But Dr. Peckard did not consider this delivery of his testimony, though it was given before a learned and religious body, as a sufficient discharge of his duty, while any opportunity remained of renewing it with effect.  And, as such an one offered in the year 1785, when he was vice-chancellor of the University, he embraced it.  In consequence of his office, it devolved upon him to give out two subjects for Latin dissertations, one to the middle bachelors, and the other to the senior bachelors of arts.  They who produced the best were to obtain the prizes.  To the latter, he proposed the following:  “Anne liceat Invitos in Servitutem dare?” or, “Is it right to make slaves of others against their will?”

This circumstance of giving out the subjects for the prizes, though only an ordinary measure, became the occasion of my own labours, or of the real honour which I feel in being able to consider myself as the next coadjutor of this class in the cause of the injured Africans.  For it happened in this year that, being of the order of senior bachelors, I became qualified to write.  I had gained a prize for the best Latin dissertation in the former year, and, therefore, it was expected that I should obtain one in the present, or I should be considered as having lost my reputation both in the eyes of the University and of my own College.  It had happened also, that I had been honoured with the first of the prizes[A] in that year, and therefore it was expected again, that I should obtain the first on this occasion.  The acquisition of the second, however honourable, would have been considered as a falling off, or as a loss of former fame.  I felt myself, therefore, particularly called upon to maintain my post.  And, with feelings of this kind, I began to prepare myself for the question.

[Footnote A:  There are two prizes on each subject, one for the best and the other for the second-best essays.]

In studying the thesis, I conceived it to point directly to the African Slave-trade, and more particularly as I knew that Dr. Peckard, in the sermon which I have mentioned, had pronounced so warmly against it.  At any rate, I determined to give it this construction.  But, alas!  I was wholly ignorant of this subject; and, what was unfortunate, a few weeks only were allowed for the composition.  I was determined, however, to make the best use of my time.  I got access to the manuscript papers of a deceased friend, who had been in the trade.  I was acquainted also with several officers who had been in the West Indies, and from these I gained something.  But I still felt myself at a loss for materials, and I did not know where to get them; when going by accident into a friend’s house, I took up a newspaper then lying on his 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