WILBERFORCE, WILLIAM: Statesman and philanthropist, father of the preceding, and leader of England in the abolition of the slavetrade; b. at Hull Aug. 24, 1759; d. at London July 29, 1833. He was of an old and wealthy Yorkshire family, and his father and grandfather were prominent citizens of Hull. He was a delicate child, lost his father at the early age-of ten, and then went to live with an uncle, whose wife was deeply imbued with piety of the Whitefieldian type. Fearing that the boy would be made a Methodist, his mother removed him from the aunt's influence after two years, but his religious nature had already received a permanent impress, and the tendency thus induced was strengthened later by association with Isaac Milner (q.v.), who had been one of his first teachers at the Hull grammai and was always an intimate friend. For fifty. years Wilberforce was accounted the lay leader of the evangelical branch of the English Church. He entered St. John's College, Cambridge, in 1776. Being rich, witty, and fond of society,. courted by his fellows and clever enough to pass,examinations with slight effort, he mingled in the world of fashion and made study a secondary thing. On reaching his majority he left college, renounced the mercantile career and large business interests which were his by inheritance from father and grandfather, and determined to enter public life. He was elected to parliament from Hull (after the expenditure of L8,000) in 1780, and thenceforth sat continuously in the house of commons till 1825, when failing strength and illness induced his retirement.

When Wilberforce entered parliament -the ministry of Lord North had been in power for ten years, serving virtually as a mere cloak for the direction of public affairs by the king (George III.). Rebellion had been instigated in the American colonies, then combated stubbornly and inefficiently; the

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country had been involved in war with Holland and France; public expenditures had risen alarmingly. On the other hand, certain of the laws against the Roman Catholics had been repealed, and Clive had founded the English dominion in India, while Warren Hastings was following brilliantly in his footsteps. Though professedly opposed to the North ministry, at first Wilberforce voted with it on certain secondary measures. In 1782 the younger Pitt came into power, and thenceforth, with but brief intervals, stood at the head of affairs till his death in 1806. Pitt and Wilberforce were contemporaries at Cambridge, they became friendly during the parliamentary election of 1780, and soon after they became close and intimate friends. In general Wilberforce supported heartily the liberal and reforms-. tory policy of the minister, especially during the prerevolutionary period. Yet he was never a blind partizan, and at times worked and voted against his friend-notably, he opposed English participation in the war with France in 1793 and succeeding years, and in 1805 supported the impeachment of Lord Melville for financial irregularities as treasurer of the navy. Measures which interested him personally in his earlier parliamentary career concerned reforms in the criminal law and the conduct of elections.

After the session of 1786 Wilberforce retired to the country to meditate and form plans. One outcome was a society for the reformation of manners, known popularly as the "Proclamation Society" from a royal proclamation against vice which the founder secured in June, 1787. The society instituted proceedings against blasphemous and indecent publications, and Wilberforce was long active in its affairs. At this time, furthermore, he enlisted against slavery. It is true that his interest had been aroused earlier; and the agitation against the slavetrade, started by Quakers and others, had already made progress. But the greatest advance yet attained was made when, in 1787, Wilberforce came forward as the parliamentary leader of the cause. Probably no other man in England was so fit for the post. In the struggle which followed and lasted for twenty years he was ably seconded by Pitt, Burke, and Fox. One measure after another aiming at the abolition of the slave-trade (of which England had enjoyed a monopoly since the Peace of Utrecht in 1713) failed to become law because of the opposition of the planters, the West India merchants, and many good people (including the king) who looked upon slavery as a natural and Scriptural institution, not to be lightly interfered with. The questions forced to the front by the French Revolution, with the slave insurrection in St. Domingo in 1791, interposed obstacles during the nineties. But in 1802 a parliament was elected which reflected new conditions and an aroused public opinion. A bill abolishing the slave-trade was passed by both houses of parliament in Feb., 1806, and received the royal assent on Mar. 25 of the same year. The "African Institution" was then founded to see to the enforcement of the law and work for the suppression of the slave-trade in other countries. Through it, by further measures in parliament, by personal appeals and exertions and the expenditure of money,

Wilberforce continued to work for the negro race. He had been one of the founders of the colony of Sierra Leone in 1791. In 1823 he issued an Appeal to the Religion, Justice, and Humanity of the Inhabitants of the British Empire on Behalf of the Negro Slaves in the West Indies, which was followed by the formation of the Anti-slavery Society. Three days before his death he had the satisfaction of learning that slavery was abolished in British dominion.

He supported Catholic emancipation and spoke in its favor in parliament in 1813. In the renewal of the charter of the East India Company in the same year, he saw an opportunity to " introduce Christian light into India "; the foundation of the bishopric of Calcutta was the result. In 1815 he spoke for the corn bill. Among the societies which he helped to found, support, and direct were one for "Bettering the Condition of the Poor" (1796), the Church Missionary Society (1798), and the Bible Society (1803). In 1798 he granted an annuity of £400 to Hannah More (whom he had known since 1787) as a help in her good works. He was a conspicuous member of the "Clapham Sect" of Evangelicals. He was ever generous (and not always wise) in the dispensation of charity, and by his gifts and lavish hospitality even impaired his fortune. The position which he won and retained, however, in the hearts and minds of his countrymen was compensation. Personally attractive and winning, broad and quick in sympathy, kindly and simple in life, free from the grossness which disfigured so many public men of his time, he lived respected by friends and foes alike, and at his death was buried in Westminster Abbey. It has been said that he was regarded as " the authorized interpreter of the national conscience." Besides the Appeal already mentioned, he published a few speeches and addresses, a book on the slave-trade (1806), and A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher anal Middle Classes of this Country Contrasted with Real Christianity (1797). Seventy-five hundred copies of the work last mentioned were sold in six months, and there were fifteen editions in England by 1824 and twentyfive in America. It was translated into French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and German. His Family Prayers were edited by his son Robert in 1834; his Correspondence by R. I. and S. Wilberforce (2 vols., 1840), and his Private Papers by A. M. Wilberforce (1897).

Bibliography: Besides the Correspondence and Private Papers noted above, the principal source is the Life by his sons Robert Isaac and Samuel, 5 vols., London, 1838. Consult further: J. J. Gurney, Familiar Sketch of Wilber force, London, 1838; Memoirs of the Life of Sir Samuel

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