"[4] The Treaty of Paris eventually confirmed this law.[5]
In England, the united efforts of Sharpe, Clarkson, and Wilberforce
early began to arouse public opinion by means of agitation and pamphlet
literature. May 21, 1788, Sir William Dolben moved a bill regulating the
trade, which passed in July and was the last English measure
countenancing the traffic.[6] The report of the Privy Council on the
subject in 1789[7] precipitated the long struggle. On motion of Pitt, in
1788, the House had resolved to take up at the next session the question
of the abolition of the trade.[8] It was, accordingly, called up by
Wilberforce, and a remarkable parliamentary battle ensued, which lasted
continuously until 1805. The Grenville-Fox ministry now espoused the
cause. This ministry first prohibited the trade with such colonies as
England had acquired by conquest during the Napoleonic wars; then, in
1806, they prohibited the foreign slave-trade; and finally, March 25,
1807, enacted the total abolition of the traffic.[9]
67. ~Concerted Action of the Powers, 1783-1814.~ During the peace
negotiations between the United States and Great Britain in 1783, it was
proposed by Jay, in June, that there be a proviso inserted as follows:
"Provided that the subjects of his Britannic Majesty shall not have any
right or claim under the convention, to carry or import, into the said
States any slaves from any part of the world; it being the intention of
the said States entirely to prohibit the importation thereof.
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