The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Vol. I by Thomas Clarkson

T >> Thomas Clarkson >> The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Vol. I

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The Quakers hitherto, as appears by the two resolutions which have been
quoted, did nothing more than seriously warn all those in religious
profession with them, against being concerned in this trade. But in three
years afterwards; or at the yearly meeting in 1761, they came to a
resolution, as we find by the following extract from their Minutes, that
any of their members having a concern in it should be disowned. "This
meeting, having reason to apprehend that divers under our name are
concerned in the unchristian traffic in Negros, doth recommend it earnestly
to the care of Friends every where, to discourage, as much as in them lies,
a practice so repugnant to our Christian profession; and to deal with all
such as shall persevere in a conduct so reproachful to Christianity; and to
disown them, if they desist not therefrom."

The yearly meeting of 1761 having thus agreed to exclude from membership
such as should be found concerned in this trade, that of 1763 endeavoured
to draw the cords still tighter, by attaching criminality to those, who
should aid and abet the trade in any manner. By the minute, which was made
on this occasion, I apprehend that no one, belonging to the Society, could
furnish even materials for such voyages. "We renew our exhortation, that
Friends every where be especially careful to keep their hands clear of
giving encouragement in any shape to the Slave-trade, it being evidently
destructive of the natural rights of mankind, who are all ransomed by one
Saviour, and visited by one divine light, in order to salvation; a traffic
calculated to enrich and aggrandize some upon the misery of others, in its
nature abhorrent to every just and tender sentiment, and contrary to the
whole tenour of the Gospel."

Some pleasing intelligence having been sent on this subject by the Society
in America to the Society in England, the yearly meeting of 1772 thought it
their duty to notice it, and to keep their former resolutions alive by the
following minute:--"It appears that the practice of holding Negros in
oppressive and unnatural bondage hath been so successfully discouraged by
Friends in some of the colonies as to be considerably lessened. We cannot
but approve of these salutary endeavours, and earnestly entreat they may be
continued, that, through the favour of divine Providence, a traffic so
unmerciful and unjust in its nature to a part of our own species, made,
equally with ourselves, for immortality, may come to be considered by all
in its proper light, and be utterly abolished as a reproach to the
Christian name."

I must beg leave to stop here for a moment, just to pay the Quakers a due
tribute of respect for the proper estimation, in which they have uniformly
held the miserable outcasts of society, who have been the subject of these
minutes. What a contrast does it afford to the sentiments of many others
concerning them! How have we been compelled to prove by a long chain of
evidence, that they had the same feelings and capacities as ourselves! How
many, professing themselves enlightened, even now view them as of a
different species! But in the minutes, which have been cited, we have seen
them uniformly represented as persons "ransomed by one and the same
Saviour"--"as visited by one and the same light for salvation"--and "as
made equally for immortality as others." These practical views of mankind,
as they are highly honourable to the members of this society, so they
afford a proof both of the reality and of the consistency of their
religion.

But to return:--From this time there appears to have been a growing desire
in this benevolent society to step out of its ordinary course in behalf of
this injured people. It had hitherto confined itself to the keeping of its
own members unpolluted by any gain from their oppression. But it was now
ready to make an appeal to others, and to bear a more public testimony in
their favour. Accordingly, in the month of June 1783, when a bill had been
brought into the House of Commons for certain regulations to be made with
respect to the African trade, the Society sent the following petition to
that branch of the legislature:--

"Your petitioners, met in this their annual assembly, having solemnly
considered the state of the enslaved Negros, conceive themselves engaged,
in religious duty, to lay the suffering situation of that unhappy people
before you, as a subject loudly calling for the humane interposition of the
legislature.

"Your petitioners regret that a nation, professing the Christian faith,
should so far counteract the principles of humanity and justice, as by the
cruel treatment of this oppressed race to fill their minds with prejudices
against the mild and beneficent doctrines of the Gospel.

"Under the countenance of the laws of this country many thousands of these
our fellow-creatures, entitled to the natural rights of mankind, are held
as personal property in cruel bondage; and your petitioners being informed
that a Bill for the Regulation of the African Trade is now before the
House, containing a clause which restrains the officers of the African
Company from exporting Negros, your petitioners, deeply affected with a
consideration of the rapine, oppression, and bloodshed, attending this
traffic, humbly request that this restriction may be extended to all
persons whomsoever, or that the House would grant such other relief in the
premises as in its wisdom may seem meet."

This petition was presented by Sir Cecil Wray, who, on introducing it,
spoke very respectfully of the Society. He declared his hearty approbation
of their application, and said he hoped he should see the day when not a
slave would remain within the dominions of this realm. Lord North seconded
the motion, saying he could have no objection to the petition, and that its
object ought to recommend it to every humane breast; that it did credit to
the most benevolent society in the world; but that, the session being so
far advanced, the subject could not then be taken into consideration; and
he regretted that the Slave-trade, against which the petition was so justly
directed, was in a commercial view become necessary to almost every nation
of Europe. The petition was then brought up and read, after which it was
ordered to lie on the table. This was the first petition (being two years
earlier than that from the inhabitants of Bridgewater), which was ever
presented to parliament for the abolition of the Slave-trade.

But the Society did not stop here; for having at the yearly meeting of 1783
particularly recommended the cause to a standing commitee appointed to act
at intervals, called the Meeting for Sufferings, the latter in this same
year resolved upon an address to the public, entitled, The Case of our
Fellow-creatures, the oppressed Africans, respectfully recommended to the
serious Consideration of the Legislature of Great Britain, by the People
called Quakers: in which they endeavoured in the most pathetic manner to
make the reader acquainted with the cruel nature of this trade; and they
ordered two thousand copies of it to be printed.

In the year 1784 they began the distribution of this case. The first copy
was sent to the King through Lord Carmarthen, and the second and the third,
through proper officers, to the Queen and the Prince of Wales. Others were
sent by a deputation of two members of the society to Mr. Pitt, as
prime-minister; to the Lord Chancellor Thurlow; to Lord Gower, as president
of the council; to Lords Carmarthen and Sidney, as secretaries of state; to
Lord Chief Justice Mansfield; to Lord Howe, as first lord of the Admiralty;
and to C.F. Cornwall, Esq. as speaker of the House of Commons. Copies were
sent also to every member of both Houses of Parliament.

The Society, in the same year, anxious, that the conduct of its members
should be consistent with its public profession on this great subject,
recommended it to the quarterly and monthly meetings to inquire through
their respective districts, whether any, bearing its name, were in any way
concerned in the traffic, and to deal with such, and to report the success
of their labours in the ensuing year. Orders were also given for the
reprinting and circulation of ten thousand other copies of 'The Case.'

In the year 1785, the Society interested itself again in a similar manner.
For the meeting for sufferings, as representing it, recommended to the
quarterly meetings to distribute a work, written by Anthony Benezet, in
America, called, A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies, in a short
Representation of the calamitous State of the enslaved Negros in the
British Dominions. This book was accordingly forwarded to them for this
purpose. On receiving it, they sent it among several public bodies, the
regular and dissenting clergy, justices of the peace, and particularly
among the great schools of the kingdom, that the rising youth might acquire
a knowledge, and at the same time a detestation, of this cruel traffic. In
this latter case, a deputation of the Society waited upon the masters, to
know if they would allow their scholars to receive it. The schools of
Westminster, the Charter-house, St. Paul, Merchant-Taylors, Eton,
Winchester, and Harrow were among those visited. Several academies also
were visited for this purpose.

But I must now take my leave of the Quakers as a public body[A], and go
back to the year 1783, to record an event, which will be found of great
importance in the present history, and in which only individuals belonging
to the Society were concerned. This event seems to have arisen naturally
out of existing or past circumstances. For the Society, as I have before
stated, had sent a petition to Parliament in this year, praying for the
abolition of the Slave-trade. It had also laid the foundation for a public
distribution of the books as just mentioned, with a view of enlightening
others on this great subject. The case of the ship Zong, which I have
before had occasion to explain, had occurred this same year. A letter also
had been presented, much about the same time, by Benjamin West, from
Anthony Benezet before mentioned, to our Queen, in behalf of the injured
Africans, which she had received graciously. These subjects occupied at
this time the attention of many Quaker families, and among others, that of
a few individuals, who were in close intimacy with each other. These, when
they met together, frequently conversed upon them. They perceived, as facts
came out in conversation, that there was a growing knowledge and hatred of
the Slave-trade, and that the temper of the times was ripening towards its
abolition. Hence a disposition manifested itself among these, to unite as
labourers for the furtherance of so desirable an object. An union was at
length proposed and approved of, and the following persons (placed in
alphabetical order) came together to execute the offices growing out of it:

William Dillwyn, Thomas Knowles, M.D.
George Harrison, John Lloyd,
Samuel Hoare, Joseph Woods.

[Footnote A: The Quakers, as a public body, kept the subject alive at their
yearly meeting in 1784, 1785, 1787, &c.]

The first meeting was held on the seventh of July, 1783. At this "they
assembled to consider what steps they should take for the relief and
liberation of the Negro slaves in the West Indies, and for the
discouragement of the Slave-trade on the coast of Africa."

To promote this object they conceived it necessary that the public mind
should be enlightened respecting it. They had recourse therefore to the
public papers, and they appointed their members in turn to write in these,
and to see that their productions were inserted. They kept regular minutes
for this purpose. It was not however known to the world that such an
association existed.

It appears that they had several meetings in the course of this year.
Before the close of it they had secured a place in the General Evening
Post, in Lloyd's Evening Post, in the Norwich, Bath, York, Bristol,
Sherborne, Liverpool, Newcastle, and other provincial papers, for such
articles as they chose to send to them. These consisted principally of
extracts from such authors, both in prose and verse, as they thought would
most enlighten and interest the mind upon the subject of their institution.

In the year 1784 they pursued the same plan; but they began now to print
books. The first, was from a manuscript composed by Joseph Woods, one of
the commitee. It was entitled, Thoughts on the Slavery of the Negroes. This
manuscript was well put together. It was a manly and yet feeling address in
behalf of the oppressed Africans. It contained a sober and dispassionate
appeal to the reason of all without offending the prejudices of any. It was
distributed at the expense of the association, and proved to be highly
useful to the cause which it was intended to promote.

A communication having been made to the commitee, that Dr. Porteus, then
bishop of Chester, had preached a sermon before the Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel, in behalf of the injured Africans, (which sermon
was noticed in the last chapter,) Samuel Hoare was deputed to obtain
permission to publish it. This led him to a correspondence with Mr. Ramsay
before mentioned. The latter applied in consequence to the bishop, and
obtained his consent. Thus this valuable sermon was also given to the
world.

In the year 1785 the association continued their exertions as before; but I
have no room to specify them. I may observe, however, that David Barclay, a
grandson of the great apologist of that name, assisted at one of their
meetings, and (what is singular) that he was in a few years afterwards
unexpectedly called to a trial of his principles on this very subject. For
he and his brother John became, in consequence of a debt due to them,
possessed of a large grazing farm, or pen, in Jamaica, which had thirty-two
slaves upon it. Convinced, however, that the retaining of their
fellow-creatures in bondage was not only irreconcileable with the
principles of Christianity, but subversive of the rights of human nature,
they determined upon the emancipation of these. And they[A] performed this
generous office to the satisfaction of their minds, to the honour of their
characters, to the benefit of the public, and to the happiness of the
slave[B]. I mention this anecdote, not only to gratify myself, by paying a
proper respect to those generous persons who sacrificed their interest to
principle, but also to show the sincerity of David Barclay, (who is now the
only surviving brother,) as he actually put in practice what at one of
these meetings he was desirous of recommending to others.

[Footnote A: They engaged an agent to embark for Jamaica in 1795 to effect
this business, and had the slaves conveyed to Philadelphia, where they were
kindly received by the Society for improving the Condition of free Black
People. Suitable situations were found for the adults, and the young ones
were bound out apprentices to handicraft trades, and to receive school
learning.]

[Footnote B: James Pemberton, of Philadelphia, made the following
observation in a letter to a Friend in England:--"David Barclay's humane
views towards the Blacks from Jamaica have been so far realized, that these
objects of his concern enjoy their freedom with comfort to themselves, and
are respectable in their characters, keeping up a friendly intercourse with
each other, and avoiding to intermix with the common Blacks of this city,
being sober in their conduct and industrious in their business."]

Having now brought up the proceedings of this little association towards
the year 1786, I shall take my leave of it, remarking, that it was the
first ever formed in England for the promotion of the abolition of the
Slave-trade. That Quakers have had this honour is unquestionable. Nor is it
extraordinary that they should have taken the lead on this occasion, when
we consider how advantageously they have been situated for so doing. For
the Slave-trade, as we have not long ago seen, came within the discipline
of the Society in the year 1727. From thence it continued to be an object
of it till 1783. In 1783 the Society petitioned Parliament, and in 1784 it
distributed books to enlighten the public concerning it. Thus we see that
every Quaker, born since the year 1727, was nourished as it were in a fixed
hatred against it. He was taught, that any concern in it was a crime of the
deepest dye. He was taught, that the bearing of his testimony against it
was a test of unity with those of the same religious profession. The
discipline of the Quakers was therefore a school for bringing them up as
advocates for the abolition of this trade. To this it may be added, that
the Quakers knew more about the trade and the slavery of the Africans, than
any other religious body of men, who had not been in the land of their
sufferings. For there had been a correspondence between the Society in
America and that in England on the subject, the contents of which must have
been known to the members of each. American ministers also were frequently
crossing the Atlantic on religious missions to England. These, when they
travelled through various parts of our island, frequently related to the
Quaker families in their way the cruelties they had seen and heard-of in
their own country. English ministers were also frequently going over to
America on the same religious errand. These, on their return, seldom failed
to communicate what they had learned or observed, but more particularly
relative to the oppressed Africans, in their travels. The journals also of
these, which gave occasional accounts of the sufferings of the slaves were
frequently published. Thus situated in point of knowledge, and brought up
moreover from their youth in a detestation of the trade, the Quakers were
ready to act whenever a favourable opportunity should present itself.

CHAPTER V.

_Third class of forerunners and coadjutors, up to 1787, consists of the
Quakers and others in America--Yearly meeting for Pennsylvania and the
Jerseys takes up the subject in 1696--and continue it till 1787--Other five
yearly meetings take similar measures--Quakers, as individuals, also become
labourers--William Burling and others--Individuals of other religious
denominations take up the cause also--Judge Sewell and others--Union of the
Quakers with others in a society for Pennsylvania, in 1774--James Pemberton
--Dr. Rush--Similar union of the Quakers with others for New York and other
provinces_.

The next class of the forerunners and coadjutors, up to the year 1787, will
consist, first, of the Quakers in America; and then of others, as they were
united to these for the same object.

It may be asked, How the Quakers living there should have become
forerunners and coadjutors in the great work now under our consideration. I
reply, first, That it was an object for many years with these to do away
the Slave-trade as it was carried on in their own ports. But this trade was
conducted in part, both before and after the independence of America, by
our own countrymen. It was, secondly, an object with these to annihilate
slavery in America; and this they have been instruments in accomplishing to
a considerable extent. But any abolition of slavery within given boundaries
must be a blow to the Slave-trade there. The American Quakers, lastly,
living in a land where both the commerce and slavery existed, were in the
way of obtaining a number of important facts relative to both, which made
for their annihilation; and communicating many of these facts to those in
England, who espoused the same cause, they became fellow-labourers with
these in producing the event in question.

The Quakers in America, it must be owned, did most of them originally as
other settlers there with respect to the purchase of slaves. They had lands
without a sufficient number of labourers, and families without a sufficient
number of servants, for their work. Africans were poured in to obviate
these difficulties, and these were bought promiscuously by all. In these
days, indeed, the purchase of them was deemed favourable to both parties,
for there was little or no knowledge of the manner in which they had been
procured as slaves. There was no charge of inconsistency on this account,
as in later times. But though many of the Quakers engaged, without their
usual consideration, in purchases of this kind, yet those constitutional
principles, which belong to the Society, occasioned the members of it in
general to treat those whom they purchased with great tenderness,
considering them, though of a different colour, as brethren, and as persons
for whose spiritual welfare it became them to be concerned; so that
slavery, except as to the power legally belonging to it, was in general
little more than servitude in their hands.

This treatment, as it was thus mild on the continent of America where the
members of this Society were the owners of slaves, so it was equally mild
in the West India islands where they had a similar property. In the latter
countries, however, where only a few of them lived, it began soon to be
productive of serious consequences; for it was so different from that,
which the rest of the inhabitants considered to be proper, that the latter
became alarmed at it. Hence in Barbadoes an act was passed in 1676, under
Governor Atkins, which was entitled, An Act to prevent the people called
Quakers from bringing their Negros into their meetings for worship, though
they held these in their own houses. This act was founded on the pretence,
that the safety of the island might be endangered, if the slaves were to
imbibe the religious principles of their masters. Under this act Ralph
Fretwell and Richard Sutton were fined in the different sums of eight
hundred and of three hundred pounds, because each of them had suffered a
meeting of the Quakers at his own house, at the first of which eighty
Negros, and at the second of which thirty of them, were present. But this
matter was carried still further; for in 1680, Sir Richard Dutton, then
governor of the island, issued an order to the Deputy Provost Marshal and
others, to prohibit all meetings of this Society. In the island of Nevis
the same bad spirit manifested itself.--So early as in 1661, a law was made
there prohibiting members of this Society from coming on shore. Negros were
put in irons for being present at their meetings, and they themselves were
fined also. At length, in 1677, another act was passed, laying a heavy
penalty on every master of a vessel, who should even bring a Quaker to the
island. In Antigua and Bermudas similar proceedings took place, so that the
Quakers were in time expelled from this part of the world. By these means a
valuable body of men were lost to the community in these islands, whose
example might have been highly useful; and the poor slave, who saw nothing
but misery in his temporal prospects, was deprived of the only balm, which
could have soothed his sorrow--the comfort of religion.

But to return to the continent of America.--Though the treatment, which the
Quakers adopted there towards those Africans who fell into their hands, was
so highly commendable, it did not prevent individuals among them from
becoming uneasy about holding them in slavery at all. Some of these bore
their private testimony against it from the beginning as a wrong practice,
and in process of time brought it before the notice of their brethren as a
religious body. So early as in the year 1688, some emigrants from Krieshiem
in Germany, who had adopted the principles of William Penn, and followed
him into Pennsylvania, urged in the yearly meeting of the Society there,
the inconsistency of buying, selling, and holding men in slavery, with the
principles of the Christian religion.

In the year 1696, the yearly meeting for that province took up the subject
as a public concern, and the result was, advice to the members of it to
guard against future importations of African slaves, and to be particularly
attentive to the treatment of those, who were then in their possession.

In the year 1711, the same yearly meeting resumed the important subject,
and confirmed and renewed the advice, which had been before given.

From this time it continued to keep the subject alive; but finding at
length, that, though individuals refused to purchase slaves, yet others
continued the custom, and in greater numbers than it was apprehended would
have been the case after the public declarations which had been made, it
determined, in the year 1754, upon a fuller and more serious publication of
its sentiments; and therefore it issued, in the same year, the following
pertinent letter to all the members within its jurisdiction:--

"Dear Friends,

"It hath frequently been the concern of our yearly meeting to testify their
uneasiness and disunity with the importation and purchasing of Negros and
other slaves, and to direct the overseers of the several meetings to advise
and deal with such as engage therein. And it hath likewise been the
continual care of many weighty Friends to press those, who bear our name,
to guard, as much as possible, against being in any respect concerned in
promoting the bondage of such unhappy people. Yet, as we have with sorrow
to observe, that their number is of late increased among us, we have
thought it proper to make our advice and judgment more public, that none
may plead ignorance of our principles therein; and also again earnestly to
exhort all to avoid, in any manner, encouraging that practice, of making
slaves of our fellow-creatures.

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