You expect that your book will have some effect on the prejudices
which the society of Friends entertain against the present and late
administrations. In this I think you will be disappointed. The Friends
are men, formed with the same passions, and swayed by the same natural
principles and prejudices as others. In cases where the passions are
neutral, men will display their respect for the religious professions of
their sect. But where their passions are enlisted, these professions
are no obstacle. You observe very truly, that both the late and present
administration conducted the government on principles professed by the
Friends. Our efforts to preserve peace, our measures as to the Indians,
as to slavery, as to religious freedom, were all in consonance with
their professions. Yet I never expected we should get a vote from them,
and in this I was neither deceived nor disappointed. There is no riddle
in this, to those who do not suffer themselves to be duped by the
professions of religious sectaries. The theory of American Quakerism is
a very obvious one. The mother society is in England. Its members are
English by birth and residence, devoted to their own country, as good
citizens ought to be. The Quakers of these States are colonies or
filiations from the mother society, to whom that society sends its
yearly lessons. On these the filiated societies model their opinions,
their conduct, their passions, and attachments.
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