I would not have a slave to till my ground,
  To carry me, to fan me while I sleep,
  And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth
  That sinews bought and sold have ever earn’d. 
  No:  dear as freedom is,—­and in my heart’s
  Just estimation prized above all price,—­
  I had much rather be myself the slave,
  And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him. 
  We have no slaves at home—­then why abroad? 
  And they themselves once ferried o’er the wave
  That parts us, are emancipate and loos’d. 
  Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs
  Receive our air, that moment they are free;
  They touch our country, and their shackles fall[A]. 
  That’s noble, and bespeaks a nation proud
  And jealous of the blessing.  Spread it, then,
  And let it circulate through every vein
  Of all your empire—­that where Britain’s power
  Is felt, mankind may feel her mercy too.

[Footnote A:  Expressions used in the great trial, when Mr. Sharp obtained the verdict in favour of Somerset.]

CHAPTER IV.

[Sidenote:—­Second class of forerunners and coadjutors, up to May 1787, consists of the Quakers in England.—­Of George Fox and others.—­Of the body of the Quakers assembled at the yearly meeting in 1727; and at various other times.—­Quakers, as a body, petition Parliament; and circulate books on the subject.—­Individuals among them become labourers and associate in behalf of the Africans; Dilwyn, Harrison, and others.—­This the first association ever formed in England for the purpose.]

The second class of the forerunners and coadjutors in this great cause, up to May 1787, will consist of the Quakers in England.

The first of this class was George Fox, the venerable founder of this benevolent society.

George Fox was contemporary with Richard Baxter, being born not long after him, and dying much about the same time.  Like him, he left his testimony against this wicked trade.  When he was in the island of Barbados, in the year 1671, he delivered himself to those who attended his religious meetings in the following manner:—­

“Consider with yourselves,” says he, “if you were in the same condition as the poor Africans are—­who came strangers to you, and were sold to you as slaves—­I say, if this should be the condition of you or yours, you would think it a hard measure; yea, and very great bondage and cruelty.  And, therefore, consider seriously of this; and do you for them and to them, as you would willingly have them, or any others, do unto you, were you in the like slavish condition, and bring them to know the Lord Christ.”  And in his Journal, speaking of the advice which he gave his friends at Barbados, he says, “I desired also that they would cause their overseers to deal mildly and gently with their negroes, and not to use cruelty towards them, as the manner of some had been, and that after certain years of servitude they should make them free.”