Page:Englishmen in the French Revolution.djvu/136

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THE FRENCH REVOLUTION.

addressed him threatening letters. Recalled to England to prepare evidence for a parliamentary committee, he enjoined moderation and prudence on the coloured deputation which had arrived from St. Domingo. He was disappointed with his want of success, due partly to the political turmoil, partly to the counter efforts of the colonists, who saw no inconsistency in excluding negroes from the rights of man. Neither, indeed, did some English sympathisers with the Revolution, as for example Colonel (afterwards Sir) Banastre Tarleton, M.P. for Liverpool, who was in Paris in 1791. He was a zealous defender of the slave trade, though he regretted having fought against American independence.

A closer view of the Revolution sobered or saddened some who from this side of the Channel had been enchanted with it. Mr. (afterwards Sir) John Stanley of Alderley, after a month at Paris in 1790, when he accompanied Huskisson, Windham, and Pelham (afterwards Lord Chichester) to the Jacobins, informed Lord Auckland that his enthusiasm had been dispelled; but he had not turned round the other way, for the violence, unfairness, and ignorance of both sides equally disgusted him. David Williams, the Unitarian minister, whose creed was ironically said to be, "I believe in God: amen," had been invited over to assist in framing the constitution. This was done at the suggestion of Brissot, who had translated his "Letters