which in his opinion was made between the doctrines of regeneration and justification in a paper by Dr. Pearson which had been admitted into the Magazine, and then proceeds to say:

'I am not a little surprised that the Editors of the Christian Observer should suppose they take a middle way as to the disputed doctrines of Calvinism. The Sublapsarian indeed takes a middle way between the Supralapsarian and the Arminian, but between the Sublapsarian and the Arminian there is no middle way, and therefore I do not wonder that the Christian Observer has not found it. I venture to inform you of what perhaps you are not aware, that every sober evangelical Arminian will be satisfied with the Christian Observer on this point, but that no Calvinist, who understands the controversy, however sober and moderate, will be satisfied.'

Nowithstanding, however, much criticism of this description, it is remarkable to observe the respect shown by Mr. Scott for Macaulay's own opinion, and the anxiety with which he awaits the Editor's decision upon disputed points of doctrine, for the examination of which Macaulay's education had certainly in no way prepared him, and upon which Mr. Scott might very reasonably have regarded his own authority as far superior.

At the end of the first year Macaulay wrote a Preface, with the intention that it should be prefixed when the monthly magazines were bound up together to form the volume for 1802. In this he says:—

'When the publication of this work was first undertaken, we declared ourselves to be firmly attached, both as loyal citizens, and sincere members of the Church of England, to the constitution of this kingdom, ecclesiastical and civil. In conformity with these pretensions, we have been forward to defend the doctrines and discipline of the Establishment, and have uniformly opposed the language and the designs of the disaffected and factious.

'But although decided in our opinions, we did not feel authorised to treat all who differed from us with severity, much less with contempt. We conceived that a spirit of forbearance and Christian charity was perfectly consistent with the strictest orthodoxy, and we indulged a sanguine hope that Christians in general would concur in this sentiment. Our

expectations, however, have, in this respect, been considerably disappointed.

'Some of our correspondents have complained of our manifesting too great mildness and conciliation towards Dissenters and Separatists, interpreting a language without bitterness into blamable partiality, and misconstruing our reluctance to irritate and give needless offence into want of zeal or defect of courage. On the other side, some Dissenters have charged us with being bigoted, persecuting Churchmen, and have not only treated us as adversaries of the Dissenting interest, but as the enemies of Christianity itself.

'We have no interests to serve but those of true Christianity, no schemes to prosecute but those of making our fellowcreatures good subjects and good Christians, teaching them to fear God and honour the King.'

But notwithstanding all the laborious efforts of the Editor to make his paper lively reading, Hannah More writes of it in 1804, It is certainly a valuable miscellany; but it wants a little essential salt, a little sprinkling of manners as well as principles.' The truth is,' confesses Wilberforce, 'it is heavy, and if it be not enlivened it will sink.' This despairing prediction, however, was not fulfilled. The Christian Observer obtained a large circulation, and was destined to prosper for many years to come; and at the very time that these criticisms were penned a large proportion of its readers took a diametrically opposite view of the spirit of its contents, and the Editor was harassed with complaints of the levity with which, in the opinion of his correspondents, serious subjects were constantly treated in its pages, and was blamed by them for not excluding many papers which they characterised as too frivolous and trifling for perusal in well-conducted families.

R

CHAPTER IX

ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE

THE nineteenth century opened unpropitiously to the hopes of the advocates of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and there was no expectation in any quarter of the success which was to crown their efforts before a few years should have elapsed. The minds of men were too full of the rapid changes of affairs upon the Continent which threatened the safety of our own island, to permit more than the most reluctant attention to be wrung from them for questions other than those of providing defence for our own shores, or means of attack upon our enemies. In Parliament everything was against the Abolitionists. Early in the Session of 1801, Pitt, upon whom they looked as the great bulwark of their cause, resigned office rather than abandon his noble scheme for uniting Ireland with England, while at the same time he proposed that the Roman Catholic laity should be relieved from civil disabilities, and that a public maintenance should be granted to the Roman Catholic clergy.

Notwithstanding the change of leadership, it was believed at first that all would go smoothly, and that Pitt would have sufficient influence with the new Administration to prevent any retrograde steps being taken with reference to the Slave Trade. But the temper of the House of Commons was indifferent if not actually hostile,1 and the new Premier, Addington, was jealous

1 Part of a letter from Lord Nelson to Mr. Simon Taylor, a Jamaica planter, may be quoted in order to show the violence of the feeling existing against the Abolitionists at this period: Victory, June 10, 1805.-I ever have been and shall be a firm friend to our present colonial system. I was bred in the good old school, and taught to appreciate the value of our West Indian possessions, and neither in the field nor the Senate shall their just rights be infringed whilst I have an arm to fight in their defence or a tongue to launch my voice against the damnable, cruel doctrine of Wilberforce and his hypocritical allies, and I hope my berth in heaven will be as exalted as his who would certainly cause the murder of all our friends and fellow-subjects in the Colonies.'

of Pitt's interference, and became gradually cold and reluctant in his support of the Abolitionist members of Parliament. At length, during the course of 1802 they were electrified, if that word can be properly applied to any proceeding emanating from Addington, by hearing that the Minister had consented that Trinidad and St. Vincent should be settled with slaves newly imported for the purpose, a proposition which had been for years steadily resisted by Pitt, and the danger of which the friends had fondly hoped was at an end. When the alarm was once given, every agency was put in motion to endeavour to avert the catastrophe; but the utmost that the earnest pressure of Pitt, supported by every Abolitionist member of Parliament, could obtain, was a promise, given very unwillingly by Addington, to pause till the next Session before opening Trinidad and St. Vincent for the reception of another million of Africans. The one consolatory advantage which cheered these dark days for Mr. Wilberforce was the ardent admiration which he was able to entertain for his beloved Pitt; and it is really touching to see his exultation in the spectacle afforded by the great statesman's magnanimity and patriotism, and by the superiority of his devotion over that of other politicians to the cause of the oppressed blacks.

Parliament was dissolved on the 29th of June 1802, and the friends of Abolition were immediately actively engaged all over England in propounding their views to the electors. Wilberforce was chosen without a contest for the West Riding of Yorkshire. Henry Thornton had a sharp fight in Southwark, but was returned safely, with Tierney as a colleague. When the Houses met in November, the interest of public affairs on the Continent was too absorbing to permit members to pay any regard to other business, and it was with deep discouragement that the Abolitionists viewed their progress during the next Session, and the hopelessness of bringing forward any measures for the relief of their unhappy clients. The rupture with France in the month of May 1803 threw the whole nation into a ferment, and when Bonaparte formed his camp at Boulogne the danger of invasion roused a passionate burst of warlike enthusiasm throughout the length and breadth of the land. No one could participate more keenly in the excitement than Macaulay himself, who was with many of his companions

enrolled as a Volunteer, and his correspondence at this time contains constant allusions to military preparations. But even under these circumstances the friends never for a moment lost sight of the principles which guided their conduct, and their steady opposition to drilling on Sundays, after much ridicule and difficulty, proved in the end effectual in stopping it.

A strong impression of the closeness with which the danger of invasion was brought home to men's minds at that period, and the terrible reality of the fear, may be gathered from the alarm which Wilberforce expresses upon hearing that Pitt, as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, had taken the command of three thousand Volunteers; because he says he knows that 'Pitt's spirit will lead him to be foremost in the battle.' Busy as Macaulay and his friends were, they never hesitated to sacrifice their time and interests to the call of patriotic duty; and during these years, gloomy with rumours of danger and threatened war, Macaulay and Henry Thornton were among the most active in seconding the exertions of Lord Teignmouth, who had come forward to undertake the Lieutenancy of Surrey, which was no sinecure at this critical time. His son 1 relates how he remembers Macaulay marching at the head of a company of the Clapham Volunteers, his austere features overshadowed by the bearskin cover of his helmet, whilst Charles 2 and Robert Grant appeared as extemporised dragoons.

The three years which had now elapsed had been barren of any fruit for the cause of the slaves; but in 1804 Pitt returned to office, and immediately a measure for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was brought forward in the House of Commons. It was at once plain to discerning eyes that the temper of the times was changed, and that hopes of ultimate victory might now be reasonably entertained. The Irish members, whom the Abolitionists had taken pains to win over and to inform upon the question, assembled upon the evening of the First Reading at a great dinner, where they drank toasts to the success of the Bill, and then came up in a body and voted for it. The division was 124 to 49. As soon as it was over, the whole of the Abolitionist party adjourned to Mr. Wilberforce's house in Old Palace Yard to rejoice over the triumph and to

1 Recollections of Many Years: Lord Teignmouth.

2 Afterwards Lord Glenelg.