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labourers who are thus deprived of the jrieans q £ subsistence for themselves and families , But too fatally shew . Another meeting of the inhabitants was sometime afterwards called by the Mayor , in one of the squares of the town , in order to
consider of the propriety of addressing his Majesty to dismiss Mr . Pitt and his colleagues from his confidence and councils ; when , upon a motion made to that effect by a very respectable and independentindividual , Mr . R . endeavoured
to address the meeting in its support ; but such was the dread which the partisans of administration entertained of his talents and his eloquence , that they
employed a great number of persons to prevent , by noise and clamour , his being heard . After repeated attempts he was obliged to desist ; and the Mayor declared that he could not determine whether the motion was carried or not , and dismissed the meeting without a decision . The monopoly granted to the East India Company , and the exclusion of British subjects from a lucrative trade , to which even foreign nations were admitted , were subjects which had long engaged his particular attention . In the
year 1792 he had taken an active part at a meeting of the inhabitants of Liverpool , when certain resolutions were entered into , expressive of their sense of the injuries which the country suffered by such monopoly . These resolutions , drawn up by one of his intimate friends who is now no more , but whose character is
well known to the public by his literary and scientific acquirements , are deserving of notice for their assertion of general principles , and the enlightened maxims of commercial policy which they inculcate . The inefficacy of this eiFort did not prevent Mr . Rathboiie from making another attempt to call the
public attention to this momentous subject . In the course of the year 1807 a meeting of the inhabitants of . Liverpool was held in the town-hall , at which he presided , when he laid before them a full exposition of the affairs of the East India Company , and proposed that ad-< kesses against the new loans required
hy them should be presented to both houses of parliament , which were accordingly carried at a most numerous Meeting ; one person only holding up h i | , hand against it ; a circumstance ^ nich drew" upon him the notice and ^ approbation of the assembly r but .
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which Mr . Rathbon . e no sooner perceived , than with that kindness and promptitude which were habitual to him * he exclaimed , " You are right , Sir , in thus avowing your opinion ; minorities are often virtuous . "
One of the latest efforts of this Champion of peace and good-will on earth , was to remove the obstacles which have unfortunately prevented the usual intercourse between this country and America , ! subject in which , from the nature of his commercial concerns , as being
extensively engaged in that trade , he was most peculiarly interested ; but which he considered in a public view , as it regarded the happiness of two countries formed to be of the greatest service to each other in their commercial relations ; no man living being more free than he was from the narrow views of selfish ad *
vantage and piivate interest . In a declining state of health he offered himself to an examination on this subject , and accordingly delivered his evidence at the bar of both houses of parliament ; but although the information there given by himself and others proved , to the satisfaction of all impartial persons , the inemcacy of the measures adopted by the
Orders in Council , either to counteract the effects of the embargo , or to promote the interests of this country ; and although the facts there proved were en * forced by the eloquence of many members of the greatest respectability and talents , yet 110 beneficial effect whatever was produced , and theOrders in Coun- * cil yet remain , to second the views o £ our enemies and to starve our own countrymen .
To such a mind as that of Mr . Rathbone , it was impossible that the great question of the slave-trade , which so long agitated the kingdom , could be a subject of indifference . —On this question his excellent father had taken an active part , as may be seen by Mr . Clarkson ' s history of the abolition ; but the efforts of thb late Mr . Rathbone were not less decisive or less effectual ; and it is to be attributed in no small degree to his bold and persevering-opposition to it , and to the strong and
impressive manner in which his opinions were a-vowed , ' that even in the town of Liverpool , the very place which was the centre of that trade , & powerful body was raised against it , and proper sentimenu of natural right and justice i&r
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Obituary . 233
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Vol ., iv ; * 2 * i
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JSdr * Rathbone ,
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), April 2, 1809, page 233, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1735/page/57/
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