From this time we collect little more from his journal concerning him, than that, in 1772, he embarked for England on a religious visit.  After his arrival there, he travelled through many counties, preaching in different meetings of the Society, till he came to the city of York.  But even here, though he was far removed from the sight of those whose interests he had so warmly espoused, he was not forgetful of their wretched condition.  At the quarterly meeting for that county, he brought their case before those present in an affecting manner.  He exhorted these to befriend their cause.  He remarked that as they, the Society, when under outward sufferings, had often found a concern to lay them before the legislature, and thereby, in the Lord’s time, had obtained relief; so he recommended this oppressed part of the creation to their notice, that they might, as the way opened, represent their sufferings as individuals, if not as a religious society, to those in authority in this land.  This was the last opportunity that he had of interesting himself in behalf of this injured people; for soon afterwards he was seized with the small-pox at the house of a friend in the city of York, where he died.

The next person belonging to the Society of the Quakers, who laboured in behalf of the oppressed Africans, was Anthony Benezet.  He was born before, and he lived after, John Woolman; of course he was cotemporary with him.  I place him after John Woolman, because he was not so much known as a labourer, till two or three years after the other had begun to move in the same cause.

Anthony Benezet was born at St. Quintin in Picardy, of a respectable family, in the year 1713.  His father was one of the many protestants, who, in consequence of the persecutions which followed the revocation of the edict of Nantz, sought an asylum in foreign countries.  After a short stay in Holland, he settled, with his wife and children, in London, in 1715.

Anthony Benezet, having received from his father a liberal education, served an apprenticeship in an eminent mercantile house in London.  In 1731, however, he removed with his family to Philadelphia, where he joined in profession with the Quakers.  His three brothers then engaged in trade, and made considerable pecuniary acquisitions in it.  He himself might have partaken both of their concerns and of their prosperity; but he did not feel himself at liberty to embark in their undertakings.  He considered the accumulation of wealth as of no importance, when compared with the enjoyment of doing good; and he chose the humble situation of a schoolmaster, as according best with this notion, believing, that by endeavouring to train up youth in knowledge and virtue, he should become more extensively useful than in any other way to his fellow-creatures.

He had not been long in his new situation, before he manifested such an uprightness of conduct, such a courtesy of manners, such a purity of intention, and such a spirit of benevolence, that he attracted the notice, and gained the good opinion, of the inhabitants among whom he lived.  He had ready access to them, in consequence, upon all occasions; and, if there were any whom he failed to influence at any of these times, he never went away without the possession of their respect.