A very nicely preserved 2.5pp ALS entirely in the hand of and autographed by William Wilberforce.
Written June 10, 1829, Wilberforce's recipient is Sir Harry Verney Baronet [1801-1894]. An Evangelical, he would later marry Franes Nightingale, sister of Florence. The present letter is addressed to him just previous to his appointment as an MP in 1832, though he had long been active in the anti-slavery cause. One of the very first votes he case, after being elected in 1832, was the 1833 Anti-Slavery Bill, Wilberforce's final triumph, and the last nail in the casket of British Slavery.
Wilberforce writes, in part:
"What can I now say but that I rejoice that our Country at least has abandoned the guilty Commerce in flesh and blood & that I looke forward with confidence to its entire termination. Assuredly, it becomes us who had been blessed with an Unequalled measure of National Liberty & Prosperity, to take the Lead & set the Example. We had too long been foremmost in the Crime. It was now right that we should be signal in our Repentance."
Exceptional!