The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition - Thomas Clarkson
Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54
"The humble petition of the inhabitants of Bridgewater showeth,
"That your petitioners, reflecting with the deepest sensibility on the
deplorable condition of that part of the human species, the African
Negroes, who, by the most flagitious means, are reduced to slavery and
misery in the British colonies, beg leave to address this honourable
house in their behalf, and to express a just abhorrence of a system of
oppression, which no prospect of private gain, no consideration of
public advantage, no plea of political expediency, can sufficiently
justify or excuse.
"That, satisfied as your petitioners are that this inhuman system meets
with the general execration of mankind, they flatter themselves the day
is not far distant when it will be universally abolished. And they most
ardently hope to see a British parliament, by the extinction of that
sanguinary traffic, extend the blessings of liberty to millions beyond
this realm, held up to an enlightened world a glorious and merciful
example, and stand in the defence of the violated rights of human
nature."
This petition was presented by the Honourable Ann Poulet, and Alexander
Hood, Esq., (afterwards Lord Bridport,) who were the members for the
town of Bridgewater. It was ordered to lie on the table. The answer
which these gentlemen gave to their constituents relative to the
reception of it in the House of Commons is worthy of notice:--"There did
not appear," say they in their common letter, "the least disposition to
pay any further attention to it. Every one almost says that the
abolition of the Slave Trade must immediately throw the West Indian
islands into convulsions, and soon complete their utter ruin. Thus they
will not trust Providence for its protection for so pious an
undertaking."
In the year 1786, Captain J.S. Smith, of the royal navy, offered himself
to the notice of the public in behalf of the African cause. Mr. Ramsay,
as I have observed before, had become involved in a controversy in
consequence of his support of it. His opponents not only attacked his
reputation, but had the effrontery to deny his facts. This circumstance
occasioned Captain Smith to come forward. He wrote a letter to his
friend Mr. Hill, in which he stated that he had seen those things, while
in the West Indies, which Mr. Ramsay had asserted to exist, but which
had been so boldly denied. He gave, also, permission to Mr. Hill to
publish this letter. Too much praise cannot be bestowed on Captain
Smith, for thus standing forth in a noble cause, and in behalf of an
injured character.
The last of the necessary forerunners and coadjutors of this class, whom
I am to mention, was our much-admired poet, Cowper; and a great
coadjutor he was, when we consider what value was put upon his
sentiments, and the extraordinary circulation of his works. There are
few persons who have not been properly impressed by the following
lines:--
My ear is pain'd,
My soul is sick with every day's report,
Of wrong and outrage with which earth is fill'd.
There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart,
It does not feel for man. The natural bond
Of brotherhood is sever'd as the flax
That falls asunder at the touch of fire.
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not colour'd like his own, and having power
To inforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause
Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey.
Lands intersected by a narrow frith
Abhor each other. Mountains interpos'd,
Make enemies of nations, who had else,
Like kindred drops been mingled into one.
Thus man devotes his brother, and destroys;
And, worse than all, and most to be deplored
As human Nature's broadest, foulest blot,--
Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat
With stripes, that Mercy with a bleeding heart
Weeps, when she sees inflicted on a beast.
Then what is man? And what man, seeing this,
And having human feelings, does not blush
And hang his head to think himself a man?
I would not have a slave to till my ground,
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd.
No: dear as freedom is,--and in my heart's
Just estimation prized above all price,--
I had much rather be myself the slave,
And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him.
We have no slaves at home--then why abroad?
And they themselves once ferried o'er the wave
That parts us, are emancipate and loos'd.
Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
Receive our air, that moment they are free;
They touch our country, and their shackles fall[A].
That's noble, and bespeaks a nation proud
And jealous of the blessing. Spread it, then,
And let it circulate through every vein
Of all your empire--that where Britain's power
Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too.
[Footnote A: Expressions used in the great trial, when Mr. Sharp
obtained the verdict in favour of Somerset.]
CHAPTER IV.
[Sidenote:--Second class of forerunners and coadjutors, up to May 1787,
consists of the Quakers in England.--Of George Fox and others.--Of the
body of the Quakers assembled at the yearly meeting in 1727; and at
various other times.--Quakers, as a body, petition Parliament; and
circulate books on the subject.--Individuals among them become labourers
and associate in behalf of the Africans; Dilwyn, Harrison, and
others.--This the first association ever formed in England for the
purpose.]
The second class of the forerunners and coadjutors in this great cause,
up to May 1787, will consist of the Quakers in England.
The first of this class was George Fox, the venerable founder of this
benevolent society.
George Fox was contemporary with Richard Baxter, being born not long
after him, and dying much about the same time. Like him, he left his
testimony against this wicked trade. When he was in the island of
Barbados, in the year 1671, he delivered himself to those who attended
his religious meetings in the following manner:--
"Consider with yourselves," says he, "if you were in the same condition
as the poor Africans are--who came strangers to you, and were sold to
you as slaves--I say, if this should be the condition of you or yours,
you would think it a hard measure; yea, and very great bondage and
cruelty. And, therefore, consider seriously of this; and do you for them
and to them, as you would willingly have them, or any others, do unto
you, were you in the like slavish condition, and bring them to know the
Lord Christ." And in his Journal, speaking of the advice which he gave
his friends at Barbados, he says, "I desired also that they would cause
their overseers to deal mildly and gently with their negroes, and not to
use cruelty towards them, as the manner of some had been, and that after
certain years of servitude they should make them free."
William Edmundson, who was a minister of the society, and, indeed, a
fellow-traveller with George Fox, had the boldness in the same island to
deliver his sentiments to the governor on the same subject. Having been
brought before him and accused of making the Africans Christians, or, in
other words, of making them rebel and destroy their owners, he replied,
"That it was a good thing to bring them to the knowledge of God and
Christ Jesus, and to believe in him who died for them and all men, and
that this would keep them from rebelling, or cutting any person's
throat; but if they did rebel and cut their throats, as the governor
insinuated they would, it would be their own doing, in keeping them in
ignorance and under oppression, in giving them liberty to be common with
women like brutes, and, on the other hand, in starving them for want of
meat and clothes convenient; thus, giving them liberty in that which God
restrained, and restraining them in that which was meat and clothing."
I do not find any individual of this society moving in this cause, for
some time after the death of George Fox and William Edmundson. The first
circumstance of moment which I discover, is a resolution of the whole
Society on the subject, at their yearly meeting, held in London in the
year 1727. The resolution was contained in the following words:--"It is
the sense of this meeting, that the importing of negroes from their
native country and relations by Friends is not a commendable nor allowed
practice, and is, therefore, censured by this meeting."
In the year 1758, the Quakers thought it their duty, as a body, to pass
another resolution upon this subject. At this, time the nature of the
trade beginning to be better known, we find them more animated upon it,
as the following extract will show:--
"We fervently warn all in profession with us, that they carefully avoid
being any way concerned in reaping the unrighteous profits, arising from
the iniquitous practice of dealing in negro or other slaves; whereby, in
the original purchase, one man selleth another, as he doth the beasts
that perish, without any better pretension to a property in him than
that of superior force; in direct violation of the Gospel rule, which
teacheth all to do as they would be done by, and to do good to all;
being the reverse of that covetous disposition, which furnisheth
encouragement to those poor ignorant people to perpetuate their savage
wars, in order to supply the demands of this most unnatural traffic, by
which great numbers of mankind, free by nature, are subject to
inextricable bondage, and which hath often been observed to fill their
possessors with haughtiness, tyranny, luxury, and barbarity, corrupting
the minds and debasing the morals of their children, to the unspeakable
prejudice of religion and virtue, and the exclusion of that holy spirit
of universal love, meekness, and charity, which is the unchangeable
nature and the glory of true Christianity. We, therefore, can do no
less, than, with the greatest earnestness, impress it upon Friends
everywhere, that they endeavour to keep their hands clear of this
unrighteous gain of oppression."
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 haying 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 negroes, doth recommend it
earnestly to the care of Friends everywhere, 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 everywhere 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
negroes 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 intreat that 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 negroes, 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 thousand 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 negroes, 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 committee,
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 2000 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 10,000 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 Negroes 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 base, 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:--
[Footnote A: The Quakers, as a public body, kept the subject alive at
their yearly meeting in 1784, 1785, 1787, &c.]
WILLIAM DILLWYN, THOMAS KNOWLES, M.D.
GEORGE HARRISON, JOHN LLOYD,
SAMUEL HOARE, JOSEPH WOODS.
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 committee; 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 committee, 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
irreconcilable 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 1796 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.]