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
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.
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