Empire of Ivory Page 0,30
it even miraculous. But I see that you are making ready to depart; so I will beg your pardon," he bowed to Temeraire, "and yours, Captain, for so indelicately moving to the subject which has brought us here, to seek your assistance."
"I hope you will speak as frankly as you like, sir," Laurence said, and begged them to sit down, with many apologies for the situation: Emily and Dyer had dragged chairs out of the cabin for their use, as that building was hardly fit for receiving guests, and arranged them near the embers of the cooking-fire for warmth.
"I wish to be clear," Wilberforce began, "that no-one could be insensible of the service which his Grace has rendered his country, or begrudge him the just rewards of that service, and the respect of the common man - "
"You might better say, the blind adoration of the common man," Lord Allendale put in, with more heavy disapproval. "And some not so common, who have less excuse; it is appalling to see the influence the man has upon the Lords. Every day he is not at sea is a fresh disaster," and Laurence gathered, after a few moments more of confusion, that they were speaking of none other than Lord Nelson himself.
"Forgive me; we have spoken so much of these matters, among ourselves, that we go too quickly." Wilberforce drew a hand over his jaw, rubbing down his jowls. "I believe you know something already," he said, "of the difficulties which we have encountered, in our attempts to abolish the trade."
"I do," Laurence said: twice already, victory had seemed in reach. Early in the struggle, the House of Lords had held up a resolution already past the Commons, with some excuse of examining witnesses. On another attempt, a bill had indeed gone through, but only after amendments had changed abolition to gradual abolition: so gradual indeed that there were no signs of it as yet to be seen, fifteen years later. The Terror in France had by that time been making a bloody ruin of the word liberty, and putting into the hands of the slave traders the choice name of Jacobin to be leveled against abolitionists; no further progress had been made, for many years.
"But in this last session," Wilberforce said, "we were on the verge of achieving a vital measure: an act which should have barred all new ships from the slave trade. It ought to have passed; we had the votes in our grasp - then Nelson came from the countryside. He had but lately risen from his sickbed; he chose to address Parliament upon the subject, and by the vigor of his opposition alone caused the measure to fail in the Lords."
"I am sorry to hear it," Laurence said, if not surprised: Nelson's views had been pronounced in public, often enough. Like many a naval officer, he thought slavery, if an evil, also a necessary one, as a nursery for her sailors and a foundation of her trade; the abolitionists a cohort of enthusiasts and quixotics, bent on undermining England's maritime power and threatening her hold upon her colonies, while only that domination allowed her to hold fast against the looming threat of Napoleon.
"Very sorry," Laurence continued, "but I do not know what use I can be to you; I cannot claim any personal acquaintance, which might give me the right to try and persuade him - "
"No, no; we have no such hope," Wilberforce said. "He has expressed himself too decidedly upon the subject; also many of his great friends, and sadly his creditors, are slave-owners or involved with the trade. I am sorry to say such considerations may lead astray even the best and wisest of men."
They sought rather, he explained, while Lord Allendale looked morose and reluctant, to offer the public a rival for their interest and admiration; and Laurence gradually understood through circular approaches that they meant him for this figure, on the foundation of his recent and exotic expedition, and the very adoption which he had expected his father to condemn.
"To the natural interest which the public will have, in your late adventure," Wilberforce said, "you join the authority of a military officer, who has fought against Napoleon himself in the field; your voice can dispute Nelson's assertions, that the end of the trade should be the ruin of the nation."
"Sir," Laurence said, not certain if he was sorrier to be disobliging Mr. Wilberforce, or happier to be forced to refuse such an