Anthony Benezet

“ They won't allow them to have any claim to human privileges, or scarce, indeed, to be regarded as the work of God. Tho' it was consistent with the justice of our Maker to pronounce the sentence on our common parent, and thro' him on all succeeding generations, That he and they should eat their bread by the sweat of their brow; yet, does it not stand recorded by the same eternal truth, That the Labourer is worthy of his hire? It cannot be allowed in natural justice that there should be a servitude without condition: A cruel endless servitude. ”

“ Would not any of us, who should be snatched by pirates from his native land, think himself cruelly abused, and at all times intitled to be free? Have not these unfortunate Africans, who met with the fame cruel fate, the same right? Are not they men as well as we, and have they not the same sensibility? Let us not, therefore, defend or support a usage, which is contrary to all the laws of humanity.' Francis Hutchison, also in his System of Moral Philosophy, speaking on the subject of Slavery, says,
'He who detains another by force in slavery, is always bound to prove his title. ”

“ It is a matter of astonishment, how a people who, as a nation, are looked upon as generous and humane, and so much value themselves for their uncommon sense of the benefit of Liberty, can live in the practice of such extreme oppression and inhumanity, without seeing the inconsistency of such conduct, and without feeling great remorse: Nor is it less amazing to hear these men calmly making calculations about the strength and lives of their fellow-men ”

“ How can you lift up your guilty eyes to heaven? How can you pray for mercy to him that made you, or hope for any favour from him that formed you, while you go on thus grossly and openly to dishonour him, in debasing and destroying the noblest workmanship of his hands in this lower world? ”

“ The gospel expressly declares, that thieves and murderers shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Consider, that at the fame time, and by the same means, you now treasure up worldly riches, you are treasuring up to yourselves wrath, against the day of wrath, and vengeance that shall come upon the workers of iniquity, unless prevented by a timely repentance. And what greater iniquity, what crime that is more heinous, that carries in it more complicated guilt, can you name than that, in the habitual, deliberate practice of which you now live? ”

“ However, I shall still have the satisfaction, of having entered my private protest against a practice which, in my opinion, bids that God, who is the God and Father of the gentiles, unconverted to Christianity, most daring and bold defiance, and spurns at all the principles, both of natural and revealed religion. How the British nation first came to be concerned in a practice, by which the rights and liberties of mankind are so violently infringed, and which is so opposite to the apprehensions Englishmen have always had of what natural justice requires, is indeed surprising. ”

“ As soon, therefore, as he comes into a country, in which the judges are not forgetful of their own humanity, it is their duty to remember that he is a man, and to declare him to be free. — This is the law of nature, which is obligatory on all men, at all times, and in all places. ”

“ Will not the groans of this deeply afflicted and oppressed people reach heaven, and when the cup of iniquity is full, must not the inevitable consequence be pouring forth of the judgments of God upon their oppressors. But, alas! is it not too manifest that this oppression has already long been the object of the divine displeasure; for what heavier judgment, what greater calamity can befall any people, than to become a prey to that hardness of heart, that forgetfulness of God, and insenbility to every religious impression ”

“ Whoever does, by unjust force or violence, deprive another of his Liberty; and, while he has him in his power, reduces him, by cruel treatment, to such a condition as evidently endangers his life; and the event occasions his death, is actually guilty of murder. It is no less shocking to read the accounts given by Sir Hans Sloan, and others, of the inhuman and unmerciful treatment those Blacks meet with, who survive the seasoning in the Islands, often for transgressions, to which the punishment they receive bears no proportion. ”

“ He is the father of men; and do you think he will not resent such treatment of his offspring, whom he hath so loved, as to give his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, might not perish, but have everlasting life ? This love of God to man, revealed in the gospel, is a great aggravation of your guilt; for if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. ”

“ That our Colonies want people, is a very weak argument for so inhuman a violation of justice. — Shall a civilized, a Christian nation encourage slavery, because the barbarous, savage, lawless African hath done it? ”

“ It might be also shewn, that it destroys the bonds of natural affection and interest, whereby mankind in general are united; that it introduces idleness, discourages marriage, corrupts the youth, ruins and debauches morals, excites continual apprehensions of dangers, and frequent alarms, to which the Whites are necessarily exposed from so great an encrease of a people, that, by their bondage and oppressions, become natural enemies, yet, at the fame time, are filling the places and eating the bread of those who would be the support and security of the country. ”

“ How an evil of so deep a dye, hath so long, not only passed uninterrupted by Those in Power, but hath even had their countenance, is, indeed, surprising, and, charity would suppose, must, in a great measure, have arisen from this, that many persons in government, both of the Clergy and Laity, in whose power it hath been to put a stop to the Trade, have been unacquainted with the corrupt motives which gives life to it; and the groans, the dying groans, which daily ascend to God, the common Father of mankind, from the broken hearts of those his deeply oppressed creatures ”

“ Do we indeed believe the truths declared in the gospel? Are we persuaded that the threatnings, as well as the promises therein contained, will have their accomplishment? If indeed we do, must we not tremble to think what a load of guilt lies upon our Nation generally and individually, so far as we in any degree abet or countenance this aggravated iniquity. ”

“ Britons boast themselves to be a generous, humane people, who have a true sense of the importance of Liberty; but is this a true character, whilst that barbarous, savage Slave-Trade, with all its attendant horrors, receives countenance and protection from the Legislature, whereby so many thousand lives are yearly sacrificed. ”

“ Let not Christians, by administring to their wickedness, confess their religion to be a useless refinement, their profession vain, and themselves as inhuman as the savages they detest.' James Foster, in his Discourses on Natural Religion and Social Virtue, also shews his just indignation at this wicked practice, which he declares to be a criminal and outrageous violation of the natural right of mankind. ”

“ In an account of part of North-America, published by Thomas Jeffery, printed 1761, speaking of the usage the Negroes receive in the West-India Islands, thus expresses himself:
'It's impossible for a human heart to reflect upon the servitude of these dregs of mankind, without in some measure feeling for their misery, which ends but with their lives. — Nothing can be more wretched than the condition of this people. ”

“ To go as pirates and catch up poor Negroes, or people of another land that never forfeited life or liberty, and to make them slaves, and sell them, is one of the worst kind of thievery in the world, and such persons are to be taken for the common enemies of mankind; and they that buy them, and use them as beasts, for their meer commodity, and betray, or destroy, or neglect their fouls, are fitter to be called devils than Christians. ”

“ But, notwithstanding this, we ourselves (who profess to be Christians, and boast of the peculiar advantage we enjoy, by means of an express revelation of our duty from heaven) are in effect, these very untaught and rude heathen countries. With all our superior light, we instil into those, whom we call savage and barbarous, the most despicable opinion of human nature. ”

“ Add to this, the prodigious number who are killed in the incursions and intestine wars, by which the Negroes procure the number of slaves wanted to load the vessels: How dreadful then is this Slave-Trade, whereby so many thoufands of our fellow-creatures, free by nature, endued with the same rational faculties, and called to be heirs of the same salvation with us, lose their lives, and are truly, and properly speaking, murdered every year. For it is not necessary, in order to convict a man of murder, to make it appear, that he had an intention to commit murder. ”

“ And, lastly, as it endangers the community by the destructive effects of civil commotions, need I add to these, (says that author) what every heart, which is not callous to all tender feelings, will readily suggest; that it is shocking to humanity, violative of every generous sentiment, abhorrent utterly from the Christian religion; for as Montesquieu very justly observes, We must suppose them not to be men, or a suspicion would follow that we ourselves are not Christians. — There cannot be a more dangerous maxim, than that necessity is a plea for injustice. ”

“ Since our English law is so truly valuable for its justice, how can they overlook these barbarous deaths of the unhappy Africans without trial, or due proof of their being guilty, of crimes adequate to their punishment? Why are those masters of vessels (who are often not the most tender and considerate of men) thus suffered to be the sovereign arbiters of the lives of the miserable Negroes ”

“ Must not even the common feelings of human nature have suffered some grievous change in those men, to be capable of such horrid cruelty, towards their fellow men? If they deserve death, ought not their judges, in the death decreed them, always to remember that these their hapless fellow-creatures are men, and themselves professing Christians. ”

“ Those, who are acquainted with the Trade, agree, that many Negroes on the sea-coast, who have been corrupted by their intercourse and converse with the European Factors, have learnt to stick at no act of cruelty for gain. These make it a practice to steal abundance of little Blacks of both sexes, when found on the roads or in the fields, where their parents keep them all day to watch the corn, &c. Some authors say, the Negroe Factors go six or seven hundred miles up the country with goods, bought from the Europeans, where markets of men are kept in the same manner as those of beasts with us ”

“ I fear the generality of you, that own Negroes, are liable to such a charge; for your slaves, I believe, work as hard, if not harder, than the horses whereon you ride. These, after they have done their work, are fed and taken proper care of; but many Negroes, when wearied with labour, in your plantations, have been obliged to grind their own corn, after they return home; your dogs are caressed and fondled at your tables; but your slaves, who are frequently stiled dogs or beasts, have not an equal privilege; they are scarce permitted to pick up the crumbs which fall from their master's table. ”

“ The slave sold or carried away into a distant country, must not be obliged to prove a negative, That he never forfeited his Liberty. The violent possessor must, in all, cases, shew his title, especially where the old proprietor is well known. In this case each man is the original proprietor of his own Liberty: The proof of his loosing it must be incumbent on those, who deprived him of it by force. ”

“ Can any human heart, that retains a fellow-feeling for the sufferings of mankind, be unconcerned at relations of such grievous affliction, to which this oppressed part of our species are subjected: God gave to man dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, &c. ”

“ The blood of them spilt for these many years in your respective provinces will ascend up to heaven against you.' Some who have only seen Negroes in an abject state of slavery, broken-spirited and dejected, knowing nothing of their situation in their native country, may apprehend, that they are naturally unsensible of the benefits of Liberty, being destitute and miserable in every respect, and that our suffering them to live amongst us (as the Gibeonites of old were permitted to live with the Israelites) tho' even on more oppressive term, is to them a favour ”

“ They beat them with thick clubs, and you will see their bodies all whaled and scarred; in short, they seem to set no other value on their lives than as they cost them so much money; and are not restrained from killing them, when angry, by a worthier consideration than that they lose so much. They act as tho' they did not look upon them as a race of human creatures, who have reason, and remembrance of misfortunes, but as beasts, like oxen, who are stubborn, hardy and senseless ”

“ Thus an insatiable desire of gain hath become the principal and moving cause of the most abominable and dreadful scene, that was perhaps ever acted upon the face of the earth; even the power of their kings hath been made subservient to answer this wicked purpose, instead of being protectors of their people, these rulers, allured by the tempting bait laid before them by the European Factors, &c. have invaded the Liberties of their unhappy subjects, and are become their oppressors. ”