Among the productions of Anthony Benezet's pen, was, "An historical account of Guinea, its situation, produce, and the general disposition of its inhabitants; with an inquiry into the rise and progress of the slave trade, its nature, and calamitous effects."
Note from the Memoirs of A. Benezet.
The influence of this work, in giving 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 certainly remarkable. In the year 1785, Dr. Peckard, vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, proposed to the senior Bachelors of Arts, of whom Clarkson was one, the following question for a Latin dissertation: viz. (in English), "Is it right to make slaves of others against their will?"
Having in the former year gained a prize for the best Latin dissertation, he resolved 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 going by accident," he says, "into a friend's house, I took up a newspaper then lying on the table.
"One of the articles which attracted my notice, was an advertisement of Anthony Benezet's 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 encouraged him to complete his essay, which was rewarded with the first prize; and from that moment, Clarkson's mind became interested with the great subject of the abolition.
EXTRAORDINARY MUNIFICENCE.
FROM THE GENIUS OF UNIVERSAL EMANCIPATION—1825.
A paragraph has lately gone the round of the papers announcing that a gentleman of Virginia had emancipated upwards of eighty slaves, and chartered a vessel to send them at his own expense to Hayti, but without giving the name of the author of so distinguished an act of munificence.