NEGRO SLAVERY.
383
liberty, they were Avilling to extend its blessings uni¬
versally.
In 1696, several papers from the subordinate meetings
having been read, the Yearly Meeting, after deliberation,
issued this adArice,—" That Friends be careful not to
encourage the bringing in of any more negroes; and that
such as haATe negroes be careful of them, bring them to
meeting, and haAre meetings Avith them in their families,
and restrain them from loose and leAvd living, as much as
in them lies, and from rambling abroad on first days." In
this year also, George Keith and his friends, avIio had
seceded from the Quakers, published a paper on the
subject, containing some Arery sound and cogent argu¬
ments. They asserted that the negroes Avere men, the
common objects, with the rest of mankind, of redeeming
love; that they had been taken by violence from their
native land, and Avere unjustly detained in bondage; and
finally, that the Avhole institution of slaATery was con¬
trary to the religion of Christ, the rights of man, and
sound reason and policy.
The next efforts in favor of the negroes Avere made by
the founder of our State.* A mind so liberal, expansiVe,
and benevolent as his could not be indifferent to a subject
of this highly interesting character; and, from the first
introduction of slaves into Pennsylvania, he appears to
have been desirous of improving their condition. Accord¬
ingly, in 1700, he introduced the subject to the monthly
* For an interesting review of Penn's opinions upon slavery and
the growth of his convictions upon the subject, see Dixon's Life, pp.
301, 302; Phila. Ed., 1851.—Editor.
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