[A]: See Appendix A.
[B]: See Appendix B.
It will be interesting to some of my English readers to be informed, that both the sale and use of spirituous liquors come within the scope of discipline among "Friends" in America. In this Yearly Meeting it is required that the subordinate meetings should report the number of their members, who continue to sell, use, or give ardent spirits. If I remember rightly the number of cases reported was fifty-nine. At present the moderate use of spirits subjects to admonition, but it was discussed at this time whether the rule of discipline should not be rendered more stringent, and this practice made a disownable offence. Finally it was resolved to make no alteration at present, but to recommend the local meetings of Friends to use further labor in the line of reproof and persuasion. I am informed that some of the American Yearly Meetings of Friends go still farther on this subject. It will scarcely be questioned that public sentiment both in the United States, and in England, condemns even the moderate use of ardent spirits as a beverage, though some difference of opinion will exist as to the propriety of a religious society making it a cause of disownment or exclusion. In this case of the Philadelphia Meeting, however, it may be remarked, that in a community of many thousand members, the practice may be regarded as almost eradicated by the milder methods of persuasion. It is a fact deserving of notice, that the same worthies of the last century, Woolman, Benezet, and others, who raised the standard of anti-slavery testimony, also by the same process of independent thinking, and single-minded, unhesitating obedience to convictions of duty, anticipated the verdict of public opinion on this subject. Woolman found that even the most moderate use of ardent spirits, was unfavorable to that calm religious meditation, which was the habit of his mind, and has left his views on record in various characteristic passages. I shall also, I trust, be excused for introducing the following anecdote of two of his contemporaries.
"Jacob Lindley, to adopt his own designation of himself was a 'stripling' when he attended a Yearly Meeting of Friends held at Philadelphia; his mind had been for some time much afflicted with an observation of the pernicious effects of spirituous liquors, and he was anxious that the religious society to which he belonged, should cease to use, and prevent any of its members from being instrumental in manufacturing or vending them. He therefore rose and developed his feelings to the assembly, in the energetic and pathetic manner for which he was peculiarly remarkable. When the meeting adjourned, he observed a stranger pressing through the crowd towards him, who took him by the hand in the most affectionate manner, and said, 'My dear young friend, I was very glad to hear thy voice on the subject of spirituous liquors; I have much unity with thy concern, and hope that no discouragement may have been received from its not being farther noticed; and now I want thee to go home, and take dinner with me, having something farther to say to thee on the subject.' Lindley accepted the invitation, and after they had dined, Benezet introduced his young guest into a little room used as a study, where he produced a manuscript work on the subject of spirituous liquors, in an unfinished state; he opened the book and laid it on a table before them, saying, 'This is a treatise which I have been for some time engaged in writing, on the subject of thy concern in meeting to-day; and now if thou hast a mind to sit down, and write a paragraph or two, I will embody it in the work, and have it published.'"[A]
[A]: Life of Anthony Benezet, p. 107-109.
These eminent men, John Woolman and Anthony Benezet, had much in common; yet their characters were as unlike as opposite temperaments, and as alike as similarity of views, could make them. So marked was their coincidence of sentiment in opposition to the prevailing opinions and practices of that day, that it might be surmised one was a disciple of the other, yet there is no reason to suppose such was the case. Each had the single eye; both learned in the same school, and sat at the feet of the same Divine Master. It is an interesting fact that on the subject last noticed, their labors should have been comparatively fruitless, and for a long interval almost forgotten, while their views on slavery rapidly spread, and produced extensive and permanent results. Does not this illustrate the lesson long ago taught by a great master of wisdom: "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand; for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they shall both be alike good." May we not infer from this, that even those labors, rightly undertaken, which do not immediately prosper, are yet owned and accepted in the Divine sight?
To return from this digression to our attendance of the Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia: one interesting part of the business was the annual report on education; from which it appeared, that the whole number of children, of an age for education, within the compass of this Yearly Meeting, was eighteen hundred and fourteen, and of these ninety-eight were temporarily absent, though most of them had been receiving instruction during part of the year.
I was also deeply interested in the statements made relative to the wicked expatriation of the Indians living within this Yearly Meeting's limits, by the United States Government, from lands which had been secured to them by treaty in the most solemn manner, to the Western wilderness, under plea of a fraudulently obtained cession of their lands, by a few of their number. What greatly aggravates the case is the fact, that these Indians were making rapid progress in civilization, and from a nation of hunters had generally become an agricultural people. Their whole history is a reproach and blot on the American Government, and shews either that public and private virtue amongst the people is at a low ebb, or that "the wicked bear rule." On behalf of this injured people, "Friends" appear to have made strenuous efforts, but have failed in producing any decidedly favorable impression on the Government. The report on this subject, embodied a very affecting letter from the chiefs of this tribe, describing their grief and distress at the prospect of a cruel removal from the homes of their ancestors.[A]
[A]: See Appendix C.
During this week, my valued friends, John and Maria Candler, arrived from Hayti, after a stay of many months in Jamaica. At the close of the Yearly Meeting, a meeting was held, and attended by about three hundred "Friends," to whom John Candler gave much interesting information, detailing the results of emancipation in that Island, from his own extensive observations and inquiries. At the request of some individuals present I added a few observations at the close, on the principles and objects of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society.