In these local concerns Thomas Hazard seems to have taken a less prominent part than in earlier years, but he is constantly sent to quarterly meeting, and added to committees, as in the Rathbun case when it became complicated. He was also on various committees to transact the business of the whole society. In this very year, 1773, the London yearly meeting is informed that Friends' "labor for the freedom of the Enslaved Negroes is still continued," and "that we have appointed our friends T. Hazard Isaac Lawton Philip Wanton and Jacob Mott Jr of Rhode Island a committee to correspond with our correspondents in London."1 This year of 1773 was a year of special activity among Friends. Joseph Wanton, of the old Quaker family, was the governor of Rhode Island. He was the son of Governor William Wanton, who left the Society of Friends on his marriage. The lady's family were strict Congregationalists, and as his family were Quakers, religious objections were made to the marriage, upon which he finally said, "Friend Ruth, let us break from this unreasonable bondage; I will give 1 R. I. Yearly Meeting Records, 1773. GRISWOLD ON MANUMISSION 179 up my religion, and thou shalt thine, and we will go over to the Church of England and go to the Devil together!" It was the son of this ardent lover who came to the head of colonial affairs, a few years before the Revolution, and who would naturally have some sympathy with the Society his father left. Among the papers of Thomas Hazard is a letter from Judge Mathew Griswold, of Connecticut, to this governor of Rhode Island, dated June 10, 1773. It is evidently in reply to one from Rhode Island on the subject of slaves. They are "Esteem with us," Judge Griswold says, "as the Proper Objects of the Care and Protection of the Government in common with Other Inhabitants. If any outrage undue Violence or Inhumane Severity is used it is Esteemd the Duty of the Informing & Peace officers of the Colony to interpose and give Relief upon proper Application made to them." But Judge Griswold is not clear as to manumission. "Those Things are not greatly Favour in Law: by People of Consideration here," he says, "Inasmuch as the Negroes who have been Manumitted in 1 Updike, p. 296. this Colony being Ignorant of the Art of Honest living have Frequently become Strowling vagrants have United with Thieves & Burglars and proved very Troublesome and Dangerous Inhabitants. I shod be Concerned that any People shod be oppressed by unlawful holding in Servitude. Justice ought to be done to Every one." The presence of this letter among the papers seems to indicate that Thomas Hazard's interest in the question was not only well known, but that he was on terms of friendship with Governor Wanton. This was the year (1773) that Stephen Hopkins was disowned by the Society because he would not liberate a slave woman, and the year that Moses Brown liberated all his slaves, preparatory to joining the Society in 1774.2 This excellent man, who did so much for the Society and for the infant manufactures of the State, was apparently a quarter of a century behind Thomas Hazard in his convictions on the subject of slavery. In 1774 Thomas Hazard was appointed on the committee to "use their influence at the General Assembly of Rhode Island or with 1 Appendix, Letter from Judge Griswold. 2 Moses Brown, A Sketch, by Augustine Jones, p. 15. LEGISLATION ON SLAVERY 1 181 the members thereof that such laws may be made as will tend to the abolition of slavery, and to get such laws repealed as any way encourage it." This committee presented an act which was passed by the General Assembly. The fact that the men who petitioned the Assembly for this purpose were themselves all "clear in their testimony" as to slavery must have carried great weight. The noble opening sentence read:-"Whereas the inhabitants of America are generally engaged in the preservation of their own rights and liberties, among which that of personal freedom must be considered as the greatest; as those who are desirous of enjoying all the advantages of liberty themselves should be willing to extend personal liberty to oth"2 it is therefore enacted that no negro or mulatto slave shall be brought into the Colony. ers, The whole of New England was soon plunged into trouble with the disasters of war, and little further action was taken until peace was restored. The negro called in the account book 1 R. I. Yearly Meeting Records, 1774. Priamus will be remembered. Among the papers is a long letter from John Pemberton of Philadelphia, so characteristic that it is given in full. This excellent Friend, "our dear John Pemberton," as Mrs. Elizabeth Drinker in her diary calls him, was the clerk of the meeting for sufferings in 1777, in Philadelphia, and was arrested and imprisoned for refusal to bear arms.1 He traveled in Ireland a few years later, and finally died in Germany in 1795.2 He had evidently been in Narragansett, as his charming message of "my Dear Love in thy freedom to such who may enquire," and his mention of "my friends in your parts" indicates. Philada, 5 mo 15, 1780. Dear Friend Tho' Hazard There is a negro man here, whose Case claims Commiferation, and having lived with thee 15 or 16 years, as he tells me I hope thou will use fome endeavors that Justice be done him & he fet free. His Name is Primus, after leaving thy Service he lived about 7 years with WTM Barden 1 Hodgson, Historical Memoirs of the Society of Friends, p. 342. 2 Mrs. E. Drinker's Journal, p. 264. |