The examinations began again on February 7th, and continued till April 5th, when they were finally closed.  In this, as in the former session, Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. William Smith principally conducted them; and indeed it was necessary that they should have been present at these times; for it is perhaps difficult to conceive the illiberal manner in which our witnesses were treated by those on the other side of the question.  Men who had left the trade upon principle, and who had come forward, against their apparent interest, to serve the cause of humanity and justice, were looked upon as mercenaries and culprits, or as men of doubtful and suspicious character; they were brow-beaten; unhandsome questions were put to them; some were kept for four days under examination.  It was however highly to their honour that they were found in no one instance to prevaricate, nor to waver as to the certainty of their facts.

But this treatment, hard as it was for them to bear, was indeed good for the cause; for, coming thus pure out of the fire, they occasioned their own testimony, when read, to bear stronger marks of truth than that of the generality of our opponents; nor was it less superior when weighed by other considerations.  For the witnesses, against the abolition were principally interested; they, who were not, had been hospitably received at the planters’ tables.  The evidence, too, which they delivered, was almost wholly negative.  They had not seen such and such evils; but this was no proof that the evils did not exist.  The witnesses, on the other hand, who came up in favour of the abolition, had no advantage in making their several assertions.  In some instances they came up against their apparent interest, and, to my knowledge, suffered persecution for so doing.  The evidence also which they delivered was of a positive nature.  They gave an account of specific evils, which had come under their own eyes; these evils were never disproved; they stood therefore on a firm basis, as on a tablet of brass.  Engraved there in affirmative characters, a few of them were of more value than all the negative and airy testimony which had been advanced on the other side of the question.

That the public may judge, in some measure, of the respectability of the witnesses in favour of the abolition, and that they may know also to whom Africa is so much indebted for her deliverance, I shall subjoin their names in the three following lists.  The first will contain those who were examined by the privy council only; the second those who were examined by the privy council and the House of Commons also; and the third those who were examined-by the House of Commons only.

LIST I.

LIST II.

LIST III.