Deem our nation brutes no longer,
Till some reason you shall find
Worthier of regard, and stronger,
Than the color of our kind.
Slaves of gold! whose sordid dealings
Tarnish all your boasted powers,
Prove that you have human feelings,
Ere you proudly question ours.
This little piece, Cowper presented in manuscript to some of his friends in London; and these conceiving it to contain a powerful appeal in behalf of the injured Africans, joined in printing it. Having ordered it on the finest hot pressed paper, and folded it up in a small and neat form, they gave it the printed title of "A Subject for Conversation at the Tea-table." After this, they sent many thousand copies of it in franks into the country. From one it spread to another, till it traveled almost over the whole island. Falling at length into the hands of the musician, it was set to music; and it then found its way into the streets, both of the metropolis and of the country, where it was sung as a ballad, and where it gave a plain account of the subject, with an appropriate feeling to those who heard it.
Nor was the philanthropy of Mr. Wedgwood less instrumental in turning the popular feeling in favor of the cause. He made his manufactory contribute to this end. He took the seal of the committee for his model; and he produced a beautiful cameo, of a less size, of which the ground was a most delicate white, but the negro, who was seen imploring compassion in the middle of it, was in his own native color. Mr. Wedgwood made a liberal donation of these, when finished, among his friends. 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 the fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity, and freedom.
Mr. Clarkson again departed on another tour, and traveled from August, 1790, to February, 1791, and added new and important witnesses to his list. The examinations were resumed, and closed finally on the 4th of April. It is from this body of evidence, thus given, that we have quoted so extensively in former chapters. The evidence having been printed on both sides for the use of the members, the 18th of April was the day fixed upon for deciding the case. By this time every effort had been made to render the question unpopular in the commons. Indemnification, massacre, civil war, ruin, had been vociferated in the ears of members. At this time, unhappily, those sanguinary scenes described in another part of this volume, were taking place in
