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CHAPTER IX

THE EARLY WORK FOR EXTIRPATION

The Words and Deeds of the Fanatics — The Quakers — Slaves that were Freed by Baptism — Granville Sharp as a Liberator — A Fanatic's Political Creed Plainly Stated — Widespread Influence of the Somerset Case when the Right Prevailed in England — A Policy that would not Square Well with a Practical Business Sense of Things — The American Declaration of Independence and the Black Men.

When Sir John Hawkins, flushed with success, was telling Good Queen Bess how he had taken, "partly by the sword and partly by other means" three hundred negroes from the coast of Guinea to the far side of the Atlantic and sold them there with profit, the heart of the Queen was touched and she saw, back of the “great profit," the picture of the negroes when they were torn from their homes by force, and she said the deed "was detestable." For one brief moment she saw clear-eyed, and a writer recorded her words where they were most likely to find readers among her people — in a naval history.

The importance of the fact that her words were printed is to be emphasized. The reader will recall what Carlyle says of the voiceless millions, whose sufferings made the French revolution possible, in contrast with the screaming outcries of the few who were un-

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