[Footnote A:  It must not be forgotten, that the example of the Moravians had its influence also in directing men to their duty towards these oppressed people; for though, when they visited this part of the world for their conversion, they never meddled with the political state of things, by recommending it to masters to alter the condition of their slaves, as believing religion could give comfort in the most abject situations in life, yet they uniformly freed those slaves who came into their own possession.]

In consequence then of these and other causes, a considerable number of persons of various religious denominations, had appeared at different times in America, besides the Quakers, who, though they had not distinguished themselves by resolutions and manumissions as religious bodies, were yet highly friendly to the African cause.  This friendly disposition began to manifest itself about the year 1770; for when a few Quakers, as individuals, began at that time to form little associations in the middle provinces of North America, to discourage the introduction of slaves among people in their own neighbourhoods, who were not of their own Society, and to encourage the manumission of those already in bondage, they, were joined as colleagues by several persons of this description[A], who co-operated with them in the promotion of their design.

[Footnote A:  It then appeared that individuals among those of the Church of England, Roman Catholics, Presbyterians, Methodists, and others had begun in a few instances to liberate their slaves.]

This disposition, however, became more manifest in the year 1772; for the house of burgesses of Virginia presented a petition to the king, beseeching his majesty to remove all those restraints on his governors of that colony, which inhibited their assent to such laws as might check that inhuman and impolitic commerce, the Slave Trade:  and it is remarkable, that the refusal of the British government to permit the Virginians to exclude slaves from among them by law, was enumerated afterwards among the public reasons for separating from the mother country.

But this friendly disposition was greatly increased in the year 1773, by the literary labours of Dr. Benjamin Rush, of Philadelphia[B], who, I believe, is a member of the Presbyterian Church:  for in this year, at the instigation of Anthony Benezet, he took up the cause of the oppressed Africans in a little work, which he entitled, An Address to the Inhabitants of the British Settlements, on the Slavery of the Negroes; and soon afterwards in another, which was a vindication of the first, in answer to an acrimonious attach by a West Indian planter.  These publications contained many new observations; they were written in a polished style; and while they exhibited the erudition and talents, they showed the liberality and benevolence of the author.  Having had a considerable circulation, they spread conviction among many, and