k. But even here,
though he was far removed from the sight of those whose interests he had so
warmly espoused, he was not forgetful of their wretched condition. At the
quarterly meeting for that county, he brought their case before those
present in an affecting manner. He exhorted these to befriend their cause.
He remarked that as they, the Society, when under outward sufferings, had
often found a concern to lay them before the legislature, and thereby, in
the Lord's time, had obtained relief; so he recommended this oppressed part
of the creation to their notice, that they might, as the way opened,
represent their sufferings as individuals, if not as a religious society,
to those in authority in this land. This was the last opportunity that he
had of interesting himself in behalf of this injured people; for soon
afterwards he was seized with the small-pox at the house of a friend in the
city of York, where he died.

The next person belonging to the Society of the Quakers, who laboured in
behalf of the oppressed Africans, was Anthony Benezet. He was born before,
and he lived after, John Woolman; of course he was cotemporary with him. I
place him after John Woolman, because he was not so much known as a
labourer, till two or three years after the other had begun to move in the
same cause.

Anthony Benezet was born at St. Quintin in Picardy, of a respectable
family, in the year 1713. His father was one of the many protestants, who,
in consequence of the persecutions which followed the revocation of the
edict of Nantz, sought an asylum in foreign countries. After a short stay
in Holland, he settled, with his wife and children, in London, in 1715.

Anthony Benezet, having received from his father a liberal education,
served an apprenticeship in an eminent mercantile house in London. In 1731,
however, he removed with his family to Philadelphia, where he joined in
profession with the Quakers. His three brothers then engaged in trade, and
made considerable pecuniary acquisitions in it. He himself might have
partaken both of their concerns and of their prosperity; but he did not
feel himself at liberty to embark in their undertakings. He considered the
accumulation of wealth as of no importance, when compared with the
enjoyment of doing good; and he chose the humble situation of a
schoolmaster, as according best with this notion, believing, that by
endeavouring to train up youth in knowledge and virtue, he should become
more e