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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In the year 1760, he travelled, in company with his friend Samuel
Eastburne, to Rhode Island, to promote the same object. This island had
been long noted for its trade to Africa for slaves. He found at Newport,
the great sea-port town belonging to it, that a number of them had been
lately imported. He felt his mind deeply impressed on this account. He was
almost overpowered in consequence of it, and became ill. He thought once of
promoting a petition to the legislature, to discourage all such
importations in future. He then thought of going and speaking to the House
of Assembly, which was then sitting; but he was discouraged from both these
proceedings. He held, however, a conference with many of his own Society in
the meeting-house-chamber, where the subject of his visit was discussed on
both sides, with a calm and peaceable spirit. Many of those present
manifested the concern they felt at their former practices, and others a
desire of taking suitable care of their slaves at their decease. From
Newport he proceeded to Nantucket; but observing the members of the Society
there to have few or no slaves, he exhorted them to persevere in abstaining
from the use of them, and returned home.

In the year 1761, he visited several families in Pennsylvania, and, in
about three months afterwards, others about Shrewsbury and Squan in New
Jersey. On his return he added a second part to the treatise before
published on the keeping of slaves, a care which had been growing upon him
for some years.

In the year 1762, he printed, published, and distributed this treatise.

In 1767, he went on foot to the western shores of the same province on a
religious visit. After having crossed the Susquehanna, his old feelings
returned to him; for coming amongst people living in outward ease and
greatness, chiefly on the labour of slaves, his heart was much affected,
and he waited with humble resignation, to learn how he should further
perform his duty to this injured people. The travelling on foot, though it
was agreeable to the state of his mind, he describes to have been wearisome
to his body. He felt himself weakly at times, in consequence of it, but yet
continued to travel on. At one of the quarterly meetings of the Society,
being in great sorrow and heaviness, and under deep exercise on account of
the miseries of the poor Africans, he expressed himself freely to those
present, who held them in bondage. He expatiated on the tenderness and
loving-kindness of the apostles, as manifested in labours, perils, and
sufferings, towards the poor Gentiles, and contrasted their treatment of
the Gentiles with it, whom he described in the persons of their slaves: and
was much satisfied with the result of his discourse.

From this time we collect little more from his journal concerning him, than
that, in 1772, he embarked for England on a religious visit. After his
arrival there, he travelled through many counties, preaching in different
meetings of the Society, till he came to the city of York. But even here,
though he was far removed from the sight of those whose interests he had so
warmly espoused, he was not forgetful of their wretched condition. At the
quarterly meeting for that county, he brought their case before those
present in an affecting manner. He exhorted these to befriend their cause.
He remarked that as they, the Society, when under outward sufferings, had
often found a concern to lay them before the legislature, and thereby, in
the Lord's time, had obtained relief; so he recommended this oppressed part
of the creation to their notice, that they might, as the way opened,
represent their sufferings as individuals, if not as a religious society,
to those in authority in this land. This was the last opportunity that he
had of interesting himself in behalf of this injured people; for soon
afterwards he was seized with the small-pox at the house of a friend in the
city of York, where he died.

The next person belonging to the Society of the Quakers, who laboured in
behalf of the oppressed Africans, was Anthony Benezet. He was born before,
and he lived after, John Woolman; of course he was cotemporary with him. I
place him after John Woolman, because he was not so much known as a
labourer, till two or three years after the other had begun to move in the
same cause.

Anthony Benezet was born at St. Quintin in Picardy, of a respectable
family, in the year 1713. His father was one of the many protestants, who,
in consequence of the persecutions which followed the revocation of the
edict of Nantz, sought an asylum in foreign countries. After a short stay
in Holland, he settled, with his wife and children, in London, in 1715.

Anthony Benezet, having received from his father a liberal education,
served an apprenticeship in an eminent mercantile house in London. In 1731,
however, he removed with his family to Philadelphia, where he joined in
profession with the Quakers. His three brothers then engaged in trade, and
made considerable pecuniary acquisitions in it. He himself might have
partaken both of their concerns and of their prosperity; but he did not
feel himself at liberty to embark in their undertakings. He considered the
accumulation of wealth as of no importance, when compared with the
enjoyment of doing good; and he chose the humble situation of a
schoolmaster, as according best with this notion, believing, that by
endeavouring to train up youth in knowledge and virtue, he should become
more extensively useful than in any other way to his fellow-creatures.

He had not been long in his new situation, before he manifested such an
uprightness of conduct, such a courtesy of manners, such a purity of
intention, and such a spirit of benevolence, that he attracted the notice,
and gained the good opinion, of the inhabitants among whom he lived. He had
ready access to them, in consequence, upon all occasions; and, if there
were any whom he failed to influence at any of these times, he never went
away without the possession of their respect.

In the year 1756, when a considerable number of French families were
removed from Acadia into Pennsylvania, on account of some political
suspicions, he felt deeply interested about them. In a country where few
understood their language, they were wretched and helpless; but Anthony
Benezet endeavoured to soften the rigour of their situation, by his kind
attention towards them. He exerted himself also in their behalf, by
procuring many contributions for them, which, by the consent of his
fellow-citizens, were entrusted to his care.

As the principle of benevolence, when duly cultivated, brings forth fresh
shoots, and becomes enlarged, so we find this amiable person extending the
sphere of his usefulness, by becoming an advocate for the oppressed African
race. For this service he seems to have been peculiarly qualified. Indeed,
as in all great works a variety of talents is necessary to bring them to
perfection, so Providence seems to prepare different men as instruments,
with dispositions and qualifications so various, that each, in pursuing
that line which seems to suit him best, contributes to furnish those parts,
which, when put together, make up a complete whole. In this point of view,
John Woolman found, in Anthony Benezet, the coadjutor, whom, of all others,
the cause required. The former had occupied himself principally on the
subject of Slavery. The latter went to the root of the evil, and more
frequently attacked the Trade. The former chiefly confined his labours to
America, and chiefly to those of his own Society there. The latter, when he
wrote, did not write for America only, but for Europe also, and endeavoured
to spread a knowledge and hatred of the traffic through the great society
of the world.

One of the means which Anthony Benezet took to promote the cause in
question, (and an effectual one it proved, as far as it went,) was to give
his scholars a due knowledge and proper impressions concerning it. Situated
as they were likely to be, in after-life, in a country where slavery was a
custom, for the promotion of his plans.

To enlighten others, and to give them a similar bias, he had recourse to
different measures from time to time. In the almanacs published annually in
Philadelphia, he procured articles to be inserted, which he believed would
attract the notice of the reader, and make him pause, at least for a while,
as to the licitness of the Slave-trade. He wrote, also, as he saw occasion,
in the public papers of the day. From small things he proceeded to greater.
He collected, at length, further information on the subject, and, winding
it up with observations and reflections, he produced several little tracts,
which he circulated successively (but generally at his own expense), as he
considered them adapted to the temper and circumstances of the times.

In the course of this his employment, having found some who had approved
his tracts, and to whom, on that account, he wished to write, and sending
his tracts to others, to whom he thought it proper to introduce them by
letter, he found himself engaged in a correspondence, which much engrossed
his time, but which proved of great importance in procuring many advocates
for his cause.

In the year 1762, when he had obtained a still greater store of
information, he published a larger work. This, however, he entitled, A
short Account of that Part of Africa inhabited by the Negros. In 1767 he
published, A Caution and Warning to Great Britain and her Colonies, on the
Calamitous State of the enslaved Negros in the British Dominions;--and soon
after this, appeared, An Historical Account of Guinea; its Situation,
Produce, and the General Disposition of its Inhabitants; with an Inquiry
into the Rise and Progress of the Slave-Trade, its Nature, and Calamitous
Effects. This pamphlet contained a clear and distinct development of the
subject, from the best authorities. It contained also the sentiments of
many enlightened men upon it; and it became instrumental, beyond any other
book ever before published, in disseminating a proper knowledge and
detestation of this trade.

Anthony Benezet may be considered as one of the most zealous, vigilant, and
active advocates, which the cause of the oppressed Africans ever had. He
seemed to have been born and to have lived for the promotion of it, and
therefore he never omitted any the least opportunity of serving it. If a
person called upon him who was going a journey, his first thoughts usually
were, how he could make him an instrument in its favour; and he either gave
him tracts to distribute, or he sent letters by him, or he gave him some
commission on the subject, so that he was the means of employing several
persons at the same time, in various parts of America, in advancing the
work he had undertaken.

In the same manner he availed himself of every other circumstance, as far
as he could, to the same end. When he heard that Mr. Granville Sharp had
obtained, in the year 1772, the noble verdict in the cause of Somerset the
slave, he opened a correspondence with him, which he kept up, that there
might be an union of action between them for the future, as far as it could
be effected, and that they might each give encouragement to the other to
proceed.

He opened also a correspondence with George Whitfield and John Wesley, that
these might assist him in promoting the cause of the oppressed.

He wrote also a letter to the Countess of Huntingdon on the following
subject.--She had founded a college, at the recommendation of George
Whitfield, called the Orphan-house, near Savannah, in Georgia, and had
endowed it. The object of this institution was, to furnish scholastic
instruction to the poor, and to prepare some of them for the ministry.
George Whitfield, ever attentive to the cause of the poor Africans, thought
that this institution might have been useful to them also; but soon after
his death, they who succeeded him bought slaves, and these in unusual
numbers, to extend the rice and indigo plantations belonging to the
college. The letter then in question was written by Anthony Benezet, in
order to lay before the Countess, as a religious woman, the misery she was
occasioning in Africa, by allowing the managers of her college in Georgia
to give encouragement to the Slave-trade. The Countess replied, that such a
measure should never have her countenance, and that she would take care to
prevent it.

On discovering that the Abbe Raynal had brought out his celebrated work, in
which he manifested a tender feeling in behalf of the injured Africans, he
entered into a correspondence with him, hoping to make him yet more useful
to their cause.

Finding, also, in the year 1783, that the Slave-trade, which had greatly
declined during the American war, was reviving, he addressed a pathetic
letter to our Queen, (as I mentioned in the last chapter,) who, on hearing
the high character of the writer of it from Benjamin West, received it with
marks of peculiar condescension and attention. The following is a copy of
it.

"_To_ CHARLOTTE _Queen of Great Britain_.

"IMPRESSED with a sense of religious duty, and encouraged by the
opinion generally entertained of thy benevolent disposition to
succour the distressed, I take the liberty, very respectfully, to
offer to thy perusal some tracts, which, I believe, faithfully
describe the suffering condition of many hundred thousands of our
fellow-creatures of the African race, great numbers of whom, rent
from every tender connection in life, are annually taken from their
native land, to endure, in the American islands and plantations, a
most rigorous and cruel slavery; whereby many, very many of them,
are brought to a melancholy and untimely end.

"When it is considered that the inhabitants of Great Britain, who
are themselves so eminently blessed in the enjoyment of religious
and civil liberty, have long been, and yet are, very deeply
concerned in this flagrant violation of the common rights of
mankind, and that even its national authority is exerted in support
of the African Slave-trade, there is much reason to apprehend, that
this has been, and, as long as the evil exists, will continue to
be, an occasion of drawing down the Divine displeasure on the
nation and its dependencies. May these considerations induce thee
to interpose thy kind endeavours in behalf of this greatly injured
people, whose abject situation gives them an additional claim to
the pity and assistance of the generous mind, inasmuch as they are
altogether deprived of the means of soliciting effectual relief for
themselves; that so thou mayest not only be a blessed instrument in
the hand of him 'by whom kings reign and princes decree justice,'
to avert the awful judgments by which the empire has already been
so remarkably shaken, but that the blessings of thousands ready to
perish may come upon thee, at a time when the superior advantages
attendant on thy situation in this world will no longer be of any
avail to thy consolation and support.

"To the tracts on this subject to which I have thus ventured to
crave thy particular attention, I have added some which at
different times I have believed it my duty to publish[A], and
which, I trust, will afford thee some satisfaction, their design
being for the furtherance of that universal peace and goodwill
amongst men, which the gospel was intended to introduce.

"I hope thou wilt kindly excuse the freedom used on this occasion
by an ancient man, whose mind, for more than forty years past, has
been much separated from the common intercourse of the world, and
long painfully exercised in the consideration of the miseries under
which so large a part of mankind, equally with us the objects of
redeeming love, are suffering the most unjust and grievous
oppression, and who sincerely desires thy temporal and eternal
felicity, and that of thy royal consort.

"ANTHONY BENEZET."

[Footnote A: These related to the principles of the religious society of
the Quakers.]

Anthony Benezet, besides the care he bestowed upon forwarding the cause of
the oppressed Africans in different parts of the world, found time to
promote the comforts, and improve the condition of those in the state in
which he lived. Apprehending that much advantage would arise both to them
and the public, from instructing them in common learning, he zealously
promoted the establishment of a school for that purpose. Much of the two
last years of his life he devoted to a personal attendance on this school,
being earnestly desirous that they who came to it might be better qualified
for the enjoyment of that freedom to restored. To this he sacrificed the
superior emoluments of his former school, and his bodily case also,
although the weakness of his constitution seemed to demand indulgence. By
his last will he directed, that, after the decease of his widow, his whole
little fortune (the savings of the industry of fifty years) should, except
a few very small legacies, be applied to the support of it. During his
attendance upon it he had the happiness to find, (and his situation enabled
him to make the comparison,) that Providence had been equally liberal to
the Africans in genius and talents as to other people.

After a few days' illness this excellent man died at Philadelphia in the
spring of 1784. The interment of his remains was attended by several
thousands of all ranks, professions, and parties, who united in deploring
their loss. The mournful procession was closed by some hundreds of those
poor Africans, who had been personally benefited by his labours, and whose
behaviour on the occasion showed the gratitude and affection they
considered to be due to him as their own private benefactor, as well as the
benefactor of their whole race.

Such, then, were the labours of the Quakers, in America, of individuals,
from 1718 to 1784, and of the body at large, from 1696 to 1787, in this
great cause of humanity and religion. Nor were the effects produced from
these otherwise than corresponding with what might have been expected from
such an union of exertion in such a cause; for both the evils, that is, the
evil of buying and selling, and the evil of using, slaves, ceased at length
with the members of this benevolent Society. The leaving off all concern
with the Slave-trade took place first. The abolition of slavery, though it
followed, was not so speedily accomplished; for, besides the loss of
property, when slaves were manumitted without any pecuniary consideration
in return, their owners had to struggle, in making them free, against the
laws and customs of the times. In Pennsylvania, where the law in this
respect was the most favourable, the parties wishing to give freedom to a
slave were obliged to enter into a bond for the payment of thirty pounds
currency, in case the said slave should become chargeable for maintenance.
In New Jersey the terms were far less favourable, as the estate of the
owner remained liable to the consequences of misconduct in the slave, or
even in his posterity. In the southern parts of America manumission was not
permitted but on terms amounting nearly to a prohibition. But,
notwithstanding these difficulties, the Quakers could not be deterred, as
they became convinced of the unlawfulness of holding men in bondage, from
doing that which they believed to be right. Many liberated their slaves,
whatever the consequences were; and some gave the most splendid example in
doing it, not only by consenting, as others did, thus to give up their
property, and to incur the penalties of manumission, but by calculating and
giving what was due to them, over and above their food and clothing, for
wages[A] from the beginning of their slavery to the day when their
liberation commenced. Thus manumission went on, some sacrificing more, and
others less; some granting it sooner, and others later; till, in the year
1787[B], there was not a slave in the possession of an acknowledged Quaker.

[Footnote A: One of the brightest instances was that afforded by Warner
Mifflin. He gave unconditional liberty to his slaves. He paid all the
adults, on their discharge, the sum, which arbitrators, mutually chosen,
awarded them.]

[Footnote B: Previously to the year 1787, several of the states had made
the terms of manumission more easy.]

Having given to the reader the history of the third class of forerunners
and coadjutors, as it consisted of the Quakers in America, I am now to
continue it, as it consisted of an union of these with others on the same
continent in the year 1774, in behalf of the African race. To do this I
shall begin with the causes which led to the production of this great
event.

And in the first place, as example is more powerful than precept, we cannot
suppose that the Quakers could have shown these noble instances of
religious principle, without supposing also that individuals of other
religious denominations would be morally instructed by them. They who lived
in the neighbourhood where they took place, must have become acquainted
with the motives which led to them. Some of them must at least have praised
the action, though they might not themselves have been ripe to follow the
example. Nor is it at all improbable that these might be led, in the course
of the workings of their own minds, to a comparison between their own
conduct and that of the Quakers on this subject, in which they themselves
might appear to be less worthy in their own eyes. And as there is sometimes
a spirit of rivalship among the individuals of religious sects, where the
character of one is sounded forth as higher than that of another; this, if
excited by such a circumstance, would probably operate for good. It must
have been manifest also to many, after a lapse of time, that there was no
danger in what the Quakers had done, and that there was even sound policy
in the measure. But whatever were the several causes, certain it is, that
the example of the Quakers in leaving off all concern with the Slave-trade,
and in liberating their slaves (scattered as they were over various parts
of America) contributed to produce in many of a different religious
denomination from themselves, a more tender disposition than had been usual
towards the African race.

But a similar disposition towards these oppressed people was created in
others by means of other circumstances or causes. In the early part of the
eighteenth century, Judge Sewell of New England came forward as a zealous
advocate for them. He addressed a memorial to the legislature, which he
called The Selling of Joseph, and in which he pleaded their cause both as a
lawyer and a Christian. This memorial produced an effect upon many, but
particularly upon those of his own persuasion; and from this time the
presbyterians appear to have encouraged a sympathy in their favour.

In the year 1739, the celebrated George Whitfield became an instrument in
turning the attention of many others to their hard case, and of begetting
in these a fellow sympathy towards them. This laborious minister, having
been deeply affected with what he had seen in the course of his religious
travels in America, thought it his duty to address a letter from Georgia to
the inhabitants of Maryland, Virginia, and North and South Carolina. This
letter was printed as follows--

"As I lately passed through your provinces in my way hither, I was sensibly
touched with a fellow-feeling for the miseries of the poor Negros. Whether
it be lawful for Christians to buy slaves, and thereby encourage the
nations from whom they are bought to be at perpetual war with each other, I
shall not take upon me to determine. Sure I am it is sinful, when they have
bought them, to use them as bad as though they were brutes, nay worse; and
whatever particular exceptions there may be (as I would charitably hope
there are some) I fear the generality of you, who own Negros, are liable to
such a charge; for your slaves, I believe, work as hard, if not harder,
than the horses whereon you ride. These, after they have done their work,
are fed and taken proper care of; but many Negros, when wearied with labour
in your plantations, have been obliged to grind their corn after their
return home. Your dogs are caressed and fondled at your table; but your
slaves, who are frequently styled dogs or beasts, have not an equal
privilege. They are scarce permitted to pick up the crumbs which fall from
their master's table. Not to mention what numbers have been given up to the
inhuman usage of cruel task-masters, who, by their unrelenting scourges
have ploughed their backs, and made long furrows, and at length brought
them even unto death. When passing along I have viewed your plantations
cleared and cultivated, many spacious houses built, and the owners of them
faring sumptuously every day, my blood has frequently almost run cold
within me, to consider how many of your slaves had neither convenient food
to eat, nor proper raiment to put on; notwithstanding most of the comforts
you enjoy were solely owing to their indefatigable labours."

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