of Friends in this country, and the lives of individuals distinguished in our annals, is now accessible, and must speedily perish if there be no attempt made to preserve it. Communications upon this subject, as well as upon all those which we have enumerated, are solicited and will be gratefully received.

were, locked up from common use. It
may be truly said that the polish and tem-
per of the weapons which it has furnished
for our warfare with the libertine spirit of
the day, have been unexpected both by
ourselves and our opponents.

ceeding further, than to a suspension of close communion with the parties offending, or in the ultimate, as occasion might call for it, to declare, that they, being departed from the unity of the body, are no longer of it.

Respecting the application of their discipline to injurious and scandalous immoraedi-lities, the society considers itself not in the light of a civil magistracy, to whom the punishment of crimes and immoralities belongs, but as a religious body, to which such offences are no further cognizable, than as they are contrary to its principles, and breaches of its religious order. Immoralities, thereto the discipline of the society, with the fore, stand upon the same footing, in regard breaches of its rules, and can be no otherwise noticed by it.

"Thus far the society hath found it requisite to proceed, and no further; for it hath There is scarcely a single false position constantly denied all authority in Christian churches, either to force an hypocritical which has been taken, that is not in some conformity, or to inflict such pains and penIn venturing upon so untried a course one or other of these neglected volumes, stat-alties as tend to the privation of life, liberty, as we have marked out for ourselves, we ed and refuted. It is thus that ignorance is or property. Hence it is evident, that the feel the full force of the objections which perpetually reviving the exploded errors of discipline of the Quakers stands not upon many scrupulous minds may urge against former times. We may here learn that the same foundation with that which is supit. But having examined carefully the the whole of these spurious doctrines was nature, as well as in measure. ported by violence; but differs from it in part we have taken; and being convinced sifted and rejected long before the present that the cause of sound principles has sus-generation attempted in its restless, innotained a loss for want of means of refuting vating spirit, to pull down the ancient calumny, exposing sophistry, and correct- fice of Quakerism, which had been built ing misstatements, we shall rest our de-up amidst persecution and calumny, and fence with perfect confidence upon the is not, therefore, very likely to fall betemper and discretion which we mean to fore the withering blast of infidelity. exercise. If we redeem the pledge we We have been led into this train of thus give, we trust that we shall succeed thought by a perusal of the pamphlet, the in acquiring for our journal a charac- title of which is prefixed to this article. ter of fairness and fidelity, that shall give It contains a decisive argument upon the authority to its statements, and enable it to necessity of maintaining inviolate the allay much of the irritation which rumour whole discipline, and a clear statement of and calumny are sure to excite, and by the great principle that the original constimeans of which they have so fatally affect- tution of the body is its only legitimate ed the peace of society. In fine, we enter rule of action. The reasoning could not upon the duties of editors with feelings be more appropriate to the circumstances chastened by a sense of the responsibilities of the present day, if it had been penned we have assumed, and of the arduousness with a full knowledge of the pretences of the undertaking; yet animated by the prospect of an honourable and useful ca

reer.

cus, by J.

FOR THE FRIEND.

which men, in the constant breach of our
order, set up to be held as the true repre-
sentatives of Friends; and of the unfair
manner in which the protection of the
discipline has been claimed by those, who,
under its shelter, have been busily engaged
in laying waste both our order and our

"With regard to the occasional extension of its ultimate degree of discipline to offences merely against its principles and rules, I that any religiously united body hath, in its collective capacity, according to the best of its understanding, as received from the holy spirit and the munion, it has a right, in all points it deems fixed the terms of its commaterial, to see that they are preserved inviolate by its members, and to acknowledge, or reject any, according to their faithfulness, or unfaithfulness thereunto; and where it judges any have justly forfeited their membership, it hath a right to declare it: otherwise, litigious and refractory members might Cursory Observations on a late publication, entitled an render the church a stage of perpetual conEssay on the Simplicity of Truth, signed Catholitention, a huddle of confusion, or, as a king1779, p. dom divided against itself, which cannot It has been the lot of the people called principles. Quakers, to be misunderstood and misre- The pamphlet is an answer to a writer stand. For its own preservation therefore, it can do no less than to withdraw itself presented in a remarkable degree. Attack-who appears to have been disowned for from every brother that walketh disorderly; ed at one time as Jesuits and at another as paying tithes, and who accused Friends of (2 Thess. iii. 3,) which it can do by no other Deists; censured now for their libertin-a popish and persecuting spirit in the ex-means, but by declaring its disunion with ism and now for their bigotry, there is ercise of discipline. It is chiefly occuscarcely a point of their doctrine or a rule pied with a discussion respecting tithes, of their discipline which they have not subject little understood, and, happily, not been compelled to defend. But these va- felt in our own country. rious defences are by so many different hands are so spread over the face of our history, are, as regards many of them, so inaccessible to the general reader, and so unattractive in composition and appearance,—that few, even of our own members, are aware of their value, and how complete an exposition of the doctrines and testimonies of the society they present. The "evil times" on which we have fallen, have compelled us to resort to this great armoury, which has been, as it

a

The following extracts refer to the general principles by which all religious societies subsist, and will amply reward a perusal.

them.

"This is the ultimate process of the peo

ple called Quakers; which is not intended by them for the punishment of any, but for keeping the church as clear from disorder as may be.

This author allows, (page 19,) that every civil society hath an undoubted right to exclude every member that breaks the rules and orders formed by it; but denies it to a Christian Society, because every member has a right to examine and judge whether the society, of which he is a member, is in fact governed by the laws and rules laid down in the sacred records.

"The doctrine and order deliberately and conscientiously received and settled by the united concurrence of the body, it hath all along held it to be its indispensable duty to maintain, not by external severities, but by and admonition: and in cases of disorderly compelled to abide in fellowship with one that the gospel methods of instruction, advice, "This is a reason why he ought not to be walking, which have a tendency to infringe he believes not to be so governed; but it canupon the peace and unity of the church, it not entitle him, either to insist upon the sohath always been principled against pro-ciety's rescinding any of its rules, against

its own conscience, or retaining him in membership with it, whilst he either professionally, or practically, lives in the disbelief of its principles, or the infringement of its established order. The liberty of individuals to examine, implies not a power in them to control the body, any more in a religious than a civil one.

and give them instant freedom. One of
these unfortunate negroes* having been re-
moved from this state to Missouri, and there
having been treated with cruelty, and finally
transported and sold in Louisiana, found his
way back to St. Louis, and there instituted
a suit for his freedom under the ordinance of
1787. The Circuit Court having decided
against him, he took his case to the Supreme
Court, where although two out of the three
Judges were advocates of slavery, the deci-
sion was reversed, and it was unanimously
decided that he was a freeman. This deci-
sion has produced considerable excitement
in this state, and it is said there have been
several suits instituted by the negroes to re-
cover their liberty-and I cannot for a mo-
ment doubt but what our Supreme Court will
concur in the decision made in Missouri. If
so, this foul blot will be immediately washed
out, and the friends of man will have a new
cause to felicitate themselves on the progress
of correct principles, and on the restoration
of his long lost rights."-African Observer.

"Rules are necessary to the support of
order in religious, as well as civil societies.
There must be some power in the collective
body, which is not in every particular singly,
to answer the end of order. This cannot be
less than a power to accept, or reject, par-
ticular members, according to the suitable-
ness, or unsuitableness of their conduct with
its doctrines and rules. The nature of so-
ciety, and the fitness of things, require thus
much; and the discipline of the Quakers ex-
tends no further: it intrudes not upon the
civil rights of its members, affects no secu-
lar authority, either over their persons or
property, but leaves them in a reasonable
freedom, either to continue in membership,
by a conduct agreeable to its principles and
rules, or to separate from it if they think fit.
"The nature of society requires unity and PICTURE OF THE ATHEISM AND REVOLUTION-
harmony. A continued infraction of the
terms of its communion, is not only a con-
tinual interruption to the peace of it, but has
a tendency to its dissolution. Hence it be-
hooves every regular, united body to support
the observance of its rules among its mem-
bers, for its own peace and preservation:
sensible of this, the apostle, in his epistle to
the Romans, writes thus: "I beseech you,
brethren, mark them who cause divisions
and offences, contrary to the doctrine which
ye have learned, and avoid them." This a
church cannot do, but by clearing itself from
them; which is not persecution, but a neces-
sary exertion of gospel discipline towards
those, who, by their turbulence, might give
disturbance to it, or, by good words and fair
speeches, deceive the hearts of the simple.
(Rom. 16, 17, 18,)

(To be continued.)

IMPORTANT DECISION.

ARY SPIRIT OF THE FRENCH.

In

indeed, there is no such thing to be found as
any regular system of infidelity, scarcely
even a single firm principle, or settled phi-
losophical opinion, or even precise form of
philosophical doubt. As the sophists of an-
tiquity took a pleasure in showing the versa-
tility and ingenuity of their spirit, by de-
fending first one opinion and then the one
exactly opposite to it, so Voltaire wrote one
book in favour, and another in contradiction
of providence. Yet in so far is he sincere,
that he cannot help letting us see, very
plainly, which of these works is his own fa-
vourite. Throughout all his writings, what-
ever be their subject, he cannot resist any
opportunity of introducing his impious wit,
and showing his aversion for Christianity,
and, in part at least, for all religion.
this point of view his spirit operated as a cor-
rosive and destructive engine for the dissolv-
ing of all earnest, moral, and religious modes
of thinking. Yet it appears to me that Vol-
taire has done even more harm by the spirit
and purpose which he has thrown over his-
tory, than by his derision of religion. He
felt what was the defect of French litera-
ture in this department, as well as in that of
poetry. Since the time of the Cardinal
Retz, the abundance of historical memoirs,
alike interesting from their subjects, and the
lively mode of their composition, had in-
creased to such a degree, that they might
themselves-and certainly to form one of
almost be said to be a proper literature by
the most brilliant parts of the whole litera-
ture of France. But in consequence of these
memoirs, there is no doubt that history de-
clined too much into the tone of conversation,
became split into particulars, and lost itself
at last, to the great injury of historical truth,
in an endless variety of anecdotes. How-
ever delightful the perusal of such works
may be, they are, after all, only the harbin-

At

Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot. In the eighteenth century, the English were the first people of Europe, in literathe modern French philosophy was produced as in else. The whole of by that of Bacon, Locke, and other Englishmen; at least, it borrowed all its first principles from them. In France, however, it soon assumed an appearance quite different from what it had ever had in England. In Germany, on the other hand, the mighty regeneration of literature in the middle of this century, received its first impetus and ruling direction, principally from the poetry and the criticism of the English. a great degree, to bring the philosophy of least there is much space intervening beVoltaire was the first who contributed, ingers and materials of history, not histories in the proper acceptation of the word. Locke and Newton into France. It is sin- tween the best possible style of writing such gular with what a perversity of genius this anecdotes, and a style of historical composiman makes use of all the marvellous great- tion such as that of the ancients was, or ness of nature as revealed to him by the among the moderns, that of Machiavelli. science of England, not for the purpose of The French literature possesses many excetexalting the character of the Creator, but lent narrators, some well collected, and for lowering that of men;-how fond he is of (even as pieces of writing) praiseworthy tracts dwelling on the insignificance of this earth- concerning the older history of the country, worm, amidst the immeasurable splendours but no truly classical, national, and original of stars and planets. As if the spirit, the work of history. Voltaire was very sensible thought which can comprehend all this uni- of this defect in the literature of his nation, verse of suns and stars, were not something and with his usual vanity of universal genius, "I had always been of opinion that the greater than they; as if God were some attempted to supply it himself. That in reordinance of Congress of 1787 had emanci- earthly monarch, who, among the millions gard to art he was not entirely unsuccessful, pated the slaves in the territory North West over which he rules, may well be supposed that as a writer of history, even in respect of the Ohio. But as the people of this state never to have seen, and almost to have for- to the mode of composition adapted for have acquiesced in a contrary decision of an gotten the existence of some paltry village works of that kind, he can sustain no cominferior court near 40 years, I had repeatedly on the border of his dominions. The eigh-parison, I do not say with the ancients, but urged on the Legislature to make provision teenth century in general made no use of even with the best English historians— for the gradual but speedy emancipation of the physical knowledge it inherited from the Hume and Robertson; this is now universalthis remnant of servitude, and had laboured seventeenth, except one extremely hostile ly admitted even in France itself. Neverto convince the masters that it was their in- to the higher truths of religion. In Voltaire, theless, the spirit in which he viewed history, terest to have such a law adopted, as it very soon acquired very great influence even would have the effect of lulling the negroes hundreds in Missouri, and still a greater number in and became almost the ruling historical spi* Of this of there are over English writers-particularly Gibbonfor a time, and preventing their taking the Illinois, and I am sorry to add that they are now question to the highest Courts of Justice, ruming them off and selling them in the lower rit of the eighteenth century. which must decide in favour of the negroes, country. of this mode of thinking in respect to history

Extract of a letter from a gentleman in Illinois to his friend in Philadelphia, dated August 23, 1827. "A late judicial decision of the Supreme Court of Missouri has afforded me infinite pleasure, the more so as I have long had the object very much at heart, and been exceed ingly anxious to see it effected.

The essence

OCEAN.

Unfathom'd deep, unfetter'd waste
Of never-silent waves,
Each by its rushing follower chas'd,
Through unillumin'd caves,

And o'er the rocks, whose turrets rude,
E'en since the birth of time,
Hath heard amid thy solitude,

The billow's ceaseless chime.
Thro' what recesses, depths unknown,
Dost thou thy waves impel,
Where never yet a sunbeam shone,
Or gleam of moonlight fell?
For never yet did mortal eyes

which proceeded from Voltaire, consists in Our Poetical Correspondent, "W." is a young
expressing, on every opportunity, and in man, belonging to the Society of Friends in this
every possible form, hatred for monks, cler- town, only 17 years of age, an apprentice to a me-
gymen, Christianity, and, in general, for all advantages of education than such as are afforded
chanical business, and has never enjoyed any other
religion. In regard to politics, its prevalent in our common district schools. His effusions indi-
spirit is a partial, and, in the situation of cate, we should say, considering his disadvantages,
modern Europe, an absurd predilection for a genius unparalleled among American poets. Such
the republican notions of antiquity, accom-
richness and sublimity of language, such brilliancy
panied very frequently with an altogether we believe, distinguished any of the early produc-
of imagination and delicacy of sentiment, have not,
false conception, or at least extremely im- tions of the most celebrated modern poets.
perfect knowledge of the true spirit and es-
[Essex Gazette.
sence of republicanism. Among the follow-
ers of Voltaire this went so far as to take the
appearance of a decided and bigotted hatred
of all kingly power and nobility, and in ge-
neral, of all those modes of life and govern-
ment which have been produced by what is
called the feudal system; and all this, in
spite of Montesquieu, who characterized and
praised with the acuteness and liberality of a
true philosopher, what these comparatively
ignorant writers were only capable of re-
viling. How much was set in a false light,
how greatly historical truth was injured, and
the whole of the past unworthily condemned,
begins now to be discovered, since historical
inquirers have adopted a more profound and
accurate method of research. For after the
philosophy of the eighteenth century had en-
tirely accomplished its own destruction, and
the religion which it would have overthrown
had come victorious out of the struggle,
every thing in history and in the past has
begun to be seen in a more just and natural
point of view. Yet there remain many fal-
sifications, errors, and prejudices, with re-
gard to past ages, which have still to be
amended; for in no department did the phi-
losophy of the last century so deeply and so
extensively establish its influence as in his-
tory, where its wickedness and falseness are,
of course, less observable to those who take
facts upon trust, than when their spirit
is brought distinctly forward in the shape
of philosophical doctrine and opinion.
(To be continued.)

RETIREMENT.

BY COWPER.

Far from the world, O Lord, I flee,
From strife and tumult far;
From scenes where Satan wages still
His most successful war.

The calm retreat, the silent shade,
With prayer and praise agree;
And seem by thy sweet bounty made
For those who follow thee.

There if thy Spirit touch my soul,
And grace her mean abode;
Oh with what peace and joy and love,
She communes with her God!
There, like the nightingale, she pours
Her solitary lays;

Nor asks a witness of her song,

Nor thirsts for human praise.

Author and Guardian of my life,
Sweet source of light divine,

And, (all harmonious names in one,)
My Saviour, thou art mine!

What thanks I owe thee, and what love-
A boundless, endless store,
Shall echo through the realms above,
When time shall be no more.

Thy gloom-wrapt deeps behold,
And naught of thy dread mysteries,
The tongue of man hath told.
What, though proud man presume to hold
His course upon thy tide,
O'er thy dark billows uncontroll'd
His fragile bark to guide-
Yet who, upon thy mountain waves,
Can feel himself secure,
While sweeping o'er thy yawning caves,
Deep, awful and obscure?

But thou art mild and tranquil now-
Thy wrathful spirits sleep,
And gentle billows, calm and slow
Across thy bosom sweep.
Yet where the dim horizon's bound
Rests on thy sparkling bed,
The tempest-cloud, in gloom profound,
Prepares its wrath to shed.

Thus, mild and calm in youth's bright hour,
The tide of life appears,

When fancy paints, with magic power,
The bliss of coming years;
But clouds will rise, and darkness bring
O'er life's deceitful way,
And cruel disappointment fling
Its blight on hope's dim ray.
Haverhill, (Massachusetts,) 1st mo. 1827.

W.

Nothing of interest had occurred in Greece since the fall of Athens. The war dragged

Lord Cochrane was at Poros with the Hellas, heavily, without much activity on either side. and some smaller vessels. A great naval force was assembled at Smyrna, of French, English, Russians and Austrians; about twenneighbouring ports. The whole of the Amety sail were in Smyrna, and many in the rican squadron was in the Archipelago, destined for Smyrna,

Mr. Washington was shot by the Greeks in a broil at Acripoli, and died on board the English line of battle ship Asia, Admiral Codmington.

Infant School.-Those who feel an interest in the welfare and moral improvement of the rising generation of the poorer classes of society, who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow, will, doubtless learn with pleasure, that in the Infant School in Chesterstreet, which was opened on Monday, the 1st inst. with 50 scholars, there where on Saturday upwards of 90, and that there is every prospect that within a week or two the whole number that can be accommodated in that school, viz. about 130, will be entered. About a fifth part of the whole have paid the little sum required, that is, three cents per week. This requisition is made, not for the sake of the amount to be received, but to save the feelings of such parents, as from a pride which springs from a laudable motive, are unwilling to have their children taught by charity.-Am. Daily Advertiser.

Stockton and Darlington Railway.-The proprietors, who belong chiefly to the Society of Friends, encountered a good deal of opposition in Parliament and elsewhere; but the work promises to remunerate them in the most ample manner. The cost of the railway, which is twenty-five miles long, and is carried over two hills by inclined planes, was less than 200,000l. 120,000 tons of minerals and merchandize have been conveyed along it in the course of the year exFrom England. The ship Antioch, arriv-pired, generally at the rate of 2d. per ton ed at New York, from Liverpool, brought a per mile, including haulage, and wagons London paper of the 3d ult. No further ar- found; and the receipts for tonnage have exrangements in the new ministry were made ceeded 2,000l. per month. The coaches public. It was however said Mr. Herries that ply on it have travelled 45,469 miles, had accepted the office of Chancellor of the carrying passengers at the rate of 1d. per Exchequer. mile outside, and 14d. inside, with a velocity The disturbances in Catalonia had become of eight miles an hour, and without one sinmore serious. Mr. Lamb, the British Min-gle accident occurring to injure man, horse, ister at the Court of Madrid, had demanded an explanation as to the extent of the disturbances, and the measures adopted to prevent them, and in consequence all the Counsellors of State and Ministers, had been summoned to St. Ildefonso, to prepare an answer, and regulate the number of troops to be sent against Portugal.

The Russians gained a victory on the 17th of July, over the Persians, on the banks of the Araxes.

or coach. In consequence of this cheap and easy conveyance the amount of intercourse between Stockton and Darlington has increased more than tenfold-the coach formerly having plied only three times a week. Government, too, is not without its share of the benefit, for the stage-coach duty has risen from 281. per annum to 140l.-Liv. Adv.

Robert A. Parrish has made a trip in his Thomas Young, of London, has been cho- steamboat up the Delaware to Easton in sen a Foreign Associate of the Paris Acade-36 hours and 15 minutes; distance between my of Sciences.

90 and 100 miles.

THE FRIEND.

TENTH MONTH, 13, 1827.

As a part of the design of the Editors in establishing the FRIEND, is to circulate information relating to their own peculiar interests, amongst the members of the Society of Friends, we have been restrained from the usual practice of advertising our plan in the common newspapers.

The

COMMUNICATION.

THE BURIAL.

There is scarcely any circumstance connected with the recent separation of the followers of Elias Hicks from the religious Society of Friends, that is productive of more pernicious consequences, than the misrepresentations which are circulated, with the view of producing excitement, and awakening prejudices against those persons who continue their attachment to the long established government and princiProspectus on our first page will explain ples of the Society. In the country, esat large the course we mean to pursue.-pecially, the mischievous effects of this In order to give it an extensive circulation, practice are lamentably obvious. Indiviand at the same time exhibit a specimen of duals whose sources of information are our paper, we have printed a large edition very few, and who have not the means of of this number, which will be widely dis- detecting the impositions practised upon tributed. Persons out of the city, who them, frequently have their minds prejuare disposed to encourage us, will receive diced by the representations of those on their papers by mail, or as they may direct, whose veracity they have been accustomed upon remitting to our publisher a year's to rely with implicit confidence, but who, subscription in advance. The second num- under the influence of party feeling, are ber will be printed in two weeks, and induced to give them a colouring which thenceforth the papers will be regularly the truth will not justify. To this cause issued once a week. Although we are may be attributed the antipathy to Philaassured of having enlisted sufficient ta- delphia Friends which is apparent in some lents, learning and zeal in our cause to places, and which has contributed in no support the Journal with credit, we earn- inconsiderable degree to protract the unestly solicit original communications for happy dissensions that have so long agiAs "Moderation" is in- tated our once peaceful community. Could scribed on our door posts and our threshold, those persons whose feelings toward their we shall always think ourselves bound to brethren have been embittered by false scrutinize closely, whatever may be offer-reports, ascertain correctly the undisguised ed for our pages relating to Principles and Men. We shall endeavour to render the lighter department of our journal acceptable to our young readers, without making it frivolous.

our pages.

-Happily to steer

From grave to gay, from lively to severe, has always been accounted the great secret of winning the youthful mind to the love

of virtue.

truth, there are few among them who
would not perceive that their prejudices
are unfounded-that the pictures of op-
pression, of persecution and intolerance
which have been exhibited to their view,
with such high colouring, are mere phan-
toms of an imagination diseased by envy

and ill will.

Philadelphia, are held in joint tenure by trustees appointed in each monthly meeting. The trustees are merely the instruments by which the title to the property is held, and have no more control over it, than the deeds which record the conveyance. A committee of two Friends is appointed in each of the monthly meetings to act jointly, to whom is entrusted the entire care and control of the burying grounds. This committee employ the sexton, and to them only he is accountableit is their business to give him directions relative to the duties of his office, and in a word, to have the exclusive oversight and direction of the grave yards.

Beside this committee, there is another appointed also by each monthly meeting, to receive applications for interment and grant the requisite order to the sexton for opening the ground-here their duties cease. The trustees have no right whatever to interfere with the duties of either of these committees, and we believe there never was an instance in which they attempted such interference, except in the recent transactions.

There were five monthly meetings in this city, all branches of, and subordinate to the quarterly meeting of Philadelphia. Each of them appointed such committees as we have described. Green street monthly meeting, one of the five, declared itself independent of Philadelphia quarterly meeting, and, in violation of the discipline, applied to, and was received as a component part of Abington quarter; which meeting never had, nor can it have, either collectively, or by its subordinate meetings, any title to, or control over, the property of Friends in Philadelphia.

In consequence of the disorderly manner A circumstance has recently taken place in which Green street monthly meeting in this city, which furnished a favourable had been held; its continued disregard of opportunity for indulging this odious ha- the discipline, and its rejection of the authoWe are desirous of rendering this mis-bit. Our readers will readily perceive that rity of its superior meeting, to which "the cellany a favourite parlour and fireside we allude to the burial of a deceased mem- compact agreed to by both parties," made companion with Friends throughout Ame- ber of the Northern District monthly it accountable, the quarterly meeting of rica. The want of a common medium of meeting, who had lived within the limits Philadelphia was subjected to the painful intellectual intercourse has long been felt of the late monthly meeting of Green street. necessity of dissolving it, and attaching its among us. If we can by means of this The facts respecting this painful event members to the monthly meeting for the paper, direct our young people to elevated have been shamefully, and we may add, Northern District, of which they had forpursuits and studies, assist in guiding their wilfully misrepresented, to the disadvan-merly been a part. The dissolution of the taste, in maturing their judgments, in form- tage of the Society in Philadelphia. Jus- monthly meeting, of consequence, released ing them to habits of manly and serious tice to the injured reputation of the parties from their appointments all those who actthinking-in cultivating in them senti- concerned, demands that the facts should ed under its authority, and among the rest, ments congenial with the doctrines and be impartially and accurately stated. the two committees whose duties we have testimonies of our religious Society—our In attempting this unpleasant duty, it defined. Their existence necessarily ceashighest ambition as to this enterprise will will be proper first to observe, that the ed simultaneously with that of the meeting burial grounds belonging to Friends of which created them.

be satisfied.

Thus circumstanced, it became the obvious duty of the committee entrusted with the care and control of the burying ground, to inform the sexton that orders for the interment of persons who deceased within the limits of the late monthly meeting of Green street, would hereafter be granted by the committee of the Northern District, of which monthly meeting Green street Friends had now become members. A desire was generally felt that this business might be arranged in the most friendly manner possible, and every facility afforded for procuring the requisite orders for interment. In accordance with this amicable feeling, the monthly meeting of the Northern District appointed several Friends resident within the former limits of Green street meeting to grant orders, and as threats of violence had been repeatedly held out, endeavours were used to remove every shadow of excuse for resorting to any disgraceful or illegal measures.

Notwithstanding the dissolution of Green street monthly meeting by its superior meeting, a number of individuals, regardless of the subordination which they owed to the quarter, continued to assemble at the meeting house, under the assumed title of a monthly meeting; and although they declared their connexion with Philadelphia quarter to be dissolved, and that they had become members of Abington, yet they attempted to interfere with, and to act in the management of the concerns of Friends of Philadelphia, as though they still considered themselves a monthly meeting belonging to their quarter.

cease took place, a consultation was held out to the western burial ground, and was
among some of the leading members of the there informed by the person who resides
meeting, to decide what was to be done. on the premises, that Gabriel Middleton
We should have thought that the sad and and William Stevenson had been there;
subdued feeling which the dissolution of a that Gabriel Middleton had broken open
fellow being was calculated to produce, the gate, by forcing out the staple which
would have calmed the tumult of party secured the lock, and that they had ad-
feeling, and hushed every unkind and an- mitted a person into the yard, who by
gry emotion. But not so the solemn ac- their direction was then employed in dig-
companiments of death were to be employ-ging a grave. Henry Cope went to this
ed as a means of kindling excitement. It man, and inquired his authority for open-
was determined to force an interment, on ing the ground, and by whom he was em-
an order from the committee whose pow- ployed. He replied that one of the persons
ers had become defunct by the dissolution was John Simmons-(who is not a member
of Green street monthly meeting.
of the Society of Friends) the names of
Previously to learning that such a con- the others he had either forgotten, or was
clusion had been come to, an order for the not disposed to give. He was then in-
interment of the deceased was signed by formed by Henry Cope, that as one of the
Leonard Snowden and Edward Randolph, committee appointed to have the care of
two of the committee appointed by the the property, it was his duty to forbid his
Northern District monthly meeting. digging the grave. The man replied, that
Anxious to evince the friendly disposition the persons by whom he was employed,
which was entertained toward the mem- had promised to indemnify him, and inti-
bers of Green street, and to afford every mated that he should not desist. Henry
facility to the bereaved relatives, Edward Cope then withdrew; and neither he nor
Randolph and Joseph Rakestraw called any other member of the committee visit-
upon the father of the deceased, and pre-ed the ground again until some time after
sented him with the order-he declined the interment had taken place. On the
receiving it. They then waited upon the following morning, the 31st of 8th month,
relative before alluded to, who had charge a forcible entry into the grave yard was
of the funeral arrangements, and tendered again made, and the body interred; but no
the order to him—he also refused it. Some opposition of any kind was offered to its
mild persuasion was used to convince him accomplishment, except simply forbidding
of the propriety of accepting it, rather than the grave digger to proceed, as has been
resort to violent measures, but he gave the already related.
most peremptory refusal, observing that
he would rather bury the corpse in his own
yard, than receive the order from them.

These preliminary statements will ena- It should be particularly noticed, that ble our readers to judge of the position of the reception of the order by any individuaffairs at the time when the individual de-al, could in no way affect any supposed ceased, whose interment has given rise to so much misrepresentation. We shall relate the circumstances of the transaction minutely; and as our information is from undoubted authority, the statement may be implicitly relied upon.

The individual died on the 29th of the 8th month, and immediately on receiving intelligence of the occurrence, a near connexion called upon the family and offered his services to procure the interment in the regular order of Society, by an order from the committee of the Northern District monthly meeting. This friendly offer was declined, on the ground that another relative (who was an officer in the meeting at Green street) had taken on himself the necessary attention to the obsequies. It is proper to observe, that soon after the de

right which the meeting at Green street
might claim-no principle would have
been compromited as regarded it, and the
burial might have been peaceably and re-
putably solemnized in the regular order of
society. Friends had now done every
thing that brotherly kindness and a just
sense of propriety could possibly require;
and finding the parties determined to pro-
ceed to unlawful violence, they had only
calmly to await the issue.

Such are the facts connected with this extraordinary proceeding, We have given a plain and impartial narration of them, and leave every reader to draw his inference. We apprehend, however, that every unprejudiced mind must perceive that the dignity and authority of the quarterly meeting, the preservation of good order, and the support of our christian discipline, all required that the course adopted should be taken-and we can perceive in it nothing incompatible with that friendly feeling which ought ever to be maintained to ward all our brethren.

OBSERVER.

The Sheffield (English) Courant, says-Hannah Kilham, our persevering townswoOn the morning of the 30th of 8th month, man, is preparing for a second visit to Africa. John Chapman informed the committee Her former one was but very short, being appointed to the care of the burying ground, undertaken at the express request of the that the death had occurred, and stated his friends who promoted her journey. She rebelief that a forcible entry would be mademained there, however, sufficiently long to into the grave yard, in order to inter the observe the wants and to form plans for the improvement of the poor Africans; and, corpse. In the afternoon of the same day, since her return, she has been actively emHenry Cope, one of the committee, went ployed in acquiring a knowledge of the