Tea at Trianon: The Attempted Blackmail of William Wilberforce

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, May 22, 2014

The Attempted Blackmail of William Wilberforce

From English Historical Fiction Authors:

Public figures in every historical era have been subjected to the abuses of strangers. Whether from motives of jealousy, vanity, envy, or maliciousness, unscrupulous individuals have resorted to using defamatory language and threats against a well-known personage. It is a horrible experience, and unfortunately it is one that resonates throughout history.

One such victim of attempted blackmail was the late 18th century British politician and philanthropist William Wilberforce (1759-1833). He is best remembered as the tireless campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade, and the man who struggled against almost overwhelming opposition in the House of Commons from the late 1780s until the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Wilberforce was joined in his efforts to put a stop to the trade by his great friend, the then Prime Minister William Pitt (1759-1806), amongst others.

In 1787, just as Wilberforce was gathering evidence against the inhumane trade with the intention to bring forward his first motion for its abolition, he was confronted with attempted defamation of character. The man threatening to publish a serious libel against Wilberforce was Anthony Fearon. He was a former neighbor of Wilberforce during his time at Lauriston House in Wimbledon, Surrey. At that time, Wimbledon was still a rural, country village several miles on the outskirts of London. (Read more.)