WEBVTT

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A

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little pause...

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and we are back.

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A little pause...

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and we are back.

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A little pause... and we are back.

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Now he's with us, he'll be fine.

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What time is it?

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This is your 3am, Lewis.

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So, cousin, you're waking me up to give me
medicine to help me sleep.

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Now you're taking on the medical
profession as well as everyone else.

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Did you sleep?

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Sleep is more exhausting than being awake.

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The laudanum will sharpen your dreams.

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It replays my life to mock me and shows me
things I should have done but didn't.

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Wilbur, parliament doesn't deserve you.

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Your last bill was defeated because four
of your loyal supporters took free tickets

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to a comic opera rather than stay to vote.

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In my dreams I turned over their tables.

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But you know the worst thing?

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I can't sing anymore.

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You remember how well I used to sing?

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Marianne and I will find a way to restore
your voice.

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The Romans believed this water would
restore the dead to life.

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The most pumped water I've investigated
works in the opposite direction.

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So?

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What was so urgent?

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Did I say it was urgent?

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Marianne, are you expecting someone else?

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Inside this building you will find the
secret of health and happy life.

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And a glass of water.

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You may have noticed, Wilbur, since I
married Marianne I have been a picture of

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health.

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I'm very happy for you.

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It is almost a scientific fact.

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Marriage and health are twins,
inseparable.

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Single men wither away and die in rooms
that smell of feet and armpits.

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Henry, what are you babbling on about?

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Love, Wilbur Frost.

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Come.

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Come, we're late.

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The water has been here a million years.

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How can we be late?

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So, what shall we discuss next?

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I don't know.

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The abolition of the slave trade.

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How about that?

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Marianne, if I'd known you were so starved
of political conversation, I'd have

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wrapped up a Tory and sent him to your
home by mail for you to shout at.

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Oh, now, look at that.

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Here we are in the middle of discussing
the abolition of the slave trade and in

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walks my husband with William Wilbur Frost
himself.

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The most committed abolitionist in England
and also, of course, the most unmarried.

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Oh, look over there.

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It's Marianne.

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And who's the charming looking woman with
her?

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Marianne's here.

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Never mind about her.

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Look at the woman she's with.

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Barbara Spoon.

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Very committed to very many good causes.

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And also, entirely unmarried.

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Marianne, you're outrageous!

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I do not need you or anyone else to find a
wife for me.

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I'll never forgive him.

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I'll never forgive her.

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However, Mr. Wilbur Frost, if we had met
in other circumstances, I would have told

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you how deeply I admire your tireless
efforts to force our ridiculous parliament

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to abolish the slave trade.

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Well, if you had, I would have changed the
subject and talked about botany.

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Botany?

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Why botany?

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Anything but politics.

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I'm in Bath to be cured of politics.

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Well, I would have been bored by botany.

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So, even in other circumstances,
it would have been a disaster.

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Good day to you.

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Good day to you.

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Some simple truths about this horrendous
war need to be restated for the benefit of

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my honourable friend.

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Simple fact.

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We have the rebels on the anvil and a
hammer in our hands.

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There is no question that our military
force is far superior to that of the

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Americans.

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But we must distinguish between force and
justice.

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Where does this little blooded terrier
spring from?

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I believe he's a Yorkshire terrier,
my lord.

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Surely it is time for the fat fellow and
his friends opposite to make way for

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others who consider the good of their
country of greater moment than their own

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personal interests.

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Doesn't he know what dangers await anyone
who talks sense in his place?

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Oh, I think he's equal to the dangerous.

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My honourable friend suggests we surrender
to the revolutionaries.

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Revolution is like the pox.

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It spreads from person to person.

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I bow to my honourable friend's superior
knowledge and experience in all matters

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regarding the pox.

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Why would we withdraw from America when
half of the Americans are loyal to the

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crown?

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Less than one in four Americans are loyal.

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If he called that half, I'd hate to be his
wife and share half his bed.

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Mr. Foreign Secretary, perhaps my
honourable and young friend should explain

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to the house the difference between
appeasement and surrender.

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The

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difference between appeasement and
surrender is merely a matter of time.

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And perhaps 10,000 more young lives wasted
for no reason.

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Two guineas.

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Ah, sweet Prospero, why hast thou forsaken
me?

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Brave in the house, but at the table a
mouse.

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Your Grace, you know these merchant boys
are richer than we are.

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Ah, I have ten guineas left.

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So ten it is.

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In or out, Wilberforce?

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A pencil and paper.

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No, no, no.

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Brooks Clubhouse rules.

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No IOUs.

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Amongst gentlemen, perhaps, but
Wilberforce is a tradesman.

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You gamble with what you have with you.

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Wilberforce, will you take my IOU?

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You split the pot and call it evens.

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To hell with that.

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Payment in kind.

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There's nothing you have I'd want,
Your Grace.

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Tarleton, fetch my nigger.

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My coach driver.

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Go and wake him up and bring him in now.

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I bought a nigger in Port of Spain.

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He eats better than I do, so he's strong
as an ox.

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He'd fetch at least twenty-five guineas at
the West India Dock.

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The game is over.

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What's wrong, Wilberforce?

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If I hadn't bought the boy to London,
he'd have been worked to death in a sugar

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cane field by now.

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I saved his miserable life.

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There.

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I raised the stakes.

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Wilberforce, in the game or out.

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You act as if you'd never seen slavery
before.

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For me, it's like arsenic.

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Each new tiny dose doubles the effect.

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You're not afraid of Clarence?

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Because he's the son of the king?

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Not so.

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You want bloody noses and cracked crowns.

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Shakespeare and Henry IV play about
England changing.

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As it will soon change.

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Only if we change it.

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You don't believe you and I could change
things?

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I would change myself first.

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Do you remember Billy at Cambridge?

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I had a reputation as something of a
singer.

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I do remember.

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So I think I'm going to go and sing them a
song.

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Silence!

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We stop!

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Silence!

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Sound like a chorus of bloody tomcats.

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Now, let me introduce you to somebody who
does it properly.

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I would like to dedicate this song to my
honourable friend, His Grace, the Duke of

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Clarence.

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It was written by my old preacher.

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He was captain of a slave ship for 20
years.

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He repented his sins and then he wrote
this song.

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Amazing grace!

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How sweet the sound!

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That saved a wretch like me!

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I once was lost, but now am found.

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Was blind, but now I see.

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Dear God, I know this is utterly absurd,
but I feel I have to meet you in secret.

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Sorry to interrupt, sir.

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There is a beggar at the kitchen door.

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I would turn him away, sir, but you
insisted I always check.

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Just give him breakfast.

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Very good, sir.

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Richard?

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Sir?

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I know that lying down on the wet grass is
not a normal thing to do.

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None of my business, sir.

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Truth is, I've been even more strange than
usual lately, haven't I?

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It's God.

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I have 10,000 engagements of state today,
but I would prefer to spend the day out

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here getting a wet arse, studying
dandelions and marvelling at bloody

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spider's webs.

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You found God, sir?

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I think he found me.

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If you have any idea how inconvenient that
is.

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How idiotic it will sound.

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I have a political career glittering ahead
of me, and in my heart I want spider's

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webs.

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It is a sad fate for a man to die too well
known to everybody else, and still unknown

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to himself.

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Francis Bacon, I don't just dust your
books, sir.

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When I was 15, I almost ran away with the
circus.

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They said I could have been an acrobat.

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Good morning, Mr Pitt.

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Morning.

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Excuse me, sir.

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You read my letter?

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The man who wrote that letter was not you.

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It was written by some wild preacher man
that has gotten into your head.

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No.

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So, did he reply?

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Who?

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God.

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You said you were going to ask God whether
you should take up politics or religion.

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You're always too direct, Billy.

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I urgently need to know where your heart
lies, Wilbur.

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What's urgent?

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I'm planning to become Prime Minister.

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For some day?

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No, I mean soon.

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Very soon.

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Thanks to your performances in the House,
Fox and North will have no choice but to

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resign.

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When they do, Lord Rockingham will become
Prime Minister.

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Lord Rockingham's health is not good.

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When he dies, that will make my move.

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You've worked it all out.

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I want you beside me, Wilbur.

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All the way.

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You read my letter, but you've not taken
in a word of it.

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I would have you in my government in
whichever capacity you choose.

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Billy, no one of our age has ever taken
power.

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Which is why we're too young to realize
that certain things are impossible.

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So we will do them anyway.

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I need an answer, Wilbur.

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Do you intend to use your beautiful voice
to praise the Lord?

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Or change the world?

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Marjorie, Mr. Wilberforce on his way down.

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Marjorie, I'm expecting some people for
dinner.

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Oh!

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Marjorie!

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Marjorie!

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She's been run off her feet, sir.

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How so?

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Well, take the day, for example.

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You have 25 guests for lunch.

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Do I?

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If you remember, you decided to reward
various volunteers who worked for some

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quite precariously financed charities.

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Some brought deserving children from the
poorhouse, others brought less deserving

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relatives.

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Well, then, we should get some sort of
diary, sir.

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Yes, or more cooks.

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Is that the appetizer?

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No, that's His Grace, the Duke of
Clarence.

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Well, of course, the Reverend John Ramsey.

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Edward Hope.

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And Michael Shaw, both friends.

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This is Olaudah Equiano.

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You've traveled far to be here.

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No distance would be too great.

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And this is Hannah Moore.

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Traveled all the way from Clapham.

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Finally, let me introduce Mr. Thomas
Clarkson.

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Beautiful house, sweet little rabbit.

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It's a hare, actually.

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Please.

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So, come on, who are they?

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Why don't you ask them?

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Well, I hope the goose is tender.

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She was rather old.

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In fact, the older I get, the more tender
I become.

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So, Miss Moore, you live in Clapham.

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I hear it's very tranquil there.

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When certain issues are raised amongst my
friends and I, it is anything but

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tranquil.

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Ah, and which issues are those?

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Issues regarding the making of a better
world.

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Better in which way?

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If you make the world better in one way,
it becomes better in every way.

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Don't you think?

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Mr. Equiano, what business brings you to
London?

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My business in London is you, Mr.
Wilberforce.

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What?

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You wish to discuss something with me?

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No, we do not want to talk.

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Because we hear that you are a man who
doesn't believe what he hears until he

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sees it with his own eyes.

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These are for the legs.

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These are for the arms.

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This is for the neck.

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Works like so.

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I am a man who does not believe what he
hears until he sees it with his own eyes.

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When the slaves leave port in Africa,
they are locked into a space four foot by

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eighteen inches.

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They have no sanitation, very little food,
stagnant water.

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Their waste and blood fills the holds
within three days and is never emptied.

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These irons and chains are to keep them
from throwing themselves overboard.

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The chains are not unlocked until you
reach the plantation in Jamaica.

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Around half of the slaves are dead
already.

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In the markets, they stuff knotted rope
into the anuses of those who are sick to

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disguise the dysentery.

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When you reach the plantation,
they put irons to the fire...

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and do this...

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to let you know that you no longer belong
to God, but to a man.

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Mr. Wilberforce, we understand you're
having problems choosing whether to do the

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work of God...

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or the work of a political activist.

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We humbly suggest that you can do both.

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You planned this?

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I've seen the literature you've been
reading.

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You've stooped a surgeon to my desk?

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Sir William Dolben told me you'd asked to
be shown round the East India Docks.

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So, you would use my private concerns for
your own political ends?

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Yes, exactly that.

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Surely the principles of Christianity lead
to action as well as meditation?

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Oh, excellent point.

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Allow me to meditate on it before I decide
on any action.

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Just think about this, Wilber.

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The slave trade has 300 MPs in its pocket.

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It would be just you against them.

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But you could do it.

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You would win.

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You could do it.

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Excuse me, sir.

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Do you have a penny for a boy that went to
fight the Yanks and came back half a man?

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Hello, Mr Newton.

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It's me, William.

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Hello, John.

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How are you?

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Hello, John.

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It's me, Wilber.

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I'm Headseeker.

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The beggar at the door assures me that I'm
now old enough to call you John.

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You're dressing very simply these days.

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I'm a simple man.

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I try to pretend I'm a monk, but I don't
have the willpower.

31:51.900 --> 31:54.400
I'm a monk, Mondays, Wednesdays.

31:55.140 --> 32:00.600
You know, when I read your name in the
papers doing these great things,

32:00.820 --> 32:05.020
I still see a tiny boy with his hair a
mess and ink on his fingers.

32:09.440 --> 32:13.420
So, what do you want with your old
preacher?

32:13.840 --> 32:15.680
I'm here to seek your advice.

32:16.640 --> 32:20.400
When you were a child, you used to ask God
for advice.

32:20.400 --> 32:24.400
Then I grew up and grew foolish.

32:24.940 --> 32:25.580
And now?

32:30.030 --> 32:32.790
Now, slowly, my faith is returning.

32:33.430 --> 32:34.090
How slowly?

32:35.650 --> 32:37.270
No bolts of lightning.

32:39.190 --> 32:48.130
God sometimes does his work with gentle
drizzle, not storms drip, drip,

32:48.810 --> 32:49.110
drip.

32:53.110 --> 32:56.610
My friend William Peters declared an
interest in me.

32:56.950 --> 32:57.550
William who?

32:59.470 --> 33:01.230
He's offering me a place in the world.

33:02.210 --> 33:05.910
Just make sure you're in the world,
not of the world.

33:07.070 --> 33:09.630
There will be no escape from power once I
have it.

33:11.230 --> 33:13.030
I would have to see things through.

33:13.450 --> 33:14.410
So why wouldn't you?

33:21.440 --> 33:24.080
Are you contemplating a life of solitude?

33:28.590 --> 33:31.570
Wilbur, you have work to do.

33:32.290 --> 33:38.010
Besides, people like you too much to let
you live a life of solitude.

33:38.430 --> 33:40.150
Haven't you chosen solitude?

33:41.130 --> 33:45.690
You of all people should know I can never
be alone.

33:46.770 --> 33:47.190
Fair now.

33:50.550 --> 33:51.710
Fair now what?

33:52.410 --> 33:53.790
The other reason I came.

33:55.750 --> 34:03.730
You told me that you live in the company
of 20,000 ghosts, the ghosts of slaves.

34:06.900 --> 34:16.380
I was explaining to a child why a grown
man cowers in a dark corner.

34:24.400 --> 34:26.360
I need you to tell me about them.

34:26.920 --> 34:29.420
I'm not strong enough to hear my own
confession.

34:31.600 --> 34:33.460
I thought time might have changed you.

34:33.680 --> 34:34.880
It has, I'm older.

34:35.680 --> 34:38.500
Pitt has asked me to take them on,
the slavers.

34:39.420 --> 34:42.100
I'm the last person you should come to for
advice.

34:42.800 --> 34:47.140
I can't even say the name of any of my
ships without being back on board them in

34:47.140 --> 34:47.800
my head.

34:48.700 --> 34:53.780
All I know is 20,000 slaves live with me
in this little church.

34:54.140 --> 34:56.200
There's still blood on my hands.

34:56.580 --> 34:57.780
Will you help me, John?

34:58.580 --> 35:00.380
I can't help you.

35:01.440 --> 35:02.460
But do it, Wilma.

35:03.360 --> 35:03.840
Do it.

35:05.280 --> 35:06.180
Take them on.

35:06.600 --> 35:08.720
Blow their dirty, filthy ships out of the
water.

35:09.520 --> 35:15.760
The Planters, Sugar Barons, Alderman Sugar
Cane, the Lord Mayor of London,

35:16.660 --> 35:19.720
Liverpool, Austin, Bristol, New York.

35:19.800 --> 35:23.860
All their streets running with blood,
dysentery, puke.

35:26.340 --> 35:29.840
You won't come away from those streets
clean, Wilma.

35:30.380 --> 35:36.260
You'll get filthy with it, you'll dream
it, see it in broad daylight.

35:37.280 --> 35:38.380
But do it.

35:39.460 --> 35:40.640
For God's sake.

35:48.400 --> 35:51.140
Sir, I have Mr. Thomas Clarkson.

35:56.200 --> 35:58.560
Forgive me, Mr. Wilberforce was here a
moment ago.

36:00.120 --> 36:01.260
I'd better go and find him.

36:04.500 --> 36:05.020
Hmm.

36:22.060 --> 36:23.100
Good afternoon.

36:23.940 --> 36:25.040
Sorry if I alarmed you.

36:27.280 --> 36:30.780
I had this box made up in the exact
dimensions of a slave birth.

36:33.220 --> 36:35.780
I thought you could use it in your
practical demonstrations.

36:39.860 --> 36:43.880
Why did you wait until you were about to
be left before you got out of the box?

36:45.700 --> 36:47.040
They all think I'm mad already.

36:50.790 --> 36:52.630
As will most people in the House of
Commons.

36:54.590 --> 36:55.850
When I present my bill.

37:04.160 --> 37:04.600
Wilberforce.

37:05.840 --> 37:08.940
Conditions in Jamaica are far more brutal
than I could have imagined.

37:10.240 --> 37:14.300
Many children are scalded to death by the
molten lava.

37:15.500 --> 37:19.740
Others die of exhaustion or roll into the
fires in their sleep.

37:20.840 --> 37:25.920
The result in the morning is a few pounds
of pure, refined sugar.

37:29.720 --> 37:30.920
Wilberforce, are you all right?

37:35.120 --> 37:36.260
Sit up for me.

37:40.120 --> 37:41.080
Drink this.

37:49.040 --> 37:49.800
What happened?

37:51.020 --> 37:52.600
I read James's letter from Jamaica.

37:53.780 --> 37:56.420
When I fell asleep, it was as if I were
living inside it.

37:59.160 --> 38:02.240
Perhaps the laudanum the doctor gave you
is badly mixed.

38:03.260 --> 38:05.040
I know the effects of opium, Henry.

38:06.360 --> 38:07.560
This isn't a medication.

38:09.340 --> 38:10.000
What then?

38:10.380 --> 38:12.660
I was chosen for this task and I failed.

38:15.540 --> 38:19.220
Some part of me does not accept the idea
that I've given up.

38:20.900 --> 38:22.060
I'll dilute this.

38:22.420 --> 38:23.660
Can you dilute what I feel?

38:27.150 --> 38:30.610
You've given your youth and your health
for this cause.

38:32.230 --> 38:33.930
It's time to let someone else try.

38:56.970 --> 39:02.350
So, Mr. Wilberforce, I understand you have
an interest in botany.

39:06.080 --> 39:07.180
Botany, Miss Bruner?

39:07.940 --> 39:11.700
Whatever gives you the idea that I might
be interested in something as tedious as

39:11.700 --> 39:12.080
botany?

39:27.140 --> 39:30.100
Sorry, it's a private joke.

39:36.760 --> 39:42.620
Now, Wilber, I know you're not interested
in botany, but there's a particularly

39:42.620 --> 39:47.300
fascinating creeping ivy, or something
like that, up the far end of the garden.

39:47.420 --> 39:49.120
Barbara, you really must go and see it
too.

39:50.440 --> 39:51.060
Go on.

39:59.560 --> 40:01.780
To irritate them, let's pretend to argue.

40:02.760 --> 40:03.280
What about?

40:04.200 --> 40:05.400
Something we disagree on.

40:05.800 --> 40:06.480
Think of something.

40:07.880 --> 40:08.720
The war with France.

40:10.980 --> 40:14.080
I think we should settle with Napoleon
right now.

40:14.900 --> 40:15.820
So do I.

40:17.120 --> 40:17.680
Schools.

40:18.340 --> 40:21.080
I'm a member of your movement for free
education.

40:21.500 --> 40:24.400
I agreed with every word you said on the
Dales factory debate.

40:25.420 --> 40:26.200
You read every word?

40:28.820 --> 40:29.380
No.

40:30.680 --> 40:31.500
Neither did I.

40:33.500 --> 40:34.060
Gin.

40:35.260 --> 40:37.040
Replace it in the cities with beer.

40:38.140 --> 40:38.700
Absolutely.

40:41.940 --> 40:44.860
Well, I'm definitely alone in my opinions
about the treatment of animals.

40:45.000 --> 40:45.220
No.

40:45.540 --> 40:47.640
I joined your society for the prevention
of cruelty.

40:48.040 --> 40:48.780
Well, I'm extreme.

40:49.180 --> 40:51.800
I have a pet fox, a pet rat, and a crow
that can't fly.

40:52.140 --> 40:54.080
I used to have a pet hare, but it died of
kindness.

40:56.720 --> 40:57.120
America.

40:57.680 --> 41:00.540
We must reassess the power of the
collective political process.

41:02.060 --> 41:02.460
Agreed.

41:02.960 --> 41:05.220
Oh, and of course, we are agreed on
slavery.

41:05.660 --> 41:07.000
I'm against flowers and church.

41:07.060 --> 41:07.760
What do you say to that?

41:09.160 --> 41:10.460
I am for them.

41:12.980 --> 41:13.880
As am I.

41:18.150 --> 41:20.130
I shouldn't talk about the slave trade?

41:21.230 --> 41:24.090
I've spent so many years talking about it.

41:24.290 --> 41:25.510
So what are a few more minutes?

41:26.610 --> 41:28.970
I remember when Mr. Pitt first became
Prime Minister.

41:29.590 --> 41:33.090
The two of you were like meteorites
shooting through our imagination.

41:33.610 --> 41:34.570
Whose imaginations?

41:35.910 --> 41:37.530
Girls my age.

41:37.530 --> 41:40.130
You were one of those who stopped taking
sugar in your tea.

41:40.210 --> 41:42.670
And I wore an abolition badge made by
Josiah Wedgwood.

41:43.070 --> 41:44.150
He was a good friend to us.

41:44.470 --> 41:48.890
And I travelled thirty miles in the rain
to hear Thomas Clarkson speak.

41:49.190 --> 41:50.010
Did he deafen you?

41:50.310 --> 41:51.810
He opened my eyes.

41:52.630 --> 41:53.710
I met the African.

41:54.370 --> 41:54.810
Equiano.

41:55.170 --> 41:57.190
He came to town with a hundred copies of
his book.

41:57.270 --> 41:58.610
They sold in an hour.

41:59.050 --> 42:00.230
You signed our petition.

42:00.550 --> 42:01.570
A hundred times.

42:02.090 --> 42:02.930
A hundred times.

42:03.570 --> 42:05.790
Three million names, a million candles to
read them by.

42:05.790 --> 42:08.000
It must have been so exciting.

42:08.750 --> 42:09.250
Exciting?

42:09.950 --> 42:12.790
It seemed that every spring the daffodils
came out.

42:13.450 --> 42:15.550
Every summer the cherries ripened.

42:16.310 --> 42:19.730
And every autumn William Wilberforce would
present his bill to the House.

42:20.130 --> 42:21.170
And still...

42:21.170 --> 42:21.930
And still?

42:22.210 --> 42:26.770
And still, after all the badges,
the petitions, all the speeches and the

42:26.770 --> 42:31.510
bills, ships full of human souls in chains
sail around the world as cargo!

42:51.960 --> 42:52.900
I'm sorry.

42:59.930 --> 43:01.810
This is why I really shouldn't talk about
it.

43:02.270 --> 43:03.250
I think you should.

43:06.930 --> 43:07.330
There.

43:08.330 --> 43:10.330
We found something we disagree on.

43:25.820 --> 43:27.340
Am I not a man...

43:28.580 --> 43:32.240
whose soul is drawn to heaven-like water
from the dark well of Africa?

43:33.900 --> 43:35.080
From Equiano's book.

43:37.920 --> 43:39.480
He was a man like no other.

43:42.020 --> 43:43.860
Please, tell me about him.

43:51.290 --> 43:53.710
It seems to me...

43:53.710 --> 43:58.370
that if there is a bad taste in your
mouth, you spit it out.

43:59.370 --> 44:02.190
You don't constantly swallow it back.

44:12.980 --> 44:18.200
Not long after I first met him,
he asked me to come to the East India

44:18.200 --> 44:18.640
Dock.

44:20.000 --> 44:21.340
He said there was a ship there.

44:21.340 --> 44:22.240
I should see.

44:23.380 --> 44:25.200
A ship he knew well.

44:30.660 --> 44:31.780
Mr. Equiano.

44:33.160 --> 44:33.280
Come.

44:35.800 --> 44:36.720
This way.

44:44.090 --> 44:44.450
Please.

45:14.010 --> 45:16.290
They make you lie in this space.

45:17.930 --> 45:20.570
The shackles dislocate your hip or your
shoulder.

45:23.050 --> 45:26.010
You are in pain all the way around the
world.

45:39.220 --> 45:39.980
How long is the journey?

45:40.960 --> 45:43.500
Three weeks, if the weather is good.

45:46.780 --> 45:51.280
For amusement, they sometimes hang the
women from these...

45:51.280 --> 45:53.020
by the ankles to wake them.

45:55.860 --> 45:59.440
In stormy weather, they take the very
sickest...

45:59.440 --> 46:01.620
and throw them into the sea to lighten the
pain.

46:01.620 --> 46:02.560
I am the ship's lord.

46:09.480 --> 46:10.760
How did you survive?

46:11.660 --> 46:13.120
Your life is a thread.

46:13.860 --> 46:16.440
It breaks or it doesn't break.

46:18.520 --> 46:22.820
Before I traveled in a ship like this,
I was a prince.

46:23.640 --> 46:25.780
In many ways, not unlike you.

46:41.210 --> 46:43.890
It was a beautiful day like no other.

46:44.150 --> 46:46.450
The last day I saw my home in Africa.

46:52.310 --> 46:54.770
It is with a heavy heart...

46:54.770 --> 46:57.310
that I bring to the attention of this
house...

46:57.310 --> 47:01.850
a trade which degrades men to the level of
brutes...

47:01.850 --> 47:06.210
and insults the highest qualities of our
common nature.

47:07.810 --> 47:10.470
I am speaking of...

47:10.470 --> 47:11.450
the slave trade.

47:15.890 --> 47:19.430
I know that many of my honorable friends
in this house...

47:19.430 --> 47:21.930
have interests in the Indies.

47:23.050 --> 47:25.850
Others have investments in plantations.

47:26.210 --> 47:27.650
Others are ship owners.

47:28.230 --> 47:30.930
And I believe them to be men of humanity.

47:31.690 --> 47:34.750
I believe you all to be men of humanity.

47:35.710 --> 47:39.510
And if the wretchedness of any one of the
many hundreds...

47:39.510 --> 47:42.430
stowed in their ships could be brought to
you...

47:42.430 --> 47:45.030
there is no other one whose heart could
bear it.

47:49.430 --> 47:50.150
Order!

47:50.790 --> 47:54.470
I can hardly believe my ears.

47:54.630 --> 47:57.070
We can hardly believe your mouth.

47:59.090 --> 48:02.910
It seems my young friend opposite...

48:02.910 --> 48:04.430
has a long-term strategy...

48:05.130 --> 48:07.990
to destroy the very nation that spawned
it.

48:10.950 --> 48:13.530
While I was in Virginia...

48:13.530 --> 48:16.430
losing my fingers in battle with the
Americans...

48:17.150 --> 48:18.470
he was busy appeasing them.

48:21.030 --> 48:25.430
Now he would hand over the riches of the
Indies...

48:25.430 --> 48:26.750
to the bloody French.

48:34.410 --> 48:37.790
If we didn't have slaves...

48:37.790 --> 48:38.750
there would be no plantations.

48:39.530 --> 48:41.730
With no plantations...

48:41.730 --> 48:44.510
how would we fill the coffers of the king?

48:45.510 --> 48:46.810
Now does...

48:47.950 --> 48:49.750
my honourable friend...

48:50.950 --> 48:51.930
really believe...

48:52.570 --> 48:55.130
that if we left off the trade...

48:55.130 --> 48:59.010
the French wouldn't immediately step into
our place...

48:59.010 --> 49:00.570
and reap the rewards?

49:00.570 --> 49:00.890
Order!

49:04.070 --> 49:04.370
Order!

49:05.210 --> 49:05.210
Order!

49:12.070 --> 49:13.570
All this food...

49:14.110 --> 49:15.550
there's only a handful of people in there.

49:16.170 --> 49:16.810
He's an optimist.

49:17.350 --> 49:18.190
Bloody incurable.

49:19.530 --> 49:22.030
Our defeat in the house today was not
unexpected.

49:22.890 --> 49:25.730
But our intention was to flush out the
opposition...

49:25.730 --> 49:28.270
and discover how many people in the house
would support us.

49:28.270 --> 49:30.830
Yes, well, we certainly found out who our
friends are.

49:31.850 --> 49:32.890
Almost 16 of them.

49:34.390 --> 49:37.830
I... I sent a note of thanks to everyone
who voted for us.

49:38.530 --> 49:39.670
How sweet of you.

49:40.430 --> 49:42.570
Some of us know how to take defeat
graciously.

49:42.850 --> 49:44.050
You're saying they were breeding,
is it?

49:44.670 --> 49:46.230
On this occasion it probably is.

49:47.930 --> 49:50.470
Gentlemen, everything that is said at this
meeting...

49:50.470 --> 49:51.830
is being taken down for our records.

49:51.970 --> 49:54.430
My good friend James Stephen has agreed to
be our secretary.

49:54.970 --> 49:55.710
You were saying, gentlemen?

49:58.270 --> 50:03.070
As you can see, not many MPs have
responded to our invitation.

50:04.030 --> 50:05.950
Indeed, outside my own family there is
only one.

50:06.550 --> 50:07.590
Sir William Dorbin.

50:08.330 --> 50:10.410
Sir William, what brings you to this
gathering?

50:12.330 --> 50:16.790
I recently took passage from Sierra Leone
aboard a slave ship.

50:18.730 --> 50:23.750
What I saw during those 15 days...

50:23.750 --> 50:27.670
But I believe there are plenty of others
in the House of Commons...

50:27.670 --> 50:28.990
who share your feelings, Wilberforce.

50:29.050 --> 50:30.290
They're just afraid to show it.

50:30.410 --> 50:31.290
Shame on them!

50:31.310 --> 50:31.930
No shame.

50:32.910 --> 50:33.650
No shame.

50:33.790 --> 50:36.330
Well, I'm the representative of a port
city.

50:36.490 --> 50:39.610
How could I tell those whom I represent...

50:39.610 --> 50:41.650
that I'm voting to end their livelihood?

50:41.970 --> 50:42.910
Exactly so.

50:43.070 --> 50:45.790
We have to become other human beings.

50:46.110 --> 50:46.710
Become us!

50:46.910 --> 50:48.590
It's exactly this pursuit of lofty...

50:48.590 --> 50:51.190
There is nothing lofty about simple
humanity.

50:51.570 --> 50:52.970
This pursuit of lofty...

51:00.550 --> 51:04.230
Perhaps we should begin this journey with
the first step.

51:04.930 --> 51:07.390
We are talking about the truth.

51:08.450 --> 51:10.290
So we should hand it out to people.

51:11.110 --> 51:12.750
Drop it from church roofs.

51:13.090 --> 51:13.890
Paint pictures of it.

51:14.050 --> 51:15.110
Write songs about it.

51:15.190 --> 51:16.310
Make bloody pies out of it.

51:17.870 --> 51:18.630
Go on.

51:19.890 --> 51:23.490
There is a slave ship at dock in
Tilbury...

51:23.490 --> 51:25.910
with twice the slave births it is insured
for.

51:26.030 --> 51:26.950
I know that for a fact.

51:27.530 --> 51:28.890
But how do we prove it?

51:30.490 --> 51:30.910
Wilbur.

51:34.430 --> 51:35.390
Dear God.

51:36.070 --> 51:36.650
Well, almost.

51:42.150 --> 51:45.350
I spent 18 months being torn apart...

51:45.350 --> 51:47.550
by you in the house, Mr Wilberforce.

51:48.230 --> 51:50.150
I thought I'd find out...

51:50.150 --> 51:52.130
what it feels like to be on your side.

51:53.750 --> 51:55.330
I see you've got plenty of food.

51:56.770 --> 51:58.010
Any of you saints drink?

52:05.600 --> 52:06.920
This one bloody does.

52:14.670 --> 52:16.170
Thank you very much.

52:29.680 --> 52:30.680
Not fair!

52:31.820 --> 52:32.660
Not fair!

52:34.460 --> 52:35.440
I'm not well.

52:35.920 --> 52:36.580
My belly.

52:37.700 --> 52:38.920
What's wrong with your belly?

52:44.480 --> 52:45.040
Besides...

52:45.040 --> 52:46.120
you're Prime Minister.

52:46.860 --> 52:48.580
It is my ministerial duty to let you in.

52:49.300 --> 52:51.540
So, what do we do with Fox?

52:54.140 --> 52:55.020
Put him in a box.

52:56.320 --> 52:58.000
Let him throw the heavy rocks.

52:58.480 --> 52:59.280
Provide the shocks.

53:00.020 --> 53:01.780
Put Lord Tarleton in the stocks.

53:06.780 --> 53:09.860
If the House of Lords could hear the
idiotic way we carry on.

53:10.740 --> 53:13.600
They'd ban anyone under the age of 30 from
holding high office ever again.

53:15.420 --> 53:15.860
Well...

53:16.340 --> 53:18.720
at least with Fox on board...

53:18.720 --> 53:20.060
the world will know we mean business.

53:20.540 --> 53:22.140
The world doesn't know yet.

53:24.220 --> 53:25.000
Nor will it.

53:25.900 --> 53:26.760
Not until we're ready.

53:29.120 --> 53:30.580
You were born for this, Wilbur.

53:32.900 --> 53:34.100
Sometimes I get giddy.

53:37.420 --> 53:39.980
Why is it you only feel the thorns in your
feet when you stop running?

53:42.240 --> 53:45.260
Is that some sort of heavy-handed
metaphorical advice from you, Mr Pitt?

53:46.660 --> 53:47.800
Yes, I suppose it is.

53:49.020 --> 53:49.820
We must keep going.

53:51.180 --> 53:52.380
Keep going fast.

54:34.040 --> 54:34.560
Gentlemen,

54:58.610 --> 55:00.170
would you stop the music, please?

55:00.410 --> 55:01.010
Thank you.

55:02.030 --> 55:06.130
Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you have
enjoyed our little tour of the estuary.

55:06.570 --> 55:10.950
But now our sojourn is almost over,
I have a confession to make.

55:11.810 --> 55:17.590
This trip wasn't purely arranged to reward
those MPs who have supported me in the

55:17.590 --> 55:18.150
past year.

55:18.610 --> 55:21.570
Nor am I the only sponsor.

55:24.810 --> 55:26.370
What's he doing up there?

55:26.450 --> 55:29.810
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a slave
ship.

55:30.810 --> 55:31.930
The Madagascar.

55:32.750 --> 55:38.770
It has just returned from the Indies,
where it delivered 200 men, women and

55:38.770 --> 55:39.970
children to Jamaica.

55:41.850 --> 55:47.470
When it left Africa, there were 600 on
board.

55:48.810 --> 55:52.450
The rest died of disease or despair.

55:52.450 --> 55:52.530
There.

55:55.370 --> 56:00.350
That smell is the smell of death.

56:01.570 --> 56:04.050
Slow, painful death.

56:06.770 --> 56:07.410
Breathe it in.

56:08.930 --> 56:09.970
Breathe it deeply.

56:12.010 --> 56:14.070
Take those handkerchiefs away from your
noses.

56:16.190 --> 56:17.470
There now.

56:20.470 --> 56:22.370
Remember that smell.

56:23.730 --> 56:25.650
Remember the Madagascar.

56:26.750 --> 56:30.630
Remember that God made men equal.

56:36.090 --> 56:40.330
All that winter, we spread out across the
country, gathering evidence for

56:40.330 --> 56:40.710
Parliament.

56:42.070 --> 56:47.170
Thomas rode to Bristol, Liverpool,
Plymouth, talking to men who'd worked the

56:47.170 --> 56:50.090
slave ships, the ship's doctors who'd
treated them.

56:51.190 --> 56:53.790
The slaves themselves had been whipped and
branded.

56:55.330 --> 56:58.450
Equiano published his account of his years
as a slave.

57:02.130 --> 57:04.870
He sold 50,000 copies in two months.

57:04.870 --> 57:05.770
Not so many.

57:16.550 --> 57:21.990
Our supporters began to only buy sugar
produced without slaves in India.

57:23.810 --> 57:25.990
They stopped using sugar altogether.

57:27.350 --> 57:28.850
It seemed our message was everywhere.

57:29.690 --> 57:30.930
At least now there was hope.

57:31.750 --> 57:32.770
Real hope.

57:34.630 --> 57:39.470
We had a year to collect enough evidence
to convince Parliament of our case.

57:41.210 --> 57:44.470
The planters and the ship owners began to
spread rumours about us.

57:45.770 --> 57:49.810
They called us seditious, secretly working
to bring down the government.

57:51.270 --> 57:56.030
Clarkson sat in a coach to Birmingham and
overheard someone claim that I'd secretly

57:56.030 --> 57:57.290
married a slave woman.

58:03.380 --> 58:09.220
But the weight of our hope made it all
seem like glorious infamy.

58:10.020 --> 58:11.720
How long have you been taking laudanum?

58:16.260 --> 58:18.300
I recognise its presence.

58:27.620 --> 58:33.000
My illness and my crusade were born around
the same time.

58:33.460 --> 58:34.680
What is your illness?

58:35.920 --> 58:38.460
The doctors tell me it's called colitis.

58:39.220 --> 58:40.720
They don't really understand it.

58:40.720 --> 58:41.880
But I do.

58:43.080 --> 58:48.220
You see, sometimes my stomach gets bored
of being a stomach and decides it's a

58:48.220 --> 58:48.780
sailing ship.

58:49.160 --> 58:52.380
And my heart gets jealous and decides it
wants to be a sea sword.

58:52.620 --> 58:56.700
And before you know it, my lungs are
arguing with one another whether to be

58:56.700 --> 58:58.800
lungs or sponges full of seawater.

59:00.740 --> 59:03.780
Well, at least that's what I tell my
nieces and nephews.

59:05.440 --> 59:07.060
Marianne tells me you like children.

59:10.920 --> 59:15.580
My poor father almost went mad when I told
him I'd stopped taking sugar in my tea.

59:17.420 --> 59:24.100
I was fourteen, reading your name in the
papers, willing you to win.

59:25.560 --> 59:30.600
I told my friends there was actual slave
blood in every lump of sugar.

59:37.480 --> 59:39.900
Has this been so painful to talk about?

59:41.020 --> 59:44.300
It's only painful to talk about because we
haven't changed anything.

59:45.500 --> 59:48.320
But unlike the slaves, I have opium for my
pain.

59:50.900 --> 59:52.320
I beg your pardon, sir.

59:54.360 --> 59:56.080
I thought everyone was in bed.

59:57.800 --> 59:58.840
She brings the breakfast.

59:58.960 --> 59:59.520
What time is it?

01:00:00.560 --> 01:00:01.480
Does it matter?

01:00:16.880 --> 01:00:18.480
That year we should have won.

01:00:20.120 --> 01:00:24.500
With the evidence we had collected,
by natural justice we should have won.

01:00:25.040 --> 01:00:33.580
Natural justice would go to the Indies
naturally, as if the roots were blessed by

01:00:33.580 --> 01:00:34.060
God.

01:00:35.800 --> 01:00:42.920
Another argument in defense of the trade
is that the Newfoundland fishing industry

01:00:42.920 --> 01:00:45.180
is kept afloat...

01:00:45.180 --> 01:00:55.500
by the fact that slaves in the West Indies
consume that part of the fish which is fit

01:00:55.500 --> 01:00:57.310
for no other consumption.

01:00:59.460 --> 01:01:04.440
I do feel that if my honourable friend
continues to scrape the bottom of the

01:01:04.440 --> 01:01:05.450
barrel for objections...

01:01:05.960 --> 01:01:08.700
he is in danger of getting splinters under
his fingernails.

01:01:11.420 --> 01:01:14.080
Now, if I may continue with my argument.

01:01:14.080 --> 01:01:19.820
As representative of the great and
flourishing commercial town of

01:01:19.820 --> 01:01:20.240
Liverpool...

01:01:21.020 --> 01:01:27.060
I must once again remind the House that we
have no evidence that the Africans

01:01:27.060 --> 01:01:29.740
themselves have any objection to the
trade.

01:01:34.540 --> 01:01:40.740
I have here an account written by Mr.
Clutterbuck...

01:01:40.740 --> 01:01:47.360
which states that most slaves in the
Indies have a snug little garden with

01:01:47.360 --> 01:01:49.260
plenty of pigs and poultry.

01:01:50.600 --> 01:01:56.020
There are many poor families in Liverpool
who do not have as much.

01:01:57.680 --> 01:02:05.020
Which is why, apart from a few mendicant
physicians and itinerant clergymen...

01:02:05.560 --> 01:02:11.900
the ordinary people of Britain are not at
all exercised by the whole issue of

01:02:11.900 --> 01:02:12.320
slavery.

01:02:14.020 --> 01:02:18.780
My honourable friend, the Member for
Liverpool, seeks evidence of people's

01:02:18.780 --> 01:02:19.240
concern.

01:02:19.240 --> 01:02:25.620
In the past year, I and my itinerant
clergymen friends have been gathering just

01:02:25.620 --> 01:02:26.580
such evidence.

01:02:28.360 --> 01:02:34.540
We have taken a petition calling for the
abolition of the slave trade to all the

01:02:34.540 --> 01:02:35.960
great cities of this country.

01:02:37.580 --> 01:02:43.340
It has been signed by over 390,000 people.

01:02:52.890 --> 01:02:56.250
However, this petition is not yet
complete.

01:02:57.050 --> 01:02:59.950
There is one more person who wishes to add
his name.

01:03:13.640 --> 01:03:15.040
Do something.

01:03:19.570 --> 01:03:25.130
Mr. Speaker, I humbly request suspension
while we take time to examine the

01:03:25.130 --> 01:03:26.330
signatures on this document.

01:03:28.570 --> 01:03:33.170
There is something very provoking in the
dry, calm way my honourable friend seeks

01:03:33.170 --> 01:03:33.530
delay.

01:03:33.670 --> 01:03:35.610
Mr. Speaker, will he not give way?

01:03:35.910 --> 01:03:37.810
Is the desolation of Africa suspended?

01:03:38.050 --> 01:03:39.430
Please, gentlemen...

01:03:39.430 --> 01:03:41.010
Is the work of death suspended?

01:03:41.110 --> 01:03:43.830
You bring petitions into the House of
Commons.

01:03:43.930 --> 01:03:49.590
Mr. Speaker, we cannot in this country be
ruled by the rule of the mob rather than

01:03:49.590 --> 01:03:50.550
its national rulers.

01:03:50.550 --> 01:03:51.330
Order!

01:03:51.910 --> 01:03:54.150
That roll of paper wreaks a rebellion.

01:03:54.590 --> 01:03:58.670
No matter how loud you shout, you will not
drown out the voice of the people.

01:04:08.830 --> 01:04:13.590
This session will be suspended while the
petition is examined.

01:04:46.090 --> 01:04:50.490
My spies tell me that Tarleton and Coconut
Clarence have gone to see the Home

01:04:50.490 --> 01:04:51.090
Secretary.

01:04:52.990 --> 01:04:54.610
What would they want with Lord Dundas?

01:04:54.610 --> 01:04:56.310
He's one of us, isn't he?

01:04:59.390 --> 01:04:59.990
James!

01:04:59.990 --> 01:05:00.590
James!

01:05:02.070 --> 01:05:03.770
Where does Lord Dundas stand?

01:05:04.250 --> 01:05:05.850
Probable, I think.

01:05:07.690 --> 01:05:08.910
We have him down as a probable.

01:05:09.990 --> 01:05:14.630
Last year he stopped the deportation of a
Jamaican slave from Scotland, so his

01:05:14.630 --> 01:05:15.530
heart's in the right place.

01:05:16.050 --> 01:05:17.450
Be wary of Dundas.

01:05:20.970 --> 01:05:23.870
If he's capable of compassion once,
why not twice?

01:05:26.690 --> 01:05:29.050
What damage could he do if he's turned?

01:05:29.970 --> 01:05:31.910
He controls the Scottish vote.

01:05:32.850 --> 01:05:34.470
34 MPs.

01:05:37.800 --> 01:05:39.880
Just have to have faith in his integrity.

01:05:43.320 --> 01:05:43.960
Integrity?

01:05:51.580 --> 01:05:52.620
Where are you going?

01:05:53.660 --> 01:05:56.440
To look up the word integrity in Dr
Johnson's dictionary.

01:06:00.380 --> 01:06:00.900
Come.

01:06:03.560 --> 01:06:06.260
Prime Minister, Lord Charles Fox to see
you.

01:06:11.730 --> 01:06:14.570
You always look more at home when you're
doing something devious.

01:06:17.190 --> 01:06:21.430
Prime Minister, your friend Wilberforce
doesn't play cards anymore.

01:06:22.710 --> 01:06:26.210
No, he resigned from all five card clubs
when he saw the light.

01:06:27.150 --> 01:06:27.890
Pity, he was good.

01:06:28.910 --> 01:06:31.390
Well, I think there's a hand you should
play for him.

01:06:34.130 --> 01:06:34.990
Against whom?

01:06:35.450 --> 01:06:37.390
Someone who stands in his way.

01:06:41.710 --> 01:06:42.510
So name him.

01:06:54.050 --> 01:06:55.550
Good evening, Your Honour.

01:07:05.630 --> 01:07:09.090
Billy, did I not win enough money from you
on Saturday evening?

01:07:10.690 --> 01:07:12.630
Really, I have no time for cards.

01:07:12.730 --> 01:07:14.610
I have urgent business in the house.

01:07:20.560 --> 01:07:21.160
Aye.

01:07:24.320 --> 01:07:30.580
This Prime Minister, idle gossip collects
around you like scum in the slack water.

01:07:31.880 --> 01:07:32.760
What have you heard?

01:07:33.860 --> 01:07:37.260
Lord Tarleton's throwing East India
Company money at people who are speaking

01:07:37.260 --> 01:07:38.740
against abolition tonight.

01:07:40.260 --> 01:07:42.920
Of course, no true friend of mine would
accept such an offer.

01:07:46.260 --> 01:07:48.260
I appear to have three jacks.

01:07:49.260 --> 01:07:53.040
I've always ensured that you have been
dealt a favourable hand.

01:07:53.900 --> 01:07:54.880
Are you threatening me?

01:07:55.540 --> 01:07:57.600
You are threatening our friendship.

01:07:59.100 --> 01:08:02.660
It isn't money that has made me decide to
oppose Wilberforce.

01:08:03.140 --> 01:08:04.980
His enemy is my enemy.

01:08:05.120 --> 01:08:08.320
Billy, you are sleepwalking hand in hand
with a bloody rebel.

01:08:09.020 --> 01:08:12.540
Wilberforce follows no leader but the
preacher in his head.

01:08:15.040 --> 01:08:16.540
How much were you offered?

01:08:17.820 --> 01:08:19.120
Keep your jacks.

01:08:20.300 --> 01:08:25.040
The planters still have their king and I,
at least, am still loyal to him.

01:08:26.440 --> 01:08:28.960
Don't force me to put a pistol to your
head.

01:08:31.360 --> 01:08:34.860
Well, if you do, there will be two
pistols.

01:08:35.900 --> 01:08:37.160
One from each side.

01:08:38.260 --> 01:08:42.260
And perhaps, if I duck, you'll shoot each
other.

01:08:59.160 --> 01:08:59.600
Order!

01:09:04.840 --> 01:09:06.620
First, let me be clear.

01:09:08.020 --> 01:09:14.620
After long consideration and much
consultation, I am in favour of the

01:09:14.620 --> 01:09:16.520
abolition of the slave trade.

01:09:19.580 --> 01:09:26.780
It is no doubt in my mind that this trade
in human beings is an almighty calumny and

01:09:26.780 --> 01:09:28.560
is a disgrace to this nation.

01:09:30.200 --> 01:09:37.900
I also take the point of my honourable
friend, the Member for Liverpool,

01:09:38.800 --> 01:09:43.220
that if we were to outlaw the trade
tomorrow, this would bring financial

01:09:43.220 --> 01:09:46.260
disaster to many of the great cities and
industries of this country.

01:09:49.040 --> 01:09:53.920
I therefore suggest a period of
reflection.

01:09:54.560 --> 01:09:59.620
After a year and a half of proving council
investigations, what good would it do to

01:09:59.620 --> 01:10:00.480
delay the inevitable?

01:10:00.960 --> 01:10:01.400
Inevitable?

01:10:01.960 --> 01:10:04.820
Is my honourable friend already counting
the votes before they are cast?

01:10:05.740 --> 01:10:07.300
I didn't mean that.

01:10:08.460 --> 01:10:13.140
If the trade were to be abolished,
I suggest that we do so gradually.

01:10:15.560 --> 01:10:17.840
Violent storms sink ships.

01:10:19.220 --> 01:10:25.240
This great ship of state must not be sunk
by a wave of good intention.

01:10:51.130 --> 01:10:53.150
They are cleverer than us, Thomas.

01:10:55.730 --> 01:10:56.590
And yet?

01:11:00.110 --> 01:11:02.390
Outside the House of Commons the moon is
with us.

01:11:03.410 --> 01:11:04.330
And what good is that?

01:11:07.090 --> 01:11:08.750
I have friends in France.

01:11:11.850 --> 01:11:12.850
Our counterparts.

01:11:14.470 --> 01:11:16.270
Men of principle like you and I.

01:11:17.230 --> 01:11:18.550
They bring me only good news.

01:11:19.650 --> 01:11:20.550
News of what?

01:11:22.970 --> 01:11:23.530
Revolution.

01:11:25.550 --> 01:11:26.590
They're certain it's coming.

01:11:29.090 --> 01:11:32.430
In Paris, they speak openly in the streets
of emancipation.

01:11:32.610 --> 01:11:35.270
Freedom for all men and women too.

01:11:38.050 --> 01:11:40.710
The Americans pulled the cork out of the
bottle when we were forced.

01:11:41.850 --> 01:11:43.490
Now the French share the wine.

01:11:43.950 --> 01:11:46.970
You talk about revolution as if it were a
safe thing.

01:11:47.310 --> 01:11:48.290
It's just a word.

01:11:48.290 --> 01:11:53.010
Every day we change things by degrees,
education, faculties.

01:11:53.630 --> 01:11:55.030
You sound like Dundas.

01:11:55.890 --> 01:11:56.430
Gradually.

01:11:56.790 --> 01:11:58.710
An imperfect order is better than no order
at all.

01:11:58.750 --> 01:12:01.490
No, we must fight for a perfect order.

01:12:05.690 --> 01:12:07.370
I've pledged an allegiance to the King.

01:12:10.450 --> 01:12:12.210
You know as well as I do.

01:12:13.870 --> 01:12:15.390
The King is insane.

01:12:16.730 --> 01:12:20.810
He shakes hands with oak trees and claims
he can see Germany through his telescope.

01:12:26.470 --> 01:12:28.950
I know you have your loyalties.

01:12:29.550 --> 01:12:33.170
Well before us, but underneath it,
you're more radical than any of us.

01:12:35.350 --> 01:12:37.090
You see, you never doubt your right.

01:12:38.990 --> 01:12:43.030
What we say of the slave is true of the
worker in the field.

01:12:45.030 --> 01:12:46.410
The weaver, the miner.

01:12:47.650 --> 01:12:51.150
Shouldn't they be free to prosper too?

01:12:52.410 --> 01:12:55.870
Instead of the fruits of their labours
going to men like Tarleton.

01:12:56.270 --> 01:13:00.530
Men who spend their money on whores and
comic operas.

01:13:04.560 --> 01:13:06.640
Young girls debauched.

01:13:11.290 --> 01:13:13.490
Soldiers forced to beg.

01:13:14.810 --> 01:13:19.430
It's a natural wave that's flowing,
Wilbur.

01:13:21.070 --> 01:13:26.910
First Boston, then Paris, next London.

01:13:30.750 --> 01:13:35.330
Thomas, you must never speak of revolution
in my presence ever again.

01:13:49.490 --> 01:13:51.610
I'm going to Paris this evening myself.

01:13:56.760 --> 01:13:57.920
Why don't you come with me?

01:14:01.020 --> 01:14:02.020
Drink some of that wine.

01:14:17.000 --> 01:14:24.880
Africa, your sufferings have been a theme
that has engaged and arrested my heart.

01:14:26.580 --> 01:14:34.400
Your sufferings, no tongue can express,
no language impart.

01:14:43.700 --> 01:14:47.280
God has set before me two great objects.

01:14:49.580 --> 01:14:54.520
The suppression of the slave trade and the
reformation of society.

01:15:01.820 --> 01:15:02.400
Sir!

01:15:13.610 --> 01:15:17.330
The trouble is, Doctor, he doesn't believe
he has a body.

01:15:17.870 --> 01:15:18.930
He's utterly careless of it.

01:15:20.910 --> 01:15:23.390
He thinks he's a disembodied spirit.

01:15:26.430 --> 01:15:29.210
Perhaps you should spend some time away
from London.

01:15:31.430 --> 01:15:32.090
What's this?

01:15:32.530 --> 01:15:33.650
Laudanum, for the pain.

01:15:34.470 --> 01:15:34.930
An opiate?

01:15:35.570 --> 01:15:36.050
No, no, no.

01:15:36.270 --> 01:15:37.270
I need my mind sharp.

01:15:37.490 --> 01:15:38.710
No, you need to rest.

01:15:39.570 --> 01:15:41.590
My bill is before the House in three
weeks.

01:15:42.730 --> 01:15:44.030
Would you leave us a moment, Doctor?

01:15:44.390 --> 01:15:45.170
Yes, Prime Minister.

01:15:53.280 --> 01:15:56.540
It's now five years since you first
brought this bill to the House.

01:15:56.880 --> 01:15:59.580
And each time we get a little closer.

01:15:59.820 --> 01:16:03.780
Well, of course, there are other MPs who
could carry the debate.

01:16:04.740 --> 01:16:05.220
Who?

01:16:06.600 --> 01:16:07.180
Name one.

01:16:09.760 --> 01:16:11.500
The only man I would trust is you.

01:16:17.190 --> 01:16:17.670
Well?

01:16:18.430 --> 01:16:22.070
You know I can't be seen to openly oppose
the King when the streets of Paris are

01:16:22.070 --> 01:16:22.710
running with blood.

01:16:22.710 --> 01:16:25.290
You've read too many lurid newspaper
articles.

01:16:25.810 --> 01:16:29.110
The French Republic plans to declare war
within the year.

01:16:29.770 --> 01:16:30.550
On who?

01:16:31.670 --> 01:16:32.550
On who?

01:16:33.770 --> 01:16:35.450
You're locked inside your own head,
man.

01:16:35.510 --> 01:16:37.830
On us, on Great Britain, on everything we
stand for.

01:16:42.840 --> 01:16:45.120
Considering the situation, you mix with
the wrong people.

01:16:47.760 --> 01:16:49.180
Who do I mix with?

01:16:49.260 --> 01:16:50.080
Clarkson, for one.

01:16:51.000 --> 01:16:53.080
Remind me who introduced me to Clarkson.

01:16:53.100 --> 01:16:54.260
In different times.

01:16:59.810 --> 01:17:02.570
They say in the cafes that Clarkson's a
French spy.

01:17:03.770 --> 01:17:04.730
And Equiano.

01:17:06.170 --> 01:17:08.850
They say he was born in Carolina.

01:17:09.670 --> 01:17:11.930
And as an American, therefore,
must be a revolutionary.

01:17:18.200 --> 01:17:24.660
Others say they have seen with their own
eyes letters addressed to you from Thomas

01:17:24.660 --> 01:17:25.200
Jefferson.

01:17:26.280 --> 01:17:27.680
On matters to do with abolition?

01:17:27.860 --> 01:17:29.320
War changes everything.

01:17:29.480 --> 01:17:30.080
Even friendship?

01:17:30.140 --> 01:17:31.440
Yes, especially those!

01:17:33.440 --> 01:17:36.120
So you will keep your precious conscience
intact.

01:17:36.700 --> 01:17:39.000
And let the rest of us do the war's dirty
work.

01:17:42.120 --> 01:17:43.600
Conscience is indeed precious.

01:17:43.800 --> 01:17:47.480
I am warning you, as your Prime Minister,
that when war comes, opposition will soon

01:17:47.480 --> 01:17:48.440
be called sedition.

01:17:51.620 --> 01:17:52.420
By who?

01:17:57.140 --> 01:17:57.900
By you.

01:18:22.440 --> 01:18:27.200
This evening, I would like to return to
the theme of abolition.

01:18:28.200 --> 01:18:34.160
In these dangerous times, it is easy to
put aside our concerns for those in need,

01:18:34.380 --> 01:18:37.200
simply to confirm our loyalty to the
nation.

01:18:37.680 --> 01:18:43.380
But the issues of war and the issues of
slavery must not be confused.

01:18:44.000 --> 01:18:48.640
Our fear of an unknown enemy must not be
allowed to erode our long-cherished

01:18:48.640 --> 01:18:49.020
liberties.

01:18:49.320 --> 01:18:52.720
If this is to happen, how bitter will our
victory be?

01:18:53.740 --> 01:18:54.620
Shame!

01:18:55.300 --> 01:18:55.880
Shame!

01:18:56.120 --> 01:19:01.140
We must not continue with all the
political discussion of political

01:19:01.140 --> 01:19:01.700
subjects.

01:19:02.660 --> 01:19:08.000
The issue of slavery has not made any less
important than the unrelated issues of

01:19:08.000 --> 01:19:08.260
war.

01:19:09.080 --> 01:19:14.600
In war or in peace, the value of human
beings is equally important.

01:19:15.400 --> 01:19:18.720
And this is not a sedition statement!

01:19:38.210 --> 01:19:39.270
There is your Lordship.

01:19:39.710 --> 01:19:40.990
I'll prepare it for you.

01:19:41.150 --> 01:19:41.330
No.

01:19:42.210 --> 01:19:43.670
No, I want to tell you how it ends.

01:19:44.570 --> 01:19:45.770
I already know.

01:19:46.610 --> 01:19:48.330
Your bills were easily defeated.

01:19:53.510 --> 01:19:55.450
Equiano died in his bed.

01:19:56.490 --> 01:19:59.470
Thomas Clarkson found a cottage in the
hills to hide away in.

01:20:00.030 --> 01:20:03.670
Charles Fox watched and waited.

01:20:05.130 --> 01:20:06.930
The Quakers still sent their letters.

01:20:08.350 --> 01:20:09.670
No one replied.

01:20:11.810 --> 01:20:13.630
Is that the end of your story?

01:20:15.270 --> 01:20:16.430
You think not?

01:20:17.010 --> 01:20:17.430
No.

01:20:18.230 --> 01:20:19.010
Why not?

01:20:19.430 --> 01:20:21.450
Because after night comes day.

01:20:23.330 --> 01:20:26.790
The people aren't so afraid now the war
with France is being won.

01:20:27.470 --> 01:20:31.810
And when they stop being afraid,
they rediscover their compassion.

01:20:32.590 --> 01:20:34.490
So the people have their compassion,
Mac.

01:20:36.030 --> 01:20:38.150
And you still have passion.

01:20:39.670 --> 01:20:41.430
That matters more.

01:20:59.180 --> 01:21:00.400
Good morning, Royal Mother.

01:21:00.800 --> 01:21:01.040
Morning.

01:21:02.140 --> 01:21:03.360
Get much sleep?

01:21:03.740 --> 01:21:04.420
Not much.

01:21:05.440 --> 01:21:06.620
What time did Barbara leave?

01:21:06.960 --> 01:21:07.280
Late.

01:21:08.580 --> 01:21:09.860
I mean early.

01:21:13.000 --> 01:21:14.860
I'm afraid I'm going back to London.

01:21:16.380 --> 01:21:17.420
So soon?

01:21:17.920 --> 01:21:18.320
Yes.

01:21:18.740 --> 01:21:20.600
I think the waters have worked their magic
on me.

01:21:22.360 --> 01:21:24.760
But before I leave, I need to send a
letter to James Stephen.

01:21:25.320 --> 01:21:26.740
I'm going to ask him to come back to
England.

01:21:27.020 --> 01:21:27.680
For what reason?

01:21:27.980 --> 01:21:30.020
We need to put his evidence before a
select committee.

01:21:34.620 --> 01:21:38.900
Also, Barbara and I have discovered that
we're both impatient and prone to rash

01:21:38.900 --> 01:21:39.400
decisions.

01:21:41.200 --> 01:21:42.860
But she wants to tell you about it
herself.

01:22:20.330 --> 01:22:27.310
Ladies and gentlemen, before we begin,
we will sing the hymn requested by the

01:22:27.310 --> 01:22:27.690
bride.

01:22:49.730 --> 01:22:56.990
One once was lost, but now am found.

01:22:57.390 --> 01:23:03.310
Was blind, but now I see.

01:23:07.610 --> 01:23:08.870
Thank you very much.

01:23:09.310 --> 01:23:10.230
Thank you so much for coming.

01:23:10.850 --> 01:23:11.730
Thank you.

01:23:12.110 --> 01:23:14.450
How are you coping within your kitchen?

01:23:15.170 --> 01:23:15.950
Great changes.

01:23:16.070 --> 01:23:17.110
They're easier than small ones.

01:23:17.750 --> 01:23:18.650
Frances Bergen.

01:23:22.870 --> 01:23:24.650
Have you forgiven us yet?

01:23:24.850 --> 01:23:25.010
Never.

01:23:25.210 --> 01:23:27.590
It'll be wonderful to have you both living
so near.

01:23:29.110 --> 01:23:32.570
I do hope you didn't come to Clapham for
the tranquility.

01:23:33.130 --> 01:23:34.850
I'm afraid we're very noisy neighbours.

01:23:35.070 --> 01:23:36.030
I'm counting on it.

01:23:39.290 --> 01:23:40.250
Thank you.

01:23:53.140 --> 01:23:57.610
Barbara, you have my deepest condolences.

01:23:57.950 --> 01:23:59.250
Thank you so much.

01:24:01.710 --> 01:24:03.630
But please, I beg of you, do this for me.

01:24:04.290 --> 01:24:05.630
Make him eat some of his pets.

01:24:06.170 --> 01:24:07.290
I rather like them.

01:24:07.450 --> 01:24:08.170
I like them too.

01:24:08.970 --> 01:24:10.030
In brandy sauce.

01:24:18.520 --> 01:24:20.340
Well, if you gentlemen will excuse me.

01:24:20.340 --> 01:24:21.140
No need, Barbara.

01:24:21.220 --> 01:24:23.200
You're discussing politics with your eyes.

01:24:23.340 --> 01:24:24.860
You may as well do it with your mouths.

01:24:38.910 --> 01:24:40.770
I didn't think you'd invite me.

01:24:41.370 --> 01:24:42.530
Didn't think you'd come.

01:24:46.440 --> 01:24:47.160
You well?

01:24:48.180 --> 01:24:49.140
My mind's well.

01:24:50.440 --> 01:24:52.240
The rest of me's fraying at the edges.

01:24:56.740 --> 01:24:58.180
Billy, I'm going to try again.

01:25:00.880 --> 01:25:01.400
Well?

01:25:01.980 --> 01:25:02.980
It's your wedding day.

01:25:03.080 --> 01:25:04.480
I agree with everything you say.

01:25:05.440 --> 01:25:06.740
I never changed.

01:25:07.780 --> 01:25:09.020
I don't change.

01:25:09.240 --> 01:25:10.480
Well, hurrah for you.

01:25:12.440 --> 01:25:14.720
The mood may even be swinging back in your
favour.

01:25:17.580 --> 01:25:21.120
How can we live in houses like this when
others are living in boxes?

01:25:23.560 --> 01:25:25.200
Is that still sedition?

01:25:27.540 --> 01:25:29.580
As your Prime Minister, I urge caution.

01:25:30.500 --> 01:25:31.500
And as my friend.

01:25:32.200 --> 01:25:33.420
Not to hell with caution.

01:25:35.500 --> 01:25:44.780
When the slaves are flogged on the wharf,
their arms are tied to a hook on a crane

01:25:44.780 --> 01:25:52.420
and weights of fifty-six pounds applied to
their feet.

01:25:54.620 --> 01:26:03.740
The crane is raised so that their feet
barely touch the ground.

01:26:05.160 --> 01:26:09.460
The slaves are then whipped with ebony
bushes, comma,

01:26:13.780 --> 01:26:18.380
to let out the congealing blood.

01:26:19.120 --> 01:26:22.220
I don't hear the nip scratching the page.

01:26:22.700 --> 01:26:23.700
We have company, sir.

01:26:25.360 --> 01:26:26.000
John.

01:26:27.280 --> 01:26:28.380
It's me, Wilbur.

01:26:32.940 --> 01:26:33.720
Leave it.

01:26:44.800 --> 01:26:47.340
They only told me your sight was fading.

01:26:48.420 --> 01:26:50.060
Well, now it's faded altogether.

01:26:50.980 --> 01:26:52.660
I never did things by halves.

01:26:52.780 --> 01:26:54.540
God decided I'd seen enough.

01:26:54.920 --> 01:26:55.760
So it's true.

01:26:56.800 --> 01:26:57.700
What's true?

01:26:59.160 --> 01:27:00.240
Writing your account.

01:27:01.240 --> 01:27:06.180
I wish I could see your face.

01:27:09.840 --> 01:27:11.120
How are you looking?

01:27:11.900 --> 01:27:12.580
Same.

01:27:13.820 --> 01:27:15.300
Still too thin?

01:27:15.600 --> 01:27:16.820
A little fatter lately.

01:27:17.080 --> 01:27:20.460
Oh, she feeds you well then, this wife of
yours?

01:27:20.740 --> 01:27:22.040
She's given me an appetite.

01:27:22.380 --> 01:27:24.120
An appetite to change things?

01:27:35.050 --> 01:27:36.690
This is my confession.

01:27:37.870 --> 01:27:39.370
You must use it.

01:27:41.950 --> 01:27:42.590
Names.

01:27:44.770 --> 01:27:45.510
Ship's records.

01:27:46.430 --> 01:27:46.890
Ports.

01:27:47.650 --> 01:27:48.050
People.

01:27:48.830 --> 01:27:51.590
Everything I remember is in here.

01:27:52.690 --> 01:27:57.090
Although my memory is fading, I remember
two things very clearly.

01:27:58.370 --> 01:28:01.250
I'm a great sinner and Christ is a great
saviour.

01:28:03.410 --> 01:28:04.890
You must publish it.

01:28:06.430 --> 01:28:08.410
Blow a hole in their boat with it.

01:28:09.370 --> 01:28:10.670
Damn them with it.

01:28:12.350 --> 01:28:15.810
I wish I could remember all their names.

01:28:17.650 --> 01:28:20.830
My 20,000 ghosts.

01:28:22.270 --> 01:28:23.770
They all had names.

01:28:25.330 --> 01:28:28.170
Beautiful African names.

01:28:29.950 --> 01:28:33.350
We called them with just grunts.

01:28:35.030 --> 01:28:35.810
Noises.

01:28:36.810 --> 01:28:38.990
We were apes.

01:28:40.010 --> 01:28:41.610
They were humans.

01:28:50.440 --> 01:28:51.900
I'm weeping.

01:28:54.280 --> 01:28:58.900
I couldn't weep till I wrote this.

01:29:04.900 --> 01:29:08.820
I once was blind, but now I see.

01:29:09.940 --> 01:29:11.700
Didn't I write that too?

01:29:12.500 --> 01:29:13.200
Yes, you did.

01:29:14.340 --> 01:29:16.840
Well, now at last it's true.

01:29:19.660 --> 01:29:21.960
Now go, Willa, go.

01:29:22.660 --> 01:29:25.580
We've lots of work to do, you and I.

01:29:34.830 --> 01:29:37.890
Strange treasures in this fair world
appear.

01:29:39.410 --> 01:29:44.490
Strange all and new to me.

01:29:47.050 --> 01:29:51.350
That is a poem by Thomas Trahan and I have
absolutely no idea what it's about.

01:29:52.490 --> 01:29:55.930
But when I was small I was made to learn
it by heart, so I don't see why I

01:29:55.930 --> 01:29:56.770
shouldn't suffer to.

01:30:00.330 --> 01:30:00.890
Clarkson!

01:30:00.890 --> 01:30:01.450
Clarkson!

01:30:03.330 --> 01:30:05.210
Good God, he's got his voice back.

01:30:05.690 --> 01:30:07.850
We need you back in London straight away!

01:30:14.130 --> 01:30:20.710
You look fine.

01:30:43.160 --> 01:30:43.700
Fine.

01:30:44.000 --> 01:30:45.280
I look wet and feeble.

01:30:45.980 --> 01:30:49.350
You, however, look disgustingly like a
lusty adventurer from Storybook.

01:30:50.360 --> 01:30:50.900
Come on.

01:30:52.040 --> 01:30:53.040
I've got a coach.

01:30:53.840 --> 01:30:55.320
The others are waiting for us at Pallet
Yard.

01:30:55.520 --> 01:30:56.980
But don't I get to wash or sleep?

01:30:57.380 --> 01:30:57.820
Sleep?

01:30:58.640 --> 01:31:00.320
You haven't changed at all, William.

01:31:00.400 --> 01:31:10.900
I call this

01:31:15.620 --> 01:31:18.700
meeting to welcome back our good friend
James Stephen from the Indies.

01:31:19.120 --> 01:31:20.340
But he should speak for himself.

01:31:21.700 --> 01:31:30.460
I have here diagrams, first-hand accounts
and transcripts of trials where innocent

01:31:30.460 --> 01:31:35.680
Africans have been convicted of crimes
they did not commit and were then burnt

01:31:35.680 --> 01:31:36.080
alive.

01:31:37.020 --> 01:31:45.140
There are pages and pages and pages of
first-hand accounts and figures and

01:31:45.140 --> 01:31:45.630
statistics.

01:31:46.550 --> 01:31:49.170
On every island now there are rebellions.

01:31:49.270 --> 01:31:52.910
Haiti is in the hands of slaves and slaves
are anxious.

01:31:53.110 --> 01:31:54.370
They're impatient for their freedom.

01:31:55.010 --> 01:31:56.310
They hear about your work here.

01:31:58.590 --> 01:32:05.230
I saw a woman and her child being beaten
in a coffee field.

01:32:07.070 --> 01:32:11.350
And afterwards I heard the woman tell her
daughter that someone was coming across

01:32:11.350 --> 01:32:12.530
the sea to save them.

01:32:14.970 --> 01:32:16.710
She said it was King Wilberforce.

01:32:22.530 --> 01:32:25.710
So this time, gentlemen, we must not fail
them.

01:32:35.170 --> 01:32:36.110
What is it, James?

01:32:38.710 --> 01:32:40.170
This is not a game for them.

01:32:40.730 --> 01:32:41.390
We know that.

01:32:42.030 --> 01:32:44.270
What I mean is, it's not enough.

01:32:48.930 --> 01:32:54.710
If we go to Parliament with this evidence,
there'll be sympathy, there'll be concern,

01:32:54.990 --> 01:32:57.130
but it'll be just the same as every other
time.

01:32:59.190 --> 01:33:01.050
Have you come back to preach hopelessness?

01:33:03.350 --> 01:33:03.830
No.

01:33:03.830 --> 01:33:05.390
No, I've had an idea.

01:33:06.130 --> 01:33:09.270
In my law books I think I might have
stumbled across something and I want to

01:33:09.270 --> 01:33:10.430
propose it as a strategy.

01:33:12.550 --> 01:33:14.030
Gnosis Decipia.

01:33:15.570 --> 01:33:16.710
It's Latin.

01:33:18.410 --> 01:33:22.210
Loosely translated, it means...

01:33:22.210 --> 01:33:24.050
We cheat.

01:34:09.300 --> 01:34:11.840
I don't care how important this is.

01:34:12.740 --> 01:34:13.960
I'll finish my shot.

01:34:16.540 --> 01:34:17.060
Mmm.

01:34:20.790 --> 01:34:22.590
Oh, for God's sakes, what is it?

01:34:23.610 --> 01:34:24.650
We decided...

01:34:27.110 --> 01:34:30.430
Billy, we've decided not to bring forward
an abolition bill this year.

01:34:30.630 --> 01:34:30.890
No?

01:34:31.910 --> 01:34:32.450
Indeed not.

01:34:33.330 --> 01:34:36.750
Instead we're going to address ourselves
to the issue of the use of neutral flags

01:34:36.750 --> 01:34:37.530
on cargo ships.

01:34:38.210 --> 01:34:39.310
How unutterably dull.

01:34:39.750 --> 01:34:40.130
Exactly.

01:34:40.130 --> 01:34:46.410
We're going to suggest that French cargo
ships, sailing under the American flag of

01:34:46.410 --> 01:34:48.550
convenience, be liable to seizure by
privateers.

01:34:49.410 --> 01:34:50.790
Part of the war effort.

01:34:52.370 --> 01:34:53.550
Patriotism, all that.

01:34:54.610 --> 01:34:59.270
Since when have you been interested in the
war effort, patriotism and all that?

01:35:01.830 --> 01:35:02.690
I'm not.

01:35:05.790 --> 01:35:08.190
So, I'll continue with my game?

01:35:14.300 --> 01:35:17.500
You don't see anything sinister in that
measure?

01:35:19.180 --> 01:35:19.660
No.

01:35:22.100 --> 01:35:23.280
Then neither will they.

01:35:23.440 --> 01:35:25.100
What the hell are you two talking about?

01:35:28.080 --> 01:35:31.620
Eighty percent of all slave ships sailing
to the Indies are flying the neutral

01:35:31.620 --> 01:35:34.440
American flag to prevent them from being
boarded by privateers.

01:35:36.160 --> 01:35:41.360
If we pass a law removing that protection,
no ship owner will dare allow his vessel

01:35:41.360 --> 01:35:41.980
to make the journey.

01:35:42.560 --> 01:35:45.080
This will only apply to French ships,
not British.

01:35:45.720 --> 01:35:46.920
That's the beauty of it.

01:35:47.160 --> 01:35:51.720
Once any ship raises the American flag,
by law it is neither French nor British.

01:35:52.340 --> 01:35:56.260
So our slave ships will be just as liable
to seizure as French ones.

01:35:57.420 --> 01:36:00.680
The privateers won't care whose booty
they're taking as long as they're

01:36:00.680 --> 01:36:01.780
operating within the law.

01:36:03.280 --> 01:36:07.740
Without the protection of neutral flags,
eighty percent of the British slave trade

01:36:07.740 --> 01:36:09.000
will be finished overnight.

01:36:10.260 --> 01:36:11.040
Dear God.

01:36:11.840 --> 01:36:18.340
Prime Minister, we need to tuck this bill
away somewhere.

01:36:20.660 --> 01:36:21.400
Disguise it.

01:36:22.480 --> 01:36:22.700
Oh.

01:36:24.500 --> 01:36:26.260
I won't even get to my feet in the House.

01:36:27.500 --> 01:36:29.180
This would still fall short of abolition.

01:36:30.200 --> 01:36:34.760
With their profits cut, I'd guess half the
slavers will be bankrupt in two years.

01:36:35.260 --> 01:36:37.460
Then we'll pick off their MPs in the House
one by one.

01:36:39.020 --> 01:36:39.860
Whose idea was this?

01:36:42.340 --> 01:36:43.060
A lawyer.

01:36:46.100 --> 01:36:50.240
Anti-French bill, which is also
anti-slavery.

01:36:53.670 --> 01:36:55.610
I don't know why I didn't think of this
any sooner.

01:37:01.440 --> 01:37:05.900
Oh, but we can't let anyone know that
we're behind this.

01:37:06.040 --> 01:37:09.020
We need you to instruct someone to put
this bill forward who's seen as a patriot.

01:37:09.860 --> 01:37:10.880
We don't want any fuss.

01:37:12.040 --> 01:37:14.100
We just need someone really, really...

01:37:15.360 --> 01:37:16.180
Boring.

01:37:19.960 --> 01:37:25.780
Typically, a French ship will change its
registration to raise the American flag

01:37:25.780 --> 01:37:29.080
and pick up a cargo of sugar in Havana.

01:37:30.040 --> 01:37:39.760
It will then sail to Carolina,
or Virginia, or Florida, or New York City,

01:37:40.340 --> 01:37:42.500
or even Boston.

01:37:43.420 --> 01:37:49.980
The cargo will then be unloaded onto a
second ship carrying the American flag and

01:37:49.980 --> 01:37:51.040
set sail for France.

01:37:52.540 --> 01:37:59.740
As things stand, neither the Royal Navy
nor licensed privateers have power to

01:37:59.740 --> 01:38:00.940
seize such a ship.

01:38:02.640 --> 01:38:10.400
My proposition is that all the ships
flying the American flag be liable to

01:38:10.400 --> 01:38:15.800
search and seizure, and to put an end to
this lamentable deceit on the part of the

01:38:15.800 --> 01:38:19.400
French and their Dutch and Spanish allies.

01:38:19.660 --> 01:38:23.560
Mr. Speaker, I do believe the
abolitionists are coming at us with a side

01:38:23.560 --> 01:38:23.840
wind.

01:38:24.380 --> 01:38:25.320
A side wind?

01:38:26.380 --> 01:38:27.960
What kind of a side wind?

01:38:28.920 --> 01:38:30.600
I'm not sure what kind of side wind.

01:38:30.660 --> 01:38:32.160
I just know that there's something going
on.

01:38:33.180 --> 01:38:34.560
The Jacobites are in.

01:38:35.080 --> 01:38:36.120
The Jacobites?

01:38:36.960 --> 01:38:41.440
Really, I do think you might update your
invective to reflect changing tides.

01:38:42.180 --> 01:38:43.980
Am I too late to call for an adjournment?

01:38:52.820 --> 01:38:53.760
Of course you are.

01:38:56.500 --> 01:38:58.960
Now, will you let the Honorable Gentleman
proceed?

01:39:00.480 --> 01:39:10.760
As I was saying, my proposition is that
all the ships flying the American flag be

01:39:10.760 --> 01:39:15.640
liable to search and seizure, and to put
an end to this lamentable deceit on the

01:39:15.640 --> 01:39:17.720
part of the French and their Dutch and
Spanish allies.

01:39:26.520 --> 01:39:28.020
Jackson, get into the chamber.

01:39:28.280 --> 01:39:28.540
Right.

01:39:28.540 --> 01:39:29.520
Chamber!

01:39:29.700 --> 01:39:30.060
Chamber!

01:39:30.360 --> 01:39:31.080
Move your arse!

01:39:32.260 --> 01:39:33.180
What's going on?

01:39:34.440 --> 01:39:35.900
Just do it!

01:40:06.020 --> 01:40:07.440
Where the hell is everyone?

01:40:08.480 --> 01:40:10.460
Everybody's at the races in Epsom.

01:40:10.820 --> 01:40:12.040
They've been given free tickets.

01:40:12.880 --> 01:40:14.300
I saved one for you.

01:40:14.720 --> 01:40:16.560
A free gift from William Wilberforce.

01:40:26.580 --> 01:40:27.220
Wilby!

01:40:31.300 --> 01:40:32.880
What on earth is happening?

01:40:32.980 --> 01:40:34.480
The poor maids are terrified.

01:40:36.820 --> 01:40:38.020
I'll bring your laudanum.

01:40:38.200 --> 01:40:38.420
No.

01:40:38.840 --> 01:40:39.040
No.

01:40:39.660 --> 01:40:41.420
I've poured it all away this morning.

01:40:41.800 --> 01:40:42.420
Every drop.

01:40:43.340 --> 01:40:44.360
Then I'll fetch more.

01:40:44.740 --> 01:40:45.120
No.

01:40:45.820 --> 01:40:47.120
I'm finished with it.

01:40:48.020 --> 01:40:50.760
I can't even feel the joy of this victory.

01:40:53.420 --> 01:40:56.120
This new baby will find me as myself.

01:40:58.260 --> 01:40:59.360
What will be his name?

01:40:59.580 --> 01:41:00.460
Says it's a boy.

01:41:00.700 --> 01:41:02.160
Just tell me some names.

01:41:02.600 --> 01:41:02.840
Please.

01:41:03.040 --> 01:41:03.320
Please.

01:41:03.380 --> 01:41:04.100
Just keep talking.

01:41:04.580 --> 01:41:06.080
William, if it's a boy.

01:41:06.520 --> 01:41:07.620
Emma, if it's a girl.

01:41:07.860 --> 01:41:08.120
Yes.

01:41:08.540 --> 01:41:09.000
It's a boy.

01:41:09.360 --> 01:41:10.000
I'm sure of it.

01:41:10.900 --> 01:41:11.440
How will he look?

01:41:11.780 --> 01:41:12.240
Sweet!

01:41:15.520 --> 01:41:17.240
He will be strong.

01:41:17.940 --> 01:41:21.160
With curly hair, but dark like yours.

01:41:21.220 --> 01:41:22.120
He's inside you now.

01:41:22.380 --> 01:41:22.640
Yes.

01:41:22.960 --> 01:41:23.340
Yes.

01:41:23.340 --> 01:41:24.000
He's inside.

01:41:25.280 --> 01:41:26.660
I can almost hear him.

01:41:27.740 --> 01:41:28.600
He's singing to us.

01:41:28.880 --> 01:41:29.180
Yes.

01:41:29.180 --> 01:41:31.000
He will have a fine voice like you.

01:41:31.160 --> 01:41:31.500
Yes.

01:41:31.940 --> 01:41:33.120
He has a strong voice.

01:41:33.700 --> 01:41:36.480
And you will play with him in the garden
every morning.

01:41:36.740 --> 01:41:37.220
Yes.

01:41:37.380 --> 01:41:37.640
Yes.

01:41:37.640 --> 01:41:39.180
And soon we'll have a girl.

01:41:39.720 --> 01:41:40.400
And a boy.

01:41:40.660 --> 01:41:41.380
And a girl.

01:41:41.620 --> 01:41:42.220
And a boy.

01:41:42.220 --> 01:41:43.220
And a girl.

01:41:56.120 --> 01:41:57.520
Wilby!

01:42:00.800 --> 01:42:01.940
Come quickly!

01:42:06.180 --> 01:42:07.580
Please

01:42:21.520 --> 01:42:23.400
leave us now.

01:42:36.130 --> 01:42:37.950
They tell me you're improving,
Billy.

01:42:39.370 --> 01:42:40.790
Oh, the

01:42:51.570 --> 01:42:52.730
crowns, didn't we?

01:42:53.010 --> 01:42:54.450
We left the heads intact.

01:42:54.750 --> 01:42:56.770
Because we're so pathetically English.

01:43:03.930 --> 01:43:07.570
We have agreed on a succession.

01:43:08.870 --> 01:43:10.030
You're not gone yet.

01:43:10.350 --> 01:43:14.130
I will be replaced by Lord Grenfell as
Prime Minister.

01:43:14.130 --> 01:43:19.950
And the Foreign Secretary will be Charles
Fox.

01:43:21.310 --> 01:43:22.420
And Wilbur...

01:43:23.670 --> 01:43:27.870
Fox has already secured a guarantee from
the palace.

01:43:30.150 --> 01:43:33.630
They will remain neutral on the issue of
the slave trade.

01:43:36.010 --> 01:43:40.350
Next time, you will be pushing at an open
door.

01:43:50.390 --> 01:43:51.710
I'm scared, Wilbur.

01:43:55.110 --> 01:43:56.010
Of what?

01:43:57.730 --> 01:44:00.130
At this moment, I wish I had your favour.

01:44:07.490 --> 01:44:09.710
No more excuses now, Wilbur.

01:44:13.130 --> 01:44:14.450
Finish them off.

01:44:26.810 --> 01:44:29.350
As you know, Equiano, I rarely drink.

01:44:31.010 --> 01:44:32.170
But today's an exception.

01:44:35.770 --> 01:44:37.590
Today we're drinking to victory.

01:44:50.510 --> 01:44:51.990
I wish you were...

01:44:53.510 --> 01:44:55.230
here, seeing all this...

01:44:57.130 --> 01:44:57.710
unfolding.

01:45:01.360 --> 01:45:02.640
This is one more push.

01:45:06.430 --> 01:45:07.350
One more.

01:45:54.620 --> 01:45:55.980
I say to this house...

01:45:57.120 --> 01:46:01.080
that there is now no reason why my bill
should not be commended to the King.

01:46:02.420 --> 01:46:08.940
And I urge my honourable friends to vote
once and for all...

01:46:08.940 --> 01:46:13.720
for the abolition of the slave trade
throughout His Majesty's Empire.

01:46:14.960 --> 01:46:16.720
They're taking the boat!

01:46:30.480 --> 01:46:31.880
Here's the tally.

01:47:13.940 --> 01:47:14.740
Order!

01:47:16.220 --> 01:47:17.260
Order!

01:47:21.860 --> 01:47:26.920
On the Home and Foreign Slave Trade Act...

01:47:26.920 --> 01:47:27.960
the unamended bill...

01:47:29.080 --> 01:47:31.020
calling for the abolition of the slave
trade...

01:47:31.820 --> 01:47:33.880
throughout the entire British Empire...

01:47:36.200 --> 01:47:38.160
Nose to the left...

01:47:38.160 --> 01:47:38.920
16.

01:47:39.860 --> 01:47:42.260
Eyes to the right...

01:47:43.220 --> 01:47:43.980
283.

01:47:49.940 --> 01:47:52.480
I declare the bill...

01:47:52.480 --> 01:47:55.580
of abolition of the slave trade...

01:47:55.580 --> 01:47:56.540
to be passed.

01:48:09.900 --> 01:48:11.360
Oh, bless oblige.

01:48:12.440 --> 01:48:13.960
Well, the bloody hell does that mean?

01:48:14.660 --> 01:48:19.940
It means my nobility obliges me to
recognize the virtue of an exceptional

01:48:19.940 --> 01:48:20.320
commoner.

01:48:45.300 --> 01:48:48.460
When people speak of great men...

01:48:48.460 --> 01:48:50.420
they think of men like Napoleon.

01:48:52.100 --> 01:48:53.600
Men of violence.

01:48:56.160 --> 01:48:56.540
Rarely...

01:48:56.920 --> 01:48:58.560
do they think of peaceful men.

01:49:00.180 --> 01:49:05.180
But contrast the reception they'll receive
when they return home from their battles.

01:49:06.740 --> 01:49:09.640
Napoleon will arrive in pomp and in power.

01:49:10.860 --> 01:49:13.910
A man who's achieved the very summit of
earthly ambition.

01:49:15.700 --> 01:49:17.900
And yet his dreams will be haunted...

01:49:17.900 --> 01:49:19.900
by the oppressions of war.

01:49:22.240 --> 01:49:24.940
William Wilberforce, however...

01:49:24.940 --> 01:49:28.400
will return to his family...

01:49:28.400 --> 01:49:30.180
laying his head on his pillow.

01:49:32.480 --> 01:49:34.320
And remember...

01:49:34.320 --> 01:49:35.700
the slave trade...

01:49:35.920 --> 01:49:37.460
is no more.