Item Doc 44 - Autograph letter, signed, in French, from Henri Gregoire, Bishop of Blois, to Thomas Clarkson, from Paris

Assures him of the pleasure of seeing him and his wife at their last visit to Paris, and of the effect it had for the cause. Clarkson's two letters were discussed in some papers, though in less depth than would have been desirable, and in several there was only a bare notice of them. Gregoire discusses the preponderant frivolity of the French press, though there are exceptions. Gregoire goes on to discuss the impact of censorship on the press, which has forced [? Messrs. Comte and Dunoye], editors, to cease publishing in journal form and publish instead separate volumes. He is sending by an intermediary, Captn. Scobell, 'un ami des noirs' a volume of Observations, twenty pages of which are devoted to Clarkson's works. He has received a work on the slave trade, and slavery of blacks and whites, but thinks it may not be allowed to go to press since it contains some hard truths explicitly dealt with. If so, he will send it in a manuscript. Gregoire attaches M. Egion's receipt (1), and asks for his own to be returned or destroyed. He acknowledges Clarkson sending him his work on the Quakers (2), and Mr. Foster (3), whom he has not met, sending his works on the same subject. He requests help with corrections to his own works, his Histoire des Sectes, and a new edition of his Litterature des Negres. Mr. Wilberforce has sent the second edition of the life of Toussaint Louverture, by M. Stephen (4). Gregoire intends to write to him and send him copies of the letters written to himself by 'ce general' [Toussaint]. Cambridge University which in times gone by [jadis] awarded a prize for Clarkson's work, opened a debate some years ago on the question 'what are the advantages and inconveniences which may result from the new republic of blacks and coloureds established in the West Indies?' Gregoire asks was the prize actually bestowed, and what was the result of the debate? (5) He sends his compliments to Mrs. Clarkson, Messrs Robinson, Stoddart, William Smith etc. etc.

(1) In a postscript, however, he says he cannot find it.

(2) Portraiture of Quakerism (1806).

(3) It could be the odd Baptist preacher John Foster 1770-1843 (DNB) but probably not.

(4) James Stephen 1758 - 1832. This work is not listed among his 'chief' in the DNB.

(5) The Prize is probably a garbled ref. to Clarkson's prize Essay on Slavery, 1786, but the debate?