emancipation, however, was set for the first of August, 1834; and this
is the date from which the abolition of slavery in Great Britain and
her dependencies may be said to have occurred. In some parts, however,
the actual process of extinguishing slavery lagged. It was not until
1843 that the 12,000,000 of slaves under British control in the empire
were emancipated.

The virtual extinction of human slavery in the present century,
presents a peculiar ethnical study. Among the Latin races, the French
were the first to move for emancipation. It appears that the infusion
of Gallic blood, as well as the large influence of the Frankish
nations in the production of the modern French, has given to that
people a bias in favor of liberty. All the other Latin races have
lagged behind; but, France foreran even Great Britain in the work of
abolition. Scarcely had the great Revolution of 1789 got under way,
until an act of abolition conceding freedom to all men without regard
to race or color was adopted by the National Assembly.

It was on the fifteenth of May, 1791, that this great act was passed.
One of the darkest aspects of the character of Napoleon I. was the
favor which he showed to the project of restoring slavery in the
French colonies. But that project was in vain. The blow of freedom
once struck produced its everlasting results. Though slavery lingered
for nearly a half century in some of the French colonies, it survived
there only because of the revolutions in the home government which
prevented its final extinction. Acts were passed for the utter
extirpation of the system during the reign of Louis Philippe, and
again in the time of the Second Republic.

Meanwhile, the northern nations proceeded with the work of abolition.