Amazing Grace Page #2

It was written by my old preacher.

He was captain of a slave ship for 20 years.

He repented his sins and

then he wrote this song.

# Amazing Grace

- # How sweet the sound

- Times are hard for the militant boys!

# That saved a wretch

# Like me

# I once was lost

# But now am found

# Was blind

# But now

# I see #

Dear God, I know this is utterly absurd,

but I feel I have to meet you in secret.

Sorry to interrupt, sir.

There is a beggar at the kitchen door.

I would turn him away, sir,

but you insisted I always check.

Just give him breakfast.

Very good, sir.

- Richard?

- Sir?

I know that lying down on the

wet grass is not a normal thing to do.

None of my business, sir.

Truth is, uh...

...I've been even more strange

than usual lately, haven't I?

It's God.

I have 10,000 engagements of state today,

but I would prefer to spend

the day getting a wet arse,

studying dandelions and marvelling at bloody spiders' webs.

You've found God, sir?

I think he found me.

Do you have any idea how inconvenient that is,

how idiotic it will sound?

I've a political career glittering ahead of me

and in my heart I want spiders' webs.

"It is a sad fate for a man to

die too well-known to everybody else

and still unknown to himself."

Francis Bacon.

I don'tjust dust your books, sir.

When I was 15, I almost ran away with the circus.

They said I could have been an acrobat.

- Good morning, Mr Pitt.

- Morning.

Excuse me, sir.

You read my letter.

The man who wrote that letter was not you.

It was written by some wild preacher

man that has gotten into your head.

No.

- So did he reply?

- Who

God. You were going to ask God whether

you should take up politics or religion.

You're always too direct, Billy.

I urgently need to know where your heart lies, Wilber.

- What's urgent?

- I...

I'm planning to become prime minister.

- Some day.

- No, I mean soon. Very soon.

Thanks to your performances in the House,

Fox and North will resign.

Lord Rockingham will become prime minister.

Lord Rockingham's health is not good.

When he dies, I will make my move.

- You've worked it all out.

- I want you beside me, Wilber.

All the way.

You've read my letter but not taken in a word.

I would have you in my government

in whichever capacity you choose.

Billy, no one of our age has ever taken power.

Which is why we're too young to

realise that certain things are impossible.

So we will do them anyway.

I need an answer, Wilber.

Do you intend to use your beautiful

voice to praise the Lord

or change the world?

Here. Cut this, will you?

- I've got too much to do.

- You take care of them.

Any more flour?

- I can't!

- Put your elbow into it.

Marjorie, Mr Wilberforce is on his way down.

Marjorie, I'm expecting some people for dinner.

Marjorie? Marjorie?

- She's been run off her feet, sir.

- How so?

Well, take today, for example.

You have 25 guests for lunch.

Do I?

If you remember, you decided

to reward various volunteers

who worked for some quite

precariously financed charities.

Some brought deserving children.

Others brought less deserving relatives.

- I really should get some sort of...

- Diary, sir. Yes. Or more cooks.

Go on! Go on!

Is that the appetiser?

No, that's His Grace, the Duke of Clarence.

Wilberforce, the Reverend John Ramsay.

Reverend.

Edward Hope.

And Michael Shaw. Both friends.

- This is Olaudah Equiano.

- Mr Equiano. Please.

- You've travelled far to be here?

- No distance would be too great.

- And this is Hannah Moore.

- Mr Wilberforce.

Who has travelled all the way from Clapham.

Finally, let me introduce Mr Thomas Clarkson.

Beautiful house. Sweet little rabbit.

It's a hare, actually.

Please.

So come on. Who are they?

Why don't you ask them?

Well, I hope the goose is tender.

She was rather old.

I find the older I get, the more tender I become.

So, Miss Moore, you live in Clapham.

I hear it's very tranquil there.

When certain issues are raised amongst my friends and I,

it is anything but tranquil.

Ah. And, uh, which issues are those?

Issues regarding the making of a better world.

Better in which way?

If you make the world better in one way,

it becomes better in every way.

Don't you think?

Mr Equiano, what business brings you to London?

My business in London is you,

Mr Wilberforce.

What? You wish to discuss something with me?

No. We do not want to talk

because we hear that you are

a man who doesn't believe what he hears

until he sees it with his own eyes.

These are for the legs.

These for the arms.

This is for the neck.

Works like so.

When the slaves leave port in Africa,

they're locked into a space four foot by 18 inches.

They have no sanitation,

very little food, stagnant water.

Their waste and blood fills the holes

within three days and is never emptied.

These irons and chains are to

keep them from throwing themselves overboard.

The chains are not unlocked

until you reach the plantation in Jamaica.

Around half of the slaves are dead already.

In the markets, they stuff knotted rope

into the anuses of those who are sick

to disguise the dysentery.

When you reach the plantation,

they put irons to the fire...

...and do this.

To let you know that you no

longer belong to God, but to a man.

Mr Wilberforce,

we understand you're having problems

choosing whether to do the work of God

or the work of a political activist.

We humbly suggest that you can do both.

You planned this.

I've seen the literature you've been reading.

You've stooped to searching through my desk?

Sir William Dolben told me you'd

asked to be shown round the East India Docks.

So, you would use my private

concerns for your own political ends.

Yes, exactly that.

The principles of Christianity

lead to action as well as meditation.

Allow me to meditate on it

before I decide on any action.

Just think about this, Wilber.

The slave trade has 300 MPs in its pocket.

It would be just you against them.

But you could do it.

You would do it.

Oh, stop moaning.

Excuse me, sir.

Do you have a penny for a boy

that went to fight the Yanks

and came back half a man?

Hello, Mr Newton. It's me, William.

Hello, John. How are you?

Hello, John. It's me, Wilber.

I'm here to seek your...

The beggar at the door assures

me that I'm now old enough

to call you John.

You're dressing very simply these days.

I'm a simple man. I try to pretend

I am a monk, but I don't have the willpower.

I'm a monk Mondays, Wednesdays...

When I read your name in the papers,

doing these great things,

I still see a tiny boy with his hair a mess

and ink on his fingers.

So, what do you want with an old creature?

I'm here to seek your advice.

When you were a child,

you used to ask God for advice.

Then I grew up. And grew foolish.

And now?

Now... slowly, my faith is returning.

How slowly?

No bolts of lightning.

God sometimes does his work

with gentle drizzle, not storms.

Drip... drip... drip.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote