The first public steps taken after my arrival in Paris were at a committee of the Friends of the Negros, which was but thinly attended.  None of those mentioned, except Brissot, were present.  It was resolved there, that the committee should solicit an audience of Mr. Necker; and that I should wait upon him, accompanied by a deputation consisting of the Marquis de Condorcet, Monsieur de Bourge, and Brissot de Warwille; Secondly, that the committee should write to the president of the National Assembly, and request the favour of him to appoint a day for hearing the cause of the Negros; and, Thirdly, that it should be recommended to the committee in London to draw up a petition to the National Assembly of France, praying for the abolition of the Slave-trade by that country.  This petition, it was observed, was to be signed by as great a number of the friends to the cause in England, as could be procured.  It was then to be sent to the committee at Paris, who would take it in a body to the place of its destination.

I found great delicacy as a stranger in making my observations upon these resolutions, and yet I thought I ought not to pass them over wholly in silence, but particularly the last.  I therefore rose up, and stated that there was one resolution, of which I did not quite see the propriety.  But this might arise from my ignorance of the customs, as well as of the genius and spirit of the French people.  It struck me that an application from a little committee in England to the National Assembly of France was not a dignified measure, nor was it likely to have weight with such a body.  It was, besides, contrary to all the habits of propriety, in which I had been educated.  The British Parliament did not usually receive petitions from the subjects of other nations.  It was this feeling, which had induced me thus to speak.

To these observations it was replied, that the National Assembly of France would glory in going contrary to the example of other nations in a case of generosity and justice, and that the petition in question, if it could be obtained, would have an influence there, which the people of England, unacquainted with the sentiments of the French nation, would hardly credit.

To this I had only to reply, that I would communicate the measure to the committee in London, but that I could not be answerable for the part they would take in it.

By an answer received from Mr. Necker, relative to the first of these resolutions, it appeared that the desired interview had been obtained:  but he granted it only for a few minutes, and this principally to show his good will to the cause.  For he was then so oppressed with business in his own department, that he had but little time for any other.  He wrote to me however the next day, and desired my company to dinner.  He then expressed a wish to me, that any business relative to the Slave-trade might be managed by ourselves as individuals, and that I would take the opportunity of dining with him occasionally for this purpose.  By this plan, he said, both of us would save time.  Madame Necker also promised to represent her husband, if I should call in his absence, and to receive me, and converse with me on all occasions, in which this great cause of humanity and religion might be concerned.