The first abolition journal ever published in this city was the present Journal of Commerce, which was commenced September 1, 1827, by a company of stockholders, the principal of whom was the famous Arthur Tappan. The following extracts from its prospectus, issued March 24, 1827, will sufficiently indicate the puritanical character of its authors, and the general tone of the paper:-- "In proposing to add another daily paper to the number already published in this city, the projectors deem it proper to state that the measure has been neither hasty nor unadvisedly undertaken. Men of wisdom, intelligence and character have been consulted, and with one voice have recommended its establishment. "Believing, as we do, that the theatre is an institution which all experience proves to be inimical to morality, and consequently tending to the destruction of our republican form of government, it is a part of our design to exclude from the columns of the journal all theatrical advertisements. "The pernicious influence of lotteries being admitted by the majority of intelligent men, and this opinion coinciding with our own, all lottery advertisements will also be excluded. "In order to avoid a violation of the Sabbath, by the setting of types, collecting of ship news, &c., on that day, the paper on Monday will be issued at a later hour than usual, but as early as possible after the arrival of the mails. In this way the Journal will anticipate by several hours a considerable part of the news contained in the evening papers of Monday and the morning papers of Tuesday, and will also give the ship news collected after the publication of the other morning papers. With these views we ask all who are friendly to the cause of morality in encouraging our undertaking." _Extract from the Minutes of a Meeting of Merchants and others at the American Tract Society's House, March 24, 1827:_ "_Resolved_, That the prospectus of a new daily commercial paper, to be called the 'New York Journal of Commerce,' having been laid before this meeting, we approve of the plan upon which it is conducted, and cordially recommend it to the patronage of all friends to good morals and to the stability of our republican institutions." "ARTHUR TAPPAN, Chairman." "ROE LOCKWOOD, Secretary." In its issue of October 30, 1828, we find the following:-- "It appears from an article in the Journal of the Times, a newspaper of some promise just established in Bennington, Vt., that a petition to Congress for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia is about to be put in circulation in that State.