English abolitionist (1760-1846) who was a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. ALS, one page both sides, 7.5 x 8.5, August 14, 1789. Handwritten letter to a gentleman, written from the "Hotel de l'Europe." In part: "I am now in your city. The object of my visit to this place is, if possible, to lay hold of the present moment, which is so honourable to France, in behalf of the oppressed Africans. Your fellow Citizens have caught the flame of Liberty, and they feel its genuine heat. They must suppose of course that it would be equally grateful to others, and hence it is that I have great expectations of success. As I could wish to be introduced to some of the members of your committee, as well as to be informed of the proper steps to be taken during my residence here, I should be obliged to you for your assistance." In very good to fine condition, with a rusty circular paperclip impression to the edge.
Responding to the egalitarian rhetoric of the French Revolution, Clarkson traveled in Paris in August 1789 to agitate for anti-slavery legislation before the Assemblé Nationale. While he was moderately successful at attracting political allies, including Lafayette and Brissot de Warville, no legislative action resulted. As part of his efforts, in December 1789 and January 1790, Clarkson wrote a series of informational letters to the poet Mirabeau, then at the peak of his political influence, to 'bring the entire facts of the case [for abolition] before him.' Although these letters were never published in French, when Clarkson returned to England in February 1790, they were translated, compressed, and published in London by James Phillips as 'Letters on the slave-trade, and the state of the natives in those parts of Africa, which are contiguous to Fort St. Louis and Goree.'
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