On the twenty-fourth, on the motion of Lord Howick, it was immediately taken into consideration there, and agreed to; and it was carried back to the Lords, as approved of, on the same day.
But though the bill had now passed both houses, there was an awful fear throughout the kingdom, lest it should not receive the royal assent before the ministry was dissolved.

This event took place the next day; for on Wednesday the twenty-fifth, at half past eleven in the morning; His Majesty's message was delivered to the different members of it, that they were then to wait upon him to deliver up the seals of their offices.

It then appeared that a commission for the royal assent to this bill among others had been obtained.

This commission was instantly opened by the Lord Chancellor (Erskine), who was accompanied by the Lords Holland and Auckland; and as the clock struck twelve, just when the sun was in its meridian splendour to witness this august Act, this establishment of a Magna Charta for Africa in Britain, and to sanction it by its most vivid and glorious beams, it was completed.

The ceremony being over, the seals of the respective offices were delivered up; so that the execution of this commission was the last act of the administration of Lord Grenville; an administration, which, on account of its virtuous exertions in behalf of the oppressed African race, will pass to posterity, living through successive generations, in the love and gratitude of the most virtuous of mankind.
Thus ended one of the most glorious contests, after a continuance for twenty years, of any ever carried on in any age or country.