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