constituents, the people. These were still warmly with us. Indeed, their
hatred of the trade had greatly increased. Many circumstances had occurred
in this year to promote it. The committee, during my absence in France, had
circulated the plate of the slave-ship throughout all England. No one saw
it but he was impressed. It spoke to him in a language, which was at once
intelligible and irresistible. It brought forth the tear of sympathy in
behalf of the sufferers, and it fixed their sufferings in his heart. The
committee too had been particularly vigilant during the whole of the year,
with respect to the public papers. They had suffered no statement in behalf
of those interested in the continuance of the trade, to go unanswered. Dr.
Dickson, the author of the Letters on Slavery before mentioned, had come
forward again with his services on this occasion, and by his active
cooperation with a sub-committee appointed for the purpose, the coast was
so well cleared of our opponents, that, though they were seen the next year
again, through the medium of the same papers, they appeared only in sudden
incursions, as it were, during which they darted a few weapons at us; but
they never afterward ventured upon the plain to dispute the matter, inch by
inch, or point by point, in an open and manly manner.

But other circumstances occurred to keep up a hatred of the trade among the
people in this interval, which, trivial as they were, ought not to be
forgotten. The amiable poet Cowper had frequently made the Slave-trade the
subject of his contemplation. He had already severely condemned it in his
valuable poem The Task. But now he had written three little fugitive pieces
upon it. Of these the most impressive was that, which he called The Negro's
Complaint, and of which the following is a copy:

"Forced from home and all its pleasures,
Afric's coast I left forlorn,
To increase a stranger's treasures,