reagh's resolution (his speeches on this subject were published separately). The result was the foundation of the bishopric of Calcutta, first held by Thomas Fanshaw Middleton [q. v.] The slavery question was revived by the events of 1814. The African Institution resolved to postpone the registration bill in order to press for a general convention. Wilberforce applied to Lord Liverpool and to Castlereagh on the subject, and was greatly disappointed at the absence of any satisfactory stipulation by the French government in 1814. He afterwards had interviews with the Emperor Alexander on the subject. On 17 June a meeting was held in Freemasons' Hall, when Wilberforce, as ‘the great father of our cause,’ was entrusted with a petition to the House of Commons. He spoke effectively in the house and carried an address to the prince regent, and afterwards an amendment to the address upon the peace. He called for petitions, of which more than eight hundred with nearly one million signatures were presented. He also printed a letter to Talleyrand which was widely circulated. Talleyrand replied dexterously and evasively (see his letters in Wilberforce's Correspondence, ii. 284, 295). On 15 Nov. Wilberforce heard that the French government had prohibited the slave trade north of Cape Formosa. Soon afterwards Napoleon, on his return from Elba, proclaimed a total abolition, which was afterwards accepted by the government of the restoration. The registration bill had meanwhile come up again in the beginning of 1815. The government declined to support it, although Wilberforce offered in return for such support to speak on the corn bill. Stephen hereupon resigned his seat in parliament. Wilberforce declared that the refusal implied an unwillingness of government to support any measures for improving the condition of the slaves, and considered himself at liberty to take up the question of emancipation. In 1792 (Parl. Hist. xxix. 1057) he had emphatically denied that he contemplated immediate emancipation, for which he considered the negroes to be still unfit. He spoke to the same effect even at the time of the abolition of the trade (17 March 1807). It soon became evident that regulations which were the necessary result of suppressing the slave trade could only lead to emancipation. He was not as yet prepared, however, for a direct agitation. During the next years he had much correspondence with Christophe, emperor of Hayti (Wilberforce, Correspondence, i. 353 &c.). Wilberforce tried to obtain his recognition at the congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, gave him good advice, procured schoolmasters, professors, and governesses for him and his people, and formed plans which came to nothing on Christophe's death at the end of 1821.
Wilberforce supported the government during the critical period which followed the peace. A speech in favour of the corn bill of 1815, which he had made after much hesitation, caused threats of personal violence, and his house at Kensington Gore had to be garrisoned for a time by soldiers (Life, v. 247). In 1817 he was on the secret committee which considered the popular discontent, and gave the weight of his authority to the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act which followed. He was attacked by Burdett (27 June 1817) as ‘the honourable and religious member.’ The house resented the rudeness. One of his last conspicuous appearances was caused by the Queen Caroline troubles in 1820. When, upon the queen's return to England, Castlereagh moved for a committee of inquiry, Wilberforce obtained an adjournment of the debate (7 June) in order to give time for an arrangement. He carried on a negotiation with Brougham, which was only broken off upon the question of the restoration of the queen's name to the liturgy, a demand of which he personally approved. On 22 June he carried a resolution in the House of Commons recommending the queen not to insist upon her claims, and was one of four members who on 29 June conveyed this resolution to her. Brougham appears to have given him assurances of her consent, which encouraged him to make this fruitless proposal.
Wilberforce's health was becoming weak. At the end of 1821 he was much grieved by the death of his eldest daughter (30 Dec.). Though advised to avoid exciting work, he still took part in the growing agitation against slavery. He wrote in 1822 an address to the emperor of Russia, which was sent to all the members of the legislatures in France, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. He made an able speech against the introduction of slaves into the Cape (25 July), and in March 1823 issued an ‘appeal,’ which was followed by the formation of the Anti-slavery Society. A motion against slavery by Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton [q. v.], on 15 May, was met by resolutions proposed by Canning in favour of amelioration of the system, which Wilberforce persuaded his followers to accept. On 16 March 1824 he again spoke vigorously upon slavery, but on the 19th was taken seriously ill. He made one more speech upon the same topic, and then had another attack, which made his retirement necessary in March 1825. He
