The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
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One thing however appeared now to be necessary, which had not yet been
done. This was to inform our friends in the city, upon whom I had all
along occasionally called, that we believed the time was approaching
when it would be desirable that we should unite our labours, if they saw
no objection to such a measure; for, if the Slave Trade were to become a
subject of parliamentary inquiry with a view to the annihilation of it,
no individual could perform the work which would be necessary for such a
purpose. This work must be a work of many; and who so proper to assist
in it as they, who had before so honourably laboured in it? In the case
of such an event large funds also would be wanted, and who so proper to
procure and manage them as these? A meeting was accordingly called at
the house of James Phillips, when these our views were laid open. When I
stated that from the very time of my hopes beginning to rise I had
always had those present in my eye as one day to be fellow-labourers,
William Dillwyn replied, that from the time they had first heard of the
_Prize Essay_, they also had had their eyes upon me, and, from the time
they had first seen me, had conceived: a desire of making the same use
of me as I had now expressed a wish of making of them, but that matters
did not appear ripe at our first interview. Our proposal, however, was
approved, and an assurance was given, that an union should take place as
soon as it was judged to be seasonable. It was resolved also, that one
day in the week[A] should be appointed for a meeting at the house of
James Phillips, where as many might attend as had leisure, and that I
should be there to make a report of my progress, by which we might all
judge of the fitness of the time of calling ourselves an united body.
Pleased now with the thought that matters were put into such a train, I
returned to my former objects.
[Footnote A: At these weekly meetings I met occasionally Joseph Woods,
George Harrison, and John Lloyd, three of the other members, who
belonged to the committee of the second class of forerunners and
coadjutors as before described. I had seen all of them before, but I do
not recollect the time when I first met them.]
It is not necessary to say anything more of the first of these objects,
which was that of the further distribution of my book, than that it was
continued, and chiefly by the same hands.
With respect to the enlargement of my knowledge, it was promoted
likewise. I now gained access to the Custom-House in London, where I
picked up much valuable information for my purpose.
Having had reason to believe that the Slave Trade was peculiarly fatal
to those employed in it, I wished much to get copies of many of the
muster-rolls from the Custom-House at Liverpool for a given time. James
Phillips wrote to his friend William Rathbone, who was one of his own
religious society, and who resided there, to procure them. They were
accordingly sent up. The examination of these, which took place at the
chambers of Richard Phillips, was long and tedious. We looked over them
together. We usually met for this purpose at nine in the evening, and we
seldom parted till one, and sometimes not till three in the morning.
When our eyes were inflamed by the candle, or tired by fatigue, we used
to relieve ourselves by walking out within the precincts of Lincoln's
Inn, when all seemed to be fast asleep, and thus, as it were, in
solitude and in stillness to converse upon them, as well as upon the
best means of the further promotion of our cause. These scenes of our
early friendship and exertions I shall never forget. I often think of
them both with astonishment and with pleasure. Having recruited
ourselves in this manner, we used to return to our work. From these
muster-rolls, I may now observe that we gained the most important
information: we ascertained, beyond the power of contradiction, that
more than half of the seamen who went out with the ships in the Slave
Trade did not return with them, and that of these so many perished, as
amounted to one-fifth of all employed. As to what became of the
remainder, the muster-rolls did not inform us; this, therefore, was left
to us as a subject for our future inquiry.
In endeavouring to enlarge my knowledge, my thoughts were frequently
turned to the West Indian part of the question, and in this department
my friend Richard Phillips gained me important intelligence. He put into
my hands several documents concerning estates in the West Indies, which
he had mostly from the proprietors themselves, where the slaves by mild
and prudent usage had so increased in population, as to supersede the
necessity of the Slave Trade.
By attending to these and to various other parts of the subject, I began
to see as it were with new eyes; I was enabled to make several necessary
discriminations, to reconcile things before seemingly contradictory, and
to answer many objections which had hitherto put on a formidable shape.
But most of all was I rejoiced at the thought that I should soon be able
to prove that which I had never doubted, but which had hitherto been
beyond my power in this case, that Providence, in ordaining laws
relative to the agency of man, had never made that to be wise which was
immoral, and that the Slave Trade would be found as impolitic as it was
inhuman and unjust.
In keeping up my visits to members of parliament, I was particularly
attentive to Mr. Wilberforce, whom I found daily becoming more
interested in the fate of Africa. I now made to him a regular report of
my progress, of the sentiments of those in parliament whom I had
visited, of the disposition of my friends in the city, of whom he had
often heard me speak, of my discoveries from the Custom-Houses of London
and Liverpool, of my documents concerning West India estates, and of
all, indeed, that had occurred to me worth mentioning. He had himself
also been making his inquiries, which he communicated to me in return.
Our intercourse had now become frequent, no one week elapsing without an
interview: at one of these, I suggested to him the propriety of having
occasional meetings at his own house, consisting of a few friends in
parliament, who might converse on the subject: of this he approved. The
persons present at the first meeting were Mr. Wilberforce, the
Honourable John Villiers, Mr. Powys, Sir Charles Middleton, Sir Richard
Hill, Mr. Granville Sharp, Mr. Ramsay, Dr. Gregory, (who had written on
the subject, as before mentioned,) and myself. At this meeting I read a
paper, giving an account of the light I had collected in the course of
my inquiries, with observations as well on the impolicy as on the
wickedness of the trade. Many questions arose out of the reading of this
little essay; many answers followed. Objections were started and
canvassed. In short, this measure was found so useful, that certain
other evenings as well as mornings were fixed upon for the same purpose.
On reporting my progress to my friends in the city, several of whom now
assembled once in the week, as I mentioned before to have been agreed
upon, and particularly on reporting the different meetings which had
taken place at the house of Mr. Wilberforce on the subject, they were of
opinion that the time was approaching when we might unite, and that this
union might prudently commence as soon as ever Mr. Wilberforce would
give his word that he would take up the question in Parliament. Upon
this I desired to observe, that though the latter gentleman had pursued
the subject with much earnestness, he had never yet dropped the least
hint that he would proceed so far in the matter, but I would take care
that the question should be put to him, and I would bring them his
answer.
In consequence of the promise I had now made, I went to Mr. Wilberforce.
But when I saw him, I seemed unable to inform him of the object of my
visit. Whether this inability arose from any sudden fear that his answer
might not be favourable, or from a fear that I might possibly involve
him in a long and arduous contest upon this subject, or whether it arose
from an awful sense of the importance of the mission, as it related to
the happiness of hundreds of thousands then alive, and of millions then
unborn, I cannot say. But I had a feeling within me for which I could
not account, and which seemed to hinder me from proceeding; and I
actually went away without informing him of my errand.
In this situation I began to consider what to do, when I thought I would
call upon Mr. Langton, tell him what had happened, and ask his advice. I
found him at home. We consulted together. The result was, that he was to
invite Mr. Wilberforce and some others to meet me at a dinner at his own
house in two or three days, when he said he had no doubt of being able
to procure an answer, by some means or other, to the question which I
wished to have resolved.
On receiving a card from Mr. Langton, I went to dine with him. I found
the party consist of Sir Charles Middleton, Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Hawkins
Browne, Mr. Windham, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Mr. Boswell. The latter
was then known as the friend of Dr. Johnson, and afterwards as the
writer of his _Tour to the Hebrides_. After dinner the subject of the
Slave Trade was purposely introduced. Many questions were put to me, and
I dilated upon each in my answers, that I might inform and interest
those present as much as I could. They seemed to be greatly impressed
with my account of the loss of seamen in the trade, and with the little
samples of African cloth which I had procured for their inspection. Sir
Joshua Reynolds gave his unqualified approbation of the abolition of
this cruel traffic. Mr. Hawkins Browne joined heartily with him in
sentiment; he spoke with much feeling upon it, and pronounced it to be
barbarous, and contrary to every principle of morality and religion. Mr.
Boswell, after saying the planters would urge that the Africans were
made happier by being carried from their own country to the West Indies,
observed, "Be it so. But we have no right to make people happy against
their will." Mr. Windham, when it was suggested that the great
importance of our West Indian islands, and the grandeur of Liverpool,
would be brought against those who should propose the abolition of the
Slave Trade, replied, "We have nothing to do with the policy of the
measure. Rather let Liverpool and the islands be swallowed up in the
sea, than this monstrous system of iniquity be carried on.[A]" While
such conversation was passing, and when all appeared to be interested in
the cause, Mr. Langton put the question, about the proposal of which I
had been so diffident, to Mr. Wilberforce, in the shape of a delicate
compliment. The latter replied, that he had no objection to bring
forward the measure in parliament when he was better prepared for it,
and provided no person more proper could be found. Upon this, Mr.
Hawkins Browne and Mr. Windham both said they would support him there.
Before I left the company, I took Mr. Wilberforce aside, and asked him
if I might mention this his resolution to those of my friends in the
city, of whom he had often heard me speak, as desirous of aiding him by
becoming a committee for the purpose. He replied, I might. I then asked
Mr. Langton, privately, if he had any objection to belong to a society
of which there might be a committee for the abolition of the Slave
Trade. He said he should be pleased to become a member of it. Having
received these satisfactory answers, I returned home.
[Footnote A: I do not know upon what grounds, after such strong
expressions, Mr. Boswell, in the next year, and Mr. Windham, after
having supported the cause for three or four years, became inimical to
it.]
The next day, having previously taken down the substance of the
conversation at the dinner, I went to James Phillips, and desired that
our friends might be called together as soon as they conveniently could
to hear my report. In the interim I wrote to Dr. Peckard, and waited
upon Lord Scarsdale, Dr. Baker, and others, to know (supposing a society
were formed for the abolition of the Slave Trade) if I might say they
would belong to it. All of them replied in the affirmative, and desired
me to represent them, if there should be any meeting for this purpose.
At the time appointed I met my friends. I read over the substance of the
conversation which had taken place at Mr. Langton's. No difficulty
occurred. All were unanimous for the formation of a committee. On the
next day we met by agreement for this purpose. It was then resolved
unanimously, among other things,--That the Slave Trade was both
impolitic and unjust. It was resolved, also,--That the following persons
be a committee for procuring such information and evidence, and
publishing the same, as may tend to the abolition of the Slave Trade,
and for directing the application of such moneys as have been already,
and may hereafter be collected for the above purpose:--
All these were present. Granville Sharp, who stands at the head of the
list, and who, as the father of the cause in England, was called to the
chair, maybe considered as representing the first class of forerunners
and coadjutors, as it has been before described. The five next, of whom
Samuel Hoare was chosen as the treasurer, were they who had been the
committee of the second class, or of the Quakers in England, with the
exception of Dr. Knowles, who was then dying, but who, having heard of
our meeting, sent a message to us to exhort us to proceed. The third
class, or that of the Quakers in America, may be considered as
represented by William Dillwyn, by whom they were afterwards joined to
us in correspondence. The two who stand next, and in which I am
included, may be considered as representing the fourth, most of the
members of which we had been the means of raising. Thus, on the 22nd of
May, 1787, the representatives of all the four classes, of which I have
been giving a history from the year 1516, met together, and were united
in that committee, to which I have been all along directing the
attention of the reader; a committee, which, labouring afterwards with
Mr. Wilberforce as a parliamentary head, did, under Providence, in the
space of twenty years, contribute to put an end to a trade, which,
measuring its magnitude by its crimes and sufferings, was the greatest
practical evil that ever afflicted the human race.
After the formation of the committee[A], notice was sent to Mr.
Wilberforce of the event, and a friendship began, which has continued
uninterruptedly between them, from that to the present day.
[Footnote A: All the members were of the society of the Quakers, except
Mr. Sharp, Sansom, and myself. Joseph Gurney Bevan was present on the
day before this meeting. He desired to belong to the society, but to be
excused from belonging to the committee.]
CHAPTER XI.
[Sidenote: The preceding history of the different classes of the
forerunners and coadjutors, to the time of the formation of the
committee, collected into one view by means of a map.--Explanation of
this map, and observations upon it.]
As the preceding history of the different classes of the forerunners and
coadjutors, to the time of their junction, or to the formation of the
committee, as just explained, may be thought interesting by many, I have
endeavoured, by means of the annexed map, so to bring it before the
reader, that he may comprehend the whole of it at a single view.
The figure beginning at A and reaching down to X represents the first
class of forerunners and coadjutors up to the year 1787, as consisting
of so many springs or rivulets, which assisted in making and swelling
the torrent which swept away the Slave Trade.
The figure from B to C and from C to X represents the second class, or
that of the Quakers in England, up to the same time. The stream on the
right-hand represents them as a body, and that on the left the six
individuals belonging to them, who formed the committee in 1783.
The figure from B to D represents the third class, or that of the
Quakers in America when joined with others in 1774. The stream passing
from D through E to X shows how this class was conveyed down, as it
were, so as to unite with the second. That passing from D to Y shows its
course in its own country, to its enlargement in 1787. And here I may
observe, that as the different streams which formed a junction at X,
were instrumental in producing the abolition of the Slave Trade in
England, in the month of March, 1807, so those, whose effects are found
united at Y, contributed to produce the same event in America, in the
same month of the same year.
The figure from F to X represents the fourth class up to 1787.
[Illustration: First Class of Forerunners and Coadjutors]
[Illustration: Second Class of Forerunners and Coadjutors]
[Illustration: Third Class of Forerunners and Coadjutors]
X represents the junction of all the four classes in the committee
instituted in London on the twenty-second day of May, 1787.
The parallel lines G, H, I, K, represent different periods of time,
showing when the forerunners and coadjutors lived. The space between G
and H includes the space of fifty years, in which we find but few
labourers in this cause. That between H and I includes the same portion
of time, in which we find them considerably increased, or nearly
doubled. That between I and K represents the next thirty-seven years;
but here we find their increase beyond all expectation, for we find four
times more labourers in this short term, than in the whole of the
preceding century.
In looking over the map, as thus explained, a number of thoughts
suggested themselves, some of which it may not be improper to detail.
And first, in looking between the first and second parallel, we
perceive, that Morgan Godwyn, Richard Baxter, and George Fox, the first
a clergyman of the established church, the second a divine at the head
of the nonconformists, and the third the founder of the religious
society of the Quakers, appeared each of them the first in his own
class, and all of them, about the same time, in behalf of the oppressed
Africans. We see then this great truth first apparent, that the
abolition of the Slave Trade took its rise, not from persons who set up
a cry for liberty, when they were oppressors themselves, nor from
persons who were led to it by ambition, or a love of reputation among
men, but where it was most desirable, namely, from the teachers of
Christianity in those times.
This account of its rise will furnish us with some important lessons.
And first, it shows us the great value of religion. We see, when moral
disorders become known, that the virtuous are they who rise up for the
removal of them. Thus Providence seems to have appointed those who
devote themselves most to his service, to the honourable office of
becoming so many agents, under his influence, for the correction of the
evils of life. And as this account of the rise of the abolition of the
Slave Trade teaches us the necessity of a due cultivation of religion;
so it should teach us to have a brotherly affection for those, who,
though they may differ from us in speculative opinions concerning it, do
yet show by their conduct that they have a high reward for it. For
though Godwyn, and Baxter, and Fox, differed as to the articles of their
faith, we find them impelled by the spirit of Christianity, which is of
infinitely more importance than a mere agreement in creeds, to the same
good end.
In looking over the different streams in the map, as they are
discoverable both in Europe and America, we are impressed with another
truth on the same subject, which is, that the Christian religion is
capable of producing the same good fruit in all lands. However men may
differ on account of climate, or language, or government, or laws, or
however they may be situated in different quarters of the globe, it will
produce in them the same virtuous disposition, and make them instruments
for the promotion of happiness in the world.
In looking between the two first parallels, where we see so few
labourers, and in contemplating the great increase of these between the
others, we are taught the consoling lesson, that however small the
beginning and slow the progress may appear in any good work which we may
undertake, we need not be discouraged as to the ultimate result of our
labours; for though our cause may appear stationary, it may only become
so, in order that it may take a deeper root, and thus be enabled to
stand better against the storms which may afterwards beat about it.
In taking the same view again, we discover the manner in which light and
information proceed under a free government in a good cause. An
individual, for example, begins; he communicates his sentiments to
others. Thus, while alive, he enlightens; when dead, he leaves his
works, behind him. Thus, though departed, he yet speaks, and his
influence is not lost. Of those enlightened by him, some become authors,
and others actors in their turn. While living, they instruct, like their
predecessors; when dead, they speak also. Thus a number of dead persons
are encouraging us in libraries, and a number of living are conversing
and diffusing zeal among us at the same time. This, however, is not true
in any free and enlightened country, with respect to the propagation of
evil. The living find no permanent encouragement, and the dead speak to
no purpose in such a case.
This account of the manner in which light and information proceed in a
free country, furnishes us with some valuable knowledge. It shows us,
first, the great importance of education; for all they who can read may
become enlightened. They may gain as much from the dead as from the
living. They may see the sentiments of former ages. Thus they may
contract, by degrees, habits of virtuous inclination, and become fitted
to join with others in the removal of any of the evils of life.
It shows us, secondly, how that encouraging maxim may become true, That
no good effort is ever lost. For if he, who makes the virtuous attempt,
should be prevented by death from succeeding in it, can he not speak,
though in the tomb? Will not his works still breathe his sentiments upon
it? May not the opinions, and the facts, which he has recorded, meet the
approbation of ten thousand readers, of whom it is probable, in the
common course of things, that some will branch out of him as authors,
and others as actors or labourers, in the same cause?
And, lastly, it will show us the difficulty (if any attempt should be
made) of reversing permanently the late noble act of the legislature for
the abolition of the Slave Trade. For let us consider how many, both of
the living and the dead, could be, made to animate us. Let us consider,
too, that this is the cause of mercy, justice, and religion; that as
such, it will always afford renewed means of rallying; and that the dead
will always be heard with interest, and the living with enthusiasm upon
it.
CHAPTER XII.
[Sidenote: Author devotes this chapter to considerations relative to
himself; fears that by the frequent introduction of himself to the
notice of the reader he may incur the charge of
ostentation.--Observations on such a charge.]
Having brought my history of the abolition of the Slave Trade up to the
month of May 1787, I purpose taking the liberty, before I proceed with
it, to devote this chapter to considerations relative to myself. This,
indeed, seems to be now necessary; for I have been fearful for some
pages past, and, indeed, from the time when I began to introduce myself
to the notice of the reader, as one of the forerunners and coadjutors in
this great cause, that I might appear to have put myself into a
situation too prominent, so as even to have incurred the charge of
ostentation. But if there should be some who, in consequence of what
they have already read of this history, should think thus unfavourably
of me, what must their opinion ultimately be, when, unfortunately, I
must become still more prominent in it! Nor do I know in what manner I
shall escape their censure: for if, to avoid egotism, I should write, as
many have done, in the third person, what would this profit me? The
delicate situation, therefore, in which I feel myself to be placed,
makes me desirous of saying a few words to the reader on this subject.
And first, I may observe, that several of my friends urged me from time
to time, and this long before the abolition of the Slave Trade had been
effected, to give a history of the rise and progress of the attempt, as
far as it had been then made; but I uniformly resisted their
application.
When the question was decided last year, they renewed their request.
They represented to me, that no person knew the beginning and progress
of this great work so well as myself; that it was a pity that such
knowledge should die with me; that such a history would be useful; that
it would promote good feelings among men; that it would urge them to
benevolent exertions; that it would supply them with hope in the midst
of these; that it would teach them many valuable lessons;--these and
other things were said to me. But, encouraging as they were, I never
lost sight of the objection; which is the subject of this chapter; nor
did I ever fail to declare, that though, considering the part I had
taken in this great cause, I might be qualified better than some others,
yet it was a task too delicate for me to perform. I always foresaw that
I could not avoid making myself too prominent an object in such a
history, and that I should be liable, on that account, to the suspicion
of writing it for the purpose of sounding my own praise.