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MEMOIRS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 ASHPm®SW BIBHIKHWP. 
 
 BY ROBERTS TAUX. 
 
 f 4 He was the offspring of humanity, 
 
 And every child of sorrow was his brother. 5 ' 
 
 PHILADELFHlJi: 
 PUBLISHED BY JAMES P. PARKE, 
 
 N«. 74, SOUTH SECOND STREET. 
 
 Merritt, Printer. 
 1817. 
 
District of Pennsylvania, to wit : 
 
 BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the twenty-fifth day of 
 February, in the forty-first year of the Independence of the 
 United States of America, A. D. 1817, James P. Parke, of 
 the said District, hath deposited in this office, the title of a 
 book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words 
 following, to wit : 
 
 Memoirs of the Life of Anthony Benezet. By 
 Roberts Faux. 
 
 " He was the offspring 1 of humanity, 
 
 And every child of sorrow was his brother" 
 
 In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United 
 States, entitled, " An act for the encouragement of learn- 
 ing, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to 
 the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the 
 times therein mentjonfeoV And alsp 'to the a^ct, entitled, " An 
 act supplementary to an act, "entitled,' Ari«atct for the encour- 
 agement of learnings by securing .the copies bitmaps, charts, 
 and books, to,' t,h$ auihatts^ar^^toprSetV^s.of such copies 
 during the time l tftereirf'irfehUone\I,"*&nd extending the be- 
 nefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etch- 
 ing historical and other prints." 
 
 D. CALDWELL, 
 
 Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania. 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
 
 WHEN this work was about to be 
 undertaken, the writer presumed that 
 ample materials might be procured, 
 to render it altogether worthy of the 
 character of Anthony Benezet. But 
 although only thirty-two years haye 
 elapsed since his death, no traces are 
 discernible of the mass of important 
 and interesting documents, which 
 must haye accumulated during more 
 than fifty of the last years of his life ; 
 devoted as it continually was, to the 
 most benevolent labours, in relation 
 
 M73849 
 
IV 
 
 to many of which, he maintained au 
 epistolary correspondence with men 
 of celebrity, in America and Europe. 
 If access could have been had to the 
 stock of original papers, which were 
 no doubt preserved by him, they would 
 have minutely and regularly unfolded 
 the history of his numerous and vari- 
 ous transactions. Instead therefore* 
 of a finished portraiture of the life of 
 this excellent man, the author regrets, 
 that from the relics which have es- 
 caped an oblivion so unaccountable* 
 he is only enabled to furnish a mere 
 sketch of some of its features. He 
 trusts however, that enough is de- 
 veloped in the subsequent pages, just- 
 ly to entitle the subject of them, to be 
 considered as having bpcn an illus- 
 trious benefactor of the human race. 
 
And although lie never sought to 
 have awarded to him by the world, an 
 appellation so dignilied, the record 
 ©f evidence which establishes his 
 claim to it, may serve to awaken de- 
 sires in the mind of the reader, to pur- 
 sue the footsteps of this humble phi- 
 lanthropist, in the hope of obtaining, 
 like him, the imperishable reward^ 
 which is dispensed in Heaven. 
 
 Birwood Lodge, Eighth Month, 1816. 
 
 /find 
 
*eq\ 
 
LIST OF AUTHORITIES. 
 
 Dr. Rush's Essays. 
 
 American Museum, volume IX. 
 
 Clarksons' History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade. 
 
 Poetical Epistle to the enslaved Africans. 
 
 New and General Biographical Dictionary. 
 
 Memorials, issued by the Religious Society of Friends. 
 
 Manuscript Memorandums, by Anthony Benezet, present- 
 ed to the late pious and venerable John Parrish, furnished 
 by his nephew Dr. Parrish. 
 
 Manuscript Book that belonged to Anthony Benezet, in 
 possession of Joseph Clark. 
 
 Several publications by Anthony Benezet. 
 
 Hardie's Biography. 
 
 Minutes, and other papers relating to the Friendly Asso- 
 ciation for regaining and preserving peace with the Indians 
 by pacific measures, supplied by James Pemberton Parke. 
 
 Manuscript Letters of Anthony Benezet, and oral informa- 
 tion communicated by individuals who were personally ac- 
 quainted with him. 
 
 Power of Religion on the Mind, by Lindley Murray. 
 
 Minot, volume I. chapter 10. 
 
 Universal History, volume XL, page 201. 
 
 British Empire, volume 1, page 208, 211. 
 
 Smollet's England, volume I, page 252, 253. 
 
 Penn's Works. 
 
MEMOIRS. 
 
 IT is not the least interesting fact connected 
 with the virtues, and services of the subject of 
 this Memoir, that he was descended from an an- 
 cient and respectable family. His progenitors 
 through many generations acquired and sustain- 
 ed an honourable reputation, by devotion to con- 
 scientious principles. 
 
 The most remote maternal ancestor to whom 
 reference can be had, was Arm and Crommelin ; 
 he lived in the fifteenth century, and suffered 
 so severely for his religious opinions, by the per- 
 secutions of that period, as to be induced to re- 
 tire from his native place in Holland, and take 
 up his abode at Courteray, a town of the Austrian 
 Netherlands. Of the numerous descendants from 
 Crommelin, one of them, of the fifth generation, 
 was married to John Benezet, of Clavison in Lan- 
 guedoc, whose life terminated in the year 1690. 
 
He left seven children, the eldest of whom was 
 John Stephen, the father of the philanthropist. 
 
 An ancient family record, which has survived 
 the vicissitudes of more than a century, exhi- 
 bits evidence of the religious character of the 
 paternal predecessors of Anthony Benezet. The 
 nativities, marriages and deaths noted in it, are 
 uniformly accompanied with sentiments of piety. 
 Connected with the register of his grandfather's 
 demise, the event is said to be " to tlie great afflic- 
 tion of his children, and tlie universal regret of 
 his relations and friends, for he was a model of 
 virtue and purity, and lived in the constant fear 
 of God f attached to the birth note of his grand- 
 son Anthony, the Divine favour is thus implor- 
 ed for the infant's preservation and happiness, 
 « may God hless Mm, in making him a partaker 
 of his mercies." Though virtue be not heredita- 
 ry, it must be admitted that example is powerful. 
 
 Anthony Benezet, was born at St. Quint in, 
 in France, on the thirty-first day of the Eleventh 
 Month (January) Anno Domini 1713. O. S. His 
 parents were among the most noted and wealthy 
 persons of that time. They associated themselves 
 ~vitli those protestants who had been contemptu- 
 
ously denominated Huguenots on the revocation 
 of the edict of Nantz, and who became obnoxious 
 to the unparalleled fury of Romish bigotry du- 
 ring the reign of Lewis XIV. John Stephen 
 Benezet suffered as severely as any of his an- 
 cestors for a faithful attachment to his religious 
 opinions. His estate on this account was confis- 
 cated in 1715, when he withdrew from his native 
 country, and sought refuge in Holland. 
 
 At this time his son Anthony was an infant, a 
 circumstance which no doubt greatly increased 
 the solicitude of his parents, whose afflictions 
 must have been almost insupportable, and whose 
 flight was extremely perilous. It was natural for 
 the protector of a family situated as he was, to 
 resort to any means that might give hope of suc- 
 cess to the hazardous enterprise which the ur- 
 gent necessity of exile had dictated ; so great an 
 exigency probably reconciled to the mind of this 
 suffering individual, the method he adopted to ef- 
 fect it, though it offered the bold alternative, 
 which w as to sacrifice either the life or the fidel- 
 ity of the servant of the crown. To accomplish 
 this purpose, he secured the services of a young 
 man, upon whose attachment he could rely, to 
 
4 
 
 accompany him beyond one of the .military out- 
 posts, which then skirted the frontier of France. 
 "Xothing occurred to interrupt their progress, until 
 they approached the centinel ; when their adventur- 
 ous friend presenting himself before him, display- 
 ing in one hand an instrument of death, and ten- 
 dering with the other a purse of money, said, 
 « take your choke, tliis is a worthy family, Jly- 
 higfrom persecution, and they shall pass :" the 
 guard accepted the gold, and their escape was 
 safely accomplished. They remained a few 
 months in Rotterdam, and thence removed to 
 London, where they resided sixteen years, du- 
 ring which time John Stephen Benezet, being 
 engaged in commercial pursuits, was enabled to 
 recover in some degree the losses he had sus- 
 tained in his fortune. Whilst in Great Britain, 
 Anthony received an education that was deem- 
 ed sufficient to qualify him for mercantile 
 business, to acquire a knowledge of which, his 
 father placed him with one of the most respecta- 
 ble traders of the metropolis. In this situation 
 he did not long continue, declining, from motives 
 of a religious nature, to be occupied in the enter- 
 prises of commerce. Having chosen a mechanical 
 
business he engaged himself with a cooper, but 
 it proved to be an employment too laborious for 
 Iris youthful and naturally delicate frame. 
 
 Of Iiis juvenile habits and dispositions, but an 
 imperfect account is preserved 5 it is only known 
 that when about fourteen years old he was uni- 
 ted in membership with the religious society of 
 Friends, called Quakers. Whether the early 
 development of his mind, yielded any promise 
 of the future excellence of his character, no 
 evidence now remains. In the year 1731, at the 
 age of eighteen, he came with his parents to 
 Philadelphia, where the family was permanent- 
 ly established. His pursuits during the first five 
 years after his emigration to Pennsylvania can- 
 not be ascertained. 
 
 In 1736 he formed a matrimonial union with 
 Joyce Marriott, a woman of exemplary piety. 
 Three years after his marriage he removed to 
 Wilmington, in the state of Delaware, and was 
 there engaged in a branch of manufacture, which 
 neither answering his expectation, nor suiting 
 the disposition of his mind, induced him to re* 
 turn in a few months to Philadelphia. 
 B 2 
 
The unsettled state in which he appears to 
 have been at this period, in relation to his secular 
 occupations, may be attributed to the operation of 
 those benevolent principles of his nature which 
 had not hitherto been brought into complete ac- 
 tion, as well as to the desire he cherished, that 
 the energies of his mind might be directed to the 
 most useful and salutary purposes. Thus at an 
 age when the generality of mankind are most 
 concerned to determine in what manner they 
 shall apply their time and talents, for their 
 own aggrandisement, and are seen eagerly 
 grasping for wealth, or panting for those hon- 
 ours and that fame which humanity can bestow, 
 Anthony Benezet exhibits the rare example of 
 a man, subjecting every selfish and ambitious 
 passion to the superior obligations of religion, 
 offering himself a candidate for any service 
 which might contribute to promote his Creator's 
 honour, and advance the happiness of his fellow 
 beings. 
 
 Such extraordinary devotion of heart could 
 not but be preparatory to the luxuriant growth 
 of all those tender charities, those exalted vir- 
 tues, and that distinguished humility; whieh 
 
made up the plenteous, and rich harvest of his 
 life. 
 
 In the twenty-sixth year of his age, he believed 
 it to he most consistent with his duty to under- 
 take the instruction of youth in useful learning, 
 and his first engagement in that capacity was at 
 Germantown, in the vicinity of Philadelphia : 
 whilst at that place, he also employed a portion 
 of his time as a proof reader for a printer, near 
 whom he lived. In 1742, a vacancy occurred in 
 the English department of the public school, 
 founded by charter from William Penn ; an in- 
 stitution under the superintendence of some of the 
 most eminent, pious, and learned men that a- 
 dorned the religious and civil community of 
 Philadelphia ; by their solicitation and encou- 
 ragement, he left Germantown, and accepted the 
 office of a teacher in that seminary, in which sta- 
 tion he continued for twelve years, to the entire 
 satisfaction of his employers* 
 
 In 1755, he established a school on his own 
 account, for the instruction of females, and soon 
 found himself entrusted with the education of 
 the daughters of the most affluent and respecta- 
 ble inhabitants of the city. To his amiable and 
 
8 
 
 nesting pupils he was endeared Irvine ex- 
 ercise of an uncommon degree of religious 
 eare, and such was the urbanity of his manners, 
 and the lenity of his government, that the cha- 
 racter of the tutor was lost in an indulgence 
 more unlimited than even parental fondness is 
 apt to dispense. This mode of treatment produ- 
 ced a correspondent respect and regard from 
 his scholars, in whose hearts was deeply im- 
 planted the strongest attachment to their pre- 
 ceptor and friend, which in those who have de- 
 scended to the grave was extinguished only with 
 their lives, and that still glowing in tlie bo- 
 soms of the few who survive, can cease but with 
 the termination of all human affections. As an 
 instructor of youth, as well as in every other 
 engagement of life, he appears to have reflected 
 and determined for himself on the principles 
 which were to control his conduct. 
 
 It is not therefore surprising that he should 
 have adopted a system of government unlike that 
 which was then exercised by those who were en- 
 trusted with the education of children. The dis- 
 cipline of schools at the time when Benezet began 
 a reformation, was of all systems the most re- 
 
9 
 
 pugnant (o the plain dictates of nature, reason, 
 and Christianity. The individual who was to 
 mould the mind of a child, lead it to the know- 
 ledge of its own energies, instil in(o it ra- 
 dical principles, and in short essentially con- 
 tribute to form the character, could not display 
 his qualifications for this purpose, nor secure more 
 certain, though misapplied patronage and confi- 
 dence, than by the assumption of a demeanour, at 
 once supercilious and pedantic. To complete his 
 attributes, the teacher ruled his subjects by the 
 exercise of punishments, as cruel and vin- 
 dictive, as might entirely comport with the des- 
 potic office he sustained. The discerning and 
 conscientious mind of Benezet, perceived the 
 injurious tendency of a system thus organised; 
 he saw its operation was calculated to produce 
 in the minds of those who were obnoxious to 
 its influence, dispositions the most unhappy, 
 whilst it must inevitably lessen the ability, if not 
 altogether frustrate the design of communica- 
 ting information to youth. With lord Bacon, 
 he was convinced, that what is learned willing- 
 ly, and at the proper season, makes the deep* 
 est impression, and that much depends on the 
 
10 
 
 manner of conveying lessons of instruction to 
 the juvenile understanding. 
 
 The plan which Benezet pursued was there- 
 fore that of mildness; he investigated the natu- 
 ral dispositions of his pupils, and adapted his 
 management of them, to their various tempers. 
 Persuasion would secure attention and obedi- 
 ence in some, whilst proper excitement to emu- 
 lation, would animate and encourage others. 
 The sense of shame, and the fear of disgrace, 
 could be roused in the minds of those, whose stu- 
 bornness the less acute remedies would not affect, 
 and it is affirmed, that he rarely had recourse 
 to corporal punishment, and seldom permitted 
 an angry passion to be exhibited to his scholars. 
 His patient and persevering temper was re- 
 markably displayed in the attention he bestowed 
 upon a female who was deaf and dumb. She ac- 
 quired, during two years under his tuition, such 
 instruction as enabled her to enjoy an intercourse 
 with society, which had been previously denied 
 to her. And although his efforts in this case, to 
 organise and develop ideas, did not reach the 
 perfection since attained in the admirable scheme 
 of his celebrated countryman the Abbe L'Epee, 
 
11 
 
 lie nevertheless deserves credit for an attempt, 
 which, in point of originality in Philadelphia 
 (perhaps in America) must be awarded to him 
 
 When not immediately engaged in their studies, 
 he was on the most familiar terms with his pu- 
 pils, and regularly assigned a portion of the 
 time usually allotted for business, to indulging 
 them with suitable recreation and amusement, 
 in an apartment which he had expressly con- 
 structed for the purpose. So deeply was his 
 mind interested in what he deemed the judicious 
 education of youth, that for the promotion of 
 his opinions and views, he compiled two intro- 
 ductory books for the use of schools. His reasons 
 for engaging in this work, as well as his senti- 
 ments on the general subject of instruction, are 
 given in the following letters to David Barclay 
 of London, and John Pemberton of Philadelphia. 
 
 Philadelphia, 1782. 
 Esteemed Friend, David Barclay, 
 
 A good opportunity offering by our friend John 
 Pemberton, I make use of it, affectionately, to 
 
12 
 
 salute and inform thee, that I have with much sa- 
 tisfaction, understood that the necessary and pi- 
 ous education of the youth has more particularly 
 become the object of the notice of Friends, and 
 that thou hast been engaged to interest thyself in 
 this important work. In the course of my con- 
 cern for the proper instruction and best welfare 
 of the youth, in which I have been employed noAv 
 for near forty years, I have found a great dis- 
 advantage arising from the want of a spelling 
 book and primer, properly adapted, not only 
 to bring children and youth forward in reading, 
 hut also to inculcate proper principles in them ; 
 this led me to procure all the books of this kind I 
 could meet with, and though I found more or 
 less good matter in them all, yet none answering 
 my prospect, I found myself engaged to endea- 
 vour the compilation of a hook of this kind. Be- 
 fore publication I laid my essay before the over- 
 seers of our public school, who appointed James 
 Pemberton, Nicholas Wain and others, a commit- 
 tee to review my manuscript, making proper 
 amendments. The first edition being sold, a se- 
 cond of a larger sort, with improvements on the 
 first, has been made ; of this I send thee a copy, 
 
13 
 
 also a primer, or first book, on the same plan, 
 to save the charges of the spelling book, which 
 young children are apt to deface before they 
 have been taught many pages in it. The tenden- 
 cy of this kind of books is too generally little re- 
 garded by parents or tutors, provided there be 
 what is judged sufficient of spelling and other 
 common place instruction ; but my view went 
 farther, not only to make the spelling more 
 easy, familiar and agreeable than is usual, but 
 also to cause the bent and aim of all the lessons, 
 from the beginning to the end to be such as 
 tended to mend the heart (the great work of 
 Christianity) as well as convince the judgment, 
 by raising in the tender mind, principles of com- 
 passion and tenderness, as well to the brute 
 creation, as to their fellow men, a nobility of 
 mind, and a love of virtue, and so on gradually, 
 rising higher and higher, till the language and 
 precepts, both in matter and language, are such as 
 our best authors afforded. In the first edition I de- 
 viated from the common established rules in the 
 division of syllables, rather consulting and favour- 
 ing the ear, than keeping to the common custom ; 
 but some of the schoolmasters complaining that 
 
14 
 
 they were thereby brought under difficulty, as 
 both they and their scholars had been habituated 
 to the common mode of dividing syllables, I 
 thought it best in the second edition to give up any 
 attempt of that kind, and make use of the same 
 mode of spelling as was in Dil worth. The custom 
 of making up the first lessons of all the words of 
 one syllable I deviated from, experience having 
 taught me, that it is much easier to introduce chil- 
 dren to reading, by using the easiest words of two, 
 and even three syllables, such as ac-ti-on, &c. 
 than hard words of one syllable as draught, &e. 
 I have added a short essay on grammar, com- 
 piled with great care, in order to make the 
 grounds of that necessary foundation of know- 
 ledge in our mother tongue, more clear and easy 
 than the compilations of that kind generally 
 are, most of which by introducing parts of the La- 
 tin grammar which are of no use in our language, 
 run into many useless words, and are difficult to 
 be understood both by pupils and tutors of dull 
 capacities; this essay, though short, will I believe 
 be found sufficient to give them such a general 
 idea of English grammar as to understand the 
 reason of what is proposed and express them- 
 
15 
 
 selves with a good degree of correctness where 
 they have no other help, as well as fit them for 
 understanding such larger works as may fall in 
 their way. I should he well pleased to under- 
 stand thou and other Friends would so far co- 
 operate w ith my concern, which indeed is weigh- 
 ty with me, as to give this spelling hook a seri- 
 ous perusal, and if it should meet with appro- 
 bation, might be republished with such amend- 
 ments and additions as may appear necessary. 
 I trust this desire does not arise from any part 
 I have had in it, but from a persuasion founded 
 on long experience, and the evidence of others, 
 that this book, or one of the same kind, may be 
 of special service, not only in making the in- 
 struction of children more easy, but in necessari- 
 ly laying before both tutors, pupils and others, 
 where it may come, such leading principles on 
 matters of the greatest weight, as may be in- 
 structive and edifying to them. The advantage 
 of endeavouring to promote the education of our 
 youth, on its right basis, viz. a true estimate of 
 human life, and the amendment of the heart, 
 whence obedience and love to God, benignity to 
 men, and a tender regard for the whole creation 
 
16 
 
 would necessarily flow, must be obvious to every 
 feeling mind ; as also giving them as easy and 
 compendious a knowledge of their own language, 
 and such other useful parts of learning, as their 
 respective situations may make necessary, to an- 
 answer all the good purposes of life. 
 
 ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 
 Philadelphia, Fifth Month, 29th, 1783. 
 "Dear Friend, John Pembertost, 
 
 ########### With respect to the 
 education of our youth, I would propose, as the 
 fruit of forty years experience, that when they 
 are proficients in the use of their pen, and become 
 sufficiently acquainted with the English gram- 
 mar, and the useful parts of arithmetic, they 
 should be taught mensuration of superficies and 
 solids, as it helps the mind in many necessary mat- 
 ters, particularly the use of the scale and compass; 
 and will open the way for those parts of the 
 mathematics, which their peculiar situations may 
 afterwards make necessary. It would also be 
 
17 
 
 profitable for every scholar of both sexes to go 
 through and understand a short but very plain 
 set of merchants' accounts in single entry, par- 
 ticularly adapted to the civil uses of life. And 
 in order to perfect their education in a useful and 
 agreeable way, both to themselves and others, I 
 would propose to give them a general knowledge 
 of the mechanical powers, geography, and the 
 elements of astronomy ; the use of the microscope 
 might also be profitably added, in discovering the 
 minute parts of the creation; this, with the know- 
 ledge of the magnitude and courses of those migh- 
 ty bodies which surround us, would tend to exalt 
 their ideas. Such parts of history as may tend 
 to give them a right idea of the corruption of the 
 human heart, the dreadful nature and effects of 
 war, the advantage of virtue, &c. are also neces- 
 sary parts of an education founded upon christian 
 and reasonable principles. These several instruc- 
 tions should be inculcated on a religious plan, in 
 such a way as may prove a delightful, rather than 
 a painful labour, both to teachers and pupils. It 
 might also be profitable to give lads of bright 
 genius some plain lectures upon anatomy, the 
 wondrous frame of man, deducing therefrom 
 c % ' 
 
18 
 
 the advantage of a plain simple May of life ; en- 
 forcing upon their understanding, the kind efforts 
 of nature to maintain the human frame in a state 
 of health with little medical help, hut what ab- 
 stinence and exercise will afford. These neces- 
 sary parts of knowledge so useful in directing 
 the youthful mind in the path of virtue and wis- 
 dom, might be proposed by way of lectures, which 
 the pupil should write down, and when corrected 
 should be copied in a neat bound book to be kept 
 for future perusal.* ######•#» 
 
 Such were the motives which influenced the 
 conduct of this excellent man, in an occupation 
 which was pursued for subsistence; affording the 
 bright example too seldom imitated, of making 
 worldly concerns subservient to the noblest du- 
 ties, and the most extensive goodness. If an 
 estimate of his worth were to be formed by a re- 
 ference to the services which he rendered as an 
 instructer of youth, they would be found to have 
 entitled him to the distinguished consideration, 
 respect and gratitude of future generations 
 
19 
 
 But this appropriation of his time, forms only 
 one of the numerous engagements of his be- 
 nevolent and laborious life. lie looked upon the 
 globe as his country, and considered all mankind 
 as his brethren. With such enlightened and un- 
 bounded philanthropy, it was to be expected that 
 the degraded and suffering condition of the ne- 
 groes, would occupy a large share of his notice 
 and sympathy. About the year 1750, it began 
 to be observed that his feelings were deeply af- 
 fected with the iniquity of the slave trade, the un- 
 lawfulness of carrying negroes into captivity, and 
 the cruelty which was exercised by those who 
 purchased and employed them. The impulses of 
 duty, then for the first time, brought him from the 
 retirement of private life before the world, to 
 lift up his voice in behalf of an oppressed and 
 wretched portion of his fellow beings; per- 
 haps no man in any age, or in any country could 
 have been better adapted to the great office of an 
 advocate for the violated rights of a people than 
 Anthony Benezet, by his peculiar capacity for 
 being profoundly sensible of their wrongs. And 
 when the astonishing effects of his labours in this 
 work of mercy are reviewed, no doubt can rest 
 
20 
 
 upon the mind, that his commission to "plead the 
 came of the oppressed," proceeded from on high. 
 Among the earliest proofs of his compassion to- 
 ward the African race, were the practical exer- 
 tions which he employed for the promotion of 
 their welfare. In Philadelphia, the number of 
 these objects of his regard was considerable, and 
 lie adopted the most rational course which could 
 have been devised for their benefit, by the estab- 
 lishment of an evening school, which he taught 
 gratuitously him self. # And when a more en- 
 larged plan of this nature was determined upon 
 by his brethren in religious profession, he con- 
 tributed liberally from his own limited income, 
 and was indefatigable in soliciting donations from 
 his opulent fellow members in aid of a fund for 
 tha erection of a building to accommodate, and 
 toward the support of a school for the instruc- 
 tion of black people. In this charitable work he 
 was successful beyond his own expectation, for 
 
 ♦Dr. Wilson, late rector of SL Stephens, Walbrook, Eng- 
 land, a short time before his decease, sent fifty pounds ster- 
 ling to him, to be applied to the support of this school, in- 
 tending to have doubled the benefaction ; but he died before 
 he effected his benevolent purpose. 
 
St 
 
 the proficiency of his pupils in the rudiments of 
 learning, added to the moral and religious ad- 
 vancement of many of them under his pious care, 
 powerfully contributed to recommend their race 
 to the notice, and the cause of their sufferings to 
 the investigation of many persons of influence, 
 who had previously held both in contempt. 
 
 Among other important facts concerning the 
 dispositions and mental capacities of the negroes, 
 which his intercourse with them as a teacher, 
 had afforded him the best opportunity to estab- 
 lish, was, that they possessed intellectual powers 
 by no means inferior to any other portion of man- 
 kind. His opinion on this interesting point is en- 
 titled to the highest consideration, not only be- 
 cause it vindicates those attributes of the deity, 
 which religion and reason conspire reverently to 
 acknowledge, but being a determination of the 
 judgment upon practical examination, it ought to 
 be regarded, as a solemn and unanswerable pro- 
 test against the subtle sophistry, degrading ava- 
 rice and refined cruelty, by whose unholy league 
 attempts have been made to prove that a sable 
 skin cannot envelope a rational creature ! 
 
" I can (said Benezet) with truth and sinceri- 
 ty declare, that I have found amongst the ne- 
 groes as great variety of talents, as among a like 
 number of whites, and I am bold to assert, that 
 the notion entertained by some, that the blacks are 
 inferior in their capacities, is a vulgar prejudice, 
 founded on the pride or ignorance of their lordly 
 masters, who have kept their slaves at such a dis- 
 tance as to be unable to form a right judgment 
 of them." 
 
 Having thus judiciously awakened observation 
 and reflection in Philadelphia, and in some mea- 
 sure removed the unjustifiable prejudices which 
 were entertained against the negroes, he was pre- 
 pared to make an appeal in their behalf to the 
 justice and clemency of communities and na- 
 tions. His first attempts to enlighten the public 
 mind were made by composing and circulating 
 through the medium of almanacs, and the news- 
 papers of the day, detached pieces concerning the 
 unlawfulness of slavery, after which he also wrote 
 and published several essays on the subject of 
 the slave trade ; representing in a forcible and 
 affecting manner the crimes which it begot, the 
 
23 
 
 miseries which it inflicted, and the awful con- 
 sequences it must inevitably produce. 
 
 The largest and most important works in this 
 department of his authorship were entitled, 
 
 First. « An account of that part of Africa 
 inhabited by the negroes." ±762. 
 
 Second. « A caution and warning to Great 
 Britain and her colonies, on the calamitous state 
 of the enslaved negroes." 1767. 
 
 Third. " An historical account of Guinea, Us 
 situation, produce, and the general disposition of 
 its inhabitants ; with an inquiry into the rise and 
 progress of the slave trade, its nature and calami- 
 tous effects. 99 ^ 
 
 § The influence of this work, in giving 1 an impulse to the 
 mind of the indefatigable and benevolent Thomas Clarkson, 
 whose exertions contributed so much toward bringing about 
 the abolition of the slave trade* by the British Parliament, is 
 
 * Notwithstanding the governments of the United States 
 and Great Britain, have by law forbidden the commerce in hu- 
 man beings, there is cause for believing that the slave trade 
 is still surreptitiously carried on by some of the citizens of 
 both countries, undercover of foreign flags. When we reflect 
 
24 
 
 These were printed at his own expense, and 
 the following is a circular letter which accom- 
 panied the distribution of his books. It is thus 
 
 certainly remarkable. In the year 1785, Dr. Peckard, vice- 
 chancellor of the university of Cambridge, proposed the fol- 
 lowing question for a Latin dissertation, to the senior bache- 
 lors of arts, of whom Clarkson was one, viz : Anne liceat 
 invitos in servitutem dare ?\ Having in the former year gain- 
 ed a prize for the best Latin dissertation, he resolved to en- 
 deavour to maintain the classical reputation he had acquired 
 by applying himself to the subject, but it was one with which 
 he was by no means familiar, and he was at a loss what authors 
 to consult respecting it, " -when goi?ig by accident (says he) 
 into a friend 9 s house, I took up a newspaper, then lying on the 
 table ; one of the articles -which attracted my notice, -was an ad' 
 vertisement of Anthony Benezefs historical account of Guinea. 
 I soon left my friend and his paper, and to lose no time, hastened 
 to London to buy it. In this precious book I found almost all I 
 -wanted" \ The information furnished by Benezet's book en- 
 
 upon such violations of civil and sacfed prohibition, and are 
 at the same moment aware that the horrid practice of kidnap- 
 ping free negroes, is pursued in some of the states of our uni- 
 on, and also recollect, that more than a million of slaves are 
 owned within its jurisdiction, famed as is the empire of the 
 west for rational liberty and equal laws, the understanding 
 revolts, and the feeling mind sickens at the consideration. 
 
 I Is it right to make slaves of others against their will ? 
 
 * Vide Clarkson's history of the abolition of the slave 
 trade. 
 
S5 
 
 noticed by him in the manuscript Yolume from 
 which it is extracted. 
 
 " Copy of the substance of a letter written to 
 several persons of note, both in Europe and 
 America, on sending them some of the negroe 
 pamphlets, viz. account of Africa, &c. particu- 
 larly to the archbishop op Canterbury, dated 
 about the year 1758, and since. 
 
 " "With the best respects I am capable of, and 
 from, I trust, no other motive but that of love to 
 mankind ; and from a persuasion of thy sincere 
 desires for the suppression of evil and the promo- 
 tion of that righteousness which alone cxalteth 
 a nation, I make bold aifectionately to salute 
 thee, and to request a little of thy attention to a 
 subject which has long been matter of deep con- 
 cern to many, vast many, well disposed people 
 of all denominations in these parts, viz. that 
 of the negroe trade, the purchase and bringing 
 the poor negroes from their native land, and sub- 
 jecting them to a state of perpetual bondage, 
 
 couraged him to complete his essay, which was rewarded with 
 the first prize, and from that moment Clark son's mind be- 
 came interested with the great subject of the abolition ! 
 D 
 
26 
 
 the most cruel and oppressive, in which the Eng- 
 lish nation is so deeply engaged, and which 
 with additional sorrow we observe to be greatly 
 increasing in their northern colonies, and likely 
 still more to increase by the acquisition the Eng- 
 lish have lately made of the factories on the ri- 
 ver Senegal. I herewith send thee some small 
 treatises lately published here on that subject, 
 wherein are truly set forth the great inhumanity 
 and wickedness which this trade gives life to, 
 whereby hundreds of thousands of our fellow 
 creatures, equally with us the objects of Christ's 
 redeeming grace, and as free as we are by na- 
 ture, are kept under the worst oppression, and 
 many of them yearly brought to a miserable and 
 untimely end. 
 
 I make bold earnestly to entreat, that thou 
 wouldst be pleased seriously to read them, when 
 I doubt not thou wilt perceive it to be a matter 
 which calls for the most deep consideration of 
 all who are concerned for the civil, as well as re- 
 ligious welfare of their country, and who are de- 
 sirous to avert those judgments, which evils of 
 such a dye must necessarily sooner or later 
 bring upon every people who are defiled there- 
 
S7 
 
 with, and will, I trust, plead my excuse for the 
 freedom I take in thus addressing myself to thee. 
 How an evil of so deep a dye, has so long, not 
 only passed unnoticed, but has even had the 
 countenance of the government, and been sup- 
 ported by law, is surprising ; it must be because 
 many worthy men in power, both of the laity 
 and clergy, have been unacquainted with the hor- 
 rible wickedness with which the trade is carried 
 on, the corrupt motives which give life to it, and 
 the groans, the numberless dying groans, which 
 daily ascend to God, the common father of man- 
 kind, from the broken hearts of those our deep- 
 ly oppressed fellow creatures. 
 
 ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 
 The circulation of his writings among men of 
 eminence in different parts of the world, was pro- 
 ductive of the happiest effects, by exciting them 
 to a consideration of the outrages and corrup- 
 tions attendant on the slave trade and slavery. 
 It was the means also, of introducing him, and 
 
28 
 
 the knowledge of his exertions, to some of the 
 most efficient philanthropists in Europe and 
 America, whose kindred minds were soon pre- 
 pared to unite in the mighty struggle for rid- 
 ding both hemispheres of such pollution. As 
 he travelled forward, with steady and untiring 
 step, in this momentous concern, his mind be- 
 came so thoroughly absorbed with the intricate 
 and various relations and views which it involv- 
 ed, as to induce him to give up his school, in the 
 year 1766, and remove to the city of Burlington, 
 in New Jersey, where he might more entirely 
 apply himself to that and other objects, intend- 
 ed to promote the best interests of his fellow 
 creatures. As may be supposed, he availed him- 
 self of all the advantages which this retirement 
 afforded, but the situation was one not alto- 
 gether suited to his active disposition; and in 
 the succeeding year he returned to Philadelphia, 
 and resumed nis former employment of school 
 keeping. 
 
 With the progress of life, his zeal and assidui- 
 ty for effecting the abolition of the slave trade, 
 increased : no exertion was too great, nor any 
 service toe minute for him to undertake, if he 
 
29 
 
 supposed it might help onward the righteous 
 march of justice and mercy. Consequently, it 
 was characteristic, if one day he were seen sur- 
 rounded by the sable children of Africa, impart- 
 ing advice, and deriving information from them 
 concerning the cruelties they had suffered, and 
 the next engaged in composing essays on the 
 subject; addressing letters to friends and stran- 
 gers, from whom he hoped some aid could be 
 obtained ; or with an innocent boldness worthy 
 of his office, spreading the cause of the poor 
 negroe in the language of warning and persua- 
 sion, before statesmen and sovereigns. 
 
 The following letters will develope some of 
 his opinions relative to the traffic in human flesh, 
 and the means he employed to promote its over- 
 throw, as well as the notice which was taken of 
 his efforts. 
 
 Philadelphia, Fourth Month, 28th, 1773. 
 "Doctor John Fothergill, 
 
 Thy kind letter of the twenty-eighth of Eighth 
 Month last, I received in due time, and gratefully 
 acknowledge thy kind sympathy therein expressed, 
 D % 
 
30 
 
 I am likeminded with thee, with respect to the 
 danger and difficulty which would attend a sud- 
 den manumission of those negroes now in the 
 southern colonies, as well to themselves, as to the 
 whites; wherefore except in particular eases 
 the obtaining their freedom, and indeed the free- 
 dom of many even amongst us, is by no means 
 the present object of my concern. But the best 
 endeavours in our power to draw the notice of 
 governments, upon the grievous iniquity and great 
 danger attendant on a further prosecution of the 
 slave trade, is what every truly sympathising 
 mind cannot but earnestly desire, and under 
 divine direction promote to the utmost of their 
 power. If this could be obtained, I trust the 
 sufferings of those already ^amongst us, by the 
 interposition of the government, and even from 
 selfish ends in their masters, would be mitigated, 
 and in time Providence would gradually work 
 for the release of those, whose age and situation 
 would fit them for freedom. The settlements 
 now in prospect to be made in that large extent 
 of country, from the west side of the Allegany 
 mountains to the Mississippi, on a breadth of 
 four or fiye hundred miles, would afford a suita- 
 
31 
 
 ble and beneficial means of settlement for many 
 of them among the white people, which would 
 in all probability be as profitable to the negroes 
 as to the new settlers. But I do not desire to 
 take up thy time especially with matters of so 
 remote a nature, it being indeed with reluctance 
 I take up any of it, which I would have avoided, 
 was there any person to whom I could have ad- 
 dressed myself with the same expectation, that 
 what I have in view would be thereby answered. 
 An address has been presentetl to our assembly, 
 desiring it would use its utmost endeavours with 
 the king and parliament, that an end may be put 
 to the slave trade, by laying a duty of twenty 
 pounds on all slaves imported. It was thought 
 necessary that some friends with you should be 
 acquainted with the further steps that had been, 
 or were likely to be taken, so as to enable you to 
 speak in support of the law, if necessary : to which 
 end I herewith send thee a copy of the address, 
 also a copy of what I now write to our agent, Ben- 
 jamin Franklin, on that head, in order to make 
 him acquainted with what passes here on this 
 momentous concern. 
 
 I have also enclosed a number of copies of a 
 pamphlet wrote at the time we presented the pe- 
 
33 
 
 dtion, in order to lay the Weight of the matter 
 briefly before the members of the assembly, and 
 other active members of government in this and 
 the neighbouring provinces. It was written by 
 Benjamin Rush, a young physician of the Pres- 
 byterian communion, a person who I understand 
 thou was acquainted with, when pursuing his 
 studies three or four years past with you. I al- 
 so send a small collection of religious tracts, 
 chiefly compiled for the use of inquiring people 
 in our back countries, where such books are 
 much wanted. I endeavoured so to collect them 
 as to be plain, instructive and edifying, without 
 touching upon that which might be occasion of 
 fruitless debate. 
 
 ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 
 Philadelphia, Fourth Month, 17J5. 
 Granville Sharp, 
 
 I wrote thee at large, by a vessel for Ireland, 
 about six weeks past, and also three weeks ago 
 by the packet from New York, respecting the 
 steps taken, and likely to be pursued in the seve- 
 
33 
 
 ral more northern provinces, in relation to the 
 slave trade. I am glad to understand from my 
 friend Benjamin Franklin, that you have com- 
 menced an acquaintance, and that he expects in 
 future, to act in concert with thee in the affair 
 of slavery, I herewith send thee some pam- 
 phlets, and in a confidence of thy goodness of 
 heart, which by looking to the intention, will 
 construe the freedom I have taken in the best 
 %ht, 
 
 I remain with love, 
 
 ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 
 Philadelphia, Seventh Month, 16th, 1781. 
 My Friend Abbe Raynal, 
 
 From the idea which I eonceived of the justice, 
 and generosity of thy sentiments, I took th* liher- 
 ty of writing to thee about seven or eight months 
 past under cover of my friend Benjamin Frank- 
 lin, and likewise by J B , who we are 
 afraid was lost on his passage. Having received 
 no answer by several vessels, nor knowing 
 whether my letters reached thee, or whether 
 
34< 
 
 thine miscarried, and a good opportunity offer- 
 ing by my friend Dr. Griffitts, I now seize it to 
 send thee two copies of a small extract of origin 
 and principles of my brethren the Quakers, 
 whom I observe in such of thy writings as hare 
 eome to our hands, thou didst not think unwor- 
 thy of thy attention. I have nothing to add to 
 what I have already wrote thee, but shall repeat 
 my wish of saluting thee affectionately on the 
 principles of reason and humanity, which consti- 
 tutes that grand circle of love and charity, uncon- 
 fined by our parentage or country, but which af- 
 fectionately embraces the whole creation, ear- 
 nestly desiring to the utmost of my abilities to 
 promote the happiness of all men, even of my ene- 
 mies themselves, could I have any. I beseech 
 God to give thee strength that thou mayest con- 
 tinue to hold up to mankind, thy brethren, prin- 
 ciples tending to replenish their hearts with 
 goodness, friendship and charity towards each 
 other, that thus thou mayest, to the utmost of 
 thy power, render men reasonable, useful, and 
 consequently happy; and more especially that 
 thou mayest combat that false principle of ho- 
 nour, or rather of intolerable pride and folly, 
 
35 
 
 which so strongly prevails in our nation, where 
 the most indolent, and the least useful, fancy 
 themselves, and are reputed the most noble. Let 
 us endeavour to make them sensible that men are 
 noble, but in an exact proportion with their 
 being rational. The happiness which is to be 
 found in virtue alone, is sought for by men 
 through the titles acquired by their fathers for 
 their activity in those wars which have desolated 
 the world, or in the wealth accumulated by their 
 ancestors; both means generally unjust and op- 
 pressive, and consequently rather sources of 
 shame and humiliation. For as the Chinese 
 philosopher well observes, "there is scarcely 
 one rieh man out of an hundred, who was not 
 himself an oppressor, or the sow of an oppress 
 sor." 
 
 Let us display to princes, and the rulers of na- 
 tions, the example of Numa Pompilius, who, by 
 a conduct opposite to that of Romulus, his prede- 
 cessor, and most of his successors, rendered the 
 Romans, during his long reign, so respectable 
 and happy. Above all, my dear friend, let us 
 represent to our compatriots the abominable ini- 
 quity of the Guinea trade. Let us put to the 
 
36 
 
 blush the pretended disciples of the benign Sa- 
 viour of the world, for the encouragement given 
 to the unhappy Africans in invading the liberty 
 of their own brethren. Let us rise, and rise with 
 energy against the corruption introduced into 
 the principles and manners of the masters and 
 owners of slaves, by a conduct so contrary to hu- 
 manity, reason, and religion. Let us be still 
 more vehement in representing its baneful in- 
 fluence on the principles and manners of their 
 wretched offspring, necessarily educated in idle- 
 ness, pride, and all the vices to which human na- 
 ture is liable. 
 
 How desirable is it that Lewis the Sixteenth, 
 whose virtues, and good disposition have been so 
 nobly praised, would set an example to the other 
 potentates of Europe, by forbidding his subjects 
 to be concerned in a traffic so evil in itself, and 
 so corrupting in its consequences ; and that he 
 would also issue out ordinances in favour of such 
 of the negroes, who are now slaves in his do- 
 minions. Alas ! should Christianity, that law of 
 lov£ and charity, work its proper effect on the 
 hearts of its pretended disciples, we should see 
 numbers of christians traverse Africa, and both 
 
37 
 
 ike Indies, not to pollute themselves with slave- 
 ry and slaughter, nor to accumulate wealth, 
 the supreme wish of the present nominal chris- 
 tians, but that divine love would impel them to 
 visit remote regions in order to make the inhabi- 
 tants acquainted with the corruption of the hu- 
 man heart, and invite them to seek for the in- 
 fluence of that grace proposed by the gospel, 
 by which they may obtain salvation. I am un- 
 der the necessity of concluding hastily, request- 
 ing thou wouldst excuse faults, which time 
 does not allow me to correct, and to write to me 
 by various opportunities, the vessels bound to 
 these parts often missing their destination. 
 
 I am affectionately thy friend, 
 
 ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 
 To this energetic and impassioned epistle, the 
 abbe made the following answer. 
 
88 
 
 Bruxelles, December 26, 1781. 
 All your letters have miscarried ; happily I 
 received that of the sixteenth of July, 1781, with 
 the pamphlets filled with light and sensibility, 
 which accompany it. Never was any present 
 more agreeable to me. My satisfaction was 
 equal to the respect I have always had for the 
 society of the Quakers. May it please Hea- 
 ven to cause all nations to adopt their principles ; 
 men would then be happy, and the globe not 
 stained with blood. Let us join in our supplica- 
 tions to the supreme Being, that He may unite us 
 in the bonds of a tender and unalterable charity. 
 
 I am, &c. 
 
 RAYNAL. 
 
 To Charlotte, queen of Great Britain. 
 
 Impressed with a sense of religious duty, and 
 encouraged by the opinion generally entertained 
 of thy benevolent disposition to succour the dis- 
 tressed, I take the liberty, very respectfully, to 
 offer to thy perusal some tracts which I believe 
 
39 
 
 faithfully describe the suffering condition of ma- 
 ny hundred thousands of our fellow creatures of 
 the African race, great numbers of whom, rent 
 from every tender connexion in life* are annually 
 taken from their native land, to endure, in the 
 American islands and plantations, a most rigor- 
 ous and cruel slavery, whereby many, very ma- 
 ny of them, are brought to a melancholy and un- 
 timely end. When it is considered, that the in- 
 habitants of Britain, who are themselves so emi- 
 nently blessed in the enjoyment of religious and 
 civil liberty, have long been, and yet are, very 
 deeply concerned in this flagrant violation of the 
 common rights of mankind, and that even its 
 national authority is exerted in support of the 
 African slave trade, there is much reason to ap- 
 prehend that this has been, and as long as the 
 evil exists, will continue to be, an occasion of 
 drawing down the Divine displeasure on the na- 
 tion and its dependencies. May these considera- 
 tions induce thee to interpose thy kind endeav- 
 ours on behalf of this greatly oppressed people, 
 whose abject situation gives them an additional 
 «laim to the pity and assistance of the generous 
 mind, inasmuch as they are altogether deprived 
 
40 
 
 of the means of soliciting effectual relief for 
 themselves. That so thou may not only be a 
 blessed instrument in the hand of Him " by 
 whom kings reign, and princes decree justice," 
 to avert the awful judgements by which the em- 
 pire has already been so remarkably shaken, 
 but that the blessings of thousands ready to pe- 
 rish may come upon thee, at a time when the 
 superior advantages attendant on thy situation 
 in this world, will no longer be of any avail to 
 thy consolation and support. To the tracts on 
 the subject to which I have thus ventured to 
 crave thy particular attention, I have added some 
 others, which at different times, I have believed 
 it my duty to publish, and which I trust will af- 
 ford thee some satisfaction ; their design being 
 for the furtherance of that universal peace, and 
 good will amongst men, which the gospel was 
 intended to introduce. I hope thou will kindly 
 excuse the freedom used on this occasion, by an 
 ancient man, whose mind for more than forty 
 years past, has been much separated from the 
 common course of the world, and long painful- 
 ly exercised in the consideration of the miseries 
 under which so large a part ©f mankind equally 
 
41 
 
 With us the objects of redeeming love, are suf- 
 fering the most unjust and grievous oppression, 
 and who sincerely desires the temporal, and eter- 
 nal felicity of the queen and her royal consort. 
 
 ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 Philadelphia, Eighth Month, 25th, 1783. 
 
 After having perused this pathetic epistle, the 
 queen is said to have remarked that the rvriter 
 ivas truly a good man, and that she kindly ac- 
 cepted the present, 39 engaging also to read the 
 hooks. 
 
 He made a communication on the subject 
 of the slave trade to the queens of France and 
 Portugal, and likewise to the countess of Hun- 
 tingdon. The latter having founded a college 
 for the education of indigent orphans near Savan- 
 nah, in Georgia, the managers of it employed 
 slaves for the cultivation of the lands, with which 
 she had liberally endowed the institution. His 
 appeal to that benevolent female was successful, 
 for the countess assured him in reply to his ad- 
 dress, thai such a measure should never have her 
 
 B % 
 
42 
 
 countenance, and that she would take care to pre- 
 vent it 
 
 He corresponded with George Whitfield; and 
 the fragments of letters which follow, show that 
 he also wrote to the persons who thus respectful- 
 ly reply to his letters. 
 
 From governor Livingston, of New Jersey, 
 
 « The piece on slave keeping is excellent, hut 
 the arguments against the lawfulness of waiy 
 have been answered a thousand times. May 
 the father of lights lead us into all truth, and 
 over all the commotions of this world, to his own 
 glory, and the introduction of that kingdom of 
 peace and righteousness, which will endure for- 
 ever. Believe me to be your sincere friend." 
 
 From Ambrose Serue, secretary to lord Howe. 
 Philadelphia, June 2d, 1778. 
 « I ought not to omit, my valued friend, the re- 
 turning you my kindest thanks for your obliging 
 
43 
 
 present of bookg, which I shall peruse with at- 
 tention, and for your sake keep them by me. It 
 would be happy for the world at large; and for 
 individuals, if the principles they maintain were 
 rightly understood and cordially received; we 
 should in that case have had no occasion to de- 
 plore the present miseries and troubles, which 
 (as the certain effect of sin) naturally result from 
 the ambition, dishonesty and other unmortified 
 passions of mankind. The world on the contrary 
 would be something like a paradise regained; 
 and universal benevolence and philanthropy, pre- 
 side as they ought in the human heart. But 
 though from long experience we may and must 
 despair of the general diffusion of christian sen- 
 timents and practice, we have this comfortable 
 trust, in our own particular persons, that we 
 have a peace which the world can neither give 
 nor take away ; and though the kingdoms of this 
 world tumble into confusion, and are lost in the 
 corrupted strivings of men, we have a kingdom 
 prepared of God, incorruptible and that cannot 
 fade away. There, though I see your face no 
 more upon earth, I have the hope of meeting 
 with you again ; both of us divested of all that 
 
44 
 
 can clog or injure our spirits, aijd both partici- 
 pating that fulness of joy which flows from God* s 
 right harid for evermore. To his tender protec- 
 tion I commend you, and remain with sincere es- 
 teem your affectionate friend." 
 
 From John Wesley. 
 
 « Mr. Oglethorp you know went so far as to 
 begin settling a colony without negroes, but at 
 length the voice of those villains prevailed who 
 sell their country and their God for gold, who 
 laugh at human nature and compassion, and defy 
 all religion, but that of getting money. It is 
 certainly our duty to do all in our power to check 
 this growing evil, and something may be done by 
 spreading those tracts which place it in a true 
 light. But I fear it will not be stopped till all 
 the kingdoms of this earth become the kingdoms 
 •f our God. 5 ' 
 
45 
 
 From Nathaniel Gilbert, of Antigua. 
 
 October 29th, ±768. 
 " I desire to embrace as my brethren all who 
 love the Lord Jesus in sincerity. I cannot but 
 think that all true christians agree in fundamen- 
 tals. Your tracts concerning slavery are very 
 just, and it is a matter I have often thought of, 
 even before I became acquainted with the truth : 
 your arguments are forcible against purchasing 
 slaves, or being any way concerned in that 
 trade." 
 
 The subsequent extracts from letters address- 
 ed to his friend, the late Samuel Allinson, of Bur- 
 lington, in New Jersey, who was one of his co- 
 adjutors in that state, for promoting the aboli- 
 tion of the slave trade, will further show how 
 various and incessant were his eiforts in this 
 branch of his labours. 
 
 Philadelphia, Tenth Month, 30th, 1772. 
 " I herewith send iiiee a small tract (which I 
 desire thou mviycst keep) lately sent me by 
 
46 
 
 Granville Sharp ; it is an appendix to his former 
 treatise, and was published on account of the 
 late negroe trial. He has wrote me a long intel- 
 ligent letter, with relation to the situation of 
 things in London on that head, which I shall be 
 well pleased to have an opportunity to communi- 
 cate to thee. It seems lord Mansfield, notwith- 
 standing truth forced him to give such a judg- 
 ment,^ was rather disposed to favour the cause 
 of the master than that of the slave. He advised 
 the master to apply to the parliament then sit- 
 ting, which was done accordingly, but without 
 success. He fears such an application will be 
 renewed at the next session, and is preparing, 
 through his friends in parliament and the bish- 
 ops, to endeavour to prevent its taking place, and 
 calls for our help from this side the water. In 
 this case as he desires a speedy answer, I stand 
 in need of the advice of my friends what answer 
 to make him. I have already let one opportunity 
 pass \ there will be soon another to Liverpool. I 
 have also to communicate an interesting letter 
 from Benjamin Franklin on the same subject." 
 
 * In the case of Somerset. 
 
47 
 
 Philadelphia, Eleventh Month, 30tfi, 1772. 
 Dear Samuel, 
 
 I received both thy letters, inclosing the peti- 
 tions,* and have been concerned that I have not 
 sooner acquainted thee with what had been re- 
 sulted thereon ; but the care of a large school, 
 engagement upon engagement, I think four or 
 ^\e evenings last week, on committees, &c. and 
 the books which I received from England, which 
 I intended to send thee not being all returned, 
 occasioned the delay. The vessel from Virginia 
 being near its departure when the petitions came 
 to hand, had but just time to confer with James 
 Pemberton, on the expediency of forwarding 
 them, when we concluded best to take more time, 
 and wait for a future opportunity which he 
 thought would offer. I herewith send thee such 
 of the pieces relating to slavery, &c. of the ne- 
 groes, which I have been able to get back ; people 
 are shamefully careless in not returning borrow- 
 ed books. That wanting, wrote by a West In- 
 dian, I will send hereafter. I have received 
 
 * Memorials, which Benezet was instrumental in having- cir- 
 culated on the subject of the slave trade, in several of the 
 provinces, addressed to the king and parliament of England, 
 
since I saw thee, a letter from the chief justice of 
 South Carolina, which will I believe afford thee 
 much satisfaction." 
 
 Philadelphia, Twelfth Month, ±Uh, 1773. 
 ■« Beloved Friend, 
 
 The passage we were seeking for is Psalms 68, 
 31, « Princes shall come out of Egypt, Ethiopia 
 shall soon stretch out her hands unto God," un- 
 der which name all that part of Africa inhabited 
 by negroes may be comprehended, and that these 
 are the people here intended is clear from Jer. 13, 
 23, " can the Ethiopian change his skinT 9 
 
 Since my return I have received letters from 
 Thomas Nicholson in North Carolina, Edward 
 Stabler in Virginia, and James Berry in Mary- 
 land, all leading members in their several yearly 
 meetings (these I shall be glad to communicate 
 to thee) expressive of their concern for forward- 
 ing the great and good work we are engaged in. 
 Edward Stabler, clerk of the yearly meeting of 
 Virginia, expresses, that though they have not 
 yet received the encouragement they desire to 
 
49 
 
 their petition in England, yet it has not abated 
 the zeal of some of their leading men against 
 the traffic" 
 
 "Philadelphia, Third Month, 30th, 1774. 
 « I was sorrowfully disappointed in not see- 
 ing thee in town. I had just received a long let- 
 ter from Granville Sharp, which I should have 
 been glad of an opportunity of showing thee, and 
 taking thy advice upon a suitable answer, more 
 particularly upon a matter he appears to have 
 much at heart, viz. our procuring as many peti- 
 tions as possible from persons of some weight in 
 the several provinces, to the same purport as 
 ours to the assembly, immediately to the king 
 alone. As I shall not send my letter before 
 William Dillwyn goes, which may be some time 
 first, perhaps I may still have an opportunity of 
 consulting thee on this matter. Inclosed I send 
 the copy of an argument,* &c. I found in Gran- 
 
 * This was an argument in defence of those persons who 
 think it their duty to protect slaves that have escaped from 
 their masters. It is founded first on the law as stated in 
 E 
 
50 
 
 ville Sharp's letter which strikes boldly and 
 deeply. I hope the idea will have a tendency to 
 raise generous sentiments in some of thy 
 brethren of the law, whose hearts are not yet 
 quite seared with the love of the world, to ap- 
 pear in the noble cause of real liberty. I show- 
 ed it to Dr. Rush, and inquiring whether we 
 should publish it in the prints, he replied, «* they 
 would knock us on the head if we did." I be- 
 lieve it will in future be profitably made use of. 
 Remember me affectionately to James Kinsey,* 
 I should be glad to know his sentiments on the 
 law reasoning of the argument. What a great 
 
 * Chief Justice of New Jersey. 
 
 Deuteronomy, twenty-three, fifteen, sixteen, u Thou shalt 
 not deliver unto his master, the servant who is escaped from 
 his master unto thee," &c. Secondly, on a maxim of the com- 
 mon law of England, " that the inferior law must give place 
 to the superior." Man's laws, to God's laws, confirmed by 
 the author of the doctor and student, who asserts that even 
 the statute law ought to be accounted null and void, if it be 
 set forth contrary to the laws of God. " Etiam si aliquod 
 statutem esse editum contra eos nullius vigoris in legibus anglie 
 csnseri delet" fcte Chapter sixth. 
 
5t 
 
 thing it is to stand up for liberty, true liberty, 
 from a mind truly delivered from all selfishness, 
 in an unfeigned love to God and mankind. O 
 the selfishness of the human heart, how muclr 
 of it is apt still to cleave to us, even when our 
 designs are upright." 
 
 * Dear Samuel, 
 
 « I herewith send thee a dozen pamphlets. I 
 shall be glad that these and more of the same 
 may be handed to the members of your assem- 
 bly, and such others in your province, with 
 whom they may be likely to promote a represen- 
 tation being made to the king and parliament 
 agaijist the slave trade." 
 
 H Seventh day, 4 o'clock. 
 «Dear Friend, 
 
 ■tP J Jl» ^p r/F W *?? «Jf •?£ 
 
 « I should have been very glad to have got 
 thee to peruse the notes (on slavery) I intend 
 
to make, as they will be large, and I wish if 
 possible to put them into the hands of the mem- 
 bers of every assembly on the continent, except 
 South Carolina and Georgia, but do not desire 
 thou shouldst be put out of thy way on that oc- 
 casion. I suppose it will be eight or ten, or 
 more days before in the press. It might pre- 
 serve me from inadvertently publishing some- 
 thing which might rather weaken the cause we 
 have both at heart. However in this, and all 
 other things, I desire to stand clear in the puri- 
 ty of my design, and leave the event, but watch 
 against my natural activity." 
 
 From the magnitude of the object, and his 
 devotedness to its promotion, it might be sup- 
 posed that the abolition of slavery was the car- 
 dinal engagement of his life ; and indeed for 
 most other men than Benezet, it would have 
 been sufficiently great to require all the zeal 
 and perseverance, all the time and talents, as 
 well as all the benevolence, which have usually 
 been displayed in the characters of the most 
 
53 
 
 conspicuous philanthropists. Among the cele- 
 brated benefactors of mankind, who have run 
 their bright course, and ascended to their reward, 
 there are many names familiar to our recollee-' 
 tion, deserving and receiving the tribute of our 
 grateful praise ,• but those illustrious examples 
 were distinguished by some one favourite pur- 
 suit, some peculiar trait of beneficence. As 
 in the bountiful dispensation of intellectual pow- 
 er, which gave Newton superiority in one sci- 
 ence, and Linnaeus in another, that ranked Ar- 
 chimedes an original in mechanics, and yielded 
 to Virgil and Milton the palm of verse; all 
 were great in their respective spheres, whilst on 
 no one of them, was conferred the felicity of 
 mind which could intuitively embrace the sub- 
 jects for which each was conspicuous. Univer- 
 sality of genius is not more remarkable, nor more 
 rarely witnessed, than the virtue of unbounded 
 love, which was proverbially awarded to An- 
 thony Benezet. 
 
 The dreadful effects of war upon nations and 
 
 individuals, deeply grieved his susceptible heart. 
 
 He \Vrote and distributed essays, deprecating 
 
 that inhuman practice, persuading mankind, with 
 
 r % 
 
an holy ardour, to desist from such things as 
 were calculated to inflame the passions, and pro- 
 duce those wrathful tempers that could only be 
 appeased by cmbrueing the hands of brethren in 
 each others blood. On this account, he address- 
 ed an energetic and pathetic letter to Frederic, 
 king of Prussia. 
 
 For the promotion of the peaceable principles 
 of Christianity, at the important crisis when the 
 representatives of the colonies were assembled 
 to consult on measures in relation to the imposi- 
 lions of Great Britain, he was induced to visit 
 many of the deputies in congress, and endeavour- 
 ed to dissuade them from a resort to arms; in 
 the benevolent hope, that they might procure 
 the removal of the grievances complained of, 
 without involving the country in war. He thus 
 acquaints one of his friends of an interview 
 which he had with Patrick Henry, a delegate 
 from Virginia, 
 
 « Philadelphia, Tenth Month, 23d, 17M. 
 
 « Dear 
 
 «« jjear • 
 
 « I was well pleased to hear from thee. I have 
 not been unmindfid of endeavouring to lay before 
 
55 
 
 all the delegates I have conversed with, the 
 dreadful situation of the people in the most 
 southern provinces, and the absolute necessity 
 they are under of ceasing, at least from any far- 
 ther import of negroes. With Patrick Henry* 
 
 *This celebrated orator, and statesman would probably 
 never have developed the sentiments which are contained ia 
 the following 1 extract of a letter, had not one of Anthony 
 Benezefs works on slavery been sent to him by a correspon- 
 dent. So candid an acknowledgment of the iniquity of the 
 system, rarely proceeds from those who are unhappily the 
 proprietors of slaves. 
 
 "Hanover, January 18, 1773. 
 ,f Dear sir, 
 
 "I take this opportunity to acknowledge the receipt of 
 Anthony Benezet's book against the slave trade: I thank 
 you for it. It is not a little surprising, that the professors of 
 Christianity, whose chief excellence consists in softening the 
 human heart, in cherishing and improving 1 its finer feelings, 
 should encourage a practice so totally repugnant to the first 
 impressions of right and wrong-. What adds to the wonder 
 is that this abominable practice has been introduced in the 
 most enlightened ages. Times, that seem to have preten- 
 sions to boast of high improvements in the arts and sciences, 
 and refined morality, have brought into general use, and 
 
56 
 
 I went further, he gave some attention when I 
 mentioned from whence I apprehended we must 
 
 guarded by many laws, a species of violence and tyranny, 
 which our more rude and barbarous, but more honest ances- 
 tors detested. Is it not amazing, that at a time, when the 
 rights of humanity are defined and understood with preci- 
 sion, in a country, above all others, fond of liberty ; that in 
 such an age, and in such a country, we find men professing a 
 religion the most humane, mild, gentle and generous, adopt- 
 ing a principle as repugnant to humanity, as it is inconsist- 
 ent with the bible, and destructive to liberty ? every think- 
 ing honest man rejects it in speculation. How few in prac- 
 tice from conscientious motives ! 
 
 " Would any one believe that I am master of slaves, of my 
 own purchase ! I am drawn along by the general inconve- 
 nience of living here without them. I will not, I cannot jus- 
 tify it. However culpable my conduct, I will so far pay my 
 devoir to virtue, as to own the excellence and rectitude of her 
 precepts, and lament my want of conformity to them. 
 
 " I believe a time -will come -when an opportunity -will be offer- 
 ed to abolish this lamentable evil.* Every thing we can do, is 
 
 * Almost half a century has elapsed since this interesting 
 idea was suggested ; but alas, no efforts have been used by 
 •the law givers of those states, where this "lamentable eviF 
 
57 
 
 look for deliverance, even from God alone, by 
 pursuing such methods as would be most agree- 
 
 to improve it, if it happens in our day ; if not, let us trans- 
 mit to our descendants, together with our slaves, a pity for 
 their unhappy lot, and an abhorrence for slavery. If we can- 
 not reduce this wished for reformation to practice, let us 
 treat the unhappy victims with lenity. It is the furthest ad- 
 vance we can make towards justice. It is a debt we owe to 
 the purity of our religion, to show that it is at variance with 
 that law, which warrants slavery. 
 
 I know not where to stop. I could say many things on the 
 subject; a serious view of which, gives a gloomy perspective 
 to future times ! 
 
 exists, to " abolish' 9 it. The enlightened and liberal mind 
 in which so reasonable an expectation originated, no longer 
 abides on earth, to aid with its comprehensive energies, the 
 long delayed work of mercy and right, 
 
 It is true, that within a few years past, the condition of 
 the slaves in the south, is in some instances meliorated, and 
 dispositions have been manifested by individuals, to emanci- 
 pate their negroes, provided they can be conveyed to those 
 states werefreedotn is not an empty sound. But in the august 
 
58 
 
 able to the nature of the Beneficent Father of 
 the family of mankind, whose love and regard t» 
 
 name of justice, it may be asked, whether by such means the 
 great and solemn purposes which she demands, are to be ac- 
 complished ? Religion and reason pronounce a negative. It 
 is worse than folly to suppose, that the middle and 
 northern sections of the union, will consent thus to have cast 
 upon them, portions of the black population, conditionally 
 set free by the wills of their masters, debased and corrupted 
 as they are by the ignorance and vices of slavery, whilst it is 
 the opinion of many discreet and benevolent men, that such 
 partial relief, tends directly to prolong the practice of slave 
 holding, by the great mass of persons, who feel no compassion 
 for those unhappy sufferers. What then shall be done ? may 
 be the question. The reply is not difficult, nor the plan im- 
 practicable, if sincere desires be cultivated to wipe from the 
 nation a stain so foul. Let laws be enacted providing for the 
 gradual and final abolition of slavery, by fitting the younger 
 generation of slaves for freedom and settlement, either on 
 some section of country within the jurisdiction of the United 
 States, the climate and situation of which may be suited to 
 their character, or make arrangements for conveying then! 
 to the land whence their fathers were treacherously and 
 inhumanly estranged. 
 
 In aid of either of these methods, or of any other which 
 shall have for its object, the redemption of those degraded 
 
59 
 
 Ms children, even such who were influenced by 
 wrong dispositions, remained unchangeable. 
 That we could not conciliate the Divine regard, 
 but by acting agreeably to the Divine attribute, 
 which was love, and was to overcome by suffer- 
 ing. 
 
 "That whatever wound might be given or re- 
 ceived, between us and the mother country, if 
 ever that which was right prevailed, we should 
 mutually mourn over. That as Christianity 
 knew of no enemies, we could not expect deliv- 
 erance by the violent method proposed, without 
 departing from the true foundation. To this 
 with seriousness he replied, that it was strange 
 to him, to find some of the Quakers manifesting 
 so different a disposition from that I had des- 
 
 fellow men from bondage, every facility which pecuniary 
 means can afford, would no doubt be munificently supplied 
 by private donations of benevolent persons, should an appli- 
 cation of the public treasure to that object be deemed inad- 
 missible. No matter what sacrifice is made, when humanity 
 and justice require the offering. Our offending has been 
 high, obdurate and conscious ; the expiation must be commen* 
 curate. 
 
6« 
 
 cribed. I reminded hini that many of them had 
 no other claim to our principles, but as they 
 were children or grand-children of those who 
 professed those principles. I suppose his re- 
 mark principally arose from the violent spirit 
 which some under our profession are apt to show, 
 more particularly in the congress, amongst 
 whom I understand one of the deputies from 
 your city, and one from ours, appear as princi- 
 pals for promoting such measures. I feel but 
 little apprehension at the prospect of things, 
 which to many is so alarming. People are afraid 
 of being disturbed in their enjoyments, in their 
 ease, their confidence in the world, and the 
 things of it. But I fear nothing more than giv- 
 ing way to a spirit whose hope and expectation 
 is from the unchristian, yea unnatural, and cruel 
 measures proposed by many, too many, who seem 
 to have worked themselves to such a pitch, that 
 it looks as if they were athirst for blood ! Its 
 from God alone, by true faith in his promises, 
 deliverance must arise; and if from the prevalence 
 of other measures affliction and distress should 
 be our lot, it will be our own fault if it does not 
 work for our good. Oh ! if a sufficient concern 
 
61 
 
 prevailed to experience grace to gain the victory, 
 to know all worldly inclinations and desires to be 
 brought under the regulation of the humbling 
 power of the gospel, many would feel so much of 
 self in themselves, inducing to hope and seek for 
 comfort from the world, from our ease and plen- 
 ty, which is ^et as a bar to obtaining an estab- 
 lishment in the pure, the humble, self denying 
 path of truth. If we properly felt our wants, 
 the gulf between us and true peace, if the com- 
 hat between nature and grace were duly main- 
 tained, the dread of outward evils would have 
 little weight with us, however we fall by out- 
 ward commotion, even if the earth should be dis- 
 solved, if in proper dispositions we cannot fall 
 lower than in God's arms. 
 
 ** In haste, I remain thy affectionate friend, 
 
 « ANTHONY BENEZET. 
 
 ♦* P. S. I should have been glad to have seen 
 
 thyself and dear companion before you left us* 
 
 but make it a rule to take no exception where no 
 
 slight is intended ; Indeed where it is, to bear it, 
 
 G 
 
63 
 
 and take the first opportunity to return kindness 
 for the contrary, as most noble, and most condu- 
 cive to peace." 
 
 Several of his tracts on this subject, especial- 
 ly one entitled « Thoughts on the Nature of 
 War," published in 1776, were sent to persons of 
 distinction and influence in government in our 
 own country, and in Europe. The following let- 
 ter accompanied a packet containing some of 
 those treatises, addressed to 
 
 « Henry Laurens, President of the Con- 
 gress of the United States. 
 
 « The fear of intruding upon thy engagements, 
 having prevented my waiting upon thee, and the 
 desire of saluting thee by a few lines, I take the 
 liberty, with due respect, to enclose the within 
 pamphlets, which I earnestly request thou wilt 
 seriously peruse, as they contain matters of (he 
 utmost importance to the cause thou art engaged 
 
63 
 
 in. How far as followers of a Saviour, who en- 
 joins us to love one another, even to love our 
 eneoiies, and who finally gave up his life for our 
 salvation, we can readily continue in a war, 
 Avhereby so many thousands and tens of thousands 
 of our fellow men, equally with ourselves the ob- 
 jects of redeeming grace, are brought to a 
 miserable and untimely end ; not to mention the 
 corruption of manners, the waste of substance, 
 &c. thereby introduced, is a matter which cer- 
 tainly calls for the most serious consideration of 
 those who retain the least love for mankind. 
 " The Thoughts on War" will I trust lessen, if 
 not remove any prejudice which our Friends' re- 
 fusal to join in any military operation may have 
 occasioned. The caution, &e. on slavery, will I 
 believe in general, meet with thy approbation ; 
 it was re-printed in London, and delivered to 
 about eight hundred members of parliament, 
 and officers of the crown. 
 
 <• I respectfully remain thy friend, 
 
 « ANTHONY BENEZET." 
 
64 
 
 Deploring as he did, whatever had a tendency 
 to abridge the comforts, increase the sorrows, or 
 endanger the present and eternal safety of men i 
 he could not but discern the ensnaring influence 
 incident to the habitual use of spirituous liquors. 
 Observation had furnished him with afflicting 
 evidence, that to this fruitful cause of evil might 
 be traced many of the most distressing instances 
 of the premature termination of human life, the 
 overthrow of domestic happiness, and the pros- 
 tration of the highest intellect. Against the em- 
 ployment, therefore, of that article, excepting in 
 the materia mediea, he maintained a continual 
 and faithful testimony.^ His exertions to dimin- 
 ish the abuse of it, were not confined to oral ar- 
 gument and admonition, but he conceived it to be 
 of sufficient importance to communicate his sen- 
 timents respecting it to the world, in a pamphlet 
 which he published in 1778. In the same year 
 he also issued a small work entitled " Serious 
 Reflections on the Times, addressed to the well 
 disposed of every religious denomination." In this 
 treatise he laments the insensibility which he con- 
 ceived to be too generally manifested by the inhabi- 
 tants to the "judgment of war >" which theninvolv- 
 
65 
 
 ed the country in distress, and endeavoured to 
 persuade the people to cultivate a spirit of recon- 
 ciliation. He closes his book in the following 
 affectionate and feeling manner. " Let us not, 
 beloved brethren, forget our profession as chris- 
 tians, nor the blessing promised by Christ to the 
 peace makers, but let us all sincerely address our 
 common Father for ability to pray, not for the 
 destruction of our enemies, who are still our 
 brethren, the purchase of our blessed Redeem- 
 er's blood; but for an agreement with them. 
 Not in order to indulge our passions in the gain 
 and delights of this vain world, and forget that 
 we are called to be as pilgrims and strangers in 
 it ; but that we may be more composed, and bet- 
 ter fitted for the kingdom of God ; that in the 
 dispensations of his good pleasure he may grant 
 us such a peace, as may prove to the consolation 
 of the Church, as well as the nation, and be on 
 earth an image of the tranquility of Heaven.'* 
 Toward the aboriginal inhabitants of the Ame- 
 rican continent, there flowed from the expanded 
 heart of Anthony Benezet, copious streams of 
 solicitude and sympathy. He looked upon them 
 as a race of his brethren equally with himself 
 
 6 2 
 
66 
 
 the objects of Divine regard, and though untaught 
 in the arts, and strangers to the advantages of 
 civilized life, he respected the correctness of some 
 of their practices, and admired the wisdom of 
 many of their laws. Notwithstanding their « wn- 
 tutored minds/ 9 had never been made acquainted 
 with the written history of the christian religion, 
 nor their reason replenished from the stores of 
 learning, still he believed that their sacred rites 
 found acceptance with God, as devotions intend- 
 ed to give evidence of their helief in his eternal 
 existence, providence, and government. Be- 
 holding them through this amiable and com- 
 passionate medium, he could not sanction the con- 
 tumely which they suffered, whilst he publicly, 
 and fearlessly avowed his opinions of the injus- 
 tice and inhumanity, of any measures, either of 
 the provincial governments, or of individuals, 
 which tended to the violation of any of their 
 rights of person, or of property. From the 
 scraps of Indian history which have been found 
 among his manuscripts, it is evident that he was 
 collecting important facts, and recording interest- 
 ing events concerning that people ; probably w ith 
 the design of furnishing a more general account 
 
67 
 
 of them, than that which he published in 178*. 
 entitled, " Some Observations on the Situation, 
 Disposition and Character ofthe Indian Natives of 
 this Continent." In the year 1763, when sir Jef- 
 fery Amherst, commander in chief of the British 
 forces, was at New York, preparing to open a 
 campaign against the Indians, Benezet anticipa- 
 ting with horror the wide spreading devastation 
 which must be the effect of hostilities with the 
 natives, addressed to him the following letter. 
 
 « Philadelphia, Seventh Month, 17fto. 
 « With much respect, and from I trust noth- 
 ing but love to mankind, and a particular con- 
 cern for the great distress which will necessarily 
 attend the inhabitants of our large extended fron- 
 tiers should a war be once kindled with the In- 
 dians ; and from a persuasion of the justice and 
 benevolence of the general's disposition, I make 
 bold earnestly to request a few moments of thy 
 kind attention, whilst I make mention of what I 
 apprehend is in a great degree the occasion of 
 the violent part the Indians have of late acted, 
 
68 
 
 drawn as well from several years observation of 
 tlie disposition of the Indians, as from conversa- 
 tion with Frederic Post, a person who resided 
 many years among these people, and had been often 
 employed by our government as a messenger to 
 them. It appears the Indians have long enter- 
 tained a jealousy that the English intended vio- 
 lently to dispossess and drive them off of their 
 lands ; this is more particularly verified from an 
 account wrote by the above mentioned Frederic 
 Post, of his journey to the river Ohio, when sent 
 there by the governor of Pennsylvania, in order 
 to divert the Indians settled on that river from 
 giving any assistance to the French. In a con- 
 versation he had with those Indians, before 
 Pittsburgh was evacuated, the Indians repeat- 
 edly expressed their desire that when the French 
 were removed, the English should also evacuate 
 the lands to the westward of the Alleghany moun- 
 tains, agreeably to the expectation which had 
 been given them by messages sent them in the 
 name of the English government, viz. « that 
 the English intended to oblige the French to 
 abandon all the country on the Ohio, without 
 any design of settling those lands themselves, 
 
69 
 
 that they only proposed to establish a trade with 
 the western Indians on a fair and good footing." 
 And in the instructions given to Frederic Post 
 in his journey to a great council of Indians on 
 the Ohio, he was directed to assure the Indians 
 of our sincere disposition towards peace, and 
 that we should do our utmost endeavours not 
 only to renew and strengthen our former friend- 
 ship and alliances, but to settle every thing to 
 their satisfaction that is likely to occasion dif- 
 ferences ; and to give the Indians every where 
 the strongest assurances that no person should 
 be permitted to make settlements on their lands, 
 or any where to the westward of the Alleghany 
 mountains. It appears by Post's Journal, that 
 immediately after the English had possessed them- 
 selves of Fort Duquesne, the Indians desired it 
 might be evacuated, and that the English should 
 retire to the eastward of the Alleghany moun- 
 tains, but this not being agreeable to the English, 
 the Indians were repeatedly put upon to alter that 
 resolution, but they persisted in it, and at differ- 
 ent times replied as follows : ** we have already 
 answered what we have to say to the general, 
 that he should go back over the mountains : we 
 
70 
 
 ( 
 
 have nothing to say to the contrary. We have 
 told them three times to leave the place, hut 
 they insist upon staying here ; if therefore, they 
 will be destroyed by the French and Indians, we 
 cannot help them. 59 The question being again 
 put to them, the counsellors said "they had 
 spoken nothing but what was agreed between 
 the Indians at Custkusking. We have told 
 them," say they, « three times to go back, but 
 they will not go, insisting upon staying here ; now 
 you will let the governor general and all people 
 know that our desire is that they should go back 
 till the other nations had joined in the peace, 
 and then they may come, and build a trading 
 house." 
 
 A noted Indian, one of the chief counsellors, 
 told Post and his company in secret « that all 
 the Indians had jointly agreed to defend their 
 hunting place at Alleghany, and suffer nobody 
 to settle there, so he begged us to tell the gov- 
 ernor general and all other people not to settle 
 there, and if the English would draw back over 
 the mountains they would get the other nations 
 into their interest, but if they staid and settled 
 there, all the nations would be against them, 
 
71 
 
 and he was afraid it would be a great war, and 
 never come to a peace again." It was the opin- 
 ion of Frederic Post, that if the English did 
 not attend to this request and would persist in 
 holding possession of Pittsburgh, and suffering 
 the lands to the westward of the Alleghany to 
 be settled without the consent of the Indians, it 
 would be a further occasion of bloodshed. It 
 appears that the six nations were also disgusted 
 at Pittsburgh and Fort Augusta being retained, 
 and fortified by the English, by what passed at 
 the treaty held last summer at Lancaster with 
 governor Hamilton, when the governor propo- 
 sing to have the consent of the Indians for car- 
 rying goods by the west branch of Susquehanna 
 to Pittsburg, the head warrior of the Senecas 
 appeared much disturbed at the proposal, and 
 among other things replied " brother you may 
 remember you told me (speaking on behalf of 
 the whole nation) when you was going to Pitts- 
 burgh, you would build a fort against the French, 
 and you told me that you wanted none of our 
 land, our cousins (pointing to the Ohio Indians 
 who were then present) know this, you promised 
 to go away as soon as you drove the French 
 
72 
 
 away, and yet you stay there and build houses 
 and make it stronger and stronger every day, 
 for this reason we entirely deny your request, 
 you shall not have a road this way. 95 
 
 Upon the whole it is thought, that the appre- 
 hension the Indians are under, that the English 
 intend hy degrees to dispossess them of their 
 land, is the cause of the cruel violence they have 
 lately committed, which probably, is not without 
 the knowledge and consent of the six nations ; 
 those political people making use of the smaller 
 nations to accomplish their designs, but in such a 
 manner as that they may rather act the part of 
 mediators than accessaries, when perhaps they 
 are principals. Could the Indians be made easy 
 in this respect, I much hope that the ancient 
 friendship formerly subsisting between them and 
 the English would be restored, an extensive and 
 profitable trade would be carried on with them, 
 and our people might securely settle, though per- 
 haps in a more compact manner upon those lands 
 already purchased, which it is thought would be 
 fruitful of many advantages, and doubtless the 
 Indians would (as they have always done) let the 
 English have more land upon very easy terms as 
 
73 
 
 fast as we should be ready to settle it, which is 
 the more likely, because the land back of the 
 provinces for many hundred miles, even as far 
 west as the Mississippi, is but thinly inhabited, 
 there being (by credible accounts) but few thous- 
 ands of Indians upon that large extent of country ; 
 yet enough to drive our frontier inhabitants to 
 the greatest extremity, should the English re- 
 solve to possess and maintain that land by force 
 of arms. It is often used as an argument for 
 maintaining the strong places the English have 
 taken in the Indian countries, that those places 
 were freely granted by the Indians to the French, 
 and therefore the property of the English by 
 right of conquest ; but upon inquiry, I believe the 
 conclusion will be seen to be wrong, and it will 
 appear that it was generally either under pre- 
 tence of building trading houses, or by violence, 
 that the French got footing amongst them. 
 
 This was particularly the case in the settle- 
 ment made by the French at Pittsburgh, as ap- 
 pears by a treaty held at Carlisle by the govern- 
 ment of Pennsylvania in 1753, with some depu- 
 ties of the Indians settled on the Ohio. They 
 came to acquaint the governors of Pennsylvania 
 
 H 
 
74 
 
 and Virginia, that the French were coming up 
 the lakes with a large body of troops, to build 
 four strong houses on the Ohio, that their coun- 
 cil had sent twice to forbid the French advan- 
 cing any further upon their land, but that the 
 French general had manifested the greatest dis- 
 regard to their opposition, and told them he was 
 resolved to build four strong houses (of which 
 Pittsburgh was one) and farther that he intend- 
 ed to prevent them from making any more fool- 
 ish bargains about land with the English. Per- 
 haps I have said nothing to the general but what 
 he is already fully acquainted with, yet I trust 
 the weightiness of the subject, and the upright- 
 ness . of my intention, will plead my excuse for 
 the liberty I have presumed to take. There 
 are about one hundred and fifty Indians at a 
 place called Wyaloosing, situate upon the north 
 branch of Susquehanna, about seventy miles above 
 Wyoming. These Indians are an industrious re- 
 ligiously minded people. The name of their 
 chief is Papunobal ; they absolutely refused to 
 Join the other Indians in the last war, though 
 threatened with death on that account. There 
 is also another Indian settlement about forty miles 
 
75 
 
 higher up the same branch of the Susquehanna, 
 consisting of about one hundred persons (the name 
 of which I am not certain of) their chief men are 
 Robert White and Samuel Curtis, they are also 
 a sober and industrious people, principally of the 
 Nanticoke tribe, who about twenty years ago at 
 the request of the five nations, were permitted t& 
 remove from Maryland to the place w here they 
 now are. Upon the breaking out of the last In- 
 dian war their chief man sent a string of Wam- 
 pum to the other Indians with these words, 
 " brethren if you desire to become grey, and see 
 many days upon this earth, leave off striking the 
 English. 55 * The disposition of many of the 
 common people, and indeed some others, is at pre- 
 sent such, and a spirit of so much wrath is kin- 
 dled in their breasts, that there is danger not only 
 that these Indian settlements, but that several 
 other smaller settlements of the Indians within 
 our province, may be destroyed should these trou- 
 bles continue, if an uncommon care is not taken 
 to prevent it. And here I beg the general's ex- 
 
 * The term * English* 9 used in this letter, means the white 
 peopU. 
 
76 
 
 ctise if I add, that notwithstanding the conduct of 
 the Indians has for some years past been such as 
 has raised a great prejudice against them, yet 
 from near seventy years experience, the people 
 of Pennsylvania, and I believe also many in New 
 York, know that the Indians- (when not irritated 
 and vitiated by the conduct ami converse of the 
 worst of the Europeans, such as the Indian tra- 
 ders too generally are) are in general a people 
 that will be true to their promises, if strict care 
 be taken on the Europeans 5 part to fulfil their en- 
 gagements to them. 
 
 " JLnd further, may I entreat the general for our 
 hlessed Redeemer's sake, from the nobility and 
 humanity of his heart, that he would condescend 
 to use all moderate measures if possible, to pre- 
 vent that cruel and prodigious effusion of blood, 
 that deep anxiety and distress that must Jill the 
 breasts of so many helpless people, should an In- 
 dian ivar be once entered upon ! 
 
 « ANTHONY BENEZET." 
 
 Superadded to his individual exertions in this 
 good work, he was one of those, who influenced 
 
77 
 
 by the purest motives of good will toward the 
 Indians, of concern for the real welfare of the 
 whole community, and penetrated by a generous 
 sense of the kind dispositions which had been 
 manifested by the forefathers of the natives to 
 the first European settlers in Pennsylvania, were 
 induced in the year 1756, to form a society enti- 
 tled " The Friendly Association for Regaining 
 and Preserving Peace with the Indians by Paci- 
 fic Measures."* Of this body he was an active 
 
 * The course pursued by several of the proprietors 5 gover- 
 nors toward the Indians, was radically opposed to the views 
 of the freemen of the province of Pennsylvania, as may be 
 seen by reference to the measures adopted at different pe- 
 riods by their representatives in the assembly. Some of the 
 warmest controversies which occurred in early times between 
 the proprietary government and the people, grew out of the 
 conflicting opinions which were entertained on this subject. 
 The establishment of stores on the borders by persons to 
 whom the governors granted permission, the introduction of 
 spirituous liquors among the natives by those traders, contra- 
 ry to the wish, and in some cases after the express forbidding 
 of the Indians themselves, together with the corrupt and 
 cruel conduct of many of those mercantile agents, and th« 
 persons they had about therm were the real causes of most, 
 if not all, of the hostile incursions of the natives upon th<? 
 frontier settlements. Hence it was apparent ts tfeose, wfeo 
 H % 
 
79 
 
 and useful member, having been several times 
 elected one of the sixteen trustees who managed 
 
 were immediately entrusted with the interests of the people 
 of the state, that so long as such a course was pursued by 
 the proprietors' representatives not only the dreadful ravages 
 of war must be produced, and the expenses for the support 
 of the government be multiplied, but the extension of settle- 
 ment upon fair and honourable principles, would be impeded, 
 or wholly suppressed. The preservation of tranquility with 
 the Indians was therefore the interest, and the wish of the 
 great mass of the inhabitants, whilst unhappily the conduct 
 of the executive and its friends, tended to interrupt the rela-» 
 tions of harmony with their aboriginal neighbours. It is not 
 more astonishing than lamentable, that any of the descen- 
 dants of PEN N, the wise and benevolent founder, should al- 
 low of such deviations from his illustrious example and con- 
 duct toward the Indians, and in the final prostration of the 
 power and loss of the property of the family in Pennsylva- 
 nia, has been remarkably verified the prophetic warning of 
 their great and good ancestor. In a letter written by him 
 in 1682, after showing the happy effects which would result 
 if the inhabitants of this province and their descendants, ad- 
 hered to " Justice, mercy, equity and the fear if the Lord" 
 he exhibits the affecting contrast that must be produced by 
 the disregard of those solemn duties, "if not (said he) 
 <c their heirs, and my heirs too, will lose all, and desolation iCiU 
 foUoioP 
 
79 
 
 its affairs. In the prosecution of his duty in 
 that capacity, he attended several conferences 
 
 The unremitted exertions of the " Friendly Association" 
 in carrying- on the purposes of its establishment, were anxila- 
 ry to the laudable efforts in the same cause of the provincial 
 legislature, and consequently the society experienced the op- 
 posing influence of the executive department of the govern- 
 ment. But being" protected by the strength of the public 
 feeling in favour of humanity and justice, it was not only 
 regardless of proprietary assault, but firmly and boldly re- 
 monstrated against their measures, by addressing the go- 
 vernors and their principals themselves. The association 
 expended in presents of clothing, &c. to the natives, during 
 seven years of its existence, upwards of fifteen thousand 
 dollars, which sum had been voluntarily supplied by dona- 
 tions of the members. In the year 1757, beside other proofs 
 of its regard for the Indians, and in order that they might be 
 possessed of an object which would frequently remind them 
 of the intentions of their friends, the association had a medal 
 designed and struck, bearing an appropriate device and mot- 
 to, which was distributed among them. Perhaps an apology 
 may be necessary for introducing a representation of this 
 medal* in a volume of memoirs of Anthony Benezet, but as 
 
 * See Frontispiece. 
 
80 
 
 which were held with the Indians in their own 
 country, cheerfully enduring the fatigue, priva- 
 
 he was interested in its execution, and as it is a prominent 
 fact in the history of an institution to which he was strong- 
 ly attached, the preservation in this place of this primitive 
 memorial, may not be entirely irrelative. The following let- 
 ter, though not written with a view to its publication, will 
 authenticate the genuine origin of the die,* from an impres- 
 sion of which the engraving is taken. 
 
 "Philadelphia, Sixth Month, 12th, 1813. 
 «« The impressions which I now respectfully offer for thy 
 acceptance, are from dies that have long been in possession 
 of my predecessor and myself; at the early time they were 
 engraved, coining presses were unknown in this country, 
 they were therefore cut on punches, fixed in a socket, and 
 struck with a sledge hammer. The Indian medal of 1757, 
 was struck at the expense of a society (chiefly composed of 
 Friends) formed in Philadelphia, for the express purpose of 
 
 * The die was engraved in Philadelphia, by Edward Duf- 
 field, and cost the society fifteen pounds. 
 
81 
 
 tion and exposure consequent to travelling in a 
 J?art of the province then almost a wilderness. 
 He also early saw, and suggested the propriety 
 of endeavouring to convey to the inhabitants of 
 the forest, the knowledge of agriculture and do- 
 
 promoting peace with the Indian tribes. The appropriate 
 inscription on the reverse is truly characteristic, and will 
 serve to convey to posterity, a just idea of the men of influ- 
 ence in those days. I remember well the striking of the In- 
 dian medal by my father,f it was executed in silver, and 
 presented to the Indians by the society. 
 
 " Although this medal may at present be thought of little 
 value, I have no doubt in a future day, it will be considered 
 as interesting, not only from the occasion for which it was 
 struck, but as it may serve to show the progress of the arts 
 in our country. 
 
 « Thy friend, 
 
 "JOSEPH RICHARDSON. 
 "To Thomas Wistar." 
 
 f Joseph Richardson, the elder, was a member of the 
 Friendly Association, and by profession a silversmith. 
 
82 
 
 mestic arts, and, as will be subsequently seen, 
 directed by his will that a part of his estate 
 should be applied to the education of Indian 
 children ; these he conceived to be the most ju- 
 dicious preparatory measures for leading the 
 minds of the aborigines to the substantial bles- 
 sings of christian virtue. 
 
 In the midst of these various and important 
 avocations, a call was made upon his active be- 
 nevolence from a quarter, and of a nature the 
 most novel and unexpected. But ever prepared 
 to dispense good, he obeyed the summons with 
 promptitude and cheerfulness. It was a duty 
 no less formidable than that of extending pro- 
 tection and care to a considerable part of a colo- 
 ny of people, whose condition was deplorably 
 wretched, and wholly friendless. Previously to 
 giving an account of his unremitted attentions to 
 these unhappy exiles, it may be proper to fur- 
 nish a brief notice of their history and charac- 
 ter, and of the most extraordinary and unjustifia- 
 ble measures which terminated in their banish- 
 ment. These helpless strangers were a portion 
 of the descendants of those French inhabitants of 
 Nova Scotia, who after the treaty of Utrecht in 
 
83 
 
 1713, by which the province was ceded to En- 
 gland, were permitted to hold their lands, on 
 condition of making a declaration of allegiance 
 to their new sovereign, which acknowledgment 
 of fidelity was given under an express stipulation 
 that they and their posterity should not be re- 
 quired to bear arms, either against their Indian 
 neighbours or transatlantic countrymen. This 
 contract was at several subsequent periods revi- 
 ved, and renewed to their children; and such 
 was the notoriety of the compact, that for half a 
 century they bore the name, and with some few 
 exceptions maintained the character of neutrals. 
 They were a people remarkable for their piety 
 and mildness of disposition ; were frugal and in- 
 dustrious ; strongly attached to the French mo- 
 narch, and unalterably devoted to the Catholic 
 religion. 
 
 During the war of 1755, some of the young 
 neutrals were detected in conveying intelligence 
 to the Indian and French forces, then acting 
 against the province. This defection greatly in- 
 censed the British commander, and produced a 
 determination to punish the whole fraternity by 
 the confiscation of their property, and the banish- 
 
84 
 
 ment ©f their persons to different places along 
 the sea coast, from Massachusetts bay to South 
 Carolina. When the period had arrived for 
 carrying this cruel purpose into execution, an 
 order was issued requiring the neutrals to assem- 
 ble at the different ports, under the specious pre- 
 text of then having communicated to them some 
 important, and valuable information. The un- 
 suspecting Acadian s, utterly ignorant of the des- 
 tiny that awaited them, were obedient to the re- 
 quisition, and when collected at the time and 
 places appointed, they were informed that their 
 lands were forfeited to the crown, that they 
 themselves were prisoners, and were to be im- 
 mediately removed from the province. Vessels 
 being in readiness to convey them away, they 
 were ordered on board. A scene of distress, and 
 confusion ensued; the military who had been 
 purposely kept concealed until now, made their 
 appearance, and the embarkation was soon ef- 
 fected at the point of the bayonet, with the ex- 
 ception of between two and three hundred, who 
 escaped and sought refuge in the neighbouring 
 forests. Toward those who fled, all possible 
 measures were adopted to coerce them back to 
 
85 
 
 captivity, the country was laid waste, to prevent- 
 their subsistence, and many of them were shot, 
 and otherwise perished. This community at 
 the time of this disastrous event, amounted to 
 almost seven thousand persons, but the exast 
 number who were banished, cannot be accurate- 
 ly ascertained,* upwards of one thousand of 
 them were sent to Massachusetts bay, and about 
 five hundred to Philadelphia, 
 
 The melancholy story of their sufferings, 
 would have awakened compassion in the most 
 obdurate heart, and intensely acute must have 
 been the feelings of Benezet, when introduced 
 to the knowledge of their dreadful fate. He 
 at once adopted them as his children, and pro- 
 ceeded to employ every exertion in his power to 
 soften the rigour of their condition. As he was 
 enabled to converse with them in their own 
 language, it facilitated their necessary inter- 
 course with the inhabitants, whilst it was a cir- 
 cumstance that could not but have mitigated 
 their sorrows, since they had found in him, 
 not only a friend who yielded them all the com- 
 fort and consolation he could bestow, but an in- 
 terpreter, who was qualified and willing to hear, 
 j 
 
86 
 
 and make known the history of their afflictions. 
 On their disembarkation, the neutrals were 
 taken charge of by the conservators of the poor, 
 and conveyed to a building which had been occu- 
 pied as a lodging for soldiers. Many of them 
 were labouring under disease, some were en- 
 feebled by their crowded condition and the scanty 
 fare of the passage, others were disconsolate in 
 consequence of being separated from their near- 
 est connexions, .whilst all were dejected with the 
 striking reverse, of their former comforts and 
 independence. Though the funds for their sup- 
 port were for a time supplied from the public 
 purse, Anthony Benezet undertook to provide 
 for their subsistence, in the purchase and distri- 
 bution of every thing which they required. To 
 the sick and dying, he administered relief, so 
 long as human exertion was availing, or could 
 hope for success, and when death terminated the 
 sufferings of any of them, he would perform the 
 last office of respect to their remains. The in- 
 convenient construction of the barracks, as well 
 as want of room in them, being ill suited to their 
 accommodation, he solicited permission of his 
 friend, the late pious Samuel Emlen, to occupy 
 
87 
 
 part of a square of ground owned by him in the 
 south western section of Philadelphia, with 
 buildings for the residence of the neutrals. The 
 grant being promptly made, Benezet proceeded 
 to collect subscriptions, and was soon enabled to 
 purchase materials and erect a sufficient num- 
 ber of small houses, to which they were imme- 
 diately removed. The supply from the public 
 treasury ceasing on their change of situation, he 
 was obliged to devise modes of employment for 
 them to procure a livelihood $ and among va- 
 rious occupations, to which he directed their at- 
 tention, was the manufacture of wooden shoes 
 and linsey cloth ; the material for the composi- 
 tion of the latter article, was principally obtained 
 by their gathering rags from the streets of the 
 city, which they washed, and otherwise prepar- 
 ed for the purpose. In addition to the personal 
 services thus rendered, he paid out of his small 
 income annuities to several of the most ancient 
 and helpless. It is related of him among other 
 proofs of his kindness toward them, that his 
 wife, having made unsuccessful search for a pair 
 of blankets which, she had recently purchas- 
 ed for the use of the family, came into the room 
 
88 
 
 where her husband was writing, and expressing 
 some surprise as to what could have become of 
 them, his attention was arrested, and when he un- 
 derstood the cause of her uneasiness, « Oh! (said 
 he)" my dear, I gave them some evenings since, to 
 one of the poor neutrals." Thus, for several 
 years he devoted himself to the advancement of 
 the interests of those people, who by death, and 
 Removal to different places, were ultimately re- 
 duced to a very small number. Such was his 
 assiduity and care of them, that it produced a 
 jealousy in the mind of one of the oldest men 
 among them, of a very novel and curious descrip- 
 tion; which was communicated to a friend of Be- 
 nezet's, to whom he said, " it is impossible that 
 all this kindness is disinterested ; Mr. Benezet 
 must certainly intend to recompense himself by 
 treaeherouvh) selling us." When their patron 
 and protector was informed of this ungrateful 
 suspicion, it was so far from producing an emo- 
 tion of anger, or an expression of indignation, 
 that he lifted up his hands, and laughed immo- 
 derately. 
 
 The following extract from a memorial to 
 the king of Great Britain, which was prepar- 
 
89 
 
 ed soon after their arrival in Philadelphia, and 
 no doubt drafted at the request of the neutrals 
 by their friend Benezct, will corroborate the 
 history of their sufferings, in their own manner 
 of relating it. 
 
 M Thus we, our ancient parents, and grand 
 parents (men of great integrity, and approved 
 fidelity to your majesty) and our innocent wives 
 and children became the unhappy victims to 
 those groundless fears : we were transported in- 
 to the English colonies, and this was done in 
 so much haste, and with so little regard to our 
 necessities, and the tenderest ties of nature, that 
 from the most social enjoyments and affluent 
 circumstances, many found themselves destitute 
 of the necessaries of life, and separated parents 
 from children and husbands from wives, some of 
 whom have not to this day met again. We were 
 so crowded in the transport vessels, that we had 
 not room even for all our bodies to lay down at 
 once, and consequently wefe prevented from 
 carrying with us proper necessaries especially 
 i % 
 
90 
 
 for the comfort, and support of the aged and 
 weak, many of whom quickly ended their mise- 
 ry with their lives. And even those amongst us 
 Who had suffered deeply from your majesty, on 
 account of their attachment to your majesty, 
 were equally involved in the common calamity, 
 of which Rene-Lablane the notary puhlic be- 
 forementioned, is a remarkable instance. He 
 was seized, confined, and brought away among 
 the rest of the people, and his family consist- 
 ing of twenty children, and about one hundred 
 and Jifty grand children, were scattered in dif- 
 ferent colonies, so that he was put on shore at 
 New York with only his wife and two young- 
 est children, in an infirm state of health, from 
 whence he joined three more of his children at 
 Philadelphia, where he died without any more 
 notice being taken of him than' any of us, not- 
 withstanding his many years labour, and deep 
 suffering for your majesty's service. The mise- 
 ries we have since endured, are scarce sufficient- 
 ly to be expressed, being reduced for a livelihood 
 to toil and hard labour, in a southern clime, so 
 disagreeable to our constitutions, that most of 
 us have been prevented by sickness from pro- 
 
91 
 
 curing the necessary subsistence for our fami- 
 lies, and therefore are threatened with that 
 which we esteem the greatest aggravation of all 
 our sufferings, even of having our children forced 
 from us and bound out to strangers, and exposed 
 to contagious distempers unknown in our native 
 country. This, compared with the affluence and 
 ease we enjoyed, shows our condition to be ex- 
 tremely wretched. We have already seen in 
 this province two hundred and fifty of our people, 
 half the number that were landed here, perish 
 through misery and various diseases." 
 
 In 1756, he was chosen one of the overseers 
 •f the m public schools, founded by charter from 
 William Penn, in the town and county of Phila- 
 delphia," but two years after, entering into the 
 service of the board, as a teacher, his delicacy 
 induced him to resign the office. 
 
 The " contributors to the Pennsylvania Hos- 
 pital" elected him a manager of that institution 
 in 1757. He served the term for which he was* 
 appointed, and declined a re-election 3 not in con- 
 
92 
 
 sequence of an indisposition to yield his services 
 to the establishment, but because his benevolent 
 operations were of so general a nature, as to ren- 
 der it inconvenient for him to discharge the spe- 
 cific duties of the station. 
 
 He was never known to interfere with the af- 
 fairs of state, except when he w as desirous that 
 its energies should be exerted for promoting the 
 happiness of his fellow creatures. If however, 
 he had occasion to solicit persons in power for 
 such purposes, he was indefatigable in his exer- 
 tions to attain the object in view. During the 
 sitting of the legislature in 1780, a session me- 
 morable for the enaction of a law which com- 
 menced the gradual abolition of slavery in 
 Pennsylvania, he had private interviews on the 
 subject, with every member of the government, 
 and no doubt thus essentially contributed to the 
 adoption of that celebrated measure. 
 / His agency in arresting a number of kidnap- 
 ped black people on their passage from New Jer- 
 sey through Philadelphia, toward one of the 
 southern states, and whose claim to freedom by 
 his perseverance was ultimately established, 
 gave rise to a society for the relief of free ne- 
 
93 
 
 groes unlawfully held in bondage, since incor- 
 porated with ample authority, and over the de- 
 liberations of which have successively presided 
 Dr. Benjamin Franklin, James Pemberton, Dr. 
 Benjamin Rush and Dr. Caspar Wistar. 
 
 Among the numerous productions of his fer- 
 tile philanthropy was a plan which he conceiv- 
 ed to prevent an oppressive landlord from dis- 
 training for rent the stove of an indigent tenant ; 
 a bill predicated upon his suggestion was intro- 
 duced to the general assembly of the common- 
 wealth by Miers Fisher, then a member of that 
 body, which became a law. 
 
 Besides other topics of a benevolent nature 
 which were introduced by him during an inter- 
 view with the marquis Chattellux, near the 
 termination of the military services of that offi- 
 cer in America, in the war of the revolution, 
 was an inquiry respecting the method invented 
 in Europe for restoring persons supposed to be 
 drowned. This application induced the mar- 
 quis to promise him not only a written account 
 of the practice adopted by his countrymen, but 
 also a box of apparatus such as 'were used in the 
 sea ports of France, both which he accordingly 
 
94 
 
 sent. This information arrived about the time 
 when a society was formed in Philadelphia, for 
 the humane purpose of endeavouring to recover 
 suspended animation occasioned by immersion in 
 water, and imparted much instruction to the 
 newly organized association. 
 
 These are some of the most prominent features 
 in what may be termed the public life of Anthony 
 Benezet ; let us now contemplate him in a less 
 extended sphere of action. Private character, 
 he does not appear to have had ; it is almost im- 
 possible to discover a line, which separated his 
 pursuits, or abstracted his. mind, from the great 
 purpose for which he seems to have lived, the 
 good of his species. Asa member of the reli- 
 gious society of Friends, his labours were highly 
 valuable and important. The profession which 
 he made of Christianity was never contradicted 
 by his precepts, nor sullied by his practice. Un- 
 bounded in his charity, his great aim was to dis- 
 cover some favourable symptom in the disposi- 
 tions of those whose course was devious, and that 
 when discerned, he cherished with pious solici- 
 tude : his access to the most erring of his breth- 
 ren and others, was always easy, and where hu- 
 man efforts could be instrumental to reclaim of- 
 
95 
 
 fenders, the spirit of the gospel, as it flowed to- 
 ward such through his heart, seldom failed of 
 gaining victory. The fundamental doctrines 
 of religion as they were taught by the Re- 
 deemer of mankind himself, comprised his creed, 
 regulated his conduct, administered to the purest 
 of his earthly enjoyments, and constituted the 
 basis on which rested his hope of future felicity. 
 He often said, that the memorable sermon utter- 
 ed upon the mount, taught enough to occupy the 
 attention of the sincere in heart, and if duly re- 
 garded, its lessons would ensure the present, and 
 everlasting welfare of men. 
 
 He deprecated whatever had a tendency to de- 
 coy the mind from those plain and simple mani- 
 festations of duty which are mercifully afforded 
 by the deity for promoting the happiness of his 
 accountable creation. Consequently he did not 
 hesitate to disapprove of all theological disquisi- 
 tions on abstruse and doubtful points. His opin- 
 ion on this subject is thus clearly and fully stated 
 in one of his note books. 
 
 "I have often much wished the enlightened 
 William Law, had not launched out in some mat- 
 
96 
 
 ters which I apprehend tend more to employ the 
 natural activity of the mind, than to centre his 
 readers, as his other writings do, in a childlike 
 humble state of watching a prayer for Divine aid, 
 from a feeling sense of the depth of their misery, 
 and inability to redeem themselves. Indeed if 
 this humble disposition, which in all its religious 
 motions seeks solely the honour of God, and the 
 good of mankind, had been more prevalent, true 
 christian charity would have been better main- 
 tained, with respect to these particular opinions, 
 which have of late caused so much unprofitable 
 debate amongst us. I know some think great 
 advantage will arise from people's having what 
 is called right ideas of God ; and that those opin- 
 ions are productive of much tenderness and charity 
 in the minds of such who adopt them ; but has this 
 indeed been the case ? have the meekness and 
 gentleness of Christ been more apparent in those 
 who have been zealous advocates for this opinion, 
 than in other people? Ideas however exalted 
 they may appear, except impressed on the mind 
 by truth, are still but bare ideas, and can have no 
 influence in subduing that love of the world, that 
 carnality of mind, that obduracy of heart, and 
 
97 
 
 principally that poisonous idolatry of self, so apt, 
 under one subtle form or another, to insinuate 
 itself even in the hearts of such as have already 
 made some good advances in religion." 
 
 Having lived during that interesting period, 
 when the religious community to which he be- 
 longed was occupied with those considerations 
 which led to its purification from the iniquity of 
 slavery, he took an active part in promoting 
 that righteous work. His ardent and pathetic 
 communications on this subject, in the select as- 
 semblies of his brethren, were powerful and ir- 
 resistible. He awakened the unconcerned, con- 
 firmed the wavering, and infused energy into the 
 most zealous. On one occasion, during the an- 
 nual convention of the society at Philadelphia, 
 when that body was engaged on the subject of 
 slavery, as it related to its own members, some 
 of whom had not wholly relinquished the prac- 
 tice of keeping negroes in bondage, a difference 
 of sentiment was manifested as to the course 
 which ought to be pursued. For a moment it 
 appeared doubtful which opinion would prepon- 
 
98 
 
 derate. At this critical juncture, Benezet left 
 his seat, which was in an obscure part of the 
 house, and presented himself weeping at an ele- 
 vated door in the presence of the whole congre- 
 gation, whom he thus addressed, "Ethiopia 
 shall soon stretch out her hands unto God;"* 
 he said no more : under the solemn impression 
 which succeeded this emphatic quotation, the 
 proposed measure received the united sanction 
 ©f the assembly. J 
 
 About the year 1770, he was appointed to the 
 important station of an elder, the delicate and in- 
 teresting duties of which he was peculiarly quali- 
 fied to fulfil. He was especially desirous that the 
 society should sustain the character for plainness 
 and moderation which had distinguished its ori- 
 gin, and was often occupied in communicating 
 such counsel and advice, as would promote that 
 object. He saw that the accumulation of wealth 
 among his fellow members, induced habits and 
 associations, which were often fatal to their 
 maintenance of primitive simplicity, and it was a 
 primary duty with him to dissuade them from 
 the inordinate pursuit of secular occupations. 
 
 * Psalms lxviii. 31. 
 
He conceived it to be derogatory to the dignity 
 of the human mind, if its energies sought no 
 other exercise than that which immersed it ia 
 selfishness, a disposition which more than any 
 other he held to be opposed to the proper use of 
 its noble endowments, and subversive of the ex- 
 alted happiness of which, in futurity, it was de- 
 signed to partake. In 1780, he published, ia 
 English and French, a book, entitled " JL Short 
 Account of the Religious Society of Friends, 
 commonly called (Quakers." This work was es- 
 teemed the best succinct view of the principles, 
 as well as discipline and economy of the society, 
 that had appeared. 3 * In the concluding observa- 
 tions of the author, it is clearly shown upoa 
 what ground he believed the doctrines which 
 they profess could be upheld with purity and 
 effect. 
 
 " If," (says he) " upon observing the conduct 
 of many who profess to be of this religious socie- 
 ty, any should be ready to take offence at the 
 
 * A more enlarged work of the kind has recently proceed- 
 ed from the pen of Jesse Kersey. 
 
100 
 
 gveat deviation which may appear from those 
 principles set forth in the foregoing account, let 
 them consider, that the human heart, in its fail- 
 en state, is prone to evil, and by joining there* 
 with it may gradually become very corrupt; 
 that a real change thereof is not gained by 
 birthright, or a mere association with any peo- 
 ple, but only by submission to and a humble abi- 
 ding under the cross of Christ ; thus the sincere 
 and faithful among them, who are daily exerci- 
 sed in labouring to have their wills brought in all 
 things into a conformity with the Divine will, 
 knowing that nothing lfi*s than this will entitle* 
 to membership in the true church, the Bride the 
 Lamb's wife, they often find a necessity laid up- 
 on them, to bear their testimony against the sub- 
 tle delusive spirit of the world in its various ap- 
 pearances, and also to press their fellow mem- 
 bers in religious profession, not to rest contented 
 in the regular observance of any form, or the 
 bare acknowledgment of any principles, but to 
 strive to become acquainted with the operation 
 of the Spirit of Truth in themselves, and closely 
 adhere to its monitions and guidance as the only 
 safe path through this life, and tlis foundation of 
 
101 
 
 an unshaken hope of a blessed enjoyment in that 
 which is to come. Therefore, may every tender 
 inquirer after the right way, not look out at the 
 conduct of others, nor place their dependance 
 upon any man ; but carefully attend" to the open- 
 ings and leadings of the Holy Spirit in their own 
 minds, and as they follow on to know the Lord, 
 they will be brought to a degree of the same 
 experience with the apostle ; we know that the 
 son of God is come, and hath given us an under- 
 standing that we may know him that is true, 
 and we are in him that is true, even in his son 
 Jesus Clirist. This is the true God and eternal 
 life." 
 
 His reasons in support of the peculiarity of 
 some of the practices of the society, as being 
 consistent with scripture authority, were illus- 
 trated in a small work wliieh he published yx 
 1782, entitled, « On the plainness, and innocent 
 simplicity of the christian religion." 
 
 In addition to his own opinions on the sub- 
 jects upon which he wrote, and which he con:- 
 ceived it to fee his duty to print and distribute; 
 &2 
 
102 
 
 lie was often engaged in selecting and compi- 
 ling sentiments from various authors, the moral 
 and religious tendency of which, he believed 
 might prove beneficial. These tracts he would 
 himself industriously circulate, and when he 
 heard of his acquaintance or others, who were 
 about to travel, he enlisted their services to 
 spread his pamphlets ; « esteeming it" (he said) 
 « indeed a favour, in this self pleasing age 9 if 
 people will but give them a serious perusal." 
 
 He would frequently present his friends with 
 copies of his essays as soon as they appeared, 
 and those occasions were embraced to convey to 
 them the feelings of his mind. The subjoined 
 notes written for that purpose, exhibit the 
 amiable manner in which he discharged sueh 
 affectionate duties. 
 
 <* To H. H. 
 
 « I herewith send a couple of pamphlets, the 
 .perusal of which, will I hope be agreeable to 
 thyself, and my kind friend thy spouse. We are 
 $* liable in this frail state of existence to suffer 
 
103 
 
 our minds even imperceptibly to be so much en-« 
 grossed with the trifles of life, and indeed its 
 fears as well as its joys may be truly so termed, 
 when compared with the solemn scenes which 
 lay before us, that I trust any thing which may 
 tend to call us back to ourselves cannot be 
 taken but in good part, from those whose de- 
 sires we are persuaded are sincere for our best 
 welfare. How sweet, says the pious Rrainard, 
 when near his end, how sweet is a spirit of de- 
 votion, a spirit of seriousness and Divine so- 
 lemnity, a spirit of gospel simplicity, of love 
 and tenderness. How vastly superior are the 
 pleasure, peace, and satisfaction derived from 
 these Divine frames to that which we some- 
 times pursue in things vain and trifling; indeed 
 our own better experience teaches us, that in the 
 midst of such laughter the heart is sorrowful, 
 and that there is no true satisfaction but in God. 
 
 " Your real friend, 
 
 "ANTHONY BENEZETV' 
 
104 
 
 « To Dr. of Wilmington. 
 
 « I am persuaded my kind friend thou wflf; 
 excuse this freedom. But a good opportunity 
 offering, I take the liberty to enclose a few pam- 
 phlets. They contain some serious items on the 
 solemn truths of our holy religion. That at 
 the beginning is worthy of notice as well for 
 the weight as the great importance of it. The 
 small tract at the end may tend to remove some 
 mistaken prejudices which too often prevail for 
 want of due information. The other tracts, 
 though wrote by persons differing in circum* 
 stantial matters, yet all agree in enforcing 
 the amendment of the heart, the only end and 
 aim of the gospel, yet so expressed as not to 
 infringe that charity (i. e. the love of Christ) 
 which is the distinguishing badge of Christian- 
 ity. I shall be glad to hear of thy welfare ; and 
 in that great circle which is not limited by par- 
 ty or country, but with cordiality of affection 
 embraces the whole creation, 
 
 *« I salute thee, and remain tjhy friend, 
 
 « ANTHONY BENEZET." 
 
10£ 
 
 The expense of printing being defrayed from 
 feis own purse, and deriving no pecuniary com- 
 pensation from his publications, together with 
 }ris great liberality in other respects, produced 
 in the minds of some of his friends a fear, lest 
 he should forget his own wants in the dispensa- 
 tion of his income. This idea being once sug- 
 gested to him, he said "I lose nothing by doing 
 so. I once sent to a religious man in JVort/i 
 Carolina, with whom I had no personal ac- 
 quaintance, a number of my tracts, and at hi& 
 death it was found he had bequeathed to me his 
 whole estate, which amounted to one hundred 
 pounds." 
 
 The piety and integrity of Benezet's charac- 
 ter, were such as to excite in the mind of every 
 one who had any knowledge of him, the greatest 
 respect ; whilst the innocent and unreserved af- 
 fability of his manners, rendered his association 
 with all classes of society, acceptable and agree- 
 able. As the objects which engaged his atten- 
 tion were of a public nature, he had frequent 
 interviews with individuals of distinction in the 
 government, whose influence he wished should 
 lie exerted for the advancement of his benevo- 
 
106 i 
 
 lent purposes. By such he was uniformly heard 
 with marked attention, and from them he re- 
 ceived many amiable proofs of regard. Soon 
 after the arrival of the count de Luzerne at Phi- 
 ladelphia, in the character of ambassador from 
 the court of Louis XVI, Anthony Benezet, anx- 
 ious to interest his feelings on the subject of the 
 slave trade, made a visit to the minister, and 
 that occasion laid the foundation of a cordial 
 and mutual attachment. As long as the count 
 remained in the United States, a most friendly 
 intercourse was maintained between them, and 
 when he was about to embark for France, a day 
 being assigned for taking leave, Benezet con- 
 ceived it respectful to wait upon him. On his 
 arrival at his residence, he found the minister 
 surrounded by numerous guests, who were be- 
 stowing compliments and good wishes upon him : 
 Benezet retired, unobserved, to a corner of the 
 room, until some of the visitors had departed, 
 and when an opportunity was furnished, he pre- 
 sented himself before him, and said, " thou 
 knowest I cannot use the compliments which the 
 company have expressed, hut I wish thee the fa- 
 vour of Heaven, and a safe return to thy com- 
 
try. 39 Upon which the count exclaimed, i( / 
 Mr. Benezet, you have exceeded them all ;" at the 
 same moment embracing and kissing him. 
 
 He was remarkable for his kind and conde- 
 scending manner toward persons much youngeF 
 than himself, especially if he perceived in their 
 character any promise of usefulness. He was 
 often heard to say in scriptural phrase, * wis- 
 dom is gray hairs, and an unspotted life old 
 age." From this trait of a really great mind, 
 might be expected to proceed every amiable 
 and encouraging effort, to render the talents and 
 dispositions of those, with whom he met, sub- 
 servient to the greatest possible benefit to his 
 fellow creatures. Hence it was, that he always 
 sought for, and seldom failed to make himself 
 acquainted with some feature of the character, 
 or use some information acquired by mingling 
 among men, which he directed to a salutary 
 purpose. An interesting proof of this humble 
 though exalted disposition in Anthony Benezet, 
 is illustrated in the notice he took of the late 
 pious and excellent Jacob Lindley, when he was 
 a youth. Lindley, to adopt his own designation 
 of himself, was a "stripling" when he attended 
 
408 
 
 a yearly meeting of Friends held at Philadel- 
 phia : his mind had heen for some time much 
 afflicted with an observation of the pernicious 
 effects of spirituous liquors, and he was anxious 
 that the religious society to which he belonged, 
 might cease to use, and prevent any of its mem- 
 bers from being instrumental in manufacturing 
 or vending them. He therefore rose and de- 
 veloped his feelings to the assembly, in the en- 
 ergetic and pathetic manner for which he was 
 peculiarly remarkable. When the meeting ad- 
 journed, he observed a stranger pressing through 
 the crowd towards him, which having effected, 
 he took him by the hand in the most affection- 
 ate manner, and said, " my dear young friend, 
 I was very glad to hear thy voice on the sub- 
 ject of spirituous liquors. I had much unity with 
 thy concern, and hope that no discouragement 
 may have been received from its not being fur- 
 ther noticed; and now I want thee to go home 
 and take dinner with we, having something fur- 
 ther to say to thee on the subject" Lindley ac- 
 cepted the invitation, and after they had dined, 
 Benezet introduced his young guest into a little 
 room used us a study, where he produced a 
 
109 
 
 manuscript work on the subject of spirituous 
 liquors in an unfinished state, he opened the 
 book and laid it on a table before them, saying 
 « this is a treatise which I have been for some- 
 time engaged in writing, on the snbject of thy 
 concern in meeting to day ; and now if thou hast 
 a mind to sit down 9 and write a paragraph or 
 two, I will embody it in the work, and have it 
 published." 
 
 The same disinterested goodness, which indu- 
 ced him to respect and cherish whatever he saw 
 valuable in the character of his young friends, 
 led him also to disapprove those practices which 
 he observed any of them in the indulgence of, as 
 tending to render such less useful than they 
 migh^ otherwise be, and their example injurious 
 to ofliers. But whether exciting to good works, 
 or reproving for what he conceived to be impro- 
 prieties, the time and manner were always 
 wisely adapted to the purpose. Having no dog- 
 ma of his own formation to establish, nor any 
 selfish feeling to gratify, the means which he 
 employed for promoting the welfare of others, 
 were uniformly such as the author of christiam- 
 I. 
 
110 
 
 ty had ordained, for accomplishing the great end 
 of the religion of love. 
 
 It would be impossible to furnish a more 
 striking example of the delicate and forci- 
 ble manner adopted by him, in the expression of 
 rebuke, than that which occurred at the house 
 of one of his female acquaintance sometime af- 
 ter her marriage. He had called on a benevo- 
 lent occasion, and though his young friend was in 
 full dress for a ball, he was admitted ; when he 
 beheld her gala attire, he drew himself into 
 an attitude of surprise, and regret was marked 
 in his unsophisticated countenance ; he exclaim- 
 ed plaintively, " my dear £— — , I should not 
 have recognized my amiable pupil, but that thy 
 well knoivn features , and excellent qualtyjgp, are 
 not to be hidden by so grotesque and lamenta- 
 ble a disguise; thy kind and compliant temper 
 has yielded at some expense to thy heart, to the 
 epinions of others, and I love thee for the mo- 
 tive, though I cannot admire tlie evidence of it." 
 
 The subsequent letters will also establish this 
 predominant disposition of his mind ; the females 
 to whom they were addressed, were at the date 
 of them, in the morning of life. 
 
414 
 
 « To E.G. 
 
 "The perusal of the inclosed serious reflec- 
 tions on the mournful situation of things amongst 
 us, will I trust afford thee satisfaction, and I 
 should rejoice if they might have any tendency 
 to strengthen those good inclinations which I 
 am persuaded thy own good sense, as well as 
 religious views will suggest of the impropriety 
 ©f thy giving any countenance to the vain and 
 corrupting dissipation which are proposed to he 
 soon entered upon in this city, in which thou 
 wilt doubtless lie pressingly invited to join in. 
 My near affection, and long connection with thy 
 dear father, and my earnest desire for thy true 
 welfare, will I trust, make an apology for this 
 freedom unnecessary. From the same principles 
 I cannot but much desire that thou wouldest 
 let us have thy company at our religious 
 meetings, as I suppose our mode of worship is 
 most agreeable to thy judgment. It would cer- 
 tainly furnish thee with an opportunity of gain- 
 ing such religious strength, as might the bet- 
 ter enable thee to encounter the violent attacks 
 from the spirit of the world, which thy situation 
 will otherwise expose thee to. I know it is 
 
112 
 
 eommon for us frail mortals to plead a neces- 
 sity of complying with many things in contradic- 
 tion to our better informed religious judgment, 
 and conclude we shall keep within certain limi- 
 ted bounds. But alas ! weakness is ours ,• it is 
 not in our power to stem the torrent when once 
 embarked on a stream. The Almighty will not 
 accept of a divided heart. If as the scripture 
 says the "righteous scarcely are saved," how 
 can we expect Divine assistance, it* we do not 
 through watching and prayer, exercise the 
 jyhol$ power we are favoured with? Let us 
 dear B. by a generous effort of that reason, en- 
 lightened by grace, which I am persuaded thou 
 hast been favoured with, break through the 
 tinsel scene of vanity and folly that surrounds 
 us. Let the wise man's advice be most weighty 
 with us ; to remember our latter end : and in 
 every thing act with reference to that awful 
 period. Let us view things as they will appear 
 lo us on a bed of languishment, when as we 
 then cannot afford this world's votaries any far- 
 ther profit or pleasure, so they will quite for- 
 sake us, and we shall be left to our own pun- 
 gent reflections, and the eonverse of superior 
 
113 
 
 beings, administering comfort, or the contrary. 
 At such a time, with how much more satisfac- 
 tion will we have to reflect upon the time we 
 have spent in seeking after God, in worship, or 
 otherwise, than in those light, and frothy con- 
 versations, those scenes of corrupting dissi- 
 pation, which so much engross the minds, and 
 time of the worldly* 
 
 " With near affection, I remain> 
 
 « ANTHONY BENEZET." 
 
 -To S.N. 
 
 "My dear — — , I have of late been 
 
 much engaged in thought ; and indeed what se- 
 rious mind can refrain from mournful reflec- 
 tions, when we consider on the one hand, the 
 purity of our profession* and on the other have 
 to observe the general behaviour and appear- 
 ance of our young women, and the insensibility 
 they manifest when treated with on these im- 
 portant subjects! I trust my dear fjriemk from. 
 
114? 
 
 I 
 
 the apprehension I have of thy sensibility, and 
 
 kind disposition, I may mention my thoughts on 
 this most interesting subject, with expectation 
 of tender sympathy from thee; rather than 
 danger of giving thee any offence. I have re- 
 membered the apostle's injunction, * that chris- 
 tian women ought to be arrayed in modest ap- 
 parel, not costly, but with sobriety and shame- 
 facedness.' I have also had to think of the na- 
 ture of the gospel, the conduct, dress, food, &c. 
 of him who was greater than any of the pro- 
 phets, even John, the forerunner of Christ $ I 
 have remembered the birth and situation of our 
 blessed Saviour himself, his submitting to the 
 most humbling appearance, even to be laid in a 
 manger, and when grown up, declared his com- 
 ing was in the form of a servant, not to be min- 
 istered unto, but to minister, « behold/ says he, 
 *I am amongst you as one that serveth ;' « leav~ 
 ing us an example,' saith the apostle, <that 
 we should follow his footsteps. 5 But how dif- 
 ferent from the example of our Lord, are the 
 conduct, and views of the greatest part of our 
 young people ; notwithstanding it is indispen- 
 sably necessary, that such as are desirous to 
 
115 
 
 follow Christ in the regeneration, shoum be- 
 have in their clothing, &e. in such a manner, 
 as will best enable them to answer the sober 
 ends of an industrious, frugal life ; a life of 
 affection and care, not only in their own fami- 
 lies, but as sisters and friends ; as nurses spi- 
 ritually and temporally to many who may suf- 
 fer for* want of their assistance. Doctor Cave, 
 in his account of the first christians, tells us, 
 i they were exceeding careful to avoid all such 
 things as savoured of costliness and finery, 
 choosing such as expressed the greatest lowli- 
 ness and innocency.' And that our ancient 
 Friends understood the apostle's advice in its 
 full extent, appears beyond all dispute, from what 
 William Penn says in his reflections and max- 
 ims, «&. « If thou art clean and warm, it is 
 sufficient ; for more does but rob the poor, and 
 please the wanton. 5 
 
 « If every expense which might be spared, \& 
 vainly wasting that which properly belongs to 
 the poor, and every conformity to vain and fool- 
 ish fashions, is to please, and indeed often meant 
 to allure the wanton ; what can be said fii de- 
 fence of the appearance of so many of our young 
 
116 
 
 Jk 
 women ? so contrary to that humble, self-deny- 
 ing state of service, which as followers of Christ, 
 is required of them ; choosing to appear as mis- 
 tresses, as ladies, delighting themselves like the 
 false church, in sitting as queens to be looked 
 at and admired, rather than capacitated to fulfil 
 the sober ends of life in the service we owe one 
 to another. From a sense of the prevalency of 
 these evils, how can the sincere lovers of truth 
 but mourn ; deeply mourn even over many of 
 those who esteem themselves, and are esteemed, 
 as moderate, comparatively with others. The 
 softness and delicacy of their clothing, more 
 adapted to pagan king's palaces than christian 
 pilgrim's cottages ; the putting on of their appa- 
 rel too manifestly calculated to allure the wan- 
 ton ; to these things may be added, that most 
 abhorrent practice formerly used, and now come 
 again in fashion, of causing their clothes, evert 
 their rich silks, &c. to trail on the ground; 
 which thou mayest remember, was a matter of 
 so great concern to our dear friend Daniel Stan- 
 toia ; an evil which appears to me to be of a ve- 
 ry deep dye, as it is not a sudden start of pas- 
 sion in the vain mind, but a deliberate act, whicfe 
 
requires time and consideration y hence it may 
 be truly termed (though I believe not consider- 
 ed as such, by many in the practice) an act of 
 open rebellion to every impression of grace, as 
 well as an act of the greatest ingratitude to 
 Him, who permits them to use and enjoy the 
 jmost delicate and nice apparel ; (though I be- 
 lieve it is in his wrath, as he answered the de- 
 sire of the Israelites, when they lusted for flesh.) 
 I have been sorrowful to observe so many mani- 
 fest such ingratitude, as to throw off all conside- 
 ration of delicacy and neatness, and only be- 
 cause it is the fashion ; because the God of this 
 world (the devil) the prince of the power of the 
 air, who rules in the children of disobedience, 
 calls to follow his fashions, they should con- 
 form to that which is in itself so odious, so des- 
 tructive, so contrary to every sense of reason 
 and neatness, what shall I call it ? indeed it is 
 in itself more expressive of that folly and cor- 
 ruption, in which the human heart is capable of 
 running, than words can set forth. If our dear 
 young women would take these things into se- 
 rious consideration, it may prevent that which 
 in a solemn time may give them inexpressible 
 
118 
 
 gain. I remember the case of a young woman* 
 with whom I had repeatedly treated on these 
 subjects, but to no purpose ; when in a consump- 
 tion, and near her end, I was desired to visit her, 
 and wa» informed, that she wanted the company 
 of serious people, and had requested her mother 
 not to admit those who indulged themselves in 
 the fashionable dress of the times : being assur- 
 ed that those who appeared thus could not af- 
 ford her the comfort she wanted. This will 
 certainly be, more or less, the case with every 
 individual at such a trying hour, except sunk 
 into stupidity, or seared into hardness of heart. 
 Sentiments of this kind, I earnestly wish may 
 be enforced upon our young women ,• that they 
 may consider the nature and design of the chris- 
 tian religion, the high profession we make, that 
 the eyes of thoughtful people are upon us, that 
 they mark and despise us for our inconsisten- 
 cy, and above all, what a blessing, and mat* 
 ter of joy it will be to the well disposed youth 
 in a future day, to reflect, that they have to 
 the utmost of their power, by their conduct, 
 held up the hands of their parents and friends, 
 in strengthening the little good that remains 
 
119 
 
 amongst us. Do not think I say too much on 
 the subject ; for indeed it is a matter of the 
 greatest weight, and ought to be laid open in 
 its fullest light; in which I am encouraged 
 from a hope that the sensible youth will so far 
 see its reasonableness and necessity, as to be- 
 come advocates on behalf of the cause of truth. 
 
 " With near affection, dear — — , I wish 
 
 ever to remain thy real friend, 
 
 "ANTHONY BENEZET." 
 
 He ardently inculcated his belief, in the great 
 responsibility attached to the possession of 
 wealth, and from those who were blessed with 
 ability to do good, to the poor and friendless, 
 he implored the most liberal dispensation of 
 money for their relief. His appeals on this ac- 
 count were often availing. He frequently ob- 
 tained large donations for charitable purposes 
 from those, who were greatly indebted to his 
 efforts for the enjoyment of the " luxury of doing 
 good J 9 So judicious was he in the distribution 
 
120 
 
 of pecuniary assistance, that without any sug- 
 gestion by him, his friend, the late John Rey- 
 nel of .Philadelphia, made him his almoner, and 
 in that capacity Benezet had the satisfaction 
 for many years to dispose of a large part of 
 the income of that benevolent man, thus nobly 
 devoted to the comfort of his afflicted fellow 
 creatures. When he observed a covetous dis- 
 position, in those who were abounding in riches, 
 he was more severe in the expression of disap- 
 probation, than respecting almost any other 
 error, in the circle of human frailty. He con- 
 sidered a penurious mind as scarcely rational, 
 and aware of his liability to censure with se- 
 verity those who indulged that degrading pro- 
 pensity, he often cheeked himself when about 
 to give loose to his feelings in relation to it, 
 having been frequently heard to say, that M tlie 
 highest act of charity in the world, was to bear 
 with such unreasonableness of mankind." 
 
 An acquaintance of his, relating to him in 
 conversation that he had recently heard of a 
 person in whose coffers after his death, many 
 thousand dollars in specie were found, Bene- 
 zet expressed great sorrow at being informed 
 
121 
 
 of the circumstance, and begged of Lis friend 
 to give as little currency as possible to the fact, 
 adding, that he thought, " it would have been 
 quite as reasonable to have had as many thou- 
 sand pairs of boots or shoes in the house, whilst 
 the poor were suffering in bare feet for the want 
 of them." 
 
 lie deeply lamented the consequences which 
 he saw were produced by the love of money ; 
 tracing to that cause many of the unhappy tur- 
 moils which often laid waste the harmony of fami- 
 lies, and which was not unfrequently the foun- 
 dation of sanguinary conflicts between nations. 
 When he has been made acquainted with the 
 existence of disputes between individuals on ac- 
 count of pecuniary matters, he has been known 
 to negociate with them, by persuading one to 
 accept less than his demand, and the other to 
 allow more than he at first conceived right, 
 and having thus brought them to the nearest 
 point of reconciliation, he has paid the differ- 
 ence out of his own pocket, and restored the 
 parties to peace and intercourse, without suffer- 
 ing either of them to know, it was purchased at 
 the expense of his purse. 
 
 M 
 
132 
 
 Though "full of good works, and alms deeds," 
 which yielded him the gratitude of thousands ; 
 respected for his integrity even by those whose 
 conduct he opposed $ honoured at home and 
 abroad for the purity of his motives ; admired for 
 his expanded views of the principles of eternal 
 justice and right, which he unceasingly advoca- 
 ted ; and beloved and caressed by his personal 
 friends ; circumstances combining to elevate the 
 mind, which few men could have resisted ; he 
 was favoured continually to have on the armour 
 of humility 5 and protected by it 5 none of those 
 things exalted his depending spirit. His opinion 
 of himself is truly exhibited in the following ex- 
 tract from a letter to one of his friends. 
 
 « Philadelphia, Seventh Month, 16th, 177b. 
 
 ** I herewith send John Woolman's Journal, 
 and that part of his work published in England. 
 Thy aunt shewed us a written testimony Bent 
 from England, which I applied to her for, but 
 she tells my wife, that thou hast a copy of it. I 
 know of nothing else I can furnish, which would 
 help the designed testimony. O ! that I may 
 have reason to believe, that my name is written 
 
123 
 
 hi the meanest page (if there is any difference) 
 of the book o-f life, and I care nothing about tes- 
 timonies. I beg thou wilt spare complimenting 
 me about the importance of my engagements ; 
 thou amongst others of my fellow men art wel- 
 come, nay hast a right, to my poor service. I 
 indeed desire not to be my own : but I am much 
 out of humour with most of what I have heen 
 long doing, as well as with myself. I am rather 
 fearful, much of my activity has been nothing, 
 indeed less than nothing. O! that a true gos- 
 pel nothingness may prevail in my heart, is my 
 most sincere desire." 
 
 In a postscript to another letter, he thus ex- 
 presses himself, "I desire to verify in myself 
 in all cases, the doctrine of one of the copies I 
 use in my school, 
 
 * c Just be thy thoughts, and all thy words sincere, 
 And know no wish, but what the world may hear." 
 
 The person of Anthony Benezet was small ; 
 his countenance was composed of strong and in- 
 teresting features, and though his face beamed 
 with benignant animation, it was far from being 
 handsome. Of this he was himself sensible, 
 
124 
 
 for a friend of liis once suggesting a desire to pos- 
 sess his portrait, he did not assign the conscien- 
 tious objection which he probably entertained 
 on the subject, but thus replied to the request, 
 «' 0/ no, no, my agly face shall not go down to 
 posterity." 
 
 His understanding was naturally good, and 
 from books, and an extensive intercourse with 
 mankind, he had acquired a valuable stock of 
 information. He devoted some attention to medi- 
 cal inquiries, in the prosecution of which after 
 he had passed the meridian of his days, lie at- 
 tended a course of lectures on anatomy. His 
 mind manifested an unusual degree of innocence, 
 and though guileless himself, he could quickly 
 penetrate the disguises with which others en- 
 deavoured to veil their follies, or their vices. 
 He was religious without gloom, and cheerful 
 without levity. And whilst he ardently pur- 
 sued the path, in which he believed duty to God 
 conducted him, neither the rigour of bigotry, 
 nor the littleness of ostentation, had any place 
 in his well regulated mind. He was remark- 
 ably active in his movements, having much of 
 the vivacity of manner peculiar to his country- 
 men. He did not indulge himself with any su- 
 
125 
 
 perfluity in dress; his clothing being made in the 
 most simple manner, and of some material^ se- 
 lected on account of the durability of its tex- 
 ture. His habitation! and patriarchal mode of 
 living bore testimony to the consistency of his 
 practice with his profession. But humble as 
 they were, his dwelling was the resort, and his 
 hospitable table has been spread for the enter- 
 tainment of some of the worthiest characters of 
 the country, whilst few foreigners of distinction 
 who came to Philadelphia, left it without visit- 
 ing him. He was never idle : perhaps no man 
 more faithfully occupied his time, and few* if 
 any, to so good a purpose. Even at an advanced 
 period of life he denied himself what he conceiv- 
 ed to be the needless portion of time commonly 
 allotted to rest, having been heard to say, «« he 
 could not reconcile a habit of such slothful in- 
 dulgence with the activity of christian fervour* 9 * 
 When engaged in, the composition of his books^ 
 
 * Cotton velvet. 
 
 f One of the first brick dwellings erected in Philadelphia^ 
 situate on the north side of Chesnut, between Third and 
 Fourth Streets. It remains a venerable specimen of primi« 
 tive architecture, 
 
 M % 
 
126 
 
 it was his practice to devote several hours before 
 the dawn of day to writing, and the occasional 
 relaxation of his mind being indispensable, he 
 sought retirement and bodily exercise in the cul- 
 tivation of a vegetable garden. He had a facul- 
 ty which seems nearly allied to what is termed 
 "association of ideas." This was peculiarly 
 evidenced in geography. He possessed so inti- 
 mate a knowledge of that branch of science, that 
 when any particular latitude and longitude were 
 mentioned, his mind by a comparison and colla- 
 tion of relative facts, instantly presented a correct 
 image of the spot on the globe. 
 
 The equanimity and sprightliness of his dispo- 
 sition were such, that he could even derive satis- 
 faction from sources which would have produced 
 melancholy or discontent, in the mind of almost 
 any one but himself. Having formed an opinion 
 that the great temperance for which he was re- 
 markable, would contribute among other advan- 
 tages, to prolong the vigour of his memory, he on 
 •ne occasion in conversation with a friend, enfor- 
 ced the idea with considerable zeal. This happy 
 consequence did not however, result from his ab- 
 stemious habit of living; for several years after, 
 when at the age of seventy, he told the same gen- 
 
tleman, that the faculty of recollection had become 
 much impaired, assuring him at the same time, 
 tf * that its failure enabled him then to read with 
 great satisfaction and pleasure those books he 
 had perused in younger life, the impression of 
 which had been dissipated by the lapse of time.-" 
 He often indulged an inherent facetiousness of 
 mind, though the sallies of his wit were always 
 controlled by the predominance of good will, 
 and intended to convey lessons of instruction- 
 Seeing one of his friends in the street, who was 
 remarkable for a hurrying habit he had acquir- 
 ed, Benezet called to him to stop, <* I am now in 
 haste" said the gentleman, "and will speak 
 with yon, when we next see each other ;" but 
 resolved on his purpose, he detained him an in- 
 stant, with this impressive question, « dost thou 
 think thou wilt ever find time to dieT 9 they then 
 parted, and the person who received this laconic 
 interrogation, was afterwards heard to say, that 
 « he felt infinitely indebted to Mr. Benezet for 
 his kind admonition" The sympathies of his 
 nature extended to every thing that was suscepti- 
 ble of feeling, in so much that he avoided the 
 use of animal food during several of the last 
 years of his life j indeed so exquisitely delicate 
 
138 
 
 was his sensibility in this respect, that the sight 
 of blood would immediately produce swooning, 
 
 A surgeon who had been humanely employed 
 in dressing the wounds of some American sol- 
 diers during the revolutionary war, was giving 
 him an account of the nature of the injuries 
 they had received, and of the sufferings they un- 
 derwent ; he listened for a while to the affecting 
 story, but unable any longer to bear the recital, 
 he laid his hand upon his friend, and said, "stop* 
 or I shall faint " 
 
 Being once on business at the house of an ac- 
 quaintance, he was detained until the dinner was 
 served, of which he was invited to partake, but 
 observing one of the dishes on the table to be 
 poultry, he pleasantly answered, « what , would 
 you have me eat my neighbours V 9 and bidding 
 the family farewell, departed. 
 
 His kindness and charity towards objects of 
 distress were intuitive* One of his friends rela- 
 ted having seen him take off his coat in the street 
 and give it to an almost naked mendicant, and 
 go home in his shirt sleeves for another garment 
 
 Another instance, illustrative of this prompt 
 benevolence may be cited ; whilst it affords aa 
 additional proof of the efficacy of his humane 
 
i2& 
 
 appeals to those in high worldly rank, even when 
 the mode of his application was calculated by its 
 singularity, to render his efforts abortive. 
 
 During the American war, when the British 
 army occupied Philadelphia, Benezet was as- 
 siduous in affording relief to many of the inhabi- 
 tants, whom the state of things at that distress- 
 ing period had reduced to great privation. Ac- 
 cidentally observing a female, whose counten- 
 ance indicated calamity, he immediately inquir- 
 ed into her circumstances. She informed him 
 that she was a washerwoman, and had a family 
 of small children dependant on her exertions 
 for subsistence ; that she had formerly support- 
 ed them by her industry, but then having six 
 Hessians quartered at her house, it was impos- 
 sible from the disturbance they made, to attend 
 to her business, and she and her children must 
 speedily be reduced to extreme poverty. Hav- 
 ing listened to her simple and affecting relation, 
 Benezet determined to meliorate her situation. 
 He accordingly repaired to the general's quar- 
 ters ; intent on his final object, he omitted to 
 obtain a pass, essential to an uninterrupted ac- 
 cess to the officer, and entering tlie house with- 
 out ceremony he was §topt by the sentinel, who 
 
130 
 
 after some conversation, sent word to the gene- 
 ral « that a queer looking fellow insisted upon 
 seeing him." He was soon ordered up. Benezet 
 on going into tJie room, inquired which was the 
 chief, and taking a chair* seated himself heside 
 the general. Such a breach of etiquette sur- 
 prised the company -pre sent, and induced a Ger- 
 man officer to exclaim, in his vernacular tongue, 
 "what does the fellow meanV 9 Benezet how- 
 ever, proceeded, in French, to relate to the gene- 
 ral the cause of his visit, and painted the situation 
 of the poor woman in such vivid colours, as 
 9peedily to accomplish the purpose of his hu- 
 mane interference. After thanking the com- 
 mander for the ready acquiescence to his re- 
 quest, he was ahout taking his departure, when 
 the general expressed a desire to cultivate a 
 further acquaintance, requesting him to call 
 whenever it might he convenient, at tlie same 
 time giving orders, that Benezet in future should 
 be admitted without ceremony. 
 
 From about the age of thirty, the constitu- 
 tion of Anthony Benezet became firm, enabling 
 him to endure great exposure and fatigue with 
 the uninterrupted enjoyment of good health, un- 
 til within a short time previously to his lamented 
 
4 31 
 
 death : an event, which it is supposed, was ac- 
 celerated by his adoption of vegetable diet, at a 
 period when the gradual decay of his physical 
 energy, required a plan more liberal and nour- 
 ishing. But though he was for many months 
 evidently declining, he continued to pursue his 
 career of goodness without any abatement of 
 zeal, submitting only to the influence of his dis- 
 ease by confinement at home, for about ten days 
 before his valuable labours terminated on earth. 
 As soon as it became known that he was ill, 
 an extensive and deep interest was excited in 
 Philadelphia. His friends and fellow citizens 
 anxious to learn what was his real situation, 
 w£re seen crowding about his dwelling, making 
 affectionate inquiry concerning him, and ex- 
 pressing the ardent solicitude which they felt, 
 that he might be restored to his accustomed 
 usefulness in the world. When, however, they 
 were assured that his recovery was hopeless, 
 the desire of many persons to see him was such, 
 as to induce an indulgence of their wish. They 
 seemed to want his dying benediction extended 
 to them. They were admitted. The chamber 
 in which he lay, and the passage that led to it, 
 were filled with approaching and retiring mour- 
 
133 
 
 ners. He kindly received these visits of respect 
 and love. His last hours, like his long and ex- 
 cellent life, were full of the most important in- 
 struction. At that awful crisis, when the cha- 
 racter displays no false glare, and all fictitious 
 supports sink into nothing, he taught what he 
 had always inculcated, that humanity had no- 
 thing to boast of; that the efforts of man, could 
 shed no unfading gloinj on himself. He had 
 hot much to communicate, and the few expres- 
 sions which escaped his lips, were such, as could 
 only have proceeded from a mind ahased by a 
 sense of its own unw or thine ss, and reverently 
 depending on the mercy of Heaven! At one 
 time he said, « I am dying, and feel ashamed to 
 meet the face of my maker, I have done so little 
 in his cause." He was also heard to utter 
 "alack / alack / we are poor creatures, I can 
 take no merit for any thing I have done, there is 
 mostly something underneath that is selfish, 
 which will not hear sifting." 
 
 At another time he said, " I could wish to 
 live a little longer, that I might bring down self." 
 
 On the day preceding his death, he took an 
 affecting farewell of his wife, who was then in 
 an infirm state of health* Their final separ^- 
 
133 
 
 tion on earth, must have been soothed by the 
 reflection which enabled him to address her 
 thus, for the last time, " we have lived long, in 
 love and peace." They had no offspring to wit- 
 ness this touching scene, on whom his mantle 
 might fall, who could aspire to imitate his ex- 
 ample, and inherit his unblemished fame. 
 
 His bodily suffering toward the close, was 
 great, but he endured the pangs of expiring na- 
 ture with fortitude and patience ; he contempla- 
 ted, with christian calmness, the moment which 
 would terminate his connexion with mortality : 
 and when the mysterious union between mind 
 and matter was dissolved, his redeemed spirit 
 entered no doubt, into the everlasting habitation 
 of the righteous ! 
 
 He died on the third day of the Fifth Month 
 (May) Anno Domini, 1784, aged seventy-one 
 years. When it was announced that death had 
 numbered him among his victims, the expres- 
 sion of regret was universal.. 
 
 It was a day of sorrow. The afflicted wi- 
 dow, the unprotected orphan, and the poor of 
 all descriptions, had lost the sympathetic mind 
 of Benezet. Society lamented the extinguish 
 
134 
 
 ment of the brilliant light of his philanthropy : 
 the friendless tribes wtyo wandered in the Ame- 
 rican wilderness, and; the oppressed Africans, 
 were indeed bereft; for his willing pen and 
 tongue had ceased forever to portray the his- 
 tory of their injuries, or plead for the establish- 
 ment of their rights, before the sons of men. 
 
 At the interment of his remains, in Friends* 
 burial ground, which took place two days after 
 his death, the greatest concourse of people that 
 had ever been witnessed on such an occasion in 
 Philadelphia, was present, being a collection of 
 all ranks and professions among the inhabitants, 
 thus manifesting the universal esteem in which 
 he was held. Among others who paid that last 
 tribute of respect, were many hundred black 
 people, testifying by their attendance, and by 
 their tears, the grateful sense they entertained 
 of his pious efforts in their behalf. 
 
 His will, in his own hand writing, executed 
 •n the fourth day of the Third Month, 1784, 
 bequeaths his estate to his wife during her natu- 
 ral life, and at her death, directs the payment 
 ©f several legacies to poor and obscure persons, 
 in sums of from two to five pounds. The resi- 
 due, he devises in trust to the overseers of the 
 
135 
 
 public school, "to hire and employ a religious 
 minded person or persons, to teach a number of 
 negroe 9 mulatto or Indian children, to read, 
 write, arithmetic, plain accounts, needle work, &c* 
 and it is my particular desire, founded on the 
 experience I have had in that service, that in 
 the choice of such tutor, special care may he had 
 to prefer an industrious, careful person, of true 
 piety, who may he or become suitably qualified, 
 who would undertake the service from a princi- 
 ple of charity, to one more highly learned not 
 equally disposed." 
 
 In a codicil to that instrument, executed three 
 days previously to his demise, he directs his 
 books to be given to « the library of Friends, 
 in Philadelphia :" they amounted to nearly two 
 hundred volumes, principally on religious and 
 medical subjects. He also bequeathed to the 
 " Pennsylvania society for promoting the aboli- 
 tion of slavery, &e." the sum of fifty pounds. 
 
 Such were the services, and thus was termi- 
 nated the life of Anthony Renezet. The emo- 
 tions that crowd upon the mind, when contem- 
 plating the assemblage of estimable qualities 
 which were displayed in his character, are of no 
 ordinary nature. With feelings tending to en- 
 
136 
 
 thusiastlc eulogy, his biographer pauses in the 
 recollection of a fact, communicated by one of 
 the most intimate surviving friends of this 
 amiable and excellent man. He disapproved 
 of the often over-rated testimonies which were 
 recorded of the dead, and requested the venera- 
 ble gentleman alluded to, to use his exertions it 
 he should survive him, to prevent any posthu- 
 mous memorial concerning him, should his 
 friends manifest a disposition to offer such a tri- 
 bute of affection to his memory, thus adding to 
 the injunction, " but if they ivill not regard my 
 desire, they may say, 
 
 ANTHONY BENEZET 
 
 WAS 
 
 A POOR CREATURE, 
 
 AND 
 
 THROUGH DfVINE FAVOUR, 
 
 WAS 
 
 ENABLED TO KNOW IT." 
 
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