not
conceal from myself, there were but few fully prepared to occupy. I had
found in many Friends much passive anti-slavery feeling, and was to some
extent cheered by the discovery. May a due sense of their responsibility
rest upon every follower of Christ, to remember them that are in bonds,
and under affliction, not only with a passive, but with an active and
self-denying sympathy, a sympathy that makes common cause with its
object.

Apart from the fact, that Philadelphia is one of the most beautiful
cities in the world, to a member of the Society of Friends it must ever
be an object of peculiar interest. Here William Penn made his great
experiment of a Christian government. Here, to the annual assemblies of
Friends, came Warner Mifflin, and John Woolman, and James Pemberton, and
George Dillwyn, and other worthies of the past, who have now gone from
works to rewards. A few miles distant, in Frankford, is still to be seen
the residence of the excellent Thomas Chalkley. Here Benezet
exemplified, in the simplicity, humility, and untiring benevolence of
his daily life, the lessons inculcated in his writings. And here, at
this day, are a larger number of members of our religious society than
can be found congregated elsewhere, within an equal space of territory.
They are, in general, in easy circumstances, many of them wealthy, and
occupying a high rank in the community.

Who can recur, without a lively feeling of interest, to the hopes and
prayers of the benevolent founder of the city, as expressed in affecting
terms in his farewell letter, written as he was about taking his final
departure for England.

"And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement of this province,
named before thou wert born, what love, what care, what service,
and what travail has there been to bring thee forth, and
preserve thee from such as would defile thee! Oh, that thou
mayest be kept from the evil that would overwhelm thee! that
faithful to the God of Mercies, in a life of righteousness, thou
mayest be preserved to the end!"

On the 11th, with John G. Whittier, I left for New York, and the next
day we proceeded by steam packet to Newport, on Rhode Island, to attend
the New England yearly meeting of the Society of Friends, which was to
be held the next week. We arrived about seven o'clock in the morning. I
found the change of climate particularly refreshing and agreeable.
During the last fortnight, the range