Excerpt from The Correspondence of William Wilberforce, Vol. 1 of 2 No apology can be necessary for presenting to the notice of the American public an edition of the Correspondence of Mr. Wilber force. Living at the most eventful period of modern times, and intimately associated with all the actors in the mighty and fearful drama of which Europe was the theatre, during the latter part of' the past and the beginning of the present century - participating in the counsels of the successive ministries by which the government of Great Britain was conducted during the period in which that nation exercised an unequalled control over the destinies of the civilized world - representing the interests of one-tenth of that kingdom in the House of Commons, and possessing an influence in his talents and character paramount even to that he derived from this position, an interest is attached to all his actions and thoughts, such as few other men could awaken. This interest is felt equally by the statesman, the philanthropist, and the Christian, and each will find, in these volumes, sufficient to repay him for their perusal. The correspondence of such men as Pitt, Fox, Canning, Eldon, Wellesley, and Brougham, men of enlarged minds, and occupying the highest stations in the British government, cannot be devoid of interest to any. Never descending to the petty details of pri vate scandal, or even public gossip, there are still numerous traits of character displayed in their letters, which serve to introduce the reader to a more intimate acquaintance with them than general history affords. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.