just before the resignation of the ministry. The ‘African Institution’ was founded upon the passing of the act, in order to promote the effective application of the measure and the suppression of the slave trade in foreign countries.
Wilberforce was henceforth the object of unique respect. He was regarded as the authorised interpreter of the national conscience. In the general election of 1807, however, he had to stand a severe contest for Yorkshire against Lord Milton and Mr. Lascelles, who had been his colleague from 1796 to 1806. A subscription of 64,455l. was raised to pay his expenses. The poll lasted for fifteen days, and at the end he had received 11,806 votes to 11,177 for Lord Milton and 10,989 for Lascelles. Many of his supporters insisted upon paying their own expenses, and the sum finally spent on his behalf was 28,600l., while his opponents' charges were reckoned at 200,000l. After an autumn at Clapham, he had a dangerous illness. He decided in the course of the next year to give up the Clapham house and settled at Kensington Gore, where he could discharge his parliamentary duties with less separation from his family. He also gave up his house in Palace Yard, taking lodgings in the neighbourhood. Kensington Gore became a famous place of resort for his numerous friends and clients. He spent the early hours in private and family prayers; but a ‘throng of visitors’ began at breakfast-time and continued through the day. His friends admitted that his peculiar talents were displayed to most advantage in keeping up an ‘extensive though simple hospitality.’ Kensington was still in the country, and his garden was full of ‘lilacs, laburnums, nightingales, and swallows.’ His brother-in-law James Stephen was a close neighbour, and he was courted not only by his friends but by the leaders of society. In 1814 Mme. de Stael was invited by the Duke of Gloucester to meet him at dinner. She knew him to be the ‘most religious’ and now pronounced him to be also the ‘wittiest man in England.’ He felt it right to withdraw from the ‘gay and irreligious though brilliant’ society, which was too exciting. At Brighton, however, in 1815, he felt bound to attend the prince regent at the pavilion. The prince's courtesy charmed him, and no occasion of offence was given. The deaths of Henry Thornton and John Bowdler the younger [q. v.], a favourite disciple, in 1815, and of his sister in 1816, were serious losses. Meanwhile the universal admiration and respect did not distract him from his main occupations, which, after the abolition of the slave trade, became more multifarious than before. He spoke with authority upon some of the exciting questions of the day. He offended many of his religious friends and exposed himself to much abuse by supporting catholic emancipation. He was doubtful in 1808, but in 1813 defended the catholic claims in a weighty speech (9 March), arguing that to exclude them from parliament was now to maintain a useless irritation. In the scandals about Mrs. Clarke (1808–9) he tried to take a middle course with the help of Thornton and others, and to secure the resignation of the Duke of York with the least possible exposure. He offended the royal family, but, though the motion supported by him was rejected, the duke's resignation fulfilled his purpose. In 1810, again, he voted against government on the inquiries in regard to the Walcheren expedition, and wished to reprimand Burdett instead of sending him to the Tower. Generally he held the position of the independent umpire, and his amiable counsels were received with much respect and little adhesion. His health, never strong, was tried by the trouble of representing a large constituency. As early as 1802 his cousin, Lord Carrington, had thought the work too much for him, and had suggested the advantage of a close borough. In 1812 he finally decided to retire, when a vote of thanks for his services during twenty-eight years was passed at a county meeting (28 Oct.) For the rest of his parliamentary career he sat for Bramber. Meanwhile the slavery question was still occupying much time. He had been convinced that a bill for the registration of slaves in the West Indies was a necessary complement to the abolition of the slave trade. In 1812 he pressed the necessity of this measure upon Perceval, who received the proposal favourably, but was assassinated directly afterwards (11 May). In 1813 he was greatly occupied by another matter. The renewal of the charter of the East India Company would give an opportunity for ‘introducing Christian light into India.’ Upon the previous renewal in 1793 he had proposed clauses enabling the company to employ religious teachers (printed in Life, ii. 393); and he had been interested in the plan of Robert Haldane (1764–1842) [q. v.] for the founding a mission in India. Wilberforce had consulted various friends in 1812 and in 1813, ‘stirred up petitions,’ and examined witnesses in the House of Commons. Castlereagh, after some difficulty, was induced to approve, and on 22 June Wilberforce spoke for two hours with his old eloquence in support of Castle-
