SLAVE-TRADE. 



tiie human race. After the formation of the committee, 

 i.otice was fent to Mr. Wilborforce of the event ; ai d a 

 iriendlhip began, which has continued uninterruptedly be- 

 tween them from that to the prefer.t day." In the follow- 

 ii!C; month, that is, in June 1787, the committee fimplificd 

 its former title, and was ufhered into the world. It profefTed 

 to have nothing to do with the emancipation of flaves al- 

 ri'.idy in bondage. Its only objeft was the abolition of the 

 African flave-trade. From this period we (hall give a hif- 

 •-ory of its proceedings, year by year. 



The committee was no fnoner formed, than Mr. Clarkfon 

 drew up' " A Summary View of the Slave-Trade, and of 

 the probable Confequences of its Abolition." It confdted 

 ■inly of aboijt a dozen pages. It detailed the different me- 

 lods of making flaves in Africa, their treatment, fufferings, 

 , i,d mortahty in the paffage ; and alfo the treatment of the 



urvivors in the colonies to which they were carried ; and it 

 promifed the publication of an Eflay on the Impolicy of the 

 Slave-trade. This fummary the committee determined to 

 print, and to circulate all over the kingdom. In the mean 

 time Mr. Clarkfon was to take a journey to the different 

 ilave-ports, to increafe his own knowledge of the fubjeft. 

 Such knowledge was abfolutely neceffary in cafe parliament 

 (honld call for evidence : and if there was any one time 

 more fit than another for procuring fuch evidence, it was 

 the prefent ; for men's minds had not then been heated by 

 calking upon the fubjeft, nor had interell hitherto felt itfelf 

 biafled to conceal the truth ; but as foon as ever it fhould 

 get abroad that parliament was to look into the fubjeft, all 

 avenues to farther information would be fhut againit him. 

 The firit place he vifited was Briftol, where he refided for 

 feme weeks. Here he obtained a knowledge of feveral ar- 

 ticles of African produce, fuch as rice,' indigo, cotton, 

 fpices, and woodn, and cdlefted fpecimeiis of them. He 

 obtained fpecimens alfo of the different manufaftures of the 

 natives of Africa, both in wood, cotton, leather, iron, and 

 gold. He examined the conttruftion of flave-fhips, and took 

 the dimenfimis of feveral. He obtained hiltorie.s of their 

 former voyages. He colleftcd chains, handcuffs, thumb- 

 fcrcws, and other horrid initruments ufed in this execrable 

 traffic. He difcoverod the fcandalous modes of procuring 

 and paying thofe feamen who were employed in it, the fad 

 ratio of their mortality on the voyage, and the prodigious 

 difference between the mortality of thefe and of thofe em- 

 ployed in other trades, of which he was enabled to take a 

 I'omprehenfive view, from procuring the mufler-roUs of al- 

 nioll every (hip belonging to the port. But th.it which 

 hurt his feelings the moll, and which kept him indeed in a 

 ite of conftant miiery while in Brillol, was the barbarous 



lUige, and this almolt without an exception, of the fea- 

 men employed in this traffic. He took many out of the 

 flave-veflcls there. He took up the caufe of fomc of thefe, 

 and obtained damages for them in the courts of law. He 

 fent a chief mate to prifon for the murder of one of the 

 crew ailing under him. While at Briltol, he formed a com- 

 mittee to acl in union with that of London, and obtained 

 promifes of petitions to parliament againll the continuance 

 of the inhuman traffic from that city, and from Bath, Mon- 

 moulli, and Bridgewater. On his journey from Briltol t;> 

 Liverpool, he procured the promife of fimilar petitions 

 from Gloucerter, Worcelfer, and Chellcr, and fecured the 

 provincial newfpapcrs as he travelled on in behalf of his 

 caufc. On his arrival at Liverpool, he followed the fame 

 line of enquiry as at Briftol, for (ix weeks, after which pe- 

 riod (fo incenfed were merchants, captains of (hips, and 

 others connefted with the trade, againfl him) it would have 



been dangerous to ftay. From thence he vifited Lancafter, 

 the laft of the flave-ports, and at length returned to London, 

 after an abfei'ce of five months, in the December of 1787. 

 The committee, in the mean while, that is, during his ab- 

 fence, had been equally well employed, and had been 

 equally indefatigable. The (iril thing they did was to make 

 known, by public adverlilement, theirexilfenceas aci'mmit- 

 tee, and the great objeft they had in view. They ordered a 

 ieal to be engraved for their correfponde-.ce. The device 

 upon it was a negro in chains, kneeling, and in a fupplicating 

 manner lifting up his hands to heaven. The motto round 

 the device coniilted of thefe words, " Am I not a man and 

 a brother?" They then added to their committee, to in- 

 creafe their labourers ; and having done fo, they direftly 

 opened a correfpondence throughout England, Wales, and 

 Scotland, which they extended afterwards to America. This 

 gave them an opportunity of making their caufe known in 

 the moll extenfive manner. Accordingly, when things had 

 been thus prepared, they circulated many thoufands of the 

 fummary views before-mentioned, and, at the fame time, ad- 

 drefled by letter all the corporate bodies in the kingdom. 

 Thefe efforts foon convinced them, that there were thoufands 

 of kindred fouls in their own country, who felt with them 

 on the great fubjeft of their inftitution. The Quakers were 

 the firlt, as a body, to acknowledge and approve it ; the 

 general Baptifts the next : then followed letters of approba- 

 tion, and promifes of fupport from people f)f all religious 

 denominations. Among thefe were, the famous Dr. Price 

 and John Wefley ; Mr. Rofcoe, the hiftorian and poet ; Dr. 

 Porteus, bifhop of Chefler ; Dr. Woodward, bilhop of 

 Cloyne ; Dr. Hinchliffe, bifhop of Peterborough ; Dr. 

 Home, afterwards bifhop of Norwich ; Dr. Bathurlt, now 

 bi(hop of the fame; archdeacons Paley and Plymley (now 

 Corbett) ; the celebrated marquis de la Fayette, now alive, 

 who was foon afterwards confpicuous in the French revolu- 

 tion ; and Briffot and Claviere, afterwards two diftinguifhed 

 members of the national convention in France, and who fuf- 

 fered under the tyranny of Robefpierre. This good feeling 

 continued to fprcad, when, in the month of February, 1 788, 

 there appeared to be among the people of England a gene- 

 ral feeling in behalf of the injured Africans. By this time 

 thirty-five petitions had been prefented to parliament from 

 different places, praying for the abolition of the flave-trade, 

 and feveral others had been refolved upon. Thefe proceed- 

 ings produced fuch an effeft upon the governm.ent, that the 

 king was advifed to order a committee of privy-council to 

 inquire into the nature of the flave-trade. This order was 

 dated February n. An inquiry was of courfe immediately 

 fet on foot. The iirft witnedes examined, were perfons fent 

 exprefsly as delegates from Liverpool, who had not only 

 been themfelves in the trade, but who were then interelled in 

 its continuance. Thefe endeavoured to ihew, that none of 

 the enormities with which it had been charged belonged to 

 it ; and that it was even attended, with circumdances fa- 

 vourable to the unhappy viftims of it. A great prejudice 

 therefore was excited, in the very beginning of the iiujuiry, 

 in the minds of fome of the privy-council againll the abo- 

 litionifts ; whom they confidered a» milinforming the jJublic 

 mind with refpeft to a traffic, which a])peared to be lo vi- 

 tally connefted with the manufafturing and commercial in- 

 terells of the country, that it would be almoll national ruin to 

 aboiifh it. Happy w.u it for the caufe, at this nionient, that 

 Mr. Clarkfon had taken his journey to Brillol and other 

 places, as before-mentioned ; for he had become acquainted, 

 in the courfe of it, with perfons who had witiiclled the hor- 

 rors of the trade ; but who, having then quitted it, had no 



intereft 



