intending, however, to make it the subject of a separate bill. The chief reason assigned for this course was, the unwillingness of many of the members to vote for a clause by which they might seem, however indirectly, to sanction the idea that human beings were to be treated like goods and chattels, and to be classed with and legislated upon as such. No member, however, was found disposed to moot the question so late in the session, and it slept quietly till March of the following year, when it presented itself in a new and much more troublesome form. The interests of humanity involved in the abolition of slavery, had not been left altogether to the mercy of politicians and political expediency. At a much earlier period, philanthropic and religious organizations had been established with a view to expedite a result so consonant with the aims of humanity and justice. Among these, the Society of Friends had especially distinguished itself, and some of its more active members now resolved to seize the fortunate occasion, offered by the establishment of a new and vigorous government, to direct, if possible, some of its wholesome energies to the attainment of their great object. The Yearly Meetings of Pennsylvania and Delaware, accordingly united in a petition, praying Congress to abolish the slave trade. The phraseology of the petition was a little ambiguous, making it doubtful whether it really prayed an immediate abolition, or only that Congress should use whatever power they might possess under the Constitution, to discourage the hateful traffic. Viewed in the latter light, the prayer was undoubtedly a most proper one; and even if the former be its true construction, the petitioners only shared an error common to some of the first statesmen of the day--that of over estimating the powers of a newly constituted and untried government. But whatever was its true meaning, the petition broke like a thunderbolt over the heads of the irritable congressmen. The debate exceeded in violence anything that had yet been heard. The Quakers who had ventured to appear in the gallery to countenance their unlucky petition, were encountered with scoffing and personal abuse. Jackson renewed his former threats; the hall rang with cries of dissolution; falling columns, torn flags, blood-stained battle fields, and all the dread imagery that seems to be stereotyped in some imperishable material, was paraded with frightful significancy before the startled audience. On the following day, however, to which the debate had been adjourned, the Friends appeared with a formidable auxiliary indeed. Next to Washington, no man was regarded in those days with more general veneration, than the sage and statesman, Franklin. As early as 1787, this great and good man had been chosen first President of a “Society for promoting the abolition of slavery, for the relief of free negroes unlawfully held in bondage, and for improving the