William Wilberforce | Collection of nine letters, to Joseph Walker, on abolitionism and other subjects, 1788-92

William Wilberforce

Series of nine letters signed (eight autograph), to Joseph Walker, on his campaign against the slave trade and other political subjects

writing fervently on the upswell of public support for abolitionism ("...their case begins to interest the public, I trust a flame is kindled that will not be extinguished till it has done its work...", 15 January 1788) and his own deepening involvement in the cause ("...I was in the Country plunged up to the Chin in Slave papers, having absconded from London for the sole purpose of making myself complete Master of my Subject...", 20 January 1790), in the context of a wider political correspondence covering subjects such as dissent and the Test Acts, the Regency Crisis, and revolutiuonary war in Europe ("...Alas for Poland! Alas - for France...", 18 August 1792), 40 pages, 4to, docketed and numbered in other hands, cloth folder and slipcase, London, Buxton, Lichfield, Bath and elsewhere, 15 January 1788-18 August 1792, housed in a collector's box and slipcase, some light spotting and browning, two letters with small tissue repairs at folds

A SUBSTANTIAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENCE TO A LIKE-MINDED FRIEND. Joseph Walker (1752-1801) was a Non-Conformist from a leading family of Iron Masters in Rotherham. Wilberforce first met him whilst campaigning for the seat at Sheffield in 1784. Both men were part of the intellectual elite of the newly-industrial north of England, and shared the passionate belief in reform that was common in such circles. As a non-Conformist, Walker was particuarly engaged with the campaign for the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, which barred them from public office, and Wilberforce defends himself at length for his lack of support for this campaign ("...as it conveyed an Insinuation against the Body of the Establish'd Clergy...a Set of Men for many of whom I entertain'd a sincere Respect & for many others a warm affection..."). Abolitionism was of course the heart of Wilberforce's political career, and he returns to various aspects of the subject repeatedly in these letters, for example describing the plight of Black Loyalists in Nova Scotia:

"...The Negroes here referr'd to formerly inhabited the southern provinces of the United States, & having sided with us during the war & being consequently obnoxious to the Americans, they were, as a reward to their Loyalty, transported to the genial climate of Nova Scotia, where they have ever since been in a most deplorable way: besides the rigors of the Climate so ill adapted to their Constitutions, they were very ill treated in other respects, the land promised them was not given &c &c..." (3 December 1791)

LITERATURE:

Transactions of the Hunter Archaeological Society, 8 (1960), pp. 50-66

PROVENANCE:

Sotheby's, London, 24 July 1995, lot 412