In the 1760s, a brief exchange of letters between Ignatius Sancho and Laurence Sterne became a widely-publicized part of ongoing public debates about the abolition of slavery in the United Kingdom.
In 1766, at the height of the debate about slavery in Britain, Ignatius Sancho wrote a letter to Sterne encouraging the writer to use his pen to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade. "That subject, handled in your striking manner, would ease the yoke (perhaps) of manyâÂÂbut if only oneâÂÂGracious God!âÂÂwhat a feast to a benevolent heart!" he wrote.
Sterne's widely publicised 27 July 1766 response to Sancho's letter became an integral part of 18th-century abolitionist literature.This "tender tale" was published in Chapter 65 (Vol. IV) of Tristram Shandy.