of the Friends of the Negros, which was but thinly attended. None of those
mentioned, except Brissot, were present. It was resolved there, that the
committee should solicit an audience of Mr. Necker; and that I should wait
upon him, accompanied by a deputation consisting of the Marquis de
Condorcet, Monsieur de Bourge, and Brissot de Warwille; Secondly, that the
committee should write to the president of the National Assembly, and
request the favour of him to appoint a day for hearing the cause of the
Negros; and, Thirdly, that it should be recommended to the committee in
London to draw up a petition to the National Assembly of France, praying
for the abolition of the Slave-trade by that country. This petition, it was
observed, was to be signed by as great a number of the friends to the cause
in England, as could be procured. It was then to be sent to the committee
at Paris, who would take it in a body to the place of its destination.

I found great delicacy as a stranger in making my observations upon these
resolutions, and yet I thought I ought not to pass them over wholly in
silence, but particularly the last. I therefore rose up, and stated that
there was one resolution, of which I did not quite see the propriety. But
this might arise from my ignorance of the customs, as well as of the genius
and spirit of the French people. It struck me that an application from a
little committee in England to the National Assembly of France was not a
dignified measure, nor was it likely to have weight with such a body. It
was, besides, contrary to all the habits of propriety, in which I had been
educated. The British Parliament did not usually receive petitions from the
subjects of other nations. It was this feeling, which had induced me thus
to speak.

To these observations it was replied, that the National Assembly of France
would glory in going contrary to the example of other nations in a case of
generosity and justice, and that the petition in question, if it could be