To John Jay from William Wilberforce, 27 January 1795
From William Wilberforce
[Pal[ace]y[ar]d [Westminster] Tuesday [27 January 1795]]
My dear Sir
Understanding from the Bish[o]p of London1 that you have not receiv’d any copy of the Sierra Leon Report,2 allow me to beg your acceptance of one & & to send a Copy also for your Son & Mr. Trumbull—3 I trust you will think the latter part very interesting— I am dear Sir your oblig’d & faithful servt
W Wilberforce
William Wilberforce, by Charles Howard Hodges, published by John Rising and Thomas Harmar, after John Rising, published 1 February 1792. Mezzotint. (© National Portrait Gallery, London)
ALS, NNC (EJ: 90434; EJ: 09276). Addressed: “John Jay Esqr. / &c— &c &c”. Although the letter is dated [27 Jan.], the endorsement reads “… 28 Jan. 1795”.
1. Beilby Porteus (1731–1809).
2. Substance of the report delivered by the Court of Directors of the Sierra Leone Company to the General Court of Proprietors, on Thursday the 27th March, 1794 (London, 1794).
In 1792, Wilberforce, Porteus, and other members of the Clapham Sect founded the Sierra Leone Company and established a colony in Sierra Leone, to be populated by free black settlers from Great Britain, Nova Scotia, and Jamaica.