Protestant Exiles from France/Volume 2 - Book Third - Chapter 6 - Section II
II. Anthony Benezet.
Antoine Benezet, the amiable and useful author and correspondent concerning slavery and the slave trade, was by birth a Frenchman, the son of a Huguenot gentleman. [A mistake concerning him has accidentally found its way into a noble and careful publication, “The Imperial Dictionary of Biography,” which begins an article thus:— “Benezet, Antoine, a man of colour.”] E. M. Chandler, a poet of America (in some verses addressed to Anthony Benezet), correctly indicates France as his birthplace:—
“Friend of the Afric! friend of the oppressed!
Thou who wert cradled in a far-off clime,
Where bigotry, and tyranny unblest,
Defaced with gory hand the page of time!”
The Benezet family was wealthy and important, but their estates were confiscated on account of their Protestantism in 1715. Antoine was born at St. Ouentin on the 31st January 1714 (new style).[1] His ancestors were of Calvisson in Languedoc; but had removed to the northern and manufacturing district of France in or soon after 1681, on the marriage of his grandfather, Jean Benezet, who allied her husband to the celebrated family of Crommelin. The good old man died in 1690. His eldest son, John Stephen Benezet, continued to keep up the family registers in the old way, a pious sentiment being appended to each entry; to the name of his little Antoine he added the prayer, “May God bless him in making him a partaker of his mercies.”
In order to show the alliance of Jean Benezet’s descendants with the Crommelins, we make the following statement:— Jean Crommelin became Seigneur de Camas in right of his wife, Marie de Semery, whom he had married on 17th December 1595. We are concerned with his sons, Pierre (born 28th November 1596), who married Marie Desormeaux, of Cambray, and Jean (born 19th March 1603), who married Rachel Tacquelet A son of Pierre and Marie was Samuel Crommelin, of Haarlem, who married Marie, daughter of Cipricn Testart, a Huguenot refugee, at Haarlem, and their daughter Anne was married to her first cousin, Louis Crommelin, whom we call the great Crommelin of Ireland. A son of Jean and Rachel was Louis Crommelin, senior (born 2d December 1625, died 10th November 1669), who married, in 1648, Marie, daughter of Pasteur Jean Mettayer, and sister of Pasteur Samuel Mettayer, ministers of Hancourt. And a daughter of Jean Crommelin and Rachel Tacquelet was Rachel Crommelin, wife of Pierre Tcstard. Her daughter, Marie Madelaine Testard, was married, in 1681, to Jean Benezet, and had seven children — Jean-Etienne, Jaques, Jean, Ciprien, Madelaine, Melchier, and Pierre. Jean Etienne (alias John Stephen) Benezet was the father of Antoine, alias Anthony.
John Stephen Benczet set out for Holland with his family (including the infant Anthony) in 1715; his plan was to get out of France secretly, and in defiance of the arbitrary laws against Protestant emigration. “To accomplish this purpose (says the American biographer) he secured the services of a young man, upon whose attachment he could rely, to accompany him beyond one of the military outposts which then skirted the frontier of France. Nothing occurred to interrupt their progress until they approached the sentinel; when their adventurous friend presenting himself before him, displaying in one hand an instrument of death, and tendering with the other a purse of money, said, Take your choice; this is a worthy family, flying front persecution; and they shall pass. The guard accepted the gold, and their escape was safely accomplished.”
Their first retreat was Rotterdam; but in the course of a few months they sailed for England and settled in London. In that city, John Stephen Benczet lived for sixteen years, and was a prosperous merchant. In the register of Les Grecs French Church we find, on 11th July 1716, “Jean Estienne Benezet” and his wife “Judith” bringing their daughter Marianne for baptism. Other children may have been born with ordinary rapidity. But perhaps on account of their changing their place of worship, the next registration, which I have found, is in the year 1724. In that year Daniel was baptized (named after Mr. Daniel Charmier), in 1725, Madellaine, and in 1727, Gertrude, these three being registered in Berwick Street French Church.
Antoine Benezet received a good commercial education in London. At the age of fourteen “he was united in membership with the religious Society of Friends, called Quakers.” Having too scrupulous a conscience for trading speculations, he wished to be a mechanic, but could not persevere in his resolution from a want of muscular vigour; and he had not fixed upon any business or occupation in his eighteenth year, when he emigrated with his parents to America and made Philadelphia his home; this was in 1731. In 1736 he married Miss Joyce Marriott, a young woman of congenial principles and disposition.
At length, in his twenty-sixth year, desiring to engage in a profession which would itself be eminently useful to mankind, and also afford leisure for varied benevolence, he, from a sense of duty, became a schoolmaster. His first school was at Gcrmantown. But he returned to Philadelphia in 1742, having been elected to fill a vacancy in the English department of the Public School founded by a charter from William Perm. He quite revolutionised the system of teaching, which had been previously conducted with combined dulness and harshness. In 1755 he opened a female school, and was “entrusted with the education of the daughters of the most affluent and respectable inhabitants of the city.” One of these pupils was deaf and dumb; and without any of the advantages of the experience and theories of the nineteenth century, he educated her successfully; “she acquired, during two years under his tuition, such instruction as enabled her to enjoy an intercourse with society which had been previously denied to her.”
It was a great advantage to him as a teacher that, being a member of a refugee family, and yet by education an Englishman, he had a complete practical command of both the English and French languages.
It was in 1750 that his sympathy for the negro slaves brought him into notice as a public man. He opened an evening school for black people in Philadelphia. His professional experience and habits of observation entitled him to be heard in reply to the fashionable assertion that the blacks are, in their mental capacities, inferior to human beings born with a white skin. He testified deliberately, “I can with truth and sincerity declare that I have found amongst the negroes as great variety of talents as among a like number of whites.” In his unpaid services he exhibited the same patience and good humour as in his regular classes.
It was chiefly as an author that Benczet promulgated anti-slavery sentiments and statistics. His works were usually reprinted in England under the editorship of Mr. Granville Sharp, a compliment which was paid and returned, before the two philanthropists became correspondents. Granville Sharp’s copy of one of Benezet’s works contains an autograph note, from which I extract the following:—
“The author of this book, as printed at Philadelphia in 1762, was Mr. Anthony Benezet of that city, descended from a French family which forsook (and lost very considerable property in) France for the sake of their religion; so that the present Mr. B. is obliged to earn his bread in the laborious office of a schoolmaster, and is also unhappily involved in the errors of Quakerism; nevertheless, he has a very large and extensive acquaintance, and is universally respected, not only among the whole body of Quakers (Dr. Fothergill and Dr. Franklin having been his correspondents), but also by all others who knew him. When G. S. was involved in the first law-suit to defend himself against a prosecution for having set a negro slave at liberty in 1767, he accidentally met with a copy of this book on a stall, and, without any knowledge whatever of the author, caused this edition to be printed and published.
“In 1769 G. S., having non-suited his prosecutors, was at liberty to print his representation of The injustice and dangerous tendency of tolerating Slavery, which he had drawn up during the proceedings against him; and it is remarkable that Mr. Benezet reprinted that tract at Philadelphia without knowing that the author had paid the same compliment to Mr. B.’s work in 1767.”[2]
This publication by Benezet, reprinted by Sharp, was entitled, “A Caution to Great Britain and her Colonies, in a short representation of the calamitous state of the Enslaved Negroes in the British Dominions.” This pamphlet contained quotations from the works of celebrated authors, but at the head of these we find a Scotchman, George Wallace, advocate, Sheriff of Ayrshire and Professor of Law in the University of Edinburgh; the quotation is from his System of the Principles of the Laws of Scotland, of which I copy a few sentences:—
“They (the negro slaves) are purchased from their princes who pretend to have a right to dispose of them. Kings, princes, governors, are not proprietors of those who are subject to their authority; they have not a right to make them miserable. On the contrary, their authority is vested in them, that they may, by the just exercise of it, promote the happiness of their people. They have not a right to dispose of their liberty, and to sell them for slaves. Besides, no man has a right to acquire or to purchase them; men and their liberty are not in commercio, they are neither saleable or purchaseable. Every one of those unfortunate men, who are pretended to be slaves, has a right to be declared to be free, for he never lost his liberty; he could not lose it; his Prince had no power to dispose of him; of course, the sale was ipso jure void. This right he carries about with him, and is entitled everywhere to get it declared. As soon, therefore, as he comes into a country in which the judges are not forgetful of their own humanity, it is their duty to remember that he is a man, and to declare him to be free.”
In 1771 was published his most important work:— “Some historical account of Guinea, its situation, produce, and the general disposition of its inhabitants, with an inquiry into the rise and progress of the slave trade, its nature and lamentable effects, also a republication of the sentiments of several authors of note on this interesting subject, particularly an extract of a treatise by Granville Sharp; by Anthony Benezet.”
This publication led to the correspondence between Benezet and Sharp, as to which the biographer of the latter says (vol. i. p. 172):—
“The correspondence with Benezet, if it did not inspire, at least confirmed and enlarged, Mr Sharp’s desire of inquiry respecting the general subject of the African slave trade. It conducted his view to an examination of the source of the evil, and he conceived the vast design of extending his endeavours, and of augmenting and strengthening his means, until he should obtain an entire abolition of the infamous traffic carried on by Great Britain and her colonies. In justice then, and no less in honour, to the memory of the pious but humble Benezet, let it be remembered that, although his zealous labours failed to eradicate from America the evil which he deplored, they contributed to strengthen the arm of the great champion of his favourite cause, and finally to wipe away no small portion of human disgrace.”
Another favourite topic on which Benezet wrote and printed, was Peace among the Nations and the Unlawfulness of War. In 1756 he aided in the formation of “The Friendly Association for regaining and preserving peace with the Indians by pacific measures.” In 1763 he made an appeal to Sir Jeffery Amherst, commander of the army against these natives of the mountains, urging that security be given to them that they would not be robbed and spoiled by British traders, in which case their policy would be that expressed by their old chief in a message to his comrades:— Brethren, if you desire to become grey, and to see many days upon this earth, have off striking the English. The war with the mother country which began in 1775 gave him too good an opportunity for again pressing his opinions, and in 1776 he published his tract, “Thoughts on the Nature of War.” This, with his other publications, he was in the habit of circulating gratuitously, and sending copies to the leading personages both of Europe and America. One was addressed to Henry Laurens, President of the Congress of the United States. These presentation copies were respectfully acknowledged by the receivers; probably, however, the remark of Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, expressed the general opinion:— “The piece on slave-keeping is excellent, but the arguments against the unlawfulness of war have been answered a thousand times.” The war suspended his correspondence with Granville Sharp. It was renewed on the return of peace; but by this time Benezet’s health was fast declining.
With regard to personal traits, Benezet had much of the Huguenot firmness and humility, and of the French gaiety of spirit and conversation. His stature was small, and his features intelligent, but not handsome. On being asked to sit for his portrait, he exclaimed, “Oh! no, no, my ugly face shall not go down to posterity.” He disapproved of verbose panegyrics on tombstones, and entreated that he should never be the subject of an epitaph, unless such a one as this:— “Anthony Benezet was a poor creature, and, through divine favour, was enabled to know it.” His biographer steered gracefully clear of flattery by applying to him the quotation:—
He was the offspring of humanity,
And ev'ry child of sorrow was his brother.
Benezet’s humble expressions as to himself did not originate with his failing bodily health. They pervade all his correspondence — for instance, in 1774 he wrote:—
“I beg thou wilt spare complimenting me about the importance of my engagements. Thou amongst others of my fellowmen art welcome, nay hast a right to my poor service. I indeed desire not to be my own; but I am much out of humour with most of what I have been long doing, as well as with myself. I am rather fearful much of my activity has been nothing, less than nothing. O that a true gospel nothingness may prevail in my heart, is my most earnest desire.”
“He often (says his biographer) indulged an inherent facetiousness of mind, though the sallies of his wit were always controlled by the predominance of goodwill, and intended to convey lessons of instruction. Seeing one of his friends in the street, who was remarkable for a hurrying habit he had acquired, Benezet called to him to stop. I am now in haste, said the gentleman, I will speak with you when we next see each other. But resolved on his purpose, Benezet detained him for an instant with this impressive question, Dost thou think thou wilt ever find time to die? They then parted; but the person who received this laconic interrogation was afterwards heard to say, that he felt infinitely indebted to Mr. Benezet for his kind admonition.”
Benezet died in his seventy-first year, and was interred in the Friends’ burial-ground, Philadelphia. His funeral (says Granville Sharp’s biographer) “was attended by several thousands of all ranks, professions, and parties, who united in deploring their loss. The mournful procession was closed by some hundreds of those poor Africans who had been previously benefited by his labours, and whose behaviour on the occasion showed the gratitude and affection which they considered to be due to him as their own special benefactor, as well as the benefactor of their whole race.” In his lifetime he had fruit of his anti-slavery exertions in America — first, the emancipation of all slaves held by " the Friends " — and, secondly, the law passed in 1780 for the gradual abolition of slavery in Pennsylvania.
The date of his death was the 3d of May 1784. In 1785 in the English University of Cambridge, Thomas Clarkson, B.A., resolved to compete for the prize offered for the best Latin dissertation. The subject was. An liceat invitos in servitutem dare? and Clarkson was thus required to study the history and moral bearings of the slave trade. A part of the “few weeks” allotted for the composition of the essay had passed, and he felt hampered by the scantiness of the information he had collected. “Going by accident (he himself narrates) into a friend’s house, I took up a newspaper then lying on the table, and one of the articles which attracted my attention 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 precious book I found almost all I wanted.” Clarkson gained the first prize; and the study so roused his best feelings and resolutions that he dedicated his life to the Abolition cause. Thus soon did Benezet obtain a successor, as
The champion of an injured race,
Among the great and good.
It appears that John Stephen Benezet had a brother, who settled in England. James Benezet, Esq., married Elizabeth Frances, daughter of Claude Fonnereau, Esq., of Christ Church Park, in Suffolk. Elizabeth Francoise Fonnereau was baptized by M. Doules, in the French Church of St. Martin-Orgars, London, on Thursday, 14th May 1702; she was married at St. Stephen’s, Walbrook, on 13th May 1729, to Jaques Benezet, merchant.
The annotator of the Countess of Huntingdon’s life says, as to James Benezet :
“His descendant, the late Major Benezet, was a resident in Margate for many years, where he acquired considerable property, a great part of the new town having been built on land belonging to him. The name is now (1841) nearly extinct, only one person remaining, an old bachelor, upwards of seventy years of age.”
- ↑ For this memoir I am chiefly indebted to the Memoirs of Anthony Benezet by Roberts Vaux (1817) — and to “Anthony Benezet — from the Original Memoir, revised with additions by Wilson Armistead (1859).” The original memoir is indispensable — the reviser has given 1713 as the year of birth (omitting month and day) — failing to notice that the true date is 1713 (old style), and that in consequence of his reckoning according to the old style of year, the biographer called the month of January the “Eleventh Month.”
- ↑ Hoare’s Memoirs of Granville Sharp [born 1735, died 1813], vol. i. p. 145.