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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"Now, dear Friends, if we continually bear in mind the royal law of doing
to others as we would be done by, we should never think of bereaving our
fellow-creatures of that valuable blessing--liberty, nor endure to grow
rich by their bondage. To live in ease and plenty by the toil of those,
whom violence and cruelty have put in our power, is neither consistent with
Christianity nor common justice; and, we have good reason to believe, draws
down the displeasure of Heaven; it being a melancholy but true reflection,
that, where slave-keeping prevails, pure religion and sobriety decline, as
it evidently tends to harden the heart, and render the soul less
susceptible of that holy spirit of love, meekness, and charity, which is
the peculiar characteristic of a true Christian.

"How then can we, who have been concerned to publish the Gospel of
universal love and peace among mankind, be so inconsistent with ourselves,
as to purchase such as are prisoners of war, and thereby encourage this
antichristian practice; and more especially as many of these poor creatures
are stolen away, parents from children, and children from parents; and
others, who were in good circumstances in their native country, inhumanly
torn from what they esteemed a happy situation, and compelled to toil in a
state of slavery, too often extremely cruel! What dreadful scenes of murder
and cruelty those barbarous ravages must occasion in these unhappy people's
country are too obvious to mention. Let us make their case our own, and
consider what we should think, and how we should feel, were we in their
circumstances. Remember our Blessed Redeemer's positive command--to do unto
others as we would have them do unto us;--and that with what measure we
mete, it shall be measured to us again. And we intreat you to examine,
whether the purchasing of a Negro, either born here or imported, doth not
contribute to a further importation, and, consequently, to the upholding of
all the evils above mentioned, and to the promoting of man-stealing, the
only theft which by the Mosaic law was punished with death;--'He that
stealeth a man, and selleth him; or if he be found in his hand, he shall
surely be put to death.'

"The characteristic and badge of a true Christian is love and good works.
Our Saviour's whole life on earth was one continual exercise of them. 'Love
one another,' says he, 'as I have loved you.' But how can we be said to
love our brethren, who bring, or, for selfish ends, keep them, in bondage?
Do we act consistently with this noble principle, who lay such heavy
burthens on our fellow-creatures? Do we consider that they are called, and
do we sincerely desire that they may become heirs with us in glory, and
that they may rejoice in the liberty of the sons of God, whilst we are
withholding from them the common liberties of mankind? Or can the Spirit of
God, by which we have always professed to be led, be the author of those
oppressive and unrighteous measures? Or do we not thereby manifest, that
temporal interest hath more influence on our conduct herein, than the
dictates of that merciful, holy, and unerring Guide?

"And we likewise earnestly recommend to all, who have slaves, to be careful
to come up in the performance of their duty towards them, and to be
particularly watchful over their own hearts, it being by sorrowful
experience remarkable, that custom, and a familiarity with evil of any
kind, have a tendency to bias the judgement and to deprave the mind. And it
is obvious that the future welfare of these poor slaves, who are now in
bondage, is generally too much disregarded by those who keep them. If their
daily task of labour be but fulfilled, little else perhaps is thought of.
Nay, even that which in others would be looked upon with horror and
detestation, is little regarded in them by their masters,--such as the
frequent separation of husbands from wives and wives from husbands, whereby
they are tempted to break their marriage covenants, and live in adultery,
in direct opposition to the laws of God and men, although we believe that
Christ died for all men without respect of persons. How fearful then ought
we to be of engaging in what hath so natural a tendency to lessen our
humanity, and of suffering ourselves to be inured to the exercise of hard
and cruel measures, lest thereby in any degree we lose our tender and
feeling sense of the miseries of our fellow-creatures, and become worse
than those who have not believed.

"And, dear Friends, you, who by inheritance have slaves born in your
families, we beseech you to consider them as souls committed to your trust,
whom the Lord will require at your hand, and who, as well as you, are made
partakers of the Spirit of Grace, and called to be heirs of salvation. And
let it be your constant care to watch over them for good, instructing them
in the fear of God, and the knowledge of the gospel of Christ, that they
may answer the end of their creation, and that God may be glorified and
honoured by them as well as by us. And so train them up, that if you should
come to behold their unhappy situation, in the same light, that many worthy
men, who are at rest, have done, and many of your brethren now do, and
should think it your duty to set them free, they may be the more capable of
making proper use of their liberty.

"Finally, Brethren, we entreat you, in the bowels of gospel love, seriously
to weigh the cause of detaining them in bondage. If it be for your own
private gain, or any other motive than their good, it is much to be feared
that the love of God and the influence of the Holy Spirit are not the
prevailing principles in you, and that your hearts are not sufficiently
redeemed from the world, which, that you with ourselves may more and more
come to witness, through the cleansing virtue of the Holy Spirit of Jesus
Christ, is our earnest desire. With the salutation of our love we are your
friends and brethren--

"_Signed, in behalf of the yearly meeting, by_ 'John Evans, Abraham
Farringdon, John Smith, Joseph Noble, Thomas Carleton, James Daniel,
William Trimble, Joseph Gibson, John Scarborough, John Shotwell, Joseph
Hampton, Joseph Parker.'"

This truly Christian letter, which was written in the year 1754, was
designed, as we collect from the contents of it, to make the sentiments of
the Society better known and attended to on the subject of the Slave-trade.
It contains, as we see, exhortations to all the members within the yearly
meeting of Pennsylvania and the Jerseys, to desist from purchasing and
importing slaves, and, where they possessed them, to have a tender
consideration of their condition. But that the first part of the subject of
this exhortation might be enforced, the yearly meeting for the same
provinces came to a resolution in 1755, That if any of the members
belonging to it bought or imported slaves, the overseers were to inform
their respective monthly meetings of it, that "these might treat with them,
as they might be directed in the wisdom of truth."

In the year 1774, we find the same yearly meeting legislating again on the
same subject. By the preceding resolution they, who became offenders, were
subjected only to exclusion from the meetings for discipline, and from the
privilege of contributing to the pecuniary occasions of the Society; but by
the resolution of the present year, all members concerned in importing,
selling, purchasing, giving, or transferring Negro or other slaves, or
otherwise acting in such manner as to continue them in slavery beyond the
term limited by law[A] or custom, were directed to be excluded from
membership or disowned. At this meeting also all the members of it were
cautioned and advised against acting as executors or administrators to
estates, where slaves were bequeathed, or likely to be detained in bondage.

[Footnote A: This alludes to the term of servitude for white persons in
these provinces.]

In the year 1776, the same yearly meeting carried the matter still further.
It was then enacted, That the owners of slaves, who refused to execute
proper instruments for giving them their freedom, were to be disowned
likewise.

In 1778 it was enacted by the same meeting, That the children of those, who
had been set free by members, should be tenderly advised, and have a
suitable education given them.

It is not necessary to proceed further on this subject. It may be
sufficient to say, that from this time, the Minutes of the yearly meeting
for Pennsylvania and the Jerseys exhibit proofs of an almost incessant
attention, year after year[A], to the means not only of wiping away the
stain of slavery from their religious community, but of promoting the
happiness of those restored to freedom, and of their posterity also. And
as the yearly meeting of Pennsylvania and the Jerseys set this bright
example, so those of New England, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and of
the Carolinas and Georgia, in process of time followed it.

[Footnote A: Thus in 1779, 1780,-1,-2,-4,-5,-6. The members also of this
meeting petitioned their own legislature on this subject both in 1783 and
in 1786.]

But whilst the Quakers were making these exertions at their different
yearly meetings in America, as a religious body, to get rid both of the
commerce and slavery of their fellow-creatures, others in the same
profession were acting as individuals (that is, on their own grounds and
independently of any influence from their religious communion) in the same
cause, whose labours it will now be proper, in a separate narrative, to
detail.

The first person of this description in the Society, was William Burling of
Long Island. He had conceived an abhorrence of slavery from early youth. In
process of time he began to bear his testimony against it, by representing
the unlawfulness of it to those of his own Society, when assembled at one
of their yearly meetings. This expression of his public testimony he
continued annually on the same occasion. He wrote also several tracts with
the same design, one of which, published in the year 1718, he addressed to
the elders of his own church, on the inconsistency of compelling people and
their posterity to serve them continually and arbitrarily, and without any
proper recompense for their services.

The next was Ralph Sandiford, a merchant in Philadelphia. This worthy
person had many offers of pecuniary assistance, which would have advanced
him in life, but he declined them all because they came from persons, who
had acquired their independence by the oppression of their slaves. He was
very earnest in endeavouring to prevail upon his friends, both in and out
of the Society, to liberate those whom they held in bondage. At length he
determined upon a work called The Mystery of Iniquity, in a brief
Examination of the Practice of the Times. This he published in the year
1729, though the chief judge had threatened him if he should give it to the
world, and he circulated it free of expense wherever he believed it would
be useful. The above work was excellent as a composition. The language of
it was correct. The style manly and energetic. And it abounded with facts,
sentiments, and quotations, which, while they showed the virtue and talents
of the author, rendered it a valuable appeal in behalf of the African
cause.

The next public advocate was Benjamin Lay[A], who lived at Abington, at the
distance of twelve or fourteen miles from Philadelphia. Benjamin Lay was
known, when in England, to the royal family of that day, into whose private
presence he was admitted. On his return to America, he took an active part
in behalf of the oppressed Africans. In the year 1737, he published a
treatise on Slave-keeping. This he gave away among his neighbours and
others, but more particularly among the rising youth, many of whom he
visited in their respective schools. He applied also to several of the
governors for interviews, with whom he held conferences on the subject.
Benjamin Lay was a man of strong understanding and of great integrity, but
of warm and irritable feelings, and more particularly so when he was called
forth on any occasion in which the oppressed Africans were concerned. For
he had lived in the island of Barbadoes, and he had witnessed there scenes
of cruelty towards them, which had greatly disturbed his mind, and which
unhinged it, as it were, whenever the subject of their sufferings was
brought before him. Hence if others did not think precisely as he did, when
he conversed with them on the subject, he was apt to go out of due bounds.
In bearing what he believed to be his testimony against this system of
oppression, he adopted sometimes a singularity of manner, by which, as
conveying demonstration of a certain eccentricity of character, he
diminished in some degree his usefulness to the cause which he had
undertaken; as far indeed as this eccentricity might have the effect of
preventing others from joining him in his pursuit, lest they should be
thought singular also, so far it must be allowed that he ceased to become
beneficial. But there can be no question, on the other hand, that his warm
and enthusiastic manners awakened the attention of many to the cause, and
gave them first impressions concerning it, which they never afterwards
forgot, and which rendered them useful to it in the subsequent part of
their lives.

[Footnote A: Benjamin Lay attended the meetings for worship, or associated
himself with the religious society of the Quakers. His wife too was an
approved minister of the gospel in that Society. But I believe he was not
long an acknowledged member of it himself.]

The person, who laboured next in the Society, in behalf of the oppressed
Africans, was John Woolman.

John Woolman was born at Northampton, in the county of Burlington and
province of Western New Jersey, in the year 1720. In his very early youth
he attended, in an extraordinary manner, to the religious impressions which
he perceived upon his mind, and began to have an earnest solicitude about
treading in the right path. "From what I had read and heard," says he, in
his Journal[A], "I believed there had been in past ages people, who walked
in uprightness before God in a degree exceeding any, that I knew or heard
of, now living. And the apprehension of there being less steadiness and
firmness among people of this age, than in past ages, often troubled me
while I was a child." An anxious desire to do away, as far as he himself
was concerned, this merited reproach, operated as one among other causes to
induce him to be particularly watchful over his thoughts and actions, and
to endeavour to attain that purity of heart, without which he conceived
there could be no perfection of the Christian character. Accordingly, in
the twenty-second year of his age, he had given such proof of the integrity
of his life, and of his religious qualifications, that he became an
acknowledged minister of the gospel in his own Society.

[Footnote A: This short sketch of the life and labours of John Woolman, is
made up from his Journal.]

At a time prior to his entering upon the ministry, being in low
circumstances, he agreed for wages to "attend shop for a person at Mount
Holly, and to keep his books." In this situation we discover, by an
occurrence that happened, that he had thought seriously on the subject, and
that he had conceived proper views of the Christian unlawfulness of
slavery. "My employer," says he, "having a Negro woman, sold her, and
desired me to write a bill of sale, the man being waiting, who bought her.
The thing was sudden, and though the thought of writing an instrument of
slavery for one of my fellow-creatures made me feel uneasy, yet I
remembered I was hired by the year, that it was my master who directed me
to do it, and that it was an elderly man, a member of our Society, who
bought her. So through weakness I gave way and wrote, but, at executing it,
I was so afflicted in my mind, that I said before my master and the friend,
that I believed slave-keeping to be a practice inconsistent with the
Christian religion. This in some degree abated my uneasiness; yet, as often
as I reflected seriously upon it, I thought I should have been clearer, if
I had desired to have been excused from it, as a thing against my
conscience; for such it was. And some time after this, a young man of our
Society spoke to me to write a conveyance of a slave to him, he having
lately taken a Negro into his house. I told him I was not easy to write it;
for though many of our meeting, and in other places, kept slaves, I still
believed the practice was not right, and desired to be excused from the
writing. I spoke to him in good-will; and he told me that keeping slaves
was not altogether agreeable to his mind, but that the slave being a gift
to his wife he had accepted of her."

We may easily conceive that a person so scrupulous and tender on this
subject (as indeed John Woolman was on all others) was in the way of
becoming in time more eminently serviceable to his oppressed
fellow-creatures. We have seen already the good seed sown in his heart, and
it seems to have wanted only providential seasons and occurrences to be
brought into productive fruit. Accordingly we find that a journey, which he
took as a minister of the gospel in 1746, through the provinces of
Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, which were then more noted than
others for the number of slaves in them, contributed to prepare him as an
instrument for the advancement of this great cause. The following are his
own observations upon this journey. "Two things were remarkable to me in
this journey; First, in regard to my entertainment. When I ate, drank, and
lodged free-cost, with people who lived in ease on the hard labour of their
slaves, I felt uneasy; and, as my mind was inward to the Lord, I found,
from place to place, this uneasiness return upon me at times through the
whole visit. Where the masters bore a good share of the burthen, and lived
frugally, so that their servants were well provided for, and their labour
moderate, I felt more easy. But where they lived in a costly way, and laid
heavy burthens on their slaves, my exercise was often great, and I
frequently had conversations with them in private concerning it. Secondly,
This trade of importing slaves from their native country being much
encouraged among them, and the White people and their children so generally
living without much labour, was frequently the subject of my serious
thoughts: and I saw in these southern provinces so many vices and
corruptions, increased by this trade and this way of life, that it appeared
to me as a gloom over the land."

From the year 1747 to the year 1753, he seems to have been occupied chiefly
as a minister of religion, but in the latter year he published a work upon
Slave-keeping; and in the same year, while travelling within the compass of
his own monthly meeting, a circumstance happened, which kept alive his
attention to the same subject. "About this time," says he, "a person at
some distance lying sick, his brother came to me to write his will. I knew
he had slaves, and, asking his brother, was told, he intended to leave them
as slaves to his children. As writing was a profitable employ, and as
offending sober people was disagreeable to my inclination, I was straitened
in my mind, but as I looked to the Lord he inclined my heart to his
testimony; and I told the man, that I believed the practice of continuing
slavery to this people was not right, and that I had a scruple in my mind
against doing writings of that kind; that, though many in our Society kept
them as slaves, still I was not easy to be concerned in it, and desired to
be excused from going to write the will. I spoke to him in the fear of the
Lord; and he made no reply to what I said, but went away: he also had some
concerns in the practice, and I thought he was displeased with me. In this
case, I had a fresh confirmation, that acting contrary to present outward
interest from a motive of Divine love, and in regard to truth and
righteousness, opens the way to a treasure better than silver, and to a
friendship exceeding the friendship of men."

From 1753 to 1755, two circumstances of a similar kind took place, which
contributed greatly to strengthen him in the path he had taken; for in both
these cases the persons who requested him to make their wills, were so
impressed by the principle upon which he refused them, and by his manner of
doing it, that they bequeathed liberty to their slaves.

In the year 1756, he made a religious visit to several of the Society in
Long Island. Here it was that the seed, now long fostered by the genial
influences of Heaven, began to burst forth into fruit. Till this time he
seems to have been a passive instrument, attending only to such
circumstances as came in his way on this subject. But now he became an
active one, looking out for circumstances for the exercise of his labours.
"My mind," says he, "was deeply engaged in this visit, both in public and
private; and at several places observing that members kept slaves, I found
myself under a necessity, in a friendly way, to labour with them on that
subject, expressing, as the way opened, the inconsistency of that practice
with the purity of the Christian religion, and the ill effects of it as
manifested amongst us."

In the year 1757, he felt his mind so deeply interested on the same
subject, that he resolved to travel over Maryland, Virginia, and North
Carolina, in order to try to convince persons, principally in his own
Society, of the inconsistency of holding slaves. He joined his brother with
him in this arduous service. Having passed the Susquehanna into Maryland,
he began to experience great agitation of mind. "Soon after I entered this
province," says he, "a deep and painful exercise came upon me, which I
often had some feeling of since my mind was drawn towards these parts, and
with which I had acquainted my brother, before we agreed to join as
companions.

"As the people in this and the southern provinces live much on the labour
of slaves, many of whom are used hardly, my concern was that I might attend
with singleness of heart to the voice of the true Shepherd, and be so
supported, as to remain unmoved at the faces of men."

It is impossible for me to follow him in detail, through this long and
interesting journey, when I consider the bounds I have prescribed to myself
in this work. I shall say therefore, what I purpose to offer generally and
in a few words.

It appears that he conversed with persons occasionally, who were not of his
own Society, with a view of answering their arguments, and of endeavouring
to evince the wickedness and impolicy of slavery. In discoursing with
these, however strenuous he might appear, he seems never to have departed
from a calm, modest, and yet dignified and even friendly demeanour. At the
public meetings for discipline, held by his own Society in these provinces,
he endeavoured to display the same truths and in the same manner, but
particularly to the elders of his own Society, exhorting them, as the most
conspicuous rank, to be careful of their conduct, and to give a bright
example in the liberation of their slaves. He visited also families for the
same purpose: and he had the well-earned satisfaction of finding his
admonitions kindly received by some, and of seeing a disposition in
others to follow the advice he had given them.

In the year 1758, he attended the yearly meeting at Philadelphia, where he
addressed his brethren on the propriety of dealing with such members, as
should hereafter purchase slaves. On the discussion of this point he spoke
a second time, and this to such effect that he had the satisfaction at this
meeting to see minutes made more fully than any before, and a commitee
appointed, for the advancement of the great object, to which he had now
been instrumental in turning the attention of many, and to witness a
considerable spreading of the cause. In the same year also, he joined
himself with two others of the Society to visit such members of it, as
possessed slaves in Chester county. In this journey he describes himself to
have met with several, who were pleased with his visit but to have found
difficulties with others, towards whom however he felt a sympathy and
tenderness on account of their being entangled by the spirit of the world.

In the year 1759, he visited several of the Society who held slaves in
Philadelphia. In about three months afterwards, he travelled there again,
in company with John Churchman, to see others under similar circumstances.
He then went to different places on the same errand. In this last journey
he went alone. After this he joined himself to John Churchman again, but he
confined his labours to his own province. Here he had the pleasure of
finding that the work prospered. Soon after this he took Samuel Eastburne
as a coadjutor, and pleaded the cause of the poor Africans with many of the
Society in Bucks county, who held them in bondage there.

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