FRIENDS' REVIEW.

VOL. I.

A RELIGIOUS, LITERARY AND MISCELLANEOUS JOURNAL.

PHILADELPHIA, FIRST MONTH 22, 1848.

EDITED BY ENOCH LEWIS.

Published Weekly by Josiah Tatum,
No. 50 North Fourth Street, corner of Appletree Alley,

PHILADELPHIA.

Price two dollars per annum, payable in advance, or six copies for ten dollars.

This paper is subject to newspaper postage only.

For Friends' Review.

LIFE OF WILLIAM ALLEN.

(Continued from page 259.)

No. 18.

families, was reduced almost to desolation. Of the population, which, previous to the massacre, was estimated at more than an hundred thousand, the number remaining was supposed to be little more than one thousand. It was computed that above forty thousand had been butchered; and forty-eight thousand carried into slavery: among whom were the wives and daughters of persons who had lived in comfort and affluence. Many of these captives were exposed to sale in the slave markets of Asia.

But those who had sunk under the Turkish scimetar, and such as had been reduced to slavery, were not the only sufferers; numbers had fled for their lives, and were seeking a home and precarious subsistence in the neighbouring countries. A committee was formed for the relief of the sufferers, of which William Allen was made treasurer; and upwards of eight thousand pounds sterling were collected. This seems to have been raised chiefly by Friends, yet several sums were received from persons who were not members of our Society.

As the subject of this review advanced in life, and his engagements in the ministry became more frequent and extensive, we find increasing evidence of a mind ardently devoted to the cause of vital and experimental religion. We discover in his diary, notices often recurring, of the religious exercises which occupied him during his waking hours in the night. He appears to have generally risen early, sometimes at five in the winter season, and to have employed the first portion of the day in reading the scriptures, Committees of the most respectable Greeks and silently waiting for the renewal of his spiri- were formed at Trieste, Ancona, and various tual strength. His aspirations for perfect re- other places; and Friends of London opened an demption from fleshly pollution, and for entire extensive correspondence with the Greeks and submission to the leadings of his blessed Master, others residing in places to which the refugees are often presented to our view; yet the time had escaped. Of this correspondence, and the which he devoted to silent retirement and religious care of disbursing the funds designed for the remeditation, does not appear to have been abstract-lief of the sufferers, a large share devolved upon ed from the portion allotted to active exertion for the promotion of those numerous philanthropic engagements which constituted the business of his life. The time which he allowed for repose must have been but a small part of the twentyfour hours.

We have already seen, that during his visit to Scio and the neighbouring islands, in company with Stephen Grellet, a near attachment to numbers of the people there was formed, and that, upon his visit to Vienna, in the autumn of 1822, he had an opportunity of rendering some valuable services to the distressed refugees from those unfortunate islands. In the beginning of 1823, the condition of these suffering people engaged the commiseration of Friends in England. Among these sufferers, the inhabitants of Scio were considered to be the greatest. This island, the centre of civilization and refinement in modern Greece, and the abode of numerous opulent

the subject of this review. His active and energetic mind, was not only indefatigable in collecting intelligence respecting the condition of those homeless strangers, whom the calamities of war had expelled from their once peaceful abodes, and in distributing the funds intrusted to his care, but he availed himself of the opportunities which his familiar intercourse with men in power often afforded, to solicit their influence and authority in mitigating their sufferings. And he had the satisfaction to find that the labours, in which he was taking so active a part, contributed to render the situation of many of them more tolerable, and called forth expressions of the liveliest gratitude.

Near the beginning of the year 1823, we find a notice of the formation of a society for the abolition of slavery in the British colonies. Nearly sixteen years had now elapsed since the act for the abolition of the African slave trade

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had been passed by the British parliament. | years engaged in superintending the improvement Still the victims of this traffic were retained in of the lands in the vicinity of Petersburg; and slavery within all the British West Indies; and that his services there were very satisfactory to the condition of the slaves had not received the the Emperor. The opinion which he entertained melioration which was expected from the legal of the few Friends with whom he had become extinction of the trade. Numerous efforts were acquainted, appears to have inspired him with made in the mother country to secure for the no inconsiderable confidence in the members servile class, through the instrumentality of the generally. For in the beginning of 1823, applicolonial legislatures, a larger share of the com- cation was made to William Allen, through Count mon rights of humanity, than they had hitherto Lieven, for a member of our society to superinenjoyed. These efforts were, however, resist- tend the farms connected with the colonies in ed and repelled, as an unwarranted interference the neighborhood of Novogorod. It does not, with the authority of the masters. The friends however, appear that he knew of any whom he of the negro were now convinced that such im- could recommend to the service. provements in the condition of the slaves as That the favourable opinion respecting the would pave the way to their emancipation, was Emperor Alexander, already mentioned, was not not to be expected from their holders. A more by any means peculiar to Friends, is clearly strenuous movement was consequently made; evinced by other testimony. Dr. Pinkerton, and the year which had just commenced when near this time, returning to London from Petersthis Society was formed, was distinguished by burg, explained to W. Allen some of the diffithe efforts of Wm. Wilberforce, T. F. Buxton, culties with which Alexander was encompassed. Dr. Lushington, and others, in the British par- He had been absent five months from the capital, liament, to introduce a system of improvement a part of which was passed at Verona, and in the treatment of the slaves, as a preparation during that time great opposition was made to for their eventual emancipation. To this sub- the diffusion of the Scriptures, the support of ject we find William Allen paying considerable schools, &c., in which the Emperor had taken attention, in such way as his situation and a lively interest. It seems the Bible was making other engagements admitted. The result of the a great ferment in the Greek church, which is combined exertions of the English philanthro- the prevailing religion in Russia. pists, among whom he held a conspicuous place, is well known. In 1834, an act of parliament was procured, by which all the slaves in the British West Indies were declared free, after the first of the 8th month of that year. By this act about eight hundred thousand slaves were nominally restored to freedom. The act of emancipation, however, was encumbered with a provision, which was not approved by the friends of the negroes, by which the essence of slavery under another name, was retained in all those islands but two, until the year 1838. On the first of 8th month of that year, the name of slave ceased to designate the legal condition of any portion of the population there.

William Allen, having for upwards of forty years abstained from the use of sugar, because it was produced by the labour of slaves, resumed its consumption when the slaves in the British West Indies were declared free. This abstinence was observed by him as a religious duty, and we find that, at one time, while at the Hague, his example, and the reason which he gave for it, made such an impression on the mind of a youth then present, who afterwards occupied a prominent station in the government, that he became from that time a zealous advocate for the extinction of slavery in the Dutch colonies. We have several times had occasion to notice the favour with which the Emperor of Russia regarded the character of W. Allen, and the sentiments entertained by the latter respecting the pious disposition of the Emperor. It is to be remembered that Daniel Wheeler had been several

It was mentioned in a former number, that the peasants who served for a time in the imperial army, and obtained their discharge, became freemen, and that schools were established among them, to qualify them for their new situation. These schools, it appears, were discontinued during the Emperor's absence, but on his return he commenced their re-establishment.

Not long after the arrival of Dr. Pinkerton, William Allen apprehended himself religiously concerned to address an epistle to the Emperor; a concern which was probably quickened by the recent intelligence respecting the opposition which he encountered in his efforts to meliorate the condition of his people, and of the evidence which his conduct manifested, that the all important concerns of a future life held a predominant place in his mind.

This epistle is a beautiful specimen of Christian love, simplicity and plainness. In it we find no trace of that servile adulation which is often addressed to persons in exalted stations. The feeling of true gospel love is freely declared; the difficulties and responsibilities of the imperial station are clearly intimated, and the necessity of wisdom superior to his own is unhesitatingly declared. After assuring him of his sympathy in the trials to which he was exposed, and his ardent affection for him and for mankind at large, he proceeds to lay before the Emperor the reports which were extensively circulated and generally believed in England, respecting the measures which he was either secretly or openly supporting. In his comments upon these

imputed measures, he gives his sentiments, not as a politician, but as a Christian. A few subsequent passages will shew the strain in which the letter was conducted:

"The friends of revealed religion have looked up to thee, dear Emperor, with tender affection, as a brother beloved in Jesus Christ; as an honoured instrument in the Divine hand, to promote the cause of truth and righteousness. They have considered thee as one of their body; they have felt the reproaches made against thee, as if they had been made in some measure against themselves. As for me, when I am assailed, as I constantly am, with this language, What do you now think of the Emperor of Russia?' I do not fail to state my unfailing conviction of the sincerity of his intentions, and that the first wish of his heart is to be made instrumental in preserving the peace and tranquillity of Europe. "And now, having relieved my mind upon this subject, I wish to commend thee, with my own soul, to Him who alone is able to keep us from falling, and hope that nothing which I have written may give the least offence, or be attributed to any party views. I do not belong, nor have I ever belonged, to any political society. My great object, while continued in this probationary state, is to unite with pious persons of all denominations, in endeavouring to promote the universal diffusion of Christian principles, which are the only solid foundation for the happiness of man in time and in eternity.

"Be assured that, as I feel enabled, my prayers shall continue to be put up for thee. That the Shepherd of Israel may preserve thee to the end, is the earnest desire of thy affectionate and respectful friend."

In the 5th month of the same year, W. Allen was deprived of his only daughter. She had been married upwards of a year, and left an infant about ten days old. This dispensation was keenly felt by her tenderly affectionate father, who had formed considerable expectations from her superior intellect and unaffected piety. Yet he did not sorrow as one without hope; for he had the unspeakable consolation to believe that her spirit was permitted to join the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in Heaven. She had been, not long before her marriage, acknowledged as an approved minister of the gospel.

In the year 1824, we find the subject of our review engaged with his usual assiduity in works of benevolence. The extension of education to the poor, was still an object of attention, yet he was anxious to encourage those in easier circumstances to afford to their children a liberal portion of literary and scientific instruction. As a means of promoting a proper education, he was engaged in patronizing and supporting a school at Stoke Newington, for the education of young persons who were designed for teachers.

To that seminary he paid very particular

attention, and notwithstanding he was then, in addition to his other employments, delivering lectures twice a week to the medical students at Guy's Hospital, he managed to afford two evenings in the week to the instruction of the pupils there. On one of these evenings he gave lectures on natural and experimental philosophy; and on the other his instructions were of a more general character, in which religious reading constituted a part of the exercise.

Near the end of the year 1825, information was received of the death of Alexander of Russia, upon which W. Allen remarks, that his having given up to visit him at Vienna and Verona, under a persuasion of religious duty, would be a source of consolation to him as long as he lived.

In the autumn of 1826, William Allen paid a visit, in the character of a gospel minister, to very nearly all the meetings of Friends in Ireland, which he says was accomplished to the peace of his own mind. One incident noted in this visit appears worthy of specification. There was a charity school at Ross, where he was informed that a little lame beggar boy, who had been very troublesome in the streets, was placed; and soon made great proficiency in his learning. He afterwards removed to America, where he engaged as a teacher, was respectably married, and appeared to be doing well. No doubt many of those who infest the streets with their troublesome importunities, might, by a proper education, have been rendered respectable members of the community.

In the 1st month, 1830, his aged mother, upon whose declining life he had attended with true filial tenderness, was removed from works to

rewards. While she lived, it appears that, amidst the variety of duties which were constantly pressing upon him, his duty to her was always regarded as one of the most imperative and interesting. He frequently, if not generally, spent one hour of the day in a visit to her.

In the year 1831, William Allen joined his friend and former companion, Stephen Grellet, in a visit to several counties in England, and in the summer of the following year they commenced a second journey together, in the service of the gospel, through various parts of the continent. As the cholera was then spreading in England, vessels from that country, arriving at the continent, were subjected to a rigorous quarantine. Such was the fear of infection, that, upon their arrival at Helvoetsluys, a health officer coming alongside of their vessel, their papers were taken up with 'tongs and dipped in a fluid before he ventured to receive them.

After a quarantine of ten days, our friends were allowed to proceed on their journey, and they passed by way of Rotterdam to Amsterdam, where a meeting house remained, which was the property of Friends. At that place they held a religious meeting. At Amsterdam

they visited an infant school, containing sixtylers visited the most pious persons whom they or seventy pupils, the origin of which was rather singular. During the war, an English ship captured a Dutch vessel of considerable value. One of the owners, to whom a share of the prize was allotted, not being free to appropriate it to his own use, caused enquiry to be made for the owners; and to such as were found their property was restored. But there were some who could not be traced, and the balance due to them was applied to the establishment of an infant school at Amsterdam. This was the first of the kind undertaken in Holland; but the example was followed, and similar ones set on foot in the principal towns throughout that country.

In North Holland they visited an interesting colony, called Frederick's Oord, which was commenced, about fourteen years before, for the support and employment of paupers. Fifteen hundred of the most destitute were collected, cottages were built, land was alloted to them, stock was provided, and such judicious modes of employing them adopted, that the burden of their maintenance was chiefly, if not wholly, supported by themselves. A large tract of uncultivated land was thus reclaimed; the morals of an idle and burdensome class were greatly improved, and schools were established in which the children received a good common education. This colony, as far as our information extends, appears to be a successful application of the theory that the true method of relieving the poor is to instruct and assist them to provide for themselves.

Proceeding on their journey, our travellers visited the few Friends residing at Barmen, with whom they had a comfortable meeting. These people had received some harsh treatment from persons in authority, on account of their religious scruples, of which their visitors afterwards took care to make proper representations when they met with persons who had the power of redressing their grievances.

They afterwards visited the Friends at Pyrmont, Minden, and other places. In several neighbourhoods they found cottages with small - allotments of land, something like those which William Allen had been promoting at Lindfield. In one place a wealthy Prussian had devoted at least a thousand acres to these allotments. It appeared, however, that in many of these cases the work of charity had been imperfectly accomplished. The condition of these cottages seems to have clearly illustrated the fact, that when people are sunk into the lowest condition of poverty, they require, not only that the means of improving their condition should be placed within their reach, but that they should also be instructed how to render them available.

Of the remaining part of this journey, though it was attended with a number of interesting incidents, a brief notice only can be given. Our travel

could find in their way, and particularly those who, from their wealth and influence, were capable of extensive usefulness to others. Their labours in the diffusion of their religious doctrines, and the promotion of benevolent objects, were chiefly, though not wholly, conducted in the way of conversation. At Dresden a meeting was appointed, where sixty or eighty persons attended, but one who had been engaged as an interpreter did not appear. Upon the circumstance being stated to the company, an elderly female, who had evidently been highly educated, and who was found to be the Baroness Drechsel, came forward and translated, in a feeling manner, into the German language, the communications which our friends were concerned to deliver; S. Grellet speaking in French, and W. Allen in English. This pious woman retained till her death a lively remembrance of the impressions received at this meeting.

After visiting Prague, Vienna, Munich, and various other places, William Allen was favoured to arrive safely at home on the 21st of 10th month 1832, after a journey of more than three thousand miles.

(To be continued.)

For Friends' Review,

VALUE OF MECHANICAL SKILL AND LABOR.

Philosophers, from Aristotle down to lord Bacon, have been puzzled to give such a definition of Man-the genus Homo-as, while it strictly identified him, should exclude all other animals. One of the ancient Greek philosophers-I forget which of them-thought he had it, when he described him as an unfeathered biped. But, unfortunately for our philosopher, it was conclusively shown by some one upon the spot, that it would not be safe to rely upon this definition;-he plucked the feathers from chanticleer, and exclaimed, "behold your man!" And, moreover, as if completely to overturn the belief of those of more modern times, who might suspect the wag was not as wise as the philosopher, some explorer of seas and lands unknowa, is said to have discovered a two-legged creature, that was decidedly no man, for like the goose, his body, though unfeathered, was poised in its length upon his legs, and his head, which, per se, was no man's head, projected horizontally, instead of vertically. And further still, some physiologist, whose ability was greater to raise difficulties, and unsettle theories, than to offer better in their stead, boldly declared, that man was not, in fact, a two legged animal-for that he had, just as much as the monkey or the horse, a real bona fide set of fore legs and hind ones. This latter suggestion was advocated by the Scotch philosopher, who contended that man was not only a four legged animal, but that he had originally other points of resemblance to the