He then put his speech into my hand; and wished me to take it home and
peruse it. He wrote down also some questions, and he gave them to me
directly afterwards, and begged I would answer them at my leisure.

On conversing with the latter, he said, that he believed with those at the
meeting, that there would be no greater difficulty in carrying the question
in the succeeding than in the present legislature. But this consideration
afforded an argument for the immediate discussion of it: for it would make
a considerable difference to suffering humanity, whether it were to be
decided now or then. This was the moment to be taken to introduce it; nor
did he think that they ought to be deterred from doing it, by any supposed
clamours from some of the towns in France. The great body of the people
admired the constitution; and would support any decisions, which were made
in strict conformity to its principles. With respect to any committee of
inquiry, he deprecated it. The Slave-trade, he said, was not a trade. It
dishonoured the name of commerce. It was piracy. But if so, the question,
which it involved, was a question of justice only; and it could not be
decided with propriety by any other standard. I then informed him, that the
Comte de Mirabeau had undertaken to introduce it into the Assembly. At this
he expressed his uneasiness. "Mirabeau," says he, "is a host in himself;
and I should not be surprised if by his own eloquence and popularity only
he were to carry it; and yet I regret that he has taken the lead in it. The
cause is so lovely, that even ambition, abstractedly considered, is too
impure to take it under its protection, and not to sully it. It should have
been placed in the hands of the most virtuous man in France. This man is
the Duc de la Rochefoucauld. But you cannot alter things now. You cannot
take it out of his hands. I am sure he will be second to no one on this
occasion."

On my return to my hotel, I perused the outlines of the speech, which the