The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839)Clarkson, Thomas
History
The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839)
Clarkson, Thomas
Slave trade -- Africa
That William Dillwyn, and those of his own class in England, acted upon
motives very distinct from those of the former class, may be said with
truth; for they acted upon the constitutional principles of their own
society, as incorporated into its discipline: which principles would
always have incited them to the subversion of slavery, as far as they
themselves were concerned, whether any other person had abolished it or
not. To which it may be added, as a further proof of the originality of
their motives, that the Quakers have had, ever since their institution
as a religious body, but little intercourse with the world.
The third class, to which I now come, consisted, as we have seen, first
of the Quakers in America; and secondly, of an union, of these with
others on the same continent. The principal individuals concerned in
this union were James Pemberton and Dr. Rush. The former of these,
having taken an active part in several of the yearly meetings of his own
society relative to the oppressed Africans, and having been in habits of
intimacy and friendship with John Woolman and Anthony Benezet, with the
result of whose labours he was acquainted, may be supposed to have
become qualified to take a leading station in the promotion of their
cause. Dr. Rush also had shown himself, as has appeared, an able
advocate, and had even sustained a controversy in their favour. That the
two last mentioned acted also on motives of their own, or independently
of those belonging to the other two classes, when they formed their
association in Pennsylvania, will be obvious from these circumstances;
first, that most of those of the first class, who contributed to throw
the greatest light and odium upon the Slave Trade, had not then made
their public appearance in the world. And, with respect to the second
class, the little committee belonging to it had neither been formed nor
thought of.
And as the individuals in each of the three classes, who have now been
mentioned, had an education as it were to qualify them for acting
together in this great cause, and had moved independently of each other;
so it will appear that, by means of circumstances, which they themselves
had neither foreseen nor contrived, a junction between them was rendered
easily practicable, and that it was beginning to take place at the
period assigned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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