Buxton, who was descended from a long-established Essex family, had great moral and physical courage, was a leading Evangelical and, after William Wilberforce*, played the most prominent part in the anti-slavery movement. A tall man, known to his school-friends as ‘Elephant Buxton’, he had a ‘kind and gentle nature’, a calmness and persuasiveness of manner in his private and public endeavours, and beneath it all an unshakeable sense of spiritual mission.
my line is distinctly drawn. I care little about party politics. I vote as I like; sometimes pro, sometimes con ... I am not a Whig. I am one of those amphibious nondescripts called neutrals: but how can I be any thing else? I cannot reconcile to myself the doctrine of going with a party right or wrong. I feel ... that my objects would prosper much better if I sat behind the treasury bench, but then I must often vote against my convictions; i.e. do wrong, that right may come, and I do not feel this to be my duty even for prisons and criminal law.
Buxton Mems. 90-91.
He never joined Brooks’s and presumably continued to divide sometimes with ministers, at least in the early 1820s, but his crusading spirit increasingly brought him within the opposition Whig fold.
I am, I believe, rather absurd; but I hold a doctrine, to which I owe - not much, indeed, but all the little success I ever had - viz. that with ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable.
Buxton Mems. 82.
Underlining his dogged determination, he once recorded that ‘the maxim that I quote in our [anti-slavery] deliberations is that of the navy in the last war, "Always fight".’
In a letter to his sister Hannah, 29 Feb. 1820, Joseph John Gurney of Earlham Hall commented on Buxton’s wish to retire from Parliament at the impending general election:
I am of course much interested about thy dear husband and heartily wish him in again, from a belief that his parliamentary career is of real importance to the cause of humanity and Christianity. At the same time, we are, even the wisest of us, miserable judges and counsellors; and it ought to be our chief, our only, desire that the government may be upon the shoulders of him, who is worthy to reign over us, and who will arrange all things for the ultimate good and those who love and fear him. I rejoice in my confidence that Fowell is one of these and that neither disappointment nor success will be permitted to harm him, if he do but abide in his Saviour.
Mems. of J.J. Gurney ed. J.B. Braithwaite, i. 182.
Gurney observed, in a letter to Lord Calthorpe, 4 Mar., that ministers’ opposition to Buxton at Weymouth indicated that they had ‘but little taste for virtuous and independent Members of Parliament; and for those, whose talents and zeal are likely to be effectual to the overturn of old abuses’.
I persuaded him to move for a delay of two days for the purpose of preventing the necessity of such painful and disgraceful disclosures, which motion I seconded in a short, warm, decided and well applauded speech. And the whole House were so much with us that the ministers were obliged to give way. I have been most warmly thanked by both sides. Brougham said, ‘You may live 50 years and do good every day, but you will never do as much as you have done this night’. In short the effort succeeded beyond expectation.
Buxton mss, ms. Emp. s. 444, vol. 1, p. 247.
He presumably divided with ministers for Wilberforce’s compromise motion, 22 June. He sided with opposition against the barrack bill, 17 July 1820.
Keen to undertake first-hand investigations, Buxton spent the night of 5-6 Dec. 1820 going through ‘all the receptacles of vice in the East End’. He spoke for criminal law reform at a meeting in Weymouth, 20 Jan. 1821, and on the 30th urged the rejuvenation of the African Institution, of which he was a member.
I am working very very hard, sit up generally till one or later when not in the House, and am lost in admiration at the force of my productions, but the case is sadly reversed when I look them over, a few days later.
The Times, 13 Mar. 1821; Buxton mss, ms. Emp. s. 444, vol. 1, pp. 287, 291, 311.
Determined that the allegations should be gone into, he seconded Wood’s motion for inquiry into Ilchester gaol, 11 Apr. He voted to reduce the army by 10,000 men, 14 Mar., to repeal the additional malt duty, 21 Mar., 3 Apr., to equalize the timber duties, 5 Apr., and to make other military economies, 11 Apr., 4, 11, 14 May. He divided for repeal of the Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act, 8 May, and parliamentary reform, 9 May. Making what was judged the best speech in the debate, 23 May, he advocated the forgery punishment mitigation bill on moral grounds and demonstrated that a lesser penalty would increase the number of convictions.
Buxton was among those who Hudson Gurney* observed had been ‘similarly converted’ to voting against government on Sir Robert Wilson’s* removal from the army, 13 Feb. 1822.
From the autumn of 1822 Buxton accepted a much larger commitment to the anti-slavery cause, consulting frequently with Wilberforce, Brougham and others, for example in the so-called ‘secret cabinet council’ which met to discuss tactics before the following session.
Charles Williams Wynn*, the president of the India board, informed the duke of Buckingham, 31 Jan. 1824, that ‘the principal battle will be on Buxton’s motion for declaring all persons born after a certain day to be free, which he declares his determination to bring forward’.
On Wilberforce’s retirement from the Commons at the start of the 1825 session, Buxton was initially given the honour of moving the writ for Bramber, in consequence, as Wilberforce recorded in his diary, 20 Feb., of ‘my having devolved on him two years ago my advocateship of negro slaves, when it would have been wrong to have appointed an oppositionist to accept the struggle’. In fact, Brougham felt slighted, and James Stephen† even told Buxton that he was an inappropriate choice, being ‘unpopular in the House ... on account of the beer bill, silk bill, etc.’ A compromise was therefore reached, whereby the task was left to Canning.
I evidently saw that there was so much disposition to sneer at and make game of [Richard] Martin, that the bears and dogs would suffer. Up I got, and when I found myself on my legs I asked myself this cutting question: Have you anything to say? ‘Not a syllable,’ was the answer from within; but necessity has no law; speak I must, and so I did.
Buxton Mems. 176.
He apparently divided with ministers for the Irish unlawful societies bill, 25 Feb., although, according to one contemporary source, he ‘attended frequently, and usually voted with the opposition’ that year.
at first the usual fate of the West India questions attended me: a great indisposition to hear anything; but I gradually won their attention and gave my narrative fully. No very lively interest betrayed itself, but they listened like persons who wished to learn ... I am prepared for a poor report in the newspapers, for even the reporters sympathize with the House in detestation of slavery questions ... However, I did my duty, and that is all I care much about. As for popularity and fame, whoever undertakes slavery, and such foolish, methodistical questions, bids farewell to these; and I would rather take such causes in hand, than have all the applause in the world, for questions purely political.
Buxton Mems. 157.
He duly corrected the false impression of his speech given in the morning papers, 24 June, when he presented the Wallingford reform petition.
I have been served in the same way four or five times. In council and after a few glasses of champagne, we are all the bravest of the brave and scorn all cautious counsels, but our courage evaporates as fast as the liquor, and in point of fact we do nothing. For example, you heard the discussion that night [at Buxton’s house]. I prepared for battle ... Brougham told me, that he thought it would be exceedingly wrong to have a formal debate and that he had determined to do nothing this session. I begged him to take up Shrewsbury’s case. He declared he had no time, but that he would assist to the utmost, if I would. Knowing well that, if I delayed the notice, we should lose that case too, I directly fixed the day. No sooner was this done than a panic seized us. [Zachary] Macaulay had very grave doubts. Wilberforce was employed to write to me, urging strongly that under all the circumstances I should postpone the case. And I left town determined to go on with it my own way and without further consultation. I returned the day before the motion, and was greeted by a letter from Brougham saying it must be put off and that he could not attend. I did not chose to yield to this and I got him down, by the middle of my speech.
Buxton mss, ms. Emp. s. 444, vol. 2, p. 111.
Having signed the requisition, he spoke for the abolition of slavery at the Norfolk county meeting, 20 Oct. 1825.
Buxton voted in the minority for Hudson Gurney’s amendment to omit the Bank of England from the proposed restriction of small notes, 13 Feb. 1826. He divided for a select committee on the importation of foreign silks, 24 Feb. He presented and endorsed the monster London anti-slavery petition, 1 Mar., when he expressed his disappointment at government’s failure to act. He praised Denman’s motion condemning the Jamaican slave trials that day, and voted in its favour, 2 Mar. He voted to abolish flogging in the army, 10 Mar., reform the representation of Edinburgh, 13 Apr., and revise the corn laws, 18 Apr. He divided for inquiry into the petition of James Silk Buckingham† relative to the liberty of the press in India, 9 May, and was a teller for the minority condemning ministers for having failed to honour Canning’s pledge to ensure the amelioration of the condition of the slaves, 19 May. In obtaining a select committee on the slave trade at Mauritius, 9 May, he had what his wife described as a ‘capital success’, making ‘a delightful, clear, powerful speech; [there was] not a movement or a word in the House, but perfect attention to him and a complete victory’.
Buxton is very deeply implicated in this business and so are his party; and I am sure that it is not too much to prophesy that much of the future power and popularity of that party will depend on the issue of this question. He has taken the highest tone that can be taken.
HMC Bathurst, 607-12.
Buxton chaired the committee’s sittings on six occasions and presented its report, 31 May.
Buxton urged Brougham to continue the anti-slavery struggle, 3 Oct. 1827, arguing that
we are then arrived at the point at which contumacy is proved, and at which we have a right to call upon government to redeem Canning’s pledge. Such an inquiry as is now proposed may be dragged on for any period which may suit the convenience of the West Indians, and thus the pledge of compulsion in case of contumacy may be virtually evaded.
However, he admitted to him, 12 Feb. 1828, that ‘I cannot get well. My power of assisting you, little at all times, is less now’.
He was listed by Planta, the Wellington ministry’s patronage secretary, as ‘doubtful’ on Catholic emancipation, but had overcome his hesitations by 5 Mar. 1829, when he informed a friend that ‘I really must vote, the peace and safety of Ireland depend on our vote’. To this he added that he was ‘full of business, but not overwhelmed; this is just as I like’.
Buxton divided with several other Whigs against Knatchbull’s amendment to the address on distress, 4 Feb., and with ministers against Blandford’s reform scheme, 18 Feb. 1830. He voted for various economies, 19, 22 Feb., 29 Mar., 7 June. He gave evidence to the select committee on the beer trade, 10 Mar., arguing that there should be no government interference with the existing monopolies or complete free trade, and that ‘we are only afraid of half measures’; he repeated this argument in the House, 11 Mar.
Buxton was prevented from attending Parliament, despite having over a hundred anti-slavery petitions to present, by the illness of his son John Henry (Harry), who died on 18 Nov. 1830.
my case is this: that the whole slave population is in misery, that the negroes are physically and morally wretched, that slavery, as it exists in our time, is a system baneful to man, his happiness, welfare and moral advancement, and that slavery ought, therefore, to be abolished as soon as it can be done with safety.
He was careful not to express overt hostility to the West India interest and avoided emotive language, and his speech, although as usual replete with factual information, reduced the argument to one dispassionate statistical index. Working on the premise that population increase was the clearest indicator of prosperity, he showed that the slave populations of the colonies were in severe decline in comparison with those of the free inhabitants of the Caribbean. Thomas Gladstone reported to his father the following day that
I really was agreeably surprised at the moderation of Buxton’s tone. His resolution however is very inconsistent with his speech, although even that was for him moderate or rather I should say candid, and I suppose with a view to gaining over the less violent.
Ibid. 198.
Buxton certainly received support in the debate that followed, after which O’Connell came up to him to say, ‘Mr. Buxton, I see land’; but the question was lost at the dissolution.
Joseph John Gurney offered to pay Buxton’s expenses at Weymouth during the subsequent general election, on the ground that ‘thy return to Parliament was never more important than it is now that thou hast, so satisfactorily to everybody, taken the lead in the slavery question’.
As in previous sessions, Buxton’s principal preoccupation was with slavery. He spoke against an increase in the sugar duties as likely to add to the burdens on slaves, 7 Mar., and intervened against this in an acrimonious debate, 23 Mar. 1832. He continued to press his case in private, among his indecisive anti-slavery colleagues, in the newspapers and in the Lords, where he gave evidence to a select committee.
My father and I went out on horseback directly after breakfast, and a memorable ride we had. He began by saying that he had stood so far, but that divide he could not. He said I could not conceive the pain of it, that almost numberless ties and interests were concerned, that his friends would be driven to vote against him, and thus their seats would be endangered. But then his mind turned to the sufferings of the missionaries and of the slaves, and he said after all he must weigh the real amount of suffering, and not think only of that which came under his sight; and that if he were in the West Indies, he should feel that the advocate in England ought to go straight on and despise those considerations. In short, by degrees, his mind was made up. When we got near the House every minute we met somebody or other, who just hastily rode up to us. ‘Come on tonight?’ ‘Yes’. ‘Positively?’ ‘Positively’; and with a blank countenance, the inquirer turned his horse’s head and rode away. I do not know how many times this occurred.
Buxton Mems. 289.
In a note to Althorp that day, just before a fruitless meeting with him, Buxton expressed the deep sense of duty which compelled him to persevere, concluding that ‘therefore I am necessitated to say candidly that I cannot either postpone it or substitute for it anything short of abolition. To say I do most reluctantly anything that can possibly inconvenience the present ministry, is needless and useless’.
Then came the trial: they (privately) besought my father to give way, and not to press them to a division. ‘They hated,’ they said, ‘dividing against him when their hearts were all for him; it was merely a nominal difference, why should he split hairs? He was sure to be beaten, where was the use of bringing them all into difficulty, and making them vote against him?’ He told us that he thought he had a hundred applications of this kind in the course of the evening; in short nearly every friend he had in the House came to him, and by all considerations of reason and friendship, besought him to give way ... I watched my father with indescribable anxiety, seeing the Members, one after the other, come and sit down beside him, and judging but too well from their gestures, what their errand was ... What a trial it was. He said afterwards, that he could compare it to nothing but a continual tooth-drawing, the whole evening. At length he rose to reply, and very touchingly alluded to the effort he had to make, but said, he was bound in conscience to do it and that he would divide the House.
Buxton Mems. 290-1.
He was teller for the minority of 90 (to 136) in favour of his motion, and on 30 May (under the amended motion) was named to the committee, which sat inconclusively for the remainder of the session. As his wife reported to her other daughter, Richenda, later in May 1832:
There was a total change in the tone of the House ... Fowell was attentively listened to ... His arguments sunk deep, were unanswerable and will produce real consequence so that he thinks and feels that emancipation is set on foot and must proceed. He says he no longer cares if he is thrown out of Parliament.
Buxton mss, ms. Emp. s. 444, vol. 2, p. 251.
Indeed, although Buxton was cut by many of his friends after the debate, he was correct to comment later that ‘the cause made a seven league stride’ that night. Althorp soon afterwards remarked privately to Tom Macaulay* that
that division of Buxton’s has settled the slavery question. If he can get 90 to vote with him when he is wrong, and when most of those really interested in the subject vote against him, he can command a majority when he is right. The question is settled: government see it, and they will take it up.
Buxton Mems. 292, 296.
Not without further prompting, emancipation legislation was introduced the following year. By this, the enslaved were turned into ‘apprentices’ from 1 Aug. 1834, only finally becoming free four years later.
Buxton himself attributed his success not to any wisdom or resolution of his own, but to his faith. As he wrote to Priscilla:
If ever there was a subject which occupied our prayers, it was this. Do you remember how we desired that God would give me His Spirit in that emergency, that He would rise up as the champion of the oppressed? How we quoted the promise, ‘He that lacketh wisdom, let him ask it of the Lord, and it shall be given him’? And how I kept open that passage in the Old Testament, in which it is said ... ‘We have no might against this great company that cometh against us: neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee’, the Spirit of the Lord replying, ‘Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s’. If you want to see the passage, open my Bible, it will turn of itself to the place. I sincerely believe that prayer was the cause of that division.
Ibid. 296-7.
However his future son-in-law Andrew Johnston*, who was one of the members of the little prayer group that met daily at Parliament and for which Buxton acted as chaplain, emphasized his dedication:
I was soon strongly impressed by seeing his almost exclusive devotedness to the object he had in hand at any given time; he spared no pains to achieve his purpose, he was constantly on the watch, and by his tact and perseverance frequently succeeded in obtaining documents, which would otherwise have remained in obscurity. Often did he wait to the end of the usually long debates for the small chance of success in a motion for papers; often did one tiresome opponent, in particular, who seemed to make it his peculiar vocation to hinder his progress, succeed in frustrating his endeavours, after he had remained until 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning. Then did Mr. Buxton, night after night, postpone the motion till a favourable opportunity should arrive, and in our refreshing walks home, in the early cool morning, after the heat, glare and fatigue of the House, he betrayed no impatience, but showed himself content to labour on, accepting with thankfulness every little success which he was permitted to enjoy, in his harassing but most necessary portion of his duty. He was very often at the foreign office, and at the colonial office he was, during the sitting of Parliament, almost a daily visitor. Though his proceedings called forth bitter opposition from some quarters, and though the government generally resisted his proposals, at least for a time, I soon saw that his honesty and singleness of purpose, his manly understanding, and the weight of his character, commanded a decided and increasing influence in Downing Street. He was thoroughly liked and respected in the House, and yet his urbanity and kind feeling, even towards his bitterest opponents, ought to have disarmed them more than it seemed to do. His firmness was sometimes exposed to severe trials.
Ibid. 384-6.
He did have his detractors, especially among radicals such as Bronterre O’Brien, who condemned him for being indifferent to the sufferings of the labouring classes, as ‘one of those erratic philanthropists for whom emancipation has no charms, unless the slave happens to live some thousand miles off, with the additional recommendation of a black hide’.