The noise which the relation and repetition of these and
other circumstances had made, had given him, I believe, considerable
pain. His friends, too, had urged some explanation as necessary. But how
short-sighted are they who do wrong! By coming forward in this imprudent
manner, he fixed the stain only the more indelibly on himself; for he
thus imposed upon me the cruel necessity of being examined against him;
and this necessity was the more afflicting, to me, because I was to be
called upon not to state facts relative to the trade, but to destroy his
character as an evidence in its support. I was to be called upon, in
fact, to explain all those communications which have been stated to have
taken place between us on this subject. Glad indeed should I have been
to have declined this painful interference. But no one would hear of a
refusal. The Bishop of London, Mr. Pitt, and Mr. Wilberforce considered
my appearance on this occasion as an imperious duty to the cause of the
oppressed. It may be perhaps sufficient to say that I was examined; that
Mr. Norris was present all the time; that I was cross-examined by
counsel; and, that after this time, Mr. Norris seemed to have no
ordinary sense of his own degradation; for he never afterwards held up
his head or looked the abolitionists in the face, or acted with energy
as a delegate, as on former occasions.
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