delay, would in that particular period of the session have totally prevented the passing of the bill.  He suggested certain amendments for consideration and discussion, which, if they had been agreed upon, must have been carried again to the lower house and sanctioned there before the bill could have been complete.  But it appeared afterwards, that there would have been no time for the latter proceeding.  Earl Stanhope, therefore, pressed this circumstance peculiarly upon the Lords who were present.  He observed, that the King was to dismiss the parliament next day, and therefore they must adopt the bill as it stood, or reject it altogether.  There was no alternative, and no time was to be lost.  Accordingly he moved for an immediate division on the first of the amendments proposed by Lord Thurlow.  This having taken place, it was negatived.  The other amendments shared the same fate; and thus, at length, passed through the upper house, as through an ordeal as it were of fire, the first bill that ever put fetters upon that barbarous and destructive monster, The Slave-trade.

The next day, or on Friday, July the eleventh, the King gave his assent to it, and, as Lord Stanhope had previously asserted in the House of Lords, concluded the session.

While the legislature was occupied in the consideration of this bill, the Lords of the Council continued their examinations, that they might collect as much light as possible previously to the general agitation of the question in the next session of parliament.  Among others I underwent an examination.  I gave my testimony first relative to many of the natural productions of Africa, of which I produced the specimens.  These were such as I had collected in the course of my journey to Bristol and Liverpool, and elsewhere.  I explained, secondly, the loss and usage of seamen in the Slave-trade.  To substantiate certain points, which belonged to this branch of the subject, I left several depositions and articles of agreement for the examination of the council.  With respect to others, as it would take a long time to give all the data upon which calculations had been made and the manner of making them, I was desired to draw up a statement of particulars, and to send it to the council at a future time.  I left also depositions with them relative to certain instances of the mode of procuring and treating slaves.

The commitee also for effecting the abolition of the Slave-trade continued their attention, during this period, towards the promotion of the different objects, which came within the range of the institution.

They added the reverend Dr. Coombe, in consequence of the great increase of their business, to the list of their members.