A Visit to the United States in 1841 Part 7

One of the most voluminous and popular writers that ever lived, observed to a friend, "that he was more proud of his compositions for manure, than of any other compositions with which he had any concern." My friend, has the same love of rural occupations, and has found severe manual labor essential for the recovery of health, broken by labor of another kind. I found him at work on his farm, driving his own wagon and oxen, with a load of rails. When he had disposed of his freight, we mounted the wagon, and drove to his home. Two or three of his fellow-students at the Lane Seminary arrived about the same time, and we spent the day in agreeable, and, I trust, profitable intercourse. In the household arrangements of this distinguished family, Dr. Graham's dietetic system is rigidly adopted, which excludes meat, b.u.t.ter, coffee, tea, and all intoxicating beverages. I can a.s.sure all who may be interested to know, that this Roman simplicity of living does not forbid enjoyment, when the guest can share with it the affluence of such minds as daily meet at their table. The "Graham system," as it is called, numbers many adherents in America, who are decided in its praise.

My friends, Theodore D. and Angelina Weld, and Sarah Grimke, sympathize, to a considerable extent, with the views on "women's rights," held by one section of abolitionists; yet they deeply regret that this, or any other extraneous doctrine, should have been made an apple of discord; and, since the rise of these unhappy divisions, they have held aloof from both the anti-slavery organizations, though, as among the most able and successful laborers in the field, they may justly be accounted allies by each party. Difference of opinion on these points did not, for a moment, interrupt the pleasure of our intercourse; and I could not but wish, that those, of whatever party, who are accustomed to judge harshly of all who cannot p.r.o.nounce their "shibboleth," might be instructed by the candid, charitable, and peace-loving deportment of Theodore D. Weld.

During my visit to New York, I became acquainted with many who were deeply interested in the abolition cause, not a few of whom were members of my own religious society. Among these, I may particularly mention my venerable friends, Richard Mott and Samuel Parsons. I paid a second visit to the residence of the latter at Flushing, but regret to say, I found him too unwell to enjoy company.[A] His sons are anxiously desirous of furthering the abolition cause on every suitable occasion.

One evening I spent with a respectable minister, who is a man of color, and who a.s.sured me that most of the intelligent persons of his cla.s.s in New York approve of the course pursued by the late Convention in London, and the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. I saw at his house a man who had purchased his freedom for twelve hundred dollars, intending to remain in the same State, but, as in a precisely similar case already noticed, he afterwards found he had no alternative but to emigrate, leaving his still enslaved family behind him, or to be again sold into slavery himself, under the laws enacted to drive out free people of color. He was trying to raise the large sum of fourteen hundred dollars, to purchase his wife and four children.

[Footnote A: This illness terminated fatally. One of his intimate friends in this country, has favored me with the following communication respecting him. "Samuel Parsons had been from early life, a warm friend to the African race; his love of peace rendered him at the first accessible to prejudice against the American Anti-Slavery Society, through the misrepresentations respecting its violent and rash measures; which misrepresentations it was much more easy to believe than to investigate. Yet his interest for the negro and colored population of the United States continued, and he extended acts of protection and kindness towards them, whenever opportunity for it was afforded. In the Eleventh Month, last year, I find the following paragraph in one of his letters to us, viz. 'Though sensible that I am drawing towards the close of time, I cannot avoid taking a deep interest in the moral reformation, relative to slavery and intemperance, which is progressing in the earth; my son Robert and I look at these publications as they appear, with deep solicitude. The proceedings of the Anti-Slavery Convention of the world, and its movements, are of great moment to the whole civilized world. The anti-slavery cause, has not, I fear, advanced much the last year; the separation in the National Society, and the truckling to the South of the politicians of both sides, during the late Presidential election, has for a time marred the work; but the anti-slavery banner of a third party is still displayed, and it will probably continue to nominate till it seriously influences the elections. In the mean time, the individual States, one after another, are freeing the colored people from part of their civil disabilities. A hard battle is to be fought, but mighty is truth, and must prevail.'"]

"The fourth of July," the anniversary of the independence of the United States, fell this year on the first day of the week, and was therefore celebrated the day following. It is still marked by extravagant demonstrations of joy, and often disgraced by scenes of intemperance and demoralization. The better part of the community wisely counteract the evil, to a great extent, by holding, on the same day, temperance meetings, school examinations, opening their places of worship, et cet.

I accompanied my friend Lewis Tappan to attend an anti-slavery meeting at Newark, in which Theodore Weld was expected to take a part for the first time after an interval of five years' discontinuance of public speaking. Several years before, he had been carried away by the stream in crossing a river, and had very narrowly escaped drowning. This accident caused an affection of the throat, and eventually disqualified him for public labor except with the pen, to which, though deemed a great loss at the time by his fellow-laborers in the anti-slavery cause, we probably owe the invaluable works before referred to. It was on the same anniversary, five years ago, that he had spoken last, a circ.u.mstance to which he made a touching allusion: he spoke very impressively for more than half an hour without serious inconvenience, and I hope it may please Providence to restore his ability to plead, as he was wont to do with great power, for the cause of the oppressed.

In the afternoon there was a public examination of the scholars belonging to the place of worship in which the preceding meeting was held, and in connection with this a little incident occurred, which may serve to ill.u.s.trate the state of public feeling. Newark, from its extensive trade with the south, is much under pro-slavery influence. But the congregation of this chapel are generally anti-slavery, and have several colored children in their school. One of these, a little black girl, was qualified to take part in the public examination; but this, in the estimation of some of the parents of white scholars, and several even of the trustees, could not be borne. Others, on the contrary, resolved to battle with the prejudice of caste, and to call for her, if she were not brought forward; and, finally, I suppose, by way of compromise, she was brought on the platform to recite alone, after the little scholars who could rejoice in the aristocratic complexion had performed their parts, without suffering the indignity of a public a.s.sociation with a colored child. Even this was, however, considered a victory by the anti-prejudice party.

I left on the seventh for Niagara, being desirous to see the celebrated Falls, and to visit some friends living in the western part of this State, as well as to find relief from the oppressive and tropical heat.

I hoped also to fall in with my friends and fellow laborers, J. and M.

Candler, who had gone with a party in the same direction. I need not describe a route so often traversed by Europeans. One of its agreeable incidents was an accidental meeting with John Curtis, of Ohio, on his way, on a free trade mission, to Great Britain, from motives which I believe to be disinterested and philanthropic. His labors, which are princ.i.p.ally intended to show the evils of our taxes upon food, will not be in vain; though he will find many in England, as I found in America, who have no ear for truth when it opposes their prejudices or imaginary self-interest. He gave me a most cheering account of the march of abolition in Ohio, and said he had lately attended a meeting held at the invitation of the abolitionists, on the 5th of July, at which there were three thousand persons, who had come to the place of meeting in nine hundred vehicles of different kinds. He said he had never witnessed a more enthusiastic meeting. Another gentleman and his wife made themselves known to me, in the railway carriage, as warm abolitionists, and spoke favorably of the prospects of the cause in this part of the State of New York. The gentleman said he had lately had a discussion with a deacon of a church he attended, who defended the admission of slave-holders to the communion. On being asked, however, whether he would admit sheep-stealers, he acknowledged this was not so great a crime as man-stealing, and pleaded no further in favor of church-fellowship with slave-holders.

The journey from New York to the Falls of Niagara, a distance of 480 miles, is performed in about forty-eight hours, and when the railway communication is further completed, and the speed raised to the standard of the best English lines, it will probably be accomplished in less than thirty hours. The railway pa.s.sed for many miles through the original forest, in which I observed very lofty trees, but none of an extraordinary girth. In many places the ground was crowded with fallen trees, in every stage of decay. I found my friends at the Eagle Hotel, at Niagara, where I remained till the twelfth, enjoying with them the views and scenery of "the Falls," a spectacle of nature in her grandest aspect, which mocks the limited capacity of man to conceive or to describe.

On the eleventh, being the first day of the week, we held a meeting for worship, at our hotel, and were joined by an Irish lady and her three daughters, who had been living here some months. This lady told me she was present when M'Leod was arrested in this hotel. From all I have been able to learn, there are a number of reckless men on both sides the border line, who are anxious to foment war for the sake of plunder; but the great bulk of the American people, I am persuaded, are for peace, and especially for peace with England, a feeling which time is strengthening.

On the twelfth, our whole party left for Buffalo, by railway, getting a transient view of Lake Ontario before entering the city. Here we parted company, they proceeding to Toronto, by steam packet, and I to Syracuse by coach. The American vehicle of this name, carries nine inside pa.s.sengers on three cross seats. It is hung on leather springs, so as to be fitted to maintain the shocks of a _corduroy_ road. Wishing to see the country, I mounted the box, by the side of the coachman, but at times had some difficulty in retaining my seat. The value of land in this part of the country, when cleared and in cultivation, I understood to be from thirty to fifty dollars per acre. A large breadth of wheat is grown, of which the yield is generally good; but this year there will be, in many cases, a short crop, from the extreme drought in the two preceding months. I went forward from Syracuse to Rochester by railway, and thence, with the exception of twelve miles by coach, by the same conveyance to Auburn, where we arrived at two o'clock in the morning.

One of my fellow-pa.s.sengers had been a soldier in the so-called "patriot" army, which enlisted against Santa Anna, in the revolt of Texas. He stated, that some planters were emigrating from Mississippi, with as many as two hundred "hands," (slaves,) and plainly said, it was intended to plant the Anglo-Saxon flag on the walls of Mexico. If half what he a.s.serted was true, the worst apprehensions of the abolitionists are too likely to be realized by the Texian revolution, and the establishment of a new slave-holding power on the vast territory claimed by that piratical band of robbers, and forming the South-western frontier of the United States.

At Auburn I paid a visit to the celebrated State Prison, and though, from want of time to call upon a gentleman in the city for whom I had a letter, I was unprovided with an introduction, I was politely admitted by the superintendent, who refused to receive the fee customarily paid by visitors, when he found, from the entry of my name and address, I was an Englishman. I pa.s.sed through the different workshops, in which nearly all handicraft trades are carried on, and very superior work is frequently executed by the prisoners. Besides other less complicated machines, one complete locomotive engine has been constructed within these walls. As the system of discipline adopted here is the same as at Sing Sing, also in this State, I defer for the present, any remarks upon its character and success.

I left Auburn, in a hired carriage, for Skaneateles, to pay a visit to my friend, James Cannings Fuller. He has a rich farm of 156 acres, with a good house upon it, about a quarter of a mile west of the large and flourishing village of Skaneateles, which overlooks a beautiful lake of the same name, sixteen miles in length, and in some places two miles wide. James C. Fuller left England about seven years ago, and has carried his abolition principles with him to his adopted country. He told me that there had been a great change for the better in the public mind since his residence in this neighborhood. Abolitionism was once so unpopular, that he has been mobbed four times in his own otherwise quiet village. On one occasion he was engaged in a public discussion on slavery, and a mob so much disturbed the meeting, by the throwing of shot, and yells the most discordant the human voice could make, that his opponent moved an adjournment, and afterwards accompanied him on his way to his own house, with many other persons, as a body-guard. They were followed by a large number of other persons, who attempted to throw him down, and were very free in the use of missiles and mud; the mob were so vociferous, that their shoutings were heard two and a half miles distant, many persons leaving their houses to endeavor to ascertain the cause of such an uproar. On James C. Fuller's entering his house, the mob surrounded his parlor windows, and these would, most probably, have been smashed in pieces, and the building defaced, had not one of the a.s.sailants been seized with a fit, and in that state conveyed into James C. Fuller's parlor, where he lay insensible for three quarters of an hour. This sudden seizure diverted the attention of the mob from my friend and his property to their own companion.

James C. Fuller informed me that mobs in America are generally, if not always, instigated by "persons of property and standing;" and the most blameable, in his case, were not those who yelled, et cet., et cet., but others who prompted the outrage. Happily this state of things is now altered: as much order and decorum, with fixed attention, is now witnessed at an abolition lecture as at any other lecture; and a colored man can now collect a larger meeting in Skaneateles than a white man, and the behavior of the audience is attentive, kind, and respectful. My friend, John Candler, who was here a fortnight before me, collected a large a.s.sembly to hear his account of the effects of emanc.i.p.ation in our West India Islands, and many expressed themselves much gratified with his narrative.

Being anxious to proceed to Peterboro', to visit Gerrit Smith, I accepted James C. Fuller's kind offer to take me in his carriage. The distance is nearly fifty miles, and the roads were, in some parts, very rough; but they intersect a fine country. Much wheat is grown in many places, and here the crop appeared generally good.

Having started rather late in the afternoon, we were benighted before we reached Manlius Square, where we lodged. Though my kind friend would not permit me to pay my share of the bill, yet, to gratify my curiosity, he communicated the particulars of the charge, as follows: Half a bushel of oats for the horses, 25 cents; supper for two persons, 25 cents; two beds, 25 cents; hay and stable-room for the two horses, 25 cents; total, one dollar, or about 4s. 2d. sterling.

We arrived at Peterboro' early the following morning, where I remained till the sixteenth, at the house of Gerrit Smith. He was once a zealous supporter of the Colonization Society, but when convinced of the evil character and tendency of that scheme, he withdrew from it, and became a warm and able advocate of the immediate abolition of slavery. He is one of the few Americans who have inherited large property from their parents, and he has contributed to this cause with princely munificence.

Gerrit Smith and Arthur Tappan have, each on one or more occasions given single donations of ten thousand dollars (upwards of two thousand pounds sterling) to promote anti-slavery objects. His wife, Ann Carroll Smith, who is a native of Maryland, and his daughter, an only child, share in my valued friend's ardent sympathy for the sufferings of the slave.

During my stay, he received a letter from Samuel Worthington, of Mississippi, who held in slavery Harriet Russell. Harriet was formerly the slave of Ann Carroll Smith, having been given to her when they were both children. Ann C. Smith was but twelve years old when, with her father's family, she removed from Maryland to New York. Harriet was left in Maryland. Shortly after Ann C. Smith's marriage, and when she was about eighteen years of age, her brother, James Fitzhugh, of Maryland, wrote to ask her to give Harriet to him, stating that she was, or was about to be, married to his slave, Samuel Russell. She consented: and her brother soon after emigrated to Kentucky, taking Samuel and Harriet with him. After this Samuel and Harriet were repeatedly sold.

Some years ago, Gerrit and Ann C. Smith having become deeply impressed with the great sin of slavery, were anxious to learn what had become of Harriet. But they did not succeed in ascertaining her residence, until the letter received during my visit informed them of it, and which also stated that Harriet and her husband were living, and that they had several children. The price put upon the family was four thousand dollars.

James C. Fuller having kindly offered to go into Kentucky, where Samuel Worthington then resided, to negotiate with him for the purchase of the family, G. Smith gladly accepted the offer of one so well qualified for this undertaking. James C. Fuller succeeded in purchasing the family for three thousand five hundred dollars, exclusive of his travelling expenses, and those of the slave family, which amounted to about two hundred and eighty dollars. He has published a very interesting account of his journey, in a letter addressed to myself, from which some extracts are given in the Appendix.[A] Eighteen months ago, G. and A.C.

Smith united with other children of her father, the late Col. Fitzhugh, in purchasing, at the cost of four thousand dollars, the liberty of ten slaves, who, or their parents, were among the slaves of Colonel Fitzhugh when he left Maryland. I have recently learned that they are negotiating the purchase of the liberty of other slaves, who formerly belonged to Colonel Fitzhugh. It is nearly seven years since Gerrit Smith and his family adopted the practice of total abstinence from all slave produce, thus additionally manifesting the sincerity of those convictions which have induced him to contribute so largely of his wealth both to the anti-slavery funds, and for the liberation of all slaves with which his family property had the most remote connection.

[Footnote A: See Appendix I.]

Here, I had some expectation of again meeting my friend, James G.

Birney, who was gone on a journey to Ohio, and is well known to English abolitionists, by his able a.s.sistance at the great Anti-Slavery Convention, as one of its vice-presidents, and by his subsequent labors, which are thus acknowledged, on his return to America, by the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society:--

"That this committee are deeply sensible of the services rendered to the anti-slavery cause by their esteemed friend and coadjutor, James Gillespie Birney, Esq., whilst in this country, in a course of laborious efforts, in which his accurate and extensive information, his wise and judicious counsels, and his power of calm and convincing statement, have become eminently conspicuous.

"The committee also take the present occasion to record their sense of his zealous and disinterested labors in defence of the rights of outraged humanity in his own country, during a period of great excitement and opposition: and of the proof he has given of his sincerity, in having twice manumitted the slaves that had come into his possession; a n.o.ble example, which they trust others will not be slow to follow."

Whilst J.G. Birney was in this country, in addition to his arduous labors, in addressing large a.s.semblies in many of the cities of the United Kingdom, he prepared and published his excellent work, "The American Churches the Bulwark of American Slavery," which is eminently deserving of the attentive perusal of all Christian readers. The estimation in which James G. Birney is held by American abolitionists, is marked by his having been twice unanimously selected by the "Liberty Party," as a candidate for the Presidential chair.

I found G. Smith as much interested in the subject of temperance, as in that of slavery. No person in the whole of the township in which he lives is licensed to sell drams. For an innkeeper to sell a gla.s.s of spirits, or even of strong beer, is illegal, and exposes him to a heavy fine.

The next morning I left early for Utica, where I had the pleasure of again meeting the friends I had parted from at Buffalo, with whom I paid a visit to the Oneida Inst.i.tute, about two miles from Utica. This college was the first in the United States to throw open its doors to students, irrespective of color. It was also one of the earliest inst.i.tutions to combine manual labor with instruction. The principle is adopted partly from a motive of economy, but princ.i.p.ally because intellectual vigor is believed to depend on bodily health, and that these can be best secured and preserved by exercise and labor, especially out of door and agricultural employments. The labor of the students defrays a considerable part of the expense of their support, but as the severe pressure of the times has limited the means of many liberal benefactors of Oneida, the establishment, which usually comprises one hundred young men, is now limited to about one-third of the number. Several of these are colored. The Oberlin Inst.i.tute in Ohio is on a much larger scale than this, and is on an equally liberal footing with regard to color. I much regretted being unable, from want of time, to comply with the urgent request of my friend, Wm. Dawes and others, to visit this important and interesting establishment. The number of students at Oberlin last year was five hundred and sixty, including those in the department for females.

I was much pleased to have the opportunity of becoming further acquainted with the President of Oneida, Beriah Green, and with his friend, Wm. Goodell, who resides in the neighborhood. Their names will be reverenced by the abolitionists of America as long as the memory of anti-slavery efforts shall survive. Before we left, we had an opportunity of meeting the students together, who appeared much interested with my friend John Candler's details of the results of emanc.i.p.ation in Jamaica. I was disappointed in not finding at home Alvan Stewart, one of the ablest and most zealous friends of the Anti-Slavery cause; but Beriah Green kindly accompanied me to call upon several of their abolition friends in the city.

My limited time prevented my paying a visit to Henry B. Stanton, who was residing not far from Utica, and whose acquaintance I had the pleasure of making in England. He also will be remembered for his able a.s.sistance at the Convention, and by his eloquent addresses at public meetings in this country. The following record of his services is made by the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society:--

"That this Committee, in taking leave of their friend and fellow-laborer in the cause of universal emanc.i.p.ation, Henry Brewster Stanton, Esq., record their high estimate of the valuable services rendered by him to that cause, whilst in Great Britain, by his eloquent and powerful advocacy; and, in tendering him their thanks, they express their sincere desire for his success in the great work to which he has devoted himself."

The name of Henry B. Stanton previously occurs in conjunction with that of Theodore D. Weld, as having left Lane Seminary with many other students, rather than be silent on the abolition question: becoming from that time a strenuous and powerful anti-slavery advocate.

I proceeded in the evening to Albany, and thence to New York the next morning; where I remained from the 17th to the 26th instant, and, during this time, I put in circulation the following address:--

"_To the Members of the Religious Society of Friends in the United States of America_.

"Dear Friends,--Having for many years believed it my duty to devote a considerable portion of my time and attention to the promotion of the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade, I have acted in cordial co-operation with the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society since its formation. The principles of that Society may be briefly explained by the following extract from its const.i.tution: 'That so long as slavery exists, there is no reasonable prospect of the annihilation of the slave-trade, and of extinguishing the sale and barter of human beings: that the extinction of slavery and the slave-trade will be attained most effectually by the employment of those means which are of a moral, religious, and pacific character: and that no measures be resorted to by this society in the prosecution of their objects, but such as are in entire accordance with these principles.'

"My visit to this country had reference, in a great measure, to the objects for which this society was established; but, although I left my native land with the general approbation and full unity of my friends, they concurred with me in opinion, that any _official_ doc.u.ment, beyond a certificate from 'my monthly meeting,' expressive of sympathy with my engagement, might rather obstruct than promote the end I had in view. I was desirous of a personal interchange of sentiment with many of the abolitionists in this land, upon matters having an important bearing upon our future exertions. The warm attachment which I have ever felt to the religious society with which I am connected, and the ready co-operation of its members with their Christian neighbors in promoting this cause in Great Britain, inclined me to embrace every suitable opportunity to communicate with Friends in this country. And I have been encouraged, not only by the great personal kindness I have received from them generally, but also by the lively interest expressed by most, on the subject of emanc.i.p.ation, wherever I have introduced it.

"A further acquaintance with Friends in the compa.s.s of the three or four 'Yearly Meetings,' in which my lot has been cast, and my inquiries respecting the state of the other Yearly Meetings, has convinced me that a large number of their most consistent members, including many aged and universally respected Friends, are desirous of embracing every right opening, both individually and collectively, for the promotion of the abolition cause. And while they are fully aware that there are reasons growing out of the existing state of things, which render great circ.u.mspection necessary, they can see no good ground for believing that the manner in which Friends of this country, of a former generation, labored for the liberation of the slave, was not under the guidance of the Spirit of truth.

"This is now the course pursued by Friends generally in England.

That there may be no misapprehension as to the conduct of Friends, with regard to this subject, in Great Britain, I may mention, that I am the bearer of a doc.u.ment expressive of unity with my visit, signed by William Allen, Josiah Forster, William Forster, George Stacey, Samuel Fox, George W. Alexander, and Robert Forster, who declare themselves fellow members with myself of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Committee. This committee is composed of persons of various religious denominations, amongst whom it will be seen are many of the prominent members of our meeting for sufferings. Upon the list of delegates to the late Anti-Slavery Convention, in London, are the names of nearly one hundred well known Friends, including those of four who are, or have been clerks of the yearly meeting; and the present clerk of that meeting, my esteemed friend, George Stacey, took an active part, and rendered essential service in the Convention. The meeting house in Gracechurch Street was freely granted by Friends in London, who have charge of it, for the use of the Convention, and the concluding sittings of that body were held in it.

"In fact, Friends generally in England think it their duty to render every aid in their power to the anti-slavery cause, whether in their collective capacity, or individually uniting with their fellow-citizens, when they can do so without any compromise of our religious principles and testimonies. I speak more explicitly on this point, because I have ascertained with much concern, that there is an influential portion of the Society, including, I have no doubt, some sincere abolitionists, who have been so fearful that the testimonies of the Society might suffer by any union with others, that they have not only avoided such a co-operation themselves, but have dissuaded those of their brethren, who have believed it inc.u.mbent upon them to act otherwise; and in one 'Yearly Meeting,' at least, I have too much reason to fear they have tacitly, if not actively sanctioned the omission of the names of Friends on meeting appointments,--however consistent in their conduct, and concerned for the welfare of the society--simply because they have felt it their duty to act with persons of other denominations in promoting the abolition of slavery; thus, in appearance at least, throwing the whole weight and influence of the society, in its collective capacity, against a movement, which, although doubtless partaking of the imperfections attendant upon all human instrumentality, has already aroused the whole country to a sense of the wrongs of the slave, and secured to the nominally free colored citizens, in many of the States, rights of which they have been so long and so unjustly deprived.

"Though I can hardly expect that any thing from one entertaining my view of the subject, can have much weight with those Friends, who, with a full understanding of the heavy responsibility they were a.s.suming, have discountenanced anti-slavery exertions, and the use of our meeting houses, even by consistent members, for the purpose of giving information on the subject:[A] yet, as it has occasioned me no small degree of anxiety, both in reference to the anti-slavery cause, and the Society of Friends itself, I believe I cannot return to my native land with peace of mind, without earnestly and affectionately pressing upon such Friends, the great importance of a careful examination of the ground which they have taken. Our unwearied adversary is sometimes permitted to lead us into the most fearful errors, when he a.s.sumes the appearance of an angel of light. And is there not great danger, in encouraging the young and inexperienced to suppose that the maintenance of any of our testimonies may be neglected, except when we feel a Divine intimation to uphold them, and may it not open the door to great laxity in our practice? While I fully believe that the true disciple of Christ will be favored with the immediate guidance of the Holy Spirit whenever it is needful to direct his steps; it appears to me especially important, that, in matters of self-sacrifice and conflicting with our worldly interest or reputation, we should guard against being deluded into a neglect of duty, by waiting for this direct Divine intimation, where the path of duty is obvious and clearly understood, and when testimonies are concerned, which we have long considered it our duty, on all occasions, to support. If, under such a view of the subject, we do believe it our duty to cease to act ourselves, and discourage our brethren from laboring in the cause of the slave; a close self-examination surely is needful, in order to ascertain if we are consistently carrying out the same principle in our daily walk in life--in our mercantile transactions--our investments of property--in our connection with public inst.i.tutions,--and with political parties.

[Footnote A: "It is right to state, that I was much encouraged by the lively expression of sympathy in the anti-slavery cause in the Yearly Meetings of Philadelphia and New York: that at the former place Friends opened a room at the meeting house for my friend John Candler to give some information on the subject, and at New York the large meeting house was not only readily granted to him and me for the same purpose, but the clerks of the Yearly Meeting kindly gave notice and invited Friends to attend."]

"It should be borne in perpetual recollection, that we are in no small danger of shrinking from a faithful maintenance of those testimonies which are unpopular with the world, as well as of not seeing our own neglect of duty, while censuring the zeal or supposed indiscretion of others. Besides, if this good cause be really endangered by popular excitement, and the indiscretion of its imprudent advocates, the obligation of consistent Friends to be found at their posts, faithfully maintaining the testimony of truth on its behalf, is greatly increased; and it is under such circ.u.mstances that I think I have seen the peculiar advantage and protection to our young friends in England, of having their elder brethren with them, aiding them by their sympathy, as well as by their advice and counsel. I am persuaded that those who are called to occupy the foremost ranks in society cannot be too careful not to impose a burden upon tender consciences, by discouraging, either directly or indirectly, a course of conduct which is sanctioned by the precepts and examples of our Divine Master, lest they alienate from us some of His disciples, and thereby greatly injure the society they are so laudably anxious to 'keep unspotted from the world.'

"We are told, on the highest authority, that 'by their fruits'

we are to judge of the laborers in the Christian vineyard; and, while I am fully aware of the greater difficulties in the way of emanc.i.p.ation _here_, as compared with Great Britain, I have been almost irresistibly led to contrast the difference in the results of the course pursued by Friends in the two countries.

In America, during the last twenty-five years, it is evident that slavery and the slave-trade have greatly increased; and even where the members of our society are the most numerous and influential, the prejudice against color is as strong as in any part of the world,[A] and Friends themselves, in many places, are by no means free from this prejudice. In Great Britain, Friends, by society action, and by uniting with their fellow-countrymen, not only contributed, under Providence, in no small degree, to the pa.s.sage of the act of 1834, for the abolition of slavery in the British West Indies; but, when it was found that the system of apprenticeship which this act introduced, was made an instrument of cruel oppression to the slaves, a renewal of similar labors for about twelve months, resulted in the _complete_ emanc.i.p.ation of our colored brethren in those colonies.

[Footnote A: "I should, I believe, do wrong to conceal the sorrow which I have felt that the scheme of African colonization, the great support of which, at the present time, appears to be hostility to anti-slavery efforts and an unchristian prejudice against color, still has the sympathy and the active aid of some members of our society."]