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In virtue of the authority thus delegated to them, the Committee called the Second National Convention, which assembled at Saratoga Springs on the 4th of August, 1836; at which Convention nineteen States and territories, with the two Canadas, were represented by near four hundred delegates.

Among the acts of the Convention it was

Resolved, That the name of the United States Temperance Union be changed to, The American Temperance Union; and the Union was fully organized by the appointment of the following officers.

President-John H. Cocke, of Virginia.

Vice-Presidents - Matthew Newkirk, of Pennsylvania, Samuel Hubbard, of Massachusetts, Lewis Cass, of Michigan, Bishop Stuart, of Lower Canada, Theodore Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, R. H. Walworth, of New York, Robert Lucas, of Ohio, and Robert P. Dunlap, of Maine.

Executive Committee - Edward C. Delavan, John W. Leavitt, of New York, Isaac Collins, Isaac S. Lloyd, of Pennsylvania, John Tappan, of Massachusetts, Christian Keener, of Maryland, and John T. Norton, of Connecticut.

Secretaries-John Marsh, of Pennsylvania, and Lyndon A. Smith, of New Jersey.

Treasurer-Robert Earp, of Pennsylvania.

Auditor-Thomas Fleming, of Pennsylvania.

In the month of October the Committee met in New York, and adopted the following resolutions :

Resolved,—That it is desirable that a national Temperance press be established at Philadelphia, from which shall be issued such publications as the great interests of the cause may require.

Resolved, That Edward C. Delavan, Isaac S. Lloyd, and Justin Edwards, D. D., be a Committee to secure the services of an able editor at Philadelphia.

On the 15th of January, 1837, the Committee commenced, at Philadelphia, the publication of the Journal of the American Temperance Union, a monthly periodical of 16 pages quarto, at the price of five dollars per annum for ten copies, and appointed the Rev. John Marsh, one of the Secretaries of the Union, their Corresponding Secretary, and Conductor of the Journal.

They also appointed the Rev. Justin Edwards, D. D., of Massachusetts, and the Rev. E. N. Kirk, of Albany, to represent the American Temperance Union at the next anniversary of the British and Foreign Temperance Society.

At the establishment of the Journal, the Chairman of the Committee generously placed at the disposal of the Committee, the sum of $10,000.

The First Anniversary of the American Temperance Union was held in the city of New York, May, 1837, and the Second Anniversary of the Union was held at Philadelphia, May 22, 1838.

(I. p. 211.)

Anti-Slavery Societies.

"Slavery may be considered as having commenced with the 16th century. Slaves were introduced into Spanish America, in 1502. Ferdinand V. of Spain brought multitudes of them into the country in 1511. The first slaves that were brought into the United States came in a Dutch ship in 1620. The celebrated John Hawkins, who was afterwards knighted by Queen Elizabeth, and made treasurer of the navy, was the first Englishman concerned in this commerce, the buying and selling the bodies and souls of men. He sailed from England for Sierra Leone, in the month of Oct. 1562, and in a short time after his arrival upon the coast, got into his possession by the sword, and partly by other means, three hundred negroes." "In the reign of Charles I. and Charles II.

we find that British settlements were formed in the West Indies, and that at home, joint-stock companies were chartered to supply them with slaves. In 1662, a charter was obtained from Charles II. for the Royal African Company,' in which many persons of high rank and distinction were incorporated, and at its head was the king's brother, the duke of York, afterwards James II. This company undertook to supply the West India colonies with three hundred negroes annually." From that time slavery continued to increase till 1787, when the first united and efficient efforts to abolish it were commenced in England. The first treatise on the subject was written by Morgan Godwyn, under the title of 'The Negro's and Indian's Advocate.' Richard Baxter followed, and in the succeeding early movements, the Quakers or Friends took a distinguished part. But the most prominent individual in favor of abolition, was Thomas Clarkson. The occasion of his becoming interested on the subject was, the giving out a Thesis, while he was yet a member of college. At first he engaged in it only as a literary thing, from motives of ambition. But in studying the subject, he became interested in it as a man and a philanthropist, nor could he disengage himself. Having written his essay therefore, and obtained the first prize as was expected of him, he afterwards enlarged it, and published it. This was in 1783. And now the subject was before the public, and Clarkson, with great serious

ness of purpose, had given himself to the cause as the great business of his life. At length he secured the coöperation of several men of distinction, among whom were Mr. Ramsay, Dr. Gregory, Granville Sharpe and Mr. Wilberforce. The last brought the subject before Parliament, and in 1794 the motion to abolish slavery, though lost in the House of Lords, was carried in the House of Commons. It was also finally carried in the House of Lords by a vote of 100 to 36. This was at four o'clock, A. M. Jan. 5, 1807. Subsequently, in 1811, Mr. Brougham procured that it should be considered felony to be engaged in the slave trade. The trade was prohibited in the United States also, as early as March, 1807. In 1810, Portugal entered into a treaty to abandon it. The Congress of Vienna declared against it in 1815. France and the Netherlands followed in treaty against it. Spain abolished it in 1820, and the United States the same year, declared it piracy. A law to the same effect was passed in Great Britain, Jan. 5, 1825. In March, 1830, Brazil engaged in treaty to abandon it. It has been abolished in Austria, also, and now, in France all who are convicted as being concerned in it are exposed to banishment.

Among the voluntary philanthropic institutions for the removal of the evil, there are the African Institution, formed in London, April 7, 1807, directly after the passing of the act of Parliament for abolishing slavery. The Anti-Slavery Society, formed also in London, January, 1823, and the Colonization Society, formed at Washington, in December, 1816. Besides these, there are other societies for the benefit of Africans, as the 'Conversion of Negro Slaves Society,' England. The African Education Society of the United States,' and 'The American Anti-Slavery Society.' This last named Society was organized on the 4th of December, 1833, in the city of Philadelphia. Its principles and plans were set forth at length in a solemn "Declaration of Sentiments," by the Convention that formed it, and more briefly in the second and third articles of the Constitution of the Society, which are as follows:

"The object of this Society is the entire abolition of slavery in the United States. While it admits that each State in which slavery exists, has, by the Constitution of the United States, the exclusive right to legislate in regard to its abolition in said State, it shall aim to convince all our fellow-citizens, by arguments addressed to their understandings and consciences, that slaveholding is a heinous crime in the sight of God, and that the duty, safety, and best interests of all concerned, require its immediate abandonment, without expatriation. The Society will also endeavor, in a constitutional way, to influence Congress to put an end to the domestic slave

trade, and to abolish slavery in all those portions of our common country which come under its control, especially in the District of Columbia,-and likewise to prevent the extension of it to any State that may be hereafter admitted to the Union. "This Society shall aim to elevate the character and condition of the people of color, by encouraging their intellectual, moral, and religious improvement, and by removing public prejudice, that thus they may, according to their intellectual and moral worth, share an equality with the whites, of civil and religious privileges; but this Society will never, in any way, countenance the oppressed in vindicating their rights by resorting to physical force."

The present officers of the Society are, Arthur Tappan, President; James G. Birney, Elizur Wright, Jr., and Henry B. Stanton, Corresponding Secretaries; Joshua Leavitt, Recording Secretary; John Rankin, Treasurer, who, with S. E. Cornish, Lewis Tappan, Duncan Dunbar, S. S. Jocelyn, La Roy Sunderland, and Theodore S. Wright, constitute the Executive Committee.

The receipts of the Society, the first six months of its existence, viz. up to May, 1834, were $1,048 05; from that time to May, 1835, $9,831 29; for the second year, $25,866 30; for the third year, $38,304 89; for the fourth year, ending May, 1838, $44,094 07.

In May, 1835, it had 225 auxiliary societies reported—in May, 1836, 527—in May, 1837, 1,006—in May, 1838, 1,350. Of these, twelve are State societies, most of which are now in vigorous operation. The local auxiliaries have, on an average, at least eighty members, giving an aggregate of at least 108,000 persons who are actual members of some antislavery society. In Massachusetts, one in twenty of the population are members of an anti-slavery society, beside a multitude more who agree with them in principles, but for various reasons have never joined any society.

The publications of the Society are, the Emancipator, (weekly,) edited by Rev. Joshua Leavitt; the Human Rights, (monthly,) and the Anti-Slavery Record, Slave's Friend, AntiSlavery Examiner, and Plea for the Slave, which are issued occasionally, but not at regular intervals. The issues of publications by the Society the year 1838 were, of Human Rights, 187,316 copies; Emancipator, 193,800; Circulars and Prints, 42,100; Bound volumes, 12,954; Tracts and Pamphlets, 72,732; Slave's Friend, 97,600; Anti-Slavery Record, 40,000. At the same time the Society had in its service 38 travelling agents, the aggregate of whose time in the Society's employment was 27 years. The office in New York employs three secretaries, in different departments of duty, two editors, one publishing agent, with an assistant, and two or three

young men and boys for folding, directing, and despatching papers, &c. &c. At the same time, friends of the cause in the several States, and the several State societies have been sustaining their local papers, employing agents, and issuing sundry publications for the promotion of the cause-e. g. the Liberator, and Massachusetts Abolitionist, in Boston; Herald of Freedom, in Concord, N. H.; Zion's Watchman, and Colored American, in New York city; Voice of Freedom, in Vermont; Advocate of Freedom, in Maine; Charter Oak, in Connecticut; Pennsylvania Freeman, in Philadelphia, and Christian Witness, in Pittsburg, Pa.; Friend of Man, in Utica, N. Y.; Philanthropist, in Ohio; and Genius of Universal Emancipation, in Illinois, all of which are weekly papers, chiefly, and some of them entirely, devoted to the cause of abolition, and sustained by subscribers, and the donations of individuals or societies.

The principal originators of the American Colonization Society were the late Rev. Dr. Finley of New Jersey, Rev. Samuel J. Mills, Gen. Mercer of Virginia, and a few others of a kindred spirit. Its object is, as its name imports, and as is mentioned in the second article of the constitution, "to promote and execute a plan of colonizing (with their consent) the free people of color, residing in our country, in Africa, or such other place as Congress shall deem most expedient." It has received the approbation and countenance, not only of distinguished individuals, but of many of the State governments in the Union. Application for assistance has been made to the general government, but no assistance has as yet been granted. Auxiliaries have been formed in sixteen States, and Maryland has granted $200,000 from her State treasury, to enable her free blacks to remove to Africa. The Society have succeeded in forming a colony on the western coast of Africa, which is in a prosperous condition, as the Society represents. The territory procured, extends 200 miles on the coast, and 140 in the interior. The population of the colony is more than 2,000, and is constantly increasing. A system of government and also of education, has been established. Churches are provided for religious worship.

The expense of an emigrant's passage to Liberia, is by some estimated to be $20; by others from $25 to $35. Manumissions have been numerous, and are increasing.

The receipts of the Society for 1838 were $12,748 37, and its present officers are, Hon. Henry Clay, LL. D., President, 49 Vice Presidents, a Board of Directors, consisting of fourteen persons, and an Executive Committee of eight persons; Rev. Ralph R. Gurley, Secretary, Philip R. Fendal, Esq., Recording Secretary, and Joseph Gales, Sen. Esq., Treasurer.

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