Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-07-01

AShNea soaVH W ~
day.
AT length it became less an object of ambition,
as a literary contest for academic honors. than the
production Of a work that might be Of use to the
suffering Africans, and call upon his country 70
shake of "the accursed thing" which is twice
cursed, cursing both the prosecutor and the perse-
cuted for
"Hcav'n, whose darling attribute we find.
Is ooundless grace and mercy to mankind,
Abhors The cruel" Dryden.
With this additional object perpetually IN his
mind, he regularly, after having read the harrow
accounts in Benezet's faithful pages, slept with e
light id his chamber, that he might rise from his
couch and note down such thoughts as arose in
his mind ddring the still and solemn hours Of
night. This practice arose from q fixed determi.
nation Of putting forth his utmost strength, not
merely for University honours, but for the honour
Of universal human nature and that no auxiliary.
however small, should be lost to the argumentative
portion of his thesis.
Having, at length, finished his painful task, he
transmitted his dissertation to the Vice Chancellor;
and, shortly afterwards, found himself honoured,
as in the previous year, by the award of the first
prize. This was the first spark elected in Clark
sons mind, which kindled a fire in the whole
Christian part of the English nation and excited
the people, throughout the length and breadth Of
the British Isles, in a generous endeavor to ale
viatc the ~sufferings and redress the wrongs Of their
African brethren and thus was the quiet under.
graduate of Cambridge simultaneously converted,
as Bernard Barton records it, from a youthful al
pirant for academic bays into
"The champion of an injured raco,
Among the great and good"
As it was the custom in the University Of Cam
bridge for the author of these laureated d~isserta-
tons to read them in the Senate House, before tho
assembled University, shortly after the a~djudica-
ton of the honours, Thomas Clarkson was recalled
to Cambridge for that purpose. He 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 lucubra-'
tons, which had so painfully occupied his mind
by day and night, when in his desire to excel he
followed the precept of the Roman Wrist, "Noc-
tu'na rcrSate manu-, versate diurna," so completely
engrossed his thoughts, and preyed with such
frightful energy upon bis mind that he could think
of nothing else. He became, as he himself re-
cords in his narrative, at times very seriously Of.
fected whilst upon the road. He occasionally
stopped his horse, dismounted, and proceeded
slowly and thoughtfully on foot; frequently on
deavouring to persuade himself that the contents
of his dissertation could not, by any possibility.
be true. Ths more, however, that he reflected;
upon the barbarous facts which he found recorded
with such testimonials to their truthfulness in the
authorities he had quoted, the more he believed
their frigatfaf Statements TO be true. Approaching
the village of Wadc's Mill, in Hertfordshire, he
sat down i'll a'disconsolate mood upon the grass by
the roadside, and held his horse by the bride.
whilst seated upon this grassy spot, which is rs
deserving of as Wittington's stone
on Highgate Hill, the happy Thoughts flashed into
his mind, that if the horrifying contehts ca his
academic exercitation acre trae, the tirde hhd GER
tainly arrived when some person should come for
ward, and put an end to such demoniacal atroci-
ties.
In this state Of mental perturbation, tho young
alumnas keareatus reached his home more sad that
even had he lost his prize. This overwhelming
impressions, from which such great results have
flowed, ocehtred in the summer of f785.. H. the
autumn of that year the 'incipient champion Of the
abolition Of the traffic id human flesh and blbod.
body and soul, unable to shake of his melancholy
feelings, walked frequently in the woods contitr-
GUS to his nome, that he might contemplate the
all-engrossing subject in silence and in solitdd, ,
and find relief for his agitated feelings. In tfsss
outrageous solitudes, communing in spirit wits
himself, the question still required to hiy mind.
Can these things he true~ Still the answeffnl.
lowed as instantaneously rs 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 IA
end to the bloody traffic. This he ultimately re.
solved to do himself. He felt convinced thst
there had never been sny cause undertaken By
any man in any country, or in any age, so great or
SO important to religion and Humanity, as that
upon which he was meditating: that there never
had been one in which more cruelty was inflicted.
or more misery endured, or which cried more loud.
: ly to heaven and earth for redress.
e Here, then, was the grand result of a University
Prize Essay. Though the youthful student could
I not extinguish his desires for worldly interests and
i honours all at once, the sense of duty and the
r holiness of the cause he had espoused crept closer
t to his heart, and he never relinquished it, but ded.
d icated his whole life to the sacred cause Of Free
i dom. The offer of a University prize is only
, extended to a very limited number of competitors.
: When q similar offer is made, without restriction,
: open to all who choose to enter the lists, how
d many under Providence may it be the means Of
, awakening to a sense of the i~niquities of the slave
t system, and of its unparalleled atrocities and
. hence the imperative duty of l~abOuring for its e1-
~tinctionf
s. SLAVERY IN NEBRAsf AND KANsAs.-slavchold,
. es in Nebraska and it vicinity are up and doing
n for the introduction of slavery there. Numerous
public meetings have been held there in favor of
d slavery. Among them, one held at Salt Creek, in
d Kansas, resolved itself into a "Squaae7's Associa-