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failure of his efforts for the suspension of that sanguinary conflict, reverted his thoughts to the subject of African slavery. For some years he incessantly pursued the great object of the emancipation of the enslaved negroes, and entering into the enlarged views of the Pennsylvanian Association in America, which had been formed in 1774, under the auspices of Dr. Rush, of James Pemberton, and other Quakers of eminence, he made personal applications to the archbishops and bishops of this kingdom. He very early experienced the co-operation of the bishop of Ely, and the following memorandum is so truly honourable to the persons concerned, that we cannot refrain from copying it into our Journal:

"1779. Memorandum.-This spring I have, at different times, had the honour of conversing with twenty-two out of the twentysix archbishops and bishops, on the subject of the slave trade, during the time that the African affairs were under the consideration of a committee of the House of Commons; and 1 met with none that did not concur with my sentiments on the subject. A very great majority of them gave me reason to hope that they would publicly oppose any further encouragement of the slave trade, had it come before them in the House of Lords. This was the more agreeable to me, because I found they did not oppose, nor take amiss, my appeal to them, in my tract On the Law of Retribution,' sent to each of them more than two years before, Both the archbishops, and the bishops of Durham, London, Oxford, Lichfield, Bristol, Norwich, Llandaff, Ely, Bangor, Worcester, St. Asaph, and Lincoln, expressed themselves very handsomely on the occasion, and seemed very desirous to put a stop to the evil. The bishop of St. David's (Dr. York) was particularly polite, as well as earnest in the business; and afterwards wrote me a letter, signifying his desire to join most heartily with any person who would propose an effectual and proper mode of opposing the slave trade; and the bishop of Peterborough (Dr. Hinchcliff) took a great deal of pains to make himself master of the subject, that he might be ready to exert himself to the utmost, when the business should have passed the House of Commons. But, while the matter was before the committee, accounts being received of the capture of our African settlements, the chief seat and source of all the iniquities and enormities which I opposed, the committee, it seems, had directions from the ministry not to proceed in their report." [pp. 186, 187.]

Coeval with these exertions were others to promote the great object of peace with America, and in order to this parliamentary reformation at home; both which he conceived to be connected with each other, and with the object

of his more immediate pursuits. As usual, he rendered the press tributary to his purposes, by issuing a pamphlet entitled "Equitable Representation Necessary to the Establishment of Law, Peace, and Good Government;" and maintained a correspondence with a considerable number of committees, formed in different counties, for the promotion of this great object: nor did he relax his assiduous efforts, with regard to other cases of domestic and public importance. It appears from documents preserved in this volume, that Mr. Sharp's co-operation with the American philanthropists for African freedom, resulted in another extraordinary and collateral effect-the establishment of episcopacy on that continent. He wrote and conversed on the subject, both with Americans, and with dignitaries of the church at home; and, in consequence of repeated assurances which he was authorised to communicate to the convention of the episcopal clergy at Philadelphia, of the readiness of the English church to consecrate proper persons, two were elected, came to England, and received consecration as bishops at the hands of the archbishop of Canterbury, and immediately returned to their charge. Three years afterwards a third was similarly appointed, when the number became sufficient to consecrate without further application to England. In addition to his other efforts in this cause, Mr. Sharp made considerable presents of books to the libraries of different states.

In 1783, other efforts were required from him in behalf of African slaves. The master of a slave ship, the Zong, trading from Africa to Jamaica, having 440 slaves on board, on pretence that he might be distressed on his voyage from want of water, threw overboard 132 of the most sickly of the slaves, to lessen its consumption. The underwriters in England resisted the claim of the owners for the full value of these slaves, and the contest brought to light a scene of extraordinary brutality. A trial took place, which was decided in favour of the owners and the captain; but a rule for a new trial was granted, and Mr. Sharp stepped forward, and sent immediately an attested account of the whole transaction to the lords of the admiralty, and the first lord of the treasury. He failed, however, to bring the perpetrators of this horrid crime to their proper' punishment; but feeling stimulated, as well by the injustice of the particular proceeding, and the revolting character of the decision, as by the importance of the general question, he gave every possible degree of publicity

to the whole; and coupled the statements with remarks of his own calculated more and more to excite the public attention to the subject. Nor was his active interference wanting in other cases of the same nature, and of most revolting atrocity.

In September, 1786, the College of Providence, Rhode Island, (called Brown's University), admitted him to the degree of doctor of laws; and this example was followed by the University of Cambridge, in Massachusetts; and of Williamsburg, in Virginia.

The circumstances in which the negroes were placed, who were brought to England, and had no masters to support them, and no parish which they could call their own, in consequence of which they were reduced to a state of destitution and mendicity, induced Mr. Sharp, about 1786, to devise a scheme for their permanent support, by sending them to some spot in Africa, where they might provide for themselves, by the proper application of industry, and be restored under happy auspices to the land of their ancestors. This originated the plan of a free settlement at Sierra Leone. He drew up some regulations for such a proposed colony, and Mr. Smeathman was to conduct the black poor to the destined spot; in the meantime, our philanthropist distributed a weekly allowance from his own purse to the intended settlers. But Mr. Smeathman dying, after a short illness, the preparations were suspended, and Mr. Sharp was involved in an exposure to great expenses. Government, however, interfered; provision was made, both for transporting the settlers, and supplying them with necessaries, during the first six or eight months of their residence in Africa; and captain Thompson was appointed to accompany them in the Nautilus sloop of war, which sailed on the 8th of April, 1787. The number sent out amounted to somewhat more than 400, to which were added about 60 Europeans, chiefly women: and, upon their arrival, a grant of land, of considerable extent, was obtained for their use from a neighbouring chief. Over this settlement Granville Sharp watched with parental solicitude, maintaining a correspondence, which afforded him perpetually the means of correct information as to the proceedings on the spot; and exerting his influence at home, whenever it appeared requisite to promote its interests. A company was formed for the trade of Sierra Leone, and a charter at length obtained. The parti culars of the settlement there are detailed in the work

before us, in an interesting, but, considering that work simply as a biographical one, in rather too elaborate a form. The various letters which passed between Mr. Sharp and distinguished individuals, should, as it appears to us in this and in other instances, have been digested into the form of regular and concise narrative, rather than have been thrown together in such a mass, in the volume. However interesting in themselves at the time, and however interesting too even to the present hour, considering from whom, and under what circumstances many of them proceeded, documents of this nature are always calculated to interrupt the narrative, which ought always to flow along with smooth and unobstructed course. They are properly preserved in appendices or notes, but should rather be given in substance in the work itself.

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The efforts of Mr. Sharp, in combination with those of other enlightened individuals, both in England and America, at length led to the formation of a society for the abolition of the slave trade, which may be viewed as the first grand step towards the accomplishment of that important end. The subject is introduced by our biographer in the following manner:

"The mischiefs which had befallen, and the danger of entire destruction which had more than once menaced, the infant colony of freedom in Africa, were, in great part, to be ascribed to the unshaken vigour in which the detestable slave trade still continued to flourish. A free settlement, supported by industry and national commerce, seemed likely gradually to undermine and eventually destroy the sordid traffic, by opening the eyes of the African chiefs to their own superior interests, and showing them that the produce of social labour was a far greater source of wealth to their revenues, than the captivity and sale of their subjects. What wonder, then, if the slave-traders set every engine to work, to irritate the natives of Africa against the new colonists, to undermine them in their turn, and to pervert the ends of benevolence?

Out of good still to find means of ill.'

But Providence, in its mercy, was now about to cut the thread of long-suffered iniquity, and to comfort and strengthen those whom it had chosen to be advocates on earth for their fellow-creatures. After numerous and unwearied endeavours on the part of the Quakers in America, and of the zealous Clarkson and Granville Sharp in England, in behalf of the wretched, and till of late unpitied, victims of men who degraded humanity; the time had arrived, when it appeared to be within the bounds of hope, that an association of benevolent persons, protected by a congenial moveVOL. III.—No. 5.

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ment in the British Parliament, might lead to a retrieval of the human character from the ignominy of the slave trade. Endeavours were therefore used to collect, and unite in one body, the various parties who had severally, and almost independently of one another, begun to make exertions of a similar nature; and in the spring of 1787, especial meetings were convened of a few men of eminent character, all of whom were friendly to the cause. One of their meetings was held almost in the same month in which the little fleet set sail, which carried the first banner of English liberty 'to the coast of Africa; and it was at this meeting that an event took place, which gave preponderance to the scale of African freedom. Mr. Wilberforce was there solicited to take the lead in a parliamentary effort for the abolition of the cruel traffic in our species; and, in that communion of benevolent minds, the corresponding impulse of his heart prompted him to yield a ready assent to an engagement of no common magnitude.

"The first important point being happily secured, the next step was to arrange measures for prosecuting the scheme in such a manner as should be most conducive to the great end in view. Many days did not elapse before the design was carried into execution. On the 22d of May, a committee was chosen, consisting of twelve members, whose declared duty and purpose it was to promote, by every means in their power, an abolition of the traffic in the human race. Granville Sharp was included in the committee.

"The incipient labours of the association were cheered by an important coincidence, which occurred at this time. The efforts of the humane Anthony Benezet, and other American Quakers, had, by gradual advances, at length effected a general manumission of slaves among the whole body of men of their persuasion; and the year 1787, in which the committee was appointed in England for promoting the abolition of the trade, was the first year distinguished in America by the gratifying circumstance of there not remaining a single slave in the possession of an acknowledged Quaker. The superstition of ancient times would have hailed this coincidence as an auspicious omen; the sensibility of modern ones perceived its influence." [pp. 394-396.]

The committee for accomplishing an abolition of the slave trade was formed in 1787, and, upon dispersing its circulars, received from the Quakers and General Baptists intimations of their co-operation, and a correspondence was opened with the American societies. The merits of Mr. Sharp's preparatory labours were justly appreciated, and although his modesty induced him to decline the occupation of the chair at their meetings, they persisted in drawing up a resolution, by which he received that honourable appointment as "Father of the Cause in England." But, notwithstanding this extraordinary respect, and though he felt

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