Rant of the Week

Wilberforce's Addiction

William Wilberforce, the hero of the abolitionist movement, and patron saint of all evangelicals who hate it when liberals paint them as regressive on social issues, did drugs.

Wilberforce was probably not quite as heroic as portrayed in the film "Amazing Grace", nor, probably, as insufferably pious. (I kept thinking, as I watched the film, that if Wilberforce had been this maudlin and humourless in real life, I might myself have voted against abolition.) The role of Thomas Clarkson seems historically correct-- but the heart of the director isn't in it. We get clear displays of Wilberforce's physical sufferings (he had some form of digestive ailment) as if he alone paid a personal price for the abolition of slavery. This is the process of conferring sainthood upon someone who, though eminently worthy of honour, had faults we will soon know nothing about. Unless we think in terms of, "that I cared too much".

In actual fact, many historians feel that Wilberforce was too gullible and respectful of authority to lead the movement, and that slavery would have been abolished earlier (and without quite so many "exceptions") had a more forceful leader taken up the cause. In fact, at least one historian observed that Wilberforce was finally moved to lead the movement when his friend, William Pitt (the Prime-minister), pointed out that another leader was preparing to take up that role and he-- Wilberforce-- wouldn't get credit for it if that happened.

He was also-- wait for it-- God help him!-- a drug addict.

Yes he was. Wilberforce used opium for most of his life, on a very regular basis. The movie "Amazing Grace" honorably makes a point of showing his regular use of laudanum. Dickens also used it. So did Edgar Allen Poe. Lincoln's wife, Mary Todd, was prescribed laudanum for a sleeping disorder. She became addicted. She was later committed to an asylum.

Interestingly, laudanum is still available by prescription in the U.S. It can be used to treat diarrhea.

Anyway, the support cast of "Amazing Grace" is brilliant, and the sets are wonderful, but Ioan Gruffud is a complete disaster as Wilberforce and drags down the entire film.