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Clarkson, Thomas, 1760-1846

"The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839)"

Mr. Wedgewood made a liberal donation of these, when
finished, among his friends. I received from him no less than five
hundred of them myself. They, to whom they were sent, did not lay them
up in their cabinets, but gave them away likewise. They were soon, like
_The Negro's Complaint_, in different parts of the kingdom. Some had
them inlaid in gold on the lid of their snuff-boxes. Of the ladies,
several wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an
ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length the taste for
wearing them became general; and thus fashion, which usually confines
itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honourable office
of promoting the cause of justice, humanity, and freedom.
I shall now only state that the committee took as members within its own
body, in the period of time which is included in this chapter, the
Reverend Mr. Ormerod, chaplain to the Bishop of London, and Captain
James Bowen, of the royal navy; that they elected the Honourable
Nathaniel Curzon (afterwards Lord Scarsdale), Dr. Frossard, of Lyons,
and Benjamin Garlike, Esq., then secretary to the English embassy at the
Hague, honorary and corresponding members; and that they concluded their
annual labours with a suitable report, in which they noticed the
extraordinary efforts of our opponents to injure our cause in the
following manner:--"In the progress of this business, a powerful
combination of interest has been excited against us.


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