The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-31 00:00:00

THE LATE BENJAMIN LUNDY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES
SlR,—.Before parting company with Benjamin
Lundy, I beg leave to send you the following re-
markable dream. It was received from his lips by
the friend who wrote it—a co-worker with Lundy
in the anti-slavery reform. Ordinarily a dream is
but a dream, but some dreams have been remark-
able, and have led to discoveries in art, or have
brought concealed crimes to light. Pharoah's
dream was the turning point in the fate of a nation,
and that of Nebuchadnezzar made known the future
rise and fall of nations. In the dream of Lundy
may be traced his nervous temperament, mental
character, hopes, fears, and experience as an Anti-
slavery Reformer, and his appreciation of the
moral law of retribution which governs the universe.
Possibly the divinity in man under certain phy-
sical, mental, and moral conditions might so have
its latent powers develdped as to be capable of pre-
monishing him of coming events. But whether
from this, or from some other cause, certain it is
that Lundy's dream was an epitome of events then
belonging to the future of American history. For
instance the people appearing to be without a head
and leader was verified when Buchanan was
President; and the coming forward of one embody-
ing the anti-.slavery spirit of John Quincy Adams
was illustrated in the person of Abraham Lincoln.
The former declared in Congress'that in time of
war the President could emancipate the slaves ; and
thirty years afterwards the latter in time of war
proclaimed emancipation.—Yours veiy truly,
EDWARD MATHEWS.
Bristol, Aug. 19, 1867.

A REMARKABLE DREAM OF BENJAMIN LUNDY.

Benjamin Lundy has been described in the letter
of the Rev. Edward Mathews as the Pioneer of the
Anti-Slavery Reform in the United States. Justice
requires that he should be better known by this
title. There were in America at two different
periods two classes of Anti-slavery leaders, and
Lundy being a co-worker with one, and the father
of the other, was the connecting link between them.
The first class existed at the time of the separation
of England fron'America, and their labours secured
the suppression of the African slave trade and the
abolition of slavery in the Northern States. The
second class formed the American Anti-Slavery
Society, and their labours secured the proclamation
of the emancipation of the slaves by President Lin-
coln. It is known that the " Society of Friends,"
familiarly called Quakers, of which Mr. Lundy was a
member, hold peculiar sentiments in regard to the
influence of the Holy Spirit on the human mind.
They believe that under the impulsive direction of
the Spirit they are guided in their religions labours,
and moved and instanstaneously qualified to speak
in their religious assemblies. In harmony with
this belief they regard the Spirit as operating upon
their powers of perceptioa, and some of the
Friends have had visions which they have related
as a part of their religious experience. From
1831 to 1838 Lundy was deeply interested in
that phase of the anti-slavery movement which
related to Texas. Its climate, the quality and
cheapness of the land, and its contiguity to the
Slave States, led him to regard it as a most suitable
territory on which to plant colonies of free coloured
people and freedmen from the United States; and
as capable not only of becoming an asylum and a
land of refuge for the oppressed, but also of fur-
nishing a striking example of the benefits of free-
dom, and of the fitness of the coloured people to
enjoy it, thus presenting an inducement to the
American nation to act upon, the high principles of
humanity and justice in emancipating the slaves.
The slaveholders, however, in arranging their
plans to extend and perpetuate slavery, had fully
considered the Texas question. They feared that
Texas might become on the South what Canada
already was on the North, a place where refugee
slaves could dwell safely ; hence they determined
to extend slavery oyer it, and annex it to the Unßecl