severing goodwill and affection with which he endeavoured effectually to serve Macaulay's interests.

FROM W. WILBERFORCE, ESQ.

Highwood Hill, Middlesex, November 4, 1829. MY DEAR FRIEND,-I was compelled yesterday to break off before I could open to you on a topic on which I should have been sorry to state my feelings to you till you were so much recovered as not to render it improper. I beg you will put off either thinking or writing about it until Mrs. Macaulay, your dictatress, permits. I find there has been a misunderstanding between us relative to the London University, and I speak seriously and honestly when I say that I think the misunderstanding much more likely to have arisen from my want of precision than from anything on your part. In short, that the fault is not yours but mine. You may remember the fears I used to express lest the Philosophical Lectures and Studies of the University, unaccompanied by instruction in the Evidences of the Divine Origin of Christianity, would be too surely productive of a sceptical spirit in your young men (probably the most intelligent and active members of your middle classes in the metropolis), who would find themselves rational as to all their other opinions, but holding the religious principles, if they should profess to hold them, solely as they must feel, from nursery prejudices, or at best on the authority of great names. Now we, you and I, I mean, will adjoùrn the discussions on the question whether I am right or wrong in this persuasion, but I am, of course, bound to act on my own convictions; and I thought I had stated to you that I could not become a member of the London University Society till some instruction in the Evidences of Christianity had been secured; and I inferred from finding myself a subscriber that I must have authorised you to put down my name from conceiving, as I remember for a time I did, that provision had been made for this religious instruction. Long ago, however, I discovered my mistake.

I earnestly hope some method may be devised next session for accomplishing your object. You will, I doubt not, wish it as much as I do, though you may not think it equally necessary. But, query, if any list of the members or shareholders (I forget the terms) should be printed, could my name be omitted till my objection be removed? You will see I must be very awkwardly circumstanced in appearing to be (to say the truth, in being) a supporter of an institution which I cannot but think likely to be

productive of great mischief. I intreat you, my dear friend, not to trouble yourself on this question. I feel how much you must have gone through, and I trust it will please God to restore you to your former strength, though you really must use it more sparingly. With best wishes and daily prayers for your recovery, sincerely and affectionately yours, W. WILBERFORCE.

FROM J. STEPHEN, ESQ.

March 9, 1830.

MY DEAR MACAULAY,-I thank you for your new Reporter, which is like all the rest honourable to your assiduity and zeal, as well as to the powers of your mind and pen. You are wrong in supposing that it will add to my regret at not having yet published my second volume. You allude, no doubt, to its anticipation of my views as to the murderous excess of labour. Time was when I should have been ready to exclaim with Richard:

'O, Warwick, single out some other chase;
For I myself will hunt this bear to death.'1

But now I am weary enough and feeble enough to be glad of aid from a brother sportsman, though he throws himself between me and my game. I will nevertheless, D. V., persevere. Indeed The same infirmness of judgment would make me completely wretched if I should.

I dare not do otherwise.

Take care of yourself, my dear friend, if only for the sake of our poor unfortunate cause. You are its sheet-anchor. You profess to think my poor worn-out pen has still means of serving it; but if so, the more necessary your help; for really so distrustful am I become of my own memory and judgment that I should be afraid to publish without the benefit of your revision. Ever yours affectionately, J. STEPHEN.

On the 15th of May 1830, at the annual meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, which was crowded to suffocation, the younger members of the party carried by irresistible acclamation an amendment proposed from a side gallery by Mr. Pownall, one of their chiefs, to the effect: That from and after the 1st of January 1830 every slave born within the King's dominions shall be free.' It was in vain for the leaders on the

King Henry VI. Part III. Act ii. Sc. 4:

'Nay, Warwick, single out some other chase;
For I myself will hunt this wolf to death.'

platform to deprecate the interruption; for Mr. Wilberforce, who was in the chair for the last time, to command silence; their remonstrances were drowned in the wave of excitement that swept through Freemasons' Hall, and continued until Mr. Wilberforce was compelled to rise and put the amendment to the assembly, and to witness its triumphant acceptance.

But very soon the perception that a distinct step had been gained towards final Emancipation was forced upon the minds of the leaders of the Anti-slavery party, who, with the exception of Mr. Stephen, were very reluctant to accept the change of policy; and Macaulay, although he did not attempt to conceal the disapproval which he felt towards many of the methods of warfare patronised by his more impetuous and unscrupulous allies, sacrificed, according to his custom, his own prejudices, and was always ready cordially to afford them much valuable assistance and information, and to co-operate with them to some extent. He himself was by no means personally unpopular with these more violent spirits of the Anti-slavery party. They entertained a genuine and affectionate respect for his single-minded devotion to the common cause, although they contemned his tactics as antiquated; and they felt that they could place entire confidence in his kindly tolerance and fair dealing.

FROM T. BABINGTON, ESQ.

Rothley Temple, June 23, 1830. MY DEAR Z,—I return the letters;1 they are indeed of a sad complexion. On Henry's return you will be able to judge pretty correctly of the real state of things at Sierra Leone. God orders and will order all for the best; and we all, my dear Z., shall ere long, I trust, see distinct cause to lift our hearts to Him in gratitude for His mercies in this bitter dispensation. 'God is His own interpreter, And He will make it plain.'

I endeavour to fortify myself and your sister daily on this subject, and to commit our concerns, and those of yourself and of my son Tom, earnestly and unreservedly to God.-Yours affectionately, T. BABINGTON.

These were letters upon the affairs of the Sierra Leone House, which Henry W. Macaulay was then endeavouring to wind up. He returned from West Africa in the month of September 1830 for a short stay in England, in order to confer upon the business with his father and uncle.

FROM HENRY DRUMMOND, ESQ.

July 30, 1830. MY DEAR FRIEND, I am convinced that the leading of God's providence was against my going into Parliament. I might, indeed, have come in for the county without opposition, and God might have given me leave, as He did Balaam; but He would then have left me to myself, and I should only have denied Him as all those who profess to be His servants now in the House have done already. The first drop of the seventh Vial seems to be pouring out on France; it is remarkable that she has just stood long enough to give the finishing blow to the Mahometan power at the other extremity of the empire, as Russia has in Persia and Greece. I knew last month that this coup was to be struck.-Always yours most faithfully, HENRY DRUMMOND.

FROM MR. BROUGHAM. 1

Saturday Evening.

MY DEAR M.,-I think I am verily member for Yorkshire. The country gentlemen tried in vain to stem the torrent which set in from the West Riding in such force that they passed a resolution that I was a fit and proper person. I have found no reason to doubt that it is an Anti-slavery triumph. I have assumed it to be so, and I make our cause the burthen of my song in a very strong address, wherein, though short, I have put forth all my strength. I find that all sects and all the old Wilberforce interest is with me except the Evangelical Church party, and they hold back on the avowed ground of London University. Can any steps be taken to neutralise this feeling?

I have lost no time in applying to the Duke of Devonshire as to Knaresboro', and I have added that in case he should prefer you, I was sure you would make way for me should I be thrown out in Yorkshire hereafter.

The French glorious revolution is most advantageous to our cause, because it denounces wrath and destruction on those who would by force withstand the popular opinion. The occasion of both concurring is therefore auspicious.-Ever yours,

H. B.

1 At the General Election which followed the dissolution of Parliament on the 24th of July 1830, after the death of the King, Brougham was triumphantly returned as representative of the county of York.

FROM THE RIGHT HON. SIR JAMES STEPHEN, K.C.B.
August 15, 1830.

MY DEAR FRIEND, I return your papers. For reasons which I need not mention, I dare not, and perhaps I ought not to comment on an unpublished Anti-Slavery Reporter. But I must say-May God Almighty bless you and your children and their posterity. I am sure He will, let those unhappy agents in this system of guilt rail and calumniate you as they may. For myself I think often, but not too often, with pain and shame of my comparative uselessness—perhaps it may be still worse than uselessness. But from the very ground of my heart I can say that to aid in your efforts by every means in my power which my duty to the Government and the obligations of honour and conscience sanction is among the very first and dearest of my wishes. May the wisdom which is from above and the consolations and support which God alone can impart be with you in your labours and anxieties on this subject. -Ever most affectionately yours, JAMES STEPHEN.

The first break in the domestic circle at Great Ormond Street took place in September 1830 through the sudden and quite unexpected death of Jane, Mr. and Mrs. Macaulay's second daughter.

TO T. B. MACAULAY.

London, September 30, 1830. MY DEAR TOM,-We yesterday deposited in the silent tomb the mortal remains of our dear Jane. We did so with no vain hope of the blessedness of the spirit which had once animated them. Your mother, whose share in the loss has been the deepest, for she was her mother's unceasing and affectionate associate, clinging to her with a fondness and devotion that has made the disruption more severely felt, has been wonderfully sustained hitherto. She is now changing the scene, and to-day is to visit Highwood Hill, along with Selina, for a few days, and I have no doubt she will feel benefit from the visit. We are uncertain about your movements. Your last letter is that announcing your having heard of Jane's death and showing plainly the deep shock it had given your spirits. They have since, I trust, been tranquillised, and that you have been enabled to resume the prosecution of your plans for improving your visit to France. But we do not wish in any way to influence your movements. We shall be most happy to see you among

1 Mr. Wilberforce's residence in Middlesex.