubtful what view
he should take of the new publication ; but his hesitation did
not last long, he soon plunged into the fray, and his trumpet
certainly gave forth no uncertain sound.
The fifth section is extremely interesting and full of varied
information, and supplies Literary and Philosophical Intelli
gence from the whole of the civilised globe. An account of all
descriptions of experiments by the great scientists of foreign
countries is given every month, and the progress of discovery
closely followed. The ' List of New Publications,' which com
pletes this portion of the Magazine, is also unusually rich for
that period in foreign information. Macaulay was, as has been
seen, passionately fond of literature, and although his mode of
life allowed him little leisure for the indulgence of his taste
for reading, still his interest in books was so keen that the
lists which he supplies are excellent, and his intimate acquaint
ance with the French language, and correspondence with
Frenchmen of distinction, enabled him to furnish unusually
full and good catalogues of foreign publications to his readers.
The ordinary ' Religious Intelligence ' which followed was
chiefly devoted to Missionary news; but special interest
centres in the next division, the 'View of Public Affairs,'
which is really admirable, and in a short space gives a lucid
and vivid description of the state of affairs in ever)- part of the
world, the place of honour being reserved for France and the
actions of Bonaparte. This section winds up with Great
Britain ; and the monthly account of Parliamentary Proceed
ings during the Session of Parliament must have been valued
on account of the exceptional facilities which the Editor en
joyed for correct knowledge of what passed in both Houses.
An Obituary succeeded, with long and careful accounts of
every one with claims of any kind for notice who had died
during the month, and finally the Magazine closes with a
diverting list of Answers to Correspondents, who seem to

ZACHARY MACAULAY 255
have been more eccentric, if that is possible, than it is their
customary privilege to be.
This summary will serve to prove that the editorship of the
Christian Observer would, under any circumstances, have been
no sinecure ; but besides fulfilling to the utmost point all the
customary duties of arrangement and censorship for the
monthly appearance of the Magazine, Macaulay's own personal
contributions to its contents were very large and constant.
Many of the sermons published in it were his own composition,
and in those days were highly approved of, and furnished the
substance of the discourses which were read from the pulpits
of no insignificant number of churches. But besides the ser
mons, many of the articles were from his own pen, and nothing
passed into the periodical without the ordeal of a rigorous
scrutiny from him.
The correspondence which the' editorship devolved upon him
became a grievous burden ; for even the ordinary business
which an editorial position entails is a heavy tax upon a man's
strength and energies, but the difficulty may be conceived when
his duties necessarily included continual controversies about
minute shades of doctrine. He was constantly endeavouring
to hold the balance even between the supporters of the Maga
zine, often between close personal friends of-his own, who might
be respectively inclined to Calvinism on the one hand, or
Arminianism on the other. Thomas Scott,d:he author of the
celebrated Commentary on the Bible, a man of really noble char
acter, of an integrity so lofty that, although a very poor man, no
temptation of interest or advantage could induce him to overcome
the scruples of conscience which held him back from accepting
preferment, had for a moment been thought of for the editorship of
the Christian Observer. But although Scott was, to use Mr. Wil
berforce's simile, a diamond of the first water, he was rough, and
at his already advanced age not susceptible of polish. Never
theless he was a steady contributor to the Magazine, and his
letters to Macaulay, consisting of closely written sheets, the
penmanship of which is exquisite in its distinctness and
delicacy, are a curious picture of his mind.
After many severe remonstrances upon the way in which
the articles he had supplied had been altered and dealt with,
Mr. Scott writes a long disquisition on the dangerous confusion

256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
which in his opinion was made between the doctrines of re
generation and justification in a paper by Dr. Pearson which
had been admitted into the Magazine, and then proceeds to say:
' I am not a little surprised that the Editors of the Christian
Observer should suppose they take a middle way as to the
disputed doctrines of Calvinism. The Sublapsarian indeed
takes a middle way between the Supralapsarian and the
Arminian, but between the Sublapsarian and the Arminian
there is no middle way, and therefore I do not wonder that
the Christian Observer has not found it. I venture to inform
you of what perhaps you are not aware, that every sober evan
gelical Arminian will be satisfied with the Christian Observer
on this point, but that no Calvinist, who understands the con
troversy, however sober and moderate, will be satisfied.'
Nowithstanding, however, much criticism of this description,
it is remarkable to observe the respect shown by Mr. "Scott
for Macaulay's own opinion, and the anxiety with which he
awaits the Editor's decision upon disputed points of doctrine,
for the examination of which Macaulay's education had cer
tainly in no way prepared him, and upon which Mr. Scott
might very reasonably have regarded his own authority as far
superior. At the end of the first year Macaulay wrote a Preface, with
the intention that it should be prefixed when the monthly
magazines were bound up together to form the volume for
1802. In this he says : —
' When the publication of this work was first undertaken, we
declared ourselves to be firmly attached, both as loyal citizens,
and sincere members of the Church of England, to the con
stitution of this kingdom, ecclesiastical and civil. In con
formity with these pretensions, we have been forward to defend
the doctrines and discipline of the Establishment, and have
uniformly opposed the language and the designs of the dis
affected and factious.
'But although decided in our opinions, we did not feel
authorised to treat all who differed from us with severity,
much less with contempt. We conceived that a spirit of for
bearance and Christian charity was perfectly consistent with
the strictest orthodoxy, and we indulged a sanguine hope that
Christians in general would concur in this sentiment. Our

ZACHARY MACAULAY 257
expectations, however, have, in this respect, been considerably
disappointed. ' Some of our correspondents haye complained of our mani
festing too great mildness and conciliation towards Dissenters
and Separatists, interpreting a language without bitterness
into blamable partiality, and misconstruing our reluctance to
irritate and give needless offence into want of zeal or defect
of courage. On the other side, some Dissenters have charged
us with being bigoted, persecuting Churchmen, and have not
only treated us as adversaries of the Dissenting interest, but
as the enemies of Christianity itself.
' We have no interests to serve but those of true Christianity,
no schemes to prosecute but those of making our fellow-
creatures good subjects and good Christians, teaching them to
fear God and honour the King.'
But notwithstanding all the laborious efforts of the Editor
to make his paper lively reading, Hannah More writes of it in
1804, ' It is certainly a valuable miscellany ; but it wants a
little essential salt, a little sprinkling of manners as weJJ, as
principles.' ' The truth is,' confesses Wilberforce, ' it is heavy,
and if it be not enlivened it will sink.' This despairing predic
tion, however, was not fulfilled. The Christian Observer obtained
a large circulation, and was destined to prosper for many years
to come ; and at the very time that these criticisms were
penned a large proportion of its readers took- a diametrically
opposite view of the spirit of its contents, and the Editor was
harassed with complaints of the levity with which, in the
opinion of his correspondents, serious subjects were constantly
treated in its pages, and was blamed by them for not exclud
ing many papers which they characterised as too frivolous and
trifling for perusal in well-conducted families.

258 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER IX
ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE
The nineteenth century opened unpropitiously to the hopes of
the advocates of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and there
was no expectation in any quarter of the success which was to
crown their efforts before a few years should have elapsed.
The minds of men were too full of the rapid changes of affairs
upon the Continent which threatened the safety of our own
island, to permit more than the most reluctant attention to be
wrung from them for questions other than those of providing
defence for our own shores, or means of attack upon our
enemies. In Parliament everything was against the Aboli
tionists. Early in the Session of 1801, Pitt, upon whom they
looked as the great bulwark of their cause, resigned office rather
than abandon his noble scheme for uniting Ireland with Eng
land, while at the same time he proposed that the Roman
Catholic laity should be relieved from civil disabilities, and that
a public maintenance should be granted to the Roman Catholic
clergy. Notwithstanding the change of leadership, it was believed at
first that all would go smoothly, and that Pitt would have
sufficient influence with the new Administration to prevent any
retrograde steps being taken with reference to the Slave Trade.
But the temper of the House of Commons was indifferent if not
actually hostile,1 and the new Premier, Addington, was jealous
1 l'arl of a letter from Lord Nelson to Mr. Simon Taylor, a Jamaica planter, may
be quoted in order to show the violence of the feeling existing against the Aboli
tionists at this period: ' J'letory, June io, 1S05. — lever havebeen and shall be a firm
friend to our present colonial system. I was bred in the good old school, and taught
to appreciate the value of our West Indian possessions, and neither in the field nor
the Senate shall their just rights be infringed whilst I have an arm to fight in their de
fence or a tongue to launch my voice against the damnable, cruel doctrine of Wilber
force and his hypocritical allies, and I hope my berth in heaven will be as exalted
as his who would certainly cause the murder of all our friends and fellow-subjects in
the Colonies.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 259
of Pitt's interference, and became gradually cold and reluctant
in his support of the Abolitionist members of Parliament. At
length, during the course of 1802 they were electrified, if that
word can be properly applied to any proceeding emanating
from Addington, by hearing that the Minister had consented
that Trinidad and St. Vincent should be settled with slaves
newly imported for the purpose, a proposition which had been
for years steadily resisted by Pitt, and the danger of which the
friends had fondly hoped was at an end. When the alarm was
once given, every agency was put in motion to endeavour to
avert the catastrophe ; but the utmost that the earnest pressure
of Pitt, supported by every Abolitionist member of Parliament,
could obtain, was a promise, given very unwillingly by Adding
ton, to pause till the next Session before opening Trinidad and
St. Vincent for the reception of another million of Africans.
The one consolatory advantage which cheered these dark days
for Mr. Wilberforce was the ardent admiration which he was
able to entertain for his beloved Pitt ; and it is really touching
to see his exultation in the spectacle afforded by the great
statesman's magnanimity and patriotism, and by the superiority
of his devotion over that of other politicians to the cause of the
oppressed blacks.
Parliament was dissolved on the 29th of June 1802, and the
friends of Abolition were immediately actively engaged all over
England in propounding their views to the electors. Wilber
force was chosen without a contest for the West Riding of
Yorkshire. Henry Thornton had a sharp fight in Southwark,
but was returned safely, with Tierney as a colleague. When
the Houses met in November, the interest of public affairs on
the Continent was too absorbing to permit members to pay any
regard to other business, and it was with deep discouragement
that the Abolitionists viewed their progress during the next
Session, and the hopelessness of bringing forward any measures
for the relief of their unhappy clients. "The rupture with
France in the month of May 1803 threw the whole nation into
a ferment, and when Bonaparte formed his camp at Boulogne
the danger of invasion roused a passionate burst of warlike
enthusiasm throughout the length and breadth of the land.
No one could participate more keenly in the excitement than
Macaulay himself, who was with many of his companions

260 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
enrolled as a Volunteer, and his correspondence at this time
contains constant allusions to military preparations. But even
under these circumstances the friends never for a moment lost
sight of the principles which guided their conduct, and their
steady opposition to drilling on Sundays, after much ridicule
and difficulty, proved in the end effectual in stopping it.
A strong impression of the closeness with which the danger
of invasion was brought home to men's minds at that period,
and the terrible reality of the fear, may be gathered from the
alarm which Wilberforce expresses upon hearing that Pitt, as
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, had taken the command of
three thousand Volunteers ; because he says he knows that
' Pitt's spirit will lead him to be foremost in the battle.' Busy
as Macaulay and his friends were, they never hesitated to sacri
fice their time and interests to the call of patriotic duty; and
during these years, gloomy with rumours of danger and
threatened war, Macaulay and Henry Thornton were among
the most active in seconding the exertions of Lord Teignmouth,
who had come forward to undertake the Lieutenancy of Surrey,
which was no sinecure at this critical time. His son J relates
how he remembers Macaulay marching at the head of a com
pany of the Clapham Volunteers, his austere features over
shadowed bythe bearskin cover of his helmet, whilst Charles2
and Robert Grant appeared as extemporised dragoons.
The three years which had now elapsed had been barren
of any fruit for the cause of the slaves ; but in 1804
Pitt returned to office, and immediately a measure for the
Abolition of the Slave Trade was brought forward in the House
of Commons. It was at once plain to discerning eyes that the
temper of the times was changed, and that hopes of ultimate
victory might now be reasonably entertained. The Irish mem
bers, whom the Abolitionists had taken pains to win over and to
inform upon the question, assembled upon the evening of the
First Reading at a great dinner, where the)- drank toasts to the
success of the Bill, and then came up in a body and voted for
it. The division was 124 to 49. As soon as it was over, the
whole of the Abolitionist party adjourned to Mr. Wilberforce's
house in Old Palace Yard to rejoice over the triumph and to
1 Recollections of Many Years : Lord Teignmouth.
Afterwards Lord Gleneltr.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 261
exchange congratulations ; and then remained on for great
part of the night in discussion as to the further conduct of the
campaign.1 It required the most unceasing vigilance upon the part of the
promoters of the Bill to frustrate the varied modes of attack
upon it, instigated in a great measure by the West Indian pro
prietors ; but notwithstanding the powerful forces arrayed
against it, the Bill was got through Committee, and finally, on
the 27th of June, the Third Reading was passed triumphantly,
assisted by the warm support of Pitt.
This speedy success made the disappointment all the more
severe when Lord Grenville, Porteous, Bishop of London, and
Pitt, all strong advocates of the measure, pronounced unhesi
tatingly their opinion that it would be unwise to risk it in the
Upper House at that late stage of the Session, when there was
no time for the hearing of evidence, without which the Peers
would not come to a vote. The Abolitionists therefore agreed,
though with reluctance, to postpone the introduction of their
Bill into the House of Lords until the following year ; but in
spired with new hopes, they wisely determined to employ the
interval to the best advantage. All available resources were
made use of, and every device tried for obtaining information
that could be turned to account as evidence ; while no time was
lost in fully laying the facts of the case before the public.
Lord Muncaster, who had already done good service to the
cause, Mr. Stephen and Clarkson were kept hard at work in
writing and publishing pamphlets, while Mr. Brougham went to
Holland with the view of procuring information about the
Maroons of Guiana, and the grounds upon which the Dutch
Government still clung to their Slave Trade. He travelled as
an American in order to escape the notice of the French autho
rities, but incurred some personal risk during the prosecution of
his enquiries, and was on one occasion quartered in the same
house with several French generals.
1 When Mr. Wilberforce retired from the leadership of the anti-slavery party many
years later, he impressed upon his successor ' the importance of keeping this great
cause in possession of its old honourable distinction of being one in which all party
differences were extinguished, Pitt and Fox fighting in the same rank ' ; and referred
with fond regret to the debates of this period, saying that there were no speakers
left so powerful as Pitt and Fox were. Canning he considered a more finished
orator, but less impressive. ' He was as different as possible from Pitt, and from old
Fox too, though he was so rough ; he had not that art celare artem.'

262 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
The next Session, however, of 1806 brought a cruel check to
the high expectations of the friends of Abolition, and on the
Second Reading in the House of Commons their measure was
defeated by seven votes, the Irish members having upon this
occasion either voted against them or stayed away. Their
astonishment and mortification were equally great ; but as all
possibility of exertion in one direction was closed to them for
the time, and the Houses of Parliament were engrossed with the
impeachment of Lord Melville, they occupied themselves suc
cessfully in endeavouring to limit the Foreign Slave Trade ; and
two Meetings in favour of Abolition were held at Lansdowne
House under the auspices of Lord Henry Petty, who was, at
the age of twenty-five, just commencing that distinguished
career which continued for nearly fifty years.
The political horizon was dark and threatening. The year
1806 opened with the ominous tidings of the triumph of
Bonaparte's armies and of the fall of our allies ; and before
the month of January was over, Pitt, whose enfeebled constitu
tion had never recovered the shock that he had sustained from
the news of the capitulation of Ulm, had sunk under the fresh
blow of the defeat at Austerlitz. ' Killed by the enemy as much
as Nelson,' said, with absolute truth, his friend Wilberforce, ' the
love of his country burned in him with as ardent a flame as
ever warmed the human bosom, and the accounts from the
armies struck a death's blow within.' The Christian Observer
had an obituary notice in its columns, in which the following
characteristic passages occur : —
' We feel a sensible satisfaction that the same philosophical
death has not characterised the late Prime Minister of this
country as was the case with the Duke of Bedford. Mr. Pitt,
as well as Mr. Burke, in yielding up their departing spirits,
appear to have professed the good old faith of their country.
Under what precise circumstances the expressions ascribed to
Mr. Pitt may have been delivered, and whether some of them
may have been spoken merely in the way of assent to questions
put according to the forms of our Church in her Order for the
Visitation of the Sick by the respectable prelate,1 once his
tutor, who attended him, we are not particularly informed. It
is impossible for us not to feel a very deep regret that a regular
attendance upon the duties of public worship did not constitute
1 Tomline, Bishop of Lincoln.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 263
a part of the character of this illustrious politician. We mention
this circumstance because we feel it to be our duty to qualify
the accounts which we receive of the Christian end of dis
tinguished personages by some reference to the general course
of their lives, which undoubtedly must be allowed to be the
least fallible test of human character.'
TO T. BABINGTON, ESQ., M.P.
London, December ib, 1805.
Since I last had time to write to you I have had a long
interview with Mr. Grant.1 The office into which he wishes
to introduce me at the India Office is that to which all the
examination of all Indian letters and papers and the preparing
replies to them is referred. There would be advantages in the
certainty of the position, and I would forego much of emolu
ment, consistently to my duty to my family, for the sake of
an employment so suited to my habits and turn of mind as
that at the India House ; and for the sake of being delivered
from what I have always shrunk from, solicitude respecting
pecuniary affairs, one of the grand evils in my opinion attending
the being engaged in pursuits of a precarious nature.
But Mr. Grant says my whole time would be claimed. To
this there must be some limit, for if a man chooses to spend
three or four hours less in sleeping and eating than other folk,
those hours can hardly be claimed. Mr. Grant says so much
also of the talents needed that I must have formed a very
undue estimate of my own qualifications if I considered myself
equal to it. MRS. H. MORE TO ALEXANDER KNOX, ESQ.
January 21, 1806.
The little nibbling in the first Christian Observer was not
judiciously done for a friendly critic, who should point out
specific faults, and not excite general suspicion and make vague
charges, especially where they intend to serve the interest of a
work. They have, however, made their amende honorable by
the very able and spirited manner in which they have assailed
the Edinburgh Review of Hints to a Princess?- Of this for
midable Scotch attack I had heard much, but did not know
the ground on which it was made till I saw it in the Christian
Observer. For though I read evil report as well as good report
1 Charles Grant, Esq., M.P. for Inverness-shire, and Chairman in 1805 of the
Court of Directors of the East India Company. His offer was not accepted by
Macaulay. 2 Hints to a Princess, by Mrs. Hannah More, published in 1805.

264 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
when it falls in my way, I do not know that I am in duty
bound to give six shillings to my flagellator. I ought not to
complain of their extreme unfairness and misrepresentations
respecting me, when they treat prophets and apostles with
still less ceremony.
Although the preceding letter points to a personal acquaint
ance between Mr. Knox and Mrs. Hannah More, it appears
that he was not introduced to the rest of the coterie until the
summer of 1809, when Mr. John Bowdler brought him and the
Rev. John Jebb, afterwards Bishop of Limerick, to Battersea
Rise. They both soon became on cordial terms with their host
and with Mr. Wilberforce and Macaulay, but they never formed
part of the special circle, nor probably had they any desire to
do so, as the views upon Church questions held by the two
distinguished Irishmen differed materially from those of their
new friends. Alexander Knox was remarkable for his un
common powers of conversation, and he has also left behind
volumes of correspondence of the deepest interest to every one
who loves to dwell upon subjects of religious and theological
thought. He had been Lord Castlereagh's private secretary,
and had worked with him during the rebellion in Ireland of
1798. Mr. Wilberforce says, ' He is the very last man I
should have conceived to have gravitated to Lord Castlereagh.'
Macaulay invariably set a much higher value upon a life of
active usefulness and benevolence than upon one of contem
plation and discussion, and this turn of mind influenced his
intercourse with Knox and Jebb. On one occasion, after ex
periencing the futility of his attempts to incite them to make
some special exertion, he writes : ' They could delight and
charm a wider circle indeed by their literary taste and qualities,
but I do not know that the narrowness of the sphere in which
the amiable pair are moving makes, however, much differ
ence with them on the question cither of religious effort or
religious effect'
John Bowdler himself stood in far closer relations with the
band of allies. His singular charm of manner and pure and
lofty character were combined with abilities which promised
high achievement in tlie future, and with a profound devotion
and severe self-discipline remarkable even among the sincerely
religious men with whom he found himself associated. To the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 265
Editor of the Christian Observer he was the most invaluable
of contributors, and scarcely any number appeared without a
paper from his pen which enlivened its somewhat ponderous
pages. His name recurs in almost every epistle that passed
between Macaulay and his friends. He was loved and re
spected by them, and admitted into their very innermost
sanctuary, with a tenderness of sentiment which they dis
played towards him as they might have done to a favourite
child. And from various allusions which recur from time to
time it is probable that they hoped hereafter, when their
generation should have passed away, that their work would
be carried on by ' the young, the much-loved and the much-
lamented John Bowdler.'1

TO MRS. H. MORE. London, February 13, 1806.
I am very glad that you like what was said of poor Pitt in
the Christian Observer. I feared that it would appear to be
cold and guarded' to many of his warm admirers, while Dis
senters and oppositionists would be crying out against it as
prostituting praise in order to exalt an unworthy object. I am
greatly concerned to find that the account given of his last
hours is more favourable to the existence of right religious
feelings in his bosom than the ascertained facts of the case
on a more accurate investigation will warrant. I understand
that the Bishop of Lincoln laments his having been unable to
fix his thoughts on the awful scene which was so shortly to
open upon him. I feel strongly with you the blank which his
departure has caused. God grant that the recent indications
ofthe divine displeasure which have appeared in this and other
events may produce their proper impression on the public, and
particularly on the minds of the Clergy. I should be very glad
if it suited you to attempt an improvement of them to these
important purposes.
I wish I could find some one to relieve me of the Editor
ship of the Christian Observer. On one side it is attacked as
Calvinistic, while even our ally Scott stigmatises it as Arminian.
The Dissenters make a violent clamour against it as being
High-church, while the High-church party abuse it as favour
able to Methodists. The sale, however, is prospering.
] Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography, by the Right Hon. Sir James Stephen,
K.C.B.

266 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
We have the unspeakable comfort of seeing our children
rising up with healthful bodies and teachable minds.
The great proportion of the members of the new Ministry
which was formed after the death of Pitt under the presidency
of Lord Grenville, were favourable to the Abolition of the
Slave Trade ; and after much discussion it was agreed that
Lord Grenville should introduce into the House of Lords, as a
preliminary step to the general measure, a Bill for the Prohibi
tion of the Foreign Slave Trade, and that the Attorney-
General, Perceval, who had long been a warm friend of Aboli
tion, should do the same in the Commons. Perceval is de
scribed by one who saw him in the House about this period
1 with his short and slight frame instinct with spirit, and his
countenance beaming with animation ' ; while the same observer
says that Lord Grenville looked the personification of gravity,
and that his oratory was statesmanlike, powerful and classical.
The Bill passed triumphantly through both Houses ; but in the
opinion of Lord Grenville and Fox the Session was too busy
and too far advanced to admit of the general measure being
brought forward, especially as they were unable to make it a
ministerial question, two of the principal members of the
cabinet being vehemently hostile to it. However, Lord Henry
Petty, who had not been deterred from accepting office by
Fox's advice to him that it would be better to earn his bread
in any other way than by becoming Chancellor of the Ex
chequer, threw all his influence into the scale in favour of
Abolition ; and it was finally decided that Resolutions declaring
the Slave Trade to be contrary to the principles of justice,
humanity and sound policy, and that the House would proceed
with all practical expedition to abolish it, should be proposed
in both Houses of Parliament by leading Ministers. The
debate came on upon the ioth of April, when the Resolutions
were carried by an overwhelming majority, and were followed
in the Commons by an Address to the King, moved by Mr.
Wilberforce, praying that His Majesty would use his influence
to obtain the co-operation of Foreign Powers, which passed
immediately without a division.
The cause of Abolition was now practically secure ; but the
advocates had learned too well their lesson from bitter experi
ence to venture upon relaxing in any degree their watchfulness.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 267
They continued to assemble as before at Mr. Wilberforce's
house in Old Palace Yard during each week, and at Battersea
Rise or Broomfield1 on Sundays, and worked without inter
mission in preparing the evidence to bring before the House
of Lords, so as to leave no point unguarded that might by any
possibility be attacked.
They might indeed congratulate themselves upon their pre
cautions when, late in October, the bombshell of an unexpected
dissolution of Parliament fell into their ranks, and sent all the
members among them flying as fast as horses could take them
to their several constituencies. But they had nothing to fear.
Public opinion had at last been aroused, and the sympathy of
the country was with them. Perhaps the most striking instance
of the change of feeling was evinced by the victory of the
Abolition cause at Liverpool, one of the strongholds of the
Slave Trade, where the well-known William Roscoe, who had
had the courage to make a public declaration against slavery
as far back as the year 1787, wrested the seat from General
Tarleton, one of the leaders of the West Indian' party in the
Commons. The little boys at Mr. Greaves's school at Clapham,
where Tom Macaulay was then one of the youngest pupils,
took an intense interest in the elections of their fathers and
their fathers' friends. They watched with delight Lord Teign-
mouth's house on the Common ' swarming like a beehive ' as
the headquarters for Mr. Samuel Thornton's election for Surrey,
or gazed in awe-struck admiration at the great family coach,
drawn by four horses bedizened with ribbons, going forth to
join Henry Thornton's procession on his return from South
wark. The crisis was now fast approaching, and the fate of the
Slave Trade was sealed. The entire change of feeling towards
Abolition took even its most sanguine advocates by surprise,
so that they could hardly trust in their good fortune, and
watched with anxiety lest some reverse should lie in wait for
them. But all went smoothly. The Bill was introduced first
into the House of Lords, and the debate upon it, which began
on the evening of the 3d of February 1807, lasted until five
o'clock the next morning. A letter from Mr. Wilberforce says :
' Lord Sidmouth's speech consisted of a medley of ideas, one
1 Mr. Wilberforce's beautiful residence on Clapham Common.

26S L I F E A X D LETTERS OF
cribbed from every person with whom he had ever conversed
on the subject' The measure passed rapidly through the
Lords, and on the ioth of February came down to the
Commons, where Lord Howick took charge of it for the
Government. The labour and tension of feeling among the workers for
Abolition during the progress of the Bill through the two
Houses appear to have been extreme. Mrs. Stephen had an
accident and broke her leg, but ' no one had time to attend to
her,' writes an onlooker, who continues: 'The Bill will not be
lost for want of pains, for a large party have hired a house in
Downing Street and meet ever)- day ; each has a list of
members to whom he can have access for the purpose of
recommending the subject, and prevailing on them to attend.'
On the 23rd of February the First Reading was carried, the
numbers being 283 to 16.
The scene which took place was indeed an extraordinary
one, and is almost beyond description, for it was the result of a
conjunction of a number of circumstances which never met
perhaps except on that occasion.
The stage on which the actors who took the leading parts in
the performance stood was the grandest one within the reach
of ambition, the House of Commons, and the attention of all
those who were noblest and best in their country was riveted
upon them. The work they had accomplished was one in
which no particle of self-interest entered, but the pursuit of
which had been dictated to them by the purest and highest
motives, the fear of God and the love of their fellow-men. For
it they had faced indifference, and ridicule and obloquy, and
had sacrificed without a murmur health and worldly advan
tages, and had endured for many years unwearied and irksome
toil, cheered only by association with their fellow-labourers,
with whom their bonds of affection had become as close as
those of brothers by blood. And beyond the satisfaction of
fulfilling their duty and of bringing some alleviation to the
sufferings of the most wretched and most degraded of the
human race, no possible reward that could appeal to sentiments
of ambition or desire of glory was offered them, no distinction
in the future, and no real honour in the present, even from the
men, outside their own peculiar circle, with whom their position

ZACHARY MACAULAY 269
in life led them to associate, and who, although compelled to
acknowledge their disinterestedness, regarded them as a band
of fanatics who could only harp upon one string.
On this day, however, the triumph was unalloyed. The
spontaneous expression of enthusiastic sympathy, as the whole
House cheered Wilberforce in his hour of success, was an
unprecedented tribute to the unpopular and thankless labours
of which some of the members had been witnesses for many
past sessions. Wilberforce himself was too much overpowered
by the sensations of the moment to be aware of the honour
done him, but when he reached his house and found there
gathered together the beloved friends and fellow-workers who
had shared his labours and disappointments, the happiness was
indeed complete for the time. When the first rush of con
gratulation was over Mr. Wilberforce turned playfully to Henry
Thornton and said exultingly, 'What shall we abolish next?'
The answer fell with characteristic seriousness from the lips of
his graver friend : ' The Lottery, I think ' ; and may have
caused a momentary chill in the assemblage.
But although the Abolitionists were now able to thank God
fervently that the object of their lives seemed secured, yet the
weeks which succeeded were weeks full of anxiety to them.
They felt certain that the Bill would have to undergo some
alterations in the Commons, and this they knew must expose it
again to the fiery ordeal of the House of Lords. But, as was
their custom, they profited by every circumstance, however
minute, that could be made to assist, and it is amusing to find
the austere legislators congratulating themselves on Sheridan
being their staunch ally, ' whether drunk or sober.' At length
all the difficulties were at an end. On the 25th of March 1807
the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade received the
Royal assent.
The success was indeed in its suddenness and completeness
a marvellous one. During the long years of the struggle
Macaulay had been quietly but effectively working in the
background to assist his friends to the utmost of his ability.
He was always at hand while Parliament was sitting, and
would be found either in the gallery of the House of Commons
or below the bar of the House of Lords, able to furnish facts or
suggestions tp the leaders of his party, and ready to produce

270 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
any Blue-book or State-paper required for reference, or to
point out some quotation apt to the subject immediately before
them. ' His memory was so retentive that without the trouble
of reference he could collate the papers of one Session with
those of three or four preceding years ; he analysed with such
rapidity that he could reduce to ten or twenty pages all that
was worth extracting from five hundred ; his acuteness was so
great that no fallacy of argument escaped him, and no sophistry
could bewilder him ; and more than all, he was accuracy and
truth itself. Every friend to slavery well knew Macaulay to be
his most dangerous foe ! ' L
He was to be found at the Sierra Leone Office during the
daytime, attending to the business of the Colony, and also
carrying on the enormous correspondence connected with
Abolition. The minutest details were not beneath his notice if
they contributed to the furthering of the cause to which his life
was devoted. From letters written to him by his friends it is
evident that constantly he personally superintended the packing
and despatch ofthe innumerable publications which the Aboli
tionists distributed to the public, rather than run the risk that
carelessness in addressing the covers might frustrate the objects
they had in view. The greater portion of the pamphlets dis
tributed were from his own pen. He corresponded directly
with many members of each Government, besides having con
tinual interviews with them. And through all this press of
business he preserved the same calm and unruffled demeanour,
and had attained to so absolute a control over his own mind
that no interruption put him out. He was able to turn from an
important discussion, if suddenly called upon to make some
complicated plan dependent upon other people, and such a plan
would be almost certain to prove successful on account of the
quiet thought bestowed upon it, and the stead)' and clear
directions given to the messenger. It was habitually said by
his associates that no arrangement, for which Macaulay was
responsible, went wrong.
His domestic life was, as will be seen in the course of these
pages, singularly peaceful and happy. When separated from
his wife, as was frequently the case by the exigencies of the
great cause to which he had devoted himself, no day elapsed
1 Sir George Stephen, Anti-Slavery Recollections.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 271
without his writing to her, and the correspondence testifies to
the affectionate interest with which he perused the nursery
anecdotes that her letters often contained. In September 1802
he tells his wife that a friend whom he was visiting ' had a boy
two years and a half old, much taller and stouter than Tom, but
who does not speak so plain. The circumstance which sur
prised me in him was his sitting quite still during prayers,
which they say he has done from a year and a half. I appre
hend, however, that he is not quite so vivacious as Tom, though
he seems a healthy, active boy.'
In the month of February 1802 Mrs. Macaulay had given
birth to a daughter, who was named Selina after her mother ;
and it was soon afterwards that Macaulay resolved upon leav
ing London and settling altogether at Clapham.
It will have been observed that Mrs. Macaulay was not of a
sociable disposition. She was passionately fond of reading,
and all through her life preferred remaining at home with an
interesting book to joining a party of whatever agreeable and
distinguished elements it might be composed. Her love of
reading was inherited by her eldest son, but in his case it was
tempered with a strong infusion of his father's taste for social
intercourse. It was the custom of the circle into which Mrs.
Macaulay was introduced upon her marriage to seek for no
privacy beyond that of its small innermost coterie, but to
consider every member of that coterie as forming part of a large
united family, who should behave to each other with the same
simplicity and absence of formality which, in the usual way,
characterises intercourse among only the nearest relatives.
They were in the habit of either assembling at the same water
ing-places, during what may be ironically termed their holidays,
or else of spending them at each other's country-houses, taking
with them as a matter of course their wives and children ; and
it may be remarked that they seem to have ventured upon
inviting any one they pleased to their friends' houses, and' to
have felt assured that persons, acceptable to themselves, would
meet with a cordial reception from their host and hostess and
the entire band of allies.
Then, when the holidays were over, Henry Thornton,
Thomas Babington, Macaulay, Mr. Stephen, Mr. Grant, and
one or two more assembled together as frequently as possible

272 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
in London for the meals of breakfast and dinner. These men,
who followed their own callings with an assiduity which made
the world reckon them in that aspect alone as busy men, were
thus able to discuss their plans for the conduct ofthe Abolition
campaigns without retrenching the time due to their several
professions, and their debates were often prolonged far into
the night. They were not only occupied by the welfare of the
unhappy slaves, but by all kinds of charitable and benevolent
schemes, upon which occasions additional advisers such as
Isaac Milner, the Dean of Carlisle, Mr. Yenn, the Rector of
Clapham, Mr. Simeon, and Lord Teignmouth, were summoned
to their councils ; and many of the religious Societies which
flourish at the present day owe their origin to these conclaves.
The weight of continual business was lightened and cheered by
sharing it with congenial companions ; and the habits of life,
thus systematically arranged, served to ensure considerable
economy of time and correspondence in days when there were
no district messengers, and no telegraph or telephone at the
service of busy people.
Then as the end of the week came round, the friends gathered
habitually at the beautiful villas round Clapham Common for
the hallowed repose of Sunday ; and on those occasions the
intimate circle was increased by the addition of a constant
succession of companions, who supplied varied interests from
the worlds of theology, literature, art, science and politics, and
in some degree served to relieve the tension of minds strained
to the utmost in a single direction.
To Macaulay individually, the rest and refreshment of such
intercourse was very great, and his pleasure in it was enhanced
by thus finding himself able to share in the services of Clapham
Church, in which he delighted, and in the opportunities he had
of engaging the sympathies of an outside class in the cause
which he had at heart, so as even sometimes to enlist fresh
helpers of considerable consequence.
Into this society he brought his wife upon their union ; and
he had enjoyed looking forward to the pleasure which he had
felt convinced she must derive from participating in its privi
leges. At first she regularly accompanied her husband on
Saturdays to Battersea Rise and Broomfield, but she appears
to have soon begun to make her health an excuse for remaining

ZACHARY MACAULAY 273
at home, and although she was always an affectionate and
devoted wife, there is no sign of her ever having taken any
particular interest in her husband's public work.
On the other hand, Mrs. Macaulay had the extraordinary
merit of thoroughly grasping the situation, and of understand
ing that the whole object and aim of his existence would be
spoiled, and even ruined, if he were persuaded to alter the
habits of his life, and to absent himself from the society of his
friends. As far as can be traced, she never made the slightest
objection to his leaving her to fulfil his engagements, or showed
any jealousy or wounded feeling, although she always put
all other claims' upon her time aside so as to profit by every
moment which he had leisure to spend with her ; and when
they were parted she wrote to him every day, consulting him
very fully about the children and the details of their domestic
life, and entering also most confidentially and intimately upon
religious subjects, as well as upon ordinary topics of books and
people. There can be no doubt that the discovery of his wife's in
clination for solitude was a great disappointment fo Macaulay,
who had anticipated with delight sharing with her all the
aspects of his life, whether public or private, intellectual or
social. His correspondence shows that during many a weary
hour on the West Coast of Africa he had pleased his fancy by
picturing her reception among his friends, and seeing her take
her honoured place in the sacred coterie. But the course of
this narrative will have demonstrated that he was not only
singularly observant of the tastes and wishes of the persons
with whom he associated, but that also, as far as was consistent
with his view of duty, he was accustomed to shape his course
so as to give them free play and the independence to which
they had a right.
He,. however, felt the greatest reluctance to leaving his wife,
as he found himself now obliged to do, so constantly alone ;
and after much consultation with her he came to the con
clusion that the wisest course to adopt would be to take up
their own residence at Clapham. This plan would keep him
within easy reach of his office and of his associates, and yet
enable him to be oftener at home. Mrs. Macaulay also valued
for her little ones the advantages of pure air and country walks,

274 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
which at that time, and for many years afterwards, the situation
and neighbourhood of Clapham Common were able to afford.
About the end of 1803 they were settled in a roomy, comfort
able dwelling on the south side of the Common, in a part
known as the Pavement. The whole place has been entirely
changed during the last quarter of a century, and the shops
thrown out in every directiqn make it difficult to identify the
features ofthe house, which has been divided into two or three
separate habitations. But when Lord Macaulay revisited the
old home in the company of his sisters about fifty years ago, the
few alterations that had been made did not affect its general
character, and he took the deepest interest in going through
the principal rooms, and in recalling how the furniture had
been formerly placed.
Among the circumstances which, in the opinion of Macaulay,
made a residence at Clapham desirable was the advantage
which appeared to him would accrue to his children from being
educated with the children of his friends, and from having the
opportunity of forming and continuing in the next generation
those intimate relations which constituted so large a part of the
happiness of his own existence. It is pleasant to recollect that
his hopes were entirely fulfilled, and that his children found
great enjoyment in the companionship of the youthful Wilber-
forces, Thorntons and Grants, and the younger members of
several other families who lived near ; and formed friendships
which grew with their growth, and ripened in later years into
close intimacies.
It was a relief to Macaulay to be able to feel that for the
present he had provided in the best way in his power for the
comfort of his wife and children, as his life was becoming daily
increasingly laborious. He met the demands upon him, as
usual, without complaint and methodically. He rose habitually
at four in the morning, winter and summer alike, so as to get
through his literary work without hurry, and without encroach
ing upon the time allotted to the performance of other duties.
Even when detained, as was often the case, till late the previous
night at the Houses of Parliament, or in consultation with his
friends, he scarcely permitted himself any latitude. His strong
constitution bore the strain wonderfully well, and the calmness
of manner and quiet judgment which distinguished him were

ZACHARY MACAULAY 275
an unfailing support to the more excitable and nervous spirits
among his associates.
During the course of the next few years a second daughter
Jane, and two sons John and Henry, were added to his family.
Mrs. Macaulay was accustomed to pay every summer and
autumn long visits with her children to Rothley Temple, and
to Barley Wood, a charming spot in Somersetshire, where
the Miss Mores had built a comfortable mansion not far from
their former residence, which with its grounds commanded
beautiful views over the surrounding country. Macaulay
generally contrived to join his wife for a week or fortnight
during her stay in the country. After one of his visits to
Barley Wood, Hannah More writes to him : —
' Maugre all the reasoning of Lucas backed by your own
rhetoric, I maintain there is no such thing as perfection. Else
would you have left behind you a great bundle of letters, a
pocket-handkerchief, and Sale's Devotion} Will it be any
gratification to you to know that you are extremely missed ?
I transferred the last night's reading to Isaiah, because we
would not, by going on with the Romans, be made to feel how
much we wanted our Commentator. I have had in my morning
task of transcription fresh pleasure in going over again the
animated chapter you left with me.'
The children became great favourites with their kind old
hostesses, especially the two eldest ; and for the sensibility of
little Tom's feelings and his cleverness, the good ladies were dis
posed to show an admiration which his parents were anxious
to keep in check. It was indeed the praiseworthy fashion of
those individuals who were characterised as the Saints or the
Clapham Sect, to take a very real and keen interest in the
rising generation, and to make themselves acquainted with
the dispositions and tastes of each other's children. It is
curious to find Henry Thornton, who had the reputation of
great coldness of feeling, constantly mentioning little Tom in
his letters to others, as well as to the child's father. Macaulay
was a careful and anxious parent, and engrossed as he was in
business, he always found leisure to make proper and necessary
arrangements for his little ones. He was ably seconded by
their mother, who found alike her happiness and her duty in
the sphere of home, and who scarcely ever quitted it except

276 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
for the expeditions already mentioned, and as the children
grew older, for regular visits also to the seaside.

FROM J. STEPHEN, ESQ. June 4, 1807.
I send you some Abolition puffs which I think may be
useful, and some of which perhaps the newspapers will take
without payment. But pray take care to have them copied in
different hands, and sent by unknown messengers. I think if
they were dropped in the boxes of newspapers they might be
inserted, or if published in the Times the rest would copy them.
It may be of great importance to push the provisional sub
scription without delay. I was sorry to see your name for so
large an additional subscription, but hope that this fund may
not be wanted.

TO THOMAS BABINGTON, ESQ., M.P.
London, June 24, 1807.
I wrote you yesterday with a pencil a very hurried note
which I managed at last to get a pen to direct. I was just in
time to throw it into the Post-office at Clapham. Thornton
and Wilberforce are strongly of opinion that you should come
and judge for yourself in the great combat which is about to
take place, and that so equally poised seem the two parties in
the State, that your vote may be big with most important con
sequences. An idea begins to get abroad that the Ministry
will not be strong enough to withstand their opponents. It is
well for those who live below, and still better for those who
live above these jarrings of party.
I got on in the Cornwallis J with not the best company in the
world. One of my party was a felon who was on the way to
Botany Bay, the music of whose manacles and chains and
bolts was not of the most lulling kind. I could not reach the
City till after the hours of business had ended. I drove to
Edgware Road,2 and then it was too late to write thence of my
arrival. The next day I found quite a variety of matters
waiting me, among the rest two messages from the Duke of
Gloucester, and was under the necessity of running about to so
many places, among the rest to his Royal Highness's and then
1 The slage-coaeh.
Kdgware Road House was occupied for a short time by Mr. Babington, whose
town residence was afterwards for man)' years in Downing Street.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 277
to Mr. Wilberforce's at Broomfield, that the utmost I could
effect was the hurried note I sent you.
Many thanks to my sister for her letter of to-day. My love
to her and all your party, not forgetting my own dear little
children.

TO MRS. MACAULAY. London, July 4, 1 807.
You cannot think what a dissipated afternoon Babington
and I spent together yesterday. We dined at Wilberforce's at
Palace Yard, and at six we sallied forth in quest of pleasure.
We were first attracted by Maillardet's mechanical exhibition,
where we paid our respects to the conjurer, Tom's friend, and
admired his gravity, decision and wisdom. After puzzling
ourselves for an hour to discover the principle on which the
conjurer delivered his responses, without success, we turned to
the little boy, who drew us a very pretty ship, and wrote us a
copy of verses in a beautiful hand. The musical lady then
played us a few tunes on her harpsichord, and the rope-dancer
curveted for our amusement for some time. The most sur
prising effort, however, of mechanical genius that we had the
opportunity of seeing was a little bird which rose out of a snuff
box, and after singing a very pretty tune, disappeared. :
Having satiated our curiosity at this place, we next went to
see the gas lights, which are a late invention by which it is
proposed to produce immense savings in the article of candles.
The light is produced by the contact of what is called hydrogen
gas with common air, which immediately produces a bright
flame. The gas is emitted from tubes which communicate
with the reservoir where the gas is produced by a certain
process ; and in this way, by means of those pipes, something
on the plan of what you saw at Mr. Dawes's little house, may
all the rooms of a house be brilliantly illuminated at once, and
at any hour of the night. You have only to turn a cock, and
immediately a stream of light flows into the apartment. The
flame emits no spark whatever, so that there is no danger of
fire from it.
Having seen this wonder, we proceeded to the Society of
Academics, where we heard Bowdler make an eloquent speech
of an hour and a half long in favour of the present, and against
the late Administration. Robert and Charles Grant were also
to speak ; but a quarter to twelve came, and Babington and I
thought that it became married men like us to go home at that
hour, and not to spend the whole night in hearing speeches.

27S LIFE AND LETTERS OF
The state of things on the Continent seems to have excited
some emotions of fear in our Ministers, and they are looking to
the means of repelling invasion with some anxiety. The Volun
teers are to be called out forthwith on permanent duty. Our
corps will probably set out for some distant part of Surrey
some time next week or the week after. How long they may
continue I know not, not less than six or eight weeks.

FROM MRS. MACAULAY. Barley Wood, July 8, 1807.
Mrs. Hannah More is a good deal hurt with the review of
Beattie,1 which I thought in manuscript a little severe. She
knew him well, and thinks very highly of his piety. She
thought that the Christian Observer had not enough taken it
into consideration that in a familiar letter it was not necessary
that a man should always tell his creed and his opinion on
certain subjects. She has not the least guess whose the review
is, and asked me if it was Thornton's or Wilberforce's. She
fights manfully for your Christian Observer. The others will
never forgive the review of her book,2 which they think has
injured the sale of it.
Tom has ingratiated himself with Miss Betty by his fondness
for making. bread and pastry with his sleeves tucked up and a
white apron ; and she says who would think that he knew so
much about Virgil ; and with Miss Hannah by his literary
taste and knowledge. They admire his temper and disposition,
and his duty to his mother above all. For my part I am sur
prised at his judgment, for he knows them as well and sees
their characters as if he were thirty years old.
God grant our new house may prove, as you say, a house of
piety and prayer. I assure you that it is my most sincere
desire and prayer to be enabled to second all your pious wishes
for the dear children, but it is absolutely impossible to give my
attention to Tom, as I wish, at present. I must learn from this
to stay at home with my children.
So far from thinking that I have the sole merit of Tom's
acquirements, I know that, under Providence, almost the whole
is to be imputed to your attention and firmness. The Miss
Mores were uncommonly guarded before him, and Miss Patty
reproved a lady very warmly for using some expressions before
him. I hope Tom will do his exercise ; he seems a long time
at it.
1 James Beattie, author oi The Minstrel. ' We all love Beattie,' said Dr. Johnson
to Hoswcll. ' Mrs. Thralc says if ever she had another husband she '11 have Beattie.'
" Hints to a Princess, by Mrs. II. More. See p. 263.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 279
FROM T. B. MACAULAY.
Virgo absque modestia est equa furiosa absque frseno. Advo-
catus egit causam meam indice illo. lvi cum fratre in agros
ibique verberavi eum baculo.
My DEAR PAPA,1 — I am sorry that my writing did not please
you. I hope that I shall improve in it. All Mama's commands
are readily and cheerfully obeyed. The Miss Mores gave me
a guinea, a bank-note. — I remain, your dutiful son,
Thomas Macaulay.

TO MRS. MACAULAY.
London, July io, 1807.
Your letter dated from Barley Wood on the 8th reached me
this morning. It was quite right in you, my love, to send me
Tom's letter, whether well or ill done ; for it will do him no
harm amidst the accumulation of his honours to have a little
blame addressed to him. I must confess myself not quite
satisfied that he may not be a sufferer by the notice bestowed
on him at Barley Wood. I really trust that the old ladies
reserved their exclamations of wonder at least until Tom's
back was turned. I assure you that the perusal of Beattie, and
the lamentable manner in which praise seems to have corrupted
him and to have led him to make the world his idol, have
awakened my jealousy on this point. If the sober judgment of
mature age be not proof against the influence of human
applause, what can we expect in a boy of seven years ? Let
me entreat you to be on your guard in this particular, and
seriously to discourage, by every possible means, everything
both in the language and manner of those around you which
may tend to exalt Tom in his own esteem. Remember he
will not possess one whit less of cleverness because people do
not tell him that he possesses it. I do not wonder you should
feel gratified by the compliments paid to Tom. It is fit you
should ; for yours is the sole merit of his acquirements. But do
not let the mother's tenderness and the mother's gratification
operate to his disadvantage. Indeed I hope you will be firm
in laying down your rules and abiding by them.
In every other respect your account is doubtless very good ;
and we ought to be thankful that it has pleased God to give us
such a soil to work upon. May we be enabled to cultivate it
in such a manner that it may bear fruit to God's glory !
1 This letter, written in a large round hand, is inclosed with the exercise, which is
very carefully copied out by the child.

280 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
I do not know what to say about going to the Mores if they
continue disposed to rail about the Christian Observer. I feel
no inclination to a discussion on such a topic with such ladies.
It gives, I assure you, my expedition a somewhat new and not
so inviting an aspect, and has induced me to cast about in my
mind how it may be best avoided. I should have no enjoy
ment from my visit to them.
I think Mrs. Hannah a little unreasonable about Beattie.
How may one form a judgment of him but from his life as
given us by his biographer? It would not do, as she must see,
to take her private opinion of the man. He must be judged by
what appears related of him, by the pen of partial friendship
too, in his life. The book will be much read. Its contents
will be referred to as an authority on many points. Would it
be right, under those circumstances, to overlook in it what may
be false and erroneous in sentiment, and mischievous in
example ?
The importance which I attach to Tom's exercises is not on
account of the knowledge they give him, but on account of
their use in keeping up his knowledge — and more than all to
accustom him to the regular returns of something like business.
God bless you, my love, and have you in His holy keeping. I
commend you and all our children to Him and His grace.
FROM MRS. MARTHA MORE.
Barley Wood, August 15, 1807.
We are much flattered by your young gentleman's prefer
ence of Barley Wood, and I think we may be allowed to be a
little vain upon so decided a preference. Pray assure him that
whenever an opportunity offers, and he shall have the full per
mission of his papa and mamma, we shall be very glad to see
him again at Barley Wood, for a much longer time ; but as the
amusements of this place are so inimical to Latin and Greek, I
am. afraid this pleasure will be deferred. To be sure, here is
now a vast field open for his new profession — apples and plums
by hundreds and hundreds, which are almost daily put into
puddings and pies — such a field for a young practitioner.
I cannot give a good account of our invalids. You have
probably visited us all together for the last time.1 Ours has
been a long reign, — cnteringthe world, and acting for ourselves,
at a very early period— quite girls — the eldest only twenty, we
seem to have lived longer than others. That we may all be
prepared, with our lamps trimmed to meet the Bridegroom, is
1 The first break in the circle at Barley Wood did not occur till 1813, when Mrs.
Mary More, the eldest of the sisters, died in April.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 281
now my only wish. I was at Cheddar and Shipham last Sun
day — both flourishing.

TO T. BABINGTON, ESQ., M.P.
November 23, 1 807.
My friend Gilbert 1 is dead. Our affectionate attachment of
fifteen years' continuance was never interrupted by the diversity
of sentiment between us. He told me that the Christian
Observer had not altered his views on the subject of religion,
but had led him to regard with perfect indifference those
peculiarities of the Calvinistic system of which he was disposed
before to make much account.
Immediately upon the passing of the Act for the Abolition
of the Slave Trade an association was formed under the title of
the African Institution with the object of promoting the civilisa
tion of Africa. The Duke of Gloucester, the nephew and son-
in-law of the King, and a life-long opponent of slavery,
accepted the position of President, and was an assiduous
attendant upon the Board and at the sub-committees. The
list of Directors included not only all the well-known names of
the promoters of Abolition, but a large number of peers and
men of eminence, among whom may be noted Lord Grenville,
Perceval, Canning, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and several
ofthe Bishops. But although many of these were frequently
present at the committees, the real burden of the work fell upon
Macaulay, who was appointed Honorary Secretary of the
Society by an unanimous vote. His labours were lightened by
the vigorous co-operation of Mr. Stephen ; and in the hands of
these friends, the only two men upon the long list of supporters
who were personally acquainted with the sinister aspect which
slavery bore in the Colonies, the African Institution practically
became an anti-slavery society. The improvement of Africa
was subordinated to the urgent necessity of suppressing the
illicit Home Slave Trade and the Foreign Slave Trade, and its
chief business soon consisted in keeping a vigilant watch upon
the working ofthe Acts of 1806 and 1807.
About this period Mr. Stephen accepted a seat in the House
of Commons, which was offered to him for the second time by
1 It will be remembered that Macaulay went out to the West Coast of Africa in
1793 with the Rev. N. Gilbert.

282 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Perceval : and the great measure of policy which originated
with Mr. Stephen, the Orders in Council, made his name justly
famous, and contributed during the next few years to under
mine the power of Napoleon in almost an equal degree with the
force of our arms.
During the course of the year 1808 Sierra Leone was trans
ferred to the Crown. This change affected Macaulay's position,
as his Secretaryship terminated of course with the management
of the Colony by the Board of Directors, although, as will be
seen from the correspondence which follows, he was constantly
occupied during the first few years after the transfer in assist
ing the Government in their arrangements with the Colonists.
He now decided to commence business upon his own account.
His efforts were warmly seconded by his friends, and he rapidly
attained a considerable position as a shipowner and merchant,
his transactions with the East Indies and Africa being specially
extensive. Macaulay's soldier-brother Colin : returned home in bad
health in the month of October 18 10. He was eight years the
senior of Zachary, and was almost a stranger to his family, as
he had gone out to India in his boyhood as a cadet. He had
been present at Seringapatam, and had shared the imprison
ment of Sir David Baird by Hyder Ali. It is interesting to
observe that his mind resembled his brother's in showing a
strong natural inclination to subjects of religious thought and
inquiry ; and this characteristic was given special prominence
in 1805 when the Rev. Dr. Kerr, the senior chaplain of the
Madras Presidency, a clergyman held in high esteem, was
despatched by the Indian Government to Malabar and Travan
core on a Mission to investigate the state of the Syrian and
other native Christians.
Dr. Kerr found on his arrival at Travancore that the Political
Resident, a military officer who had left Scotland at the age of
sixteen, had made himself master of ever)- shade of doctrine
professed by the various native Christians, and that he was
upon terms of friendship with the Metropolitan of the Syrian
Christians, and constantly visited him and the principal priests,
and received them as guests at his own house. Colonel
Macaulay assured Dr. Kerr that the statement, generally
1 Colonel, afterwards General, Macaulay.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 283
credited, that those among the Syrian Christians who were
not Roman Catholics were Nestorians, and worshipped the
Blessed Virgin, was utterly groundless ; and that the Metro
politan, Mar Dionysius, a man of great piety and respectability,
had communicated to him the Creed of his Church, which dis
claimed the errors of Arius and Nestorius by name. The •
Syrians felt such entire confidence in Colonel Macaulay's
good-will towards them that their Bishop had intrusted to him
the portions of the New Testament as they were translated
into Malayalim, and had left him to arrange entirely for their
being printed.
In writing to the Governor of Madras, Lord William Ben-
tinck, Dr. Kerr reports that he had found the direct protection
ofthe British Government had already been extended to the
Syrians through the British Resident, Colonel Macaulay, who
had constantly exerted his influence with the Rajahs of Travan
core and Cochin to defend the old Syrian Christians, and also
the Syrians of the Romish Church, against the oppression of
the Rajahs' officers, and particularly of the Dewan of Travan
core. It was this Chief who afterwards fomented the war
against the East India Company in 1808 which terminated in
the humiliation of the Travancore power. Dr. Kerr passes a
high eulogium on the Colonel, and says that he has rescued
from an unmerited stigma a body of Christians whose con
stancy in the profession of a pure faith through so many ages
was worthy of admiration.
Colin had become an unusually attractive and accomplished
person, and Macaulay felt not a little satisfaction at being able
to introduce his distinguished relative into a new circle of
society, which proved extremely congenial to him. He was
warmly welcomed by his brother's friends. A short time after
his arrival, Mr. Wilberforce, in writing to him, expresses the
hope that Colonel Macaulay will consider himself free of his
house at all times and hours, and Hannah More, in a letter to
Lady Olivia Sparrow, says : —
' Our last very interesting guest was Colonel Macaulay. He
is a first-rate man, and one who, on account of his vast oriental
literature, sound principles, general knowledge, and local in
formation, Dr. Buchanan has pronounced to be the only man
who is capable of prosecuting important religious investiga-

284 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
tions in the East. He does not seem unwilling to lend himself
to this great object, but the plague in the Levant has hitherto
prevented him, and he also has had a letter from Lord Welling
ton earnestly desiring him to join him in the Peninsula. He
was Lord Wellington's aide-de-camp in India ; his life has
been most extraordinary ; I am persuading him to write it.
Four years captive in one of Tippoo's dungeons, or with another
officer, a prisoner like himself, chained to his back.1 He is a
man of the gentlest manners, and has brought home, after all
his hairbreadth escapes, an ample fortune and a sober mind.'
It may well be imagined how great an addition was made
to the happiness of Macaulay's life by the presence of such a
brother, who was capable of entering into his public interests
with intelligent sympathy, and who soon attached himself
affectionately to Zachary's family, and to the Babingtons and
their children. Colonel Macaulay's experience made him a
hero in the eyes of his nephews and nieces at a period when
tidings from the Continent and the fear of French invasion at
home caused military interests to form part of the national life
of England.
A general election had taken place soon after the Bill for
the Abolition of the Slave Trade had passed the two Houses,
and a new Parliament assembled on the 22nd of June 1807.
The Abolitionist members were strictly conscientious in the
discharge of their Parliamentary functions ; and the line, inde
pendent of any political part)-, which the greater number of
them considered it their duty to adopt, necessitated close and
constant attendance to enable them to weigh the arguments
brought forward upon both sides, and to make up their minds
individually upon each point.
An unfortunate mistake for a short time threatened to
embitter the friendly relations between Macaulay in his capa
city of Editor of the Christian Observer, and the sisterhood
at Barley Wood. Early in 1809 ^rs- H. More had taken
the perilous step of publishing anonymously a religious
novel, without admitting even her most intimate friends into
the secret of the authorship. A notice of the book, Ccelebs in
1 The story is well known of tlie exclamation said to have been made by the
mother of Sir David Baird upon first hearing of the nature of her son's captivity.
' God help the puir chiel wha 's chained to my Davie.' Sir David Baird, a most
gallant officer, was generally credited with a quick temper.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 285
Search of a Wife} appeared in the February number of the
Christian Observer, and was so laudatory of a great part of the
work as to have satisfied in many respects the demands of the
most exacting vanity. But unhappily the Reviewer mistook,
or pretended to mistake, the sex of the writer, and also made
some observations which wounded Mrs. H. More's susceptible
delicacy, although any intentional criticism of the kind was
publicly and strenuously denied, and an ample apology offered
in the March number, after the work had been acknowledged
by its author. The obnoxious passage occurred in the analysis
of the character of the heroine, and ran as follows :
' Lucilla blushes and cries on every occasion, and sometimes
when we really think the matter is not very moving ; though
ifshe had blushed deeply at one of the questions proposed to
her by Ccelebs, we could have forgiven it.' 2
But the real sting of the article lay in the fact that the
Reviewer felt, what every one who reads the book is bound to
feel, an unmitigated detestation and contempt for the character
of the hero, and he winds up his reference to Ccelebs by saying :
'To speak honestly, after many efforts and much self-
reproach, we still find it difficult to be quite reconciled to this
youth. Lucilla perhaps will improve him.'

FROM MRS. H. MORE.Barley Wood, March 7, 1809.
My dear Sir, — I thank you for your obliging letter. I agree
with you that Cadell has indeed managed most sadly. The
third edition, I hope, will be out in a few days, and a fourth is
immediately to go to press. The third, I fear, is only fifteen
hundred. They plead want of paper or would have doubled
the number. Allow me to say that if the whole public were
readers of the Christian Observer, a very few copies indeed
would suffice. My own impression, after reading the review
you were so good as to send me, is, that if I were a stranger
and had bespoke a copy of Ccelebs, I should instantly send
1 ' Cmlebs variously talked of. The Henry Thorntons affirm that it cannot be
Hannah More's, and are strong against it, surely without reason.' — Wilberforce's
Diary. 2 The question was : ' Whether an attachment towards an unworthy object could
be subdued ? ' an odd question, no doubt, to put to a girl of eighteen.

286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
to forbid it, so very disagreeable an impression would the
criticism on the whole leave on my mind. Faults enough there
are in Ccelebs, and I expected, and should have thankfully
received some grave reproof. Praise is bestowed perhaps too
liberally on some parts, but all the praise lumped at the end
can do but little good after a work has been made ridiculous.
That sort of sneer I expect from a Scotch but not from a
Christian critic ; and to close with a solemn prayer for the
success of a work which has been described in many parts as
ridiculous is not quite consistent. I could have been recon
ciled to allow what the author is so fond of insisting on, that
Ccelebs1 himself is 'prosing,' 'drawling,' 'deficient in taste,'
' low,' ' vain,' and even ' vulgar ' ; but that he is also ' indecent '
would have inexpressibly shocked me had not Mr. H. Thornton
made the same discovery before! I leave you to judge if
every young lady, after this disgusting picture of the hero,
will not be more than ever afraid of a ' religious ' young man.
How far it was prudent for the interests of piety to stamp this
character with such an odious impression, others must judge ;
as well as how far it was feeling to hold me up to the religious
world as writing indecently. The critic well knew the writer
was a woman. I am sorry I did not put my name to the work
to take away all such subterfuge. He knew T wrote it. After
all, perhaps he is in the right. Three years' excruciating illness
which has battered my body has probably injured my mind,
and I shall take this review as an admonition to write no
more. You will think perhaps that one who said so much on the
vanity of 'human applause' should not write thus. But if
reputation is a means of usefulness, it is not to be despised.
My moral sense is wounded.
Dr. Woodward, who may be supposed to speak the senti
ments of the higher class of religious men, with his brother,
the Bishop of Carlisle, at the head, said yesterday at our
table that the evil of having cast such a slur on the religious
young hero ofthe tale is incalculable. And it has been thought
whether I ought not to write in the Christian Observer to the
Reviewer to point out the indecent passage. I have searched
closely, but cannot even guess at it. I do not wish my senti
ments to be kept secret. Remember me kindly to Mrs. Mac
aulay and to the little poet. — Believe me, dear sir, yours very
sincerely, H. More.
P.S. — fhe epithet of ' steady ' sneeringly applied to Ccelebs
belongs to a good coachman or butler, but is meant to disgust
1 ' He is given to prosing, is not very delicate, and has a low suspiciousness about
him that is exceedingly unamiable.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 287
in a young man of fashion. I am truly glad you approve the
book. About this time Macaulay took his nephew, the eldest son of
Mr. Babington, into partnership, with him. The arrangements
were made under the superintendence of Mr. Henry Thornton,
who thought Macaulay inclined to be too generous as to the
division of profits with his partner, and tried to exercise a
salutary caution in the conditions made.
On the ist of January 1810, Mrs. Macaulay gave birth to a
daughter to whom Mrs. Hannah More expressed a wish to
stand godmother, and the child was accordingly baptized by the
names of Hannah More. She married Sir Charles Trevelyan
in 1834.
About this period some libellous charges against Macaulay
were brought forward by Thorpe, the Chief-Justice of Sierra
Leone, and were so widely disseminated that it became neces
sary for Macaulay to vindicate his character. Accordingly
he published his answers to the charges in a pamphlet com
posed with admirable coolness and temper. In a contemporary
article in the British Review the following passage occurs : —
' Mr. Macaulay appears to be singled out as an object for the
fiercest malignity and most extravagant abuse. To throw
discredit upon this distinguished friend of Abolition every
artifice of fiction, misrepresentation, and direct and shameless
attack is adopted without scruple or hesitation. Men who are
thus hated must be feared.'
Thorpe's animosity, however, was only further increased by
the moderation of his opponent's reply, and shifting the ground,
he availed himself later on of the constant opportunities which
presented themselves of attacking Macaulay upon fresh points.
In after years also many of the disproved charges which Thorpe
had made were repeated in fohn Bull.
The affairs of Sierra Leone were a fruitful source of disquiet
during these years while the Colony, was settling down under
Imperial rule, and several of the principal officials there seem
to have drifted continually into scrapes of a more or less serious
kind, and to have amused themselves by inventing the most
extraordinary and absolutely unfounded accusations against
Mr. Dawes and Mr. Ludlam, who had been commissioned to

288 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
put matters into order for the Company. Mr. Ludlam had
recently revisited England in the autumn of 1809, after seven
years of continuous and strenuous work on the West Coast
of Africa. Macaulay was much affected by the news of his
death on the Gold Coast in July 18 10, and lamented his loss,
both on public and private grounds, most sincerely.

FROM MRS. MORE. Barley Wood, May 1810.
My dear Sir, — I poke one line into Tom's vile scrawl to
say that he goes on in the usual Pindaric style ; much desultory
reading, much sitting from bower to bower ; x Spenser, I think,
is the favourite poet to-day. As his time is short, and health,
I think, the chief object just now, I have not insisted on much
system. He read in the sun yesterday and got a little head
ache. Since ' Childe Hugh,' a long poem on Hunt's election, really a
good parody, has been shown us, I have discovered in the
writing-box an Epithalamium of many folio pages on Mr.
Spragge's marriage. I do compel him to read two or three
scenes of Metastasio every day, and he seems to like it.
His talents are very extraordinary and various, and his
acquirements wonderful at his age. His temper is good, and
his vivacity a great recommendation to me, but this excess of
animal spirits makes some certain studies seem a little dry and
dull. I will tell you honestly as a true friend, what indeed you
know already and mentioned to me, that his superiority of
talents makes competitors necessary for him, for that he is a
little inclined to undervalue those who are not considerable or
distinguished in some way or other. 1 have talked with him
gently on the subject, telling him how valuable and worthy
people may be who are neither brilliant in talent nor high in
situation. He listened to me meekly, and I have not since
heard anything of this disparaging sort. Do not tell him what
I have said, as I would not put him on his guard, but encourage
his open-heartedness. I wish his mother could come down to
us. If we are all alive I hope she will accompany Tom on his
next annual visit. — Yours ver)- faithfully, H. More.
1 'The Temple of the Winds is in ruins; and the root-house, which was called
" Tecta pauperis Evnndri," has quite disappeared. That was my favourite haunt.' —
Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay : Trevelyan. The present writer was taken by
Lord Macaulay to visit Barley Wood, and remembers the regret he expressed on
finding that some of the old summer-houses which he recollected had disappeared.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 289

TO MRS. MACAULAY.
Clapham, May 29, 1811.
This will find you, I hope, comfortably settled at Clifton.
How has Colin borne his journey? I hope his extreme kind
ness in undertaking it has not cost him any very heavy sacrifice
of ease and comfort. He will enjoy Mass6na's account of the
battle of Fuente d'Honor. It sheds much more lustre on
Wellington than his own did. You will have heard of a severe
and sanguinary contest between Beresford and Soult in which
the latter was foiled.
I dined yesterday at Babington's, and afterwards came out
with my sister, who went to drink tea at Battersea Rise. I had
set myself comfortably down at home, at least as comfortably
as a man could who had lost his wife, when Mr. Brown, a naval
lieutenant, was announced, and he continued from half-past
eight till near eleven, with a perseverance which I could not
but admire while I was groaning under it. And the man, after
all, had nothing to say which was worth a walk of one mile,
much less of ten.
The children are all well. Mrs. Babington went up and saw
them last night just going into bed. They seemed all very
happy. John has been reading to me a little to-day, but he
complains that you have left him no book, so that he is obliged
to read the New Testament. There were sad complaints this
morning about Henry and Fanny not doing what they were
bid. Fanny assures me she will do what she is bid to-morrow.
She is a true worldling, — penitence and amendment are for
to-morrow, not for to-day. Hannah is as well as can be, and
as sweet as ever.
Macaulay went down to Cambridge to attend the installation
of the Duke of Gloucester as Chancellor of the University, a
ceremony at which almost all the members of the African Insti
tution made a point of being present.

TO MRS. MACAULAY. Cambridge, June 30, 1811.
You shall hear my adventures, which were singular enough.
I went off at four o'clock on Friday afternoon to the inn at
Bishopsgate Street from which the coach set off, and after
waiting some time it made its appearance, but full, quite full.
My name, however, had been regularly booked and the money
paid, and I insisted on having a place. The coachman, guard,
T

290 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
and clerks all began an enquiry which ended in discovering
that a lady had got into the coach and placed herself bodkin,
who had no right to be there. She was requested to come out,
but refused. Entreaty was used in vain. 'Who is she? 'was
echoed on all sides. ' She is,' said the guard, ' Mrs. Green,
who keeps the oil-shop in Holborn, and who is going down to
Cambridge to sell her oils and pickles.' Near an hour was
employed in labouring to convince this lady that she ought to
come out. It was all to no purpose, and the coach at last drove
off, leaving me behind. I the more regretted this, because
Professor Christian and Reginald Heber1 were both passengers
in the same coach, and I had promised myself much enjoyment.
There would, however, have been a drawback. There would
have been another woman still in the coach. Now you must
know I have no particular objection to coming into contact
with women nor with children either. But this woman had in
her arms a child who did not once cease squalling during the
whole ofthe dialogue with the oilman's wife, and this may have
affected her nervous system and made her more pertinacious in
her resistance.
I told the people at the coach office that they must pay a
post-chaise for me to Cambridge. They admitted they were
bound to do so, but had none, and did not know where to find
one. I went first to all the coaches. No other place could be
had ; I sent a porter in quest of a post-chaise. He returned after
an hour's search, and said none could be found. As I do not like
giving a thing up in despair, I set off on the search myself, and
about half-past seven at night I got into a post-chaise at the
upper end of Aldersgate Street, and was off for Cambridge.
With some difficulty, now talking loud and now coaxing, and
now giving a douceur to the postboy, I got on to Buntingford,
about thirty-one miles from London, about midnight. The
landlady of this place was very desirous to have me for a
lodger, and used some ingenious devices to tempt me, but all in
vain. I pleaded their assurance, before I had descended from
the chaise, that they could send me on ; and after some delay
and many renewed suggestions I at last escaped. I got to
Royston, which is about thirteen miles from Cambridge, at two
in the morning. I here thought it best to lie down for three
hours, and finish the rest of my journey afterwards. At five,
therefore, I was up and dressed, and calling for a post-chaise.
None to be had, was the answer. Why, there are four now in
the yard ! All bespoke. In short, no chaise could be got. I
saw that the innkeeper wished to extract from me the offer of a
larger sum, and this I did not think it right to do. Here then
1 Afterwards Bishop of Calcutta.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 291
I was likely to be kept prisoner at least for four hours. In a
short time, however, a gentleman's carriage drove into the yard.
He ordered fresh horses, and they were furnished. I went up
to him at this moment. ' Sir, such and such are my circum
stances. This is my name,' showing him the Duke of Glouces
ter's card ; ' may I request the favour of a seat in your carriage
to Cambridge ?' ' Certainly, sir,' was the reply, ' you are very wel
come.' The innkeeper was violently angry at this proceeding,
and said we must pay him double. However, off we went. I
found my companion a most intelligent man, who knew a great
number of my friends intimately, and we passed two hours very
pleasantly. I afterwards discovered that he was Mr. Scarlett1
the barrister, and was introduced to him by William Smith. I
got to Cambridge in good time, met with Colin, got into com
fortable rooms at Magdalen, breakfasted with Hodgson, and
having made myself fine, went to the Senate House, into which
I got after a smart push and squeeze, and saw the whole
ceremony ofthe Installation.

FROM W. WILBERFORCE, ESQ., M.P. September 3, 181 1.
I return you Crabbe's2 letter with thanks, and trust you
will have done him good. But I think the Editor of the
Christian Observer might have been a little nearer to dulcified
at last. TO T. B. MACAULAY. November 12, 181 1.
Dear Tom, — I was much pleased with your letter and
Selina's. I should not like you to be like General Campbell
in India, who wrote a letter to your Uncle Colin on very im
portant business, but when it came your uncle could not read
one single word of it. By way of reproof your uncle took a
sheet of paper and scribbled it over so as to give it the appear
ance of writing, although nothing was meant to be written.
So when the letter came to General Campbell he called all his
aides-de-camp about him, and they set themselves to decipher
the writing, but with very little effect. At last the General
wrote back to say that he thought he must mean so and so,
but that his aide-de-camp thought his meaning was different.
1 Afterwards Lord Abinger.
2 Crabbe published The Borough in 1810. 'Some attacks upon the Hunting-
tonians in this poem produced a controversy with the Editor ofthe Christian Observer,
which ended amicably.' — Dictionary of National Biography.

292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Then your uncle wrote to tell him the real state ofthe case, and
the General was afterwards more careful to write legibly.
Your cousins at the Vicarage are dressed in tartans, and
remind me of Benledi's 'living side.'1 I heard two days ago
an anecdote of Bonaparte that will please you. When the
Duchess of Gordon was at Paris in 1793, Bonaparte asked her
what regiment her son, the Marquis of Huntly, commanded.
She told him he commanded a Scotch regiment, the 92nd.
His remark was, 'Les Ecossais sont les plus braves gens du
monde.' This perhaps is one mark of a Scotchman that you
have yet to acquire. Perhaps, however, the air of Benledi may
work wonders, or the touch of Wallace's sword in the castle of
Dumbarton, or the view of Bannockburn.
Your Uncle Colin hopes you are all diligent in acquiring a
facility of speaking French. He means to talk nothing else,
morning, noon, or night, when he comes to Clapham. — Ever
your affectionate father, Z. Macaulay.
Macaulay resigned the secretaryship of the African Institu
tion in 1 812, having been fortunate in securing a thoroughly
competent successor. By this time the Association was well
launched, and Macaulay was now able to serve its interests
efficiently without in addition continuing to perform the more
mechanical portion of a secretary's duties. His resignation
gave his associates an opportunity of marking their appre
ciation of the value of the labour which he had devoted during
five years to the formation of the Society, and a meeting was
held at Freemasons' Hall,2 which was largely attended by the
friends of Abolition, and at which a service of plate and an
Address were presented to Macaulay.
'African Institution. March 25, 1812. — Resolved unani
mously that this meeting is bound to express the deep sense
it entertains of the eminent services of their pro tempore secre
tary, Z. Macaulay, who, combining great local knowledge and
experience with the most ardent zeal, and the most assiduous
and unwearied industry, has strenuously and gratuitously de
voted to the concerns of the African Institution his time and
talents, and has thereby established his claim to the lasting
gratitude of all who are interested for the civilisation and
happiness of Africa.'
1 ' Along Benledi's living side.' — Lady ofthe Lake, Canto v.
freemasons' Tavern. ' Fine large hail, ranged with green benches like a lecture-
room ; raised platform at one end for the performers; arm-chairs for the Royal Dukes,
and common chairs for common men. May 1S1 3. ' — 714* Life and Letters of Maria
Edgeivorth, edited by Augustus J. C. Hare.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 293
Macaulay was deeply touched and gratified by the warmth
of feeling exhibited upon this occasion, but such a frank and
public recognition of his merits served also to call forth an
outburst of violent hostility against him, and very shortly false
hoods of the most base and groundless nature were promulgated
extensively with the view of blackening his character, and in
the hopes of paralysing his usefulness. The supporters of
Slavery had at length discovered that the grave and silent
man who kept himself well in the background was the most
dangerous among their opponents, and that it was he who
supplied the sinews of war for the campaigns carried on by
the more brilliant of their adversaries. All through the many
years during which the Anti-slavery contest was prolonged
Macaulay was the object of attacks, scurrilous and venomous
to such a degree as to excite the indignation of the more
generous-minded even among his enemies. But he bore the
obloquy which his conduct had drawn upon him with patience
and silence, although not with indifference, and did not waste
in defending himself the precious time at his disposal, which
he found already too short for the work to which he had con
secrated his life. The eloquent words in which he is described
by Sir James Stephen may well be quoted here.
' He drew on himself the poisoned shafts of calumny ; and
while feeling their sting as generous spirits alone can feel it,
never turned a single step aside from his path to propitiate or
to crush the slanderers.'
A fresh subject of interest began now to add to the labours
of Macaulay's life. For some years past he and his friends had
applied a large share of their thoughts to the discovery of the
best means of preparing the way to open the British Empire in
India for receiving instruction in the Christian religion. It
was a propitious circumstance that a principal member of their
coterie was one of the most influential among the Directors of
the East India Company. Mr. Grant had passed many years
of his life in India in the pursuit of important civil and com
mercial business, and during the last portion of his career there
he had been entrusted with the superintendence of the whole of
the Company's trade in Bengal. On returning to England in
1790 he was placed on the Board of the East India Company,

294

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

where his knowledge of the country, and his sagacity and
prudence, secured for him great influence in the administra
tion of India. Indeed it was popularly supposed that during
some considerable time Mr. Grant reigned supreme at Leaden
hall Street, and he was nicknamed the Director of the Court
of Directors.
Similarity of religious feeling and objects in life led'him on
coming home to fix his residence at Clapham Common, and
Lord Teignmouth, with whom he had been much associated in
Bengal, followed his example at the termination of his Governor-
Generalship. It is interesting to emphasise the fact which is
pointed out by a high authority,1 that in the conflict which
ensued in Parliament, scarcely any can be found among
those who were foremost in the warfare for the establishment
of an Episcopal See in Calcutta, and for the removal of all
restraints upon the diffusion of Christianity in India, who were
not either themselves members of the special band of allies dis
tinguished by the epithet of the Clapham Sect, or else very
closely united in the bonds of friendship with them.
The year 1812 was chiefly devoted by the friends to East
Indian affairs, and almost daily consultations took place, ac
cording to their custom when planning a campaign. The work
of preparing petitions was entrusted to Mr. Babington ; but he
and Mr. Wilberforce and Henry Thornton all concur in bearing
witness in their correspondence that the real agent upon whom
the whole business depended was Macaulay. The points which
it was their aim to assert were that an Episcopate should be
established in Bengal, and that a recognition of the principle
of introducing Christianity into our dominions in India should
be made. Happily for their prospects of success they were
aware that the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, was decidedly
in favour of Missions, and was urging upon his recalcitrant
colleagues compliance with the views of the Evangelical party
upon the East Indian questions.
The opportunity, for which laborious preparation had long
been quietly and patiently carried on, arrived with the proposal
for the renewal of the Charter of the East India Company,
which came before Parliament early in the Session of 18 13.
Wilberforce himself was startled by the determined hostility
1 Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 295
shown by the House of Commons to any attempt to Christianise
India. He and his friends soon perceived that their only
chance of success lay in resorting to the same tactics which
they had pursued in the struggle for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade, and in bringing public opinion to bear upon the sub
ject. The Government was well disposed to them, and Lord
Wellesley's influence would, they knew, be exerted in their
favour, so that no difficulty was anticipated in the House of
Lords ; but even Wilberforce, generally sanguine in his views,
despaired of moving the Commons, who were possessed with
exaggerated apprehensions of the effect of the proposed altera
tions upon our sovereignty in the East.
The time was very short, but no effort was spared to utilise
it. Mr. Grant, who in early life had formed a close friendship
with David Swartz, the celebrated Danish missionary, had in
consequence been always inclined to feel a tolerance for Missions,
which it was unusual at that period to find among men of his
standing in India. Since his return home he had endeavoured,
as far as lay in his power, to further the religious and educa
tional plans of Dr. Claudius Buchanan, and had obtained
appointments as Chaplains in the East for Henry Martyn
and Thomason. He now laid before the House of Commons
a paper which he had composed some years earlier, entitled
' A Plea for the Toleration of Missionary and Educational
Work in the East' The ability and fairness of the statement
made a profound impression upon the minds of many of the
members, and it was printed by order ofthe House.
Dr. Buchanan, whose influence may be said to have laid the
foundation for the Ecclesiastical Establishment of our Indian
Empire, was one of the young men the expense of whose
education at Cambridge was defrayed by Henry Thornton,
and whose views in religion were largely owing to Mr. Simeon's
teaching. After serving a short apprenticeship as curate to
John Newton, he had gone out to Calcutta as Chaplain to
the East India Company. The apathy and indifference, and
in many cases the open enmity, manifested almost universally
at this period by Anglo-Indians towards spiritual subjects
made a painful impression upon the mind of one who had come
fresh from the circle of the Evangelical revival ; but Buchanan
set himself steadily to fulfil the duties of his Chaplaincy, while

296 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
he employed his leisure in studying the Hindustani and Persian
languages, and in carefully instructing himself as to the nature
of the difficulties with which all efforts for religious and educa- „
tional enlightenment must contend in the East. Before long he
was greatly cheered by the powerful support of the Governor-
General, Lord Wellesley, who appointed him Vice-Provost of
the newly-founded College at Fort William. From this time
Buchanan's talents seem to have been generally recognised;
his Travels and Researches in Asia were published and had
an extensive circulation, so that when he returned to England
his reputation and influence were of great assistance to his
former patrons in the struggle over the Charter of the East
India Company.
Their plans had been formed with consummate wisdom, and
success crowned their exertions. On July 12, 18 13, Mr. Wilber
force writes : ' The East India Bill passed, and the Christian
cause fought through without division to the last. The peti
tions, of which a greater number than were ever known, have
carried our question instrumentally, the good providence of
God really.'

FROM RIGHT HON. SIR ROBERT PEEL, BART., M.P.
Downing Street, August 17, 1812.
Private. Dear SIR, — I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
ofthe 14th instant and its inclosure.
I shall not fail to recommend the subject of them to the
early and serious attention of my successor in this Department.
Lord Bathurst has, I believe, informed Mr. Wilberforce that
Park and Isaac's Journal shall be delivered to any person
authorised by the African Institution to receive them for the
purpose of printing them and publishing them for the benefit
of Mr. Park's family.
Any attention which it has been my power to show to you
during the period I have been in the situation which I am now
about to leave, has been fully returned by the readiness which
you have always proved to afford me all the assistance and
information in your power on every point on which I have had
occasion to consult you, and I beg to return you my best
acknowledgment for it. — I am, dear sir, yours very faithfully,
Robert Peel.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 297
TO T. B. MACAULAY.
Clapham, April 5, 18 13.
My dear Tom, — Your correspondence with me and mine
with you has seemed to flag during the last fortnight. I must
tell you what has been the cause on my part. First the meet
ing of the African Institution required large portions of my
time. You will like to hear what passed at that meeting. On
the minutes of the last year having been read and confirmed,
and among them those which related to myself, I got up and
told them that as I had no opportunity last year when the
Resolutions were first passed of making my acknowledgments,
I felt it my duty now to rise to express my sense of the honour
that had been done me. I then went on to say that splendid
as was their present, I had received a still richer reward in being
permitted to participate in the counsels of the great names
associated in this Society, in one of the noblest designs which
the world has ever witnessed, delivering half a world from
bondage and blood, and pouring upon it light, liberty, and
civilisation. It would never cease to prove a grateful source of
recollection that for twenty years I had enjoyed the friendship,
and shared the cares and labours, the solicitudes, fears, hopes
and final triumph of such men as Wilberforce, and Thornton,
and Stephen, Babington, and Smith.
No sooner was Africa disposed of than Asia called for our
exertions ; and the very day after the meeting of the African
Institution, I was obliged to take active measures for calling a
meeting which should prevent the blessed light of Christianity
from continuing to be shut out of Asia, as it has hitherto been.
The necessity for prompt and vigorous measures arose from
this, that the question of the future government of India had
come before Parliament, and that there seemed to be some
intention on the part of leading men in the House of Commons
to smother the question of Christianising India. Accordingly
a meeting was called, which was attended, although there were
only three days to advertise it in, by about a thousand gentle
men. I send you the Resolutions that were come to, and the
Petition that was adopted and signed. What follows the
Petition is a paper, which I drew up for spreading correct
information on the subject through the country, and for induc
ing all good men to unite in presenting similar petitions.
About a hundred thousand of them will soon be circulated, and
we expect petitions from all quarters. There is one signing at
Clapham. We are not, I suppose, to expect one from Little
Shelford.1 1 Little Shelford, near Cambridge, was the place where T. B. Macaulay was at
school under the care of the Rev. Mr. Preston.

298 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
The fatigue attending this business has made me ill, and this
is the third day I have been kept at home. This illness is the
third cause of my not having written to you. However, I am
sitting up to-day, thank God, and likely, I hope, through His
kindness, to be about again to-morrow.
I was very glad to see your last letter to your Mamma, and
to observe the determination you have made that if you fail in
your examination, it shall not be for want of diligent applica
tion. Now, my dear Tom, this is perfectly right ; but then I
wish to remind you that this diligence should be the result of a
sense of duty rather than of a desire of distinction. You re
member what the Bible says of those who love the praise ofmen
more than the praise of God. Now my wish and my prayer for
you is that you may act with a view to the latter as your grand
and governing aim. Our true wisdom is to do our very best
because God would have us to do our best, and then abide the
event in tranquillity. If conscious that we have done our best,
that there has been no lack of diligence on our part ; then, even
if we stand in the lowest place, we have no ground for self-dis
satisfaction or dejection. Much ofthe turbulence and disquiet of
mind attending mere competition for honours would thus be
avoided ; and by preserving the mind calm and undisturbed,
not only would greater progress be made in study, but when
the hour of trial came there would be less solicitude, and there
fore a greater facility in producing what had been learned.
But how is this happy temper of mind to be attained ? My
dear Tom, it is to be obtained by earnest prayer to Him in
whose hands are the hearts of all men, and who, if we ask
wisdom of Him in faith, that is, believing in His power and
willingness to bestow it, will most assuredly give us that
wisdom. — Your affectionate father, Z. Macaulay.

FROM MRS. MARTHA MORE.
Barter Wood, May 4, 1813.
My dear Friend, — On the subject of Madame de Stael,
perhaps I have most to tell. Her relations, our old acquaint
ances, the Hubers,1 who, we hope, are becoming religious
characters, have just left us. Hannah used to meet the Neckers
at Mr. Garrick's when this genius was a great girl. Notwith
standing the little, or rather large taint to which you allude,
four hundred cards were left at her door on her arrival. She
has been well dosed on the subject of my sister. She is getting
1 M. and Mme. 1 Iuher were relations and hereditary friends of the Necker family.
Mme. Rilliat, M. Huber's sister, had been the intimate friend of Mme. de Stael
before her marriage.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 299
impatient to be thought religious, a very bad sign. Hannah
has a great opinion of her talents, but thinks her religious views
dark and dangerous, and has cautioned her young friends to be
guarded. Entre nous, she is determined to come to Barley
Wood for religious discussion, and let her ! She has been
miserable lest Mr. Wilberforce should not think well of her.
After strenuously resisting the Poets of the Lakes, a gentle
man has introduced Coleridge, a very superior man certainly,
but a destroyed constitution, driven to laudanum, and its
follower, port wine. However, I cannot but hope his views are
changed ; he has affronted all his Socinian friends, and lost his
pension ; he showed us a note from Dr. Estlin,1 desiring to see
him no more ; he states account of his altered views simply,
and is very interesting. It took place in Madame de Stael's
Germany. That lady desired to see him in London ; he gives
her all due praise, but persists there is a great flash, without
equal depth.
John Harford 2 came yesterday with the following fact from
America, to which precious place, you know, Jeffrey 3 is gone
for a wife and a feast of Jacobinism. In the first I hope he
will succeed, in the latter he has been totally disappointed.
On the first introduction to his dear and beloved friend Madi
son,4 that gentleman, in whom he is so much disappointed,
asked him with the most disgusting and supercilious sneer what
the people of England said to the American war? Jeffrey
coolly replied he did not think half the people of England knew
there was a war.
I forgot to say that on some person's saying to Coleridge he
made but a poor breakfast, he replied that Mr. Elwin (who you
know was as near infidelity as most persons ever have been)
had lent him Archbishop Leighton, and that he could not put
it out of his hand till four in the morning, and he had never
read so fine a work. Just before Coleridge went away, arrived
Lady Lifford, a charming pious woman who has a husband a
Dean and a Lord.5 Five minutes before her departure arrived
a beautiful creature in a hack chaise, which she dismissed, tell
ing the driver she would be taken up at Wrington. She was
most elegantly and fashionably dressed. She mentioned her
name so low we did not catch it, but said she had met us once
at a neighbouring gentleman's. When all were departed and
she found herself alone, she grew very much agitated. I ran
1 A Unitarian minister at Bristol, with whom Coleridge corresponded.
2 Mr. Harford of Blaize Castle.
3 Lord Jeffrey, editor ofthe Edinburgh Review, married at New York in 1813, as
his second wife, Miss Wilkes, great-niece of John Wilkes.
4 President ofthe United Stales, 1809.
5 The second Viscount Lifford was in Holy Orders and Dean of Armagh.

300 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
for a glass of port, which she eagerly drank. Sally and I left
the room to spare her confusion of confession, whatever it
might be, before so many. Angelic creature ! It was religious
trouble. She is high-born and highly married. She is settled
about twelve miles from us. She has a sister married to a
captain of a ship who is decidedly pious, and here are these two
young handsome creatures, without ever having any human
means, mistresses of Doddridge, Baxter, etc. I believe Hannah's
works first sowed the seed. Her husband is very clever, and
won't hear of Mr. Wilberforce's book because ofthe gloom ; but
likes to hear her read Hannah's works, and to talk of her,
because she is lively and not bitter. Hannah and we were all
so exhausted with our morning that we were unable to keep
her to dinner ; but charged her to come very soon, and bring
him with her, at which she was transported. I threw my shawl
over my head, and walked down the lane with her, but she
stopped every five minutes to kiss me.
I think you must be as tired of this morning as we were. I
hope the little remaining time I may be in this world, you will
never expect such a long letter again, and who knows, you may
not wish it. All this, and not a word of Alexander, the man
who has added a text to the Bible, 'you destroyed my Capital
and I am come to save yours.' I know of nothing like it.
Astonishing that our archbishops and bishops take no religious
hint from these great northern Christians, that they should go
and quash the brave English spirit in their liberal intentions
towards the sufferings of the Germans ; it is something horrible.
Had I been in London, I would have locked up Mr. Babington
till he had got some thousands from old Noel ; x 'tis shameful. I
wish I had time to copy a paragraph from Admiral Bedford's
last letter off the Scheldt, his serious alarm at people flocking
over to Paris ; their morals are deplorable. Twenty years ago he
was in Holland, and the most virtuous people, particularly the
women, he ever beheld. Now he says decency forbids him to
relate what he knows. — Your very sincere
Martha More.
from the rev. thomas gisborne.
Yoxall Lodge, May 13, 1813.
I wish privately to tell you the following anecdote told
yesterday to me by my brother. He is recently returned from
a house where Mr., Mrs., and the Misses Edgeworth were at the
1 Mr. Thomas Gisborne Babington, Macaulay's partner, was just engaged tothe
lion. Augusta Noel, daughter ol Lord Baiham, who had been First Lord of the
Admiralty in 1805. The marriage took place the following April.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 301
same time. After dinner, the lady of the house and her
daughter retired with Mrs. and Miss Edgeworth to the drawing-
room, where, as the" daughter afterwards detailed to my brother
and another gentleman, the following matter took place. The
Christian Observer being, I think, incidentally named, Miss
Edgeworth (her mother-in-law, Mrs. Edgeworth, still being
present) said, that some one had sent to her father the Christian
Observer containing the Review of her late work ; x that her
father read it with great attention ; that, on being asked what he
thought of it, he replied, ' Curse the writer, I can almost for
give him, he is so clever' ; and that one of his sons, Mr. Sneyd
Edgeworth (an Irish lawyer) immediately replied, ' Father, you
must spare your curses and forgive the writer. I wrote that
Review ; ' and then he added that he had thought his sister so
wrong, that he had determined to take that mode of laying his
opinions before her. Miss Edgeworth, after giving this account,
said she was much struck (or something of the sort) by what
her brother had said ; and that if her work had a new edition, it
should come forth altered as recommended in the Christian
Observer. If you can properly tell me anything as to the facts stated or
implied in the above account (I have given it accurately as
given to me), I shall be very glad.
It must be acknowledged that Miss Edgeworth exhibited
considerable magnanimity in accepting the rebukes adminis
tered to her, for the Reviewer, after placing Mrs. H. More far
above her, as working ' for the glory of God and happiness of
men,' proceeds : —
' Miss Edgeworth still perseveres in her hardy and unnatural
purpose of presenting to us a world without religion. Bad as
the world is, we are still inclined to attribute to it some con
sciousness of the existence of such a thing as religion, some
profession even, and occasionally some form of it. We behold,
in short, in Miss Edgeworth's personages what mankind would
be without religion. At the death-scene in ' Vivian ' we are
somewhat startled at the appearance of a clergyman, and at one
religious expression in 'Emilie de Coulanges,' a very strange
and unaccountable slip, shall we call it ? '
1 The second series of Tales of Fashionable Life, which includes ' The Absentee '
and 'Vivian,' published in 1812.

;02 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER X
LIGHTS AND SHADOWS
AMONG the many subjects of national importance with which
Macaulay's mind was occupied during this period of his life,
one that engrossed a very large share of his thoughts and pen
was the education of the poorer classes. He had, soon after
his final return from Africa, made the acquaintance of a man
who, notwithstanding great faults, is universally acknowledged
to rank high among the pioneers of the education of the mass
of the people. Joseph Lancaster's system of employing the
older scholars in his schools in teaching, and thus gradually
training them in his methods of instruction so as to enable the
knowledge of the rudiments of reading, writing, and arithmetic
to be imparted to large numbers of children at the same time,
began to attract considerable attention ; and the Borough
School in Southwark, which was under his own special guid
ance, was visited by numbers of persons who were interested
in progress. The system was brought prominently into notice
by the patronage of the King, who honoured Lancaster with a
private interview, in which he encouraged him to persevere in
his efforts, and expressed his earnest desire that every poor
child in his dominions should be taught to read the Bible.
Many of the difficulties which Lancaster had had to encounter
were now smoothed away by the royal patronage, and he found
himself celebrated, and his advice sought for on every side ;
but unfortunately his head was too weak to support with
propriety the success which he had deservedly attained. He
disgusted his well-wishers by vanity and self-conceit, and his
foolish and reckless expenditure soon involved his schools
deeply in debt.
The good work which he had been the means of inaugurating
was not, however, allowed to suffer. A few philanthropic noble
men and gentlemen joined together to meet the liabilities which

ZACHARY MACAULAY 303
he had incurred, became trustees for his schools, and founded
the Society which was known ultimately by the title of the
British and Foreign School Society.
Lancaster's disposition, however, was such that it was difficult
to benefit him permanently. Impatient of control, his wild
impulses and extravagance made him impossible as a fellow-
worker. He soon quarrelled with the friends who had come to
his rescue, and the remainder of his history is a painful record,
ending in bankruptcy and utter ruin. A small annuity which
was then provided for him could not save him from the suffering
which was the inevitable consequence of his persistent miscon
duct ; and he was again plunged deeply in debt when his
career was terminated by an accident in New York, where he
passed the last part of a life which had promised so differently.
It may well be imagined that such a character possessed few
attractions for a man of Macaulay's disposition, although he
spared no pains to make himself thoroughly acquainted with
Lancaster's plans ; gave just praise to the energy of his labours
on so important a subject as Macaulay felt National Education
to be ; and even at first bestowed some salutary counsel upon
him, advising Lancaster specially to be on his guard against
vanity and self-confidence. But Macaulay's keen insight was
not long in discerning the real nature of the individual with
whom he was dealing, and in the controversy which shortly
arose between Lancaster and Dr. Bell, who claimed priority in
the discovery of the theory of instruction which at that period
went by the name of the Lancastrian system, Macaulay steadily
supported Dr. Bell's claim to be the original promulgator of the
monitorial scheme. In 1804 Macaulay writes : —
'There is something very plausible in Mr. Lancaster's pro
posal of a Society established on general Christian principles ;
but who shall fix what are those general principles of Chris
tianity, which, as essential verities, must be made the basis of a
system of instruction? By general Christian principles Mr.
Lancaster has left room to conjecture that he may have meant
something which might coalesce as well with Deism as with
Christianity. What right have those to be considered Christians
who deem it unnecessary to introduce into their plans of educa
tion any reference to the salvation purchased for us by the
blood of Christ ? By Mr. Lancaster's scheme religious bigotry
may be avoided ; but there is another evil which is the greatest

304 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
that can befall a nation — irreligion ; ignorance of the true God,
and of Jesus Christ whom He hath sent. The resident parochial
clergy have it in their power to obtain the superintendence
over a large proportion of the lower classes of schools through
out the kingdom, and the good which they may effect is
incalculable.' Dr. Andrew Bell appears to have originated the scheme of
mutual instruction in India almost simultaneously with Joseph
Lancaster in this country, and he had utilised his position as
teacher in the Orphan School at Madras to make experiments
and perfect the system. On his return to England he placed
his experience at the disposal of Macaulay, who with his band
of allies was actively engaged in organising the association
which was finally founded in 1811 under the title of the
National Society for the Education of the Poor in the Principles
of the Church of England. Dr. Bell was employed by them in
the formation of schools in which the new system of instruction
and internal arrangements was adopted, but which made the
religious teaching of the Church of England the basis of the
whole fabric.1
The chief difference, therefore, between the two Associations
was, that in the schools of the British and Foreign School
Society no Catechism or doctrinal teaching was permitted, and
the religious instruction consisted simply in portions of Scrip
ture which were read aloud daily. But to this Society, and to
its great rival the National Society, the merit must be at
tributed of having laid the foundations of popular education in
this country.
No one rejoiced more heartily than Macaulay did in the
successful establishment of the National Societ)', but his was
not a mind that was easily satisfied ; and impelled by the strong
conviction which he had of the results which could be obtained
from such a powerful organisation, if properly directed, he may
soon be found urging an extension of the work of the Society.
He writes : —
' The National Society being an engine of mighty power, and
having among its members the whole bench of bishops,
1 'To Central National School meeting— children admirably taught, and general
spirit delightful and animating. The difference between them and the Lancastrians
very striking— exemplifying the distinction between Church of England and Dis
senterism.'- ]Vilberforccs Diary, June 1814.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 305
should go at once to the legislature with a plan for educating
the poor ; — a plan which shall embrace every parish in the
kingdom, we had almost said in the empire ; and which shall
enact that wherever there do not already exist sufficient means
of educating the poor in the principles of the established
Church, such means shall be provided by a parish or other rate.
A measure of this kind, while it would secure in every place the
means of educating the poor in the principles of the established
Church, would at the same time leave every one at perfect
liberty to pursue such a course of education, or form such
institutions, as he might deem eligible ; and this would take
away every reasonable objection which could be made to the
plan by Dissenters from the establishment. If we are zealous
for the extension of education on the principles of the Liturgy
and Catechism of the Church of England, it is not because
that Church is established by law, but because we believe it in
our conscience to be, without any exception, the best form
of Christianity ; the best for training both the young and old
to knowledge and virtue, and marshalling them the way to
heaven.' The following letter is inserted as a specimen of many which
Dr. Isaac Milner, Dean of Carlisle and President of Queens'
College at Cambridge, was in the habit of addressing to
Macaulay and to others of his friends. His character presented
the spectacle of a singular compound of great intellectual
power, uncommon kindness and , benevolence, indolence and
hypochondria. He is said to be the sole individual upon whom,
when taking a degree, the title of incomparabilis has been
conferred. He died in 1820, at the age of sixty-nine.

FROM THE DEAN OF CARLISLE.
Carlisle Deanery, August 3, 181 3.
My dear Friend, — I believe you may have always, or
almost always, observed that when I do not write regularly,
there is something not very pleasant going forward.
You will be sorry to hear that an addition has lately been
made to my many infirmities, namely, an inflamed and sore
foot. The history of it is, that about ten days ago on pulling
off my stocking for bed, a most intolerable itching was felt at
the top (not the end) of the middle toe of my right foot.
Without thought, I rubbed, and perhaps scratched it im
prudently. This may have been the bite of a gnat (I hope not
u

306 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
of a bug), for the itching is extremely like that ofthe bite of a
gnat, and I have several of those bites on my hands at this
moment, red places, bumps, that itch most intolerably. The place
may have come of itself, or from the late sultry weather, aided
by the pinching of the folds of a stocking somewhat. What
ever has been the cause, it certainly has grown worse, spread a
little, and grown more inflamed, and always on the least
motion and bearing my weight on the part. I am now reduced
to a state of absolute rest ; and you will understand that
though I am not in the habit of taking much exercise, yet the
want of the little which I did take is most severely felt. I
wrote yesterday, in consequence of the part appearing worse
and sorer, to our old steady friend William Hey, from whom
I trust I shall receive soon as good advice as can be given
without seeing the parts affected.
I have, however, preached at the Cathedral ever since I came
here, six times ; but I suffered so much last Sunday that I am
compelled to pause.
This business affects me much more than might have been
expected, or than it would probably have affected a person less
worn down by infirmities, and of a better habit of body than I
can be supposed to be. The being quite still is a trying evil,
and will prove to me a discipline which will, I fear, go hard
with me. I have experienced during some nights much sinking,
low fever, and general debility. ' Tot vulneribus jam perculsus,
huic uni me imparem sensi et pene succubui,' said Tully upon a
different occasion.
What a brittle thing life is ! Mr. Mason lost his life in about
four days from a very slight bruise on his leg ; and there are
many similar cases on record, which are very likely to occur to
my mind, from having read so much about these subjects ; but
one had not need to be for ever suspecting the worst. At the
same time what warnings we all have ! Who would have
thought that such a bundle of infirmities as myself would have
survived the late Bishop of London,1 who seemed robust and
hardy both in body and mind ? His removal, I hope, cannot
well fail to be favourable to the Church. He was most abomin
ably tyrannical and prejudiced up to the ears. His enmity to
the Bible Society has been excessive and unreasonable in the
highest degree. I understand that poor Owen is at length
ousted from his useful situation at Fulham by means of his
Rector, supported no doubt by the Bishop of London now
deceased. 1 Dr. Randolph, who had required Mr. John Owen, the Secretary of the Bible
Society, to reside al a living in Essex to which he had been presented by Porteous,
Bishop of London, in iSoS.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 307
I was not without some hopes of raising a Bible Society
Auxiliary in these parts, but everything seems adverse among
the great. Our Bishop is prejudiced beyond example, and I
am sorry to hear that Lord Lonsdale, from whom I had hoped
better things, is most determined to be hostile, and has got it
into his head that we are all Dissenters or little better at
bottom. — Yours very faithfully, Isaac Milner.

TO T. B. MACAULAY.1
When vexing thoughts within me rise,
And sore dismayed my spirit dies,
Then He who once vouchsafed to bear
The sickening anguish of despair
Shall sweetly soothe, shall gently dry
The throbbing heart, the streaming eye. August 15, 1813.
MY dear Tom, — When I read your sorrowing letter to your
Mamma my mind almost instantly recurred to the above lines.
I think I heard you repeat them this day se'ennight. It is
only necessary to feel their force in order to dry your tears.
Consider how much our blessed Saviour voluntarily and cheer
fully bore for our sakes, to what pain and shame He was
subjected, what privations and what sufferings He endured,
and that without a murmur ; and then you will feel your own
troubles light. He left the bosom of His Father for upwards
of thirty years, during which He had to encounter every form
of calamity and every depth of human wretchedness ; and yet
how cheerfully did He submit to the will of Him that sent Him,
how cheerfully did He apply Himself to the work that was
given Him to do! For what purpose was this example ex
hibited to us ? It was among other things as an example that
we should tread in His steps ; that each of us in our sphere
should do that which it was clearly our duty to do without
murmuring or repining, nay, with content and satisfaction.
Now, my dear Tom, I am far from saying you ought not to
feel and to feel keenly the separation for a few months from a
mother in every way so worthy of your affections and who
loves you so tenderly, from myself and from your brothers and
sisters, but a sense of duty should make even this pleasant.
It is the will of your parents, and therefore the will of God,
that you should be placed where you are ; and you must be
1 This is a reply to a very unhappy letter from his son, written on his return to
school. Sir George Trevelyan says : ' His father answered him in a letter of strong
religious complexion, full of feeling and even of beauty, but too long for reproduc
tion in a biography that is not his own.' — Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay.

308 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
sensible that it is for your own benefit and advantage, not for
their pleasure, that they have made this arrangement. It
would be a pleasure to them to have you always with them.
But this would not be best for you, and it is now your business,
as you wish to add to their comfort and happiness, cheerfully to
set yourself to make the most of your situation. Compare
your condition with that of many even of your own acquaint
ance. You have parents to watch over you and provide for
you, to take part in all your pains and wants, and to rejoice in
your improvement. How little would Henry Venn1 now
count every other trial, and especially such a trial as that of
going for a few months to receive instruction under so kind
and estimable a friend as Mr. Preston, and with such pleasant
associates as Blundell and Stainforth, if he could but enjoy as
you do the pleasure of writing to and hearing from his parents,
and of looking forward to a meeting with them after a few
months, with increased stores of knowledge and fresh trophies
of advancement. Pray to God, my dear Tom, that He would
give you that calm fortitude and serenity of mind which it is
our duty to cultivate under all circumstances, and that He
would enable you to give up cheerfully your own selfish prefer
ences when these stand in the way of duty. And fix your eyes
on that meek and patient Lamb of God whose language and
whose life exhibit one uniform and striking example of self-
denial and resignation and holy and cheerful obedience.
I hope to hear that the clouds which darkened your horizon
have been dispersed, and that all is light and sunshine within. —
I ever am, my dear Tom, your affectionate father,
Z. Macaulay.

FROM T. B. MACAULAY.
Little Shelford, September 15, 181 3.
My DEAR Mamma,— I received your kind letter to-day, but
before I proceed to answer it I must observe that I wish you
would direct to me as Mr. and not Master Macaulay, since it
subjects me to jokes which I could willingly dispense with.
The late news of Vandamme's- defeat has contributed to
raise our spirits a good deal. Mr. Preston (saving your
presence) is a very despairing politician, and whenever he
1 I lis father, the Rev. John Venn, the Rector of Clapham, had died earlier in the
year.^ The Kev. William Dealtry was presented by Mr. Simeon to tire living, and
held it for many years.
2 Vaudamme was taken prisoner at Kulm with 10,000 men on August 30.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 309
begins to talk of politics I cannot help thinking that he
addresses us in the language of Kirke White —
' Come let us sit, and weave a song,
A melancholy song.' 1
To-day Mr. Hodson came from Cambridge with the news.
Mr. Preston said, ' Yes, it seems to be favourable upon the
whole.' We all could not help bursting out laughing, which I
joined with all my heart. Mr. Preston continued, ' My friends
here are laughing,' said he ; ' I have been croaking to them of
late.' Indeed he had been croaking, and foreboding nothing but
' Death and defeat and loss of fame.'
Mr. Hodson said, ' Take in the Morning Chronicle. It will
croak to any tune you may desire.' So ended the dialogue,
which to me seemed one of the most ludicrous I ever heard.
I should be obliged if you or the next member of the family
who favours me with a letter would inform me whether my
Uncle Colin is yet gone, or when he is going, or whether he
prefers the pleasures pf peace and tranquillity in Old England
to fighting its battles and earning the laurels of victory in the
valleys of the Pyrenees or on the ramparts of Bayonne. Time
flies away so fast that in six weeks I shall be packing up for my
return, and in less than a fortnight shall be commencing my
examination studies.
I am every day anticipating our fireside pleasures in the
holidays. I remember almost every little circumstance that
took place in the summer. I have not forgot the pears that
John gave me the day before I came, nor Henry's eager desire
to see the Blumbo, whom I hope he will again see before long.
Our next subject of debate is on Catholic Emancipation. I
do not much like political subjects, for they make the boys
rather too warm in defence of this or that party. Especially
when some of the boys have their fathers in the House of
Commons, they fight for their fathers' party right or wrong. —
Your affectionate son, T. B. Macaulay.
TO MRS. H. MORE.
I have had a letter from Lord Byron. You will like to see
it, and I send you a copy. I was gratified by it.
1 Come, thou shalt form my nosegay now,
And I will bind thee round my brow ;
And as I twine the mournful wreath
I '11 weave a melancholy song ;
And sweet the strain shall be and long,
The melody of death.
To the Herb Rosemary.— Memorials of Kirke White.

310 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Bonaparte has called for an immediate levy of five hundred
thousand conscripts and three hundred millions of livres ; and
he declares his purpose to be to make all his enemies bite
the dust. He that sitteth in the heavens, I trust, hears this
vain boast with derision, and will bring it to nought, as He has
done the former boasts of this impious man. After having
been employed as the Scourge of God for punishing the guilty
nations of the earth, it would seem as if he were himself to be
erected as a beacon to warn the kings and great men of the
perils of a lawless and inordinate ambition.

FROM LORD BYRON. December % 1813.
SIR, — I have just finished the perusal of an article in the
Christian Observer on the ' Giaour.' You perhaps are un
acquainted with the writer, and at all events I have no business
to enquire. I only wish you would have the goodness to thank
him very sincerely on my part for the pleasure (I do not say
unmixed pleasure) which the perusal of a ver)- able, and I
believe just criticism has afforded me. Of course I cannot be
an impartial witness of its justice, but it is something in its
favour when the author criticised does not complain of its
sentence. This is not affectation : if I felt angry I could not
conceal it even from others, and contempt can only be bestowed
on the weak, amongst whom the writer of this article has
certainly no place.
I shall merely add that this is the first notice I have for some
years taken of any public criticism, good or bad, in the way of
either thanks or defence, and I trust that yourself and the
writer will not attribute to any unworthy motive my deviating
for once from my usual custom to express myself obliged to
him. — I have the honour to be very sincerely your most
obedient very humble servant, Biron.
P.S. — -I cannot fold this without congratulating you on the
acquisition of a writer in your valuable journal, whose style and
powers are so far above the generality of writers as the author
of the remarks to which I have alluded.
Macaulay, in unison with his friends, exerted himself greatly
during this time in endeavours to relieve the terrible destitu
tion among the population in Germany, which was the result
of the ravages of the Continental war. He and Thornton and
Wilberforce not only contributed themselves, as far as their
means permitted, but expended a good deal of pains and energy

ZACHARY MACAULAY 311
in opening a subscription for the benefit of the distressed Ger
mans, and in holding public meetings from time to time in
order to keep the concern in their situation alive.
No one can look over Macaulay's correspondence of the
years preceding 181 5 without acknowledging the paramount
interest with which he followed the events on the Continent,
and the rejoicing with which he greeted the success of Great
Britain and her allies in a war which it is easy to see partook
in his eyes of the nature of a religious war. The Emperor
Alexander of Russia was of a character calculated to excite the
hopes of the opponents of slavery, who believed that this great
Potentate possessed the power to put an end if he pleased to
the Foreign Slave Trade, which rendered abortive the precau
tions taken by the British Government against smuggling
slaves into our Colonies, and against enslaving fresh Africans.
In spite of the utmost vigilance, all precautions against the
traffic in human beings were eluded ; and it was with anxious
and heavy hearts that, after Parliament rose, the interior
Council of Abolition assembled in the summer of 18 13. The
place of meeting was Sandgate, where Mr. Wilberforce was
settled for some months, and where he was joined by Henry
Thornton, whose failing health was but too apparent to the
eyes of his devoted friends, by Mr. Stephen and his son, after
wards known as Sir James Stephen of the Colonial Office, and
by Brougham and Macaulay. There the measures to be laid
before the African Institution were anxiously considered and
discussed in all possible bearings, and, when finally decided
upon to the satisfaction of the conclave, were invariably, as a
matter of mere routine, laid aside to be worked into proper
shape for presentation to the Committee by Macaulay and Mr.
Stephen upon their return to town. The other members of
the party might linger on by the seaside to snatch a short
respite from their labours, but such a pause in their existence
was necessarily denied at so important a crisis to these two
indomitable friends of the slaves.
The warfare against the evasions of the Slave Trade Aboli
tion Act, and the constant watchful enforcement of the Slave
Felony Acts, had been waged with unremitting zeal by Mac
aulay and Mr. Stephen ; but the great measure for the Registra
tion of Slaves, a noble conception which has the merit of first

312 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
opening the possibility of that final Emancipation which
crowned their efforts twenty years later, is originally attribut
able to the mind of Stephen.
The principle of registration to which the friends looked
hopefully for the salvation of their black clients, since it would
secure to them the protection of Parliament, made very slow
progress. In 1812 an Order in Council enforced the registra
tion of slaves in Trinidad. By 1815 the only other Colonies to
which it had been extended were St. Lucia and Mauritius. In
bitter resentment at the indifference of the Ministers, Mr.
Stephen threw up his seat in the House of Commons rather
than continue to support a Government which obstinately re
fused to promote a measure, the efficiency of which, in affording
protection to the unhappy slaves, they yet fully acknowledged.
Stephen was a man of a fiery and impetuous nature, and apt
to be carried away by the vehemence of his feelings, but as a
rule he was accessible to the influence of the calm and friendly
remonstrances of Macaulay, to whom he was warmly attached.
On an occasion about this time, however, when Stephen had
worked himself up into a state of violent indignation at the
lukewarmness ofthe Government, one of his sons remembered
that Macaulay, after making some ineffectual attempts to
soothe him, turned to himself, then a mere lad, and said with
a certain admiration for the righteous wrath of his ally, ' In
anger, your father is terrific'
The Registration Bill was introduced by Mr. Wilberforce
late in the Session of 1815. The tactics adopted by its West
Indian opponents were unscrupulous and violent, and various
causes concurred to delay its progress. It was not until 1819
that the Government perceived that the moment had arrived
when action was imperative, and during the Session of that
year a Bill was introduced by the Secretary of State for the
Colonies which effectually settled the matter, by enactino- that
an efficient system of registration of the slaves thoroughout
the British dominions should come into force on the ist of
January 1820.
After seven years of ceaseless toil and repeated disappoint
ments, Macaulay and Stephen thus enjoyed the inexpressible
satisfaction of feeling assured that, in the system at length
legally established, lay the best available protection for their

ZACHARY MACAULAY 313
helpless clients. It was also the first advance on the road to
Emancipation, a goal which it is clear from various indications
that from this period Macaulay himself began to have in view,
although with his habitual caution he for the present confined
his ambition to the task of gaining step by step every imme
diate advantage, however apparently insignificant, that it was
possible to win for the great cause. But it is evident that the
highest aspiration of the majority of his colleagues did not
rise above the hope that a general abolition of the Slave Trade
might, in consequence of their efforts, be enforced upon all
foreign countries equally with Great Britain.
One cause which had affected the progress of the Registra
tion Bill, and cooled for a time the ardour of its advocates,
was that the conjuncture of events which arose in 18 14 upon
Napoleon's abdication and the termination of the great war,
was supposed to be most favourable to the interests of Aboli
tion. At a meeting of the African Institution which was held
at Gloucester House in April, where all the principal members
were assembled, and among them Lord Grey, Lord Grenville,
Lord Lansdowne, Sir James Mackintosh, Stephen, Wilber
force, Brougham, and Macaulay, a Resolution was passed
deciding to abandon for the moment the Registration Bill ; to
push for a Convention for the general Abolition of the Slave
Trade ; to present an Address to the Crown ; and to negotiate
with the Foreign powers. It was also decided, with the appro
bation of the Government, that the Board should send an
envoy to Paris to be at hand to supply Lord Castlereagh with
information, and that he should be a person who would be
qualified to carry on discussions with Talleyrand, and Malouet,
the Minister of the Colonies.
The choice of the Committee unanimously fell upon Mac
aulay; and indeed his zeal, sagacity, and accuracy, coupled
with his perfect mastery of the French language, pointed him
out as specially fitted for the Mission. He left for Paris in
May, accompanied by his brother the General, whose acquaint
ance with many of the political personages assembled for the
negotiations was expected to be of great service in facilitating
business, and by Mr. Dicey, a Leicestershire country gentle
man, who had married a daughter of Mr. Stephen. But all
Macaulay's endeavours to induce Lord Castlereagh to take

314 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the decided line of action which must at once have put an end
to legalised traffic in human beings proved ineffectual, and
the utmost concession that he could obtain was that some
vague promise as to the future should be inserted in the
French Treaty. Under these circumstances he felt that any
further stay in Paris was useless, and returned in bitter dis
appointment to announce his failure to his friends. They
all assembled to greet him at Henry Thornton's town house
in Old Palace Yard, where Macaulay related his experi
ences, and read aloud the letter of which he was the bearer
from Talleyrand to Wilberforce, on which the opinion pro
nounced by the audience was that it was very clever, but
artful and dissembling.
In the following year, however, an entirely unexpected
auxiliary came to the assistance of the Abolitionists upon
this question. Bonaparte, during his brief restoration to
power, issued a proclamation abolishing the French Slave
Trade, and upon the return of the Bourbons, it was felt that
his action had made it impossible for their Government to
sanction its continuance. The appointment also of the Duke
of Wellington as English ambassador at Paris was most
auspicious for the cause, and during the Congress of Vienna
and afterwards, Macaulay was in continual communication
with him and with Lord Castlereagh respecting the abolition
of the Foreign Slave Trade. To secure the fulfilment of the
promise that the Slave Trade should not be revived where it
had been actually suppressed, Macaulay had laboriously col
lected a mass of proofs that were convincing to any unpre
judiced mind as to the fact that, except for a small amount of
smuggling, the Slave Trade had entirely ceased upon the wind
ward coast of Africa, from Cape Blanco to the Equator. Even
Mr. Wilberforce expressed amazement to find the proof so ade
quate. ' I do not think,' he writes, ' that a grain can be added to
the weight with which your zeal, diligence, and method in preserv
ing your papers have loaded the scale in our favour.' Macaulay
remarked to the Duke of Wellington that he thought it would
be impossible for the French Ministers to elude the force ofthe
evidence. ' I do not see how on earth they can,' was the reply
ofthe Duke. It was not, however, till 1819 that the Abolition
of the Slave Trade was effectually carried out by legislation in

ZACHARY MACAULAY 315
France, and the treaty made with Spain which provided for
finally abolishing the Foreign Slave Trade after May 1820. On
this occasion Mr. Wilberforce writes to Macaulay : ' No one
has more right than you to be congratulated, for no one has
done or suffered as much as yourself in and for this great cause.'

TO MRS. MACAULAY. Paris, May 30, 1814.
I yesterday received your letter of the 25th, and rejoice in
your good news, for what can be better news for me than to
hear you are all in health? I am to be with Madame de
Stael to-day by her own desire at one, and afterwards dine with
M. le Baron de Malouet, the Minister of the Marine and the
Colonies, by special invitation, 'to talk over the interesting sub
ject of the African Slave Trade.' What will come of it all I
know not, but it seems right to cherish every opening prospect
of good, however slight.
I dined yesterday at a M. Faber's, a great merchant who lives
at the foot of Montmartre. He has several young ladies in, the
family. They were describing in lively terms their frayeur
incroyable while the cannon were roaring and the balls falling
around them. They did not quit their house, however. It was
terrible, they said, to see the dead and the dying borne along
from the field of battle.
Yesterday had not the slightest appearance of Sunday. It
differed from other days in being more gay and festive. The
theatres were all open, and the Palais Royal and the Boulevards
and the Tuileries filled to excess with men and women in their
best array ; but so tranquil and so well behaved that if one did
not see them to be immortal spirits enjoying this world without
the slightest recollection of another, there would be something
delightful in their gaiety. I heard a sermon at Lord Cathcart's
from a Mr. Lee, which I am persuaded was more Popish than
anything preached at Paris anywhere else on the same day.
He told us very often that we were to be saved by our repent
ance and good works, and that those who merited pardon and
heaven would get both, so therefore do what you can to deserve
both. One of the first things a person is struck with on exchanging
London for Paris is the superior decorum which reigns in the
latter place. The women are all dressed with singular
modesty, and if a person avoids the haunts of vice and prosti
tution, the limits of which in Paris are very exactly defined, he
sees nothing to offend the nicest delicacy. Even among the

316 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
lower classes there is a remarkable absence of external be
haviour really indelicate. Some things indeed are said and
done without scruple which we should not do or say in Eng
land ; but the ears of modesty are seldom offended in this
country, as in England, by rude or indecent language.
The coup dceil of Paris is exceedingly striking, much more
so than London ; but, after all, it is in many respects a far
inferior place. The tranquillity of it at the present moment is
hardly to be conceived. I have neither seen nor heard anything
here which indicates the slightest indisposition towards the
Bourbons, while there is much which marks their popularity.
Every shop is filled with pamphlets in their favour ; and the
whole course of things at the theatres is decidedly loyal.
I saw Blucher for some time one evening, I am sorry to say,
playing deep at rouge et noir.1 He is a stout-looking man for
his years, and seems of active habits, and civil in his manners.
But he gives an idea rather of an old farmer than of a victorious
General. The post, however, will not wait, so I must despatch
this.2 FROM MR. BROUGHAM. Lincoln's Inn Fields, Thursday.
I have read our friend William Allen's letter with very great
interest, and I trust some little good may be gained, but my
disappointment will not be great if that little be reduced to
nothing. In truth, I fear William Allen has been egregiously
deceived by the great men he has conversed with. I don't
mean by any extraordinary vapouring of Alexander, though of
that he is quite capable, but that William Allen has mistaken
the mere mouth civility of courtiers for acquiescence, even
hearty concurrence.
I wish I may prove wrong, but my estimate of the principles
of those gentry is ver)- low.
Lord Wellington, by understanding (though not by feeling, of
which he has none), is with us, and pretty stoutly. My remarks
do not apply to him.
General Macaulay, since his return from the East, had more
than once paid a visit of several months' duration to the neigh-
1 ' On his (Marshal Blucher's) arrival at Paris, he went every day to the salon, and
played the highest slakes at rouge et noir. The salon was crowded by persons who
came to see him play. His manner of playing was anything but gentlemanlike, and
when he lost he used to swear in German at everything that was French, looking
daggers at the croupiers.' — Reminiscences of Captain Gronow.
" It seems a curious fact that the sole address of the letters sent from England by
post to Macaulay during his stay on this occasion at Paris was ' M. Macaulay, chez
M. Luke Callaghan, Paris.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 317
bourhood of Geneva, where he had entered into society, had
made many interesting acquaintances, and had laid the founda
tions of several valuable and lifelong friendships both for
himself and his brother. Society in Geneva at that time was
closely connected with England ; and among others, Sismondi,
the historian of the Italian Republics, had been already brought
into familiar relations with the Abolitionist party in London
through his marriage with a sister-in-law of Sir James Mackin
tosh ; and the well-known M. Dumont had only recently
quitted England to establish himself at his native town, in
order to assist in its restoration to independence.

FROM M. DE SISMONDI. Geneva, November ,23, 18 14.
SIR, — I am unable to express the gratitude and exultation
with which I have received your kind letter of the 8th instant.
I will look out for another opportunity to send to you some
copies of a second pamphlet on the same subject, which I am
just publishing. You have the more right to it, sir, as I owe
several parts of the information contained in it to a publication
of yours, the Christian Observer, which was communicated to
me by your brother, General Macaulay. A friend of Lord
Holland, and my friend M. Dumont, had received, it seems,
from Sir Samuel Romilly, orders to spread in France publica
tions on that subject at the cost of the African Institution.
We have agreed with a bookseller to print both pamphlets in
the cheapest way, and we took care to disseminate the first in
all the mercantile towns and seaports of France, to direct them
to the most notable Chambres de Commerce, and to circulate
them in the most brilliant circles of Paris ; and if the book
may do any good, we have not been deficient at least in our
efforts to draw on it the attention of the public. The second
part has not yet passed the censure in France. The printer of
Geneva will send you a number of copies to Mr. Murray,
Albemarle Street, 50, my bookseller in London. I am im
patient to know whether it will deserve that benevolent appro
bation so kindly conferred on the first by my friends in
England. I am happy, sir, that you gave me an opportunity of
declaring my high regard for you. I beg you to receive the
assurance of my sincere esteem and respect, and to believe me
to be your very faithful servant,
Simondi de Sismondi.

318 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

TO MRS. H. MORE.
London, December 26, 18 14.
I am half angry with myself for having brought upon you
the task of writing so long a letter in your present state of
health. I should not have written so soon had it not been to
give you some account of our dear friend Henry Thornton.
You can hardly conceive to what a degree he is extenuated and
enfeebled in body, while his eye is as clear, his perceptions as
acute, and his mind as vigorous as ever. I think I can see that
Mrs. Thornton does not surrender herself entirely to the flatter
ing assurance of the physicians ; and for my own part I must
confess that my fears greatly preponderate. You will enter
into all the feelings with which I look forward to the probable
dissolution of a fellowship like that which for twenty-two years
has subsisted between Thornton and myself, a fellowship which,
I think, has been more entire than I have enjoyed with any
other person whatsoever. God grant that my fears may prove
vain !
Tom is at home, and well. I am glad you like his ' Vision.'
My brother, the General, showed it to the great Duke, who was
much pleased with it. The Duke has entered heartily into
Abolition politics. May he be as successful here as elsewhere !
I think that right principles and feelings have gathered
strength in Tom's mind, and he certainly continues as much
attached as ever to home and its delights, and particularly to
his dear mother, in whom he takes a genuine delight. My wife
and nine children are all in health. It has pleased God to
bless all of them with sound constitutions and fair understand
ings, and they are all dutiful and affectionate to us and each
other. We have rejoiced in receiving from time to time accounts of
your progressive convalescence. And yet I have sometimes
thought had the issue been different, what should we have had
to regret on your own account? We should have seen you rapt
up as it were with Elijah in his chariot of fire, or ascending
from the funeral pile with the Polycarps and Ridleys of other
days, exchanging with them pain and weariness and mortality
for glory and immortality and joy.
You may have heard that the Duke of Wellington has suc
ceeded in procuring from the French Government a decree
abolishing the Slave Trade along the whole of the African
coast as far down as Cape Formosa. Sierra Leone, and all the
places where we have been carrying on our improvements are
now exempted from the calamity which threatened them. Let
us bless God for this ; it is beyond my hopes.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 319
The 'Vision,' the poem alluded to in the foregoing letter,
must have peculiarly gratified the paternal pride of Macaulay..
It embodied the reproaches of the Genius of Africa against
Britain for the neglect shown to the interests of the slaves in
the Treaty of Paris. Lord Castlereagh is styled the callous
Envoy, and the boy winds up by an impassioned appeal to the
Emperor Alexander, on whom, at that period, the hopes of all
the Abolitionists were fixed, to issue his mandate to put an end
to the Foreign Slave Trade.
But subjects of reflection of a melancholy nature were now
occupying Macaulay's mind to the exclusion for the moment of
all others. The death of Henry Thornton of decline on the
16th of January 1815, terminating the friendship which had
united the two men so closely, may perhaps be reckoned as the
most poignant sorrow of Macaulay's life. In later years the
loss of the wife, whom he regarded with feelings of devoted
affection, was indeed a crushing blow ; but at the period at
which it occurred Macaulay was broken by misfortune and
anxiety, and his impaired health gave him the consolation of
hoping that he should not long survive her, while at the time
of Henry Thornton's death he was in the prime and vigour of
life, and his feelings were proportionally acute and not dulled
by years and suffering. The loss of the daily association with
a friend of his own age, to whom his interests were as sacred as
those of a brother, was irreparable ; while at the same time he
had to mourn the severance on public grounds, for in all
matters connected with the great cause to which they had
primarily consecrated their lives, as well as in many other
important matters, he had been accustomed to rely for advice
and guidance on Henry Thornton's sense and discernment.
Macaulay's habitual reticence and self-control rendered his
grief the more pathetic, and his letter to Mrs. Thornton, who
only survived her husband a few months, is singularly touching
and beautiful. TO MRS. HENRY THORNTON.
1 February I, 1815.
My DEAR MRS. THORNTON, — Could anything have been
wanting to make me feel the full extent of your kindness, or
to add to my regard for you, it would have been supplied by
your letter and present of yesterday. To me that memorial

320 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
of one who was indeed a friend will be very dear, nor will the
hand that bestowed it be less dear for having done me the
justice to believe I should cherish such a gift. I did indeed
love its possessor while living, and I had cause to love him.
There are, I know, many sincere mourners for his loss ; but out
ofthe immediate circle of his family, on none can that loss have
fallen with such weight as on myself. I can truly say that for
the last twenty-two years he was, as it were, my polar star, my
presiding, my better genius. A thought of him, of the gleam
of his approbation, or of his graver look of doubt or dissent,
mingled itself insensibly, not merely with my larger pursuits,
my plans and schemes in life, but with almost all I wrote or
did. What will Henry Thornton say? was with me a trying
question on all occasions. Indeed, if you fully knew — it is
fully known only to myself and to my God — if you fully
knew the part he took in rousing me to better and higher
sentiments and pursuits than I had been familiar with before,
the pains he bestowed — the forbearance he exercised — the con
descension that he manifested — the care and patience with which
he called forth and cherished whatever he might have discovered
of a right tendency in a mind too much debased and warped
to evil by its previous associations, you would be better able
to appreciate the grounds of that grateful and affectionate
reverence in addition to all that were supplied by the intrinsic
value of the great qualities of the head and heart, with which
I clung to his friendship and sought his society, and now mourn
his loss. Multitudes have been benefited by his bounty and
been improved by his society ; but in my case I owe him
almost all. The happiness and usefulness of my life, in what
ever degree it may have been useful, have so had their springs
in him, that in losing him I feel I have lost a father as well as
a friend and guide. Indeed there is hardly a friendship in
which I now delight, hardly a domestic relation in which I am
blest, which does not more or less link itself with his remem
brance. But why should I interrupt your heavier grief with
any reference to my own affliction? You owe the intrusion to
the affecting testimony you have given me of your kindness.
I have been pleasing myself with figuring to my mind our
dear friend Venn welcoming his former associate in the heavenly
course to a participation of the joys with a foretaste of which
they had been blessed on earth.
A few short years over, and if we are followers of their faith
and patience we shall join them, and shall then not even think
of our present sorrows except as they may have contributed to
prepare us by their purifying effects for the glory that excelleth.
We know what the delights of their society were on earth.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 321
What must it be in heaven? — Believe me, yours most truly
and faithfully, Z. MACAULAY. ;

TO MRS. H. MORE.
London, February 8, 1815.
My dear Friend, — I have just been paying the last sad
offices of humanity to our dear Bowdler. His body was en
tombed amid a select group of sorrowing friends whose grief,
witnessed the place he had held in their affection, and in whose
hearts the remembrance of what he was will, I trust, tend to
assimilate them to the same brightening image of the Saviour
he loved and served.
I need not tell you what a breach this has made in our circle,
broken as it had already been by our dear Henry .Thornton's
death. When I look on his dear wife and children I am
ashamed to speak of my own share in this calamity ; and yet
mine is certainly no common grief. There were many who
owed him much. I owed him almost all — I owed him in no
small degree myself — my rescue from base and grovelling
associations to high and noble and elevating objects, to a.
fellowship with himself. I alone, and God, with whom is the
record of it, know what I owe to that dear friend. I cannot
even turn my sorrowing eye on my own dear wife and children
without recollecting the part that hand which is now moulder
ing in the grave, and that heart which has ceased to beat, had
in rearing the fabric of my worldly happiness. For twenty-two
years he was indeed the guide, philosopher, and friend, the
steady and faithful counsellor, the cheerful and unwearied
fellow-labourer. Our sentiments and pursuits were identified
in a degree that seldom occurs. And I can truly say that I
hardly wrote or acted during that time without feeling that his
eye was upon me, and thinking either of the gleam of his
approbation or his graver look of doubt and dissent. May
God forgive my abuse and nonimprovement of this privilege,
for sure never was man more blessed in an associate !
But if I can thus write and feel, what must be the feelings
of his dear wife? She is indeed very desolate, but receives
support and consolation in the hour of her distress where she
had been taught to place her dependence in the hour of pro
sperity. She stands a most encouraging example of the power
of Christian faith in circumstances peculiarly trying. She has
lost in her husband the light of her eyes. She had almost
adopted Bowdler as a son, on whose arm she might lean
during the residue of life's journey. The staff is rent from
her grasp, and she is left a widow indeed.
X

322 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
You would be surprised at the cold, meagre, inadequate men
tion of Henry Thornton in the Christian Observer. It was
unavoidable. Henry had issued a very strong and urgent
request to his wife that he might not be eulogised in it. She
conveyed that request to me in still stronger language, I believe,
than it had been conveyed to her. I received it as a prohibition
even to mention him at all, and that was my course. But an
hour or two before the last sheet of the work went to press I was
told I might announce his death as if he were unknown to the
Editor except by the notoriety of his character. I cut out a
piece that had already been printed to make room for the few
words you see.
With our united regards to you all (I feel you are all become
dearer for loving so well those I loved), yours ever most truly,
Z. Macaulay.
TO MRS. H. MORE.
London, February 15, 181 5.
You would be shocked to hear that another dear friend had
been summoned from our circle. Dr. Buchanan had mingled
his tears with mine over Henry Thornton's grave. He staid
to talk over our loss till the succeeding da)-, when he left us
apparently in very good health. This state of health continued
to the very day of his death. He died very suddenly and
unexpectedly. It gives me unspeakable satisfaction to reflect
now on much that passed between us during that interview.
He was describing, among other things, the minute pains he
was taking with the proofs and revision of the Syriac Testa
ment, every page of which passed under his eye five times
before it was finally sent to press. He had expected, he said,
beforehand that this process would have proved irksome to him,
but no, he added, every fresh perusal of the sacred page seemed
to unveil new beauties. Here he stopped and burst into tears.
I was alarmed. ' Don't be alarmed,' he said as soon as he had
recovered himself; ' I could not suppress the emotion I felt as
I recollected the delight it had pleased God to afford me in
the reading of His Word.'
Mrs. Thornton, I think, is better on the whole. Marianne
has conducted herself admirably throughout the trying scenes
she has had to pass through.

FROM MRS. II. MORE TO MRS. MACAULAY.
My DEAR Frienh,— For your kind, interesting and heart
breaking letter I return you my sincere thanks, but they must

ZACHARY MACAULAY 323
be hasty, as I am very unwell. Thornton, Bowdler, Buchanan !
Three such men in three weeks ! Who next ? I almost tremble
to open a letter. But I need not add my sorrows to your own,
which are intense.
What a loss is Dr. Buchanan ! I am afraid, like the natives
of his own East, he sacrificed himself on the tomb of his
Benefactor, for I hear that a cold caught at Henry's funeral
brought on his death.
I am truly uneasy for Mr. Macaulay's health and peace from
the deep interest he takes in this unexpected misfortune. He
seems to be always working for others to the destruction of his
own repose and time. It is indeed a succession of Christian
offices of which his life is made up. It is a pleasure to talk
about him with dear Wilberforce. Mr. Macaulay's zeal in the
cause of the widow and fatherless is truly noble. Thank God
there is a reward for the righteous. Doubtless there is a God
that judgeth the earth ! — Yours affectionately, H. MORE.

FROM MRS. H. MORE.
Barley Wood, March 29, 18 15.
I must repeat it, no friend you have can sympathise with
you more cordially than myself in the infamous treatment you
continue to experience. I trust it will please God to remove
this heavy load from you, to support you under it, and to
sanctify it to you. The answer, I trust, must completely refute
the base charges by proving them to be utterly unfounded.
What a world it is ! Our dear Henry Thornton is perhaps
looking down from his blissful state, and rejoicing that he was
called to suffer in the cause of truth and humanity. This will
one day be your case. In the meantime your fair fame sustains
no injury in the opinion of the wise and good. Unhappily
that is not the majority in this planet, though I trust it is so
on the present question.
My two political sisters are so disgusted with the Whitehall
paper that they beg the favour of your ordering it to be changed
for any moderate three times a week paper. From being
friendly to Government it is become so inflammatory we don't
think it right to take it. It is almost as Jacobinical as Mr.
Brougham. How I grieve that Mr. Stephen is no longer in
the House to lift up his strong and honest voice ! This paper
puts in no speech but of one side. We should be glad of a
paper that comes out on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, that
we may not receive it on Sunday. Excuse this trouble. I have
forborne writing, knowing how full your hours are.

324

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

TO MRS. H. MORE.
Clapham, April 20, 1815.
Most gladly should I accept your invitation ; it is indeed a
most attractive one in every point of view, but I am sorry to say
I am forced to come to the painful conclusion that at present I
have no choice, but must remain a fixture in London.
I have answered Thorpe,1 it is true, as far as respects his
personal charges, and my friends are pleased to think satisfac
torily. I have also prepared a vindication of dear Henry
Thornton and the Sierra Leone Company and the African
Institution from the first moment of their existence, and have
satisfied some of the most enlightened men in England who
have condescended to go over with me the records of twenty-
five years of labour and travail, with the unquestionable
accuracy of every statement. The men who have taken this
pains are Lord Selkirk ; E. B. Wilbraham, M.P. ; the Grecian
Morritt, M.P. ; Blake, the author of paper currency ; W. Smith
of Norwich, M.P. ; and Mr. Thomas Harrison. They have
given me their time with a perseverance which is quite surpris
ing, and they have made the statement in truth their own, and
given it all the stamp of their authority. But the statement
though prepared, is not published, and considering the part these
friends have taken, and the importance of the thing in itself,
and the desirableness of avoiding delay, and the necessity of
occasionally meeting and consulting, I could not venture to
quit town.
Secondly, my partner, Tom Babington, sets off to-morrow to
Northamptonshire. Thirdly, a number of Slave Trade causes are now trying
weekly before the Privy Council, of which I have the whole and
sole conduct. It is precisely the time when the Lords of
Appeal are most unremitting in their sittings ; and when, there
fore, the large interests intrusted to me by my constituents, the
officers of the Navy, require from me the most unremitting
attention. Now, you will feel that any one of these three reasons would
be of force sufficient to prevent my flight from London, but
combined, they seem to form an absolutely insurmountable
barrier. TO MRS. II. MORE. Clapham, October 4, 1815.
I returned last night from Brighton, where I had the pain of
witnessing so rapid a falling off in the appearance and strength
1 See p. 287.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 325
of our dear friend,1 as wholly to extinguish any residue of hope
I had been led to cherish. She may still continue to linger
among us for some weeks, but she is so weak that it were to hope
against all ground of hope to consider her recovery, humanly
speaking, as possible. I had the melancholy satisfaction of
arranging all her worldly affairs for her, and thus removing one
source of disquietude. Her serenity, peace, and composure are
quite edifying. The few words she can utter are full of humble
and grateful feelings towards all her friends, but especially
towards her God and Saviour. ' I commit my soul,' she said,
' into the hands of my dear Redeemer who has been gently
leading me to the place He has provided for those that love
Him.' She has named her brother Daniel Sykes and myself her
executors ; Charles and Robert Grant the guardians of her sons ;
and Robert Inglis and his wife the guardians of her daughters.
Marianne is quite a surprising young woman. She is fully
aware of her mother's danger, but carries herself with wonderful
strength of mind. I fear greatly for her health. I am quite
alarmed at the idea of her catching her mother's complaint,2
and have been urging Wilberforce and the Grants to think what
can be done to prevent this. Oh, what a world it is !
London, October 18, 1815.
Mr. Wilberforce has of course informed you of the closing
scene of our dear friend which he witnessed at Brighton. Her
body is to arrive at Battersea Rise this evening, and to be laid
by the side of dear Henry's to-morrow. It is impossible to
imagine a death more truly consolatory and even beautiful.
Her repose not only of mind but of body seemed hardly to be
disturbed for an instant ; and the nearer she drew to the horizon,
the more clear and cloudless appeared her prospect. It was
perfect peace, the peace which passeth understanding. Mari
anne has outdone herself on this occasion. She has manifested
a most extraordinary union of tenderness and fortitude
throughout the whole of the trying scenes she has had to pass
through during the last twelve months ; and this last blow
seems only to have excited her to fresh efforts of constancy,
and meek and patient suffering.
I spent Saturday and Sunday last at Aspenden Hall3 in
company with my wife. We were much pleased with all we
saw. Mr. Preston gratified us by making William Wilberforce
and Tom declaim before us and the whole party. William
spoke well against standing armies, and Tom appeared as
1 Mrs. Henry Thornton.
- Pulmonary consumption.
3 Mr. Preston had moved his school to Aspenden Hall, Buntingford.

326 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Coningsby impeaching Harley, Earl of Oxford, for blasting
Marlborough's laurels by the peace of Utrecht. Both acquitted
themselves well. Preston speaks in very high terms of Tom in
respect both to literary improvement and moral conduct. As
to literature, he says he stands clearly at the head of the school,
and bears withal his station modestly. This is all very satis
factory, and affords great ground of thankfulness.
We are all very well, except as we suffer with our suffering
friends around us. Clapham., November 8, 1 815.
I ought to have written you sooner, had it only been to
relieve the trouble of your friend Mr. Coleman. His paper
will occupy so much room that it has hitherto been deferred
from sheer necessity. It has occurred to me also as advisable
to republish the whole of the preface in Paris as a tract, and to
distribute it liberally, with a view to conciliate the support of
the Roman Catholics there to the plan of circulating the Scrip
tures. But in order to do this it would be necessary to have an
exact transcript of the whole preface in the original language.
This perhaps Mr. Coleman will have the goodness to furnish.
There is, in fact, no French Bible Society. Mr. Leo is now
engaged in stereotyping De Sacy's version of the New Testa
ment for the use of French Catholics, and I am labouring to
make it more entirely the Bible Society's object, and I think I
have succeeded. The Bible Societ)- has contributed two hun
dred and fifty pounds, and will probably greatly add to that
sum, besides giving largely to promote the circulation of
Ostervald's Protestant version of the New Testament, also
stereotyped by Leo. Leo is vain and egotistical, but a most
useful man, who has done more for France with regard to the
Scriptures than all I know besides. I know him very well, and
can take it upon me to aver that if he ever spoke of revenge, it
was Christian revenge he meant, overcoming what he deemed
evil by good. The circumstance puts me in mind of what lately
happened to me. A correspondent, a very sensible man, whose
communication was not inserted in the Christian Observer,
wrote to express his displeasure, but concluded with saying,
'You have done me evil, but that will not move me from my
purpose of doing you good. I will still continue to take your
work.' Some allusions in the following letter require an explanation
to account for the strength of feeling displayed by Macaulay in
writing it. Events had occurred to cause disappointment and

ZACHARY MACAULAY 327
infinite perplexity to those desirous of promoting the interests
of the Reformed faith in France.
After the escape of Lavalette from prison the evening before
the sentence of death was to have been executed upon him,
General Sir Robert Wilson, with two other Englishmen, was
arrested as having aided in the evasion, and all his papers were
seized. Great irritation had already been aroused among
Frenchmen by the proceedings of the Secretaries of a Society
in London, the Protestant Society forthe Protection of Religious
Liberty, who had publicly asserted that the disturbances which
had recently taken place at Nismes were attributable to the
hostility of the French Government against the Protestants.
These gentlemen had persisted in publishing this statement
both at home and abroad, and in making violent attacks upon
the French Ministry, notwithstanding the receipt of a letter
which the Duke of Wellington had addressed to them, giving a
careful explanation of the causes of the political animosity
which had given rise to the riots at Nismes, and solemnly assur
ing them that the French Government had made every possible
effort to repress them.
The Protestant Society, however, not only entirely disre
garded the letter of the Duke of Wellington, and continued to
repeat their accusations with unabated virulence, but kept the
letter secret. When enquiries were made about it, apparently
on information furnished by the Duke himself, the Secretaries
made no apology, although the Society had also received letters
in support of it from the excellent M. Maron, the President of
the Protestant Consistory in Paris, and from some of the prin
cipal Reformed pastors, denying even more strongly than the
Duke had done the facts assumed in the published Resolutions
of the Protestant Society. The laudable endeavours of these
pastors towards pacification were only rewarded by the Secre
taries insinuating that they had written under the direction of
the Minister of Police, and styling M. Maron a weathercock.
Macaulay grimly observes that he supposes they will end by
vilifying the French Protestants because they will not admit
that they have been persecuted.
The question of the alleged persecution was finally laid at
rest, as far as England was concerned, by a speech of Lord
Castlereagh, on the 15th of January, in which he declared that

328 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the statements upon which the interference was commenced
and persisted in were absolutely untrue and without foundation.
But the effects of the agitation abroad were more permanent ;
and the excitement in France was brought to a climax by the
discovery of a letter among Sir Robert Wilson's papers
addressed to him from England by his brother, saying that in
order to overturn the Bourbon Government in France, the fire
must be kept vigorously alight, and that, above all, an 'insinua
tion of a persecution, real or imaginary, against the Protestants '
should be made, because it was ' an idea which spreads like
wildfire, and diffuses itself like a contagion among the people,
and engenders a spirit of mortal hatred for the new dynasty.'
It is not surprising that widespread indignation was excited
by these unprovoked and unprincipled assaults, or that pressure
should have been brought upon the French Government to
remove from the superintendence of the system of elementary
education newly introduced in Paris two eminent Protestants,
the loss of whose enlightened services was deeply deplored by
Macaulay and his foreign friends.
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, January 30, 1816.
This has been a very busy month with me, having two num
bers of the Christian Obsei-cer instead of one to carry through
the press ; and a good deal of both being written by myself, I
have literally been unable to spare a single moment to anything
but the urgent matter of the hour. Besides which my interrup
tions have been many, and I have had all my nine children at
home, who, by their clamour and their claims, did not add to my
leisure. I really feel that I owe you an apology for my neglect.
I hope you will find it in this brief but veritable statement.
But, pray, do not permit what I may have said of occupation
to prevent your using me whenever you feel occasion to do so.
I can always do the thing you wish, because I have always
some idle people about me ; but I cannot always write, for that
is not to be done by proxy. I have just closed my lunar
labours, and have gained two intercalary days of comparative
repose, and have besides a prospect of meeting the Royal Duke
or some other M.P. at the African Institution to-day. I medi
tate, therefore, a long letter, as you may judge from the size of
my paper and the closeness of my lines.
These vile Protestants, of London, I mean ! I have just been
giving an expose of their unwarrantable and mischievous pro-

ZACHARY MACAULAY 329
ceeding, and my head is full of them. I must therefore despatch
them first. They have thrown us back at least twenty years in
our religious intercourse with France. My brother and myself
had succeeded in establishing extensive communications for the
quiet diffusion of the Scriptures in France, and had also suc
ceeded in what was more difficult, in gaining the confidence of
some persons who have proved singularly useful in the promo
tion of our plans. All we have done is now put to risk ; we
view it indeed as undone. The Protestant Society and Sir
Robert Wilson have ruined us. We must expect no more
confidence. Indeed, being Englishmen, we have not the face
to ask it. We feel ourselves sunk, degraded, paralysed.
You have, ere this, seen dear Stephen's vigorous attack on
Spain and her Slave Trade. You and your sisters must admire
its characteristic energy, its high-toned, lofty principle. You
must know, entre nous, that I have been labouring hard to get
Stephen back to Parliament. The place I have thought of is
Colchester, which it is whispered will shortly be vacated. I
have no doubt of Stephen's success if he would stand, and I
have taken great pains to persuade him to do so, but he still
resists, chiefly, however, on the ground of expense. Notwith
standing this, I am proceeding in my plan of preparing matters
for securing his election just as if he had consented, and I have
got the heads of the religious bodies — Church, Quakers,
Methodists, etc., and also some strong Abolitionists, both
Ministerial and Opposition, to reserve themselves for him. His
opponent will be a violent Democrat and an unprincipled,
profligate fellow of the name of Harvey, such another as fiunt
at Bristol. Now my object in all this detail is first to put you
in possession ofthe facts ofthe case, and then to make use of
you for the promotion of my designs. Could you not in some
way contrive to ascertain whether, in case we should prevail
on Stephen to move, Davis * would be favourable ; whether, for
instance, he would be disposed to write to his own particular
friends there to say that what aid they could give to Stephen,
without injuring his interests, he would be obliged to them to
give? This you will see is an important ingredient in our
estimate of eventual success. I do long to see Stephen in
Parliament, a free, unfettered, independent man.
I must tell you another political secret before I turn to more
domestic topics. Lord Grenville and his friends will shortly
separate themselves from the Opposition. This you may rely
upon. It will probably, however, be some weeks before it is
publicly known, unless the course of the discussions on Thurs
day shall force an explosion earlier than is intended. The
matter, I believe, is known but to few.
1 Mr. Hart Davis, M. P. for Bristol.

330 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
At Battersea Rise things proceed as well as we could wish.
The Inglises are very good, and very amiable, and very well
bred, and they have also very good sense and a great deal of
heart. They are delighted with their charge and their occupa
tions, and seem thoroughly comfortable. A very pleasing and
affectionate intercourse seems to subsist between them and
Marianne, and all the others seem to treat them with a very
satisfactory confidence and respect. Dear Marianne's health
seems to improve, and I begin to lose my fears about her. Her
character for sense and piety rises higher as one knows her
better. She is truly a very superior young woman in all
respects. Henry also promises very well. As his faculties
develop, he shows much of the shrewdness and penetration of
his father's mind.
Tom, I think, improves ; I may say in all respects. He
grows tall, and is stout and healthy. His mind loses none of
its vigour. He is becoming a very fine classic. He takes
delight in the Greek tragedians, and has a relish for their
native beauties. When this task is once acquired, the work is
done. The pursuit of classical lore ceases to be a task, dt
becomes a passion. And his thirst for general knowledge con
tinues as ardent as ever. I have been most pleased, however,
with his moral improvement. I think his love of truth has
acquired very considerable strength, and that he has a disrelish
for what is low and sensual. He manifests a wakeful and
unceasing anxiety to obtain his master's approbation and ours.
May he become equally intent to please his God ! Our other
children thrive. Indeed there is none among them who is
not a source of comfort and enjoyment both to their mother
and myself. Her pains with them are ceaseless, and she reaps
the fruits of them in their docility and affection. May IS, 1816.
Our Prayer Book and Homily Society grows slowly. Two
bishops have given in their names, and we are rid of our debts.
The Meeting was peculiarly pleasing from the honest warmth
of Churchmanship mixed with Christian candour towards
others, which was witnessed at it. One of the circumstances of
deepest interest which transpired was the decree of the Russian
Emperor to circulate the Bible in the vulgar tongue throughout
all his dominions. There exists at present no translation in
vulgar Russian. It is now preparing. Vansittart1 told the
meeting that this was a practical comment on the Christian
Treaty which had been so much vilified.
1 Right Hon. N. Vansittart, Chancellor ofthe Exchequer, afterwards Lord Bexley.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 331
I have not time to add much more, for I am a good deal
hurried, and my friend Mr. Marryatt has just brought out
another abusive pamphlet which I fear I must answer, but I
will tell you an anecdote of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg.
Before his marriage he took occasion to dwell in his letters to
the Princess on the paramount obligations of religion, and he
seems disposed to measure the conduct and character of men
by a Christian standard. But the greatest proof of his firmness
and courage was his preferring a particular request that in
preparing the wedding-clothes of the Princess, the petticoats
might all be made five inches longer than those she then wore.
She had outgrown them. Wilberforce went to Court on
Thursday. The Prince and Princess were very gracious to
him.

TO MRS. MACAULAY. • London, August 26, 1816.
This is the seventeenth anniversary of our wedding-day —
an event which brings in the retrospect no painful regrets but
what arise from a sense of one's own defects, and which has
been to me a source of great and growing happiness. I desire
to feel thankful to God for all the fond domestic enjoyment of
which it has been productive, mixed as it has been with so
little of domestic sorrow. When I consider this, and count
over the children whom God has given us, and the pleasing
hopes He allows us to indulge respecting them, I am ashamed
to think on the disquiet which external circumstances have too
frequently occasioned to me, and the influence which the com
paratively insignificant trials to which I have been subjected
have had in clouding my brow and dejecting my spirits.
Accept, my dear Selina, my heartfelt acknowledgments of all
your undeviating care and kindness, and forbearance and devo
tion, and rest assured of the undiminished warmth of my attach
ment, and of my increasing regard and affection. The children
have all been clamorous for my return to dinner, and I mean to
indulge them by complying with their wish. To-morrow I
mean to pay a visit to Hammersmith. On the next day,
therefore, I shall be able to give you some account of John,
who I understand goes on well.
I should most gladly join you at Barley Wood if I could, but
the thing is quite impossible. I long much to spend a day or
two with dear Miss Hannah, and once more to express to her
how much I value her friendship. I never can forget that it is
to her early friendship I owe, under Providence, in no small
degree my wife.

332 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
September 1816.
Patty Smith is certainly possessed of a very superior under
standing, and I hope, to use a phrase which she herself abomin
ates, is an improving character. She objects with considerable
force to the kind of graduated scale which the Saints are in the
habit of applying to all that come within their reach. She
admits at the same time that things are terribly wrong in the
circle in which she is called to move ; and she loves the devo
tions of the Church of England. I have a real love and
affection for her father, and most anxiously desire his own
good and that of his children.
The virulence of our West Indian friends knows no respite.
The newspapers are filled with their abuse and invectives, and
they seem only to be more and more at leisure since Parliament
has been prorogued to carry on their war of personalities. All
this will be felt to be less than nothing when the transitory
scene shall close upon us ; and I trust we are all of us very
content to bear the reproach now, for the sake of the cause in
which we receive it.
Mr. William Smith, M.P. for Norwich, a strong Abolitionist
and a Unitarian, had lived at Clapham during the first few
years of the century, and become very intimate with Macaulay.
He was the grandfather of Miss Florence Nightingale.
One burden was lifted from Macaulay's heavily laden shoul
ders towards the end of the year 1816, when he resigned the
Editorship of the Christian Observer, having secured a com
petent successor in the Rev. Samuel Wilks. But although he
was relieved from the labour and responsibility of editing the
Magazine, he continued to write constantly in its pages upon
slavery and other subjects.

TO MRS. H. MORE. London, May 31, 1817.
Our project for the holidays is, if my engagements will then
admit of it, and God will, to visit Scotland. I have scarcely
seen it since I was sixteen. I wish to show it to my wife and
to Tom. Its stupendous scenery, so much unlike anything he
has ever seen — the realisation of what seem but the daydreams
of poets — cannot fail to interest and, I hope, to improve him.
In that land of our fathers I have also many dear and valued
friends who will rejoice to see me and mine, and to whom I
shall be glad to make them known.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 333
It would have been impossible indeed even to have thought
of this journey, had I not succeeded in obtaining a substitute
for the Christian Observer. In that capacity Wilks, I should
hope, will do well. He is quick in conception and has a ready
pen ; and on the whole, as an editor, I have rather a strong
expectation that he will do well. I am quite sure that if he
will give his mind, as well as time to it, he may greatly raise it.
In one respect, however, Wilks has sadly disappointed me.
I mean as a preacher. He has chosen to extemporise, and that
at Clapham ; and nothing can be less interesting, and more
crude and vapid than some of his exhibitions. This is quite
inexcusable. I have freely and unreservedly told him my
mind upon this point, and I have no doubt that if Dealtry were
absent for three months instead of one, we should lose a third
of the congregation, provided Wilks did not mend. He seems,
however, conscious of the error into which he has fallen, and I
look confidently for better things. He behaved very amiably
when I explained to him my feelings, and expressed an inten
tion of writing his sermons in future, and also of bestowing
more mind upon them. He has acquired, besides, a bad
manner in preaching, although he reads the service pretty well.
This evidently is the effect of extemporising. He has more
the air of a man making a speech at a public meeting than of a
minister preaching to dying men and perishing souls. I have
mentioned this to him also. He ought, I think, to go to Thel-
wall for some instruction in speaking, but this I have not
ventured to say.
Our great meetings this year have certainly been better con
ducted than I have ever known them. Of Wilberforce, always
seraphic, and the good Bishop1 I need say nothing. Sir
Thomas Acland did well and spiritedly. Young Clayton, the
Dissenter, was ingenious and gentlemanlike, and quite redeemed
the Dissenting, character from the generality at least of the
imputation of coarseness. Watson, the Wesleyan Methodist,
spoke with singular delicacy and feeling, and with a degree of
good taste that would have done credit even to such a man as
Reginald Heber. He is certainly both an able and an honest
man. A Dr. Mason from New York burst upon us with a wild
and erratic magnificence that brought to my mind the mammoth
bounding over the Andes. It was quite new, and on the whole
well sustained, but it was American, and to them a little rant
may be pardoned. It was not a little amusing to hear an
American divine preaching to a British audience on the duties
of loyalty, recommending it to them to honour the King, and
not to meddle with those given to change.
1 Ryder, Bishop of Gloucester and Dean of Wells.

334 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
London, November 7 ', 18 17.
What an awful occurrence is this which has burst upon us ! 1 I
met the Cabinet Ministers yesterday as they were separating
from the Council Chamber. They appeared to have been in
tears. Lord Bathurst seemed deeply affected. I spoke to Mr.
Vansittart. He grasped my hand with that sort of convulsive
agitation which marked the deepest tone of feeling, and could
hardly utter a word. A deep and solemn gloom seems to
pervade this great capital where so many things are hourly
occurring to chase it away. What must it be in a retreat
like yours, where there is time for anatomising the whole
case.2 Two things are consolatory. One is that yours was
the last book she read in her state of pupilage ; another, that
since her marriage she has been quite domesticated, and her
husband, I have heard, is a man of much right religious feeling.
What a blessing may this marriage prove to her ! It has been
the means indeed, apparently, of depriving her of an earthly
crown. It is not impossible, one may at least hope, that it may
have been the means of preparing her for a heavenly crown.
London, December 24, 18 17.
We are much pleased with your friends the Hubers. They
passed last Sunday with us, and heard Dealtry preach twice.
One of his sermons was in his very best style, and they
appeared struck with it. The other was a familiar exposition
of a passage of Scripture for his poorer afternoon congregation,
but, though plain, it was in good taste.
I have been taking some pains about Geneva, and have
induced the Church Missionary Society to undertake to look
out for a suitable person. The situation requires the union of
such rare talents, that I protest, unless we can induce Owen 3 or
Charles Hoare to expatriate themselves for a year or two, I
see no hope. If one of them would migrate thither, the
chapter of accidents, or rather the Providence of God, would
probably provide a successor.
Tom returned home yesterday in good health. He has
grown a good deal in the last half-year, and has reached very
nearly his father's height. He is improved in manner, and
Preston speaks of him with unqualified commendation. I en
deavour to impress upon him the importance of attending to
minuteness if he would do great things well, a rule applicable
not merely to literature, but to morals and religion also. This
1 The death of Princess Charlotte.
- ' I do not think Patty had dry eyes for a fortnight.'— Mrs. H. More to Mrs.
Kennicott. :l The Rev. John Owen, Secretary of the Bible Society.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 335
is precisely the kind of discipline of which he stands especially
in need. I have a very precise methodical servant whom I
took with me into Scotland. He was out of all patience with
Tom's want of method, and read him some very serious lectures
on the subject, which I fear, however, did not make a deep
impression.

TO

London, January 5, 1818.
I have read your Review of Miss Taylor's Essays,1 twice over,
with care. I have read her whole volume once, and many parts
twice, thrice, and even four times, with no less care ; and am
now, in my own conceit at least, qualified to pass some judg
ment both on the Poet and the Reviewer. I confess that I am
a little disposed to question the justice of those rules of criticism
which would measure the excellence of works of imagination
merely by the moral, and which would therefore place Lalla
Rookh in disadvantageous contrast as a poetical work with
Essays in Rhyme. How would such a mode of judging answer
in the case of painting or sculpture, sister arts ? Place a paint
ing of the Last Judgment, which was a mere daub, side by side
with some voluptuous piece of one of the great masters of the
Italian School. You might turn from the latter with disgust,
but you would never recommend the former to the notice of
amateurs. Essays must not, of necessity, be written in rhyme ;
and if so written, they should have much beyond their moral to
recommend them. The characters in Law's Serious Call, or
Rowland Hill's Village Dialogues, or Hannah More's Caelebs, do
very well, and produce a very good effect where they are. If
removed from their present position in order to be versified, it
certainly is not sufficient that the lines run smoothly and give
no violent offence to a musical ear. Still things must be sung
as well as said. And although I would not think of turning
from our prose translations of the Psalms to Stemhold and
Hopkins for the pleasures of the imagination, yet doubtless
Stemhold and Hopkins will attract readers when the prose
translation would not. Still I should never think of bringing
these gentlemen forward in contrast with Dryden or Pope,
polluting as their pages often are, or recommending their
poetry because the moral of it was good. Much of what I
have said is certainly not strictly applicable to the point in
hand, except in the way of illustration. Miss Taylor has cer
tainly written very sensibly and piously ; and she has clothed
1 Essays in Rhyme on Morals and Manners, by Jane Taylor, 1816.

336 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
her sentiments in very tolerable rhymes, but not in better, I
should think, than (independent of their moral) might be
written by scores of men and women. I say independent of
their moral, for, after all, if we do not insist on Moralists rising
above mediocrity with poetry in which they may choose to clothe
their thoughts, we shall be inundated with moral and religious
poetasters. Miss Taylor's poetry is, however, sufficiently re
spectable to entitle her to publish it. This I fully admit; but
then I think you give her too high a place when you would
bring her into contact with Cowper. She may possibly rank
with Kirke White, Montgomery, and Gisborne, but to me she
appears not to reach some of them, and she falls far below
Charles Grant, and Heber, and Wilson (in his City of the
Plague).

ZACHARY MACAULAY 337

CHAPTER XI
REMOVAL TO LONDON
The deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Thornton had broken almost the
last link which held Macaulay to Clapham. Already the
greater number of the members who had composed the coterie
surrounding the Common, the Wilberforces, Grants, Stephens
and Teignmouths, had dispersed to residences in different parts
of London : and although Macaulay still paid frequent visits
to Battersea Rise, where the kind and hospitable Sir Robert
Inglis was established with his wife as guardians to the young
Thorntons, yet the tie which had hitherto bound him to
Clapham Common was severed. He began to consider the
convenience in his busy life of taking up his abode in London ;
and accordingly early in 1818 the household removed to
Cadogan Place, a situation selected partly for the advantage
of the neighbourhood to Wilberforce's house in Kensington
Gore. Two more children had been added to his number :
Margaret, who was from early childhood unusually lovely
and attractive ; and Charles, the youngest of the family, who
was born in 1813.
Macaulay fulfilled his duties as a parent and head of a
family with great attention and exactitude. The education
and characters of his children were his constant study, and
any circumstances which concerned their spiritual and moral
welfare were carefully noted and taken advantage of by him.
But it will have been gathered from his correspondence that
his eldest son occupied the largest share in his thoughts and
affections, although, with the exception of his wife, the only
individual to whom he permitted himself the indulgence of
expatiating upon Tom's merits and Tom's abilities was his old
and sympathetic friend, Mrs. Hannah More. It is plain that
in his strictly conscientious performance of duty he had made
up his mind that the uncommon powers of mind evinced by
Y

33* LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the boy formed a special call upon him as a father to exercise
the most minute care in training and fitting him for any career
which he might select. At one time he fondly cherished the
hope of seeing this beloved son devote himself to the Church
and take Orders, but it appears that he did not endeavour
beyond certain limits to influence the young man's choice
of a profession, and that he confined himself to preparing the
instrument for whatever service might be destined for it.
As the period approached when the boy must quit the shelter
of Aspenden Hall for the larger sphere of the University, the
anxiety of the father knew no bounds. He pondered deeply
and took much advice upon the best way of shielding his son
from the dangers which he foreshadowed for him there, and
of preparing him for the distinction which he hoped that he
was destined to achieve. Many were the letters which passed
upon the subject. George Stainforth, a young Cambridge
student whose career of high promise was cut short by an early
death, and who was the son of a member of the former Clapham
coterie, was applied to for his assistance. In an amusing letter
to a member of his own family, Stainforth, after stating that
Tom Macaulay would be a pupil of no ordinary attainments,
and that it would require more time and exertion on his own
part to render him any effectual service in his studies than he
could well afford to surrender with the prospect of a Trinity
Fellowship examination before him, goes on to sa)- that with
the sincere respect, even veneration, which he felt for Mr.
Macaulay he would wish to gratify him in every particular, and
that he has no hesitation in believing that Mr. Macaulay would
be certain to disapprove of the companions Tom would meet
if placed under his care at Cambridge.
However, by perseverance all difficulties were overcome, and
Stainforth devoted himself for a time during the long vacation
entirely to his young pupil, who retained in after life a great
admiration for his abilities. It was arranged that Tom should
reside at Clapham with Stainforth's family for the last few
months before going to the University, and only pay occasional
visits to his own home; and before these visits took place
letters always passed with his father, carefully weighing the
advantages and disadvantages likely to result from each inter
ruption to the course of study.

ZACHARY MACAULAY

339

When the time arrived for the lad to go to Cambridge
Macaulay accompanied him, and he wrote a pretty letter from
Cambridge to Mrs. Macaulay detailing the purchases which he
and Tom had made together, and recounting how, according to
prearrangement, he had settled Tom in lodgings with Henry
Thornton, the eldest son of his lamented friend, — how Tom and
Henry seemed to take much to each other, — how their tutor
Mr. Browne promised to 'select among the thirty laundresses of
Trinity College one of exemplary virtue for our youths,' — and
the measures which he took to prevent any association beyond
the merest civility with certain cousins who had asked Tom to
take a walk with them, but whose characters did not meet with
his father's approval.

TO MRS. H. MORE. London, March 23, 1818.
I received this morning the enclosed letter from the Rev. Mr
Gallaudet,1 for whose acquaintance I have you to thank. He is
a very valuable man, and possesses, along with a powerful and
well-furnished mind, a better taste than usually falls to the lot
of Anglo-Americans. A very useful and rather superior volume
of sermons by this gentleman, dedicated to you, is about to
appear in this country.
You were right in supposing that Thomas's 2 protest was but
the signal for battle. It has now become very evident that the
hostility of the worldly part of our hierarchy to true religion is
deep and inveterate. At the same time I feel nothing dismayed
by this discovery. I am only anxious that those who are sound
in doctrine and right in principle may also be correct in con
duct, and particularly that they may make their moderation
known unto all men. If they do, they must gain by the
struggle ; for the very violence and fury of the adverse party,
if allowed to run their course, must defeat their ends. I am
ten times more afraid of ourselves than I am of them. How
much more injury, for example, is done to the cause of true
religion by the hastiness and want of a kind and conciliatory
1 Rev. T. H. Gallaudet, Principal of the Asylum for the Education of the Deaf
and Dumb in Connecticut, U.S.A. He had been residing for some time in Paris in
order to acquaint himself with the system of the Abbe Sicard.
2 The Rev. Josiah Thomas, Archdeacon of Bath, had caused great consternation
by introducing himself into a Meeting called by the supporters of the Church
Missionary Society in December 1817 and delivering a protest against the establish
ment of such a Society in the city of Bath. The Bishop of Gloucester was in the
chair at the time, which made the Archdeacon's conduct still more significant.

34Q

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

spirit shown in the letters dear John Sargent1 has published by
way of defence, than by all the petulant and malignant effusions
of Lloyd or of his curate.
My brother has lately been kissing the Pope's hand. He was
very graciously received. He tells me that an Irish gentleman
belonging to the Propaganda had lately a discussion with an
Italian Catholic as to the salvability of heretics. The Irishman,
having many Protestant relations, was unwilling to consign
them over to wholesale destruction. He accordingly deter
mined to refer the matter to his Holiness. ' My son,' says the
old man, ' whoever is seeking the truth with all his heart is a
member of the Catholic Church, whatever be his name.' I wish
our English popes were half as liberal.
FROM MRS. H. MORE. Barley Wood, April n, 1818.
Poor dear Marianne ! I believe her conscience is tender, for
she was guilty of a little disingenuousness. She never wrote
me a syllable of her intention till the very day before she set
out, and then told me it would be too late for me to answer her
as she should be gone the next day, but begged me to write
her some warnings when she was abroad. I would speak with
all due tenderness, but I must say that three visits to France
within two years of the death of her excellent mother is not a
good example for Henry Thornton's daughter. I am sure it
would be painful to her incomparable friends and protectors,
the Inglises.
The good old lady's animadversions did not meet with sym
pathy from Macaulay, who in any case would have been unwill
ing to admit that Henry Thornton's eldest daughter, for whom
he cherished an hereditary affection and admiration, could do
wrong. But on this occasion he had given his particular
approval to the proposed expedition to France with some
friends as likely to be beneficial to the health and spirits of a
girl who, before she was eighteen, had been called upon to pass
through the furnace of affliction, and whose present position
entailed upon her much care and responsibility. He assured
Mrs. II. More that Sir Robert and Lady Inglis were themselves
much addicted to travelling in France, and were delighted that
Marianne should have the opportunity of a short change of
1 Rev. John Sargent, rector of Lavington, and author of the Memoir of Henry
Martyn.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 341
scene. Mrs. Hannah More herself was an excellent French
scholar, and had an extensive knowledge of French literature.
Lord Macaulay once related an anecdote which she had told
him of her going, in her early life, during one of her visits to
the Garricks, to a bookseller's shop in London, and of hearing,
while she was turning over books, a gentleman, who was in
conversation with the owner of the shop, at a loss for the
French word for mahogany. She came forward and supplied
acajou, upon which the gentleman requested an introduction,
and to her dismay she found her interlocutor to be the notorious
John Wilkes. He was so enchanted by her ready wit that he
followed her from the shop, and begged to have the honour of
continuing the acquaintance.
Mrs. H. More's letter, proceeding as it did from a woman of
unusual cultivation and who had mixed at one time largely in
the world, is a remarkable instance of the strong prejudice
which existed at that period in England against the French
nation. Macaulay, who had many friends on the other side of
the Channel, was constantly engaged in combating this preju
dice, and in refusing to insert inaccurate and detrimental attacks
upon the French people, and French literature, in the Christian
Observer. Upon one among many such occasions he writes to
a friend who had urged him to reconsider his refusal, and to
ask the Editor, who always treated his requests as commands,
to insert a particular article :
'The author has sadly overloaded his picture. I can say
most honestly, and I know many whose experience exactly
tallies with mine, that to my eyes Paris was far less offensive in
point of profligacy than London, and infinitely more decorous.
Besides he makes no distinctions. He allows of no travelling
out of England. Surely this is to shut up many sources of
improvement. He would have been much more successful had
he been more measured and less declamatory.'
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, April 17, 1818.
My DEAR FRIEND, — I never suffered myself to feel an hour's
disquiet about Mr. Archdeacon Thomas's movements. I did
not entertain a moment's doubt that it would tend to good.
And now in two or three short months behold the effect. The
list of our Society's friends as well as its funds are swelled

342 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
beyond expectation. Persons have become subscribers and
advocates who had scarcely heard of its existence until this
controversy arose, while it has taken a firmer hold than ever
of the attachment and affections of its former friends. This,
however, is but a small part of the good thus done. Our Bishops
are roused from their dead sleep. Heathen nations have at
length become the object of their professed concern ; and if
even of envy and strife they send forth Missionaries to carry
abroad the everlasting Gospel, therein I will rejoice. The
Society for propagating the Gospel in Foreign Parts, you pro
bably know, have appointed a committee of three persons, the
Bishop of London, Dr. Watson, and the Bishop of Gloucester,
to prepare a Report as to what should be done by the Society
in the way of Missions, and to prepare also an address to the
nation calling on all good Churchmen to concur in Christianising
the world. They are also some months hence to have a King's
letter requiring sermons to be preached and collections to be
made for the object in every church and chapel in the kingdom.
What a recognition of the duty of evangelising the heathen !
Even if they should fail in effecting great things, or in obtaining
pious Missionaries, they will have settled for ever the question
of the propriety of Missionary efforts. The duty of engaging
in them will have been solemnly recognised by the highest
authorities in the State. The work in one sense will have
become national. I own that this view of the subject does
console me for all that has taken place. But if we go further,
and suppose that pious Missionaries may be found and sent
forth, then we may look forward not merely to the direct good
which such men may effect among the heathen, but to the
reflected influence of their efforts and of their relations of those
effects on the minds of our Archbishops and Bishops and
Clergy. There also will they feel how surprisingly the Bible
Society has prepared their way, and their prejudices cannot
but soften.

FROM T. B. MACAULAY. Cambridge, October 23, 1S1S.
My DEAR Father,— I would have written earlier had I had
anything to communicate, which, however, is not even now the
case; so that all my information must be that I am alive, and
well and comfortable, that Cambridge is a strict exemplifica
tion of the old maxim, Magna urbs, magna solitude, and that I
live among my small circle of friends as familiarly and as
quietly as if we were in a desert island. I have resolved to
have no second order of acquaintance, no deput)- friends who

ZACHARY MACAULAY 343
torment each other and themselves by ceremonies which
only betray the coolness of their regard, and by a measured
interchange of the dullest visits. I will be social and not
gregarious. I could not trust myself to say and can hardly venture to
write all I feel upon entering on this world of hazard and
danger and competition and honour. The evils of Cambridge,
from all that I have been able to learn, are evils which must be
sought, and from such a depth of moral degradation I trust
that the goodness of God, my own education, and the connec
tions which I have formed will preserve me. Its honourable
distinctions are, it seems, the hard-earned, but the certain fruit
of exertion and perseverance. If I would not willingly fail of
attaining to some share in them, I trust it is not from selfish
motives. I am sure I never valued any human applause so
much as your quiet approbation, nor desired any human
rewards so much as your pleasure in my success. And I am
far less desirous to return loaded with medals or distinguished
on the tripos-paper, than to acquire here those accomplishments
and that information which may qualify me to inherit your
public objects, and to succeed to your benevolent enterprises.
There is an anecdote in Roman history which always affected
me much. Fabius, who when he was a child had been carried
on his father's knee on his triumphal entry into Rome, insisted
that when he himself came home with similar honours his
father should enter his chariot, and share the honours of his
son. I never had a higher ambition than that we might, if it
please God, triumph together over the enemies of humanity,
and I will do my utmost to obtain those weapons of assault
and that armour of defence which literature furnishes for such
contests in this seat of its dominion.
My dear mother, I send you my most affectionate love. My
dear Jane, are your tears dry? I kiss you with my 'mind's
lips.' Farewell. T. B. M.
TO MRS. H. MORE.
I am glad to find that the Bishop of Bristol1 courts your
correspondence. I would it might tend, poor man, to quicken
him in his spiritual course. And yet he has considerable
susceptibility of mind. When in Scotland about three or four
years ago with his daughters, he came in the evening to a
small inn in the Highlands, which proved to be so full as to be
altogether incapable of receiving another visitor. The Bishop
and his party were much distressed ; the night threatened to
1 Dr. Mansel, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge.

344 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
be boisterous, and no resource seemed to remain but that of
sleeping in their carriage. The minister of the parish, an old
and valued friend of mine, Dr. Maclntyre, who himself told me
the anecdote, hearing that an English Bishop was thus circum
stanced, went to the inn and brought him and his daughters to
the manse, where he entertained them with true Highland
hospitality. After supper he begged the Bishop to go to
prayer. This the Bishop declined. My friend, then about
eighty, having called lm family together and read a portion of
Scripture, poured out his heart in prayer, and prayed at some
length and with much feeling for the Bishop and his daughters.
At the conclusion the Bishop was in tears — he seemed quite
melted, and talked of nothing else during the rest of the
evening but the folly of sacrificing the pure and substantial
joys flowing from religion for all the world had to bestow. In
the morning he showed the Bishop his church, and while
viewing it said to him : ' My Lord, will it be too much if I ask
the favour of your filling my pulpit for a few seconds and
giving your blessing to me and my people.' The Bishop
mounted without hesitation, and raising up his hands to heaven
and spreading them abroad, implored with fervour a blessing
on the good old man and his flock. He seemed much affected.
After breakfast he was going away, when Dr. Maclntyre said to
him : ' My Lord, you have given me and my people your
episcopal benediction : permit me, an old man tottering on the
verge of eternity, to give to you and yours, before we part, never
perhaps to see each other more, my blessing. He read the
ninety-first psalm with a few simple comments, and then knelt
down and commended the Bishop and his daughters to God and
his grace. The Bishop said he should never forget the lessons
of important instruction he had received at Glenorchy, nor the
lessons of Christian kindness and charity towards those who
might differ from us in external forms which his short stay
there had taught him. ' I trust,' said he, turning to his
daughters, ' that you and I will be the better for our unlooked-
for but providential meeting with Dr. Maclntvre as long as we
live.' TO MRS. H. MORE. London, October 26, 1S1S.
I explained to you in a former letter what we had done
with a view to complete the abolition of the Slave Trade at
the Congress. I have now to state the progress that has been
made. When Mr. Clarkson reached Aix-la-Chapelle he communi-

ZACHARY MACAULAY 345
eated both to Lord Castlereagh and the Duke of Wellington
the address of which I sent you a copy. Lord Castlereagh
pledged himself, to nothing specific, but he promised to do all
he could for our object. The Duke was more decided. He
said the Portuguese must absolutely be forced to give up the
trade. ' They must do it.' He was very indignant with them
and the French also. He saw no reason why the Slave Trade
should not be declared piracy. It was its proper designation.
And he would do his utmost to forward the object.
Clarkson had a long interview with Alexander, who gave
him a cordial reception. He told Clarkson that it was not to
be endured that Portugal should continue to resist the united
wishes of Europe by retaining the Slave Trade for a single
hour after all the other nations had abandoned it. ' I take
shame to myself,' he observed with a strong expression of
humiliation, ' before God, that from too great an anxiety to main
tain concord at Vienna we should have left there this great work
unfinished. It was a great and criminal omission, and it must
not be repeated. We must now overrule all objections, and
have an early and universal extinction put to this dreadful
traffic. When I consider what I owe to the unmerited kindness
of the Almighty, who by His providence rescued me and my
people from the oppressor who threatened to overwhelm us, I
feel that I should be the most ungrateful and inexcusable of
human beings if I did not labour with all my might to liberate
others still more oppressed, and especially our wretched
brethren in Africa. Count upon me in this matter.' Much
more passed on this subject equally honourable to him and
cheering to us.
The Emperor conversed with Clarkson on other subjects,
among others on the schemes of Owen of Lanark, who is now
at Aix-la-Chapelle presenting memorials with his works to the
assembled monarchs. In substance what he said may be thus
given : — ' I altogether disapprove of Mr. Owen's views and
plans. He proceeds on the assumption that man may become
a perfect being even here. Who that knows his own heart and
the demands of God's law would ever dream of this. I have
learnt for some time at least that to make men good is the
work of the Holy Spirit, and of him alone, and none but those
who pray earnestly for His aid and cherish His influence can
ever attain any degree of real goodness in this life. Mr. Owen
also insists much on certain facts as proving his theory. But
facts in the hands of such a man are anything he chooses to
make them. I distrust all such facts as contradict Scripture.
This is the fountain whence we must draw our knowledge of
man's real state by nature, his possibilities of improvement,

346 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
and his future destiny, and all that is inconsistent with this
must be rejected as false. Mr. Owen's defect, after all, seems
more of the head than the heart. He appears to me deranged
in his intellects.'
He spoke also of the Peace Societies to the following effect :
— ' Expecting, as I certainly do, the arrival of a period when,
through the prevalence of the Gospel, nations shall learn war
no more, I cannot disapprove of any societies who propose to
hasten so desirable a consummation. I had hoped at one time
to connect with the Holy Alliance a plan of arbitrating national
differences so as to avoid all future appeals to arms, but things
were not ripe for it. As an approach to it I mean to propose.
that, as the sovereigns of Europe now know each other as
friends, there shall a meeting take place between them once in
every three years for the general objects of redressing wrongs,
conciliating differences, checking tendencies to war, removing
causes of discontent, and advising with each other as to the
means of preserving the general tranquillity, promoting the
general happiness, and diffusing knowledge, civilisation and
the blessed light of religion throughout the world.'
What shall we say to all this? What but rejoice together,
and prostrate ourselves in thankful adoration before Him who
has the hearts of all in His hands, and has prepared this
mighty instrument of His mercy and grace.
I went down with Tom to Cambridge last week, and have
settled him very comfortably at College. He and Henry
Thornton have their apartments under one roof and by them
selves, and they have taken to each other in a way that is very
gratifying. The tutor I have got for him is George Stainforth,
a son of our friend and neighbour, and an early schoolfellow of
Tom's, who feels warmly interested in his success, and who has
highly distinguished himself as a classic. He has one or two
other valuable and hard-working friends living close to him,
and he seems disposed to follow my recommendation of con
fining himself for the present pretty much to this small circle.
I had a letter from him two days ago which is promising : may
the progress and end correspond to the beginning ! Pray write
him a line when you can to strengthen him. He will receive
with filial reverence whatever you say to him.
We have got into a very comfortable house, within one mile
of Wilberforce and Stephen, and not quite two miles from the
Babingtons in Downing Street. I have returned to town for
an important cause which I have to conduct about Slave Trade,
and have besides decided on prosecuting Thorpe for his last
libel.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 347

TO MRS. H. MORE.
Cadogan Place, November 24, 1818.
Another letter arrived yesterday from Tom which I enclose.
It is addressed to his sister Jane, and has given me almost
more gratification than any else I have received from him.
Every word is so appropriate and so kind and so judicious.
May God preserve him in his present apparent purity and sim
plicity of mind.
I send you besides a pamphlet in French from dear, in
defatigable Stephen's pen. The French is corrupt in some
places, but nothing can hide out his powerful mind, his vivid
feelings of manly indignation, his bold and fearless avowal of
Christian principles. I bless God for having formed such
friendships as that of Stephen's. One such is a compensation
for a thousand Thorpes and Marryatts united.
We are getting settled by degrees and comfortably settled.
In all probability this will be our latest earthly sojourn. May
it prove a scene of daily preparation for a better.
Inglis, I find, means to see you in the course of a week. He
has long ardently desired it. His wife will be with him. They
are without exception the kindest people I ever knew. They
have many estimable qualities and endowments. True kindness,
gentleness, courtesy, everything that can flow from genuine
and undissembled Christian affection and Christian humility
in union, distinguish them in a very marked degree.

FROM JAMES MILL, ESQ.1
1 Queen Square, April 13, 18 19.
MY DEAR SIR,- — I am very much obliged to you for the in
formation which your kind letter has just communicated to me.
I do not think it at all unreasonable that Mr. Grant should be
careful to receive real co-operation in the business over which
he presides. There must be a governing authority somewhere,
and if those who were the head should always be counteracted
by those who are the subordinates, there would be nothing but
anarchy and confusion. If I were to accept an office which in
its very constitution implied that it was an office for carrying
into effect the will of another, I should think it not my duty,
but a violation of my duty, to attempt to make it an instrument
for giving effect to my will in counteraction to his. I did not
allow myself to think of this office without considering the
1 Mr. James Mill had published in 1818 the History of India. In May 1819 he
was appointed assistant to the Examiner of Indian correspondence.

348 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
difference in some points (and after all they are not many)
between my views of the mode of governing India and those
of Mr. Grant ; and without being satisfied that I could con
sciously become that sort of instrument in his hands which the
nature of the office implies. I may perhaps fancy that in some
things some difference of mode might be attended with better
effects (I put it as an hypothetical case) ; but if, in the present
state of things, I see nothing better than the plans of Mr.
Grant which have any chance of being carried into effect, there
could be no reason in such a case why I should not do what
lies in me to carry them into effect in the most perfect manner.
And, in fact, I have no manner of doubt, if my qualifications
proved to his mind in other respects, that we should proceed
harmoniously together. I do not by an)- means say that it is
impossible I could in an office receive a command from the
superior of that office which I should not think it my duty to
obey. But if I could not obey I should think it my duty to
resign, certainly not to endeavour by means either direct or
indirect to give efficacy to my will in opposition to his. These
are my sentiments, and most assuredly my conduct should be
correspondent to them. But I know not well how they may
best be vouched for to Mr. Grant.
All I know of the Board of Control is, that Mr. Canning,
I am told, speaks favourably of my book ; but I have never
been introduced either to him or to Courtney, and I know not
how far they would be disposed to recommend a man whose
opinions are, in many respects, so different from their own.
I have nearly finished the Life of Dr. Buchanan, and shall
probably knock at your door with it some morning early
enough to catch you. — I am, with sincere thanks, my dear sir,
most truly yours, j. Mill.
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, May 8, 1819.
Since I last wrote to you I have been daily mending, both
in health and spirits, and am now pretty much in my ordinary
state of being, making some allowance for the exhaustion of
the past week. At the Meeting of the Bible Society, Wilber
force was exquisite. Age, instead of damping the wings of
his imagination, seems to have lent them new elasticity. It
was the expansion and elevation of a spirit freed from its cor
poreal trammels and mundane feelings, and while it exulted
itself in the goodness of God, and in the opening prospects of
the Saviour's Kingdom, communicated to every other spirit
a sympathetic glow of spiritual affection and heavenly aspira-

ZACHARY MACAULAY

;49

tion. His very countenance seemed irradiated with the light
of heaven, and his voice spoke in every tone its accents.
The Chief Secretary for Ireland 1 attended, and surpassed in
the vividness of his eloquence anything I had before heard
from him. The Duke of Gloucester was there and acquitted
himself very creditably. He was quite astonished at the
immensity of the crowd, and particularly struck with the burst
of honest and heartfelt loyalty which resounded through every
part of the Hall on some allusion being made by Charles
Grant to the King. We had a Professor Kief from Paris, who
stated himself to be commissioned by the French Government
to assure us of their cordial favour and encouragement, and
who brought with him three copies of the Turkish Testament
which he had just finished at the expense of the Society, and
for distribution in Turkey with the sanction of the French
Government. I should be delighted to go down to you to
talk over these and other matters at length, but I am at
present tied to my post, as my nephew, who has been working
very hard for the last six months, is gone with his wife to
see the beauties of the Rhine. Matlock, August 31, 18 19.
Here we are for a few days a party of nine. Mr. and Mrs.
Babington and their two daughters are visiting us, and we are
enjoying the romantic scenery and luxurious tranquillity of
this delightful spot. At the end of the week we part. I pro
ceed to Manchester, and thence to Scotland on business. The
rest of the party, after seeing Chatsworth and Haddon, will
return to the Temple until the time comes for Selina and all
her children to go to Cadogan Place.
I trust I shall find Manchester and its vicinity in a less
ignited state than it has been in for some time past, and which
I cannot help attributing in no small degree to the criminal
supineness of the Government in not having more vigilantly
laboured to repress the host of seditious writers, the Black
Dwarfs} Medusas, Deists, Observers, (not meaning, of course,
one Observer), which have been so industriously exciting the
evils which now threaten to overwhelm the country. I do not
think they are guiltless if they are induced by the intimidation
of parliamentary speeches, or the apprehension of verdicts of
acquittal, to abstain from applying themselves to the radical
extirpation of these grand germinal movers of sedition and
rebellion. They are awakening at length, I trust, to a sense of
their duty in this respect. When I have seen Manchester, and
1 Charles Grant, afterwards Lord Glenelg.
- The Black Dwarf, a London weekly publication edited by Richard Carlile.

350 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
passed a day or two with Brougham at his castle on the
border, which I mean to do in my way to Scotland, I shall
be able, perhaps, to say more on this subject.
I have read your Sketches x with care, and I hope with profit,
and I trust they will prove extensively useful. It would not,
however, be honest in me not to say that I do not go along
with you in what you say of Foreign travel with the same
unqualified acquiescence with which I am disposed to adopt
your sentiments on other points. However, even there, I less
object to the sentiment than to the somewhat harsh and hostile
air with which France is treated. I should have already put
the book into the hands of half-a-dozen pious Frenchmen, but
that I fear there are passages in it which would seem to them
to go so far beyond the truth of the case, and to show so much
of unkind feeling towards them as to excite a strong prejudice
against your other works. I am quite sure you did not mean
this, and I am quite sure also that this hostile and forbidding
air might without much difficulty be changed in a future edition
for one more conciliating, for one which, without compromising
your own opinions, might make French readers feel at once the
justice of the opinion, and the kindly feeling of the writer.
The readers of English in France are now very numerous, and
your writings are very likely to get into very general use among
them. I feel, therefore, exceedingly solicitous that even their
prejudices should be a little studied at least in the manner of
dealing with them. I know you will forgive me for this
remark, which is called forth by a strong desire to extend your
usefulness in a country which more, perhaps, than any other,
stands in need of you ; and for doing good to which I agree
with Mr. Wilberforce in thinking that you are perhaps better
adapted than any other English writer.
The close of the long reign of George III., and the beginning
of that of his successor, were marked by a gloomy and threaten
ing state of the political atmosphere, and Macaulay shared to
the full the anxious forebodings with which serious men watched
the signs of the times. His disposition and acquired experi
ence, and a natural love of order led him ahvays to entertain a
decided inclination to range himself on the side of constitutional
authority, and he regarded with unqualified reprobation the
part taken in public affairs by the Radicals. He expressed
frequently to his correspondents the conviction which he felt
that evil days were at hand for England ; and on one occasion
1 Moral Sketches of prevailing Opinions and Manners, Foreign and Domestic. By
Hannah More. 1819.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 351
he clothed the ideas which occupied his mind somewhat
quaintly by writing that the whole enginery of irreligion and
sedition were playing upon our institutions, civil and ecclesi
astical, and that every experiment of sap and mine was
employing to upbear the foundations of the social edifice. His
disgust against the advanced section of politicians was further
excited by the partisanship shown by the Radicals for Queen
Caroline, whose proceedings had excited his utmost abhorrence ;
and' this feeling was a good deal intensified by the new relations
which he had now formed on the Continent, where no toleration
was shown for the public indecorum of her conduct.

TO MRS. H. MORE. London, February 18, 1820.
London exhibited on Wednesday a sad and solemn aspect.1
The day was gloomy. The churches were hung with black,
and they were crowded to fulness with congregations in the
deepest mourning. The impression of filial veneration and
regret was certainly very strong.
You have heard of the King's difference with his Ministers.
The subject was the divorce. He, I understood, was for carry
ing it through with a high hand. They would not be the
instruments, and tendered their resignation. This was on
Tuesday, the day before the funeral. He had sagacity enough
to see that he would add nothing to his popularity in quarrel
ling with his Ministers about a personal object, while his father
still lay unburied. He has therefore desired them to continue
in office, which implies his yielding his opinion to theirs.
There can be no doubt, however, that he will take as early an
opportunity as he decently can to part with them. He will not
forgive being thwarted on so tender a point. I am told he has
been irritable and agitated. It is said that when the Arch
bishop of Canterbury came to ask him if they should pray for
Queen Caroline he got into a paroxysm of anger which terrified
his Grace. March 30, 1820.
The enclosed wicked song Tom framed on his way the other
day from Cambridge. It may amuse you, but it ought not to
get out. There are some points in it which the person men
tioned would hardly forgive, although the purpose of it is to
turn the Radicals into ridicule. You will see something of his
1 On the death of King George the Third.

352 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
in a less questionable style in the next Christian Observer. It
is a paraphrase of the noble prophecy of Nahum, and I think
is executed with considerable spirit. It was written before he
went to college, but was afterwards mislaid, and I had forgotten
it till I met with it again lately. He has been employed upon
a larger effort than either of these in writing again for the
Chancellor's Medal. The subject is Waterloo. 1 have seen it,
and it bids fair for success. The subject has serious dis
advantages, but he has produced something upon it which I
think nearly as good as Pompeii, in some parts indeed better.
We are congratulating ourselves on the conviction of Burdett
and Hunt.1 The conduct of the judge, however, on the trial of
the latter strikes us all with astonishment. He appears almost
to have been acting under the impression of some strange, un
defined influence arising from intimidation. It is scarcely
possible on any other supposition that a man of Bayley's lights
could have confounded, for example, the cap of liberty borne by
the Manchester rabble, the proper emblem of blood and revolu
tion, with the Cap of Maintenance borne before the King ; or
that he should have admitted for a single moment that Hunt's
interpretation of the motto on his banner, ' Equal Representa
tion or Death,' could have the slightest foundation in anything
but the grossest and most barefaced perversion and sophistica
tion. The judge strangely submits it to the jun- whether it
may not have meant, as they alleged, that unless they obtained
an equal representation they would starve. This is really out
raging the common sense of the nation in a way that would be
most ridiculous, if it were not, viewing the matter in its effects,
most mischievous.
The Radicals carry things their own way in Westminster and
Middlesex. The Ministry will still, however, have a sufficient
majority. And on the whole I am friendly to a strong opposi
tion, for I cannot forget that Ministers are men, and need a
check. May, 17, 1S20.
I may well be ashamed of my long silence. You will hardly
believe me when I tell you that it has literally been owing to
want of time. I have begun a letter to you at least ten times
in the course of the last fortnight, and have been stopped in the
very beginning of it by something which could not be post
poned. Scarcely a day has passed since the ist of this month
without a meeting of some kind or other which I was under the
necessity of showing myself at, and in some cases of assisting
to prepare reports for. All this made it more difficult to
1 Sir Francis Burdett was tried at Leicester for a seditious libel. Henry Hunt was
charged with having conspired lo call a meeting at Manchester for illegal purposes.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 353
overtake the ordinary and urgent demand of counting-house
business, especially as Tom Babington has been absent a part
of the time in Wales with Lady Barham, where he and his wife
and children now are. And to add to the pressure, they have
placed me on the Grand Jury for Middlesex, which requires
time when I am least able to spare it.
You will be glad to hear that I prevailed on Lord Gambier
to omit the stave at the conclusion of the Church Missionary
Meeting. He did it with evident reluctance, but at the same
time with a real good-humour and kindness which endeared
him to me. It really was no small sacrifice for him to make.
He does not, you know, speak well, but he sings admirably ;
and no one can appear to more advantage when leading a con
cert of two thousand voices in singing ' Eternal are Thy
mercies, Lord.' The argument which decided him to give it up
was one drawn from the delicate circumstances of the Bishop
of Gloucester, and the obligation which lay upon us to do
nothing which might make him suffer any unnecessary reproach
from so courageously coming among us. We ought not to
subject him to have it said that he had been attending a con
venticle, or singing psalms in a tavern. The Bishop felt the
omission to be a great relief, and was thankful for it, but most
of the Dowager Religionists and all our young Misses were
sadly disappointed, and had they known the part I had had in
their disappointment, I should, I fear, have fared ill among them.
The practice, I trust, has ceased for ever.
At the Bible Society Meeting Lord Harrowby came into the
hall unexpectedly. One feeling seemed to pervade the meeting
on his being recognised. The thought which seemed to strike
every mind was this, that, but for the special interference of
Providence, he would have been a murdered corpse.1 The image
which presented itself irresistibly to my mind was that of Ings
the butcher plunging the dagger into this Christian statesman's
heart. Robert Grant made one of his powerful displays. It was
even sublime in some parts, but it was too ethereal for common
minds, and it also came too late in the day. Brilliant as he
was, some brutal persons at the extremity of the room became
impatient, and he was actually coughed down. It was most
provoking, but what human enjoyment is without its alloy ? It
was a mistake to call up one who had so much to say, and
could say it so well, at half-past four o'clock when the meeting
was exhausted partly by excitement, and partly by having been
many of them shut up in the hall for seven or eight hours.
1 This refers to the Cato Street conspiracy, which was to have been put into effect r
at a ministerial dinner at Lord Harrowby's house.
Z

354 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Your friend Tom is reading, I hope, hard. He got a Trinity
scholarship, as did also Henry Thornton, during the last
month. One of the exercises for the scholarship was to trans
late extemporaneously into English verse a Greek anacreontic
entitled 'Venus crying Cupid whom she has lost.' Tom's
translation of it was as follows : —
Oyez, Oyez, I 've lost a child,
Cupid the beautiful the wild,
He rose from bed at break of day,
Spread his light wings and skimmed away.
You'll know him by his roguish wiles.
His tears more sweet than others' smiles,
His little tongue for ever prattling,
The quiver at his shoulder rattling,
His rapid step, his laughing face,
His plumes that wave with fairy grace.
I grieve that I cannot proclaim,
In proper formj his father's name.
In truth, the heaven, the sea, the earth
Disown the little rebel's birth.
All groan beneath his cruel sway,
And all detest whom all obey.
Look to it, Masters, and beware
His fatal trap, his hidden snare.
Perchance while I recount his arts
He's weaving nets for poaching hearts.
He's there! Stop thief! I caught his face
Glancing from its old hiding-place ;
See, see, where nestling close he lies
In the blue heaven of Clara's eyes.
I had written thus far when I met the Duke of Gloucester, who
not only begged to address the cover of this letter, but to have
his kindest regards conveyed to you.
Mrs. Hannah More, in a letter to her friends M. and Madame
Huber, had commented with severity upon a passage which
occurred in the Life of Madame de Stael, by Madame Necker de
Saussure, which had just appeared: ' Le Juge supreme sera
clement envers le g£nie.' Her strictures led to a long corre
spondence with Madame Necker de Saussure, of whom Madame
de Stael once said, with rare humility : ' Elle a tous les talents
qu'on me suppose, et toutes les vertus qui me manquent'

TO MRS. II. MORE. May 24, 1820.
I enclose a packet from Huber which arrived yesterday, and
which will, I think, gratify you. Your letter has evidently had

ZACHARY MACAULAY

355

its effect on Madame Necker already in some degree, and I
doubt not will work on a mind so evidently ingenuous, until it
produce still more decided results. She feels she has been
wrong, and though she is uncomfortable under the feeling, it is
salutary, and I trust will issue in good. London, June 19, 1820.
Having a member of Parliament at my elbow, I have deter
mined to send you the enclosed note which I received from
Brougham about a week ago. Notwithstanding Brougham's
hopes expressed at that time, the negociation1 still remains
open. He said, however, that the main points are settled, but I
fear there is too much irritated feeling in the parties more
immediately concerned to allow of those liberal concessions on
minor points which would terminate all further discussion, and
restore the public mind to a state of quiet. There seems to
day no expectation of any favourable decision being announced
to Parliament. The anxiety on this subject is somewhat
increased by the insubordination which has appeared among
the Guards. It is said that perfect tranquillity has been
restored, but it is a truly awkward thing that, in the present
state of the country, we should not be able implicitly to rely on
the fidelity of the only species of force which can effectually
repress disorder. We must, I think, have recourse to our
yeomanry and volunteers in order to keep the regular troops
in due order, and to prevent their acquiring such a sense of
their own value and importance as may endanger the public
peace. One of the examiners of the poems sent in on the Battle of
Waterloo told Tom a few days ago that his poem would have
gained the prize had he dwelt at more length on the details of
the fight, that here the soldier had decidedly the advantage, and
was able to expatiate with more freedom and particularity of
description. He said, however, that they were considering
whether they should not publish his also.
I heard Henry Venn (our dear friend Venn's eldest son)
preach yesterday for the first time. It was a sermon of great
power and still greater promise. It is delightful to see a fourth
generation of Venns thus taking their stand on the Lord's side.
The second son goes out to India in a few weeks with higher
honours on his head, both literary and moral, than any young
man has yet carried away from the East India College. July 12, 1820.
I presume you are as full of the Queen at Barley Wood as
1 With the Queen.

356 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
we are at London. She has caused a very unfeminine bustle
here, and attracted great crowds. I, however, went not near the
scene, nor sought one look of her royal person, which I under
stand has been sufficiently exposed to the gaze of the passing
mob ; neither would I permit one of my house to go there
though within a mile of us, and my young folks felt a curiosity
to see a queen. Wilberforce1 has raised himself by his inter
ference. He has probably saved us from a shocking inundation
of impurity and licentiousness in the shape of examinations,
and also from much popular effervescence. Brougham is, I
believe, really solicitous to conclude this affair without noise.
Your donation to our infant asylum I gave to Brougham,
who is our treasurer, and who felt personally gratified by the
gift. Madame Necker evidently does not understand you or your
principles. If it is true, however, as the Hubers observe, that
she is eagerly endeavouring to acquire religious light under
some apprehension of her own blindness, she will doubtless be
led to it by a way she now knows not. Even the little friendly
discussion which has indirectly taken place between you may
lead to this end, by leading her to consider the whole subject
more accurately, and to read your writings more attentively.
Macaulay frequently went over to France on business con
nected with the Slave Trade, and his brother, General Macaulay,
was in the habit of residing for part of each year in Paris, where
he mixed freely in the best French society. Both brothers had
formed acquaintance which gradually ripened into intimate
friendship with a few persons of distinction in the political and
literary circles of the French capital, and particularly with the
son of the celebrated Madame de Stael, Baron Ausruste de
Stael, who had attained an unusual mastery over the English
language. Sir Walter Scott remarked his proficiency with
astonishment, and said Baron de Stael was the only foreigner he
had ever known who could speak English like an Englishman.'2
His sister Albertine, the only daughter of Madame de Stael,
who was married to Yictor, Duke de Broglie, the French states
man, became a close and lifelong friend of both the brothers ;
and in conjunction with her husband and Baron de Stael she
assisted them materially in their labours against the Foreign
1 See Life of William Wilberforce, vol. v.
2 Sismondi praises him highly, and snys : « Auguste de Stael a de la sagesse dans
les pensecs, de la gnlce et de la purcte dans le style.'— Lettres de Sismondi a Madame
d' Albany.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 357
Slave Trade, while Macaulay on his side endeavoured to the
best of his ability to help them to promote benevolent and
philanthropical schemes in France, and enlisted for the further
ance of these objects much of the machinery of the Religious
Societies upon the other side of the Channel.
The Duchess de Broglie and Auguste de Stael had both been
educated in the tenets of the Reformed Church of Geneva, and
had passed their youth chiefly at Coppet. They united grave
and serious views of life and a strong sense of duty with
polished manners and a sweetness and benevolence of disposi
tion which fascinated those who enjoyed the privilege of their
friendship. The strong bent of their minds to religion, which
they steadily practised in the midst of the temptations of the
most brilliant society in the civilised world of that period, and
the interest of which they consistently made the first aim of
their lives, formed immediately a link of sympathy between
them, and the grave hard-working stranger who had come
among them. From the Duke de Broglie he always received
the most cordial support and sympathy in his labours, and the
Duke constantly wrote to Macaulay to keep him informed of
the progress of the struggle which he was carrying on in the
French Senate for the abolition of the Traite des Negres.
The attention which Macaulay during his visits to France
paid to the celebrated Abbe Gregoire, formerly constitutional
Bishop of Blois, who was living in his old age in great poverty
and isolation at Auteuil, occupying his time in literary work,
excited considerable disfavour among his Parisian friends.
Gregoire's recent election to the Chamber of Deputies had been
annulled by a Royalist majority, and he had been pronounced
unworthy of sitting there upon the ground of complicity in
the condemnation of Louis xvi. This accusation he always
strenuously denied as far as regarded the infliction 'of the
penalty of death, and it should be added that he had run a
good deal of risk during the Reign of Terror by exerting him
self to liberate the refractory priests, and by supplying them
with the means of subsistence, and that he was actually
denounced at the Jacobin Club as desirous of Christianising the
Revolution. But the supreme merit of Gregoire in the eyes
of the Abolitionists was that, in 1794, he had proposed and
carried in the National Convention the total Abolition of

358 LIFE AND LETTERS' OF
Slavery. It will be remembered that in the same year
Macaulay and the infant Colony of Sierra Leone had suffered
almost total destruction at the hands of these friends of liberty.
Another Frenchman with whom he made acquaintance about
this time was M. Louis Dumont, who must not be confounded
with M. Dumont, of Geneva, the friend of Bentham. M. Louis
Dumont, a permanent official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
was a man of a modest and retiring disposition, but possessed
of considerable attainments, and his Zealand intelligence proved
of great assistance in the agitation against the French Slave
Trade. The similarity which was before long apparent in their
tastes and views brought him into very close relations with
Macaulay ; and soon after their first introduction to each other
they began a correspondence, which lasted, with some intervals,
until Macaulay's death, and which was evidently a source of
great pleasure to them both. M. Dumont, in an exquisitely
clear handwriting, but one so minutely formed that it is the
despair of the decipherer, bestowed upon his correspondent long
disquisitions about the state of political parties in France, united
with gloomy anticipations as to the course of events. The chief
object of his terror were the proletaires, who, as he explains,
' sont ceux qui n'ont pour subsister que les ressources de leur
travail. Ce mot est nouvellement francise.' Macaulay was in
no way wanting on his part, and kept his friend thoroughly
informed about public affairs in his country.
TO MRS. MACAULAY. Calais, September n, 1820.
The inns at Dover were very full and uncomfortable. It is a
shocking place for smells, arising from the mud and stagnant
water on every side. We made a most pleasant passage from
Dover to Calais in about three hours and a half. On getting to
Calais I went to Dcssin's Hotel, which is to the full as well
arrangedand as clean as the ver)- first inns in England.
On going to the passport office I was obliged to wait while a
sharp-looking fellow, eyeing me with a keen sort of glance from
head to foot, described my person. His description of me is as
follows: 'Age de 52 ans, taille dun metre 70 centimetres.
Cheveux bruns, front haut, sourcils bruns,, yeux gris bruns, nez
moyen, bouche moyenne, barbe brune, menton rond, visage
ovale, teint ordinaire.' I really do not believe that if you had

ZACHARY MACAULAY 359
been put to it, though you have known me for twenty-four
years, you could have given so accurate a description of me as
this Commis du Bureau des Passeports did in a few minutes.
You would be astonished to find how universal is the con
viction among the English I have met here, and at Dover
on their return from the Continent, that the Queen will be
acquitted ; how strong also is their expectation that if she is
not, there will be a convulsion in England. They are wrong,
I think, in both points. Such, however, is the case. All I
have met with seem astonished that I should dissent from the
above opinion. TO MRS. MACAULAY. Paris, September id, 1820.
I first went to Dumont, but he had gone out. I next called
on Gregoire, whom I found at home, and with whom I had a
long and very interesting conversation. He took me in his
arms and kissed me on both cheeks on my announcing my
name. We have made arrangements for meeting the Aboli
tionists, and for exciting a stronger effort in this country for
enforcing the laws against the Slave Trade. There is a generous
warmth about the old man which is delightful. At ten o'clock
to-day I am to receive some persons on this subject at my apart
ments, and to-morrow morning I am to meet Gregoire again.
Paris, September 27, 1820.
Dumont and I dined together yesterday at Very's, and spent
the evening in talking over a variety of subjects, chiefly con
nected with the Slave Trade. I was occupied a great part of
the morning in receiving visits, some of them interesting — one
from M. Morenas, a gentleman from Senegal ; another from
M. Monod, a Lutheran pastor of Paris ; a third from M. George,
a coloured man of intelligence from Hayti. To-day, as soon as
I have had my breakfast, I go to Gregoire to consult him and
some friends, and I have afterwards an appointment to go to
the great School d'Enseignement Mutuel.
I yesterday had a peep at the Duchess de Berry as she was
going to take a walk in a garden attached to the Tuileries.
She was in deepest weeds, and seemed hurried and agitated.
She is a little woman, and was attended by about twenty men,
all of them full six feet high, besides which she had a guard
lining the way from the palace gate to the garden to keep off
the mob. By the way there was no great assemblage, and
those who were present were perfectly silent; not a single
note of any kind was sounded.

360 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
You cannot think what a variety of temptations have been
put in my way of laces, and gloves, and caps and bonnets ofthe
most beautiful form, for Madame ma femme and Mesdemoiselles
mes filles. But I have been obliged to resist them all, and I
know not that I shall be able to bring a single thing to prove
my own taste and to gratify theirs. Mais nous verrons.
Paris, October I, 1820.
I passed a very pleasant afternoon with M. Cuvier. His wife
and daughter were pleasing and intelligent, and several savans
were collected there, among others, my friend M. Humboldt,
the great traveller. What has chiefly occupied me for some
days past has been the affair of the French Slave Trade, about
which I have been endeavouring, and not, I hope, without
success, to excite some interest. M. Humboldt is a warm
and intelligent friend, and he knows all who are of the same
disposition in this place. He is very urgent with me to try
the effect of a letter to the Duke de Richelieu stating facts
and requesting an interview ; but I greatly doubt the expedi
ency of this course, and my doubts are greatly aided by my
desire to be at home.
It is very curious to remark what a complete line of separa
tion in air, manner and appearance there is between the
English and the French, particularly the ladies, and yet I
like Paris and the French altogether much less than I did.
They are at the same time a very extraordinary people, and
not the less extraordinary when one views the variety of their
admirable institutions both of utility and benevolence, and
yet contemplates them as almost without God in the world.
Religion, however, is much more thought of and spoken of than
it was when I was last here. There is, among the Protestants
especially, an excitement of a very hopeful kind. Their collision
with us has been useful. But they are very cold and timid
still, and can only be considered as active when compared with
their former absolute torpor. As for the Catholics, there is a
great revival among them of the worst parts of their supersti
tion, and which stands in offensive contrast to the open and
avowed infidelity of the mass. There are here Societies actually
formed for giving to the public cheap editions of the works of
Voltaire against Christianity, just as with us there are Societies
for distributing Bibles and religious tracts at low prices. It is
a painful state of things.
The poor Duchess de Berry must have nerves of superhuman
strength. Ten thousand men of all arms were collected to-day
under the windows of her apartment, and the noise of trumpets
and kettledrums and fifes and hautboys was enough to distract

ZACHARY MACAULAY 361
a person in sound health. Poor thing ! What she must have
suffered on the night of her accouchement. Matters advanced
so rapidly to their completion that it was likely to be all over
before any witnesses could reach the scene of action. She was
in terror lest, if a boy, it would be represented as a supposititious
child. She cried out in an agony to throw open the door, and
call the soldiers in who were on guard. This was done, and a
number of them came in just in time. The appointed witnesses
came nearly about the same time. And there are some who
even now do not scruple to question its being really the son of
the Duchess de Berry, but a changeling. I heard very fervent
prayers put up for her to-day in the Protestant Temples.
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, October 17, 1820.
To return for one moment to the old subject, the Queen. In
France they laugh at us very heartily ! They have no doubt
of the guilt — but oh the folly — the more than childish folly of
convulsing the kingdom and risking a revolution for the sake
of what may have been done or may not have been done dans
ce genre, by a cast-off wife of upwards of fifty. They believe,
one and all, that the Radicals will prove too many for King
and Parliament. And it must be admitted that never on any
occasion was there such blundering, such gross and fatal mis
management, as on the part of our Government. Their best
friends admit it. And the worst of it is that there is no move
of retreat which does not raise most serious apprehensions in
the mind of every reflecting man.
Macaulay had taken a house at Brighton, the air of which
place his wife thought advantageous for her children, and for
several months of every year she was now in the habit of re
siding there with them, while her husband remained at Cadogan
Place, and only contrived to pay his family occasional visits of
a few days at such times as his numberless engagements per
mitted of absence from London.
The year 1820 was one of continual agitation and anxiety
in the political world, and the prosecutions against irreligious
publications which were instituted by the Society for the
Suppression of Vice, on the Committee of which Macaulay
was an active member, gave rise to great excitement. In the
follovving letter allusion is made to the trial of Richard Carlile
for editing and circulating publications which the Society charac-

362 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
terised as blasphemous and seditious ; and against Davidson, a
printer in Smithfield, for p"rlnting the Deist's Magazine.

FROM MRS. II. MORE.
Barley Wood, October 28, 1820.
I am sick at heart at the state of the country and the prospect
before us. It has pleased God to make this pernicious woman
the rod of his wrath to punish our sins. Radicalism is
triumphant. Even in this obscure corner we are deeply in
fected. Mr. Wylde, at his Tithe dinner the other day, could
prevail on only five men out of fifty to drink the King's health.
At a Court Leet held at Wrington a day or two ago, the Cryer
of the Court positively refused to utter the usual dismission,
' God save the King,' before the magistrates, etc. !
I am glad, however, that we have still some honest juries ;
witness Mr. Carlile and Mr. Deist, I forget his other name.
Are we to consider the trial as really over?

TO MRS. MACAULAY. London, November 4, 1820.
The argument on my affair came on again in Chancery yes
terday morning, and the pleadings closed about two. The
Vice-Chancellor, before whom the cause was tried, has given a
very clear indication that his decision will be entirely in our
favour ; but he said he thought it right to look at the cases that
had been cited by counsel before he pronounced his judgment.
There seems no doubt on the part eitlier of our counsel or of
the adverse counsel that it will be in our favour. You are
aware that this is not a trial of the merits of the case between
me and Thorpe ; x but an attempt of his, for the mere purpose
of delay, to induce the Court of Chancery to interfere to prevent
the trial from being brought in the Court of King's Bench until
I had previously answered his interrogatories respecting the
whole course of my life from infancy to age, and had produced
all my books, papers and correspondence for the last thirty
years. ' After the proceedings were over I went to Clapham.
I left again at half-past eight to return home, but before I
got through Lark Hall lane, so thick a fog came on that Smith
could not see his way. Instead of turning to Vauxhall he got
across Stockwell Common, and we found ourselves on the foot
path at Mr. Shewell's great house. By the help of a watchman
we got into the Vauxhall Road again, but before we got to
1 Some information about Thorpe will be found at page 287.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 363
the ' Wheat Sheaf at South Lambeth, Smith had again got on
the footpath, and over it into a ditch about three feet deep,
where horses, carriage, and all were immovably fixed. I am
glad you were not there. I got out, and collected eight or ten
men, who with some difficulty extricated the horses, and then
the carriage, neither of which received any injury. I then got
a man with torches to go before us the whole way over Vaux
hall Bridge, along the Vauxhall Road, up Grosvenor Place,
and then along Knightsbridge, and down Sloane Street home.
Smith lost himself once or twice notwithstanding the torch, but
my own accurate knowledge of every stick and stone of the
way enabled me, by getting out, to set him right again. I got
safely seated in my room by a capital fire about eleven o'clock,
or a little later, and with a glass of warm wine and water dissi
pated any feeling of discomfort from my tedious expedition.
I have been so busy with my friend Thorpe, and in preparing
for developing, as I must do in French, to the Duke Decazes,1
the abominations of the French Slave Trade — added to which
Tom Babington is again laid up — that I have had little leisure
time since you went. November'], 1820.
I found the Duke Decazes a remarkably pleasant, simple,
intelligent, kind-hearted man, professedly a warm friend to the
Abolition, and disposed to exert himself with all his influence
to promote it. He listened to me with great attention, and
expressed his horror at much that I told him. He had with
him an astute, cold-blooded Frenchman of the name of Siguier,
who, while he professed to be an Abolitionist, was a thorough
Slave-trader in principle, and tried adroitly to weaken the force
of many of my statements. For example. ' Ay, that is very
bad indeed, almost as bad as men selling their wives in Smith-
field,' or as 'flogging the soldiers,' etc. However, in spite of
the chilling influence of M. Siguier's affected philanthropy, but
real misanthropy, his Excellency seemed deeply impressed, and
has promised to do all he can. There were there besides the
Duke and Duchess (a thorough Frenchwoman of nineteen), her
brother and sister, the Prince and Princess Esterhazy, another
prince of the same name, the Secretary of the Austrian Legation,
.and two or three others. The entertainment was splendid. It
lasted about two hours. When over, ladies and gentlemen rose
all together, and went into the drawing-room, where we had
coffee. Afterwards the parties set themselves to act a number
of ridiculous pantomimes. To give you examples. One was the
play of Cinderella ; the three ladies were the three sisters, etc.
1 The Duke Decazes had recently been appointed French Ambassador to England.

364 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Another was teaching reading by example. A tall young man
marched into the room as stiff and straight as a poker, and
another marched behind him holding his clenched fist over the
crown of his head. This was to represent Le Point (poing)
sur ti. This silly play continued some time.
I go to Inglis's to-morrow, and on Friday I dine at Vansittart's.
So you see what a life of dissipation I lead.
The Queen went down to the House to-day to protest against
the Bill. She had hardly a dozen ragged boys following her.
As she returned I met her, and she had a more numerous
cortege, but still by no means numerous nor very noisy. I am
exceedingly puzzled as to what is the best course : the majority
is fearfully small. November 16, 1820.
Sir R. Inglis was here yesterday, kind as usual. He has
had all the windows of his house smashed. A stone fell on
Miss Patty Smith's bed. He has applied to the Hundred to
repair them. The thing was done without any previous warn
ing, and evidently to serve the glaziers.
What a surprising revolution in the state of men's minds
appears to be produced by a few months ! I greatly question
the continuance of this calm. But let us be thankful for it
while it lasts. Would that our Legislature would improve it
to the purpose of reviewing our moral state, and considering
what can be done to mend it. Lord King, I hear, is about to
bring Marsh's1 eighty-seven questions before the House of Lords.
I sent him, or rather made Hatchard send him, the Christian
Observer's comment upon them.

TO MRS. MACAULAY. London, November 25, 1820.
I am glad Margaret has acquitted herself so well both intel
lectually and morally. I assure you I never thought her at all
wanting in understanding, only her prominent quality is tender
affection. Well, whatever credit they may have for improve
ment either morally or intellectually must be given to you, and
I have much more pleasure in your having it than if I had it
myself. I have always been disposed to prefer private educa
tion for girls. Among the advantages, they enjoy a greater
range of intellectual conversation and of varied reading. A
library such as ours is of itself an immense advantage, an
1 Dr. Marsh, when appointed Bishop of Peterborough, propounded to all curates
who applied to him for a licence the notorious eighty-seven questions, popularly known
as 'a trap to cutch Cah'inists.' lie took this course with the object of keeping his
diocese clear of Evangelical clergy.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 365
advantage perhaps which scarcely admits of calculation. Then
consider the exercise which their faculties enjoy from merely
listening to what passes around them in a family like ours,
with the succession of well-informed and intelligent persons
that is to be seen there. And undoubtedly it is no small
benefit to be at home during Tom's holidays, which un
doubtedly they might not be if at school. He certainly is of
very great use to the very youngest of them. The very
interest their affection leads them to take in his pursuits, and in
mine also, is elevating to young minds expanding into life and
action. I value, however, still more the course of regular and
consistent discipline, applying chiefly to the state and temper
of the mind, which it is in the power of parents to pursue ; the
affectionate but decisive check imposed upon bad dispositions ;
the vigilance exercised as to all indications of bad humour
shown by pouting, harsh tones, and quick and unkind replies.
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, December 4, 1820.
My wife has told you of her safe arrival with her tribe of
girls, who all returned with their mouths and their hearts too,
I verily believe, full of Mrs. H. More. Hannah entertained us
for a long evening with all the displays of impromptu wit to
which she had listened at Barley Wood, and has frequently
broken in upon our dulness since with recollected flashes
which had been omitted in the first recital.
I am afraid you will think we have become radical in the
Christian Observer.
I assure you that my great objection to Ministers is that
they seem to be betraying the country into the hands of the
Radicals, instead of carrying out a more vigorous line of policy
on their parts, and above all, an endeavour to infuse into the
Bench of Bishops, and into the various Chapters, and among
the Clergy, as far as their patronage goes, a spirit more con
genial to their office, and more adapted to these times of
rebuke and blasphemy. However, this last is a separate ques
tion from their late conduct in respect to the Queen, which I
quite agree with.
Mortlock carried the two New Zealand Chiefs to see the
King. The King was very kind and attentive, showed them
his palace, gave them an immense cocked hat apiece and a
helmet. He asked one of them, Shunghee, how many wives
he had. ' I got five,' said the Chief. ' Five ! Ah, it is far too
many. How do you manage them ? We find one in this
country more than enough.' ' When they make noise,' replied

366 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Shunghee, with a very arch look, ' I flog 'em.' The King
laughed heartily, and said it was a very good plan for quieting
a riotous wife.
The Royal Literary Society, I see, is to-day advertised. I
have no high opinion of it, but one cannot refuse to join such
men as Vansittart, J. C. Villiers, and the Bishop of St. David's,
who are the chief movers, even when the project is not very
promising. London, June u, 1821.
You will be glad, I know, to hear from me before it reaches
you from any other quarter, that Tom has again gained the
medal for the Chancellor's English prize poem. The subject is
Evening. The candidates were thirty-two in number. Some
of the poems, Brown says, were very good, but he adds that
the Examiners were unanimous in assigning the prize to Tom.
He came home only four or five days ago, and you may con
ceive the ecstasy of his little sisters when they learnt the news.
They were quite wild with joy. The writing-master, who was
with them at the time, thought they were all mad. I am glad
to see Tom retain all his exquisite relish for the domestic
circle. He seems to seek no other pleasures as a relaxation
from graver pursuits than are to be found there.
This occurrence of the medal somewhat deranges our plans.
Tom is to spend the summer and autumn in Wales under a
tutor, in, I hope, hard study, and my plan is to accompany him
thither and leave him there. After having passed two days
with you, we purpose making our tour from you to Llanrwst,
where Tom is to be deposited, as interesting as possible by
choosing the best line of scenery, about which we must take
counsel of you when we see you. I am arranging to take John
with me, both for his improvement intellectually, and for the
confirmation of his health.
I have had all my leisure engaged with my work on the
Slave Trade, an abstract raisonnJ of the Parliamentary papers
lately laid on the table of the House.
For some years past, Mr. Wilberforce and Macaulay had
been assiduously endeavouring to direct and aid to the best of
their ability the efforts of Henri Christophe, the black Emperor
of Hayti, for the improvement and civilisation of his subjects.
To them Christophe looked with confidence for advice and
instruction, and they not only engaged in a laborious corre
spondence with him and his Ministers, and suggested and organ
ised numberless schemes to accomplish the laudable purpose

ZACHARY MACAULAY 367
in view, but they actually undertook the arduous task of select
ing and sending out to him the multitude of persons of various
descriptions who were required to form the minds and habits
of the younger generation in Hayti. Professors for the Royal
College, amongst whose number were classical, medical and
mathematical professors, schoolmasters, divines, surgeons, phy
sicians, a tutor for Christophe's sons, governesses for his
daughters, were some of the individuals whom the two friends
despatched to Hayti. It might reasonably be expected that
persons so qualified would understand the positions which they
were accepting and the risks which they were taking, but it
was otherwise with uneducated people ; and to labourers, such
as the ploughmen who went out in 1819, 'four raw creatures'
as Mr. Wilberforce terms them, the conditions under which
they found themselves, when Christophe's death occurred a
year later, must have been very alarming.
The responsibility which they had thus undertaken weighed
heavily upon the minds of both friends. In 1817 Wilberforce
writes to Macaulay : ' It has occurred to me on reflection that
we have not been duly mindful ofthe importance of improving
the female character in Hayti. Do be turning your mind to
the best modes of improving Hayti.'
But unhappily all these hopes were frustrated by the unex
pected death of Christophe, who committed suicide in a fit of
desperation upon receiving the news that his troops had re
volted against him. Macaulay always retained a great admira
tion for his character and abilities, and believed firmly many
of the accusations against him to have been calumnious reports
emanating from slave-owners and from his French enemies.
Macaulay insisted on the fact that Christophe had shown him
self an inflexible patriot, superior to all the advantages offered
him as bribes, first by Napoleon, and afterwards by. Malouet,
Minister of the Colonies under Louis XVIII. ' In short,' he
writes, ' when we consider his whole history, raised from a
slave to the command of armies and absolute power, and call to
mind his military achievements, and the propriety and dignity
with which he exercised the functions of government, we may
rank him among the eminent men who have brightened the
page of history in different ages ofthe world.'
Christophe's family had to fly for safety, and as was natural

368 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
under the circumstances, his widow and two daughters sought
a refuge in England with the friends who had done so much for
his assistance. The poor women arrived under the protection
of a young officer who had facilitated their escape, and Mr.
Wilberforce was able to place them comparatively at ease
financially by paying over to them at once the balance of a
large sum of money with which Christophe had commissioned
him to procure more schoolmasters. Macaulay's daughters
remembered Madame Christophe as a handsome woman, with
remarkably dignified and quiet manners.

TO MRS. MACAULAY. London, September 20, 1821.
I saw the ex-Queen of Hayti yesterday and her two daugh
ters. She and they are in deep mourning, which, with their
coal-black countenances, give them a somewhat sombre aspect.
The mother is, I should think, about fifty-five years of age,
pleasing and modest. The daughters are, I should think,
twenty-four and eighteen, pretty good-looking ; but you need
be under no apprehensions respecting Madame Christophe.
She is not likely to come near us. But ifshe had, you might
have rested perfectly easy on the score of morals. I have no
doubt whatever that the young women are perfectly modest and
virtuous. Neither mother nor daughters will be dependent on
any one except for counsel and kindness in this land of strangers.
They will be amply provided for from their own resources.
Sir Charles Macarthy x gave me a commission to find a wife
for him ; a lady of good sense and good nature, and who is
capable, and will be assiduous in superintending all plans of
female education and civilisation at Sierra Leone. The girls
are amused with this commission. They have been proposing
Miss Tibbs.2 I think she would hardly hit the taste of the
Chevalier. But do you think of any one — I am quite in earnest
— who would not only be fit but able well to fill the throne at
Sierra Leone ? Patty Linton is a little too old, and not very
likely to promote education much. But there is Miss. Frowd.3
What a capital sphere would open to her as Lady Macarthy !
1 Governor of the Cold Coast, lie was killed in lighting against the Ashantees in
Ianuary 1S24, and his head was carried off as a war trophy.
u Tlieir governess, who superintended the education of more than one generation
of Habiiiglons and Macnulays, and was considered in those families as an old and
valued friend.
a Mrs. II. More's devoted companion.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 369
It is very hard that England will not afford the man a wife ; I
will venture to say in Scotland I could get him his choice of a
dozen in a week. The girls have also been recommending the
Rose of Neasden. Well, do think for the poor man.
I have had a very urgent invitation from Stephen to go down
to him at Missenden, which he paints with all the ardour of his
glowing pen, as comprising every rural beauty which a poet's
fancy can imagine. But I must take care of my girls at
present, and be at home with them in the evenings, and I am
not sorry to have so good an excuse for staying at home,
for I assure you going from home has no charm for me, how
ever I may be compelled to it, when your presence deprives me
of an equally valid excuse with that which I can now prefer.
Tell Mrs. H. More that we are seriously preparing matters
for introducing Dr. Chalmers's local system of Sunday instruc
tion among the poor of London ; that at least there may not
be any of them who shall not have heard of God and Christ,
and Heaven and Hell, and who shall not have had the call
sounded in his ears to turn to God, and to flee from the wrath
to come.
I should have been glad of a more comfortable account of
our dear friend, but we must expect to be hearing of the
gradual loosening of the pins of her earthly tabernacle, prepara
tory to her taking her flight from this world of care and pain
and sin to that world of peace and happiness and purity to
which she has so long aspired. Oh, my dear Selina, what is all
this world can give us, this world which so occupies our
thoughts and our anxieties, this world so uncertain in its pos
session, and so unsatisfying, not to say corrupting, in its en
joyments, which is worth an hour of that solid peace, that
calm sunshine of the soul, which arises from a consciousness
of the favour and friendship of God ! Oh, this treacherous
world, with all its deceitful and unsubstantial promises, how
does it steal our hearts from God ! He has been pleased to
give me some severe lessons (hot as severe as the occasion
required) on this subject, and I bless Him for them with my
whole heart. I needed them. God grant that they may not
miss their aim- My mind has of late been much exercised in
considerations of this kind, and I have been made to see, and
I hope to feel, more of the vanity of the world, and its ten
dency to wean the heart from God, and to lessen the influence of
spiritual and, eternal things upon us than I have ever felt before.
God grant that the impression may be more durable than similar
impressions have been before, and that I may learn not in
speculation only, but in practice and experience, to estimate
things temporal and eternal at their true relative worth, to feel
2 A

370 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
that the former are as nothing but dung, nay less, compared with
the latter. How often do we say this without suffering our
selves to reflect how little we feel it, and what hypocrites we
are in uttering the sentiment and professing to feel its force,
when the prevailing bent of our desires and pursuits give the
direct lie to our professions.
I am to meet Buxton and Cunningham and some others
to-day to see if we can set on foot Dr. Chalmers's plans of
locality in Spitalfields, in the hope that thence they may spread
over the metropolis. This is a matter of immense importance.
May God give His blessing to the undertaking !

An acquaintance which had arisen between Macaulay and
Dr. Thomas Chalmers soon ripened into a close friendship
through the similarity of their aims in life. The system, which
that celebrated divine had inaugurated at Glasgow for the pur
pose of placing religious instruction on Sundays within the
reach of the poorer classes, was organised so efficiently that it
was impossible for any persons to escape the oversight of those
entrusted with the responsibility of their spiritual welfare. As
soon as Macaulay was fully informed of the nature of the plan,
he became strongly impressed with its advantages, and with
the help of a few friends endeavoured to put it into practice,
commencing with the parish of Smithfield. The plan appears
to have been soon extended to other parishes in London, and
in 1826 Selina Macaulay refers in her Journal to teaching every
Sunday, with the assistance of her sisters, at the local school in
Gray's Inn Lane.
As an illustration of the extreme difficult)- that exists in
bringing home instruction to an intellect which has never been
cultivated, Macaulay used to relate that upon one occasion
when Dr. Chalmers was staying on a visit to him, and had been
asked to conduct family worship, he gave an exposition of
remarkable power upon a portion of Scripture. Macaulay,
desirous of ascertaining the effect which such an unusually
interesting address had made upon the minds of the household,
asked a young man-servant what he thought of it. The poor
fellow expressed enthusiastic delight ; but on his master press
ing him further to learn what had specially pleased him, he
explained, ' Oh, sir, it was all about my native place. You
know I come from Bath.' Dr. Chalmers had, in his exposition,

ZACHARY MACAULAY 371
constantly employed the word both, and had pronounced it with
a strong Scottish accent. Cadogan Place, September 21, 1821.
My, dear Selina, — I got up about an hour and a half ago,
and have been employing a part of my time in praying that it
would please God to continue you in health for many, many
years to come, for my sake as long as he shall spare me, and for
my children after I am gone. Certainly I have cause to thank
God that I have ever known you — you have been a helpmeet
for me. I owe you much, and I owe him much who gave you
to me. I have not indeed done all I might and ought to have
done to promote your comfort — you have had much, I know, at
times to bear with — and your patience and forbearance have
often been tried. I feel also that I have been but too remiss in
the great duty of exciting in you as well as myself a more
undeviating and earnest attention to the things which belong to
our eternal peace. May God pardon my sinful negligence in
this respect, and enable us to commence and persevere in a
course of more uniform and persevering attention to the one
thing needful. I feel myself to have advanced far in my
journey, and to have been wearying myself with much unavail
ing toil, labouring indeed not always for the meat that perisheth,
but certainly losing sight too much of that meat which endureth
to everlasting life. God grant that I may now be enabled to
redeem time for the great work of rectifying the effects of past
negligence, and of that alienation of the heart from spiritual
objects and attachment to the things that are worldly and
sensual which negligence never fails to produce. May we both
feel daily more and more how entirely subordinate all things
else should be to the great consideration of saving our own
souls and the souls of those committed to our care. May we
feel the weight of our responsibility in this respect more and
more, and labour and strive to be found of God in peace when
he comes to call us hence. — Ever yours most affectionately,
Z. Macaulay.

FROM THOMAS CLARKSON, ESQ.
Play ford, November 19, 182L
Dear SIR, — I sit down to write you a letter which I have had
upon my mind for some time, and which I trust only to your
eyes and those of Mr. Wilberforce, to whom I wish you to send
it when you have perused it.
I invited our amiable friends the Christophes, as you know,
to spend three weeks or a month at my house, with a view of

372 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
taking them from expensive lodgings as well as of showing
my respect to the widow and the fatherless, and of giving
Captain Sutherland time to be looking out for a proper situa
tion for them on leaving me. Whether the report of the ladies
to him, after having been some time at our house, was too
favourable, as it related to our kind treatment of them or their
comforts under our roof, I cannot say, but Captain Sutherland
made a proposition to me at which I was astonished, namely,
to take the family into my house to board for four or five
months. I told him I thought he had mistaken both my situa
tion and character, and besides, other difficulties stood in the
way. By having so large a family in our house, we should be hin
dered from continuing our hospitality to our friends. Besides,
to take such a family for such a length of time could not but
derange my finances, and I revolted at the idea of taking
money from my friends. These reasons, however, did not
satisfy Captain Sutherland, and he renewed his application
again and again. He urged that money was no object to
them, and that if I would consent to take them and suffer a
remuneration, he would consider it as an act of charity in
me, and so would the ladies themselves. At length I con
sented to mention the matter to Mrs. Clarkson. She gave it a
full consideration, and the pity for them which was first excited
in her when I put the question to her increased on the further
consideration of it. Besides, in their melancholy situation (for
when they are alone they are more disposed to be sorrowful)
society seemed to her to be necessary, and something like the
balm of comfort. These and many other considerations, and
particularly an expression of the ladies that they should be
nowhere so happy, and let me add the belief that Mr. Wilber
force and yourself would be more satisfied that they should be
under our quiet roof than elsewhere, so operated upon my wife
that she seemed to forget the excursions necessary for her own
health, and to be disposed to devote herself to their comfort.
At length she gave her consent, and mine followed upon the
same principles ; and the hateful idea of taking money on such
an occasion was in some degree got rid of by my proposing
that Captain Sutherland should, on the departure of the family
from us, leave with us what he thought to be only a reimburse
ment of the additional expenses incurred by us after the first
month. Thus the matter was to be left to himself, but no
specific sum to be named. To 'Mrs. Clarkson, already worn
out, it is a tremendous task. How she will get through it I
know not ! Nothing could reconcile it to her but the idea of
doing good, and the knowledge, the knowledge from actual

ZACHARY MACAULAY 373
experience, that those for whom she interests herself are so
amiable and estimable as to be worthy of all the attention
which we can bestow upon them. A more delightful family
never entered a person's house. Their dispositions are so
amiable, their tempers under such complete subjugation, and
their minds so enlightened, that it is a pleasure to live with such
people. Thus you see we have taken them into our house ; and
I have thought it proper to write to you, and through you to
Mr. Wilberforce, to tell you so ; to tell you that they will
probably be provided for here till April next, and to explain to
you upon what terms, in order that you may not give me the
credit of a generous action by taking so large a family without
some reimbursement except for the first month, and that you
may not suppose them to lie under a weight of obligation to
me, which they cannot repay. But I trust this to no other ears
than your own, leaving all other persons to make their own
surmises on the subject.
I come now to other parts of the story in connection with
that now told you, for a very different purpose, for enabling you
to form some judgment about Captain Sutherland.
About two days after the matter had been agreed upon, he
informed me that he had ordered a black maid-servant to come
from London to wait upon them at Playford. I thought this
extremely strange, as nothing had been said before about such
a person, and as such a person would take up another bed and
another room, and thus still more limit my power of receiving
my other friends ; but understanding that this female had
accompanied them from the Cape to Port-au-Prince and from
Port-au-Prince to England, and believing she might be essen
tial to the comfort of the ladies, I did not say one word in
opposition, but received her, though it was doubtful whether
my servants would harmonise with a person of this description.
In the course of about two days after this, Captain Suther
land informed me that he should return to London in three or
four days, and that on his arrival there he should send down a
man-servant, and a young lady as a companion for the* ladies,
and to teach them drawing and other accomplishments : in fact
he wished them to have a separate establishment in our house.
Observe, he did not ask my permission, but said he meant to
do it ! Observe a lady at a hundred pounds a year salary besides
her board, and a man-servant to clothe, board, and pay ! Observe
that each of these was necessarily to occupy another room and
another bed, when one of the great objections to taking the
ladies at all was that I should be deprived (for want of rooms
and beds) of receiving my friends as heretofore ! I cannot
express to you the indignation which I felt at the authority

374 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
usurped on this occasion, though I hope I commanded my
temper. I refused the proposition, however, in the most de
termined manner, stating unequivocally that if the matter were
pressed again, I should consider the agreement of keeping the
ladies as null and void. I had already made great sacrifices to
accommodate him and them, but to have my house filled from
the top to the bottom, and not to have a bed even for my own
son when he came to see me, was not to be endured. With
respect to the man-servant, I had already hired one in addition
to my own, for whom I had provided a bed in the village. But
as to taking an unprincipled, licentious man-servant out of
place from London, of whom no one knew anything, into my
house, it was what no gentleman would allow.
In short, I spoke to him in so decisive a manner, that he
dropped the subject, and has never resumed it since. I have
reason, however, to suppose that this was only a part of a more
expensive plan intended, for the next day a horse-dealer from
Ipswich brought him a fine horse to look at ; and on question
ing him about it, it appeared that he was actually going to buy
two carriage horses, and to hire, if not to buy, a coach for the
ladies. This, of course, implied the hiring of a coachman also.
Thus, whether I liked it or not, I was to be driven out of my own
peaceable way of living, and to take within my premises the
three ladies, the black maid-servant, a governess, a coachman,
and a footman, that is seven persons besides two others (an
additional man-servant of my own whom I had hired on the
occasion, and an occasional woman-servant) and two horses.
Being, however, invincibly resolute, I turned the whole system
topsyturvy, and compromised with him that we should keep
entirely as we now are, i.e. the three ladies and the black maid
servant ; that I would hire for them a carriage and a pair of
horses at Ipswich sometimes once and sometimes twice a week ;
that I would hire them musical instruments at two guineas a
month ; and that I would get a drawing-master to attend them
from Ipswich.
I hati scarcely got over this difficult)- when I had occasion
to oppose myself to his wishes again. He stated that it was
his intention to let them remain quiet at my house till after
Christmas, when he would take them to London for a fortnight
to let them see the world, and then return them to my house
again, by which proposition it appears that he thought he could
do just what he pleased with my house and family. However,
I did not express myself hastily on this part of the subject.
I reasoned with him, and I added that if they left me at the
time he spoke of, I thought I should not desire to receive
them again. Since that time he has, I believe, abandoned his

ZACHARY MACAULAY 375
London excursion scheme, but I fear that when they leave our
house he will be dashing into unnecessary expenses. He talks
of buying them a coach when they go to London in the spring,
and keeping horses and servants. He proposes in the summer
to take them to his own friends to Sutherland in Scotland, the
most remote county in it, to ship them and the carriage in a
Leith smack, and to travel in the carriage from Edinburgh to
Sutherland, and so back to London. He proposes also, when
he has sold all the jewels, to provide for the mother and the girls
separately, and to get the two latter married when they go back
to Port-au-Prince. But I trust the ladies have too much good
sense to follow all that he has in design for them.
With respect to Captain Sutherland himself, I know not
what to make of him. At times I am much pleased with him.
I am always pleased with the deep interest which he seems to
have in the welfare of the ladies, and the attachment which he
seems to bear them. At other times I have no patience with
him. He says one thing to-day and another thing to-morrow.
When he was here last he made them uneasy by lecturing them
on their expenditure ; and the next day, finding they were
uneasy, he sent for a carriage and took them to Ipswich, and
ordered a carriage- three times besides in the same week, and
once besides for himself, thus giving them an example of
extravagance. These facts will enable both you and Mr.
Wilberforce to assist me in forming an opinion concerning
Captain Sutherland, who is but twenty-six years of age, and
giving me your advice both as to my future conduct with
respect to these ladies and as to the captain himself; and this
is the more necessary because, whatever may be their gratitude
to him, and whatever attachment they may bear him, it cannot
be doubted both that Mrs. Clarkson and myself have a certain
hold upon their minds That he has done much for them in
preserving their jewels, and bringing them to England, and in
putting them in the way of being served by Mr. Wilberforce
and others, cannot be doubted, but they do not owe their lives
to him as he has once asserted. They owe them to their own
exemplary and benevolent conduct. They had more than a
hundred orphans, whom they brought up, educated, fed and
clothed, and the whole country knew this. They spent their
time in visiting the sick and aged, and relieving the poor.
General Richard (the Duke de Marmalade, who was afterwards
shot by Boyer x), the murderer of the Prince Royal, went to
Sans Souci expressly to murder them ; but he was disarmed by
an unexpected blow, as it were, on the conscience. He said,
' This woman (the Queen) has three times saved my life. I
1 General Boyer, President ofthe Republic of Hayti till 1843.

376 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
cannot do it' When the ladies went to the Cape, people from
town and country flocked in with poultry, vegetables, and
money for their daily support. At this time some officers of
Christophe, supposing they had jewels, entered their house
to murder them for the sake of plunder. They debated the
matter in the room below where they were, and when they
had resolved upon the deed the soldiers and sentinels (of
Christophe) said : ' You can get nothing there, for they are daily
fed upon charity. Besides, what evil have they done? Have
they not always been doing good? You shall not murder them
while we are here, and the very attempt to do it will be
followed by the revolt of all our regiments in their favour.'
Thus was their design frustrated, and a report being afterwards
spread that their enemies had engaged a pirate vessel to take
and murder them on their way to Port-au-Prince, several persons
joined in hiring a proper vessel at their own expense to carry
them thither, in which fifty young men, all armed, volunteered to
accompany them. — Yours truly,
Thomas Clarkson.

TO T. BABINGTON, ESQ.
Brighton, December 27, 1821.
This world is made up of perturbations — a word which leads
one almost involuntarily to Ireland. You have doubtless been
much perplexed and concerned by the sudden removal of
Charles Grant, and the unfeeling way in which it was done.
It was announced in the newspapers before he or any of his
friends had the very slightest suspicion that anything of the
kind was dreamt of. And even now it does not appear that
they either hinted to him any disapprobation of his measures,
or that they have any blame in reserve. It seems to have been
a hasty and unadvised concession to the bigoted Orange and
Anti-Catholic parties. Lord Sidmouth seems to have acted
very brutally. He had lived with Charles Grant while in
Ireland, acted towards him and Robert in the most open,
friendly, and confidential manner, consulting them most unre
servedly on everything, and approving of all Charles's measures
of Irish policy. And then, after this, to vote for his removal
without a reason that he could produce, and merely, as is sup
posed, to please the Duke of York.1 It is clearly his cross which
Charles is now bearing. His attachment to'the Bible cause
and to Bible religion, his uncompromising purity of principle,
1 Lord Glenelg was unfortunate in being obnoxious to more than one of the Royal
Princes. When the Duke of Clarence came to the throne he took no pains to
conceal his dislike of him. See the Greville Memoir >, vol. iii.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 377
and his paternal government of Ireland, raised Up a host of
secret enemies. I find the Conynghams, who are now here,
have been deeply hurt by his refusal to grant them a place
they had solicited for some dependant, though he would have
violated the rules of the Service in doing so : and something is
darkly said by persons about them that it was foolish in Charles
not to have secured a friend at Court by a deviation from strict
rule. All these things are doubtless good for the soul's health,
and I only hope he will not compromise his own dignity by
accepting some paltry office (they talk of Surveyor of Woods
and Forests) as a sop to prevent him from speaking out plainly
on the subject of his scandalous treatment.
The Royal Chapel, in which Hugh Pearson1 is to preach
regularly before His Majesty, is to be opened and consecrated
on the first of January. I hope to be present, and shall send
you some account of the ceremony.

FROM THOMAS CLARKSON, ESQ.
Play ford, January 31, 1822.
Dear Sir, — I trouble you with a few lines on the subject of
the affairs of our poor ladies, who are well in health and
cheerful in spirits, and whose amiable dispositions and gentle
and correct manners occasion them daily to grow in our love
and esteem. I am persuaded that there is nothing which the
Christophes desire so much as to be respectable. There is
nothing to do but to show them all possible kindness as oppor
tunities occur, and not to appear to wish to influence them. If
they themselves feel something of shyness respecting Aboli
tionists, it arises from their fear of being confounded with
Africans. I can pity their weakness. I have observed that
very few persons can bear to be reminded of any circumstances
in their history which may be thought degrading. Even La
Fayette appeared not quite well pleased with an allusion to the
dungeons of Olmutz.
You gentlemen who live in London know, I fear, but little of
the distressed state of the country. How the Government will
be able to collect their taxes in the ensuing year nobody can
divine, and if the taxes are not to be collected, how is the
interest of the Funds to be paid ? This state of things has
affected my mind as it relates to our poor ladies, and I there
fore earnestly recommend it to you to take into your serious
consideration what would be the safest investment for the
money which will come from the sale of their jewels this very
1 Dr. Pearson, afterwards Dean of Salisbury and father of Hugh Pearson, the
Canon of Windsor.

378 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
day, as well as whether it would not be prudent to remove
some of the money which has been already invested in our
Funds into others. The great question after all is the com
parative security between the English and Foreign Funds, and
I am free to confess that I think almost any foreign Funds
more secure than our own at this moment. I should certainly
prefer the Danish or the American, but the balance of trade
is so much against the Americans that the difference of the
exchange greatly diminishes the interest. Sutherland has acted
with great propriety of late. He tells me he will abide by
your judgment as to the placing out of the money, and also
that he is desirous of adding your name to his own in any
investment he may make, as well as in removing any which
may have been already made. — Yours truly,
Thomas Clarkson.

TO MRS. MACAULAY.
London, May 25, 1822.
You would see by the cover of the newspaper yesterday that
I had arrived here safely. After a long conference at Doctors
Commons on Captain Irby's and Captain Scobell's matters, the
result of which will require considerable exertion during the
next week or two, I got to my office and found Tom Babington
well. I called on Mrs. Clarkson, but she was gone, and on
Cropper, but he was out. W. Smith and I went together to
the House of Commons when the West India Sugar question
was expected to come on. After waiting, however, in the
gallery listening to the discussion on the new measure of
finance and the alleviation of taxes which you will find in the
newspaper of to-day, and admiring the blunderings of His
Majesty's Ministers, which appeared to me quite extraordinary,
until ten o'clock struck without our question coming on, I
thought it high time to get something to eat. I adjourned to
a Coffee-house and dined heartily, and went quietly home to
bed, into which I got about half-past eleven. I was up to-day
at five, and after having worked for three hours at the Memorial
for Irby and Scobell, I went to Stephen's. He had set off at six
for Missenden. I was invited to breakfast at Mr. Wilberforce's
to meet the Duke de Broglie and De Stael. We sat down to
breakfast there at half-past ten. We had much interesting con
versation. I got away from them about twelve, and came into
the City to attend a meeting of East India merchants, from
which, after a long discussion, I did not get away till nearly
four o'clock. I am now sitting down after having dressed for

ZACHARY MACAULAY 379
dinner at the office, waiting for the coming of a coach to carry
me to Buxton's brewhouse.1 May 31, 1822.
I shall be able to write to you but a few lines to-day. I
wrote to Henry desiring that he and Charles may come to
morrow afternoon. I shall dine out at Evans's, but I shall be
with them till six and the whole of Sunday. On Monday I
dine at the Babingtons ; on Tuesday at Battersea Rise ; to-day
I breakfasted at W. Smith's. After breakfast Mr. Smith and
I went to the Colonial Slave Registry office to examine the
record there, and after having satisfied our inquiries I called on
the French noblemen, and had a long and interesting conver
sation with them on the Slave Trade. I am at this moment
dining previous to my going at three to a meeting of friends
on the West India Sugar Bill preparatory to presenting our
petition to the House of Commons and to the discussion they
are likely to raise. You will be glad to hear that the Quakers
have fully met my suggestion, and are about to come forward
as the advocates of the Abolition of Slavery in the West Indies.
June 4, 1822.
We were kept late last night by the Duke de Broglie and De
Stael at the Political Economy Club. I slept at the Hummums,
and walked to Cadogan Place this morning, wrote some letters,
met the Liverpool deputation about West India Sugar at half-
past eight, called on Charles, breakfasted with Lord Calthorpe
at half-past nine, called on Drummond, Buxton, Dr. Lushing-
ton, etc., and was in the City by eleven. I am going to Sir R.
Inglis to-day, but return this evening, as I have a meeting with
Brougham at nine to-morrow.
The death of Lord Castlereagh occurred in August 1822, and
the immediate result of the painful event was favourable
to the aspirations of the Abolitionists. The Duke of Welling
ton, whose views upon slavery were decidedly in sympathy
with their own, went out to conduct the negotiations at the
Congress of Vienna in Lord Castlereagh's place. As one of
the principal subjects before the consideration of the delegates
was the Slave Trade, it was thought desirable that some com
petent person should be at hand to furnish any information
upon that subject which might be of service, and General
Macaulay was selected as specially qualified for the position,
1 The dinners given at the Brewery in Spitalfields consisted professedly of beef
steaks cooked in one of the furnaces. When Lord Grey dined there while Premier,
he is said to have consumed six beefsteaks.

380 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
both on account of his long friendship with the Duke, and of
the ease with which he was able to converse in the French and
Italian languages.
On arriving at Vienna he now perceived that the seven years
which had elapsed had made a considerable alteration in the
Emperor Alexander, and that his enthusiastic zeal in the cause
of Slavery had greatly cooled. When the place of meeting
for the Congress was transferred in October to Verona, the
General felt some scruples at following the Duke there, and
waited at Innsbruck until he was able to ascertain that his
distinguished friend would not think his presence intrusive.
His hesitation was quickly removed by receiving a very cordial
letter from the Duke, dated Verona, October 17, 1822, in which
he says : ' I know of no difficulty in your coming here, except-
iug that of obtaining a lodging, and I am quite certain that
your presence here will be no inconvenience to me. Indeed I
shall be very happy to see you.' In a letter to his brother, the
General highly praises the admirable zeal, perseverance, judg
ment and temper which the Duke displayed in dealing with his
colleagues at the Congress, and, above all, the straightforward
honesty with which he met the diplomatic artifices which were
opposed to him.
General Macaulay also mentions that he conversed with the
Duke on the subject ofthe Catholic claims, and related that the
Duke told him that if a satisfactory Concordat were established
between the English Government and the Pope, he would
himself go down to the House of Peers and move Catholic
Emancipation. On the 31st of May 1S2S General Macaulay
wrote to recall this conversation to the mind of his illustrious
friend, and added : —
' If that was your view of the question then, how much more
imperiously ought it not to guide you now? The Minister
who happily concludes that most vital matter will be hailed by
an admiring world by a name
" Wliich every wind to Heaven will bear,
Which men to tell and angels joy to hear !'"
Mr. Wilberforce was so enchanted with General Macaulay's
proceedings throughout his delicate mission that he writes:
' I shall love all generals the better for it as long as I live, and
so I hope will my children after me.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 381
The band of philanthropists in England kept a close watch
upon the proceedings ofthe Congress, and were much exercised
in their minds as to the advantages which might accrue to
some of the more comprehensive of their benevolent schemes if
properly pressed upon the attention of the plenipotentiaries at
Verona. On the 19th of October Zachary Macaulay writes :
' In all my communications with the Duke I have pressed the
point of privacy as strongly as I could. Both the Duke and
the Emperor seem earnest. May God bless what is doing ! '
In answer to a suggestion from Mr. Wilberforce that it might
be possible to induce the Pope to co-operate with them in their
Abolition proceedings, he writes on October 22 : ' I wish we
had thought of the Pope before. I never once dreamed of his
existence in all my musings on our affairs. He ought certainly
to be got to publish a Bull. Can you not set Canning on this ?
He is a favourite with the Pope.' This was done, and before
long Canning sent to Mr. Wilberforce the draft of a letter to
Cardinal Gonsalvi.

332 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER XII
BUSINESS EMBARRASSMENTS
THE creation of the African Institution after the abolition of
the Slave Trade had been hailed with satisfaction by all who
desired to see that infamous traffic finally swept away, and it
fulfilled the expectations raised by its establishment. The
constitution of the board was a remarkable one ; the Duke of
Gloucester presided and scarcely ever was absent from a meet
ing, while the peers and members of Parliament who formed
the greater proportion of working members were unremitting in
their attendance. But the same reasons which had contributed
to render it a powerful instrument in the hands of the Aboli
tionists at its commencement and for some years afterwards,
served rather to retard than to accelerate progress in the great
cause when interest in the subject of slavery became more
widely disseminated throughout the country. The influence
that a committee, which included among its numbers no less
than five Premiers, besides numerous other members of each
Ministry, was capable of exercising upon the Governments of
foreign nations was absolutely invaluable, and it also constituted
a repository which was easily accessible of trustworthy informa
tion upon the Slave Trade at home and abroad.
But as time went on it became plain to the discerning eyes
of one at least of the members of the board that the work of
the African Institution was completed, and that now a society
of a more popular and elastic nature was needed ; a society
that should be capable of inaugurating the radical improvement
that was urgently required in the condition of the slaves, and
of pursuing the vigorous measures which alone could accom
plish it.
' This substitution of the power of Anti-slavery association
was an improvement of which the credit was mainly due to Mr.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 383
Macaulay. No man knew better than himself the vast import
ance of diffusing knowledge on any topic on which the public
were required to act, and it was therefore part of his plan to
publish Colonial intelligence in a periodical work. He under
took to be its editor and compiler. Hence originated the
Anti-Slavery Reporter, the first number of which appeared on the
30th of June 1825 ; and thus was formed the nucleus of a
system to which, under the blessing of God, all the subsequent
success must be ascribed.' x
In Macaulay's opinion the time had arrived when it was
desirable to organise a system of agitation through the length
and breadth of the land ; and heartily as the Duke of Gloucester
sympathised with the cause of Emancipation, it was impossible
for a Royal Duke and for Cabinet Ministers and other members
of the Government to lend their names to such a course of
action. But all things come to those who can wait, and the oppor
tunity for an alteration of policy came in the natural course of
events. Mr. Wilberforce, finding that his growing infirmities
debarred him from the conflict which he had hitherto conducted
with so much success, had with the approbation of his friends
taken the important step of offering the leadership of the Anti-
slavery party to one who indeed proved worthy of the trust.
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was a man singularly fitted by
nature to occupy the position the acceptance of which was now
urged upon him. His ability, sincerity and determination of
purpose were calculated to inspire confidence in his followers ;
he spoke easily and well, and was always heard in the House of
Commons with attention ; and in addition to his other recom
mendations he was endowed with a kindly and generous spirit
which conciliated opposition. He felt considerable hesitation,
however, as to acceding to the proposal of undertaking so
difficult and arduous a task ; and in the course of the autumn
of 1822 Macaulay accompanied Mr. Wilberforce on a visit to
Cromer Hall, where Buxton was then residing, in order to assist
in overcoming his reluctance by argument and entreaty. But
Buxton had meanwhile, after deep and earnest reflection, come
to the decision that the path of duty was too clearly marked
before him for any choice to be exercised as to entering upon
1 Anti-Slavery Recollections.

384 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
it or avoiding it ; and therefore upon their arrival they had the
satisfaction of being able at once to enter upon business.
Buxton had summoned to meet them Lord Suffield, and Dr.
Lushington, who had a few days before written to Macaulay :
' I cannot express to you the pleasure I feel at your coming to
Cromer. Your superior knowledge of the subject, and inex
tinguishable zeal, will, I hope, enable us to do some real good.'
The question of what would be the wisest course of action in
future was now discussed in all its bearings, a plan of campaign
was sketched out, and their various parts assigned to each
member of the conclave. Macaulay, as has been seen, had
already matured in his mind the scheme of an association that
should be formed with the special view of organising those
active measures against slaver)- in which the more cautious
members of the African Institution shrank from involving
themselves. He now felt that the moment had arrived for
putting the idea into execution ; and his colleagues agreed
fully, and assisted in every way to bring the new society into
being. In January 1823 the same friends assembled again at
Marden Park, under the roof of Mr. Wilberforce, and to use the
words of his biography : ' Long and deep were their delibera
tions how best to shape those measures which were to change
the structure of society throughout the western world.' Indeed
there was little intermission in the work of preparation for the
supreme effort. On the 5th of February Macaulay writes to
Mr. Wilberforce : ' We are to have a select party to-morrow at
Lord Calthorpe's, purposely to talk over slavery. If therefore
you are drawn to town, you will know where the conspirators
are assembled.' And again on the Sth of February he writes :
' I have had two long talks with Brougham, and have
gradually opened to him our feelings and views. I cannot help
hoping that we have gained him. He offered voluntarily to
write an article on slaver)- for the very next Edinburgh Review.'
Macaulay was much engrossed also with the formation ofthe
Anti-Slavery Society. The offices were taken for it in Alderman-
bury, and at first the change of tactics was viewed with some
suspicion by the older members of the party. The Christian
Observer says :' Mr. Macaulay projected the Anti-Slavery Society.
We can well remember that he was looked upon for this as a
visionary and wild enthusiast, even by some of his nearest

ZACHARY MACAULAY 385
friends. Before long a periodical publication under the auspices >
of the Society became necessary, and in the pages ofthe Anti-
Slavery Reporter we found an ample supply of important
materials, which, in common with all other Anti-slavery advo
cates, we rejoiced largely and gratefully to use.'
The Anti-Slavery Reporters, which Macaulay continued, to,
publish regularly till his death, were of absolutely vital import- ,
ance to the cause of Emancipation. To the Anti- Slavery Re
porters all the combatants for the freedom of their unhappy
fellow-creatures held in a bondage worse than death looked for
their supply of ammunition for the battle. When once facts
were passed by Macaulay, no further confirmation was required..
They were accepted as established by friends and foes alike
without demur, and to use the words of an eminent member of
Parliament, ' Whatever Macaulay says may be taken for gospel ':
and quoted.' Besides the Reporters he showered forth pamphlets
upon every part of the subject, and it is not possible to exagge-'
rate the weight which was attached by the advocates of the
cause to his opinion, and to the information which he collected
and arranged for their use. ' You and Stephen are the authors- ,
general for our cause,' writes Mr. Wilberforce ; and the Editor of
the Christian Observer, Mr. Wilks, bears a testimony, which is:
specially valuable as coming from a contemporary of Macaulay,
to the humility with which he accepted criticism of his own
literary productions.
' Some features of our friend's character ought to be noted,
especially his repugnance to harsh words in controversy, and
his great modesty in reference to his own opinions in writing
and his openness to conviction, though from his patience of
research and his calmness of judgment those who knew him
always regarded his conclusions with great deference. Thus,
for example, upon our sending him some animadversions, in our
opinion unmerited, upon the reprehension with which he had
spoken, in the Anti-Slavery Reporter, of the conduct of the.
French Government respecting the Slave Trade, though he was
not really more severe than Lord Londonderry and the Duke
of Wellington in their diplomatic papers, he says : '' I return
Mr.  r-'s note, for which I am sure I feel obliged to him. So
few will take the trouble of amicably telling us our faults in
private, that we ought to feel grateful to those who do."
'Mr. Macaulay's great calmness of spirit, with his correctness.
2 B

386 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
of judgment, his caution in statement, and his long habits of
careful writing for the press, might reasonably have made him
somewhat tenacious of what he had penned, yet the papers sent
by him generally were accompanied by such a note as the
following: " Exercise a calm and impartial judgment, and do
what you may think necessary. I most unfeignedly distrust
my own suggestions. I abandon them wholly to your criticism,
adoption or rejection.'
' Mr. Macaulay was often said to have the pen of a ready
writer, which in one sense was true ; but such an expression
does not do justice to the toil and patience which he exercised
in collecting his facts and weighing his arguments ; and even
where requisite, particular words or expressions. Thus he says :
" I feel quite with you about expressions in the Anti-Slavery
Reporters, and yet what can I do ? I brooded for hours over
certain words in this one, and yet I found it was best to use
the expressions of the official documents in cases of so grave
and atrocious a nature. I had thought of putting the words in
Greek, but the very inquiry such a thing must cause was unde
sirable. Even a blank which I tried led to the same result.
In short, I did not see how the expressions could be changed
without failing in giving a clear and adequate impression of the
enormity of the case. Still, (he adds with his usual diffidence),
I may be wrong, and should be glad to reconsider the
subject." '
During the whole of this year the pressure of work was
extreme, and considering that Macaulay, as Mr. Wilberforce
writes, was doing the work of four ordinary men, no surprise
will be excited at finding that he broke down in the month of
March, and was laid by with a severe attack of illness. As
usual, however, he was at work again as soon as he was able to
leave his room, and indeed there was little possibility of sparing
his services at such a crisis. In addition to the Anti-slavery
work, the Rev. Samuel Wilks, who had succeeded him as Editor
of the Christian Observer, unfortunately fell ill just at this time,
and there appears to have been no person available except
Macaulay capable of taking Mr. Wilks's place as temporary
editor. The correspondence which Clarkson always maintained
with him was particularly heavy during this period when Clark
son was busy in composing pamphlets on Slavery, and depended
upon Macaulay to supply him with every description of infor
mation necessary for his publications, and also for the revising
and editing of them ; and it appears that Macaulay was con-

ZACHARY MACAULAY 387
stantly assisting to put the statements into a more condensed
form, and criticising the diffuseness of Clarkson's method of
writing. The letters which passed between them are, as a rule,
too technical and monotonous in subject to quote with any
advantage. Extraordinary as it may appear, Macaulay found sufficient
leisure, with all these occupations, to take up other objects
of interest. He carried on active communications with the
Baron de Stael upon the Greek question among other subjects,
and exerted himself energetically to organise meetings in
London in support of Greek independence, of which he was a
strong advocate. His family were spending the summer
months with the Babingtons at the Temple, where he had
intended to remain with them; but his health was in so unsatis
factory a state that although, as he tells his wife, he was
suffering from no definite complaint, only ' fatigue without just
cause,' he was ordered to Leamington, and went there at the
end of July. Mrs. Macaulay was very anxious that as soon as
he should have finished his course of treatment at Leamington
he should join her at Allestree, Mr. Evans's country-seat,
where that kind friend had invited Macaulay to spend some
weeks in order that he might enjoy the entire rest which his
medical advisers urgently prescribed for him. Many combined
causes, however, compelled him to decline this pleasant and
congenial invitation, and to return to London. He had to
superintend the appearance of an important work he had com
posed, which was to be brought out during the autumn by his
friendly publisher Hatchard. ' If I may judge of your health
by your labours,' writes Mrs. H. More in September, ' I should
suppose you had the strength of Hercules.' For this
pamphlet, which was entitled, ' The Slave Colonies, or a Picture
of Negro Slavery drawn from the Colonists themselves,' he had
taken his information exclusively from the official returns from
the Crown colonies ; and the result of the presentation collec
tively of a mass of terrible facts, the accuracy of which was
established beyond dispute, had an immense effect upon the
public mind, all the more so probably on account of the
simplicity of the narrative, and the absence of any dramatic
attempt to heighten the horrors described as constantly prac
tised under the sanction of English rule. This ghastly and

388 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
awful record served as a manual to which for many years the
adversaries of Slavery applied for the necessary material for
their attacks upon it. Macaulay, who seldom referred to his
own labours, remarked that the preparation of this work had
been specially difficult, and had cost him a good deal of time.

TO MRS. H. MORE. Rothley Temple, June 14, 1823.
A letter has just arrived to reproach my negligence in allow
ing so many months to pass without my sending you a single
line. My health at times has been such as to incapacitate me
for much exertion. Our Slavery cause at the same time was
preferring irresistible claims on every moment I could redeem
from business or from languor, and the unexpected success in
rousing public attention and feeling which was the result of our
first efforts was a powerful motive for continuing them. I must
now inform you that I have gained Brougham for our cause,
and that he wrote an article on my pamphlet on Negro Slavery
for the Edinburgh Review. Also that in a conference with the
Methodists I induced them to promise to come forward and
furnish us with evidence when required to do so. But may
God give us patience, for we are sorely in need of it !
You have doubtless heard that the new Bishop of Calcutta1
is our friend, and is willing to act in conjunction with the
Missionary Society.
Here we are, eleven Macaulays in a body, and with us the
Gisbornes, so that with the Babingtons we form altogether a
large and imposing party. The Temple is beautiful at present,
and its peaceful air is quite enchanting to one so long in
populous cities pent. Every breeze seems loaded with fragrance
and health. And then there is the spirit of its master diffusing
peace and serenity around him, and contributing by his un
affected cordiality of Christian kindness to the happiness of all
who approach him. I rejoice in the opportunity of making
my young folks acquainted with this fascinating scene of
tranquil enjoyment, the result of Christian tempers and
affections. FROM BARON DE STAEL. Coppel,July 2, 1823.
I consider your brother's stay in this country is a very happy
and important circumstance for the first of human interests.
1 Reginald Heber.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 389
Though the conduct of the majority of the Lausanne and
Geneva clergy is not to be justified either in a religious or in a
philosophical and political point of view, yet I am sorry to say
there has been on the part of the more evangelical people,
whether natives or foreigners,1 such a want of prudence and
even of charity, as to indispose several well - meaning and
enlightened persons who feel the inefficiency of old moral pre
cepts unsupported by the true Christianity of the heart, but
whose minds are repulsed by exaggerations or narrow views of
men or things. Your brother has already done considerable
good by his wisdom, and will, I trust, prevent the widening of
the chasm.
I am in great hopes a Bible Society will be formed at Vevay
immediately. FROM MR. BROUGHAM.
Brougham, Saturday Evening.
I heard Irving2 with no little admiration, but truly I read
him with very much less. I agree with you that he shows very
considerable powers ; but then he is so long — so affected, and
often so extravagant, and his taste is so very bad, and his
doctrine (his new kind of purgatory for instance) so odd — that
I cool down to temperate, if not below. Compare him with
Hall 3 — why he is not to be named in the same year.
I expect Denman here to-morrow, and after a week we go
together to Scotland. I have not been there for fifteen years.

TO MRS. H. MORE.
London, September Z, 1823.
I have desired Hatchard to send you by the first oppor
tunity a work which has cost me some labour, and which has
grown to a far greater size than I had intended. If it do any
good to the poor Negroes, I shall have my reward. I sup
pose you do not read John Bull. I do not buy him, and
never read him but when I am abused, which I have been
pretty plentifully of late. But then being abused in very good
company, and being found worthy of abuse in such a cause,
one has a compensation for being so bespattered and bemired.
The best of it all is that our cause gains, and I have no doubt
will gain daily ; and I cannot help flattering myself that dear
1 See the Lives ofthe Haldanes, chapter xviii. .
2 The Rev. Edward Irving was at this time minister at the Presbyterian Church
in Hatton Garden.
3 The Rev. Robert Hall, the eminent Baptist preacher.

390 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Wilberforce will still live to see his great work finally accom
plished in the emancipation of every slave within the British
dominions. We have been hearing this great northern light1 — I need not
name him — who has given employment to the periodical press
and the caricature shops for the last five months. I was
agreeably disappointed. He is a good actor; but he is not
merely an actor. There is much of miserable taste and of
affectation of the older time ; there is a sovereign contempt
of all the ordinary restraints of good writing ; and an almost
foolhardy indifference to qualifications and consequences; there
is an absence also of the lovely and winning graces of Christian
oratory — a scowl and air of defiance, rather than the gentleness
and meekness of the Saviour. But then there is power and
talent and earnestness and intrepidity, all exercised in the best
of causes and for the best of ends. He is a man to make
those tremble who never trembled before. He has unquestion
ably, with much of uncouthness and rudeness, an eloquence
which irresistibly arrests and rivets the attention. There is no
sleeping or yawning while he speaks. There is even little or
no criticising. The criticism is an after-thought when the
discourse comes to be recalled. He has the advantage of
Chalmers in speaking English very intelligibly, and also in
knowing how to take imposing attitudes ; but he is quite his
inferior in grasp of mind, in soundness of judgment, in tact
and knowledge ofthe world, in Christian prudence, in humility,
and in spirituality.
Though averse to mere sermon-hunting on principle, I really
can forgive those who go to hear Irving even again and again.
It is a very different thing from the humdrum of our best
preachers, intellectually considered. The man puts forth his
whole energies, and they are no mean energies, and he arouses
and interests you in spite of yourself.
Poor Wilks has of late been a severe sufferer, and I fear
much his health will hardly stand the fag of the Christian
Observer.
KROM MR. BROUGHAM.
Brougham, September 16, 1823.
My dkar Friend, — I have now received your whole remit
tances of sheets, and I have the work complete. A most
important one it is, and will be a very useful one. I only
grieve to see how much you have curtailed what I said of
yourself. Had I reflected that this was likely to follow, I should
1 The Rev. Edward Irving.

ZACHARY MACAULAY '391
have been very unwilling to let you undertake the friendly
office of revising my poor share in the debate. I wonder you
could make anything ostensible of it, and I especially rejoice
that my protestation (for the sake of which chiefly I spoke)
is fairly given and will thus be preserved. The work comes in
good time for use in the next number of the Edinburgh.
Clarkson, when here, wrote to Southey at Keswick, and at
my instigation remonstrated in our joint names, but ' with no
unfriendly voice,' on his never having made head against the
common enemy, and especially on the Quarterly Review being
obstinately silent for fifteen years on the subject of Negro
Slavery. He writes that all Southey's attempts to procure
insertion have failed, but I enclose his letter. I replied to
Clarkson in a style which I hope he showed Southey, as it
was fitted to work him up to more vigorous efforts in that
quarter where he really ought to have great weight.
I returned yesterday from my tour in Scotland, which grati
fied me beyond expectation, as it showed a degree of improve
ment in public feeling and principle quite singular. The
Glasgow dinner was held solely on principles. Right or
wrong, they had not one of them the least personal acquaint
ance with us, save one or two of the Parliamentary folks
there, and these in no way set it on foot. The points for
which they sung their loudest and most general note were all
unconnected with any party, unless love of liberty and pure
government, of education, free trade, Abolition, and national
freedom be such — of these were their talk.
The toast of the Abolition was judiciously coupled with
Clarkson's name, who had just been raising the country against
the state of Slavery itself, and yet not a voice was raised against
Graham's speech, and the toast was drunk unanimously and
with shouts. Several planters and merchants were present. —
Ever yours, H. BROUGHAM.
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, September ib, 1823.
My dear Friend, — I yesterday received your long and
interesting letter under your Bishop's passport, and we were
all much gratified by it, not only by its contents, but by the
indications which the length of it, the clearness of the writing,
and its able and acute criticisms afford us of the state of your
bodily powers. The praise bestowed on your criticisms will
appear perhaps a little selfish, at least suspicious as to their
motive, when I go on to tell you that they coincide, so as to be
quite remarkable for their coincidence, with the concluding

392 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
observations in the Christian Observer on Irving, and which
you will now shortly see. I am afraid he will feel them to be
severe, and yet I was most anxious to avoid whatever might
tend unnecessarily to irritate or to alienate him. I cannot help
regarding him, notwithstanding his eccentricities, as a most
useful and important auxiliary or rather leader in the cause of
Christianity. He stands much in need, however, of friendly
admonition, and if he will but listen to it, I shall entertain high
hopes of benefit from his exertions.
Irving set off yesterday for Scotland to be married. I had
a note from him a few days before in which he expressed con
siderable sensibility to the attacks that are making upon him,
and which he considers, (a little in his way), in bearing him
down to be bearing down the cause of Christ — for which cause
alone he says, with much of warmth, he desires to labour. ' At
the present moment,' he observes, ' the thing that occupies me
wholly is to devise some method of bringing the gospel into
contact with the minds of the world, and to practise what God
directs me to as the most likely to succeed. In which high
concern, having little advice or aid of others, I am obliged to
devote myself to it entirely ; for this to rest, for this to be busy,
for this to think, to speak, to act, and to pray. And the oppo
sition with which they endeavour to bear the cause down by
bearing me down, does only make me the more to stand fast
for the sake of that to which I am ordained in the Church.'
As for our friend Jebb, my hopes from him are not high.
He is an amiable creature, and writes and talks beautifully, but
hitherto his labours have tended to little purpose except that of
hindering the cause of the Bible. This is lamentable.
Our future domicile is now fixed. It is in Great Ormond
Street, on the spot which was formerly occupied bythe Lord
Chancellor of England. It is a very commodious and a cheap
house, two great recommendations to a man of small means and
a large family. It is within a furlong of Dr. Wilson's1 chapel.
We expect to be fairly set down in it for life in less than
a month.

FROM T. UABINGTON, ESQ.
Temple, October 18, 1S23.
MY DEAR Zachary,— I am sorry to see the course John Bull
is taking, but may God arm you against his malice, and enable
you to feel ' none of these things move me ! ' To be sure, you
have a full measure of ' dishonour ' and ' evil-report ' in your
2 The Rev. Daniel Wilson, afterwards Bishop of Calcutta, was incumbent of St.
John s Chapel, Bedford Row.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 393
course, and earnestly do I wish that I could smooth your path.
But the great consolation is that all is no doubt working for
good to you, and you may certainly even take to yourself
Christ's address to His followers at the very commencement of
His ministry, ' Rejoice and be exceeding glad.' The wonder is
how the cunning even of Satan can conjure up such a train
of false and execrable accusations. But he is not only the
' Tempter ' but the ' Accuser.'
I feel for my dear sister almost as much as for you. I am
sure she would rather have been slandered herself. However,
though she will feel all this abuse most acutely as far as it
affects you personally, she will not have so keen a sense of it
as you in other views which will be most important in your
eyes probably. — Yours affectionately,

T. Babington.

TO T. BABINGTON, ESQ.

October ig, 1823.
Your kind note of sympathy is very cheering to me and my
wife. I think we feel the abuse sit less heavily upon us than
might be supposed. I have been long used to such uncivil
bufferings, and from the moment that Brougham so kindly, but
incautiously, mentioned me in the House of Commons as the
author of ' Negro Slavery,' I foresaw all that must follow. How
ever, the cause is one that can sustain some share of obloquy,
and I only pray that I may bear it without being unduly pro
voked or depressed. Personal abuse is now the only game of
our adversaries. The battle is no longer a battle of principle ;
that ground is gained. If they can draw us into a personal
encounter they may hope to divert the public mind from the
important points. It seems, therefore, incumbent on us not to
be drawn into personal discussions except they furnish some
ground for judicial proceedings.

TO T. F. BUXTON, ESQ., M.P.
London, November n, 1823.
My DEAR Buxton, — Chinnery, Canning's private secretary,
stated lately in a party, stated openly and loudly, that the
insurrection in Demerara had been instigated by Wilberforce,
Buxton and Co., that he was as confident of it as he could be
of any fact. This conduct was witnessed by a friend who was
actually present and heard the words, and on whom I can place
implicit reliance. Canning, I think, ought to know this.
This incident has set me reflecting on all that has been

394 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
passing, and has led to the following recollections and con
siderations. You will recollect how I held up my hands in utter astonish
ment at hearing that Ministers had begun their operations by
abolishing the whip ; by an act, in short, of the most direct
interference between master and slave, and that an act of the
utmost delicacy and difficulty. The whip, be it remembered,
is the grand badge of slavery in the West Indies. Its use is
identified with the servile state. Can we wonder that the poor
slaves should confound this ever-present symbol of slavery with
slavery itself, and that they should regard its abolition as but
another name for emancipation? In whatever degree, there
fore, the disturbances in Demerara are to be traced to England,
(and I do not believe they are to be so traced), they must be
considered as the work of Canning, Bathurst, Horton and Co.,
instead of that other reviled and calumniated firm.
You may also recollect what was our plan had we been
allowed to proceed in our own way by Parliamentary enact
ment. It was not to interfere with a rash hand and in the
first instance with the plantation discipline, or with the direct
authority of the master, but to adopt measures which would have
a powerful influence on the condition and character of the slave,
without disturbing for the present the settled relations of planta
tion economy. Our plan was, and had we been allowed to
proceed by Parliamentary enactment, successive acts would
have been adopted to the following effect : —
I. To remove all fiscal obstructions to manumissions.
2. To oblige the master to manumit whenever the value of
the slave as appraised should be offered to him.
3. To abolish compulsory labour and markets on the Sunday.
4. To promote religious instruction.
5. To legalise and protect marriage.
6. To make the evidence of slaves admissible pro tanto.
7. To cause them to cease from being treated as chattels.
8. To secure them in the possession and transmission of
property.
These various measures would have interfered little, at least
visibly, with the exercise of the masters' authority. They
would be either measures of remission, not leading at all to
relax the bonds of discipline, or measures of silent and pro
gressive improvement, producing no sudden change of state,
but preparing the slaves gradually, and in no long time, for the
grand change of substituting a moral impulse to labour for that
of the whip, and of making the slaves amenable to law and not
to individual caprice. And then what substitute has Govern
ment provided ?

ZACHARY MACAULAY 395
You may recollect that both Stephen and myself proposed,
when we first learned that orders had actually been sent out to
abolish the whip, to represent to Mr. Canning the inexpediency
and even danger of the proceeding. But then it appeared a
very invidious office to attempt to check the career of benevo
lence, especially as the order had actually been sent before we
had the slightest apprehension that such a thing as issuing the
order was thought of. It would be said that as Ministers acted
in conjunction with the West Indians, they must be acting on
the best information, and our intervention therefore would
seem like a wish to have the credit of having our views adopted
instead of theirs. It seems important that Ministers should
fully understand this. Not indeed that I myself have any fear
of mischief even from actual and instant emancipation if the
due and obvious precautions were taken, but it must be allowed
that Ministers, without taking any ofthe necessary precautions,
have taken that course, short of emancipation, which was most
likely by the slaves to be confounded with it. No danger
would arise, in my opinion, even from emancipation if not
resisted, nor from the present measure if not resisted, although
even in that case a substitute ought to have been provided
for the whip. But I could not dare to hope that the abolition
of the whip in the first instance would not be resisted, and
would not therefore lead to evil. I should therefore have pur
sued the more cautious order of proceeding already mentioned,
were it only to prevent our good from being evil spoken of in
consequence of any disasters which might have occurred con
temporaneously with any more precipitate course. — Yours very
sincerely, Z. MACAULAY.
It might have been thought impossible for Macaulay to add
to his daily labours ; and in the campaign now opening for
Emancipation, the multifarious and difficult questions for the
treatment of which he was held responsible would have taxed
beyond human endurance the energies of any person who was
not entire master of his subject. But he perceived clearly that
it would be impossible, even for him, to have his mind free to
devote to the cause which he had at heart, if it were necessary
for him to continue to give that attention to his business which
he had hitherto invariably done notwithstanding all his other
numberless avocations.
Under his guidance the house of Macaulay and Babington
had prospered, and had weathered successfully one severe storm
which had convulsed the City ; and with pardonable pride he

396 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
relates in his private correspondence that he had, during more
than one monetary crisis, been able effectually to come to the
assistance of friends of far more considerable position in the
financial world than himself. His partner and nephew, Mr.
Thomas Gisborne Babington, had proved an excellent co
adjutor ; and although some allowance must be made for the
partiality with which Macaulay regarded the heir of Rothley
Temple, the son of those beloved relations to whom he was so
deeply indebted for his highest blessings, yet probably there
was a good deal of foundation for the confidence which he
reposed in his partner, who, as long as he was acting under his
uncle's orders, carried out his plans successfully and in a most
competent manner. Later on Macaulay writes : J ' I had found
his judgment in the main a sound one, and had had reason in
general to be satisfied with his providence, intelligence, and
activity.' With the deliberation which characterised all his proceedings,
Macaulay reviewed the situation in all its bearings, and calmly
counted the cost which the sacrifices he felt his duty demanded
of him would entail. He thus arrived at the conclusion that
for some years to come, during the stress, at any rate, of the
Anti-slavery struggle, he would yield to his partner the labour
ing oar in the concern.
' This was agreeable to him,' continues Macaulay, ' and it fell
in with the objects I had at heart. When I entered on the
great Slavery controversy I saw the time and thought it would
necessarily occupy. Reserving to myself, therefore, a right of
being consulted on all matters of moment, I yielded to Tom
the conduct of current business.'
But as this was to be the case, Macaulay thought it only just
to relegate to his nephew also the larger share of the profits,
and under these altered circumstances considered that his duty
to his own family necessitated for the present a much stricter
economy in his way of life, so that in order that his children's
future interests should not suffer, he should have it in his
power to continue to lay by what he thought proper. He
therefore removed, as has been seen, to a house in Great
Ormond Street, which, although large and comfortable, was in
an inexpensive district of London, laid down his carriage, and
1 To General Macaulay, 1826.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 397
reduced as far as possible all expenses not immediately affecting
the advantages of his children.
It may be doubted whether the course of conduct pursued
by Macaulay was prudent, but as far as can be gathered from
his correspondence, his wife cordially acquiesced in the wisdom
of his arrangements ; and felt that with their large family, and
the expense of educating and placing their sons out in the
world, it was far better to meet the difficulty in this manner.
She maintained upon this occasion, as she always did through
all her married life, her steady resolution in no way to impede
her husband in the path of duty, never to throw obstacles in
the way of his conscientious performance of it, and whether
she entirely agreed in his views or not, to assist him heartily in
carrying them into execution. Mrs. Macaulay's penetration,
however, was less at fault in regard to the character of her
nephew than that of his father or uncle. But she appears to
have mistrusted her own opinion, as she was much attached to
him personally, and to have hoped all would be well against
her better judgment. She was also reassured by the sensible
measures taken by her husband for guarding against any change
of policy in the management of the business.
' I said to Tom,' writes Macaulay,' x that I should be at
hand at all times to refer to and to assist. This was our general
understanding. You know I have not been a great absentee
from town, and when in town I pass a considerable part of
almost every day in the Counting-house. My absences have
been very infrequent.'
He entered into a distinct understanding with Mr. T. G.
Babington that no change was to be made in the conduct of
the business without consulting him, and that any matter of
importance was to be brought to his knowledge before a
decision should be taken upon it. With regard to the branch
establishment on the West Coast of Africa, he drew out clear
directions for the guidance of his partner, copies of which were
sent to the heads of the House at Sierra Leone.2 In these
Macaulay gave definite orders that no alteration of any descrip
tion in carrying on business should be made without a direct
reference first to himself. Having taken these precautions,
1 To General Macaulay, 1826..
2 Correspondence with the Sierra Leone House, Oct. and Nov. 1823.

398 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
which appeared to him amply sufficient, he yielded early in the
year 1823 to his nephew the first place in the House, and felt
himself at liberty to enter with a free mind upon the great
Anti-slavery controversy, and to consecrate to it the greater
portion of his thoughts and time.
He has been mentioned as furnishing an instance of an
individual who, in his passionate desire to benefit his fellow-
men, neglected to secure the interests of those who were nearest
and dearest to him. But a closer study of the circumstances
under which Macaulay resigned the chief participation in the
management of his own business, so as to be able to rearrange
his life with the design of more completely devoting all his
powers to the great Anti-slavery struggle, sets his conduct in a
different light. At the same time, although such a study may
mitigate the censure which has been attached to him on this
score, yet it is possible that it may not wholly exonerate him
from the charges that, as the first and best energies of his mind
were undeviatingly concentrated upon the work which he
believed had been allotted to him by the Almighty as his
appointed service in this world, the attention which he was
able to spare to his other duties was necessarily therefore
somewhat divided and irregular ; and that, in dealing with the
persons to whom he delegated his authority, he did not suf
ficiently exert himself to exercise that penetration into character
of which he certainly was possessed.
For three years Mr. T. G. Babington reigned supreme at the
Counting-house, and in those three years he accomplished the
ruin of himself and his uncle. Strange to say, the first whispers
of misfortune appear to have reached Macaulay through an
indirect channel. Colonel Nichols, who commanded the British
troops stationed at Ascension, paid a visit to Sierra Leone, and
was entertained at the establishment of Macaulay and Babing
ton. This officer was disgusted by the scenes of revelry and
profusion which he witnessed there, and feeling convinced that
a man of Macaulay's high character must be in ignorance of
the habits of his representatives, had the courage and kindness
to inform him in confidence of what had passed during his
visit. Macaulay's attention was at once aroused ; and dis
concerted and alarmed by the vagueness and evasions with
which his inquiries were met by his partner, he lost no time in

ZACHARY MACAULAY 399
sending out to Sierra Leone a peremptory order desiring that
one of the two principals of the House there should sail
immediately for England, and bring with him the books of the
firm and all accounts. The head manager arrived accordingly
in London in November 1826.
The state of affairs now disclosed was appalling. From the
moment Mr. T. G. Babington had taken the helm the Sierra
Leone House had gone entirely wrong. Under Macaulay's
management it had been a most productive concern, as the
consignments of goods sent out were disposed of at once for
ready money, and large remittances sent home regularly in
return, while the accounts and books were carefully kept, and
transmitted at constant intervals for the inspection of himself
and his partner. Now enormous masses of unsaleable goods
had been accumulated at Sierra Leone ; and the lowest estimate
of the unsold property at that time there could only be put at
a hundred thousand pounds, while large additional shipments
to a great amount had already been made and were on their
way. In addition, a system of credit had been permitted,
which allowed little hope for the realisation of back payments ;
and the establishment itself, which had in its numbers been
carefully apportioned to the requirements of the business, had
been greatly increased ; and for no apparent reason the salaries
of the clerks had been considerably raised, in many cases even
to five times the amount at which Macaulay had left them in
1823. But beyond all outlay, there was still worse to be dis
covered. The liabilities undertaken in the name of the firm
were very numerous. New factories, with expensive establish
ments, had been formed at the Isles de Los, Rio Nunez, Tasso,
and many other stations, and supplied with buildings and
machinery; and several ships had been purchased, and fitted
out for keeping up communications with the distant factories.
To crown all, the central establishment at Sierra Leone had
been directed to keep open house for entertainment with the
view of promoting trade, and it may easily be imagined to
what disorders this injunction led in such a climate and such a
locality. Macaulay soon found that it was quite useless to press his
partner for explanations. He secluded himself entirely upon
the plea of health, and neither his father nor his uncle could

400 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
extract any information from him to assist them in their in
vestigations. The most probable explanation of Mr. T. G.
Babington's extraordinary proceedings is that, being a man of
an enthusiastic and sanguine turn of mind, and very romantic
in his ideas, he had conceived some project of a great mer
cantile house which should occupy a commanding position upon
the West Coast of Africa, and exercise a princely hospitality ;
and that as soon as the restraining influence of his uncle's com
mon sense was removed, he had endeavoured to put his project
into effect.
It is characteristic of Macaulay's disposition that he wasted
no time in reproaches. He had, indeed, cause to suffer from
cruel disappointment and mortification. Of the two managers
of the Sierra Leone House, one was a man of considerable
character and position, who might well have been expected to
check any mismanagement upon his own authority, as well as
to have at once warned Macaulay. The other, Mr. Kenneth
Macaulay, was a connection of his own, to whom many years
before at his own expense he had given a first-rate business
education in order to qualify him for the position he held,
where he received a handsome salary, and had hitherto enjoyed
unlimited confidence. It is truly unaccountable that two such
men should have entirely succumbed to the temptations offered
them, but their minds appear to have been dazzled by the
brilliant prospects of fortune which the new turn of affairs held
out to them ; and the laxity of management at home, where no
accounts were asked for, and every encouragement was given to
extravagant expenditure, had led them, incredible as it seems,
to neglect altogether keeping any accounts or books.
There was no necessity for Mrs. Macaulay to urge her
husband to turn his attention to his affairs, and she displayed
at this trying crisis an admirable calmness, and gave full sup
port and sympathy to him in his difficulties. She writes from
Barley Wood, where she was on a visit to Mrs. Hannah More in
November 1826: —
' Tom Babington's conduct is most unaccountable, but he is
a man of a weak mind, and totally unfit to manage such a
concern as yours. He is always in a state of excitement, and
must have something going on. I hope he will remain at Bath
long enough to enable you to fix your plans. But after all,
poor fellow, I love him very much.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 401
' It will now require all your decision and firmness to make
the most of your present knowledge of your affairs. All I can
do is to pray to God to give you wisdom and health. It does
appear to me at this very critical moment that the resolution
which you have formed of devoting yourself with energy to
your own affairs is very wise.'
Macaulay lost no time in taking decisive measures. After
making himself acquainted with all that Mr. Kenneth Macaulay
could tell, he despatched authoritative orders to the acting
head of the establishment at Sierra Leone. His letter is
excellent in its self-restraint and clearness ; and, knowing the
country well, he was qualified to enter into every detail, and to
give distinct instructions as to the carrying out of the various
measures of retrenchment, while he left his substitute no choice
as to the necessity of their adoption. This being accomplished,
and his grasp of the reins being regained, Macaulay appears to
have felt considerable relief. He dealt kindly and sensibly
with his relative Kenneth Macaulay, who appears to have been
honestly penitent for the past. His proceedings, and those of
the assistant manager, excite the more astonishment when it is
remembered that they had been conducting the branch at
Sierra Leone since 1815, in perfect accordance with the views
of their employer ; and that the letter, before referred to, which
he addressed in 1823 privately to Kenneth Macaulay and his
colleague on resigning the management to Mr. T. G. Babington,
ended with the words : ' In short, you will perceive that my
policy is to discourage everything which tends to draw us
beyond Sierra Leone. That is our place, and I dread the
forming of new establishments of any kind.'
Macaulay endeavoured now to relieve the apprehensions of
his brother-in-law, Mr. Babington, who had suffered through
all the troubles of this time greatly, as a man of his character
must have suffered, on grounds of principle, in addition to the
inevitable anxiety about his property, and the fear of his estate
becoming involved in the difficulties of his eldest son and heir ;
and the two men permitted themselves to believe that the
danger had been tided over, and that a prosperous future might
be in store for them.
But the respite was indeed short, and a thunderbolt fell upon
the unfortunate house of Macaulay and Babington. News
2 c

402 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
came in the course of the summer of 1827 of the failure of a
firm of Calcutta merchants whose correspondents they were ;
and to his infinite amazement and horror Macaulay found that
Mr. T. G. Babington had, during the three years of his disastrous
rule, made his firm responsible for the advance to them of very
large sums of money. He wrote to his nephew on the 9th of
August a letter quietly stating the liabilities of their firm, and
ends by saying : ' I make no reflection at present on this state
of things, being content in the first instance to submit it to
your and your father's deliberate consideration.'
Kenneth Macaulay returned to the West Coast in the spring
of 1827; and during the remainder of his life appears to have
endeavoured to the best of his ability to reduce the affairs of
the House to order, and to carry out the views of its principal
partner in London, who never for a moment relaxed his vigilant
watch upon the establishment, but sent out by every mail, in
his own handwriting, minute and exact directions upon every
particular of the business. It was, however, far otherwise with
his colleague, whose misconduct proved a serious embarrassment.
On the 1 2th of December 1S27 Macaulay writes to Mr. T. G.
Babington : —
' The accounts from Sierra Leone contain abundant evidence
of  's gross mismanagement. Further confidence in him
seems out of the question. The remittances will not even pay
the interest we have on our debts at Christmas. Now, under
these trying circumstances you will feel it to be material to
look before us, and to calculate and husband our means with
the utmost care. I could have wished therefore that you had
prepared me for your drafts. Will it not be best to give me
two or three weeks' notice of your demands, as two or three
hundred pounds is now a serious sum with us? '
The answer he received was not much to the point. His
nephew replied that he grieved from his very soul that the
burden should rest upon his uncle alone, but that as far as
regarded himself he found that his mental agony had affected
his susceptible frame, and that he could not dwell upon such
subjects at all for the present.
But whatever course Mr. T. G. Babington might choose to
pursue, on the part of Macaulay himself there was no remiss
ness. Besides the lengthy and laborious correspondence he

'ZACHARY MACAULAY 403
Carried on with the Sierra Leone establishment, every detail of
the business in this country now came under his own super
vision, and as time went on he began to see reason for serious
alarm. It became apparent to him that his partner had under
taken far more extensive engagements than he had been willing
to disclose. In fact, he had, on the authority of the firm,
borrowed from time to time large sums of money from persons
who were interested in Slavery and other philanthropic objects,
and friends of his father and uncle, and as the acceptances for
these fell due, it was plain to Macaulay's mind that ruin and
disaster were before him.
He made a further earnest appeal to his nephew for help and
information, but was only met with evasion. He had specially
referred to the case of Mr. Evans, the member for Leicester,
who had been induced by the representations of Mr. T. G.
Babington to make a large loan to the House under the
erroneous idea that Macaulay was cognisant of the application.
' I was no party to the application to Evans,' Macaulay writes,
' and was an utter stranger to the whole transaction.' His
nephew replied, in entire ignorance of the feelings he was excit
ing, that he thought he had done well in applying to Mr.
Evans, and that, being aware of his father's and uncle's extreme
delicacy towards Mr. Evans, he had written himself ih a style
that could not but gratify him, and believed it would afford
him pleasure to assist them.

TO T. G. BABINGTON, ESQ. August 1828.
My dear Tom, — I have received your notes of explanation,
and though they clear up in some measure the uncertainty of
the case, yet I am constrained to say that they are anything
but satisfactory. On the contrary, they have had the effect of
causing in my mind no small portion of alarm and disturbance.
The consideration that your debt to the House, already so
unaccountably large, is to be swelled by between two and three
thousand pounds more, independently of all calculations of
interest for the excess, is of itself no light matter. But even
that would sit comparatively lightly upon me notwithstanding
the very large amount to my credit, which I fear is sunk for
ever. I had completely reconciled myself to them, and had no
thought of recurring to them. But what has recently passed

404 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
has given an entirely new colour to things, and makes me fear
that even now we may not know the worst of our state.
But at what point am I to conclude that the system of
irregularity has stopped ? I stand in apprehension that every
fresh investigation into matters may bring some fresh matter
like this to light. Let me beg you, my dear Tom, to review
your banker's book, your cash-book, your memoranda, and all
the means to which you have access, in order to leave no doubt
on these matters, which certainly have distressed me beyond
measure. I would have spared you the pain of referring to
them if I could have done so with justice to you and to myself.
— Yours affectionately, Z. Macaulay.
This appeal had no effect, and the elastic resistance which
Mr. T. G. Babington opposed to all the inquiries addressed to
him defeated for the time even the efforts of his father to
elucidate the situation. Happily these financial troubles in no
way influenced the affectionate relations between the Macaulays
and Babingtons, and the regard which existed between the two
families seems to have been intensified by the common misfor
tunes which had befallen them.

FROM THOMAS BABINGTON, ESQ.
Leicester, February i;, 1829.
My dear Zachary, — I am corresponding with Tom on this
affair with you ; but he is thrown into such a state that there is
no hope of his doing anything in person towards bringing
matters to a point. I have thought it necessary to decline
undertaking the business for him, but have suggested to him to
place it in the hands of his brothers, telling them that I would do
all I could to put things in the best course as far as the estate
is concerned. It is altogether a grievous affair, and falls heavily
on an old man like me ; but I look to my God for strength and
holy affections. I have carefully abstained from all painful
topics as much as possible in my letters to Tom. Poor fellow !
his mind has been strangely thrown off its centre. Trials are
good for us : may we feel this more and more !— Yours most
affectionately, T. BABINGTON.
The final result was, that after consulting those friends whose
knowledge of business made them competent to advise, and
with the full approval of Mr.' Babington, the partnership was
dissolved, and Macaulay was released from any further liability

ZACHARY MACAULAY 405
for his partner after January 1829. But he had lost in the
miserable struggle the whole of his fortune, and had to prepare
to face the world with his large family as best he could.

TO GENERAL MACAULAY. January 28, 1829.
DEAR COLIN, — The partnership between Tom Babington
and myself has been dissolved. His debt is, of course, secured
on his reversion, and George and his father are now consider
ing the means of raising money to pay it. My power of
liquidating your claim will depend in part on the success of
their arrangements. When Tom Babington quitted London
he left me with engagements to a large extent, of which he
had kept me uninformed, and which could not be postponed.
He had been taking up money on all hands. I have paid off
all the outstanding claims upon us, as they became due, to a
very large amount. Now our obligations are confined to our
immediate friends. I have effected this without any lessening
of credit in the City, and with a fair prospect of gradually re
covering from abroad the means of satisfying these more
indulgent creditors, who, like yourself, know the case thoroughly.
The payment of Tom Babington's debt would of itself settle
more than all the House owes. I have been hindered all along
from pressing on him by a variety of considerations affecting
not only him, but his father and brothers; and my anxious
desire, of course, is that the raising of the necessary funds on
the security of his estate might not lead either to discredit or
to disadvantageous borrowing, but that the best and most
opportune time should be waited for. — Ever yours most affec
tionately, Z. Macaulay.
Very early in 1830 accounts reached England of the serious
illness of Kenneth Macaulay, and when these were soon followed
by the news of his death, Macaulay, at the suggestion of his
wife, resolved on sending out without delay his third son to
take the management of the Sierra Leone House, with the
view of gradually winding up the concern. The youth of
Henry William, who was only twenty-four years of age, might
have been considered a drawback ; but he had profited greatly
by the excellent training he had received in the house of
business at Liverpool of some Quaker friends of his father's,
where he had been employed up to this time, and the choice
proved thoroughly successful. In three or four years, during

406 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the course of which he visited England more than once to
consult with his father, he closed the business ; but he remained
at Sierra Leone for some time longer upon receiving the
appointment from Lord Goderich of Commissioner of Arbitra
tion. The salary attached to this office was so large that in
the circumstances of his family he did not feel justified in
declining it ; and finding that he was able to be of material
assistance to his father, he remained at Sierra Leone till after
Macaulay's death.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 407

CHAPTER XIII
VISIT TO PARIS
FROM BARON DE STAEL. Paris, December g, 1823.
MOST DEAR SIR, — I need not say how happy your visit to
Paris will make the Duke de Broglie and myself. Indeed we
are in great need of it : we want some new impulse. The
general state of Europe, and especially of France, is so apathetic
that everybody, whatever be his feelings, partakes more or less
of the prevalent disease. And no person has greater sway than
you have to revive what little good there may be amongst us.
Notwithstanding various kinds of difficulties, our Bible Society
is thriving, and appears to enjoy the special blessing of Pro
vidence. The Strasburg Society x seem now to express a wish
to become our auxiliaries, and our excellent friend Admiral
Von Huell has succeeded in establishing a Bible Society at
Marseilles, where our efforts had been hitherto fruitless.
The little Paris Missionary Society, trusting more to the
goodness of her cause than to her resources, has taken a house
for the reception of Missionary students, where two young men
from Basle are actually established. Thus far we have reasons
for gratitude. But with regard to the abolition of the Slave
Trade, I am grieved to say things are as bad as ever.
But you will judge by yourself, and whoever has a spark of
religion or humanity in his heart will be with you when you
come here. Let me beseech you once more to take care of
your health, which is so important to the good cause. — Yours
affectionately, A. ST.
TO MRS. MACAULAY. Boulogne, December 15, 1823.
I shall be setting off hence in about an hour towards Paris.
The number of English here is quite surprising. Numbers of
1 The Strasburg Bible Society, as is related subsequently, had specially excited the
wrath of Mr. Haldane by a Preface which they prefixed to the Bibles distributed by
them.

408 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
English families seem quite domesticated here, their names,
in brass plates, permanently fixed on the doors, and on many
of the houses where the English lodge there is painted on the
outside, ' Sonnette pour les Anglais,' as if it had been a matter
of course that they should be inhabited by English. I was very
much struck with the tallness of the English women who are
here as compared with the French. The French, however, are
swelled out with an enormity of petticoat, approaching almost
to a hoop, while the English women make themselves as
ridiculously slim and angular, every part of the shape being
made obtrusively visible. Our young women have greatly
the advantage in point of looks — the coarseness of skin pro
duced by paint is remarkably contrasted with the freshness of
the English complexion, and the beautiful smoothness of the
skin. But then the French women, with all the immense con
vexity of petticoat, and of the flowing cloaks which in this
weather wrap them from head to foot, have a ligereti and
buoyancy in their tread, and a steadiness in their carriage,
approaching to elegance, of which our women know nothing.
They have not learned to walk. I hope they have learned
better things ; at least some young ladies whom I know and
of whom I often think. TO MRS. MACAULAY. Paris, December 19, 1823.
My DEAR Selina, — I saw my friend  and spent an hour
with him very agreeably. He is full of information as to the
state of parties, general feelings, etc. It seems that at the
present moment there is some schism among the Ultras. For
some of them, and that a large party, the Ministers are far
too moderate. They wish nothing short of a return to almost
absolute power, together with indemnity to the Emigres and
the larger endowment of the Clergy. The Ministers who are
the responsible persons find great difficulties in all this, and
they are anxious to shield themsehes against the fanatics of
their own party by substituting septennial Parliaments for the
present mode of an annual renewal by fifths. De Chateaubriand
has written a pamphlet and some newspaper articles on this
subject, which are, of course, complained of as being undignified
in a Minister of State, and it is very curious to see how much
things arc changed. The opposition of the Liberals to his
scheme he scarcely condescends to notice ; his efforts are
directed to overcome the reluctance of his friends of the more
fanatical class. These are quite outrageous against the mode
ration of the Due d'Angouleme in Spain, and yet it is they who

ZACHARY MACAULAY

409

are forcing forward all these fetes unpalatably both for the
Duke and the Minister, as still forming in the eyes of the
public their triumph. But I must have done with them for
the present, or I shall not be able to get through half the day.
The French West Indians are pressing their Government very
hotly to renew the expedition to St. Domingo for the sake of
le'gitimite', to restore the cart-whip there. It is thought, however,
that the Government will not consent to encounter the risk.
By this time my side began to pain me more than usual,
probably the effect of fatigue. I had a little dinner, and went
to bed early. I made them give me a night-lamp and lay a fire
in my bedroom, intending to proceed according to my wont.
But the lamp was extinct by two in the morning, so I had no
remedy but to lie patiently in bed till past seven.
I went first to see the Baron de Stael. He was from home,
but I saw the Duke de Broglie, and was introduced to the
.Duchess. They were as kind as kindness could make them, and
they insisted on my being back to dinner at six, when De Stael
would be there. I consented. They both seem very delightful
persons, and appear to be as thoroughly the English man and
wife as you can imagine. She had three nice children at her
apron-strings. Having sat with them for half an hour, I went
to call on Gregoire. The old man seemed quite in raptures
at seeing me ; and I could with difficulty get away from him
after we had occupied two hours in interesting conversation on
a variety of subjects. He is one of the few persons I have ever
met with or known who seems to feel what is called in England
spiritual religion — a sense of abiding responsibility, and a habit
of communion with his God and Saviour. And what is it that
has procured this man such disfavour that he is almost repudi
ated by all who wish to keep terms with society in France ? It
is not that they can allege against him that he has not been
upright and conscientious in his views ; but that, during the
effervescence of men's minds in this country, his own being
one not of the least fervid, he uttered expressions which remain
on record, so pointed and so piercing in the way of animad
version, as some persons have not the magnanimity ever to
forgive. But I have only got to the morning of Thursday, and
I have got already to the end of my paper. I called on Baron
Humboldt, and renewed my acquaintance with him. He is now
writing on slavery. From him I went to Sir Charles Stuart,
the English Ambassador. By this time, and with writing a
letter to Huber and one to Colin, and reading the papers
of the day, I found it time to prepare for my dinner at the
Duke's ; but here I must stop. — Yours affectionately, Z. M.
P.S. — I learn that my letters are all to be ppened at the Post

410 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Office, and have therefore erased a name you will guess at.
What a vile system !
Paris, December 21, 1823.
I dined at the Duke de Broglie's on Thursday. The party
was small but pleasant. The Duke, the Duchess, the Baron,
M. Remusat, Miss Randall, and a younger brother of the
Duchess. We sat down to dinner about half-past six, and
rose about half- past seven to go back to the drawing-room.
I came away at eight, not being in high feather, and went to
bed early. On Friday morning I got up at my usual hour,
pretty well on the whole, and employed myself in collecting some
very curious statistical information respecting Paris by means
of Dumont, who furnished me with materials from his bureau.
About ten Baron Humboldt called and sat for an hour and a
half, and left with me some manuscripts he had prepared on
the subject of the West Indies to look over and correct with a
view to their appearance in a great work he is about to publish.
Afterwards Baron de Stael came, and remained for a couple of
hours conversing on a variety of subjects. From him I learnt,
among many other things, that our old acquaintance Des
Bassayns, the husband of your old friend, is appointed to the
office which is called here Sous-chef to the Minister of the
Marine and Colonies, corresponding with the situation which
with us would be created by uniting the offices of Mr. Croker
and Mr. Wilmot Horton in one. I must see him and feel his
pulse on the Slave Trade. I dread him, however, for he is a
slaveholder himself.
About three o'clock I went out to Galignani's Reading-
room, and cast my eye over the English newspapers for
Monday and Tuesday, and among others over John Bull, who
I see has been not a little forbearing. While I was thus em
ployed, who should jog me on the elbow, to my utter dismay,
but  . He immediately entered on John Bull. Fortunately,
nobody dare speak there but in a whisper. I doubt not, how
ever, when he quitted me he took care to whisper to every one
he knew who I was, and that it was the poor gentleman whom
the Bull had been goring. He is the man of all others in the
world who most exactl)- reminds me, you may tell Tom, of
Horace's imperturbable and inextinguishable associate in the
Via Sacra. I dread his fastening upon me some morning at
ten and hanging on till six. I went to dine with Faber1 at
six, and passed an hour and a half or two hours not un
pleasantly with him and his family. Le petit Edouard was
as talkative and intelligent as ever. From M. Faber I learnt
the probability of my letters being opened if they went by
1 See ante, p. 315.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 411
post. They retained in memory, he was assured, my Bible
Society and Slave Trade machinations in France, and especially
my communications with the Duke de Broglie, and they would
take care to watch me. I got home by eight o'clock, and
employed myself in writing for a couple of hours.
Saturday morning I was pretty well, but the weather was
very bad. Indeed, there has been little good weather since I
came. Dumont called at my breakfast-hour, and gave con
firmation to all that Faber had said as to opening letters. He
told me to be very careful as to what passed before my valet-
de-place. They were one and all spies of the police. When
ever Louis entered the room Dumont immediately ceased to
speak French and spoke English. What a state to live in !
I spent a great part of the forenoon writing. I afterwards
went out in a fiacre, and put my letters into one of the most
distant receiving-houses, where there was comparatively little
probability of their attracting notice. I delivered them in and
paid for them just as the bags were closing, so that if they are
noticed at all it must be after getting to the General Post Office.
Being in her part of the town I called on Madame Aublay.
She had been thrown out of a cabriolet about a week before,
and had run a great risk of being killed, or at least having
bones broken, but she escaped with a shake and a few bruises.
She has moved her apartments for the sake of being close to
the Church of St. Sulpice, which is the great resort of the
Catholic bigots in Paris, so that to say a man is a Sulpician
or that he is a bigot is, in fact, saying the same thing. She
is become a thorough Roman Catholic in heart, although she
has not yet made her public recantation. Poor thing ! she seems
utterly lost amid the mazes of controversy, and what she seems
to desire is an infallible authority on which to repose. All
ends in this : to be saved the trouble and risk of deciding for
oneself and judging of one's own state. And then with her
religion is evidently no pleasant service. Complaints broke
out of the thorny path that was to be trod, of the good works
that must be done, the sacrifices that must be made to meet
the requisitions of Christianity as interpreted by her spiritual
guides, and all this in a querulous tone. It seemed to be a
question between gold and penances and prayers on the one
hand, and assurance of heaven on the other.
I dined at home at six, Dumont dining with me, and we
had much highly interesting conversation. He brought me a
message from the Count d'Hauterive1 (Under-Secretary of
1 ' Alexandre Blanc de Lanautte, Comte d'Hauterive, demanda a etre nomine a. Ia
direction des Archives du Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres. On le lui accorda.'
— Nouvelle Biographie Ginlrale.

412 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
State for Foreign Affairs) requesting to see me next day at
nine. After Dumont had taken his leave about eight I dressed,
and set off in a fiacre to the soiree of the Duchess de Broglie.
There I remained till past eleven, and could have remained
much longer but from a prudent regard to health. On going
I found only the family assembled. Soon after appeared
M. Guizot, one of the very ablest men, I do believe, in
France. He is thoroughly master of English literature, and
speaks English tolerably. He has lately published six volumes
containing Memoirs of the principal characters who figured in
the revolutionary period of English History — such as Cromwell,
Hutchinson, Clarendon, etc., and is going on with the work.
He is a devoted admirer of Mrs. Hutchinson. I shall get
the work ; I shall be anxious to know the light in which a
remarkably acute, candid, and intelligent foreigner views both
the transactions and the men of that remarkable period. One
expression dropped from Guizot which sufficiently indicated
his feeling about it. He said it was emphatically the age of
mighty men. Our party at length consisted, besides eight or
ten of the ol ttoXXoi,, whose names I did not even catch, and
who seemed merely to fill vacant spaces in the room, of the
Marquis de Jaucourt, the President of the Bible Society, the
descendant of one of the noblest Huguenot families ; Lord John
Russell ; Count Mold, who had been Minister of the Marine in
France in 1818 ; the Baron Pasquier, who had been Minister of
Foreign Affairs for several years prior to the accession of the
Ultras to office ; his Grace the Archbishop of Malines, better
known by the name of the Abbe de Pradt ; Count Mollion,
who had been Minister of the Finances under Bonaparte ;
M. Terneaux, the first manufacturer in France, a man of
immense wealth and a member of the Chamber of Deputies ;
M. de Merzey, or some such name, who had been Postmaster-
General during Pasquier's Administration, and in that capacity
had often opened the letters of his present hosts. The only
persons with whom I had any particular conversation besides
Guizot were Count Mole and the Marquis de Jaucourt. I never
saw a more engaging countenance than that of the Count. He
had been the only French Minister who had done anything for
our cause. He had passed a good law which he intended to
have followed up with others and to have carried into effect,
but by some intrigue or other which is inexplicable, except by the
influence of the Slave-traders, he was removed from office. I
expressed to him the gratitude we felt for his exertions in the
cause of humanity, and wc entered with the Duke de Broglie
on a consideration of what ought to be done at the opening of
the Session. They both agreed it would be right to begin with

ZACHARY MACAULAY 413
presenting a long and argumentative petition, to be eventually
turned into a pamphlet for universal diffusion, embodying the
facts of the case, and following this petition up with a resolution
that it was expedient to visit Slave-trading with une peine
infamante et afflictive.
They both agreed that the present Ministry were more likely
to favour such a measure than their predecessors, the Pasquier
Administration. Remembering his rogueries of old, and his
evasions when the discussions were proceeding with France
about two or three years ago, I did not choose to be intro
duced to him. His appearance is that of a man of talent. He
carries with him the air of superior station, is stately and some
what reserved, and, as it appeared to me, condescended to
grace the soirdes of Madame la Duchesse merely to increase
his chance of getting again into power. But as the Duke and
the Baron both told me, we cannot, of course, object to such
adherents of Liberal principles ; but as for trusting him again
with power without good guarantees, it would be, of course,
what we should not consent to.
A number of ladies also joined us, but who they were or
what they said, I know not. It was agreed that I should dine
again with the Duke on Monday, and go afterwards to a
meeting of la Societe" de la Morale Chrdtienne, which has a
Committee pour I 'abolition de la traite.
I was excessively amused and interested by this party.
Guizot's powers of conversation are very extraordinary, and
his wife's, I understand, are no less so. She is regarded as
the Hannah More of France, both on account of her conversa
tional powers and the variety and utility of her writings.
Paris, December 23, 1823.
I found the Count d'Hauterive, an old man with a face un
commonly wrinkled, and a tall and erect person, his features
the picture of comedy. His age I should think about seventy.
He began immediately after a few compliments had passed to
enter on the question of the Slave Trade. He admired our
warmth, he said, on that question. It was very laudable. It
would do good ; it would forward the extinction of the Slave
Trade and slavery some years before it would otherwise
have been extinguished : that was all, and it was enough toos
considering how difficult it was to do good in this world. But
why did we look at the Slave Trade with such intense interest,
especially the French Slave Trade? Could we find nothing
else to excite our sympathies? Did we think nothing of
thousands of Hindoo widows burned annually, and of all the
other thousand forms of misery that appeared around us ? In

414 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
England you have many rich and idle people who have nothing
to do but to amuse themselves with projects of benevolence.
Plere the great business is to live, and that of the Government
to defend itself against the rude assaults of violent men. The
people take no interest in this matter, and the Government has
not time to attend to it. Besides, if you were in earnest, if you
were really sincere in your principles, why do you not abolish
slavery, why do you not free the offspring of those whom you
admit you have reduced unjustly to slavery? So far are you
from being enemies to slavery that you rapaciously stripped
France of one of her best possessions, the Isle of France, in
order to swell the number of your slave islands.
This was not all said in one long speech, but in the course of
a conversation interrupted, of course, by many opposing con
siderations. I have now answered the whole of your two letters, which
have been very gratifying to me. All I have received tend to
make me wish myself at home again ; indeed I do not see that
I shall gain much by remaining here. The weather is dreadful,
and home is on the whole the best place for an ailing man, or
at least a man liable to ail. Not that my apartments here are
are not comfortable ; they are highly so. Not that I do not
meet with the utmost kindness on all sides ; but still it is not
home, and besides the expense is heavy.
I must let M. d'Hauterive pass. My conversation with him,
however, ended more satisfactorily than I had premised at
first. I left him, went to the ambassador's chapel, and came
home, and lay on my sofa the rest of the day.
I went to dine at the Duke de Broglie's. We were a family
party. Old La Fayette was to have been there, but had not
returned to town in time. I afterwards went with the Duke and
the Baron to the Societe de la Morale Chrdtienne, where I sat
an hour, and was not only received to the honour of sitting
next to the president, but was elected a member in very
flattering terms. I met there with M. Jullien and his son, M.
Coquerel, and various other acquaintances, and a meeting was
appointed for Monday next to discuss Slave Trade matters.
The Duke's carriage then brought me home.
Tuesday (yesterday) I went out to call on Des Bassayns,
now the Baron de Richemont. I really felt much better than
I had yet been since my coming to France. I had a feeling
which I had not yet had of comfortable health. I found him
at home, and received from him a very cordial reception. He
introduced me to his wife and daughters, and among the rest of
them to Selina, the loveliest of them all. There were three of
them, fine showy young women. The mother spoke of you

ZACHARY MACAULAY 415
with great regard and affection. They live quite in a gay and
fashionable style. His sister, it seems, is the wife of M. de
Villele,1 the Prime Minister of France. I had an invitation to
all the ladies' soirees on Wednesday evenings, and to the girls'
music on Saturdays. I could not get away from them for full
two hours.
Here I am on Wednesday morning between six and seven,
writing by a wood fire, wrapped in my plaid, with two candles
burning before me.

TO MRS. MACAULAY. Paris, December 27, 1823.
Family events are by far the most interesting you can give
rhe, so let me have all, however trivial. I rejoice that Tom is
all you could wish in my absence. Love to him, and also to
poor Selina, of whom I should like, as to health, to have had a
better account. May God bless and keep them and you, and
make us all a blessing to each other !
I wrote yesterday to you, and to Tom, and to Stephen, and
the Editor of the Times, and enclosed the whole in a packet to
you, which I gave into Sir Charles Stuart's (our ambassador)
own hands, he promising to transmit it in his own bag to the
Foreign Office, to be forwarded to you. He is apparently very
hearty in our cause, but thinks nothing can be done. I sat also
some time with Baron Humboldt and Gregoire, and some other
friends. I have learned that the circumstance which has affected
Grdgoire's standing in society was this. About the year 1792
or 1793 he was writing a letter to a French general, a friend of
his, who was at that time fighting on the frontier, to whom also
he was sending some presents, and he observed somewhat
lightly and jeeringly that he hoped he might be able to send
him in return the account of a victory gained, or a town taken,
or enumerating various other things, and, foolishly, the head
of a Bourbon among them. When he was elected a deputy of
some department a few years ago this letter unfortunately
made its appearance, and was sufficiently verified for the pur
pose of his adversaries. You know he was excluded from the
Chamber. I have been busy writing for the French Government on
Slave Trade. What effect it will have I know not, but through
Des Bassayns I have an opportunity of communicating with
Villele. They are, however, a sad, faithless set. If I could
1 President of the Council of Ministers from 1820 to 1828.

416 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
accept of them, my engagements here would be greatly multi
plied, but I am obliged to plead health.
At midnight on Wednesday I was to have gone to witness
the High Mass in St. Roch, but did not, fearing cold, and glad I
was I did not, for when I went there the next morning I found
the stone floor plastered thick with wet mud, and I understand
the crowds were immense, and a strong party of soldiers were
called in to keep the peace.
I am to see Chateaubriand to-morrow, and to dine with
d'Hauterive on Tuesday. Paris, December ig, 1823.
I wrote to you on Saturday by the ambassador's bag.
I went afterwards to see a splendid exhibition of Sevres
china at the Louvre, the only sight I have yet seen. I
went in the evening to Des Bassayns'. His exhibition was
still more splendid than that at the Louvre. I found an
immense circle of gentlemen and ladies listening to his
daughter's music and singing, and it continued increasing
almost to a crowd till I came away about ten. I had written a
long letter to Des Bassayns on the Slave Trade. He was too
much occupied, however, to say anything more upon it than
that he thanked me, and would talk to me upon it. He intro
duced me to several interesting persons, among the rest
Marshal Macdonald and a Mr. Picher, who had been four years
as a Commissioner from the King inquiring into the state of
things at Guadaloupe and Martinique. I found him, to my sur
prise, nearly of my own way of thinking in these matters, and
we had much interesting conversation. The picture he drew of
the violent prejudices ofthe French planters was very striking.
From Des Bassayns' I went to the Duke de Broglie's, and passed
an hour very pleasantly there. I found Guizot, Pasquier,
Rdmusat, and some other interesting persons there.
The Government here affect to deny that there is any French
Slave Trade carrying on at present. Their vigilance, they say,
has put it down. Besides, it has become an unprofitable
speculation, and must die of itself. I have availed myself of
these statements as the basis of an argument for now adopting
the measure of inflicting upon it une peine infamante, with a
view effectually to prevent its revival. They seem struck with
the use I have made of their facts, but I hope nothing from
them. A curious anecdote occurred to-day illustrative of the total
inaccuracy of their statements as to the suppression of the
Trade. A young lady of Paris was married two years ago to
a merchant of Nantes. She is now on a visit to her parents;

ZACHARY MACAULAY 417
and is a lively, ingenuous, naive young woman of eighteen. A
friend of mine, Dumont, who knew her before her marriage,
was paying her a visit. ' Eh bien, Madame, qu'est-ce dont on
s'occupe principalement a Nantes a present?' 'Ma foi, la
traite.' 'Quoi la traite des negres?' 'Ah oui, on ne parle
d'autre chose que cela ; c'est la grande source de leurs gains.'
' Comment done, est-ce qu'il n'y a personne a Nantes qui fait
scrupule de cette affaire? ' ' Oh, mon Dieu, que non— mais oui
— il y a un negotiant, un M. Bosset, un homme tres respectable,
qui a repugne ce commerce. II dit, ma conscience ne me per-
mettra pas de prendre des actions (shares) dans ces expedi
tions. Je me borne, moi, a faire les assurances.' ' Et est-ce
que vous trempez dans ce commerce aussi?' 'Ah oui.
Hommes, femmes, enfans, tous s'y melent. Pour moi, j'y fis
scrupule premierement : — il me faisait horreur de deporter nos
semblables et de les faire esclaves — mais ils m'ont dit que
e'etait pour la cause d'humanite' qu'on faisait la traite, et
j'6tais contente.' She added that slave-ships were fitted out at
Nantes actually under the windows of the person specially
appointed by the Government to watch over the execution of the
abolition laws.

FROM WILLIAM EVANS, ESQ., M.P.
Allestree, November 26, 1823.
My dear Friend, — I am very glad you have decided to
prosecute John Bull, because I know, you would not have come
to that determination without a good prospect of success, and
the sentence of a Court will, I think, have a considerable and
very good effect upon the public mind. But on whom is the
expense of this prosecution to fall, which will no doubt be
considerable ?
Certainly it ought not to fall upon you individually. It
would be most unreasonable in all who take an interest in
this great cause to suffer those who have been the most
laborious and most successful promoters of it to engage singly
against all the malicious libels of the whole West Indian body
as represented by John Bull. Perhaps it might be disadvan
tageous for it to be generally known that you were supported
by any society of persons in your prosecution ; but there could
be no objection whatever to a few private friends joining you
in it, and for one I cannot feel satisfied without doing it.
I conclude the story of the leader of the Demerara insurgents
having been killed with a Bible in his pocket, with the leaf
2 D

418 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
folded down at the 8th chapter of Joshua, is a fable, intended
to cast reproach upon the Scriptures and Missionaries.
Is there any more light yet upon the Demerara business? —
Yours ever most truly, William EVANS.
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, Marcii 24, 1824.
MY DEAR FRIEND, — It is indeed a long time since I wrote
to you. But my hands have been very full, and my health and
spirits have not been very strong. On the whole, however, I
have been enabled to hold on my way, without any great
interruption, and I trust to be of some little use in the cause
which at present mainly occupies us. Our progress in it,
though certainly falling far below our wishes, has far exceeded
any anticipation we were led to form a twelvemonth ago.
There is still much to be done, but we have gained much. We
have obtained from the Government and Parliament a full
recognition of our principles. We have united the mass of the
public with us in feeling and sentiment. We have even forced
the West Indians residing in this country to concur in the
necessity and expediency of most of the practical measures
we have proposed ; and, though angry and growling, they
nevertheless yield their reluctant assent to plans of reform.
The laws which have been passed by the Government for
Trinidad embody many, I may say most of our proposed
improvements, and these are held out as the model for all the
other Colonies which Government has pledged itself sooner or
later to inforce upon them. The extinction of slavery therefore
I consider as already provided for, and many living men, I
doubt not, will see it with their eyes.
Farewell, my dear friend. May you enjoy more and more of
the light of your Saviour's countenance till you come to see
Him face to face. — Ever yours most affectionately,
Z. Macaulay.
FROM MR. BROUGHAM.
Hill Street, May 1S24.
My DEAR FRIEND, — Many thanks for your supplies of stories
— but I want one other description of ammunition — in reference
to official or other authentic accounts of the Insurrection.1 If
you cannot, let me have the accounts themselves — also the
accounts (in newspapers) of the trial of the negroes, and especi
ally of Jacky, into whose mouth they evidently put a confession.
1 The insurrection in Demerara.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 419
Excuse this further trouble, but the only hours I can work at
the question are stolen from my rest — and I am obliged to
work double tides — because I am very anxiously preparing a
statement of the whole case for general circulation, and I apply
to you as it saves me a good deal of time. — Ever yours,
H. B.
TO MRS. MACAULAY.
London, May 15, 1824.
My DEAR Selina, — From the newspapers which go to you
to-day you will see what passed in the House of Commons
yesterday on Whitmore's motion. There seemed no disposi
tion in the House to discuss it, and all we gained was that
several important principles and facts were brought forward
and recognised by Government, which though not acted upon
now, may be acted upon hereafter. In the meantime Cropper
is busy drawing up his plan for a Company for raising sugar by
free labour, which I have no doubt will take, and must eventu
ally knock slavery on the head. Brougham is very busy pre
paring for his still more serious attack on that system, an
attack which it will be found very hard to parry.
I met Lord Lansdowne the day before yesterday. He told
me he had received my letter and was much obliged to me for
it. He begged to assure me that he was not one of those who
felt any misgivings about us, but that he was anxious we should
proceed with caution. I told him that to persons whose minds
were not led to view the cause we had in hand in all its bear
ings, we might often appear to be acting rashly and incau
tiously, when in truth we were proceeding with a simple view
to the interests of our cause and with great reluctance ; that our
sole dependence being on the strength of public opinion in our
favour, it was an absolute duty not to permit that opinion to be
warped by misrepresentation. Hence the necessity of our often
appearing before the public, not from any wish to provoke or
irritate, but for the purpose of preventing the effects of grbss
misstatements on the public mind. He admitted all this,
assured me he wished us success, and should always be glad to
see me and confer with me on any points I might wish to talk
with him or to consult him about.
Lushington's Bill putting a stop to the Inter-colonial Slave
Trade, about which we were so anxious, passed the House of
Commons last night without opposition. While I was under
the gallery Canning came to me to say that he had read my
paper and was much pleased with it. It seemed to him by far
the best plan of emancipation that had been suggested. I

420 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
must not yet consider him as committed to it, but he would
weigh it very materially and let me know the result. This, of
course, is very private. The plan is that for redeeming all the
women slaves, which will secure the termination of slavery in a
single generation. This is encouraging. — Ever yours, Z. M.
At a public meeting of the new Anti-slavery Society, which
was held at Freemasons' Hall on the 25th of June 1824,
Macaulay enjoyed the happiness of hearing his eldest son's
brilliant advocacy of the liberty of the slaves. An interesting
contemporary account of this exists : —
' Mr. Zachary Macaulay was completely overcome by his
feelings, not only admiring his son's first speech in public, and
the general enthusiasm with which it was greeted, but specially
happy to see the support of his son given to the cause for which
he was sacrificing his own life and his fortune. The tears
stood in his eyes, and as he walked home with his eldest and
his youngest sons he expressed himself with unusual warmth.
In the course of the walk, however, he remarked, " By the way,
Tom, you should be aware that when you speak in the presence
of royalty, you should not fold your arms."
' This was Thomas Babington Macaulay's first speech before
a public audience. I was present, and the incidents made a
deep impression on me. The Duke of Gloucester was in the
chair. This was just before the Whigs came into office, and
was probably the only time that Brougham, Denman, Mackin
tosh,1 and the Whig leaders appeared together upon an Anti-
slavery platform. The meeting was a very remarkable one, the
hall crowded, and the speaking warm and eloquent. Mackin
tosh was much excited, swung his arms about like the sails of a
windmill, and amidst shouts of applause quoted Cowper's line:
" But there is yet a liberty unsung."
' In the midst of the discussion Orator Hunt stood up in the
body of the hall, and attempted to show that the condition of
the people at home needed more attention than that of the
slaves in the West Indies. There was a great clamour, and the
meeting refused to hear him. Brougham stepped forward,
obtained a hearing for him, and then proceeded to answer him.
" You are fortunate," said T. B. Macaulay to his brother Charles,
" you will hear Brougham in reply." Macaulay's own speech
was delivered with a rapidity as great as in his later efforts.
1 The writer evidently mistook some other speaker for Sir James Mackintosh. See
page 422.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 421
' A little later there was an agitation in the hall, and
O'Connell appeared working his way through the crowd, until
amidst a great cheering he reached the platform, and stood
near the front. A few minutes later Henry Drummond came
in, and also worked his way up until he stood before O'Connell,
probably the only person in the assembly unaware of O'Connell's
presence. Pownall, a violent speaker, was discussing the charge
brought against the Anti-slavery leaders of having accepted the
putting down of the Slave Trade with the undertaking not to
press for the abolition of slavery. Drummond, much excited,
dashed into the debate, spoke a few vigorous and hearty words
in favour of strong measures, and added, "Moderation is out of
place — is thrown away ; slavery will never be got rid of until ,
some black O'Connell, some swarthy Bolivar, shall arise and
strike off the chains." The applause was frantic. It was
evident that Drummond was unaware who stood behind him,
and those who knew him well knew the disgust with which he
regarded O'Connell's public character. In the midst of the
cheering O'Connell stepped forward, seized and shook Drum-
mond's hand, adding that his reward had come when English
gentlemen used his humble name as a symbol of freedom.
Nothing could exceed Drummond's haughty disgust, of which
O'Connell was well aware.'
FROM THE RIGHT HON. SIR J. STEPHEN, K.C.B.1
Lincoln's Inn, J une 26, 1824.
My dear Sir, — Among the many who rejoice with you and
for you in dear Tom's success pray remember me as one. I
did not hear him, believing that the less I have to do with you
enthusiasts in places of public resort the more useful I can
really be in private. But I hear but one voice of delight and
mutual congratulation on all sides. Let John Bull and Thorpe
hang themselves. FROM SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH.
Cadogan Place, Sunday, June 30, 1824.
My DEAR Sir, — I offer you my most heartfelt congratula
tions on the splendid entrance of your son into the course of
1 ' Stephen, who is one of the great apostles of emancipation, and who resigned a
profession worth ^3000 a year at the Bar for a place of ^1500 in the Colonial Office,
principally in order to advance that object, owned that he had never known so great
a problem, nor so difficult a question to settle. If the sentiments of justice and bene
volence with which he is actuated were common to all who profess the same opinions,
or if the same sagacity and resource which he possesses were likely to be applied to
the practical operation of the seheme, the evils which are dreaded and foreseen
might be mitigated and avoided. '—February 1833, The Greville Memoirs.

422 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
public duty. You have well deserved the happiness of such a
son, and it is peculiarly becoming that the first display of his
genius should be in contending for that sacred cause to which
the life of his father has been devoted. Such a beginning
must consecrate a man's eloquence and secure it for ever from
being profaned by application to an unworthy cause.
I extremely lament that it was really impossible for me to
be present to have heard him and seen you. My health not
only deprives me of enjoyments, but either hinders or enfeebles
the performance of duties, and often crowds with indispensable
business the intervals when it is itself more tolerable.
I hope that you will indulge me with the gratification of
being made known to your son. — Most truly and faithfully
yours, J. Mackintosh.
Serious annoyance and trouble were threatening Macaulay
at this time from the increased scurrility of the attacks upon
him in John Bull. These had been going on for a considerable
period, but he was personally indifferent to abuse, and pre
ferred to take no notice of them. His friends, however, in the
Anti-slavery party, now came to the conclusion that the accusa
tions made by the paper had passed the bounds of toleration,
and that the interests of the objects which they had at heart
would be damaged unless some reply were forthcoming.
In the year 1820 Theodore Hook had established the news
paper, John Bull, which was issued regularly every Sunday with
its front sheet decorated with a Crown and a Holy Bible, and
headed by the motto, ' For God, the King, and the People.'
The calumnious personalities which, with unblushing effrontery,
its pages aimed indiscriminately against all who held opinions
opposed to those of the Editor exceeded ever)- limit of decency
and propriety. Macaulay was repeatedly accused of petty
cheating and dishonest dealings, as well as of wholesale
plundering on a large scale ; his actions were grossly misrepre
sented, the meaning of his words wilfully perverted, low and
base motives attributed to him, and false reports fabricated
about public transactions in which he was engaged ; and among
numberless other equally unfounded accusations it was related
how ' this holy body ' had been dismissed in Jamaica for
unnecessary severity to the slaves in his charge.
Although the virulence of John Bull was particularly directed
against Macaulay himself, yet it was sufficient for any indi-

ZACHARY MACAULAY 423
vidual to display a humane interest in the question of Slavery,
or a spirit of friendliness or even of ordinary civility to Macaulay,
in order to draw down upon himself the animosity of John
Bull. The humour of its pages was no doubt appreciated by
the generation for which they were written. At the present
time it is difficult to extract amusement from wit which con
sists in attaching vulgar and opprobrious nicknames to persons
whose only sin was their philanthropy ; in calling Lushington,
Stephen, and Wilberforce, ' Bethel, Barebone, Wilberforcian
emissaries' ; in making vile insinuations of immorality against
' these simpering saints ' ; and in pursuing the unhappy Deme
rara Missionaries with gross brutal jokes upon their inferior
station in life and their sanctity, even after Smith's death had
taken place in prison in consequence of the persecutions which
he had undergone. Macaulay's own baptismal name gave the
opportunity for constant delicate raillery, such as terming him
habitually Saint Zachariah ; finding that there was a large
proportion of 'Zacharine matter' in West Indian sugar; and
advertising ' a cunning Professor of Zachmackery.' One of the
repeated attacks upon the scheme for a London University, in
which Macaulay was taking a prominent part, and to which
John Bull was violently hostile, goes on to say, rather drolly,
that ' at the Cockney University Mr. Zachary Macaulay will
lecture on Black Juries, the Salubrity of Sierra Leone, Humanity
to our Fellow-creatures, and the virtues of Mr. Babington and
Mr. Macaulay, Junior.'
Occasionally the objurgations are conceived in a loftier spirit,
and Macaulay is addressed in a different strain : ' It is all job
bery and mystery ; but we will never quit the subject till we
have torn the veil asunder, and displayed the whole system of
Macaulayism to the broad glare of day.' And again : ' The
Editor of this paper says : " Your riches and wealth and station
have always kept pace with your sanctity ; and all your public
proceedings of any kind are but with a view to your individual
advantage " ; and that " having made religion a cloak and garb,"
Macaulay had " made use of it to seize on all the good things
the world can produce." '
It was finally determined by Macaulay's friends that in
order to avoid the discredit that might attach, in consequence
of those accusations being left unanswered and unresented.-to

424 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the advocates of Anti-slavery principles, an effort should be
made to check this insolence. In accordance with this view,
Macaulay's solicitor was instructed to proceed against the news
paper for defamation of character ; and two actions for libel
were commenced against John Bull on the 24th of January
1824. The defendants pleaded justification, but at the same
time applied in Chancery for two Commissions to take evi
dence in the West Indies and on the West Coast of Africa, and
to restrain proceedings in the actions until the return of the
Commissions. Macaulay was strongly advised by his friends
and colleagues not to acquiesce in the issuing of these Com
missions. In accordance with their recommendation a demurrer
was filed, but overruled after argument by the Lord Chancellor,
Lord Eldon. The Commissions were thereupon granted, but
again Macaulay, under the advice of his Counsel, did not join
in them.
It appears from a draft letter found among his papers that
he was prepared to accept the advice of his Counsel as to his
further action. It is, however, probable that no proceedings
were taken by the defendants to issue the Commissions, as the
subject is not referred to again in the pages of John Bull.
' We are of opinion that under all the circumstances of these
cases the best course for Mr. Macaulay to pursue will be not to
join in either of the Commissions, but in each case to present
an Appeal to the House of Lords from the order overruling the
Demurrer, and the order directing the Commissions, and when
the appeals are presented, to apply to the Lord Chancellor to
stay proceedings in the causes.
Lancelot Shadwell.
C. Pepys.
W. A. Garratt.
Lincoln's Inn, December 24, 1S24.'

December 17, 1824.
Dear Sir, — Understanding that those who on account of
your long and invaluable exertions against the Slave Trade,
and in behalf of the Slaves in the Colonies, have so foully and
perseveringly slandered your character, are resolved, and by
certain recent proceedings in Chancery, are enabled, to avoid
meeting you before a Jury, unless they shall be allowed pre
viously to examine Witnesses under a Chancery Commission
in Africa and the West Indies, we take the liberty of earnestly

ZACHARY MACAULAY 425
recommending to you not to acquiesce in the taking such Evi
dence, although the immediate relinquishment of your Actions
should be, as we are informed it is, the only alternative.
You would probably by a different course be subjected to
years of further delay and enormous additional expense ; and
though you might, upon the return of the Commission, at
length bring your Actions to trial (provided you and the de
fendants should live so long), it would be at the price of letting
in against yourself hostile Evidence of a most objectionable and
dangerous kind, the testimony of Witnesses unknown and
unseen by the Jury, examined in your absence, and without a
possibility of any cross-examination adapted to their particular
statements, to their characters, or past conduct in life. The
Commissions also would be executed in parts of the world
where your enemies are notoriously very numerous, and would
have an opportunity of stating against you, with entire impunity,
whatever might suit their purpose.
We offer these remarks from an apprehension that the same
anxiety to court every inquiry which induced you, against the
opinion of many friends, to proceed by Action rather than by
Information or Indictment, may still disincline you to abandon
your Proceedings at Law, though you may do so with perfect
consistency and honour.
To us, who have known you long and well, any vindication
of your character from those idle aspersions of your enemies
was at all times superfluous, and all impartial men must now
be satisfied with your persevering and very costly efforts to
obtain a judicial Investigation of every charge against you
while a hope remained of confronting your Accusers upon equal
Terms, or upon Evidence fairly taken in a British Court of
Justice. If any man, adverting to notorious public facts, thinks
you are bound in further defence of your character, to submit
to inquiries under a Commission to be executed in the sugar
Colonies, his candour or his judgment must be such as to make
his opinion little worth your regard.
D. Sykes. W. Allen.
W. Wilberforce. R. Phillips.
Calthorpe. G. Lushington.
F. Calthorpe. J. Stephen.
T. F. Buxton. W. Smith.
H. Brougham. T. Clarkson.
W. Evans.

426 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
FROM W. WILBERFORCE, ESQ., M.P.
Iver Grove, July 2, 1824.
My dear Macaulay, — I take up my pen, the first letter I
have written since my illness, to ask if it be a settled question
that you are to send abroad a commission of inquiry into your
conduct and character, for such appears the inference to be
drawn from the account of the Vice-Chancellor's sentence in
the Bulls case. The only point in dispute was whether Bull
should file two Bills or one. It is surely enough to fill any
prudent man with dismay, to be compelled to have it under
stood that his character is to stand the fearful issue of an
inquiry into his life and conduct during a long course of years,
comprising perhaps part of his life when he might not be
governed by so strict a rule of conduct as in his after-life ; an
inquiry to be conducted in a country in which party spirit was
immeasurably strong against him and all his, and in which the
moral standard was set very low indeed. Surely if this be not
absolutely settled, every effort ought to be used to prevent this
settlement. Taking the deep interest I do in your well-being
and comfort, I cannot but feel quite anxious on the point.
Now a word or two about Tom, to express my earnest
wishes, to which my prayers shall doubtless be super-added,
that his superior powers may continue to be employed to the
glory of God and to the comfort of your advancing years.
I hope he will recognise and maintain and achieve the dignity
of independence, and that he will not be tempted by the strong
inducements arising from an early deliverance from the grievous
path of a profession, to forego without adequate grounds of
preference the higher elevation and more extended usefulness
he might secure by a more leisurely and self-sustained course.
It gave me no little pleasure that Mrs. Macaulay and Tom's
sisters witnessed his triumph. — Ever affectionately yours,
W. W.
FROM H.R.H. THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER.
Cheltenham, August 8, 1824.
DEAR Macaulay, — I had yesterday the pleasure of receiv
ing your letter. It is impossible for me at this distance of
time to recollect precisely what was contained in the short
address I made to the persons who attended the meeting of the
Anti-slavery Society on the 25th of June, especially as I always
speak extempore, never prepare myself, and merely give vent
to the feelings of the moment; but as far as I can recollect
I conceive that the substance of what I then said is contained
in the paper I return to you.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 427
I read with much surprise what passed respecting your pro
secution of the John Bull, and I own I cannot comprehend the
grounds upon which the decision was made. The whole of this
is a very odd business ; but you can only feel contempt at what
has been said of you. You stand much too high to be affected
by anything such a truly despicable paper can publish respect
ing you. — With sincere regard and esteem, I am always, dear
Macaulay, very truly yours, William FREDERICK.

428 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER XIV
ANTI-SLAVERY WORK
Early in 1825 Macaulay went down to Liverpool, where a
large gathering was held at the residence of Mr. Cropper in
order to introduce a scheme of a Company for the cultivation
of sugar by Free Labour. Mr. Cropper, whose name was held
in great reverence by the Anti-slavery leaders, was in the habit
of devoting many months of each year to conducting at his own
expense a campaign through different parts of Great Britain in
order to diffuse the knowledge of the real facts connected with
Slavery in our Colonies. His powers of persuasion and of
influencing the opinions of those who listened to him were very
remarkable, while it was commonly said of him, ' Give him pen
and ink and he will demonstrate that black is white.' Upon
the present occasion the plan of the Company which had been
framed by Mr. Cropper met with so much approbation, that
before ten minutes had elapsed after he had expounded it to
the assembly, shares to the amount of ^"175,000 were disposed
of. Some among the more vehement opponents of slavery
urged that all the members of the Company should pledge
themselves to refuse dealing with any grocer who sold West
Indian sugar; but even at the risk of alienating powerful
supporters Macaulay would not join in a measure which he
thought very unfair upon tradespeople. He undertook himself to
abstain from slave-grown sugar, but with his accustomed tolera
tion for opinions which differed from his own, earnestly depre
cated any compulsion being used upon others.
In France the Baron de Stael, who had acquired the support
and sympathy of the Dauphin in his views, was actively
engaged in preparing petitions in favour of Abolition, and
numbers of merchants in Paris and Bordeaux came forward to
affix their signatures to them. To second his exertions Macau
lay kept the agitators well supplied with papers for information,

ZACHARY MACAULAY 429
and an Anti-slavery Reporter in French, which he furnished
constantly, was of especial advantage in securing hesitating
adherents. One immediate effect of these measures was to
increase enormously the number of foreigners who claimed
Macaulay's attention and hospitality, and it was fortunate that
he had a number of friends who were both able and willing to
assist in doing the honours of their country to these visitors.

TO MRS. MACAULAY. Ampton, April 5, 1825.
I have had delightful weather. I got to Sudbury about
seven, and there I dined and slept. This morning I got to
Bury St. Edmunds to breakfast, and here I am before noon.
The party consists of Lord Calthorpe, Baptist Noel, Whishaw,
Smyth, the Professor of Poetry from Cambridge, and young
Fitzgerald. The country through which I have passed is not
very beautiful and not at all picturesque, but there is an air of
solid security and comfort which is most gratifying. The
houses of the poor are well built and have enough of ornament
in the way of flower-beds to convince you that their inmates
are generally at their ease. Old and young seemed well
clothed from head to foot. I have scarcely seen a rag or tatter
since I left London, nor have I seen one beggar. The churches
are, in general, noble buildings, most of them in the Gothic
style, and of an antiquity which of itself impresses a sentiment
of veneration. Some of the parish churches I passed would
make most respectable cathedrals.
I am not sure that I was not better pleased on the whole
with our little Prayer Book and Homily Society than even with
the two great Leviathans. The Liturgy and Homilies are
translated or translating into various heathen languages chiefly
by Dissenters, who find that to their converts they can give
nothing more likely to conduce to their stability and growth in
grace, and as guides to their devotion, than the language in
which the martyrs of the Anglican Church breathed out their
souls before the throne of grace. We had a Chinese Missionary
and a South American Missionary all testifying with one
consent to the extraordinary acceptableness of our Liturgy
wherever it was made known. One is almost led to conceive
a hope that this same Church of ours may literally in time
become the Catholic Church ; and not the less, I hope, because
that Church which arrogates to itself the name of Catholic is
about to be relieved from all civil pains and penalties. I dined

43°

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

yesterday in company with the Archbishop of Dublin,1 who
seemed horrified at the prospect. Both he and Richard Ryder,
who was of the party, seemed to attribute a very considerable
effect in favour of the Catholic claims in the House of Lords to
the Duke of York's imprudent and unconstitutional speech.
It is said to have decided Lord Liverpool on that side. This,
however, is only rumour. One thing is certain, that he who
used formerly to lead the opposition to these claims has not
during the whole of the present Session, from the beginning to
the end of it, said one word which has carried with it the
slightest indication of hostility towards the Catholics.
FROM BARON DE STALL. Paris, April 24, 1825.
Most DEAR SIR, — The Morale Chretienne excited peculiar
interest. The Duke de Broglie was in the chair, and on
addressing the audience made a few observations in answer to
a Mandamus of the Bishop of Dijon, in which it was said that
Bible Societies were only a new mask for infidelity, and that there
was neither morals nor Christianity in the Society of Christian
Morals. This was followed by a most masterly speech by
Guizot. But the circumstance which was most impressive was
that a Quaker, Mrs. Elizabeth Walker, requested to address the
meeting, and was listened to with great attention and emotion.
Considering that the audience consisted chiefly of young men
of a very liberal turn of mind, that is certainly one of the
greatest proofs I could give of the progress of serious thoughts
in France. Ten years ago the same circumstance would have
excited nothing but laughter. Two days before, the same lady
had already spoken with great power at the Tract Society.
I send you two copies of Benjamin Constant's speech on the
law against piracy, in which you will observe a strong passage
against Slave-trading. TO T. BABINGTON, ESQ. September 1825.
We settled much that was important at Cromer. I have
nearly finished an analysis of the Parliamentary papers of last
Session, which will shortly be published with notes.
Brougham's Bill for the opening of the Session is to be
drawn on the basis of the Trinidad Order in Council, of Lord
Bathurst's Instruction to the Colonies, and ofthe points agreed
1 The Right Reverend W. Magee.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 431
to by Canning. Adopting only what the Government has
sanctioned, they cannot argue against their own principles.
Next Session is to be one of active and unwonted exertion.
Besides the Bill of Brougham, Lushington is to take up the
case of Free people of colour generally, besides that of Lescene
and Escoffery ; 1 Mackintosh is to be engaged to take up Hayti ;
Whitmore, the sugar duties ; Denman, the trial of slaves in
Jamaica and Demerara ; Sykes, the case of apprentices liberated
from slave-ships ; and Buxton, my plan of Emancipation, and
the Slave Trade and slavery in the Mauritius. We are to
prepare forthwith a pithy address ready to be printed in every
newspaper in the kingdom the moment the Dissolution is
announced, rousing electors to require pledges.
We are forthwith to prepare our correspondents everywhere
for petitioning on the meeting of Parliament, and a Meeting
will be held in London about a month before to give the
tone and the example. The Speeches will furnish argument
to the country ; the Resolutions, models. Wherever it may
be prudent to do so, public Meetings will be held in the
large towns, and reports of the speeches put in the provincial
papers. During the winter of 1825 a financial crisis of more than
ordinary magnitude occurred in the City, and in writing to
various correspondents Macaulay enters into details respecting
the anxieties and fluctuations of each day in a manner which
shows how little he grasped the effect that the panic would
have upon the affairs of his own firm, and how entirely uncon
scious he was of the degree to which it was becoming involved.
He was much concerned on account of his young friend Henry
Thornton, and writes that the London bankers.2 were worn to
shadows in consequence of the agitation and alarm they had
experienced. FROM THE REV. MR. CUNNINGHAM, VICAR OF HARROW.
Harrow, February 22, 1826.
My DEAR FRIEND, — I have had a long and most unreserved
communication with Goulburn ; 3 and if any suspicion lurked
1 Free men of colour and British subjects who had been brutally and illegally
expelled from Jamaica.
2 ' The state of the City, and the terror of all the bankers and merchants, as well
as of all owners of property, is not to be conceived but by those who witnessed it.' —
Tlie Greville Memoirs, vol. i.
3 The Right Hon. Henry Goulburn, Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Duke
of Wellington's Administration.

432 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
in his mind as to your personal hostility to himself, I believe
that it is wholly removed. I have also satisfied myself by the
perusal of a quantity of correspondence with his overseers that
he has been really anxious to do what might be done for his
slaves. In 1819, hearing a bad account of the condition of his
negroes, he sent out his brother, and by his advice put over
them a man of the name of Richards, simply with a view to
their benefit, and although being told that though he would
benefit the negroes he would ruin the estate. Richards, how
ever, mismanaged and reduced the estate during four years
without doing a single thing for the slaves. Goulburn also
engaged a Moravian Minister to go out to his estate, who after
wards disappointed him.
Goulbum's intense occupation is surely some apology for
him, and the great liability to misrepresentation from overseers
is another. He has now a new overseer, and has sent him out
some time since orders embracing almost every regulation in
Canning's Resolutions. I find him almost as angry with the
West Indian legislatures as yourself, and disposed cordially to
concur in every reasonable measure for securing the object of
gradual emancipation. He has the strongest persuasion of the
importance of substituting free for slave labour.
I may say to you in confidence that I pumped him hard to
find what was the intention of Government, but he evidently
does not know if they have any fixed intention. His opinion
is that they ought — unless Brougham's Bill contains something
outrageous, to permit its introduction — supposing Brougham's
object to be to extend the provisions of Canning's Bill to the
other Islands. I feel convinced that if Brougham is moderate
there will be no debate, and that all will go very nearly accord
ing to your wishes. I urged Goulburn to deliver his mind on
the occasion, and I think he will do so. But he says his mis
fortune is that the West Indians are as angry with him as the
Abolitionists. Much will depend on the spirit and character of
Brougham's speech, and of that you must endeavour to take
care. I hope to be at the House on Wednesday. — Affectionately
yours, j. \v. Cunningham.
The notorious Mauritius inquiry may be said to have been
started in 1825, and during the next few years the collection of
evidence for following it up strained to the utmost point the
powers of every member ofthe Anti-slavery party.
'Of all the cases that the indefatigable industry of Mr.
Macaulay brought to light this was by far the worst. All the
books that ever were published, all the speeches that ever were

ZACHARY MACAULAY 433
made, all the lectures that ever were delivered on the subject of
slavery failed to produce a tenth part of the excitement and
indignation provoked by the result of this inquiry. The Anti-
slavery public, in any true sense of the term, was created by the
Mauritius case.' *
The help of women in getting up petitions against slavery
began about this time to be largely employed. Mr. Wilber
force, who was decidedly opposed to the interference of ladies
in such matters, says that Mr. Babington agreed with him,
' grounding it on St. Paul,' but that Macaulay differed entirely
from them both. Brougham warmly espoused the cause of the
women, and wrote to Macaulay : ' I have letters saying that a
Female Petition is disapproved of by the Society. I differ
toto ccelo, but as it requires cautious handling I shall myself
undertake it, and preach from this very fruitful text.'

FROM MR. BROUGHAM. Hill Street, Tuesday Evening.
I received last night your enclosure, and the moment I get
a few more materials, such as the sheets you promise, or any
statement or hints of your own, I shall endeavour to steal an
.hour from law matters (which press at this moment) and send
Jeffrey, if not an article, the materials from whence he can
easily put one together. Now a thing has suggested itself to
me. Lady Jersey is at the head of what is called the fashion
able society of this country, and she is a thousand times better
than that — she has the best heart and kindest feelings of any
person you can name. Would it not be an, appropriate mode
of attacking the horrors we were talking of, to address a kind
letter to her (say in the Christian Observer) calling on her to
reflect on the degraded and brutified condition of her sex in
our own dominions? She is a person of the strongest religious
and charitable feelings, and quite sure to be interested even to
enthusiasm, if the case is fairly and delicately pressed on her
attention. We agreed that the women would be our powerful and uni
versally diffused allies, and there is hardly a better way of
rousing those among them who have most influence on society
than some such address as I am recommending. She is a very
intimate and most valued friend of mine, but I am sure no
private instances, however pressing, would have half the effect.
1 Anti-slavery Recollections.
2 E

434 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
TO T. BABINGTON, ESQ.
March 4, 1826.
Canning's speech on Wednesday did us much harm. I had
endeavoured to impress on our friends that all his facts about
Colonial improvements were falsehoods, but the effect of his
statements was such that the House would not have borne any
strong language. It would have been impossible for Brougham
to have brought forward the Bill with any chance for leave to
bring it in. Thursday's discussion has to a degree raised us
again. I set to work and produced a paper pointing out
Canning's gross misstatements. I got Brougham, Denman,
Lushington, and Buxton to read this yesterday morning, and
I prevailed on Brougham to bring the matter before the House
and to make it the ground for persisting in his original pur
pose. This he did, and did well, and his notice now stands for
the 20th of April. The grand error of Canning throughout
was representing as acts passed what were merely projects.
Wilmot Horton endeavoured to palliate the incorrectness of
the statements furnished to Canning from the Colonial Office
by pleading the absence of James Stephen. Certainly he would
never have introduced such a paper.
To the scheme which terminated in the formation of the
University of London, Macaulay had throughout lent his
hearty co-operation. It appealed to the intellectual side of his
nature; and also, in furthering it, he was influenced by the
strong opinion which it may have been observed he had con
sistently entertained and put into practice, that the friends of
religion and of the Church should endeavour to keep a guiding
hand upon educational and philanthropic movements, so as to
be able to avail themselves of any opportunity that might
arise of attaining their objects in part at any rate if they could
not do so altogether. His name, therefore, is to be found upon
the first Council of the University of London appointed
December 1825, in company with James Mill, Grote, Brougham,
Sir Isaac Goldsmid, Lord John Russell, and Joseph Hume.
But his adhesion to the scheme occasioned some difference of
opinion between him and the friends with whom he generally
acted in unison, and several of those who had followed his
advice and example, and had given the weight of their names
to the new University, became much alarmed by the remon
strances and criticisms which were showered upon them. The

ZACHARY MACAULAY 435
Christian Observer gives a good account of the position which
he took up on this question.
' Mr. Macaulay was one of the Provisional Committee for
forming the London University, and long took an active share
in its management. In the matter of the London University
we differed in opinion from our esteemed friend, but his objects
and motives, as he explained them to us, were as follows : There
was pressing need of an institution in London for academical
education, as has since been abundantly proved. He thought
as the pupils were to reside with their parents or friends, and
not to sleep under the college roof, there was no real sacrifice
of the principle of religious education by their going for a few
hours in the day to lectures, as other students go to the Inns of
Court or to hospitals, and he considered that the objection was
in a good measure obviated by the plan which the Council had
consented to, that three of the professors who were clergymen
of the Church of England should open, as they did, a chapel in
the vicinity of the University for the double purpose of
religious worship and instruction on the Sunday, and for
lectures upon the evidences of Christianity upon a week day.
We merely state his opinion ; adding that it was chiefly by his
exertions that these last measures were accomplished.' l
FROM HENRY DRUMMOND, ESQ. May 22, 1826.
MY DEAR FRIEND, — I have received your letter with the
plan of the new University, and your invitation to be a sub
scriber. I should'to most people, except to you, content myself
with parrying the application, but to you I must say that I
much doubt the propriety of encouraging any systematic
education which does not pretend, at least, to be founded on
the Scriptures. I will grant that at the universities the religious
part is a. mere name; nevertheless that foundation, though only
nominal, has served, like the Articles of the Church of England,
to force back those, who have subscribed to them, to better
accordance with them, than they would have had if there had
been no foundation whatever. Three great principles have been
warring against each other for these thirty years past — the
Spirit of Despotism, the Spirit of Infidelity, and the Spirit of
Popery ; each pretending that if it could gain the mastery, it
would bid the troubled sea of the nations be still : of this
spirit of infidelity, all science, education, march of mind, intel
lect, and all the other cant, which is not founded upon the
1 Christian Observer, 1839.

436 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Scriptures, are part and parcel, and if you had considered the
matter in the same light, I do not believe that you would have
anything to do with it.
Your offer for the borough is not enough : my man wants
five thousand. — Always yours most faithfully,
Henry Drummond.
A general election came early in June 1826 to complicate
still further all these various questions ; and throughout the
stormy weeks which it entailed, Macaulay was incessantly
engaged in assisting those of his party who had come forward
as candidates. Upon more than one occasion he addressed on
behalf of Mr. Evans an assembly of those freeholders of
Leicester who were resident in London ; and at a supper which
was given to them, Macaulay was gratified by his own health
being drunk, preceded by a toast which was peculiarly adapted
to his taste, and which was received by the electors with loud
applause — ' The Abolition of Slavery all over the world, and
may there be no symptom of it in the borough of Leicester.'

FROM T. B. MACAULAY TO MRS. MACAULAY.
Bell Inn, Leicester, June 1, 1826,
My dear MOTHER, — We have a short breathing time at
present. But the public feeling is very excitable; and it is
scarcely to be expected that it will evaporate in words. If
Evans should fail, and Sir Charles1 venture to be chaired, I
would not answer for his life.
If De Stael really wishes to see public feeling in its highest
state of excitement, and that not on mere party grounds, but
on great principles, he cannot do better than come to Leicester.
No town in the country, except the capital, has so many
voters. Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, and Birmingham are
unrepresented. At Bristol, Liverpool, and Nottingham, the
only remaining towns in England which are more populous
than Leicester, the right of suffrage is comparatively very con
fined. At Leicester there are very nearly fifty thousand inhabi
tants, and, I hear, about six thousand voters. If the baron
would come hither, and proceed hence to Westmoreland, where
the election would probably be later, he would see both a town
and a country contest in the highest perfection. We con
fidently expect to be at the head of the poll— Ever yours
affectionately, T. B. MACAULAY.
1 Sir Charles Hastings.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 437
During these years continual allusions are to be found in the
correspondence to the controversy which convulsed the great
British and Foreign Bible Society upon the point of permitting
the circulation on the Continent by their affiliated societies of
the Apocrypha with the canonical books of Scripture. This
practice appears to have originated in a desire to conciliate the
prejudices of priests of the Greek and Roman churches, so as
to induce them to sanction their flocks receiving and studying
the Bible, but its opponents, at the head of whom was Mr.
Haldane, declared that the Continental Bible societies were in
alliance with Popery, Infidelity, and Rationalism. To justify
this accusation they brought forward a case known as the
Strasburg Preface, where the Committee of the Strasburg
Society had published in 18 19, at their own expense, an intro
duction to a Bible, for the printing of which the London
Committee had paid. Their action was in direct contravention
of the fundamental rule of the parent Society that the Bible
should be circulated alone without notes or comment. The
preface itself was pronounced by Mr. Haldane to be a
deliberate attempt to pervert the Scriptures ; and, on the
matter being laid before the Committee of the Bible Society,
Macaulay strongly supported the advisability of an inquiry
being made into the affair, although he considered that Mr.
Haldane greatly exaggerated the objections to the Strasburg
Preface, and was unable to join in Mr. Haldane's sweeping
condemnation of the foreign societies, several of which he and
his brother the General had been instrumental in forming. The
inquiry led to further discoveries as to the extent to which the
Apocrypha had been incorporated with the Bibles for foreign
distribution, but at length the question was apparently settled
in 1822 by a resolution ofthe Committee that the circulation of
the Apocrypha should be discontinued.
This resolution, although it was finally passed unanimously,
had not been obtained till after prolonged debates ; and Mr.
Haldane, who harboured considerable doubts as to whether
there was not danger of a relapse, remained steadily on the
alert. His suspicions were well founded. Several of the mem
bers of the Committee of the Bible Society and a large number
of its most eminent supporters took a very different view of
the point in dispute; and constant attempts were made to

438 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
reverse the decision of the Committee, and to evade the limita
tions it imposed. In September 1824 Mr. Henry Drummond,
who took an ardent interest in the subject, wrote to Macaulay
to say that he and Mr. Haldane intended to bring the
Apocryphal question to an immediate issue, and would no
longer stoop to conciliate fears which they regarded as
contemptible. On the other hand, the adherents of the Apocrypha were
active in their efforts, and were greatly strengthened by a formal
protest against its exclusion, signed by twenty-six members of
the Senate, which was sent up from Cambridge. The protest
was based on the ground that the proposed action would
impede the circulation of the Scriptures abroad, and was
accompanied by a letter addressed to the President, Lord
Teignmouth, by Mr. Simeon, in which he strenuously urged the
duty of inserting the Apocrypha, if by that means the Word
of God would be made more acceptable to persons professing
the Romish and Greek faiths. This letter is answered by Mr.
Gorham, whose name will be remembered in connection with
an important judgment of the Judicial Committee in 1850, and
the discussions which ensued in Committee were long and acri
monious. Mr. Haldane's spirit would admit of no compromise,
and he soon began to issue a series of fiery attacks upon the
Society, in one of which, to use Macaulay's own words, he
pulverised Mr. Simeon's arguments. Macaulay deserves the
more credit for his support of Mr. Haldane because most of his
own friends were arrayed on the opposite side, and although
his judgment led him to be of the same opinion as Mr.
Haldane, his personal sympathies were entirely with his oppon
ents. Also the mode of warfare adopted by Mr. Haldane and
his principal coadjutor in the struggle, Dr. Andrew Thomson,
an eloquent Scottish minister, was singulari)- repugnant to
Macaulay's taste. His view, to which he steadily adhered in
the face of all opposition, was that the Society itself should
refuse to circulate or pay for the Apocrypha, but should leave
its Branches free to follow their own course of action. He
urged, and at last succeeded in obtaining, the appointment of a
very small sub-committee, to examine into and report upon the
subject'; and when a few sensible men were at liberty to discuss
the question calmly they soon arrived at an agreement. But

ZACHARY MACAULAY 439
it was not at first easy to enforce an acceptance of this agree
ment upon the excited passions of some of the members of the
General Committee.
The termination of the difficulties of the situation was, how
ever, close at hand. The increasing violence of the assaults
upon the Bible Society which were made by Mr. Haldane and
Dr. Andrew Thomson, alienated many persons who would
otherwise have been disposed to follow their lead, and Macaulay
felt himself exonerated from any obligation towards Mr.
Haldane, who, indeed, was not in a temper to accept from him
any assistance which savoured of compromise. The result of
the interminable sittings and long deliberations of the Com
mittee was one which fully rewarded the admirable patience
and judgment with which Macaulay, and a small knot of men
similarly minded, had steadily striven to mediate between the
two opposing factions, and to steer the Association clear of dis
ruption. In May 1826 the exclusion ofthe Apocrypha from all
Bibles published by the Bible Society was distinctly and
finally recognised, while at the same time it was decided to
continue the maintenance of friendly relations with the Foreign
Auxiliary Societies whatever course they might think fit to
pursue with regard to the Apocrypha, but to refuse to contri
bute to the funds of those among them who persisted in
circulating it.
At the close of 1826 General Macaulay came into Parliament
as member for Saltash, bringing his vote to strengthen in the
House of Commons the Anti-slavery party who, during the
Session of 1827, were harassed and depressed by the difficulties
thrown in the way of the Mauritius inquiry, perhaps un
avoidably, by the Government, and by the serious illness of
Sir Fowell Buxton, brought on by over-work. Mr. Stephen
writes on June 1 : ' What is to be said or done in our cause !
My hopes were never lower except in Divine interposition. In
that view they were never stronger.'
No surprise will be felt at the effect which the terrible strain
of these years of continuous misery and uncertainty about his
private affairs had upon the physical health of Macaulay. In
fact, it may be said with truth that he never recovered from it,
and from that time he became subject to repeated attacks of
nervous illness which rapidly undermined his constitution. It

440 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
is almost incredible that during the whole of this disastrous
period, when he was experiencing such a complication of
financial and domestic misfortunes, his steady attention and
strenuous exertions in the Anti -slavery cause never for a
moment slackened. Dr. Lushington writes in September
1829: —
' It is with extreme regret that I received the account of your
indisposition. Private esteem and regard, I hope I may say, I
truly feel for you, but I consider you of inestimable importance
to our great cause ; the exertions of others are trivial compared
with yours, and for myself, I am daily more convinced that the
continuance of that iniquity which you have so long striven to
mitigate and suppress must bring down its just punishment.'
Not only did the numbers of the Anti-slavery Reporter, that
publication of which, to employ Mrs. H. More's words, Macaulay
was ' the sole and most prolific parent,' appear with unfailing
regularity to bring their horrible tales of suffering and oppression
before the British public, but other pamphlets continually pro
ceeded from his pen upon the same subject, while he was
punctual in his attendance in the Houses of Parliament to
furnish information to Buxton and his coadjutors upon slavery
questions. He managed all Mrs. H. More's worldly affairs,
and was the medium for her interminable negotiations with her
publishers ; and notwithstanding the preoccupation of his mind
and the painful personal anxieties which had gathered around
his path, he never for a moment intermitted the attention
which he had always paid to the requirements of friends. The
endless demands which Mrs. H. More in her old age made
upon his time were received with patience and kindness ; and
he continued to act as almoner to her, and to others whose
claims he considered as binding upon him. About this time
Mr. Wilberforce, when sending some cases of distress for Mac
aulay to investigate and relieve, writes : ' I rejoice that there is
such a diligent man, and what is more, I love you so well that
I can truly rejoice you are that man of diligence as well as
ability, though you shame me by your efficiency.'
He also, as was before mentioned, received innumerable
foreigners who brought letters of introduction to him from
General Macaulay, who was in the habit of spending much of
the year abroad ; from the Duke de Broglie ; and from the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 441
Baron de Stael ; letters which were no mere form, but enjoined
upon him to enlighten and instruct the bearers, by exhibiting
to them everything of interest in England, both in men and
institutions. Upon one occasion the Baron de Stael writes : —
' Will you allow me to introduce to your acquaintance the
two MM. de Turguenieff? One of them was Secretary to the
Russian Bible Society, and is still a Councillor of State. They
are represented to me by all who know them as two of the few
Muscovites who are men of real merit, and their objects through
life are of a good, useful, and liberal nature. They go to
England chiefly to see courts of justice, schools, prisons, and
religious and philanthropic societies. Therefore they neces
sarily come within your province.'
Macaulay appears to have ventured occasionally to make a
mild remonstrance against merely ordinary social introductions
being sent to him in any number, but no remonstrance was of
much effect. An endless procession, of Frenchmen of distinc
tion; of literary, scientific and philanthropic individuals; and of
Protestant pastors, appear under his guidance to have visited
every conceivable asylum and institution for physical and moral
maladies; and the lists by which some of the visitors prepared
Macaulay for what they desired to inspect are appalling in
their comprehensiveness. One gentleman sends a catalogue
which contains no less than ten prisons, besides a variety of
other objects, and yet with all these claims upon his attention
there is no sign of any diminution in his ordinary correspondence.
The replies to the letters which Thomas Clarkson addressed to
him would of themselves alone have furnished occupation for
the day of any ordinary person, as Clarkson exacted from him
every species of information, and expected Macaulay to supply
him with the whole of the material which he required for his
numerous writings on slavery questions, and which he did not
feel able to procure for himself, as he lived in the country. The
patience and steadiness of Macaulay's letters under the heavy
pressure is beyond praise, and is exhibited even when answering
absolutely unwarrantable demands upon his time and attention.
The only sign of irritation which can be discovered in all the
correspondence of these years is in a letter addressed to an
eminent ecclesiastic, who persisted in sending Macaulay all his

442 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
manuscripts to revise before publishing, and employing him to
invest his money.
' You really ought not to send me any of your pieces for
revision, for I am so blunt, and you are so thin-skinned, that it
does not answer. What a host of disquieting inferences you
have drawn from my note ! I am quite amazed !
I am grieved about the stock, but you left the matter to my
discretion, and I durst not venture, when stocks were already
unnaturally high, to buy for you. You see now they are, as I
anticipated, in a tumbling state. Say whether you would wish
now to buy.' FROM MR. BROUGHAM TO LORD LYNDHURST. 1827.
Allow me to wish you all manner of joy on your elevation to
the Great Seal, and to say how much more agreeable I feel it
to act with than against you. Now that it is to all appearance
over, I may say I have felt few things more painful in the
discharge of my duty than finding myself acting against an old
and esteemed friend.
I am of necessity prevented by the singular position which I
occupy from ever suggesting anything to be done in favour of
any connection of my own — but there is a step which I strongly
recommend to your early consideration, not more on account
of the young person I am going to allude to, than on account
of the new Government we both support. Let me strongly
advise you to give an early token of favour to young Macaulay.
He is the greatest genius now coming into the profession. He
has certainly written the very best things I have read of late
years : I mean those extraordinary articles on Milton and
Machiavelli ; and his professional talents I know are of a high
order. Make him at once a Commissioner of Bankruptcy, and
you do a lasting service to our Ministry. His father is an old
friend of mine, but I should have written this letter if I never
had seen him, on account of our common cause.

FROM MRS. H. MORE.
It is painful to me to tease you, but this Mr. Cadell must be
followed up. I should be glad if he would come to a resolution
about purchasing my books and copyright. My life is very
precarious, and I have much to settle for both worlds. I am a
good deal harassed with petty cares. I am come to that age

ZACHARY MACAULAY 443
when the grasshopper is a burden, and I have many grass
hoppers, but the time is short ; I wish it could be more spent
in repentance for the past and preparation for the future.
I have had another letter from my very discreet bookseller.
I cannot forbear quoting his report of your conduct towards
him : ' I cannot forbear expressing my great gratitude for the
obliging and gentlemanly manner in which Mr. Macaulay has
negotiated and brought to conclusion with me the purchase of
your copyrights and remaining books.'

FROM T. B. MACAULAY. York, August 8, 1827.
Many thanks for your letter and its enclosure. I am ex
tremely shocked about Canning;1 not that I think the
administration endangered by his death ; but the event is in
itself most affecting. The death of the Princess Charlotte
herself was less se. To fall at the very moment of reaching
the very highest pinnacle of human ambition ! The whole
work of thirty chequered years of glory and obloquy struck
down in a moment, the noblest prize that industry, dexterity,
wit and eloquence ever obtained, vanishing into nothing in the
very instant in which it had been grasped. Vanity of vanities
¦ — all is vanity.
Brougham has been very unwell too, but he is now pretty
well recovered, and the only effect of his indisposition is to
give a milder and more subdued manner to his speaking, which,
in ordinary cases, is an improvement. He has heard from
Lord Lansdowne, who speaks, he tells me, highly of my article.
I shall be probably at Rothley Temple on Saturday.

TO MRS. H. MORE. London, August 24, 1827.
I admire your great Bible doings. Here, unhappily we are
assailed with slander and the tongue of strife. Dr. Thomson
appears to possess a degree of restlessness and pugnaciousness
second only to Buonaparte ; and it is plain that nothing is
equal to the extent of his ambition but the complete overthrow
of the Bible Society. The issue, however, will be such, I doubt
not, as his rival experienced when he encountered the snows
of Russia. We are now, I am persuaded, taking the true
course to render all such attempts abortive, calmly pursuing
our course in distributing the word of God, and calmly satisfying
1 Right Hon. George Canning died at four in the morning of the 8th of August 1827,

444 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
every fair inquiry as to our proceedings. I wish indeed that
our Committee, had never contended for the Apocrypha. I
saw all the evils of such a strife from the first, and from the
first I urged our friends to abandon the cause of strife; my
object being primarily as much the preservation of this mighty
instrument of good from schism as the exclusion from the
sacred volume of what was not the Word of God.
I was very much surprised about a fortnight ago by a letter
from our friend Huber, in which he expressed his wish to place
the whole of his property in the French funds, about 150,000
French livres, in trust with Lord Teignmouth and myself for
the use of the Bible and Church Mission Society, after the
death of Mrs. Huber and a niece of theirs, who were to receive
the interest of it during their lives. Mrs. Huber unites with
him in this appropriation of their means. They are now living
in Switzerland, and seem to be both enjoying excellent health.
What changes and perturbations and anxieties have agitated
us during the last eight months ! Our mighty men are falling
like the thistle-down before the storm. I felt deeply for
Canning. Oh that he had attended to the things belonging to
his peace ! And yet he had moments of thoughtfulness.
When he had no Cabinet meetings or Cabinet dinners he
would have prayers and a sermon on a Sunday. A man
servant of his was ill lately with a lingering disease which
threatened his life. He gave him a Bible, and strongly recom
mended its perusal. You know his lines on his son ; they are
exquisite. But alas ! alas ! The agonies which accompanied
his last days were quite tremendous. It was excruciation.
One of the physicians said he had never witnessed anything
equal to it.
Oh that they were wise, that they would consider this — that
they would remember their latter end.

FROM MR. BROUGHAM. Brougham, 1827.
My dear Friend,— I so entirely agree with you as to rest
that I verily believe if all the work I did of Sundays was put
together, save and except consultations and briefs, which are
not voluntary unless the Court will sit half of Saturday, it
would not make the amount of a single working-day in two
years. Nay more, I every now and then find the day of
appointed rest insufficient, and take a week of relaxation, that
is, of reading without any more active exertion, e.g. always or
almost always after the summer circuit, and generally again at
Christmas. I make this reading subservient to good, because

ZACHARY MACAULAY 445
I read matter for after use, but never write a line or work a
problem. Your speculation as to office is wholly out of the question.
I could not afford to take any precarious place of a much
smaller income than I make independently of my trade. But
yet, to compass so great and good a work as you and I have at
heart and in hand, I should make some effort. But it is not
within my reach, and I am saved the virtue and the half ruin of
such an act of devotion.
Canning's death is a severe blow in two respects ; he had
weight with the King (who has really behaved most admirably),
and was a man to use that weight for good purposes ; and the
spirits of darkness and intolerance, whom his crowing chased
away to their native shades last springtide, hated him so that
they could not attempt to return to their favourite haunts of
office while he lived. These were valuable things, and these we
lose. But let us take the other side. In the Commission we
are strong enough without him, and have even to spare yet.
Nowhere else was he of use. In the Lords he did us mischief,
e.g. keeping Lord G. aloof. In the country, little more good
than evil came from him, for the Reformers and the High-
church folks hated him about equally. Then as to our
peculiar questions, he was a very incubus on us. I must fairly
say that I regarded him as our very worst adversary on all that
related to West Indian affairs. He was even virulently pre
judiced against us. Can I ever forget Smith's1 case, and his
speech about the early Christian martyrs ? I was ill — very ill
— I had been up all night debating on Chancery matters and in
Court all day leading causes, and had broke down in my open
ing speech, or, I assure you, I could have felled him to the
ground for that heathenly and planterly and almost slave-
trading speech. I cannot forget it ; nothing could show more
bitter hostility to us and ours. He was quite prepared to laugh
us out of the field. We had in him, too, the most powerful,
because not a rash and thoroughpace enemy, but one who
affected to have the same object in view, and pretended to be
waddling towards it by another and more roundabout road,
while he is in reality running in the very opposite course.
Then he was Prime Minister, etc., etc. I assure you that I
ascribe his attempt to take me out of the House of Commons
and promote me very highly and lucratively, as owing chiefly
to my speech on the Brown men under which he very sorely
smarted. But this is quite between ourselves. When I flatly
refused, I mentioned to the Chancellor the shortness of Can
ning's own life as a principal reason.
1 The Demerara Missionary.

446 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Altogether West Indian matters stand very differently from
what they did six months and even six weeks. ago; Huskisson
and Wilmot Horton ! Really I shall have some right to be
consulted on these as well as other matters now, or where is
their hold over either House of Commons or country?
I have given in my cordial adherence to the Government,
and to serve with either Huskisson or Charles Grant as heartily
and far more submissively than I could have done under
Canning, but to serve unconnected with them by any official
tie. Nor will anything make me take even a law office (while
Grey remains discontented) but the impossibility of their going
on with such volunteer support. You may confer on these
matters with Wilberforce and Stephen, whom they equally con
cern. If you have half an hour to spare, pray write to Mackin
tosh, and say you hear he is about engaging in the Preliminary
Discourse on Study of History, and comfort and encourage him
to do it. The good effects of his powerfully urging the views laid
down in last Edinburgh Review are quite incalculable, and I
well know the weight of a line from you. It is really a benefit
conferred on mankind, for he wants urging. — Ever yours,
H. BROUGHAM.

FROM MRS. H. MORE.
Barley Wood, January 4, 1828.
Do you know that I have much intercourse with the General ?
His health has not yet allowed him to pay me a visit, but he
writes me very entertaining letters, and sends me some from
abroad — a most affecting one from M. Vernet on the irreparable
loss of that dear Baron de Stael.1 Do you know that I am old
enough to have been intimate with the great Necker, the great
statesman of France, a Protestant Prime Minister in that land
of Popery ! ! from whom these are descended.
I had half a mind to send you a letter from our Princess
Elizabeth, now Princess of Hesse- Homburg, but it is so flatter
ing to me that I could not do it. It is gratifying, however,
as to the piety of her own mind. I have also a very pious
letter from Princess Sophia Matilda. Your friend the Duke is
kind to me beyond anything. He half maintains me in the
winter. I hope by your presevering zeal you will be able to do some
thing decisive with Cadell. Do not lose your hold of him. The
time is arrived when he promised to settle the matter. But he
is a wise man as to this world's wisdom.
1 Huron Augusle de Stael died at Coppet on the nth of November 1827.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 447
TO MRS. H. MORE.
London, January g, 1828.
I must have appeared ungrateful not to have sooner acknow
ledged your letter, but I was desirous of being able to report
something from Cadell. I have just seen him, and he assures
me he will very shortly send me your accounts complete, with
a statement of all the stock on hand of your different works,
and be ready then to enter on the consideration of them.
My dear friend De Stael, for he had indeed become very
dear to me, was one of the most eminent instances I have ever
known of rapid advancement in the divine life. During the
last year of his life he seemed to live more in heaven than on
earth, and it is now plain that his Saviour was maturing him
for Himself. And yet when we look at the extent and variety
of his able and benevolent enterprises, and the extraordinary
influence he was exerting in the promotion of the glory of God
and the good of his fellow-creatures, and the sound judgment
and enlarged views by which every step he took was regulated,
it seems to me as if almost another Henry Thornton had been
snatched from among us. Madame Vernet has long been a
correspondent of mine. She is an extraordinary instance of
the combination of feeling, taste, and tenderness, with an
almost masculine cast of understanding. Poor thing, she has
been severely tried, but every succeeding trial has seemed
only a process of further purification ^nd refinement. God
gives us the privilege of witnessing such exhibitions for our
own correction and improvement, to reprove our dull and
languid efforts in His service, and our cold and lukewarm
affections towards Him while enjoying means and oppor
tunities and incitements for growing in grace far beyond what
Paris or Geneva can afford.
My dear friend, you are often in all our thoughts, and you
often mingle in our most serious communications with each
other and with our common Father and Friend, on the very
portal of whose house you are standing, And yet who can
tell which of us may receive the first summons. May He
vouchsafe to us all a glorious meeting in His presence, what
ever may be our destination as to the length of our stay in this
world, or as to the trials which may yet await us.
TO MRS. H. MORE. London, March 19, 1828.
Private. MY DEAR FRIEND, — Though I have as yet received no answer
from Mr. Cadell on the subject of your copyrights, I am induced

448 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
to trouble you with a few observations on another subject in
which I feel very deeply interested. I allude to a communica
tion which has reached me a very few days ago from a friend,
who, I believe, feels as strong and cordial a solicitude both for
your personal comfort and your public usefulness as I do myself.
I have marked my letter private, because I am desirous you
should read what I have to say to an end before you submit it
to any other eye than your own.
The communication to which I allude is to this effect — that
an impression has gone abroad that your servants at Barley
Wood were acting in a way that was very discreditable in
itself, and very injurious to your interests ; that their habits
were those of intemperance and profusion ; that not only were
practices carried on in your kitchen which were highly objec
tionable and indecorous, but that your servants were sometimes
engaged in night revelries in the village, in which they induced
even Louisa 1 to take a part ; leaving you and your house to
their fate ; that their system was one of pillage, and that in
particular Charles took advantage of your state of health to
turn your farming concerns into a source of gain to himself.
I give you the mere outline, omitting various circumstances
which have been mentioned of what has been stated as matter
of common rumour and belief.
I have, of course, deliberated with myself and with my wife
whether I should mention this matter to you, and we have
come to the conclusion that it would not be acting the part of
friends if we omitted to mention it. It may be difficult, indeed,
to provide an effectual remedy for such a state of things, yet
I cannot help hoping that such a remedy ma)- be found with
the help of the many attached and confidential friends you
have around you, and who, I am persuaded, will spare no
pains or exertions to save you from all trouble in any arrange
ments that may be necessary, and to secure your personal
comfort. In what I now am about to say I proceed on the assumption
that the statement to which I have alluded is well founded.
In that case I cannot help thinking that your wisest course
would be to remove from Barley Wood to a ready furnished
house at Clifton, which your friends there would be glad to
provide quite ready for your reception, with all needful
appendages of servants. You would then be at full liberty to
frame your plans and to act upon them with due deliberation.
We are quite shocked at the idea of your being left alone
' A girl <>f whom Mrs. Hannah More had made a great favourite, and had educated
above her station in life. She was the daughter ofthe old coachman, Charles Tidy,
who hud lived for many years in the service ofthe sisters.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 449
at Barley Wood, with Miss Frowd in sinking health, and with
only unprincipled servants around you. At Clifton you would
be close to your physician and to dear and tried friends, who
would be tending you from hour to hour. You would be
delivered from the enormous expense of your Barley Wood
establishment, and, which is still more to be desired, from the
cares and anxieties of it. — Believe me, ever yours affection
ately, Z. M.
Mrs. Hannah More's conduct when this painful information
reached her proved that her natural strength of mind had not
been impaired by advanced age, for on receiving the letter from
her old friend she fully grasped the situation, and immediately
adopted the advice conveyed in it. She decided on quitting
her beloved home ; and both Mr. and Mrs. Macaulay came to
assist in the arrangements, and to see her settled in her new
abode. As she crossed for the last time the threshold of Barley
Wood to enter the carriage which was to convey her from it,
she remarked : ' I am driven like Eve out of Paradise, but
not like Eve by angels.' Within one month of the date of
Macaulay's letter she was comfortably established in a pleasant
house at Clifton, where her last years were peacefully spent,
and where she died in 1833, at the age of eighty-eight.

FROM T. B. MACAULAY. York, July 24, 1828.
My dear Father, — I have nothing, or next to nothing, to
tell you. We have no causes here of any interest. Brougham
seems to be much better. On Monday I dine with Sydney
Smith, and I take a bed at Boston. I am getting on rapidly,
and on the whole satisfactorily with Hallam.
I think the Duke of Wellington's speech as bad as possible.
But as a general matter of policy I would never have any dis
cussion in the Lords except in case of necessity. The strength
of the Abolitionists lies in the Commons, and the Ministers
there are more inclined to be civil and conceding.
By-the-bye, I met the other day with a curious trial in
French causes ciUbres. A negro — this was before the Somerset
cause in England — maintained before the Parliament of Paris
that his master had no right to his service in France. And the
Court decided in favour of his liberty.— Yours affectionately,
T. B. Macaulay.
2 F

450 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
In a letter previously quoted, written in September 1829,
Dr. Lushington mentions Macaulay having been indisposed.
The illness was unusually serious, and had caused some alarm
to Macaulay's family and friends. Selina, his eldest daughter,
who had been spending some months with her uncle and aunt
at Rothley Temple, writes in her journal on her return:
'October 3, 1829. — My dear father continues a great invalid.
It is affecting to see a person of his activity and energy
incapable of the smallest exertion of mind or body.' He
recovered from the attack sufficiently to return to his usual
habits of life by the middle of November.
Early in the following year an event occurred which gave
great gratification to Macaulay and his wife in their eldest
son entering Parliament, where his powers of mind and speech
soon gained him a considerable position. The onl)- alloy to their
pleasure was in the strange conduct exhibited by Brougham
upon the occasion. Selina Macaulay writes : —
'There are some painful circumstances connected with what
is so highly gratifying to us. Mr. Brougham, who has always
hitherto shown the greatest regard for Tom, is exceedingly
angry at his unexpected good fortune. Tom thinks that
Mr. Brougham has felt jealous of him for some time owing
to the influence he has obtained in the Edinburgh Review.
Mr. Brougham certainly tried in an underhand manner with
Mr. Jeffrey to diminish it, as well as to prevent the editorship
of it being offered to him when it became vacant. Tom has
Mr. Jeffrey's authority for these circumstances. Since Tom's
election his anger and vexation have been too great for con
cealment. They took the oaths together, and stood side by
side at the same table, but Mr. Brougham did not take the
smallest notice of Tom, and turned his back on him without
speaking. Mr. Brougham gives as a reason for his conduct
that he thinks Mr. Denman ought to have had the seat offered
him ; but however strong his wishes might be, there is no
excuse for his rudeness to Tom, by whom the distinction was
perfectly unsolicited.'
Ill-natured as was Brougham's conduct to the new member,
he contrived, however, to restrain his feelings in the presence
of his father, and not onl)- did he scrupulously abstain from
giving any annoyance to his old friend, but there are many
indications in the correspondence of the genuine and per-

ZACHARY MACAULAY 451
severing goodwill and affection with which he endeavoured
effectually to serve Macaulay's interests.

FROM W. WILBERFORCE, ESQ.
Highwood Hill, Middlesex, November 4, 1829.
My DEAR FRIEND, — I was compelled yesterday to break off
before I could open to you on a topic on which I should have
been sorry to state my feelings to you till you were so much
recovered as not to render it improper. I beg you will put
off either thinking or writing about it until Mrs. Macaulay,
your dictatress, permits. I find there has been a misunder
standing between us relative to the London University, and I
speak seriously and honestly when I say that I think the mis
understanding much more likely to have arisen from my want
of precision than from anything on your part. In short, that
the fault is not yours but mine. You may remember the fears
I used to express lest the Philosophical Lectures and Studies of
the University, unaccompanied by instruction in the Evidences
of the Divine Origin of Christianity, would be too surely pro
ductive of a sceptical spirit in your young men (probably the
most intelligent and active members of your middle classes in
the metropolis), who would find themselves rational as to all
their other opinions, but holding the religious principles, if they
should profess to hold them, solely as they must feel, from
nursery prejudices, or at best on the authority of great names.
Now we, you and I, I mean, will adjourn the discussions on the
question whether I am right or wrong in this persuasion, but I
am, of course, bound to act on my own convictions ; and
I thought I had stated to you that I could not become a
member of the London University Society till some instruc
tion in the Evidences of Christianity had been secured ; and
I inferred from finding myself a subscriber that I must have
authorised you to put down my name from conceiving, as I
remember for a time I did, that provision had been made for
this religious instruction. Long ago, however, I discovered
my mistake.
I earnestly hope some method may be devised next session
for accomplishing your object. You will, I doubt not, wish it
as much as I do, though you may not think it equally necessary.
But, query, if any list of the members or shareholders (I forget
the terms) should be printed, could my name be omitted till my
objection be removed ? You will see I must be very awkwardly
circumstanced in appearing to be (to say the truth, in being) a
supporter of an institution which I cannot but think likely to be

452 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
productive of great mischief. I intreat you, my dear friend, not
to trouble yourself on this question. I feel how much you
must have gone through, and I trust it will please God to
restore you to your former strength, though you really must
use it more sparingly. With best wishes and daily prayers for
your recovery, sincerely and affectionately yours,
W. WILBERFORCE.

FROM J. STEPHEN, ESQ. March g, 1.830.
My DEAR MACAULAY, — I thank you for your new Reporter,
which is like all the rest honourable to your assiduity and zeal,
as well as to the powers of your mind and pen. You are wrong
in supposing that it will add to my regret at not having yet
published my second volume. You allude, no doubt, to its
anticipation of my views as to the murderous excess of labour.
Time was when I should have been ready to exclaim with
Richard : ' O, Warwick, single out some other chase;
For I myself will hunt this bear to death.' •
But now I am weary enough and feeble enough to be glad of
aid from a brother sportsman, though he throws himself between
me and my game. I will nevertheless, D. 17, persevere. Indeed
I dare not do otherwise. The same infirmness of judgment
would make me completely wretched if I should.
Take care of yourself, my dear friend, if only for the sake of
our poor unfortunate cause. You are its sheet-anchor. You
profess to think my poor worn-out pen has still means of
serving it ; but if so, the more necessary your help ; for really
so distrustful am I become of my own memory and judgment
that I should be afraid to publish without the benefit of your
revision. — Ever yours affectionately, J. STEPHEN.
On the 15th of May 1830, at the annual meeting of the
Anti-Slavery Societ)-, which was crowded to suffocation, the
younger members of the party carried by irresistible acclama
tion an amendment proposed from a side gallery by Mr.
Pownall, one of their chiefs, to the effect : ' That from and after
the ist of January 1830 every slave born within the King's
dominions shall be free.' It was in vain for the leaders on the
1 King Henry VI. I'art ill. Act ii. Sc. 4 :
' Nay, Warwick, single out some other chase ;
For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.'

ZACHARY MACAULAY 453
platform to deprecate the interruption; for Mr. Wilberforce, who
was in the chair for the last time, to command silence ; their
remonstrances were drowned in the wave of excitement that
swept through Freemasons' Hall, and continued until Mr.
Wilberforce was compelled to rise and put the amendment to
the assembly, and to witness its triumphant acceptance.
But very soon the perception that a distinct step had been
gained towards final Emancipation was forced upon the minds
of the leaders of the Anti-slavery party, who, with the exception
of Mr. Stephen, were very reluctant to accept the change of
policy ; and Macaulay, although he did not attempt to conceal
the disapproval which he felt towards many of the methods of
warfare patronised by his more impetuous and unscrupulous
allies, sacrificed, according to his custom, his own prejudices,
and was always ready, cordially to afford them much valuable
assistance and information, and to co-operate with them to
some extent. He himself was by no means personally un
popular with these more violent spirits of the Anti-slavery
party. They entertained a genuine and affectionate respect for
his single-minded devotion to the common cause, although they
contemned his tactics as antiquated ; and they felt that they
could place entire confidence in his kindly tolerance and fair
dealing. FROM T. BABINGTON, ESQ.
Rothley Temple, June 23, 1830.
MY dear Z, — I return the letters ; x they are indeed of a sad
complexion. On Henry's return you will be able to judge
pretty correctly of the real state of things at Sierra Leone.
God orders and will order all for the best ; and we all, my dear
Z., shall ere long, I trust, see distinct cause to lift our hearts to
Him in gratitude for His mercies in this bitter dispensation.
' God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.'
I endeavour to fortify myself and your sister daily on this
subject, and to commit our concerns, and those of yourself and
of my son Tom, earnestly and unreservedly to God. — Yours
affectionately, T. BABINGTON.
1 These were letters upon the affairs of the Sierra Leone House, which Henry W.
Macaulay was then endeavouring to wind up. He returned from West Africa in the
month of September 1830 for a short stay in England, in order to confer upon the
business with his father and uncle.

454 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

FROM HENRY DRUMMOND, ESQ.
July 30, 1830.
My DEAR FRIEND, — I am convinced that the leading of
God's providence was against my going into Parliament. I
might, indeed, have come in for the county without opposition,
and God might have given me leave, as He did Balaam ; but
He would then have left me to myself, and I should only have
denied Him as all those who profess to be His servants now in
the House have done already. The first drop of the seventh
Vial seems to be pouring out on France; it is remarkable that
she has just stood long enough to give the finishing blow to
the Mahometan power at the other extremity of the empire, as
Russia has in Persia and Greece. I knew last month that this
coup was to be struck. — Always yours most faithfully,
Henry Drummond.

FROM MR. BROUGHAM.1
Saturday Evening.
My DEAR M., — I think I am verily member for Yorkshire.
The country gentlemen tried in vain to stem the torrent which
set in from the West Riding in such force that they passed a
resolution that I was a fit and proper person. I have found
no reason to doubt that it is an Anti-slavery triumph. I have
assumed it to be so, and I make our cause the burthen of my
song in a very strong address, wherein, though short, I have
put forth all my strength. I find that all sects and all the old
Wilberforce interest is with me except the Evangelical Church
party, and they hold back on the avowed ground of London
University. Can any steps be taken to neutralise this feeling ?
I have lost no time in applying to the Duke of Devonshire as
to Knaresboro', and I have added that in case he should prefer
you, I was sure you would make way for me should I be thrown
out in Yorkshire hereafter.
The French glorious revolution is most advantageous to our
cause, because it denounces wrath and destruction on those who
would by force withstand the popular opinion. The occasion
of both concurring is therefore auspicious. — Ever yours,
H. B.
' At the General Election which followed the dissolution of Parliament on the
241I1 of July 1830, after the death of the King, Brougham was triumphantly returned
as representative ofthe county of York.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 455

FROM THE RIGHT HON. SIR JAMES STEPHEN, K.C.B.
August 15, 1830.
My dear Friend, — I return your papers. For reasons
which I need not mention, I dare not, and perhaps I ought not
to comment on an unpublished Anti-Slavery Reporter. But I
must say — May God Almighty bless you and your children
and their posterity. I am sure He will, let those unhappy
agents in this system of guilt rail and calumniate you as they
may. For myself I think often, but not too often, with pain
and shame of my comparative uselessness — perhaps it may be
still worse than uselessness. But from the very ground of my
heart I can say that to aid in your efforts by every means in
my power which my duty to the Government and the obliga
tions of honour and conscience sanction is among the very first
and dearest of my wishes. May the wisdom which is from
above and the consolations and support which God alone can
impart be with you in your labours and anxieties on this subject.
— Ever most affectionately yours, James STEPHEN.
The first break in the domestic circle at Great Ormond Street
took place in September 1830 through the sudden and quite
unexpected death of Jane, Mr. and Mrs. Macaulay's second
daughter. TO T. B. MACAULAY. London, September 30, 1830.
My dear Tom, — We yesterday deposited in the silent tomb
the mortal remains of our dear Jane. We did so with no vain
hope of the blessedness of the spirit which had once animated
them. Your mother, whose share in the loss has been the
deepest, for she was her mother's unceasing and affectionate
associate, clinging to her with a fondness and devotion that has
made the disruption more severely felt, has been wonderfully
sustained hitherto. She is now changing the scene, and to-day
is to visit Highwood Hill,1 along with Selina, for a few days,
and I have no doubt she will feel benefit from the visit. We
are uncertain about your movements. Your last letter is that
announcing your having heard of Jane's death and showing
plainly the deep shock it had given your spirits. They have
since, I trust, been tranquillised, and that you have been enabled
to resume the prosecution of your plans for improving your
visit to France. But we do not wish in any way to influence
your movements. We shall be most happy to see you among
1 Mr. Wilberforce's residence in Middlesex.

456 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
us again ; but you know well enough both the confidence we
have in your affection, and the absence of any selfish feeling on
our part, to be swayed for one moment in departing from the
course which on the whole you may think it best to pursue.
Lest you should have left Paris I enclose this to the Duchess
de Broglie.
We have been extremely interested by your journal. Henry
is better, but he has been very ill. He was to have left Sierra
Leone some weeks sooner than he actually left it, and had
taken his passage in a fast-sailing schooner manned, among
others, by two Spaniards who were working their passage to
Europe after having been captured on board a slave-ship.
There were, besides, the captain and mate, who were English,
and four or five black seamen. The two Spanish murdered
the captain and mate and took possession of the vessel, meaning
to carry her into the Cape de Verdes. But a sail appearing in
sight, one of the Spaniards mounted aloft to discover what she
was, when the black men seized the other Spaniard and bound
him with ropes, when his companion in his terror jumped from
the mast into the sea and was drowned. The black men
brought the schooner with their prisoner safe back to Sierra
Leone about a week after Henry had quitted it in the Atalanta.
Had he been on board he would probably have shared the fate
of the captain and mate. — With our warmest love, ever yours
most affectionately, Z. MACAULAY.

FROM MR. BROUGHAM. Brougham, October 4, 1S30.
My dear M., — I had seen your calamity in the papers and
sympathised with you and yours, when I got your letter
stating the extraordinary quiet and unexpected nature of the
departure. I have known instances of the like in young ladies,
and always ascribed it to organic mischief, which in boys and
girls of the lower orders would by exertion have earlier proved
fatal, but by non-exertion go on in them.
What you say is true, no doubt, you regard it like a separa
tion for life; going to India with a family to settle, and only
writing once a year, is the same separation. Yet I own I am
greatly under the influence of fears of this kind. I believe
verily that no one cares less for death in his own case, or more
for it in one or two others, than I do. I have compared notes
with Romilly, and found he had the like kind of mind in that
particular. It is not an agreeable one, and in both it began

ZACHARY MACAULAY 457
very early. His journal, or rather early biography, shows how
it haunted him.
I found all right in Yorkshire, but you must have it cor
rected what they say of my announcement at Leeds. I said I
summoned all to watch the Inter-insular Slave Trade Bill of
Government, and not a word of my own measure. The
Reporters have given it as a notice of my own, which, as you
know, I most carefully conceal. The enclosed from Fleming
requires immediate notice and vigilance. By the way, he was
hissed and pelted at Birmingham, where they took him for the
Duke of Wellington. — Yours ever, H. B.

FROM J. STEPHEN, ESQ.
Kensington Gore, November io, 1830.
My dear MACAULAY, — You will believe, I trust, that I must
have been much distressed for time, or should not have left
your letter received yesterday a day unreplied to. I regret
having shown you the letter, since it has led you into very
needless self-accusation. I do not pretend to superior candour,
or any uncommon absence of resentful self-love, It would be
hypocrisy to do so. But there is something so peculiarly
strong with me in attachment to that sacred Cause of ours,
that forgiveness of any suspicion arising from zeal in it by
others is as easy to me as it would be to forgive jealousy in a
wife who loved me, arising from the force and delicacy of her
conjugal affection.
There is perhaps no fellow-labourer whom I remember with
more esteem and affection than poor Romilly. Yet he attacked
me cruelly on one occasion in the House of Commons, as
sacrificing my Abolitionism to my political attachments. I
retorted with indignation and bitterness ; and I suppose with
effect, for Lord Castlereagh and the Treasury Bench cheered
me very loudly. But Romilly, convinced, I presume, by the
very warmth of my resentment, felt he had done me injustice,
and had the manly candour to avow it in a very cordial
explanation, and I loved him thenceforth, I can truly say,
better than I had ever done before. I have had provocations
of the same kind which have not been so well atoned for ;
but in proportion as I have had any grounds for believing
that they had proceeded from honest attachment to our cause,
or at times when I have had reason to hope that such was the
case, resentful recollections, or let me rather in justice to
myself say unfavourable impressions, of their authors, have
subsided.

458 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
' A cause like ours is its own sacrament,' i is a passage I have
sometimes quoted, and often thought of; Glover, I think, puts
the sentiment in the mouth of his hero Gustavus Vasa, when
indignantly rejecting any oath or other security for mutual
fidelity to the cause of his much-oppressed country. But he
makes the same character receive Arvider, who from honest
zeal in the same cause, and the art of its enemies, had regarded
him as a traitor to it, not only forgiven, but admired and
received back cordially into their former friendship when con
vinced of his mistake. It was the duty of such feelings that I
meant to insinuate in what I thought the least offensive way. —
Very affectionately yours, J. STEPHEN.

FROM THE LORD CHANCELLOR.2 December 6, 1830.
Dear MACAULAY, — I am sorry to hear you have been ailing ;
but I am glad to have a little healing balsam to administer. I
directed a resignation tendered to be accepted — of a living in
Leicestershire worth, I believe, between ^300 and ^400 a year
— and I have desired the presentation to be made out to your
son, who I find is in the Church.
But only see how wrong a thing you did in not telling me so.
By the merest accident I have learnt you had a son in orders,
and I should have given it to a cousin of my own to-day or
to-morrow, had I not by pure accident heard of the fact last
night. Send me his name, age, and college, where educated, and
length of standing in orders. — Yours ever, H. B.

FROM LORD ALTHORP.
Downing Street, December 15, 1830.
My DEAR SIR, — I will read the tract which you have sent me.
I believe and hope you are right in thinking me as strenuous
a friend to the emancipation ofthe blacks as any man can well
be ; but you must consider that I am in a very responsible
situation. As the organ of Government in the House of Com
mons, every word I utter on such a subject is a matter of
importance, and one unguarded expression might cost the
lives of thousands of my fellow-creatures. Under these circum
stances I am sure you will not be surprised that I should push
1 The same spirit animated Brutus ia Julius Cccsar, Act ii. Scene I.
- Brougham had become a peer and Lord Chancellor in Lord Grey's Ministry.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 459
my caution very far — perhaps you would think it not quite
inexcusable if it approached even to timidity. I have not seen
the report of what I said in the Times ; I conclude, however,
that as usual, it is pretty correct. If it makes me say anything
at all decided it is not so, for my object was to avoid pledging
the Government to anything more than to measures for the
amelioration of the slave population. — Believe me, my dear
sir, yours most sincerely, Althorp.

460 LIFE AND LETTERS OF

CHAPTER XV
CLOSING YEARS AND DEATH
MACAULAY had as usual overworked himself, and had for
some time been struggling against feelings of illness, but early
in April 1831 his state of health suddenly became much worse,
and he was soon dangerously ill and constantly delirious, and
scarcely any hope was entertained of his recovery. His life,
however, was spared, although for a time he was threatened
with loss of the sight of his remaining eye ; and his powers
began gradually to return. But the shock of his illness had
been too much for the strength of his wife, which had indeed
been sorely tried by the events of the last few years. Her
daughter Selina writes in her journal : —
' Perhaps the most remarkable feature in my mother's char
acter was the warm interest she took in even the smallest
concerns of those dear to her, accompanied with a self-annihila
tion I never saw equalled ; and what alarmed me at this time
was that she seemed completely to have lost all interest, even
respecting my father. But Dr. Chambers made light of her illness,
which he said was the effect of exhaustion from over-fatigue.'
Mrs. Macaulay, however, did not rail)-, and the end came
two or three days after she was first taken ill ; and owing to
the doctor persisting in not taking an alarming view of her case
her family were unprepared for the fatal termination until a few
hours before her spirit left them. Her daughters fortunately
were all at home, but her three elder sons were absent. T. B.
Macaulay, the son on whom her hopes had been so fondly
centred, had been at Caine, and the first intimation which he
received of his mother's death was in a newspaper which he
happened to take up. Selina Macaulay continues : —
' He flew here immediately to know the truth. His first
burst of grief was indeed overwhelming, and quite called our

ZACHARY MACAULAY 461
thoughts away from our own distress. By degrees he became
calmer, and from that time was a great comfort to us. He was
scarcely absent from the house till after the funeral, and was
our greatest human consolation and support.'
Macaulay rose from his sick-bed to a world which was
changed for him past all remedy. His children, dutiful and
attentive as they were to him, seemed to weigh him down with
a sense of his responsibilities to them now that the link which
their mother had formed between him and them was broken.
But there was happily for him no possibility of his being per
mitted to indulge in solitary grief. His illness had brought
serious difficulty and confusion into the councils of the Anti-
slavery party, and his associates were waiting impatiently for
the moment when he could resume his labours and disentangle
the skein of which he alone held the threads. Even such a
sympathetic and indulgent friend as Stephen wrote to him so
imperatively on business, that he drew forth a long reply two
days before Mrs. Macaulay's funeral, a reply containing the
details required about approaching various members of the
House of Commons. Macaulay begins by saying : —
' I must reserve much of what I have to say for a moment
of less emotion. I had last night to give to my assembled
children some directions as to their dear mother's removal to
the silent grave, I not being permitted to attend. Though
I had called up all my calmness for the occasion, the excitement
was too much for me, and it was followed by a sleepless night,
and has left my mind, though comparatively quiet, in an
incapacity for much exertion.'
And yet further on he was able to combat the despair of
success which had temporarily seized upon his colleagues : —
' Defeat I regard not. Let us do our duty, and leave the
issue to Him who ordereth all events. If I were to admit your
desponding views of our cause I should sink into inaction. But
because we have a difficult task in hand are we to flag, or to
show irresolution? Let us not yield for a moment to the
temptation which would lead us to cease to strive. Our cause
must sink, without constant unceasing effort ; and on whom are
we to rely, under God, if the very men who are to lead the
battle shall utter notes of despondency and alarm. You dread
failure. I have no such dread ! But there is encouragement
for us.'

462 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Macaulay then goes into the reasons for hopefulness, and
certainly if the friends could have looked into the future, and
seen that in two years' time Emancipation would be a settled
measure, Macaulay's words would have seemed prophetic.

TO T. B. MACAULAY, ESQ., M.P., FROM THE LORD CHANCELLOR. May 1831.
I had scarce recovered from my uneasiness about your father
when I see the dreadful loss you have sustained. Feeling for
both of you — my chief anxiety is about my old and most
valued friend — for fear this calamity should come on him
before his strength of mind and body are restored. So that
you will do me a real kindness by relieving me under this
alarm and saying how he is.
I earnestly and submissively pray that the chastening hand
which has of late visited your house may be stayed. — Ever
yours, H. BROUGHAM.
FROM THE RIGHT HON. SIR JAMES STEPHEN, K.C.B.
Downing Street, May 5, 1831.
My dear Friend, — In the morning and evening I think of
you and pray for you when I attempt to approach the fountain
of all mercy, and many are the prayers which rise from purer
lips and warmer hearts than mine on your account. Be of
good cheer ; yet a little while, and you will exchange these
tears and conflicts for the unclouded light of God's countenance,
and for services unalloyed by those painful though necessary
contentions to which you have sacrificed the repose and wealth
and applause which you might have earned in this short life.
On the evening of that sad day I called at your door, when
your servant told me that you were engaged in your family
worship, and I felt, in leaving your house, how miserable a
substitute for the communion in which you were engaged would
be any intercourse with me, or with any human friend or
comforter. Yet if at any moment you should feel that your
solitude would have the very least alleviation from seeing me,
need I say how happy I shall be to obey your summons. I
thank God that you are yet able to give your thoughts to the
great business of your life. Even its vexations and disap
pointments may serve to dispel still heavier cares for the
moment. May you live long enough to witness the fruit of
your labours, and then it would be but a selfish affection which
would wish to detain you longer from the reunion with those

ZACHARY MACAULAY 463
whom God has for the moment separated from you. To His
fatherly love and tender compassion in Christ Jesus I most
heartily commend you, praying that you may now learn the
full force of that infallible promise, ' I will not leave you com
fortless ; I will send to you another Comforter that he may
abide with you for ever.' — I am, my dear friend, most affection
ately yours, James Stephen.

TO MRS. H. MORE. May 9, 1831.
My beloved Friend, — Your letter so full of affection was
indeed a cordial to our riven feelings and shattered spirits.
We have just parted with all that was mortal of her who had
been for thirty-six years an object with me of fond and deep
interest. It is through this long vista, thickly strewn with the
recollections of early vows and ripened affections, that the eye
has now to look back to the goodness of God to us from that
hour to this, and how filled with mercies is the retrospect. In
the midst of disease and pestilence and death, how often did
He renew my countenance with health, and cheer in the distant
solitude my sinking spirits with hope of better days ; and when
at last I had been restored to my country and friends with
purposes unchanged, what a mercy to find her walking in the
fear of God and ready to redeem the faith she had pledged.
From that time for thirty-two years we have been the sharers
of each other's joys and sorrows and cares. We have held
communion together in those exercises of devotion where no
eye or ear but that of Him who weigheth the spirits was the
witness of our aspirations. Through a succession of years nine
sons and daughters were given to increase our enjoyment, and
to call forth our affections and to form new links in the chain
which bound us, and to furnish to her that delightful employ
ment without which my frequent absences and active occupa
tions would have made time to hang heavy on her hands.
With what unwearied resolution and self-denial her time and
thoughts were devoted to the formation of the infant mind, to
the development of the infant faculties, to the implantation from
the earliest dawn of reason of those principles of piety, truth,
reverence, love, devotion, and all kindly affections no one can
know so well as I do — for unfortunately I could bear but a
small part in the work — I could only admire and encourage
and cheer her in the task. But the fruits of these labours are
not obscure and latent, to be inquired after and not to be
found. They live in the reflected acquirements of not a few
They have already placed one inhabitant in the heavenly

464 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
mansion whither she herself has gone, who I doubt not is now
calling to mind the lessons by which her mother's sweetness
had bound her to the love and knowledge of a Saviour, without
pain or effort, and had prepared her for the purity and enjoy
ments of the saints made perfect. Eight remain to bear testi
mony to the strength of understanding not designed or
destined to shine in the eyes of a vain and superficial observer,
but full of solid and useful knowledge, bent on forming men
and women capable of fulfilling their duties to God and man ;
to the unconquerable perseverance with which she judiciously
prosecuted this object ; to the vigilance with which she watched
and repressed the aberrations of youthful passion ; and to the
kindly and sympathetic affections which her very countenance
and tones of voice, and, above all, her deep feeling of love to
God and to their souls, seemed to generate in infancy, and to
improve and mature with growing years. The full extent of
these labours and of their fruits I only learnt to estimate at
their due worth when they were closed by the hand of death.
It was then I was led to feel and to appreciate their full amount
in the consolations they had been preparing for that hour of
desolation and distress, and in the joy and satisfaction which
have accompanied even the privations which still weigh heavily
on the spirits.
But what shall I say of my own loss ? As a wife she fulfilled
all my expectations, and in that capacity was to her husband
all that he could desire. That in the course of thirty-two years
the sunshine of such a state should no't have been darkened by
the shadows of passing clouds amid the weakness and sinfulness
of mortality was more than humanity could hope for. But
such clouds, when they arose, were but of short continuance,
and only served to evince more fully the potency of that
principle of conjugal duty and affection which governed her
conduct as a wife, and which sweetened to her husband many
an hour of sickness and trial, and many a visitation of con
tumely and loss which, without such support, it would without
doubt have been difficult to sustain. The last few years,
though years of severe trial to us, have been cheered by her
courage and constancy, and by the cheerfulness with which she
placed her own and the future destinies of her dear children at
the disposal of Him who had hitherto led and fed and sustained
us and them.
The last month of her life was devoted almost exclusively to
the sick-chamber of her husband. And it would indeed be
strange were he to forget the solicitude with which she watched
his every word with a silent providence which resembled that
of the great provider of all. His blindness, and his debility,

ZACHARY MACAULAY 465
and his utter helplessness for a time doubtless imposed upon
her a degree of exertion and fatigue which may have laid the
foundation of that weakness which stole on her insensibly, till
within a few hours of her flight to heaven it was discovered, to
our grief and dismay, that her strength was gone. The day on
which this was made known was the day of my birth. She
spoke yet with her usual tranquillity, and only said she should
be glad to embrace her absent sons before she closed her eyes
on the world. In this desire she was disappointed. The next
morning at an early hour it was evident that her end was
drawing nigh. We assembled around her bed and commended
her departing spirit to Him who is the Resurrection and the
Life. She joined evidently in our aspirations. I quitted her
for a few minutes. On returning she seemed to have fallen
into a sweet sleep. It proved, however, the sleep of death.
My dear friend, I have thus given you as I was able a brief
sketch of one whom you loved, and who loved you with a true
and filial affection, and it is written to one who will know her
claim to all that my eulogy can confer upon her. I am glad
to have the assurance of your sympathy and prayers. You will
shortly meet again. — Believe me yours most affectionately,
Z. Macaulay.
In addition to every other source of sorrow and anxiety and
disappointment, the immediate pressure of his financial circum
stances weighed heavily upon Macaulay's mind ; and as soon
as it was possible after his wife's death he sold the house in
Great Ormond Street, which had formed such a happy home
for his children, and a general centre of reunion for his relations,
and friends, and colleagues in labour, and removed with his
family to a very small and inexpensive house in Bernard Street,
near Russell Square. But to keep the home together at all was
a matter of difficulty, and could only be done for the present by
the assistance of his eldest son and of his son Henry at Sierra
Leone, who both gave all that they could spare to help him
and their sisters. His friends also exerted themselves to see
what arrangements could be made ; and Brougham, who was
at this period Lord Chancellor in Lord Grey's Ministry, pre
sented John, Macaulay's second son, who was in holy orders,
with a living in the country, and soon afterwards procured for
Macaulay himself a temporary appointment as one of the
Commissioners of Inquiry into the Administration of Public
Charities, with a salary of eight hundred a year. The work
2 G

466 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
was not uncongenial to him, and as long as the appointment
continued he devoted his usual energy and zeal to the perform
ance of his duties, but after a short time it appears to have
terminated. Macaulay now found in the dutiful attention of his children
a full return for all the pains which he had bestowed upon their
training and religious education. His four daughters accepted
their altered circumstances with admirable good-humour and
cheerfulness. His eldest daughter, Selina, had suffered from
illness for a long time past, and as it was advised that she
should be as much as possible in the country, she and her
sister Fanny spent the greater part of the next two years
with their uncle and aunt at Rothley Temple ; but the two
younger daughters remained in town with their father and
their brother Charles, who was still quite a lad, and who was
attending lectures at the London University. T. B. Macaulay
took pains to pass most of his leisure hours in Bernard Street
with his family, and his visits and conversation were of great
assistance in cheering and amusing his father.
It was evident, however, that Macaulay's health had sustained
a shock by which it would be permanently affected, and during
the winter succeeding his wife's death he became again alarm
ingly ill, although he rallied sufficiently to return to his work
early in the year. His daughter writes, February 22, 1832:
'Papa is extremely busy from 3 a.m. till 12 p.m. about this
West Indian Committee. Then he has his new duties. Mr.
Buxton comes every day to see him.'
On the 24th of May 1832 the Anti-slavery cause gained a
great step. Buxton moved a Resolution for the appointment
of a Committee to consider and report 'upon the best means
of abolishing the state of Slavery throughout the British
dominions, with a due regard to the safety of all parties con
cerned.' T. B. Macaulay made an eloquent speech upon the
occasion. Immense efforts were made by friends and foes alike
to induce Buxton not to press his Resolution to a division, but
he persevered, and although he was in a minority, that minority
had all the consequences that a great victory would be ex
pected to have. The Government appointed a West Indian
Committee, and Sir James Graham 1 was the chairman of the
1 First Lord of the Admiralty.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 467
House of Commons Committee. 'The investigations of both
Committees were published together, and the general impres
sion was that th'ey had established two points : First, That
Slavery was an evil for which there was no remedy but extir
pation ; secondly, That its extirpation would be safe.' x Buxton
wrote about this debate : —
' I saw T. B. Macaulay yesterday : he told me one thing
which has much occupied my mind ever since. He said :
" You know how entirely everybody disapproved of your course
in your motion, and thought you very wrong ; but two or three
days after the debate Lord Althorp said to me : ' That division
of Buxton's has settled the Slavery question. If he can get
ninety to vote with him when he is wrong, and when most of
those really interested in the subject vote against him, he can
command a majority when he is right. The question is settled :
the Government see it, and they will take it up.' " '
There were, however, difficulties on every side. It has already
been seen that one section of the Anti-slavery party had got
beyond the control of the leaders. Dissatisfied with the methods
pursued by the Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society, which
in effect meant Macaulay, who was in general left to manage
matters at his own discretion,2 they determined to organise a
direct appeal to the nation in the place of the more moderate
counsels, and the plans of working by measures in the Houses
of Parliament, and of influencing legislators, which had hitherto
prevailed. To prevent the idea of any split in the party getting
abroad, the new body, which styled itself the Agency Com
mittee, was permitted to engage and occupy offices in the same
building in Aldermanbury in which the Anti-Slavery Society
was established. This step, however, was viewed with appre
hension by some of the more cautious of the old Committee,
who feared that they might be identified with the indiscretions
of their more advanced meihbers. Macaulay's patience was a
good deal exercised by the vagaries of the Agency Committee,
but although he was occasionally the object of most unwarrant
able and ungrateful attacks from some of their number, yet
most of these ardent younger spirits regarded him with respect,
amounting to veneration.
1 Memoirs of Sir T. F. Buxton, by his son, Charles Buxton, M.P.
2 Anti-Slavery Recollections : Sir George Stephen.

468 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
'It was Mr. Macaulay's unmerited fate to be occasionally
misunderstood by friends of Abolition as well as openly traduced
by its enemies. . A striking instance of this misfortune occurred
at the period of the separation of the Agency Society from the
parent Committee. On this subject a public journal, long one
of the staunchest supporters of the Anti-slavery cause, has since
observed : " It is not without feelings allied to remorse that we
look back to the reflections which we then threw upon this
excellent man for withholding his sanction to the Agency
scheme ; but we were then little aware of his real value, and
still less of the latent difficulties with which Emancipation, even
when enforced by public opinion, was surrounded. But though
Mr. Macaulay lent but little assistance publicly to the Agency
agitation, he daily, and almost hourly, counselled, suggested,
and evinced deep interest in its proceedings ; for with him
negro freedom was the sole and single object, and, in com
parison with that object, personal trouble or sacrifice was lighter
than a feather." ' 1
The scurrilous and calumnious attacks upon Macaulay in
the newspapers redoubled in virulence during this period of
approaching Emancipation, but for those emanating from the
Planter influence he appears to have felt an unaffected indiffer
ence. Even attacks upon him from another quarter where he
was entitled to expect very different treatment, such an attack
as is evidently alluded to in a letter that follows from Mr.
Wilberforce, scarcely ruffled the surface of his mind, although
it greatly distressed his affectionate old friend. There is a
curious specimen preserved among Macaulay's correspondence,
an old wrapper of some newspaper that was no doubt full of
specially venomous and irritating aspersions upon his character,
and which bears the postmark of this period, and is simply
addressed, ' To that Prince of Cruelty, if he can be found,
' Z. Macaulay, ' London.'
FROM T. B.' MACAULAY.
London, August io, 1832.
MY DEAR FATHER, — To-day we meet for the last time
previous to the prorogation. We shall adjourn till Thursday.
1 Christian Observer, 1839.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 469
By that day the Lords will have passed our last batch of bills.
and we shall then be dismissed with a speech from the Throne,
The West Indian Committee of the House of Commons meet
to-day to consider their report. Graham has become a perfect
Aldermanbury1 man. He told me yesterday that he had
never troubled himself about the question till this Session ;
that he did not at all like being put into the chair of the Com
mittee ; but that he had been delighted and surprised by the
results of the inquiry, and was so much fascinated by the
subject that he could think of nothing else. ' I am quite con
vinced,' he said, 'that if a proper system had been pursued
since 1823, slavery might already have been extinguished
without the least danger of commotion.'
The Lords' Committee, I understand, mean to present the
evidence without any report. But Sir James tells me that
Lord Harewood, Lord St. Vincent, and Lord Howard de
Walden, the son-in-law of Lord Seaford, have all, to his know
ledge, declared themselves decidedly for emancipation as
necessary to the safety of their own property. — Ever yours,
T. B. M.

FROM W. WILBERFORCE, ESQ.
Missendenj1 August 26, 1832.
My dear Friend, — The very idea of these attacks upon
you call forth a warmth of indignation I cannot repress. I
cannot see well, and fear I shall be scarcely intelligible, but I
must tell you that Stephen has been trying to write something
for the public eye in reply to the attack in the Patriot.
Assuredly, my dear friend, you have the hardest measure that
ever man received for sacrificing his health, his spirits, his
pecuniary interest, to a great public cause. But all who have
any knowledge combined with their zeal must be aware of your
labours and sufferings. I must lay down my pen, but really
I could not go to bed in comfort without assuring you that
one at least of your fellow-labourers, though I sincerely declare
in the sight of the Almighty I am ashamed to appear to
claim anything like a participation in your services, is duly
impressed with a sense of the value of your indefatigable
exertions in our cause, and of the prodigality with which you
have lavished all your powers, both of body and mind, in sup
port of our cause. It is near midnight, but I cannot bear
to let you remain under the painful impressions which in a

The headquarters of the Anti-Slavery Society.
Mr. Stephen's country residence.

47©

LIFE AND LETTERS OF

mind of any feeling must be produced by the supposition that
they who ought to be our friends are misconceiving and
calumniating us. — Ever yours very affectionately, W. Wilberforce.

Macaulay now began to find himself almost the only active
worker remaining among the band of friends with whom he
had started on the long road which led to Emancipation, and
the sense of solitude was deepened by the death of his faithful
fellow-labourer, Mr. Stephen, which took place in October
1832. This courageous and high-spirited veteran had per
formed the last public act of a long life devoted to the most
ardent pursuit of philanthropy, by presiding, as late as the
1 2th of May, at an impressive public meeting of the Anti-
Slavery Society. Exeter Hall was crowded, and multitudes
of people were unable to gain admittance ; and the contrast
between such a meeting and the scanty gatherings in former
years of a few sympathisers must have been present to the
minds of himself and Macaulay. Macaulay wrote to the Lord
Chancellor : —
' This sort of excitement in this cause it is absolutely in vain
to attempt to control. The religious persecutions in Jamaica
had roused the immense body of Methodists and Dissenters
throughout the land to a feeling of the most intense and
ardent description. We remember them cool and languid
enough. They have not only caught fire themselves since
that time, but have succeeded in igniting the whole country.
I stand astonished myself at the result, and yet I am sure it
cannot be in a more legitimate cause.'
The close of this year was marked by a domestic event
which gave considerable satisfaction to Macaulay. His youngest
daughter, Margaret, married Mr. Edward Cropper, a son of his
early and valued coadjutor in the Anti-slavery controversy, Mr.
Cropper of Liverpool, who had assisted the cause efficaciously
and largely, both with his purse and with his pen. She was
tenderly attached to her family, and her husband soon shared
her feelings in a great measure, and their house became a
second, and very cheerful and agreeable home, where the
young Macaulays always found a cordial welcome.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 471

FROM T. B. MACAULAY.
London, July 13, 1833.
My dear Father, — I have been so completely occupied
during the last three days that I have not been able to spare a
single moment for writing. On Wednesday I spoke on our
Indian Bill with more success, I think, than on any former
occasion. But the House was thin, and the reporters, as usually
happens on a Wednesday, would take nothing down. We are
proceeding easily and speedily through the Committee.
The question of Slavery will not, I think, come on this year.
The Ministers fully expect to be out on Thursday, and I
believe that we shall have an immediate dissolution. The
Lords seem resolved to throw out the Irish Church Bill. The
King, I fear, will not create peers, and the Tories trust,
erroneously I am persuaded, that by a new election they shall
obtain a manageable House of Commons. Everything here is
anxiety and confusion. — Ever, my dear father, your most
affectionate T. B. M.
The story of the final triumph of Emancipation has been so
often and so admirably narrated, that there is no call here to
enter upon a relation of the Session of 1833. The debate
commenced upon the 14th of May, and was opened by Mr.
Stanley, afterwards Lord Derby, who had succeeded Lord
Howick as Under-Secretary for the Colonies. Sir James
Stephen, upon whom the duty of supplying him with informa
tion devolved, always maintained that. Lord Derby was the
best recipient of cram who had come within his experience.
The special difficulties which added to Macaulay's anxiety
during the suspense of these trying months, on account of the
peculiar position in which his eldest son now stood towards the
Government, are so fully entered into in Sir George Trevelyan's
Life of Lord Macaulay, that it is unnecessary to touch upon
them here. On the 28th of August 1833, the Bill for the
Total Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Dominions
received the Royal assent. 'Would,' wrote Miss Buxton to
Miss Macaulay, ' that Mr. Wilberforce had lived one fortnight
longer, that my father might have taken back to him fulfilled
the task he gave him ten years ago.'
It is somewhat characteristic of the ordinary course of events
in Macaulay's life, that when the great fulfilment of all his

472 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
hopes and efforts arrived, he was not able to see the triumph.
He was very ill, and was obliged to leave town at the begin
ning of July ; and when he was able to return at the end of
September to resume his load of public work and domestic
anxiety, he had to be informed of a great change seriously
affecting him and his family, which was in prospect. His
eldest son, who had been all his life, as has been seen, the chief
object of his father's interest and attention, had been offered
the appointment of a Member of the Supreme Council of India,
and had accepted the position, with the view of providing for
the maintenance of his father and sisters, and for the pro
fessional education and starting in life of his youngest brother,
as well as of making himself independent of office. The
appointment might be called a splendid one, but to Macaulay,
with his impaired health and at his time of life, there was little
probability of his living to see the return of his son and of his
daughter Hannah, who was to accompany him to India. On
the other hand, the prospect of immediate relief by honourable
means, and without any obligations to strangers, from the
dread which haunted him of leaving his family unprovided for,
affected him very deeply.
His children had endeavoured to keep the news from him
until the matter should be irrevocably settled, so as to spare
any suspense to 'the most affectionate of fathers, as he cer
tainly is,' writes his eldest son on the 2nd of November. He
continues : —
' Some officious person carried the rumour to my father, who
came to my office this morning in considerable agitation. He
has of late felt so acutely constant humiliations and constant
anxieties. He said that he had fully made up his mind to
such a separation, for that he himself entertained thoughts of
soliciting an appointment abroad. Such a project is im
practicable, for he would probably not live to the end of the
voyage. The sight of his only eye is failing, and the opinion
of the surgeons is that the infirmity will go on increasing. It
becomes more and more obvious that something serious is the
matter.' The new Member of Council and his sister sailed for India
in February after a most heartbreaking leave-taking from their
family.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 473
FROM T. B. MACAULAY.
Falmouth, March 3, 1834.
My dear Father, — We are still here, but we expect to be
on the sea in a few hours. The delay has been expensive and
vexatious, but there is no remedy except patience.
I heard a very curious anecdote from the pilot who brought
us into Plymouth. He had piloted the ship in which Herschel
sailed last autumn. He says that he heard Herschel say that
he was very desirous to get to sea then, for that he fully
expected a quarter of a year of west wind, and did not believe
that there would be a change to the east till March. If the
story be true, Herschel either made a very lucky guess, or has
discovered some principle of meteorology which is unknown to
less scientific observers.
We are both in excellent health, and have been pretty well
seasoned to the sea. The ship is certainly a very good one,
the captain civil and sensible, and the passengers tolerable.
We are not likely to form any friendships among them, but we
shall succeed in avoiding quarrels.
This morning I was honoured by a visit from seven or eight
of the principal people of Falmouth, with the Mayor at their
head. They came, they told me, to thank me for my public
services, to congratulate me on my appointment, and to wish
me health in India and a happy return to England. I was
much pleased at the compliment, which was quite unexpected,
and which was paid in very good taste. — Ever, my dearest
father, most affectionately yours, T. B. Macau LAY.
The records of the remaining years of Macaulay's life are
scanty with regard to the interests immediately affecting him
personally, and those few which are available are full of sadness
and sorrow. Nor could it be otherwise. The wife to whom
his every thought had been laid bare was gone from his side,
and the letters which disclosed so much of the inner workings
of his mind had thus ceased for ever. Death had laid its hand
heavily upon the little band of trusted friends with whom he
had made his journey through life, and had taken solace in his
heavy toil, and with whom when absent he had corresponded
confidentially ; and Auguste de Stael, Mr. Wilberforce, Mrs. H.
More, his brother Colin, and Mr. Babington all passed before
him behind the veil. The long letters filled with domestic
occurrences which were regularly transmitted to India might,
if they were still in existence, have supplied the deficiency,

474 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
but Lord Macaulay and Lady Trevelyan made it their practice
throughout their lives to destroy all their correspondence, in
striking opposition to the habits of the rest of their family,
who seem to have considered it a duty to preserve every scrap
of paper with writing upon it. The incalculable loss which
the absence of his eldest son entailed took the last remaining
brightness out of Macaulay's daily life. The steady and
affectionate assiduity with which his son had sacrificed more
amusing engagements, and had taken pains to be at the little
house in Bernard Street at hours when he was likely to find
his father at home ; the care with which he had studied to
provide topics of conversation calculated to interest his father,
and to draw off his thoughts from brooding over subjects of
anxiety, had, almost unconsciously to Macaulay, given him an
object in each day to which to look forward with interest. In
consequence, the void which his son's departure made was very
great, and the contrast in his demeanour was painfully obvious
to those who were interested in his welfare. His health was
in so miserable a condition that he was subject to frequent
attacks of serious illness which alarmed his doctors and children,
and which, affecting his eyesight and otherwise, and thus dis
abling him from all occupation, threw him back upon the
resource of his own reflections. His spirit, however, bore up
without murmuring under every trial, and as soon as he was
able to leave his room he was to be found again at his work.
But in the summer of 1834 an appalling blow fell upon the
family. Macaulay's youngest daughter, Margaret, lovely alike
in person, character and mind, died after a few days' illness
of a virulent attack of scarlatina at twenty-two years of age.
Notwithstanding her youth, her relations evidently looked in a
great measure to her judgment and advice for their guidance,
for in addition to her beaut)- and charm, she was endowed with
sense and discrimination beyond her years. She was, in fact,
the centre of affection to all her family, and the despair and
wretchedness which her death caused made it indeed a tragedy.
TO MISS MACAULAY. London, August 14, 1834.
My dearest SELINA, — I heard of my dear sweet Margaret's
departure to her Saviour's bosom last night about ten from

ZACHARY MACAULAY 475
George, and I have this morning received your heart-breaking
note. The blow has been both sudden and severe. So
Margaret, dear Margaret, has left us to mourn our loss, in
flicting on us the only pang she ever, to my best recollection,
gave to any of us since I first beheld her smiling at her dear
mother's breast. I know not whether one's grief is lightened
or aggravated by being divided, but I seem at least to feel my
own share less as I contemplate poor Edward, the unconscious
babe who has scarcely known, and will soon forget, a mother's
tenderness, and when I think also of the absent ones, and of
your large share in this affliction. May the God of all comfort
be with us to compensate to us by the consolations which pro
ceed from His presence for the delights of that affection which
bound us all together. Suddenly as those delights have been
extinguished, and painfully as these ties have been burst asunder,
we cannot but feel the riving stroke, and it is right we should
feel it. And yet can we doubt the love that dealt the blow ?
It is His infliction who endured shame and sorrow and agony
and death for us, and who, in having removed dear Margaret
from the endearing fellowship of those she loved, has removed
her also for ever from the evil to come, from sin, and from
sorrow, and from suffering. I admit that the worldly prospect
before her and hers was fair and smiling, few more so ; she had
all the world could give her. And yet what is all that the
world can give compared to one approving smile of her Saviour,
and still less to an eternity in His presence and under the ever-
beaming light of His countenance?
This is almost too much for feeble humanity. Still may we
exact of ourselves that we should exercise sufficient faith in our
loving Saviour to acquiesce in, and ever to adore the chasten-
ings of His hand, to be patient in the tribulation He sends for
our good, and to rejoice in the hope He permits us to cherish
that those who sleep in Jesus are blessed beyond all conceptions
of blessedness. — Your affectionate father, Z. M.

FROM THE RIGHT HON. SIR JAMES STEPHEN, K.C.B.
Colonial Office, Downing Street, July 17, 1834.
My dear Friend, — It is not, as you will readily believe,
without the greatest reluctance that I address to you what I
fear must be considered as a final appeal on the subject of the
mortgage which, rather more than eight months ago, Mr.
Babington agreed to execute to Mr. Wilberforce's executors
for securing the amount of the sums due by him and by your
late firm to their testator. We were, as you know, referred
to  for the completion of the arrangement.

476 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
I had hoped originally that we should have been secure of
prompt and effectual despatch from the circumstance of our
almost absolute inability to importune the principals, to whom
Mr. Wilberforce's executors (myself especially) have been for a
long course of years connected by the closest ties of personal
intimacy. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. Not
only has there been a total want of any such promptitude,
but the representations which have again and again been
made of the embarrassments affecting many members of Mr.
Wilberforce's family have not only been fruitless, but literally
unnoticed. It is now a week since I wrote to  in the
strongest terms which my respect for him would permit me
to employ. He has not even acknowledged the receipt of
my letter.
To assure you of the bitterness of the regret which it would
cause me to stand in any hostile relation to yourself or to
Mr. Babington must be superfluous. The oldest and the
kindest of all my surviving friends can hardly think me so
unworthy of their regard as to be exempt from such feelings.
But I owe to Mr. Wilberforce's children a duty, which, even
against my own brother, it would, if necessary, behove me to
perform with steadfastness ; and if a year from Mr. Wilber
force's death is permitted to elapse without any advance being
made towards the settlement of these affairs, I fear that my
co-executors and myself would be bound in conscience and
honour to place them in the hands of our solicitor.
To apologise for thus addressing you would be to suggest a
doubt of your equitable and kind construction of my motives.
I have written to you as a last resource and in the hope that I
may possibly, at the expense of subjecting you to this annoy
ance, rescue both you and myself from the much more serious
vexation with which we seem to be threatened. — I am, my dear
friend, very affectionately yours, James Stephen.
Margaret had scarcely been laid in her grave before her
father was called upon to face a fresh development of his
financial difficulties. The warning of the approaching trouble
had been given in the preceding letter of the 17th of July from
Sir James Stephen, who with a reluctant hand dealt the blow
against a person for whom he entertained a profound venera
tion and affection. Sir James Stephen's apprehensions were
only too quickly confirmed. The absence of any correspon
dence on the subject causes some obscurity as to the actual
course of events at this crisis, but it may be gathered that the
resources at Mr. Babington's disposal had already been strained

ZACHARY MACAULAY 477
to their utmost extent by his misfortunes, and that his power of
raising money was exhausted. His health also was greatly
impaired, but the good old man retained to the last all the
characteristics which had distinguished him during his life,
and which had endeared him to the younger generation as
much as to his contemporaries.
Fanny Macaulay writes from the Temple to her sister
Margaret : —
' Mrs. Wilberforce's visit passed off well. My dear uncle felt
much at seeing her for the first time in her widow's dress, but
happily was not overcome, which would have been bad for him.
He is so sweet, so heavenly in his dispositions, that I feel about
him as Bishop Burnet did about Archbishop Leighton when he
said that he looked upon his acquaintance with the archbishop
as a talent for which he must give account. It quite affects me
to see how he gives up with the most touching meekness and
acquiescence one little pleasure after another. I sometimes,
when I look at him and think of him, am almost inclined to
believe that the believers in the perfection of the saints on earth
are supporting the truth, for I do not think that he will need
change for the society of heaven.'
This is a fair specimen of the feeling with which Mr. Babing
ton was regarded by the young relations around him, and by
his own children, and such a tribute is perhaps the highest
testimony which could be bestowed upon his worth. They
indulged also in a little affectionate amusement at his harmless
' foibles. His daughter writes to her mother in April 1835 : —

' There are several pieces of potato ground to dispose of, and
I wish you may be able when you come home to get them
given away. The people in Rothley are not perfect enough to
please my father, and I am afraid that some pieces may lie
vacant. Now I place very low the perfection necessary to
entitle one to have a few potatoes to eat. There are five
pieces on hand, and about many of the applicants my father
will not even inquire, though I am afraid that by the same rules
we should shut out many of the visitors who come to the
house.' It was said that Mrs. H. More drew her character of Mr.
Stanley, the model country gentleman in Ccelebs, from Mr.

478 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
Babington. Henry Thornton maintained that all the virtues
for which the saints whose history is given in the Bible were
distinguished, were to be found in Babington, and none of their
defects. His love of strict adherence to the letter of truth
amounted to a passion ; and Lord Macaulay, who was ex
tremely attached to his uncle, used to amuse himself sometimes
with arguing with him about it, and would point out to him
that the faint expression of praise or blame, which was all Mr.
Babington would permit himself to employ upon common
occasions, was actually more misleading than the ordinary
exaggerations in conversation of less scrupulous adherents to
strict accuracy, and that when his uncle said he liked a person
or thing ' well ' instead of ' very much,' his hearers usually took
for granted that he was dissatisfied. Miss Marianne Thornton
remembered how once, when returning with his family from
Yorkshire, her father, finding that he had a day to spare, turned
out of the road, and stopped his carriage at Rothley Temple to
ask if they should stay for the night there. They were warmly
welcomed by the host and hostess, but Mr. Henry Thornton
still pressed to know if it was certainly quite convenient to
receive such a large party unexpectedly. ' No, indeed,' replied
Mr. Babington, ' it is very inconvenient, and I cannot imagine
how we shall contrive to take you in, but the pleasure of seeing
you is so great, that we will gladly submit to the inconveni
ence.' ' And,' continued Miss Thornton, ' the carriage was
unpacked, and we felt no compunction in remaining, so absolute
was our reliance upon his sincerity.'
In view of these fresh complications it was thought best by
Macaulay's advisers that he should leave England for a time,
and accordingly he and his two daughters took up their
residence in Paris. Selina had by this time sunk into the state
of health of a confirmed invalid, but her humble resignation
and gentle cheerfulness enabled her nevertheless to be of great
comfort and assistance to her father, while Fanny's energy and
lively disposition contributed to keep up the spirits of both her
companions. Their situation was not without its compensa
tions. The Duchess de Broglie was unfailing in her endeavours
to help to cheer her old friend, and to give pleasure to his
daughters. The Duke, who at this period, was occupying a
prominent position under the Orleans dynasty as Minister of

ZACHARY MACAULAY 479
Foreign Affairs and President of the Council, was steadily and
unremittingly attentive and kind, so that notwithstanding his
painful position and narrow circumstances Macaulay soon found
himself in a circle of society congenial to his tastes. But he
himself was no longer capable of the enjoyment of former
years. Enfeebled by illness, and saddened, although in no
degree soured by misfortune, he considered it right to reserve
his strength for the objects which he still felt it a duty to
pufcsue. He continuedt he work of preparing the Anti-Slavery
Reporters, which were sent to be published in England every
month ; and made himself useful in the country which he was
temporarily inhabiting in a great variety of matters, as long as
he was capable of exertion.
There is such a scarcity of material, and so little information
about this period, that, with the view of explaining in some
degree the labours which Macaulay, notwithstanding his failing
powers, endeavoured to carry on during his residence in Paris,
it is thought best to quote a portion of an oration which, after
his death, was read before the Socidte' Francaise pour l'Aboli-
tion de l'Esclavage by M. de Saint-Anthoine, and also some
passages from the memoir in the Christian Observer, which
refer to a letter of his to Mr. Wilks.
' Upon his arrival in France, Mr. Macaulay lost no time in
expressing his approbation of the foundation of the Societe
Francaise pour l'Abolition de l'Esclavage, and he immediately
took measures to strengthen it by securing the aid of his
friends. He thought that the long and painful study which he
had personally made of the evils which slavery inflicts, imposed
upon him the duty of furnishing the French public with the
information which completely demonstrates that the immediate
extinction of slavery would be an operation, as it was, free from
danger. Mr. Macaulay, in writing his work, had constantly in
view to give the French public a faithful picture of the conduct
of emancipated slaves, and to prove by the effects of the great
measure adopted in England, that there was not in the per
spective of its adoption by France anything which could justify
the fears of the Planters.
' The Societe Francaise pour l'Abolition de l'Esclavage was
indebted to Mr. Macaulay for several works which he published
for them during his sojourn in France. One of these was the
Tableau de l'Esclavage tel qu' il existe dans les Colonies Franqaises.
The last works published in France by Mr. Macaulay are

480 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
entitled, Faits et Renseignements prouvant les avantages du
travail libre sur le travail force1, et indiquant les moy ens les plus
propres a hdter l'Abolition de lEsclavage dans les Colonies
Europeennes ; and Details sur I 'Emancipation des Esclaves dans
les Colonics Anglaises pendant les anne'es 1834 et 1835. This
pamphlet is a reply to MM. the delegates from the colonies,
and to the allegations of the editor of the Revue de Paris et
des Deux Mondes, apologists for an odious system.
' The gratitude of our Society to Mr. Macaulay was shown
by his being nominated honorary president of it. He accepted
the title, which was as a crown placed upon the head of a man
whose whole life, as Lord Brougham has recently said, whose
health, whose fortune, and whose energies were spent in our
holy cause.'1

to the rev. s. wilks.
Paris, July I, 1835.
My DEAR Wilks, — Our intercourse has necessarily been very
infrequent of late, and rendered more so by distance and the
state of my health. But there has occurred a matter in which
you can serve me very essentially ; and though the motive is
a somewhat selfish one, I am not the less assured of your
ready co-operation.
The enclosed first number of a periodical work published at
Paris (upon Infant Schools) will form a very good introduction
to my demand. It will, at least, show one of the subjects which
engages some of my disengaged hours in this busy and bustling
scene of evil and good. In connection with it I am anxious
to recur to certain numbers of the Christian Observer, of which
it will be in your power, more than any other person, to put
me in possession.
I wish, in the first place, to get at the numbers of that work
which give any account of the origin and progress of Infant
Schools in England. The indexes will point to them. It
strikes me, though my recollections are not very vivid, that
there is a paper of mine somewhere, defending and recom
mending their institution, either prior or subsequent to a general
meeting for forming an Infant School Society ; you will judge
whether that or any other number be germane to my object
of putting the Paris Infant School Society in possession of
the early facts attending the projection of this grand moral
invention. Again, there was a review which I wrote on the system of
1 Oration upon the death of Mr. Macaulay.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 481
Robert Owen of Lanark, in which that gentleman's unfounded
pretensions to the production (by means of his anti-religious
system) of great moral good and of immense temporal
benefits to the population under his charge, are somewhat
freely canvassed. Could you also procure that number, and
send the whole through  , who is coming to join me in
France ?
Besides the pamphlet I send you on the French Infant
Schools, I enclose another on a subject which, at least, equally
interests you, and in which I have tried to apply a stimulus
to the languid consciences of this great and rising country.
Stokes can show you another with the title of Haiti, which is
too heavy to send by this conveyance, or if there be one to
spare, he may give you a copy. ¦
"I wish you would think, and that you would call our dear
friend Baptist Noel 1 to think with you, whether something in
the way of the French L'ami de l'enfant might not be set on
foot in England. Would not such a publication be extensively
useful, and would not copies be taken by the teachers and con
ductors of Infant Schools throughout the British dominions?
I haye just been looking at your last number, which I
generally am much pleased with ; but I do confess I was a
little hurt by your note about Brougham, and which he does
not quite merit. I think you are bound in common justice to
give a fair analysis of his attack on the infidels in his discourse
on Natural Theology. Ought we, too, to forget that he is in
part the founder in England of the Infant School system ; or
can we forget the use we made not unfrequently of his eccle
siastical patronage ? Never, I think, had any individual more
just reason to complain of the unchristian bearing towards him
than he of the world calling itself Christian. But I say no
more. My health has recently been suffering, and my eyes_
fail me, but I trust to hear that you and Mrs. Wilks flourish
in health more than you used to do. — Ever yours very truly,
Z. Macaulay.
' We well remember the paper to which Mr. Macaulay refers
upon the New Lanark system. Mr. Owen had appealed to it
in proof of the excellent effects of his vaunted social organisa
tion, but Mr. Macaulay showed that all that was good at New
Lanark was in spite of his system, not in consequence of it.
The London proprietors printed an account of the regulations
of their factory in reply to their headstrong colleague, and they
showed, by facts and documents, that there was not a spot in
1 The Rev. and Hon. Baptist Noel was at that period the incumbent of St. John's
Chapel, Bedford Row.
2 H

482 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
the kingdom from which Mr. Owen's principles were more
carefully excluded. The religious education of the children
was a prominent stipulation of the articles of partnership.
Mr. Owen's " social," or rather " anti-social," plans are now so
amply developed that not even his introduction to the Queen
by the Prime Minister can render an exposition of their folly
and wickedness necessary ; but twenty years ago, when " the
New Lanark System," as it was most untruly called, was seducing
the minds of some who ought to have known better, Mr.
Macaulay's plain facts were highly important.
' The passage objected to was written upon occasion of his
Lordship's being invited to take the chair of the British and
Foreign School Society and the Anti-Slavery Society at a time of
strong public feeling respecting him. We cheerfully do justice
to Lord Brougham's zeal to promote popular instruction. We
believe we violate no confidence in saying that Mr. Macaulay's
suggestions had considerable weight with Mr. Brougham in
inducing him to give to his Bill of 1820 a form which he
thought might fairly satisfy the Church, while it was not unjust
to the Dissenters. We think we may conclude this note with
an anecdote of which Lord Brougham has no occasion to be
ashamed. Many years ago, we think it was at Mr. Henry
Thornton's funeral, he remarked to the effect that when he
first came up to London he had been accustomed to hear the
doctrines of Christianity spoken of in a sceptical manner ; that
Mr. Wilberforce's character said much for religion, but that Mr.
Wilberforce would have been all that was good and amiable
in spite of his creed, as well as by means of it ; but that when
he saw such dispassionate, hard-headed men as Thornton and
Macaulay all in the same story, it did strike him there must
surely be more in it than the Edinburgh wits dreamed of.' 1
T. B. Macaulay wrote to his father from India by every
mail. On the 2nd of May 1836 his letter commences : —
' I was beginning a letter to Empson. But the date reminded
me so strongly of you that I changed my intention. This is
your birthday. Most sincerely do I hope that it has found
you in health and comfort, that other happy birthdays are
still in store for you, and that at no very distant time all
the members of our famil)- whom death has spared may be
assembled in one affectionate circle.
' This month, the most delicious of the English months, is
the terrific part of the Indian year. The fury with which the
sun blazes is not to be described to any one who has not like
1 Christian Observer, 1839.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 483
you been in the tropics. However, in the midst of the heat
we are all in the very best health, and your little granddaughter
as well as any of us. She is the sweetest little child that I
ever saw, and gives as much promise as a baby of seven months
old can give of being a sensible and amiable woman.'
In the summer of 1836 Macaulay was persuaded by his
daughters to move with them to Geneva, in the hope that the
change of air and scene might benefit his health. He appears
at first to have derived pleasure from again seeing his old
friends there, and from the gentle and affectionate ministra
tions of Madame Auguste de Stael, the young widow of his
beloved friend, who resided at Coppet. Her only child had
followed its father to the grave, and she mourned their loss
with an uncomplaining resignation which called forth the pro
found sympathy of all who came in contact with her. ' Tout
est fini pour moi a vingt-sept ans,' she said after the death of
her child, and from that time she passed in retirement a life of
piety and good works. Fanny Macaulay writes : —
' She looks, more than any person I ever saw, as though she
had no more concern with this life, but yet there is not a shade
of moroseness about her, or discontent ; on the contrary, there
is much of quiet, even cheerfulness. I used to think, when
looking on her tranquil, pleasing countenance, and listening
to her sweet voice, of those words, " In quietness and confidence
shall be your strength." '
But the slight improvement which had followed the change
to Geneva proved to be only temporary, and it soon became
apparent that the close of Macaulay's long and useful life was
now fast approaching. His bodily strength had for some time
been evidently unequal to meeting the demands made upon it
by his indomitable spirit, and at length the suffering and weak
ness which he was unable further to surmount, became rapidly
so alarming that his daughters shrank from continuing to bear
the sole responsibility of his illness. Accordingly he was
removed at the end of 1836 to London, where a small house
had been prepared for his reception in Clarges Street, Piccadilly.
There he lay patiently through many months of severe and
prolonged suffering, which was alleviated by all that skill and
attention could do, and where he was surrounded by relations

484 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
and friends who were anxious to soothe and cheer his remain
ing time upon earth.
There is a touching document extant in his handwriting,
the rough draft of a will, in which he says : —
' Since my former wills were made it has pleased Almighty
God, in whose dispensation I desire, with the most entire
resignation, and even thankfulness, cheerfully to acquiesce,
greatly to depress and to reduce my property, once by His
goodness competent, to a very uncertain amount. ... In the
first place I desire, with all humility and reverence, to com
mend to the mercies of my God and Saviour the soul which
He hath redeemed by His precious blood, and in some feeble
measure, I trust, restored to His image which sin had so
miserably defaced and polluted. On His mercy alone I place
all my hope that my transgressions may be pardoned.
' When I die, I earnestly entreat that all attempt may be
avoided to exalt by eulogy or panegyric a character, which,
however some partial friends may have regarded with indul
gence, I myself feel to have no claim to any such notice. I
desire to live in the affections of those dear friends and rela
tions whose attachment formed one of the main consolations of
my chequered and sinful life, but I should feel anything
beyond this to be so wholly unmerited as to be a reproach to
my sincerity.'
A few months after Macaulay's arrival in England, the
Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society unanimously adopted
and forwarded to him the following Resolution : —
' That this Committee deeply regret the long and continued
indisposition of their much-esteemed friend and coadjutor Mr.
Zachary Macaulay, more especially as it deprives them of
much of his valuable assistance at the present critical juncture.
In referring to the history of the Societ)-, the)- are perfectly
sensible of the pre-eminent services which for so many years
he has been enabled to render the Negro cause : and although
they are fully aware that a much richer reward of such devoted
efforts will be found in the reflections of his own mind, they
feel it nevertheless due to themselves and to their respected
friend to avail themselves of his absence on the present
occasion, to record their united sympathy in his affliction, and
their affectionate and grateful remembrance of his talents and
labours.' This Resolution was acknowledged in a letter written by one

ZACHARY MACAULAY 485
of his daughters, as he himself was quite unable to use his pen,
in which she expresses her father's gratification at ' this proof
of their kind feelings towards him and sympathy with him,
under the great and protracted sufferings with which it has
pleased God to visit him,' and his deep regret that he was so
completely incapacitated from taking any active part in a work
which he had so much at heart.
Mr. Robert Stokes, who had laboured faithfully under Mac
aulay's guidance, first as clerk to the African Institution, and
afterwards in the offices of the Anti-Slavery Society, wrote to
Henry W. Macaulay at Sierra Leone in June 1837 : —
' Your father was ever kind and considerate towards me ; in
prosperity, or the reverse, he was ever the same. I have been
from early youth a witness of his pure and disinterested devo
tion to the great cause to which he devoted himself. I have
seen more or less of every Abolitionist and Anti-slavery man
for the last thirty-seven years ; and no one has, I can safely
say, made the sacrifices to the cause which he has, nor anything
like them ! And he has met not only with injustice from his
opponents, but with ingratitude from his friends and servants,
with a meekness and magnanimity which have created in my
mind a sense of the greatest respect and affection.'
Side by side with this humble but highly valued testimony
may be placed the noble words spoken by Mr. Gladstone in
1 841 :—
' There is another name still more strongly associated with
the slave question. I can only speak from tradition of the
struggle for the abolition of slavery ; but, if I have not been
misinformed, there was engaged in it a man who was the
unseen ally of Mr. Wilberforce, and the pillar of his strength —
a man of profound benevolence, of acute understanding, of
indefatigable industry, and of that self-denying temper which is
content to work in secret, to forego the recompense of present
fame, and to seek his reward beyond the grave ; the name of
that man was Zachary Macaulay.'
Macaulay's return to London must have aroused many pain
ful recollections in his mind. His brother, General Macaulay,
had died at Clifton in the early spring of the same year, and
although Babington lingered on till November 1837, the state
of his health did not permit of any meeting between the two

486 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
brothers-in-law taking place. It need scarcely be told that
during his long and severe illness Macaulay bore his sufferings,
which were very great, not only with fortitude and resignation,
but with feelings, which he constantly expressed, of humble
gratitude to his God for the blessings and comforts bestowed
upon him. The anxious hopes of the family were now centred
upon the desire that his life should be prolonged sufficiently
for him to behold once more his eldest son, who, with his
sister and her husband, were to have sailed from India early in
January. His niece, Miss Babington, writes to a friend : —
May I, 1838.
I hear that the Lord Hungerford, though a very comfortable,
is an unusually slow ship, one of the oldest in the East Indian
service, and built before many plans which would conduce to
swift sailing were understood. Since that I have had a letter
from Hannah herself, concluded Jan. 5th, saying that the
captain hoped to reach Portsmouth by May 5th. We may
hear of them any day, and you will know what we have felt
when I tell you that for the last two or three days my uncle
has been so very unwell that we have dreaded lest, after all,
the much-desired meeting between him and his children would
never take place. To-day's report is just come in, much the
same, another bad night. Oh, may God avert what I dread, and
not prepare them this blow just as they are, as it were, within
sight of land !
Some occasional gleams of returning strength flattered their
hopes. Sir George Stephen, whose superabundant energy had
developed and carried on the Agency Committee, the tactics
of which Macaulay had regarded with suspicion and disapproval,
paid him a visit not long before his death, and writes that to
him ' Anti-slavery labour was an actual restorative under pain.
Though suffering greatly on the bed which he never again
quitted, he immediately opened on colonial topics with a life
and spirit that showed the power of the stimulus.' One day
early in May Sir Fowell Buxton was admitted to see him, and
felt that it was a visit of farewell. ' God bless you and yours,'
said Macaulay, upon taking leave of his kind friend. ' I
sympathise in all your trials, I concur in all your opinions, and
your visits to mc are as water to the thirsty soul.' But the
meeting between Macaulay and his absent children was not to
be, and on May 13, 1S38, he died at the age of seventy.

ZACHARY MACAULAY 487
FROM MISS BABINGTON TO MISS CAROLINE PALMER.
May 14, 1838.
I have been very much engrossed lately by the death of my
uncle Zachary. It took place yesterday morning early, and
now he is reunited to that little band of friends who loved each
other so much in this world, and of whom I have no doubt
they have renewed their friendship, and are hand in hand
before the throne of God. My dear uncle was less tender and
winning in manner than Mr. Wilberforce or than my father,
but in some points he was second to none, and had a capacity
for friendship, and a nobleness and generosity, which I. never
saw exceeded. Indeed he seemed, in speaking of others,
scarcely to be aware that they could be actuated by mean or
selfish motives. During the whole of last week he might be
said to be dying, and was almost unconscious unless when
roused by strong pain, which I grieve to say was often the case.
I saw him several times, but he did not notice me. During the
last night, however, which was a very suffering one, he certainly
knew that his children were round him though unable to
speak, and clung for hours to Charles with one arm round his
neck, and holding his hand in his. It was the fourth night and
day that Charles had never left him.
They have had a fright about the ship in which Tom is
coming, but I hope without reason.
The most characteristic portrait that exists of Macaulay is a
beautiful and delicate drawing by Slater, which has been
engraved for the frontispiece of this volume by the kind per
mission of Mr. Charles T. Macaulay, who inherited it from his
father, Macaulay's youngest child. It was taken in 1831, and
reproduces that expression at once so earnest and so mono
tonous, which has been mentioned by one who knew him well ;
and a biography of Macaulay can scarcely be considered com
plete without quoting at least a portion of the masterly
description drawn by the same pen.1
'That Zachary Macaulay's understanding was proof against
sophistry, and his nerves against fear, were conclusions to which
a stranger arrived at the first interview with him. But what
might be the charm which excited among his chosen circle a
faith approaching to superstition, and a love rising to
enthusiasm, towards a man whose demeanour was so inani
mate, if not austere ? That much was passing within, which
1 Essays in Ecclesiastical Biography.

488 LIFE AND LETTERS OF
that ineloquent tongue and those taciturn features could not
utter ; and that he had won, without knowing how to court,
the attachment of all who approached him closely — these were
discoveries which the most casual acquaintance might make,
but which they whom he honoured with his intimacy, and they
alone, could explain.'
At the beginning of June the Lord Hungerford landed its
passengers at Dartmouth. T. B. Macaulay went direct to
London, where the sad tidings of his father's death were given
to him, and where his arrival was eagerly welcomed by his
relations. Lady Trevelyan went with her husband to Somer
setshire in order to spend a day or two with his mother, from
whom he had been absent for twelve years, before joining her
own family. She writes to her sisters : — June 6, 1838.
I scarcely know how to express the feelings which rush over
me ; such a return home after such long expectations. The
contrast between Charles's lot and mine strikes me very
strongly. Here every one is alive, and is hurrying to meet him.
We were received last night by a merry peal of bells rung in
honour of his return by the townspeople, and a row of small
cannon fired off a salute. I enjoyed the evening, and the
delight of his family, and his own happiness; and in the
morning I was told that the dear father I did so long to see
was taken away just when I was pleasing myself with the
thoughts of making known to him my husband and child.
For our beloved father himself we can only say, ' Thank God,
at last he is at rest ; through much tribulation he has entered
into the kingdom of heaven. He has known of late years
but little earthly happiness, but what does it now all signify
except that he may now see the reason of the thorny path he
was made to tread ? '
A strong desire was felt by Macaulay's friends that there
should be some public recognition of his labours, and this feel
ing found expression finally in the form of a Meeting which
was held on the 30th of July, and at which the following
Resolutions were adopted : —
' That the eminent services rendered by the late Zachary
Macaulay, by the long and disinterested zeal with which he
devoted his talents, his time, and all the powers of his well-
informed mind, to objects of benevolence and utility, and
more especially to the abolition of the Slave Trade, and to the

ZACHARY MACAULAY 489
important cause of Negro Emancipation, demand a public
testimony, that may record his worth as a bright example for
future generations, and prove the grateful esteem in which he
was held by his contemporaries. That with this view a sub
scription be raised to erect a monument to his memory in
Westminster Abbey.'
The idea met with a prompt response from a large number
of persons, and a marble bust was placed to commemorate
him within the hallowed walls of the Abbey where his eldest
son was laid twenty-one years later.
This attempt, however humble and imperfect it is felt to
be, to give some idea ofthe life and character of Zachary
Macaulay, may fitly conclude with an inscription written by
Sir James Stephen for his tablet in Westminster Abbey.
In grateful remembrance
of a Man,
Who, throughout a protracted life,
Devoted all the resources of a comprehensive understanding
and
All the energies of an affectionate Heart,
To the diffusion of Christianity,
and
The relief of human wretchedness :
Who, during forty successive years,
Partaking in the counsels and the labours,
Which, guided by favouring Providence,
Rescued Africa from the woes,
And the British Empire from the guilt,
Of Slavery and the Slave Trade ;
Meekly endured the toil, the privation, and the reproach,
Resigning to others the praise and the reward :
This Tablet
Is inscribed with the name
of
Zachary Macaulay,
By his surviving friends and associates ;
Whose faith, once exercised by his sufferings,
Now reposes in the assurance
That, through the merits of the Redeemer,
In whose footsteps he trod,
and
On whom his hopes rested,
f He now rejoices in the fulfilment
—¦ ~" of his wishes
For himself, for his country, and for Mankind.

INDEX

Abolition movement. See Slavery.
Addow, Chief of all Sherbro, 33-4, 82.
African children, scheme for training
as missionaries, 201 ; inoculation for
smallpox, 221, 223-4, 226; education,
237.
African Institution, Macaulay hon. sec.
of, 281 ; Macaulay resigns secretary
ship of, 292 ; resolution of, on Foreign
Slave Trade, 313 ; exclusive character
of, 382.
Afzelius, Dr., 23, 70, note 1, 72.
Agency Committee, 467-8.
Alexander, Emperor of Russia, against
Slavery, 311, 345; decrees circulation
of the Bible, 330 ; in favour of arbi
tration, 346 ; cooler on the Slave
Question, 380.
Althorp, Lord, 467 ; letter from, 458.
Anna, Macaulay's voyage on the, 86-9.
Anti-Slavery Reporter, 383, 385, 429,
479-
Apocrypha, controversy regarding, 437-9,
444.
Aublay, Madame, 411.
Babington, Thomas, marriage of, 12-
13; early intercourse with Macaulay,
15-17 ; on Sierra Leone Company, 19;
against women's employment in public
work, 433 ; Macaulay's appreciation of,
155, 161, 170, 249, 388; others' appre
ciations of, 477-8; letters to, 153,263,
276, 281, 376, 393, 430, 434; letters
from, 25, 147, 232, 392, 404, 453.
 Mrs., marriage of, 13-14; attach
ment to her brother Zachary, 15 ; Mrs.
Macaulay's friendship with, 225-6 ;
letters to, S4, 103 ; letter from, 107.
 -Thomas Cisbome, 300 note, 353,
3^3, 378, 396-404 ; ^-tler lo, 403.
Baird, Sir David, anecdote of captivity
of, 284 nate.
Ball, Captain, 184-8, 194.
Ballard, Captain, 189-92, 199-200.
liance Island, slave factory at, 23 : mor
tality in, 47 ; Macaulay's visits to, 1 37,
174, 188, 215.
Beattie, James, Macaulay's estimate of,
278-80.

Bell, Dr. Andrew, educational scheme
of, 303-4.
Berry, Duchess de, 359-61.
Beveshout, 50, 53-4, 144-6.
Blucher, Marshal, 316 and note 1.
Boston, slave-ship from, 52.
Bowdler, John, 264-5, 277> 321-
British and Foreign Bible Society, 242,
437-9, 443-4-
British and Foreign School Society,
303-4, 482.
Broglie, Duke de, 356, 409, 412, 478.
 Duchess de, 357, 409, 478.
Brougham, H. (afterwards Lord), visit
to Holland, 261; at Sandgate, 311;
Hannah More's opinion of, 323 ; article
on Slavery contributed by, to Edin
burgh Review, 388 ; attack on slavery
system, 419 ; at Anti-Slavery Society's
meeting, 420; Slavery Bill of (1825),
430 ; illness of, 443 ; annoyance of,
with T. B. Macaulay, 450 ; presents
John Macaulay with a living, 458, 465 ;
reference to, in Christian Observer,
481-2 ; letters from, 316, 389-90, 418,
433- 444. 454, 45^, 45§ : letter from,
to Lord Lyndhurst, 442 ; to T. B.
Macaulay, 462.
Brunton, Rev. Mr., 209, 214.
Buchanan, Dr., 295-6, 322.
Bunce Island. See Bance Island.
Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, 3S3, 439,
466-7, 486 ; letter to, 393.
Byron, Lord, letter from, 310.
Cambridge, Macaulay's visit to, 289.
Campbell, Mr. (missionary at Rokelle),
182-4.
 Miss, 1S4, 195.
 Rev. John, 223.
 Sir Archibald, 6.
Canning, Mr., Wilberforce's estimate of,
261 note; director of African Institu
tion, 281 ; approves of Mill's History
of India, 34S ; relations with the Pope,
3S 1 ; Demerara slave regulations of,
393-5 ; approves Macaulay's Emanci
pation scheme, 419 ; Emancipation
cause damaged by, 434, 445 ; death of,
443 and note.

INDEX

491

Caroline, Queen, 351, 355-6, 361, 364.
Catholic Emancipation, 429-30.
Chalmers, Dr., system of, for instructing
the poor, 369-70.
Cheap Repository Tracts, 129-30.
Christian Observer, starting of, 250, 252-
7 ; obituary on Pitt, 262 ; Hints to a
Princess reviewed in, 263 ; John
Bowdler a contributor to, 265 ; attacks
on, 265 ; Beattie's Minstrel reviewed
in, 278 ; Rev. N. Gilbert's opinion on,
28 1 ; Ccelebs in Search of a Wife re
viewed in, 284-6 ; Edgeworth's Tales
of Fashionable Life reviewed in, 301
and note ; Giaour reviewed in, 310 ;
M. de Sismondi on, 317; obituary on
Thornton, 322 ; Macaulay resigns
editorship of, 332 ; on Marsh's eighty-
seven Questions, 364 ; politics of,
365 ; on Rev. Edw. Irving, 392 ; on
London University, 435 ; on the Agency
Committee, 468 : letter to Mr. Wilks
and comments, 480-82.
Christophe, Henri, Emperor of Hayti,
366-7 ; his family in England, 367-8,
371-8.
Church Missionary Society, founding of,
241.
Clarence, H.R.H. the Duke of, 221,
226-8, 231.
Clarke, Rev. Mr., Macaulay's apprecia
tion of, 118-20, 181; controversy with
Methodists, 136-9; inappr'opriateness
of discourses of, 141, 189-90; illness
and death of, 210-13 > otherwise men
tioned, 115, 130, 157, 208.
Clarkson, Lieutenant, 21 ; proclamation
of, 43- .
 Thomas, anti-slavery pamphlets of,
261 ; interview with Emperor Alex
ander, 345 ; reception at Glasgow, 391;
constant correspondence with Macau
lay, 386, 441 ; letter from, 371, 377.
Cleveland, Mr. (slave-trader at the Bana
nas), 30 note 2, 33, 47-8', 71, 79.
Cobbett, William, 177 and note 3, 178.
Calebs in Search of a Wife, 284-6, 477.
Coke, Dr., sketch of career of, 50-51 ;
unsuitable missionaries chosen by, 1 10,
116-17, 122-3, 239-
Coleridge, S. T., 299.
Cornwallis, Commodore, 161, 197, 200,
214.
Crabbe, Rev. G., 291 and note 2.
Cropper, Mr., Free Labour Scheme of,
428.
 Edward, Margaret Macaulay's mar
riage with, 470.
Cunningham, Rev. J. W., letter from,
431-

Dawes, Mr., relations of, with Macau
lay, 23 ; departure for England, 59 ;
n charge at Sierra Leone during
Macaulay's absence, 86 ; Macaulay's
estimate of, 135, 181, 188 ; examined
before House of Lords, 226 ; return to
Sierra Leone, 245, 247 ; accusations
against, 287.
Decazes, Duke, Macaulay's interview
with, 363.
Demerara rising, 393-5.
Domingo, Signor, 28-9, 32, 40-41, 76,
133, 207-8.
Drummond, Henry, at meeting of Anti-
Slavery Society, 421 ; views regarding
Apocrypha controversy, 438 ; letters
from, 435, 454.
Dumont, Louis, 358, 411.
Dumont, P. E. L, 358.
Edgeworth, Miss, anecdote of, 300-
301.
Edinburgh Review, 252, 254, 384, 388,
446,450.
Evans, William, 403, 436 ; letter from,
417.
Faber, M., 315, 410.
Falconbridge, Mr., 19.
Foulah Mission, no, 116-18, 121-5, 130,
135, 239-
Fox, Charles, 18, 261, 266.
Frazer, Dr., Macaulay attended by,
235-
Freedom, Macaulay's view of suppressing
a nation devoted to, 164.
French, slave factory at Gambia Island
owned by, 23 ; invasion of Sierra Leone
by, 64-77, 358 ; squadron of, off Sierra
Leone Colony, 150 seq. ; patriotism of,
163 ; Macaulay's estimate of character
of, 165, 360 ; widespread prejudice
against, 341, 350.
Gallaudet, Rev. T. H., 339. •
Gambia Island, French slave factory on,
23 ; condition of, 29 ; Macaulay's visit
to, 48.
Garrick, David, Hannah More's friend
ship with, 92, 94.
Garvin, Macaulay's difficulties with, 23,
119, 130 and note, 136-8, 144-5, *47>
150, 241 ; trial of, 162-3 ; departure of,
165 ; letters from, to Methodist
preachers cited, 214.
Gaslight, Macaulay's interest in the early
exhibitions of, 277.
George, David, 54 and 'note 3, 133, 137-8,
144-5, 149- , '
Germany, Macaulay s efforts to relieve
distress in, 310.

492

INDEX

Gilbert, Rev. Nathaniel, 19-20, 25, 112,
281.
Gisborne, Rev. Thomas, 14 ; letter from,
300.
Glenelg, Lord. See Grant, Charles.
Gloucester, H.R.H. the Duke of, presi
dent of African Institution, 281, 382-3 ;
installed as Chancellor of Cambridge
University, 289 ; at Bible Society meet
ing, 349 ; letter from, 426.
Grant, Charles, Mr., offers India Office
appointment to Macaulay, 263 and
note I ; work for East India Company,
293-4 ; paper of, on Missions, 295.
 Charles (afterwards Lord Glenelg),
in Volunteer movement, 260 ; at Bible
Society' meeting, 349 ; removed from
Irish Secretaryship, 376.
 Robert, 260, 325, 353.
Greek Independence, Macaulay's advo
cacy of, 387.
Gregoire, AbW, 357, 359, 409, 415.
Grenville, Lord, Abolitionists helped by,
221, 227-30, 261, 266; director of
African Institution, 281 ; change of
party projected by, 329.
Grigg, Mr., Macaulay's difficulties with,
128-9, 132, 136-7, 149, 156-7, 241 ;
departure of, 165.
Grumettas, kidnapping of, 28 ; Horrocks
deserted by, 42-4, 46, 52.
Guest, Dr., 118, 198.
Haldane, Robert, scheme of, for train
ing African children as missionaries,
201 ; annoyance with Macaulay re
garding African children scheme,
224-5 ! views on Apocrypha contro
versy, 437-8.
Hatchard, Mr., 251, 387.
Hauterive, Count d', Macaulay's inter
course with, 413-14.
Horne, Rev. Melville, Hannah More's
estimate of, 23 ; Macaulay's estimate
of, 33, 55, i79-8o, 190; at Nairn-
banna's funeral, 38 ; writings of, on
Missions, 47 ; controversy with Method
ists, 49-50, 53.
Horrocks, Mr., Macaulay's transactions
with, 30; death of, 51.
Huber, M., Macaulay trustee for bequest
by, 444.
Humboldt, M., 360, 409-10.
India Missions, Macaulay's work for,
294.
Infant Schools, Macaulay's interest in,
480.
Inglis, Sir Robert, guardian of Mrs.
Thornton's children, 325, 330, 340 :
windows of, smashed, 364.

Irving, Rev. Edward, 389 and note 2,
39°, 392.
Isles de Los, slave business at, 30 note 1 ;
Macaulay's visit to, 213.
Jackson, Mr., implicated in seizure of
Portuguese vessel, 63 ; refuses to warn
Macaulay of French approach, 69, 83 ;
death of, 189.
Jammy, King, 32, 40, 133-4, 139.
Jebb, Rev. John, Bishop of Limerick,
264, 392.
Jersey, Countess of, 433.
John Bull, Macaulay attacked by, 389,
392, 410, 422-3, 427 ; Macaulay's pro
secution of, 417, 424-6.
Johnson, Dr., visit of, to Rev. Kenneth
Macaulay, 2 ; Hannah More's visit to,
93 ; appreciation of Hannah More, 94,
97 ; on Beattie, 278 note I.
Jones, Rev. Mr. (chaplain at Sierra
Leone), 54-5.
Knox, Alexander, Hannah More's
letter to, 263 ; Macaulay's estimate of,
264.
Lancaster, Joseph, 247 and note, 302-4.
Langlands, Rev. Mr. (chaplain at Sierra
Leone), 76 and note 2, 79.
Liberty, Macaulay's views of suppressing
a nation devoted to, 164.
Liverpool, Lord, 21S, 294.
London University, Macaulay's interest
in, 423, 434-5 ; Wilberforce's misgiv
ings regarding, 451 ; evangelical party's
disapproval of, 454.
Ludlam, Mr., arrival of, in Sierra Leone,
189 ; Macaulay's appreciation of, 198 ;
requests to resign, 236 ; accusations
against, 2S7 ; death of, 288.
Macarthy, Sir Charles, Macaulay's
commission to find a wife for, 368 and
note.
Macaulay, Alexander(brother ofZachary),
61 note 2, 151, 153-4, 1S1, 210, 212,
24S, 340.
 Angus (uncle), 9 note.
 Rev. Aulay (grandfather), 2.
 Rev. Aulay (brother), 12, 13, 229
note 1.
 Charles (son), 466, 487.
 Colin (brother), work of, in India,
282 : Hannah More's appreciation
of, 283-4, 446 ; residence in Paris,
356 ; attendance on Wellington at Con
gress of Verona, 379-80 ; Baron de
Stael's appreciation of, 388; M.P. for
Saltash, 439 ; death of, 485 ; letter
to, 405.

INDEX

493

Macaulay, Donald Cam (great-great
grandfather), 1-2.
 Fanny (daughter), 477-8.
 Hannah More (daughter — afterwards
Lady Trevelyan), 287, 365,472, 474,488.
— — Henry William (son), 405-6, 453
and note, 456, 485.
 Jane (sister). See Babington, Mrs.
 Jean (daughter), 455.
¦ — — Rev. John (father), 2.
 Rev. John (son), 458, 465.
 Kenneth, 400-2, 405.
 Man of Brenish, the (great-grand
father), 2.
•  ¦ Margaret (daughter), 470, 474.
 Selina (wife — ne'e Mills), domestic
tastes of, 271 - 275 ; residence at
Brighton, 361 ; her husband's appreci
ation of, 371, 463-5 ; death of, 460;
letters to, 244, 247-8, 277, 279, 289,
315, 33i, 358-9, 362, 364, 368, 371,
378-9, 407-16, 419, 429 ; letters from,
249, 278, 400.
 Selina (daughter), 271, 370, 450,
455, 460, 466, 478 ; letter to, 474.
 Thomas Babington (son), birth of,
246 ; at school under Mr. Greaves,
267 ; at Barley Wood, 278 ; his father's
careful concern for, 279, 337-8; Hannah
More's estimate of, 288 ; literary tastes
of, 288, 330 ; his father's estimate of,
318, 330, 334, 366 ; at Cambridge,
338-9, 342-3 ; appreciation of his father,
343, 472; literary work of, 351-2;
Trinity scholarship gained by, 354 ;
' Waterloo' poem composed by, 355 ;
Chancellor's English Prize poem com
posed by, 366 ; first public speech of,
420-22 ; enters Parliament, 450 ; grief
at his mother's death, 460 ; solace to
his father, 466, 474 ; departure for
India, 472 ; custom of destroying
letters, 474 ; return to England, 488 ;
letters to, 291, 297, 307 and note, 455;
letters from, 279, 343, 443, 449, 468,
471, 473, 4^2 ; letters from, to his
mother, 308, 436.
 Zachary — Birth, 1 ; early years in
Glasgow, 2-5 ; life in Jamaica, 6-9 ;
illness, 8 ; return to England, 12 ; made
Second Member of Council at Sierra
Leone, 22 ; made Governor of Sierra
Leone Colony, 59 ; return to England
on the Anna (slave-ship), 86 ; engage
ment to Miss Selina Mills, 102 ; return
to Sierra Leone, 120; plot to assassinate,
206 ; return to England, 215, 218 ;
examination before House of Lords on
Slavery Question, 227-8 ; marriage,
235 > appointed secretary to Sierra
Leone Company, 235 ; formation of

Religious Tract Society, 236 ; work on
Church Missionary Society and other
committees, 242 ; removal to the Sierra
Leone House, 246 ; editorship of
Christian Observer, 252 ; move to
Clapham (1803), 274; honorary secre
taryship of African Institution, 281 ;
business as shipowner and merchant,
282 ; libelled by Chief-Justice Thorpe,
287 ; resignation of African Institution
secretaryship, 292 ; work for East India
missions, 293-4 ; efforts to relieve dis
tress in Germany, 310; mission to
Paris for African Institution, 313-14;
resignation of Christian Observer 'editor
ship, 332 ; removal to Cadogan Place,
337 ; visits to France, 356 ; on Com
mittee of Society for the Suppression
of Vice, 361 ; formation of Anti-Slavery
Society, 384 ; breakdown in health
(1823), 386; publication of 'Negro
Slavery,' 387 ; removal to Great Or
mond Street, 392, 396 ; business em
barrassments, 398-405 ; dissolution of
partnership, 404 ; dangerous illness
( 183 1 ), 460 ; removal to Bernard Street,
465 ; appointed Commissioner of In
quiry into the Administration of Public
Charities, 465 ; renewed dangerous ill
ness, 466 ; financial difficulties, 476 ;
removal to Paris, 478 ; literary work
for French Anti-Slavery Society, 479 ;
removal to Geneva, and later to Lon
don, 483 ; death, 486.
Maclntyre, Dr., 344.
Mackintosh, Sir James, letter from, 421.
Mansel, Dr. , Bishop of Bristol, 344.
Mariner, (American slave-trader), 66-7,
70, 74, 83, 186.
Marsh, Dr., Bishop of Peterborough,
364 and note.
Mauritius inquiry on slavery, 432-3.
Methodists, Macaulay's difficulties with,
49-5°, 53, 60, 136-9, 143 ; requested
by Macaulay to produce evidence on
Slave Question, 388 ; enthusiasm of,
against slavery (1832), 470.
Mill, James, letter from, 347.
Mills, Miss Selina (see also Macaulay,
Selina), Macaulay's introduction to,
98 ; his engagement to, 102 ; Dr.
Winterbottom's estimate of, 141-3 ;
Babington's estimate of 147-8 ; friend
ship with Mrs. Babington, 225 ; Mac
aulay's visit to, 225 ; letters to,
104-5, 108-15, 135, 154, 158, 168,
r78, 193, 202, 220, 226-7, 230.
Milner, Dr. Isaac (Dean of Carlisle),
272 ; letter from, 305.
Missionaries, Dr. Coke's, no, 116-18,
121-5, 130, 135 J disputes amongst, 116,

494

INDEX

130, 182-3 ! Macaulay's strictures on,
1 17-18, 122-5, 130, 135, 199-200;
satisfactory progress of, under Mr.
Grieg, 205.
Missions, Macaulay accused of hostility
to, 237 ; his statement of views on,
238-41 ; Church Missionary Society
founded, 241 ; attempts to promote,
in India, 294-7 ; Macaulay's zeal for,
Mole, Count, Macaulays estimate of,
412.
More, Hannah, early years of, 92-9 ;
action in regard to Miss Mills, 100-
101, 103, 105 ; Cheap Repository
Tracts started by, 129-30; Macaulay's
estimate of, 113-204; opinion of the
Christian Observer, 257 ; on review
of Beattie, 278 ; estimate of Colin
Macaulay, 283-4 ; correspondence on
Calebs in Search of a Wife, 285-6 ;
her model for Mr. Stanley in Calebs,
477 ; proficiency in French, 341 ; con
troversy with Madame Necker, 354-6 ;
Macaulay's services to, 440 ; removal
to Clifton and death of, 449; letters
to, 265, 309, 318, 321-2, 324, 328-30,
332, 339. 341, 343-7, 348-51, 354,
361, 365-6, 388-9, 391, 418, 443,
447, 463; letters from, 99, 177, 275,
285, 288, 323, 340, 362, 442, 446;
letter from, to Alexander Knox, 263 ;
to Mrs. Macaulay, 322.
 Martha, IOl, 106, 112, 142, 170,
235, 334 note 2 ; letters from, 280-298.
Naimbanna (King of Robanna), 34-5.
 Henry Granville, 35-8.
National Society for the Education of
the Poor in the Principles of the
Church of England, 304.
Necker, Madame, 354-6.
Nelson, Lord, advocate of Slave Trade,
258 note.
New Zealand chiefs, 365.
Newcome, Captain, 26, 48.
Newell, Captain, 60-61,65, 74.
Newspaper wrapper addressed to Mac
aulay, 468.
Newton, Rev. John, 95-6, 169-70.
Nova Scotia, negroes from, 21, 243.
O'Connell, Daniel, 421.
Ormond (slave-trader), cruelties of,
126-7, 2I2-
Orpheus (frigate), kidnapping of free men
by, 26, 31, 4S.
Paris, Macaulay's impressions of, 315-16,
34i, 36°.
Peel, Sir Robert, letter from, 296.

Pepys, Mr., 71, 73, 76.
Perceval, Mr., 266, 28r.
Petty, Lord Henry, 262, 266.
Pitt, William, favourable to Aboli
tionists, 18-19; speech on Abolition
praised by Wilberforce, 21 ; Wilber
force's friendship and admiration for,
217-18, 259, 261 note; proposes
annual grant to Sierra Leone Colony,
227; resigns office (1801), 258; com
mander of Volunteers, 260 ; death of,
262.
Pope, the, Macaulay's view of approach
ing, on Slave Question, 381.
Powell, Mr., 63, 83, 186, 192, 213.
Prayer Book and Homily Society, 242,
33°, 429-
Protestant Society, 326-9.
RAMSGATE, Macaulay's stay at, 247-9.
Ready, Captain, 140.
Religious Tract Society, Macaulay's
connection with, 236.
Renaud, M., head of French slave
factory on Gambia Island, 23 ; pro
posal for ceding Gambia Island to the
Sierra Leone Company, 31-2 ; friend
liness of, to Sierra Leone Company, 42 ;
Liverpool slave-ship captured by, 45 ;
renewed proposal for ceding Gambia
Island, 48 ; operations at Goree, 143,
151 ; Macaulay's friendly offices to,
167, 188, 213.
Richards, Mr., 175, 188, 191, 215.
Rickets, Governor (of Barbados), 139,215.
Royal Literary Society, 366.
Saxe-Coburg, Prince of, 331.
Scarlett, Mr., 291.
Seguier, M. 363.
Sharp, Granville, 19, 35.
Sheridan, Richard, 269.
Sierra Leone Colony —
Administrative, divisions of, 41 note.
Annual allowance proposed for, 227 ;
granted to, 243.
Charter granted to Sierra Leone Com
pany, 20.
Constitution of, proposed, 156, 187.
Crown, transferred to, 282.
Disaffection in, 175, 236, 246-7 ; in
surrection, 60.
Elections, 157-8.
French invasion, 64-77, 35S.
Macaulay appointed Secretary of, 235 ;
made Governor, 59-
Marriage law proclaimed, 143-7.
Negro Settlement established in, 19;
negroes from Nova Scotia sent to,
21, 243.
Quarter Sessions, 45 and note, 62.

INDEX

495

Schools, 63 and note ; Sunday-schools,
130.
Slave Trade, settlers engaged in, 174.
Simeon, Rev. Mr., 241, 272, 295, 438.
Sismondi, M., 356 note 2; letter from,
317.
Slavery —
African Institution. See that title.
Agency Committee, 467-8.
Anti-Slavery Society, 383-5, 420, 452,
484.
Babington and others, early efforts of,
against, 18.
Cropper, Mr. , Free Labour Scheme of,
428.
Demerara rising, 393-5.
Emancipation, Sir T. F. Buxton's
motion on, 466-7 ; Emancipation
Bill receives Royai assent, 471.
Emperor Alexander's attitude towards,
3". 345, 380.
French cause cilibre, 449.
Mauritius inquiry, 432-3.
Registration of slaves, 311-12.
Slave Trade, Sierra Leone settlers
engaged in, 174 ; prohibited in
America, 205 ; cruelties of Ormond,
126-7, 212 ; Partial Abolition Bill
passed by Commons, 216; Slave
Limitation Bill rejected by Lords,
216, 229; Court against Abolition,
227; prospects of Abolition in 1801,
258-9 ; Abolition Bill passed by
Commons, 261 ; defeated in 1806,
262 ; Abolition supported by Irish
members, 260 ;. deserted by them,
262 ; Bill for Prohibition of Foreign
Slave Trade passed by both Houses,
266 ; devotion of Abolitionists, 268 ;
Abolition Bill receives Royal assent
(1807), 269; evasions of Abolition
Act, 311; Abolitionists' efforts in
Europe, 344-5, 358-60, 428 ; Abbe
Gregoire's services against, 357-8 ;
Societe Francaise pour l'Abolition
de l'Esclavage, 479 ; state of affairs
at Nantes, 416-17.
Smith, Wilham, 332.
Societe de la Morale Chretienne, 413-14,
43°-
Society for the Suppression of Vice,
Macaulay on Committee of, 361.
Southey, Robert, 391.
Stael, Baron Auguste de, 356, 387, 428,
446 and note, 447 ; letters from, 388,
407,430.
 Madame de, 315.
 Madame Auguste de, 483.
Stainforth, George, T. B. Macaulay
under, 338, 346.
Stephen, Sir George, 486.

Stephen, James, attack on Slavery, 216-
18 ; counsel for Abolitionists, 229-30 ;
pamphlets, 261, 347 ; work for African
Institution, 281 ; in Parliament, 281-2;
Registration of Slaves proposed by,
311 ; temperament of, 312 ; Macaulay's
attempts to induce back to Parliament,
329 ; Wilberforce's appreciation .of,
385 ; death of, 470 ; otherwise men
tioned, 369, 439, 453, 461 ; letters
from, 276, 452, 457.
 Sir James, sacrifices made by, in
Anti-slavery cause, 421 note; estimate
of Lord Derby, 471 ; inscription for
Macaulay's monument composed by,
489 ; letters from, 421, 455, 462, 475.
Stokes, Robert, 485.
Strasburg Society, 407 and note, 437.
Sutherland, Captain, 372-5, 378.
Swearing, Macaulay's views on, in.
Sykes, Miss (see also Thornton, Mrs.),
85, 107, H4-
Taylor, Miss, Macaulay's letter on
review of Essays by, 335.
Teignmouth, Lord, 272, 294, 438.
Telford, Captain, 55, 80.
Thomas, Rev. Josiah, 339 and note 2, 341.
Thomson (poet), Macaulay's admiration
for, 10 and note, 171.
 Dr. Andrew, 439, 443.
Thornton, Henry, on Sierra Leone Com
pany, 19-20; Macaulay's friendship
with, 22 ; Hannah More's schools
supported by, 98 ; impending marriage
of, 114; rarity of praise from, 169,
179, 203 ; Macaulay's estimate of, 202-
3; friendship for Pitt, 217; assists
in maintaining Macaulay's African
children, 225 ; care of Macaulay, 235-
6 ; supports Macaulay in missionary
dispute, 237 ; on Christian Observer
Committee, 252 ; M.P. for Southwark,
267 ; observation regarding the Lottery,
269 ; Buchanan educated at expense of,
295; illness of, 311, 318; death of,
319; estimate of Babington, 477.
 Mrs., Macaulay's estimate of, 203-
4 ; illness of, 220 ; death of, 325 ; letter
to, 319-
 Henry (junior), 339, 346, 354, 431.
 Marianne, 177 note 2, 221, 244, 322,
325, 33°, 340.
 Samuel, 267.
Thorpe (Chief-Justice of Sierra Leone),
Macaulay libelled by, 287 ; Macaulay's
answer to, 324 ; Macaulay's prosecu
tion of, 346, 362.
Tilley, Mr., head of Bance Island slave
factory, 23 ; friendliness of, to Sierra
Leone Company in Naimbanna case, 39,

496

INDEX

42 ; joint memorial to Secretary of
State by Macaulay and, 81 ; blames
Macaulay for Partial Abolition Bill,
215 and note.
Tirama, King, 175, 200-201, 206-8.
Tom, King, 53, 185, 189, 201^ 205,
207-10.
Tracts, Hannah More's interest in, 129-
3°-
Venn, Rev. John, 237, 241, 252, 272,
308 note 1.
 Henry, 355.
'Venus crying Cupid,' translation of, by
T. B. Macaulay, 354.
Vernet, Madame, 447.
Volunteer movement, Macaulay's con
nection with, 260.
Walker, Captain, 141, 176-7, 215.
 Mrs. Elizabeth, 430.
Watt, Mr., superintendent of Sierra
Leone Company's plantations, 23 ;
mission of, to native king, 79-80 ;
death of, 120.
Webb, Captain, 63, 174.
Wellington, Duke of, against slavery,
314, 316, 379; letter to Protestant
Society, 327 ; at Congress of Vienna,
379-80.
Wesley, John, 50.
Westmoreland, Lord, 221, 230-31.
Wilberforce, William, efforts of, against

slavery, 18-19, IT4 note, 216-19, 266,
269, 312; on Sierra Leone Company,
19 ; variety of visitors to, 91 ; Mac
aulay's appreciation of, 202, 348-9;
assists in maintaining Macaulay's
African children, 225 ; connected with
Christian Observer, 250, 252 ; admira
tion for Pitt, 259, 261 note; on East
India Bill, 296 ; on National Schools,
304 note; appreciation of Macaulay,
314, 385, 440, 469; action regarding
the Queen, 356 ; efforts for Henri
Christophe, 366 ; appreciation of Colin
Macaulay, 380 ; resigns leadership of
Anti-slavery party to Sir T. F. Buxton,
383 ; against women's employment in
public work, 433 ; letters from, 291,
426, 451.
 Mrs., 177, 244.
Wilkinson, Miss, 222-3.
Wilks, Rev. Samuel, 332-3, 385-6, 390.
Winterbottom, Dr., appointment of, 23;
Macaulay's estimate of, 135-6 ; letter
from, 141.
Witchcraft, discussion regarding, 208-9.
Women, Macaulay's attitude towards
employment of, in getting up petitions,
433-
Woollis, Captain, 38-9, 41.
York, H.R.H. the Duke of, 376 and
note.
York, burning of the, 55-6.

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which was spent in Calcutta, beca/ne the wife of Captain Fenton.
Shortly afterwards Captain Fenton decided to quit the army and settle
in Tasmania, and with this object they left India and sailed to the
Mauritius. Here Mrs. Fenton spent several months, and a daughter
was born to her. She then followed her husband to Tasmania, where
they settled permanently. Such in dry outline is the story of this
journal. It chronicles no great events, but the writer has the true
Boswellian turn for vivid presentation of everyday scenes and incidents,
for artless portraiture, and naive self-revelation. She has a keen eye for
scenery, but is more interested in persons than things. In her wander
ings she is thrown in contact with many, and expresses a decided
opinion on the merits and demerits of most of them. Altogether it is a
lively glimpse into ordinary life under many skies in the time of our
great -grandparents. The gossip of 1827 is history in 1900.

FRANCIS :
Ube Xlttle poor. dBan of asstsi.
A SHORT STORY OF THE FOUNDER OF THE BROTHERS MINOR.
By JAMES ADDERLEY,
Author of 'Stephen Re.marx,' 'Paul Mercer,' etc
Elegantly bound, with a photogravure Frontispiece, crown Svo., 3s. (id.
The author's object in compiling this sketch of Francis of Assisi is to
provide a small life of the saint for those who for any reason are unable
to indulge in the purchase of the larger biographies. It is largely based
upon the 'Life of S. Francis' by M. Paul Sabatier, who has kindly
written an Introduction to Father Adderley's volume. The scope of the
book may be judged from the following outline of contents:— I. The
Religious Life. II. The Times of Francis. III. Early Days and Con
version. IV. The Beginnings of Ministry. V. Progress. VI. Portiun-
cula. VII. The General Chapters. VIII. Opposition to the Mind of
Francis. IX. The Clarisses and the ' Third Order.' X. The Stigmata.
XI. The Last Years. Appendices on the Friars in England and the
Rule of St. Francis. The frontispiece is a photogravure reproduction
of a beautiful allegorical picture of S. Francis by Sister Katharine Ruth.

THE PLAGUE.
3ts Ibistorg, Clinical features, iprntbologg, ano ffiacteciologg.
WITH SUGGESTIONS AS TO GENERAL PREVENTIVE MEASURES,
INCLUDING PREVENTIVE INOCULATION AND
CURATIVE TREATMENT.
By Dr. W. M. HAFFKINE.
Assisted by Dr. E. KLEIN, F.R.S., and Others.
Illustrated, one volume, demy Hvo.
It is hardly possible to exaggerate the importance of the subject ot
this book. Merely as a matter of history, the part played by the plague
in our own islands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was
appallingly large, while in different parts of the continent of Europe it
has raged even more recently. Viewed in a purely scientific light, it
presents problems of profound interest. These are treated of with well-
recognised authority by Professor Klein. But perhaps the most absorb
ing portion of the subject is its practical side — the actual struggle with
this most baffling and insidious of diseases, in which Dr. Haffkine and
his staff in Bombay have taken so notable a share. Not the least
striking feature of this struggle are the administrative difficulties arising
out of it which amount sometimes, as is well known, to grave political
dangers, and deserve the serious attention of all who are interested in
our Indian Empire.
FOOD AND THE PRINCIPLES OF
DIETETICS.
By ROBERT HUTCHISON, M.D. Edin., M.R.C.P.,
Assistant Physician to the London Hospital, and to the Hospital for Sick
Children, Great Ormond Street.
Illustrated, demy Svo., 16s. net.
This volume forms a comprehensive work of reference and informa
tion upon a subject of vital importance. The lectures delivered by the
author to students at the London Hospital have formed the basis of the
work, but although eminently scientific in method, the style and diction
are not too technical to spoil the interest of the general reader. Among
the matters discussed are : The Amount of Food required in Health,
Animal Foods, Vegetable Foods, Sugar, Water and Mineral Waters,
Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, Alcoholic Beverages, the Cooking of Food, Diges
tion, Principles of Feeding in Infancy and Childhood, Principles of
Feeding in Disease, etc. The book is illustrated with graphic diagrams
from sketches by the author, and three plates in colour.

8
PARIS :
B IblBtorg of tbe Citg from tbe Earliest Of mes to tbe ©resent ©as.
By HILAIRE BELLOC,
Author of ' Danton,' etc
One vol., large crown 8vo., with Maps, is. 6d.
' A serious piece of history, admirably studied and excellently written ; above all, it
breathes the true; spirit of Paris, the most wonderful of modem cities. The beauty, the
taste, the art, which inform the capital of Franc-, do not elude Mr. Belloc's fancy.'—
Daily Mad.
' Anyone who wishes to consider the history of the city, to be informed with breadth of
culture how it grew from a mere group of savage huts into that bewitching bazaar which
now attracts so many of the crowned heads of Europe, ought to read Mr. Belloc's volume.'
— Scotsman.

FINLAND AND THE TSARS.
By JOSEPH R. FISHER, B.A.,
Barrister- at-Law.
Demy 8vo., cloth, \is. 6d.
We much regret to learn that the Russian Government has pro
hibited the importation of this book into Russia.
' In Mr. Fisher's very interesting work there is nothing that could offend the most
vehement of Russian patriots.' — Review ofthe Week.
' In this book for the first time a mass of matter, previously only accessible to specialists,
has been collected and condensed ; and we have a really adequate statement of the Finnish
case, enforced by quotations from State documents." — Pall Mall Gazette.
' A powerful and illuminating book.' — Speaker.
• Highly valuable as a record of the views of one who writes from personal knowledge,
and it is the plainest statement of the merits of the Finnish claims that has yet appeared.'
— Athenaum.

NEW NOVELS.

Price 6s. each.
ROSE ISLAND.

By W. CLARK RUSSELL,
Author of 'The Wreck of the Grosvenor,' etc.

LORD LINLITHGOW.

THE DUKE.

By MORLEY ROBERTS,
Author of 'The Colossus,' f A Son of Empire,' etc.

By J. STORER CLOUSTON,
Author of ' The Lunatic at Large.'

VERITY. By SIDNEY PICKERING,
Author of ' Wanderers,' etc.
JENNY OF THE VILLA.
By Mrs. C. H. RADFORD.
RED POTTAGE. By MARY CHOLMONDELEY.

[The Thirty-ninth Thousand now ready.
2

A Cynic's Conscience. By C. T. Podmore. Crown
8vo., 6s.
' A remarkably clever piece of writing.' — Athenamm.
' The writer has marked imagination and originality.' — Pilot.
' A clever book. Mr. Podmore's story is well constructed, and his human problem is
vividly presented.' — Daily News.
A Plain Woman's Part. By Norley Chester. Crown
8vo., 6s.
'The plain woman is well drawn, and the idea is pretty and well worked out.'— Pall
Mall Gazette.
' A novel instinct, with a tender and gracious sentiment.' — Calcutta Englishman.
' The conversations are full of v, it and merriment.' — Chicago Inter-Ocean.
Lotus or Laurel? By Helen Wallace (Gordon Roy).
Crown 8vo., 6s.
' Admirably written, and most promising.' — Truth.
' It contains some imaginative work of a very high class.' — Speaker.
' Well worth reading for its literary finish and workmanship alone.' — Athenaum.
' The conception of the story is strong and original.' — Glasgow Herald.

LECTURES ON THEORETICAL AND
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY.
By Dr. J. H. VAN 'T. HOFF,
Professor at the University of Berlin.
3 vols., demy &vo.
PART I.— CHEMICAL DYNAMICS. 12s. net.
PART LI.—CHEMLCAL STATLCS. 8s. 6d. net.
PART HI.— RELATIONS BETWEEN PROPERTIES AND
CONSTITUTION, is. 6d. net.
The third volume of this important treatise, completing the work, is
now ready ; the translation has been made by Professor R. A. Lehfeldt,
as in the former volumes.
' Students and teachers will be grateful to Professor Win 'T. Hoff and his translator for
this clear, systematic and stimulating book. No other living writer shows such mastery of
his subject ; few write so tersely or suggestively upon it.' — Manchester Guardian.

II

PUBLICATIONS OF THE ESSEX HOUSE
PRESS.

These books are printed at Essex House, on the presses used by the
late Mr. William Morris at the Kelmscott Press, which were purchased
by the Guild of Handicraft. Members of Mr. Morris's staff are also
retained at the Essex House Press, and it is the hope of the Guild of
Handicraft by this means to continue in some measure the tradition of
good printing and fine workmanship which William Morris revived.
A new type is being designed by Mr. C. R. Ashbee, and is nearly
ready ; in the meantime the books of the Essex House Press are being
printed in a fine eighteenth-century Casion fount, with specially designed
ornaments and initials. It is gratifying to note that the demand for the
limited editions of the books already issued is steady and persistent, and
it will probably not be long before they are out of print. "
Subscribers to the complete series of Essex House Publications are
given priority for any new book issued, and the number of subscribers
is constantly increasing.

Tlie following are in active preparation.
Shelley's Adonais. The first of a series on Vellum of the great
poems of the language. Rubricated with coloured wood-block frontispiece by
C. R. Ashbee. Fifty copies printed ; all are subscribed for, and the book is out
of print.
Keats' Eve of St. AgTies. The second of the Vellum Series. It
will be rubricated, and will contain a hand-coloured wood-block frontispiece by
Reginald Savage. Edition limited to 125 copies. Price £2 net.

It is hoped that these books will be followed by others in the
same Vellum Series, and by
Sir Thomas Hoby's translation (Elizabethan) of Baldassare
Castlgllone's Courtier.
The Psalms of David, according to the text of the Anglican Prayer-
Book.
Erasmus' Praise Of Folly. Sir Thomas Challoner's translation
(Elizabethan). The publications already issued are :
i. Mr. Ashbee's translation of the Treatises of Benvenuto Cellini
on Metal Work and Sculpture. 600 copies. A few still left. Price
3Ss. net.
2. The Hymn of Bardaisan, the first Christian Poem, rendered into
English verse from the original Syriac, by F. Crawford Burkitt, of Trinity
College, Cambridge. 250 copies. A few left. Price 7s. 6d. net.
3. Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. Edited from the earlier editions by
Janet E. Ashbee, with a frontispiece by Reginald Savage. 750 copies.
Price 30s. net.
4- An Account of the Church of St. Mary Stratford Bow. By
Osborn Hills, with an introductory chapter by C. R. Ashbee. 250 copies.
All copies offered for sale have been disposed of. Price £1.
5. Shelley's Adonais. Coloured wood-block frontispiece by C. R
Ashbee. On vellum. Rubricated. 50 copies. Out of print.
6. The Poems of Shakespeare and Lyrics from his Plays,
in the orthography of the earliest editions. Edited by F. S. Ellis, with a
frontispiece by Reginald Savage, and a new alphabet of ' Bloomers ' designed
by C. R. Ashbee. The book is small 4to. (9 in. by 7 in.), 254 pages, printed in
red and black, with limp vellum cover, edition limited to 450 copies.
Price £2 net. [Out of Print.

These volumes are published on behalf of the Essex House Press by
Mr. Edward Arnold, and can be ordered either from him or from any
Bookseller.

13

PICTURE BOOKS FOR CHRISTMAS
PRESENTS.

i. Really and Truly ; or, The Century for Babes.
By Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Ames. Twenty splendidly Coloured
Plates, with amusing verses, depicting the great events of the
nineteenth century. 4to., 3s. 6d:
2. Tails with a Twist. An Animal Picture-book,
inexpressibly funny. By E. T. Reed, the famous Punch artist.
With verses by ' Belgian Hare.' Twenty plates, each coloured in
one tint. 4to., 3s. 6d. Only a limited number of copies now
remain.
3. More Beasts for Worse Children. By H. B. and
B. T. B. Grotesque pictures in black and white, and inimitably
clever verses. 4to., with coloured cover, 3s. 6d.
4- Ruthless Rhymes for Heartless Homes. By
Col. D. Streamer, with Pictures by ' G. H.' Oblong 41.0.,
3s. 6d.
5. The Modern Traveller. By H. B. and B. T. B.
Fully Illustrated, with coloured cover. 4to., 3s. 6d.
' The gaiety of nations has not received such a stimulus as this book affords for many a
merry Christmas.' — World.
6. A Moral Alphabet : In words of from one to seven
syllables. By H. B. and B. T. B. Fully Illustrated, with cover in
colour, 3s. 6d.
' H.-B.'s uncommon humour is still quite unspoilt, and the pictures of B. T. B. are as
full of surprises and quaint touches as of old.' — Isis.

14
SOUVENIRS FROM THE HOLY LAND.

' A souvenir of Christmas and its sacred and beautiful associations at
once peculiarly appropriate and attractive has been prepared by the
Rev. Harvey B. Greene, who has spent, it appears, three springs in
gathering and pressing, with the aid of native helpers, wild flowers from
the Holy Land. These have been tastefully and skilfully mounted in
books and on cards, which should please the eyes and touch the hearts
of many. The largest collection, containing seventeen specimens, bears
the title of " Wild Flowers from Palestine "; a smaller set of twelve
examples is embraced in " Pressed Flowers from the Holy Land "; while
the single Flower from the Christ Land is an ideal Christmas Card
Bond-fides is guaranteed by printed letters from the British and American
Consuls at Jerusalem, Dean Hole of Rochester has written an introduc
tion to the Flower Volumes, and Mr. Greene has himself supplied letter
press descriptions and Scripture references. But the Syrian wild flowers
speak most eloquently for themselves.' — Scotsman.
Mr. Harvey Greene's deeply interesting souvenirs can be obtained
in the following forms :
i. WILD FLOWERS FROM PALESTINE.
©atbereb anb pressed in Palestine.
With an Introduction by the Very REV. S. REYNOLDS HOLE,
Dean of Rochestbr.
Cloth elegant, i6mo., 4s. 6d.
2. PRESSED FLOWERS FROM THE HOLY
LAND.
(Batbereb anb pressed in Palestine.
With an Introduction by DEAN HOLE.
Tastefully bound, 32/w., paper, 2s. 6d.
3. A FLOWER FROM THE CHRIST LAND.
a lovelg Cbclstmas Caro containing a Single pressed aflower.
Price 6d.
' Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.'

15
BIOGRAPHY AND REMINISCENCES.
Adderley. FRANCIS OF ASSISI. (See page 6.)
Alexander. RECOLLECTIONS OF A HIGHLAND SUBALTERN,
during the Campaigns of the 93rd Highlanders in India, under Colin Campbell,
Lord Clyde, in 1857- 1859. By Lieutenant-Colonel W. Gordon Alexander.
Illustrations and Maps. Demy 8vo., cloth, 16s.
Arnold. PASSAGES IN A WANDERING LIFE. By Thomas
Arnold, M.A. Demy 8vo., with Portrait, 12s. 6d.
Boyle. THE RECOLLECTIONS OF THE DEAN QF SALISBURY.
By the Very Rev. G. D. Boyle, Dean of Salisbury. With Photogravure Portrait.
One vol., demy 8vo., cloth, 16s.
Clough. A MEMOIR OF ANNE J. CLOUGH, Principal of Newnham
College, Cambridge. By her Niece, Blanche A. Clough. With Portraits.
8vo., 12s. 6d.
DeVere. RECOLLECTIONS OF AUBREY DE VERE. Third Edition,
with Portrait. Demy 8vo., 16s.
Hare. MARIA EDGEWORTH: her Life and Letters. Edited by
Augustus J. C. Hare, Author of ' The Story of Two Noble Lives,' etc. With
Portraits. Two vols., crown 8vo., 16s. net.
Hervey. HUBERT HERVEY, STUDENT AND IMPERIALIST.
By the Right Hon. Earl Grey. Demy 8vo., Illustrated, 7s. 6d.
Hole. THE MEMORIES OF DEAN HOLE. By the Very Rev. S.
Reynolds Hole, Dean of Rochester. With Illustrations from Sketches, by
Leech and Thackeray. Popular Edition. Crown 8vo., 6s.
Hole. MORE MEMORIES : Being Thoughts about England spoken in
America. By Dean Hole. With Frontispiece. Demy 8vo., 16s.
Hole. A LITTLE TOUR IN AMERICA. By Dean HOLE. Illustrated.
Demy 8vo., 16s.
Hole. A LITTLE TOUR IN IRELAND. By 'Oxonian' (Dean Hole).
Illustrated by John Leech. Large crown 8vo., 6s.
Holmes. RECOLLECTIONS OF A LONDON POLICE COURT.
By Thomas Holmes. (See page 3.)
Holland. LETTERS OF MARY SIBYLLA HOLLAND. Selected and
edited by her Son, Bernard Holland. Second Edition. Crown 8vo.,
7s, 6d. net.
Jowett. BENJAMIN JOWETT, MASTER OF BALLIOL. A Personal
Memoir. By the Hon. L. A. Tollemache. Third Edition, with portrait.
Cloth, 3s. 6d.
Le Fanu. SEVENTY YEARS OF IRISH LIFE. By the late W. R.
Le Fanu. Popular Edition. Crown 8vo., 6s.

i6
Macaulay. THE LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF ZACHARY
MACAULAY. By Viscountess Knutsford. (Seepages.)
Macdonald. THE MEMOIRS OF THE LATE SIR JOHN A.
MACDONALD, G.C.B., First Prime Minister of Canada. Edited by Joseph
Pope, his Private Secretary. With Portraits. Two vols., demy 8vo., 32s.
Merivale. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF DEAN MERIVALE. With
Selections from his Correspondence. With Portrait, demy 8vo., 16s.
Morley. THE LIFE OF HENRY MORLEY, LL.D., Professor of
English Literature at University College, London. By the Rev. H. S.
Solly, M.A. With two Portraits. 8vo., 12s. 6d.
Mott. A MINGLED YARN. The Autobiography of Edward Spencer
Mott (Nathaniel Gubbins). Author of ' Cakes and Ale,' etc. Large crown
8vo., 12s. 6d.
Pigou. PHASES OF MY LIFE. By the Very Rev. Francis Pigotj,
Dean of Bristol. Sixth Edition. With Portrait. Crown 8vo., 6s.
Rochefort. THE ADVENTURES OF MY LIFE. By Henri Roche
fort. Second Edition. Two vols., large crown 8vo., 25s.
Roebuck. THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY AND LETTERS of the Right
Hon. JOHN ARTHUR ROEBUCK, Q.C., M.P. Edited by Robert Eadon
Leader. With two Portraits. Demy 8vo., 16s.
Simpson. MANY MEMORIES OF MANY PEOPLE. By Mrs. M. C.
Simpson (nee Nassau Senior). Fourth Edition. Demy 8vo., 16s.
Stevenson. ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. By Walter Raleigh,
Professor of English Literature at University College, Liverpool. Second
Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
Tollemache. TALKS WITH MR. GLADSTONE. By the Hon. L A.
Tollemache. With Portrait. Cloth, 6s.
Twining. RECOLLECTIONS OF LIFE AND WORK. Being the
Autobiography of Louisa Twining. One vol., 8vo., cloth, 15s.

THEOLOGY.

Hole. ADDRESSES TO WORKING MEN from Pulpit and Platform.
By Dean Hole. Crown 8vo., 6s.
Hole. FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE. A Sermon preached
after the funeral of the late Duchess of Teck. Vellum, is. net.
Holland. ESSENTIALS IN RELIGION. Sermons preached in
Canterbury Cathedral. By Canon F. J. Holland. Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d.
Onyx. A REPORTED CHANGE IN RELIGION. By Onyx. Crown
8vo., 3s. 6d„

i7

HISTORY.
Benson and Tatham. MEN OF MIGHT. Studies of Great Characters.
By A. C. Benson, M.A., and H. F. W. Tatham, M.A., Assistant Masters at
Eton College. Third Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
Fisher. FINLAND AND THE TSARS. By Joseph R. Fisher, B.A.
(See page 8.)
Gardner. FRIENDS OF THE OLDEN TIME. By Alice Gardner,
Lecturer in History at Newnham College, Cambridge. Second Edition. Illus
trated, 2s. 6d.
Gardner. ROME : THE MIDDLE OF THE WORLD. By ALICE
Gardner. Illustrated, 3s. 6d.
Milner. ENGLAND IN EGYPT. By Sir Alfred Milner, G.C.M.G.,
Governor of the Cape Colony. With an additional chapter by Clinton
Dawkins. Sixth edition. Revised, with Maps. 6s.
Odysseus. TURKEY IN EUROPE. By Odysseus. (See page 1.)
Oman. A HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Charles Oman, Fellow of
All Souls' College, and Lecturer in History at New College, Oxford ; Author of
' Warwick the Kingmaker,' 'A History of Greece,' etc. Crown 8vo., cloth, 5s.
Also in two parts, 3s. each. Part I., to A.D. 1603 ; Part II., from 1603 to present
time. And in three Divisions : Div. I., to 1307, 2S. ; Div. II., 1307-1688, 2s. ;
Div. III., 1688 to present time, 2s. 6d.
Oman. ENGLAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. By
Charles Oman. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
Ransome. THE BATTLES OF FREDERICK THE GREAT. Extracted
from Carlyle's ' History of Frederick the Great,' and edited by the late Cyril
Ransome, M.A., Professor of History at the Yorkshire College, Leeds. With
numerous Illustrations by Adolph Menzel. Square 8vo., 3s. 6d.
Rendel. NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE : Its Municipal Origin and Growth.
By the Hon. Daphne Rendel. Illustrated. Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d.

i8

LITERATURE AND CRITICISM.
Bell. KLEINES HAUSTHEATER. Fifteen Little Plays in German for
Children. By Mrs. Hugh Bell. Crown 8vo., cloth, 2s.
Butler. SELECT ESSAYS OF SAINTE BEUVE. Chiefly bearing on
English Literature. Translated by A. J. Butler, Translator of 'The Memoirs
of Baron Marbot.' One vol., 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
CoUingwood. THORSTEIN OF THE MERE : a Saga of the Northmen
in Lakeland. By W. G. Collingwood, Author of ' Life of John Ruskic,' etc.
With Illustrations. Price ios. 6d.
Cook. THE DEFENSE OF POESY, otherwise known as AN APOLOGY
FOR POETRY. By Sir Philip Sidney. Edited by A. S. Cook, Professor
of English Literature in Yale University. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
Cook. A DEFENCE OF POETRY. By Percy Bysshe Shelley.
Edited, with Notes and Introduction, by Professor A. S. Cook. Crown 8vo.,
cloth, 2s. 6d.
Davidson. A HANDBOOK TO DANTE. By Giovanni A. Scartazzini.
Translated from the Italian, with Notes and Additions, by Thomas Davidson,
M.A. Crown 8vo., cloth, 5s.
Ellacombe. THE PLANT-LORE AND GARDEN-CRAFT OF
SHAKESPEARE. By Henry N. Ellacombe, M.A., Vicar of Bitton.
Illustrated by Major E. B. Ricketts. Large crown 8vo., ios. 6d.
Essex House Press Publications. (See pages 11 and 12.)
Fleming. THE ART OF READING AND SPEAKING. By the
Rev. Canon Fleming, Vicar of St. Michael's, Chester Square. Fourth Edition.
Cloth, 3s. 6d.
Garnett. SELECTIONS IN ENGLISH PROSE FROM ELIZABETH
TO VICTORIA. Chosen and arranged by James M. Garnett, M.A., LL.D.
700 pages, large crown 8vo., cloth, 6s. 6d.
Goschen. THE CULTIVATION AND USE OF IMAGINATION.
By the Right Hon. George Joachim Goschen. Crown 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d.
Harrison. STUDIES IN EARLY VICTORIAN LITERATURE. By
Frederic Harrison, M. A., Author of ' The Choice of Books,' etc. New and
Cheaper Edition. Large crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
Hudson. THE LIFE, ART AND CHARACTERS OF SHAKE
SPEARE. By H. N. Hudson, LL.D. 2 vols., large crown Svo., cloth, 17s.
Kuhns. THE TREATMENT OF NATURE IN DANTE'S ' DIVINA
COMMEDIA' By L. Oscar Kuhns, Professor in Wesleyan University,
Middleton, U.S.A. Crown 8vo„ cloth, 5s.
Lang. LAMB'S ADVENTURES OF ULYSSES. With an Introduction
by Andrew Lang. Square 8vo., cloth, is. 6d. Also the Prize Edition, gilt
edges, 2s.

19
Maud. WAGNER'S HEROES. By Constance Maud. Illustrated by
H. Granville Fell. Third Edition, crown 8vo., 5s.
Maud. WAGNER'S HEROINES. By Constance Maud. Illustrated
by W. T. Maud. Crown 8vo., 5s.
Raleigh. STYLE. By Walter Raleigh, Professor of English Literature
at University College, Liverpool. Third Edition, crown 8vo., 5s.
Raleigh. MILTON. By Prof. Walter Raleigh. (See page 5.)
Quiller-Couch. HISTORICAL TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE. By
A. T. Quiller-Couch ('Q'). Author of 'The Ship of Stars,' etc. Crown
8vo., 6s.
Reynolds. STUDIES ON MANY SUBJECTS. By the Rev. S. H.
Reynolds. One vol., demy 8vo., ios. 6d.
Rodd. THE CUSTOMS AND LORE OF MODERN GREECE.
By Sir Rennel Rodd, K.C.M.G. With seven full-page Illustrations. 8vo.,
cloth, 8s. 6d.
Schelling. BEN JONSON'S TIMBER. Edited by Professor F. E.
Schelling. Crown 8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.

POETRY.
Collins. A TREASURY OF MINOR BRITISH POETRY. Selected
and arranged, with Notes, by J. Churton Collins, M.A. Handsomely bound,
crown 8vo., 7s. 6d.
Crabbe. POEMS OF GEORGE CRABBE. Selected and Edited by
Bernard Holland, M.A. With six Photogravure Illustrations. Crown
8vo., 6s.
Glencairn, R. J. POEMS AND SONGS OF DEGREES. By Robert J.
Glencairn. Crown 8vo., 5s. net.
Gummere. OLD ENGLISH BALLADS. Selected and Edited by
Francis B. Gummere, Professor of English in Haverford College, U.S.A.
Crown 8vo., cloth, 5s. 6d.
Holland. VERSES. By Maud Holland (Maud Walpole). Crown
8vo., 3s. 6d.
Rodd. BALLADS OF THE FLEET. By Sir Rennel Rodd, K.C.M.G.
Crown 8vo., cloth, 6s.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
FEDA, AND OTHER POEMS, CHIEFLY LYRICAL. With etched
Frontispiece. Crown 8vo. , cloth, 6s.
THE UNKNOWN MADONNA, AND OTHER POEMS. With Frontis
piece by Richmond. Crown 8vo., cloth, 5s.
THE VIOLET CROWN, AND SONGS OF ENGLAND. With Photo
gravure Frontispiece. Crown 8vo., cloth, 5s.

FICTION.
About. TRENTE ET QUARANTE. Translated by Lord Newton.
Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d.
'Adalet.' HADJ I RA : A Turkish Love Story. By'ADALET.' One vol.,
crown 8vo., cloth, 6s.
Adderley. STEPHEN REMARX. The Story of a Venture in Ethics.
By the Hon. and Rev. James Adderley, formerly Head of the Oxford House
and Christ Church Mission, Bethnal Green. Twenty-second Thousand. Small
8vo., elegantly bound, 3s. 6d. Also, in paper cover, is.
Adderley. PAUL MERCER. A Tale of Repentance among Millions.
By the Hon. and Rev. James Adderley. Third Edition. One vol., crown
8vo., cloth, 3s. 6d.
Bunsen. A WINTER IN BERLIN. By Marie von Bunsen.
Translated by A. F. D. Second Edition. Crown 8vo., 5s.
Burneside. THE DELUSION OF DIANA. By Margaret Burneside
Second Edition, crown 8vo., 6s.
Charleton. NETHERDYKE. By R. J. Charleton. One vol., crow n
8vo., 6s.
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cloth, 6s.
Chester. A PLAIN WOMAN'S PART. By Norley Chester.
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Cholmondeley. A DEVOTEE : An Episode in the Life of a Butterfly.
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Coleridge. THE KING WITH TWO FACES. By M. E. Coleridge.
Eighth Edition, crown 8vo., 6s.
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Dunmore. ORMISDAL. A Novel. By the Earl of Dunmore, F.R.G.S.,
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Falkner. MOONFLEET. By J. Meade Falkner. Second Edition,
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Gaunt. DAVE'S SWEETHEART. By Mary Gaunt. One vol., 8vo.,
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Knutsford. THE MYSTERY OF THE RUE SOLY. Translated by
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Lighthall. THE FALSE CHEVALIER. By W. D. Lighthall.
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Oxenden. A REPUTATION FOR A SONG. By Maud Oxenden.
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Pinsent. JOB HILDRED. By Ellen F. Pinsent, Author of 'Jenny's
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Williams. THE BAYONET THAT CAME HOME. By N. Wynne
Williams. Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d.

TRAVEL AND SPORT.
Bell. TANGWEERA : Life among Gentle Savages on the Mosquito Coast
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Demy 8vo., 16s.
Beynon. WITH KELLY TO CHITRAL. By Lieutenant W. G. L.
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Relief Force. With Maps, Plans, and Illustrations. Second Edition. Demy
8vo., 7s. 6d.
Bottome. A SUNSHINE TRIP : GLIMPSES OF THE ORIENT.
Extracts from Letters written by Margaret Bottome. With Portrait, elegantly
bound, 4s. 6d.
Bradley. HUNTING REMINISCENCES OF FRANK GILLARD
WITH THE BELVOIR HOUNDS, 1860-1896. Recorded and Illustrated
by Cuthbert Bradley. 8vo., 15s.
Bull. THE CRUISE OF THE ' ANTARCTIC ' TO THE SOUTH
POLAR REGIONS. By H. J. Bull, a member of the Expedition. With
Frontispiece by W. L. Wylie, A. R.A, and numerous full-page Illustrations by
W. G. Burn-Murdoch. Demy 8vo., 15s.
Burton. TROPICS AND SNOWS: a Record of Sport and Adventure
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demy 8vo., 16s.
Chapman. WILD NORWAY. By Abel Chapman, Author of 'Wild
Spain.' With Illustrations by Charles Whymper. Demy 8vo., 16s.
Freshfield. THE EXPLORATION OF THE CAUCASUS. By
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Illustrated with Photogravures and Maps, 2 vols., 4to., £3 3s. net.
Gleichen. WITH THE BRITISH MISSION TO MENELIK, 1897.
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Gordon. PERSIA REVISITED. With Remarks on H.I.M. Mozuffer-
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Grey. IN MOORISH CAPTIVITY. An Account ofthe 'Tourmaline'
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Author of 'Rough Mischance.' With an original Etching by the Author, and
twelve full-page Illustrations by T. H. McLachlan. Crown 8vo., 6s.

23
Macdonald. SOLDIERING AND SURVEYING IN BRITISH EAST
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McNab. ON VELDT AND FARM, IN CAPE COLONY, BECHUANA-
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Pike. THROUGH THE SUB-ARCTIC FOREST. A Record of a
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Pollok. FIFTY YEARS' REMINISCENCES OF INDIA. By Lieut.-
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Portal. THE BRITISH MISSION TO UGANDA. By the late Sir
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Reid. FROM PEKING TO PETERSBURG. A Journey of Fifty Days
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Slatin and Wingate. FIRE AND SWORD IN THE SUDAN. By
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Stone. IN AND BEYOND THE HIMALAYAS : A RECORD OF
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the Punjab Police. With 16 full-page Illustrations by Charles Whymper.
Demy 8vo., 1 6s.
Thompson. REMINISCENCES OF THE COURSE, THE CAMP,
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Warkworth. NOTES FROM A DIARY IN ASIATIC TURKEY.
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Fcap. 4to., 2 is. net.

24
THE SPORTSMAN'S LIBRARY.
Edited by the Right Hon. Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., M.P.
A Re-issue, in handsome volumes, of certain rare and entertaining books on
Sport, carefully selected by the Editor, and Illustrated by the best
Sporting Artists of the day, and with Reproductions of old Plates.
Library Edition, 15s. a Volume. Large-Paper Edition, limited to 200 copies,
Two Guineas a volume. Also obtainable in Sets only, in fine leather
bindings. Prices on application. Volume I.
Smith. THE LIFE OF A FOX, AND THE DIARY OF A HUNTS
MAN. By Thomas Smith, Master of the Hambledon and Pytchley Hounds.
With Illustrations by the Author, and Coloured Plates by G. H. Jalland.
Sir Ralph Payne-Galwey, Bart., writes: 'It is excellent and beautifully produced.'
( Is sure to appeal to everyone who has had, or is about to have, a chance of a run with the
hounds, and those to whom an unkindly fate denies this boon will enjoyit for the joyous music
of the hounds which it brings to relieve the winter of our discontent amid London fogs.' — Pall
Mall Gazette.
1 It will be a classic of fox-bunting till the end of time.' — Yorkshire Post.
' No hunting men should be without this book in their libraries.' — World.
Volume II.
Thornton. A SPORTING TOUR THROUGH THE NORTHERN
PARTS OF ENGLAND AND GREAT PART OF THE HIGHLANDS
OF SCOTLAND. By Colonel T. Thornton, of Thornville Royal, in
Yorkshire. With the Original Illustrations by GARRARD, and other Illustrations
and Coloured Plates by G. E. Lodge.
' Sportsmen of all descriptions will gladly welcome the sumptuous new edition issued by Mr.
Edward Arnold of Colonel T. Thornton's Sporting Tour," which has long been a scarce book.'
— Daily News.
' It is excellent reading for all interested in sport.' — Black and White.
' A handsome volume, effectively illustrated with coloured plates by G. E. Lodge, and with
portraits and selections from the original illustrations, themselves characteristic of the art and
sport of the time.' — Times. Volume III.
Cosmopolite. THE SPORTSMAN IN IRELAND. By a Cosmopolite.
With Coloured Plates and Black and White Drawings by P. Chexevix Trench,
and reproductions of the original Illustrations drawn by R. Allen, and engraved
by W. Westall, A. R.A.
' This is a most readable and entertaining book.' — Pall Mall Gazette.
1 As to the "get up " of the book we can only repeat what we said on the appearance of the
first of the set, that the series consists of tbe most tasteful and channing volumes at present
being issued by the_ English Press, and collectors of handsome books should find them not only
an ornament to their shelves, but also a sound investment.'
Volume IV.
Berkeley. REMINISCENCES OF A HUNTSMAN. By the Hon.
Grantley F. Berkeley. With a Coloured Frontispiece and the original
Illustrations by John Leech, and several Coloured Plates and other Illustrations
by G. H. Jalland.
'The latest addition to the sumptuous " Sportsman's Library " is here reproduced with all
possible aid from the printer and binder, with illustrations from the pencils of Leech and G. H.
Jalland.'— Globe.
' The Hon. Grantley F. Berkeley had one great quality of the raconteur. His self-revelations
and displays of vanity are delightful.' — Times.

25
Volume V.
Scrope. THE ART OF DEERSTALKING. By William Scrope.
With Frontispiece by Edwin Landseer, and nine Photogravure Plates of the
original Illustrations.
' With the fine illustrations by the Landseers and Scrope himself, this forms a most worthy
number of a splendid series.' — Pall Mall Gazette.
' Among the works published in connection with field sports in Scotland, none probably have
been more sought after than those of William Scrope, and although published more than fifty
years ago, they are still as fresh as ever, full of pleasant anecdote, and valuable for the many
practical hints which they convey to inexperienced sportsmen.' — Field.
Volume VI.
Nimrod. THE CHASE, THE TURF, AND THE ROAD. By Nimrod.
With a Photogravure Portrait of the Author by D. Maclise, R.A., and with
Coloured Photogravure and other Plates from the original Illustrations by
Alken, and several reproductions of old Portraits.
' Sir Herbert Maxwell has performed a real service for all who care for sport in^ republishing
Nimrod's admirable papers. The book is admirably printed and produced both in the matter
of illustrations and of binding.' — St. James's Gazette.
1 A thoroughly well got-up book.' — World.
Volume VII.
Scrope. DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING. By William
Scrope. With coloured Lithographic and Photogravure reproductions of the
original Plates.
( This great classic of sport has been reissued by Mr. Edward Arnold in charming form.' —
Literature.

COUNTRY HOUSE.
Brown. POULTRY-KEEPING AS AN INDUSTRY FOR FARMERS
AND COTTAGERS. By Edward Brown, F.L.S. Fully Illustrated by
Ludlow. Revised Edition, demy 4to. , cloth, 6s.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
PLEASURABLE POULTRY-KEEPING. Fully Illustrated. One vol.,
crown 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d.
INDUSTRIAL POULTRY-KEEPING. (Seepages.)
POULTRY FATTENING. Fully Illustrated. New Edition. Crown 8vo.,
is. 6d.
Cunningham. THE DRAUGHTS POCKET MANUAL. By J. G. Cun
ningham. An introduction to the Game in all its branches. Small 8vo., with
numerous diagrams, Is. 6d.
Elliot. AMATEUR CLUBS AND ACTORS. Edited by W. G. Elliot.
With numerous Illustrations by C. M. Newton. Large 8vo., 15s.

26
Ellacombe. IN A GLOUCESTERSHIRE GARDEN. By the Rev.
H. N. Ellacombe, Vicar of Bitton, and Honorary Canon of Bristol. Author
of ' Plant Lore and Garden Craft of Shakespeare.' With new Illustrations by
Major E. B. Ricketts. Second Edition. Crown 8vo., cloth, 6s.
Gossip. THE CHESS POCKET MANUAL. By G. H. D. Gossip.
A Pocket Guide, with numerous Specimen Games and Illustrations. Small 8vo.,
is. 6d.
Hole. A BOOK ABOUT ROSES. By the Very Rev. S. Reynolds
Hole, Dean of Rochester. Sixteenth Edition. Illustrated by H. G. Moon and
G. S. Elgood, R.I. Presentation Edition, with Coloured Plates, 6s. Popular
Edition, 3s. 6d.
Hole. A BOOK ABOUT THE GARDEN AND THE GARDENER.
By Dean Hole. Popular Edition, crown 8vo., 3s. 6d.
Holt. FANCY DRESSES DESCRIBED. By Ardern Holt. An
Alphabetical Dictionary of Fancy Costumes. With full accounts of the Dresses.
About 60 Illustrations by Lillian Young. Many of them coloured. One vol.,
demy 8vo., 7s. 6d. net.
Holt. GENTLEMEN'S FANCY DRESS AND HOW TO CHOOSE
IT. By Ardern Holt. New and Revised Edition. With Illustrations.
Paper boards, 2s. 6d. ; cloth, 3s. 6d.
Maxwell. MEMORIES OF THE MONTHS. Second Series. By
Sir Herbert Maxwell. (See page 2.)
'WYVERN'S' COOKERY BOOKS.
Kenney-Herbert. COMMON-SENSE COOKERY : Based on Modern
English and Continental Principles Worked out in Detail. Large crown 8vo.,
over 500 pages. 7s. 6d.
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
FIFTY BREAKFASTS : containing a great variety of New and Simple
Recipes for Breakfast Dishes. Small 8vo., 2s. 6d.
FIFTY DINNERS. Small 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d.
FIFTY LUNCHES. Small 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d.
Shorland. CYCLING FOR HEALTH AND PLEASURE. By
L. H. Porter, Author of ' Wheels and Wheeling,' etc. Revised and edited by
F. W. Shorland, Amateur Champion 1892-93-94. With numerous Illustrations,
small 8vo., 2s. 6d.
Smith. THE PRINCIPLES OF LANDED ESTATE MANAGE-
MENT. By Henry Herbert Smith, Fellow of the Institute of Surveyors;
Agent to the Marquess of Lansdowne, K.G., the Earl of Crewe, Lord Methuen,
etc. With Plans and Illustrations. Demy Svo., 16s.
White. PLEASURABLE BEE-KEEPING. By C. N. White, Lecturer
to the County Councils of Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, etc. Fully illustrated.
One vol., crown 8vo., cloth, 2s. 6d.

27
MISCELLANEOUS.
Bell. CONVERSATIONAL OPENINGS AND ENDINGS. By Mrs.
Hugh Bell. Square 8vo., 2s. 6d.
Clouston. THE CHIPPENDALE PERIOD IN ENGLISH FURNI-
TURE. By K. Warren Clouston. With 200 Illustrations by the Author.
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FeU. BRITISH MERCHANT SEAMEN IN SAN FRANCISCO. By
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GREAT PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Eton — Harrow — Winchester —
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Greene. FLOWERS FROM PALESTINE. (See page 14.)
HARROW SCHOOL. Edited by E. W. Howson and G. Townsend
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and-ink Drawings by Mr. Herbert Marshall. With several Photogravure
Portraits and reproductions of objects of interest. One vol., crown 4to., One
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Hartshorne. OLD ENGLISH GLASSES. AnAccount of Glass Drinking-
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With Introductory Notices of Continental Glasses during the same period,
Original Documents, etc. Dedicated by special permission to Her Majesty the
Queen. By Albert Hartshorne, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. Illus
trated by nearly 70 full-page Tinted or Coloured Plates in the best style of Litho
graphy, and several hundred outline Illustrations in the text. Super royal 4to.,
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Herschell. THE BEGGARS OF PARIS. Translated from the French
of M. Louis Paulian by Lady Herschell. Crown 8vo., is.
Pilkington. IN AN ETON PLAYING FIELD. The Adventures of
some old Public School Boys in East London. By E. M. S. Pilkington.
Fcap. 8vo., handsomely bound, 2s. 6d.

ILLUSTRATED HUMOROUS BOOKS.
Ames. REALLY AND TRULY. By Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Ames. (See
page 13.)
H. B. and B. T. B. MORE BEASTS (FOR WORSE CHILDREN).
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BY THE SAME AUTHORS.
THE MODERN TRAVELLER. (See page 13.)
A MORAL ALPHABET. (See page 13.)
Lockwood. THE FRANK LOCKWOOD SKETCH-BOOK. Being a
Selection of Sketches bythe late Sir Frank Lockwood, Q.C., M.P. Third
Edition. Oblong royal 4to., ios. 6d.

28
Reed. TAILS WITH A TWIST. An Animal Picture-Book by E. T.
Reed, Author of ' Pre-Historic Peeps,' etc. With Verses by ' A Belgian
Hare.' Oblong demy 4to., 3s. 6d. (See page 13.)
Streamer. RUTHLESS RHYMES FOR HEARTLESS HOMES.
By Colonel D. Streamer. (See page 13.)

SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHY.
Arnold-Forster. ARMY LETTERS, 1897-98. By H. O. Arnold-
Forster, M.P. Crown 8vo., 3s. 6d.
Burgess. POLITICAL SCIENCE AND COMPARATIVE CONSTI
TUTIONAL LAW. By John W. Burgess, Ph.D., LL.D., Dean of the Uni
versity Faculty of Political Science in Columbia College, U.S.A. In two vols.,
demy 8vo., cloth, 21s.
Graham. ENGLISH POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY : an Exposition and
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By William Graham, M.A., Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Economy
at Queen's College, Belfast. Octavo, ios. 6d. net.
Hill. A MANUAL OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY. By Leonard Hill
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Holland. SUGGESTIONS FOR A SCHEME OF OLD AGE PEN
SIONS. By the Hon. Lionel Holland. Crown 8vo., is. 6d.
Hopkins. THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA. By E. W. Hopkins, Ph.D.
(Leipzig), Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology in Bryn Mawr
College. One vol., demy 8vo., 8s. 6d. net.
Hutchison. FOOD AND THE PRINCIPLES OF DIETETICS.
By Dr. Robert Hutchison. (See page 7.)
Ladd. LOTZE'S PHILOSOPHICAL OUTLINES. Dictated Portions
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Morgan ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR. By c. Lloyd Morgan, F.R.S.,
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Paget. WASTED RECORDS OF DISEASE. By Charles E. Paget,
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Salford, etc. Crown Svo., 2s. 6d.

29
Pearson. THE CHANCES OF DEATH, and other Studies in Evolution.
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Perry. CALCULUS FOR ENGINEERS. By Professor John Perry,
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Taylor. THE ALPHABET. By Isaac Taylor, M.A., LL.D., Canon
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Van 'T. Hoff. LECTURES ON THEORETICAL AND PHYSICAL
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Young. A GENERAL ASTRONOMY. By Charles A. Young,
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THE NATIONAL REVIEW.
Edited by L. J. MAXSE.
Price Half a Crown Monthly.
The ' National Review ' is the leading Unionist and Conservative
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Balfour, Mr. J. Chamberlain, and Lord George Hamilton. The episodes
of the month, which give a masterly review of the important events of

3°
the preceding month, form a valuable feature of the Review, which now
occupies a unique position among monthly periodicals.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE INDIA OFFICE AND OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA.
Mr. Edward Arnold, having been appointed Publisher to the Secretary of State for India in
Council, has now on sale the above publications at 37 Bedford Street, Strand, and is prepared to
supply full information concerning them on application.
INDIAN GOVERNMENT MAFS.
Any of the Maps in this magnificent series can now be obtained at the shortest notice from
Mr. Edward Arnold, Publisher to the India Office.

Thefollowing Catalogues of Mr. Edward A mold's Publications will be sent post free on application :
CATALOGUE OF WORKS OF GENERAL LITERATURE
GENERAL CATALOGUE OF EDUCATIONAL WORKS, including the principal publications of
Messrs. Ginn and Company, Educational Publishers, of Boston and New York.
CATALOGUE OF WORKS FOR USE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS.
ILLUSTRATED LIST OF BOOKS FOR PRESENTS AND PRIZES.

BOOKS FOR THE YOUNG.
SIX SHILLINGS EACH.
FIRE AND SWORD IN THE SUDAN. By Sir Rudolph Slatin and Sir F. R.
Wingate. (See page 23.)
MOONFLEET. By J. Meade Falkner. (See page 21.)
FIVE SHILLINGS EACH.
SNOW - SHOES AND SLEDGES. By Kirk Monroe. FuUy illustrated.
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THE FUR SEAL'S TOOTH. By Kirk Monroe. Fully illustrated. Crown
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Jnoejc to Hutbors.

About -
' Adalet '
Adams, E. Davenport
Adderley, Hon. and Rev. J.
Alexander, W. Gordon
Ames, Ernest -
A Moral Alphabet
Andersen, Hans Christian
Amold-Forster, H. O.
Arnold, Thomas
Ashbee, C. R. -
Bagot, Mrs. J.
Bell, Mrs. Hugh
Bell, Napier -
Belloc, Hilaire
Benson, A. C -
Berkeley, Hon. Grantley F.
Beynon, W. G. L.
Bottome, Margaret -
Boyle, Very Rev. G. D.
Bradley, Cuthbert
Brown, Edward
Bull, H. J. -
Bunsen, Marie von

3'
6, 20 1513 '3
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28 1512 4
8, 27

1522
3.25

Burkitt, F. Crawford -

12

Burneside, Margaret -

20

Burton, Capt. R. G.

22

fe Butler, A. J. -

18

tsChapman, Abel

22

Charleton, R. J.

20

Cherbuliez, Victor

20

Chester, Norley

10, 20

Children's Favourite Series

31

Children's Hour Series

- 31

Cholmondeley, Mary -

9, 20

Clough, Blanche A.

- i5

Clouston, J. Storer

9

Clouston, K. Warren -

27

Clowes, W. Laird

31

Coleridge, M. E.

- 20

CoUingwood, W. G.

18, 20

Collins, J. Churton

T9

Cook, Prof. A. S.

18

Cosmopolite

24

Cunningham, J. G.

25

Davidson, Thomas

18

De Vere, Aubrey

15

Dunmore, Earl of

20

Dymond, T. S.

29

Edwards, R. W. K.

- 20

Ellacombe, H. N.

18, 26

Elliot, W. G. -

25

Essex House Publications

IT, 12

Falkner, J. Meade
Fawcett, E. D.

21

• 31

Fell, H. GranvUle

10

Fell, Rev. J. -

* 27

Fenton, Mrs. -

6

Field, Mrs. E. M.

33

Fisher, J. R. -

- 8

Fleming, Canon

• 18

Ford, Isabella 0.

- 21

Freshfield, Douglas W.

- 22

l'rye, Alexis >

31

Gardner, Alice

17

(Jarnett, |. M.

• 18

Gaunt, Mary

21

Gleichen, Count
Glencairn, R. J.
Gordon, Sir T. E.
Goschen, Rt. Hon. G. J.
Gossip, G. H. D.
Graham, W. -
Great Public Schools -
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Harrison, S. Frances -
Harrow School
Hartshorne, Albert
Herschell, Lady
Hervey, M. H.
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Hofmeyr, A.
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Holland, Bernard
Holland, Hon. Lionel
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Holland, Rev. F. J.
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Holt, Ardern -
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Hopkins, E. W.
Hudson, H. N.
Hutchinson. Horace G.
Hutchison, Robert
Indian Office Publications
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Journal of Morphology
Jowett, Benjamin
Ken ney- Herbert
Knox, T. W. -
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Kuhns, L. Oscar
Ladd, G. T.
Lang, Andrew -
Le Fanu, W. R.
Legh, M. H. Cornwall
Lehfeldt, Dr. R. A.
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Macdonald, Sir John A.
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Merivale, J. A.
Milner, Sir Alfred -
Modern Traveller, The
Montresor, F. F.
More Hl-.^is (or Worse Child
More.m. C. Lloyd - 2,
Morley, Henry
Mott, E. S. •

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16
PAGE
Munroe, Kirk
' 3°
Nash, Henry
3°
National Review
- 29
Newton, Lord -
¦ 20
Nimrod
25
Oman, C.
17
Onyx -
- 16
Oxenden, Maud
21
Paget, Charles E.
28
Pasley, Sir T. S.
4
Pearson, Karl -
- 29
Perry, Prof. John
¦ 29
Pickering, Sidney
9
Pigou, Very Rev. Francis
16
Pike, Warburton
- 23
Pilkington, E. M. S.
27
Pinsent, Ellen F.
• 21
Podmore, C. T.
10, 21
Pollok, Lieut. -Colonel
- 23
Portal, Sir Gerald H.
23
Price, L. L. R.
4
Pritchett, R. T.
23
Quiller Couch, A. T. ¦
19
Radford, C. H.
9
Raleigh, Walter
s, 19
Ransome, Cyril
- 17
Raymond, Evelyn
31
Reed, E. T. -
I3i 27
Reid, Arnot
- 23
Rendel, Hon. Daphne
- 17
Reynolds, Rev. S. H.
19
Richmond, Rev. Wilfrid
3
Roberts, Morley
9, 21
Rochefort, Henri
- 16
Rodd, Sir Rennel
¦ 19
Roebuck, Rt. Hon. J. A.
16
Roy, Gordon -
10
RusseU, W. Clark
9
Schelling, Prof. F. E.
19
Scrope, William
25
Shaw, C Weeks
20
Shorland, F. W.
- 26
Simpson, Mrs. M. C. -
16
Slatin Pasha, Sir Rudolf
23
Smith, A. Donaldson -
23
Smith, H. H. -
26
Smith, Thomas
24
Spinner, Alice -
21
Sportsman Library
24.25
Stevenson, R. L.
- 16
Stone, S. J.
- 23
Streamer, Colonel D. -
13, 28
Tatham, H. F. W.
17
Taylor, Isaac -
- 29
Thompson, Col. R. F. Meysey 23
Thornton, Col. T.
- 24
Tollemache, Hon. L. A.
16
Turkey in Europe
1
Twining, Louisa
16
Wallace, Helen
10, 21
Warkworth, Lord
23
White, C. N. -
26
Whitman, C. O.
29
Williams, N. Wynne -
21
Wilson, Ernest
29
Wingate, Sir F. R.
- 23
Young, Charles A.
29
YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

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