1783, ‘‘to consider what steps they should take for the relief and liberation of the Negro slaves in the West Indies, and for the discouragement of the Slave-trade on the coast of Africa"' The result of the agitation of this private committee was the formation on May 22, 1787, of the "Society for the Abolition of the African Slave-trade,"? of which Granville Sharp was the chairman, and Thomas Clarkson was, next to Sharp, the most active member. In Parliament William Wilberforce became the champion of the society, chiefly through the work of Clarkson. Of the standing of the supporters of the trade we have a sufficient indication in the fact that their leader was His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, afterward William IV.
How the society held meetings and published appeals, and how the slavers were forced to reply but failed to show convincing arguments, cannot be told here. But in the meantime David Hartley, a member of Parliament from Hull, made a motion in the House, in 1776, "That the slave-trade is contrary to the laws of God and the rights of man." In support of this resolution he laid on the table of the House some of the irons used in securing slaves on the slave-ships. Sir George Saville seconded the motion, but, of course, it failed even of a respectful hearing.
In 1783 an effort was made to regulate the slavetrade, and it was then the abolition committee began its work. The bill of 1783 failed, but because of the continually increasing agitation by the abolitionists "*the King by an order in council, dated February llth, 1788, directed that a committee of the Privy Council should sit as a board of trade To take into their consideration the present state of the African
