CHAPTER IV.
EFFORTS TO ABOLISH THE SLAVE TRADE.
O Liberty! thou goddess heavenly bright,
Profuse of bliss, and pregnant with delight!
Eternal pleasures in thy presence reign.
And smiling Plenty leads thy wanton train;
Eased of her load. Subjection grows more light,
And poverty looks cheerful in thy sight;
Thou mak'st the gloomy face of Nature gay,
Giv'st beauty to the sun, and pleasure to the day.
The slave trade having been tolerated for over two centuries, at length public attention in England and America was aroused to its dreadful evils.
Among the earliest and most zealous advocates of the abolition of this traffic were the members of the society of Friends, whose founder, George Fox, solemnly protested against it, as utterly indefensible.
As early as 1668, the celebrated William Penn denounced the trade as impolitic, unchristian, and cruel. In 1696 the subject was introduced at the annual meeting of the Society, and gradually an
