2-949-852 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Autographed letter from James Ramsay to Catherine Macaulay, 1774-07. British abolitionist James Ramsay writes to historian Macaulay. 'The story, now, is of the ineffectual strivings of a narrow bottomed opposition against the blunders and intrigues of a dissipated enslaving court, or the dishonourable shackles of aristocracy forged out of the ruins of prerogative and rivetted by corruption. After the restoration, the nation wanted both virtue and ability to make the proper use of the advantages which accident, and the superstition and villainy of its Governours, threw into its power. Our diminutive tyrants at present seem to suffer all the effects of a lethargy. While their fingers itch and their teeth gnash to crush and devour the few men of sentiment among us, the terrour of their past villainies petrifies their hearts, and holds them trembling and shuddering under the expectation of vengeance...'.