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Show 74 A FUGITIVB Sr.AVE AT tllC grateful contributionS of man.Y thouRands Of the African race." A few steps further and I """' etancl· ing over the ashes of ·wilberforce. In no other phcc P.o small do so rnnny great men lie together. 'rho fol lowing is the inscription on the monument erected to the memor.Y of this devoted friencl of the oppressc1l and degraded negro race :- " rro the memory of WH.LTA~[ \Vrr.nEnFORCE, born in Ilull, August 24, 1759, died in J~onclon, Jul.Y 29, 1833. For ncarl.Y half a centur.Y a member of the IIousc of Commons, and for six parliaments during that period, one of the two representatives for York· shire. In an age and country fertile in great and good men, be was among the foremost of those who fixed tho character of their times; because to l1igh and various talents, 1o warm benevolence, and to universal candor, he added tl1c abiding eloquence of a Christian life. Eminent as he was in every dcpmtmcnt of public labor, and a leader in every work of clm·it.1·, whether to relieve the tcrnpor:Jl or the Rpiritual wnnt '\ of ltis fellow men, his name will ever be ~pc('i~dh· i(lcJ ltiricd with those exertions which, by the Ulc:-::.;il!g.; of God, removed from England the guilt of the African slave-trade, and prepared the way for the aboli- \VILDERFORC E'S GRAVE. 75 tion of sbvery in cveTy colony of tl1c empire. In the prosecution of these objects, he relied not in yain on God; bnt, in the progrc~~, l10 wns called to cn4 duro gre::~t obloquy and great opposition. Tic out4 li\'C<.l, howCVCT1 o,.H enmity, and, in tho evening of ]liS days, withrlrcw from public life and public obscnation, to the bowm of his family. Yet he dic<l not unnoticccl or forgotten by his country j the Peers nnll Commons of Englond, with tl1c Lor<l Chancellor and the Speak er at their h enrl, in solemn proee'"ion from their respective h ousPs, carried him to l1is fitting p\n.cc among tho mighty dead ,.arou Jul, h ero to repose, till, through the merits of J"csus Cluist l1ls only HeU.ccmcT and Saviour, whom in his life untl in l!is wr~tings he had <lcsircd to glorify, he shall rise in the 1·esurrcction of the just." rrbe monument is a fine one; his figure is seated on a pedestal, very ingeniously done, nuLl truly cxpres::;i.Yo of his age, and tbc pleasure l1e scemetl to derive from his own tl10ughts. Either tl1e oro.tor or the poet hnsc sui(1 or sung the praises of most of tl1c grcn.t men who lie bUl"ic<l in 'iVcstminstcr Aubcy, ill enchanting strains. rrhe statues of heroes, l)Tinces, and st..'\tesmen are there to proclaim their power, worth, or brilliant |
