BENJAMIN FRANKLIN.

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is chiefly governed by the passion of fear. He is poor and friendless-perhaps worn out by extreme labor, age, and disease.

Under such circumstances, freedom may often prove a misfortune to himself, and prejudicial to society.

Attention to emancipated black people, it is, therefore, to be hoped, will become a branch of our national police; but as far as we contribute to promote this emancipation, so far that attention is evidently a serious duty incumbent on us, and which we mean to discharge to the best of our judgment and abilities.

To instruct, to advise, to qualify those who have been restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil liberty; to promote in them habits of industry; to furnish them with employments suited to their age, sex, talents, and other circumstances; and to procure their children an education calculated for their future situation in life; these are the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have adopted, and which we conceive will essentially promote the public good, and the happiness of these our hitherto too much neglected fellow creatures.

A plan so extensive cannot be carried into execution without considerable pecuniary resources, beyond the present ordinary funds of the society. We hope much from the generosity of enlightened and benevolent freemen, and will gratefully receive any donations or subscriptions for this purpose, which may be made to our treasurer, James Starr, or to James Pemberton, chairman of our committee of correspondence.

Signed by order of the Society,

Philadelphia, November 9, 1789.

B. FRANKLIN, President.

According to Stuber's account, Dr. Franklin's name, as president of the Abolition Society, was signed to the memorial presented to the House of Representatives of the United States, on the 12th of February, 1789, praying them to exert the full extent of power vested in them by the Constitution, in discouraging the traffic of the human species. This was his last public act. In the debates to which this memorial gave rise, several attempts were made to justify the trade. In the Federal Gazette, of March 25th, 1790, there appeared an essay, signed HISTORICUS, written by Dr. Franklin, in which he communicated a speech, said to have been delivered in the Divan of Algiers, in 1687, in opposition to the prayer of the petition of a sect called Erika, or Purists, for the abolition of piracy and slavery. This pretended African speech was an excellent parody of one delivered by Mr. Jackson of Georgia. All the arguments urged in favor of negro slavery, are applied with equal force to justify the plundering and enslaving of Europeans. It affords, at the same time, a demonstration of the futility of the arguments in defence of the slave-trade, and of the strength of mind and ingenuity of the author, at his advanced period of life.-Memoirs by Wm. Temple Franklin.

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States: The Memorial of the Pennsylvania Society for promoting the abolition of slavery, the relief of free negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and the improvement of the condition of the African raceRESPECTFULLY SHEWETH,

That from a regard for the happiness of mankind, an association was formed several years ago in this State, by a number of her citizens of various religious denominations, for promoting the abolition of slavery, and for the relief of those unlawfully held in bondage. A just and accurate conception of the true principles of liberty, as it spread through the land, produced accessions to their numbers, many friends to their cause, and a legislative co-operation with their views, which, by the blessing of Divine Providence, have been successfully directed to the relieving from bondage a large number of their fellow creatures of the African race. They have, also, the satisfaction to observe, that in consequence of that spirit of philanthropy and genuine liberty which is generally diffusing its beneficial influence, similar institutions are forming at home and abroad.

That mankind are all formed by the same Almighty Being, alike objects of his care, and equally designed for the enjoyment of happiness, the Christian religion teaches us to believe, and the political creed of America fully coincides with the position. Your memorialists particularly engaged in attending to the distresses arising from slavery, believe it their indispensable duty to present, this subject to your notice. They have observed with real satisfaction, that many important and salutary powers are vested in you for "promoting the welfare and securing the blessings of liberty to the people of the United States ;" and as they conceive that these blessings ought rightfully to be administered, without distinction of color, to all descriptions of people, so they indulge themselves in the pleasing expectation, that nothing which can be done for the relief of the unhappy objects of their care, will be either omitted or delayed.

From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion, and is still the birthright of all men, and influenced by the strong ties of humanity and the principles of their institution, your memorialists conceive themselves bound to use all justifiable endeavors to loosen the bands of slavery, and promote a general enjoyment of the blessings of freedom.Under these impressions, they earnestly entreat your serious attention to the subject of slavery; that you will be pleased to countenance the restoration of liberty to those unhappy men, who alone in this land of freedom, are degraded into perpetual bondage, and who amidst the general joy of surrounding freemen, are groaning in servile subjection-that you will devise means for removing this inconsistency from the character of the American people-that you will promote mercy and justice towards this distressed race-and that you will step to the very verge of the power vested in you for discouraging every species of traffic in the persons of our fellow men. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, President, [Federal Gazette, 1790.]

Philadelphia, Feb. 3, 1790.

BENJAMIN RUSH.

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BENJAMIN RUSH.

The [cruel] master's wealth cannot make him happy.—The sufferings of a single hour in the world of misery, for which he is preparing himself will overbalance all the pleasures he ever enjoyed in this life-and for every act of unnecessary severity he inflicts on his slaves, he shall suffer tenfold in the world to come.

His unkind behaviour is upon record against him. The gentle spirits in heaven, whose happiness consists in expressions of gratitude and love, will have no fellowship with him. His soul must be melted with pity, or he can never escape the punishment which awaits the hard-hearted, equally with the impenitent, in the regions of misery.Paradise of Negro Slaves.

About the year 1775, I read a short essay with which I was much pleased, in one of Bradford's papers, against the slavery of the Africans in our country, and which, I was informed, was written by Thomas Paine. This excited my curiosity to be better acquainted with him. We met soon afterwards at Mr. Aitkins' bookstore, where I did homage to his principles and his pen on the subject of the enslaved Africans. He told me that it was the first piece he had ever published here."

When the subject of American Independence began to be agitated in this country, the public mind was loaded with an immense mass of prejudice and error relative to it. I called upon Mr. Paine, and suggested to him the propriety of preparing our citizens for a perpetual separation from Great Britain. He seized the idea with avidity, and immediately began his famous pamphlet in favor of that measure. When the sheets were finished, they were put into the hands of Samuel Adams, Judge Wilson, and Dr. Franklin, who held the same opinions, but by whom, no additions were made. At that time, there was in Philadelphia, a certain Robert Bell, an intelligent and independent Scotch printer. He at once consented to run the risk of publishing the pamphlet. The author and printer were.immediately brought together, and in a few days "COMMON SENSE" burst from the press, with an effect that has rarely been produced by types and paper in any age or country.-Letter to Cheetham, July 17, 1809.

Th

The State of Pennsylvania still deplores the loss of a man in whom season, revelation, and many physical causes concurred to produce such attainments in moral excellency, as have seldom appeared in a human being. This amiable citizen considered his fellow-creature, man, as God's extract from his own works; and whether this image of Himself was cut out from ebony or copper; whether he spoke his own or a foreign language; or whether he worshipped with ceremonies or without them; he still considered him as a brother, and equally the object of his benevolence. Poets and historians who are to live hereafter, to you I commit his panegyric; and when you hear of a law for abolishing slavery in each of the American States, such

as was passed in Pennsylvania in 1780; when you hear of the Kings and Queens of Europe publishing edicts for abolishing the trade in human souls; and lastly, when you hear of schools and churches, with all the arts of civilized life, being established among the nations of Africa; then remember and record, that this revolution in favor of human happiness was the effect of the labors, the publications, the private letters, and the prayers of Anthony Benezet.Rush's Inquiry.

ANTHONY BENEZET.

I can with truth and sincerity declare, that I have found amongst the negroes as great variety of talents, as among a like number of whites; and I am bold to assert, that the notion entertained by some that the blacks are inferior in their capacities, is a vulgar prejudice founded on the pride or ignorance of their lordly masters, who have kept their slaves at such a distance as to be unable to form a right judgment of them.

PATRICK HENRY.

Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God!-I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!

HANOVER, January 18, 1773.

DEAR SIR,-I take this opportunity to acknowledge the receipt of Anthony Benezet's book against the slave-trade: I thank you for it. It is not a little surprising, that the professors of Christianity, whose chief excellence consists in softening the human heart; in cherishing and improving its finer feelings, should encourage a practice so totally repugnant to the first impressions of right and wrong. What adds to the wonder is, that this abominable practice has been introduced in the most enlightened ages. Times, that seem to have pretensions to boast of high improvements in the arts and sciences, and refined morality, have brought into general use, and guarded by many laws, a species of violence and tyranny, which our more rude and barbarous, but more honest ancestors, detested. Is it not amazing, that at a time, when the rights of humanity are defined and understood with precision, in a country, above all others, fond of liberty, that in such an age, and in such a country, we find men professing a religion the most humane, mild, gentle and generous, adopting a principle as repugnant to humanity, as it is inconsistent with the Bible, and destructive to liberty? Every thinking, honest man rejects it in speculation, How few in practice, from conscientious motives

JAMES MONROE-JOHN JAY.

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Would any one believe that I am master of slaves, of my own purchase! I am drawn along by the general inconvenience of living here without them. I will not, I cannot justify it. However culpable my conduct, I will so far pay my devoir to virtue, as to own the excellence and rectitude of her precepts, and lament my want of conformity to them.

I believe a time will come, when an opportunity will be offered to abolish this lamentable evil. Every thing we can do, is to improve it, if it happens in our day; if not, let us transmit to our descendants, together with our slaves, a pity for their unhappy lot, and our abhorrence for slavery. If we cannot reduce this wished for reformation to practice, let us treat the unhappy victims with lenity. It is the furtherest advance we can make towards justice, it is a debt we owe to the purity of our religion, to show that it is at variance with that law, which warrants slavery. I know not where to stop. I could say many things on the subject; a serious view of which, gives a gloomy perspective to future times!Letter to Robert Pleasants.

I repeat it again, that it would rejoice my very soul that every one of my fellow beings was emancipated. As we ought with gratitude to admire that decree of heaven, which has numbered us among the free, we ought to lament and deplore the necessity of holding our fellow men in bondage.-Debate in Virginia Convention.

JAMES MONROE.

We have found that this evil has preyed upon the very vitals of the Union; and has been prejudicial to all the states in which it has existed.-Speech in the Virginia Convention.

JOHN JAY.

The state of New York is rarely out of my mind or heart, and I am often disposed to write much respecting its affairs; but I have so little information as to its present political objects and operations, that I am afraid to attempt it.-An excellent law might be made out of the Pennsylvania one, for the gradual abolition of slavery. Till America comes into this measure, her prayers to Heaven will be impious. This is a strong expression, but it is just. Were I in your legislature, I would present a bill for the purpose with great care, and I would never cease moving it till it became a law, or I ceased to be a member. I believe God governs the world, and I believe it to be a maxim in his as in our court, that those who ask for equity ought to do it.— Letter from Spain, 1780.