the various facts recently obtained at Bristol.  I desired, however, as far as petitions were concerned, (and this desire I expressed on all other similar occasions,) that no attempt should be made to obtain these, till such information had been circulated on the subject, that every one, when called upon, might judge, from his knowledge of it, how far he would feel it right to join in it.  For this purpose I left also here several of my Summary View for distribution.

After my arrival at Chester, I went to the bishop’s residence, but I found he was not there.  Knowing no other person in the place, I wrote a note to Mr. Cowdroy, whom I understood to be the editor of the Chester paper, soliciting an interview with him, I explained my wishes to him on both subjects.  He seemed to be greatly rejoiced, when we met, that such a measure as that of the abolition of the Slave Trade was in contemplation.  Living at so short a distance from Liverpool, and in a country from which so many persons were constantly going to Africa, he was by no means ignorant, as some were, of the nature of this cruel traffic; but yet he had no notion that I had probed it so deeply, or that I had brought to light such important circumstances concerning it, as he found by my conversation.  He made me a hearty offer of his services on this occasion, and this expressly without fee or reward.  I accepted them most joyfully and gratefully.  It was, indeed, a most important thing, to have a station so near the enemy’s camp, where we could watch their motions, and meet any attack which might be made from it.  And this office of a sentinel Mr. Cowdroy performed with great vigilance; and when he afterwards left Chester for Manchester, to establish a paper there, he carried with him the same friendly disposition towards our cause.

My first introduction at Liverpool was to William Rathbone, a member of the religious society of the Quakers.  He was the same person who, before the formation of our committee, had procured me copies of several of the muster-rolls of the slave-vessels belonging to that port, so that, though we were not personally known, yet we were not strangers to each other.  Isaac Hadwen, a respectable member of the same society, was the person whom I saw next.  I had been introduced to him, previously to my journey, when he was at London, at the yearly meeting of the Quakers, so that no letter to him was necessary.  As Mr. Roscoe had generally given the profits of The Wrongs of Africa to our committee, I made no scruple of calling upon him.  His reception of me was very friendly, and he introduced me afterwards to Dr. Currie, who had written the preface to that poem.  There was also a fourth upon whom I called, though I did not know him.  His name was Edward Rushton:  he had been an officer in a slave-ship, but had lost his sight, and had become an enemy to that trade.  On passing through Chester, I had heard, for the first time, that he had published a poem called West