cipline, the foundation of a savings bank in Spitalfields, the establishment of a salt fish market in the same district, an investigation into the management of the London Hospital, and the formation of a new Bible Association. During his first session in parliament he paid close attention to the operation of the criminal laws. He seconded the motion made by Sir James Mackintosh for a committee on this subject. He sat on two select committees appointed to inquire into the penal code, and in consequence of the reports of the respective committees the government brought in a bill for consolidatng and amending the prison laws then in existence. In 1820 Buxton lost his eldest son and three other children. A few months afterwards he removed from his house at Hampstead, and went to reside at Cromer Hall, Norfolk. In 1820 he supported Mackintosh's motion for abolishing the penalty of death for forgery.
In May 1824 Wilberforce, who had long led the anti-slavery party in the House of Commons, formally requested Buxton to become his successor. Buxton had been an active member of the African Institution. In 1822 he had begun his anti-slavery operations with vigour, being supported by Zachary Macaulay, Dr. Lushington, Lord Suffield, and others. In March 1823 Mr. Wilberforce issued his 'Appeal on behalf of the Slaves,' and immediately afterwards the Anti-Slavery Society was formed. On 16 May following Buxton — feeling, after mature deliberation, that he could not decline the important charge pressed on him by Wilberforce — brought forward a resolution in the House of Commons for the gradual abolition of slavery. It was carried, with the addition of some words proposed by Canning in reference to the planters' interests. The government issued a circular to the various colonial authorities, recommending the adoption of certain reforms; but the planters indignantly rejected them, and denounced the attack upon their rights.
Buxton laboured on, fortifying himself with facts concerning slave operations, and preparing documents charged with irrefragable statistics. Public meetings were held throughout the country in denunciation of the slave trade, and on 15 April 1831, the government having declined to take up the case, Buxton brought forward his resolution for the abolition of slavery. He showed that in 1807 the number of slaves in the West Indies was 800,000, while in 1830 it was only 700,000. In other words, the slave population had suffered a decrease in twenty-three years of 100,000. The necessity for emancipation was conceded, and at the opening of the session of 1833 Lord Althorp announced that the government would introduce a measure. Eventually, on 28 Aug., the bill for the total abolition of slavery throughout the British dominions received the royal assent.
In spite of some forebodings, the colonial legislatures duly carried the Act into effect. On emancipation day, 1 Aug. 1834, a large number of friends assembled at the house of Buxton, and presented him with two handsome pieces of plate. On 22 March 1836 Buxton moved for a committee of the House of Commons to inquire into the working of the apprenticeship system. He spent much time and labour in his investigation of this question, and adduced a mass of statistical information, 'proving, on the one hand, that the negroes had behaved extremely well, and, on the other, that they had been harassed by vexatious by-laws and cruel punishments.' The committee was granted, and subsequently the under-secretary for the colonies introduced a bill for enforcing in Jamaica measures in favour of the negroes.
In June 1837 the death of the king necessitated the dissolution of parliament, and Buxton lost his seat at Weymouth. He had refused beforehand to lend money — 'a gentle name for bribery' — to the extent of 1,000l. Proposals were made from twenty-seven boroughs to Buxton to stand as a candidate, but he declined them all.
He now sought to deliver Africa from the slave trade, and published in 1839 'The African Slave Trade and its Remedy.' He recommended the concentration upon the coast of Africa of a more efficient naval force; the formation of treaties with the native chiefs; the purchase by the British government of Fernando Po, as a kind of headquarters and mart of commerce; the despatch of an expedition up the Niger for the purpose of setting on foot preliminary arrangements; and the formation of a company for the introduction of agriculture and commerce into Africa.
The Society for the Extinction of the Slave Trade and the Civilisation of Africa was established; and the government resolved to send a frigate and two steamers to explore the Niger, and if possible to set on foot commercial relations with the tribes on its banks. Sir Edward Parry, the comptroller of steam machinery, was appointed to prepare the vessels. Meantime Buxton's healtn had given way, and he was ordered complete rest. Towards the close of 1839 he made a tour through Italy, where he engaged in a close investigation into the crimes of the banditti. He fully exposed the deeds of a notorious band,
