The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1859-03-17
March 18th, 1859.

tamply confirm the remarks able ACCURACY Z
this representation We know OF no clas
of Christians who inculcate SO habituallv sn,
earnestly upon their members of doing good
OF living To some beniheeni purpose. not il
the sense OF prosely ytism 10 their own form o
faith, or Of merely djtfusing religious trutl
and influence, but in the sense Of advancin.
the general veal OF humanity BIZ mitigatin.
the sum of human suffering, and increasing
the amount of human happiness. That many
Of them fall far below the standard of thei
own profession. and that there NAV be found
among them men Of selfish. greedy, worldly
spirit is only saying what may be said of 81
sects whateyer-that they fail TO embody '
their own ideas But we believe It will be
found that, even when tried by the test oil
their actual life and example. there is no
body among whom there is SO large pro-
portion Of It's members habtually engaged
I IN some form of practical benevoleuce.-
And certainly 10 body has contributed so
many distinguished names 70 the bright roll
. OF English philanthropy. Scarcely any
movement Of that nature has risen in thi.
country for the last hundred years. that has
not reckoned among its most resolved and
reliable supporters of members Of the Soe-
ETY. OF Friends, In the long struggle which
Clarkson and Wilberforce waged against the
/ slave-trade and slavery their most unflinch-
ing abetSors were Richard Phillips. George
Harrison, William Allen, and other men Of
The same body. Thomas Fowell Buxton, on
whose shoulders the mantle Of Wilberforce
tell, was himself a Quaker by birth and edu-
cation. and derived, according TO his own
emphatic acknowledg dgement, his first impulse
and his constant inspiration 10 public useful
ness from the exhortation and example OF his
Quaker kindred and connections.
How much the complete abolition Of the
last remnant Of slavery. under the guise OF
apprenticeship, in the West Indies, was ow-
ing 10 the indefatigable zeal OF few
Friends, still living, whom we therefore for
bear 10 name, may be learnt from the com
potent and ott-repeated testimony of Lord
Brougham. If we turn to the question OF
prison Improvement, and the reformation of
criminals, which now commands so large
share Of public attention and sympathy, does
rot the stately and benignant figure of Mrs
Fry start up before every ones Imagination
as the bold pioneer in that work -
And made prison religious place"
And who co-operated so cordially with
Romily. Macintosh. Kelly, and others, in
mitigating the ferocious severity of our Grim
lnal code, as the members of this BODY, If
whom John Thomas Barry demands special
mention, as man whose life and energies
were devoted for years to this one obiect?-
Who has given SO great an impulse TO popu-
lar education IN this country as honest Jo-
seph Lancaster, sustained as he was by the
better Judgment and the generous purse of
the admirable William AIlen9 And in the
general held of philanthropy. the gentlemen
whom we have just named. together with
Il ial.y "
comprising sea and land as they did, not to
make proselytes. but to visit prisons, to sue
cor the slave, to carry hope TO the crimi-
nal to memorlaize Kings and Governments
on behalf Of all who were desoate and op-
pressed have always appeared to Us men to
Whom' more than any others we know, may
be applied, with least OF mpropriety, those
memorable words that strictly ough, to be
kept consecrsted to one name aloue-"They
went about doing good
As instances Of boundless generosity in
the support OF benevolent and humane pur-
poses, where shall we find names to surpass
those OF Richard Reynolds and Joseph Eaton,
OF Bristol, James Cropper. of Liverpool, and
the late venerable Samuel Gurney, OF Lon
don But, perhaps. more important and ef-
iectaHe. II less striking than these individual
instances, have been some Of the corporate
exertlons Of the Friends in the cause Of be-
neyoience, ii the case of the Irish famine,
when among themselves alone, though their
total number amounted only to some seven
teen or eighteen thousand persons, a sum of
ee30,o was raised and disbursed, beside
immense quantities OF clothing Of all kinds
And these oenefactions were administered
not by the hands OF strangers or merceua,
Ties, but by men and women of their own
number, who went into the heart OF that
hldeous "charnel- house OF a nation" which
the sister island then exhibited
We say nothing of their exertons in the
cause of peace, because it has become a sort
OF fashion to look upon the friends of inter
national peace as though they were enemies
OF the human race, who deserve only to be
hooted and howled at, although we have no
manner OF doubt that in the better time
which will come upon the world hereafter.
the men who had the courage first to declare
that all war Is opposed to Christianity, will
De regarded with the same gratitude and
yenera,lon a. those are already who yentured
to MAINTAIN. At time when that truth was
hardly less acceptable. that all religious per-
secuiIon IS opposed to Christianity We
have felt II our duty TO pay this humble til
butte 10 body which is much misunderstood
and mallgned, that our readers may see that
the Society of Friends possess distinctions
more worthy and honorable bv which they
may be known, than the straight collar and
broad brlm hat. which alone some of our
contemporaries seem able to discern.