I Began To Envy Those Who Had Seats In
Parliament, Riches, And Widely-Extended Connections, Which Would
Enable Them To Take Up This Cause.
"Finding scarcely any one, at the time, who thought of it, I was
turned frequently to myself; but here many difficulties arose.
It
struck me, among others, that a young man only twenty-four years of
age could not have that solid judgment, or that knowledge of men,
manners, and things, which were requisite to qualify him to undertake
a task of such magnitude and importance; and with whom was I to unite?
I believed, also, that it looked so much like one of the feigned
labors of Hercules, that my understanding would be suspected if I
proposed it."
He, however, resolved to do something for the cause by translating his
essay from Latin into English, enlarging and presenting it to the
public. Immediately on the publication of this essay he discovered, to
his astonishment and delight, that he was not the only one who had
been interested in this subject.
Being invited to the house of William Dillwyn, one of these friends to
the cause, he says, "How surprised was I to learn, in the course of
our conversation, of the labors of Granville Sharp, of the writings of
Ramsey, and of the controversy in which the latter was engaged! of all
which I had hitherto known nothing. How surprised was I to learn that
William Dillwyn had, two years before, associated himself with five
others for the purpose of enlightening the public mind on this great
subject!
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