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
