Published by British abolitionists, this French translation of Wilberforce's 1822 speech in the House of Commons was part of a wider attempt to publicise the cause of abolitionism to the nations of Europe in the 1810s and 1820s through translations and publications abroad. Wilberforce's speech observes that having abolished the slave trade, Britain had a responsibility to make abolition as universally effective as possible. He reviews the treaties currently in place, giving particular praise to the US government and the Spanish Cortes, but criticising the Portuguese and French governments for their "odious" (11) and "shameful" (6) refusal to enforce treaties abolishing the slave trade. The work of French abolitionists such as the Duc de Broglie is, however, recognised. Wilberforce asks the French people to put themselves in the place of Africans, and imagine slave traders pillaging and kidnapping on the coast of Languedoc in France, and he appeals to their national honour to end the African slave trade. He proposes an address from the British Parliament to the King on the subject.