PITT, William, the Younger (1759-1806). Autograph letter signed ('W Pitt') to [William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland], Downing Street, 2 November 1787. Two pages, 238 x 191mm (remains of verso guard where laid down overwritten in another hand). Pitt attempts to gauge French support for the abolition of the slave trade, in the first year of the Abolition movement: 'You have had a Letter from my friend Wilberforce, on a scheme which may appear to some People Chimerical but which I really believe may with proper management be made practicable - If It can, I am sure it is an Object well worth attending to and perhaps you may be able to learn the private sentiments of the French Government upon it ... to Judge whether it can be carried further. I mean the Idea of the two Nations agreeing to discontinue the Villainous Traffic now carried on in Africa'. William Eden 1st Baron Auckland (1744-1814), served as Envoy to France between 1785 and 1787, a posting marked by his particular success in resolving the disputes between the British and French East India companies; so successful was Eden that the British government suspected him rather too Francophile in outlook and would recall him in 1787. Here, William Pitt writes to Eden in regard to potential French support for the early Abolitionist movement spearheaded by his friend and political ally, William Wilberforce: 1787 saw the foundation of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and was also the year in which Wilberforce took political leadership of the Abolition movement. Although Pitt's support for the movement to abolish slavery was unflagging throughout his tenure as Prime Minister, the eventual abolition of the trade would not occur until a year after his death, in 1807.
PITT, William, the Younger (1759-1806). Autograph letter signed ('W Pitt') to [William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland], Downing Street, 2 November 1787. Two pages, 238 x 191mm (remains of verso guard where laid down overwritten in another hand). Pitt attempts to gauge French support for the abolition of the slave trade, in the first year of the Abolition movement: 'You have had a Letter from my friend Wilberforce, on a scheme which may appear to some People Chimerical but which I really believe may with proper management be made practicable - If It can, I am sure it is an Object well worth attending to and perhaps you may be able to learn the private sentiments of the French Government upon it ... to Judge whether it can be carried further. I mean the Idea of the two Nations agreeing to discontinue the Villainous Traffic now carried on in Africa'. William Eden 1st Baron Auckland (1744-1814), served as Envoy to France between 1785 and 1787, a posting marked by his particular success in resolving the disputes between the British and French East India companies; so successful was Eden that the British government suspected him rather too Francophile in outlook and would recall him in 1787. Here, William Pitt writes to Eden in regard to potential French support for the early Abolitionist movement spearheaded by his friend and political ally, William Wilberforce: 1787 saw the foundation of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and was also the year in which Wilberforce took political leadership of the Abolition movement. Although Pitt's support for the movement to abolish slavery was unflagging throughout his tenure as Prime Minister, the eventual abolition of the trade would not occur until a year after his death, in 1807.
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