Private Papers of William Wilberforce. William Wilberforce
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as unsatisfactory as possible. This I really believe proceeded in a great measure from the evident embarrassment and distress under which he was speaking, and which I am persuaded prevented him from doing any justice to his own ideas. I may deceive and flatter myself, but tho' I know we shall be far from obtaining all that you and I wish, I really think there is much chance of great real and substantial ground being gained towards the ultimate and not remote object of total abolition next session. This is far from a reason for not endeavouring, if possible, to prevent the aggravation of the evil in the meantime, and I heartily wish you may be successful in the attempt.
"Ever affy. yrs.,
"W. P."
"Walmer Castle,
"September 22, 1802.
"My dear Wilberforce, I am much obliged to you for your kind letter of inquiry. My complaint has entirely left me, I am recovering my strength every day, and I have no doubt of being in a very short time as well as I was before the attack. Farquhar, however, seems strongly disposed to recommend Bath before the winter, and if you make your usual visit thither, I hope it is not impossible we may meet. Perhaps you will let me know whether you propose going before Parliament meets, and at what time. I hardly imagine that the session before Christmas can produce much business that will require attendance. I ought long since to have written to you on the subject of our friend Morritt. It would give me great pleasure to see him come back to Parliament, tho' I hardly think the occasion was one on which I
[Rest of letter torn off.]
"Bath,
"October 31, 1802.
"My dear Wilberforce—As you are among the persons to whom the author of the enclosed high-flown compliments refers for his character for a very important purpose, I shall be much obliged to you if you will tell me what you know of him. A man's qualifications to give a dinner certainly depend more on the excellence of his cook and his wine, than on himself but I have still some curiosity to know what sort of company he and his guests are likely to prove; and should therefore be glad to know a little more about them than I collect from his list of the dramatis personæ, which for instruction might as well have been taken from any old play-bill. In the meantime I have been obliged out of common civility, provisoirement to accept his invitation. I was very sorry that I had too little time to spare in passing thro' town to try to see you. I should have much wished to have talked over with you the events which have been passing and the consequences to which they seem to lead. You know how much under all the circumstances I wished for peace, and my wishes remain the same, if Bonaparte can be made to feel that he is not to trample in succession on every nation in Europe. But of this I fear there is little chance, and without it I see no prospect but war.
"I have not yet been here long enough to judge much of the effect of these waters, but as far as I can in a few days, I think I am likely to find them of material use to me. I mean to be in town by the 18th of next month. Paley's work, which you mentioned in your last letter, I had already read on the recommendation of my friend Sir W. Farquhar, who had met with it by accident, and was struck with its containing the most compendious and correct view of anatomy which he had ever seen. I do not mean that he thought this its only merit. It certainly has a great deal, but I think he carries some of his details and refinements further than is at all necessary for his purpose, and perhaps than will quite stand the test of examination.
"Ever affy. yrs.,
"W. P."
"Walmer Castle,
"August 8, 1803 (?).
"My dear Wilberforce—Not having returned from a visit to some of my corps on the Isle of Thanet till Friday evening, I could not answer your letter by that day's post, and I was interrupted when I was going to write to you yesterday. It was scarce possible for me, consistent with very material business in this district, to have reached town to-day; and besides, I confess, I do not think any great good could have been done by anything I could say in the House on any of the points you mention. I feel most of them, however, and some others of the same sort, as of most essential importance; and I have thoughts of coming to town for a couple of days (which is as much as I can spare from my duties here) towards the end of the week, to try whether I cannot find some channel by which a remedy may be suggested on some of the points which are now most defective. I think I shall probably reach town on Saturday morning, and I should wish much if you could contrive to meet me in Palace Yard or anywhere else, to have an hour's conversation with you. I will write to you again as soon as I can precisely fix any day. We are going on here most rapidly, and in proportion to our population, most extensively, in every species of local defence, both naval and military, and I trust shall both add very much to the security of essential points on this coast, and set not a bad example to other maritime districts.
"Ever affy. yours,
"W. P."
"Walmer Castle,
"January 5, 1804.
"My dear Wilberforce—Your letter reached me very safe this morning, and I thank you very much for its contents. I hope it will not be long before I have an opportunity of talking over with you fully the subject to which it relates. From what I have heard since I saw you, it will be necessary for me pretty soon to make up my mind on the line to pursue under the new state of things which is approaching. In the meantime, I shall not commit myself to anything without looking to all the consequences as cautiously as you can wish; and before I form any final decision, I shall much wish to consult yourself and a few others whose opinions I most value. If no new circumstance arises to revive the expectation of the enemy, I mean to be in town the beginning of next week, and will immediately let you know. Perhaps I may be able to go on to Bath for a fortnight.
"Ever affy. yours,
"W. P."
Two examples are here given of Wilberforce's letters to Pitt. The first is written in the character of a country member and political friend. The second is one in reference to his work on Practical Religion.[9] They are both, as is generally the case with his letters to Pitt, undated, but the post-mark of the second bears "1797."
Mr. Wilberforce to Right Hon. William Pitt.
"My dear Pitt—My head and heart have been long full of some thoughts which I wished to state to you when a little less under extreme pressure than when Parliament is sitting. But my eyes have been very poorly. I am now extremely hurried, but I will mention two or three things as briefly as possible that I may not waste your time. First, perhaps even yet you may not have happened to see an Order in Council allowing, notwithstanding the War, an intercourse to subsist between our West Indian Colonies and those of Spain, in which negro slaves are the chief articles we are to supply. I know these commercial matters are not within your department, and that therefore your assent is asked, if at all, when your mind is full of other subjects. But let me only remind you, for it would be foolish to write what will suggest itself to your own mind, that the House of Commons did actually pass the Bill for abolishing the foreign slave trade; and that if contracts are made again for supplying Spain for a term of years, it may throw obstacles in the way of a foreign slave-trade abolition. It would give me more pleasure than I can express to find any further measures, or even thoughts, on this to me painful subject, for many reasons, by hearing the order was revoked. Second, I promised by compulsion (I mean because I dislike to bore you) to state to you on the part of the Deputy Receiver General for the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire and Hull that it would tend materially both to facilitate and cheapen the collection of the new assessed taxes to let them be collected at the same time as the old ones. This will make the rounds four times per annum instead of ten, and he says the expense of collecting, if incurred six times per annum, will amount to full one-half of all the present salaries of the Receivers General in the Kingdom. As he is a most respectable man, I ought to say that he gives it as his opinion that the Receivers General are not overpaid, all things considered. But for my own opinion let me add that his principal really has none of the labours of the office, and the deputy even finds his securities for him. Third, surely there ought at the Bank to be a distinction between what is paid for