...I still take a deep interest in the much injured fellow Creatures...

Autograph letter signed by William Wilberforce to George Paton. Highwood Hill, [Middlesex, England], 7 June 1830. 3 pages, 4to. Docketed to verso. 

A fascinating and content-rich autograph letter signed by important British politician, philanthropist, and leading abolitionist, William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833). 

Wilberforce opens the letter in surprise, as this new correspondent has addressed him at Parliament, despite the fact that he retired from political office in 1826 due to failing health. Regardless, he reassures Paton of his continued activism regarding the abolition of slavery: "I need not however assure you that I still take a deep interest in the much injured fellow Creatures in whose behalf you have addressed me; and I entirely concur with you in [the] judgment that we can effect the deliverance of the Slaves only by applying to the good principles and feelings of the People in general."

Responding, evidently, to overly enthusiastic plans, Wilberforce writes: "I scarcely however dare be as sanguine as you appear to be, either as to the facility of producing a general popular movement for the purpose intended, in a degree sufficient to counteract the powerful interest of the West Indians in both Houses of Parliament, combined with the disinclination to our cause which Government has but too plainly manifested. The expediency of the measure you suggest, of bringing over the black Preacher, must entirely depend on his personal qualifications, of which I know nothing, nor do I understand you are acquainted with them. I will make some inquiry on this head, though I own I see many great difficulties and weighty objections to it."

He then addresses the ongoing situation of the illegal slave trade in Mauritius: "The Slave trade at the Mauritius of which you speak, has been at length proved to have been carried on through the connivance I fear of the Government of that Island. But I am assured that Government intends to take the course which justice and humanity prescribed in the matter, to have an inquiry instituted, and to restore to their liberty, all who have been so unjustly and cruelly deprived of it. I must do our Government the justice to declare that I firmly believe they had no knowledge whatsoever of the Slave trade's existence in the Mauritius, and indeed there were many independent members of Parliament who were firmly convinced that the Charge urged by Mr. Buxton, and which his illness in the first place and Sir Robert Farquhar's death subsequently, have alone prevented being discussed in Parliament, were without foundation."

He references his close abolitionist ally, Fowell Buxton (1786 - 1845), and the 1st Governor of Mauritius, Sir Robert Townsend Farquhar (1776 - 1830). When Farquhar assumed the governorship in 1811, he found the economy entirely dependent upon slavery. Despite the formal abolishment of slavery in 1813, it is evident that the illegal trade continued in earnest. True to Wilberforce's prediction, Parliament introduced legislation in September 1830 to emancipate the slaves who had been imported illegally into the colony between 1814-1821. (For a complete discussion of the illegal slave trade c.f. Richard B. Allen. "Licentious and Unbridled Proceedings: The Illegal Slave Trade to Mauritius and the Seychelles during the Early Nineteenth Century." Vol. 42, No. 1 (2001). The Journal of African History, pp. 91-116). 

Despite his ill health and official retirement, Wilberforce remained deeply involved in the ongoing cause of abolition. The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which formally saluted Wilberforce's influence, was introduced in May and passed unopposed on 22 July. Wilberforce learned of the success on 26 July and died 3 days later. 

[African Americana, African American History, Black History, Slavery, Enslavement, Abolition, Emancipation]  [Manuscripts, Documents, Letters, Ephemera, Signatures, Autographs]