Yet fame still followed him, and honor and office still claimed him as their rightful recipient.  With the lapse of time came changes, and public affairs presented themselves in new and unexpected aspects.  The vast empire of the East loomed up before the vision of statesmen and legislators in hitherto unimagined splendors, and with claims upon attention which could not be set aside.  At the India House considerations of momentous interest had arisen.  Mr. Pitt entered deeply into these affairs, connected as they were with the onward progress of British rule in Hindostan.  A crisis occurred at this time, in which, having the power, he could serve his country with manifest advantage to her interests.  At this juncture the offer of the King was renewed.  It came now just at the right time, and the young statesman was found as ready to accept as he had before been prompt to decline.  Mr. Pitt became the Prime-Minister of George III., and henceforth his history is blended with the movements of the Government.

Mr. Wilberforce had also at this time taken a strong hold upon public life.  His energies were enlisted in favor of the Governmental party, of which Mr. Pitt had become the leader.  Returning from a journey into France, which they had made together, these two friends entered upon their respective duties.  With regard to the question at issue, Yorkshire, the largest county in England, had not yet defined her position with a sufficient degree of distinctness.  Here Mr. Wilberforce possessed landed estates, and here he was prepared to uphold the consistency and integrity of the Administration.  That peculiar persuasive power, that silver-toned eloquence, which in after years won for him so much influence in the House of Commons, here perhaps for the first time found full play and triumphant success.  His power over the minds of men certainly was brought to a rigorous test.

It was on a chilly day, amid falling hail, that he addressed a crowd of people in the castle-yard at York.  They had listened already to several speakers, were weary, and about to separate, when Mr. Wilberforce appeared on the stand and began to speak.  Silence was at once secured, and so perfectly were they swayed by his words that all signs of opposition or impatience disappeared.  For more than an hour, notwithstanding unfavorable circumstances, he held their attention, winning them to harmony with his own political views.  This was not all.  Before the assembly dispersed, it was whispered from one to another, “We must have this man for our county member.”  The election of a member for Yorkshire was nigh at hand, and when its results were made known, he found himself in the influential position of “a representative of the tenth part of England.”

To this same member for Yorkshire, in conjunction with the Prime-Minister of England, we are indebted for the first Parliamentary agitation of a topic which has since been fruitful enough in discussion, —­AFRICAN SLAVERY.