are sure, prove a valuable addition to the historical works of the country. The Committee on procuring views of Pennsylvania battle-fields was, on motion of Colonel Childs, increased to five, and General Henry D. Maxwell, of Easton, and Dr. Henry J. Morton, In conclusion, we would advise such of our readers as are not members of the Society to pay a visit to its rooms; they will be well re-appointed as the additional members. paid for their trouble. They will find the librarian, Dr. Stiles, a gentleman with whom it is a pleasure to hold communication, always at his post, to receive and conduct them through the rooms and give them all the information and explanations they may ask. PENNSYLVANIA. PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.-April, 1864.-The Historical Society met at their rooms in the Adelphi Building. Dr. Coates presided. Mr. Armstrong offered the following:Whereas, It is represented that the premises at the south-east corner of Second and Norris alley, on which the Penn Mansion stands, have been sold; and whereas, it is desirable that so interesting a relic of the past as this house should, if practicable, be preserved; Resolved, That a committee of six be appointed to ascertain if the building can be purchased; if not, if it can be removed to the Park, or to some other suitable place; and if this can be accomplished, to take such action as may secure its removal or preservation. The resolution was agreed to, and Messrs. Richard Wright, Thomas McAllister, Cephas G. Childs, Thomas H. Montgomery, Jno. C. Troutwine, and John Rice, were appointed the committee. the members. It was generally desired to posA general discussion then ensued between sess and preserve the building entire, or, if not, to ferent statements were made concerning the preserve as much of the house as possible. Difcondition of the building. The woodwork of the lower portions of the house are disintegrated stories is little injured. If it cannot be preserved by time, but the original woodwork of the upper The list of donations to the Society was as large as usual, and embraced several articles of rare value and curious associations. A beautiful series of photographic views were exhibited, comprising representations of the Leib mansion on Frankford road, presented by A. H. Hemple; a large photograph of Gen. Meade, from Wenderoth & Taylor; sundry photographs of historic buildings, from F. D. B. Richards; a copy of the Philadelphia Post Office Circular for the year 1791, from Mr. Walborn. In those days but one collection and delivery was made daily. Photo-entire, the members present urged the purchase graphs of St. John's Church-interior and exterior views-presented by John A. McAllister; a view of the interior of the First Dutch Reformed Church of Philadelphia, by Jno. Moran; photograph of the destruction of Priestly's house at Birmingham. Among the donations were copies of the Philadelphia Directory for 1816 and 1837; a newspaper of 1765, with several curious advertisements; the Aurora or General Advertiser, published in 1797; Poulson's American Advertiser for 1803; an appeal to the nations of Europe against the Continental System, by Madame Staël Holstein, published in 1813; an old life of Stephen Girard, by Stephen Simpson; a gavel made from a piece of oak taken from William Penn's Brew-House at Penn's Manor, cut before there was a saw-mill in America; chronicles of the first Planters of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, from 1623 to 1636; the works of John C. Calhoun; the correspondence of Daniel Webster; correspondence of eminent men to George Washington during the Revolution. Dr. H. J. Morton and Jos. H. Trotter were elected members of the Society. hall to be erected for the Society, or to be used Notes on Books. Early History of New England, being a relation of Hostile Passages between the Indians and European Voyagers and First Settlers; and a full Narrative of Hostilities to the close of the War with the Pequots, in the year 1637; also a detailed account of the Origin of the War with King Philip. By Increase Mather. With an Introduction and Notes by Samuel G. Drake Boston: Printed for the Editor, and sold by him at No. 12 Bromfield street; also J. Munsell, Albany, N.Y. 1864. XXXVIII. Pp. 309. MR. DRAKE, well aware of the increase of the antiquarian taste which he has done so much to foster, gives us from Mr. Munsell's elegant press Increase Mather's Early History of New England. It matches the historical series of Mr. M., which included one volume on King Philip's war, and, with the volume issued by Mr. Drake last year, increases well our collection for the period. Mr. Drake's preface and notes are characterized by his well known research, clearness, and frankness. was, has long been needed, and it is now a matter of satisfaction that the task has fallen into the competent hands of Mr. Hunt. The life of Livingston, whose code alone gives him immortality, was one of great interest. An active lawyer, a member of Congress fully impressed with the responsibilities of legislative duty, Secretary of State when Jackson issued his celebrated proclamation against South Carolina, and subsequently minister to France in a time of great difficulty, Livingston everywhere displayed talents and abilities of the highest order. Miscellany. The Chaplains and Clergy of the Revolution. By J. T. Headley, author of "Washington and his Generals," "Napoleon and his Marshals," etc. New York: Scribner, 1864. 12mo. pp. 402. THE part of the clergy in the great movement of the last century which resulted in American Independence is beginning to be treated as a specialty. We have already had two collections of important sermons of the epoch, edited by Frank Moore and by J. Wingate Thornton, neither, perhaps, wide enough in its scope or broad enough in conception and handling. In the POE and HITCHCOCK, of Cincinnati, have in present volume Mr. Headley presents biographi- press "Contributions to the Early History of cal sketches of many of the prominent clergy- the North-West, including the Moravian Mission men of the Revolution. His volume cannot fail in Ohio," by S. P. Hildreth, M.D. to interest and attract the general reader, and at the same time afford a convenient manual THE recent issues and announcements of works relative to the history of the country are not very numerous. W. J. DODGE promises a history of the Second even for students. The mission of Rev. Mr. Car-Division of the Army of the Cumberland, under roll to Canada, and his services, we hope to see McCook, Sill, and Johnson, with plates and given in a future edition. My Cave Life in Vicksburg. New York: D. maps. NEWSPAPERS OF THE REVOLUTION.-A tin peddler in Berkshire county brought to North THIS is a charming book. Tiring as the pub- Becket, the other day, among his collections of lic is of works on the war, going over the same rags, papers, &c., some rare old newspapers, ground or presenting the same views, it must printed in 1775 and 1776, among them twelve receive with welcome this picture of a true wo- copies of the Massachusetts Spy, nine of the man's trials during the siege of Vicksburg. As Connecticut Courant, two of the New York a picture of the strange subterranean life led by polished and educated ladies in the midst of our civilization and refinement, it is one to read and be pondered os. How much the women of the South labored to stimulate the passions of men! How bitterly some have tasted of the dregs of the bitter chalice of war! Life of Edward Livingston. By Charles Havens Packet, and one of the New York Advertiser. They luckily fell under the eye of C. O. Petkins, of North Becket, who has rescued and will preserve them THE WINSLOW FAMILY.-A register_of_this family is being prepared by the Rev. Hubbard Winslow, D.D. It is intended that the work shall contain a full and accurate genealogy of the family, with biographical sketches of the most distinguished of its members. Information on the subject will be gladly received, and should be sent to No. 160 West 49th st., New York. he Church," etc., hardly intimates a doubt of the lawfulness of their slavery, while he pleads for their humanity and right to HISTORICAL NOTES ON SLAVERY IN religion against a very general opinion of THE NORTHERN COLONIES AND Continued from page 30.* NO. IV.-MASSACHUSETTS. that day, which denied them both. Dean Berkeley, in his famous sermon before the Venerable Society in 1731, speaks of "the irrational contempt of the BUT the humane efforts of Roger Wil- Blacks, as Creatures of another Species, liams and John Eliot to abate the severity admitted to the Sacraments." Sermon, who had no right to be instructed or of judgment against captives, and mitigate the horrors of slavery in Massachusetts, P. 19. hardly amounted to a positive protest against the institution itself. In their time there was no public opinion against slavery, and probably very little exercise of private judgment against it. Even among the Quakers the inner light had not yet disclosed its enormity, or awakened tender consciences to its utter wickedness. Morgan Godwyn, a clergyman of the Church of England, who wrote and published in 1680 "The Negro's and Indian's Advocate, suing for their Admission into J And George Keith (then Quaker), whose paper against the practice was said to be given forth by the appointment of the meeting held by him in the city of Philadelphia, about the year 1693, gave a strict their negroes at liberty, after some reasoncharge to Friends "that they should set able time of service." Pamphlet quoted by Dr. Franklin in his letter to John Works, X., Wright, 4 November, 1789. 403. This would seem to have been the very earliest testimony against slavery in Ame rica, if, indeed, it went far enough to In article No. I., Vol. vii., p. 343, in the refer- deserve that character. Keith appears ences to Winthrop's Journal, the dates should be July, simply to have repeated the words of 1637, instead of May, 1637, and February, 1638, George Fox in Barbadoes in 1671, when instead of December, 1637. In the concluding sentence of article No. III., he urged the religious training of the Vol. viii., p. 30, "a Dudley" was mentioned with negroes, as well as kind treatment, in place Williams, Eliot, and Sewall, as having been in ad- of "cruelty towards them, as the manner vance of their contemporaries in their views of slavery. of some hath been and is; and that after The reference was to Paul Dudley, who was the certain years of servitude they should author of a tract, published in 1731, entitled "An make them free." Journal, II., 140. The Essay on the Merchandize of Slaves, and Souls of Men. With an Application to the Church of Rome." explicit answer of Fox to the charge that This title and references to the tract by others, gave the Quakers taught the negroes to us the impression that it was against slavery; but an rebel," shows very clearly that anti-slavery opportunity recently enjoyed of examining the tract doctrines were no part of the Quaker itself showed the mistake. It is altogether application to the Church of Rome"-in fact creed at that time. Ibid, pp. 147-9. oration against Popery," of which Massachusetts had Compare 454. See also Ralph Sandia much greater horror than of slavery. ford's Brief Examination, etc., Preface. HIST. MAG. VOL. VIII. 25 66 an 66 an But for half a century afterwards "that teenth century by sympathy for the people were as greedy as any Body in Christian captives, Dutch and English, keeping Negroes for their Gain," so as to who were enslaved by the Turks and the induce the belief that they "approved of it as a People with one consent unanimously." Lay, 84. Ralph Sandiford, in 1729, in his "Brief Examination," etc., thus bemoaned the fact, "that it hath defaced the present Dispensation." "Had Friends stood clear of this Practice, that it might have been answered to the Traders in Slaves that there is a People called Quakers in Pennsylvania that will not own this Practice in Word or Deed, then would they have been a burning and a shining Light to these poor Heathen, and a Precedent to the Nations throughout the Universe which might have brought them to have seen the Evil of it in themselves, and glorifyed the Lord on our Behalf, and like the Queen of the East, to have admired the Glory and Beauty of the Church of God. But instead thereof, the tender seed in the Honest-hearted is under Suffering, to see both Elders and Ministers as it were cloathed with it, and their offspring after them filling up the Measure of their Parents' Iniquity; which may be suffered till such Time that Recompence from Him that is just to all his Creatures opens that Eye the god of this World has blinded. Though I would not be understood to pervert the Order of the Body, which consists of Servants and Masters, and the Head cannot say to the Foot, I have no need of thee; but it is the Converting Men's Liberty to our Wills, who have not, like the Gibeonites, offered themselves willingly, or by Consent given their Ear to the Doorpost, but are made such by Force, in that Nature that desires to Lord it over their Fellow Creatures, is what is to be abhorred by all Christians." pp. 9-10. pirates of Northern Africa. The efforts to ransom and release these unfortunate persons, excited by the terrible sorrow of relatives and friends, kinsmen and coun trymen, brought home to some minds (though few) the injustice of their own dealings with the negroes. The earliest writers against slavery urged that argument with peculiar force and unction, but with little effect. They seem to have made no impression on the legislation of the colonies, and curious and zealous research only can recover the memorials of their righteous testimonies. The earliest positive public challenge to slavery in Massachusetts of which we have any knowledge, was in the year 1700, when a learned, pious, and honored magistrate entered the lists alone, and sounded his solitary blast in the ears of his brother magistrates and the people, who listened in amazement and wonder, not unmingled with sorrow and contempt. His performance is all the more remarkable from the fact that it stands out in the history of the time separate and distinct as "the voice of one crying in the wilderness." SAMUEL SEWALL, at that time a Judge of the Superior Court, and afterwards ChiefJustice, published a brief tract in 1700, entitled: "The Selling of Joseph a Memorial." It filled three pages of a folio sheet, ending with the imprint: "Boston of the Massachusetts; Printed by Bartholomew Green and John Allen. June 24th, 1700." The author presented a copy of this tract "not only to each member of the General Court at the time of its publication, but also to numerous clergymen and literary gentlemen with whom he was intimate." MS. Letter. Compare Brissot, Although thus extensively circu Again, he says in another place: "But in Time this dark Trade creeping in amongst us to the very Ministry, because of the profit by it, hath spread over others I., 224. like a Leprosy, to the Grief of the Honest-lated at that day, it has for many years hearted." Preface. been known apparently only by tradition, as nearly all the notices of it which we have seen are confined to the fact of its publication early in the eighteenth cen Public sentiment and opinion against slavery were first aroused and stimulated in America in the latter part of the seven tury, the date being nowhere correctly who were before only Tenants at Will; stated. yet through the Indulgence of God to our Beyond this, it appears to have been First Parents after the Fall, the outward unknown to our historians, and is now Estate of all and every of their Children, reproduced probably for the first time in remains the same as to one another. So the present century. Indeed, we have met with no quotation even from it later than 1738, when it was reprinted in Pennsylvania, where anti-slavery took an earlier and deeper root, and bore earlier fruit than in any other part of America, that Originally, and Naturally, there is no such thing as Slavery. Joseph was rightfully no more a Slave to his Brethren, than they were to him; and they had no more Authority to Sell him, than they had to Slay him. And if they had nothing to do Its rarity and peculiar interest will jus- to sell him; the Ishmaelites bargaining tify us in placing the reprint before our with them, and paying down Twenty readers in this connection. It is somewhat pieces of Silver, could not make a Title. remarkable that so signal a testimony Neither could Potiphar have any better against slavery should have escaped Interest in him than the Ishmaelites had. the research of those who have in Gen. 37, 20, 27, 28. For he that shall in their custody "the historic fame" of Mas- this case plead Alteration of Property, sachusetts. It is a most honorable memorial of its venerated author. seems to have forfeited a great part of his own claim to Humanity. There is no proportion between Twenty Pieces of Silver THE SELLING OF JOSEPH A MEMORIAL. and LIBERTY. The Commodity itself By the Hon'ble JUDGE SEWALL in New England. is the Claimer. If Arabian Gold be im“FORASMUCH as LIBERTY is in ported in any quantities, most are afraid to real value next unto Life; None ought to meddle with it, though they might have it part with it themselves, or deprive others at easy rates; lest it should have been of it, but upon most mature consideration. wrongfully taken from the Owners, it "The Numerousness of Slaves at this should kindle a fire to the Consumption Day in the Province, and the Uneasiness of their whole Estate. 'Tis pity there of them under their Slavery, hath put should be more Caution used in buying a many upon thinking whether the Founda- Horse, or a little lifeless dust, than there tion of it be firmly and well laid; so as is in purchasing Men and Women: Whereto sustain the Vast Weight that is built as they are the Offspring of GOD, and upon it. It is most certain that all Men, their Liberty is, as they are the Sons of Adam, are CoAuro pretiosior Omni. heirs, and have equal Right unto Liberty, and all other outward Comforts of Life. "And seeing GOD hath said, He that GOD hath given the Earth [with all its Stealeth a Man, and Selleth him, or if he commodities] unto the Sons of Adam, be found in his Hand, he shall surely be Psal., 115, 16. And hath made of One put to Death. Exod. 21, 16. This Law Blood all Nations of Men, for to dwell being of Everlasting Equity, wherein Manon all the face of the Earth, and hath Stealing is ranked amongst the most atrodetermined the Times before appointed, cious of Capital Crimes: What louder Cry and the bounds of their Habitation can there be made of that Celebrated That they should seek the Lord. Foras- Warning, much then as we are the Offspring of GOD, &c. Acts 17. 26. 27. 29. Now, "And all things considered, it would although the Title given by the last ADAM conduce more to the Welfare of the Prodoth infinitely better Men's Estates, re- vince, to have White Servants for a Term specting GoD and themselves; and grants of Years, than to have Slaves for Life. them a most beneficial and inviolable Few can endure to hear of a Negro's Lease under the Broad Seal of Heaven, being made free; and indeed they can Caveat Emptor! |