And as a proof that this was my errand, it was requested
of every Frenchman to put to himself the following question, "How it
happened that England, which had considered the subject coolly and
deliberately for eighteen months, and this in a state of internal peace
and quietness, had not abolished the Slave Trade?"
The clamour which was now made against the abolition pervaded all Paris,
and reached the ears of the king; Mr. Necker had a long conversation
with him upon it; the latter sent for me immediately. He informed me
that His Majesty was desirous of making himself master of the question,
and had expressed a wish to see my _Essay on the Impolicy of the Slave
Trade_; he desired to have two copies of it, one in French, and the
other in English, and he would then take his choice as to which of them
he would read; he (Mr. Necker) was to present them. He would take with
him, also, at the same time, the beautiful specimens of the manufactures
of the Africans, which I had lent to Madame Necker out of the cabinet of
Monsieur Geoffroy de Villeneuve and others; as to the section of the
slave-ship, he thought it would affect His Majesty too much, as he was
then indisposed. All these articles, except the latter, were at length
presented; the king bestowed a good deal of time upon the specimens; he
admired them, but particularly those in gold.
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