to the
government under which they live. In times of war we never see them
bearing arms, and in times of victory we never see them exulting, like
other people. We never see them illuminating their houses, or running up
and down the streets, frantic with joy upon such occasions. Their joy,
on the other hand, is wounded by the melancholy consideration of the
destruction of the human race, when they lament, with almost equal
sympathy, over the slaughter of enemies and friends.

But this character of a benevolent people has been raised higher of late
years in the estimation of the public by new circumstances or by the
unanimous and decided part, which they have taken as a body, in behalf
of the abolition of the slave-trade. For where has the injured African
experienced more sympathy than from the hearts of Quakers? In this great
cause the Quakers have been singularly conspicuous. They have been
actuated as it were by one spring. In the different attempts, made for
the annihilation of this trade, they have come forward with a religious
zeal. They were at the original formation of the committee for this
important object, where they gave an almost unexampled attendance for
years. I mentioned in the preceding volume, that near a century ago,
when this question had not awakened the general attention, it had
awakened that of the Quakers as a body; and that they had made
regulations in their commercial concerns with a view of keeping
themselves clear of the blood of this cruel traffic. And from that time
to the present day they have never forgotten this subject. Their yearly
epistles notice it, whenever such notice is considered to be useful. And
they hold themselves in readiness, on all fit occasions, to unite their
efforts for the removal of this great and shocking source of suffering
to their fellow-creatures.

But whether these be the reasons, or whether they be not the reasons,
why the Quakers have been denominated benevolent, nothing is more true
than that this appellation has been bestowed upon them, and this by the
consent of their countrymen. For we have only to examine our public
prints, to prove the truth of the assertion. We shall generally find
there, that when there is occasion to mention the society, the word
"benevolent" accompanies it.

The reader will perhaps be anxious to know how it happens, that the
Quakers should possess this general feeling of benevolence in a degree
so much stronger than the general body