Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-05-27
1.-THE champion Of an injured race,
Among the great and good"

As il was the custom in the University Of Cam
bridge for the author Of these laureatcd disserta-
tons to read them in the Senate House, before the
assembled University, shortly after the adjudica-
tion of the honours, Thomas Clarkson was recalled
to Cambridge for that purpose. lie returned to
his college and performed his academic duties (;
but on his journey TO London, which he performed
on horseback the subject of his recent luoubra-
tions, which had so painfully occupied his mind
by day and night, when in his desire to excel he
followed the precept of the Roman lyrst, Noe
tuTha rersote manu- reysate dhuHd," so complete
" engrossed his thoughts, and preyed with such
irighttul energy upon his mind, that he could think
of nothing else. lie became, as he himself re-
cords in his narrative at times very seriously 0i-
iected whilst upon the road. lie occasionally
stopped his horse, dsmounted, and proceeded
slowly and thoughtfully on foot frequently en-
deayouring to persuade himself that the contents
OF his dissertation could not, by any possibility,
be true. The more, however, that he reflected
upon the barbarous facts which he found recorded
with such testimonies to their truthfulness in the
authorities he had quoted, the more he believed
their irightfu statements to be true. Approaching
the village of Wade's Mill, in IIertfordshre, he
sat down in q disconsOlate mood upon the grass by
the roadside, and held his horse by the bridlc.
Whilst seated upon this grassy spot, which is MS
deserving of commemoration as Wittington's stone
on llighgote Hill, the happy thought flashed into
his mind, that if the horrifying contents Of his
academic exercitation pere true, the time had cer-
tainly arrived when some person should come for
ward, and put an end to such demoniacal atroci-
ties.
In this state of mental perturbation, the young
aIumnuS 'aureatus reached his home more sad than
even had he lost the prize This overwhelming
impression, from which such great results hare
flowed, occurred in the summer of 1885, In the
autumn OF that year the incpent champion Of the
abolition OF the traffic in human flesh and blood,
body and soul, unable to shake off his melancholy
feelings, walked frequently in the woods contigu-
Gus to his home, that he might contemplate the
al-engrossing subject in silence and in solitude
and find relief for his agitated feelings. In these
umbrageous soltudes, cOmmunng in spirit with
himself, the question still required to his mind,
Can these things be true?" Still the answer fol-
lowed as insantaneously as the thunder succeeds
the lightning, They are, they must be: the tes-
timony is too powerful for doubt" The same re-
suits always followed these solitary conferences,
and Clarkson became increasingly impressed with
the necessity of some one interfering to put au
end to the bloody traffic This he ultimately re-
solved to dc himself He felt fully convinced that
there had never been any cause undertaken by
any man in any country, or in any age, great Oh
so important to religion and humanity, as tha
upon which he was meditating: that there ncSel
had been one III which more cruelty was inflicted
or more misery endured, or which cried more loud
| ly to heaven and earth for redress
Here, then, was the grand result of Universit,
Prize Essay. Though the youthful student coult
not oxtnguish his desires for worldly interests ant
honours all at once, the sense of duty and the
holiness of the cause he had espoused crept closer
to his heart, and he never relnquished it, but ded
icatcd his whole life to the sacred cause of Free
dom. The offer of q University prize is only
extended to very limited number Of competitors
When similar offer is made, without restriction
open to all who choose TO enter the lists, how
many under Providence may it be the means Of
awakening to a sense of the nquties cf the Slave
system, and Of its unparalleled atrocities; and
extinction From "ThomaS Clarkson," Jy James
EimeS.